NEW WARRIORS Annual #1 - August 1991

Kings of Pain Part 1 - Errant Knights

Credits:  Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Jeff Albrecht (inker), Tom Vincent (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

Summary:  X-Force and the New Warriors battle until Cable calls a truce.  Two executives at Genetech swear that the Alliance lied about working for them, leading Cable to break into Frenzy’s prison cell.  She reveals that their true employer is AIM, who used them as bodyguards for Harness and Piecemeal.  Soon, a team lead by Marvel Boy breaks into a warehouse owned by AIM, discovering inside “humanoid shell casings.”  In Japan, Harness and Piecemeal absorb more energy, as Piecemeal grows more bloated.  Meanwhile, Cannonball’s team travels to Xavier’s underground bunker to cross-reference Cerebro’s mutant database with the information given to them by Genetech.  When the teams reunite, Cable realizes that Harness and Piecemeal are trying to revive Proteus.

Continuity Notes:  

• Frenzy is being held in the Quebec Provincial Prison, which is a superhuman prison within the Marvel Universe that’s totally new to me.
• Cable recognizes New Warriors member Chord (Chord?!) from his mercenary days (“North Africa, ‘73” to be exact.)  Chord knows Cable as “Winters,” leading him to respond “The name's Cable...this year. ”  “Winters” could obviously be seen as a play on “Summers,” providing another early clue that Cable is Nathan Summers.
• Cannonball is able to use his blast shield to protect the entire X-Force team after Chord throws a grenade at them.  I don’t recall him being able to expand his shield in such a way on other occasions, even if the early issues of X-Force paid some lip service to his developing powers.
• Shatterstar uses his energy channeling/sword-blast powers twice this issue, which is probably more than he ever used them during the entire run of X-Force.
• The locks on the bunker under Xavier’s mansion have been changed.  Boom-Boom comments that “they” changed them, with “they” being X-Factor I assume since the X-Men are off in space until “The Muir Island Saga” begins.
• According to Cerebro’s records, Proteus died on 10/13/1987.  That means the late ‘70s Claremont/Byrne run on Uncanny X-Men happened four years ago Marvel Time at this point in continuity.  Four years seems a bit much, in my opinion.  Considering how slowly characters like Kitty Pryde aged during that period, I would place it closer to two years.

I Love the '90s:  Boom-Boom understands the scientific jargon spoken by the higher-ups at Genetech…NOT!

Review:  X-Force and the New Warriors fight, which I imagine was a huge deal for at least some portion of the audience.  New Warriors wasn’t a book I followed as a kid, so the fight doesn’t mean a lot to me, but I know both teams had pretty hardcore fanbases in the early ‘90s.  As far as superhero fights go, this isn’t so bad, as Nicieza is able to explain who each of the characters are fairly naturally and work in a few decent jokes.  Having Mark Bagley pencil the fight doesn’t hurt, either.  He clearly knows how to keep the New Warriors on-model, and I like his interpretation of X-Force.

Once the obligatory fight is over, that means it’s time for the story to really begin, and it’s certainly one worthy of Nicieza’s reputation for…intricate plotting.  The New Warriors are working security for their friends at Genetech.  Genetech was hired by Ophrah Industries to “create a DNA matrix for a cellular mix…etc. etc. etc. ...blah blah blah.”  A front organization for AIM hired the Alliance of Evil to guard two of its associates (or pawns, maybe?), as they leech energy from various locations, which is somehow what Genetech has also wanted to do.  (What does that have to do with DNA?)  The Alliance (perhaps) lied and pointed X-Force towards Genetech, who swear they don’t know the Alliance, but surely they’re also lying to the heroes, right?  The Genetech exec stuttered before he gave an answer, and we all know people only stutter in comics when they lie.  Later, the heroes discover that AIM is working on shells similar to SHIELD LMDs that can contain energy and be controlled like toy soldiers.  All of this leads to the revelation that new characters Harness and Piecemeal are absorbing Proteus’ energy from all across the globe.  In the background, a shadowy figure that’s obviously Gideon is playing chess with an even more shadowy figure, laughing about how these pawns are being used.

