Fun (And Forgettable?) - Superman Meets the ThunderCats

 

As the '80s nostalgia fad faded, Superman and the ThunderCats clashed in a 2003 crossover. Check out the latest Nostalgia Snake this week at CBR.

GENERATION X #1/2 - 1998

Pistolas y Corazones

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Alé Garza (penciler), Sean Parsons (inker), Mike Rockwitz w/McNabb Studios (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Skin, Jubilee, and Husk accompany Emma on a business trip to Los Angeles. They travel to Skin’s old neighborhood, where he confronts Tores, the ex-girlfriend who recently tried to kill him. He learns that she mistakenly believed Skin responsible for tricking her into participating in a drive-by shooting. The real culprit, Lupo, appears. Tores teams with Gen X to defend Skin from Lupo, just as Skin’s mother walks into the alley. She sees Tores’ powers and calls her a freak. Skin overhears this and decides he can never tell his mother that he’s still alive.

Continuity Notes: Skin reveals that his powers manifested after he was duped into riding along with Lupo’s gang during the drive-by. He was abandoned by the others and awoke shortly before the car exploded. Assuming Tores was the shooter, he kept the gun to protect her, and allowed the police to think he died in the explosion. In this issue, it’s revealed that Tores’ powers also manifested during the shooting, which caused the car to catch fire. Lupo initially planned to pin the shootings on Tores, but settled on Skin after he disappeared.

Production Notes: This is one of the many #1/2 issues published by Wizard (or “Gareb Shamus Enterprises” to be more specific) during the ‘90s. The #1/2 comics could only be ordered through Wizard issues with coupons for the specific comic. They cost an inordinate amount of money and were allegedly “rare,” although the print runs probably match those of a mid-level Marvel or DC book published today. The credits page incorrectly lists the writer as “Lara Hama,” by the way.

Review: I don’t plan on reviewing all of the Marvel/Wizard #1/2 books, but this one resolves a long-running character subplot, so I feel like it’s worth mentioning. Scott Lobdell never got around to revealing why exactly Skin faked his death, or what his connection to Tores was, so it’s now up to Larry Hama to resolve the mysteries. Thankfully, this works a lot better than the M/Emplate resolution. It still debatable if this is what Lobdell had in mind when establishing the subplot, but it manages to provide a credible explanation for Skin’s “death” and explain away James Robinson’s characterization of Tores (she inexplicably wanted to kill Skin during the “Operation: Zero Tolerance” crossover issues). On top of that, the story resolves the “gun in the cigar box” mystery from Hama’s early issues (Skin kept the gun, wrongly assuming it had Tores’ prints), and conclusively states that Skin never killed anyone in the drive-by.

While some of Hama’s annoying “teen speak” is still present, the doomed romance between Tores, a rebellious girl drawn to the local gangs, and Skin, a nice mama’s boy who doesn’t want any trouble, still feels authentic. Ending the story with Skin realizing that even with the real culprit revealed, he still can’t tell his mother he’s alive because of her prejudices, works as an unhappy ending because the angst isn’t overplayed. There’s actually more story here than in the previous three issues of the regular Generation X series combined. It’s also one of the strongest stories Hama’s written for the characters, and continuity-wise, the most important Skin story yet. If you were a regular Generation X reader and just assumed this was filler, the joke was on you.

X-MEN UNLIMITED #20 - September 1998

Where the Wild Things Were

Credits: Joseph Harris (writer), Alè Garza (penciler), Cabin Boy w/ Pepoy & Leigh (inks), Comicraft (letters), Shannon Blanchard (colors)

Summary: Munson, a displaced Asgardian troll, discovers Generation X at a carnival. He kidnaps Husk and takes her back to the forest, where he’s hiding out with fellow trolls Nettles and Chambliss. Convinced that Husk is magic, they demand that she restore the damaged Rainbow Bridge to Asgard. Frustrated by her inability to help, Munson and Chambliss search for the rest of Generation X while Nettles stays with Husk. A girl searching for her lost dog spots the trolls, leading to a crazed mob invading the forest. Husk takes Nettles to the school for protection, while Munson and Chambliss sneak in upstairs. Husk placates Munson and Chambliss by giving them a husked skin made of gold, and calls Police Chief Authier to disperse the mob. Nettles, the more humane troll, is offered sanctuary at the school, but decides to return to the forest to look after his fellow trolls.

