SPIDER-MAN: THE MUTANT AGENDA #3 - May 1994

Mutanthood’s End

Credits:  Steven Grant (writer), Scott Kolins (penciler), Sam De LaRosa (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Steve Dutro (letters)

Summary:  Irritated that his plan hasn’t worked so far, Hobgoblin goes to his favorite bar to blow off steam.  When he overhears locals mocking his career as a supervillain, he lashes out and destroys the bar.  He then returns to Brand’s headquarters and locates Landon’s private lab.  Inside, Landon plans on dropping Spider-Man and the Beast in a “genetic bath” that he claims will cure mutancy.  Hobgoblin interrupts, inadvertently freeing Beast from his cage.  Beast knocks Hobgoblin unconscious, but not before a pumpkin bomb causes Spider-Man to land in the bath as he’s swinging by with a captive Landon.  Spider-Man is protected by his costume, but the chemicals cause Landon to mutate into a monster.  Spider-Man defeats Landon, and Beast promises to get him the help he needs.

I Love the ‘90s:  Both Hobgoblin (unmasked as Jason Macendale) and his bartender have that awful early ‘90s Moe Howard haircut.

Creative Differences:  An added thought balloon reminds us that Spider-Man has spider-sense, even though he’s being knocked off his feet by Monster-Landon in that panel.  Another added balloon on the final page has the Beast assuring Spider-Man that he’ll get Landon the help he needs.

Review:  Yes, every incarnation of “Mutant Agenda” ends with Landon being mutated into a hideous monster, although I was surprised to discover that the cartoon is the only version to feature Landon’s closeted mutant employee.  She’s so awkwardly shoehorned into the cartoon’s plot, I assumed she was a character from the comics that the producers didn’t really have time for.  I’m guessing now she was introduced in an effort to add some depth to the ending, which in both the strip and comics, merely ends with the Beast making empty promises to help the newly mutated Landon.  In theory, the cartoon’s conclusion should’ve been the most rewarding resolution, but the series put so little effort into developing the character it’s impossible not to view Landon’s secretly telepathic employee as a cheat.  Regardless, I wish the character (she has a name, it’s Genevieve) could’ve made her way into this miniseries.  Maybe Steven Grant could’ve done something with her, because he clearly doesn’t have enough plot to satisfy three issues of material.  This issue he has to waste time by having random characters remind the audience that Jason Macendale is supposed to be a loser, which leads to a rather pointless bar fight scene.  Honestly, I never viewed Macendale as a loser until the stories started to tell us that he was one, and within the context of this miniseries, it reads as a total non-sequitur.  So I wasn’t supposed to be taking Hobgoblin’s plan seriously in the past two issues?  Okay, I wasn’t, but that’s because the story wasn’t engaging in any way, not because I view Macendale as a joke.

In retrospect, this entire project is insane.  Originally, the comic strip and the comic book were supposed to cross-over, but instead, they ended up telling similar stories simultaneously.  At no point is the story “continued” from one format to the next, regardless of all of the blurbs telling us how “historic” this event is.  Left with no real gimmick to sell, the comic has to inform the reader that they can get a “head start” on the next issue if they follow the strip.  So, that’s great, even if your local paper carries the strip, all you’re getting are spoilers for the next issue.  And even if you ignore the botched crossover gimmick, the miniseries doesn’t have a strong enough concept to justify its existence.  Making all of this worse, someone actually made the decision to adapt this fiasco into an episode of the cartoon series.  We’re cursed with three different versions of perhaps the lamest Spider-Man/X-Men crossover in existence.  Was it really so hard to coordinate a Spider-Man/Beast story?  No one at Marvel could conceive a simple, fun team-up against, say, Arcade?  I’m not shocked that the material is so bad, but I am surprised that so many higher-ups had so much faith behind it.

SPIDER-MAN: THE MUTANT AGENDA #2 - April 1994

The Mutant Agenda, Part 2: Caught in the Act!

Credits:  Steven Grant (writer), Scott Kolins (penciler), Sam De LaRosa (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Steve Dutro (letters)

Summary:  Spider-Man uses his webbing to save the conference attendees and then takes the Beast along to follow Hobgoblin’s trail.  Hobgoblin arrives at a Brand research facility, where he copies Brand’s mutant research to a disc and then releases a virus to erase it from their servers.  After he exits, Spider-Man follows while Beast examines the computer.  Brand’s guards soon capture the Beast, as Hobgoblin confronts Landon.  Spider-Man interferes after Hobgoblin makes his blackmail offer, and is accidentally shot by Landon in the back.  Meanwhile, the Beast is awakened by Dr. Everett Burgos, who boasts that he’ll be the guinea pig used to destroy the genetic mechanism of mutation.