I can’t imagine the bulk of the audience at this time really wanted to keep track of so many plot points.  Most of the kids reading this probably just wanted X-Force and the New Warriors to start fighting each other again by the time they reached the end.  (And I can't imagine what a kid thought about the abused, horribly bloated Piecemeal.)  Older readers who might have the patience to try and follow all of the plot details were, I'd wager,  just annoyed by the attempt to revive Proteus.  Having Harness and Piecemeal traveling all across the globe absorbing his leftover energy is automatically going to upset any continuity purist who remembers that Proteus never traveled outside of Scotland, for starters.  In fairness, Nicieza establishes that the energy wavelength is strongest in Edinburgh, where Proteus died, implying that his energy signature was so strong it reached out across the world.  That’s comic book science plausible, sure.  But spreading the energy out is yet another wrinkle that’s been added to an already dense plot.  It also complicates the opening with the X-Terminators from the last chapter.  So those kid mutants just happened to be living in a boarding school where energy from a dead mutant killed years earlier has accumulated?  But what’s really grating is just the concept of reviving Proteus.  The original story is a classic, in part, because people left it alone after it was over.  Nicieza toyed with the idea of reviving Proteus earlier in a Classic X-Men back-up, but he didn’t actually go through with it.  Now, he’s teasing the readers again, but this time it looks like he’s serious, and that’s not a good thing.

Origins of the New Warriors

Credits:  Eric Fein (writer), Tom Morgan (breakdowns), Marie Severin and Jeff Albrecht (finishes), Kevin Tinsley, Suzanne Gaffney, and Ed Lazellari (colors), Rick Parker (letters)

Summary:  The origins of the New Warriors are recapped in various stories.

I Love the '90s:  Namorita compares her family drama to Dallas.

Review:  Every New Warrior has his or her origin recapped in a different story, which probably wasn’t a bad idea since some of these characters have origins from the most obscure corners of the Marvel Universe.  The stories do the most basic job of conveying the information, which is all I really expected them to do.  They might not be too exciting to read today, but as a kid who wanted to know more about Marvel history, these kinds of recap stories were greatly appreciated.

To Bounce or Not to Bounce

Credits:  Dan Slott (writer), John Calimee (penciler), Don Hudson (inks), Kevin Tinsley (colors), Rick Parker (letters)

Summary:  Chord gives Speedball a serum that will allow Genetech to study his kinetic field.  While he waits for an hour for it to kick in, he tries to patrol the city, but is continually rescued by heroes when attempting to activate his kinetic powers.  Later, he discovers that the serum could temporarily cancel his powers.

I Love the '90s:  Speedball worries that the green serum will turn him into a Ninja Turtle.  On the very next panel, he also gives us the second “NOT!” of the issue.

Review:  It’s a comedy story by Dan Slott, a Marvel staffer destined to go nowhere in the comics industry.  The joke is that Speedball is trying to activate his powers by doing dangerous stunts, such as jumping off a building, but is continually rescued by various Marvel heroes.  On the final page, we learn that he actually could’ve died at any time since his powers were cancelled during the previous hour.  It’s funny, but here’s the real highlight…

I swear to you, there’s a joke in this story about Speedball adding spikes to his costume!  It’s there on page 58, I promise.  How did this not get scanned and posted all over the internet in 2007?  Sure, no one probably cares now, but Dave's Long Box could've made gold out of this had it been discovered back in the previous decade.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #52-#53, July-August 1989

Chains

Credits: Gerry Conway (writer), Frank Springer & John Romita, Sr. (art), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Jameson attempts to break out of his chains while the Chameleon is away. He flashes back to his experiences as a young reporter investigating police corruption. When his editor refuses to pursue the story, Jameson goes to work for the Daily Bugle. Jameson’s sidekick, a copyboy named Danny, is soon killed by a trap intended for Jameson. Jameson works through his grief and connives a way for the cop behind Danny’s death, Kenner, to confess on tape. In the present, Chameleon returns as Jameson is freeing himself. He locks Jameson in the closet as retaliation.

