Take A Seat

 

As I was compiling subject matter for this post, the first thing that came to mind was this guy:

Who looks like he's traveling through space seated on some kind of contraption--at least that's what I'd assumed, having never read the story. Except that this character, Orion, isn't seated on anything, but simply hunched over, gripping what he calls his "power rods." Yet there is a seated character among those Orion mingles with in New Genesis--Metron, who appears to be persona non grata among the others and flits about time-space in his "Mobius Chair" advancing his own agenda.

And thus, the New Gods have unknowingly summoned us to hear another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

What Marvel characters look to chairs for their status, and/or their power?

(Or, in Ben Grimm's case, their life??)

Witch Hunt!

 

We've reached the final installment of the House Of M limited series from 2005, where the X-Men and the Avengers found themselves swept away into a new reality created by the Scarlet Witch at the behest of her brother, Quicksilver--one which made mutants the dominant species, while our heroes were made to forget their past lives and histories in favor of an existence which saw their fondest hopes and dreams realized. Yet all of that changed when Wolverine, who somehow retained his memories, began to gather the troops--and with the help of a young mutant named Layla Miller, those who could be located traveled to Genosha once more to confront the ones involved in the deception, unfortunately leading to the Scarlet Witch again unleashing her power to alter the state of the world, for better or worse.

In this issue, which essentially has everyone pulling themselves together and picking up the pieces upon finding themselves back in their previous lives, we'll unfortunately be left with lingering questions which still lacked answers even in the course of eight issues. For instance: Where is Charles Xavier, taken from the heroes' midst when they first landed on the island of Genosha to settle the matter of the Scarlet Witch's disposition, the only indication of his fate being a memorial garden set up in his honor? And what finally happens with Wanda, who remains at large? From a publication stance, the only thing that this issue makes clear with reasonable certainty is that the goal of House Of M was to set up plots tying in to any number of upcoming books (e.g., Civil War (mid-2006) and Secret Invasion (mid-2008), two other multi-title events) for the foreseeable future, profitable ventures which appeared to be the only "reality" of concern to Marvel in the early 2000s.

Still, let's see where things stand following Wanda's cryptic declaration of "No more mutants" and a subsequent blinding flash which signaled another seismic shift in reality. For what it's worth, it appears that Magneto isn't going to walk out of this unscathed, if Wolverine has anything to say about it.

The Woman Who Unmasked Spider-Man

 

In the fall of 1979, as he was beginning a teaching assistant position in the office of Dr. Morris Sloan, Chairman of Empire State University's Biophysics Department, Peter Parker met and became friends with Dr. Sloan's secretary--a young woman who, in time, began to see Peter as more than a friend, feelings which she struggled to see reciprocated.

As they began to spend more time together, the situation became complicated--just as it was with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson--by Peter's responsibilities as Spider-Man, which all too often forced him to rush off from outings with this lady at a moment's notice, incidences which she couldn't help but take personally while Peter essentially treated those slights as something to be put on the back burner for the time being, if regretfully.

(And you've only seen the tip of this iceberg.)

We can debate the issue all day, and rightfully so, in regard to one person's hurt feelings weighed against what Peter accomplishes as Spider-Man in terms of a refusal to stand by while danger threatens innocent lives, while also factoring in the picture he presents to Sloan et al. as a slacker whose grades don't merit the efforts of those trying to help him. As for our distraught young lady, however, her storyline would continue without resolution for over three years before coming to a head in early 1983. Until then, however, readers were left to wonder: Just what did her writers have planned for her during this build-up? How long would she be presented as a casualty of unrequited love? Would these encounters between them come to constitute little more than a running joke?

A situation which has us running into yet another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

What was the story behind the strange saga of Debra Whitman?

The Recurring Avenger

 

Fairly early in their career (around the late 1960s), the Avengers had certain misgivings about offering membership to Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanova, better known in espionage circles as the Black Widow, in part because of her various activities in her femme fatale days that saw her joining forces with the Swordsman and Power Man but also those instances where she followed directives to commit acts of sabotage and theft against Tony Stark's munitions plant. But even after coming to terms with her past and defecting from the Soviet Union, her covert missions on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D. tended to raise suspicion that she was once again acting in accordance with directives from her former government--a likelihood that even the man she was seeing romantically (Hawkeye, himself an Avenger) couldn't disprove as he was also kept in the dark about her missions.

