MC2 Wakandan Royal Family Tree (Update/Correction)

 

I always endeavour to provide accurate information with sources provided so others can themselves check my work. So when I find out I have made a mistake, I’m going to do my best to address it and make the appropriate corrections or updates. Today’s post will be one of those times with a Correction and Update to the MC2 Family Tree for my previous Wakandan Royal Family Tree.

 

Originally, I had declared the Black Panther aka T’Challa’s mother Ramonda to be his biological mother with this explanatory paragraph and statement:

 

“There aren't any new additions to the Wakandan Royal Family Tree until the publication of Black Panther (vol. 3) #1, cover dated November 1998. As the MC2 first appeared several months prior in What If #105 (cover dated February 1998) any stories and characters published after this point should be considered non-canon unless otherwise referenced within MC2 comics. For completeness’ sake I will give a brief account of later additions and changes to the Royal Family.



The aforementioned Black Panther (vol. 3) #1 retcons Ramonda as T'Challa's step-mother and states that his biological mother was a woman named N'Yami who died giving birth to T'Challa.”

 

Well, it turns out I was wrong as I recently discovered. Thanks to the recently published mini-series’ Wakanda #1 which contains a back-up story detailing the history of the nation followed by annotations courtesy of some of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe writers, I again saw the mention that N’Yami was T’Challa’s biological mother. So, I went digging and as it turns out, while she had not made an on-panel appearance prior to the MC2, N’Yami had in fact been named and declared deceased in the Black Panther’s profile from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 1 #2, and again in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 #2.

 

What this means is that when Christopher Priest wrote Black Panther (vol. 3) #1’s above mentioned explanation about N’Yami, he was attempting to provide a workable solution that did not contradict either the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe nor the phenomenal epic ‘Panther’s Quest’ from Marvel Comics Presents #13-#37 by Don McGregor. A veritable No-Prize effort. I apologize for dismissing this as an unfounded retcon out of hand, Mr Priest. Well done.

 

As a side-note to all this, in light of N’Yami being the first wife of T’Chaka and it being explicitly stated that T’Challa’s half-brother Jakarra’s mother was T’Chaka’s ‘second wife’, we can logically conclude that Ramonda was the T’Chaka’s third wife. So, had Jakarra not died, it would presumably be he and not the non-MC2-canon Shuri in the running for the title of the next Ruler of Wakanda and Black Panther. Just something to think about before I *finally* go see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tomorrow.

 

Until I manage to catch up with the rest of the MCU releases and simultaneously gain flawless obscure comic lore, I remain

 

frogoat

 

When Thanos met Spider-Girl

 

Back in 2003, legendary comic writer and artist Jim Starlin, now best known for his creation of the Mad Titan Thanos, worked on a six-issue mini-series called Marvel Universe: The End. In short, the story details the Main Marvel Universe’s Thanos encountering the Pharaoh Akhenaten who was imbued with the power of Heart of the Universe by the Celestial Order and had targeted the Earth. Unable to defeat him head on, Thanos used the aid of the Defenders and Genis-Vell to stealthily acquire the Heart of the Universe for himself, time-travelling back to erase the Celestial Order and thereby stop the Pharoah’s attack before it began. In doing so, Thanos rendered the reality wherein Akhenaten was abducted by the Celestial Order and all the events that followed it into the divergent Reality-4321 (Marvel Universe: The End #1-#4, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 12 – Thanos Profile).

 

Now at one with this ultimate power source, Thanos discovered that the universe itself held an imbalance between the barrier between life and death which would eventually lead to its own destruction. When the Great Powers of the Universe including the Living Tribunal attacked Thanos, they summoned an army of heroes to battle the Titan. Amid this mighty assemblage of heroes, if you look ever so carefully, you can spot May ‘Mayday’ Parker’s alter ego Spider-Girl (Marvel Universe: The End #5). Considering every other hero seen in attendance appears to be from the Main Marvel Universe (or Universe-616) this does raise a few questions. But we’ll talk about that shortly.

 

Thanos easily bests all who oppose him and destroys the entire universe, absorbing even abstract and conceptual beings like Eternity, Infinity and the Living Tribunal into his very being in the process. With nothing but a void remaining where the universe had been, Thanos was convinced by a (previously out-of-reality) Adam Warlock and the manifestation of Death to sacrifice himself to recreate the universe as it was minus the Celestial Order’s influence, with the dangerous imbalance between life and death repaired. A side effect of this apparent sacrifice was the removal of any memory of Thanos’ actions (Marvel Universe: The End #6).

 

There is some debate about whether or not this story took place partly or wholly or at all within the Main Marvel Universe aka Universe-616, but the fact that we see an unparalleled power source (the Heart) used to rewrite time and diverge reality, and the fact that the events of this story are recalled by both Thanos and Adam Warlock of Universe-616 after the fact would seem to confirm this (Thanos (vol. 1) #1). Your mileage may vary, but my intention with this is to preference what’s on the published page as canon. Some would disagree.

 

But what does this all have to do with Spider-Girl? Well, the big question is why would she be present in the Main Marvel Universe (or even an alternate version of it at that point in time)? Well, I think the best explanation lies with the Living Tribunal, who is a vastly powerful multiversally-transcendental conceptual being and the one responsible for summoning the army of superbeing that briefly fought Thanos. Considering these factors, I think we could infer that the Tribunal simply pulled Mayday from her own reality -either the MC2’s Earth-982 or one very similar- into the Main Marvel Universe to participate in this assault. Additionally, as the entirety of the universe’s reality was erased by Thanos and subsequently restored with no one remembering (save Thanos himself and Adam Warlock as noted above) it’s impossible for anyone to know for sure.

 

This post was originally intended to be an extremely quick one mentioning that Jim Starlin once drew Spider-Girl but I felt the background and confusion attached to this entire mini-series warranted a bit more of an in-depth look. Hopefully I haven’t lost you all to the void! Anyway, Thanos and Spider-Girl in the very same comic, in a big battle, even!

 

Until I find a way to avoid deep dives into obscure stuff no one really cares all that much about, 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