Star Trek in the MC2

As you may know Sir Patrick Stewart portrayed Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and four feature films before returning to the role with this year’s Star Trek: Picard series. I recently finished watching the first season and I wanted to do a little something that’s tangentially related, as always. So, let’s explore some references to Star Trek in the MC2!

 

You’ll notice quite a few of my posts recently have referenced the Ron Frenz interview on Adam Chapman’s podcast Comic Shenanigans Episode 744. The reason is pretty simple: it’s genuinely a great well of information about the MC2, especially the characters from the A-Next series on which the interview focuses. Now, here’s why I bring it up yet again: Edwin Jarvis is Patrick Stewart! When asked about his decision to depict the Avengers most loyal member of staff as slender in A-Next, Ron had this to say:

 

‘He gained weight for a while under Perez and everything but I was using as a model the John Buscema/Tom Palmer Jarvis. Which went into the Sal era; that’s kind of when I first started reading the Avengers. The book was being passed off at different points between Sal and John and they both had a more slender Jarvis and that’s what I ended up going with. Plus, we wanted to age him and everything. But I saw him as being someone who took great pride in his appearance, wearing a tuxedo as he does as a butler and now that he was chief of staff and everything else.  I always kind of pictured him, quite frankly, when I was on Thunderstrike and we had Jarvis appear a few times, I actually pictured Jarvis as being Patrick Stewart. I think a lot of people would be surprised that Jarvis could be that but that’s kind of who I pictured as Jarvis. The one I really remember it striking me as ‘wow, that’s kind of what I’m thinking in my head’ was when we did an issue of Thunderstrike where a character with electrical devices posed as Thor and was robbing banks and there was a scene there where Eric goes to the Avengers Mansion to go down to the lockers and Jarvis is walking into the locker and they’re having a conversation back and forth about Thor and all this kind of stuff. It was just during that scene; handling Jarvis in that scene that I went ‘I’m actually picturing Patrick Stewart in this whole thing’. Had Thunderstrike continued I would have loved to have explored Eric’s relationship with Jarvis a bit more. I tried…we tried to touch on it quite a bit in A-Next. I believe at one point Kevin is thinking that his father Eric always told him that there was one guy that you could always trust in Avengers Mansion. I was kind of retroactively touching on something that I would have loved to have explored with some of the other characters.’

 

 

It’s fairly easy to see the inspiration and I can just imagine Patrick Stewart’s voice when reading his dialogue. For comparison, here’s a picture of the MC2’s Edwin Jarvis as pencilled by Ron Frenz alongside an actual image of Sir Patrick Stewart:

 

 

There’s also a nice reference to Star Trek: The Original Series found in A-Next #10 when the new team of Avengers travel to a dark alternate reality under the rule of Victor Von Doom. At first believing they’ve arrived in a dystopian future, J2 is left bewildered by Mainframe’s scientific explanation.  Fortunately, Thunderstrike provides the young hero a relatable pop culture point of reference: ‘Juggie, think Classic Stark Trek – “Mirror, Mirror”!’ Even more amusing is the revelation immediately afterwards that Mainframe is not only familiar with Star Trek, but actually a self-described huge fan.

 

For those who don’t know, ‘Mirror, Mirror’ is the fourth episode of Star Trek: The Original Series’ second season. The plot of the episode involves the main cast of characters being swapped with their counterparts from a ‘mirror universe’ following a transporter malfunction. The Enterprise crew learn that their mirror universe counterparts are evil members of a conquering empire. Even if you’ve never seen the episode, you may know it through pop culture osmosis: The Mirror Universe’s Evil Spock sports a Van Dyke style beard or goatee which has since become a trope in various works of fiction to symbolize an evil counterpart. Shout out to Community’s Darkest Timeline! The concept of this Mirror Universe has been revisited several times within the Star Trek franchise, including 5 stories in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 2 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and most recently during a story-line of Star Trek: Discovery.

 

I’m sure there are more Star Trek references to be found within the MC2, so please be sure to let know if you come across any!

 

Until I find myself in a universe where I fashion facial hair from felt until able to grow my own evil goatee, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Stinger in Marvel Avengers Academy

It's only just come to my attention that Cassie Lang, also known as Stinger has been added as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Academy. Developed by mobile game studio TinyCo, Marvel Avengers Academy depicts classic Marvel characters as college students in an academy of the players design wherein the 'Avengers' combat super-villains and master their  super powers. Or so I read. I've never played the game before.

Stinger was introduced to the game during the 'Young Avengers Mini-Event' on the 17th of February along with Hulkling and Wiccan. In-game dialog between Cassie and the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man featured in this game confirm that Cassie is in fact his alternate reality daughter. From what I have been able to discover, Stinger may have been only available for a limited time only.

