Salvador Larocca really jocking the posters for the Spider-Man movies. That’s right, this post will also cover (some of) a random Fantastic Four special. I don’t really get why this book even exists, but our boy’s in it. First, tho, SMU which, as always, features 2 short stories. First up. Writer Christos Gage, penciler Mike McKone, inker Larry Stucker and colorist “Sotocolor’s J. Brown” (Not getting a really credit because you joined one of these coloring or lettering houses is lame).
That’s a lotta snark for a guy who got jobbed out to Stilt-Man the first time they met.
Time for some “hilarious” joke comics, I guess. Stilt-Man easily dispatches Big Wheel by tipping him over and leaves. Spidey has to hang around and make sure Biggie is ok in there.
So, our big hearted hero goes looking for a thing he thinks Big Wheel can handle, runs into a bank robbery, thinks it’s all good, but then Shocker turns out to be part of it. Big Wheel is sent rolling out of control, Spider-Man is shocked a few times, and he makes a Wayne’s World reference in 2005. Going good.
Ok! I don’t want to sound mean, but there’s no way to say this that won’t sound mean: Over the years, it has come to seem that Christos Gage is the guy they call for 2 specific situations: 1. Dan Slott’s famous lateness has gotten so bad he need a co-writer. Like, saving Dan Slott seems to be Gage’s part-time job. And 2. To write stuff that isn’t important. If he’s the only writer on a book, you can bet it is not essential. And that sounds so mean and I really don’t want to be, but it’s the conclusion of almost 20 years of observation. Mike McKone, meanwhile, is an artist whose clean, sharp rendering is just fine, but has never thrilled me. However, I think he draws a dynamite Spider-Man. Anything else, anyone else: Just fine. Spider-Man: Top notch. So that’s weird. He’s done some covers and things for Spidey over the years, and they always look great. What’s weird to me is both of them are pretty recognizable names in 2005. I thought this book was kind of a try-out book, mostly for writers. And my perception that this issue feels unusual doesn’t change as we get to story #2, from Tom Beland, Sean Phillips and Avalon Studios. Beland was an up & coming indie cartoonist, and a member of Bendis’ message board, so I was very much aware of him. He got some work at Marvel in this period, and he’ll be appearing again in this block of comics, even. And Sean Phillips, while I guess not a superstar, is a well-established artist by this point, who, while he doesn’t know it, has in 2005 recently started a partnership with writer Ed Brubaker that will still be going strong 20 years later. Has Phillips been on the blog before? Yes, ASM Vol. 2 12 & USM Super Special. I remember things sometimes. Let’s see what these guys get up to.
So, Peter is now telling MJ & May about this around a dinner table (While Jarvis cooks in the background), and May points out it’s all too similar to what happened to them. Peter says he knows, and isn’t sure he’ll be able to sleep tonight. He says he’s been thinking of going to visit Paul. Try to tell him he’s not alone and it’s not the end, but he’s just his teacher. Jarvis says Peter would be surprised how many of his fellow Avengers share this experience. Peter reminisces about how what a bright kid Paul is some more, including, perhaps inevitably, a time when Paul wondered aloud about how Spider-Man’s webbing works. So, we go to a week later, Spider-Man swinging, thinking Jarvis gave him an idea, but he wanted to give Paul some time alone. And then he appears at Paul’s window.
Sean Phillips doing some very weird faces here, wow. Well, the assembled superheroes take a 2-page spread to hang out with Paul and tell him their stories and offer advice and whatnot, which is all very sweet. A very different kind of heroes helping story. And then…
Well, that was a nice one, huh? It’s cool when people use this short story format to swing for something different. When we see Tom Beland again in a few weeks, it’ll be with a story I remember very fondly. I wonder why he didn’t catch on in the mainstream, I think he brought a great perspective to comics. But we got THREE stories this post, we’re not done yet!
At first glance, I always think this Leinel Yu cover is Steve McNiven. Probably because of all the FF covers McNiven did around this time. It’s easy to tell their art apart, but they’re close enough that, with the right color treatment on a subject I expect from Steve, I’m thrown off for a sec. I have no idea what the deal is with this issue. It looks like the main FF book, at this time brought you to by J. Michael Strackzynski and Mike McKone, missed the month this one came out, so maybe they rushed it out to fill the shelf space. Or maybe they had it in their pocket. Whatever the reason, I find it kind of amusing, maybe bitterly, because, after writing this filler issue of FF, the great Dwayne McDuffie will be called upon to write a whole filler run on FF, when JMS does what he comes to be known for doing and bounces without warning. Mid-story, really. He will do this again on Thor. He leaves other projects in limbo for years before finishing them. He developed a rep for being untrustworthy among fans, and then quit comics for a long stretch to refocus on TV. So when JMS ghosts FF (About 7 months after this), McDuffie will write a year of FF that’s mostly just there to keep the book on the stands. A great writer, a huge talent, a mastermind behind a lot of beloved superhero cartoons, McDuffie never got the respect he deserved in comics. He wasn’t a big enough name to give FF to on a permanent basis, but they gave him a year. And it was great, I must say. I’d dropped the book when Waid & Weiringo left, but I came back for McDuffie, and PROMPTLY left again when “the real stars” took over (Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch). Anyway. McDuffie deserved better. And then he died, and everyone in comics talked about what a genius he was, despite how badly comics treated him his whole career. Typical. Well, anyway. That isn’t what this post is about. FF Special is drawn by Casey Jones, with “ink assists” from Vince Russel and colors from “Danimation.” This period where you couldn’t get just a person’s name in the colorist box is so weird. This special begins with Reed recapping his history with Dr. Doom when they were in college, wondering how much of what happened was his fault. Because this comic’s called…
Suddenly had the thought that maybe this issue was commissioned when the fate of FF was up in the air, when Bill Jemas had stupidly fired Mark Waid & Mike Weiringo for refusing to do his terrible new direction for the book. Maybe they wanted some stuff in the bank for the transition. Luckily, that stupid firing was overruled before Marvel had to publish any fill-in material, but maybe that’s what this was. Casey Jones’ work is certainly in the realm of Ringo’s. Well, Regardless, Doom has unexpectedly invited Reed to dinner, and he feels he has to go. The rest of the FF join Sue in trying to talk him out of it, but no dice.
Jones is so aggressively and intentionally drawing John Byrne’s Dr. Doom mask throughout this issue, it’s really weird. Well, anyway, Doom presents various niceties and continued assurances that it’s all good, even as they pass through a door that teleports them to Castle Doom. Whoops! But, hey, remember how this is a Spider-Man blog?
This page isn’t his only appearance, but from there we go see Sue at the offices of Damage Control, a concept that McDuffie originated and wrote across 3 miniseries in the late 80s (And, perhaps unbeknownst to him in 2005, one more a couple years hence). Meanwhile, in Latveria, Doom explains that surely a Latverian holiday should be celebrated there, before picking up the chess game he & Reed were playing in college when Doom blew up. And so, they do that awhile, but just telling each other the moves, from memory, all these years later. Supergeniuses and all. A fun gimmick!
Doom has seemingly appeared at all 3 locations, the 3rd of course being the Baxter Building, and the other FF members leap into action at each of them.
We see Sue, Johnny and Ben all defeating their Doombots (Obviously), as Reed and Doom make it to dinner…
Ok, so, in all honesty, I remembered Spider-Man being on more than 2 pages of this, or I wouldn’t have bothered. But, whatever. It’s nice. Right? What a good gag. Dwayne McDuffie deserved better.