The Subplots: None.

Web of Continuity: We learn about the history of Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle in this issue. Jameson is a twenty-year-old reporter in the flashback, working for the New York Herald Journal Express, after a stint at the Daily Bugle. He’s courted back by Bugle owner William Walter Goodman, who encourages Jameson to pursue the story and inspires him to keep going after Danny is killed.

Review: This is a “special” issue, from back in the day when stories that didn’t feature superhero action were rare. John Romita, Sr. is the co-artist, which is another indication Marvel probably wanted this story to have more weight than the average issue. Gerry Conway parallels Jameson’s struggle to expose police corruption with his fight to escape the Chameleon’s imprisonment, while also providing another justification for Jameson’s hatred of heroes. Following his experiences with Kenner, Jameson knows heroes “are the bunk” and he’s determined to know the truth about the people who claim to be selfless defenders of the innocent. He’s paired with Danny, a thinly veiled Jimmy Olsen analogue who actually gets offed during the course of the story. Conway goes a long way towards humanizing Jameson in the flashbacks, playing up his admirable qualities while not shying away from his blatant hypocrisy and inflated ego. Jameson’s one of the better supporting cast members in comics, and while it’s easy to play him for laughs, the stories that convincingly portray him as more than a cartoon character are also worth trying.

Wolves in the Night

Credits: Gerry Conway (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Keith Williamson (inker), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man intercepts an arms shipment into New York and learns that the Lobos Brothers are planning to attack the Kingpin’s tower at midnight. As Peter Parker, he tries to tell Jonah Jameson, but “Jonah” refuses to run the story. After investigating Glory Grant’s apartment, Spider-Man locates the Lobo Brothers, but can’t prevent their escape. Soon, the Arranger sees their helicopter outside of his window.

The Subplots: Kristy Watson collapses in the bathroom, and Aunt May is unable to help her because the door is locked.

Web of Continuity: Notice that Alex Saviuk draws Spider-Man with larger eyes on the cover, which means the McFarlane look is now the “official” style. Mark Bagley’s interior art also follows the McFarlane design.

“Huh?” Moment: Peter storms out when “Jonah” refuses to print his story on the midnight attack, upset that a potential bloodbath won’t be prevented. There are other newspapers in New York, Peter. You’ve even worked for a few of them. Why does he act as if the Daily Bugle is his only option?

Review: The Lobos Brothers storyline continues, as Spider-Man finally pieces together that the Lobos Brothers are actually werewolves, Joy Mercado comes clean about spying on Glory Grant (a Spectacular Spider-Man storyline referenced here for the first time), and the Chameleon and Hammerhead sit back and wait for the Lobos to handle the Kingpin. You would think that the story is reaching the climax, but it actually runs until #55, with a few more chapters showing up in Spectacular Spider-Man. While Conway advances the plot, he works in some nice character moments. Spider-Man is disgusted by working with the Arranger, Arranger is terrified of Kingpin, Joy feels guilty for spying on Glory, Kristy is jealous of MJ and still trying to hide her crush on Peter, and Kate Cushing is sticking with the Daily Bugle out of loyalty to Robbie Robertson, even though Jonah appears to be worse than ever. To me, this is the material that makes a Spider-Man comic, and it’s one of the reasons why over-the-top “events” never seem to work with the franchise. If there's no room for the characters, it's not Spider-Man.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #50-#51, May-June 1989

1,000 Words

Credits: Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Tabloid photographer Nick Katzenberg catches Spider-Man robbing millionaire Winston Walker’s home. His photos land Katzenberg a staff position at the Daily Bugle, while former associates of Spider-Man are disturbed by the story. Spider-Man tails Walker to a hidden vault, where he’s kept secret documents. Spider-Man takes the papers to Ellis Island, where Silver Sable and her employee Sandman are waiting. Puma, Rocket Racer, Will O’ The Wisp, and Prowler individually track Spider-Man to Ellis Island, still believing him to be a thief. They try to apprehend him, but he stops the fight by unveiling the secret documents that prove Walker is laundering money for the mob. Silver Sable explains that robbing Walker’s home was a ruse, designed to lure him to his secret vault.

