What If...? 6

What If the X-Men had Lost Inferno?

What If...? #6
Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Keith Williams
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Letterer: Gary Fields
Editor: Craig Anderson
Ed-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

In this alternate reality S'ym and the Soul Sword were returned to Limbo simultaneously and so he was able to grab the sword and return to Earth where he joined with Madelyne Pryor and slew all the X-Men and X-Factor, bar Wolverine whose demonic form was kept as a pet, then sacrificed Nathan Christopher to open the dimensional rift permanently with the whole of Earth invaded. Dr Strange organises a group of sorcerers including his arch enemy Baron Mordo supported by surviving heroes. Wolverine, the Hulk and S'ym lead an attack from which only Strange, Mordo, Shadowcat and the Human Torch escape. S'ym plans to expand Limbo across the Multiverse and then will be powerful enough to resist the Living Tribunal when it shows up to judge the Earth but time is not on his side. Dr Strange discovers the mannequin of Rachel Summers and frees her. Strange plans to use the Phoenix Force to purge the Earth of all demonic influence though it will kill many humans as well. S'ym, Madelyne and Wolverine attack with Mordo revealing he has betrayed the resistors. In a brutal fight all bar Strange and Rachel are killed with multiple betrayals. Rachel summons Phoenix who engulfs the planet just as the Living Tribunal arrives and allows Earth to live. The survivors of humanity are reduced to starting again in caves. Nine months later Alicia Storm gives birth and names her son after Johnny.

Just eight months after Inferno had ended came this alternative take (don't be fooled by the cover dates; this was slap bang in the middle of Marvel bringing them closer to publication). It's a good idea in principle but it falls into the traps of a lot of What If...? stories that feel the need to show a whole legion of characters from across the Marvel universe even if not strictly necessary - Reed Richards and Dr Doom working together for S'ym is the most obvious needless appearance - and taking a bit too long to explain both the events in the regular universe and the point of divergence in detail that limits the amount of space to tell the story in which is thus limited to Dr Strange rushing around trying to find the magic or power that will stop the demons. Also far too many What If...? stories go for gratuitous killing of popular characters in general fight scenes with many deaths failing to advance the plot. Here at least some of the deaths drive the plot such as Shadowcat's.

The general premise of What If...? is that one thing is changed though here there are actually two changes from regular continuity. The big one is S'ym getting the Soul Sword and returning to Earth in time but other details include Alicia Storm being pregnant when she was not in the regular reality (nor was she actually human but that is a later retcon). Also Dr Druid is shown amongst the group of sorcerers when at this point he was lost in the time vortex though it doesn't affect the flow of the story.

Overall this What If...? focused on characters but doesn't really tell us very much about them through placing them in alternative circumstances. Wolverine is shocked out of his demonic nature when he kills Kitty but his friendships with a succession of young girls have done much to provide the innocent contrast and this reveals little. Dr Strange is shown battling the Inferno demons when he was otherwise engaged during his own series (including being temporarily in the body of a female rat) but again we get little insight into him. Baron Mordo, S'ym and Madelyne Pryor all turn on their respective allies but none was exactly trustworthy. The Human Torch dies heroically but again that's not surprising for the Fantastic Four. When the biggest "revelation" in an issue is that a character then assumed to be human is human and giving birth to a human instead of being a Skrull in disguise who lays eggs and all that is only a revelation because of a retcon a few years later then the story has a problem. This was the very early days of the second series of What If...? and it still hadn't found a workable formula to explain the moment in history that is changed and how, build an altered world, and tell a strong story all in 28 pages. All this really offers is just the chance to see Dr Strange fighting demons and little more of interest.

Psi-Force Classic volume 1

Psi-Force Classic volume 1 contains issues #1 to #9 of the title. Although created by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson, the series itself is written initially by Steve Perry then Danny Fingeroth with individual issues by David Michelinie and Fabian Nicieza. The art is mainly by Mark Texeira with some issues by Mike Vosburg and Bob Hall.

The basic premise is the series is one of psychic powers, with the White Event having enhanced and adapted the abilities of a number of people who already have Extra Sensory Perception. This use of ESP is another example of the supposed rules of the New Universe being broken from the outset, as is the handling of the reaction to having such powers. Although the main characters themselves at times struggle with the consequences, there's a rather all too easy acceptance that they have these powers when in reality many would likely freak out and the wider population panic. The only other significant sign of a more realistic approach is that injuries happen far more easily than in the regular superhero comics, but as the injuries are usually rapidly healed the effect is much the same.

At the start of the series Emmett Proudhawk, a CIA agent gone rogue with ESP powers of his own, assembles five teenagers who have recently found themselves with powers and brings them to San Francisco. In an early encounter with KGB agents "Hawk" is killed but the five teenagers find they are able to combine their powers to create a silent manifestation called "Psi-Hawk". Over the course of this volume they learn, sometimes the hard way, that the Psi-Hawk won't let them go their own way and they have to stay in hiding as runaways to protect both themselves and their families.

Hiding out in "Sanctuary", a home for runaways under the protection of Hawk's old friend Colby Shaw, the five struggle to adapt to their new lives with the problems of keeping their powers a secret, getting on with each other which is not always an easy task, dealing with other kids in Sanctuary, facing off against various government agencies and coming to terms with the Psi-Hawk. The concept is somewhat generic and it's easy to see elements of other teams of youths in this, particularly the X-Men. However setting this in a different fictional universe at least removes the obvious escape routes of turning to existing heroes for help, and instead the teenagers are left to fend for themselves.

The teenagers themselves are an unfortunate collection of stock archetypes that try to tick all the boxes. We have a moody loner, a pampered rich kid who finds themselves out of their comfort zone, a sporty kid rebelling against parental expectations, an annoying boy genius nerd and a foreigner. The four American teenagers cover multiple ethnicities, with Hawk's Native American heritage initially covering another, and the whole group looks as though it was assembled to order. This series may have debuted four years before the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers but it's hard to avoid noticing the similarities between the two as they both use the same structure.

