Category Archives: Uncategorized

90s Comics, 90s DC, DC Comics, Uncategorized

Green with Madness (part 1 of 3)

Leave a comment

There I was, close to certain death. As I lie in my bed, my life flashed before my eyes. Yes. This was the end of your loyal Symbifan. No more posts. No more articles. The end. Well, perhaps I’m exaggerating just a bit. I had the flu. Don’t laugh! You know how sickness is for a man! Anyway, I’m back now, after way too long of a absence, to bring you part one in a three part series describing the events that occurred in “Green Lantern” #’s 48-50. That’s right! The fall of a hero, and the birth of a villain. The beginning of Parallax! (Forgetting that yellow travesty that was created years later to replace this amazing storyline.) So, without further ado, I bring you “Emerald Twilight”…..

Hal Jordan sat in the crater that was once his hometown. There was nothing but rubble surrounding him. The wind blew dust over him as the Earth’s Green Lantern sat in complete misery. Coast City had been utterly annihilated by the evil Cyborg Superman and his minion, Mongul. Now he sat alone, grieving the loss of the place that had meant so much to him. (So depressing. Here. I’ll perform a backflip for your amusement. That’ll cheer you all up. Did you like it? Damn right you did!) Hal looked down at the source of his amazing power, his ring. It could create literally anything the wearer could imagine. All it took was willpower. And still he could do nothing to stop this tragedy. That’s when he began to concentrate.

An emerald beam of light erupted from his ring and blanketed the area around him. Slowly, from out of the green mist, a figure walked towards him. Even completely composed of energy, Hal recognized him immediately. It was his father. The Green Lantern started the conversation slowly, but he soon began speaking of the past. How, no matter what he did in life, his father had never been proud of him. Never offered him an ounce of respect. His dad replied that he had been right to do so. Look at this devastation. Even as a superhero, Hal had failed to save his entire city! (That’s cold! It’s the verbal wounds that parents cause that can really cut deep. I know from experience. That sentence wasn’t funny in the slightest. Imagine that I wrote it while wearing pink, footy jammies and a raw turkey on my head. Better? Good.) There was now silence between the two. That’s when Hal’s father suddenly broke the silence. He had to leave. He had a plane to catch. The Green Lantern begged him not to go. But the energy being disappeared anyway. Moments later, a green energy jet flew overhead. But something was wrong and the plane suddenly exploded! Hal had just relived his father’s death.

Hal drops to his knees, his head lowered. That’s when a calming, gentle hand touches his shoulder. Turning, he sees his mother’s compassionate face. He stands and asks her how she dealt with her husband’s terrible death. She replies that after the initial shock wore off, only memories remained. And that’s what he should do about Coast City, remember the good things. As she faded away, a look of rage crosses the Green Lantern’s face as he roars that memories aren’t good enough! (Uh-oh. Me thinks that Hal’s suddenly become one nugget short of a twenty piece.) He unleashes the full power of his ring! Using all of his nearly-limitless willpower, he recreates the entire city down to the smallest detail! Even the people reappear! And Hal Jordan floats over all of it. And truly he feels like God! While he looks down upon his creation, a small and familiar voice greets him from below. He descends to see his high-school sweetheart!

Jennifer smiles and tells the superhero just how much different he looks since she last saw him. She asks where he’s going. Somewhat surprised by the question, he answers that he supposes he’ll visit his parents’ home. She asks to walk with him. As they stroll down the sidewalk, Hal suddenly reveals to her just how much she meant to him. That he could never have gotten through his father’s death without her and how he should never have let her go. That’s when the realization hits him. Jennifer is dead. He asks if she was in fact in Coast City when it happened. She replies that her death was quick and painless. She then kisses him gently and says goodbye with a wave. (Yeah. Hal’s definitely gone cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Why’s he purposely torturing himself? I know why he’s so depressed. It’s because Dr. Strange and Mr. Fantastic beat him to his hairstyle.)

