Baby May and Continuity Fun

 The exact point where the MC2 Universe (also called 982) branches off from the mainstream Marvel Universe (also referred to as 616 in the handbooks) is not entirely clear, though obviously the two worlds share a history up to at least '97 real-world time, apart from small details, such as later retcons. For example, Peter's Aunt May real does pass away as depicted in Amazing Spider-Man #400 (a classic), whereas in the 616 this is later retconned (badly, I might add) as being a genetically modified actress hired by Norman Osborn.

In fact, let's start there, shall we? Well, sort of. During the now-infamous Clone Saga, it is revealed Mary Jane is pregnant. After the end of this Saga, editorial having pinned the whole debacle on a newly-returned-from-apparent-death Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin. Around the same time, MJ gives birth to an apparently stillborn baby May, with heavy implications that something else is really happening. Later, Osborn becomes wildly out of character and holds a mystical 'Gathering of Five' ritual and it's revealed 'May' is alive...only it's Aunt May. Oi Vey! Peter beats Osborn (who's gone even more crazy) and hangs up his webs just in time for a relaunch of the Spidey-titles.

Meanwhile, over in What if #105 we are introduced to Spider-Girl and the MC2, which gives us a very different (and I'd argue better) series of events. May's debut issue also gives us a few interesting points of back-story. Firstly, it depicts Peter and MJ at the hospital, happily holding the newborn May. Secondly, Peter continued as Spider-Man following May's birth. Thirdly, Peter's narrations specifically states that 'May was only two years old when I had my final confrontation with Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin.' Norman died, and Peter lost any desire to continue as Spider-Man.

The next time we hear of this last confrontation in Spider-Girl #7, Mary Jane provides us with more details. Mary Jane was contacted by Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch. Mr Fantastic worked alongside surgeons to save him, but in the end Peter lost his right leg. Reed offers to make a bionic leg for Peter to continue web-swinging, but Peter realizes his real responsibility is to his wife and baby.

Soon after, Kaine is introduced into the Spider-Girl series, dropping hints and making cryptic references to Rumpelstiltskin. We are told that the Parker's owe a debt to Kaine for saving May's life as a baby, though it's not until Spider-Girl #48-#50 we get more details. Here, we learn Alison Mongrain was hired by Osborn to steal away with baby May, hiding in a yacht  until Osborn's Scriers took the infant. Kaine interferes and eventually tracks down and rescues the baby girl, returning her to Mary Jane before searching for Osborn.

It's notable that in the flashbacks here, Mary Jane now originally believed her baby had died at birth just as depicted in the 616 version of events. Peter intends to stop Kaine killing Osborn. The next flashback shows Spidey interrupting the 'Gathering of Five' ritual (rather than arriving long after in 616) and battling Osborn, his leg becoming webbed to Osborn's hand. As Peter tells Osborn about Kaine, the Goblin detonates a bomb, killing himself and claiming Peter's leg.

Amazing Spider-Girl introduces the idea that May could be a clone with the arrival of a second May on the scene. Amazing Spider-Girl #25 even provides more of Kaine's rescue of the infant May in his assault on the Scrier's stronghold. At the conclusion of the tale we learn that Osborn staged the proceedings, working with another baby (either the clone or the original) in his lab in the Swiss Alps, planning for an end game in two years time. Too bad he died before that came to pass.

Lastly, we have the Mr and Mrs Spider-Man tales, which depict Peter and Mary Jane with an infant May, with Peter still donning his webs occasionally and definitely not getting around with a walking stick or a limp. The last of these four tales implies Pete get's his better-paying  lab job with the police not long after.

From all of this, we have a pretty clear picture of the events but we also have a few issues to address. Obviously, the very first depiction from What if?! #105 which seems to show May born healthy in hospital must now be considered either incorrect, or possibly depicting a later time, perhaps a check up right after the reunion of parents and baby? Or it's a case of early installment weirdness, just as in pilot episodes of tv shows. Either way, it's not a big deal.

Secondly, Peter mentioned May being age two at the time of the final confrontation with the Goblin. Up until Mr and Mrs Spider-Man these stood out like a sore thumb, as it didn't seem to line up with anything else. But here's a theory: After Norman had May spirited away, Ms Mongrain spent several months with the baby girl, even mentioning growing attached to her, before the mean ol' Scriers swiped her back. Kaine learns of Osborn's plan and sets out to retrieve the infant May. Amazing Spider-Girl #25 gives the time of this rescue as 'a little over sixteen years ago.' At this point in the series, May has already celebrated her 16th birthday (Spider-Girl #67) and 'May's Special Day,' the anniversary of her return from kidnapping (Amazing Spider-Girl #15) which is quite some time after her birthday.