For a time, then, the Avengers' loss was Nick Fury's gain, as SHIELD continued to benefit from her skill set as a spy. Eventually, however, Natasha changed course, gave herself a new look and lapsed into the life of an international jet-setter before deciding to pursue individual adventures as the Black Widow, and, later, a partnership (and romantic involvement) with Daredevil. And when the time came when the Avengers were seeking assistance in battling the threat of Magneto, the two agreed to help out in the pinch--after which, membership was offered to both, but only Natasha accepted, if only briefly.

For after the team met and defeated an attack from the Lion God, their newest member had second thoughts about remaining.

Such admissions (much like those of Spider-Man in his early days of pursuing Avengers membership) seemed to close the door on Natasha ever choosing to rejoin the Avengers in an active capacity; nevertheless, for a time, several writers of the book continued to flirt with the notion in one way or another, particularly after her relationship with Daredevil had run its course.

Which is our cue to flirt with another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

When did the Black Widow finally rejoin the Avengers lineup?

Even More Emissaries Of Evil!

 

While clearly alliterative, the name of the group of villains who comprised the Emissaries of Evil seemed to come up short--after all, what villain would want to be regarded as an "emissary"? Are they an evildoer, or a messenger? Diplomatic, rather than deadly. "Greetings... we're here to bring you the evil that we harbor toward you" or, closer to the mark, something that indicates they've been sent by someone even more evil: "We come bearing a message from our master: 'Die!' " Yet in comics, alliteration goes a long way when you add an exclamation point--and those who would join the Emissaries club took their role seriously, even though I doubt the "Emissaries of Evil" was a name they could use as a form of intimidation toward those they went after, or even to strike fear into their targets. The Masters of Evil grabbed the really good name in those respects.

There was only one grouping of Emissaries who formed up and operated on their own volition, and that turned out to be the original team (though I'm probably being generous with that noun) from 1967, with Electro getting first billing as the one who gathered them together:

As was the case with the the Sinister Six in the first Amazing Spider-Man Annual, Daredevil would initially battle the Emissaries one by one; but going the ASM Annual one better, the DD issue, as we've seen, would provide a finale where Daredevil faced and battled the entire group. But under what circumstances did other groupings of evil Emissaries stick with that dopey name assemble over the years?

That's our cue to assemble yet another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

Who made up the ranks of the Emissaries of Evil between the years 1976-1998?

The Final Fate of Counter-Earth!

 

If you were a reader of Bronze Age comics, then you've probably run across a few stories featuring the doomed world of Counter-Earth--a duplicate of our own Earth which was positioned in orbit on the far side of the sun, created with the best of intentions by the High Evolutionary in order to be home to a race of humanity which had none of the violent tendencies of those populating our own world (which is where I suppose the "counter" in its name comes from). Introduced in the origin story of the character who came to be known as (Adam) Warlock, we watched in shock and sadness as one of the Evolutionary's earlier creations, the vengeful Man-Beast, took advantage of the Evolutionary's lapse into a deep sleep after his labors to board the scientist's moonship and unravel his work by introducing the savage traits of our own species to those on the Evolutionary's new world--a world that the Man-Beast now declared "beyond redemption."

With the Evolutionary poised to destroy his work in order to erase the tragedy of a second Earth now a violent mirror of the first, Warlock, a witness to the travesty, offered to do what he could to fight the Man-Beast's influence on this world and prove to the Evolutionary that this race was deserving of life. The bargain was accepted, and Warlock succeeded in at least bringing an end to the Man-Beast. (Or so he believed at the time.)

In the interim, we were treated to several stories in other titles that involved the humans of Counter-Earth--the Hulk having the occasion to encounter that Earth's Bruce Banner, and, later, being helpless to save Warlock from falling into the hands of the Man-Beast and being put to death (or so it seemed). Counter-Earth also found itself vulnerable to a certain world-ravager whom the High Evolutionary met in defiance:

Over the years, we've seen other instances of Counter-Earths take their place in comics lore. If I remember correctly (I wasn't exactly enamored with stories having to do with Onslaught), the "pocket dimension" created by Franklin Richards to shunt those heroes who sacrificed their lives meeting the attack of Onslaught housed a planet that was given the name "Counter-Earth," a world eventually brought into our universe and renamed "Planet Doom" (after the good Doctor) and later visited by the Thunderbolts. In addition, the Evolutionary took another crack at creating another Counter-Earth--this one inhabited by his New Men (though they'd find the Evolutionary less of a benefactor), while at one time even attempting to merge his creation with our own Earth.

