Madripoor in the MC2

 

The latest Marvel game developed by Insomniac is Marvel’s Wolverine has been officially released. In lieu of a more comprehensive post I (still) have in the works which life is slowing down progress on, please accept this much simpler entry. As it features prominently as a location in the Wolverine video game, let’s take a quick look at Madripoor in the MC2. 

The Principality of Madripoor made its debut in New Mutants #32 by Chris Claremont and Steve Leialoha. Located south of Singapore in the Indonesian archipelago, the small island nation became a frequent haunt of the Canadian mutant adventurer and X-Man, Logan aka Wolverine aka Patch, particularly the Princess Bar, of which he would become a part-owner (Marvel Comics Presents #1-#10). Madripoor was also the first meeting place of Logan, Captain America and the child Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) during World War II, as seen in the iconic Uncanny X-Men #268.

 

Even in the far flung present of the MC2, Logan can’t keep away from Madripoor. In J2 #10, Logan receives a message that his daughter Rina Logan aka Wild Thing is in Madripoor and instruction to bring the Avengers own powerhouse J2 aka Zane Yama. Believing Rina has been kidnapped, the pair face off against (potentially The Hand) ninjas in the streets of Madripoor’s Lowtown before heading to the Princess Bar where Wolverine applies his foolproof disguise as ‘Patch’. It’s not very effective.

 

Zane and Logan retire to Sovereign Hotel in Hightown where they receive further instructions from the mutant Daze. The next day they head into the jungle and encounter Robot Guards (who resemble repurposed Mandroid armours) protecting their meeting location. After making short work of the Robots, the pair of heroes are scolded first by Daze, then by Magneta and Rina. As it turns out, Rina had not been kidnapped. Instead, J2 and Wolverine were invited to evaluate Daze as a potential recruit for Magneta’s new team.

 

As we sail away from this far flung foreign land, let’s reflect on the importance of reading comprehension and avoid strenuous exercise such as jumping to conclusions.

 

Until I figure out if Daze remained in Madripoor or will be recruited into the X-People some day, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Mutant Spotlight: Daze

 

The mutants of the MC2 present a tantalizing glimpse at days of future present, allowing us to see how the mutant minority is treated in an overall brighter reality from most X-Men stories. Let’s take a brief look at one of the most obscure mutants to originate in the MC2niverse: Daze.

Not to be confused with the Main Marvel Universe character nor the 2099 character both also coincidentally known as Daze, the MC2’s Daze made her first (and at time of writing only) appearance in the pages of J2 #10. Daze’s real name is unrevealed, though she may be a native of the island nation Madripoor, given her welcome greeting to Zane Yama aka J2 and Logan aka Wolverine.

Daze appears to be around Zane’s age, certainly the two are nearly the same height. Daze also appears to be of African descent, and though some online databases claim she is African American, I cannot see any indication she’s from the United States. That said, Daze is a fan of the Avengers, quickly recognizing J2. Recruited by the enigmatic magnetically powered Magneta to join a potential super-team alongside Rina Logan aka Wild Thing and J2 (unbeknownst to the Avenger himself), Daze was evidently selected for her ability to transform into various gaseous vapours.

 

Beyond the fact she was being tested and evaluated by Rina and Magneta as prospective team member, we don’t learn anything further including the potential finalized line-up of Magneta’s team, nor what became of Daze following Magneta’s turn to the dark side in later stories.

 

I submit Daze for your approval, faithful readers. In a just world, she’d be part of an ‘All-New, All Different X-People’ relaunch book and we’d know far more about her. What say you? Anyone interested in a Madripoor post?

 

Until I stop thinking of Jimi Hendrix while reading about this purple Daze, I remain

 

frogoat    

Xena and Xenette in the MC2

 

A long time ago in a blog post far, far away there was a look at the fictional television series ‘Everybody’s Happy,’ which helped to flesh out the MC2 universe and gave us Melissa Carsdale who became the villainous Misery. Today we are going to look at another television series that exists within the MC2 and its real-world inspiration.

 

In A-Next #6 we catch up with J2 aka Zane Yama, the son of the original Juggernaut relaxing at the Avengers Headquarters enjoying snacks while watching a television show about ‘Xenette’. According to the program’s narration ‘she is Xenette, daughter of a Warrior Princess forged in the heat of battle’. This is a very clear reference to the character and television series Xena: Warrior Princess who’s opening narration by Don LaFontaine is ‘In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle. The power, the passion, the danger. Her courage will change the world!’.

 

For anyone who doesn’t know, the character of Xena first appeared in the fantasy television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys where she was portrayed by the incredible New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless. Originally introduced as a villainous foil for Hercules, the character proved so popular that she received her own spin-off series, the aforementioned Xena: Warrior Princess produced in part by Sam Raimi, best known for The Evil Dead franchise and the original Spider-Man trilogy. Xena has gained a significant fan following as an icon and role model among the lesbian and bisexual community, partly owing to the dynamic and relationship between Xena and her companion Gabrielle.