 Taking into account the idea that Osborn's ritual was delayed in this version of events and that Peter had at least one encounter with Araña (Spider-Man Family one-shot) before hanging up his webs, we can assume that Peter continued as Spider-Man for a while between May's return and his final confrontation with Osborn. In theory, you could stretch this to cover the mention of May being two years of age but honestly, I think Tom Defalco introduced the Mr and Mrs Spider-Man tales either to fill this apparent continuity gap or (more likely) to have fun telling married Spidey adventures, and what better place than his own universe?

This particular blog entry started out as a little worm of an idea in the base of my sub-conscious and it's been feeding on my idea's ever since. Mostly, this was just a thought experiment for me to see if the story ideas would hold together, but I hope it's been informative. Have I missed anything?

Until Tom Defalco retcons Swiney-Girl into the MC2, I remain 

frogoat

Spider-Girl: 15th Anniversary

Thanks to the Spider-Girl Message Board I recently realized, 'Hey, it's Spider-Girl's fifteenth anniversary! I should probably make a post about it!' So here I am, making a post about it. I'm a little ashamed and shocked that it's nearly escaped my notice, but honestly, I've had a lot going on. It happens.

I thought it would be nice just to mention (read: promote) some of the things fans have been doing to mark this anniversary. Firstly, Read aka boosterread7 aka Huskie Pride aka an honestly swell fellow put up a video to reminisce about his fansite, which I recall visiting numerous times over the years. It's still sorely missed.

Not long after this, haydenclaireheroes of Comic Uno and DarkAvengerINC fame has gone on a quite frankly inspiring quest to review each individual Spider-Girl comic. You can see the tribute video here: 15 Years of Spider-girl and the first review video here: Mayday's Journey: Spider-girl #1 and the second here. Oh, and a Top 10 Topic right here.

Something that's definitely worth a mention was the gosh-awful 'event-series' Age of Ultron. I'll be the first to admit, I didn't read most of it. But tucked away in the 10th and final issue- which involves the time-space continuum breaking/cracking- we get a one panel appearance from our gal pal Mayday in Spider-Girl gear along with Iron Man 2020 and a whole heck of a lot of other alternate-reality and future timeline characters (hey, 2099! Isn't Spider-Man 2099 showing up again soon?! Funny that.)

Yes, I did buy #10 just for a one-panel cameo appearance. Get off my lawn

Until we get a Spider-Girl film trilogy, I remain

frogoat

May's Weight

It's something I've touched upon a couple of times before, and it's something I have a great deal of personal interest in; depictions of women in the media, particularly younger females. It's often given a lot more coverage than other topics, it's places a great deal of undue pressures on young girls during a frankly difficult and tumultuous time in life and the media nearly always misrepresents it or flat out gets it wrong.

The reason I've decided today to cover this again is a recent re-read of the classic Spider-Girl #27, specifically the letter page in the back of the issue. A reader wrote in to comment on Marvel's website biography for Spider-Girl. At the time (based on the cover date: December 2000) May's bio listed her height as 5'5'' and weighing 112 pounds. The reader goes on to state that she herself is 5'4 and 120 pounds, and asserts that she is in no way overweight, asks that Marvel take more care in this regard as she would not like her daughter to gain a unrealistic view of a healthy weight. I applaud this considerate reader.

Let's look at some printed sources to see what Marvel's done in this regard since, shall we? Cool.

Remember that silly Battlebook I was telling you about last time? It's a source. In fact, as far as I can tell it's the earliest printed source I can find for May's statistics: Height: Approx. 5'5'' Weight: Approx. 110 lbs. Now, this was November 1998.

Skip forward too the most recent iterations of Official Handbooks to the Marvel Universe, we have the following stats:

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 11 (first published in 2009) gives us an updated height and weight. Considering Mayday at this point is now around a year older- she was 15 when she first donned the webs, and turned 16 in Spider-Girl #67-makes some sense. Now, Spider-Girl is 5'7'' and weighs 119 lbs. This was still problematic to me.

 The height made sense to me, both from how May's height had been depicted through the art and with my previous note about the character's 'ageing up' in the interim. However, the weight seemed too low to me. So, a while back, I contacted the authors of the Handbooks and asked them what thought processes go into generating these particular statistics. Mr Stuart Vandal was kind enough to give his thoughts, which I have re-posted here:

