RUN: Armageddon 2001 2 issues 1991; Armageddon: Alien Agenda 4 issues 1991-92; Armageddon: Inferno 1992
KEY CREATORS: A2001: Archie Goodwin (writer), Dan Jurgens & Dick Giordano (art); AAG: can't remember; Armageddon: Inferno (writer). I seem to recall art from Luke McDonnell but Slings & Arrows mentions Simonson & Netzer OUTLINE: A2001: In the future, Earth is ruled by a hero turned villain named the Monarch. Waverider goes back in time to figure out which hero is the Monarch and change history, but ends up triggering the emergence of the Monarch prematurely. In A:AG, Captain Atom and Monarch fight each other in various time periods. In A:I Waverider summons heroes from various eras to battle the demonic Abraxis
STANDOUT ISSUE: A2001#1 sets up a nice premise; A:I#4 is a nice JSA adventure
DUD ISSUES: No single issue stands out as the worst of the lot.
OVERALL: The story started out promising enough with A2001 giving the origin of Waverider and then having him go back in time to stop the emergence of Monarch. The saga continued in the 1991 Annuals, which led to a bunch of average tales regarding heroes' futures. A2001#2 was the first of the bad issues, with the revelation of who the Monarch turned out to be making less and less sense the more you think about it (apparently a last minute change because a few people learned the identity in advance). Fans of Hawk and Dove really won't like #2. A:AG gets a lot of universal scorn. Truthfully it's not the worst story in the world, but it is strictly a pedestrian effort. A:I doesn't make a whole lot of sense really, which the potential of characters from specific eras being used not played up almost at all. For that matter once the JSA shows up, the other characters are all but forgotten. Very much a mismatch of the series. Even the issue I recommend should not under any circumstances be read in the context of the mini as a whole.
RECOMMENDED OR NOT? As a whole, the Armageddon series is best forgotten. A shame, really because the Monarch was a great idea for a recurring villain.
CONTINUITY NOTES: Extreme Justice made a partial attempt to bring Monarch closer to original plans.