The five themselves are a mixed bunch with several not terribly likeable. Wayne Tucker appears to be the eldest. A hot head from Chicago, he has telepathic powers to read minds and make people carry out actions. He resents being stuck with the others the most and is the first to try to break away on his own only to learn the Psi-Hawk exerts a control even when not formed. Wayne's powers are often used to get out of trouble and to wipe other's memories but he resents having to do this all the time. At one point he worries he's inadvertently used his powers to make another kid at Sanctuary commit suicide. His attempts at redemption are well meaning but forcing a businessman to not use loan sharks for money and instead "Get it from a bank!!", leading to a broad daylight hold-up. Kathy Ling is the archetypal "Valley girl", literally coming from the San Fernando valley near Los Angeles. A rich kid with telekinetic powers, she especially resents the way she's been dragged into all this and makes the most concerted effort to escape. Often she is resentful of the others' activities and just wants to go to the shops. Tyrone Jessup is initially the sporty kid, right down to the shirt he wears on the cover, hailing from Scarsdale, a small town outside New York. It soon becomes clear he's resentful of his parents pushing first him and then his brother down this route, believing it to be the only way black kids can get university scholarships. He has the power of astral projection, allowing him to become an intangible spirit form that can travel anywhere whilst his body remains in a vulnerable coma. Michael Crawley comes from Vermont and is both the youngest and geekiest of the five. He has the power to project destructive waves at objects with devastating results. Often the most optimistic of the five, his naive innocence is at times a crucial anchor. Finally Anastasia "Stasi" Inyushin is from the Soviet Union, having been extracted at great risk by Hawk. The back cover of the volume describes her power as "psychic empathy", presumably to make it fit the overarching theme, but it's really a miracle healing power that can heal just about any injury or illness. At times she wonders what she's let herself in for but perseveres.

The team has some limited support from Colby Shaw who runs Sanctuary, but her patience with their use of their powers and frequent fights with other residents. Otherwise their only ally is "Skipper", a colleague of Hawk's at the CIA who keeps tabs on them.

The group get caught in a succession of mundane problems and small time threats from criminals and thugs, plus the interest of various state agencies. In the first issue they are attacked by "Mindwolf", a KGB agent with his own destructive psychic powers who kills Hawk. It's clear over subsequent issues that at least one agency is keeping tabs on the kids and a mysterious figure has hidden another empowered kid, Thomas Boyd, from Hawk. Thomas is given the nickname "Stalker" and has the power to drain energy and life force from others. He thinks he's only capturing them, but rebels when he learns his master wants them dead and presumably him next. Much of the rest of the series is focused on the kids' attempts to grasp their powers and roles, find a way to escape from the power of the Psi-Hawk and cope with life around them. There are a few trips back to one hometown or another and a brief departure from San Francisco to Seattle but it's quickly reversed.

Overall this series shows an awkward hybrid of the arching vision of the New Universe and more conventional superhero norms. It may take advantage of the fact that this is a world without established heroes and that the powers have come in a single instance, but otherwise this book doesn't feel like it's set in an ordinary universe with a few science fiction but no fantasy elements. Instead it feels like a rehash of many of the themes of the X-Men, with the Psi-Hawk never really pulling things forward in a different way. Overall the series is rather pedestrian.

Essential Dazzler volume 2

Essential Dazzler volume 2 contains issues #22-42 of the character's solo series plus the four issue mini-series Beauty and the Beast, Marvel Graphic Novel #12 entitled "Dazzler: The Movie", and Secret Wars II #4. Writing wise the volume covers the end of Danny Fingeroth's run on the series and the concluding run by Archie Goodwin. In between is a turbulent period with issues written by Steven Grant, Frank Springer, Jim Shooter, Ken McDonald, Mike Carlin, Linda Grant and Bob DeNatale. Most of the issues are drawn by Frank Springer and the last ones by Paul Chadwick; other artists include Mark Bright, Geof Isherwood and Tom Morgan. Shooter writes both the graphic novel and the Secret Wars II issue, they are drawn by Springer and Al Milgrom respectively. Finally Beauty and the Beast is written by Ann Nocenti and drawn by Don Perlin. Given the page lengths of some of these the result is the single largest Essential volume to date. So it's no surprise that some of the labels are in a separate post.

This volume comes in a period when the concept of a family of X-Men titles was starting to come together, and would climax at the end of 1985 with the introduction of X-Factor. In the process Dazzler gets ever more drawn into the core themes of the mutant titles as prejudices grow. Appropriately for this shift the very last panel sees the Beast raising his new team with her, though instead a resurrected Marvel Girl would take the place. Was Dazzler axed to free up the character with the intention of using her in X-Factor? It's hard to say though as the last few issues contain all the signs of a series in desperate straits and making a last ditch attempt to turn sales around - the series had been bimonthly for a while, and now it had a new creative team, a new costume and a new logo - then it's doubtful that the series would have lasted much longer anyway.

Sadly this volume shows the series drifting, with changing creative teams changing the premise as they go. In the process Alison Blaire/Dazzler gets moved from New York to the West Coast for not particularly convincing reasons, ditching her supporting cast as she goes and never really replacing them. For most of the run the premise of a superpowered being who has no interest in being a superhero but just wants to live an ordinary life is adhered to, but with limited input as Alison drifts through life and romantic interests, with the series steadily going off the rails. Her original stage costume disappears after issue #26 (bar a brief reappearance in the Beauty and the Beast limited series) and a replacement doesn't arrive until issue #38. It's true the original costume bore all the hallmarks of the disco era that had long passed by this time, both in the series and in wider society, but it always gave Dazzler a distinctive appearance. I'm glad to see that a cover featuring it (#26) was used for the front cover of the volume, as the new costume introduced in issue #38 has dated even more and is extremely generic.

From issue #27 to #35 each issue was graced with a highly stylised painted cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. Painted and photographic covers can look amazing but they are also extremely vulnerable to publication flaws. Unfortunately the black and white reproduction is exceptionally harsh on them, turning many into very dark pages that remove the attraction of them. Worst of all is the cover of the graphic novel, though at least it hides some of the 1984 hairstyles. Is it me or was the fashion of 1984 the ultimate in bad taste?

