Showing posts with label 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2020. Show all posts

Monday 13 January 2020

Tom Grummett and the MC2


Recently I've been thinking about well-established artists in the comics industry who's take on the MC2 characters we've yet to see. Then I remembered there are a bunch of artists outside of MC2 mainstays such as the wonderfully talented Ron Frenz, Pat Olliffe, Paul Ryan, Ron Lim or Todd Nauck who've in some way worked on my favourite fictional universe. Every so often I'll try and dedicate a short post to each artist's brief foray into the MC2 Universe.


Tom Grummett


Tom Grummett kind of flew under my radar for the longest time as a young comic reader. I was aware of his work on books like Thunderbolts and it was his artwork alone that got me through New Exiles. But it wasn’t until later I learned of his iconic run drawing Superman and Batman over at DC. Truly, Mr Grummett deserves the comic industry’s respect. But we are going to take a look at the two occasions Tom Grummett drew May Parker aka Spider-Girl.







Tom Grummett actually worked with for Tom Defalco’s novel X-Men & Spider-Man: Time’s Arrow Book 3: The Future which was first published in 1998. We got two chapter illustrations pencilled by Tom Grummett with inks by Doug Hazelwood. The art was presented in black and white, but as I’ve mentioned in my Spider-Girl 2020 post, the first illustration was partially coloured for a composite image in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005. So, technically, Tom Grummett was one of the first artists to draw May Parker as Spider-Girl.








Speaking of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005, Mr Tom Grummett’s art not only appeared within the book, he also produced a new piece of art for the cover. This was one of -if not the- first Official Handbook I bought and it was all thanks to that gorgeous art. It certainly helped that it features Tom Grummett’s rendition of May ‘Mayday’ Parker aka Spider-Girl AND Rina Logan aka Wild Thing!







There’s a world out there somewhere in which we saw more MC2 titles and issues, and I believe a prime candidate to fit the style and tone of the MC2 imprint would be Tom Grummett. My appreciation of Tom’s Spider-Girl 2020 design from the novel has increased through the years. I’d love to see him pencil a crossover between the MC2’s Spider-Girl and Spider-Girl 2020. Someday, friends! Someday!



Until I stop building imaginary comic titles and crossovers in my head, I remain



frogoat










Sunday 5 January 2020

Spider-Girl 2020


With the futuristic year 2020 ushering in a new comic event commemorating the characters of Earth-8410 aka 2020 A.D. - most notably Iron Man 2020- I figured now would be a perfect time to acknowledge the overlooked superheroine in the room: May Parker of Earth-8410 aka Spider-Girl 2020.





While I may have briefly touched on the 2020 in the distant past, this will be a more focused look at the character. To begin with, the character is not a comic book native, making her first (and to date, only) appearance in a novel. Written by Tom Defalco and eluki bes shakar (now legally known as Rosemary Edghill) with interior chapter art by penciller Tom Grummett and inker Doug Hazlewood, X-Men & Spider-Man: Time’s Arrow Book 3: The Future was first published in 1998 with a September release date listed on its interior pages. This third and final book in the Time’s Arrow trilogy of novels by Defalco (paired with a different co-writer for each book) marks the debut of Spider-Girl 2020 in its fifth chapter which takes place in -you guessed it- the year 2020 A.D.!





The story sees Spider-Man (the Main Marvel Universe or Earth-616 version, according to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005) on a mission with Cable of the X-Men and Aliya of Earth-9870 to prevent Kang’s destruction of various alternate worlds.  Having been hired by Kang to stop the heroes, Earth-8410’s Arno Stark aka Iron Man of the year 2020 recruits his reality’s Spider-Girl under the pretext of protecting her territory Queens, New York.





