UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED and tie-ins RUN: 3 issues plus specials 1995-96
REVIEWED HERE/KEY CREATORS: Main title (Mark  Waid writer, Howard Porter art); Patterns of Fear (Roger Stern & Andy Lanning writers, ___ Williams and Phil Jiminez art), Abyss: Hell's Sentinel
NOT REVIEWED HERE (Didn't read): Apokolips Uprising, Batman - Devil's Asylum
OUTLINE: Neron trades power boosts for character's souls. Not surprisingly it's mostly (though not completely) villains who accept
STANDOUT ISSUE: None
DUD ISSUE: The weakest one I read was Patterns. The data info was too sparse to interesting Who's Who fanatics and the non-Whos Who stuff doesn't really hold its own, not to mention having the story flow disrupted by the data such as it is.
OVERALL: First the good parts: Trickster's portrayal helps to bridge the gap a lilttle between his villainous self and the more heroic version seen in Blue Devil, Rainbow Raider is in character as a Rogue's Gallery wannabee, and there's a nice scene involving the Riddler. In a story (in Detective IIRC) a few years earlier Riddler had a really bad experience with demomnic possession. So it's nice to see he's prominent among those who turn down Neron's deal. Also, since Mongul had gone from being a villain who was both physically powerful and highly clver (pre-Crisis) to being a not particularly smart brute (post-Crisis), his death was an act of mercy.  Finally Luthor and Joker had some nice double crossing bits, though it does tend to stretch credibility now in other places where he tries to still play up the good guy image: there are too many people who now know Luthor's a villain.
 Now for the bad stuff: First off, at this point in his life, I don't see Heat Wave assisting the Rogues in such a high-profile caper. Seeing the Rogues all wiped out was an ill chosen decision for me, though given my views on returns from the dead, I'm not 100% happy with their later return either, beyond correcting a decision that shouldn't have occured in the first place.  I'm also not convinced that the heroes who  actually dealt their souls would.  It's something that only works if the hero's crazy to begin with, which the heroes in question weren't
  Hell itself was not particularly convincing. Aside from being the ultimatelgy evil place, it simply seemed like a below average plaace to go on vacation.
 Abyss, though a one shot, isn't stand alone and really doesn't require the hero of the story to be Alan. Any half ways magical hero could have filled the same role. Patterns is covered above
RECOMMENDED OR NOT? No
CONTINUITY NOTES: The Return of the Rogues occured in Flash.