Coal Tiger: Son of the Black Panther

 

Having recently watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever I felt inspired to keep writing posts in that vein. So, today let us take a look at Prince T’Chaka aka Coal Tiger, the son of the Black Panther.

 

The moniker of Coal Tiger was originally one considered during the creation of the Black Panther, and it seems Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz elected to pay tribute to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby when they introduced T’Chaka’s alias in A-Next #4. While visiting America for a trade agreement, T'Chaka was attacked by the hate group Soldiers of the Serpent. It is at this point we learn that T'Chaka has the ability to transform into a humanoid cat-like being resembling a Black Panther.

 

Alongside the Avengers original line-up, Coal Tiger rescues N’Kano (aka the Wakandan ambassador and super hero Vibraxas) and notes the new team of heroes seem more like a family. N’Kano tells T’Chaka his father would be proud. T’Chaka tells the Avengers he will tell his father about all of them and that he considers them friends.

 

T’Chaka next appears when, upon returning from an alternate reality ruled by Doctor Doom, the entire Avengers team are captured by the Red Queen aka Hope Pym and her Revengers. With Mainframe’s consciousness transmitted to another body, he recruits Earth Senty, Argo, Blacklight and Coal Tiger to rescue the Avengers (A-Next #12).

 

At some point, Coal Tiger is pulled into the massive Destiny War alongside the Avengers’ American Dream and Freebooter and the Fantastic Five’sd Kristoff Vernard (Avengers Forever #12).

 

Coal Tiger is not seen again until a large assembly of the MC2’s super heroes gather at Avengers Headquarters in preparation for battle with Seth the Serpent God of Death. Despite this, the assembled heroes end up trapped within an impenetrable barrier until Spider-Girl weakens Seth enough to free them (Spider-Girl #58).

 

Alongside fellow reserve Avengers members Spider-Girl, Blacklight and Earth Sentry, Coal Tiger was called upon to join the Avengers team due to a large number of team members being sidelined for various reasons following the events of Last Hero Standing. This line-up of Avengers is briefed about someone posing as the mutant master of magnetism; Magneto. Spider-Girl and trainee member of the X-People known as Push would ultimately apprehend the poser (Spider-Girl #92).

 

In his last appearance to date, Coal Tiger again joins a large assembly of super heroes who show up to help Spider-Girl when she is captured by the Hobgoblin aka Roderick Kingsley (Amazing Spider-Girl #15).

 

It’s a great missed opportunity that T’Chaka as the Coal Tiger never got more than a few brief appearances after his debut, as there is a huge amount of potential left unexplored and stories left untold.

 

Until I develop the ability to transform into a Wakandan werecat, 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

Kree in the MC2

As there isn't a huge amount to cover this time around, this post should be relatively brief. Let's take a look at the Kree in the MC2.

Members of the Kree race makes only one major appearance in the MC2 way back in A-Next #2. When the Earth's Orbital Defense Grid shoots down and splits in two a Kree vessel, the two sections crash in the Washington National Park. With the Avengers on the scene thanks to Bill Foster, the team organise into two groups to seek out the remnants of the crashed vessel. Investigating the first crash site, Thunderstrike and Mainframe learn the Kree's robotic Sentry 666 separated from the Kree vessel when attacked by the Orbital Defense Grid. Mainframe surmises the Kree have sent Sentry 666 and his Mission Commander to assess Earth's current military capabilities.

Meanwhile Stinger, J2, Bill and John Foster explore the inside of the meteor-camouflaged Kree ship and discover the Kree Mission Commander has died in the crash. When Bill's leg is caught in the ships bulkhead door as it tetters over a cliff top, John accesses the ships system, inadvertently merging his DNA with that of the Kree Mission Commander and downloading all the ship's data into his brain.

Transformed, John Foster saves his father and the Avengers from Sentry 666, destroying the Kree ship in the process. Dubbing himself the Earth Sentry, John heads off to decipher the Kree's plans for planet Earth.While the Earth Sentry would go on to make several more appearances, we never learn what the Kree were planning. Presumably off-panel the Earth Sentry saved the planet from this Kree plot, but so far we haven't been privy to how things unfolded.

Notably, earlier in the issue Mainframe mentions that the Earth hasn't had an attempted invasion since 'The Skrull Incident' some years prior. This tells us that the Kree likely haven't made contact with the Earth in some time, a fact also supported by their attempt to assess the planet's military capabilities using Sentry 666.

On a side note, two researches working for Bill Foster are named Carol and Walter, almost certainly a reference to Carol Danvers and Walter Lawson, the identity assumed by the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell. I nice nod to other Kree-related heroes!



Until the Kree stop making their technology so compatible with Humans, I remain

frogoat

Bill Foster in the MC2

Fresh from seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp at the cinema, I've decided to do a few quick posts looking at the MC2 counterparts to some of the films supporting characters. Perhaps, even one central protagonist later on, if time permits...For today, a brief look at Bill Foster, portrayed in the film by Laurence Fishburne.

