The Marvel Hero Who Might've Sparked a 1980s MCU...Ant-Man?!

 

Stan Lee had faith one of his lesser-known heroes could become a box office star. But '80s Hollywood wasn't ready for Ant-Man. I review the screenplay at CBR this week.

Did Spider-Man Lose His Virginity In Stan Lee's Film Pitch?

 

I'm revisiting Stan Lee's 1990 attempt to pitch a Spider-Man movie at CBR this week, which does indeed feature the deflowering of one Peter Benjamin Parker. And I feel vindicated now, guessing all those years ago, that the Stan Lee/Peter David story in the Ultimate Spider-Man anthology was in fact an adaptation of this treatment.

Spider-Man's Hollywood Issues Long Predate Sony

This week at CBR, I'm revisiting Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends for the first time -- an episode that also served as an Incredible Hulk pilot, and was inspired by a silly premise Stan could never let go of.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series - Hollywood Values

This week on CBR, I'm looking at a Season One Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode, and its original Lee/Ditko inspiration.

SPIDER-MAN: THE MUTANT AGENDA #0 - February 1994

Credits:  Stan Lee (writer), Larry Lieber & Fred Kida (artists)

Summary:  Brand Corporation CEO Neil Landon hosts a conference on mutations.  Peter Parker attends, wondering if he can learn about his own powers.  He’s seated next to the Beast, who distrusts Landon’s motivations.  The Hobgoblin interrupts the conference and causes a panic.  As Spider-Man, Peter places a tracer on Hobgoblin’s glider.  With Beast, Spider-Man follows Hobgoblin to Brand’s research facility, where Hobgoblin steals a folder of research.  Beast is captured by Brand’s guards, while Spider-Man follows Hobgoblin to Landon’s office. He discovers Hobgoblin blackmailing Landon, threatening to release info on the “mutant genocide” Landon is planning.  Landon pulls a gun on Hobgoblin, but Spider-Man leaps to take the blast.  He awakes inside a cage with the Beast.  Hobgoblin reappears and accidentally frees the heroes while searching for Landon.  Spider-Man tries to swing away with Landon, but Hobgoblin’s pumpkin bomb forces them to fall into a chemical vat.  Landon emerges as a monster.  Beast subdues Hobgoblin and Spider-Man suggests Landon seek the X-Men’s help to deal with his mutation.

Continuity Notes:  

• Landon's first name is Neil in the strip, and Herbert in the comics. He also appears to be 20 years older in the newspaper strip's continuity.
• This storyline is set in the continuity of the Spider-Man newspaper strip.  Originally, this lengthy story arc was supposed to cross over with the Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda miniseries making it the “first ever comic book-newspaper strip crossover.”
• The specific strips covering the newspaper’s “Mutant Agenda” storyline ran from December 6, 1993 to February 26, 1994.
• For the record, Spider-Man isn’t harmed by the chemicals in the vat because his costume covers him from head to toe.  Also, the gun Landon shoots Spidey with was set to “stun,” of course.

Production Note:  This is a forty-eight page comic, going for the standard cover price of $1.25.  Why, you ask?  Because half of the pages are blank.  The rest of the comic has previews of upcoming Spider-Man comics, and a reprint of the newspaper strip’s version of Spider-Man’s origin.

Miscellaneous Note:  Although the cover date reads February, the indicia list March 1994 as the month.

Review:  I recall Marvel promoting this miniseries in the fold-out inserts that ran in all of their titles in late 1993, and while I might seem to be the target audience for a limited series featuring Spider-Man and the X-Men, I can only recall an overwhelming sense of apathy.  Even at this early age, I was wary of the glut of X-product (Spidey-product, too, come to think of it) and didn’t want to waste my limited funds on a tossed off mini that clearly wasn’t going to be impacting the main titles in any way.  The idea of the comic series crossing over with the newspaper strip wasn’t much of an enticement either; to this day, I’ve never seen the Spider-Man strip in an actual newspaper.  Why would I buy a limited series that wasn’t even going to provide me with a full story?

As it turns out, the crossover element of the two “Mutant Agenda” storylines fell through early on.  The strip’s story is totally self-contained, so no reader was left confused by only getting a fraction of the storyline in this specific format.  But due to what I’m assuming were legal issues, kids purchasing this comic didn’t get much of anything.  Half of this comic is blank because they expect you, the reader, to physically cut the Spider-Man strip out of the newspaper and tape it on to the blank pages.  That’s seventy-two strips -- if you missed one, tough luck -- you’re expected to track down and preserve in-between the covers of a cheaply printed early ‘90s Marvel comic.  I’d like to give Marvel the benefit of the doubt and assume that the original plan was for the actual strips to be included in this issue, but they discovered later the syndicate wouldn’t allow them to be reprinted, or perhaps the deadlines were blown.  I’d hate to think the original plan was to sell kids a blank comic.

Thanks to the miracle of the internet, all of these strips have been compiled and scanned.  And how lucky we are.  Actually, this is less goofy than I was expecting it to be, even though it’s filled with the awkward writing that’s common in newspaper adventure strips (such as Peter spontaneously explaining to MJ who the Beast is a few days before he actually appears in the strip. “He's okay -- for a mutant!” Peter tells her, which is perhaps a joke, but it just feels wildly out of character).  Lee spends the first few days patiently explaining the Marvel concept of mutants to his “civilian” audience, then moves on to his story of the evil CEO and the returning villain who wants to blackmail him.  It’s odd to think that plotting to kill mutants is considered blackmail material in the Marvel Universe, but maybe the rules are different in the strip’s version of the MU.  I will say that it’s a relief to see the Hobgoblin have a scheme that actually requires him to use his brains; blackmailing a CEO feels like something he would’ve done in his earliest Roger Stern appearances.  And the story, by the staid standards of adventure strips, is relatively fast-paced.  Much of it is an involved chase sequence, and the Hobgoblin does make a decent showing for most of the adventure.  If the plot sounds familiar, that’s because much of it appeared a year later in the Spider-Man animated series.  Landon even becomes a monster in both stories, although in the strips, he’s much smaller and isn’t subdued by a random telepathic mutant who’s shoved into the plot.  In the strip, turning into a hideous freak is enough motivation for Landon to stop the fight.  Hopefully, the strip didn’t use this arc as an excuse to reintroduce Landon as an ongoing antagonist, one with a shocking resemblance to Two-Face.

