Saturday Splash Page #142

 

"Night Creatures," in Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds, by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Scott Hanna and Mark Farmer (inker), Electric Crayon (colorist), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letterer)

The first of two Spider-Man and Batman team-ups in the '90s. DeMatteis uses the hot new villain of the moment, Carnage, as the entry point, as a scientist who feels regular psychiatric treatment is futile with such people swears she's got a chip that can be installed in a person's brain to render them docile and conflict-averse. Cletus Kasady is the first, and the Joker's going to be the second. While it works on the Joker, the doctor neglects to account for the fact that Carnage is a team-up, and her chip doesn't do snot to the symbiote, and Kasady was simply eager to meet the Joker.

The story follows the basic beats. There's a brief initial team-up when things go wrong, but the villains escape. Batman, in his full 90s/2000s jerkass glory, then tells Spider-Man to leave, because Gotham has 'unique dangers', and he doesn't want Spider-Man getting hurt.

'90s Calvin rolled his eyes at the notion Spider-Man was in any danger from Batman's villains. Most of Batsy's enemies are roughly equivalent to Mysterio, and Spidey beats him all the time!

Whatever. Spider-Man doesn't leave, Batman reconsiders, they team-up, find the bad guys and save the day. DeMatteis doesn't try to put over the new guy as being better than the more established villain. He does outline the differences in the Carnage and the Joker. Carnage claims the Joker understands that life is absurd and meaningless, so insanity's the only proper response. From the Joker's, "Oh. . .that joke," I think we're meant to take he's already mentally downgrading his opinion of this guy. Later, Carnage loses patience with some elaborate scheme the Joker's got and starts ranting about how the point is to kill immediately, which the Joker dismisses as lacking style. DeMatteis doesn't pretend the Joker is above killing, only that he insists there be an art to it. It's like the difference between someone who sculpts hedges into animal shapes, and someone just hacking away with a weed-whacker.

DeMatteis' attempts to interject the sort of pop psychology stuff that littered his Spectacular Spider-Man run are intermittently successful. Suggesting Kasady is a serial killer because he's actually afraid of death, and kills in some bizarre hope it will somehow appease death into sparing him feels like a stretch. He presents each villain as becoming like an avatar of what the other hero fights against, starting with dream sequences where the killers of their respective parents shift to mimicking the villains. So Uncle Ben's killer sports a Joker smile, and Joe Chill transforms to Carnage's jagged tooth leer.

(I also randomly note that Bruce Wayne apparently sleeps in the nude, while Peter wears pajama pants.)

I don't know if it works. Maybe Carnage with Batman, as Kasady's whole thing is just to kill randomly, without pattern or meaning beyond the taking of life. That could be the sort of unthinking, unpredictable Crime that Batman fights but can never extinguish. (Having Carnage not particularly care about killing Batman beyond him being another body to stack on the pile is a nice touch.) But the Waynes weren't really killed randomly. It was either a mugging gone wrong or a revenge hit disguised as a mugging gone wrong, depending on which version they're using. But I guess from a child's perspective - and Dematteis was always writing about how childhood trauma infected one's adulthood - it all feels random, without cause or reason.

The Joker for Spider-Man, though, no. You can't spend a few pages having the Joker extol the virtues of elaborate plans and set-ups for his schemes, then compare him to a burglary gone wrong. DeMatteis tries to save it by having the Joker threaten to release a virus that will kill the entire city of Kasady doesn't release Batman, because no one gets to kill him but Joker, as 'the kind of madness, the kind of chaos,' Spider-Man always been fighting to prevent. Except that's not really what he fights. He fights guys who think the world owed them something, so when they get power, they decide to take what they think the deserve. Power without responsibility. Not really the Joker's shtick at all.

Guess with 48 pages, you do what you can.

I think this is Bagley's first time drawing DC characters. We don't see a lot of Gotham, or any established characters besides Batman, Joker and one page with Alfred, but he keeps everybody on-model. Joker's extremely tall and skinny (looks a head taller than Spider-Man), but I know Alan Davis among others drew the clown that way, too, so it's not unusual. He goes with a version of the Batmobile I associate with early Batman stories, with the big Bat face/shield thing over the front, rather than one of the sleek, sports car/jet plane models I thought were more common at the time. Don't know if there was a reason for that.

Random Back Issues #110 - New Warriors #8

Yes, Nova, fly through a rainforest while you're on fire. Maybe you used that bucket as a battering ram once too often.

This was the comic I was actually supposed to review last week, but for some reason when I was shifting longboxes, I stopped too soon. For this 3-parter, most of the roster's in Brazil, helping Speedball track down his mother, an actress that's joined with an environmental group called Project: Earth. There was a news report the group was attacked, with most of the the inner circle being kidnapped.

Or not. The leader, Omar Barrenos, staged that with Speedball's mother's theatrical expertise, to discredit the developers tearing down the rainforest. Even if that works in the long-term, in the short-term Barrenos has another plan: attack the developers, corporations and the Brazilian government directly with his own super-group, Force of Nature!

Woof. Not even the real Plant-Man, a 14th-rate Inhuman and a guy Walt Simonson used as one of the loser villains in his Acts of Vengeance tie-ins for Fantastic Four. I think Firewall's new, but I'm also not sure if she ever appeared again. More likely the codename got handed to some vaguely internet-themed bad guy later in the '90s.

Since this is the middle chapter, the Warriors got trounced before they even know what's happening. At least they had time to discuss the diversity of life in the rainforest, and why the developers would be cutting it down. Although Namorita's oddly understanding of the developers' position. possibly because the humidity is making her woozy? How is too much moisture in the air messing with her? To make matters worse, Speedball promised on behalf of the entire team to help Barrenos! Nicieza does have Nova (the one usually most annoyed by Robbie) be the only team member conscious at the time, so that Speedball explains to him. The Human Rocket shows unusual maturity in backing him up.

That's the B-plot, though. The main story revolves around Night Thrasher and his old flame Silhouette. A pastor friend of hers is being attacked by the Bengal (who Nicieza introduced in a fill-in issue of Daredevil he and Ron Lim did during Nocenti's run). Thrasher did pretty well against the Bengal, but then the Punisher showed up, rocking a long-tailed headband like either Rambo or Ryu from Street Fighter, wanting to ask Sil some questions.

The fight's narrated by Frank, who goes from mocking Night Thrasher for his bullet-proof skateboard to thinking maybe he needs one after he gets cut a couple of times by its razor edge. Frank's losing in close fighting, but manages to get enough space to do use the Budda Budda Budda style of Gun-Fu. Thrasher's armor keeps him alive, and with a few unbroken ribs, and Frank's injured enough to have to bail in his voice-activated battle van.

While Frank patches himself up - with stitches that will 'leave scars like the Appalachians' - his van's computer analyzes Dwayne's armor. All the money Punisher puts into guns, Thrasher put into that suit, which is bullet-proof (mostly), knife-proof, fire-proof, punch-proof. Which makes the Punisher wonder, in a startling lack of self-awareness, what could make a kid do that to himself? He's also left wondering what's in the shielded compartment on Night Thrasher's back.

