SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #21 - August 1998

A Real Boy

Credits:  Chris Golden (writer), Mike Deodato, Jr. (penciler), Joe Pimentel (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Jack Morelli (letters)

The Plot:  Peter and Betty are sent to the Swiss Alps to cover an event hosted by Dr. Walston Kraft, a scientist who specializes in cloning.  Peter investigates Kraft’s home and discovers Frankenstein’s Monster and Ivan the Hunchback are secretly staying there.  He also learns that Kraft has made dozens of clones of the monster’s body.  Betty’s own investigation leads her to believe that Kraft has a connection to his neighbor, a descendant of the original Doctor Frakenstein, Victoria Frankenstein.  Peter investigates her castle and discovers that she’s been kept prisoner there by Kraft.  She reveals to Peter that Ivan pretended to be the monster’s friend in order to trick him into falling for Kraft’s scheme.  Peter returns to Kraft’s and convinces the monster that Kraft and Ivan are using him.  The monster kills Ivan in his anger, and sets fire to Kraft’s lab.  Peter escapes with the monster, who disappears shortly before Peter can introduce him to Betty.

The Subplots:  None.

Web of Continuity:  I seem to recall Marvel labeling this a “retelling” of Peter’s first meeting with Frankenstein’s Monster, but this is clearly set in current continuity, since Betty is a reporter and Billy Walters is even mentioned.

We Get Letters:  The “Next Issue” box in the letters page accidentally runs a teaser for the Lizard story that ran two issues ago.  The same page also jokes that editor Ralph Macchio isn’t paying attention to what’s going on.

Review:  There’s an odd significance to this issue, since Peter only appears as Spider-Man on the cover.  In the story, he rightly decides that Spider-Man showing up in the Swiss Alps while Peter Parker is traveling there would make ace reporter Betty Brant suspicious, so he forgoes changing into costume.  It’s a perfectly logical decision to make, but it’s strange to read a story that doesn’t go through some form of acrobatics in order to get Peter into costume.  Visually, it’s probably not the best decision, since Mike Deodato, Jr. is forced to spend the majority of the issue drawing Peter in what appear to be black long johns.  I wonder now if Deodato was hired for this job after he successfully channeled Gene Colan in Spectacular Spider-Man a few months back.  Unfortunately, this issue doesn’t look much better than the average issue of Unlimited, which may or may not be due to the fact that Deodato isn’t inking his own work.  (It just occurred to me that Marvel could’ve gotten Gene Colan himself to illustrate this issue if they wanted, since he was alive and working at the time.)

The story, like the previous issue, is a somewhat baffling attempt to incorporate ‘70s monster characters into a Spider-Man story.  It’s not bad, since Golden does have a handle on Peter’s character and his dialogue is fine, but there is a sense that Marvel was kind of desperate to fill Unlimited with pretty much anything by this point.  Thankfully, there is some effort to personalize the story as a Spider-Man story, allowing Peter an opportunity to give his own thoughts on cloning and to relate to Frankenstein’s Monster on a deeper level.  I can’t believe I just wrote that, but hey, it’s a superhero comic.  Golden strikes a decent balance between taking the material too seriously and just presenting it as camp, and as bizarre as the premise is, the issue is actually more entertaining than many of the other titles released by the spider-office this month.

SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #20 - May 1998

A Long Way till Dawn

Credits:  Christopher Golden (writer), Joe Bennett (penciler), Joe Pimentel (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Jack Morelli (letters)

The Plot:  Dracula’s daughter Lilith is feeding on teenage Goths, aided by her thrall, Simon Garth, the Zombie.  Hannibal King is hired by Simon’s daughter to locate the Amulet of Damballah, which Lilith is using to control Simon.  Lilith leaves a false clue with Spider-Man, implicating Morbius in her killings.  Following the lead, Spider-Man runs into Hannibal King at a nightclub owned by Lilith.  They join forces, but are soon abducted by Lilith’s followers.  When Hannibal regains the Amulet of Damballah from Lilith, she loses control of the Zombie and is forced to retreat.  Hannibal returns the Zombie’s body to his daughter, while Spider-Man recounts the unbelievable events to Mary Jane.

The Subplots:  Peter and MJ go on a date that is surprisingly not interrupted by an emergency.

Web of Continuity:  

• Lilith wants to kill the “pretend” vampire Morbius; she assumes Spider-Man can lead her to him.
• Dr. Jacob Weisenthal, a friend of Moribus and a supporting cast member in his regular series, is killed.  Lilith murders him as punishment for not knowing where Morbius is, and for working on a cure for vampirism.
• Spider-Man refuses to believe at the beginning of the story that “real” vampires exist.  Even after he’s forced to change his mind, he remains adamant that Dracula is a fictional creation.  And yet, he encountered Dracula a year and a half earlier in Spider-Man Team-Up #6.

I Love the ‘90s:  The bouncer at Lilith’s Goth club calls Peter a “90210 boy.”  Later, Peter refers to himself as “Mulder” while investigating the emergence of vampires in New York.