After her image has gone, Hal walks through the door to his childhood home. He at once spies the image of his father. But this time, he has nothing but kind words to say. In fact, he seemed about to say that he was proud of his son. Something Hal had always wanted to hear his dad say. But that’s when the image began to dissipate. In fact, the whole green construct of Coast City slowly disappeared! The Green Lantern once again stood in the crater that was once a happy, thriving city. Hal howled in anger as the illusion faded. It wasn’t fair! But just as he uttered those words, the green image of a Guardian spoke from over his shoulder. Hal’s ring’s power was spent. And not only would the alien being not recharge it, Hal was to return to the planet Oa for disciplinary action! He had broken the cardinal rule. He had used his power for personal gain. (Man, good thing I never got one of those rings. I’d be soooooo naughty with it. The Guardians would be appalled at my imagination.) Hal was to surrender his Green Lantern ring immediately!

Something inside Hal Jordan snapped at that moment. He smashed the energy construct of the Guardian, absorbing the power into his ring! He then growls that he’ll go to Oa all right, but they won’t like him when he gets there! Using his stolen energy and with a crazed look upon his face, the Earth’s Green Lantern blasts off to the stars! And woe to anyone who would dare stand in his way!

To be continued…..

Uncategorized

An X-Treme Opinion – There Was Never Intended To Be A Third Summers Brothers.

Leave a comment

Written by: Tawmis Logue

See the article I originally wrote: https://theunspokendecade.com/2015/06/02/things-just-got-x-treme/

Now you’re reading that title and either screaming I am wrong – because Sinister even hinted as much in X-Men #23, when Sinister had told Cyclops: “… but I care enough to wish you and your brothers to be protected from this illness.”

Fabian wrote that fateful issue in X-Men #23 where Sinister is speaking to Scott Summers (Cyclops) and mentions “brothers” – as in plural. The world was ablaze with speculation as to who the “Third Summers Brother” was… most people seemed to speculate that the intended one was none other than everyone’s favorite Cajun mutant – Gambit. Which could make sense, with the red eyes (like Cyclops) projects energy (like Havok). But not what Fabian had in mind. Quoting Fabian –

“The character [X-Treme] WAS created to be the 3rd brother, but once I left the x-books, the following writers/editors chose to ignore the sub-plot(which is their call to make). the good news is that no writer/editor contradicted the storyline plans I had, so maybe someday I could still pick it up.” – Fabian

Fabian even added:

“I threw the ‘brothers’ line into Sinister’s dialogue mostly for fun and to make him come across like the smart-ass that he was. Editor Bob Harras liked that, since he always liked mysteries he would never let us resolve, so I started to give it some more thought. I knew we were going to be introducing a slate of new characters in all the Annuals we were publishing that year, so I tied the two ideas together.” – Fabian

However, when asked about the “Third Summers Brother” Fabian had this to say:

“I became a bit thrown off when the comic book media of the time, like Wizard, dubbed it ‘the Third Summers brother,’ and it took on a life of its own. I had always thought of it as simply ‘the Third Brother,’ because I knew that, technically, if the DNA was coming from Kate, he wasn’t really a ‘Summers,’ brother. But it didn’t matter, it became ‘The Third Summers Brother’ in the minds of everyone. And without the chance to actually tell the story, it was impossible to wrangle that horse back in the barn. Never in print did anyone say ‘third brother.’ Sinister said brothers, so it could be one, two, or 52.” – Fabian



As the years went by, most characters continued to evolve; however, Adam was forgotten – except for people who seemed to be stuck on his appearance and how he looked. The thing is he never got to continue appearing, so yeah – he got locked into that 90’s look he had – and everyone seemed to be focus on “oh, he’s so extreme – he burns blood!” And I feel like none of those people read X-Men #39 which was a very touching tale and showed how Adam used his powers very differently (it also showed a very compassionate side to him). But I even talked about the minor changes I’d make to Adam’s costume to make him fit in modern comics.