The Origin of Spider-Man

Credits:  Stan Lee (writer), John Romita, Sr. (artist), Joe Agostinelli (colors)

Summary:  Student Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider during a school experiment.  Realizing he has spider powers, he makes money as the costumed performer Spider-Man on various television shows.  During a robbery at a television studio, he allows a criminal to go free.  Days later, his uncle is killed by a burglar.  When he captures the burglar, Spider-Man discovers that he’s the man he could’ve stopped earlier.  Spider-Man realizes his uncle died because he shirked his responsibility.

Continuity Notes:  In the newspaper strip’s version of Spider-Man’s origin, the fateful experiment happens at Peter’s school, and he’s an active participant in it.  The implication seems to be that he’s in college instead of high school.  Peter’s also trying to get a job as a Daily Bugle photographer before he gains his powers in this origin story.  Spider-Man’s realization that he can’t cash a check made out to “Spider-Man” is also moved up from the comics’ timeline.  (As Bob Ingersoll points out, his agent could’ve avoided this problem by just having the checks made out to “Cash.”)  Finally, wrestler Crusher Hogan has been renamed Crusher Clark.

Review:  In one of the earliest outside-media adaptations of Amazing Fantasy #15, the comic strip goes through the motions and presents the basics of Spider-Man’s origin.  This was originally published in the ‘70s, and it’s interesting to see what aspects of the origin aren’t quite considered sacrosanct yet, such as the missing phrase “With great power…”  Stan Lee plays around with the continuity, touching on some issues that AF #15 didn’t address while also setting the stage for the basic Spider-Man status quo.  I suppose nothing’s harmed by Peter’s motivation to work as a professional photographer before he becomes Spider-Man, but some of the changes are arbitrary (such as Dave, the lab partner present when the spider’s irradiated.)  The most obvious difference from the comics is John Romita, Sr.’s interpretation of Peter Parker.  He’s already twentyish, handsome, and not wearing glasses in this origin story, which noticeably undermines the impact of his transformation.  I suppose Lee wanted to start the comic strip with Peter at college age and didn’t want Peter to have years of unrevealed adventures as Spidey in the strip’s backstory.  That’s reasonable, I guess, but it does lessen the significance of Peter's transformation into Spider-Man.  Still, it’s fun to see a run of the Lee/Romita strips reprinted, and up until recently, this was your only shot at reading them.

SPIDER-MAN/KINGPIN: TO THE DEATH - November 1997

Credits:  Tom DeFalco (plot), Stan Lee (script) John Romita, Sr. (penciler), Dan Green (inks), Steve Oliff (colors), Bill Oakley (letters)

The Plot:  Spider-Man is framed by a series of lookalikes who have super-strength and web-shooters that fire bullets.  Daredevil suspects Spider-Man is innocent and offers to help him investigate the scheme.  They soon discover that a scientist working for the Kingpin, Dr. Mindella, has created Death’s Arrow, a drug that induces super-strength before causing death.  While fighting the Kingpin’s men, Daredevil is exposed to the drug.  Kingpin takes advantage of Daredevil’s confused mental state and uses him as a secret weapon against Zoltaro, a terrorist who has arranged to purchase a supply of Death’s Arrow.  Spider-Man crashes their exchange, as Zoltaro and Kingpin turn on each other.  Spider-Man is able to inject Daredevil with the antidote and spare his life.  Kingpin kills Zoltaro and safely escapes, while Dr. Mindella is arrested.  Later, Peter Parker submits photos clearing Spider-Man of his doppelgangers’ crimes.

The Subplots:  None.

Web of Continuity:  Captain America and the Fantastic Four appear in a scene that has various Marvel heroes attempting to apprehend the framed Spider-Man.  This means the story must take place after Amazing Spider-Man #430, which features Spider-Man’s relieved response to the return of the Fantastic Four and the rest of the “Heroes Reborn” characters.

Creative Differences:  Zoltaro is referred to as a “gang-lord” on the back cover, but portrayed as a terrorist in the actual story.

I Love the ‘90s:  Rosalind Sharpe, the head of Matt Murdock’s legal firm, says that a Spider-Man trail could potentially be “a bigger case than OJ!”

Production Note:  This is a forty-eight page bookshelf format comic, with a cover price of $5.99.

Review:  Marvel would occasionally boast of Stan Lee “returning” to Spider-Man throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, although most of these comics were plotted by someone else and only scripted by Lee after the art was completed.  To the Death is no exception, with Tom DeFalco stepping in to provide a story for John Romita, Sr., who agreed to pencil the comic as his big return to Spider-Man.  (I believe it was promoted as his final Spider-Man comic.)  Daredevil is here essentially because Romita demanded it -- Romita makes clear in the one-shot’s text piece that he considers Daredevil Marvel’s best character.  Why Kingpin maintains a top billing when Daredevil is truly the co-star is beyond me.  I wonder now if this was intended as Kingpin’s major return to the Marvel Universe, or at least the Spider-Man line, and no one thought to change the title as the plot evolved.  (Kingpin's appearance in the recent Batman crossover of course isn't an "official" return.)