Review:  Who would’ve thought that two Spider-Man stories within a year’s time would involve Simon Garth, the Zombie and the Amulet of Damballah?  How did that even happen once?  The only explanation I can think of is “Bronze Age Revival,” which apparently hasn’t died out yet by early 1998.  Since no one knew what exactly to do with Spider-Man Unlimited, it appears that a decision has been made to turn into a 1970s horror throwback comic for a few issues.  Regular artist Joe Bennett is still around, even though he’s also working on the monthly Amazing title, and the X-office’s Wolverine: Days of Future Past miniseries.  As I’ve said many, many times by now, Bennett’s art shows occasional hints of real talent, but too often resembles that generic “Deodato Studios” style that is already badly dated by the late ‘90s.  The fact that he has exactly one female body type he doesn’t deviate from is especially obvious in an issue starring a female villain.  

I’ve mentioned before that I tend to enjoy Spider-Man stories that pit him against foes that haven’t been recycled endlessly in these titles, so at the very least I’ll give Christopher Golden credit for pulling Lilith out of obscurity for this tale.  She’s just interesting enough to serve as the villain in a one-shot story, even if she isn’t exactly overflowing with personality.  Hannibal King is a character I know almost nothing about, and it seems as if the story is written with readers like me in mind, since Golden is treating it as an introduction to the “supernatural detective.”  (Does he predate Constantine?)  Hannibal is fleshed out just enough to give the reader some sense of his personality and a basic idea of his internal conflict.  That’s more than could be said about some of the other Bronze Age cameos from this era, which assumed the audience cared about these forgotten characters as much as the nostalgic editors did.  Even though Spider-Man himself doesn’t contribute much to the plot, and is arguably a generic hero that could’ve been replaced by anyone, Golden seems to have a handle on his personality.  The brief scene that has Peter trying to blend in at a Goth nightclub is kind of cute, reminding the reader of how awkwardly Peter fits into any fad.  (Although his “trendy” new look resembles the way I think Marvel wants Peter to dress today.)  Like many issues of Unlimited during this era, it’s clearly filler, but not bad filler.  I do question why no one remembered the recent Spider-Man Team-Up issue that had Dracula on the cover, however.  If you’re going to make a sweeping statement about Spidey’s belief in Dracula, would it be so hard to check and see if they appeared in the same comic before?

THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Part Three - December 1994

Kraven the Hunter is Dead, Alas

Written by Craig Shaw Gardner

The Plot: Mysterio is freed from prison by demons he’s summoned with an ancient book. Unfortunately, Mysterio finds himself stalked by the demons, which now have a taste for his flesh. Needing help, he attempts to attract Spider-Man by robbing a jewelry exhibit. Mysterio forms an impromptu alliance with the Vulture to commit the robbery, only to be attacked by more demons after the robbery’s committed. Mysterio chases off the demons with several flash grenades, while the Vulture’s strange encounter with the demons seemingly cures him of cancer. Spider-Man, after spending a day reflecting on lost loved ones, finds Mysterio and the Vulture and easily subdues them.

The Subplots: MJ and her aunt Anna have gone shopping, leaving Peter behind for a day of relaxation.

Web of Continuity: As you may have noticed, Mysterio is using sorcery here years before he studies the occult in the comic book continuity.

Review: I’m stumped by this one. I was going to say that I’ve never read anything by Craig Shaw Gardner so I can’t speak to his writing style, but looking at Wikipedia I discovered I have read one of his works. His novelization of the 1989 Batman film. Which I read in the fourth grade. Mainly because it had swear words. Outside of movie novelizations, his focus seems to be parody fantasy stories, which helps to explain where he’s coming from, but not exactly what this story is supposed to be.

Unless there’s an obvious literary reference I’m missing, I’m going to assume that the title of this story is a nod to a novel by Michael Bishop called Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas. Wiki describes the novel as the story of “an alternative universe where his (Dick’s) non-genre work is published but his science fiction is banned by a totalitarian USA in thrall to a demonically possessed Richard Nixon.” That, clearly, has nothing to do with the content of the story, so I guess Gardner just liked the sound of the title. What is the relevance of the title, though? Kraven is barely referenced throughout the story; once when Peter reflects on his life and remembers villains who have died, and on the final page when the narrative makes an odd connection between Kraven’s hunt and a hunt Spider-Man’s somehow completed before he even donned his costume today. Presumably this alludes to Peter deciding to stay home with MJ even though he knows the jewelry exhibit is likely to be robbed; a dilemma that’s resolved when MJ practically orders him to go protect the exhibit. I guess Peter’s found a peace in life that Kraven’s hunt could never bring him? Okay, then. But what does this have to do with Mysterio and the Vulture? Perhaps the idea is that Mysterio’s found peace by defeating the demons without Spider-Man’s help, while Vulture’s embraced the darkness the demons inhabit…and somehow found a cure for cancer? I don’t know. This is an odd one.