As we know, in 2006 – Ed Brubaker did the X-Men: Deadly Genesis which told of a story of a team of mutants that existed – and went after Cyclops and the team (when they’d been attacked on Krakoa – before Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, etc., appeared in Uncanny X-Men #94/Giant Size X-Men #1) – this team considered of a specific mutant named Gabriel Summers, better known as Vulcan. His team had been killed on Krakoa trying to rescue Scott and the others. When the next round of X-Men we all know and love ejected Krakoa into space, Gabriel had been imprisoned (unknowingly) and somehow kept alive (he – somehow? some reason? Suddenly absorbed all the powers of his teammates – including a mutant named Darwin who could adapt to any danger). Professor Xavier so ashamed of the loss – wiped everyone’s memory of all of the members from Gabriel’s team.

Now let’s pause there for a moment. Xavier was so ashamed he wiped the memory of everyone who ever knew Gabriel (Vulcan), Petra, Sway, and Darwin (all the members of Gabriel’s team who “perished” trying to save the original X-Men from Krakoa).

Hold up.

So – I have a question. Why wouldn’t he have wiped everyone’s memory of John Proudstar who would die on the very next mission (after successfully rescuing the X-Men)?

OK – that’s not the point – let’s focus again.

House of M happens, “No More Mutants” – a ton of mutant energy (listen people, this is comics!) goes into the air – hits Vulcan and awakens him. And the entire story of “The Third Summers” story is resolved, as far as Marvel is concerned.

Now, Gabriel we learn shares a number of similar “planned origins” as Adam (despite what we see when Katherine is abducted, it’s retold later in the retcon to make Gabriel’s origin fit that she was actually pregnant when abducted by the Shi’ar). Overall, I just saw Gabriel as a super powerful mutant you couldn’t beat, so I never truly cared for the character, but the Emperor Vulcan and the Kingbreaker Shi’ar related stories were actually good reads. So I will give credit where credit is due, for those stories.

But fast forward to 2021 – the day I never thought would happen, finally came to be.

I loved what Fabian had to say –

“The real oddity of this situation was the nature of the book itself, new stories set in canon from the time of the original continuity, and the fact I was being allowed, encouraged even, to finally write the story of Adam-X. My story is exactly what I had planned to do in 1995. Beginning, middle, and end, it’s all the same. Because I had originally planned for a four-issue limited series that would have meant 88 pages of content. The two X-Men Legends issues are 50 pages of content, so I had to cut some scenes and trim some of the ‘slow down’ moments originally planned. That quickened the pace of the story, but muted a little of the downtime I had wanted between the brothers. My editors Mark Basso and Lauren Amaro were integral in helping me piece that together in a way that worked best. So, maybe it’s a bit less quiet in parts, but I hope its pace and scope offset that in an exciting way. As for the current fourth brother [Vulcan] in continuity, it has zero impact on my story for Adam’s story in X-Men Legends, since Adam’s story is being told at the time it was originally planned to be told, which precedes any character awareness of Vulcan.” – Fabian

This is a lot of needless backstory – just to get to where I was going to go – talking about X-Men Legends #1 and 2. I am not sure what gods finally smiled down – but it was finally announced that Fabian would finally be able to tell Adam’s story in a new series entitled X-Men Legends with the first two issues focusing on Adam’s origin.

The issue takes place in the past and opens with Eric The Red, who we’ve seen pestering Adam (namely back in Captain Marvel featuring Genis Vell) commanding the Crystal Claws to attack (in Alaska – and if you know your X-Men history – you know the grandparents of Scott and Alex live here) – at the same time, Cyclops and Havok find themselves attacked as well – so this isn’t a coincidence. Scott and Alex learn that their grandparents have been taken and a note has been left that says “Deliver the Forsaken One” (something Eric the Red called Adam in the Captain Marvel issues).