Meanwhile, Dwayne and Sil are getting the pastor's story. He served in 'Nam. His unit gunned down and destroyed an entire village, save one kid who tried to climb on the chopper, only for this guy to kick the kid until he fell back into the jungle. Now the kid is back as a grown man, ready to stab someone, and Night Thrasher's not so sure he wants to protect this guy any longer.

That's about when the Punisher crashes his van through the church's front door, stunning everyone long enough for him to put a gun to Silhouette's head. Seems oddly destructive for Frank. Not putting a gun to the head of someone he thinks might be a crook, the driving into a church part. At least he finds out what Thrasher was hiding.

There's also a little over one page devoted to a) Emma Frost trying to find out who got access to her computer database, and b) a mysterious woman up to something in a pyramid.

{7th longbox, 195th comic. New Warriors (vol. 1) #8, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Larry Mahlstedt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #75

 

"Gordian Archery," in Thunderbolts (vol. 1) #34, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), RS and Comicraft's Jason Levine (letterer)

Kurt Busiek concluded his run on Thunderbolts with issue 33, the T'Bolts having put a dent into one of the Secret Empire's plans. Things were going pretty well for them since Hawkeye assumed command, but no winning streak lasts forever. The Thunderbolts' ended pretty much the moment Nicieza took over as writer.

First issue out of the gate, Hawkeye makes a public announcement they're gonna catch the Hulk. I don't know what ol' Jade Jaws was wanted for this time, but either way, the plan flopped. A town was destroyed and Banner got away. Whoops. 

Things continued downhill from there. A team member is killed in their civilian identity, shot by a bullet that left no trace. Moonstone's having weird dreams about Kree warriors and feels like she's changing, without being sure why. Their old police liaison, who seemed to be revealed as the Crimson Cowl leading the Masters of Evil, returns as a new Citizen V. Atlas gets ambushed by Wonder Man, the both of them put under Count Nefaria's control for a crossover with Avengers.

The team is back on the verge of disintegration between the disappearances, deaths and everything else. Which is when the team finds out Hawkeye lied about the deal he had set up when he first approached them. The Commission on Superhuman Activites never agreed to pardon the T'Bolts if Hawkeye got them to clean up their act. Oooops.

Basically Nicieza puts them through the ringer, see how they handle it. Hawkeye did real well when he could show up playing savior for people with no plan. Can he lead them when they realize he's fed them a line of bull all this time? Can he keep his promises anyway, make the 'impossible shot', as Nicieza describes it in issue 50. Well, it's Hawkeye, what do you think?

A couple of characters come back from the dead, one killed by Nicieza, one by Busiek. Hawkeye gets to shoot Gyrich, always a pleasure. Nicieza even works a little fallout from Avengers Forever into the book, having Genis-Vell run into Songbird, who is probably the member of the team on the most even keel through this stretch.

This is also the stretch where Nicieza makes Abner Jenkins a black man as part of the team's attempt to disguise him after they get him out of the villain muscle gig he was press-ganged into by Justin Hammer. I don't think that was one of his better ideas, nor did it feel like he did much with it, so what was the point?

Bagley's art is as it usually is. Not inventive with panel or page layouts, but all the information you need is there on the page. I like his work, others don't, this is definitely not the run that is going to change minds on either side of that line. I like the hulking Beetle armor Abner gets while working for Hammer, and the look for the new Scourge is ridiculous in a way that almost fits the concept.

Saturday Splash Page #74

 

"Cue the Entrance Music," in Thunderbolts (vol. 1) #1, by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Vince Russell (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), Comicraft's Dave n' Oscar (letterer)

A group of heroes who show up in New York in the wake of Onslaught, when the heroes the public relies on are presumed dead, but are really just trapped in a world under the control of Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee. Which might be worse than death. The Thunderbolts weren't the first team to step into the void - Iron Fist dusted off the Heroes for Hire first - but these characters were all new, unknown quantities to everyone else.

Of course, by the end of the first issue we find out they're the Masters of Evil in disguise, led by Baron Zemo pretending to be Citizen V. I know there's debate about whether it was good to give that away right off, or if Busiek would have been better served keeping the team and their motives a mystery until Zemo was actually ready to make his move.

I don't think that would have worked. Either you have to abandon thought balloons or any other internal narration for the characters until the big reveal, or they have to think entirely in vague remarks that can do no more than hint at secrets. Like, "I know this is just part of the boss' plan, but I'm really starting to enjoy this hero stuff!" No direct references to their villainous pasts or codenames, everything oblique. How long can you keep that up before it gets irritating?

That's a hypothetical. The reality was the mystery of what Zemo thought to gain with the deception, and the other characters finding life on the other side of the line to be a chance. Screaming Mimi and the Beetle, now Songbird and Mach-1, figured out they liked getting cheered and especially not getting thrown in jail. Atlas (formerly the bad guy Power Man or Goliath) was content taking orders, but he fell for the team's liaison with the city, Dallas Riordan, so that was its own problem. Moonstone (now Meteorite) didn't care about being a hero. As usual, Karla Sofen was just sure that Zemo was screwing up her plan and that she could do better. That seems to be her whole thing, always eager to backseat drive other people's plans, but never any of her own. 

Techno (formerly the Fixer) was the only one who didn't seem affected, content to take the pleasures of the hero worship while he could, but always following Zemo, and he got killed.

To complicate matters, Busiek and Bagley added Jolt, an entirely new character whose design I thought won a fan contest, but maybe that was Charcoal, who popped up around the end of Year 2 of the book. Jolt, like the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel, was a bit of a superhero geek, albeit one abducted amid the chaos of Onslaught's attack on New York and then experimented on by Arnim Zola. Jolt made a real splash for herself, to where Zemo had to let her stay, even though she was intent on really being a hero and wasn't aware of his plan.

I don't know if Bagley came up with the designs for the Thunderbolts' costumes. That's not something I've ever really considered a strong point of his, but I quite like some of their looks (Songbird's in particular - and many of them have stuck to varying degrees. Even when Techno's gone back to being Fixer in stuff like Cable/Deadpool, he kept the red/black spandex with the "techpack" look.

Year 1 of the book ended with the T'Bolts' deception exposed, but the rest of the team (minus Techno, now in a synthetic body) having wrecked Zemo's plan. So the book enters a "fugitive" arc, where the remainder of the group hangs together primarily out of lack for any better options. The general consensus among heroes and law enforcement is to bring them in, for questioning about Zemo if nothing else.

Busiek and Bagley are pretty effective at making the team feel like it's coming apart at the seams. Minus Zemo, who turned out to be a decent tactician, if generally lack in tact, it turns out no one else on the team is any good at being a leader. Meteorite only knows how to manipulate and look out for number, not inspire or bring people together. Atlas follows orders rather than gives them. Jolt's inspiring, but she's also a kid (and Meteorite is trying to twist her into a weapon throughout.) Songbird's getting increasingly violent and the Beetle's led groups before - Sinister Syndicate represent! - but those same teams routinely get their asses kicked by just Spider-Man, so the resume's not great. Plus, his armor's falling apart and it was built by Techno, so he can't repair it.

