Bluestreak's Costumes

Who’s everyone’s favourite blue-haired, fast-talking, impulsive speedster? That’s right! Bluestreak! What, did you think I was going to say Sonic the Hedgehog?! I thought now would be as good a time as ever to take a look at the different costumes worn by Blue Kelso through the years. There’s more than you might think! 

Bluestreak’s most enduring and iconic costume is the one she debuted in alongside her fellow Dream Team members in A-Next #4, following a shadowy cameo in A-Next #3. 

But let’s take a chronological look at Blue’s costumes throughout her career. As I’ve discussed in the past here, Blue was at one point a member of the X-People led by Jubilee. Unfortunately, we don’t have any visuals of what her X-Suit might have looked like, so here’s my terrible photoshop from a while back to give you a very rough idea:

Assuming my timeline of events are correct, after leaving the X-People, Blue becomes Clint Barton’s (formerly the heroic Hawkeye) special students, training to become a new generation of Avengers (American Dream #3). While training, Miss Kelso is seen wearing this training outfit:

Upon graduating, Clint gives Blue Kelso the code name Bluestreak and gifts her the costume we first saw back in the original A-Next series (American Dream #3, A-Next #3-#12).

Blue would continue to wear this costume during her guest appearances in Spider-Girl for several years. However, it is worth pointing out that a new costume debut’s as part of Felicity Hardy’s fantasy in Spider-Girl #52. This costume notably features full-length pants instead of shorts and long sleeve gloves.

Here’s where things get a little confusing. With Ron Frenz as regular artist on the Spider-Girl title, we got a few glimpses of Bluestreak alongside her fellow Avengers. While it’s a bit hard to tell with only background and cameo appearances, Blue seems to be rocking the full-length pants and long gloves look in Spider-Girl #81 with either a short or no-gloves variation in #83. I believe the former (almost certainly miscoloured) appearance is also the origin of the ‘Greenstreak’ joke, for anyone who remembers that!There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance of Blue with the short gloves again in Spider-Girl #86.

Despite apparently switching to the long pants, Blue continues to wear her original Bluestreak costume complete with bike shorts throughout both Last Hero Standing and Last Planet Standing mini-series as depicted by artist Pat Olliffe. This trend continued into the Avengers Next mini series under artist Ron Lim and the American Dream mini-series featuring art by Todd Nauck. Meanwhile, ol’ Blue’s cameo’s in Amazing Spider-Girl weren’t big enough to clarify exactly what get-up she was wearing at the time.

Which brings us to Bluestreak’s appearances in the Secret Wars Spider-Girl tie-in story published in Spider-Island #1-#5. This story actually features a few new costumes for established MC2 characters, but here we see Ron’s design from Spider-Girl #52 make its first full-fledged appearance in all it’s glory, with a few tweaks such as Blue now having grown her hair out longer.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything or if you have any questions. I’m hoping to do more of these costume posts for other prominent MC2 heroes in future. What’s your favourite Bluestreak costume and are you as curious about her time with the X-People as I am?

Until I run out of blue hair dye and an urge to slap Thunderstrike in the buttocks, I remain

frogoat

Comic Shenanigans: A Conversation with Ron Frenz and Tom Defalco

Occasionally I stumble upon a real treat when looking for podcasts to listen to and having recently discovered Adam Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans, I’ve found a wonderful pair of interviews with long-time comic co-conspirators Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz discussing their work on the MC2 series A-Next.

I think any MC2 fan owes it to themselves to give these podcast episodes a listen. Not only are they nice and long, they are loaded with new insight, commentary and behind the scenes information, they reveal just how much Tom and Ron share the creative process while working together.

The first part is a conversation with Ron Frenz, discussing A-Next #1-6 and can be found here:

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-zqu4n-d003c7

The second part brought in Tom Defalco to join Ron in the conversation to talk about A-Next #7-12 and can be found here:

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-626c9-d1dc38

Once again, this was a phenomenal listen and, in my opinion, the best and most in-depth and informative look behind the scenes of the MC2’s A-Next. I can’t thank Adam Chapman enough for this. I know I’ll be revisiting this podcast again in the future and I look forward to sifting through all the new information and unused concepts in upcoming posts.

