THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Part Five - December 1994

Thunder on the Mountain

Written by Richard Lee Byers

The Plot: Spider-Man tracks the Rhino and a group of mercenaries into the wilderness, where an alien weapon is allegedly buried. A boy named Davy stumbles upon the fight, and after an injured Spider-Man saves his life, takes Spider-Man home to treat his wounds. Davy’s father, who’s determined to remove himself and Davy from society after the death of his wife, is livid that Spider-Man’s brought his family into the conflict. After Spider-Man leaves, Davy sneaks after him. Davy’s father soon tracks them down, and creates a distraction that enables Spider-Man to defeat the Rhino. The father begins to realize that it was a mistake to seclude Davy.

I Love the ‘90s: Spider-Man tells Davy that he’s a member of the “I Hate Barney Support League.”

Review: The premise of this story is fairly generic, but Byers adds a layer of mystery by opening the story with Davy’s point of view; the perspective of a child who’s lived in a cave with his father for most of his life and has never even heard of Spider-Man. Giving Spider-Man a kid to bounce off of, and a setting he isn’t accustomed to, also helps to make this seem a little less boilerplate. Davy’s unnamed father’s conversion is awfully convenient though. As the story points out, his fears about the outside world are essentially confirmed by the incident -- six outsiders have invaded his home and only one was a decent person. Instead of driving him further into seclusion, he abruptly decides that he’s been wrong all along. It could be argued that the father has learned that it’s impossible to keep his child totally safe regardless of where they live, but the story’s a little vague on why exactly Davy’s father has come around.

Cold Blood

Written by Greg Cox

The Plot: On a cold winter night, Morbius succumbs to his bloodlust and attacks a homeless man. Spider-Man arrives to stop him, leading to a battle in the snow that nearly kills Spider-Man. When he has an opportunity to kill Morbius with an icicle, he can’t bring himself to do it. After Morbius recovers from the fight, he thanks Spider-Man for giving him another chance and leaves, vowing to take only the blood of the guilty. Spider-Man does his final good deed for the night when he uses his webbing to create a temporary shelter for the homeless man.

Review: This is another story you might recognize from the 1994 flipbooks. I remember thinking that the Spider-Man/Morbius fight drags on for quite a while when I first read the abridged version in Web of Spider-Man, and time hasn’t changed my opinion. If you’re interested in an extended fight between Spider-Man and Morbius, told in the prose format, this is for you. Personally, I don’t find it a concept worthy of eighteen pages. Not that the story is totally lacking in depth, I suppose. Cox creates some symmetry with Spider-Man saving the homeless man from an icicle at the start of the story and nearly killing Morbius with one at the end, and he has Spider-Man ponder if he could’ve easily become the monster that Morbius is today as he debates stabbing Morbius in the heart (remember that Spider-Man had mutated into a six-armed freak when they first met). Cox is also able to use the frozen setting to the fight scene’s advantage, as Spider-Man must contend with a horrid environment that doesn’t seem to bother Morbius at all. And yet, the conflicts aren’t overly interesting and the fight scene does feel needlessly protracted. Compared to the other stories in the book, the concept just feels too thin.

THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Part Four - December 1994

Scoop!

Written by David Michelinie

The Plot: Henry Pogue is a small town journalist who’s dying of cancer. Determined to make his final weeks matter, he has a contact arrange a job with the Daily Bugle. While on an assignment with Peter Parker, he declares his final story will be the revelation of Spider-Man’s secret identity. Later, during an encounter with a protectionist terrorist group, Peter is forced to reveal his super powers in front of Henry. Peter debates over how to protect his secret, and finally decides to appeal to Henry’s humanity. Peter’s words convince Henry that glory is meaningless and that his life has mattered. A few weeks later, Henry’s obituary is penned by guest writer Peter Parker.

Review: This might be the story from the anthology that most people recognize, since an abridged version of it ran as a flip-book in Amazing Spider-Man. If you’ve only read the abridged version, you haven’t missed much (a few more pages of action and a brief intro to Henry were cut out), but reading the full version reminded me once again of what a great story this is. Fame and glory honestly don’t matter, and if there’s any superhero who understands that, it’s Spider-Man. Henry’s realization that his life has had meaning even if he’s destined to die anonymously is handled particularly well by Michelinie, without descending into predictable schmaltz.

There are rumors that David Michelinie originally planned to have Peter Parker’s dual identity revealed during a massive storyline throughout Spider-Man’s thirtieth anniversary, which would explain why he’s thought through just how badly this would impact Peter’s life. As Peter explains to Henry: “Bottom line is, telling the world who I am will destroy me, possibly destroy the people I love, and almost certainly destroy any hopes I have of helping anyone in the future! Is that a fair price for your fifteen minutes in the spotlight?” The idea that Peter would ever choose to reveal his secret ID is still insane to me, and another example that justifies my dismissal of post-2000 Marvel continuity (Yes, I’m still complaining about something that happened six years ago. I’m also writing about a book that was published eighteen years ago, so this shouldn’t be that much of a shock.)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Courier

Written by Robert L. Washington III

The Plot: Spider-Man picks up a liver needed for a girl’s surgery from an ambulance stuck in traffic. He makes his way to Brooklyn, only to be intercepted by Chance. Chance steals the canister for his employer, not realizing that the liver is meant for a young girl until Spider-Man screams at him in anger. Chance turns around and rescues Spider-Man and an innocent man from the building he ignited when covering his escape. He returns the canister to Spider-Man, but only after flipping a coin for it.

Miscellaneous Note: The title of this story is a reference to the book Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which is best known now as a Gary Oldman movie.

Review: I never noticed Robert L. Washington III’s name until his obituary turned up a few months ago on comic book news sites. It’s horrible to think that he went from professionally writing comics, and at least one prose story featuring one of the most famous characters in the history of pop culture, in his twenties to homelessness and an early death in his forties. Is “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Courier” a lost classic? Nope, but it’s a solid story with not one but two twist endings. I think that Washington spends a little too much time trying to justify how “realistic” web-slinging actually could be in New York City (for those of us outside the city, it’s not particularly compelling), but he revives my interest in the story once Chance is brought into the picture. Chance is one of my favorite obscure, hopefully-not-dead, villains and his presence here helps to break up the monotony of the usual suspects of Doc Ock, Vulture, and Mysterio. Chance has a bizarre sense of honor, so it’s fitting for the character to go from setting a building on fire to betraying his gangster boss and returning the stolen liver within a few pages. Not that he’ll just give the liver away; he still has to flip for it. Then again, Spider-Man discovers in the story’s final twist that maybe Chance cares more than he lets on. This wouldn’t work for most villains, but Chance is enough of an eccentric to pull the idea off, and Washington sells the concept very well.