The issue cuts over to Adam at a farmhouse just having a zen moment when a young boy encounters him. But it’s not just the kid who is there – Cable also shows up and says that they need Adam’s “help” and explains the situation. We do see some backstory where Adam was genetically made in a test tube – where there’s other tubes that are (presumably destroyed in the ensuing fires and explosions) marked “Eve.” (Fun Note: In the recent Secret Wars, Fabian wrote the X-Men portion – and Adam became known as Burner – and similar tubes were seen where there was an “Eve”, “Seth” and “Able”).

Adam’s angry – and thought that he was done with Eric the Red (he believed he perished in the explosion in the aforementioned Captain Marvel issues). Adam eventually finds himself attacked by Raza and Hepzibah of the Starjammers before Cyclops and Havok show up and try to end things peacefully. Adam uses his power in yet another unique fashion and bolts – but can’t get ahead of Corsair who – after saying that Adam is the brother of Cyclops and Havok – shoots Adam in the head.

In the following issue, Corsair does correct himself and explain that technically Adam was their half-brother – and is surprised when Adam stands up again. Corsair explains that Adam was a part of the former emperor’s D’Ken’s eugenics program. Merging Shi’ar DNA with that of other specifies in search of way to advance the deteriorating evolution of the Shi’ar race and that D’Ken had used Katherine Summers (his wife and the mother of Scott and Alex) cell samples, mixing it with his own, creating Adam. Corsair mentions that the bounty on Adam was from Eric the Red and that gave Adam a plan. Our heroes take Adam “prisoner” and meet Eric the Red on the Moon. Once Eric the Red and the Crystal Claws reveal themselves to pay for the bounty, Adam “breaks out” of his shackles an tags each of the Crystal Claws and Eric the Red before the others can react – and then triggers his power to render Eric the Red and the Crystal Claws unconscious.

And it seems that Corsair is about to betray Adam when he calls upon the Shi’ar Imperial Guard…

But Adam has an idea – and the others all agree to it. They use Oracle powered further by Mentor to erase the memory of how Adam was genetically related to D’Ken, and technically, perhaps the true heir to the throne (especially if you asked Eric the Red and the Crystal Claws, who had wanted to put Adam on the throne).

Adam then returns to the farmland that we see him at in the first issue, and he speaks with the boy about the boy’s father who has trouble standing – so Adam decides to hang out and be a helping hand.

MY THOUGHTS

As an avid Adam-X fan, X-Men Legends #1 and #2 gave me what I needed. It finally reveals and confirms Adam’s true origin. It gave me the Shi’ar whom I have always loved, it gave me the Starjammers (who could have easily been the X-Men’s Guardians of the Galaxy for the FOX movies). It gave me a wonderful, amazing story. Gave me great art and inks. Gave me everything I needed wrapped up nicely. This was an incredible story – perhaps, I am the sole person, aside from Fabian who has waited the longest for this day to finally come. I want to thank Fabian, Brett and Adelso who were always so supportive of my Twitter account focused on Adam. (Remember when I started this talking about being obsessed? Listen, I wasn’t kidding!) I’d made movies, shared images – all of which they kindly shared, retweeted, liked, and gave more exposure to my account – but also Adam-X.

My heart is very happy.

You might say… X-Tremely happy.

When asked if Fabian read or what he thought of Vulcan, Fabian was very clear –


“As for anything in regards to Vulcan – Never read it. Don’t think I ever will. That tells you all you need to know about how I feel about that. Sometimes, the lack of respect that can be shown by subsequent editorial and creative decision-makers resonates with some things more than others.” – Fabian


Looks like Fabian just drew blood and whispered “Burn.”

Keep it X-Treme, folks!

  • Sir Tawmis
90s Comics, 90s Marvel, Uncategorized

A Guy Walks into a Dimensional Portal…..

Leave a comment

Who misses Saturday morning cartoons? Come on, a show of hands. Me too. Those were the days. Remember when Elmer Fudd would walk off of a cliff and not fall until he noticed, or Jerry would hand Tom a stick of dynamite and he wouldn’t die from the explosion, but instead resemble a struck match? What if you had superpowers like that? Pretty cool, right? Well that’s essentially what Slapstick can do. He possesses the powers of a cartoon character! This is his origin story, as told in “Slapstick” #1. Enjoy, Unspokenites and as you read, try to reignite that childhood spark that lived inside of you as you watched those classic cartoons not so long ago.

