Traps
Written by Ken Grobe
Summary:
The Trapster is unable to find work while on parole, until he meets TV
infomercial mogul Morrie through the internet. Adopting a new
identity, he moves to Los Angeles to create adhesive devices, and over
the months, becomes friends with Morrie and his assistant Kim. When
he’s pressured into appearing on an infomercial to sell one of his
inventions, the Wizard recognizes him. After getting into contact with
him, the Trapster is convinced that the Wizard will blow his new
identity and he’ll be arrested again. Panic-stricken, he holds an
infomercial audience hostage and threatens to commit suicide. Kim talks
him out of it, and professes her love, shortly before US Agent arrives
and arrests him. Unexpectedly, the Trapster’s earnest speech makes him a
star, which infuriates the Wizard.
Continuity Notes:
-
The Wizard and the Trapster were teammates in the Frightful Four. The Wizard has been arrested for kidnapping Silver Sable in-between the other stories in this collection.
-
US Agent is described as an employee of Stark International, following the dissolution of Force Works.
-
The author seems to be under the impression that the Marvel Universe is much older than any of the comics acknowledged at the time. The Wizard says he’s been following the wrong path (during an insincere press conference) for twenty years, and later the Trapster claims he’s been a supervillain for half his life. Not long after this book was published, Marvel released the Lost Generation miniseries, which was based on the premise that the Marvel Universe began only seven years ago!
Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority: Trapster casually tosses off “goddamn” three times in the story.
I Love the '90s: The Trapster is described as the hottest “victim of circumstance” since Rodney King, and the Oprah and Ila May (who?) talk shows cover his story.
Review:
I don’t quite understand the reasoning that gives the longest story in
the anthology (thirty-eight pages!) to the Trapster, a character who’s
only been defined by his joke status for around thirty years now. (Are
there any Trapster stories now that don’t
hinge on him being a loser?) This is clearly written as an attempt to
humanize the character and give the audience a new way of looking at
him, and it’s fairly successful in that regard, but it’s hard not to
find any Trapster story at least a little boring.
My
major issue with the story is the flimsy reasoning for why Trapster is
faking his identity in the first place; it’s not like he’s going to be
caught doing anything truly evil, and his only technical crime is not
informing his parole officer that he’s moved to Los Angeles. And given
how important his scientific expertise is to Morrie’s business, it’s
hard to imagine that Morrie wouldn’t have arranged for Trapster to work
from his home state. This bit of false drama might’ve been intentional
on Grobe’s part, admittedly, since he seems to be going with the idea
that the Trapster’s problems largely stem from his own self-esteem
issues. Rather than telling Morrie the truth and arranging a way to
work out of New York, his response to potential exposure is to take a TV
studio hostage and commit public suicide. He’s a bit of a drama queen.
Kim talks him down, telling him he’s clinically depressed (a nice
callback to an earlier reference to her studying Psychology at night),
and they share a sweet moment before he’s unceremoniously knocked to the
ground by US Agent. US Agent does seem like an odd choice as the hero,
but he was located on the west coast at this time, and Grobe seems to
be well aware of his role as the Marvel Universe’s jerkiest hero, which
is exactly what he needs to be in this scene.
Accepting
that the Trapster’s main dilemma is intentionally inflated, the story’s
enjoyable enough. It does drag a bit in places, and surely some other
character is more deserving of the page count, but it’s a worthy
addition to the “Please Take Trapster Seriously” archives.
One for the Road
Written by James Dawson
Summary:
A retired, unnamed villain sits alone in a diner. He’s barely
tolerated by the owner, Grace, and eventually gets up to leave after
spending a night reflecting on his past. After Grace derisively calls
him by his supervillain name, the name he wants to forget, he kills her.
He walks into the night, wondering which hero will capture him.
Review:
The villain of this story is identified as only “?” on the title page,
and with the exception of a few references to Captain America and Iron
Man, there’s nothing in this story to tie the character to the Marvel
Universe. Or to any fictional superhero universe for that matter; the
concept could work probably just as well starring any criminal that
can’t escape his past. The final story in the anthology, this
represents the villains’ point of view, voicing complaints about how
indiscriminately hard the heroes hit and how little anyone cares about a supervillain's civil rights. Dawson manages to make the protagonist just
sympathetic enough while maintaining a creepy tone throughout the story.
This is another entry that could’ve been at home in a modern horror
anthology.