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.

THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Part Two - December 1994

Cool

Written by Lawrence Watt-Evans

The Plot: Spider-Man pursues a young thief who can leap large distances with mechanical shoes. He’s forgotten to refill his web cartridges and is unwilling to hurt the teen, so Spider-Man spends much of their confrontation leaping out of his way. A young Spider-Man fan, Stuart, watches from his nearby window. Thinking that Spider-Man is in trouble, he grabs his father’s rifle and shoots the thief. After Spider-Man makes sure the thief receives medical attention, he tracks down Stuart and forcibly brings him down to face the police. Stuart curses Spider-Man as he’s brought into custody.

Review: Wow, this is surprisingly dark. (Not so dark that the thief dies, but still…) The narrative opens with the story of nine-year-old Stuart seeing Spider-Man for the first time, which opens the door for an obsession that’s played as sweet instead of creepy until you reach the final pages. In fact, this has all the hallmarks of a “sick kid meets his hero” story, right down to Spider-Man allowing Stuart to swing through the city with him during one of their earlier encounters. Despite his hero worship, Stuart never seems to develop Spider-Man’s moral code, which leads to him committing a pretty horrific act by the story’s end. I can’t help but to be reminded of what superhero comics look like today when reading this story -- it’s as if the entire industry was taken over by Stuarts who just liked the action and violence of comics but never had a deeper understanding of heroic fiction.

Even though most superheroes could be plugged into Spider-Man’s place in the basic plot, Watt-Evans handles Spider-Man’s character very well, right down to Peter blaming himself for the shooting because he’s the one who showed off for Stuart in the first place, and was irresponsible enough to leave with empty web cartridges that morning. He’s also sympathetic towards Stuart instead of angry with him, which shows a great understanding of the character. (I can’t imagine Batman showing the kid any empathy.)

Blindspot

Written by Ann Nocenti

The Plot: Spider-Man rescues a young woman, Sonja, and her father, Gig, from two muggers. He’s soon drawn into Sonja’s web of lies, as she tells stories about her past as a geneticist and an animal rights activist, and her current mission to stop a ring of black market organ farmers. Sonja also creates stories about her father’s past as a football hero, and a literal superhero. Meanwhile, a genetically modified dog roams the city. Spider-Man follows Sonja to the home of a blind man who’s selling his eyes when the dog suddenly appears. Spider-Man attempts to capture the creature, but Gig abruptly enters and convinces him to leave the dog with the blind man, who’s happy to take it in.

Creative Differences: The illustration for this story by James Fry has Spider-Man fighting a gigantic humanoid monster; its only connection to the creature described in this story being the wires attached to its head.

Review: This is a muddled story that apparently wants to cover genetic splicing, animal rights, the plight of the elderly, mortality, underground human organ sales, self-delusion, and the nature of heroism. Some of these are pet themes that Nocenti has used before (the example of genetically modified pigs without legs showed up during her Daredevil run), so it’s not hard to guess where she stands on these issues. Unlike many of her Daredevil stories, however, this is less preachy than it is simply weird. Sonja ceases to be a sympathetic figure just a few pages into the story, around the time we discover she’s buying black market body parts. Her claim that she’s buying them as a part of an investigation is never confirmed, nor does Spider-Man actually get around to stopping the operation. Instead, he’s taught a lesson about when not to fight by Sonja’s drunken father, as he magically senses that the mutated dog creature needs to be with the man who sold his own eyeballs. Yup. None of this comes together too well, but you can’t claim it’s boring.

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.

NICK FURY/BLACK WIDOW CYBERCOMIC - 1998

Jungle Warfare - Chapter One

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Nick Fury is informed that the government’s Gamega Bomb has been hidden away in South America since the 1970s. He travels with Black Widow and a crew of young SHIELD agents to retrieve it. Using Black Widow’s sex appeal, the team easily recovers the bomb from the local authorities. However, an unknown villain has targeted Black Widow and Fury.

Continuity Note: As explained by Fury, the Gamega Bomb is a combination gamma bomb and nuke designed during the Cold War and planted near the Panama Canal.

Review: Hey, Casey Jones drew one of the cybercomics! While I’m glad to see him on the assignment, I doubt he drew the extremely crude aircraft we see in this chapter. The panels that feature the Helicarrier and SHIELD jets are the kind of amateur work you might expect in an on-line exclusive comic; a very low standard I haven’t seen the cybercomics sink to yet. In a world that still had Ron Wagner and Herb Trimpe actively drawing comics (or at least looking for work), it’s a shame that these childish drawings of aircraft were used. However, I’m dwelling on a handful of panels; the rest of this work looks fine. Casey Jones’ interpretations of Black Widow and Fury are on par with the solid artwork he was doing for Marvel at the time, and Chichester seems to be having fun with the story’s simple premise. Opening the chapter with a cartoony flashback to the ‘70s was also a cute surprise.

Jungle Warfare - Chapter Two

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: The SHIELD craft is struck down by a group known as the Tyrannicals. They demand Fury give up the Gamega Bomb, and he refuses. A SHIELD agent notices that the crash has armed the bomb. In a less than a day, it will detonate and destroy the rainforest.

Continuity Notes: The Tyrannicals consist of Scarrific (the large, strong one), Paingiver (a female with electric whip), and their leader, Torcher (a pyrokinetic; apparently, the flames generate from the top of his head).

Review: Ugh, more crude vehicles. Not just aircraft, but now we’re treated to sloppy renditions of the Tyrannicals’ ATVs. I have no idea why the vehicles in this story are so poorly rendered; I realize that the art in the cybercomics wasn’t done in a wholly traditional manner (notice that no one’s been credited as an inker so far), but I don’t understand why this requires the vehicles to look like something drawn in MS Paint. Anyway, this is an action chapter, introducing the reader to a throwaway group of villains called the Tyrannicals. They apparently want the Gamega Bomb right this second, even though they’ve had decades to easily dig it out of the ground without facing heavily armed SHIELD agents. Okay, fine. Now, have I mentioned that all of the vehicles in this story look like crap?