Radically Both

Written by Christopher Golden

The Plot: Curt Connors develops a formula that he hopes will enable him to maintain his human persona while in his Lizard form. After ingesting the formula, he discovers that his consciousness is alive, but he has no control over the Lizard. The Lizard immediately races to the home of his ex-wife and son. Spider-Man arrives to stop him, but is knocked into a neighboring building during their fight. When the Lizard has an opportunity to kill his son, Curt’s persona emerges and spares him. Spider-Man returns and escorts the Lizard to his lab.

Web of Continuity:

· Curt Connors is living in an apartment in New York City in this story, as opposed to the home in Florida he lives in according to the comics’ continuity.

· The Lizard’s son is called “William” instead of “Billy”, which means Terry Kanavagh’s attempts to update his name from Web of Spider-Man did survive into at least one other story.

Review: There’s a nice hook for this story, as Christopher Golden has Curt Connors remain conscious during his transition into the Lizard and narrate life in his altered state. Of course, Connors is being wildly reckless by even attempting this experiment, but his actions are somewhat justifiable if he truly believes this is the only way the Lizard’s persona can ever be destroyed. The question of whether or not the Lizard could ever bring himself to kill his family is raised, with no conclusive answer given. He certainly comes close in this story, but the moment that he’s prepared to cut William open is the moment Connors finally finds the strength to overtake the Lizard’s consciousness. Did this happen because Connors had a stronger motivation than ever to take control, or because the Lizard subconsciously can’t bring himself to commit the act?

Spider-Man assures William that his father would never allow the Lizard to harm him; a statement Connors later claims is a lie. The story ends with Spider-Man choosing not to dwell on the answer. It’s a fine ending, although this story more than any other emphasizes just how foolish Spider-Man is for repeatedly bailing out Curt Connors. For the sake of the Connors family, and just humanity in general, Connors really should be in a high-security prison. Yes, Curt Connors is a tragic figure, but he’s also a horribly selfish one if he doesn’t understand why he should be removed from society.

UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN - Part Two

Celebrity

Written by Christopher Golden & José R. Nieto

The Plot: Peter Parker is assigned to take photos of the Human Torch’s date with actress Heather Fox. Sandman is also on a date in the restaurant with Candace, a jewelry store clerk he has a crush on. When Candace expresses her attraction to the Human Torch, Sandman snaps into a rage and attacks the hero. Spider-Man and Torch battle Sandman until he is scared away by the Fantastic Four. Heather, bored by the Torch, approaches Spider-Man after the fight and asks if he knows Sandman’s phone number.

Web of Continuity: This story takes place shortly before Amazing Spider-Man annual #1. Sandman is also referred to by the narrator as William Baker throughout the story, further complicating the later retcon that claimed his true name really is Flint Marko.

Review: This is yet another Silver Age-era Spider-Man/Human Torch team-up. I can’t say it really adds anything to the genre. Selecting Sandman as the villain does work to the story’s advantage, though, since at this point the audience knows he’s destined to reform (and doesn’t know yet about John Byrne’s ridiculous retcon), but also knows how nasty he was during this era. Golden and Nieto reconcile the two portrayals by presenting Sandman as a hard luck loser with a bad temper. He wants to do right, but once his ego is bruised, he irrationally acts out and turns on the society he feels has rejected him. This gives Sandman a more nuanced portrayal than he received in the Silver Age, but also avoids any direct contradictions. I also enjoyed the twist that Heather and Candace are on dates with the wrong guys; it’s probably the best moment of the story. But as a Spider-Man/Human Torch story…they’re the dullest elements of the story, which is a problem.

Better Looting Through Modern Chemistry

Written by John Garcia & Pierce Askegren

The Plot: Out on bail, the Looter immediately begins a new crime spree. Spider-Man follows him to a science exhibit where he hopes to rejuvenate his powers with a recently discovered meteor. When the Looter runs out of helium, Spider-Man recognizes him from hours earlier -- he couldn’t afford two helium cartridges at the Chemco supply store. Spider-Man races to the closed store and ambushes the Looter there.

The Subplots: Peter is buying supplies for his webbing at Chemco but doesn’t have enough cash. He gets an advance from Jonah Jameson, but can’t make it to the store before it closes. On his way there, he accidentally offends Gwen Stacy. Later, he’s invited to lunch with another classmate, Sally Green. He annoys her by leaving early when he sees a report on the Looter’s crime spree.

Web of Continuity: This story is set a few days after Amazing Spider-Man #36.

Review: The major flaw in this story is the assumption that page after page of the Looter rigging up his devices and causing chaos is inherently entertaining. The Looter’s gimmicks are a visual gag, and with no one to bounce off of for much of the story (and very little internal narration), his trademark nuttiness isn’t exploited very well, either. Garcia and Askegren do have a decent handle on Spider-Man and his supporting cast, though, and his run of misfortune throughout the story doesn’t feel tired or hackneyed, which is often the case when writers feel as if they have to go out of their way to insert problems for the hero.