It’s here we learn that this world’s May Parker had lost her own father, and had followed in his heroic footsteps during her freshman year of high school, aged only 14 years old. May notes she can’t remember a time when she didn’t know her father was Spider-Man, and recalls how he died with his secret identity intact, leaving some people mere years later to believe the web-swinger was still alive. May, now ‘twentysomething’ still lived with her mother Mary Jane Watson-Parker due to the housing crunch. Mary Jane was initially not pleased when May announced her intentions to suit up as Spider-Girl at such a young age. May works as a ‘page designer’ for Cadence Communications Corporation… which I guess makes her a web designer, right?



Operating as one of 2020’s last lone vigilantes or ‘Independents’, Spider-Girl protects her territory of Queens, New York from ‘incursions of Wreckers, Illegals, rioting Vidiots or worse’. As for powers and abilities, this Spider-Girl has inherited her father’s spider-like ability to stick to walls, strength, speed and agility, which are described as being equal to the original web-head’s own. May also utilizes ‘gold bracelets of cylinders’ on both wrists that fire explosive ‘venom blasts’ that produce a poisoning effect in their targets. Presumably these are dual-purpose web-shooters, as Spider-Girl is also seen spinning webs. It’s not clear if this May Parker possesses a spider-sense, though she does appear to detect people rather quickly.




As for her costume, I think it’s worth using some direct quotes to demonstrate how the chapter illustrations by Tom Grummett (though absolutely beautiful) do perhaps differ from the books text descriptions. Spider-Girl is first described as wearing a ‘tight scarlet-and-blue combat suit’ with a ‘spill of red hair down [her] back’ beneath which ‘her eyes were invisible behind the white shields of her mask’. For the most part, Spider-Girl is referred to while in action as a ‘red-and-blue figure’ and angrily notes when seeing Spider-Man that his costume is an echo of her own. When Spider-Man catches clear sight of Spider-Girl we get a more detailed portrait spelled out: ‘Her costume was red and blue, just like his, with a black pattern of webbing against the red. Around each wrist she wore a gold bracelet of cylinders-possibly the source of the blasts she’d bracketed him with-and a half-mask above which her long red hair whipped around her face like Medusa’s snakes.






 This combined with the mentions of the costume being red and blue (rather than blue and red) and Peter noting it’s ‘so like his own’ make it seem as the design is meant to more closely resemble the original Spider-Man design. That said there is this one quote that might balance out the artwork somewhat; ‘May Parker had always known that she’d grow up to wear the webbed mask and the famous blue and scarlet garb.’ When added to a brief mention of the first two Spider-Women, it might help explain the potential discrepancy. Either way, I’ve grown to like the Tom Grummett's Spider-Girl 2020 design, even if it does seem to be missing the gold web-shooters.






As for the actual story, accompanying Arno Stark’s Iron Man and his Iron-Bots into the sewers beneath Queens, where they encountered Spider-Man, Cable and Aliya, Spider-Girl is shocked and angered to encounter an apparent imposter posing as her deceased father. When the trio of dimension-hopping heroes briefly escape, Arno brings a subway stop’s ceiling down on them, against the heroic Spider-Girl’s protests. However, Spider-Man and company are rescued from the rubble by Machine Man and his friends, the Midnight Wreckers. When Arno returns to finish the job, Spider-Girl again battles Spider-Man until he unmasks and convinces her of his good intentions. With Iron Man knocked out of commission, Spider-Girl orders his Iron-Bots to retreat, allowing Spider-Man, Cable and Aliya to complete their mission.






Unfortunately, that’s it for this Spider-Girl, except to say her appearance in the Time’s Arrow novel was later confirmed as taking place in the same 2020 A.D. as various other characters in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005. That is, Spider-Girl 2020 shares the same universe as not just Arno Stark’s version of Iron Man but also Machine Man, Death’s Head and Wild Thing (no, not that one! This one’s name is Nikki Doyle). The coloured image of Spider-Girl 2020 originates from the aforementioned handbook as part of a composite image of various denizens of that reality by various artists. The composition, colouring and art reconstruction were (I believe) the work of Scott Elmer under the pseudonym Pond Scum. I mention this as there only exist two official images of the Spider-Girl 2020 character, and this is, to date, the only one reproduced in colour.