Jungle Warfare - Chapter Three

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Fury, Black Widow, and the last surviving SHIELD agent, Kyle Fleming, try to find some way to contact headquarters and receive information on disarming the bomb. They’re ambushed by the Tyrannicals, who combine their powers to box Fury and the others into a fire.

Review: This is the only installment so far that actually brings any of the standard “stranded in the jungle” tropes into the story, as Fleming is attacked by an anaconda and rescued by Black Widow. Surprisingly, this isn’t used as an opportunity to reference a certain cinema classic that starred Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez, and Ice Cube. (Actually, that’s another movie I’ve never seen.) The scene’s apparently just here to justify setting the story in the jungle, since it doesn’t advance the main plot in any way. At the end of the chapter, the characters are essentially in the same place they were last installment.

Jungle Warfare - Chapter Four

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Casey Jones (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Fury, Black Widow, and Fleming escape from the Tyrannicals and hide inside an abandoned smuggler’s den. Fleming uses his technological expertise to send information on the antique bomb through the home’s satellite to SHIELD’s headquarters. Meanwhile, Black Widow and Fury defeat the Tyrannicals. Fleming receives the proper information and the bomb is disarmed.

Review: Okay, Fury believes in agent Fleming even when Fleming doubts himself, Fleming rises to the challenge, and the day is saved. This clearly isn’t deep, but it’s a reasonable amount of character work given the format. Chichester actually bothered to give Fleming a defined role in the plot, which is more than you can say for most writers who use throwaway SHIELD agents in their stories. Jungle Warfare is probably the most entertaining of the cybercomic serials I’ve read so far. The material still hasn’t risen past the level of an annual backup, but it’s fun to read and the art is nice. Except for, you know, those things…

BLADE CYBERCOMIC - 1998

Blade

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors),  Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: A young vampire attempts to recruit a new bloodsucker by describing the excessive lifestyle they live thanks to Deacon Frost. The only downside is the vampire hunter Blade, who suddenly appears and kills the vampire and his female companions.

Review: Confession -- I’ve never seen any of the Blade films. I have no good reason for never seeing them, either. (And I realize that Blade is significant for being the first Marvel movie that didn’t look embarrassing and actually turned a profit.) I’m sure I had an opportunity to see the first one, but didn’t feel like it at the time and never bothered to go back to it. Every few years, a new sequel or TV series would continue the franchise, and I ignored them because I never saw the first movie. For some reason, the sequels are rerun continuously on various cable channels, but the first movie always seems to be ignored. Of course, if I really wanted to see the movie, I know I could at any time, but I’ve never felt any real motivation to do so.

As you might’ve guessed this was a short created to promote the 1998 Blade movie. There are a few vague references to the Book of Erebus, which I’m assuming is a plot device in the film, but aside from this brief diversion, this could easily be read as a standalone story. Chichester has a clever premise for the short; a bratty young vampire recruits you, the reader, into the world of vampirism. Apparently, you rule the city, “recruiting” all of the women you want, with a compliant police force that’s too cowardly to stand in the way of your fun. The only snag is someone called Blade, though, who conveniently arrives to kill all of the characters in the final few panels. And, as crude as this animation can be, the sequence of Blade’s stakes and shuriken (?) hitting the vampires does look pretty cool. I wasn’t expecting much from a quickie move tie-in, but it’s actually worth reading.

DAREDEVIL CYBERCOMIC - PROTECTION RACKET 1998

Chapter One

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Daredevil meets with Federal Prosecutor Malper, who informs him that a Southwestern racketeer named Badlands is moving into New York. He seeks to make a name for himself by killing the Kingpin. Meanwhile, Badlands hires Bullseye for the job.

I Love the '90s: Daredevil asks Malper if the Justice Department has gotten tired of going after Microsoft.

Review: I have mixed feelings about D. G. Chichester’s Daredevil run, but I’ll readily admit that I enjoyed several of his issues. The cybercomic format doesn’t exactly indulge his propensity for overly complicated plotlines narrated by stream of consciousness rambling, so hopefully we’ll get a simple, clean Daredevil story out of this. The opening chapter mainly serves to introduce the concept of Daredevil and his alter ego. The conflict that’s created has a lot of potential, though; a part of Daredevil absolutely wants Kingpin dead, making this a mission he’d rather not take. Bullseye’s relationship with his former employer is another avenue Chichester can explore. I seem to recall Bullseye still trying to win Kingpin’s favor back in the ‘90s, so I’m interested to see where Chichester goes with this.

Chapter Two

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Daredevil sneaks into the Kingpin’s office, warning him of Badlands. Kingpin ignores his warning and leaves his skyscraper. On his way out, Bullseye strikes his limo with a rocket. Daredevil attacks Bullseye as Kingpin tries to escape the car.

“Huh?” Moment: Police Commissioner Tanner appears on the news, openly calling the Kingpin a criminal and stating that the police won’t protect him from Badlands. If the police are so confident in Wilson Fisk’s guilt, why are they putting no effort into arresting him?

Review: Well, Bullseye certainly got to the Kingpin fast. There isn’t a great confrontation between the pair in this installment, and the acknowledgment of their past together consists of Kingpin calmly telling Bullseye he’s chosen the wrong side of the fight this time. No great surprises in the Daredevil/Kingpin confrontation, either. On a very basic level this is fine, but I wish Chichester was getting more depth out of the material. (And some of the corny dialogue is cropping up again: “Just ‘cause you dress like a devil doesn’t mean you can stand the heat, red!” “Let’s see who gets burned…”) I did enjoy Daerick Gross’s artwork in this chapter, though. Since this was originally posted in 1998, I’m assuming that the Joe Quesada rendition of Daredevil was considered the “official” one; it’s a style Gross handles quite well.

Chapter Three

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Daredevil rescues Kingpin from Bullseye, but is maimed by one of Bullseye’s projectiles. Later, Bullseye assures an annoyed Badlands that Kingpin will die.