The classic Stinger costume from the MC2 appears as Cassies third costume, unlocked at Rank 5. It's worth noting she also sports a purple version of her 616-counterpart's Stature identity. Beyond that, I can't really gather much more information. I've been unable to find anywhere that identifies a voice actor for Cassie/Stinger, sadly. I'll keep digging to see if I can turn up anything, but for now, that's all I have to share.

Until I start to see a decline in appearances of MC2 characters in other mediums, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Girl Coming to Mobile Gaming!

 Spider-Man Unlimited is a game by developercompany Gameloft for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android Smartphones and Tablets and Windows Phones. The game acts as a kind of tie-in to the Spider-Verse event, letting you play as a variety of alternate Spider-Men. An upcoming update will allow you to play as variety of new characters including Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Girl. YES, Spider-Girl!

The trailer can be seen here and a preview image can be seen on the Facebook page for the game. If you are to lazy to click on the links, I'll put them here for you:

Apparently, this is the first of many female Spider-Characters to appear in the game. I for one am very glad they chose Mayday to be the first. I look forward to playing as her in the coming months. In the meantime, I'd better learn how to play the game...


Thanks to Shaun Musgrave from the Spider-Girl Message Board for pointing this out!


Until Spider-Girl gets her own video game, I remain

frogoat

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

Spyral

My last blog about MC2 and reality-jumping got me to thinking about one particular cause of  some of those trips across time and space: the time-traveling, dimension-hopping, grey haired fellow known as Spyral.

There's not much known about him, so let's go over what is known about Spyral:

• Spyral first appears in Spider-Girl #3 were he emerges from a portal in the Fantastic Five Building's museum area, attempting to steal a power cell originating from the Negative Zone. Hoping to harness the power cell to 'generate a warp spiral powerful enough to return home'
• Spyral claims to originate from another reality, one where the Fantastic Five are the Fantastic Four and the resident Spider-Person is male....hmmm sounds familiar.
• The Fantastic Five have encountered Spyral prior to these events. Thing even refers to him in jest as 'Charlie', something Spider-Girl will also do later on.
• Spyral uses 'warp fields' and generally attacks with spiral blasts that cause concussive damage or send things spinning and spiraling....well, I suppose that makes sense. Utilizing these powers (and boosted by outside sources and artifacts) Spyral can open portals to other dimensions and even across time.
• Spyral escapes prison in Spider-Girl #10 and again attempts to get home, harnessing another unknown power source. Spider-Girl arrives to late to stop Spyral and the two are accidentally sent back in time (possibly across alternate-realities?) 
• In Spider-Girl #11 he claims to have first met the Human Torch and Spider-Man (who are still teens when we see them here) in their future, when they are 'older, wiser and far more experienced'. Spyral blames the unplanned trip through time on Spider-Girl's weight, and receives a swift kick to the face for his troubles.

And that's it, we never encounter Spyral again in any of the MC2 series, apart from a dream sequence here and there. So, let's review: Spyral claims to be from another world, one with a Spider-Man and a Fantastic Four, travels dimensions and his only goal is to return home. I wonder if Tom Defalco created him with the regular 616 Marvel Universe in mind as his point of origin? I guess we'll never know for sure, unless he appears in a 616 Marvel title sometime in the future. Wouldn't that be cool?!

Spyral was my first MC2 villain, and so I've become quite attached to the old guy. Personally, I'd have loved to have seen more of him, especially considering he's supposed to be a regular F5 baddie.  But looking at his motivation, and the fact that both times he showed up he was little more than a plot device. Case in point: Spider-Girl met the F5 thanks to Spyral's arrival, and Spider-Girl meets her parents in the past thanks to Spyral, who doesn't even appear in the issue after doing so, only reemerging just in time to return Mayday home in the next issue!

What with Spyral and that portal to other worlds in the Avengers basement, it's a wonder we haven't had more crossovers with the 616 Marvel Universe! It practically writes it's self.

Until Spyral is revealed as Nathanial Richards -Reeds father- I remain

frogoat

Exiles

The Exiles was one of those comics you 'just had to be there' to understand and love. It was a series about a team of (mostly) mutant heroes taken out of their own timelines and thrown together to fix various alternate realities. If that hook sounds cool to you, then you'd have loved this book. But really, deep down, the series was, in essence, the story of people lost and far from home who had to work with complete strangers and hope they didn't die or get left behind or worse. A series about people caught up in a cosmic crap-storm, just trying to survive long enough to make it home.