Notably, writer Tom Defalco is the co-creator of the world and various characters of Earth-8410’s 2020 including Arno Stark, the Machine Man of 2020 and the Midnight Wreckers and afterwards would frequently reference them in his other work. Or at least he used to, before he conceived the MC2 Universe with frequent collaborator and handsome devil Ron Frenz. I’d absolutely love to see a small crossover with these two Tom Defalco-created Spider-Girl’s, especially because they have such varied stories, ages and costumes and present very different iterations of May Parker.





Until I stop living in the far-flung year of…erm…. the present, I remain



frogoat






Monday 16 December 2013

MC2 Multiplicity Madness

Let's talk about multiples of MC2 characters!

Cassie Lang

First up is Cassandra 'Cassie' Lang, daughter of Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man. In the regular Marvel Universe (Earth-616) Cassie's fathers death during 'Avengers Disassembled' led her to join the Young Avengers while still in her teens and take the name Stature using similar size-changing abilities to those of Giant-Man/Ant-Man and Wasp.



Another older version of Cassie (now going by Stinger) appears in Avengers: The Children's Crusade: Young Avengers one-shot. Noticeable her costume is taken from the MC2 version of the character.


Then, of course we have our dear Stinger from the MC2. A talented scientist in various fields, Cassie used the work of Dr Henry Pym (the original Ant-Man) to grant herself wings and size-changing powers.  She worked alongside her father, Scott Lang before joining the Avengers of her world.




Kevin Masterson

 Next we have Kevin Masterson, son of Eric Masterson- formerly a fill-in Thor and later the Avenger known as Thunderstrike. Kevin of the main Marvel Universe grows up angry following the death of his father, and as a young teenager eventually gains his fathers powers and becomes the second Thunderstrike.


Meanwhile, the Kevin Masterson of the MC2 received his fathers enchanted mace upon his 18th birthday, leading to the events that brought the Avengers of this generation together. Becoming  Thunderstrike despite his mixed feelings about his deceased father's 'hobby', Kevin proved himself worthy, now wielding thunder-blasts and super-strength.



 May 'Mayday' Parker

Lastly we have May 'Mayday' Parker, the daughter of Peter Parker- the Amazing Spider-Man. In the reality of Earth X (Earth-9997), May's mother Mary Jane died of cancer when she was young. At some point she bonded with the symbiote formerly joined to Eddie Brock and becomes an adventurer and police officer. This May goes by the name Venom and has all the abilities of the symbiote, and an excellent spider-sense. She recently showed up in Uncanny Avengers:







Venom of this world also encounters another Spider-Girl, from Earth-1122. She is recruited into a team known as the Heralds by the Machine Man. Apart from being a little less mature her origin appeared to be the same as our Mayday...until she announces she is the daughter of Peter's clone 'brother,' Ben Reilly. Her costume looks almost exactly the same as the MC2 Spider-Girl, though I like to think of her as having more Steve Ditko-esque eye-pieces and web pattern. Or I'm being pedantic.





We aren't done yet, oh no. There's the 20-something redheaded Spider-Girl of the year 2020. On Earth-8410, this May's father passed away sometime after she began as a costumed hero. Her powers also include 'venom blasts' similar to the original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew. In fact, her costume strongly resembles Drew's as well.



Finally, we have the MC2's own Spectacular Spider-Girl. May 'Mayday' Parker is the 16 year old daughter of Spider-Man. Possessing all the usual abilities, her unique powers also include the ability to bio-magnetically attract and repel objects-something I believe none of the other May's have displayed. Mayday's costume currently includes an extended blue area under the arms as well as modified web-shooters which really helps to differentiate her from other versions.



Well ,there you have it folks! Can't you just imagine a crossover between these different versions of the same characters. Wouldn't that be completely mental?! Wouldn't that be fun?!

Until Spider-Girl meets Spider-Girl meets Venom meets Spider-Girl, I remain

frogoat