Review: Wow, if the previous chapters didn’t make the Quesada influence obvious, you’d have to be blind not to see it here. Regarding the story, this is the fight chapter, and it’s executed well enough. Chichester actually does manage to work in some of his stream of consciousness ramblings in this chapter, but it works as an effective dramatization of Daredevils’ wound.

Chapter Four

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Bullseye kills the hospital’s power, sneaking into the Kingpin’s room as Daredevil has his wound examined. Daredevil reaches the Kingpin in time to save him from Bullseye, and afterward threatens to make Kingpin pay his debt at a later date.

Review: Oddly enough, Chichester throws out an idea in the final chapter that could’ve carried its own story. A doctor informs Daredevil that he has “synesthesia” following the hit on his head in the previous chapter. The temporary condition causes his senses to become cross-wired, causing him to “feel” shapes, “see” colors, etc. Why Chichester introduces this idea and does nothing with it, I don’t know, but it could make for a great Daredevil story (for all I know, someone might’ve already used the idea in the past.) Regarding the conclusion of the story, there’s not much here. Daredevil defeats Bullseye with barely any effort, tells Kingpin that he now has a marker against him, and that’s the end. I wasn’t honestly expecting a full Frank Miller angst parade regarding Daredevil’s decision to protect the man who’s previously destroyed his life, but a little more depth would’ve been nice.

SCARE TACTICS #8 - July 1997

Weird Load (Convergence Part Four)

Credits: Len Kaminski (writer), Anthony Williams (penciler), Andy Lanning (inker), Pat Prentice (letterer), James Sinclair (colorist)

Summary: Fate and Sentinel explain to the Scare Tactics that the Conclave’s power is being usurped by a mystery entity. Etrigan, who’s already met the team, senses Topaz is spying on the group as an insect. He forces Topaz to reveal himself, just as “Sentinel” reveals himself as an Emerald agent. He unleashes an army of Emerald Shocktroopers that are soon defeated. However, Scare Tactics member Jimmy is left mortally wounded.

Irrelevant Continuity: Fate already knows the Scare Tactics team, and apparently had a role in their creation when he broke them out of something called the “R-Complex.”

I Love the ‘90s: Nina of the Scare Tactics likes Fate’s outfit. Not.

Total N00B: I have no idea if this group is actually called “Scare Tactics,” and at no point in the story is their connection to Fate and Etrigan made clear. In fact, the basic premise of the series is never explained.

Review: How could this be the final chapter of the crossover? Absolutely nothing is resolved! I sometimes wonder if DC even wanted new readers in the first place…honestly, if you’ve never read Scare Tactics before, why would you ever want to buy another issue after reading this? And I say this as a fan of Len Kaminski. The reader is left with no clear idea on what the premise of the title is, what most of the characters are named, or why any of these events are happening. I remember ads for Scare Tactics that promoted it as a group of monsters that pose as a rock band…a ridiculous premise, but one that could work well as a comic. (I certainly hope the werewolf with a nose ring is supposed to be a joke, though.) Imagine what any reader who was curious about the title must’ve thought if he picked up this issue in order to complete the crossover. Not only do you learn essentially nothing about the book, but the main story that’s supposed to be concluding in this chapter isn’t anywhere close to being resolved. At least the Challengers of the Unknown chapter told a story that was engaging on its own merits, even if the issue did little to spell out what the Challengers are supposed to be. This is essentially an issue long fight scene, starring a group of characters the creators just assume you already care about.

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #6 - July 1997

Shattered (Convergence Part Three)

Credits: Steven Grant w/Len Kaminski (writers), John Paul Leon (penciler), Shawn Martinbrough and Bill Reinhold (inkers), Ken Lopez (letterer), Matt Hollingsworth (colorist)

Summary: One-twelfths of the world’s population lapses into a coma. The Challengers of the Unknown investigate, and member Kenn develops a theory that the victims’ astrological sign, Scorpio, is the key to the case. He goes to visit his daughter, Danni, who is one of the victims. When he sees her topaz locket, he realizes that topaz holds the cure. Following his instructions, the Challengers create a “Topaz Man” in the desert and hold hands. The energy that’s contained within the victims is released, creating an apparition that flies into the sky. Danni and the rest of the victims awaken from their coma.

Irrelevant Continuity: The other Challengers are shocked to discover Kenn has an ex-wife and daughter.

Review: It’s another chapter of the crossover that really couldn’t care less if you’ve never read this book before. I do know that the Challengers are a Jack Kirby concept that predates the Fantastic Four, and like many of DC’s Silver Age titles, the book’s been relaunched several times throughout the decades without finding much of an audience. This incarnation of the Challengers, according to the letters page, brings an X-Files influence to the concept (I don’t know if the creators actually had that in mind, but I’m sure DC had no problem marketing the book this way.) Everything had to reference X-Files at some point in the ‘90s, but I guess Challengers of the Unknown isn’t much of a stretch for an X-Files connection. Unfortunately, you learn more about the title from the letters page than the actual story. I realize the creators are following “show, don’t tell,” but just a small amount of exposition would’ve helped any new readers brought in by this crossover.

For starters, the story doesn’t identify the four leads as the Challengers until page sixteen. We see that they’re a group of investigators, but their actions don’t exactly bring the word “challenger” to mind. The only character who’s clearly named for most of the story is Kenn, while most of the cast seems nameless until page nineteen. Even then, it’s hard to discern their roles in the book. (And, occasionally, the murky artwork makes it difficult to tell the characters apart.) Apparently, Marlon is the leader, Kenn is the eccentric, Clay is the arrogant cynic, and Brenda is the rational skeptic. This is based on just a few lines of dialogue, so I could be wrong. The relationships between the characters, and the basic setup of the organization, are glossed over, so a new reader still knows very little about the concept of the series by the end of the issue.

All that said, I did enjoy the comic. The only cast member who receives any real characterization is Kenn, but he’s a strong enough protagonist to maintain the reader’s interest. The scenes between Kenn and his family feel real, and the resolution of the mystery is quite clever. I like the connection between topaz, the birthstone of Scorpio, and the character of Prince Topaz, whose presence is likely an editorial requirement. I suspect Grant/Kaminski didn’t have a great interest in the crossover, or perhaps weren’t even aware of the specific details of the main plot, so they’ve created a story that works independent of the main storyline while also putting one of the characters where he needs to be for the next chapter. If you were a regular reader of Challengers of the Unknown, the crossover isn’t hindering the book in any way. If you’re a new reader who’s buying the issue simply to get the next chapter of the “Convergence” crossover, however, your patience is likely to be tested.