Steve Harmon had never been what one would consider to be a “normal” child. In his fifteen years upon the planet, he’d always been the kind of guy that you could count on for either a dumb joke or a prank. But being the class clown didn’t exactly make him popular. Far from it. Case in point. Steve leaned back in his desk and looked to the cute girl, named Heather, seated behind him. In perhaps a way to impress her, he tells her his best inappropriate joke. It doesn’t exactly go as expected as she turns her nose up in obvious disgust. (You all know the type. The popular girl that’s popular just cuz. A high school version of the Kardashians.) But before he can attempt a follow-up joke, he’s rudely interrupted by the appearance of Don Winston, the typical school alpha male. Steve immediately goes into defensive mode. They argue about how Don turned Steve in for his most recent prank, getting him a week’s detention. Winston merely laughs the situation off and moves on.

Later that day, after detention, Steve began his long walk home from school. As he pondered his vengeance, he paid little attention to his surroundings. This caused him to collide with a clown standing on the sidewalk, handing out flyers. The clown, however, seemed completely unfazed by this. He looked down to where the boy had fallen and, with a fanged smile, handed a flyer to Steve. Looking at it, Steve discovered that there was a carnival in town. Suddenly, a fantastic idea for his revenge struck him like lightning. Leaping to his feet, he ran to prepare. Little did he notice that the clown was no longer standing there! (Probably hawking a cheeseburger under a golden arch somewhere. No disrespect, Mr. McDonald. Your food made me the man that I am today…..sob……) Steve’s best friend, Mike, spies him and approaches to talk, but Steve barely even notices him as he sprints off.

Steve rushed upstairs when he arrived home, a happy bounce in his step. When he was in his room, he pulled out an old Halloween costume and put it on. Next, he fit a purplish wig to his head. Lastly, he applied clown makeup to his face. He took the time to admire himself in his mirror before silently descending the stairs. He giggled fiendishly the whole way to the carnival. Now completely incognito, Steve wandered the grounds in search of his prey. It didn’t take long before he located both Don and Heather together. Perfect! Buying a creme pie at a nearby stand, Steve waited patiently for his two victims behind a circus tent. (A pie?! That was his master plan? I’m sorely disappointed in our boy here. I expected something like, oh I dont know, a two-by-four with nails in it to the face. And that’s just off the top of my head! I need help, don’t I?)

But when they didn’t arrive, he peeked out of his hiding place and what he saw horrified him! Don and Heather were unconscious and being dragged into the House of Mirrors by a group of sinister looking clowns! Steve waited until they passed and then grabbed the nearest weapon, a large mallet. He followed past the eerie room of mirrors until he found a room beyond that was way larger than the entire tent combined! Inside, the clowns were tossing his two classmates into an enormous portal! As they did so, they spoke of studying these humans in order to better invade the Earth from their home world in Dimension X! The Overlord will be pleased! (I’ve got it! They’re taking them to Krang. He finally broke away from the incompetent Shredder and is now using evil clowns to do his dirty work! You’re not Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans? How do you sleep at night?)

When they were done with their despicable work, the clowns entered the portal themselves. As it began to close, Steve seized his moment and leaped in after them! As he did this, the Marvel Universe sensed the birth of something…..new. Spider-man’s spider sense went wild, Doctor Strange sensed something amiss, the Silver Surfer sensed a strange power being born, the Watcher felt compelled to interfere, Reed Richards’ advanced technology went crazy, and Howard the Duck threw up! (Not sure what Howard hurling into a bucket had to do with anything, but I’m merely here to report the facts. That said…..#LeaThompsonInPanties. )

As Mark passed through the portal, a strange thing occurred. It seemed as if every atom in his teenage form was torn from him, restructured, and reassembled into something all together new! He landed in what seemed to be an underground laboratory with a loud splat! Looking up from his puddle-like form, he saw clowns surrounding him. One of them, who strangely resembled Groucho Marx, made some adjustments in Mark’s cartoon gloves and placed them on his gooey hands. He then pushed a hidden button and Mark immediately took on a more solid form. Oddly enough, he now looked like a cartoon parody of his costumed self! (Why do a lot of cartoon characters wear four-fingered, white gloves? ‘Tis a true mystery for the ages. Like what the hell is Grimace from McDonald’s lore? The world may never know. Damn! I really must want fast food!)

