What's the Deal with Deacon's Den?

 

Every now and then I like to shine a light on some of the more obscure MC2 characters. In that tradition, today’s post we will be taking a look at the mysterious and magical mentor of Doc Magus, the man known only as Deacon.

 

First appearing alongside the young Sorcerer Supreme, Doc Magus in A-Next #3, Deacon is the one to suggest Doc Magus aka Dormagus recruits the recently reassembled new team of Avengers to counter Doctor Strange and his Defenders team comprised of the Incredible Hulk aka Bruce Banner and Namor the Sub-Mariner. While it’s not identified in this issue, we can presume this location is Dormagus’ ‘Sanctum Sanctorum’.

 

The following month over in the pages of J2’s own title, we learn that Deacon too possesses magical ability when he aids Doc Magus by casting Zane Yama aka J2’s astral form into a strange nightmare dimension. He is relieved when the pair of heroes return unscathed, having seen their unconscious bodies spasm while they were in peril (J2 #4).

 

It’s not until J2 #12 we learn that the Doc Magus operates out of his ‘Sanctum Sanctorum’ which is really just the back room of Deacon’s Den, a comic book store owned and operated by Deacon. When J2 and Doc Magus ignore Doctor Stange’s warning and journey into a pocket dimension via the Crossroads of Infinity to rescue Cain Marko aka The Juggernaut they discover it’s a trap too late and become trapped when their gateway back to Earth is destroyed by Nemesus. Notably, the energy backlash from this is shown to surround Deacon and his eyes glow red as he senses what has happened.

 

Found and assisted by Zane’s curious school associates, Deacon reveals he instinctively raised a protective shield around the gateway. With the help of the highschooler’s they manage to create a trail for the heroes to follow home…using Dormagus’ comic book collection. The bizarre events are explained away by Cain Marko as a temporal anomaly, and we learn via Zane’s closing monologue that Deacon’s Den closed down within a week and was replaced by a dry cleaner business (J2 #12).

 

While Zane believes Deacon’s Den to have closed down, it’s possible it makes an off-panel appearance as a target of Mr. Abnormal’s crime-spree. The super stretchy criminal notably steals a complete collection of Police Comics from a comic shop, so perhaps it was Deacon’s Den? Either way, Mr. Abnormal is defeated by the combined efforts of Speedball and Spider-Girl (Spider-Girl #15).

 

Deacon’s Den is definitely open and running again by the time the events of Spider-Girl #71 take place, with a ‘New’ sign and different appearance. Deacon is seen working the counter when J2 and Spider-Girl come seeking Doc Magus, who is once again using the store’s back room as his Sanctum Sanctorum. The three heroes thwart an invasion of invisible Darklings sent by Nemesus, though Deacon, sadly, isn’t an active participant in events this time around.

 

A little while later, during the events of Last Hero Standing, we get a confirmation that Deacon’s Den is located in Manhattan when Doctor Strange unsuccessfully attempts to recruit his son Doc Magus to his Defenders team so they can find the growing number of missing heroes. Deacon tells Dormagus he shouldn’t have turned down the assistance but gives up when the young Sorcerer Supreme brushes him off too. Shortly afterwards, Doc Magus is captured by the mastermind behind the plot, the Asgardian god of mischief Loki, leaving behind nothing but a smoking crater in the ground for the intestinally distressed Deacon to discover (Last Hero Standing #2).

 

When up and coming comic creators Jimmy Yama and Reynard ‘Wes’ Westin approach Deacon in the hope he’ll stock their Spider-Girl comic in his store, he initially declines but is convinced when Jimmy promises an appearance from the super heroine (Amazing Spider-Girl #4).

 

Of course, Jimmy asks his girlfriend Heather Noble to dress up as the fictional version of Spider-Girl from the comic he and Wes developed together. The promotional event at Deacon’s Den is advertised in the newspaper which draws the attention of the villainous Hobgoblin (Amazing Spider-Girl #5).

 

Sure enough, with Heather in costume as Spider-Girl, the Hobgoblin descends on Deacon’s Den (which also stocks MC2 comics, dontcha know) and kidnaps her. The Hobgoblin uses Heather as bait to draw out the one, true Spider-Girl. While the promotion had a good turn out, Deacon picks the perfect moment to ask if Jimmy and Wes obtained Spider-Girl’s permission to use her in their comic which, of course, they did not. Spider-Girl manages to save Heather and fight off the Hobgoblin with some unexpected assistance (Amazing Spider-Girl #6).

 

This next one isn’t an appearance of either Deacon or his Den but I’ve included it for the sake of completeness. Wes is seen with a newly bought comic (complete with carry bag) heading for a bus stop before a surprise encounter with April Parker. Does Wes frequent Deacon’s Den and why does he fold his precious comics? (Spectacular Spider-Girl vol. 1 #4/Amazing Spider-Man Family #8).

 

We get our last glimpse of Deacon in a fleeting cameo many overlooked in the MC2 story published as a back-up feature in the Secret Wars: Spider-Island mini-series. Yes, that’s Deacon carrying a sign decrying this Battleworld of Doctor Doom’s as a lie. So, once again, Deacon can see things beyond those of normal men. Thanks to Ron Frenz for confirming this appearance! (Secret Wars: Spider-Island #1)

 

Deacon is something of an enigma, he appears to live a mundane existence as a lowly comic book store owner, while displaying mystic abilities and being involved with events that are far more bizarre. Perhaps we’ll learn more about him someday? Thank you to arias-98105 for help with this post!

 

Until I buy a comic book store rather than buy from them, I remain

 

frogoat

Spider-Man 2099 in the MC2?!