NIGHT FORCE #8 - July 1997

Gems (Convergence Part Two)

Credits: Marv Wolfman (writer), Matt Smith (penciler), Steve Mitchell (inker), John Costanza (letterer), Lee Loughridge (colorist)

Summary: A pregnant runaway named Lea crashes her car into a young man. She takes him to the nearest home, the mansion that belongs to Baron Winters. Winters treats the young man, discovering that he has no pores, nipples, or sex organs. While Winters is distracted with Lea, the young man, Child, awakens and searches the manor for a link to the Conclave. Members of the Infinity Cult watch through Child’s eyes as he attempts to trap the manor inside limbo. Topaz suddenly appears and fights Child. Baron Winters interrupts the fight and casts both of them out, ignoring Topaz’s warnings of Amethyst’s plans. When Winters returns to his room, he discovers the Infinity Cult has removed Lea’s child and killed her.

Irrelevant Continuity: Lea was first introduced to the Infinity Cult by her local Senator, who is presumably the same Senator we saw in the previous chapter of the crossover. What exactly the Infinity Cult is isn’t explained, but the story helpfully explains how they gang-raped Lea and impregnated her with twins “one light, one dark” that could be the saviors of the universe.  Remember, any comic without gang rape is at least 40% less daring and relevant.

Review: “Convergence” continues through three other DC Casualties from the ‘90s, making this a strong contender for the “Crossover Least Likely Ever To Be Reprinted” prize. My knowledge of Night Force is that it was an early ‘80s DC series created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan after both left Marvel. It didn’t have a lengthy Tomb of Dracula run, but it was revived by Wolfman and a rotating series of artists in the late ‘90s. This issue is penciled by Matt Smith, an artist who bravely blends Mike Mignola with more Mike Mignola to create a look that’s oddly reminiscent of Mike Mignola. His characters can be hard to tell apart, and while most of his storytelling is clear, his depiction of Topaz’s exit from his fight with Child leads me to believe the character has spontaneously exploded, which I don’t believe was the writer’s intent. Not that Wolfman’s plot is perfectly clear, either. The concept of Night Force is never explained during the story, nor is the Infinity Cult or the elements from Book of Fate that precede this issue. New readers picking up this comic for the crossover have to be confused, possibly just as much as the existing readers who don’t follow Book of Fate (which is often impenetrable anyway.) I hate it when fans declare that a book “deserved” to be cancelled, but it’s not hard for me to discern why DC’s fringe titles couldn’t maintain an audience. This is far more reader-unfriendly than the average X-book from the ‘90s.

THE BOOK OF FATE #6 - July 1997

All that Glitters…(Convergence Part One)

Credits: Keith Giffen (writer), Ron Wagner (penciler), Bill Reinhold (inker), Gaspar (letterer), Mike Danza (colorist)

Summary: Following a series of disagreements, the Conclave dismantles. Later, Fate’s apartment is invaded by shock troopers for the House of Emerald. They claim he’s harboring a fugitive, but can’t find any evidence. After they leave, Fate discovers a gem in his refrigerator. The gem turns into Topaz, who warns Fate of a conspiracy to destroy the Conclave. The Emerald soldiers return to fight, and once Topaz realizes Fate is unwilling to help him, he disappears. When the Emerald soldiers also leave, Fate is arrested by local police.

Irrelevant Continuity: This begins a crossover with the other DC “weirdoverse” titles, Night Force, Challengers of the Unknown, and Scare Tactics.

Review: Perhaps the most enjoyable issue of the series so far, the reader now has an idea of what Keith Giffen can do when he isn’t indulging in endless weirdness for weirdness’ sake. The Conclave, for the first time in this specific series, are actually clearly defined (an arbitrating body dedicated to resolving “disputes of any mystical nature”), which goes a long way towards making this issue tolerable. Not every aspect of the story makes perfect sense yet (Sentinel has discovered two peaceful alien races who’ve slaughtered each other, while a U.S. Senator is apparently puking out these aliens in his toilet), but there’s a basic plot here that’s easy to grasp -- a group called the “Gemlords” have manipulated the Conclave and staged a coup, which is setting the stage for their bid for world domination. This works as a painless premise for a storyline, and there’s enough room for Giffen to showcase more of Fate’s obnoxiousness, which is actually entertaining this time (his continued attempts to brush Topaz off and just ignore this mission are pretty funny). This is the rare occasion that a crossover helps a title gain focus; not that I’m particularly interested in a “weirdoverse” crossover, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

THE BOOK OF FATE #5 - June 1997

Last Dance

Credits: Keith Giffen (writer), Ron Wagner (penciler), Bill Reinhold (inker), Gaspar (letterer), Mike Danza (colorist)

Summary: Two-Face abandons his fight with Fate, allowing a new superhero, the Image, to make his presence known. Fate forces Image to fly him to a Chaos area; he then enters the strange world and punches out Chaos. Order suddenly appears with the Image at his side. He demands Image and Fate fight, but is knocked unconscious by Image’s body after Fate throws his superhero representative at him. Suddenly, Fate stands next to an adolescent boy in the middle of a theme park.

Irrelevant Continuity: Letter writers are complaining that the origin of Jared Stevens has been revised from the Fate series without any Crisis/Zero Hour efforts to justify the change. The editorial response is essentially that Keith Giffen wanted to start over and they let him.

Review: More random, not particularly entertaining, nonsense. Two-Face is dismissed after a handful of pages in order to introduce Not Funny Generic Superman Parody #629, the Image, into the illogical plot. (And why is he named “the Image” if he’s meant to represent traditional superheroes? Image’s heroes were far closer to Fate than this hero back in the ‘90s.) Casually dropping Two-Face is a terrible move; not only does Ron Wagner draw him incredibly well, but an adventure with Two-Face could’ve served as a nice non-hallucinogenic change of pace for the book. Instead, we get more unfunny scenes of random gibberish that are supposed to make Fate look cool, when in truth, Fate’s one of the more annoying “attitude” characters in comics. Pairing him with a Superman analogue solely to make fun of traditional heroes doesn’t make Fate seem edgy or daring, it just exposes his dull wit and irritating persona.