The hook of the story is that Spider-Man’s forced to go without his webbing for the entire adventure, as opposed to the standard last-panel cliffhanger. His solution for moving across town is to hitch a ride on a television news helicopter, which has of course abandoned him by the end of the story. Without the webbing, he also needs something to keep his automatic camera in place. The best solution he can come up with is a roll of duct tape. The deceivingly simple journey of purchasing the chemicals he needs for the webbing is also a series of archetypal bad luck moments that allow the writers to use the supporting cast in a way we haven’t seen in the novel so far. This feels the most like a Spider-Man comic so far, assuming someone would’ve commissioned an extra-length Looter issue.

WOLVERINE/PUNISHER: REVELATION #4 - September 1999

So This is Hell

Credits: Tom Sniegoski & Christopher Golden (writers), Pat Lee (pencils & colors), Alvin Lee (inks), Sigmund Torre (background assist), Angela Tsang (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: The Punisher finds Revelation and protects her from the robots. To stop her from reaching the surface, he reaches into his angelic arsenal and summons a weapon that can’t harm her -- a crystal that holds the essence of her slain parents. The warhead robot appears and, despite the efforts of Wolverine and Punisher, fatally injures Revelation. Punisher places the warhead inside the hole in his chest and absorbs the blast. The Council of Thrones arrives and takes Revelation to Heaven. Healed, the Punisher reflects with Lucy. Meanwhile, Wolverine ponders the afterlife.

Review: The last issue hinted that, perhaps, this mini could redeem itself a bit by giving the Punisher a meaningful moral dilemma -- killing Revelation for what could be his only chance of ever seeing his family again. This issue resolves that ethical quandary by giving the Punisher whatever magic powers he needs for a Get Out of the Plot Free card. Just a few pages after magically pulling out a “weapon” that works like a Hallmark card, he’s also able to fill up the hole in his chest with a bomb blast and walk away none the worse for it. It’s hard to imagine why this status quo didn’t last, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, Wolverine remains incredulous at the idea of an afterlife, even after a lengthy battle with angel-powers Punisher, and witnessing first hand a host of angels taking a young woman to Heaven. Oh, yeah, Wolverine also traveled to HELL with Punisher (and let’s not forget Ghost Rider) in one of the highest-selling prestige format comics of all time. He still can’t wrap his head around this stuff? If the writers wanted to explore Wolverine’s willingness to believe in Hell but his skepticism towards Heaven, that’s an interesting idea that could work as a legitimate character arc, but that’s not what we’re getting. Wolverine’s disbelief doesn’t offer any insights into his character, and none of the events of the story seems to impact him in any way. His skepticism about the afterlife has barely been mentioned in the previous chapters, so pulling it out now as an emotional hook for this issue just seems like an odd choice, anyway. The final page of the comic even has Wolverine wistfully staring at the night sky, fruitlessly looking for answers…probably the most banal conclusion you could execute in any “faith” story. All of the Photoshop tricks in the world can’t cover up writing (and art) this shoddy.

WOLVERINE/PUNISHER: REVELATION #3 - August 1999

One Shot at Heaven

Credits: Tom Sniegoski & Christopher Golden (writers), Pat Lee (pencils), Alvin Lee (inks), Sigmund Torre (background assist), Angelo Tsang (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: The Punisher is injured while fighting the robots, discovering that his angelic powers seem unable to heal the hole in his chest. He carries on with Wolverine, but both fail to apprehend Revelation. After she knocks the heroes down with an energy burst, the Punisher realizes he’s sick. Meanwhile, a failsafe bomb designed by Soteira is triggered. Elsewhere, the Council of Thrones watches the events, fearful that Revelation will reach the surface.

Continuity Notes: A series of narrative captions attempts to explain how exactly Soteira built a sci-fi lab inside the Morlock Tunnels. The explanation is that the Morlocks often stole the material she needed from the surface, and that the failsafe bomb was appropriated from the Dark Beast.

Review: Assuming you’re willing to go along with the angelic Punisher makeover, there are a few decent character moments this issue. The Punisher is close to dying, his redemption mission incomplete, which means he’s damned to Hell and will never see his family again. This is motivation enough for him to kill Revelation, leaving Wolverine (who just lost his girlfriend to Revelation) to be the unlikely advocate for mercy. This is just a brief scene that doesn’t characterize the issue, but it is adequately written and I have to admit that it’s a justifiable use of the characters. Plus, a few narrative captions are thrown in to rationalize the peculiar misuse of the Morlocks in the previous issue, so...they tried, at least. The idea that the Morlocks had a secret futuristic anime lab in one corner of the sewers while their general population lived like paupers (and easy targets for a group of mercenaries) is still too absurd to buy, though, even if you’re bringing in the Dark Beast to help sell the idea. While I’m handing out backhanded praise, I’ll also point out that the art has noticeably improved this issue, even if many of the pages still look wonky.

