Welcome to the Marvel Handbook at the Nexus.
Not as much in this issue as the last. Personally, I loved last week’s edition. That was just fun.
You know”¦sometimes you scare me, Jim.
Let’s start and see what happens.
Yeah, lets.
Jason emails
Hello,
I read the commentary on the Mutant Massacre, and I thought I’d throw in my two cents. One of the comments Colin made about the Mutant Massacre was the lack of a consistent narrative through the whole story. My take on the Mutant Massacre is that it is the sort of crossover we don’t see a whole lot of anymore, the kind where a big event happens that effects a lot of different characters, but they don’t necessarily all team up.
As much as I like a good wall-to-wall heroes punch-up (Infinity Gauntlet and JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice come to mind) I think the “Mutant Massacre” sort of crossover is refreshing, because each comic involved maintains its own unique identity without being totally swamped by the crossover. Thor was still Thor, X-Factor was still X-Factor, Power Pack was still Power Pack, etc. And there was a little bit of true crossover…Wolverine was in Power Pack, Magik was in X-Men, the X-Men were in the New Mutants issue, Cyclops’s eye beam was in X-Men, etc.
One reason the teams of X-Factor and X-Men didn’t cross paths was because, at the time, Cyclops and company didn’t trust the X-Men because they had brought in Magneto to be the headmaster of Xavier’s school. This plot thread got drug out wayyyy too long, with the two teams only reconciling after the “Inferno” story. It seemed silly that Cyclops and Jean, who were such good friends with Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Wolverine, never tried to seek out their former teammates and get some answers. Plus, Jean had recently returned from the dead, and the X-Men didn’t know (again, pretty silly Jean didn’t go back to them with arms open to tell them the good news).
But Mutant Massacre was special in that the effects were long-lasting. Angel lost his wings, Colossus and Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were all crippled (Opening the way for Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, and Havok to take places in the forefront fo the team), and the Morlocks, longtime X-Men supporting characters, were wiped out.
Of course, it wasn’t all great. Over time, the Morlocks began popping up in droves (There were TONS of survivors, seemingly more than were killed!), supporting characters like Erg, Beautiful Dreamer, Tar Baby, and Ape vanished without a trace, and the motivations of Mr. Sinister and the Marauders were not revealed until, like, decades later. By that time, the drama of the original story was long gone and no one really cared anymore. Psylocke supposedly got the enemy’s secrets from Sabretooth’s mind but that never got followed up on.
Just some thoughts. Pretty cool story, one of the first that got me into comics (that and the ‘Under Siege’ story in Avengers, and the ‘Gang Wars’ in Amazing Spider-Man) and introduced me to an interconnected universe called Marvel.
You know you made some great points on Mutant Massacre here. Marvel has done well with those types of crossovers/storylines in the past.
Tim emails to help out
I believe this Façade’s first appearance was Peter Parker #30 and the last one I was aware of was PP #41.
Cool. I’m glad someone helped out here. I believe he’s gone MIA like most of those 90s villains from around that time.
Sadly, that Chameleon story you mentioned (which was quite good) turns out not to be the actual death of him. He showed up again in an asylum in (I believe) an issue of Tangled Web penned by comicdom’s favorite TV import, Mr. Rob Zimmerman.
Here is someone putting it a little better than me:
Unfortunately, Ron Zimmerman brought him back with no explanation, committed to an insane asylum. Let’s assume Chameleon’s suicide attempt failed and he was recovered from the river by the authorities. The Dimitri persona is now buried deep inside, as the insane man believes he is Kraven, the Hunter.
-Spiderfan.org
Oh”¦and the issue was Get Kraven #1″¦which is probably why you and everyone else don’t know of it.
Good to see Chameleon is alive. Just a nut case. There’s nothing wrong with him being nuts. It’s better then dead.
Finally, Cecilia Reyes has actually met Spider-Man around the time of Operation Zero Tolerance. It was the same issue (again, I think) where he met Marrow.
Ah yes you are right. It was one of those issues that helped turn Marrow into a hero.
And, as long as I am here, one last question. With the next New Warriors revival on the way, what was the deal with the last one? Who was on the team, what were their abilities, motivations, etc? How did it end? You know, the usual.
Thanks.
Sure I can do that. Speedball wanted to reform the team again. He missed being a Warrior. (Yep that Speedball) He went about asking the former Warriors.
Justice and Firestar said no because they where Avengers
Cloak and Dagger said no. They preferred to stay together as team all to themselves.
Night Thrasher said no because he was too busy running his business
Rage said no because he didn’t want to adventure for some time
Nova, Namorita, and Turbo didn’t want to join right away either.
I believe Terrax helped get the team into action again just as he helped found the original team as it’s first foe. To stop him two new members helped defeat Terrax and joined the team afterwards. Those members are:
Aegis
Bolt
Night Thrasher would join the team to help out again around issue 7. The series ended at issue 10 but the team did not disband at that point. They stayed together. They are still a team to this day and have appeared as such in other series. We also know Rage rejoined some time after the series ended. He’s been seen with the team in later appearances.
To be honest, the second volume was NOWHERE near as good as the original (hence why it only last 10 issues or so). Save yourself the pain and just go back and read Volume 1 again. – The Overlord
Abdul also helps out
Thought I’d chime in and drop a line to help answer some questions.
1) Facade was actually a villian from Jenkins run on the last volume of spectacular spiderman he had the ability to “copy” various superhuman powers of other well known superhumans he hasn’t shown up anywhere since Doc Ock put a pounding on him and cracked his “mask”.
