Spider-Girl's Spider-Signal

 

A little while back I wrote a post discussing Spider-Girl’s First Web-shooters and today I’d like to present a kind of addendum or supplemental post about one specific aspect of her web-shooters. Let us jump right in and discuss the implications.

 

Introduced in Spider-Girl #18 by Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz (who was filling-in for Pat Olliffe for the issue) is Mayday’s own version of the classic Spider-Signal, here used on The Buzz during a confrontation. Notably, the light is projected from Spider-Girl’s web-shooter unlike her father’s version which is built into his equipment belt.

 

On a side-note, the original release of Spider-Girl #18 depicts most of the eye outline projected by the Spider-Signal in a slightly different shaded red colour. This is also the case in the Spider-Girl Digest Volume 4 reprint and even the recent Spider-Girl: The Complete Collection Volume 2 reprint. This does not appear to be the case on digital editions of the issue, where the Spidey-eyes are black as they would be normally for Spider-Man’s Spider-Signal.

 

The design choice to have May’s version of the Spider-Signal built into her web-shooters is an interesting but also practical one. As Mayday does not appear to use an equipment belt, it seems logical to place the Spider-Signal on her web-shooter.

 

Additionally, as pointed out by arias-98105, the idea of a Spider-Signal-like light being projected from a web-shooter dates back to at least the original 1967 Spider-Man animated series, as seen in such episodes as ‘Captured by J Jonah Jameson’. We know artist and Spider-Girl co-creator Ron Frenz does like the show though this is apparently not a deliberate reference but instead a happy coincidence.

 

Yet another point of note is that since this issue follows immediately after Peter hands over the web-shooters as a sign of trust and a passing of the torch. May herself calls it her ‘new Spider-Signal’ in her internal monologue, so it might be an upgrade Peter installed for his daughter as a sign of support, or even potentially an entirely new pair of web-shooters.

 

 

While the Spider-Signal does not make a lot of appearances in the Spider-Girl series, it is worth noting it appears on the covers of The Buzz #1, Spider-Girl #46 and #74. I will give out a coveted No-Prize to anyone who can point out any other appearances!

 

Until I stop enjoying blinding potential criminals with intense red lights to strike fear into the superstitious, cowardly lot, I remain

 

frogoat

Son of the Hulk

 

Today’s post will again be something a little different, a look at something we did not see in the MC2. For this entry in what I am still calling the Untold Tales of the MC2 which looks at costumes, concepts, story ideas and characters that never made it to the printed page, we first need to talk about someone who did make it into the MC2: the Son of the Hulk.

 

Making his first and only appearance in the pages of A-Next #3 is the young son of the Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk, David Banner. In this issue we learn that Bruce Banner has retired to Denver, Colorado and he indicates he is finally rid of his alter ego for good and has not seen Doctor Strange in years. When Strange appears unexpectedly to reform the Defenders, he takes complete mental control of Banner and forces Bruce to once more transform into the Hulk. Concerned for his son as he begins to change into the Hulk, Bruce shouts for his son to run but Doctor Strange assures him that David is in no danger. David Banner is left stunned and confused, and this is all we see from the boy in the published works of the MC2.

 

Now, let us take a look at the unpublished side of things for David, thanks once more to MC2 co-creator, artist and ideas man, Ron Frenz. On his official Facebook page, Ron shared the following image with this description:

 

Davey and (the Green) Goliath!

An un-used MC2 idea for Bruce Banner and his young son David involving an accidental gamma mind link and ensuing hi-jinks!

 

While it is just a concept that never saw publication, Mr Frenz evidently put some thought into this, going so far as to clarify why ‘Davey’ has green hair in his sketch when asked:

 

The “gamma mind link” turned his hair green.

 

It sounds like this unpublished story idea would have been a lot of fun. As I mentioned in my She-Hulk post, we don’t know who would have looked after David Banner after his father was sent to Limbo by Loki and it’s never mentioned who his mother is or even if she’s still alive. Perhaps that is a topic for another time?

 

Until I stop exploring every corner of the MC2 and finding more reasons to love it, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Kaine's Costume

 

Kaine is one of those characters I could probably talk about a lot more. Specifically, I find his MC2 incarnation fascinating for various reasons. Today I wanted to take a look at something I’ve always found under utilized in his original Main Marvel Universe and only touched upon lightly in the MC2: Kaine’s weird costume during the Clone Saga.

I’ll let writer and editor Glen Greenberg explain Kaine’s suit in his own words from the brilliant Life of Reilly Part 9 (which can be found here and here):  

And here's a few things you probably didn't know about Kaine. First, that weird costume of his was actually a life-support outfit that stabilized the debilitating effects of his cellular degeneration. Kaine lived in constant pain, and that would only get worse as time went on, but the outfit slowed down the degeneration and prolonged his life. That's why Kaine wore the costume in most of his modern-day appearances, and why he didn't have it in the LOST YEARS limited series, which took place years earlier.