One area where the series does improve a lot on the issues in the first volume is in having a much lesser reliance on the wider Marvel universe, with many more issues focusing upon characters original to the series. But that's not to say there aren't some appearances and at first we still have the Angel flying about in the early issues, then when in danger Alison engages the Heroes for Hire, Power Man and Iron Fist, then later she's recruited by the Inhumans and encounters practically the entire Royal Family. In the last few issues she trains with the X-Men, then has the Beast come to save her at the end. Then there's the villains such as the slightly renamed Sisterhood of Evil Mutants, consisting of Mystique, Rogue and Destiny, mutant hunters sent by regular government arsehole Henry Peter Gyrich, the duo of Moonstone and Blackout and finally Tatterdemalion. And there's even a surprise appearance by none other than Millie the Model, complete with her rival Chili Storm. Millie now runs a modelling agency that Alison signs for, only to discover sinister goings on with the finger seemingly pointing at Chili. The Marvel universe also intrudes with two wider events, one a mega crossover, the other a theme month.

Issue #30 fell in Assistant Editor's Month, when the Marvel editors went off to the San Diego Comics Convention and left power to go to the heads of their assistants. Here that's more literal than most as Alison briefly flees Los Angeles and accepts a lift to the convention with none other than editor Ralph Macchio, unaware a military group are tracking her and the second-in-command is determined to sort the problem out during his brief period in charge. Meanwhile in New York power has also gone to the head of the assistant editor, a young Bob Harras as he gets ever more dictatorial, demanding all manner of bizarre changes on his titles... until Ralph phones in and suddenly the power drains away. All these years later and Harras has since  been Editor-in-Chief at both Marvel and now DC, so I wonder how he and other creators now feel about this portrayal. Amidst all this the main story of Alison fighting a soldier who is mutated into a dinosaur man due to a military device is almost an afterthought.

The other wider Marvel event the series ties into is Secret Wars II. Issue #4 is included here and it sees the Beyonder trying to understand the concept of "love", picking on Alison to woe. Eventually she seemingly succumbs and he empowers her to be his equal but then he realises his mistake and releases her form his mind control. He then returns her to her previous situation in issue #40 but gets briefly tied up in a battle in her own series. This particular Secret Wars II crossover is frankly a distraction from the regular series, neither offering a special character piece that shows the series's star in an enhanced light nor a one-off adventure that can be easily brushed aside but instead just adds a needless element to the series's final storyline. All in all it demonstrates the tick-box approach to crossovers that seek to take in every series no matter how awkward this is.

In the meantime the series introduces some more original characters but with one exception it doesn't really develop them. Early on Alison befriends Lois London, her half-sister who turns out to be another mutant. Lois is horrified when she discovers she has the power to generate energy in moments of stress, and believes she's killed a man. This causes her to flee, with Alison leaving New York to help her, but even after Lois is cleared, Alison doesn't return home. In Los Angeles Alison befriends Janet McEntee, one of her aerobics students but not much comes of this. Then at the end she is captured and then aided by O.Z. Chase, a grizzled bounty hunter, and his fierce dog Cerberus, who has a strong appetite for beer and cigars. Chase and Cerberus make for a slightly comical pair as they drive across the country in pursuit, with Chase often declaring how much he hates the dog yet he can never get rid of him.

There are also a number of new foes include Flame, an arsonist for hire and Revenge Inc, a group of mercenaries who carry out elaborate retributions for clients. There's also less superpowered ones with Alison having to handle a deranged obsessive stalker, soldiers sent to tackle the mutant "threat", and the Racine Ramjets, a nasty all-female gang. Finally in an extended story at the end of the series, Dazzler is pursued by Dust and Silence, two individuals who survived horrific drug experiments that have left them trying to survive by bizarre means, and the hordes of offspring of others subject to the drugs, arranged as the "New Wave" including Deathgrip, the Outriders, a trio a powered motorcyclists, Jared and Chunk. And then there's a succession of Hollywood sleazeballs in the graphic novel.

I've written about my dislike of graphic novels in previous posts (namely Essential Killraven volume 1 and Power Pack Classic volume 2) so I'll refrain from going through my general criticisms of the format yet again. However here we see some specific problems caused by using them to feature major events in the life of a character with an ongoing series. As well as all the accessibility problems, any delay on such a graphic novel forces a series either to have a jump in the narrative or else to tread water for up to months on end. The latter seems to have been the strategy adopted here, with the result that Alison has been in Hollywood and around Roman Nekoboh for a while, making some of her naivety hard to swallow whilst his pursuit of her seems even less natural.

"Dazzler: The Movie" frankly isn't worth the build-up or any contemporary extended wait. Whilst the art looks good even when muddied by the reproduction that turns the unremovable colour into an excess of grey, the story is very pedestrian, focusing upon the sleazy side of Hollywood and the way Alison lets it consume her. Men try to indirectly buy their way into bed with her, and she eventually succumbs to the advances of Roman Nekoboh after he showers her with attention and gifts, fakes an affair for the media to get her to play along, chases her, commits sexual harassment if not sexual assault and fakes a heart attack to make her care for him. Nekoboh (the name is Hoboken backwards - Frank Sinatra's birthplace - and the forename is the clincher) is an aged once-great movie star who doesn't realise that he's in the has-been phase of his career. Bald, overweight and short-sighted, he wears a wig, corset, contacts and false teeth to present a younger, slimmer image to the world, a sign of the fakeness of the environment Alison has stepped into. Her submission is a sign of the poor way she's handled here. Moving beyond her singing career she tries her hand at acting - a combined career that's surprisingly common in the industries - and winds up making a movie with Nekoboh. But her naivety persists and she finds herself taking part in a stunt to reveal her to the world as a mutant, in the hope of boosting the movie's profile and overcoming prejudice by showing the capacity for mutants to do good, but it backfires spectacularly when her powers overload, causing fear and hatred. It's possible to see foreshadows of more recent storylines that focus on how the world reacts to having potentially dangerous superpowered beings in their midst, as well as a parallel to the real life problems many LGBT celebrities have faced when they've come out or been forced out. But the graphic novel is let down by the poor treatment of the central character, showing her as a fool who succumbs to the sleazy side of Hollywood, to the point where she takes a look in the mirror and sees herself as an ever fattening smoker, realising what's she's become and hating it. (It also misses a trick by not exploring the obvious comparison with her mother's life.) Eventually she discovers how she's been manipulated all along by a man whose advances she rejected when working at a gym club and then quit her job when he purchased the club to try to have her. What we're left with is some good ideas but badly executed with a fall out on the main series, both by forcing it to tread water to line up with the graphic novel but also by shifting the character away from her roots and pushing her into a marginalised existence as she tries to survive despite infamy and prejudice, making the series into something very different from before. And Alison doesn't learn all her lessons with the Secret Wars II issue, also written by Jim Shooter, showing her once again quickly succumbing to the advances of a man who abuses his power to shower her with gifts and fakes being in danger to get her to care for him.

