PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN #-1 - July 1997

A Prelude in Red

Credits:  Howard Mackie (writer), Dan Fraga (penciler), Scott Hanna (inks), Gregory Wright (colors), Comicraft (letters)

The Plot:  George Stacy investigates a mysterious series of deaths; deaths his brother Arthur blames on mutants.  George arranges for Arthur to work security for Osborn Industries, but his job is threatened when Arthur investigates the disappearance of Osborn employee Nels Van Adder.  When armed men attack his home, Arthur blames Norman Osborn, but George is skeptical.  That night in the plant, the brothers are ambushed by the mutated Van Adder.  To save George’s life, Arthur has to shove Van Adder into the nearby river.  Osborn later attempts to make peace with Arthur, but he refuses.

The Subplots:  A young Peter Parker visits the Osborn plant with Uncle Ben and Aunt May.  Norman is impressed with Peter’s scientific knowledge.

Web of Continuity:  

• As established back in the Stan Lee days, George Stacy and Norman Osborn are friends.
• Nels Van Adder is the “Proto-Goblin” you see on the cover, although he’s never called that in the issue.  
• Mutants are still considered an urban legend at this point in continuity, one George Stacy doesn’t believe in.
• Osborn blames his former partner Mendel Stromm for Van Adder’s condition, even though Osborn’s the one that’s been experimenting on him.  At the end of the story, Osborn finds the notes he’s been looking for hidden within Stromm’s desk, which presumably ties into the Green Goblin’s origin story.

Review:  Yes, Dan Fraga drew a Flashback issue.  And it’s actually not bad at all.  I’m not sure if Fraga’s style had already evolved by this point or if he took a less Liefeld-y approach specifically for Flashback Month, but it’s a welcome change from what you might remember from the Extreme Studios days.  There’s still a cartoony element, but the figures are much more realistic and the faces are attractive, exhibiting  a bit of an Arthur Adams or Mike Wieringo influence.  My only real complaint is the Backstreet Boys hairdo he’s given Arthur Stacy, which looks ridiculous on a character that’s supposed to be a middle-aged security expert and private eye.

And what about the plot?  Howard Mackie looks Flashback straight in the eye and says, “I’m not doing a Li’l Peter Parker story.”  Fair enough.  Peter’s relegated to a tiny cameo while Mackie explores the dynamic between long-dead supporting cast member George Stacy and his younger brother, new supporting cast member Arthur Stacy.  Mackie hits home the idea that Arthur is a paranoid conspiracy theorist, an aspect of the character that I don’t think is mentioned again until the “Next Chapter” relaunch of the books almost two years later.  The villain of the piece is Norman Osborn, experimenting on one of his employees while he’s still trying to perfect the Goblin Formula.  I can’t think of any obvious continuity problems with the concept, even if some might argue that Mackie’s reaching a bit to find a supervillain for the issue.  As far as continuity implants go, I think this one is inoffensive enough.

As I’ve stated many times, I don’t consider Mackie to be a strong character writer, so going into this I wasn’t expecting the George/Arthur material to be the highlight of the issue.  The character work isn’t great, but it is better than most of Mackie’s material from the era.  He gets across the idea that George is the straight-laced, responsible brother, while Arthur is always exploring a wild idea or chasing a conspiracy (i.e. he’s the screw-up.)  The ideas are never subtle, but they work well enough for a one-shot story.  At this point, this probably is the best story to feature the revived Stacy family, although  I can't say Mackie goes anywhere with the momentum.

GENERATION X ‘97 - December 1997

The Wages of Despair

Credits: Elliot S! Maggin (writer), Dan Fraga (penciler), Lary Stucker (inker), Comicraft (letters), Don Skinner (colors). Based on a novel by Scott Lobdell & Elliot S! Maggin

Summary: Chamber notices that his Gen X teammates are behaving strangely. They’re cold, distant, and increasingly lifeless. Images of the Hellions, Emma Frost’s previous team, are also appearing around the campus. Chamber hallucinates that his body is back to normal and Emma is recruiting him at the London branch of the Hellfire Club. In reality, M and Husk are taking his body to the Biosphere, where D’Spayre is waiting. Chamber fights back, expelling D’Spayre in a nexus of psionic energy. Chamber appears lost in the nexus, but he forces his body to rematerialize. His body briefly returns to its pre-mutant state, but he’s unable to maintain his original form. Soon, his face and chest are again consumed with psionic energy.