 

Glen continues:

 

Ironically enough, as Mark Bernardo - even to this day - has never failed to point out, NONE of the Spider-writers ever managed to work any of this information into the actual stories! Mark and I both felt that these were some of the most interesting aspects about Kaine - but as it turned out, the people in our little group would be the only ones who ever knew about them!

So, the writers had a logical explanation worked out for why Kaine was wearing the suit during the present-day parts of the Clone Saga and not the flashbacks seen years earlier in the Lost Years mini-series, this information apparently never made it’s way into the stories that were published at the time.

 

Now in both the Main Marvel Universe and the MC2-niverse we see Kaine on the loose shortly after the infant Mayday Parker is kidnapped by agents of Norman Osborn, leading to him pursuing Alison Mongrain and becoming directly involved in the events that follow. One area where things differ is after his apparent escape from prison in the Main Marvel Universe, Kaine is still somehow rocking his life-support suit that slows his clone degeneration. How he got access to it is unclear and makes little sense (Amazing Spider-Man #435).  Meanwhile what we see in the MC2 around the same time seems somewhat more likely: Kaine is wearing plain civilian clothes which evoke his attire during the events of Spider-Man: The Lost Years, the kind of thing he would have easy access to while on the run from authorities and trying to remain incognito (Spider-Girl #48-#49 and Amazing Spider-Girl #25).

It's only later on in the MC2’s history, during the time a young Reilly Tyne and later the body of the deceased Matt Murdock aka Daredevil are brought to Kaine’s secret laboratory, that we see Kaine rocking a new shiny metallic suit or armour (as seen in flashbacks from Darkdevil #1-#3). This is appears to be the same design in which he made his MC2 debut in Spider-Girl #12 and would continue to wear for the next few issues until his imprisonment at the end of Spider-Girl #17. Subsequently Kaine is shown in prison without this metallic suit and upon his release, only returning to it when he reappeared in the pages of Spider-Girl once more with Spider-Girl #45-#47, #48-49. From this point on, Kaine is seen alternating between either civilian clothing, his metallic suit, or a combination of the two. This brings us to the next point.

 

Kaine no longer seems to require his regeneration suit, a fact made clear in the Darkdevil mini-series not just through his prison stay without any special suit, but in the aforementioned flashbacks. Specifically, one which mentions Kaine mastered ‘arcane skills’ years earlier to prevent his degeneration. This apparently involved acting as a servant to the living spirit of vengeance known as Zarathos, and a mention by the spirit implies Kaine still suffers physical torment. However, Kaine notes in Spider-Girl #14 that after years of constant agony, his nerve endings simply stopped functioning, suggesting he can no longer feel anything.

 

This raises the question of why Kaine wears the metallic suit at all if he doesn’t have to rely on one to stave off his cellular degeneration and no longer seems to experience pain? We don’t have a definitive answer, but I have a theory that’s quite straightforward and deceptively simple: If Kaine can’t feel pain and has already been ravaged for years prior by his imperfectly cloned cells degenerating, he’s far more vulnerable to severe injury. Kaine has experienced severe physical trauma throughout his years and would probably have died years ago had he not used arcane methods to cheat death. Kaine remains mortal and is now at an advanced physical age, hence why he often relies on his metallic suit for protection: should he sustain a life-threatening injury, he would not even feel it and may not realize until it is too late.

 

Kaine wears the metallic suit less as time goes on, eventually wearing civilian clothing exclusively in his later appearances in Amazing Spider-Girl and beyond. While it does humanise him, it also leaves him vulnerable. Perhaps that is by choice? Anyway, let me know what you think or if you have any alternative suggestions. Kaine is such a great character and ripe with such potential for future stories should the MC2 ever make comeback.

 

Until I figure out Kaine’s whole Caribbean detour thing, I remain

 

frogoat

MC2 Untold: Valkyrie

 

Today I’m going to try something a little different and talk about something we didn’t see in the MC2. This will be the first in an occasional series looking at some of the Untold Tales of the MC2: costumes, concepts, story ideas and characters that never saw the printed page. For our inaugural instalment, let’s look at Valkyrie.  

 

As per Thunderstrike and A-Next co-creator, artist extraordinaire and all-around nice guy Ron Frenz’s own facebook:

When The Time Is Right!

Below left is an incomplete sketch of a character I intended to introduce in the MC2 title A-NEXT had the book continued.