As well as the graphic novel, the end of 1984 also saw the launch of a limited series. Beauty and the Beast is an odd little series that appears to have been named first and only then had the contents devised. It sees Alison and the Beast (Hank McCoy) drawn into a theatre comprised completely of mutants, a hotel for other mutants to hide at, and a struggle between Doctor Doom and his alleged illegitimate son. (Doom's presence in the story was a major continuity mess as it came in an extended period when the original Doom had been killed off, bar his explained appearance in Secret Wars.) Hank is drawn to pursue Alison for no particular reason though the two find themselves falling for each other, seemingly just to meet the demands of the story. All in all this is a convoluted mess that distorts characters and continuity in order to tell a rather turgid and forgettable story.

Looking at the main series the same thing happens with the biggest problem being the abrupt shift away from New York. Initially this appears to be only temporarily as Alison helps Lois run away, since Alison has a highly successful album out. But she soon settles on the West Coast and drifts into a succession of other jobs whilst waiting for her career to take off again. The graphic novel and limited series then forcibly drag the regular series into the realm of anti-mutant prejudice but it feels off. Finally the last issues see a new creative team effectively abandon the singing and move Dazzler ever more towards being a conventional superhero, with an extended struggle against powerful foes during which her father is killed. It's all rather jarring and the result is a meandering before a final crash. The last issue also sees her death faked with the result that she believes she can have freedom from prejudice and the ability to continue her singing career - but it's never easy to climb back into the closet so just how is she going to sing in public without being recognised? It seems more likely she is going to be a regular superhero, though not on the initially planned team.

And so a once promising series crashes upon the rock of creative and editorial incompetence. Given the graphic novel was written by the-then Editor-in-Chief, it's easy to guess where the forced new direction came from. Sadly it left the character and series wrecked and attempts to either salvage the mess or move beyond it just didn't come off. The cover of the final issue declares "Because you demanded it! The last issue of the Dazzler". Despite the length of the volume I wasn't screaming for it to end, but the sad state of the series makes it hard to mourn too much. It's a pity because the series had launched so well, offering something different from the norm and giving us that extreme rarity, a female lead who existed for more than just intellectual property protection.

Essential Dazzler volume 1

Essential Dazzler volume 1 contains the title character's first appearances in X-Men #130-131, Amazing Spider-Man #203 and then issues #1-21 of her own series. Issue #1 was ground-breaking in its day as one of the first ever comics released solely in the Direct Market of print-to-order-no-return comic shops (as opposed to the newsstands that work on a sale-or-return basis), though later on the series appears to have been newsstand distributed as well.

The early Dazzler issues are written by Tom DeFalco who is succeeded by Danny Fingeroth for the rest of the volume. The first few issues are drawn by John Romita Jr, with help from Alan Kupperberg on one issue, before Frank Springer draws the rest of the run. The X-Men issues are scripted by Chris Claremont, co-plotting with artist John Byrne whilst the Amazing Spider-Man issue is written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Keith Pollard.

The credits on her first issue include "Conceived by Alice Donenfeld, John Romita, Jr. and Jim Shooter with some help from Stan Lee, Al Milgrom, Roger Stern and Tom DeFalco." (Donenfeld was Marvel's in-house counsel and Vice-President of Business Affairs.) That's a lot of cooks around the broth. There are multiple accounts of the Dazzler's creation flying around on the internet and it's a little complex to work out which is correct, but Jim Shooter: The Debut of the Dazzler seems to be the account from the closest person available. The basic plan was to have a singer-superhero with a real-life singer doing promotional appearances. The tie-in failed to materialised and the character rested on the backburner whilst the disco scene started fading away, but there were a few guest appearances and eventually her own title materialised. I've previously written about the highly derivative nature of most female solo stars and it's a pleasing change to find one who isn't a female spin-off of an existing male character. However it's less satisfying that she's another mutant - Dazzler was an early example of an all too lazy approach to origins and powers whereby characters simply acquired them through the genes rather than more original means. By all means have many mutants as X-Men focused characters, but at this stage of her career (despite the location of her introduction) Dazzler was grounded in the wider Marvel Universe and deserved something more imaginative.

Judging by the slightly different cover designs used on issues #1 & #2, and the existence on the Marvel Comics Database wiki of a scan of the cover of issue #2 with the alternative design to the one reprinted here, I'm guessing that it was only the first issue which was released solely in the Direct Market and the series became available on newsstands thereafter. I'm in mixed minds about the way issue #1 was released, though the point is rather academic now. But in an era when large portions of comic readers did not have comic shops within easy reach of them, Direct Market only issues were thus out of their reach even if they had a good advance order and reservation arrangement with their newsstands. A pin-up in issue #2 carries at its base a notice of where to write off to in order to get a list of dealers who still had the issue in stock (which seems in incredibly slow and inefficient from the perspective of the internet era) - considering the huge numbers ordered for issue #1 (c420,000 according to some and the fact the series went to newsstands so quickly certainly suggests sales were high enough to support such a move) I'm sceptical that there was an actual shortage of copies in comic shops so perhaps Marvel quickly realised they had excluded a large portion of the fanbase? It was an early sign of the way that comics steadily became ever more inaccessible, selling to those dedicated enough and lucky enough to have access to a specialist comics shop, with many titles unavailable to the total audience base despite them being key issues for understanding crossovers and the like. Sometimes publishers would make an effort to keep the newsstands in the loop - there were some interesting one-shots that reprinted an issue of an otherwise Direct Market only title - but sometimes the readers there would be left with holes in the narrative. Oh sure there are all the issues about the economics of the two systems and the problems comics were facing on the stands, but there were times in subsequent years when it seemed the industry jumped too far in one direction. (I must admit to being a little biased as for most of my comic collecting days I have lacked a specialist shop in my hometown and it was only through the luck of having a season ticket for travel all over the nearby metropolis that gave me reliable access to shops and enabled me to really get into the habit.)

