Li'l Benjy in Christmas Crisis!

 

It’s that time of year once again; where we are supposed to be thinking of others, so I thought of you, faithful reader! Consider it a gift, because today I wanted to share an adorable aspect of the MC2 I don’t think I’ve ever covered before: Li’l Benjy! And because it’s Holiday Season, let’s kick things off with ‘Li’l Benjy the Spectacular Spider-Baby in “Christmas Crisis”

 

Created by Tom Defalco and Colleen Coover, Li’l Benjy was a series of short, silly and fun tales published as back-up stories starting in Amazing Spider-Girl #25. Are they canon? I see no reason why not! Shush! Anyway, in the pages of the following issue -Amazing Spider-Girl #26- we have “Christmas Crisis” wherein Benjy wonders why his mother Mary Jane appears so excited. His play date mate Shelly explains to the oblivious baby that it’s a special time of year called ‘Fat Day’ where some old Fat Man sneaks down chimneys to steal everyone’s money and leave clothes behind. Ever the courageous hero, Benjy uses his sister Mayday’s web-shooters to block off the Parker House’s chimney with webbing.

 

While this might keep your average Santa Claus from getting inside, we must remember that in the Marvel Universe, Santa is not only very much real, but also extremely powerful. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 10 tells us that among his abilities, Santa gains superhuman strength on Christmas Eve, can teleport, has a magical sack which is bigger on the inside and possesses the ability to fit through any chimney (or any alternative if a chimney is not available). Naturally, I’m now wishing we got more Li’l Benjy stories because I’d love to see him meet the real ‘Fat Man’.

 

Happy Holidays and I hope you all find yourselves surrounded by family because that’s truly magical and worth living to see in this scary world. Hug your loved ones, enjoy this time and stay safe everybody!

 

Until I manage to work the Elf with a Gun into a post, I remain

 

frogoat

The Rhino: The Sytsevich Family Tree

 

Maybe I’ll grow tired of doing these MC2 Family Trees one day, but right now I’m enjoying them. So, here’s another vaguely connected tie-in for Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off film Kraven the Hunter, this one taking a run at the MC2-centric family of one Alexsei Sytsevich aka The Rhino: The Sytsevich Family Tree.

 

*Before we dive right in, the usual rules: For the purposes of these family trees, I accept that MC2 characters share their published history (up to a point) with their 616/Main Marvel Universe counterparts. I make exceptions for any retcons implemented after the point the MC2 diverges from the 616 and in cases where it's explicitly or implicitly different (Aunt May really died) or when a writer later introduces a previously unheard of relative (the Pym family) who is never mentioned, seen or heard of in the MC2. With the last exception, I would add them to the family tree in later updates should they be mentioned in MC2 material at any point. Got it? Excellent! *

 

A recap, cribbing from myself: Though unnamed at the time, Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich made his debut as The Rhino in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #41 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr in 1966. There he is seen rampaging all the way to New York on his way to capture John Jameson before being defeated by Spider-Man and placed in a state corrections hospital. Escaping shortly afterwards, Rhino attempts to complete his original mission but is again defeated after Spider-Man uses a special acid webbing created by Curt Connors (aka The Lizard) to dissolve the Rhino’s armour (Amazing Spider-Man #42-43).

 

It is also in Amazing Spider-Man #43 that we get glimpses of Rhino’s origin where we learn he was ‘a hired hood—a muscle man’ working for professional spies. He was considered so unintelligent he would not betray his employers even after they subjected him to months of experiments and treatments, culminating in gifting him enhanced strength. Finally, he was covered in a molecular adhesive protective ‘second skin’ and truly became the Rhino. However, not only had Rhino received increased strength, but also increased intelligence…at least enough to realize he did not need to follow his employers’ orders anymore and went solo.

 

It is interesting to note that the Rhino has had his suit destroyed on various occasions, the first being his above-mentioned encounter with Spider-Man, but despite this through the first few decades of his existence he inevitably found his way into a new and sometimes improved second skin thanks to various super-geniuses. All this would come to an end when Rhino grew tired of being trapped in his latest suit after it had once again become permanently bonded to him following a shuttle explosion (apparently off-panel in Incredible Hulk #159 implied in Thing #24 and confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #10).This became the Rhino’s motivation going forward, driving him to find a cure for his condition as noted above in the Thing #24.

 

In Amazing Spider-Man #280, having joined Beetle’s Sinister Syndicate, Rhino debuts a new design, his ‘1^st armor hide’ additions to his suit. We also learn that after turning himself over to Project: PEGASUS, Rhino had given up because ‘they couldn’t do much’ and instead opted to return to crime to fund a series of illegal operations in hopes of removing him from his suit and making him ‘human’ once more. As an aside, this is my all-time favourite Rhino design, and its courtesy of the fantastic Ron Frenz once again. I even had the Toy Biz action figure as a kid!

 

 Much later, Rhino betrays his Sinister Syndicate team mates for a deal with the Kingpin after the doctor attempting to cure him was killed by the team. Despite the Kingpin’s promise of a cure, he instead planned to retain the Rhino as muscle. When Rhino kidnapped one of the scientists in the Kingpin’s employ, he was finally freed from his suit. Unfortunately, the Kingpin threatened the scientist’s family and Rhino reached out to Justin Hammer for a new and improved Rhino suit once more, one he could once again remove this time (Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4).