The Subplots: After hiring Nick Katzenberg, Jonah Jameson returns to his empty apartment (his wife is away on a research sabbatical). He’s kidnapped by the Chameleon, who assumes his identity. Elsewhere, Robbie Robertson’s trial carries on, as the Lobos Brothers continue attacking the Kingpin’s interests.

Web of Continuity: This is the first appearance of Nick Katzenberg, who becomes a recurring supporting cast member during this era. Robbie Robertson is on trial for “misprision of a felony” because he stayed quiet about one of Tombstone’s murders for years. Peter and MJ are now living in Aunt May’s boarding home, following their eviction from the Bedford Condos (orchestrated by MJ’s obsessed fan Jonathan Caesar).

I Love the ‘80s: Silver Sable gives Spidey a beeper to use during the mission. Peter’s fellow grad student Anne-Marie wonders why a college student would need a beeper.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership has the yearly sales average as 238,115 with the most recent issue selling 197,700 copies.

Review: Aside from the introduction of Nick Katzenberg, this issue leads to quite a few storylines during Gerry Conway’s tenure. Chameleon will go on to impersonate Jameson for months, which ties in with the ongoing Lobo Brothers arc. The Puma feels that he’s disgraced Spider-Man, which leads into the next Daily Bugle subplot. Prowler and Rocket Racer take Silver Sable up on her offer of employment, which gives the characters something to do for the next few years (Will O’ The Wisp is also offered a job, but he just disappears after this issue for some reason). Rocket Racer also plays a large role in an upcoming two-parter, in addition to starring in several back-up stories in Marvel Tales and the various Spidey annuals. Judging by his comments in this issue, this is his first appearance in years. I don’t know if Conway had all of this mapped out when writing this story, but it’s nice to see an anniversary issue that works as a fun story, but also has a larger impact later on.

Along with the revival of several forgotten and nearly-forgotten enemies-turned-allies, Peter and MJ’s new living arrangement is acknowledged in Web for the first time. This is one of my favorite status quos for the character -- living in his childhood bedroom with his wife, with no prospects for a new apartment, and a house packed with elderly couples he has to hide his secret identity from. It’s pathetic, but not comically pathetic, which is where I think modern writers go too far. Peter’s been hit hard by life, but the situation isn’t so over-the-top that it’s implausible, and it’s not screamingly obvious that an outside force is trying to impose “hardship” on the character. There’s also a certain irony to Peter and MJ living in Aunt May’s home, just a few weeks after they pawned Kristy off to the same location. I’ve heard people complain about this kind of “domestic” setup in the Spider-books, but as a kid this is one of the situations that made me realize Spider-Man wasn’t like all of the other superheroes.

The Crimelord of New York!

Credits: Gerry Conway (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: After hearing rumors of a gang war, Spider-Man searches for the Arranger. He arrives in time to stop Eduardo Lobo from killing the Arranger, but isn’t able to apprehend him. Arranger proposes Spider-Man pool resources with the Kingpin’s side in order to prevent the gang war. Meanwhile, Chameleon reveals his intention to become New York’s new crimelord. Under the Maggia’s direction, he forms a partnership with Hammerhead, aimed at taking down the Kingpin.

The Subplots: Peter overhears Kristy throwing up in the bathroom. The stress of losing her condo and life savings to Jonathan Caesar causes MJ to snap at Peter. Later, they visit Lorraine in the hospital together, only to learn she isn’t making progress. As Jonah Jameson, Chameleon searches for a confidential file on the Kingpin, but Glory Grant has already given it to Eduardo Lobo.

Web of Continuity: This story takes place immediately after Spectacular Spider-Man #150, the issue that confirmed that the Lobo Brothers are in fact werewolves.