In the case of characters who appeared in older Handbooks, there seemed to be a definite tendency for women to be underweight - though that might well have to do with what was considered to be a healthy weight back in the 1980s perhaps being lower than what we consider to be a healthy weight today.
For characters who got entries for the first time in more recent volumes, we try to be as accurate as we can. If a character's personal stats are given in an actual story, we use those, no matter how unusual they might appear to be (we reason that there might be an in-story reason for someone to weigh virtually nothing or to be massively heavier than they appear, though we do check with writers in the more unlikely cases, to avoid perpetuating errors).
On heights, we have to accept that artists can be very inconsistent, but, allowing for that, we look for (a) approximate matches to others whose heights are already established, and (b) good shots of the character standing up straight next to someone of established height who is also standing straight, and all on level ground. Once a reasonable height is established, I personally check height-weight charts to find what is considered an appropriate weight for that height - you should find most newer female characters have what might be considered more reasonable weights for their height and build.
For oversized or unusual characters, we do take figuring out reasonable weights seriously. You would not believe the discussions we've had on the matter, and most of the time we can rely on our resident engineering wizard, Mike Fichera, to provide useful experiments and calculations. He's worked out the weights of dismembered individuals' separate body parts, a skeleton and bee combination (Swarm), living planets, and many more. Mike also set up got a converter program to allow us to figure out giants or shrunken individuals - just plug in the weight for someone of a given regular height, then adjust the height up or down and watch the weight change accordingly, in proportion to the new height. For animals, we can rely on head writer Jeff Christiansen, whose mild-mannered alter ego is a vet. 

So....thoughts, anyone? I'm definitely not done with this topic.

Until I wrestle an elephant in a wok and stop caring about this sort of thing, I remain

frogoat

Collector-Mania

So, I've been away from the keyboard for a long while now, and it comes with great joy that return to this haunt of mine and slip back into the habit.  But let's take baby steps first, start easy, shall we?

I've mentioned a few times my quest to collect all things Spider-Girl and MC2. Guess what I found online? German Spider-Girl comics! Oh, yes. You heard me right! They are reprints of early Spider-Girl issues, including #10 and #11, the time travel two-parter. I love that story! And now I can enjoy it in TWO languages...if I could read German, that is. Oops.

My simply wonderful partner-in-life bought me the much-sought-after First Appearance Spider-Girl figure, completing the MC2 set of ladies. If you're curious, the others in the set are American Dream, Stinger and Wild Thing. Having the full set is wonderful, even if the...um...... proportions are a little impractical. I may cover these figures later.

Sorry, only have a stock image at the moment.

While I'm on figures I finally (FINALLY!!!) found a Famous Cover Series Spider-Girl figure for a somewhat reasonable price.Mint in the box to boot! It's interesting the amount of items that came out within the first year or so of the MC2's imprint's run. Speaking of which...

During my occasionally *cough*frequent*cough* eBay crawls, I've come across this particular item: Battlebooks: Spider-Girl. What is it? Um...I've almost entirely no idea. An examination of this 'comic' reveals page after page of static images of our hero Spider-Girl reacting to various 'actions' as dictated by a matrix of number codes indicated by a card included inside the comic. Confused? Me too. Also, you need a friend with another, different book. Nuts to that, I say.

Until I get ever last stinkin' one of these collectables, I remain

frogoat

Marvel NOW!

Ever since Marvel announced there intention to shake things up across the board, changing creative teams, relaunching major titles and generally giving everything a spit-shine, I've been keenly waiting for things to slip in quality. Not because I wanted the initiative to fail, far from it; it's just that these kind of things never go as well as planned for very long. That said, so far I've been entirely wrong. I couldn't be happier.

Of the titles I'm currently reading, I understand Hawkeye is the critical darling of the comics-press. To be sure, it's an excellent book, with it's continuity-lite, single-issue-for-the-most-part story telling and unique look and tone. Not to mention the dialog is fantastic, to say nothing of the plots themselves. But to be fair, Young Avengers can boast all of the above with aplomb, such a feast for the senses it is. And what is it lately with writers inserting playlists into comics?! It's wicked-cool and I want more of it. Please and thank you.

Avengers Assemble is making it's own way in the world of Avengers titles (and there are quite a lot, aren't there?) with a heapin' helpin' of humor and snark. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick kills it every month, while still finding the right balance of pathos. Which brings me to Captain Marvel: brilliant art every month, nothing quite like it on the shelves today, and finally (finally!) Carol Danvers is given the respect she deserves. That's not to disregard all that's come before, I very much enjoyed the previous Ms Marvel series, but it was missing something this title isn't.

Speaking of Avengers, Rick Remender and John Cassaday's Uncanny Avengers is hard hitting goodness every month while Captain America by Remender and John Romita Jr (my first comic-artist-crush, people!) is mad, mad, mad excitement and gravitas. I've never seen such bonkers fun on a Cap title, it's a welcome change from all the espionage and spy-fare stuff of the past decade.

Superior Spider-Man is ludicrously well endowed when it comes to the art department, and I love Dan Slott. Not every issue has been a winner, but with the kind of tale being spun, I can forgive it. Plus *SPOILERS* sweeties: Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man 2099 is making an appearance soon. I'm still holding out for a Spider-Girl appearance, naturally.

