THE ULTIMATE SUPER-VILLAINS Part Two - August 1996

If Wishes Were Horses
Written by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll

Summary:  The Ringmaster reflects on his childhood, recalling the incident that prevented him from doing a horse act in the circus.  Later, he discovered his father’s diary, and to his horror, learned of his past as a Nazi.  He never forgave his father.  Hoping to restore the magic of the circus, he dedicated himself to hypnotism.  After inheriting the failing circus from his parents, Ringmaster eventually succumbed to using his father’s Nullatron device to brainwash his creditors.  The circus soon evolved into a criminal front.  In the present, Ringmaster discovers their audience tonight consists of a children’s cancer charity.  He orders his troupe to perform a genuine show, allowing the circus to remain pure for the children.

Continuity Notes:  The original Golden Age Ringmaster was Fritz Tiboldt.  The Nullatron  is the device on his hat that hypnotizes people.  His son, the current Ringmaster, is Maynard Tiboldt.  Looking online, Fritz and his wife were murdered by Nazis in the comic continuity, while they die of natural causes in this story.

Review:  Surely no anthology of Marvel Comics supervillains would be complete without twenty pages of prose focused on the Ringmaster.  While this might seem like an obvious candidate to skip over, there’s a lot of good material here.  Isabella and Ingersoll flesh out Ringmaster in a credible way without making him unrecognizable, and the concept of duty “forcing” both Tiboldts to cross lines they swore they never would is executed well.  After the story reaches the point that Maynard Tiboldt is clearly a villain and actually getting quite good at avoiding the authorities, it’s easy to wonder why there are three pages left.  Bringing in the children at the very end and giving Maynard a respectable justification for giving up crime for just one night is a poignant way to end the story, tying everything back to the opening without overloading on schmaltz. 


Doom (Squared)
Written by Joey Cavalieri

Summary:  An escape artist named Theo invades Latveria’s borders.  He sends a subtle message to its citizens, encouraging them to break away from Dr. Doom.  Doom allows Theo entry into his castle after Theo solves a series of mysteries.  Doom discovers that Theo’s DNA structure has been changed to match his own.  When Theo falls for Doom’s final trick, he’s killed.  Doom sends Theo’s ashes to his uncle Phoebus, the ruler of nearby Sylvania.  When Phoebus throws the urn down in anger, the same virus that killed Theo is released in the castle.

Continuity Notes:  I’ve never heard of the fictitious Marvel country of Sylvania before.  (It's apparently a reference to the movie Duck Soup.)  What other countries that share names with electronics brands exist in the MU?  The Republic of Panasonic?  The liberated islands of Magnavox?

Review:  So, Doom’ story is half as long as Ringmaster’s.  That makes sense.  Actually, I’m not complaining.  Brevity never hurt anybody, and Cavalieri is able to tell the story he needs to tell in only a handful of pages.  The narrative opens with Doom playing a game (described as the Latverian equivalent of “Battleship”) against a Doombot that’s had its intellect increased a hundred fold.  When Doom finally defeats it, he questions if he’ll ever find an equal.  Abruptly, the scene shifts to Theo’s story, and while it’s obvious that Theo is being played as an intellectual rival to Doom, we don’t understand the significance until Cavalieri reveals Theo as a sort of biological Doombot.  It’s a simple story that reasserts the idea that no one is Doom’s equal.  Not a robot with an enhanced brain.  Not a younger model with designer DNA.  Even a rival for his intellect couldn’t match his sheer ruthlessness.  Cavalieri gets the point across effectively, allowing the anthology to quickly move on to…


Child’s Play
Written by Robert L. Washington III

Summary:  After Ghost Rider stops one of Mephisto’s schemes, Mephisto turns his focus on a child named James Carruthers.  Mephisto tricks James into believing that Ghost Rider is a villain, offering to grant him superpowers, and to cure his terminally ill brother, if he agrees to a bargain.  James is given ice powers, which he uses against Ghost Rider.  When Ghost Rider stops their fight to help a civilian, James realizes he’s no villain.  Mephisto arrives enraged, demanding James honor their deal.  Ghost Rider voluntarily transforms back into a human, technically fulfilling James’ agreement.  Mephisto revokes James’ powers, but does heal James’ brother.