X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM #2 - December 1999

All Children Wear the Sign
Credits: Joe Casey (writer), Steve Rude (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Paul Mounts (colors), Jim Novak (letters)

Summary: Professor X futilely reaches out to Cyclops, who’s secretly living with criminal Jack Winters. Meanwhile, a group of anti-mutant teens is armed by a militia leader. After Beast stops them from harming Iceman at school, he’s targeted by the bullies with a sniper rifle. When Beast knocks one of them off the top of the stadium’s bleachers, the teen dies. Beast becomes an outcast, but still resists Professor X's help. Later, one of the bullies, Starkey, develops mutant powers. Elsewhere, Jack Winters plans the robbery of a nuclear plant.

Continuity Notes:

· The Sentinel from the previous issue is dismissed as a prototype. Fred Duncan tells Xavier that Trask denies the robot was his creation, but he knows Trask is lying. This might be an attempt to ease the series more closely into continuity, but I don’t know why the creators would’ve bothered.

· Jack Winters is the Silver Age villain Jack O’Diamonds. Jack O’Diamonds was a diamond-themed supervillain who played a role in Cyclops’ original origin story; he’s been recast as an average thief for this miniseries.

Review: Joe Casey has said before that Bill Jemas would’ve released Children of the Atom as Ultimate X-Men if the line had existed in 1999. It’s easy to see how this miniseries influenced the line; the slow-motion formation of the team, the constant attempts to show realistic reactions to mutants, and the “grounding” of some of the more fantastic and/or ridiculous characters, such as Jack O’Diamonds. At best, this is a modern reinterpretation that makes decades-old stories more palatable to a modern audience. At worst, it’s a needless apology made by creators embarrassed to be working on this material in the first place. I wouldn’t throw Joe Casey into that crowd, but many of the people brought into Marvel in the subsequent years clearly couldn’t hide their contempt.

I wasn’t as adamantly opposed to the Ultimate line as some fans were, but I quickly realized it served no real purpose, and I think it was obvious within a few years to everyone that Marvel had no idea where to go with it. It’s easy to start over. It’s even easier to “ground” all of the superhero elements, as if you were on a cable TV budget. It’s hard to keep the audience’s attention for more than a few months with this approach, though. I think time has shown the faux-Bryan Singer approach to superhero comics is just another gimmick that should be used sparingly.

And even though I cite Bryan Singer, I have to acknowledge that Casey wrote this at least a year before the first X-Men movie was released. He was clearly on to something; a segment of the audience wanted to see “fresh starts” for the books, and was more than happy to dismiss anything from the past that could be viewed as silly. The success of the first X-Men movie in 2000 unfortunately gave Marvel license to “ground” everything (overlooking one of the major reasons why Singer downplayed many of the fantastic elements of the X-Men was due to budget concerns), and since continuity was something too dorky to be concerned with, it seemed like almost everything Marvel published was a retelling or reimaging of an already published story with some absurd “relevance” tacked on to it. None of those comics had Steve Rude art, though.

Have I gone on a prolonged tangent that has little to do with Children of the Atom? Probably. But there isn’t a lot to say about this issue. The X-Men are moody teens who are too dumb to accept help when they clearly need it, Fred Duncan grows more sympathetic towards mutants, and some bigots do bigoted things. The pace is excessively slow, especially when you consider that everyone knows how the story is going to ultimately end. But, again, Steve Rude’s art makes even the most mundane scenes more tolerable.

X-FORCE #96 - November 1999

Family Secrets

Credits: John Francis Moore (writer), Anthony Williams (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

Summary: Cannonball breaks his uncle Lucas Guthrie out of prison in order to learn the truth behind the images he saw in Genosha. Lucas reveals that he was duped into stealing a Celestial Golem from a warehouse. When Lucas realized he was in trouble, he asked Cannonball’s father for help, which lead to the eleven-year-old Cannonball sneaking into the back of his truck. They delivered the Golem to a Deviant facility, shortly before Sledge suddenly appeared and destroyed the Golem. The Deviants killed during the melee were buried by the Guthrie brothers, and Cannonball’s memory was erased by one of Sledge’s devices. With Domino’s help, Cannonball returns Lucas to jail. Meanwhile, Meltdown is being stalked by Triune Understanding followers, Selene reveals to Sunspot that a SHIELD agent is actually a plant for the Damocles Foundation, Moonstar sees an image of the Demon Bear, and the remains of Reignfire are delivered to Indigo.

I Love the '90s: Jesse Bedlam tells Meltdown that her powers are literally “da bomb.”

Creative Differences:  Kurt Busiek revealed on Usenet that John Francis Moore's portrayal of the Triune Understanding openly breaking the law did not match the instructions he gave to Marvel editors at the time.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year as 76,034, with the most recent issue selling 61,372 copies. It’s not hard to guess why Marvel began considering a relaunch around this time.

Review: Yes, more Deviants. Moore does handle Cannonball’s relationship with his criminal uncle fairly well, and there are a few nice moments that center on Cannonball’s embarrassment when Lucas takes him to a strip club, but…will this ever end? If Moore wanted to do a story with the Deviants in X-Force, fine, but I don’t think he needed two to three years to set the idea up. I also don’t understand why it’s necessary to drag Cannonball’s past into the story, going so far as to reveal that he had a secret adventure with the Deviants that was erased by Sledge, of all people. Isn’t Cannonball’s past much more effective if he simply had a normal life in Kentucky before discovering he had mutant powers? What are the odds that he would’ve run into the creations of the Celestials, the cosmic beings responsible for human mutation in the first place? And that his life would be saved by Sledge, a mystery character his future teammate Proudstar will one day encounter following an X-Force adventure? There’s no obvious point to this; it needlessly complicates Cannonball’s past and doesn’t offer any significant advancement of the Deviant storyline. To Moore’s credit, he’s still keeping numerous subplots alive, but it’s not a good sign when the main story is much less appealing than all of the subplots.

X-MEN UNLIMITED #28 - December 1999

In Remembrance

Credits: Joe Pruett (writer), Brett Booth (penciler), Sal Regla (inker), Marie Javins & Jessica Ruffner (colors), Sharpefont & PT (letters)

Summary: After discovering Wolverine is alive, the X-Men reflect on his past with the team. When Jubilee learns that the X-Men were unable to rescue Wolverine from Apocalypse, she angrily walks out. Marrow volunteers to speak to her, which inspires Jubilee to write a letter detailing what Wolverine means to her.