Continuity Notes: This story takes place shortly after the “Heroes Return” relaunch of the mainstream Marvel Universe. At this point in continuity, a mysterious force has left Asgard in ruins.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: One of the carnival attendees is wearing a pot leaf t-shirt. Sounds like someone needs a little trip to…the Fast Lane.

Review: Here’s another standalone Gen X story by Joseph Harris, and it’s certainly an improvement over that Dracula annual. Harris takes advantage of Unlimited’s double-sized format by presenting a three-act story (Gen X has fun at the carnival, Husk and Nettles bond in the forest, and the mob tracks the trolls to the school) that has enough room to comfortably work out each of the ideas. The carnival setting is reminiscent of the early Generation X issues, allowing the characters to have fun and play off each other for a few pages before any of the superhero action begins. Pairing the team with Asgardian trolls is a clever use of the Marvel Universe (I initially assumed Tom DeFalco wrote this story when I read the description, since it sounds like one of his efforts to incorporate the X-characters into the broader Marvel Universe), and Alè Garza certainly does a great job drawing the beasts. I’m also pleased to see the return of Police Chief Authier, a character introduced by Larry Hama that probably didn’t receive a lot of attention after he left the book.

My only real complaint about the issue would be the missing dog subplot. The opening of the story makes it clear that Hannah’s dog, Maxie, was eaten by the trolls. It’s not a pleasant thought, but Harris gets some dark humor out of the trolls’ taste for canine. At the story’s end, Hannah’s mother finally finds her in the mob, claiming that she’s been worried sick since Maxie returned home without her. Huh? Is this woman so dense she can’t recognize her own dog, or did the trolls just happen to eat a different dog named Maxie? Maybe that’s the twist Harris was going for, but it reads as if an editor didn’t paying enough attention to the story’s opening and tacked on a happy ending.

GENERATION X #41 - August 1998

Massachusetts Chainsaw Massacre

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Alè Garza (penciler), Cabin Boy (inker), Comicraft (letters), Felix Serrano (colors)

Summary: With the headmasters out of town, Skin convinces the rest of the team to spend the night watching horror movies. The movies give Jubilee nightmares, forcing her to watch versions of Bastion, Sabretooth, Omega Red, and Emplate kill her teammates. Jubilee awakens from her nightmare and discovers her teammates were planning on scaring her anyway. They give up when they realize how badly she’s already scared herself.

I Love the ‘90s: During Jubilee’s dream, Husk sings the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” in the shower.

Review: After the lengthy, messy M-Plate arc, this is a welcome change of pace. Scott Lobdell established a precedent of character interactions trumping plot during his run on the book, so it’s a relief to read a simple story about the kids watching slasher movies while the grownups are away. Jubilee’s nightmare sequence adds some action, and a few comical movie references, to the story. Villains from Jubilee’s past are recast as movie killers, so Sabretooth becomes Freddy Krueger, Bastion is Norman Bates, Omega Red becomes Jason, and Emplate is Leatherface. I’m not sure if all of the recastings are supposed to relate to the specific villain, but it would be impossible to do this story and not have Sabretooth become Freddy. (It’s feasible that recasting Bastion as Norman Bates is a reference to Bastion’s close ties to his mother figure, but the other selections seem arbitrary.) The art comes from Alè Garza, who has a nice cartoony style that draws on artists like Chris Bachalo and Mike Wieringo. There’s even some Bill Watterson evident on a few pages. Garza, along with fellow Wildstorm artists Dan Norton and J. J. Kirby, should’ve gotten more work from the X-office in the late ‘90s.