Continuity Notes:  

• Landon’s monologue reveals that he was friends with Hank McCoy during their days at the Brand Corporation.  He claims that the Beast killed Hank and that he’s revived Brand to avenge Hank’s death.  Later, Dr. Burgos reveals that Landon knows that Beast really is McCoy, but he refuses to believe it’s true.
• Dr. Everett Burgos’ name is a tribute to Sub-Mariner and Human Torch creators Bill Everett and Carl Burgos.
• The Hobgoblin claims that Landon’s mutant research is merely a “shell game” to defraud investors.  In the comic strip version of this story, Hobgoblin is blackmailing Landon so that his mutant genocide plan isn’t made public.

Creative Differences:  A few of the word balloons during the Landon/Hobgoblin conversation have been re-lettered.  Landon’s dialogue has been changed during the first panel that has him reaching for his gun (or “blaster”), Hobgoblin has an added balloon that details previous Brand continuity, and Landon’s line that Beast “killed” McCoy has been re-lettered.

*See _________ For Details:  Hobgoblin remarks on how difficult it must’ve been to rebuild Brand following the “Tarantula fiasco” in Amazing Spider-Man #236.

Review:  I say this as the faintest of praise, but this miniseries is the best interpretation of the “Mutant Agenda” storyline so far.  Amazingly, this thin concept existed as a comic strip, a comic book, and a story arc on the Spider-Man animated series.  The only real depth to be found is in this issue, which reveals Landon’s motivation for wanting to kill those nasty mutants.  It turns out he’s an old friend of Hank McCoy’s who refuses to accept that his buddy is a mutant, so he’s rebuilt a hi-tech corporation from the ground up in order to find some means to fight mutation.  It’s utterly ridiculous, but I confess I was slightly relieved to see a villainous motivation that wasn’t simple bigotry.  As preposterous as Landon is in this story, he at least isn’t a cold, detached CEO sitting behind his desk, plotting to kill mutants for the sheer evilness of it.  He’s merely delusional, which at a minimum, is slightly more entertaining.  None of this means that The Mutant Agenda isn’t terrible as a comic, of course.  The jokes are corny, the plot requires both heroes to be taken out by non-credible foes, and the art is borderline grotesque.  I wasn’t expecting much, and this isn’t exceeding my low expectations.

SPIDER-MAN: THE MUTANT AGENDA #1 - March 1994

The Mutant Agenda!

Credits:  Steven Grant (writer), Scott Kolins (penciler), Sam De LaRosa (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Steve Dutro (letters)

Summary:  After training in the Danger Room, the Beast reads a newspaper article about the Brand Corporation’s conference on genetic research.  As he leaves to attend, Rogue confronts him, telling him he can’t go alone.  At his prompting, Rogue absorbs Beast’s consciousness and realizes why it’s so important for him to go by himself.  Meanwhile, Spider-Man leaves his apartment to attend the conference.  Shortly after Brand CEO Herbert Landon appears onstage, he’s attacked by the Hobgoblin.  Beast and Spider-Man intervene, but are unable to prevent Hobgoblin from destroying the roof.

Continuity Notes:  

• A footnote places this story before Amazing Spider-Man #385.  There’s no indication on where it takes place in X-Men continuity, but I would guess it’s shortly before the “Phalanx Covenant” crossover.
• Beast previously worked for the Brand Corporation during his days headlining Amazing Adventures.  He wonders now if Brand is using genetic research he thought he had destroyed.
• Rogue’s touch should have left Beast unconscious, but instead he’s completely unharmed.

I Love the ‘90s:  Spider-Man questions if Hobgoblin can have a comeback like The Beverly Hillbillies.

Review:  For anyone who’s curious, Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda was published out of the Spider-Man office during the pre-Clone Saga days.  I don’t think the X-Office had much involvement in the series; Bob Harras isn’t even given a “special thanks” credit.  Steven Grant might seem like an odd choice for writer, but this is during his brief period writing Spectacular Spider-Man, so his inclusion isn’t totally arbitrary.  Scott Kolins at this stage is a new artist, one that fits the house style of early ‘90s Marvel, meaning this comic is hard to differentiate from the average issue of X-Men Adventures.  Kolins will go on to experiment with linework and develop a unique cartooning style.  But at the moment, his work is about as generic “’90s” as you can imagine.