Review: Marvel licensed a plethora of paperback novels in the ‘90s, but I didn’t know until now that one of them was adapted into an actual comic. I can’t speak for the quality of the original novel (which is never named in the issue), but the adaptation has major problems. Since Chamber is the narrator, the only one unaffected by D’Spayre, and ultimately the hero, it’s obvious this is a Chamber story. However, I have no idea what the story’s supposed to be saying about him. The idea is floated that the other characters are all acting as depressed as Chamber normally acts, but really, they’re acting like zombies. They don’t even have pupils after a certain point. If the story’s about Chamber’s feelings regarding his teammates, we’re never offered any deep insight into what he really thinks about them. If the story is about him yearning for a whole body again, the idea’s barely explored. An entire story about Chamber getting his body back and losing it again has potential, but the comic deals with this in literally one page.

Perhaps the novel had a clearer theme, along with an actual explanation for what D’Spayre wants, and a fleshed out arc for Skin and Sync (who leave the school when things get weird, eat lunch, and then go back only to be immediately captured). Dan Fraga, fresh from Extreme Studios, provides the art. It seems as if he’s moved on to a Jim Lee impersonation, and while he shows a little personality on a few pages, the characters usually end up with the same generic faces and bodies throughout the issue.

X-FORCE/YOUNGBLOOD #1 - August 1996

Credits: Eric Stephenson & Robert Napton (writers), Stephen Platt, Dan Fraga, Richard Horie, Ching Lau, Michael Linchang, Mark Pajarillo, & Andy Park (pencilers), Marlo Alquiza, Eric Cannon, Robert Lacko, Sean Parsons, Norm Rapmund, & Lary Stucker (inkers), Kurt Hathaway (letters), Dan Shadian, Extreme Color, & Quantum Color (colors)

Summary: X-Force rejoins Ricochet Rita in the fight against Mojo. Mojo enlists the aid of Youngblood’s enemies, the Four, to squelch the rebellion. Meanwhile, Youngblood member Sentinel develops a transdimensional accelerator that enables the team to return to Mojoworld. With Youngblood’s help, X-Force defeats the Four. The heroes are shocked when Dazzler emerges from Youngblood’s craft. She takes Shaft and Shatterstar to Mojo’s dungeon to release Longshot, as the united teams confront Mojo. Outmatched, Mojo triggers an explosion. Badrock and Caliban protect their teammates from the debris, but Mojo escapes.

Continuity Notes: Dazzler reveals that she was actually Mojo’s servant, the Agent, from the first chapter of the crossover. After Mojo’s nexus in the Extreme Universe was destroyed, his magic wore off and she returned to normal. She hid out in Youngblood’s ship and emerged when they reached Mojoworld.

Gimmicks: There’s an alternate cover by Rob Liefeld that manages to get the title mixed up.

I Love the ‘90s: Badrock calls breaking through a wall his impression of the sitcom Home Improvement.

Review: Okay, this one is the mess you were probably expecting. I’ll start with the art. Apparently, each individual pouch on a character’s costume required its own artist, so approximately nine thousand people were brought in to draw this thing. The issue opens with Stephen Platt doing his standard McFarlane/Adams impersonation:

It ain’t pretty, but you at least have the impression that some effort went into this. As the story progresses, the amount of detail lines drop, and the composition somehow manages to get even worse:

By the time you reach the final pages, the art looks like a napkin sketch that was blown up to standard comic size:

Why, it’s almost as if the book was thrown together at the last minute to meet a deadline.

The first chapter of the crossover was at least coherent and enjoyable on its own terms. This just reads like a generic team-up of generic ‘90s heroes fighting generically ugly ‘90s villains. The wit of Stephenson’s first script is gone, as the characters are now incredibly stiff and barely anyone shows signs of a personality. Not only is the plot an awkward fit with the first chapter (Ricochet Rita is given a lot of attention in the opening, while Mojo II, a fairly prominent character in the first chapter, has just disappeared in-between issues…plus, the idea that Badrock would be a “savior” to Mojoworld is forgotten), but it also introduces ideas seemingly at random that are never resolved.

After the issue opens with a lengthy monologue by Ricochet Rita, lamenting Dazzler’s death, Rita disappears without explanation. Dazzler’s “death” is resolved, but Longshot is thrown into the story for no real reason. He’s freed during the final pages, as Mojo escapes the fight, and has literally nothing to do. There’s also an abortive plot thread about Shatterstar, Siryn, and Warpath abandoning Cable during the fight with Mojo’s minions because they feel he’s wasting time. Shatterstar perks up when he hears Longshot’s name, reviving the long-forgotten hint that he’s Shatterstar’s father, but it’s another idea that isn’t addressed by the story’s end. Another abandoned idea is the concept that the X-Force and Youngblood team-up is actually helping Mojo, since it boosts his ratings. There’s no resolution, as the issue just ends with a big explosion and another hint that a sequel is on the way. The story isn’t as much of a mess as the art, but it’s close. It’s a shame, since the first installment proved that these comics don’t have to suck.