So, during the All-New All-Different Marvel up through their own attempt at DC’s classic “Crisis on Infinite Earths” (But without ever doing their own “Crisis on Earth-2” or “Crisis on Multiple Earths” beforehand) I caught a look at this new character Silk. When I wondered about Stan Lee’s Spider-Man Japan being revisited, I wondered about his daughter (Not canon… yet) and saw Silk as being about the right age (factoring her bunker binge)…
If multiple universes were going to get woven together, why not insert Spider-Man Noir just before the Golden Age, and Spider-Man Japan early into the Bronze Age? I was always confused by Peter Parker being that good at sewing on top of everything else. He’s bought Spider-Man merch to disguise himself before (made sense in context), why not buy the previous Spider-Man merchandise from the beginning. Much faster. And he gets one more reason for haters to hate on him… identity theft. How would he relate to Silk, if she WAS the daughter of the prior Spider-Man? What if she already had a team with Mattie Franklin, Aranya, Heart of the Spider? Under the leadership of Madame Webb and Claire Voiyant’s Granddaughter? How would she take to some pimply-faced Ayne Rand fanboy taking up her father’s mantle? And what if he insisted on using Daddy’s Giant Robot? (Personally I think she might say “If you couldn’t handle giant robots on your own, you shouldn’t have pissed off the Tri-Sentinel. No, you may not borrow Leopardon.”)
25 years ago: Street Fighter III: Third Strike; Resident Evil 3; Fatal Fury Wild Ambition; King of Fighters ‘99.
2 Zodiac Cycles ago: Project Justice; Plasma Sword; King of Fighters 2000.
Old enough to drink in 50 States: The Buffy the Vampire Series Finale; Catwoman; Ang Lee’s Hulk; Daredevil; X-2.
20 years ago: Fate/Stay Night debuts; Capcom Fighting All-Stars #canceled; Fireworks Production Studios and CrossGen Comics close their doors; Angel Finale; Blade: Trinity; Spider-Man 2.
15 years ago: Dance Dance Revolution X; Deadstorm Pirates; Death Smiles II; Deep Sea Treasure by I.C.E. (No nostalgia, but I thought it was funny there was a games developer named “I.C.E.”); X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Astro Boy, Watchmen hit theaters.
1 Zodiac Cycle Ago: Street Fighter x Tekken; Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3; Avengers (first movie); Amazing Spider-Man.
10 years ago: Ultra Street Fighter IV; All–NewAll-Different (I still have literalist objections to that branding) Marvel; Amazing Spider-Man II.
05 years ago: Avengers: Endgame; Resident Evil 2 (remake); Devil May Cry 5; Mortal Kombat 11; “They Called Us Enemy” comic.
Last Year: Street Fighter 6; Mortal Kombat 1.
Before this year’s turn of the cycle: Tekken 8. Which anniversaries do you think of when you think of 2024? I kept going back to 1994 gaming, but tried to diversify. Please tell me in the comments below.
So, Chinese Lunar New Year. I had plans for it, covering the Tacoma festivities. But my traveling companion got the Covid, and at my age that’s really more of a “See with friends” activity. So I’ll be covering the Seattle festivities (two weeks after that). In between these two, comes my New Year Resolutions, for this… this Year of the “Dragon,” (of the “wood” cycle. Let’s be adults).”
Listed above are 2024 anniversaries. In multiples of 5, post-1984. Seeing so many franchises cashing in on old nostalgia, I thought I’d polish off unfinished works relevant to these. I’m most excited about the window 🪟 I found to make the Midway vs Capcom dream match “Mortal Kombat vs Street Fighter Extended Universe” happen. The answer may surprise you! 🤗
My other planned projects are “Mahou Maidens of Marvel (and other hypothetical licensing venues to solve the bankruptcy crisis of the late ‘90’s)”; renewing my series on the missed opportunities of the 32X; 2 possible shake ups within King of Fighters tournaments; a quick reminiscing on the Ultimate Imprint of Marvel; a brief wish list for NON-superhero entrants in the Marvel Vs Capcom series; the missed opportunities of Screenplays to sequential art; a speculative rebuild of Capcom Fighting Evolution (while seeking other ways to save Capcom Fighting All-Stars); looking for how Rival Schools, Star Gladiator and Power Stone could have been carried over into the new century; a rather … ambitious list of unexplored opportunities in the original Street Fighter Movie; an exploration of Neoliberalism (through Nature Girl’s ecoterrorist campaign); reframing the Street Fighter 3 series as the franchise’s 10th anniversary; Wrapping up the Mutant X Episode Listings: … you know what? I think that’ll be all. I’ll see about fitting in convention coverage and new photos (and ones not dug up yet in between all this). See you then.