Dazzler has long been dismissed as a joke, a product of Marvel trying to leap onto a fad that was already fading by the time she debuted. Normally when it is noted that her series was outselling Superman, it's invariably to make a big point about DC's poor sales in the era rather than to highlight how well Dazzler was doing at Marvel. And when Essential Dazzler was announced there were many who joked that the title was a contradiction in terms. (In slight fairness the term "Essential" isn't the best for a series dedicated to long sequential runs of titles, but I guess that when the name was picked it was never realised the series would last for so long.) Others even declared their fear of embarrassment when buying the volume. Was this a remnant of the backlash against disco or was it a specific reaction to the character? Or was it perhaps the product of myths that had built up around her, often repeated by people who hadn't checked out the original series themselves?

In a way this volume is ordered almost by readership, or at least modern readership. The two X-Men issues are part of the Dark Phoenix Saga, one of the most celebrated storylines of this era of comics if not of all time, and amongst the most reprinted. Unfortunately whilst the artwork captures Dazzler's design pretty well and gives her prominence on the cover of #130, it's clear the writing brief was incredibly limited to "Disco singer with power to transform soundwaves into light". Nothing is given about the character's real name or background and she is ultimately rather incidental in two issues that are really focused on the steady development of Phoenix and the introduction of Kitty Pryde (who later took the identity "Sprite", then "Shadowcat"). The Amazing Spider-Man issue is slightly better as it's more standalone, though the villain is the rather forgettable Lightmaster and once again the writer hasn't really been briefed on the character, at times resorting to possession in order to cover the gaps in characterisation. The issue notably ends with Dazzler and Spider-Man in a very suggestive situation but it wasn't followed up. (This was the tail-end of probably Spider-Man's most crowded period with women, having in the space of a couple of years gone through a proposal & break-up with Mary Jane Watson, an affair with Betty Brant-Leeds, plus the introductions of Cissy Ironwood, the Black Cat, Debra Whitman and Marcy Kane. Maybe the time just wasn't right for Dazzler.) Instead the character faded away from the Spidey-scene, though she did later pop up in at least one issue of Marvel Team-Up.

But didn't I say above that Dazzler #1 sold 420,000 copies? That's the most common figure cited and whilst I don't know if that's an accurate report of the sales records or just a garden rumour passed around (though it's repeated by the-then Editor-in-Chief), it certainly seems impressive. But as a Direct Market only issue, it doesn't mean 420,000 people individually went and purchased an issue. Rather it means there were 420,000 sales at the wholesale level, on a no-return basis, including those that were over-ordered by retailers and just sat around gathering dust. And as an early DM only release (I'm not entirely sure if it was the very first - I've seen conflicting reports) it's possible that the comic shops mispredicted demand (or thought they had a potential investment from back issue sales at a significant mark-up) and over-ordered, as they did in later years with some of the record breaking issues. Nor do we know if there were many speculator collectors who purchased the issue and immediately stored it away in the expectation of its value increasing - again a common practice in later years. So I suspect the number of people who actually purchased & read the first issue at the time is somewhat lower than this headline figure suggests. And of course the comics industry has seen much turnover of fans so many since may have never read the first issue or any of the series at all. If they've encountered Dazzler's early days outside of this volume then it's most likely to have been through her X-Men appearances.

But even reading X-Men #130-131, Amazing Spider-Man #203 and then Dazzler #1-2 can still perpetuate one of the myths about the character. Because it's only really in these issues that the character is explicitly based around disco. (Fortunately the original plan to name the character "The Disco Dazzler" was dropped.) Afterwards she is a more generic singer who can and does take up work in all manner of genres. It's surprising that she doesn't change her stage outfit at any point in this part of her series, but her look had already been established by this time and visual continuity is often key in comics. Nevertheless there are often times when she doesn't stop to change and instead deploys her powers whilst in civilian clothes.

Dazzler's début story is split across two issues and full of guest stars. Is it really the best way to start a new series by having the lead character rescued from thugs by Spider-Man? Similarly in the fourth issue she doesn't escape from Doctor Doom at the end and it's only the arrival of the Human Torch that makes him flee. In the second issue the Enchantress strikes at a night club where Dazzler is singing and several pages are taken up with a battle between the Enchantress's demons and various members of the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. It probably made commercial sense in 1980 to lure readers in with the established stars but it also means the title character is crowded out in her own book. She may not have a desire to go into the superhero profession - in the X-Men issues she turns down membership of the team after all - but that doesn't stop trouble finding her and we get other heroes either guest starring or cameoing in the following issues: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #9, #10, #11, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20 & #21. The appearances range from brief scenes giving Dazzler help, such as the Beast doing some quick research for her in issue #5, to substantial interactions such as the two-part Hulk story in issues #6 & #7. (One particularly fun scene comes in issue #2 when chaos breaks out in a nightclub and Peter Parker races into the gents to change into his costume - only to find every cubicle taken by other heroes doing exactly the same thing!)

Similarly many villains from other Marvel series appear, including the Enchantress, Dr. Doom, the Enforcers (Fancy Dan, Montana and the Ox), Klaw, Terrax, the Grapplers (Titania, Screaming Mimi, Letha and Poundcakes), Dr. Octopus and the Absorbing Man. Throw in the presence of Galactus as well and it's a wonder there's any room to breathe. It's not until issue #8 that we get the first clear new villain (although there are generic gangsters and shady characters before that), the Techmaster. And although he's used twice, he falls into the trap of being motivated by revenge on an individual and it's often difficult to open out such characters into more general recurring villains. Unfortunately the next new villains, Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax, are again seeking revenge upon members of the supporting cast and offer limited opportunities to be opened out into more general recurring foes. In spite of all this there's a concerted effort to keep Dazzler away from some of the conventions of superhero comics, with the real focus being on her developing her career as Alison Blaire and trying to keep her powers secret and away from the more standard heroics, but frequently this fails to stop many situations coming her way.