It was explained that this clown used to be the Scientist Supreme in Dimension X. This was back before the Overlord used his inventions to warp reality and conquer this world. The Overlord kept him in this dungeon in case he were to invent anything else that could be used in his evil conquest. Recently, however, the madman had turned his attention to Earth so that he could add to his kingdom! Humans had been taken to experiment upon and make this dream of his into a demented reality! When Mark had passed through into this world, his body had somehow been changed into a new, indestructible material! While he was unconscious, the scientist had also added more features to the gloves Mark now wore. He could push a button in them to once again look human. Also, his mallet would appear in his hand with a turn of the wrist! (Yeah. This part of the comic was pretty wordy. No need to thank me for summarizing it. I will accept cash donations though. Just sayin’.)

And then, just like that, the former Scientist Supreme of Dimension X clutched his chest in pain! He was having a heart attack! As he fell into Steve’s arms, he whispered that it was now up to him to free his dimension and his own. He spoke up in a heroic voice that he never knew he had and vowed to do just that! The scientist’s assistants handed him a map to help aid him in gaining entrance to the Overlord’s throne room. Taking it, Steve took the trapdoor into the passageway. When he was gone, the scientist stood up and declared that this trick worked every time! (Ooooh! That’s cold! That’s as cold as whoever thought up the idea of subjecting us to a new Barney the dinosaur show! It’s true! Google it!)

The being known as the Overlord resembled a hideous mockery of a jack-in-the-box! He ordered his enslaved human army onwards to conquer the Earth! As they marched, Steve began taking out the guards with his gigantic mallet from behind the stage! Others noticed this intruder and attacked. Mark took one out with gloved fingers to the eyes and a hulking clown by smashing him through a stone wall with his hammer! The Overlord took notice at this time and ordered the Scientist Supreme’s machine be used on he who would dare intrude upon his moment of impending triumph! But the machine wasn’t prepared for one such as Steve! The energy shot right back into the large device, causing it to explode when it was struck with Steve’s mallet at the same time! (I once used a hammer to vanquish an enemy. Of course that enemy was a ketchup packet and I was around five years old. Still though…..)

The Overlord’s castle began to crumble around them all! From the rubble, he looked to this odd hero and threatened his life! Steve merely grinned and smashed the Overlord back into his box and then struck him with a golf swing so hard, that the evil one flew through the crumbling ceiling and into the sky! That’s when the evil clowns turned upon him! Unable to think of another course of action, he yelled for the human captives to run! They all raced down the twisted path toward the now-reopening portal! Everyone made it through, including the clowns! But Steve swung his mighty hammer one final time, causing the portal to suck the clown army back inwards and explode! Steve turned to see his very curious best friend behind him. Maybe Mike wouldn’t recognize him. (All of this hammer swinging makes me think of Captain America with Mjolnir in “Avengers: Endgame”. Remember that iconic moment when he yelled, “Avengers assemble!” Ha! You were all moved to the point of tears. Wussies. Nerds. I didn’t cry…..much…..every time I watch it……sob.)

Wrong. Mike knew him right away by the sound of his voice. The two walked together in the wooded area near the demolished carnival grounds. And as they did, Steve’s comic-loving friend told him he should use his unique powers to fight crime. This was agreed upon quickly. But he’d need an alias. After a few failed attempts, Steve finally cried out, “Slapstick!” The rest, as they say, is history.

End.