 Dr William 'Bill' Barrett Foster first appeared in Avengers #32 where he worked to help Hank Pym who was stuck at a large size. Bill would eventually replicate and modify Pym Particles to become the heroic... erm… Black Goliath, then the second Giant-Man and eventually just Goliath. That last nom de guerre may not apply to the Doctor Foster of the MC2 as it was only adopted in the mid-2000's, well after his sole MC2 appearance in A-Next #2 which was published in 1998.

In A-Next #2 we learn that Bill works for the Maria Stark Foundation as the leader of a team of scientists working on reforestation techniques in the Washington National Park. When a Kree vessel crashes in two sections in the park, Bill asks the newly formed Avengers team to investigate before the military 'sanitizes' the entire area.

During the investigation, Bill is accompanied by his son John Foster who, along with the Avengers encounter the remains of the crashed Kree ship and it's robotic Sentry 666. John finds the pilot of the vessel has died during the crash with the ship precariously teetering over a precipice. When the ship is disturbed by Sentry 666 colliding with it, a bulkhead door shuts on Bill's leg trapping him as the vessel begins to slide off the cliff top.

 In a desperate attempt to save his father, John merges with the ship's systems, becoming part-Kree in the process. As Earth Sentry, John saves his father, destroys Sentry 666 and blows up the Kree vessel. Telling his father he has found direction in his life, John Foster departs, vowing to protect the Earth from the Kree and other threats.

It's a shame we never encounter Bill Foster in the MC2 again. I think the relationship between Bill and his son John was worth exploring further. Come to think of it, we never do find out what the Kree's plans for the Earth were either. Perhaps that's a discussion for another day?

Until I stop plumping the depths of the MC2, I remain

frogoat

Alex Ross Loves The MC2

Even without the knowledge that Tom Defalco, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema are returning for a new tale featuring the characters of the MC2 Universe (The MC2U? MCU2? Nah, forget it!) I think I would have been at least a little bit placated by the sight of the first Secret Wars image from Alex Ross.

This image was also used as the cover for the Free Comic Book Day Secret Wars #0 issue. Can you see all the MC2 characters? Here, this might help:

That's enough to be getting on with, surely? But there's more! Mr Ross also did a variant cover to issue #1 which features another of our merry MC2 mates:

 

Wild Thing! Don't she make your heart sing?

Yup, Wild Thing takes Wolverine's place in this homage to the original Marvel Heroes Secret Wars #1 cover. This next one I'm not entirely sure about, though some sites seem to identifiy the character below as an MC2 character:

Apparently the 'Thor' in the foreground (bottom left) is the MC2's own Kevin Masterson aka Thunderstrike. While I agree the hairstyle is reminiscent, I don't remember Kevin getting around shirtless nor having wrist bands. And before anyone points it out, I noticed he's holding a hammer, despite Kevin being bonded with his father's Thunderstrike mace in A-Next #1. I guess it could be a stylistic thing, right?The thing that really gets me though, is Mr Ross clearly knows what Kevin's costume looks like, because he's in the first promotional image above in his MC2 costume. Which leads me to believe this is not Kevin Masterson of the MC2. Let's move on.

  Here we have the cover to Secret Wars #7 and if you look above Doom's pinky finger....it's J2! I'm not sure if it's worth pointing out, but ol' Juggie Junior has his father's shirt tied around his waist, something he did during his original series, though when his father returned he took to wearing a pair of shorts. Then again, it's the end of the world, so we can forgive J2 for being sentimental.

All up, that's a lot of MC2 love coming our way from Mr Alex Ross. I'm starting to think he's a fan! What do you think? Have I missed anything? Do you think we are likely to get another MC2 cover cameo appearance before Secret Wars concludes?


Until Alex Ross exclusively illustrates MC2 characters, I remain

frogoat

A-Next Returning

The major comic news sites are reporting that Marvel will be reprising a classic event title, with 2015's
Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars. The event will  be written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Esad Ribic. It launches in May 2015 and apparently continues on directly from the Avengers storyline "Time Runs Out" running currently in New Avengers and Avengers. But why am I interested? Take a look and see if you can guess:

Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars

Yup, that looks like a bunch of the MC2's own Avengers team and supporting characters: American Dream, Coal Tiger, Earth Sentry, Stinger, Thunderstrike, Mainframe and Darkdevil...wait,what is he doing in there? I mean, apart from fighting Matt Murdock from the 1602 reality, obviously.

Noticeably absent? Spider-Girl. Some site are pointing out that no X-Men or Fantastic Four characters are present in this artwork (by Alex Ross, dontcha know?) nor is there a Peter Parker incarnation of Spider-Man. Yeah, no non-Marvel Studios characters. But still, no Mayday Parker makes me concerned.

Until I stop obsessing over the little ol' MC2, I remain

frogoat