EXCALIBUR Annual #1 - August 1993

Black Magic

Credits: Evan Skolnick (writer), Chris Marrinan & Audwynn Newman (pencilers), Mark McKenna, Danny Bulandi, & Keith Williams (inkers), Dana Moreshead & Mike Thomas (colors), Janice Chiang (letters)

Summary: A dark elf plagues Cerise’s dreams. With Excalibur, she traces the source of her dreams to a nearby castle, occupied by an elderly magician named Ghath. He blames the dreams on his attempts to return to his true world and apologizes. Suddenly, the dark elf Khaos breaks in and attacks. After taking him captive, Cerise realizes that Ghath is the true enemy; a sorcerer who’s still causing destruction on his homeworld of Irth. Excalibur and Khaos follow her to Ghath’s castle, where they’re magically transported to Irth. They defeat Ghath, only to discover after returning home that remnants of Ghath’s spell have trapped Khaos on Earth. He declines Excalibur’s offer to join and focuses on discovering a way home.

Continuity Notes: This story is set shortly before Alan Davis’ final Excalibur storyline, “Days of Future Yet to Come.”

Gimmicks: This comic comes polybagged with a Khaos trading card.

Review: Excalibur had a 1993 annual? A Collectible First Appearance of a New Marvel Superstar annual?! Somehow, I was unaware of this gem until I discovered an online article about the 1993 annual stunt. This same article has an interview with Evan Skolnick that confirms that Khaos and his associated cast of characters began life as creations in Skolnick’s teenage Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. This means that Khaos has ten times the backstory of the average 1993 annual creation, which Skolnick attentively spells out over a lengthy flashback sequence. Trust me, there’s a lot of history behind Khaos that I haven’t recapped, largely because it isn’t germane to the main story at all.

Now, of course it’s absurd that Excalibur’s caught up in an adventure with a Marvel staffer’s D&D avatar, but I have to admit that Khaos is more tolerable than almost all of the other 1993 debut characters. There’s nothing unique about a noble warrior from a fantasy world that’s trapped on Earth, but I don’t recall those tropes showing up too often in the early ‘90s. Khaos is about ten years behind the times, but considering that those times mostly brought us cyborg bounty hunters with fantastic mullets, he’s almost a welcome bit of nostalgia at this point. The problem with the story is the lack of connection between Khaos and Excalibur. There’s some talk of Khaos being a misfit during his youth, and Nightcrawler is jealous of Cerise’s apparent attraction to him, but these are minor moments in a very dense story. There’s also a tacked-on rationalization that Khaos and his friends could be Irth’s incarnation of Excalibur, which is a weak way of trying to tie Excalibur’s long-running alternate reality shtick into throwaway annual filler. This could just have easily been a West Coast Avengers adventure; trying to sell the audience on some phony association with Excalibur is just a reminder of how generic this story has actually been.

Honey is Money

Credits: Joey Cavalieri (writer), David Boller (penciler), Kevin Conrad (inker), Glynis Oliver (colors), Richard Starkings (letters)

Summary: A knight serving the Princess Flavia holds Numbers hostage, forcing the Technet to retrieve special nectar from another dimension. After narrowly escaping from giant bees, Technet returns with the bounty. Flavia appears and takes the nectar, using it to cure the knight’s acne.

Review: It’s a Technet comedy story, so of course this is going to be silly and lighthearted. The use of Princess Flavia is a nod to people who might be familiar with the character from literature or opera, but it’s not as if Cavalieri is trying to produce a serious work here. It’s a joke story, and since most of the jokes work, I can’t complain.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN Annual #9 - June 1993

The Origin of the Cadre

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Nelson Ortega (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Joe Rosen (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

The Plot: Three mysterious babies are left on the doorstep of a monastery. The children (Shard, Vortex, and Dementia) are raised by the Knights Templar, and left ignorant of their connection to the Hellbent. Calling themselves the Cadre, the orphans reach young adulthood and sneak out of the monastery. On the night they leave, the monastery is assaulted by the Hellbent.