Just to touch on a few more titles before I wrap this up; Journey into Mystery has gone from strength to strength,Fantastic Four is...well, fantastic: back to it's roots of adventurers in unexplored places and times, A+X is simple Marvel Two-in-One meets Marvel Team-Up concept title that really works.

And finally, Avengers Arena. What can I even say about this book that hasn't already been said? I thought it was a gimmick title to grab sales, 'Which one of your favorite young characters will bite the dust this issue?!' Only it wasn't. Dennis Hopeless wants to hit you right in the gut with every agonizing decision these poor characters make, he wants you to love these characters, really love these characters before he ends their short, sad lives in the most horrible way possible. And with art by Kev Walker, you can't help but feel every blow, every last breath escaping another lost soul caught up in Arcades twisted Murder World. It's high-stakes drama, not cheap thrills and sales-spikes this team is after, oh no! They want you to wish this wasn't happening, because the characters wish this wasn't happening. That's the sign of a great title with a great hook and a great creative team.

Until Squirrel Girl gets her own feature film, I remain

frogoat


    

Iron Man 3 Movie Review

Last night I watched Marvel Studios latest film, Iron Man 3 with a group of friends and my partner. Let's skip straight to the bit everyone seems to want to know: No, the post-credits scene isn't integral to any future films, but it is funny....shwarma funny.

Shane Black directs this monster of a film, and the directorial differences between Jon Favreau (the director of the previous two films) and Shane are distinct yet similar in tone. Without spoiling to much in this review, the action scenes, along with some great character work by the cast make this a movie you won't want to look away from, even if you have a strong urge to pee. Which will suck for those with weak bladders, because this movie is great, but still clocks in at over two hours long.

Narrated by Robert Downey, Jr. in-character as Tony Stark, the film kicks off years before the first film, and ties a few events together, throwing a couple of new comic-concepts into the mix including AIM and the Extremis enhancile and giving us a nice set up for the rest of the film, as well as reminding us Tony can be a bit of dick.

I'll attempt to avoid most major plot points, but I can't review this film without mentioning in passing what a brilliant play on expectations this film delivers with the Mandarin. Ben Kingsley turns in a surprising performance, as do Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale and Rebecca Hall. As a matter of fact, the casting in this film is virtually flawless, and considering this film has an extended period featuring Tony interacting with a child actor (Ty Simpkins), that's impressive.

This film toys with some very dark stuff for a Marvel film, but manages to effectively dance along the edge, throwing in some well timed humor when things get too grim. Concerned with breaking Tony Stark down to his core, this third film really nails some home truths about who he is, with the occasional glimpse of something amiss behind his face and eccentricities. Apparently the events of The Avengers has taken it's toll.

All in all, highly recommended. This film wont change your life, but it's still darn good fun to watch and you'll be riveted to your seat. Until Stan stops making cameos, I remain

frogoat

Tales of Who's Past: Barbara

I wonder if anyone outside of classic series Doctor Who fans really cares about dusty old black-and-white companions. But Barbara was the first (along with Ian) the very first, and that makes her-to my mind at least-the archetype, the blueprint, the sounding board for all the companions since. And what a fine example of a companion she is.

In the beginning, before we had a codifier for what the series should be, we had a primordial soup of ideas and roles to fill. But the characters, the actors, grew and changed. Barbara is iconic. Barbara was strong and feisty before it was a thing. Barbara is the first person to ever put the Doctor in his place ( The Edge of Destruction, fact fans). That's right, Barbara, the humble history teacher of Coal Hill School, gave the First Doctor a stern talking to, arguably changing the Doctor's character forever, more so than any other companion has ever managed.

Barbara Wright didn't have it easy through the shows first two years. Surviving savage cavemen, the first person in the series ever to encounter a Dalek, meeting Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, questing for the Keys of Marinus (including being...erm...menaced by a mountain man), then arriving in an Aztec temple in Mexico....

Barbara's stand out performance comes in The Aztecs, where she takes center stage, being mistaken for Yetaxa, a god in human form. Attempting to change the course of history for the better (another first), only for things to turn out as written leaves Barbara shaken.

And on and on, Barbara stands out as not just a cypher, but as a well rounded character, with a shining performance from Jacqueline Hill, falling in love across time and space, lost and scared, but always so brave and so determined. Barbara isn't just one kind of companion, she represents all kinds of companions, she showed us what a companion could be and for that, I'll always be grateful.

Until all of history is changed ('Not one line'), I remain

frogoat

The End..For Now?!