Bagley's selling the emotion, the sullen glares, the emotional explosions, the increasingly battered look of Mach-1's armor. And he had plenty of experience with illustrating fights between groups from New Warriors, so there was no issue there. Some of that is probably scripting, the writer knowing how to describe the fight so that the artist knows where two separate skirmishes need to be in relation to one another for when (or if) they overlap. The artist still has to present it cleanly, and Bagley's always been good at that kind of thing.

While Zemo and Fixer look on from a secret lair, and interject occasionally to be vindictive assholes, the T'Bolts are flailing. They get humiliated for half an issue by the Great Lakes Avengers, simply because the GLA understand the basic concept of teamwork. Meteorite tries to have them take on a new Masters of Evil, led by Crimson Cowl, as a statement, and they get trounced. Nothing's really going right, depending on how you feel about Jolt increasingly following Meteorite's commands to be more ruthless and give vent to her anger.

And into the void steps Hawkeye, which is a move I particularly love. Busiek had a one-off issue in the first year where the Black Widow relates a story to Songbird and Mach-1 of the Kooky Quartet having to prove they could be trusted as the Avengers. The implication is she knows who the T'Bolts really are, but she's willing to see if they prove themselves. So here comes a member of the Kooky Quartet, one who always has something to prove and believes in redemption, promising he can get their crimes waived if they just let him lead.

Busiek wrote the book through issue 33, and things were looking up for the team. But what goes up, must come down.

Saturday Splash Page #64

 

"Called in a Ringer," in Ultimate Spider-Man #91, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), John Dell (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)

Ultimate Spider-Man , written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn for 110 issues by Mark Bagley, then later Stuart Immonen, David LaFeunte, Sara Pichelli, probably some other folks, was the longest-running title in the Ultimate Universe by a fair bit. Probably the most successful, depending on how you want to grade versus Millar and Hitch's The Ultimates, which I imagine had higher sales, but also didn't have to sustain them long.

I started buying Ultimate Spider-Man when I got back into comics, shortly after I started college. I don't think I necessarily understood what the point was when I bought this, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Taking Spider-Man to the beginning, revising and in surface ways updating Ditko and Lee's story. The spider is genetically modified rather than radioactive. Both the company that modified it (Oscorp) and the questionably legal governmental agency (SHIELD) are aware Peter got bit. Peter can't keep his mask on for anything.

I don't know if Bendis dislikes the idea of secret identities, or simply figured there was no way a 15-year-old could keep his shit together enough to maintain one in a world with as much surveillance as ours. When Nick Fury finally pops up, about 24 issues in, he rattles off a laundry list of different ways he knows Peter is Spider-Man. As someone who enjoys the secret identity aspect of superheroes, that trend was more than a little frustrating.

Bendis had I think made his name on street-level crime books, even if they included superpowers, such he and Michael Avon Oeming's creatively titled Powers. So a lot of the stories revolve around mob level crime, sometimes industrial espionage. Doc Ock worked for Osborn, but was actually a mole for Justin Hammer, who has his own program creating superhumans. His first confrontation with Spider-Man is Peter trying to stop him from tearing up Hammer Industries in revenge. Someone targets Roxxon for destruction a couple of times, and because Spidey stops them (just wanting to help people) he ends up targeted for that.

Daredevil never got above a supporting character in the Ultimate Universe, so Kingpin maintains a large (no pun intended) presence among Spider-Man's rogues' gallery whether Hornhead is around or not. Which does give Bendis the chance to show Peter struggling with how powerful people can escape justice, as even after he gets a recording of Fisk killing a man to the media, Fisk manages to beat the rap.

Granted that street-level is Spider-Man's bread and butter, it feels like it lost something that everybody was the product of what seemed to be a few concentrated experimentation programs, rather than people getting powers through weird accidents happening all over the place. Made the universe seem smaller. Even the symbiotes, rather than aliens, were something Peter and Eddie Brock's parents created as step 1 in a cure for cancer (which Curt Conners later got a hold of and was messing with before Peter found it). So you're back to the tight circle of genetic researchers being responsible for everything.

It wasn't always street-level stuff. Bendis had Spidey get tangled up in Dr. Strange stuff once, confront vampires a couple of times, probably a couple of other things I'm forgetting. There was a mini-series where I think Norman Osborn wanted to take over the country or something like that, but on the whole, not many stories about someone holding the city for ransom, or threatening to use an orbital satellite to wipe out half the country.

(There was also the jokey Freaky Friday 2-parter when Spidey and Wolverine wake up in each other's bodies thanks to Jean Grey being an asshole. Which does at least lead to Spider-Man cussing out the entire team of X-Men as a bunch of various expletives.)

Like I said, Bagley drew the book for 110 issues straight. With Bendis' writing style, that's maybe 37 issues worth of actual plot. Outside of the Green Goblin, who fans dubbed "Goblin Hulk" (and later the Hobgoblin, who stayed in the same vein), he didn't really change the look of the major villains. I guess Electro got turned into a very simplified hairless guy in a black leather suit/pants combo. Or maybe it was a tracksuit? I'm not sure. Doc Ock still looked basically like Doc Ock. Ditto for Kraven, the Vulture, etc. Probably just as well. I don't think people loved Goblin Hulk.

Much the same would be true for the supporting cast. Aunt May looked younger, as Bendis based her personality more on his own mother, moving away from the frail old woman always two seconds away from another heart attack. This May had a job, she eventually started dating again, she chewed out Jonah on the phone after he fired Peter. Mary Jane looked about the same, but was Peter lifelong friend who was more of a quiet bookish sort. Gwen Stacy came in as the wild child, with the piercings and carrying knives around.

As far as civilian life, Bendis kept things focused more at home and school. Peter worked at the Bugle, but as an IT guy, and as a high schooler among adults, he doesn't seem to interact with them much. No pep talks from Robbie Robertson or Ben Urich, no dating Betty Brant (none of whom every get much focus.)

But lots of dating melodrama at school. Peter tells MJ his secret early on, which was sort of a sweet issue about two dorky teens misreading each other. Bagley can handle facial expressions and body language. Peter and MJ date. Bad things happen, or nearly happen, Peter breaks up with her. They start to get together, he has another bad experience, they break up again. Kitty Pryde and Peter start dating. They break up, but she moves to the neighborhood anyway. Then she starts dating Kong (or Kenny) a new character Bendis created for the series who looks a bit like Bendis (at least the way Bagley draws both of them.) Liz Allen turns out to first hate mutants, then actually be a mutant (basically Firestar, seemingly so there could be a comic with Spidey and his Amazing Friends on the cover.)

I think sometimes the tipping point for the book was when Bendis tried to introduce Geldoff, the foreign exchange student who had the power to blow stuff up somehow, and used it to destroy the principal's car after he suspended some of the football team. Geldoff was new, was apparently not a mutant because he was experimented on in the womb (he was from Latveria), and apparently the fans hated him.

