SPIDER-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP: THE MUTANT AGENDA

DECEMBER 6TH, 1993 - MARCH 3RD, 1994
By Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Paul Ryan, & Joe Sinnott

Surprise! We're not quite done with newspaper Spider-Man after all. As I was making my way through the run of 1980s strips we just covered, it occurred to me that there's one more fully collected Spidey story arc out there from a few years later: "The Mutant Agenda", the storyline conceived by Marvel in 1993 as sort of a "multimedia" project. Marvel published a comic mini-series by the same name, written by Steven Grant and illustrated by Scott Kolins, while the Spider-Man newspaper strip did its own version of the story by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber (with Paul Ryan and Joe Sinnott on Sundays). A year or so later, the story was also adapted into the SPIDER-MAN animated series on Fox.

As it happens, Marvel published a collection a while back of the comic series and the strips, so I figured that since it was out there, I might as well purchase the digital version and check it out. You may recall I've mentioned previously that this was my first exposure to the Spidey newspaper strip in "first run" format. Of course I had the old BEST OF SPIDER-MAN book which I've mentioned many, many times here, and I had read it to pieces when I was seven or eight years old -- but our local paper didn't carry the Spidey strip until "The Mutant Agenda" started. When that happened, I decided to follow along in the papers.

...I didn't last long. I just couldn't get into the strip. I don't know if it was reading only a few little panels per day or if it was Stan's writing or Lieber's artwork or what, but at the age of fifteen, I just couldn't get into the strip. In part, I know it was because it felt simplistic and hokey next to the then-ongoing comics -- but even if you take that out of the equation, it simply didn't seem up to par with even the material in THE BEST OF SPIDER-MAN.

FANTASTIC FOUR #288

"FULL CIRCLE"
Writer/Penciler: John Byrne | Embellisher: Joe Sinnott
Colorist: Glynis Oliver | Letterer: John Workman
Edits: Michael Carlin | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The Human Torch storms the Latverian embassy in response to the Invisible Woman’s distress signal. He meets up with She-Hulk and the Wasp, and they're all soon joined by Mister Fantastic as well. But the group is quickly captured by Doctor Doom, who places them into personalized prisons.

Doom explains to his captives how he survived his battle with Tyros and stole Norm MacArthur’s body. He then reveals his plan to use sorcery to recreate his original body, but his spell instead summons the Beyonder. Beyonder prepares to kill Doom, but Reed speculates that Doom was pulled from the future to participate in the Secret Wars, and that killing him now, before he can join that conflict, will break a temporal loop of the Beyonder’s own creation, thus destroying time itself.

Beyonder agrees and spares Doom. He recreates his original body and returns his mind to it, thus restoring Norm as well, then wipes all knowledge of the Beyonder from Doom’s memory and sends him back in time to Battleworld. The Beyonder then departs and the FF soon follow, even as a Doom begins to rematerialize from the Secret Wars, closing the temporal loop.

FANTASTIC FOUR #287

"PRISONER OF THE FLESH"
Writer/Penciler: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Oliver | Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Michael Carlin | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
And a Mighty Marvel welcome to Joe Sinnott, Inker Extraordinaire!

The Plot: At Avengers’ Mansion, Mister Fantastic puts the finishing touches on a device designed to scan for Doctor Doom’s brainwaves. Meanwhile, the Wasp takes Sue and She-Hulk to visit her hairdresser at the French embassy. Across the street, the Latverian embassy comes under attack by a costumed villain called the Invincible Man. Sue and the other women attack him and he reveals that his family is being held hostage within the embassy by Doctor Doom.

The Invisible Woman, She-Hulk, and Wasp storm the Latverian embassy with the Invincible Man and split up inside. Sue encounters one of Doom’s robot duplicates and destroys it, but is then ambushed by the Invincible Man. Sue sees his face but does not recognize it, however he reveals that he is actually Doom in another body.

The confused wife of Doom’s “host”, Peggy, comes to his rescue by smashing Sue over the head with a vase, knocking her out. Doom then summons the rest of the Fantastic Four using a new pager system built into their costumes.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: The "resurrection" of Jean Grey last issue has prompted Reed to consider, following his appearance in the original SECRET WARS, that Doctor Doom might still be alive.

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #19

"SUMMONS FROM THE STARS!"
Story & Art: John Byrne | Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Michael Carlin | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
And the one and only Joe Sinnott, Special Guest Inker

The Plot: An alien the Fantastic Four once knew as the “Infant Terrible” arrives on Earth seeking their help. The FF accompany the Infant back to his “homeworld”, where they’re attacked by a Skrull warlord and her forces. Reed then reveals that the FF figured out the Infant was a Skrull agent and they played along with him to find out what he was up to.

The group’s adventure is far from over, however, as they learn that, since the collapse of the Skrull Empire in the aftermath of Galactus’s destruction of their throneworld, the asteroid which once beamed Super-Skrull’s powers across the galaxy has been taken over by a Skrull splinter group, and the leader of that group has plans which could result in the end of the universe.

The FF travel to the asteroid, where they bump into the Avengers. The Skrull warlord Zabyk activates his device, and the genetic code of every Skrull in the universe is rewritten, destroying the species’ ability to shapeshift.