WOLVERINE/PUNISHER: REVELATION #2 - July 1999

Ascension

Credits: Tom Sniegoski & Christopher Golden (writers), Pat Lee (pencils & colors), Alvin Lee (inker), Angelo Tsang (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: In the sewers, Wolverine discovers a holographic message left by a Morlock scientist named Soteira. She tells the story of a girl named Revelation who emits an uncontrollable death aura. After Revelation’s parents died, Soteira tried to help her control her powers. When Soteira grew too sick, she placed Revelation in a cryogenic freeze and created robotic guards to prevent anyone from disturbing her body. Wolverine tracks down the adult Revelation but is nearly killed by her. Using his powers of psychometry, the Punisher reaches the scene and is attacked by Wolverine as he gains consciousness. The Punisher subdues Wolverine by shooting him in the head. Clear-headed, Wolverine agrees to team with the Punisher, as robotic guards suddenly emerge.

Continuity Notes: I’m sure ninety-eight percent of my readers already know this, but the Morlocks are not a hi-tech race of scientists with access to advanced robotic and cybernetic technology. They live like homeless people.

Review: I think this is obviously Not Very Good, but I’ll try to list the few highlights. The concept that Revelation was raised religious and can’t let go of the guilt she feels for accidentally killing her parents has potential. Sniegoski & Golden get some use out of the idea this issue by revealing that she imagined herself in Hell during her years in the cryogenic freeze, which is causing her to hallucinate Wolverine as a demon and motivate her desire to reach the surface, which she now perceives as Heaven. The idea could also work as a parallel to the Punisher’s new status quo, assuming you think the angelic Punisher deserves any attention in the first place.

But…c’mon. It’s rather obvious that the creators behind this comic don’t know what a Morlock is, yet feel oddly compelled to drag them into the story. This extremely vague knowledge of X-continuity, where writers seem to only be aware of a character’s name and perhaps a one-sentence description, will infiltrate the X-books once the Marvel Knights approach dominates Marvel. (I believe Geoff Johns will go on to write a Morlocks miniseries that places them in Chicago, living in a world where Sentinels openly kill mutants on sight.) In my opinion, it’s one of the main reasons why the X-books have collapsed in popularity since the dawn of the new millennium. That ongoing soap opera that continued to build and build and build on the past was gone, replaced by arbitrary characterizations and relentless shock value that only served to alienate even more fans. I’m not saying that someone writing Fantastic Four or Avengers has to be an expert on X-continuity, but if you want the sales bump that comes with Wolverine as a co-headliner, perhaps you should do ten minutes of research before using these characters so casually? (And, yes, I know the next issue has a throwaway rationalization that brings Dark Beast into the mix, but it's not enough to make the idea work.)

Ignoring the continuity complaints, the book still has problems. Any page that describes the Punisher’s angelic psychometric powers just feels wrong, and the obligatory fight scene between Wolverine and Punisher is a poorly executed waste of time. Pat Lee’s goofy interpretation of these characters also doesn’t suit the story, although I see the colorists have worked overtime to distract from the amateurish art.

WOLVERINE/PUNISHER: REVELATION #1 - June 1999

Ladies in Waiting

Credits: Tom Sniegoski & Christopher Golden (writers), Pat Lee (penciler), Alvin Lee (inker), Angelo Tsang & Pat Lee (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine goes on a date with his new girlfriend Caley Blair, while the Punisher escorts his friend’s sister Lucy home. After stopping a drive-by shooting with his new angelic powers, the Punisher is abruptly kidnapped by the Council of Thrones, a group of angels who demand he use his powers in their service. He refuses and returns home. During Wolverine’s date, Caley is called away on museum business. He follows her to the museum’s dig underneath New York’s subway tunnels. A mysterious force emerges from the tunnels and kills Caley. Simultaneously, a sickness infects the local citizens, including Lucy.

“Huh?” Moment: As he dons his costume on the final page, Wolverine reflects: “It ain’t been long enough since I had occasion to dress like this. It sure ain’t what I wanted. But Caley was somethin’ special.” Is there an implication here that Wolverine doesn’t wear his costume all of the time while fighting evil? In titles such as Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, and Wolverine?

I Love the ‘90s: Caley wears a beeper, and is even paged 9-1-1 when the excavation accident happens.

Review: I haven’t really discussed the Marvel Knights line yet; the line that seemed like such a good idea at the time, and has aged about as well as a Backstreet Boys album. The narrative that certain people like to advance is that Marvel was a creatively bankrupt storing house of old IPs in the late ‘90s, the House of Dull Bland Comics that apparently no one was buying. It took the vision of Joe Quesada (and, oh yeah, Jimmy Palmiotti) to create a line that rose above the banality to produce Smart Daring Comics that could reach a mainstream audience. I will politely call this revisionist history.