Bendis pretty much stuck to remixing the hits after that. More Kingpin! Carnage! Gwen Stacy dying! Black Cat and Elektra! A Clone Saga (ye gods he did a Clone Saga)! Aunt May having a heart attack! Harry Osborn being self-destructive! I mean, I guess it worked for a long time. Helps when you do a 9-issue Gang War story that has maybe 3 issues' worth of plot.

To be fair, Bendis does have Peter grow over the series. The progress is erratic and hard to trace, but especially by "Ultimate Knights" the last full arc Bendis and Bagley do together, Spidey is refusing to be pushed around by Daredevil, making a stand to keep Daredevil from killing an innocent woman to hurt Fisk, and finally using the fact that Nick Fury seems to like him as leverage to make Fisk back off. He seemed to have a better sense of himself, what he wanted, what he could do.

I gave up on the book at issue 122, for a host of reasons. Bendis' last couple of multi-issue stories hadn't done it for me, and the next was going to a) involve the symbiotes, b) draw elements from the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, and most damningly c) tie-in to Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum. After I left, Peter almost died in Ultimatum, then did die (I think keeping Punisher from killing Captain America). Then maybe didn't die, but Miles Morales was Spider-Man by then? Then the universe got wiped out in the run up to Secret Wars.

Random Back Issues #94 - Ultimate Spider-Man #91

Aw crap, I hated fighting this guy in Mega Man 4. At least I could make it to him. I had to rely on one of my friends to get me to Bright Man.

I'm a little surprised it took me this long to land on an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, but the wait is over! Remarkably, we got the first issue of one of Bendis' swifter stories, clocking in at a, by his standards, economical 4 issues.

At this point, Spider-Man and Shadowcat are dating, as the Council of Kitty Prydes (fewer pipes and less ethically compromised than the Council of Reeds) continue their long-standing goal of dating Peters across the multiverse. As far as it goes, I'd rate Ultimate Peter Parker ahead of Pete Wisdom and Peter Quill (certainly the movie-inspired, idiot man-child version of Star-Lord Kitty dated), and maybe Colossus, depending on what point in time we're talking and their respective ages.

Anyway, our power couple are bonding by fighting crime together. In this case, the terrible Ringer, who has Spidey in a bit of a bind. Of course, metal rings don't work against an intangible person, but Kitty can't figure out where the mechanism for the suit is, and the Ringer bails once she starts phasing her head through his skull. That gives her a chance to free Peter, he webs the Ringer's gauntlets, the mechanism (on his back) overloads. Turns out the Ringer is from Ohio, not Maryland. I assume he was just trying to throw people off his trail. No one could think claiming to be from Maryland makes them cool. The cops show up, Peter gets them the heck out of here.

As for Kitty's costume, it does have the advantage of not looking a thing like her X-Men outfit, but it's kind of. . .not great. Costume design has never been what I'd describe as a strength of Bagley's. Immonen gave her a much improved look when he came on as artist, but I can't give him too much credit because he basically just changed the colors on Hellcat's costume. That's 25 issues away, however.

While they webswing, which Kitty really enjoys, they discuss Peter's lame villains. He responds his villains are better than the Ultimates, and Kitty counters they just fight each other. I mean, you're both correct. That's why their villains are so lame, because they, themselves, all suck. The conversation turns to their relationship and the possibility of going on a date in public, as Peter Parker and Kitty Pryde. Peter's worried it will cause his aunt more stress, but Kitty points out having a girlfriend gives him more excuses not to be at home when he needs to fight villains. Maybe Kittys dates Peters because they're all dumber than her.

Kitty has to leave, because the X-Men sent the plane of remote to pick her up. After a kiss which ends awkwardly by Kitty phasing partially through his face to cut it short, she heads home, worrying she screwed everything up. The mansion seems deserted when she arrives, except for Wolverine. Which would be good until I remember this Wolverine was originally a double-agent sent by Magneto who dropped Cyclops off a cliff once. 

Man, why couldn't it be Marvel Universe Scott Summers getting dropped off cliffs?

Wolverine tries to cut Kitty with a knife, which fails, but another attacker with some sort of taser is able to at least partially hurt her, even while she's fazed. Then Storm tries the same thing, while not recognizing her own name. Kitty's frantic escape attempt fries the communications array, and while she's able to launch the jet, she's zapped before she gets to it. 

Peter eventually notices said jet back hovering over the warehouse, goes to investigate, and is whisked back to the mansion. Where he is tased by. . .Deadpool! Working with a bunch of cyborg guys who are supposed to be the Reavers. This version of Deadpool is long on the amoral craziness, but low on the comedy. Also, I think he may actually talk less than regular Deadpool. Staggering when you consider he's being written by Bendis.

{11th longbox, 220th comic. Ultimate Spider-Man (vol. 1) #91, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), John Dell (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)}

What I Bought 2/16/2022

Given how few books from any other publishers have shown up lately, I guess it's a good thing I did this brief foray back into Spider-books. I'd have practically nothing to review otherwise.

Amazing Spider-Man #89, by Patrick Gleason (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Andrew Hennessy and John Dell (inks), Bryan Valenza (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I'm very confused as to how they're falling like that while the Goblin glider is swinging around the building in the shot far below.

So, Beyond Corporation combined some Goblin, stuff, I don't know what, with the clone of Ashley Kafka they have on staff and created this Goblin Queen lady, who is tearing up a lot of stuff. Peter wants to go play hero, so Felicia webs him to his hospital bed and heads out herself. She manages to save Mary Jane, who is mixed up in this for reasons not worth explaining, but gets otherwise whupped by a knockoff Penance Stare. Except it doesn't make you feel the pain you inflicted on others, but all your worst self-doubts or something.

Felicia's about to be street pizza, but Peter managed to get himself free and save her. Actually a pretty nice sequence where she's falling and we're watching her face through a tear (because of the emotional trauma attack), and then the web bursts the tear. I thought it was a nice bit, anyway. Peter finally gets the costume back and jumps into battle because hey, he was able to break through his webbing, he must be almost back to normal. Except we see in a flashback it was Ben Reilly's girlfriend that cut him loose.

That probably won't end well. Especially considering Dr. Kafka already had a pretty good idea of all the crap running around inside Peter's skull. Not like he has a massive guilt complex or anything! On the other hand, attacking him on that level might actually work better for him, since his spirit seems willing to fight crime, but the flesh ain't up to snuff.

I'm guessing Hennessy inked the first part of the issue and Dell the second based on the order they were listed in. If so, I'd say Hennessy did the stronger job because on the last few pages, some of the faces are really indistinct and vague. Like "Rick Leonardi when he doesn't have a strong inker," vague. Bagley's Peter Parker is also a little different looking from how I'm used to, but the look does convey the fatigue he's under just trying to climb walls. The sense that he's still not right inside, but he's itching to get back out there.

Iron Fist #1, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Michael Yg (artist), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I thought he was supposed to be Iron Fist, not Gun Show.

OK, the new Shou-Lao hasn't hatched yet after the events of Heart of the Dragon and when the egg does crack open, people are shocked by what they see. Back in New York, Danny Rand's fighting some demons when he gets an assist from a guy in a Iron Fist outfit. Who doesn't seem to have much control of the old dragon chi, but does have some glowy green fist thing working. Danny tries to ask the kid questions, but he just runs off.