Unfortunately, the Kingpin’s role is interchangeable with any mobster character, or just generic supervillain really, which is a major reason why the story feels like nothing special.  Marvel could’ve made the six-dollar comic more of an event if it truly served as a reintroduction of the Kingpin and impacted future issues of Daredevil or the Spider-Man titles.  Instead, it’s a glorified fill-in plot with Kingpin as the very generic villain.  Spider-Man, for the most part, doesn't fare much better.  Stan Lee became famous in the '60s for making the heroes, and even some of the villains, well-rounded fictional characters with distinct personalities.  Spider-Man only feels uniquely Spider-Man in this one-shot when he concocts a quickie antidote that will save Daredevil at the story’s end.  The Kingpin is a ruthless thug, but also an intelligent businessman, a patriot in some regards, and a father and husband with a complex relationship with his family.  The plot exploits none of these elements.  Instead of wanting to stop a terrorist, Kingpin’s motive for double-crossing the ridiculously named Zoltaro is that he simply wants to keep Zoltaro’s money and the drugs he just sold him.  Surely, as a “legitimate businessman,” the Kingpin must know that this kind of stunt will ruin his reputation and kill any future deals.  Statistically, spurned terrorists tell at least fifteen other vaguely Middle Eastern terrorists when they’ve had bad business dealings with an American imperialist pig.

There’s also the utterly gratuitous plot element concerning the fake Spider-Men.  Not only does this idea feel like it belongs in a different story, but it’s too dumb to be taken seriously.  Why do the fake Spider-Men have super-strength and bullets that shoot out of their wrists?  Why would they take this drug, which is fatal within a few hours of ingestion, when they can blast machine gun fire out of their wrists?  I realize that Marvel wanted Romita to draw as many heroes as possible in the one-shot, so Spider-Man’s been framed in order to set up their appearances, but is this really the best excuse DeFalco could think of?  If you are going for the Marvel Universe vs. Spider-Man plot, why isn’t that the main story?  Who cares about Zartan-O the terrorist when you could have more pages of John Romita drawing every Marvel hero?  Also, of all the heroes, why is Daredevil the only one smart enough to even suspect Spider-Man has been framed?  And did Tom DeFalco not realize that he was using a nearly identical plot in Amazing Spider-Man #429?

The one-shot does have John Romita’s art going for it, though.  If you just want Romita drawing Spider-Man and Daredevil, this is exactly what you’re looking for.  The characters are all well-constructed and consistently on-model, and it’s interesting to see how Romita conforms to the larger eyes Spidey developed post-McFarlane.  In a perfect world, Spider-Man’s look on the cover would be an excellent model for future artists to follow.  I don’t think the paper stock really does Steve Oliff’s colors any favors; the preview pages I saw in Wizard looked great, and Oliff’s work on Spawn at this point was considered the best color art in the business, so it’s a shame that the published book looks so drab.  The Spawn paper stock of this era, which was very glossy but didn’t have that obnoxious glare that’s so prevalent in comics printing, would’ve been perfect for this book.  Also, as ridiculous as the plot is, I have to give Stan Lee credit for a decent scripting job.  He manages to work in a crack or two regarding the more cliché elements of the story, but the relentless jokiness that often appeared in his later scripting jobs is mostly gone.  He’s not given much to work with, but Lee still delivers a perfectly competent script that’s old school but just shy of corny.  Honestly, his dialogue is more plausible and natural than most of DeFalco’s work from this period.

THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Part One - December 1994

Spider-Man

Written by Stan Lee & Peter David

The Plot: Peter Parker and his aunt May are mugged after she cashes her Social Security check. The next day, Peter attends a science exhibit at Empire State University, overseen by the eccentric Dr. Octavius. A spider is dosed by radioactivity during the exhibit. The appearance of the spider causes Octavius to drop an isotope, which creates a large explosion. Meanwhile, the radioactive spider bites Peter and grants him powers. He leaves the exhibit and coincidentally meets the mugger from the day before. He uses his new powers to get the money back, then buys a camera from a drug store to photograph the accident scene at ESU. Peter sells his first photo to the Daily Bugle, shortly before creating a costume he uses in an open-invitation wrestling match. Peter arrogantly allows a thief to escape that night, only to discover later that this thief has killed his uncle Ben. After capturing the thief, Peter begins his career as Spider-Man. He faces his first supervillain when he stops Octavius from using his anti-gravity device to destroy the UN. Having learned a lesson in responsibility, Peter vows no one will be hurt due to his inaction again.

Web of Continuity: It’s obvious from the first few pages of this story that it isn’t intended to match the continuity of the comic book. Some of the variations include:

• Peter’s age is given as seventeen when the spider bite occurs. Most comics, at least since the Parallel Lives graphic novel, list his age as 15.
• Dr. Octopus wasn’t present when Peter was bitten by the spider, unless you consider Chapter One in-continuity.Oddly enough, it’s implied that the radioactive spider also bites Dr. Octopus, which might be an attempt to explain how he survives the explosion.
• The story establishes that Flash and Peter met in the third grade.I believe it’s been established somewhere (Untold Tales of Spider-Man?) that Peter was fairly popular at school until he met Flash in middle school, and lost his friends to Flash.
• Robbie Robertson is already the Daily Bugle’s city editor at this point, even though he was introduced as the new city editor back in Amazing Spider-Man #51. Peter also begins selling photos to the Daily Bugle immediately in this continuity. (He even sells photos of Spider-Man capturing the burglar who murdered his uncle, which seems out of character and slightly ghoulish.)
• Another landmark from the early issues is rushed through, as Flash knocks Peter’s glasses off the day after he’s bitten by the spider. In the comics, several issues passed before Peter realized he didn’t need glasses.

“Huh?” Moment: The opening of the story acts as if Aunt May must choose between putting her check in the bank, or going to a check-cashing place and paying to have it cashed. Why wouldn’t her bank cash the check?