I felt it with Avengers: The Initiative. I felt it with She-Hulk. I felt it with Captain Britain and MI:13. I felt it with Exiles. I felt it with Young Avengers. I felt it with S.W.O.R.D. I felt it when Runaways abruptly came to an end mid-story...how come no one has asked Mrs Immonen what she had planned there anyway? SPOILERS, SWEETIE! I felt it with Slingers. I felt it with Avengers Academy. And I most definitely felt it when Spider-Girl ended. Cancellation.

This was a great series. Check it out!

Usually it's low sales, sometimes a creative team want's to finish the story, maybe the series get's demoted to a mini, or the publisher decides the concept either doesn't work or interferes with their company wide event.
Low sales can be caused by a number of things, the most obvious often sited reason-according to the internets being 'it sucks'. Other, more quantifiable reasons include problems with character, lack of a 'hook' to make it stand out in the crowd or a lack/overabundance/badly handled drama or action.

But, if the book is a critical darling and is well reviewed consistently, then why isn't it selling? This past decade is a good place to look: when a 'Big Event' title is released, with all it's myriad tie-in's and connected mini-series, chances are, people are going to by the Event stuff, because, hey! it's a big deal, apparently. It's got the hype, the marketing, the big characters and the already-proven writer and artist team. Your favorite soon-to-be-cancelled title or soon-to-be-forgotten character frankly don't stand a chance.

Six issues and cancelled. Seriously?!

The only good thing you can hope for when your little gem of a title bites the dust is a guest appearance in another title, perhaps a supporting role in one of those other team books....people like those Avengers, right?! Who knows, maybe one day we'll see a resurgence and we'll get a reboot, a relaunch, a fresh take. Question is, will it have the same magic or will it fail and leave you cold while simultaneously ending any chance of a revival for another long stretch, maybe forever....

Until I see a relaunch of all these and more, I remain

frogoat

MC2 Eras

You can kind of look at the entirety of the MC2 Universe's publication history in terms of  two major eras. I'll break it down by year for the most part. Shall we begin?

The First Wave

1998-1999: You've got the first year, with the original three titles; Spider-Girl, A-Next and  J2 with 12 issues released apiece, as well as Spider-Girl #0, a reprint of the original What if #105 tale.

A-Next #1

 1999-2000: The second year saw A-Next and J2 replaced by the short-lived Fantastic Five and Wild Thing, lasting for only 5 issues apiece (and a special Wild Thing #0 released through Wizard magazine) before cancellation. The Spider-Girl title was kept around as a sort of home-base title for the others to orbit around, an idea which was both fortunate and ironic considering the brief publishing history of the other titles.

Fantastic Five (volume 1) #1

2000-2001: The third 'year' for MC2 brought only two mini series, but hey, they were some darn good 3-issue-apiece mini series; The Buzz and Darkdevil.  Let's call these first three years the first wave of MC2 titles. After this, Spider-Girl would be the only comic carrying the MC2 banner for a very long time...
 

Darkdevil #1

The Second Wave

Fast forward to 2005: Nearly 8 years into the MC2 imprint's run we had one more show of faith from Marvel. It was called Last Hero Standing, it was a 5 issue mini series and it was a revolution. Not only did we get a new MC2 comic, we got all of the previous characters, we got old favorites returning and most importantly....we got the second wave of MC2 series.

Last Hero Standing #1

2006-2007: The original Spider-Girl series reached a momentous Marvel milestone with issue #100 and was, finally cancelled...for a whole month before being relaunched as The Amazing Spider-Girl. Add to this a sequel-of-sorts to Last Hero Standing with Last Planet Standing (Galactus is in this one!).

2007-2008: Amazing Spider-Girl would continue with a compliment of mini series: Avengers Next (giving the A-Next crew a second volume) and Fantastic Five (you guess it, another second volume) both featuring fun art by the criminally underrated Ron Lim working with Scott Koblish.

Avengers Next #1

2008-2009: More Amazing Spider-Girl and yet another mini series, this time focusing on a single character: American Dream. Amazing Spider-Girl ends with issue #30 only to escape cancellation again, instead seeing publication in Amazing Spider-Man Family. It's noteworthy that Spider-Girl becomes Marvel's first digital exclusive comic at this point too, as May's adventures (collectively dubbed 'Spectacular Spider-Girl' online) appear on Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited service prior to being physically published in 'Family'.

American Dream: Beyond Courage TPB

2009-2010: Spider-Girl tales soon transferred to Web of Spider-Man, as well as continuing in the online service. By this point, I think a lot of fans became pretty apprehensive about the future of the character. Being published in your own title is one thing. Being a back up feature is a completely different thing.

