Missed MC2 Costumes

 

It’s been a long time since I did a MC2 Costumes post. For anyone unfamiliar, I’ve so far detailed every variant costume (or robotic shell) worn by Bluestreak, J2, Freebooter, Mainframe and American Dream. While I’m not going to hit you with a full-blown new entry in this occasional series today, I did want to do a sort of update to cover some of the costumes I’ve missed from passed entries.

 

This first one I found while rereading J2 #11 for my recent posts covering Howard the Duck in the MC2 and Shang-Chi in the MC2. I genuinely don’t know how I missed it the first time, but here’s Zane Yama in his own standard looking martial arts training uniform or ‘gi’ after realizing he should have some fight training for when he isn’t a nearly indestructible behemoth of a boy as J2.

 

Next up is a very minor one I missed for American Dream: Shannon’s standard costume as it appeared in the American Dream mini-series (with wings on the helmet) sans her iconic gloves and disk launchers. I figured for completeness’s sake I’d include it here (American Dream #2).

 

Finally, while it’s not actually seen in the issue proper, from the Ron Frenz drawn cover of American Dream #4 we have a depiction of Shannon transformed into one of Silikong’s ‘crystal creatures’ which were alternatively referred to as ‘crystal soldiers,’’crytal slaves’ or simply ‘crystal monsters’. The cover is a reference to the Red Queen and Silikong’s plan to turn American Dream into crystalline form to ‘publicise’ his elicit army building process.

 

That’s all I have for today. I may find time in the future to return to this series but I’m not sure when due to time constraints. If you think I’ve missed any more costumes or ‘looks’ let me know in a comment.

 

Until I develop my own line of super hero attire, I remain

 

frogoat

J2's Costumes

Now that I’ve done a post about Bluestreak’s Costumes and discussed both Blue’s and J2’s approximate age as part of a series about the members of A-Next’s Ages, I figured it’s a no-brainer to take a quick look at the different costumes worn by Zane Yama through the years. This should be fun!

For starters, Zane’s most iconic costume is his original J2 costume, which sort of appeared in What If #105, but let’s be honest, that was originally intended to be Zane’s father Cain Marko aka the original Juggernaut as an Avenger. A happy accident led to this retroactively being the first appearance of everyone’s favourite bulky boy hero J2, and I’ll always be grateful for that!

It’s revealed in J2 #1 that the transformation from Zane Yama into his hulking, muscular form doesn’t come with clothes provided:

The first J2 costume makes its proper debut in J2 #1 and A-Next #1, designed by costume designer extraordinaire Ron Frenz. While Zane spray paints an old set of armour belonging to his missing father, he adds regular footwear and poignantly his dad’s favourite shirt as personal touches.

While Zane retains this costume throughout both the J2 and A-Next series, I’d be remiss not to point out the wonder that is…The Masked Midget! This brilliant disguise of young Yama’s has a couple variations, likely depending on whatever colour and design of balaclava or ski-mask is available at the time (A-Next #2, J2 #10).

Whether it counts or not is debatable, but I’ll err on the side of caution by including ‘The Day Juggie Lost Nearly 1000 Pounds’ during his battle with the villainous Parody:

There’s also the masterful mystery man known only as ‘Patch’. I wish I had more information to give you on this character, but he’s shrouded in mystery and intrigue! Thanks, Wolverine! (A-Next #10)

Boy, J2 #10 is a treasure-trove of alternate looks for Juggie Junior, isn’t it? Here’s Sir Jugalot from one of ‘J2’s Funny Fairy Tales for Fools and Felons’ in all his noble glory:

After saving his father Cain Marko from captivity in another dimension, Zane returns his father’s shirt in the pages of Wild Thing #2 and is seen without it in the series subsequent issues (Wild Thing #3-5).

As an aside, it's in Wild Thing #3 that we get another transformation for J2, only this time 'Juggie Goes Ape!' Or as I like to call him the Juggernape.

The no-shirt-around-waist iteration of the J2 costume would stay the norm throughout the characters appearances in Spider-Girl with the exception of a fantasy sequence dreamed up by Felicity Hardy wherein J2 can briefly be seen with a fancy F5-style belt (Spider-Girl #52).