But as for the first world to be known as Counter-Earth--well, we did, regrettably, use the word "doomed" in its introduction, to be sure.

Which dooms us to explore yet another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

What was the fate of the original Counter-Earth?

The Many Operatives of Mister Kline!

 

From late 1971 to early 1972, writer Gerry Conway introduced the nefarious Mister Kline, a character who for reasons unknown sought to upend the lives of Matt Murdock, Tony Stark, and Franklin Nelson, and whose hidden agenda would by extension draw in Daredevil and Iron Man. It's hard to say whether Kline's primary focus on Murdock and Stark had anything to do with Marvel's soon-to-be-launched large format books that would offer an increase in story length for selected titles at a cost of 25¢, given that both Invincible Iron Man and Daredevil were reportedly to be merged into a single book; otherwise, Murdock and Stark would seem to be worlds apart as far as gaining the interest of a figure in shadows who would go to any lengths to cause them trouble, to say nothing of the time and effort taken to conscript others to do that figure's dirty work.

And speaking of which, since Kline himself is due for a PPC post of his own, let's spend our time here running down the list of those whom he enlisted to further his plans--some willingly, some not so much, but all in one way or another complicating the lives of our heroes.

Which calls for a not too complicated

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

Which characters were compelled to serve the enigma named... Mister Kline?

The Incursions of... Strange!

 

Following the run of Roy (and Dann) Thomas on Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, writer David Quinn began a sixteen-month story arc that introduced a new, enigmatic character which appeared during Strange's involvement with the Midnight Sons, a group of nine men and women with ties to the occult. All well and good for the "Siege Of Darkness" crossover event taking place in no less than seven separate horror/occult books, where Quinn's eerie character would fit right in--but in Strange's own book, he would have greater problems when Salomé, a Sorceress Supreme from ancient times, announces her intent to eliminate him and reclaim her rightful title.

Thanks to Caretaker, one of the Sons, a memory seems to resurface in Strange which indicates a way to deal with Salomé--but given what happens next, his future is in doubt, following what appears to be a massive, mystic conflagration of self-sacrifice.

In her rage, however, neither Salomé nor anyone else on the scene is prepared for the stark sight which then swoops in to savagely attack her--something that mimics her own power and who, despite appearances, she rules out as being the corpse of a dead man.

Which is our cue to swoop in with another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

Who--or what--was the aetheric entity who called himself... Strange?

An Eye For An Eyepatch

 

In April of 1987, two months after the second volume of Doctor Strange came to an end, writer Peter Gillis, who had succeeded Roger Stern to script the final eight issues of the series, would continue with the Sorcerer Supreme in a new incarnation of Strange Tales--the book returning to its split format from the Silver Age with its double bill now featuring Strange and the duo of Cloak and Dagger. Published monthly, Gillis would have roughly eleven pages per issue to begin an extended arc for Strange that built on the sorcerer's confrontation of and battle with Urthona, the alien sorcerer who raided Strange's sanctum of its mystic tomes and powerful artifacts (along with capturing the sanctum itself) and attempted to establish himself as our dimension's new supreme mystic. That battle ended at great sacrifice for Strange--watching helplessly as his manservant Wong was horribly mutilated, and then having no recourse but to destroy the book of the Vishanti, the Orb of Agamotto, and other valuable, irreplaceable tools of his trade so as to deny them to Urthona.

The powerful empath, Topaz, is fortunately able to heal Wong's grievous wounds; yet as Strange surmises, the mystic sources of danger to Earth are even now manifesting around the world, while Stephen Strange himself, now bereft of the tools and resources he would normally call upon to confront them, will be forced to make difficult and even unconscionable choices. And to make matters worse, he also suffers from an affliction of the spirit, as Topaz realizes when she urges him to resolve his feelings for his former disciple and love, Clea, whose departure had left him a shattered man.

With the issue "settled" (at least as far as Clea is concerned), Gillis is free to put his story arc in motion, which is already beginning to have an effect on this mystic master who has weathered much heartbreak and inner conflict in a relatively short time. And there is still more to come, when this series introduces a more visible sign of Strange's turmoil.

And so we train our eye on yet another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

How and why did Dr. Strange suffer the loss of an eye?