My assumption is that this miniseries was commissioned under the naïve hope that Marvel could somehow convince the mainstream audience of Spider-Man’s newspaper strip to buy a comic book.  I guess there’s nothing wrong with trying, but if you’re already a reader of the regular monthly titles, there’s nothing here of interest.  The basic premise that Spider-Man and Beast would team up against the Hobgoblin at a genetic conference hosted by the Brand Corporation could’ve been the basis of any issue of X-Men Unlimited (and/or Spider-Man Unlimited), so I can’t say it’s a story Marvel would’ve never told.  The execution, however, treats the reader like a baby who needs all of his exposition slowly spoon-fed.  The action stops on four separate occasions to give us exposition dumps, patiently giving the reader flashbacks to moments like Hobgoblin’s past as the Jack O’Lantern, or that time meek teenager Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider.  I realize that this is information that should be given out to new readers, and many comics in the ‘90s had a bad habit of not clearly identifying the cast, but reading origin flashbacks for every major character in the story is simply a chore.  If you are fan of comics, the books not the strips, you quickly get a sense that you’re reading a story that could’ve easily been published as a free Pizza Hut promotional comic.  

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #6 - July 1997

Shattered (Convergence Part Three)

Credits: Steven Grant w/Len Kaminski (writers), John Paul Leon (penciler), Shawn Martinbrough and Bill Reinhold (inkers), Ken Lopez (letterer), Matt Hollingsworth (colorist)

Summary: One-twelfths of the world’s population lapses into a coma. The Challengers of the Unknown investigate, and member Kenn develops a theory that the victims’ astrological sign, Scorpio, is the key to the case. He goes to visit his daughter, Danni, who is one of the victims. When he sees her topaz locket, he realizes that topaz holds the cure. Following his instructions, the Challengers create a “Topaz Man” in the desert and hold hands. The energy that’s contained within the victims is released, creating an apparition that flies into the sky. Danni and the rest of the victims awaken from their coma.

Irrelevant Continuity: The other Challengers are shocked to discover Kenn has an ex-wife and daughter.

Review: It’s another chapter of the crossover that really couldn’t care less if you’ve never read this book before. I do know that the Challengers are a Jack Kirby concept that predates the Fantastic Four, and like many of DC’s Silver Age titles, the book’s been relaunched several times throughout the decades without finding much of an audience. This incarnation of the Challengers, according to the letters page, brings an X-Files influence to the concept (I don’t know if the creators actually had that in mind, but I’m sure DC had no problem marketing the book this way.) Everything had to reference X-Files at some point in the ‘90s, but I guess Challengers of the Unknown isn’t much of a stretch for an X-Files connection. Unfortunately, you learn more about the title from the letters page than the actual story. I realize the creators are following “show, don’t tell,” but just a small amount of exposition would’ve helped any new readers brought in by this crossover.

For starters, the story doesn’t identify the four leads as the Challengers until page sixteen. We see that they’re a group of investigators, but their actions don’t exactly bring the word “challenger” to mind. The only character who’s clearly named for most of the story is Kenn, while most of the cast seems nameless until page nineteen. Even then, it’s hard to discern their roles in the book. (And, occasionally, the murky artwork makes it difficult to tell the characters apart.) Apparently, Marlon is the leader, Kenn is the eccentric, Clay is the arrogant cynic, and Brenda is the rational skeptic. This is based on just a few lines of dialogue, so I could be wrong. The relationships between the characters, and the basic setup of the organization, are glossed over, so a new reader still knows very little about the concept of the series by the end of the issue.

All that said, I did enjoy the comic. The only cast member who receives any real characterization is Kenn, but he’s a strong enough protagonist to maintain the reader’s interest. The scenes between Kenn and his family feel real, and the resolution of the mystery is quite clever. I like the connection between topaz, the birthstone of Scorpio, and the character of Prince Topaz, whose presence is likely an editorial requirement. I suspect Grant/Kaminski didn’t have a great interest in the crossover, or perhaps weren’t even aware of the specific details of the main plot, so they’ve created a story that works independent of the main storyline while also putting one of the characters where he needs to be for the next chapter. If you were a regular reader of Challengers of the Unknown, the crossover isn’t hindering the book in any way. If you’re a new reader who’s buying the issue simply to get the next chapter of the “Convergence” crossover, however, your patience is likely to be tested.