Wong doesn't waste a lot of time on the mystery, revealing right off this is a character called Sword Master. Got introduced with White Fox, Aero, some of those others characters they put in that new, more Asia-themed Agents of Atlas group a few years back? Anyway, he nearly died in something spinning out of Dr. Strange dying and his sword got shattered. Which is bad, because it's supposed to help keep some demon locked up. A demon whose henchmen are after the pieces of the sword, some of which are embedded in Lin's arms. Hence, the glowy green thing. They also hurt, raising the question of why, if he's trying to reassemble the sword, he doesn't just, you know, take the pieces out of his flesh. 

Anyway, he hasn't, but when he fell to his apparent death, he somehow or the other got infused with Shou-Lao's chi. Maybe all of it. Which he can't control, and will destroy him if he doesn't figure it out. And the family he's staying with in K'un-Lun seems nice, but the dad is secretly one of those demons, and he's after the sword (although it's supposed to be in a box no one but Line can open.)

Well, they definitely hit the ground running with this issue. A lot going on. Lin's got this quest to repair his family's sacred weapon, while also trying to figure out how to be Iron Fist. There's the inevitable family drama, the dad being a demon, and the daughter helping Lin by somehow opening portals to Earth from K'un-Lun, which is unfortunately helping demons enter K'un-Lun. And now Danny's clued into the fact something's going on, so he's not going to let this drop. Not sure why Lin wouldn't at least ask a guy used to using the Iron Fist for some help, but he figures everything is his fault, so he probably figures he has to fix it himself.

Michael Yg's is nice. The costume's not bad, could probably ditch the single shoulder guard, though. Yg can make Lin look cool when he has the mask on, then he removes it and looks more like an exhausted teenager. I don't know if that's what you'd expect since he's been fighting demons and things prior to this, but he's also struggling with feeling like a failure on multiple levels, so maybe it fits. I think he overdoes it on Danny's jawline though. A couple of panels his chin just looks massive relative to the rest of his head. Maybe just the angle, or the particular expression.

Random Back Issues #68 - Amazing Spider-Man #351

Another day, another issue of Amazing Spider-Man in the Random Back Issues series. Today's the first of Mark Bagley's run as series penciler, taking over from Erik Larsen. Bagley'll be regular artist on the book for at least the next 65 issues, minus sporadic fill-ins when the series is shipping twice a month.

Maybe to make Bagley, coming off his New Warriors run, feel at home, Michelinie uses Nova in this two-issue arc. Nova's chasing a laundry truck he got into a fender bender with earlier. The driver was very eager not to exchange insurance information, and he had a gun inside his jacket, which always means trouble. Maybe on the East Coast. Around here it just means they spent the money that should have gone to car insurance on a concealed carry permit.

The truck pulls up behind a building at Empire State University that was wrecked during some mess that took place in that year's Spider-Man Annuals, but even with Spider-Man's help, the thieves escape with the help of a sonic grenade. Spidey manages to get a tracer on the truck, but Nova's not happy with the interference. He thinks to himself it might be because he was without his powers for so long, he's self-conscious about looking helpless into front of another hero. Or, wild idea, you're kind of a dick, Rider.

The truck escapes, but Spider-Man remembers the lab was experimenting on artificial Vibranium. Experiments that made it into Antarctic Vibranium, which melts any and all metal, rather than the stable version you find in Wakanda. Questioning one of the grad students, he learns the guy was trying to figure out what went wrong using a piece of real Antarctic Vibranium, but sold it when he got a good sold it. He then asks Spider-Man, 'you'd have done the same thing, right?'

I guess being married to a soap opera actress, Peter forget what it was like to be a broke-ass grad student. It wasn't fun in a relatively cheap Missouri town, I can't imagine what getting by in New York City would be like. Then again, this guy found enough money to buy Antarctic Vibranium, so maybe he was doing just fine.

But later for such nonsense, Peter and MJ are due at Aunt May's for dinner, then they're going to be meet two friends for dancing! That's what we're all here for, right? Peter's distracted, and when Nova zips by, ditches MJ. Who is not pleased and goes to meet their friends herself. Peter reflects something's been bothering her for weeks, but that the damage is done. Naive of him to assume it can't get worse. Also, I think this leads into the whole subplot with MJ taking up smoking due to stressing over him.

Catching up to Nova, Spider-Man explains the truck had Jersey plates, and by flying, they could search the state quickly. Nova states he's already got a team (one he hasn't called for assistance, though) until Spidey admits he needs Nova's help. Things still aren't smooth sailing, as Spidey complains about Nova's flying, and Nova says Spidey needs to lose 30 pounds. His Marvel Universe Series 2 trading card (which came out in 1991 like this comic) says Spider-Man weighs 165 pounds. I'm pretty sure he can't spare 18% of his body weight.

The spider-tracer leads them to a mountain, and they locate an armored rear entrance. Nova, proving even when he's trying to be a team player he's a jerk, asks if Spider-Man needs some help. Spidey calmly wrenches the metal grate off, then keeps Nova from triggering a tripwire without explaining how he knew it was there. Nova's left to reflect flying and being strong are reasonable powers, but 'this Spider-Guy's downright spooky!' Usually the younger heroes just look up to Spider-Man, but depending on their powers, his could seem weird. Although Nova's on a team with a lady who can melt into shadows.

Splitting up, Nova finds two scientists conveniently waving around a demonstration disk, right before they leave to go get some coffee. Nova immediately trips a silent alarm getting in, and is eventually brought down by an electrified net. Spider-Man's got much bigger problems. The Life Foundation, which builds 'secret survival condos for the rich and famous', somehow reconstructed the Tri-Sentinel Spider-Man destroyed at the end of Acts of Vengeance. Whoo, Acts of Vengeance callback! They think a 100-foot tall, triple-faced killer robot is the perfect protection for their clients when the world economy collapses. The Antarctic Vibranium is their failsafe, placed inside the brain and designed to be remote released to melt the machine if necessary.

I find this entirely believable, except I'm sure the techbro billionaires would build their own. Which would at least just be a danger to them, unlike the Tri-Sentinel. Despite an attempt at reprogramming, Loki's directive reasserts control the second it's activated. Meaning, head for the nuclear plant it tried to send into meltdown last time. The remote activation of the failsafe, er, fails, meaning it's up to Spider-Man, with no Enigma Force backing him up. Just Nova.

He might be better off with Power Pack, honestly.

[1st longbox, 72nd comic. Amazing Spider-Man #351, by David Michelinie (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Randy Emberlin (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #148

 

"The Vortex of Imminent Cancellation," in Defenders: From the Marvel Vault, by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Niceiza (writers), Mark Bagley (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

So in late 2011, Marvel released a few different books as being "from the Marvel vault". Which mostly meant comics that were most of the way done, but never saw the light of day, for one reason or another. The only one I picked up was this one, and that was as much for the interesting history behind it. During the Busiek/Larsen Defenders run, there was a point when it looked like they might not be able to get an issue out on time. So the editors asked Nicieza if he could write something up real quick, and then asked Bagley if he could draw it up real quick.