Review: Before the Ultimate Spider-Man comic brought us Harry Potter Peter, aging hippie Uncle Ben, and a superfluous origin retelling, The Ultimate Spider-Man novel presents an anthology of Spider-Man short stories by various comic book and science fiction prose authors. And a superfluous origin retelling. I have no evidence to support this, but my theory is that the imaginatively titled Spider-Man began life as Stan Lee’s treatment for a Spider-Man movie. Beat by beat, this reads like a screenplay. The three acts are clearly defined, and many of the standard comic-to-film alterations are here. The hero and the main villain have a merged origin, Peter is rushed into the status quo he has at the end of the first year of Amazing Spider-Man comics, a peace conference at a large set-piece the UN is teased repeatedly throughout the story until it plays a part in the climax, and the villain is given a vague death scene at the end, because villains pretty much always have to die in superhero movies. There’s even a scene that has the newly empowered Peter Parker playing basketball and embarrassing Flash Thompson on the court. Surely that will never appear in a Spider-Man movie.

Theoretically, I wouldn’t mind this so much as a Spider-Man movie. Not today, given that two cinematic Spider-Man origin stories already exist, but pre-2002 this would’ve been tolerable. The only Hollywood cliché that truly bothers me is Dr. Octopus’ anti-gravity isotopes, which apparently only exist in the plot to provide an “epic” visual for the hypothetical film's climax. They add nothing to the story, distract from the grounded nature of Spider-Man’s origin, and give Dr. Octopus fairly outrageous skills as a scientist. He already wields four indestructible metal tentacles…now he has an anti-gravity gun, too?

At ninety-six pages, this is by far the longest story in the book, which is another bullet point I’m using in my “originally a screenplay” theory. When asked to write a short story for a Spider-Man prose anthology, who would submit a hundred-page origin retelling? Unless you already had this lying around, and assumed it would never be used, I can’t imagine why it would occur to anyone to pad out Spider-Man’s origin story like this. None of this means that this is a bad origin retelling, of course. I’m not generally interested in origin retellings, and kind of wonder who the audience for them is supposed to be, but judged on its own merits this is an enjoyable story with enough wit and heart to make you care about Spider-Man.

Suits

Written by Tom De Haven & Dean Wesley Smith

The Plot: After the Vulture injures Spider-Man in battle, Peter seriously considers retiring as Spider-Man. He accompanies Aunt May on a trip to Atlantic City, where he meets Damon, a mysterious older man who claims he was once a superhero called the Black Bee. Damon asserts that he knows a “suit” when he sees one, but Peter refuses to confirm his dual identity. After hearing Damon’s story of giving up and surrendering to self-pity, Peter’s inspired to keep going. He soon captures the Vulture, and later that night, visits Damon’s apartment. When Damon is mugged nearby, Peter tries to help him, only to be rescued by a newly motivated Damon.

Web of Continuity: This story is set “concurrently with the events of Amazing Spider-Man #7.”

Review: Obviously, this is a story about Peter learning a lesson about perseverance and the importance of never giving up. A lesson he forgets every few years whenever a writer wants to regurgitate “Spider-Man No More!” It accomplishes what it sets out to do, the execution is competent and the story never drags, but there’s nothing here to make this any better than all of the other “lesson” stories that Spider-Man must endure. Usually, when Peter learns this lesson, it’s because he realizes that he has a responsibility to Uncle Ben, or to the values he was raised with, or to the innocent people who need help. This time it’s more about Peter’s self-esteem, which is a slight variation, but the story remains fairly generic. I was relieved to discover that the mysterious 5’2” man with black hair that Peter meets at the beginning of the story is Damon, and not Wolverine, though.

UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN (the book)

Marvel has a history of licensing its characters to prose novels that goes all the way back to the 1960s (when Captain America carried a gun), so it’s not much of a surprise to discover that a series of Marvel novels was published in hardback and paperback throughout the ‘90s. Unless you regularly visited the sci-fi/fantasy section of your local bookstore on a regular basis, however, you might not realize just how many of these novels were published. (This site has a comprehensive list if you're interested.)

I don’t pretend to have anything approaching a complete collection of the line, but I do have a couple of the novels; almost all of them purchased years after they went out of print from Amazon sellers. Obviously I was a hardcore X-completist for much of the ‘90s, and I tried to keep up with the Spider-titles whenever the current status quo didn’t infuriate me, but the novels were way off in whatever land for me. Marvel didn’t see fit to acknowledge them in their comics, not just in the stories but in house ads or Bullpen Bulletins blurbs, so I didn’t see the point in pursuing the prose novels.

I’m assuming the novels sold well, considering how many were made, but I’m not sure who the target audience for the books was supposed to be. Presumably hardcore fans who must have every appearance of their favorite character, regardless of format, although just keeping up with the comics can often be a financial burden. If you only read the comics, you wouldn’t be aware of the novels anyway. I guess the overlap of “comics readers” and just “general readers” was enough to help keep the line afloat. I can see this working -- someone looking through the sci-fi/fantasy section probably has some familiarity with the Marvel heroes. You’re looking for a book to buy, you recognize the name of the writer, and you remember the characters from the comics, so you risk a couple of bucks and try it out. It’s also likely that many of the viewers of the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoon shows never stepped inside a comic book shop or paid attention to a spinner rack, but did visit bookstores. If you’re already inclined to read prose instead of comics and like the characters, I can see why the novels would be appealing. Lots of Star Trek and Star Wars fans have probably never read those comics either, but they’re more than willing to read the various novels.