The aforementioned supporting cast is at least developed quite well into a rather diverse set as we meet the likes of record producer Harry S. Osgood, his secretary Cassandra Ferlenghetti, field manager Lancelot Steele, band members Beefer, Hunch and Marx, and young singer Vanessa Tooks. Away from the music industry there is Paul Janson, a doctor who meets Alison in hospital and dates her for a while before finding her disappearances too much, and Ken Barnett, a lawyer who successfully defends her from the charge of murdering Klaw. On the costumed front there's the Blue Shield aka Joe Cartelli, a crime fighter operating undercover within the New York rackets. Finally there's her family - her supportive grandmother Bella, and her hostile father, Cater Blaire, a judge who believes his daughter is wasting her life with music and should have followed him into law. It's nice to see a case of parental disapproval over two different career paths, instead of a career vs. being a housewife as seen with Ms. Marvel. Then at the end of the volume we meet Alison's long lost mother, Barbara London, in a touching story that explores the rifts in her family as Alison faces similar dilemmas that her mother did, but overcomes them differently.

At its core the series is about a young woman seeking to follow her own dreams and hopes, and not the expectations of those around her. Alison wants to entertain others, not follow her father into law or become a superhero in spite of her powers and the situations she regularly encounters. Consequently there's quite a bit of focus on her day to day struggles to raise enough money just to pay the rent and eat - with some hilarious results as she has to take what singing jobs she can get no matter how embarrassing - and her interactions with those around her. What's also noticeable is just how much of an independent woman Alison is and how little this has to be said explicitly. She's not clingy and dependent upon any man, expect perhaps her producer for signings, and nor is she constantly struggling to overcome expectations of her gender. She isn't a female derivative of an existing male character but is instead her own independent woman, defined by herself and no-one else. Despite the series being over thirty years old, this approach keeps the character fresh and the stories do not feel particularly dated for it. Some of the situations may be a little forced in order to bring Dazzler into contact with either the villains or guest stars, but she reacts like an ordinary person with extraordinary powers. This was the first ongoing solo series to headline a mutant character and we get some glimpses of the problems that would beset them in later years - the struggle to keep their powers secret from all around them despite the need to use them for safety, the hostile reaction of those they've saved and the difficulty in controlling their powers. This latter problem leads to a particularly dark moment when she confronts Klaw, a being composed of solid sound, and is unable to stop her powers from absorbing him completely. At a subsequent trial Dazzler is found not guilty but cannot expunge completely what happened. But the trial also brings the second of her three romances in the volume. In succession she dates Paul Janson, a doctor who bails out on her when he can't stand her disappearances - and he tries to avoid a confrontation by delivering the news in public at a restaurant - then Ken Barnett, the lawyer who successfully defends her and so who is aware of her powers from the outset. But then the Angel takes a shine to her and starts throwing his money around, as though he can simply buy his way into her affections. This leads to some tense moments, but his attempts to woe her do have their upside, as he becomes a strong support to her grandmother when Carter Blaire sinks into depression. The volume ends on a high note as Dazzler performs at Carnegie Hall, wins her father's approval, meets her mother again and finally dances away at a party afterwards.

When I first picked up this volume I wasn't sure of what to expect, given the longstanding mocking of the series. But the more I read, the more I felt that either the problems stem from material yet to come in the second volume (which collects not just issues #22-42 but also the graphic novel Dazzler: The Movie and the Beauty and the Beast limited series) or perhaps even from her later appearances after the series ended, or else Dazzler has been dismissed by generations of half-remembered points and myths. This series is not some over-ripe disco chasing nonsense but instead a good portrayal of a likeable and well developed character who aims to follow her dreams and not conform to the norms. Perhaps too many wanted her to conform to the norms and be a conventional superhero series, but instead we get something highly original. The artwork is good to even better, especially under Frank Springer, and the writing strong. Oh and her costume is a delight - it may have been dated even at the time, but it's a pity it was subsequently changed.

Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2 - creator labels

Yet again we have a volume with a lot of creators, so here's a separate post to carry the labels for some of them.

Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 1

1984 was a big year for Marvel and for its flagship character. The company printed one of its most successful series of the modern era, Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars, bringing together most of their major characters for an epic adventure. Such tales may now seem commonplace, but at the time this was a novel venture. The series had many ramifications including Spider-Man returning home with his new black and white costume. However it subsequently turned out to be an alien entity that tried to bond with Peter until Mr Fantastic separated the two with a sonic gun. But like all bad pennies the costume would turn up again...

Alongside this and many over developments that year came a major transformation in the range of titles available. Marvel Team-Up had run for thirteen years with 150 issues and seven annuals but was now brought to an end. I suppose that with team-ups between heroes becoming ever more common in both regular titles and special series – and Secret Wars was the flagship for this development – a dedicated team-up book was considered surplus to requirements (although the concept has been tried again several times since). It’s worth noting that this was a period in which most of the team-up books at Marvel and DC were being phased out - the previous year had seen the Thing's team-up book, Marvel Two-in-One replaced with a solo series and DC had similarly replaced their Batman team-up book, The Brave and the Bold, with the team book Batman and the Outsiders, whilst the regular Batman/Superman team-up in World’s Finest would only outlast Team-Up by about a year. Superman team-ups were a little more durable with DC Comics Presents lasting until the mid 1986 relaunch of the line, when Action Comics initially became a team-up book for the new incarnation, though it only lasted in this form until mid 1988.

In the place of Team-Up came a new title, Spider-Man’s third regular series – Web of Spider-Man, and we now turn to the first Essential Web volume containing issues #1-18, Annuals #1 & 2 and Amazing #268 which featured a crossover with Web.

(And yes, I know that I’ve only covered the first half of Marvel Team-Up in my previous reviews. But that’s because Marvel has yet to Essentialise the other half of the series. But I’ll save my thoughts on where the volumes have got to for a finishing post.)

