DC in the MC2

I had intended to do a more extensive write-up to celebrate the month of May, but work and family commitments have prevented me putting out anything. Instead, I present for your consideration this very brief offering.

 

In Spider-Girl #15 we first meet Mister Abnormal, a silly villain with a malleable body able to stretch and shift in comedic fashion much like the DC Comics character Patrick O’Brian aka Plastic Man. Mister Abnormal’s origin even bears some similarities with Plastic Man’s, with both comedy characters gaining their abilities after been doused with unknown chemicals during acts of theft.

 

It gets better: Mister Abnormal encounters the veteran super hero Speedball (and later Spider-Girl) following an attempted robbery of a comic book shop. We learn that Mr. Abnormal is an obsessive collector who has been stealing action figures, rare toys, trading cards, beanie babies and, of course, comics. What comic collection was he attempting to complete before being so rudely interrupted by Speedball? Police Comics.

 

If you didn’t know, Police Comics was a comic anthology series published by Quality Comics between 1941 and 1953. Police Comics #1 saw the first appearance of none other than Plastic Man, who became one of Quality Comics most popular characters. Eventually, Quality Comics’ characters and trademarks would be bought by National Comics Publications, now known as DC Comics, who publish comics featuring Plastic Man alongside other DC heroes such as Batman and Superman to this day.

 

So now the mind-bending question: Does this mean that within the MC2 Universe the entirety of the DC Comics’ pantheon is merely a collection of fictional characters published in comic books?!

 

Until I stop stretching jokes to illogical extremes to raise existential questions about a fictional universe within another fictional universe, I remain

 

frogoat

 

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

Building a Rogues Gallery

One of the biggest challenges of any superhero comic is building up the rogues gallery. If Spidey didn't have such an impressive array of villains to trounce every story, he wouldn't be nearly as interesting. Yes, the character of Peter Parker is fascinating,  but think: without the dynamics of his and Norman Osborn's relationship wouldn't he be a little less? Without the Green Goblin to torment Spider-Man, life just wouldn't be as flavorful. Doctor Otto Gunther Octavius', with all his plans and arms, and Electro with his electricity, Venom with his dark-Spidey-analog schtick. Cruel old Vulture, cold-blooded and cold-hearted Lizard, stinging Scorpion, Cunning Hobgoblin, tricky Mysterio. The list goes on and on. I may not be knowledgeable about DC Comics, but honestly, Batman's rogues gallery are notoriously notable. The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, so many long-running titles and characters have developed many varied and fascinating villains through the years.

But what are all these new heroes supposed to do? Sometimes, borrowing from other characters works wonders. Daredevil doesn't have many truly great bad guys, but Kingpin fits so well amongst DD's assorted rogues, it's like he was made for the part. Spider-Girl utilised a few of daddy dearest's villains in her adventures. Notable amongst them are the Hobgoblin and Carnage. In fact, I'd go so far as to say ol' Kingsley worked better against Mayday, the cunning older man against the youthful hero. A new twist on an old villain then, is that the answer?

A mix of new villains unique to the character has to be included, surely. Otherwise, isn't it just wholesale theft? Okay, so Spider-Girl has some nice villains too: Dragon King and Mr Nobody are personal favorites of mine. They have a nice visual and both pose a genuine threat when written appropriately. Any villain can become iconic. By tossing a loved one off a bridge, for example. But a good villain shouldn't have to resort to killing cast members. That's cheap. In the case of the Green Goblin, his and Peter's war was personal. The death of Gwen Stacy was a direct result of it, but I don't believe it's the crux of what makes Norman Osborn infinitely re-usable. Osborn himself is interesting: A ruthless businessman with a lot of personality before he ever put on a garish green mask.

I love this art by John Romita Jr

Maybe that's the answer then: A mix of the old and new, the borrowed and true-blue with a lot of character depth and a great visual thrown in for good measure. What do you think?

Until Hypno Hustler gets his own series, I remain

frogoat