When Ron Frenz became the regular artist on the title and redesigned ol’ Juggie’s costume in Spider-Girl #58, added a new piece of civilian clothing; cargo shorts!

This would become the standard design from this point onward, showing up throughout the Last Hero Standing, Last Planet Standing, Amazing Spider-Girl, Avengers Next, Fantastic Five and American Dream series.

Allowing for a few minor colour changes, these cargo shorts remains the same red-brown colour, though the MC2 story seen in Spider-Island #1-5 clearly depicts Zane rocking blue pants.

That’s it, that’s a wrap! I’ve got nothing else. Let me know if I’ve missed anything or if you have any questions. I’ll keep doing these costume posts as long as people are interested! What’s your favourite J2 costume? Who’s should I cover next?

Until I stop liking shorts even though they are comfy and easy to wear, I remain

frogoat

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

Zombies in the MC2

Well, it's near the end of October and I haven't had done a single Halloween-themed post! I've been busy with work and family matters, but I'm going to try to rectify that now by talking about the shambling undead we all know and love: Zombies in the MC2!

Okay, so technically these lumbering monstrosities aren’t actually the living dead. Created by Asgardian sorceress and daughter of Loki, Sylene in Avengers Next #1 by combining her magic with stolen blood and tissue samples from past and present Avengers, these ‘magical clones’ are sent against the current Avengers team as a diversion.

If you are curious, the horde of decaying bizarro-Avengers is comprised of zombiefied versions of the following heroes: American Dream (Shannon Carter), Black Panter (T’Challa), Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), Blue Streak (Blue Kelso), Luke Cage, Falcon (Sam Wilson), Freebooter (Brandon Cross), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Hercules, Hulk (Bruce Banner), J2 (Zane Yama), Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Stinger (Cassandra Lang), Thunderstrike (Kevin Masterson), Vision, Wonder Man (Simon Williams) and Yellowjacket (Hank Pym).

While Sylene had intended for her constructs to be self-sustaining, she found they were constantly draining her ethereal energy and required her constant supervision to maintain and control. When her focus was broken by the interference of Spider-Girl, the putrid doppelgangers turned to dust almost instantly forcing Sylene to retreat, but not before her subordinates succeeded in stealing a component of Ultron and kidnapped the real Kevin Masterson.

The next three examples of Zombies in the MC2 are actually all from variant covers rather than in-story appearances. In case you missed it, the Marvel Zombies craze led to many comics titles receiving variant zombie covers and Spider-Girl was no exception. Amazing Spider-Girl #13 featured the art of Marvel Zombies cover artist Arthur Suydam for what is both a striking and disturbing rendition of Spider-Girl. Is the costume accurate? No, but I can give it a pass because it does seem to vaguely reference the cover of the character’s first appearance in What If #105.

The following year saw a new wave of zombie variant covers and once again, Spider-Girl was zombiefied on the cover of her title. This time, Amazing Spider-Girl #25 saw long-time Spider-Girl artist Pat Olliffe return teaming with inker Serge LaPointe for this alternate cover. Featuring an undead May ‘Mayday’ Parker on her bed in costume chowing down on her stuffed animals. I love this cover for its pitch-perfect concept and tone. Better still, Pat dubbed this version of Mayday with the moniker ‘Spider-Ghoul’ over on his blog.

*UPDATE* I missed this one when first publishing the post. Thanks to reader arias-98105 for bringing it to my attention.

Another year and another variant cover. This time for Web of Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #1 featured a zombie variant cover by artist Mirco Pierfederici depicting 'Spider-Ghoul' in gruesome battle with her zombiefied father, Spider-Man. The costume isn't 100% accurate again but it's still a pleasant surprise to discover something I previously had no knowledge of before today. I like find new old things, even foul-smelling undead!

That’s about it, everyone! Hope you all have a great time this Halloween and remember: Don’t eat too many brains! Until my real jobs stop turning me into a living zombie, I remain



frogoat