All of this brings me to the first in my series of prove novel reviews. Untold Tales of Spider-Man, published in October 1997 and co-edited by Stan Lee and Kurt Busiek expands on the critically acclaimed comic of the era and brings us untold stories from various eras of Spider-Man’s life. Most of the short stories are penned by genre writers, although a few comics scribes make appearances. No one seemed to treat the prose novels as a part of the comics’ “official” continuity, but each story is given a specific back issue reference to show the reader when exactly it’s supposed to take place. (Can you imagine the actual comics being this anal today?) Everyone seems to know and love Untold Tales of Spider-Man the comic book, what about the novel? It’s lived in obscurity for years, but I think it’s worth another look.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN Annual #6 - July 1990

Up From Slavery

Credits: Gerry Conway (plot), Stan Lee (script), Gil Kane (penciler), Sal Buscema, Mike Eposito, & Alan Kupperberg (inks), Rick Parker (letterer), Nel Yomtov, Evelyn Stein, & Bob Sharen (colors)

The Plot: Spider-Man finds himself a captive of Psycho-Man, who mistakenly believes he still possesses the Uni-Power. With the aid of Psycho-Man’s fellow captives, Spider-Man escapes and battles Psycho-Man in the heart of the Microverse. When Spider-Man destroys Psycho-Man’s size-control device, he shrinks into apparent nothingness. Spider-Man’s newfound friends restore him to his proper size, and the hero returns home to MJ.

The Subplots: None.

Web of Continuity: Following two line-wide crossovers in the annuals, Marvel decided to do smaller crossovers, consisting of only three chapters each. This is the final installment of “Spidey’s Totally Tiny Adventure,” which ran through all of the 1990 Spider-Man annuals.

Review: Okay, it’s time for “Spidey’s Totally Tiny Adventure,” which I’m sure wasn’t influenced by Honey, I Shrunk the Kids at all. Apparently, editor Jim Salicrup wanted to reunite as many of the classic Spidey creative teams as possible during his stint, but many of the creators weren’t fully available. Consequently, we get an annual crossover plotted by regular writer Gerry Conway, scripted by Stan Lee, penciled by Gil Kane (who most likely only provided breakdowns), and inked by various creators. The inconsistent inking doesn’t do the book any favors, since this isn’t quite the Gil Kane Spidey you remember from those Marvel Tales reprints. (I couldn’t believe this was the same guy who drew the “Death of Captain Stacy” arc as a kid; probably because I didn’t notice John Romita inked those original issues.) Spider-Man looks great in a few panels, but the design of his costume, and sometimes his entire body type, seems to fluctuate from panel to panel. The story is obviously silly, and since Stan Lee apparently stopped scripting in a consciously “serious” style around 1970, he’s an appropriate choice for the storyline. Most of the jokes aren’t too corny, and the story keeps going at a steady pace. All of this is noticeably rushed, but it’s still entertaining.

Salesday for a Shootout

Credits: Gerry Conway (writer), Ross Andru (penciler), Mike Eposito (inks), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colors)

The Plot: MJ and Aunt May’s trip to the mall is interrupted by anti-capitalist terrorists. The Punisher arrives to stop them, but the terrorists use MJ and Aunt May as a shield. May fakes a heart attack, giving the Punisher an opportunity to finish the terrorists.

Review: A Punisher/Aunt May team-up story, brought to you by the creative team who wrote and drew the Punisher’s first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129. Is “classic” too strong a word? I’m sure Punisher’s diehard fans hated seeing him in stories like this, but I usually enjoyed his occasional interactions with the rest of the Marvel Universe as a kid. Acknowledging the sheer gimmickry of the story, Conway tries to make it as plausible as possible and doesn’t play it as outright comedy. The most unrealistic aspect of the story is just how calm Aunt May remains throughout the whole ordeal. You would think going through this would scar her for the rest of her short life, but she remains especially cool and even delivers a composed recap of the events to the media after the Punisher escapes.

Eleven Angry Men…And One Angry Woman

Credits: Peter David (writer), June Brigman (penciler), Stan Drake (inks), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colors)

The Plot: MJ is the only juror willing to convict a burglar caught by Spider-Man. After she refuses to budge, the jury is declared deadlocked. The defendant is confident he’ll survive a new trial, until he sees Spider-Man (on his way to pick up MJ) swing by the window. He accepts a plea bargain and is sent to jail.

Review: This is an homage to Twelve Angry Men, based around the premise that Spider-Man’s habit of leaving criminals webbed up in public isn’t actually enough evidence to convict them. The combination of a weary judge and inexperienced defense attorney leaves Mary Jane on the jury, and she of course refuses to believe the burglar’s claim that Spider-Man was the real culprit. Peter David spends most of the story on the interactions between the frustrated jurors and MJ, and gets a decent amount of comedy out of the idea. It’s a strong premise for a story, and David is pithy enough to get the point across within a few pages.

Child Star

Credits: Tony Isabella (writer), Steve Ditko (artist), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colors)

The Plot: A suburban stockbroker couple summons demons to help them play the market. The demons soon escape and cause havoc in the neighborhood. The Uni-Power allows two-year-old Eddie to become Captain Universe. The baby Captain banishes the demons in a flash of light.

Review: Gil Kane, Ross Andru, and Steve Ditko in the same Spider-Man comic. Of course, they’re not all drawing Spider-Man, but let’s not be greedy. This is a comedy story by Tony Isabella, who did a few jobs for the Spider-office during this era. It is honestly funny, and uses the Captain Universe concept quite well. I do have to wonder about the “demons” Ditko’s designed for the story, though, as they look more like friendly Muppets.

GENERATION X #-1 - July 1997

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship!

Credits: James Robinson (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Al Vey (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Sixteen-year-old runaway Emma Frost invades Manhattan high society. While using her telepathic powers to gain stock tips, she’s drawn to Harry Leland of the Hellfire Club. Soon, the strain of using her powers forces Emma to collapse. When she recovers, she’s harassed by the party guests’ bodyguards. They turn violent when she rejects them. Emma is rescued by the Dark Beast, who offers her a partnership. NYPD detective Sean Cassidy noticed Emma needed help and finally catches up to her as she’s about to shake Dark Beast’s hand. Sean attacks the Dark Beast, who responds violently. Sean’s partner arrives with Harry Leland, and Emma uses her psychic powers to send them home. When alone with the Dark Beast, she accepts his offer.