Bob Harras had his faults, and favoritism was certainly one of them. It’s obvious that certain creators of dubious talent were allowed to stay way too long on various X-Men and Spider-Man titles. It’s clear that too many X-titles were being published and the overall line was lacking focus, while the Spider-Man books were mired in an embarrassing attempt at forced nostalgia that seemed to be alienating both old and new readers. But the “core” Marvel Universe was doing just fine, and that’s not a minor accomplishment. A portion of the audience had turned on Dan Jurgens and Chris Claremont by this point, but the rest of the line was being written by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, and Mark Waid. These guys know superheroes. Young Turks like Joe Kelly, Brian K. Vaughn, Joe Casey, and Joseph Harris were starting to make a name for themselves on other titles. And what about the art? George Perez, John Romita, Jr., Andy Kubert, Ron Garney…nothing to sneeze at. For the first time in years, mainstays like Captain America and Thor were consistently outperforming the average X-spinoff.

So…X-titles in a rut, but still selling (comparatively) well. Spider-Man forced into a relaunch that commercially flames out within a year. Mainstream Marvel titles doing very well. Not a perfect track record, but Marvel is still selling more comics than anyone else, and there are really no problems that couldn’t be fixed with a little planning and a couple of new creative teams. That leaves the “edgier” Marvel books. The ones that once were literally called “Marvel Edge” (I swear.) Well, Marvel had mixed results farming four of its core titles out to Wildstorm and Extreme Studios during Heroes Reborn, but overall those books sold quite well and generated a lot of publicity for characters that had been ignored for years. Why not license a few of the street-level books, along with some of the more obscure titles that ordinarily can’t make it to issue twenty-five, to another studio? Only this time, the books will be firmly set in the Marvel Universe, no continuity is rebooted, and the people responsible for the books physically move into the Marvel offices. It’s almost as if they learned something from Heroes Reborn.

In the fall of 1998, Event Comics founders Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti moved to Marvel to create Marvel Knights. The idea was that only top-tier creators would be assigned these comics, and the art and production values would be impeccable. The first book announced was Daredevil by Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada. At the time, Joe Quesada wasn’t known as an artist with a penchant for chubby heroes with dopey faces, and Kevin Smith was viewed as a promising young screenwriter who happened to like comics. Really, someone from movies writing a comic? That’s crazy. Plus, everyone likes Daredevil, even if his book is rarely in the Top Ten. This was going to be a hit.

The other Marvel Knights titles included an Inhumans miniseries by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee (an unusual pairing that actually worked out, even if some people complained that the series was too slow), an ongoing Black Panther series by cult-favorite writer Christopher Priest and former Wolverine artist Mark Texeira (which debuts strong and receives great reviews), and a supernatural-themed Punisher miniseries by Tom Sniegoski & Christopher Golden and legendary horror artist Bernie Wrightson (umm…).

Marvel Knights was a massive hit, commercially and critically. These were intelligent, stylish superhero comics with production values that were previously reserved for overpriced prestige-format titles (slick paper was still something of a rarity on standard-line Marvel and DC comics of the era). I’m not sure if any of those books have aged well, with the exception of Black Panther, perhaps because it didn’t try to be so SERIOUS, but at the time, the consensus seemed to be that the Marvel Knights titles were the best mainstream superhero comics in years. Some fans began to demand a Marvel Knights takeover of the entire line. And yet, whenever the brilliance of Marvel Knights was discussed, everyone seemed to forget about that Punisher limited series…

The initial Punisher miniseries received scathing reviews; forget the Bernie Wrightson art…this thing was dumb. The Punisher should not be hanging out with angels. He should not be facing supernatural villains. His guns shouldn’t be glowing, and they should actually look like guns. Who the heck were the guys writing this thing, anyway? Because people liked the other MK titles so much, they were willing to dismiss this as a fluke. Surely if Joe Quesada (the more vocal of the duo, and clearly the one with the highest profile) was to take over Marvel, you wouldn’t have a series of no-name writers making arbitrary and shockingly misguided changes to established Marvel characters…right?

This leads us to 1999’s second wave of Marvel Knights titles. Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation is a follow-up to the previous year’s Punisher series, and it’s a sign that maybe someone at Marvel Knights can be slow to admit to a mistake. Perhaps it’s the same person who thinks adding Wolverine to everything makes it better. Aside from the addition of Wolverine, the commercial hook of the mini is allegedly Pat Lee’s colors and art. Pat Lee was already pretty unpopular with the hardcore internet comics fandom of the time, but Wizard magazine loved him. His status as a “hot” artist seemed to be based on his ability to mimic not just manga but more specifically anime. His pages looked like something out of Ghost in the Shell…until you actually looked at his art and realized that he can’t draw faces or anatomy or tell a coherent story to save his life. Credit to Lee for using technology to develop a new coloring style for comics, but everything Udon Studios publishes today puts this work to shame.