A mention in the sequel mini-series’ Lethal Foes of Spider-Man #1 refers to Rhino’s desire to ‘gather enough money to enable his family to escape Eastern Europe’. This segues nicely into Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where Rhino has managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexa to live in America. It is mentioned that Rhino could not yet afford to also bring his father, sister and brother-in-law. When Alexa’s locket (a gift from her mother) is stolen, Rhino takes it back from the thieves and steals money from them also, intending to us it for his family. However, upon learning he had stolen, his mother kicked him out of their apartment and disowned him. It’s worth pointing out that Alexa is the only named member of the family at this point, and all Official Handbooks have spelt her name ‘Alexia’ which might be an example of transliteration, anglicisation or perhaps a sly reference to Rhino’s real first name which, ironically, was revealed years after his niece’s.

 

Rhino’s real name was first revealed in 2003’s Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 4: Spider-Man (and not the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Hulk 2004 as I initially incorrectly claimed) as Alexsei Mikhailovich Sytsevich. Previously, he used the alias Alex O’Hirn (the surname being an anagram) while posing as a baseball player in Incredible Hulk #435, a pseudonym that other adaptations have also used, including the Ultimate Spider-Man comics and the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. The use of Rhino’s real name in this MC2 narrative illustrates how later details, characters, and story elements from the Main Marvel Universe have been incorporated into the MC2 after the point of divergence.

 

The aforementioned Hulk 2004 profile for Rhino doesn’t list his mother’s name but the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 9 published in 2009 gives her the name ‘Miriam’ and I can find no earlier source, but I’ve elected to include it in the Sytsevich Family Tree regardless. Let me know if you have seen it mentioned some place prior! Alexsei mentions his mother on a few occasions following Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28, such as Green Goblin #2 and Amazing Spider-Man #409 which strongly suggests the two reconciled.

 

Never seen or named, Alexsei’s father’s name has been identified as ‘Mikhail’ by Marvel Fandom wiki contributor MarvelBoy2002. He points out that Russian patronymic naming convention custom means Alexsei’s middle name ‘Mikhailovich’ would traditionally be derived from the father’s own name with the ending ‘-ovich’ essentially denoting ‘son of,’ making Mikhail Sytsevich the patriarch of the family. This doesn’t appear to be officially confirmed by Mavel anywhere, but I’m choosing to adopt it here because I feel it makes logical sense and it’s some good deductive reasoning.

 

In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man Family #3, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt Anna bring a sick baby May Parker to a hospital emergency room. There they encounter Aleksei Sytsevich who is seeking medical attention for his aunt Yulya Sytsevich. Peter mentions hearing that Aleksei had finally managed to surgically remove his Rhino suit. Aleksei struggles with the registration process and becomes agitated until Mary Jane offers to help with the paperwork, which his aunt accepts. Aleksei recognizes Peter as the Daily Bugle photographer and invites him to get a coffee. Aleksei mentions his was once hired to threaten Peter, a direct reference to Spectacular Spider-Man #190.

 

Meanwhile, Anna and Mary Jane help fill out the forms for Yulya who tells them that Aleksei sacrificed a lot to bring his family over from Russia, which is most likely a reference to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where we see he has only managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexia, with intentions of bringing the rest of his family to the United States once he has more money. Aleksei and Peter discuss the expenses of paying for medical treatment and they bond over their common lack of money, both working job to job. Aleksei mentions some of the ‘bad bosses’ he’s worked for including the Beetle, the Leader and Doctor Octopus, the last of which may be a reference to Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-#18 by MC2 alumni Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz.

 

Peter explains Spider-Man does what he does because of the loss of a family member and Aleksei relates to this, mentioning how his aunt Yulya lost her beloved Borya who was ‘taken away in the night and never seen again’. Aleksei explains that he joined Russian gangsters to protect his family, using the money he was paid to support them, and how this eventually led to him being turned into the Rhino and finally earning enough to migrate his family to America. Though Peter believes Spider-Man and Rhino are destined to meet again as enemies, Peter and Aleksei found common ground and part ways on good terms.

 

I have omitted a few characters from this MC2 Family Tree for reasons I’ll elaborate on separately. Here they are for the sake of completeness:

•   Aleksei retires from crime after he meets and eventually marries a waitress named Oksana making her Oksana Sytsevich (Amazing Spider-Man #617). She is killed by an unidentified new villainous Rhino, prompting Aleksei to return to his old life after avenging her (Amazing Spider-Man #625).

•       By extension, a clone of Oksana appeared during the ‘Clone Conspiracy’ storyline after first appearing in the Free Comic Book Day Captain America 2016 promotional comic before later also perishing.

•      Oksana has a niece named Tanya that Rhino looks out for and helps rescue in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2-#3.

 

This look at the Sytsevich Family Tree, coupled with the previous Kravinoff Family Tree has provided me some new insight into the nature of Russian naming customs, given me an opportunity to read a wide smattering of comics I hadn’t before and as always, an excuse to consult the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. As always, a special thanks to arias-98105!

 

Until I learn that Aleksei is a fan of Archimedes’ assertion about straight lines, I remain

 

frogoat