Continuity Notes: I’m not sure when Banshee’s tenure as an NYPD detective is supposed to fit in his backstory, but I’ve seen it referenced before. He’s following Harry Leland, who is suspected of murder. Emma Frost is described as sixteen, and if you go along with the premise that Flashback Month was supposed to be ten years ago, it’s fitting that Grant Morrison later had Emma declare she was twenty-seven in New X-Men. Dark Beast, for unknown reasons, is suffering from amnesia and is speaking with a simplified speech pattern. I guess the idea is that he’s still disoriented by coming to this timeline, but that happened ten years ago by this point. Also, it seems like he couldn’t have “created” the Morlocks in this mental condition.

Review: I’ve always liked the idea that Emma Frost used her powers unscrupulously to become wealthy at a young age, so I enjoyed the beginning of this story. However, as it progresses, the story seems to take a backseat to the gimmicky introduction of random characters. I guess you could get away with saying Emma Frost and Banshee first met years earlier (I don’t think they were in the same comic until the UXM issues that set up Generation X), but what is the Dark Beast doing here? A cameo by Harry Leland makes sense given Emma’s future with the Hellfire Club, but why does he come back in the end? Why establish that he’s being investigated for murder? Maybe there’s a significance here I’m not aware of, but judging this issue on its own merits, these elements just seem out of place. I do now remember a hint in the early Generation X issues that Dark Beast had a grudge against Emma Frost, so I guess his appearance here was a step in answering that mystery. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go very far towards resolving the dangling subplot, and I don’t think anyone’s touched the idea since. At the very least, this issue has solid work from Chris Bachalo. I actually had no idea Bachalo drew this issue. For years, for some reason, I thought this was a fill-in drawn in a Jeff Matsuda-style. Discovering it wasn’t a fill-in was a nice surprise.

EXCALIBUR #-1 - July 1997

A True & Terrible Sacrifice

Credits: Ben Raab (writer), Rob Haynes & Casey Jones (pencilers), Nathan Massengill w/ Rob Haynes & Casey Jones (inkers), Kevin Tinsley (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Nightcrawler invites his girlfriend Jimaine Szardos to leave the circus with him. Her mother Margali doesn’t want Jimaine to go, claiming that she must first teach her of the Winding Way. Margali shows Jimaine an image of the Soul Sword, which invokes a brief appearance by Belasco. Later, circus aerialist Sabu asks Jimaine if he can take her place during Nightcrawler’s final performance. Margali uses the opportunity to arrange Sabu’s death during the performance. Margali disguises herself as Belasco and delivers a warning to Jimaine. When Jimaine learns of Sabu’s death, she agrees to stay behind to gain revenge on Belasco.

Continuity Notes: “Jimaine Szardos” will later change her name to Amanda Sefton while spying on Nightcrawler, who was believed to be her brother's killer. Nightcrawler was working at the circus shortly before he joined the X-Men, so he had to have returned at some point over the years.

Miscellaneous Note: The cover is an homage to UXM #111.

Review: Nightcrawler was probably the best candidate to star in a Flashback issue, although Amanda/Jimaine ends up with much of the spotlight. Warren Ellis got a lot of mileage out of Amanda Sefton and Margali, so I can understand why Ben Raab would want to keep the characters around. I don’t know where exactly Raab intended to go with this, and I’m not sure if it really adds anything to the Amanda/Margali relationship. We already know Margali’s dishonest and manipulative, so the only new reason for Amanda to hate her comes from the death of a minor character. Raab does handle the characterizations of Nightcrawler and Amanda well, though, so this doesn’t feel like total filler. It’s also nice to see the return of Rob Haynes and Casey Jones, who are dynamic enough to pull off a dialogue-heavy issue. Either artist would've been a capable replacement for Pacheco.

X-FORCE #-1 - July 1997

The Brothers Proudstar

Credits: John Francis Moore (writer), Adam Pollina (penciler), Mark Morales, Jon Holdredge, & Al Milgrom (inkers), Marie Javins & Michael Higgins (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: John Proudstar leaves the Marines and returns home, where he’s greeted by his eleven-year-old brother James. John is saddened to learn his mother has cancer. Looking for a distraction, he takes James to a carnival. He runs into newspaper reporter Michael Whitecloud, who believes a conspiracy surrounds the camp’s cancer cases. James sneaks along as John and Michael infiltrate the Arroyo Medical Laboratory, where they discover Dr. Edwin Martynec’s experiments in radiation and cloning. Martynec morphs into a cat-creature and attacks. John fights back, but Martynec destroys the building to prevent the discovery of his research.

Continuity Notes: During the carnival scene, there are cameos by a young Meltdown, Ringmaster, Destiny and Mystique (Destiny is working as a fortune teller and Mystique is trying to convince her to put her powers to good use), and the ultra-obscure Chondu the Mystic. During a flashback, James Proudstar says he saw a fiery bird image in the sky after a helicopter crash, which he viewed as a totem. I don’t think Moore intended this to be Phoenix, since Jean Grey didn’t become Phoenix until after Proudstar had joined the X-Men and died.