When Skrulls Take A Holiday

 

At the conclusion of the PPC's post on the Skrulls of Kral--a planet of Skrulls who became fascinated with Earth's gangster era from the 1920s-30s to the extent of shifting their shapes to mimic the people and culture of that period--it seemed those Skrulls were getting their just deserts from those they had captured from other worlds and enslaved to fight one another in their "Great Games," held to settle territorial disputes between Kralian gang bosses. Having broken free from their captors, thanks to the timely arrival of the Fantastic Four who had come in search of the Thing, the slaves turned on the Skrulls in revolt, making their intentions crystal clear.

But you wouldn't expect gangsters to take this sort of thing on the chin--and gangsters who are actually Skrulls, a race which doesn't particularly hold humans in high regard, might bear even more of a grudge toward those who have interfered in their affairs.

Which gives a nod to our 1928 Packard to pull up to another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

What became of the Kralians after the demise of the Great Games?

The Nameless Ones

 

The Avengers known as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are of course two of Marvel's most classic characters--introduced in 1964 in an issue of The X-Men, which would have the pair closing in on the same sixty-year anniversary that the X-Men will join them in celebrating. Yet as Pietro and his sister, Wanda, step up to the podium and give a speech commemorating their decades of service in Marvel Comics, imagine their introduction going something like this:

"And now, ladies and gentleman, please welcome Wanda and Pietro... uh, Wanda and Pietro..."

In short: Will our bemused presenter have to fumble for a last name for these two, or cut to commercial?

The Scarlet Witch and her brother have been blessed with a number of retellings of their backstory, though the basics are not in dispute--their youth spent as gypsies in Europe, only to come under attack by superstitious villagers who reacted to Wanda's accidental use of her power that caused a number of cottages to erupt in flames. The master of magnetism, Magneto, stepped in and saved their lives from the worked-up townspeople, which unfortunately placed Wanda and her brother in his debt and obligated them to become part of his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Yet there was no mention of their parents that day; for a time, we were left to assume that they were orphans. Eventually, however, their parents were introduced to readers--but as it turned out, Wanda and Pietro would have several sets of parents to choose from.

Which is our introduction to another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

Which couples laid claim to the parentage of Wanda and Pietro [INSERT LAST NAME HERE]?

The Fantasti-Dog

 

As the group of issues which sought to reboot and re-establish the Fantastic Four title after it (along with other flagship titles) shuttered itself following the Onslaught storyline, the series' third volume of stories perhaps tends to be overlooked by those in the here and now who leapfrog over it to reach the Silver and Bronze Age issues which for them might recapture the FF's glory days--particularly when Volume 3, the last continuing body of FF work which spanned the years 1998-2011, preceded the final sputtering of issues which effectively brought an end to the Fantastic Four comic book indefinitely. Nor did Marvel Comics appear to shed any tears on the subject; in fact, I imagine the company finds its production methods these days to be a relief, freed at last from the headache of continuity minutiae that weighed down the book's characters, and its momentum, like an anchor. One can almost hear the likely argument to be made for the limited, back-to-back story arcs, all occurring under the umbrella of the same masthead, which are prevalent in today's comics: "What's the big deal? When a new writer and artist team came aboard a title back in the day, they almost always pivoted from whatever came before and instead explored new directions and even made certain changes in the characters--what's the difference between what was happening then, and now?" Oh, Marvel. To paraphrase the late, great Louis Armstrong: If you have to ask, you'll never know.

That said, you can see several such spurts of new directions taking place in Volume 3--and as we move further from that run of FF comics, there are talents from that period whose work you may find deserves a second look, some of whom have been given their due in the PPC. A few that come to mind were also surprising in terms of how well they handled the characterizations and exploits of the team--scripters such as J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Waid, Chris Claremont, Mark Millar, and Jonathan Hickman, each of whom brought something interesting to the table. Claremont, of course, was the more tried-and-true of this mixed bag in terms of reliability in being mindful of what came before, though at times you couldn't help but feel that any of his Fantastic Four plots and/or characters could be interchanged with those in X-Men and vice versa. (For example, I wasn't particularly charitable in an appraisal of "Ninja Sue.") But there was one addition to the FF family that made perfect sense--so much so that it was fair to wonder why no one thought of it before.

Which is our cue to (heh) "un-leash" another

---

Marvel Trivia Question

---

Under what circumstances did the Richards family adopt a dog?