Until I step up my game, I remain

frogoat

MC2 Avengers Cameos

Another brief post, this time about the recent cameo appearance of MC2 characters in the pages of the current volume of Amazing Spider-Man.

So, I recently sat down to catch up on the past few months’ worth of Amazing Spider-Man and was pleasantly surprised to finally read the scene I’d been told about in Amazing Spider-Man (vol.  5) #35. For context, Spider-Man has an experimental device that calculates the probability of event transpiring. This device wasn’t very practical until it received a super-charge from an energy burst set off by Miguel O’Hara aka the Spider-Man of 2099. As a result of this burst, Spidey is able to use the device (dubbed ‘The Clairvoyant’ and now loaded with Miguel’s holographic assistant Lyla) to view various scenarios to determine how likely they are to play out favourably.

Written by current Amazing Spider-Man scribe Nick Spencer with guest art by Oscar Bazaldua, it’s here that we get our rather lovely glimpse of several MC2 Avengers: American Dream, Sabreclaw, J2 and, of course, Spider-Girl. Long-time MC2 fans will instantly recognize the shot of the various heroes as being a direct swipe from the cover of Avengers Next #1 by Mike Wieringo.

This isn’t the first time this particular image has been referenced in an MC2 cameo, as we saw when a variety of different worlds were glimpsed in the climax of 2013’s Age of Ultron #10 following the breaking of the space-time continuum via repeated abuse of time travel by the Avengers.

Going back a little further to 2010’s Avengers (vol. 4) #2 we got a similar line up of the MC2’s Avengers roster when the Main Marvel Universe Avengers glimpse realities, which you may have notice seems to be a running theme. Here we see Bluestreak, Sabreclaw, Freebooter, Mainframe, Spider-Girl, J2 and American Dream representing the MC2 version of the Avengers.

I think that’ll about do it for now. Let me know if there is anything you would like to see discussed relating to the MC2!




Until I break the space-time continuum in an unrelated story and therefore potentially give an explanation for why future developments involving the death of a beloved MC2 character can be disregarded in the event the MC2 returns to print someday, I remain




frogoat

X-People: Blue (Concept)

As you may recall, I discussed Blue Kelso aka Bluestreak, in particular pondering what her codename was -if any-before joining Clint Barton's group of special students later known as the Dream Team. Prior to this, Blue was a member of the X-People led by Jubilee. While we know nothing about this point in Ms. Kelso's life, it's fun to imagine her in a trainee X-Costume. With that said, here's my cruddy first attempt at photoshop:

Please be kind. Apologies to Ron Frenz.




Until I get better with Photoshop, I remain




frogoat

Mike Wieringo 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.

Mike Wieringo

Despite the passage of time, I still find myself missing the inimitable artist Mike Wieringo. I first encountered Mike's unique art style while still in school when I picked up Tellos from the local library and instantly fell in love with his work. It's truly a tragedy that he died so suddenly in 2007 of an aortic dissection. Today, I'll be looking at Mr Wieringo's affection for and contributions to the MC2.

Mike Wieringo first provided covers for the Last Hero Standing mini-series in 2005, specifically issues #2 and #4.

I personally love seeing Mike's rendition of MC2 characters, so it was wonderful when he returned as cover artist for the 2006 Avengers Next mini-series, this time for all five issues. Here's the cover to #5:

 Sadly, these would be Mike Wieringo's last published contributions to the MC2. However, over on his own website, Wieringo posted a sketch of Spider-Girl to accompany a heartwarming entry about the series:

I’ve never quite understood why SPIDER-GIRL isn’t just as popular and successful as ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN.

Sure, May “Mayday” Parker isn’t a young Peter Parker– she’s the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane in a book set in the M2 Universe of the not too distant future. But to my eyes, that just makes her cooler. Instead of a ‘reboot’ of the SPIDER-MAN mythos, SPIDER-GIRL is an exciting extension of that concept. Like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, there are re-imaginings of the classic villains from the parent book (as well as lots of heroes)…. but in my opinion, these characters are a lot more imaginative and fun than they are in ULTIMATE. I think that if you’re a fan of straight-out superhero comics, SPIDER-GIRL is just about a perfect book. Not only is it a comic you can enjoy yourself (if you’re anywhere NEAR as old as I am), but it’s also a comic you can give to children without fearing that it’s too dark and adult for them to understand or enjoy. In today’s comic world, that’s a rarity.