The Subplots: Gregori, one of the Knights Templar, is worried about the “potential danger” of the Cadre’s “cursed heritage.” Later, when the Hellbent attack, they boast that the Knights have been betrayed by someone named Seth.

Gimmicks: Like all of Marvel’s 1993 annuals, this comic comes polybagged with a trading card spotlighting the fantastic new characters introduced this issue.

Review: Ah, so the Hellbent are something Kavanagh carries from book to book with him. I bet they’re even in his Moon Knight run, aren’t they? Just like their portrayal in X-Man, this is too vague to really be engaging, although Kavanagh does work an admirable amount of plot into just a few pages. The structure of this annual is odd, as we’re getting a short story spotlighting the new characters before the main story, starring the title hero, appears.

Chaos Is the Cadre!

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Chris Marrinan (penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Jon Babcock, Joe Rosen, & Rick Parker (letters), Joe Rosas (colorist)

The Plot: Peter and MJ’s romantic dinner is interrupted by the Cadre, who are running amok in Manhattan. Spider-Man tries to run interference between the teens and Code: Blue, but the violence doesn’t stop until one of the Knight Templars, Chloe, arrives. She takes the Cadre away with her, declaring “the Shadowspawn” her responsibility.

The Subplots: Peter is still concerned with MJ’s smoking.

I Love the ‘90s: Peter refers to himself as “a ‘90s husband” when MJ questions if he’s okay with her paying the bill.

Review: The “real” story begins, but calling this a “story” is generous. Peter and MJ have their token domestic scene, MJ behaves irrationally because that’s how she tended to behave during this era of the books (although the in-story explanation has everyone in the area affected by Dementia’s powers), Spider-Man has a misunderstanding fight with the Cadre, and a mystery lady appears to take them away. Why, it’s almost as if this story has nothing to do with Spidey. I am glad to see Chris Marrinan on art, since I like his interpretation of Spider-Man and the action scenes look nice, but even he can’t save the ridiculous designs of the Cadre.

Things to Come

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Vince Evans (penciler), Bill Anderson (inker), Rick Parker (letterer), Mark Bernardo (colorist)

The Plot: Following the massacre at the monastery, the Cadre attempt to adjust to life with Chloe. Unbeknownst to her, the teens are determined to learn the identity of their mother.

The Subplots: Chloe is fearful that the Cadre will be recruited by Seth the Immortal.

*See _________ For Details: An event involving the Hellbent called the “Bloodline Agenda” is set to occur in Moon Knight #50. (A-ha! And are there any guesses as to who was writing Moon Knight at this time...?)

Review: Labeled the epilogue to the main story, this is presumably a character-building piece starring the Cadre. All we learn about them is that they’re sad the Knights who raised them are dead, and they want to find their mother. Also, Dementia seemed to be going nuts for a little while there, but she’s getting better now. I’m certainly riveted. Chloe gets a few pages of internal monologue to spell out the internal politics of the Hellbent, but the plot still seems needlessly confusing. Is this Hellbent stuff over with now?

Mayhem in the Streets

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Fred Haynes (penciler), Tim Tuohy (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Dana Moreshead (colorist)

The Plot: Cloak and Dagger reluctantly face their former friend, Mayhem, who is killing local hoods. During their fight, Mayhem is apparently killed by one of Dagger’s light-daggers.

The Subplots: None.

Review: I’ll take a wild stab in the dark and guess that Mayhem is also a Terry Kavanagh creation that predates his run on Web of Spider-Man. I actually don’t mind Kavanagh pulling his past continuity into this book, assuming he’s telling stories that actually make sense and aren’t filled with vague, mystic nonsense. Perhaps Mayhem was supposed to have an extended arc that was cut short when Cloak and Dagger was cancelled, so he’s resolving it here. Fine. I’m not given enough information on Mayhem to actually care about the character, but maybe Cloak and Dagger fans got something out of this.