The story opens with Wolverine going on a date with a previously unknown girlfriend named Caley. It’s kind of a presumptuous idea for people who aren’t in charge of the character to be throwing into a miniseries, but in fairness, Wolverine’s love life has been virtually non-existent for around ten years at this point. I mean, he’s married to Viper, but everyone tried to forget that. I don’t necessarily mind the debut of a new girlfriend, and Sniegoski & Golden do have the decency to do a believable flashback that establishes how they met. My first thought upon seeing Caley was that she was going to be killed off in the final issue. She doesn’t even make it to the final page of the first issue. So much for being daring and unpredictable, Marvel Knights. Having Wolverine do a mental rundown of all of his other dead girlfriends just a few pages into the story doesn’t exactly make Caley’s ultimate fate too hard to figure out, either.

Wolverine’s story is intercut with scenes of the Punisher starting a new domestic life with his friend’s sister (I initially assumed this was his friend's daughter, since Punisher served with this guy in Vietnam and Lucy looks around twenty), using glowing supernatural cannons to non-lethally stop criminals, and later talking to angels. All things the Punisher should not be doing. His path begins to cross with Wolverine’s when the generic mystical plot device underneath New York is accidentally unleashed. Not that they actually meet in this issue, of course. “Sophisticated” comics take time. Doesn’t this sound exciting? Quesada and Palmiotti have been given creative freedom, huge budgets, high production values, and this is what they produce? If this is the Marvel Knights’ idea of “quality control,” it’s a bad omen for Marvel’s future.

X-MAN ‘97 - February 1998

Common Ground

Credits: Christopher Golden (writer), Ramon Bernardo (artist), Comicraft (letters), Tom Vincent (colors)

Summary: Shi’ar agents arrive on Earth, hoping to stop a drain on the M’Kraan Crystal. They locate Dark Beast, Holocaust, and X-Man. Using their powers against them, they abduct the mutants and hold them prisoner on their spacecraft. Onboard, the mutants learn that their fellow refugee from another reality, Sugar Man, has already made a deal with the Shi’ar. Forming a temporary truce, X-Man is able to escape with Holocaust and Dark Beast. Realizing that the Shi’ar want the shard of the M’Kraan Crystal inside Holocaust, X-Man telekinetically removes and destroys it. Dark Beast and Holocaust teleport back to Earth, as X-Man uses his powers to repair the damage to the spacecraft. The Shi’ar send X-Man and Sugar Man back to their homes, content that the duplicate M’Kraan shard has been destroyed.

Continuity Notes: Holocaust was stabbed with a shard of the M’Kraan Crystal in X-Men Omega. Following its removal in this issue, he suddenly switches back to his human form (which is a blonde white guy). Dark Beast explains that his armor allows him to change shape, but the M’Kraan Crystal was interfering with its functions. X-Man reminds us that Holocaust is invisible to psionics since working with Onslaught. Dark Beast is also invisible to his scans at the end of the issue, but X-Man doesn’t know why.

Holocaust is called “Nemesis” for much of this issue. Dark Beast explains that it’s the birth name given to him by Apocalypse, and that he should use it because he’s going to be a “nemesis for mankind.” So, Apocalypse gave his son “Nemesis” as his Christian name and then code-named him Holocaust, which is one of the dumbest retcons I’ve ever read (made worse by the issue’s insistence on constantly reminding us that he has two names). The behind-the-scenes reason for the name switch is that the character apparently had to be renamed when his action figure was released, because “Holocaust” was a bit too intense for Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R Us.

I Love the ‘90s: X-Man asks the Shi’ar why they’re wearing “Arnold’s freeze armor.”

Review: It’s hard to believe X-Man was still getting annuals in 1997, but here we are. Actually, the determination of which titles did and did not receive annuals during these days is kind of confusing. Looking at the Top 100 list from an issue of Wizard from around this era has Generation X at #20, X-Force at #24, X-Factor at #25, X-Man at #27, Cable at #30, and Excalibur rounding out the X-titles at #45. Looking around, it seems like X-Force didn’t have an annual after 1996 (although I seem to recall one popping up in 1999), Cable never had one, and X-Factor and Excalibur dropped the annuals after 1994. X-Man is still charting fairly high at this point (surprisingly above Cable), so that could justify an annual. I'm only now learning that X-Men vol. two had an annual in 1997; I'd never seen a reference to it anywhere before researching this post.

The previous annual focused on X-Man’s connection with his fellow Age of Apocalypse refugees, which is also the starting place for this story. The basic premise isn’t bad, as it uses the character in a far more logical and coherent way than his regular series has at this point. The story even opens with X-Man actually doing something proactive -- he’s scanning for Dark Beast, the horrible villain who keeps sending minions after X-Man while he does nothing in retaliation. Connecting the M’Kraan Crystal, the AoA characters’ ticket to this world, and the Shi’ar is another practical use of continuity. However, the story quickly descends into pointless fight scenes, bogged down by excessive word balloons and captions. Joe Kelly could over-write a page in his early days, but at least his writing had a viewpoint and personality. Golden’s scripting is extremely mannered and often redundant. It’s hard to care about X-Man as a protagonist when he spits out this kind of dialogue with a straight face: “Could I have survived the destruction of my own reality just so there would be someone with the power and knowledge to save this one from the same horrors?” Is that his awkward way of telling us that he’s trying to prevent our Earth from becoming the AoA? If that’s the case, why does this guy waste so much time wandering aimlessly and getting into pointless fights?

