MC2: The Lost Issues

While I've briefly touched on the topic before, I think I need to give a bit more attention to those complete (and incomplete) issues of various MC2 titles that never saw the light of day. For today, I'd like to cover the earliest known unpublished issues of titles in the MC2 imprint. Here's what we know:

• Both the Fantastic Five and Wild Thing titles were cancelled prematurely with their fifth issue. 
• Two issues of each title were in various stages of completion at the time of their cancellation.
• There are two pencilled issues of Wild Thing, one of which is already scripted.
• One issue of the Fantastic Five is pencilled, and the other exists as a plot.
• All four issues already had covers produced.
• Editor Mike Marts wished to collect these unpublished issues into a 'monster-size' comic in 2000 but this did not come to fruition due to the sales department vetoing the idea.
• When it was announced that these MC2 titles would be collected in digest form in 2005, there was some hope that the unpublished stories would be included.
• In the event, only one of the aforementioned covers saw print, that of Wild Thing #6 which was presented in the Spider-Girl Presents Wild Thing: Crash Course digest in 2007:

While I was unable to find the original fan interview where most of this was originally confirmed by Tom Defalco, this information was gleaned from a Comic Book Resources article which itself referenced these facts. It can be found here and further information was sourced from here.

 I'm frankly curious why the Fantastic Five digest didn't also feature the cover for it's sixth issue. Perhaps one day these lost stories will see the light of day.


Until I stumble upon these missing stories in the Marvel Vaults, I remain


frogoat

Wild Thing: Missed Opportunity

Wild Thing, aka Rina Logan is one of those MC2 characters I always wanted to like a lot more than I did. Rina started out with so much potential, appearing first in J2, then in her own series, which lasted only five issues. So, what is it about Wild Thing that never clicked with me?

I'll start by saying I enjoyed Rina's appearances in J2, written and penciled by Tom Defalco and Ron Lim. J2 was itself a lighthearted book and Wild Thing threw in another angle to play up. In her initial appearance, Wild Thing ends up in a battle with J2, not through any fault of her own. Rina then went on to appear in back-up tales where she was presented as not only a competent hero, but also a kind of 'daddy's girl' to her father, Logan (aka Wolverine); albeit one with psychic claws that resembled both her mother Elektra's sais and her godmother Psylocke's psychic blades. I like many things about her character-as originally presented-that didn't carry over to her own, short-lived series.

Here, I think is where the problem starts. The only MC2 title not authored by Tom Defalco, Wild Thing was written by another talented writer, Larry Hama. Mr Hama is probably best know for his work in G.I. Joe and Wolverine comics. I've read some of his Wolverine run, and I can do nothing but recommend it, it's good fun. However, when he was handed Wild Thing, I can only assume he got the wrong impression.

 Understandably, you're handed a young teenage girl superhero title (not something all that common, in and of itself, anyway) and asked to write it in keeping with the rest of the fledgling universe, what are you going to model it on? The MC2 title all others owe their collective existence to, the one that also happens to have a female teen superhero which is doing well both in terms of sales and creatively speaking: Spider-Girl.So now, Rina attended school, she had a cast of (mostly forgettable) supporting characters, had crushes and generally seemed to become a different, more bland character.

Wild Thing's last major appearance was during Last Hero Standing where she was given equal billing with the likes of American Dream, J2, Spider-Girl and even Captain America. One last hurrah for Rina before she slipped into the background again, cameos not withstanding. It's telling, in my opinion, that instead of Wild Thing joining the Avengers (in the Avengers Next mini) as the wild card/dark horse, Sabreclaw, Rina's half-brother (they don't get along, to put it politely) takes this role on the team.

I honestly believe with a little more page-time and effort Rina could have stepped forward and taken the spotlight back. Maybe someday?