2010-2011: Just when everything looked dire, Marvel announced a new ongoing series for everyone's favorite web-stunner: Spectacular Spider-Girl. There was much rejoicing. Then they changed their minds; now it was a 4-issue mini series. Then the unthinkable happened: Spider-Girl: The End was announced. Then within a month of this devastating news, a new Spider-Girl series was announced....only it wasn't our Spider-Girl. Araña. Sometimes Marvel doesn't think these things through....

All that's left to mention now is American Dream's featured role in the Captain America Corps mini series by the legendary Roger Stern and the very talented Philippe Briones. 

Hopefully one day the MC2 will see a renaissance and come back bigger and brighter than ever.

Until then, I'll keep the candle in the window

frogoat

Degrees of Doctor Who

Ever sat down to watch a movie or perhaps your favorite new show only to do a comical spit take when you realize you know that characters face?

Just the other day, for instance, I happened to catch a few minutes of  a 1959 film; The Mouse That Roared in time to catch a glimpse of the legendary William Hartnell as Will Buckley. It's such good fun, but let's not make it so hard to play the game. Let's start with the big targets of genre film, shall we?

I've mentioned Tolkien's world previous in The Hobbit review. Sylvester McCoy- best known for playing The Seventh Doctor- here plays Radagast the Brown to kooky perfection. I truly hope we see more of his performance, either in the remaining films or on the home releases special features. Fingers crossed, aye? Check off Middle-Earth, then.

I've only touched upon the Alien universe very briefly when discussing artificial life. This next person is all too human. Alien 3 gives us Golic- a convict turned convert- who is very much out of touch with reality, played by the inimitable Paul McGann, aka The Eighth Doctor. His role is unfortunately cut rather short in the theatrical release, but an entire sub-plot revolving around his character unfolds in the so-called 'Assembly Cut' of the film available in the box sets. Aliens, check.

Christopher Eccelston aka The Ninth Doctor has had a commendable career on the big screen as well as the small. Some people may remember him as the baddie from Gone in Sixty Seconds, or as that guy from 28 Days Later, or even McCullen from the GI Joe flick. Heck, if you watched Heroes, you will remember him. Adding yet another notch in his genre belt, however is the up-coming Marvel film follow up, Thor: The Dark World. Marvel? Big ol' check.


I'm a big Harry Potter fan. I'm a big Doctor Who fan. So, it was both surprising and with much glee that I watched David Tennant-who played the creepy and loyal Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr- cast as none other than The Tenth Doctor. Stange then, isnt it, that in his run on Doctor Who he mentions reading the Potter series and crying through 'book 7'. How does that work, then? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Yes, ma'am.
 

Any more? Give it a go, you might find more than you bargained for.

Until Matt Smith is cast in the new Star Wars films, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Girls and Spider-Skrulls

You may recall a while back I made a couple of posts about the various MC2 collections and variants: Part 1: Singles and Variants and Part 2: Trades and Digests.

Well, guess what just arrived in the mail today? 

Skrull-y Goodness

That's right, faithful readers, the Amazing Spider-Girl #19  'Skrull' variant cover. Strangely enough, the regular cover of this issue was incorrectly printed as #17. Even more interesting, I've very recently learned that there is in fact a third version of Amazing Spider-Girl #19; A Newsstand release with correct numbering and the original cover coloring. Cool, right?

Newsstand Variant with correct number

Another interesting thing about this cover, both the Skrull-y version and the original is the clear intent (to my mind, anyway) behind it. Backstory: When Marvel first unveiled Araña back in '04 there was some speculation amongst fan and even hints from the company itself that Anya Corazon would take on the mantle of Spider-Girl.

You can imagine this didn't go down well with Mayday's supporters. There was backlash and angry postings and even some old fashioned letters written to Marvel. Tom Defalco, being the consummate professional he is, took to the comic boards and even took interviews to remind everybody that Mayday wasn't going anywhere...for the time being, anyway.  I've never heard Tom, Ron or anyone working on the book say anything but good things about Araña as a character.

The standard release with mis-numbering

Of course, fans being fans, we do like to worry and speculate ourselves into a frenzy. And so, animosity between the two fandoms has been palpable at times. What sort of editorial team wouldn't want to play the angle up? Here on the cover you've got the original versus the 'replacement' Add to that the Skrull motif at the time of paranoia and the fear of hidden usurpers and you've got the perfect recipe for an awesome alternate cover.

There is, of course more to tell about Araña in the MC2, but that can wait for another time...

Until that time comes, I remain,

frogoat

Comic Homages

Continuing on from my previous post about homages and all things lovingly referenced, I present to you, my loyal readers (if I have any) a further examination into not just cover homages, but also panels, stories and motifs. Read on.

You may remember a small little post a while back regarding the subtle and not-so-subtle connections between Amazing Spider-man #9 and Spider-Girl #9: Electrically-themed villain, cover parallels, heck, even the same number issue! I'll link it here so you can take a quick peak: http://frogoat.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/supanova-approaches.html

Well, let's go deeper down the rabbit hole, shall we?