Obviously, an Asgardian Valkyrie, she would have been charged by Thor, now the ruler of Asgard to train and watch over the MC2 version of Kevin Masterson as Thunderstrike.

As I said, the title was dis-continued and the idea stored away.

Next to that sketch is an early conceptual drawing of Gruenhilda, an Asgardian Valkyrie charged by the Lady Sif to train and watch over the 616 version of Kevin Masterson as Thunderstrike in the 2011 THUNDERSTRIKE mini-series.

Weird.

So there you have it, the MC2’s Kevin Masterson aka Thunderstrike could have had a similar arc with an Asgardian Valkyrie mentor and trainer. Seeing this story concept and character adapted to the Main Marvel Universe does at least mean the idea eventually saw print in some form. For anyone wondering, the name Gruenhilda is a nod to dearly missed writer and protector of Marvel Comics continuity Mark Gruenwald.



An interesting foil to the story regarding the published appearance of Gruenhilda, also directly from Mr Frenz’s facebook:



That Was Weird!

Back in 1994 in an issue of THUNDERSTRIKE I had The Lady Sif wearing a variant of a Kirby design which showed a bit more skin.

(Sue me, it was the '90s!)

Nobody blinked.

In the 2010 THUNDERSTRIKE mini-series we introduced an Asgardian Valkyrie character and I thought it would be consistent (and cool!) to repeat elements of the same design to demonstrate their common origins.

Skin included.

The original colors for the character Gruenhilda were shown in the solicitation for the issue.

But at the eleventh hour Editorial blinked big time and re-colored the cover and eliminated the exposed epidermis.

Anyway,1994 nobody blinked.

2010, blink!

That was weird!

Anyway, there you have it, we nearly had a Gruenhilda -or similarly designed- Asgardian Valkyrie character in the MC2, but she did eventually see the light of day thanks to the 2011 Thunderstrike mini-series set in the Main Marvel Universe.

Until I stop stalking Ron Frenz’s facebook for content, I remain

 

frogoat

Doc Magus: Who's Your Mama?!

If you haven’t already grown tired of my recent batch of Doc Magus related posts, here’s another! Today I’m going to pick up where the last one left off. Knowing who the MC2’s current Sorcerer Supreme’s father is, now let’s work out the identity of Dormagus’ mother!

 

There are a few clues scattered throughout Doc Magus’ appearances which we should take a look at before the big reveal. Aside from the aforementioned personal connections to Doctor Stephen Strange, there’s a few clues in Doc Magus’ early appearances. In A-Next #3 we not only get his real name Dormagus, and our first brief glimpse of him unmasked (I previously misattributed this to J2 #4) but also this throwaway reference from Deacon: ‘You can start by pulling your head outta the Dark Dimension, kiddo…’

 

 First appearing in Strange Tales #126, the Dark Dimension is actually the name attributed to the largest, most aggressive conquering splinter realm of the original whole Dark Dimension. It has often been visited in various adventures by Doctor Stephen Strange and is most notable as being ruled by the Faltine-originating energy-entities Dormammu (who debuted in Strange Tales #126) and his sister Umar (who first appeared in Strange Tales #150).

 

Looking at Dormagus’ unmasked appearance, it’s worth pointing out he still has white streaks through his hair despite his youthful appearance and demeanour. This is noteworthy because there is another character closely associated with both Doctor Strange and the Dark Dimension who wields great magical power and also has white hair: Clea, daughter of Umar, the sometimes ruler of the Dark Dimension and wife (via extradimensional ceremony) to Stephen Strange (as established in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #3).

 

Clea also first appeared in Strange Tales #126 but has yet to make any appearance in the MC2 to date. In fact, the closest we’ve even come to an interaction between Dormagus and Clea might just be the collective gathering of various Sorcerers Supreme from across time and space briefly seen in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #12.

 

So, is there any real reason to suspect that Clea is the mother of Dormagus? Why, yes there is! Courtesy of a wonderful interview on Chris Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans podcast episode #744 we have this snippet from MC2 co-creator Ron Frenz:

 

‘What’s funny is when you try to establish things, people are slow on the uptake, like with Doc Magus. We wanted to do this second-generation mystic and everything. Tom in the first issue has Doctor Strange call him Dormagus which is the same prefix as Dormammu and there are other suggestions made about who this kid might be and we had a lot of people writing in and guessing who they are and Tom thought it was so obvious he actually said at one point ‘when you add 2 and 2 do you always get 22?’ That kind of thing. At this point, I guess we can say it, I don’t know how much it was ever established, because I know Dormagus appeared in J2 a few times. But he is the son of Doctor Strange and Clea. Because Clea was from the Dark Dimension. She was from the same place Dormammu was, so that’s why her son has the same prefix on the name. Tom also wanted something that sounded like ‘magus’ so he could go to Doc Magus, that kind of thing. That’s why his hairstyle looked a little like his mum’s. He was given the responsibility of being the Sorcerer Supreme at such a young age because of his bloodline. We thought it was pretty obvious but there were a few fans that didn’t feel it was quite that obvious.’