Review:  The only characters in the Marvel Universe dumb enough to make a deal with Mephisto should be children.  Period.  This is a fairly generic story, although Washington has chosen an appropriate hero to be targeted by Mephisto (one that a child could easily believe is a villain), and the scenes that flesh out James work pretty well.  The sudden narrative shift from third-person narration to James’ first-hand account, right down to the ebonics, could annoy some readers, but James is kind of likeable by the end.  I mean, his brother’s sick and the bigger kids pick on him all the time.  Leave him alone, okay?

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN Annual #10 - June 1994

Shriek, Rattle, and Roll

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (plot), Mike Lackey (writer), Jerry Bingham (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Freddy Mendez (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man escorts Shriek into Ravencroft, despite his objections that the facility isn’t ready to accept patients. Shriek soon feeds on the negative emotions of a guard and powers herself out of her restraints. She frees her fellow patients, Pyromania, Gale, Mayhem, and Webber, and attacks the staff. With John Jameson’s help, Spider-Man apprehends the inmates.

The Subplots: Warrant and his boss Reynard are using a guard, Barker, as a spy. Their plan is to watch Ravencroft explode and exploit the new bounty hunter opportunities it will generate.

Web of Continuity: Edward Wheelan, formerly the Vermin, now works as a peer counselor at Ravencroft.

Creative Differences: An added thought balloon has Mayhem (who apparently is the only one of the convicts without an online profile) reflecting that she’s only helping the others long enough to kill them after they escape. This was apparently added to justify why Mayhem is joining the other inmates even though a previous scene established that she viewed them as immoral. I don’t think establishing that she wants to kill them as soon as they’re free helps clarify her motivation, though.

Review: Aside from Jerry Bingham’s art, there’s nothing of note here. I don’t even think the introduction of four new Ravencroft patients was intended to do anything more than kill a few pages. In case anyone’s curious, Pyromania is a pyrokinetic, Gale can create massive winds, Mayhem secrets a poisonous gas, and Webber is a “deranged psychotic escape artist,” as opposed to those perfectly stable psychotic escape artists. Two of these villains could’ve given Wizard staffers some easy flatulence jokes, but I can’t imagine anyone else paying these characters a lot of attention. They are such total blank slates that virtually any writer could do something with them, but the Handbook’s already filled with hundreds of generic goons begging for a reinvention.

Daze and Confusion

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (plot), Joey Cavalieri (script), Alex Saviuk (breakdowns), Don Hudson (finishes), Sergio Cariello (letterer), Joe Andreani (colorist)

The Plot: The master hypnotist Daze targets Senator Gaines, who is under Warrant’s protection. Warrant neutralizes Daze and rescues the senator from committing suicide. Reynard injects Daze with truth serum and learns that he works for a criminal cabal known as the Fold.

Review: A caption on the final page asks readers to write in if they want to see more Warrant action. This teaser story, which pits Warrant against a foe that resembles a pedophile cosplaying as Dr. Strange, apparently wasn’t enough to turn the tide in Warrant’s favor. Sadly, we’ll never know the outcome of Warrant’s epic battle with the Fold. I can’t imagine why the comics reading public of 1994 didn’t want more of a character that’s essentially a cyborg Gambit, but sometimes the fates are cruel.

Tabula Rasa

Credits: Mike Lackey (writer), Sergio Cariello (penciler/letterer), Keith Williams (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: The Black Cat discovers the Black Fox stealing jewelry from her apartment. He claims he’s been hired to return it to its proper owners. After pursuing him she decides to let the Black Fox go, content that the last vestige of her criminal life is gone.

I Love the ‘90s: Black Cat remarks that she wants to settle down with the latest Fabio romance novel.