As it turned out, the issue wasn't needed, so it went in a drawer somewhere until this whole "vault" thing. Nicieza was working for DC in 2011 I think, so he couldn't script it, so they asked Busiek if he'd do it. Except Nicieza didn't have his story notes, so he couldn't tell him what it was supposed to be about. Bagley didn't remember, either. So Busiek basically looked at the art and reverse-engineered a story from it.

It ends up being some sort of alien thing that gives you an opportunity for a dream world, except the Defenders' minds get swapped/merged with some average teenagers. So we get Hulk being surprised and happy Abomination wants to build sand castles with him, and the Surfer asking Dr. Strange if he knows what 'wrecked on Red Bull' means. There's also a bit where Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to understand what's going on, and once he sees the creature's history, is completely confused.

Anyway, it's an interesting little artifact of an unusual creative process.

Random Back Issues #35 - Amazing Spider-Man #381

It's Spidey's little "ouch" that sells it.

Somehow we're right back into early '90s Spider-Man, with the first half of a two-part storyline that acted as a breather in the middle of the near-constant BIG CHANGES storyarcs.

The Hulk (in his intelligent "Professor" incarnation) has arrived in New York City on his way back from a thing in Scotland in his own title. After declaring to Customs that the delay is annoying him, he's accosted by Doc Samson, who wants him to attend a demonstration of a new device that will help patients deal with repressed emotions by infecting them with a gamma virus. The Hulk, like probably everyone reading this post, recognizes this is a terrible idea on every level and storms off after telling Samson he's crazy if he goes near that demonstration.

Then Hulk scoffs at the cabbie's notion he requires a ride.

Elsewhere, Spidey saves a teenager from playground bullies, and signs the kid's lunchbox. As he swings off, the kid thinks about how he can get 50 bucks for it. Spidey's just glad to be doing something positive and helpful after the clusterfuck that was Maximum Carnage, and returns home to find Mary Jane in the kitchen cooking up something that includes salmon, asparagus, and oregano. Peter's got his own ideas about what's cookin'. I can't remember if it was a fan theory, or something an actual writer on the Spider-Man books mentioned, but there was this idea this is when Mayday Parker was conceived.

Later, Peter attends the demonstration Doc Samson was talking, about as a photographer. The demonstration immediately goes wrong as the virus, rather than enter the patient, starts trying to escape containment. Samson leaps in to try and hold the cage together, but can't pull it off. By the time Peter's changed into his costume, Samson's gone feral and is yelling about wanting to find Banner. He brings a wall down on the webslinger and leaps off, somehow sensing the Hulk. Who is walking through the park, grumbling about how his shoe size is probably bigger than the SAT scores of all the people running from the sight of him. His musing that simply because he's big and has a rep doesn't mean there's always violence around him is naturally interrupted by Samson landing on him, violently.

By the time Spider-Man catches up, the fight is in full swing, leaving Spidey wondering how the heck one of him will stop two of them. When Hulk gets the upper hand, Spidey jumps in, wrapping himself around one forearm. You can see how well that worked in the first image. It does distract the Hulk long enough for Samson to apply a bear hug. There's a surge of energy, a lot of screaming, and hey! Doc Samson is back to normal! The virus burned itself out. Or no, the virus just latched onto a bigger source of gamma radiation. The Hulk, now stronger and angrier than usual.

Spidey spends most of the next issue playing hit-and-run with the "ultra-Hulk" while Samson goes back to the lab to ask if there's a way to cure the virus. Weird note, in one of Peter David's Hulk issues, Hulk and Samson are having a therapy session, and one of them (Samson I think) refers to having had a strange dream about the two of them and Spider-Man that the other wouldn't believe. I assume that's a reference to this story, but not sure why PAD would be trying to call it a dream.

After this, Amazing goes into three or four part story where Venom's foes the Jury decide, having repeatedly gotten their butts handed to them by Venom, they should go after Spider-Man instead. For bringing the symbiote to Earth in the first place. Then the whole bit where Peter's parents turn out to be artificial beings created by the Chameleon comes to a head. (This issue is the one where Aunt May first starts to suspect Richard and Mary aren't who they appear to be, because of something to do with her anniversary). Then you have "grim n' gritty" Spider-Man for a few issues, and then the Clone Saga kicks off.

So yeah, this is a nice, quiet little two-parter in the midst of all that bullshit.

[1st longbox, 77th comic. Amazing Spider-Man #381, by David Michelinie (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Randy Emberlin and Al Milgrom (inkers), Bob Sharen (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)]

Random Back Issues #32 - Amazing Spider-Man #400

Let's pause to appreciate the hilarity of the notion of the Spider-Clone managing to straighten anything out.

We get to look at an anniversary issue today, which means extra pages! Lots to discuss. Amazing Spider-Man #400 was notable at the time for finally, after I don't know how many heart complications, killing Aunt May. Of course, they later reversed this by saying it was actually an actress or something hired (brainwashed?) by Norman Osborn, and the real May was alive. Then the MC2 (Spider-Girl) universe went the opposite direction and said the "May" Osborn had abducted was Peter and Mary Jane's daughter. That always made more sense to me, and the fact the main Spider-titles went the other way, when they didn't know what the hell they were doing, would seem to back that up.

The issue Peter rushing to the hospital because Aunt May actually woke up from being in a coma for the last 10 issues or so. Peter's ecstatic, as is Ben Reilly, who only came back to NYC because of what happened to May in the first place, as he couldn't ignore his concern for her, even as he hates having Parker's memories. With the crisis over, Ben's at a loose end on what to do next. Peter hates having him around, and it's a mess for Ben to be in a place he has so many memories of, but can't do anything with, since they belong to someone else. Plus, Kaine's lurking, and Ben figures it's only a matter of time before he comes after Ben again.

Back in Queens, Mary Jane's been trying to get things ready for May's return, and May somehow sees this burst of activity and knows MJ's pregnant. OK, so "fetus radar" is a thing now? Using this power weakens May, and while MJ takes her upstairs to rest, Ben slips in the back door to speak with Peter. Which is how you get the two of them, in costume, talking in May's backyard in broad daylight. Brilliant, guys. Clearly all the clones are sharing brainpower. The more there are, the dumber they each get. Ben says he's leaving and they'll never see him again. Ha.

There's a few pages of random stuff, Peter and MJ watching old family movies, some crap with Judas Traveler I ain't even getting into, Ben having an identity freakout when a cop hassles him for dozing on a bus stop bench. Yeah, because there were so many people needing the bench. The next day, Peter and May visit the Empire State Building, where May reveals she's known Peter was Spider-Man for some time, and that she's proud of him. Then she gets tired and they have to go home, where she says it's her time and she passes away. Peter quotes some of Peter Pan that she read to him when he was a kid, and that her soul(?) repeated to him when he nearly died recently. In a story involving Doc Ock helping cure him of a virus the Vulture infected him with. There's no part of that sentence that makes any sense.

