Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Steve Yeowell, with original character designs by Brendan McCarthy, the story first appeared in 2000 AD #535 (22 August 1987).

These issues featured new covers by American comic book artists such as Jackson Guice, Tom Lyle, and Bart Sears.

For years after that, attempts to re-publish the series (including the never collected Phase IV) were prevented by a copyright dispute between the publisher and Morrison.

The latter is actually one of the Lloigor or Many-Angled Ones known as Iok Sotot, but the Allies have planned for Maximan's failure and the USAAF drop an atomic bomb on the city before Masterman can finish his opponent off.

In present-day 1987 London former Nazis known as the Cult of the Black Sun engineer Iok Sotot's resurrection in an improved Masterman body.

They attempt to recruit Peter St. John, formerly Mandala of Cloud 9 and now a key Conservative MP in Margaret Thatcher's government who has faked losing his powers.

This reveals the true form of Iok Sotot, but St. John planted a telepathic post-hypnotic command in its mind during their meeting which he uses to give the being a seizure and disappear.

While Ruby decides she is going on holiday before she tells Zenith anything further about his parents the affair has benefitted him greatly as well, allowing his records to top the charts.

Short interlude episodes focusing on Maximan and Doctor Michael Peyne (creator of the world's superhumans) appeared in 2000AD Progs #558-559 (23 - 30 January 1988).

St. John attempts to juggle responding to the crisis with visions of a blackened sun and the Omnihedron since his contact with Iok Sotot, while also fielding a brief visit from Spook.

With the British unable to locate Resolve and unwilling to risk a panic only elite figures such as the Royal Family are covertly evacuated from London.

Zenith is strong enough to destroy Warhead - killing his father in the process - but Wallace has initiated the launch of the missiles from a secure vault, with a riddle set up as the passcode.

Zenith returns to his flat and is confronted by Chimera, a hugely powerful creature composed entirely of thought, created by Peyne at the same time as the other Cloud 9 members, which after assuming a myriad of shapes turns itself into a small-scale omnihedron.

Another interlude - printed in the 1988 2000AD Winter Special (with art by Manuel Carmona rather than Steve Yeowell) debuts the Maximan of Alternate-23, who survived the atomic bomb and lives at Axis Mundi.

Maximan's allies gather superheroes from myriad alternate Earths, including Zenith and St. John, who are united with the surviving members of Cloud 9 and scores of others at Axis Mundi.

The group send to Alternative 666 is led by Ben and includes Zenith, Lux, Robot Archie, Domino, Metamaid, the Blue Magician, Oakman, Tanya, the Steel Claw, Miracle Man, Tri-Man, the Leopard from Lime Street, Fishboy and Catgirl.

Lion and Mr. Unicorn through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge and returns paralysed but the arrival of Robot Archie on a Tyrannosaurus buys the group time to set the bomb and escape, destroying Wyvern along with the planet.

Under interrogation he confesses that Maximan has actually made a deal with the Lloigor, and the destruction of the two alternative Earths has not disabled the Ominhedron but instead removed a flaw in it, and the alignment is in fact now happening.

The final part of their plan involves using the Cult of the Black Sun to activate a Chaostructor bomb set on Alternative 230 - Zenith's home dimension.

St. John battles Maximan but is outmatched until the arrival of the rest of his allies, who have overwhelmed the Lloigir's forces on Alternative 230 and captured the bomb.

An interlude - printed in the 1990 2000AD Annual (with art by Jim McCarthy) - details in flashback St. John's refusal to have a child with Fox as part of Cloud 9's Grand Plan and subsequent survival of an assassination attempt by CIA Shadowmen.

Lux, Spook, Voltage and Black Flag survivors DJ Chill and Domino have formed the Horus Foundation and gone public with their Grand Plan.

Domino, who is now having cold feet about the plan, narrowly survives an assassination attempt but is then killed by Lux, giving the group a reason to devastate the White House.

The Horus Foundation finds Peyne and recruits Blaze (who has given birth to a son fathered by Zenith), though Voltage kills Shockwave to recover her genetic material.

Aging in reverse, he writes his autobiography Seizing the Fire to pass the time despite his awareness that it will never be published while being visited occasionally by his mocking creations.

St. John and Zenith are hunted down, while the other superhumans turn the sun into a huge incubator to power their ascension - showing that their ultimate form is the Lloigor.

Zenith seems broadly aware of these machinations but is more interested in the partying lifestyle his pop career gives him - the implication being both will leave the other to their own agenda.

The real culprit is Robot Archie, who has become a vicious vigilante after what Zenith calls "brain rust" has set in and escapes on a bus wearing a false beard.