 

I’m sure the informed and knowledgeable among you had already made the connection but now you have it all spelt out from the co-creator himself. What do you make of this reveal? Do you agree with it or disagree? Do you have an alternative suggestion, given that this isn’t set in stone on the comic page?

 

Until I reveal the heavily-guarded secret of the mysterious entity known only as Deacon, I remain

 

frogoat 

Thunderstrike's Costumes

 

 

 

My past MC2 Costumes posts have looked at every variant costume (or robotic shell) worn by Bluestreak, J2, Freebooter, Mainframe and American Dream and even a few I missed until recently. While I haven’t completed a full-blown new entry in this occasional series for a long while, that changes today because we are looking at the costumes of Kevin Masterson aka Thunderstrike.

 

Kevin’s most iconic costume made it’s first appearance in What If #105 during a cameo appearance from the next generation of Avengers, before they were fleshed out at all.

 

Notably, both Kevin’s adult civilian design and at least the beginnings of his unique Thunderstrike costume were developed at least as early as late 1995 by artist, co-creator and the most dedicated fanboy ever, Ron Frenz. Courtesy of Mr Frenz’ Facebook:

 

A Little Slice Of Kevin!

Design sketches for young Kevin Masterson.

One from the original THUNDERSTRIKE series and two from the development of the A-NEXT series years later.

 

As usual, we’ll be doing things from an in-universe chronological order. While Kevin’s first appearance as Thunderstrike is What If #105, his first chronological appearance is a flashback seen in A-Next #1. With all that said I’d first like to point out that Kevin’s civilian attire in A-Next #1 shares a colour scheme with his super hero costume seen shortly afterwards in the same issue which acts as an origin story for the second generation Thunderstrike. It’s a nice touch. Here’s both for comparison:

 

 

Now, I know these are really just colouring mistakes but I’ve kind of made it my business to point out as many as I can find in previous entries. Besides, it bolsters the number of variations! One common colouring mistake is the bands around Thunderstrike’s wrists, which are sometimes brown (I believe the intended colour), sometimes red like the rest of the arm covering and sometimes one arm band is brown and one arm is red (A-Next #1, #2, #3 etc).

 

Another fun variation, which sometimes comes with different wrist band colours is the Thunderstrike costume with the red ‘T’ logo design on Kevin’s chest (A-Next #3, A-Next #6, J2 #5-#6, American Dream mini-series). I suppose you could No-Prize these minor changes and modifications as the artistic Mr Kevin Masterson tinkering and playing with his costume. I mean, it is magical in nature and appears as he wills it!

 

This next one is one I think is possibly the most oft-miscoloured, at least after the wrist bands. Colourists seem to struggle to keep Kevin’s axillary area exposed, instead colour the whole of the chest and underarm area the same brown as his costume when it should be his flesh tone. As far as I can tell, this first occurred briefly in A-Next #4 in just one panel but we see it many times afterwards.

 

Next up is probably my personal favourite one. After electing to stay behind on an alternate world, Kevin’s appearances naturally trailed off for some time but he still managed to appear in a black/grey version of his standard costume in a photo seen with fellow Avenger Stinger (Wild Thing #4). Interestingly enough, this basic colour scheme returns in the infamously miscoloured Spider-Girl #81 which has proven a great source for variant Avenger costume colours.

 

Just a few issues later in Spider-Girl #83, we get another Thunderstrike tweak, this time with a costume absent the arm guards. Again, another colouring mistake and this one is pretty egregious. Keeping with this theme, we also catch a glimpse of Thunderstrike red-handed in Spider-Girl #87!

 

Over on the cover of Last Hero Standing #1, Mark Bagley depicts Kevin’s Thunderstrike costume’s ‘T logo’ without encircling it. A minor detail perhaps, but it certainly changes the overall look.

 

In the Avengers Next mini-series, Kevin spends most of his time without his powers and is thus depicted in civilian attire. However, Kevin does go into battle wielding the Grim Reaper’s Scythe in Avengers Next #5 before his ability to transform into Thunderstrike is restored.

 

I may have missed out on a costume, if so please let me know! Otherwise, let me know what variant costume you’d like to see the MC2’s Thunderstrike don once more.

 

Until I find more time amid burping a newborn to dedicate to pawing through old comics for colouring mistakes, I remain

 

frogoat