I love the contrast between Peter, who is grieving but at least has people to lean on, and Ben, who has absolutely no one and didn't even get to say goodbye. That continues to the funeral, where Ben has to visit alone, after the service, since it'd be kind of a problem for Peter to have a surprise twin present. Although Flash attended with a notorious cat burglar, so "surprise twin" might not be that strange.

After the wake, two cops show up at Peter's house to arrest him for a murder in Salt Lake City. Because they're dicks. Which doesn't do MJ's mental state any good, and then Ben shows up in her home saying they need to talk. Not that being confronted by an exact double of her husband minutes after he was arrested helps, either.

If I remember right, Kaine actually killed the person, the Salt Lake cop's crooked partner. Being a clone, he has Parker's fingerprints. By remarkable coincidence, the murder took place during the two weeks Peter was in a grave courtesy of Kraven. So he has no alibi that doesn't involve blowing his secret identity. I'm pretty sure Ben switches places with Peter in prison, or Peter breaks out for a time and then Ben turns himself in instead. Peter charges off to hunt down Kaine and bring him in. Which turns into a whole thing with more clones, that Traveler guy, and Doc Ock's girlfriend trying to kill Kaine for killing Otto (who would later be resurrected by the Hand, of all people).

Peter only gets Kaine to confess (Kaine ultimately explains it by claiming he had a grudge against Parker for. . . reasons, and altered his face and fingerprints to resemble him) by threatening to march into the courtroom and spill his secret identity, which would ruin his life. This was back when just Harry Osborn, Venom, and the Puma knowing Peter Parker was Spider-Man was a huge pain in the butt, unlike recent years when everyone knows who everyone is. Kaine thinks Peter's actually the clone and wants him to be happy (while hating Reilly who he thinks is the original Peter Parker), which is why he fesses up.

And now I have a massive headache. Goddamn it, Nineties.

There are two backup stories, both written by DeMatteis. The first (by the Romita Jr. and Sr. art team) focuses on Ben Reilly in the day or so after the first Spider-Clone story, as Ben comes to grips with the fact he's just a copy. He struggles to find some reason to continue, and fights against a morality he feels is imposed on him by Parker's memories. I think this backup story in particular forms the thing about Ben Reilly that makes him so interesting to me. That's there's so much that's a part of him he feels burdened by, because he can't reap any of the benefits that come with it. Remembering all of Parker's friends and loved ones, but not being able to have them as part of his life, because someone's already occupying that role.

The other story is by DeMatteis and scripted by Stan Lee, with art by the Grummett/Milgrom duo, and looks at the morning after Peter captured Uncle Ben's killer. When Peter has to come to grips not only with his guilt, but his aunt's sorrow and grief at being alone. He tries to boost her spirits by pointing out the killer was captured, getting ready to tell her he's Spider-Man. But May reacts angrily, declaring that Spider-Man just used Ben's death for his own publicity, and Peter should never mention him again. Yeah, Pete's not gonna pull that off.

He resolves he can't tell her, but he will someday. Even if you allow that the May that dies in this issue isn't her, Peter still never actually told her. She figured it out in the JMS/Romita Jr. run by letting herself into his apartment when he was too beat to shit to sense it, then confronting him a few issues later.

[1st longbox, 81st comic, Amazing Spider-Man #400, by J.M. DeMatteis and Stan Lee (writers), Mark Bagley, John Romita Jr., and Tom Grummett (pencilers), Larry Mahlstedt, John Romita Sr., and Al Milgrom (inkers), Bob Sharen, Paul Becton, and Chia-Chi Wang (colorists), Bill Oakley, Ken Lopez, and Starkings/Comicraft (letterers)]

Random Back Issues #29 - Power Company: Sapphire #1

Looks more like a flatworm than a serpent. Fear the overwhelming might of PLANARIA. No, I'm not coming up with some suitable acronym for that, you go to hell.

Power Company was a series Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett did at DC Comics for about 18 issues in 2000-2001, about a superhuman investigative/security company. Before the series started, there were a bunch of one-shots introducing each member of the team, each with a different artist. Today, the youngest member of the team, with what I'm guessing is Mark Bagley's first DC work.

Candy is a teenage runaway who ends up in San Diego the same time the JLA shows up investigating some odd signals they can't pin down. Candy tries to taking advantage of everyone gawking to swipe some food, but the grocer spots her and she has to run for her life. She ends up at the docks, trapped within a forcefield where a battle breaks out between two factions of Kobra. One lead by old Naja-Naja himself, the other by Lady Eve. (We saw part of a later stage of this war in Random Back Issues #6!!)

Candy ends up inside Naja-Naja's giant ship (which does look more like a snake in a later panel where we view it submerged from the side), and learns that Kobra was here to steal a strange sapphire called the Serpent's Egg before Eve could get it. Ancient power, unlock its secrets, blah blah. Candy worries that she's going to die here, all because she stole olive loaf. That would be a hell of a thing to have on your tombstone.

Desperate, Candy sneaks in a steal the Egg, which then covers her entire body in the blue sheath. She finds herself resistant to weapons, able to fly, and able to more limbs into weapons. Kobra's got some sort of cloak the JLA can't track him through, so she trashes the machine producing the cloaking field, and the Justice League attack.

Candy uses the confusion to escape, and Kobra's goons buy him time to flee before he blows his ship up. After, Candy realizes she can't remove the Egg entirely, and worries she should have helped the JLA instead of running. Then she overhears a news report that the JLA are fine, but Kobra escaped as well. Meaning he'll be looking for the Egg, and the one who took it.

It was a desire for protection and safety that led her to join the team, the last of the main seven cast members to join. I tend to think she was less likely to be found as a lone homeless person than running around publicly fighting crime for a company that requires publicity to pay the bills, but the series was canceled before anything ever came of it one way or another.

Grummett would tend to draw the blue sheath as more of a second skin than Bagley does. Or maybe it was just that she wore a skintight uniform most of the time once she was on the actual team.

{8th longbox, 121st comic. Power Company: Sapphire #1, by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Mark Farmer and Keith Champagne (inkers), Carla Feeny (colorist), Comicraft (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #26 - Thunderbolts #38

You just know there was a joint congressional subcommittee that designed the look of that costume. Wow. To be fair, I actually like the helmet with the red eyes and teeth. That part's pretty cool. And the "To the DEATH" blurb is actually, technically, correct. One of these two does get decapitated in the next issue.

This is about one year into Fabian Niceza's run on Thunderbolts, and about one year from the end of Mark Bagley's run as artist on the book. A lot of threads are coming together, so this is the issue to stop and take stock of what's happened, plus do some foreshadowing. Also, a surprise (?) identity reveal.

Hawkeye's trying mountain climbing to clear his head. His time as leader of the Thunderbolts started well, but had hit a rough patch, starting roughly with their ultimately failed attempt to capture the Hulk. Then Jolt was killed by a sniper in her civilian identity, and they don't know who did it. The police report was sealed, which is definitely not suspicious. A reporter named Gayle Rogers had been working on a story on the T'Bolts, and turned up dead. They found Abner Jenkins, who Clint convinced to turn himself in for a murder he'd committed as the Beetle, running around in a new, more tanklike Beetle costume. Abe's back on the team as Mach-2, with an altered appearance, although there was a screw-up in the process and he looks African-American now. Whoo, yeah, don't know about that creative decision.