SPIDER-GIRL has had a tumultuous ride during its run…. to say the least. The book’s been on the chopping block more than once, and now, it seems, it’s in peril of cancellation once again. I don’t understand the rationale for this, personally. I know that Marvel has had immense success with sales of SPIDER-GIRL digests in places like TARGET. And why is that…? Because SPIDER-GIRL is something that will appeal to such a wide audience. Boys, girls, women, men… they can all enjoy this comic as much as I do. That’s a cash cow, really… so this is kind of puzzling to me. SPIDER-GIRL has a very loyal and vocal fanbase, so perhaps if we all pull together, we can stop this cancellation from happening, because if you ask me, we can’t afford– as an industry– to lose a book like SPIDER-GIRL; a book that has the potential (and seems to be realizing that very potential) to reach a wider audience outside of the direct market.

I recently bought issue #11 of WRITE NOW!. from TOMORROWS PUBLISHING. It’s got a wonderful interview with Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz inside… and they talk extensively about their collaboration on the creation of SPIDER-GIRL and their recent work on the book. These guys love working on SPIDER-GIRL. It’s a concept they both enjoy immensely… and it shows in every issue of the book. If you want any proof of a couple of comic book creators who are at the height of their powers and loving what they’re doing, then seek this magazine out, read the interview, and perhaps it’ll make you a believer and prompt you to try SPIDER-GIRL. Some fans need to be convinced (for some reason) to even try a new book…. so maybe that would do the trick. Barring that– Marvel just released a trade paperback of the recent LAST HERO STANDING miniseries (written by Tom D. and drawn by the talented Pat Oliffe). It’ll give you a taste of what the M2 Universe is like. That, or one of the several recent SG trades that you can also find on AMAZON.COM will give you a sense of the thrill ride that is SPIDER-GIRL.

Let’s keep fun and imagination alive, shall we…?

OK.

This is Entry 186.

Mike

You are sorely missed, Mike.


frogoat

Before Bluestreak

Here's an MC2-related question I would never have thought to ask before:

What was Bluestreak's codename when she was a member of the X-People?

Confused? Let me explain. When we are first formerly introduced to Blue Kelso aka Bluestreak in A-Next #4, we learn that she was formerly a member of the X-People before joining the next generation Avengers alongside her fellow Dream Team members.

Yes, I had to include the previous panel. Obviously. Anyway, Blue mentions it again in A-Next #6...

Bluestreak spent some time working in 'the X-People's Danger Room with Jubilee.' Flash forward (or backwards?) to the American Dream mini series where we learn not only the titular character's origin but we see Blue's time under Clint Barton's tutelage (American Dream #3).

Here's where it get's interesting. We see Clint not only giving the team their costumes but also their codenames.

Finally, in American Dream #4 we see the formation of the Dream Team, which seems to take place soon after the events of A-Next #1.

 So, for those not paying attention, it might appear as though there is a continuity error regarding Blue's time with the X-People. However, I think there is a simple explanation: Blue Kelso had another codename when she was a member of the X-People. If I may slip into the realm of wild speculation, perhaps Blue was merely a trainee ala Nancy Lu as Push in Spider-Girl #92, which could also explain why she only ever mentions Jubilee and her hours of training.

Perhaps there is more to the story than we know? Maybe we'll never find out. Just something to think about. Let me know your thoughts or yell at me for making a rookie mistake!

Until I figure out how to switch off my fan-brain, I remain

frogoat

Quick Facts: MC2 Edition No.1

Recently, I thought 'Gosh, I've been rather sporadic with putting anything out lately. I should just make a few quick post every now and then to assure my millions of readers I've still got a pulse.' But what to do that doesn't require huge chunks of my time? Thus, Quick Facts was born.

 
Did you know Bluestreak's full name was unknown until the release of All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #1 in 2006. Bluestreak's real name is given as Blue Kelso.

Until Bluestreak slows down, I remain

frogoat

Quick Facts: MC2 Edition No. 2
Quick Facts: MC2 Edition No. 3