Review: Even though this is a Flashback issue, John Francis Moore doesn’t allow the title’s ongoing storylines to stagnate. Although it won’t be apparent until later, many of these characters will resurface as it’s revealed that Martynec’s research is a part of a much larger story. The focus on the Proudstar siblings is also appropriate, as Warpath becomes a leading character in Moore’s run as the issues go on. Even though John Proudstar’s death was James’ driving motivation for years, this is one of the few stories that ever focused on their relationship and made his death seem like a tragedy. Moore’s plots tend to be dense anyway, but in fitting with the Silver Age aesthetic, each page is now crammed with even more story. Most of the pages have between six and eight panels, and along with the gratuitous cameos, Moore also works in an extra fight scene between John Proudstar and a tiger at the carnival. Adam Pollina has never drawn in this straightforward grid style before, but it doesn’t seem to hinder him at all. I skipped out on buying this when it was released, but this is a decent example of how to make the Flashback gimmick work.

CABLE #-1 - July 1997

The Devil’s Herald!

Credits: James Robinson (writer), Ladronn (penciler), Juan Vlasco (inker), Glynis Oliver (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: In the past, Moira MacTaggert travels with Rahne Sinclair to Stornoway. Cable has just arrived in this timeline and cannot speak English. Moira defends him, as Rev. Craig declares him the Devil’s herald. Cable uses his telepathic powers to calm the crowd. At Muir Island, Moira examines Cable, whose powers inadvertently destroy her equipment. He saves her from falling debris; then uses his powers to learn English from her mind. Cable explains that he’s on a mission and asks if she can contact Charles Xavier. Meanwhile in Switzerland, Apocalypse senses Cable’s arrival and awakes.

Continuity Notes: Since Cable learns English in this issue, it has to take place before his mercenary days with the Six Pack. This is also another instance of Cable using telepathic/telekinetic powers before he should have them in-continuity (he developed them after founding X-Force). I don’t know if Cable and Xavier actually did meet during this era, but I do know that Jeph Loeb wanted to establish that Cable helped Xavier build the Danger Room, as vaguely hinted during his X-Force run.

James Robinson gives Cable a bizarre speech pattern during a flashback to his time in the future. I assume this is supposed to be an English translation of Askani, leading Cable to say things like, “Forward fight then…and quarter to none!” and “Worry gone, friend-fighters.” He’s never spoken like this in any of his previous flashbacks, though.

The presence of Wolfsbane, Rahne Sinclair, causes a lot of problems. Rahne is described as Moira’s ward, which isn’t accurate. Moira recognized Rahne in her first appearance in the New Mutants GN as a child she delivered years earlier. Chris Claremont later established that Moira spent time with Rahne as a girl during an added page in Classic X-Men #2, but the scene made it clear that Rev. Craig was her guardian. There’s also the question of Rahne’s age. If the story takes place before Fantastic Four#1, which was the intent of Flashback Month, it should be ten years ago. Rahne was established as fourteen in her early appearances, meaning she should be around four in this issue and not the junior high student she appears to be. To prove I can be even more pedantic, I’ll point out that a narrative caption describes Rahne as a future member of X-Force, which wasn’t true in 1997 (although I guess it’s become true in recent years). Finally, Stan Lee claims during his final page that Cable erased Rahne’s memory (but not Moira’s) of the events, since Cable apparently knew they would meet later on.

Review: What’s that you say? A Cable Flashback issue is a continuity mess? James Robinson was still very new to this title, so I’m sure having to keep Cable continuity straight and figure out where it relates to the start of the Marvel Universe wasn’t easy. This actually does answer the question of how Moira knew Cable (as established in one of his early appearances), leaving Rahne’s appearance as the major continuity offender. Robinson does seem comfortable with Cable’s makeover as a new age warrior from the future, giving the story an “epic” feel. I personally think this direction never fit Cable, but Robinson can handle it well enough. Making Cable inadvertently responsible for Apocalypse’s reawaking isn’t a bad idea; one that Fabian Nicieza took a step further a few years ago in Cable and Deadpool.

The issue’s true significance is the debut of Ladronn as artist. His Kirby-influenced art is obviously a perfect fit for Flashback Month, and he’s aided by Glynis Oliver’s colors, which even go back to the “tiny dots” look of the Silver Age. Ladronn’s depiction of Cable’s future, Muir Island’s technology, and the surroundings of Scotland are amazing. Each page is filled with intricate details that clearly required a real effort on Ladronn’s part. This might’ve seemed like an odd title to assign Ladronn, but he made it work.

X-FACTOR #-1 - July 1997

A Summers Tale

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Glynis Oliver (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Forge and Mystique talk about their feelings and embrace for a kiss. Suddenly, Stan Lee interrupts and tells a flashback story. Thirteen-year-old Alex Summers has been adopted by the Blanding family. Their son Todd has died, and the parents are unwittingly molding Alex into his image. Neighborhood bully Vince targets Alex, and with Mr. Sinister’s encouragement, kidnaps Alex and his foster-sister Haley. Vince admits to triggering the accident that killed Todd and boasts that he’ll kill the Blanding parents. Alex and Haley escape in time to discover Vince aiming a gun at their gas tank. Alex uses his powers for the first time and accidentally kills Vince. Mr. Sinister erases his memory of the event.

Continuity Notes: Mr. Sinister claims that young Alex could potentially be more powerful than his brother, but he lacks all control. This is presumably an explanation for why Sinister has focused more on Cyclops than Havok.

Review: This is one of the “suburban” Flashback issues, as it focuses on a character’s childhood before he developed powers and doesn’t involve superheroic action. As far as I know, no one had done a story about Havok’s childhood, so it’s a logical avenue to explore during Flashback Month. Howard Mackie’s dialogue is still unnecessarily clunky in places, but he is able to make Alex’s adopted family believable enough. Tying Alex’s conflict at home, his inability to live up the Blanding’s biological son, with the action elements that come later is a good idea. (How exactly Todd died isn’t very clear, but apparently Vince threw a rock which caused the car accident that killed Todd. I have no idea how a rock could do this, unless Vince was throwing boulders around.) Vince is more evil than the standard neighborhood bully character, but that works to the story’s advantage. Not only does Vince stand out amongst typical bullies, but his death also doesn’t come across as this horrible sin Havok committed in the past. That might have been the story’s intent, since Havok was supposedly a villain during this era, but instead it comes across as a fairly innocuous part of his backstory. Thankfully, they didn’t have him kill his sister or parents, which is where I could see this story going today.