Review: And now the gang war storyline that was building in Spectacular Spider-Man moves over to Web. Conway is essentially writing the two titles as one bi-weekly series at this point, yet he tends not to end the individual chapters in cliffhangers, which theoretically means you don’t have to buy the other book. Mark Bagley penciled two of the 1988 Spider-Man annuals (one of them even introduced future New Warrior Speedball), and this issue marks his debut as the rotating fill-in artist for Web and Amazing. If Sal Buscema ever needed fill-ins on Spectacular, I’m sure he would’ve shown up there, too. Bagley’s work isn’t quite recognizable yet, but he does a capable job on an issue that largely consists of subplot scenes.

With this issue, a new wrinkle in the gang war is introduced -- the Chameleon. As he explains to the Maggia in this issue, he’s leaving international espionage behind in order to concentrate on the more lucrative career of organized crime. Aside from using the Daily Bugle to batter Spider-Man’s reputation, he also believes the Bugle’s files will help him topple the Kingpin. Little does he know his secretary is in love with the other mobster seeking to destroy the Kingpin, Eduardo Lobo. The Lobo Brothers are great; I think it’s about time Spider-Man faced Mexican mutant werewolf gangsters. The werewolf fight is only a small portion of the issue, as the story cuts back and forth between the various ongoing storylines. Conway has a solid handle on the Chameleon, and his interpretation of the “new” MJ (she now takes on everyone’s problems to avoid her own, as opposed to just running away like she did in the past) is interesting. The combination of personal drama, superhero drama, and underworld drama gives Conway a lot to work with, and he seems to enjoy juggling the various threads.

ONSLAUGHT Crossovers Part Two – September 1996

Amazing Spider-Man #415 (DeFalco/Bagley/Malhstedt/Milgrom/Comicraft/Sharon/Malibu) – This installment doesn’t advance the Onslaught story at all, as it just uses the Sentinels as villains while the book continues its ongoing storylines. It’s amusing to read the first page of this issue, as the narrative captions recapping the past few years of storylines provide a list of events Marvel soon dismissed (MJ pregnant, Aunt May dead, Peter Parker’s a clone, etc.). This was published during the awkward period when Marvel pretty much admitted that Peter Parker would be back as Spider-Man, but his return would have to wait until the Onslaught crossover was over. The story involves Peter evading Sentinels with Mary Jane, as Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) takes on another Sentinel. One of the Sentinels heavily infers that Mary Jane’s unborn child is a female mutant, which I’m sure was supposed to be a big revelation at the time. Reading any Spider-Man comic from the past twenty years or so gives me an odd feeling now, as I have no idea what’s supposed to be in-continuity, what was never in-continuity, and what was once in-continuity but has since been retconned within continuity. Consequently, I really don’t care (and it’s not just the continuity headaches that bother me, it’s Marvel turning its back on the idea that Spider-Man comics are supposed to be about the continuing life of Peter Parker). Even if it was published during a strange period in the character’s history, it is a fairly enjoyable story about Spider-Man fighting Sentinels. DeFalco does a nice job of depicting the Daily Bugle’s reaction to the crisis, and helps to convey the seriousness of the event more than some of the main Onslaught chapters have.

Avengers #402 (Waid/Deodato/Palmer/Kalisz/Oakley) – This is actually the final issue of the first volume of Avengers, so it’s sad that it’s dedicated to an X-crossover and not to any of the title’s own storylines. In this issue, Iron Man finishes the psionic armor that’s going to be used against Onslaught, and the team is soon attacked by Post and Holocaust, who want to destroy it. Waid tries to make the story more about the characters than the event, as he focuses on the Avengers’ reactions to the chaos in New York, and emphasizes the toll that it’s taking on Captain America. Predictably, Cap eventually figures out a way to defeat Post and Holocaust, as the citizens of New York cheer the team on. The ending’s certainly cheesy, and it seems like something tacked on to make the final issue seem more sentimental than it really is, but the majority of the story works pretty well. The art’s improved from the previous issue, and the action moves at a steady pace. “Heroes responding to a massive catastrophe in a major city during a crossover” is probably its own subgenre at this point, and while this issue doesn’t do anything new, it’s still a decent read.