Opening Gambit

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Mark Powers (penciler), Hector Collazo (inker), Joe Rosen (letterer), Rob Tokar (colorist)

The Plot: While investigating the origins of his costume at ESU, Nightwatch stumbles across a burglar in a hi-tech, invisible suit. After defeating him, Nightwatch is shocked to discover he’s in the office of the girlfriend he believed dead.

The Subplots: None.

Review: How many stories are in this book?! Another story starring a Kooky Kavanagh Kreation, we’re now treated to Nightwatch recapping his origin and beating up someone who might be a member of the group his future self warned him of -- the Camouflage Cadre (which word does Kavanagh love more, Gauntlet or Cadre?). And, yes, that’s future X-editor Mark Powers providing the art. If you’re curious to see more his work, he also drew a Constrictor serial for Marvel Comics Presents. His art is a little too soft for my tastes, but it’s perfectly fine for an annual back-up, and it’s certainly easier on the eyes than the sloppy work displayed in the Cloak and Dagger piece. Nightwatch’s solo book is only a few months away, but we’re advised to see more of this arc in Web. It’s nothing special, but the revelation that Nightwatch’s beloved Ashley is still alive is potentially interesting. Is there anyone on the planet who read Nightwatch’s series? I realize this is probably a ridiculous question, but is it any good?

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #83 - December 1991

Entrepeneurs (sic)

Credits: Kurt Busiek (writer), Chris Marrinan (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Brad Joyce (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man comes across struggling PR exec Sturdevant E. “Bob” Robbins, who helps him defeat the criminal Hypertron. Unbeknownst to Spider-Man, Bob steals Hypertron’s harness, hoping to use his marketing skills to become rich as a superhero. He’s soon pursued by the former AIM scientists who created the harness. Spider-Man saves Bob and the scientists from each other, and orders Bob to turn over the harness. Bob complies, but secretly saves a backup of Hypertron’s schematics.

The Subplots: None.

Web of Continuity: Bob later reappears as the Bobster, which is just one of the potential superhero names he considers in the issue. During Spider-Man’s flashback to his origin, the spider on the back of his costume is colored blue. This is a reference to the very first printing of Amazing Fantasy #15. John Byrne, of course, provided an elaborate and unnecessary explanation for the blue spider in his Chapter One miniseries.

I Love the (Early) ‘90s: Bob has lost business, and the AIM agents have been laid off, since the start of the recession. An opening narrative caption even comments on how “easy” it was to make money in the ‘80s, but those days are over. The Hypertron armor is also powered by a series of what appear to be cassette tapes and floppy discs.

Review: I think Web of Spider-Man fill-ins are a good test of skill for writers. Even assuming that the story fits within one or two issues and actually makes sense, does the plot truly connect to Spider-Man in some way? Is the supporting cast used? Can future writers expand on the ideas you’ve introduced? Or are you just writing generic action stories that could star any hero? Too many of Web’s fill-ins fall into that latter category, which is why it’s a relief to get to the Kurt Busiek issues.

I don’t think any of these comics will go down as classics or anything, but they’re solid standalone stories that fit all of the criteria listed above (with the possible exception of the Bloodshed issue, which didn’t specifically feel like a Spider-Man story, but was still a solid character piece focusing on an average person who's crossed the hero's path). Bob seeks out Spider-Man, looking to overturn his steady stream of bad publicity. When he realizes that Spidey isn’t looking for representation, he decides to enter the hero business himself. Spider-Man recognizes his younger self in Bob, and feels an obligation to teach him that getting into the hero business for money is going to end badly. The story’s not very serious, but it still incorporates some of the central themes of the character and leaves the door open for more Bob adventures. Chris Marrinan’s art, which is highly reminiscent of Erik Larsen’s take on Spider-Man, is also better than your average early ‘90s fill-in.