 

The release of Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is upon us and with it we will get to see Miguel O’Hara make his first full appearance on the big screen following his cameo teaser in the end credits of 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I am very excited for this and so today I wanted to look at how Spider-Man 2099 and the MC2 are connected. I’ve already written individual posts about Six-Arm Spider-Man, the original Spider-Armor and the Bombastic Bag-Man so be sure to give those a read too.

 

First, some context, as always! Spider-Man 2099 first appeared in Spider-Man 2099 #1 (unless you want to count a preview of that issue in Amazing Spider-Man #365) and was created by writer Peter David and penciller Rick Leonardi with MC2-alumni Al Williamson on inking duties. On Earth-928 in the year 2099, the brilliant scientist named Miguel O’Hara worked as project head for the megacorporation Alchemax’s genetics program. After being forced into a human trial of his work results in the test subject dying, Miguel attempts to quit Alchemax in protest, but is poisoned with the addictive Alchemax-distributed drug called Rapture by his boss Tyler Stone to ensure he remained with the company.

 

 As Rapture bonds to a person genetically, it leaves a person permanently addicted. Miguel breaks into his Alchemax lab and attempts to restore his genetic code using the blueprint of it he had on file. However, his disgruntled co-worker Aaron Delgato tampers with the equipment causing O’Hara’s genetic code to be combined with the genetic code of a spider Miguel had been researching earlier in hopes of endowing humans with extra abilities like the ‘Heroic Age’ figure, Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2099 #1).

  Aaron dies following an ensuing explosion and Miguel learns he has gained spider-powers while escaping the Public Eye. With the aid of torn ‘light byte’ cloth from a ‘skysail’ gifted by a Thorite (a believer in the second-coming of Thor) and an old black and red Day of the Dead costume made from unstable molecule fabric, O’Hara fashions a disguise to throw Alchemax’s cyborg tracker Venture off his trail as he back-tracks through his apartment. After a chase across the city of Nueva York, Miguel as Spider-Man is captured but manages to free himself using his talons and battles Venture, discovering his ability to produce webbing and in the process defeating the bounty hunter. Thus, the year 2099 gained its own Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2099 #2-#3).

 

In Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man, a special one-shot story, Miguel O’Hara finds himself unexpectedly transported to the present day, waking up next to Mary Jane Parker. Meanwhile Peter Parker finds himself in Nueva York in 2099 evading the Public Eye before battling the Vulture of 2099. Miguel learns thanks to a trip to the Daily Bugle that he ended up in this time as a result of the small company Fujikawa (in O’Hara’s time known as Stark-Fujikawa) demonstrating a new energy source, temporal energy, which will lead to the end of the Heroic Age with the heroes of Peter’s time vanishing mysteriously.

 

 Meanwhile, with the help of Miguel’s brother Gabriel, Peter learns the centre of technology and research in Nueva York is the Alchemax Building and decides to start his search for a way home there. After a proper conversation with Mary Jane, on his way to the source of energy waves only perceptible to his accelerated vision, Miguel is waylaid by a fight with Eddie Brock aka Venom.

 

With both men reaching the source of the temporal energy waves, the two Spider-Men finally meet one another. Finding themselves in a desolate future landscape, they encounter the Hobgoblin of the year 2211 who attacks the two heroes with Retcon Bombs, intending to erase them from the time stream, only to be thwarted by the Spider-Man of 2211. As they are being sent back to their own times, Miguel and Peter tell each other they became Spider-Man because they had to, with Miguel adding he was partly inspired by Peter, in much the same way Peter was by his Uncle Ben. With the day saved, Miguel discovers that history seemingly has not changed, but the date the heroes vanished in the past is no longer recorded and now no one remembers it. Peter reunites with Mary Jane, telling her he knows his actions affects and inspires people who are not even born yet.

 

Now, how does all this have any bearing on the MC2? Well, we know for sure these events transpired in the past of the MC2’s Peter Parker thanks to an unlikely source; Spider-Man Family Vol. 1 #1. Therein we have a story (seemingly) set during the mostly unexplored point in time after Baby May is rescued and returned to Peter and Mary Jane Parker by Kaine but before Peter loses his leg in his final battle with Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin. Lured into a trap by the villain Jack O’ Lantern aka Maguire Beck, Spider-Man meets and teams-up with Araña and her *sidekick* Miguel as they battle a variety of museum like room full of Spider-Man robot’s designed to resemble various costumes and points in Peter’s career. Among these we see a robot Spider-Man   in Miguel O’Hara’s Spider-Man 2099 costume. This robotic Spider-Man 2099 duplicate is destroyed by Spider-Man who alongside Araña and (the other) Miguel go on to defeat the mastermind Jack O’ Lantern.

 

Much like with the case of Six-Arm Spider-Man, the original Spider-Armor and the Bag-Man there is the lingering question of how Jack O’ Lantern came to know of the connection between Spider-Man and the Spider-Man 2099 costume given it’s not particularly spider-themed. The answer is fairly straightforward. Given the fact O’Hara spent a decent amount of time at the Daily Bugle and openly announced he was Spider-Man from the year 2099 to a room full of reporters, it is not hard to believe that word got out, even if it was distorted. Thus, Jack O’ Lantern incorrectly assumed the two were the same person.

Unless I’m mistaken, the Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man story is the first instance of a legacy Spidey character meeting their namesake (and no, I’m not counting clones as legacy characters). This may also be the beginning of the ‘Spider-Verse’ concept as it is known today.

 

Until I miss out on seeing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on opening day due to a temporal anomaly, I remain

 

frogoat