X-MAN #-1 – July 1997

Breeding Ground
Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Roger Cruz (penciler), Bud LaRosa & Wellington Diaz (inkers), Mike Thomas (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: In an abandoned orphanage in Nebraska, a young Nathan Grey emerges from one of Mr. Sinister’s devices. While Sinister speaks to McCoy via videoscreen, Nathan disappears. Sinister searches the orphanage for Nathan, who is psychically pulling up images from the building’s past. Sinister eventually finds Nathan, and shows him footage of America in the Age of Apocalypse. When Nathan sees video of a genetic processing plant, he creates a psychic replica inside the orphanage. Sinister triggers a telepathic failsafe in Nathan’s mind and stops the illusion. He creates a teddy bear to placate Nathan, and then places him back inside his mechanical cocoon. Sinister decides that Nathan is too powerful, and makes plans for a genetic time bomb he can use to kill him if necessary.

Continuity Note: Obviously this story takes place in the Age of Apocalypse’s past, but it’s hard to discern when exactly. Since Fantastic Four #1 didn’t exist in X-Man’s world, I’m assuming this title isn’t following the rule that the Flashback titles take place pre-FF #1. Aside from that, I have a hard time believing that it took Mr. Sinister the equivalent of 35 years worth of comics to age Nate Grey from childhood to teen-hood. The orphanage in the story is the one Cyclops grew up in, which is a lab Sinister is keeping secret from Apocalypse in this world.

Review: This is probably the most awkward of the Flashback titles - a Silver Age-style story for an alternate reality character who debuted in 1995. He has no association with the early days of Marvel, didn’t exist in the main Marvel Universe until recently, and, chronologically, was only created in a lab a few years ago. Stan Lee can’t even come up with a clever intro to the comic; he’s left explaining the AoA concept and recapping X-Man’s “dead by twenty-one” dilemma. The story really has nothing for X-Man (or X-five-year-old) to do, so he spends the entire issue wandering around, displaying his powers, and then going back into gestation. The end of the story teases another genetic problem for X-Man, which I assume was a setup for a future X-Man storyline. It’s not entirely boring, but it’s obviously padded, and literally goes nowhere. Cruz’s art helps to liven things up. This is his strongest work at this point, as a lot of the busyness and sloppiness is gone. It’s a cleaner, more attractive look that suits his cartooning influences well.

X-MEN #-1 – July 1997

I Had a Dream
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Carlos Pacheco (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Chris Lichtner & Aron Lusen (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Charles Xavier returns to America for the first time since his legs were shattered. He’s staying at his father’s home with Amelia Voght, the nurse he met in the hospital. She thinks his plan to stop human/mutant conflict is insane, and Xavier responds that he can’t just wait for “him”. Elsewhere, Magneto speaks to his two newest recruits, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. They travel to the concentration camp Magneto grew up in, where they find Xavier and Amelia waiting. Xavier tries to convince Magneto to turn away from his crusade, or else more concentration camps are going to be built. Magneto claims that he could kill Xavier now, and Xavier responds that he could shut off his mind. Magneto leaves, saying that their conflict can only have one conclusion. Xavier tells Amelia that he hopes Magneto can remember the sins of the past and not repeat them.

Continuity Note: A third-person narrative caption repeatedly refers to “Erik Lensherr” as Magneto’s name as a child. This is contradicted just a few months later during Joe Kelly’s run, when it’s revealed that Erik Lensherr was a false identity Magneto adopted.

Review: After a few pages of an amusing Stan Lee framing sequence (which mainly consists of him joking about the number of mutants he can’t keep track of), the tone shifts dramatically as Scott Lobdell presents an extended conversation scene between Xavier and Magneto. I’m convinced that the X-office had no idea what to do with Magneto during the ‘90s, but this story is at least tolerable. Lobdell tries to straddle the line between Claremont’s sympathetic portrayal of the character and the original ranting psychopath Magneto from the Silver Age. In the context of modern continuity, it works pretty well, but it’s hard to imagine the Magneto who existed just prior to 1963’s X-Men #1 having anything close to a reasonable discussion with Xavier.

Claremont’s retcon explanation for Magneto’s various characterizations was that his powers caused mental instability, which is as good an explanation as any. (He also wrote a Classic X-Men backup that took place shortly before his first appearance, which had Magneto going over the edge after a woman he was involved with was needlessly killed. This was supposed to set up his mental state for his Silver Age appearances). Of course, Claremont’s attempts at making Magneto sympathetic were a part of his larger plan to have Magneto genuinely reform. Later creators seemed to like the idea of a more complex Magneto, but apparently hated the idea of him ever reforming. So, they took what they liked from Claremont’s run and ignored the rest. In essence, this remakes Magneto yet again. He’s a villain again, but he’s now able to present a somewhat justifiable point of view.

Lobdell’s interpretation doesn’t portray Magneto as insane, but instead casts him as a ruthless man who’s willing to do anything to protect mutants. This seems to be what the creative teams were going for during his ‘90s appearances, but couldn’t quite pull off (why exactly did he crash a little girl’s funeral again?). I still don’t think Lobdell writes a compelling enough Magneto to really justify a full conversation issue between him and Xavier, but the story has its moments. Showing that neither Xavier nor Magneto are willing to fight one another at this point is a nice move, and I liked the inclusion of Amelia Voght. Pacheco’s art, which has to deal with pages of conversation scenes and the restrictive grid layout of the Flashback titles, remains strong. Overall, this is a decent issue, which is more than I would expect from a ‘90s Magneto appearance.