The traditional criticism of Web is that the title lacked stable creative teams and at times was little more than a permanent fill-in series. How true is that of the issues in these volumes? Here are the full lists of writers and artists:

Writers:

• 1-3. Louise Simonson
• 4-6. Danny Fingeroth
• (Amazing Spider-Man 268. Tom DeFalco)
• 7. Peter David
• 8-9. David Michelinie
• Annual 1. Ann Nocenti
• 10. Danny Fingeroth
• 11. Plot: Danny Fingeroth Script: Bill Mantlo
• 12-13. Peter David
• 14-18. David Michelinie
• Annual 2. Ann Nocenti

Artists:

• 1-4. Greg LaRocque
• 5. Jim Mooney
• 6. Mike Harris
• (Amazing Spider-Man 268. Ron Frenz)
• 7. Sal Buscema
• 8-9. Geof Isherwood
• Annual 1. Tony Salmons
• 10. Jim Mooney
• 11. Bob McLeod
• 12. Sal Buscema
• 13-15. Mike Harris
• 16-18. Marc Silvestri
• Annual 2. Arthur Adams (main story)/Mike Mignola (back-up)

(Due to the huge number of creators, some of the labels have been placed in a separate post.)

Well it’s certainly true there were five different writers on the first eleven issues, a trait shared with Spectacular. But even worse than its sister title it also couldn’t hang onto a regular artist at the same stage. The last few issues suggest a regular creative team had finally been found, but as we’ll see when we get to volume two it didn’t last very long (although for a few years Michelinie would retain the record for the longest serving Web writer). It’s perhaps a further sign of the problems that the very first issue has two editors, although the incoming one stayed around for the rest of the volume. There have been many columns, posts, interviews and articles about the behind the scenes situation on the Spider-Man books in this period, with several of the key personnel in strong disagreement about what happened, and I’m reluctant to wade into that quagmire. However if there was a chaotic situation as the background then it’s easy to see how Web was crippled from birth, lacking an initial purpose and clear direction. Now it’s true that Spectacular had also had an equally messy start but after its first year it found a regular writer and then carried first some highly memorable adventures and then found its own niche by focusing on distinct situations and characters. But at the very same time Web was launched, Spectacular had just lost the last of its distinct supporting cast and would take some months to find a new distinct position based on tone. To have a third title also trying to find its way in the same crowd couldn’t have helped. And whilst David Michelinie’s stories do indeed bring something unique in the form of Peter Parker being sent out of New York on assignments for Jonah’s revived magazine, they also bring to the forefront the awkwardness of Peter and Spider-Man regularly showing up in the same towns and cities (and later countries) without his identity being discovered.

On top of all this the distinctions between the Spider-Man books began to break down even further in this period with the rise of crossovers between them. Whilst the titles had for a long time referenced one another and sometimes even had a sequel to events in one in another, formal crossovers between them had been limited to one year when the Amazing and Spectacular annuals carried a two part story. But within this volume we get the first crossover in the regular series, starting with the Secret Wars II tie-ins as we get a two-parter in which Spider-Man deals with the aftermath of the Beyonder turning a skyscraper into gold. (We don’t, however, get the Secret Wars II issue itself so we miss out on the scene where the Beyonder visits Peter in his flat and has to learn how to perform a basic human function. That’s probably for the best.) But there’s another crossover also stemming from these issues, though reading just Web on its own one could be mistaken for missing it. Issues #16-18 carry the “Missing in Action” storyline as Peter and Joy Mercado investigate events in Appalachia and at one point an underground base explodes with Spider-Man inside, leaving only a tattered costume behind (which was also used as the opportunity to temporarily stop using the red and blue costume for a couple of years). It’s a strong cliffhanger in its own right but was boosted by that month’s issues of Amazing and Spectacular tying in by featuring events in the absence of Spidey. Fortunately the issues in this particular crossover can all be read on their own, but it was again an indication of how the titles could so easily be blurred together if not handled carefully.

A sign of that blurring comes right at the start. The first issue isn’t a debut issue in any way. There’s no attempt to introduce Spidey afresh or his current supporting cast – a one page scene with Aunt May and Mary Jane discussing Peter dropping out of graduate school provides little of the wider context and sums up the general problem that the issue is another chapter in the ongoing Spider-Man saga rather than taking the opportunity to introduce or refresh readers. The bulk of the issue is taken up with the final chapter (for now) in the story of Spider-Man’s alien costume, which had already run over Secret Wars, Amazing and Spectacular. Putting the final showdown in the new book may have seemed like a way to lure existing Spider-Man readers in at the start but as well as being new reader repellent it also adds to the general identity problems the series had.

Although notionally a successor to Marvel Team-Up, there are very few issues that actually guest-star other Marvel characters. The Hulk turns up in Peter’s nightmare in issue #7 which is apparently actually set in the realm of Nightmare and features the real Hulk, but it’s such a confused story and if one isn’t familiar with contemporary events in Incredible Hulk the story makes very little sense. Dominic Fortune pops up in issue #10 as an older present day version of the Second World War hero – in 1985 it was just about credible for him to be young enough to be somewhat active but not as young as he’d like, but twenty-seven years later and it would be necessary to add one of the various “extra youth” explanations that are used for the likes of Nick Fury and other who were active in the war and stayed so into the present day. The second annual features Warlock of the New Mutants and sees the bizarre alien trying to understand “real life” and getting investigated by scientists in an utterly unsubtle parallel to animal testing. None of these appearances really stand out as anything particularly memorable.

The second annual also features a back-up in which Peter experiences another nightmare, this time reflecting on how to balance the different parts of his life, but it doesn’t really add anything at all. The first annual is also easy to forget, telling the story of a disabled science nerd child who gets manipulated into building a suit of armour for a criminal actor who keeps shifting characterisations and movie quotes. Annuals are tricky beasts at the best of times, but when they’re not written by a writer experienced with the character and title they often wind up as completely inconsequential one-offs that focus more on the story’s original characters and/or guest stars than on the actual title character. Whilst Web’s regular issues had yet to settle on a clear team, there’s no sign that Ann Nocenti was considered at this stage, and thus the two annuals are her very first work on Spider-Man and basically fill-ins like most of her later contributions. (I believe she’s a contender for the record for the most prolific fill-in writer on Spider-Man who never had regular stint on any of the titles.) Nor does the second annual fit into the travelling Peter/Spidey format that Web had adopted by the time it came out (it’s placed at the very end, after #18).