On top of all that, Clint had just recently returned from trying to rescue Mockingbird's soul from Mephisto, only to end up bringing out Hellcat's soul instead. And he's worried the relationship he's building with Moonstone is betraying Bobbi's memory.

(In the Hellcat mini-series Steve Engelhart and Norm Breyfogle did shortly after this, Patsy ends up back in Hell and encounters Bobbi again, and encourages her to escape to stop Karla from moving in on Clint, but Bobbi just wants him to be happy, which is pretty big of her. Although I guess that was really a Skrull that believed it was Bobbi. Yeesh, friggin' Secret Invasion.)

Moonstone herself is having some weird dreams about a blue warrior sporting a familiar gemstone, and feels she's not acting like herself lately. Meaning she's not being a horrible and entirely self-serving person. Charcoal is struggling to cope with Jolt's death and other underlying anger issues. Atlas is having trouble coping with Jolt's death, plus he knows one of the Masters of Evil is working in the town nearby as a bartender, but hasn't told anyone yet. What he doesn't know is the guy he's talking to, Ogre, who maintained the base before they arrived, and was part of some early '70s bad guy mutant group called Factor Three, is actually the fully mechanical version of Techno in disguise. The real Ogre is having trouble with being stuffed in some stasis tube or something by Techno, along with Jolt's body, and one other body (which doesn't become relevant for about another 20-30 issues).

Ogre doesn't actually say or do anything, because he's unconscious, but I didn't want him to feel left out.

On top of all that, Clint and Karla's discussion/picnic lunch/probable makeout session is interrupted by the arrival of a Citizen V. And right after Karla mentions how attractive the idea of Clint marching into Burton Canyon's police station naked is. Kinda kinky, but ok. Might explain why she's not real happy at the interruption.

This Citizen V is not Zemo in disguise. It's the one Hawkeye ran into several issues earlier, when the team was trying to stop the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil. Now she's on the run from the V battalion itself, over a difference in philosophy I think. The T'Bolts get drawn into the fight unwillingly, with Moonstone going from extremely frustrated to insisting they have to help Citizen V simply because she needs them in the span of a few pages (don't worry, she's confused by that, too).

The last two pages shift to a secret fortress in Central America, where Scourge smashes a bunch of Zemo's shit to draw him out for a fight. Next issue is pretty much one long battle between the two, as Scourge busts out a huge number of super-villain gimmick weapons while Zemo can't quite bring himself to just run for his life. It's actually kind of an interesting shift, taking Scourge from a guy (or guys) who wipe out second and third-tier villains, to being the weapon of a group of shadowy people who utilizes the arsenals of the same sorts of villains. Scourge does end up being a pre-existing character, and at least one of the people manipulating him is a longtime pain in Hawkeye's ass, but those things won't start coming to light until at least issue 47 or so.

[11th longbox, 196th comic, Thunderbolts #38, by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley (storytellers), Scott Hanna (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), Troy P. (letterer)]

What I Bought 9/27/2019 - Part 2

I'm writing this up last week, since I'm out in the field all this week. Hopefully the river levels aren't up too much, or that's going to make getting to some of the places I need to get rather difficult. Plus, the folks around here really don't need more flooding to contend with.

I left this book for last since it had a three stories, so I figured it could carry its own post.

Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big, by Gerry Conway and Ralph Macchio (writers), Erik Larsen (writer/artist), Mark Bagley (penciler), Todd Nauck (artist), Victor Olazaba, Andy Owens, Dexter Vines (inkers), Carlos Lopez, Laura Martin, and Rachelle Rosenberg (colorists), Joe Sabino and Ferran Delgado (letterers) - I'm not sure I have the energy to write about the actual comic after listing all those people out. Also,I have no idea what's "going big" about this issue. It's not like it's a 100-page special or anything.

So, three stories. Starting from the back of the book, we've got Larsen writing and drawing a story that starts with Spidey fighting Nightshade and a bunch of people she turned into werewolves in a subway. Which makes him late to meet Mary Jane for a movie, and he forgot the tickets, so he has to rush back home to get them. He says he'll be back in four minutes, but the story ends as he's taking off, so who knows if he made it.

Larsen's artwork is about how I remember, except the faces are a bit rounder than I remember. Might be a shading thing, but I definitely think Peter's jaw is less pronounced than it was in the '90s. Also, Larsen always liked to treat white ovals on Spider-Man's mask as being able to can shape to help convey emotion, but I feel like he used it in almost every panel in this story. Webs is squinting more than Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie.

The middle story is a quick 3-page bit by Macchio/Nauck/Rosenberg about Spidey fighting some disgruntled Oscorp employee in a stolen mech. Spidey took some hits protecting bystanders but can't escape. So he recalls some conversation Uncle Ben had with him about how to handle bullies, complete with little kid Peter throwing an ice cream cone in a kid's face, and then defeats the guy by blinding him with webbing and hitting the mech really hard once. Don't think he should have needed a wise lesson from Uncle Ben to handle that, but whatever gets you through the fight, I guess.

The first story is a 20-pager by Gerry Conway/Mark Bagley, and Victor Olazaba, plus all three of the inkers listed above. MJ's cousin Kristy has gone missing after investigating sex trafficking of undocumented immigrants, and MJ asks Peter to investigate. Spidey finds the right group, but they have super-powered back, in the form of a character I figured we wouldn't see again after his original appearance. Fine with me that he's back, although I hope he's wrong about another villain being dead. Spidey is having a little trouble, because the guy's power is weird, but there's a mysterious someone on a rooftop nearby shooting people when it's helpful. A someone who narrates the parts of the story taking place at the fight, who doesn't like costumed vigilantes (or 'super-suits' as he calls them here), but really hates criminals. Hmm, I wonder who that could be?

With three inkers, the art is a little variable, although I'd say still recognizably Bagley's. The expression work is clear and easy to read. The action is easy to follow and presented cleanly. Nothing special about page design, just making sure to help tell the story. I think he's drawing his spider-sense squiggles differently, though. They used to be a lot more jagged, closer to lightning bolts, and these are either like snakes or like "w"'s. Not a criticism, because I think he might have gone to a more snakelike look back when he was doing Ultimate Spider-Man with Bendis, but something I noticed.

I can only distinguish two different inkers, mostly based on how they shade the eyes on Spidey's mask. One does it in such a way they have a convex appearance, like they bulge out from the mask, and the other they seem to be flat against the mask. It's possible the third inker is doing the flashback sequences of how Peter tracked these guys down (in just 4 hours, no less, beat that Batman). In parts of that, the faces of some of the characters have a much scratchier, busier look than I'm used to seeing on Bagley's stuff, and Peter's head seems more square than normal. But that doesn't hold in all of them, so I don't know.

I was able to find a copy that I guess wasn't in the best condition, so it was a dollar cheaper. I can't tell what the problem was, but I'm fine with it. I wasn't going to buy it for $5, and having read it, that would have been a good call.