WOLVERINE ’95 – September 1995

Lair of the N’Garai

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), J. H. Williams III (penciler), Mark McKenna w/Gray & Palmiotti (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Kevin Somers & Electric Crayon (colors)

Summary

Nightcrawler travels to New York to check on Wolverine, but he refuses to leave the woods outside of the mansion. Wolverine comes across one of the N’Garai’s cairns in the woods and attacks the demon that escaped from it. Wolverine chases the N’Garai through the cairn’s dimensional portal and ends up in the N’Garai’s dimension. After being alerted to activity outside, Nightcrawler comes across the cairn and teleports into the portal. Inside, he encounters Wolverine savagely attacking a group of N’Garai. They nearly kill him, but his enhanced healing factor quickly repairs the wounds. Nightcrawler suspects that Wolverine wants to stay in this dimension and “revel in the carnage”. Wolverine faces Kierrok, the N’Garai’s leader, and is surprisingly able to stand up to him. Kierrok orders the N’Garai to invade Earth, which forces Wolverine to abandon his fight and help Nightcrawler stop the N’Garai escaping through the portal. After Wolverine and Nightcrawler return to Earth, Kierrok reveals that his order was a ruse to force them to leave his dimension. He closes the portal as the rest of the X-Men arrive. Wolverine mentally acknowledges that Nightcrawler was right, and that he isn’t afraid of his killing rage anymore.

Production Note

This is the year Marvel dropped the numbering on their annuals and just named them after the year they were released. I’ve never understood why they did this, since it instantly dates the comic in an obvious way. This is technically the first Wolverine annual, even though Marvel released yearly bookshelf comics with him in previous years.

I Love the ‘90s

Boomer is wearing a Filter t-shirt. Hey Boomer, nice shirt. (I know that’s lame, I’m sorry.)

Review

This is an extremely action-heavy story that gets some mileage out of Wolverine’s new status quo. J. H. Williams’ art is exceptional, handling the superhero elements and the horror elements equally well. The story requires a never-ending barrage of demons for Wolverine to slice through, which suits Williams’ dark style very well. I had mixed feelings about the art when I first saw this issue, since I didn’t usually like artists that play with a lot of shadows, but I can appreciate it more today. There isn’t a lot to the story, but Hama is able to make Nightcrawler’s concern for Wolverine feel genuine, and at least the action does tie in to Wolverine’s ongoing character arc. It’s not an essential chapter in the storyline, but it manages to be more than filler. I like the ending, which basically has Kierrok tricking Wolverine to go away so that he’ll leave him alone. It’s not really played for laughs, but it amuses me.

What the Cat Dragged In

Credits: Christopher Golden (writer), Ben Herrera (penciler), Vince Russell (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Ian Laughlin (colors)

Summary

After Slayback attempts to kidnap him, Maverick turns to Wolverine for help. He knows that Slayback is being hired to abduct Weapon X veterans with healing powers, so that a private research firm can conduct tests on them to find a Legacy Virus cure. Out of respect for their friendship, Wolverine goes along with Maverick to rescue Deadpool, who is being tortured by the amoral scientists. Maverick and Wolverine rescue Deadpool, but he disappears as SHIELD agents raid the lab. Later, Deadpool sends cell samples to Beast, but he concludes that his healing factor won’t cure the virus.

Continuity Note

According to Maverick, both he and Deadpool have a healing factor taken from Wolverine’s DNA template. I think this is the first time Maverick having a healing factor is mentioned. Since Maverick isn’t scarred, this seems to contradict the idea that the process of giving Deadpool a healing factor scarred his skin. However, Deadpool has an extremely accelerated healing factor, which could explain why the process took a heavier toll on him (that’s my No-Prize explanation).

Review

I seem to recall Christopher Golden saying that this was his first job in comics, and that years went by before he got another one. It actually isn’t that bad of a story. It has too much plot for an annual backup, so it comes out pretty rushed, but it’s still marginally entertaining. Golden makes nice use of the ongoing storylines in the various titles by finally acknowledging that the numerous characters with healing powers might be able to cure the Legacy Virus. It turns out to be a dead end, really because Marvel just didn’t want to finish the story yet, but it’s an angle someone should’ve used by this point. Golden also captures Wolverine’s voice rather well, and is able to neatly tie the plot into the ongoing “feral regression” storyline. Wolverine’s closing monologue about the importance of friendship is a little much, but he does capture the character’s strong loyalty to his friends, which is one of the things I really liked about Wolverine growing up. I didn't like Herrera's cartoony, angular art when I first read this issue, but most of it actually holds up pretty well.