As for the rest of the regular issues, we get quite a mix. There’s a few classic big name villains including the Vulture, the Kingpin, Doctor Octopus and the Shocker, plus return appearances by lesser known ones like the Arranger, the Black Fox and Magma. The only first appearances of recurring foes are Chance and the Vulturions, neither of whom were used much in later years. The Vulturions appear to be yet another attempt to replace the Vulture with younger, more active characters and this time we get a gang of four who’ve managed to duplicate his wings. But they’re generally incompetent poor knock-offs of the real thing, and it doesn’t help that their storyline occupies the first three issues, so it’s a relief when in issue #3 the real Vulture breaks out of jail to put them in their place. And the team wouldn’t be seen again for over twenty years. Otherwise we get a mix of ordinary criminals, random one-offs with particular powers or weapons, and forgettable corporate faces.

Despite all the problems there are some good individual stories. There’s a particularly interesting tale featuring Doctor Octopus (who once again has had his metal arms & harness separated from his body but responsive to his thoughts – this appears to be a continuity error that overlooks that they were refused to him back in the #130s of Amazing) as he suffers from mental breakdowns following both his last fight with Spider-Man and some of the amazing things he witnessed during the Secret Wars. Another story sees Peter stopping a robbery out of costume, and having to deal with the consequences of becoming a local have-a-go hero who inspires others into action whilst the gang he stopped try to get their revenge on him.

There’s also some good developments in Peter’s photographic career, stemming from the arrival of new Daily Bugle City Editor Kate Cushing. Whilst Peter had had problems before with both Robbie being more critical of his work and competition from Lance Bannon, Cushing is even harsher and Peter finds it much harder to sell photographs to the Bugle, even when he resorts to unusual methods such as sneaking into an embassy’s ventilation system to photograph a key summit. However as one door swings towards closed, another opens as he gets assigned first for the Sunday supplement and then for Jonah’s revived Now magazine, taking Peter ever more out of New York and also contrasting his journalistic ethics with those of other reports. The first time (#8-9) sees him in a small Pennsylvania town as he tracks down the story of the Smithville Thunderbolt, a man who has protected the town for thirty years but now finds his powers fading, a local reporter getting close to the truth and another man has gained similar powers and wants to take his place. There’s no happy ending either as the Thunderbolt’s identity is outed in the local paper and fearing ridicule he commits suicide, even as a crowd turns out to thank him. The final page sees the reporter seeing the consequence of her actions yet still pulls out a camera to photograph the corpse. It’s a bitter-sweet tale of how irresponsible the press can be in the pursuit of readership and promotion. The trip to Appalachia that triggers the “Missing in Action” crossover sees Peter teamed up with Bugle/Now reporter Joy Mercado, a teaming that would be returned to and raise the question of how Peter could keep his identity secret from a shrewd reporter when Spider-Man shows up in the same places. However we don’t at this stage get another clash between Peter and Joy’s different approaches to the job, but instead the themes of journalistic ethics are also explored in issue #13 in which Spider-Man’s actions are misreported by the Bugle and he decides to have it out with Jonah once and for all. But after smashing into Jonah’s office, then threatening and berating the publisher he is taken aback when Jonah points out that Spider-Man is acting like the menace he’s accused of being. Afterwards Jonah approves a retraction of the latest charge and then privately comments to himself that he doesn’t have to do this and how both he and Spider-Man might have the wrong impression of each other, but will never admit it.

For several issues there’s an ongoing ethical dilemma for Peter. When helping clear up at the skyscraper turned to gold, together with everything in it, he was incensed to discover the government was paying the Kingpin with several gold typewriters from the building, though he subsequently discovered this was an emergency deal to keep the existence of so much gold secret and save the world economy. But in his rage he opted to take a golden notebook for himself. Subsequent issues see him pondering on what to do with it and whether it’s right to cash it in. Eventually he opts to do so but accepts a ridiculously low amount from a fence and opts to spend what he can get all on Nathan Lubensky’s (Aunt May’s fiancée) hospital bills, feeling better at not personally benefiting despite his apartment needing urgent repairs if he’s to avoid eviction. (In the end Mary Jane pays for the repairs and Peter only discovers this once they’re done.) It’s not the most extended of ethical debates, especially as Spider-Man’s original justification for taking the notebook is soon overturned and so we’re left with him wondering what to do with an item he should never have had in the first place.

In general this volume of issues contains some gems but also shows what a total mess of a title Web was to begin with. It takes a while to find a distinct direction – and even at the time this was noticed with issue #16’s cover declaring “Don’t miss the 1st issue in Web’s daring new adventures into mystery and suspense!” with the “1” quite large. In later years more fuss would be made about this sort of thing being a “jumping on point” for new readers. It’s a sign that the title was probably ill-conceived to begin with as there just doesn’t appear to be a reason to have a third Spider-Man title on the market and the title itself didn’t go out of its way to take advantage of being new to bring in extra readers. Whilst the Team-Up concept might now have been tired (as the near contemporary ending of some of the equivalent DC titles would suggest), that didn’t mean just replacing it with a third Spider-Man solo title was the solution. The failure in the first year to get any writer to last longer than three issues just adds to the problems. Perhaps it might have been better to make a virtue of this and have a rotational title that would allow a mixture of new talent testing the water and big names whose other commitments prevented them from doing a regular run on Spider-Man. But instead the title set out to have an ongoing team with an ongoing distinctive purpose, and only at the end of this volume did it seemingly find such an arrangement. There are very few developments of any significance in this volume apart from the final showdown with the alien costume in the first issue. Even the destruction of Spider-Man’s red and blue costume was a short-term affair (and also a little silly as he’s made multiple costumes over the years). All in all this may have been the point when Spider-Man passed the point of no return on overuse, though it took some time to realise that.