Review: This is the first issue of X-Men Unlimited’s new direction as non-filler, and it’s a weak start. Aside from the fact that Brett Booth is not an artist suited for quiet conversation scenes, the story largely consists of unimaginative flashbacks to old stories and lengthy homilies about Wolverine’s importance to the team. It seems like the X-Men would be more likely to be having these conversations back when they still thought Wolverine to be dead, but even overlooking that, the dialogue is too wooden to make the characters believable. Actual dialogue from this issue: “Chere, th’ look on your face reveals a lot ‘bout th’ passion in your soul. I know in times like t’is it’s best t’let you work it out for yourself -- don’t mean I gotta like it, though.” There are a few decent ideas, such as Marrow unexpectedly volunteering to calm Jubilee, or Jubilee writing a letter to Wolverine similar to the one he left for her in Wolverine #75, but the execution is faux-Claremont at its worst.

Game

Credits: Doug Moench (writer), Mark Texeira (art), Marie Javins (colors), Sharpefont (letters)

Summary: Wolverine encounters a group of illegal trophy hunters in Canada. He scares them off into the woods and creates a funeral pyre for the animals they’ve killed. Reflecting on the differences between animal and man, Wolverine decides that he doesn’t want to go to Heaven if animals don’t have souls.

Continuity Notes: There’s no effort made to identify when this story is supposed to take place, although Wolverine does have his adamantium claws.

Review: It’s another Wolverine vs. Hunters story, although this story puts more effort into elucidating Wolverine’s stance on hunting. His issue with the “hunters” in this story is the callous way they kill animals only for sport, leaving the actual meat behind for scavengers. The fact that they’re doing this illegally gives Wolverine a nice Comics Code approved excuse for attacking them. Throughout the story, Wolverine reflects on the differences between animal and man, debating under which group he belongs. It’s a fairly stock Wolverine plot, but it’s executed inoffensively, and it’s always great to see Mark Texeira draw Wolverine.

Uncanny X-Men #375, X-Men #95, Wolverine #145 - December 1999

In case anyone missed these the first time around, I'm reposting the reviews that cover the "main" titles from this era, back when I was blissfully unaware of the details of Astonishing X-Men. That way, anyone who cares won't have to search the archives to see how and when the X-Men discovered Wolverine was Death, when the adamantium returned, etc...

UXM #375 & X-MEN #95 – December 1999

Uncanny X-Men #375
 
I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been…
Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Terry Kavanagh (script), Adam Kubert (penciler), Batt w/Tim Townsend (inkers), Liquid! & Chris Sotomayor (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: The X-Men reunite at the mansion and learn that Wolverine has been killed. Xavier continues to behave erratically, chastising Cyclops for Wolverine’s death. He suddenly declares that Phoenix is controlling Cyclops’ mind and attacks her. Soon, the X-Men split into groups and fight one another. After most of the team dies, Onslaught and Dark Phoenix suddenly emerge. When the final X-Men are killed, the team awakens and learns that the fight was a “psycho-drama” created by Xavier, with the help of Phoenix, Cable, and X-Man. Xavier explains that he was trying to locate an imposter by driving the team apart and staging the fight. Shortly, while performing Wolverine’s autopsy, Beast learns that he was a Skrull duplicate. Meanwhile, Archangel and Psylocke are attacked by an Archangel imposter.

Continuity Notes: Wolverine, or at least the Skrull impersonating him, was killed in the Astonishing X-Men miniseries while defending the Mannites from Apocalypse’s newest Horseman, Death. I’m assuming Cable and X-Man were in the miniseries, explaining their presence in this issue.
Xavier explains that he sensed an imposter amongst the team after their return from space. He hoped that distracting the team with exhaustive training sessions would help him locate the imposter, but it didn’t work. Interrogating each member individually would be too obvious, so he entrusted Storm (whose thoughts “have always been particularly uncluttered and open”), Cyclops, and Phoenix with his secret. He drove the team apart “to limit the damage an infiltrator might inflict”, then recruited Cable and X-Man to help him find the imposter. The fight was designed to expose the team’s “deepest loyalties and most primal emotions”.


Production Note: When originally solicited, Wolverine’s face was blurred on the cover. This actually was a well-kept secret at the time.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 207,381 with the most recent issue selling 183,330.

Review: The big revelation here is that Wolverine has secretly been a Skrull for the past few months. Since that’s a plot point that takes around two pages to establish, the rest of the issue is a giant X-Men vs. X-Men fight. It doesn’t serve much of a purpose, but it’s the type of thing you often see in oversized anniversary issues, and Davis manages to use it as a very loud cap on the “Shattering” storyline. It’s so ridiculously over the top, as long-established characters are killed off on every other page, it’s obvious you’re not supposed to take it seriously, so it’s easier to just enjoy it as mindless mayhem. The revelation that Wolverine is actually a Skrull was a genuine surprise at the time, and Marvel does deserve credit for keeping it a secret until the issue came out. Xavier’s explanation for his behavior in the previous issues is explained fairly effectively, and I’m glad it wasn’t dragged on for much longer. Some of the art looks rushed, but this is still a fun issue.


X-Men #95

Do Unto Others
Credits: Alan Davis (plot), Chris Claremont (script, uncredited), Tom Raney (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: A Skrull scientist tells his commander that he can create an army of Skrull Wolverine imposters. The commander kills one of the imposters, telling the scientist to do a better job. Later, the Skrull commander impersonates Havok and kidnaps Polaris. The commander decides that he can use Polaris as a bargaining chip against Apocalypse since she is one of the Twelve. When he returns to Skrull headquarters, Polaris hits him with optic blasts, revealing herself as Cyclops, disguised with an image inducer. The rest of the X-Men attack, as Death sneaks in and plants a bomb. Phoenix and Storm combine their powers to deaden the blast, and Colossus attacks Death. When Death’s mask is removed, he’s revealed as Wolverine. Suddenly, he teleports away.