Anyone remember John Howlett II? His story was supposed to bookend “Origin,” but alas he appeared in “Wolverine: The End.” Was “Hulk: The End” supposed to be canon? Who knows, it could still be. But “X-Men: The End” was certainly not. Just another Snapshot of how the X-Men comics were written when it started, well-obsolete months and months before it wrapped up its wrap-up story. The whole feel of “The End” series was a mixture of the feel of a new century/millennium overall, and the overall updating/reboot that’s come with each new decade. So to say it was a fleeting fad feels… fitting. And thus nothing introduced in these books ever showed up later.
Which is a shame, I certainly prefer John over Romulus. But reliance on the secondary mutation trend, also aged out of style very quickly. So now we have a long convoluted story that determines the rivalry between Wolverine and Sabertooth was based on hair color the whole time.
Episode 1: Past as Prologue. It’s MAGIC! (Not the New Mutant, but they’ve introduced sorcery and alchemy as a storytelling element. Adam discovers that he can treat magical formulas with the same mindset for the scientific ones he’s used to. I’m reminded of Tessa’s Sorcerology from Capcom’s Red Earth. I’m also reminded of Dr. Strange telling Mr. Fantastic that is NOT how this works, around the same time. But, setting a trend that would continue for the rest of the series, none of this is ever brought up again. Also not brought up from here on, raising the dead!
But what does come up repeatedly? Self-destruct. Ashlock is off the meter in all 4 categories, and it seems having every strand of your DNA bursting with that much power might be bad for you. Might make someone… into a bomb. Ashlock’s motivation is set going forward, and the powerups leading into this season raise the specter of an early grave over the whole team.)
Episode 3 Time Squared. Time Travel episode. Time travel as a mutant power is introduced, and it’s curious. A molecular psionic can send herself and others backwards and forwards through time. Before and after this, only Gabrielle Ashlock was described as being any combination of these traits. Meanwhile, this is a singular power drawn from multiple types. Not the last time we’ll see abilities like this, but probably the last time we’ll see one from 2. And we see new nanomachines introduced, the claim that Gabriel Ashlock killed his own parents when he was 10 is expanded upon Gabriel went back in time when he was 10 years old and then killed his family. Aren’t we just so glad we know the truth? Needless retcon, but the way that Ashlock interacts with people during this trip is very telling. He’s disgusted when his younger self tries to smoke, while letting him drive a car. When meeting the youngest, most vulnerable form of his most hated enemy, Ashley points out that the deadly mistake in his own genetic code was a simple error that anyone could have made. Almost like he’s genuinely understanding about the predicament. And there’s a new Macguffin, that if administered to his bloodstream when he’s 10 can provide enough stability to keep him from exploding.
Episode 4 Whose Woods These Are …And now we have another pseudo-horror story. It’s got everything: catman werewolves, shady government bureaucrats in the military, simple-minded hunters, and young couples getting mauled in the woods. A series of military experiments on multiple new Mutant ferals has thrown their feral mutation at a whack. At the cost of their humanity, and it’s contagious. This brings to mind the deadly spore from season 1, without mentioning it. This is not the only mini monster movie we get in Season 2.
Episode 5 The Future Revealed. Have I been stressing that Gabriel Ashlock qualifies as a type of bomb? Will that become especially relevant here? His girlfriend of the week is shown pregnant at the end of the episode, and literally nothing comes of that. Even when the Links of the Strand try to make another Ashlock later, it is wholly unrelated to this. I found this deeply frustrating watching it as a teen. A new type of electrical Elemental shows up. She can make the world go boom so long as it’s got enough power lines and circuitry.
And Ashlock’s ability to reactivate his presence within other people’s minds get more deeply explored here. including how to push back. and just how easily just a few pushes to someone who can throw fire out of their hands can kill themselves and multiple others. We also get to see me next trying to break in to sanctuary, not just trying to keep someone else out. The links and a strand go away for the rest of the season. They don’t even show up for the finale. Seems like they have a case for vengeance, or to elevate the first one, “En Saba Nur” if you will, to the status of a god. And none of that happens.
Episode 8 Sign From Above. Aliens! And if you thought the budget couldn’t get this thing anywhere near a Xenomorph before, the one is shot where they try to add effects to shed light on the true forms of these creatures, is even more disappointing than you’d expect. But long story short, They Came From Another World… to suck out the life juices from New Mutants to become physically more powerful than New Mutants, and get jailed in an Area 51 analogue.
Jesse Kilmartin has a girlfriend who’s introduced and killed off before the title credits, Adam shows a professional relationship with a collaborator never seen or heard from before or after… but amidst one-episode developments, Emma gets something interesting. She finds a mind that she cannot get an impression from. she gets to explore Trust for the first time. And decide she likes the sure thing much better.
Episode 9 Body and Soul. Now we get into our Proteus episode. Except instead of a reality warper who possesses people and burns out their bodies, he’s a teenager who enjoys way too much junk food and comic books from the ’80s. Who thanks to failed containment experiments with his unstable energy form is now trapped like a ghost, unable to be physical only possessing and killing from within living hosts. And he’s after revenge!