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #21

Or, THE POST THAT STARTS OUT AS A REVIEW OF FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #21 BUT DEVOLVES INTO A PETTY RANT ABOUT STEVE ENGLEHART.

"CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION!"
Story: Steve Englehart | Breakdowns: Kieron Dwyer | Finishes: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Ken Lopez | Colors: Gregory Wright | Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: The Fantastic Four return to their headquarters after a mission in space and spend some time relaxing. They're about to leave on their next mission, to the Negative Zone, when the Inhuman royal family arrives and requests that Crystal return to the Moon with them and reunite with her estranged husband, the mutant Quicksilver. Crystal refuses and a fight breaks out between the FF and Inhumans.

Meanwhile, on the Moon, the High Evolutionary sends his Gatherers and Eliminators into the Inhuman city of Attilan to steal the Inhumans' Terrigan Mist. The Watcher, Uatu, appears to converse with the Evolutionary while his men carry out their mission. Within Attilan, Quicksilver mounts a resistance.

On Earth the fight comes to an end when the Inhumans are informed of the attack on their city. The royal family and Fantastic Four all return to Attilan together and battle the High Evolutionary's forces. The Gatherers and Eliminators are routed and return to the High Evolutionary, who teleports away with them. The Thing attempts to get the Watcher to reveal their destination, but he refuses. Another Watcher appears, but is also silent at Uatu's command.

In the aftermath of the fight, Black Bolt flies Crystal away and asks her to stay among the Inhumans. His guilt-trip works, and she chooses to remain and try to work things out with Quicksilver.

AVENGERS #237

"MELTDOWNS AND MAYHEM"
Writer: Roger Stern | Penciler: Al Milgrom | Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Christie Scheele | Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The Lava Men return to their home underground, after securing a promise from Project: Pegasus security chief O'Brien that the magma tap which disturbed them will be moved. However, four supervillains -- Moonstone, Blackout, Electro, and the Rhino -- are loose within Pegasus. The villains attempt to seize control of the facility, but the Avengers and Spider-Man stop them. Moonstone and Blackout escape, but not before Moonstone disrupts the Project's reactor, sending it into a critical meltdown. Captain Marvel, immune to the radiation by virtue of her light-based powers, enters the reactor core and, with Spider-Man walking her through the process, averts the catastrophe.

Later, back at Avengers Mansion, Earth's mightiest heroes agree to take Spider-Man on as a junior trainee. But when the ask their government liaison, Sikorsky, for clearance, he vetoes the idea, stating that the government has "a file on him that's a yard long." Spider-Man decides that an Avengers membership may not have been up his alley anyway, and departs.

The Sub-Plots: Spider-Man is still pining over the Avengers' $1,000 a week salary. Later, during the fight, the Scarlet Witch disables Electro by using her hex powers to cut off his oxygen, an unexpectedly brutal move which stuns Captain America. Also, at Avengers Mansion, the Witch reminds readers that her husband is injured, though she doesn't refer to him by name.

AVENGERS #236

"I WANT TO BE AN AVENGER!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Breakdowns: Al Milgrom | Finisher: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Janice Chiang | Colorist: Carl Gafford | Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Spider-Man breaks into Avengers Mansion to demonstrate his skill as a potential Avenger. But the group has little interest in his grandstanding and sends him packing as a priority alarm sounds. Outside the mansion, Spider-Man hitches a ride on the Avengers' departing quinjet and reveals himself when the heroes arrive at Project: Pegasus in upstate New York. Spider-Man helps Captain America, She-Hulk, and Starfox battle a group of rampaging Lava Men. Ultimately the fight ends when the Wasp and the Scarlet Witch arrive with Captain Marvel, who the Lava Men believe is their goddess. The Lava Men explain that their underground realm was pierced by Pegasus's magma tap, and the Avengers apologize.

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel's energy emissions have allowed the villainous Blackout to free himself from imprisonment within a device under study by the Pegasus scientists. Blackout teams up with fellow Pegasus inmate Moonstone, and together the duo springs Electro and the Rhino as well, and Moonstone prepares the villains to seize control of the Project's nuclear research dome.

AVENGERS #235

Spider-Man guest-stars in three pages of AVENGERS #235, reproduced below for your reading pleasure.

"HAVOC ON THE HOMEFRONT!" (excerpt)
Writer: Roger Stern | Breakdowns: Bob Budiansky | Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Diana Albers | Colorist: Christie Scheele | Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot Excerpt: She-Hulk is out jogging while listening to the Beach Boys when she gets into an altercation with a motorist. Spider-Man breaks up the confrontation and then, as She-Hulk jogs on, she casually mentions that she is paid $1,000 a week to be an Avenger. Spider-Man is dumbstruck by this revelation.

The Sub-Plots: Technically this entire scene is a sub-plot to lead into the next two issues of AVENGERS. So:

Sub-Sub-Plots: She-Hulk is getting tired of living in Avengers Mansion and wants to find her own apartment in Manhattan. She also misses the beaches of Southern California.

Continuity Notes: Spider-Man last encountered She-Hulk at the Avengers' meeting with Captain Marvel in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #16. He also turned down an invitation to become an Avenger in AVENGERS #221.