Yep. As was stated above. I’m sort of glad he’s gone now that I even remember him.
2) Typeface last appeared in an issue of Tangled Web along with his “sidekick” Spellcheck.
Have I ever stated that I did not enjoy Tangled Web to much myself? If not I have now. Might be why I missed some of the answers.
3) I believe Chameleon is alive didn’t he appear in a backup strip written by Ron Zimmerman which featured Spiderman and Kravens son teaming up.
Happened I believe, depends on which son you mean. I’m kidding of course.
4) No one outside of the Blade franchise except Deacon Frost, Blade, and Hannibal King. The only minor exception is Whistler who appeared on the Spiderman cartoon which nearly got Marvel in trouble since Whistler was created for the movie which is intellectual property of New Line Cinema. The Bloodpack, Damiskinos, Reapers, and Nomak were all created by David Goyer.
Technically Marvel had permission to use Whistler in comics. Just not in the Spider-Man cartoon. Also some of the minor vampires in the first movie were comic characters first.
Comics first:
Deacon Frost is an old man
Blade
Hannibal King
Some minor crap vamps.
The rest are basically movie characters. I did swear Pearl was in comics but I was wrong on that. I had to check the old handbooks. There was another ugly as hell Vamp instead. No biggie. Most of the vamps in comics that had major appearances are dead anyway.
Neil emails
Ok i stop reading x-men comics for 8 years and everything gets screwed up. Any who, can you give a list of x-men character second mutation. I know they explained that beasts second mutation whats to mutate into a big blue fur ball, Emma frost can turn into diamond, and angel can heal people with his blood but are there any others?
Iceman is turning into a human ice cube basically
Beast is now lion
Emma diamond powers
Archangel heals people.
Polaris seems to have gotten a major increase in her powers but I’m not sure she has one.
I don’t think Polaris has any sort of secondary mutation. Her increased power levels are probably a product of the time she spent (training) with Magneto. And also there’s a theory that since Mag’s powers are so diminished it allows Polaris more control over the Eart’s Electromagnetic Spectrum. But that’s just a theory”¦ – The Overlord
Giant Develfish emails
Is this the first appearance of NIGHTSTALKERS as a team? Is that Hannibal King and Drake with Blade on the cover?
Yep as an official team that is their first appearance. Also, that is them on the cover. Glad you found the issue.
Vince emails
Woohoo I’m famous,
thanks for the nod on the Bullseye question, I’m faltered as hell that I made the bigtime, thanks.
Welcome. I had to add you. I think I add everyone.
Again a big fan of your column and you guys seem a little bit more fair minded then the DC Who’s who guys. Just my opinion.
We try our best to be fair. Just don’t tell Ben we have the better column. He’d kill us.
Yeah right”¦Ben would have to get through my army of specially trained monkeys before he could ever touch us. And if he did figure out how to defeat them”¦we’d just take Geoff Johns hostage and use him as leverage to make our escape”¦ – The Overlord
Okay on to the voting for the Battle tournament, the next round between Thanos and Beyonder goes to Thanos, and I’m even going to say why. Thanos is a combination of technological/mental/ and mystical power, which is why he’s such a challenge to everyone. He’s also probably one of the smartest villains in the universe and he outclasses guys like Dr. Doom. Now the beyonder is an incomplete Cosmic Cube, so he has power but there are limits and most is just show, plus the guy has no imagination. Well our boy Thanos has controlled a cube before so he knows how one works. He could reach within the Beyonder himself and take control of the beyonder and now control it. He would either now wield the power itself or at the very least dissipate it and look forward to the next challenge.
Yeah I’m a big Thanos Fan.
Very cool. I’ve added your vote below and I’m glad you’re enjoying the Tournament.
Keep up the good work. Daron too.
I’ll do my best.
Will do. Thanks for the email, Vince. – The Overlord
Have a better one.
You too. Write again.
Mark emails
Dear Jim,
My question is simple… how many of the deaths from the Avengers Disassembled will stick?
Ah good question.
Hawkeye will likely come back. Fans love him enough that Marvel would do it.
That and the fact that Kurt Busiek said he’d bring him back for Thunderbolts if Bendis killed him off. – The Overlord
Jack of Hearts I can see staying dead
Vision will be rebuilt.
Quasar if he is dead may stay dead
Ant-Man II (Scott Lang) will likely stay dead this time
Thor will return if he dies. He’ll return in his new series.
Balder, Fandral, and Hogun will likely return in Thor
Diamondback I can see staying dead.
Anyone not dead will heal.
If anyone else dies it will depend on the character. Let’s say they kill D-Man he’ll stay dead. But She-Hulk would stay alive.
East
1. Thanos (3)
5. Beyonder (1)
Winner: Thanos
North
4. Onslaught (3)
2. Magneto (1)
Winner: Onslaught
South
1. Loki (3)
2. Dormammu (1)
Winner: Loki
West
1. Doctor Doom (3)
3. Ultron (1)
Winner: Doctor Doom
The next round:
East Winner: Thanos
Vs.
South Winner: Loki
North Winner: Onslaught
Vs.
West Winner: Doctor Doom
You decide. Next week the final two will fight.
That’s all of the questions this week. Some great opinions though this week. I hope you had fun Daron.
I always have fun, Jim. Though I enjoy it more when I have a chance to make fun of you”¦
Very good. Now do you want to sign off?
Well, it’s either that or we continue to go back and forth, talking about nothing”¦
Before we go I’d like to plug (as always)
My turn. Reporting from the Marvel Universe I’m Jim Trabold. Have a great week and keep those emails coming.