A-Next #8 clearly borrows heavily from the classic Avengers #93 (from the absolutely sublime Kree/Skrull War saga) in which Ant-Man enters the body of the inert android Vision to re-activate him, battling his way through the synthetic man's strange immune system in the process. Meanwhile, in the MC2's Avengers Compound, Stinger enlists her father Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man as they venture inside the mechanical Mainframe (spoilers, by the way) to ensure his malfunctioning module broadcasts his intelligence into another body.

Avengers #93 art by Neal Adams and Tom Palmer

A-Next #8 art by Ron Frenz and Al Milgrom

While we are talking about A-Next, I can't go past the most obvious nod to the Avengers past: Avengers #16. The first and most daring Avenger's roster shake-up ever, throwing the established team of Giant-Man (formerly Ant-Man), the Wasp, Thor and Iron Man out in favor of relative unknown's (to say nothing of known criminals and possible terrorists) Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The impact this had on the fledgeling team is probably the most significant, proving to the readers and the creative team that this little Avengers thing--this could work no matter who was in the book, so long as it was good.

Avengers #16

 Over in A-Next #4 we get American Dream and her Dream Team thrust upon the new fledgeling team of Avengers by the machinations of the mighty Mainframe. Suddenly, the team has to face the possibility of replacement by an already functional and well-trained team. This time we get American Dream (already glimpsed in A-Next #3 and sneakily hidden in A-Next #1. Look closely), Freebooter, Blue Streak and the mysterious Crimson Curse.

A-Next #4

Want more Avenger-y goodness? Avengers #25 features the newbie Avengers (Cap's Kooky Quartet as fan's have since dubbed them) in Latveria, doing battle with the good doctor himself, Doctor Doom (with a name like that, was he ever going to be a horse-whisperer?). A-Next #5 features (you guessed it!) the new members- teamed with Stinger- in Latveria investigating rumors of a returned Doctor Doom.

 This issue not only pays it's dues to the Avengers tale but also to Marvel history, utilizing Doom's ward Kristoff Vernard and building upon old Fantastic Four and Avengers characters and stories. Most of which I haven't read and don't need to to understand the situation. In short: Stinger aka Cassandra Lang and Kristoff Vernard were lovers. Beautiful.

What it adds is also impressive: We hear in A-Next #3 from the Defenders that the 'savage' Sub-Mariner, Namor did battle with Doom. In this tale we discover more tidbits. Scattered through-out the MC2 universe are hints of what happened: Doom wiped out Atlantis, killing Namor's people, and in return, Namor kill's Doom. Or so we are led to believe.....


Until I run out of homages to ramble about, I remain

frogoat

Comic Cover Homages

Being a comic fan for a long time has it's ups and it's downs; watching continuity being reset, reboot, re-tooled or retconned can be annoying and down right frustrating, for example. On the other hand, if you've stuck with the medium long enough, chances are you've seen a few iconic first appearances, a few classic moments, maybe even witnessed a great piece of comic history being made. By a certain point, you've seen enough to notice the homages.

 

 I haven't got a great deal to say about this topic right now, but I guess the visuals speak for themselves, anyway.

 

As you can see from the last couple alone, the MC2 is teeming with love and respect for the classics. Fitting, I think, considering the creators are clearly channeling the feel of the Silver Age, the Bronze Age and even the so-called Modern Age. Why, I hear you ask? It's simple: When something is good, it's good!

Until I quit loving comics in general and the MC2 in particular, I remain

frogoat

Tales of Who's Past: Rose

That is a nice jacket.

Rose Tyler traveled with both the Ninth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor. Rose was both a companion to the Doctor and, for (almost) the first time ever, a love interest. The story of Rose and the Doctor is written as a love story, 'without the shagging' as David Tennant would say. I both enjoyed and despised the new take on the companion in Doctor Who. Here's why:

Rose is a Mary Sue, the blank slate for the audience to latch onto and identify with; she is us, we experience the series through Rose's eyes first (check out the very first new series episode, aptly titled 'Rose'). Trouble is, Rose is perfect. Well, okay, to be fair, Rose has flaws, it's just that in language of the series she doesn't ever have any negative consequences. Rose is a cypher, in the sense that she does everything the audience wants to do....it's almost like reading a fan fiction sometimes.

Don't misunderstand me, I adore Rose. Rose was my first companion, and she holds a special place in my heart as a fan of the series, however she does get a bit arrogant and even blasè by the time you get half way through series 2, laughing at danger. Rose saves the Doctor -just like the audience at home wanted too- in The Parting of the Ways, brings Captain Jack Harness back from the dead (the sexy devil!) and destroys the Daleks. But she also treats Mickey (her boyfriend) rather badly and admits to her mother she made a decision long ago, choosing the Doctor over her mother. Try telling Amy that when she traveled with her boyfriend/fiance/husband, daughter and father-in-law. And a mad man in a blue box, naturally.