Production Note: No credit for scripter appeared in this issue. Editor Mark Powers later confirmed that Claremont ghost-scripted three issues during this run, and Claremont mentioned in an interview that he worked uncredited on some comics that were running late, so I’ll give him credit for it. (EDIT: Also, Marvel's trade paperback of this storyline now lists Claremont as one of the writers.) By this point, X-Men #100 was already announced as Chris Claremont’s return to this title, so I’m assuming he worked uncredited to keep the attention on #100.

Continuity Notes: It’s revealed why Xavier’s telepathy couldn’t peg Wolverine as an imposter. The Skrulls’ “ally” (I assume Apocalypse) gave them a complete record of Wolverine’s psyche, enabling them to establish “a comprehensive personality matrix” that can survive telepathic examinations. The Skrull commander thinks the matrix works too well, since the imposter now thinks he really is Wolverine and is too independent. I don’t think it was ever confirmed on-panel, but Apocalypse was supposed to be the behind-the-scenes power in Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X serial, so it’s possible Apocalypse has had a map of Wolverine’s psyche for years.

This is the first appearance of the young Skrull Fiz, who will play a role in future issues. He’s one of the Skrulls that’s been experimented on, in the hopes that the genetic strain of the Warskrulls can be recreated. The Warskrulls were Skrulls who could imitate powers naturally, and first appeared during the Claremont/Lee run of Uncanny X-Men.

Review: It’s interesting that this is one of the issues Chris Claremont ghost-scripted, since it directly mirrors a storyline he was going to do during his initial run. Before Claremont was forced off the titles in 1991, he planned to do a story that had Wolverine killed and later resurrected as a brainwashed Hand assassin (as detailed in this Comic Book Legends column). Bob Harras rejected the story, because the plan was to keep Wolverine dead for a year before his resurrection, which would’ve put a kink in the two other books he starred in, Wolverine and Marvel Comics Presents. Claremont was Editorial Director at Marvel by 1999, so it’s possible that he was involved with the planning of this storyline and suggested resurrecting the basic idea, with a Skrull version of Wolverine used to cover the character while he’s brainwashed. (Then again, other discarded Claremont ideas such as Wolverine losing his adamantium, and Gambit having a connection to Sinister, ended up being used before he returned to Marvel, so it could be a coincidence). It’s interesting that five years after this story, the idea was resurrected yet again by Mark Millar in Wolverine’s “Enemy of the State” arc. This time, Hydra did the brainwashing after “killing” Wolverine. If Claremont really is going to be continuing his originally planned storylines in X-Men Forever, even the ones he’s already spoiled in interviews, it’s possible this idea could show up for a third time in ten years. (EDIT: He didn't. Although he did kill Wolverine in a different manner, and seemed adamant about keeping him that way.)


This issue is filled with “Claremont Clichés”, and it’s crammed full with dialogue and narrative captions. If Claremont really were writing this at the last minute, you would think the script might’ve been fairly sparse, but that’s definitely not the case. The Skrulls have the majority of the dialogue in the issue, and I guess it’s justifiable to give them long-winded, uptight speech patterns, but they start to get tedious after a few pages. There are some signs this was an eleventh-hour scripting job, as third-person narrative captions unequivocally state the Skrull commander’s captive is Polaris (even describing how her powers affect her sleep patterns), and a few pages later we learn it’s actually Cyclops with an image inducer. Death’s speech patterns are also inconsistent, as he goes from speaking like Wolverine (“Sorry, darlin’ -- but that an’ more won’t even come close!”) to saying things like, “The name you speak -- the man it belongs to -- are no more!” It seems like it was scripted as the pages were coming in and nobody went back and looked too closely at the finished product. The script isn’t all bad, though, as Xavier and Storm have a nice moment together and the narrative captions do tend to have a decent rhythm. The actual plot advances the main storyline effectively, and I like the way the various story threads are coming together. Tom Raney handles the action scenes well, and his interpretation of the Skrulls is pretty cool. Even if we are heading towards another “event”, this is much more coherent than crossovers tend to be.

WOLVERINE #145 – December 1999

Wolverine #145

On the Edge of Darkness
Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Lenil Francis Yu (penciler), Dexter Vines (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: In the past, Skrull agents invade the X-Men’s ship after the team is knocked unconscious by Magneto’s electromagnetic pulse. They take Wolverine, and leave a Skrull imposter in his place. Wolverine is brought to Apocalypse’s headquarters, where he’s forced to fight Sabretooth. After Wolverine proves himself the strongest, Apocalypse removes Sabretooth’s adamantium skeleton and attaches it to Wolverine, who is brainwashed into becoming Apocalypse’s Horseman Death. Later, he’s sent to kill Apocalypse’s previous agent of War, the Hulk. After a lengthy battle, Wolverine begins to hesitate. The Hulk realizes the fight is over and leaves.

Continuity Notes: Hulk was transformed into War back in Incredible Hulk #456.

Gimmicks: An enhanced $3.99 version of this issue has foil claws on the cover. There's also a version with silver claws, and a reprint with gold claws.

Review: Seventy issues after it was taken away, Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton returns. You would think Marvel would’ve waited until issue #150, but #145 was designated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the character, so it was given the honor. I was a reader of Savage Dragon at the time Erik Larsen’s Wolverine run began and wanted to give him a chance, but I gave up on the run after a few issues. Even while the issues were being released, Larsen was very upfront about editorial rewrites of his script, which often resulted in clunky, exposition-filled dialogue and redundant narrative captions. This issue isn’t as bad as some of the issues I’ve read from his stint, but it does have more than its fair share of dry, repetitive captions.


The story intercuts Wolverine’s battle with Sabretooth in the past with his current fight with the Hulk, which prevents either fight from being too tedious. Lenil Francis Yu keeps the action pretty energetic, and his hyper-realistic style actually works very well on the Hulk. As a straightforward action story, all of this is fine, but it doesn’t feel like a satisfactory conclusion to such a long-running storyline. Hama began dropping clues about how Wolverine’s adamantium might be returned almost as soon as it was taken away, but the event didn’t happen until years after Marvel removed him from the book. It feels as if the event has had no setup at all, and it’s only happening now in order to make the latest Apocalypse storyline seem like a bigger deal. Wolverine losing his adamantium was an event-driven, gimmicky idea, but Hama took the story seriously and used it as an opportunity to do something with Wolverine’s character. This issue might be an entertaining action comic, but its lack of depth just makes it forgettable.