Shalimar gets to engage in another short-lived relationship flirtatious “will they won’t they” with a seasoned researcher at Genomex. This one’s not another feral, but physically he’s a little bit closer to actor John Shea. John plays Adam, and in the earliest episodes the writers were wondering if there was going to be something happening between Adam and Shalimar. It looks like she’s got a type. Makes the growing sexual tension between her and the former Renegade Thief seam less directly intuitive.
From a technical perspective, this only adds discussions of containment technology for being like this new Mutant of the week. It makes sense he’d be breaking out early-ish in season 2, now that Genomex is no longer paying it’s electrical bills, what’s to keep him contained? He’s defeated mostly by the episode ending and (can never be seen again or ever reactive in the future, based on the rules of this series.)
Episode 10 Understudy. A special ray gun that is intended to be disruptive towards men’s electrical creations, but because it’s also electrical shorts out the central nervous system, shown here but never seen again. Not even by the Spooks in season 3. The only significance is Shalimar’s conversation with Adam about her childhood friend who animal totally turned down for team membership because despite there being so many types of Ferals, There Can Be Only One on the team. Unless you thought that was idle wordplay, (decapitations aside) the new girl is out for the old girl’s head.
Episode 17 Final Judgement. A gentle reminder that Genomex before and after during and after Adam’s time was no mere private sector genetics research facility. A legitimate CIA Style spook meets with him, and leaves a lot of questions for the team while ultimately giving them Adam’s location following their leader’s disappearance. We need to tribunal, and get the kind of shocking reveal that’s laid out pretty plainly in next episode teasers and guest star reels.
Episode 18 Inferno. A ghost story this time. Naturally revolves around Emma. She is linked to a man when he dies, as both of them investigate a serial arsonist. We’ve seen a primal fear of fire being used to torture Shalimar before, and even though Adam writes it off as a basic trait of Ferals, she insists on pushing and punishing herself. Until fear of loss exceeds fear of flame. When the task is done race soul is able to move on and I get to clean bill of health, I recommend the scene where he gets to have a sort of talk with his own Widow through Emma, and as she leaves the Widow says goodbye to him.
Episode 19 One Step Closer. A frustrating thing about the tagline for the show is protecting a world that doesn’t even know they exist. And yet this is one more time that someone calls Adam. It’s just semi-standard babysitting bodyguard job for a senator’s daughter. Most relevant to us is not that they’re showing the bad people their faces all the time, or showing power openly, even in shopping malls, it’s that so many people can show up on the big video phone screen in sanctuary. It’s so many prosecutors at what looks like street level can just call him in. The world seems very much to know that Adam exists, he just speak at a conference after all. But how much do they know about his team? The teaser advertises a screenplay by Freddie Prinze Jr.
Episode 20 Reality Check. Season 1 episode 3 introduced heirs and Legacy to both original subjects from Genomex, AND researchers in Old Soviet Union. Well, now we get to meet a New Mutant from old Soviet Union. Soviets had their Genomex, Western Powers have their Genomex, and from here it’s a mind-breaking horror story as his own captive’s reactions inform him of her world, and just like last time we’re getting a frightening peak into just how powerful Emma DeLoral is becoming.
Episode 21 Reawakening. Monster mini movie episode. Emma can feel the psychic tendencies of the creature from so far away, it’s being thought out in the Arctic or the Antarctic of something, and personally I just hate this thing’s design. But there’s supposition that this one off creature from thousands of years ago is an ancestor of modern man somehow. I’ll have a horror subgenre episode list for the series after this.
Episode 22 Lest He Become. And now it comes to it. The dark finale. It seems like this season really missed Mason Echart. It’s two psychic goons are legitimately creepy with powers treated new and strange even by Mutant X. But like the man in Within These Walls, somehow splice after they were born and after they were pubescent, probably as adults. And the way to get that splicing starting is revealed. There were four key sources of DNA used as reference points to start the gene splicing in proper form, such as it was. that gets revealed here. That’s where the two creepy gents get to be their creepiest, the scene inside their victim’s car is wonderfully claustrophobic especially with the cinematic focus on the larger guy. He has to telekinetic punch so it’s really not advantageous for him to use power at all and yet he’s still scary, and the man he’s visiting is so dead. And so is he. Wholly by accident because without a proper process to work with the key descriptor for new Mutant DNA is not unstable or explosive, it’s fragile.
And that’s where Shalimar’s father comes in. We’ve seen their primal fear of fire, we’ve seen implications of keeping them within a relatively close space together for too long, but now we get to look at New Mutant ferals from the point of view of a parent who has no idea what he’s gotten himself into. Desperately trying anything to cure a sick child, and then finding her getting more sensory sensitive, more powerful, more Dynamic, more impulsive, more violent… We go through the episode seeing institutionalized torture from the perspective of Shalimar’s memories, but we get it from the other side at the end. And truly it be the end…
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