Rose, I loved you, I missed you when you left, but I also remember the down side to being such a blank slate character. It's a mixed blessing, this Mary Sue business.

Until Captain Jack makes out with the Face of Boe, I remain

frogoat

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review

Fashionably late, as ever, I deliver unto you, my faithful readers, my review of The Hobbit (well... the first part of a three-part adaption that integrates material from other Tolkien sources to flesh it out further).

Firstly, the film is long. It clocks in at around 3 hours. But don't worry, it will fly by. Peter Jackson's direction gives the film a good pace, with no part of the film dragging nor feeling to short. Obviously, the small fights become gigantic set-pieces for action sequences and I have to say, it's appreciated. After the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it goes without saying that we've come to expect rollicking action adventure in our fantasy films and Jackson delivers the goods with style.

Secondly, I've never read the novel, nor any of Tolkien's work, and I never felt lost or a step behind. The narrative is straightforward enough and the few references I didn't understand didn't amount to any great lose of enjoyment or fits of despair. Always a good sign, surely. At times in the film, however, I did identify that which I believe was clearly 'filler' or, to put it another way, a screenwriter's embellishment or change. This isn't to say the film was made any less enthralling, it's just that the added material was often very noticeable. Certain characters occasionally switching speech patterns, that kind of thing. Again, I haven't read the novel, so feel free to correct me.

Thirdly, the returning cast were on fine form and the new faces were welcome additions. Sir Ian McKellen slides back into the robes of Gandalf with ease, and Andy Serkis is as entertaining as ever as the twisted Gollum. Martin Freeman impressed as a young Bilbo Baggins while Richard Armitage puts in a great turn as Thorin Oakenshield. Special mention, however, has to go to what I believe to be the best piece of character-actor casting in the history of cinema: Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown. I challenge anyone not to play Six Degrees of Separation with this cast...

All in all, I enjoyed this third of the tale. I still don't see this stretching into two further films as smoothly, but I'll reserve judgement for the time being.

Until Gandalf comes out of the Hobbit hole, I remain

frogoat 

Global Re-Read: Spider-Girl #13-15 and Annual '99

So, after completing the first year of May's tales, Miss A -as my pal shall, be referred to for now-has sat down and we've chewed through another chunk of MC-2 goodness. Enjoy.
 

First things first, May get's the idea to join the new Avengers team. Seems daddy dearest wasn't a joiner, only briefly working with the Avengers or the FF. Spider-Girl, on the other hand is not going down that road. So, she tries out-by way of capture the flag-and rapidly wipes the floor with nearly every member of the team, until beaten by Stinger, who's all kinds of cool. Miss A and I agree, however, that May's conversation with Jimmy (who's been acting all kinds of macho jerk butt-hole lately) about their friendship was the stand-out moment of the issue, both a satisfying conclusion to the plot thread and hilarious and real to boot. 

May never told anyone about Jimmy peeing in a girls sanfbox as a kid. A wonderful touch of honesty.

  
At this time, I'd better come clean: We read out of order. The Annual fits neatly between #12 and #13....oops. Anyway! The shock of Misery's Grief Machine-induced trauma was a big deal to Miss A, especially when *SPOILERS!* Peter and Mary Jane are apparently killed. The back-up tales are fun too, particularly the who's-better-at-what of Spidey versus Spidey powers. Very cool.

Issue #14 is brilliant. Miss A instantly took a liking to Kaine, and, having already latched onto Darkdevil, this issue was always going to be enjoyable. But then came the characterization, the dialog, the sheer gravity behind Kaine's debut- at least in this universe. Kaine has history-or at least knowledge of the Parker family and had something to do with Darkdevil's origins. Hmmm, interesting! The final page,  however, is a punch directly aimed at us, the reader. Take a look.

Finally, issue #15 begins with a shocked MJ discovering May's shiner. Miss A found this moving, powerful stuff with great page layouts. We get a nice, light adventure with Davida taking May shopping to cheer her up, encounter a newly almost-together Moose and Courtney and Moose defends Spider-Girl. Speaking of Moose, Jimmy and he are--what's the phrase I'm looking for, here--No! Friends?! Speedball and Spider-Girl battle the goofy-but-fun villain Mr Abnormal, and May realizes it's not always fun, but it's worth stinking with the hero biz. Meanwhile, Moose doesn't realize Courtney isn't Spider-Girl. Oh, Moose, Miss A is amused.

Until the next batch of issues get's read and discussed, I remain

frogoat