Review: This is pretty amusing, and the art has a cartoony charm that I like. Mike Lackey’s interpretation of the Black Fox feels a little off (he speaks like a walking thesaurus, which seems like a great exaggeration of his established characterization), but the story remains a fun, quick read. A footnote reminds us that a Black Cat miniseries is coming from Terry Kavanagh and Andrew Wildman, but I doubt it was as entertaining as this back-up.

The Power of Resistance

Credits: Joey Cavalieri (writer), Vince Giarrano (art), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: The Prowler fights the Resistor, a former AIM scientist that’s using local gangs for labor. He recognizes one of the young gang members as a friend of his brother’s. After defeating the Resistor, the Prowler warns the child to make the right choices from now on.

Review: Obviously this is a fairly generic set-up, but I imagine Joey Cavalieri probably would’ve gotten something out of the concept if he had enough room to flesh out the story. I don’t think the little kid Prowler’s so concerned about is even named in the story, which gives you some idea of how rushed the execution is. The art ramps up the excitement a bit, with a style that’s a mash-up of Sam Kieth and early Jae Lee. Looking at this back-up, I wonder why exactly Marvel created a new hero to serve as a Spawn clone, when Prowler was already there with his McFarlane friendly costume and cape. I imagine Spider-Man completists would’ve felt more compelled to buy a Prowler series than a Nightwatch one anyway.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #109 - February 1994

A Shock to the System

Credits: Joey Cavalieri (writer), Rurik Tyler (penciler), Sam De La Rosa (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man follows Shocker to a seemingly abandoned TV studio. The studio is actually a secret base belonging to Night Thrasher, who’s hiding an experimental biofeedback harness. After the heroes defeat Shocker in battle, he confesses that he wanted the harness to control his powers, which he’s convinced will kill him. Night Thrasher and Spider-Man combine their scientific knowledge and use the harness to tame Shocker’s powers.

The Subplots: None.

Creative Differences: A few added word balloons elaborate on Night Thrasher’s real name and costume gimmicks, Spider-Man’s spider-sense, and who exactly is going to take Shocker to the Vault after he’s cured.

I Love the '90s: The title of this issue is presumably a reference to an early '90s Billy Idol song.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership has the previous year’s average sales at 332,858 copies with the most recent issue selling (is this a typo?) 432,900 copies. Even Web of Spider-Man almost broke the half a million mark!

Review: Web can never, ever escape filler, can it? Not that this is particularly bad filler, it uses the characters logically and has decent art, but it’s still a page-killer. The most ridiculous element of the issue is a scene that has Shocker literally terrified of Spider-Man’s shadow, but other than that there’s nothing really objectionable here. I’ll give Cavalieri credit for utilizing Spider-Man and Night Thrasher’s scientific expertise and emphasizing Spider-Man’s willingness to help people, even a villain who’s tried to kill him numerous times. So, it reads like a free comic given out at a baseball game, but it’s okay as filler.

The Savaging Prelude - Death Becomes Her!

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Alex Saviuk (penciler), Stephen Baskerville (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Calypso seduces a Guardsman and breaks into the Vault. She unlocks Curt Connors’ cell, only to be killed by her former pawn when he transforms into the Lizard. The Lizard escapes into the night.

The Subplots: None.

Web of Continuity: A one-page interlude showcases the Parkers’ new brownstone home, which has already debuted in Amazing.

I Love the '90s: “Death Becomes Her” was the name of a popular Bruce Willis/Meryl Streep movie at the time.

Review: The regular creative team was still free to do seven pages, so this issue’s filler is padded out with a brief prelude for the next story arc. “The Savaging” is a sequel to Todd McFarlane’s initial Spider-Man storyline, and it’s about as good as you might expect. Kavanagh actually uses Calypso’s voodoo powers quite well during her brief invasion of the Vault, and killing her off so early in the story arc is an unexpected move, but it’s hard to forget that this is setting up an unbearably bad story. And even if Kavanagh’s scored some shock value with her death, killing off Calypso feels like a waste. Say what you will about McFarlane’s “Torment” storyline, but he did manage to take the ultra-obscure Calypso and sell her as a credible threat.