 

Not only does the MC2 feature a nice second-generation in-joke with Xenette but we have confirmation that May ‘Mayday’ Parker aka Spider-Girl is probably a fan of Xena: Warrior Princess thanks to a reference to the character in the ‘Dear Diary’ recap story from Spider-Girl Annual ’99 where May writes that she ‘can do flips higher than Xena’.

 

The character of Xena has also had several of her own comic titles through the decades, published by Topps Comics, Dark Horse Comics and most recently Dynamite Entertainment, so she’s no stranger to the medium. Fun fact, the Sam Raimi directed Doctor Stange in the Multiverse of Madness movie’s audio commentary confirms the statuesque warrior woman statue seen within the Illuminati’s Headquarters was intended as a reference to Xena.

 

Anyway, just a quick one for today. Happy Pride Month, everybody!

 

Until I produce a Xena: Warrior Princess Family Tree, I remain

 

frogoat

Video Games in the MC2

 

For today’s post, I wanted to try something a little different, by taking a look at video games and how they are referenced in the pages of MC2 comics. Video games, like comics are another often overlooked part of the pop culture landscape which gets little respect so this cross-pollination of media is an interesting lens to look through and get a glimpse of the world as it was at various points in the MC2’s publication history. This is Video Games in the MC2.

 

First up, we have an unidentified (and possibly fictional) video game that J2 aka Zane Yama is seen playing in A-Next #9. J2 tells Mainframe he is playing ‘one of those first person shooters’. Playing the game helped him decide how he would vote when the team were debating whether to make the perilous journey to another universe. Notably, the console’s controller has a retro design with only two face buttons which are contrasted by other elements; it is wireless and has a small screen and works in conjunction with what appears to be either Virtual Reality glasses or 3D glasses.

 

Next up, we have another video game device which Rina Logan aka Wild Thing enjoys playing. This one is a hand-held console that uses a VR headset. If Elektra is to be trusted on matters of up-to-date gaming technology, this unidentified console uses cartridges rather than disks. Rina has hacked and modified the fighting action game, allowing her to customise the main character’s appearance to resemble her costumed alter-ego, Wild Thing. This was apparently for a computer class project for which Rina received an ‘A’ grade. Kuroyama, the villainous assassin of the Hand, now rebuilt as a cyborg with a built-in attack computer that uses a virtual reality matrix is inadvertently defeated with one hit after appearing within Rina’s video game (Wild Thing #2).

Apparently in keeping with the MC2’s tradition of ‘themed months,’ we get another video game reference in another second issue. This time in Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #2 we are introduced to Doctor Lenny Gilcrest, a genius who designed a best-selling video game while still in high school who now works for S.H.I.E.L.D.  Gilcrest’s first project for S.H.I.E.L.D. is a Super Android dubbed Superoid which the Fantastic Five help field test. When Lenny is captured, the Superoid is quickly hijacked by the Wizard’s Warriors thanks to Gilcrest’s habit of using the same programming command structure for all his video games. I am curious if one of Lenny’s video games was among those played by J2 or Wild Thing?

 

Just two months later in the pages of Wild Thing #4 we see J2 playing what is almost certainly a Sega Dreamcast console, judging by the distinct controller. The Dreamcast would have been a very relevant console to reference, given its North American release in September 1999, mere months before this issue was released. Not a lot of lead time for artist Ron Lim, but the Dreamcast had already debuted in Japan the year before making it more plausible. I initially thought Juggie Junior was playing Doom, but having checked online, it appears the title never officially came to the Dreamcast. Suffice it say, the game appears to be another first-person shooter in the same vein as the Doom series.

 

The Wild Thing series is apparently the unlikely focus for this post, because in the very next issue we get a throw away reference to Rina’s school crush Colin Brewster’s father. According to Colin, his dad created a computer game with a giant robot that resembled their crash-site discovery: The Iron Despot. After his initial excitement, Colin soon realizes this is no game and eventually the day is saved when Wild Thing tricks the Iron Despot into a sinkhole (Wild Thing #5).

 

In Avengers Next #1 we glimpse yet another first-person shooter that J2 and Bluestreak are playing together in Avengers Compound. The controllers appear to be Xbox 360 controllers given their shape, design, and wireless status. This suggests they are playing on an Xbox 360 console, which was first released in late 2005 which fits with the Avengers Next mini-series which came out a year later in late 2006 Notably, the game display on the television has three player screens, so presumably Bluestreak is multitasking. We can also see three gamertags listed: 896-T, 569-BStreak and 998-J2.

 

That is it for today’s post but if I scrounge up enough material, I may produce a sequel to this post. I think it is interesting to look at the MC2 through the lens of the video game industry and see what was in the zeitgeist during the imprint’s run. It is fun to think the MC2 saw VR games as the future for the video game industry way back in the late 90’s and I had a blast trying to figure out what consoles were real and which were fictional. Special thanks to arias-98105 and the Video Game Console Library, I could not have produced this post without their help.

 

Until I learn how to mod old video games to add custom Spider-Girl player models, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

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