Among some of the best things a comic book about alternate realities can have is a great creative team. Exiles, with few exceptions, always had a great writer, great artists and some of my favorite colorists in comics. Judd Winick and Mike McKone set the series rolling in a dazzling fashion, establishing the concept, introducing and fleshing out the characters and generally making the series shine. Jim Calafiore would often alternate with McKone for the art in the series, as it was often released two issues per month. Jim Calafiore for me is the Exiles. There is something about his dynamic figures that has always left me in awe. McKone may have created alot of the original characters, but Jim's art is what comes to mind when I think of the Exiles.

Chuck Austen took over the writing chores when Judd left the book. I say chores because I've honestly never thought much of Austen's 'writing', especially his depiction of female characters. Google some reviews of his time on X-men or Avengers to get an idea of what I'm referring to. Besides that, Chuck actually did a half decent job on Exiles, he kept the plates spinning, and he played with the concept a little, by having the Timebroker (the apparent entity behind the scenes) become rather mean spirited, pitting the Exiles against their darker counterparts, Weapon X. Clayton Henry turned his hand to art around this time too, and I can say his art is solid stuff.

Judd Winick returned for a half dozen issues to deliver some gut-wrenching moments which made for  genuine tears on my part, and I'm sure many others. Mizuki Sakakibara joined the rotating team of artists at this point and delivered some beautiful work. Her characters are a little more 'soft' and, I guess, manga-inspired. An excellent addition to the Exiles credentials.

Tony Bedard would take up the writer's pen to make some serious changes to the series concept as a whole, giving us at first a peak behind the curtain of the Timebroker, dropping favorite characters bringing on board controversial members and generally making the book his own, while still paying his dues to the earlier stuff. Then came the big reveal. Which I won't spoil, but I will go so far as to say it was a squee-tastic moment for me as a younger reader. Where would the series go now? A World Tour. Brilliant! Let's visit all the old favorite alternate reality stories from Marvel's past. I loved the idea. I know many people had a few problems with it, and I will concede that it was too long, lasting for a year of the series in real time. but I enjoyed where it took both the series and the characters, and being as it was supposed to be Tony's last hooray on the title, I can dig it.

Only, Tony didn't leave the title. Chris Claremont suffered health issues prior to his start on the series, meaning that now, Tony had to stretch out his run without changing the status quo. Oi vey. I will give credit where it's due, the Exiles team composed entirely of Wolverines was hilarious as all hell and had me scrambling to find out who Albert and Elsie-Dee were.  We also got a sort of 'funeral' issue for all the fallen past members, which was well presented.

Finally, the famous Chris Claremont: X-men visionary, responsible for giving us the version of the X-men that everyone is still clamoring on about to this day, the writer who-to some-is something akin to a god, a never-do-wrong by dint of being Chris Claremont, the man who re-invented the X-men. Problem is, Chris' work has not been good in years. Relying on the same-old stories, using his pet-characters (I'm looking at you, Psylocke and Sage!) and apparently not having any concept of who the Exiles were led me to bite my lip and hold on until another writer would take over. Paul Pelletier at least made the book look gorgeous, as he always does.

'Exiles canceled with #100!' Oh, god! He killed the series! 'New Exiles by Claremont Announced!' The Heck?! Chris would not only end the original series, he'd have it cross over with his own pet-title, New Excalibur, then get to dump all the series regulars in place of personal favorites, and finally lead this 'New' incarnation to it's end. Did I say Oi Vey? Cos, Oi. Vey! Again, the artist saved this from being a total disaster. Hat's off to you, Tom Grummett!

Jeff Parker and Salva Espin, on the other hand were given just six issues to turn the tide of fan-outcry around. Jeff is a clever writer and I always enjoy anything he turns in. He loves playing with all the toys and he writes great characters. Salva....well, let's just say he loved drawing the ladies. His art was a nice change of pace from the previous 'New' styles more 'realisitic' tone. The brighter colors made this title a breathe of fresh air, and the return of some old favorites with a new twist really worked. For six months. Oi Vey.

I guess I should mention that Jim Calafiore also wrote a couple issues back in the day, too. The man is oozing talent. So, I guess 5 out of 6 excellent writers isnt so bad, right? With nary a misstep art-wise, this book was always a pleasure to look at. If the series were to ever come back, I'd love to see Jeff's vision played out fully, as he clearly had a plan and was bristling with ideas.

At it's core Exiles just made me love comics more with it's wide platter of ideas and concepts, it's well-considered characters, it's off-the-wall story telling and it's charm. If you can find the trades, I highly recommend (most of) it!