Aqualad Redux

The new Aqualad, Jackson Hyde, is one of the first Character Spotlights I did on this blog. You can view the original post here.

He got the short end of the stick because he debuted, both in comics and on tv (Young Justice, in case you didn't know), right before The New 52 happened, and then he disappeared. He didn't appear again until DC Universe Rebirth #1 (May 2016), and not as Aqualad.

To be honest, I haven't really known how to handle Rebirth, which is why it's taken me so long to post him. New 52 was easy; it was a new universe, so everything that showed up was new. But Rebirth is kind of a continuation of the previous universe and kind of a continuation of New 52 (of course, New 52 was also kind of a continuation of the previous universe, but that's a different topic), so I didn't know whether I should post him again or leave him alone because he's already represented on the site.

Thankfully, DC did me a solid. See, Jackson recently became Aqualad for real. And unlike his previous, dreadlocked self, Rebirth Aqualad has hair to match his animated counterpart. So even if I can't count this as a character spotlight, it still works as an appearance spotlight.

Of course, his costume and tattoos LESS like the animated version than it used to be, but I can't win them all.

Appearance Spotlight: Iceman's Jagged Form

Once again I have to think CBR for the assist, and you can read a more detailed background of this entry at their recent post on the subject.

But basically it goes like this: Scott Lobdell thought Iceman should be able to have greater control over his appearance, but the X-Men editors thought that Toy Biz - who owned Marvel at the time - wouldn't go for the idea since they had recently released an Iceman figure and would want the figure to match the comics.

However, Lobdell came up with a storyline that would allow him to play with the appearance temporarily. In Uncanny X-Men #314 (May 1994), the White Queen takes over Iceman's body and shows him he's not using his powers to the fullest extent.

Toy Biz saw this design and was basically like, "Whoa! Do you know how many action figures we could sell with that design?" So in 1995, they released an Iceman figure with a more jagged look and the ability to "grow" different parts of his body.

Iceman was changed in the comics to follow suit, of course, but it didn't happen all at once. In X-Men #50 (January 1996), he still had a smooth look overall, but he also had SOME shape control. His ice form had hair now, and he could turn his arms into spikes:

One month later, in Uncanny X-Men #331 (February 1996), he got the jagged look from the comics.

It didn't stick, but few things do in comics.

Character Spotlight: Farmer Brown

I've mentioned Farmer Brown on this blog before, in the Batman: The Animated Series super post, but the information was not complete until now, so he gets his own page!

Farmer Brown was a one-time villain in The New Batman Adventures. He first appeared in the episode "Critters" (September 1998), and despite his name and appearance, he's a genetic engineer who created mutant farm animals to terrorize Gotham.

Although he hasn't yet had a proper first appearance in comics, his name and likeness HAVE appeared. In Batman: Streets of Gotham #4 (September 2009), his name and likeness appear.

The issue is about a guy named The Broker who acts as a real estate person for supervillains. When Zsasz tells him he's in the market for an abattoir, the Broker sells him Farmer Brown's old pork factory.

Costume Spotlight: Darren Cross as Yellowjacket

A couple things you need to know upfront:

1. In the comics, Yellowjacket was a heroic persona of Hank Pym, but Hank Pym was going through some stuff at the time so he was kind of a dick.

2. Darren Cross died in his second appearance (the second part of a two-part story), but was later brought back to life and had been a recurring part of Ant-Man's recent series. Although he gained Hulk-esque powers in his first story, he's mostly just a businessman.

In the movie Ant-Man (2015), Yellowjacket is a suit Cross designs to sell to governments as a tactical espionage tool that uses Pym particles. He ends up wearing it himself to fight Ant-Man. As you can see, it looks pretty different to the suit from the comics...

...unless you're talking about the suit he finds in Astonishing Ant-Man #12 (September 2016), in which case it's remarkably similar (but not exact by any means).

Character Spotlight: Agent Dolls

Wynonna Earp is a weird western series of miniseries about Wyatt Earp's great-great-granddaughter, who belongs to a special division of the US Marshalls that deals with paranormal crime. The series has been around at different times since 1996, but in 2016, it was adapted into a show on SyFy.

The show plays with the premise a bit. Whereas the comic travels all over the west and deals with a variety of strangeness, the tv is set in the town of Purgatory, which Wynonna has to protect from the Revenants, the ghosts of the 77 people Wyatt Earp killed with his magic gun, the Peacemaker. The show also gives a partner to Wynonna named Xavier Dolls, and somehow includes Doc Holliday as a character.

2016 also saw the release of a new comic miniseries, and you can easily see they were willing to make changes to better match the show.

One of those changes was the inclusion of Agent Dolls. He first appears in Wynonna Earp #1 (February 2016), only in the comic, Dolls is Earp's superior officer.

Note: Although Wynonna Earp did not premier on SyFy until July 2016, while the 2016 comic series debuted in February, SyFy bought the rights to the series in July 2015 and the show went into production in September 2015 with an automatic 13-episode order.

Character Spotlight: Gail Richards

This is a minor one, but it's still neat.

In The Ultimates #1 (January 2002), we see that Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, is engaged to a girl named Gail.

In The Ultimates #3 (March 2002), paying close attention reveals that Gail's last name is Richards

So what does this all mean? In the serial Captain America (1944), Gail Richards is the secretary and love interest of Captain America, aka District Attorney Grant Gardner.

As you might guess, the serial was quite different from the comics of the time. But interestingly, the serial itself exists within Marvel Comics continuity, presumably because Captain America's identity was classified at the time it was made. Whether intentional or not, the existence of the serial in the comics may provide a good example of why Gail Richards or Grant Gardner have never appeared in the comics personally (excluding Ultimate Marvel, that is).

Characters' Names: Venom's Spawn

This is a surprising one for me, so I'm glad to be able to share it.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing a line of Venom toys called "Planet of the Symbiotes". The internet tells me this line came out in 1996, which sounds about right. Symbiotes were all the rage in the mid-90s. I can't say why - even as a kid, I didn't see the appeal - but they were, so these toys didn't surprise me. A year later, they came out with a sequel series called "Along Came A Spider". Each of these lines were named after Venom miniseries that involve these characters, but don't have much in common with them beyond that.

I didn't recognize most of these characters at the time, but that wasn't anything new. I often learned of characters through toys. But here's the thing, which I didn't learn until today: some of these characters didn't have names until they released the toys!

The story behind this group of Symbiotes is that they were created from Venom by an organization called The Life Foundation. They first appeared in Venom: Lethal Protector #4 (March 1993).

In their appearances before the action figures came out, the Symbiotes didn't have names. They referred to each other by their host name. But no one would buy a Symbiote named Donna, so Toy Biz came up with more appropriate names. It's a little tricky to explain who has a toy-original name and who doesn't, so we'll go through them one by one.

Moving left to right on the group photo above, we'll start with Scream. The yellow Symbiote was first  designated Scream in Civil War Battle Damage Report #1 (March 2007).

Next up is Lasher, the green Symbiote. It was first called that in Carnage USA #2 (January 2012), although it's an interesting case in that the lettering makes it seem like "Lasher" may be the name of the dog that hosts this Symbiote, rather than the Symbiote itself. It's unclear.

In the middle, we have Riot. The grey Symbiote is first called "Riot" in Carnage USA #2 (January 2012).

After that, we have the orange Symbiote, Phage. Phage is a VERY interesting case. If you go back and look at the toys, you'll see one named Phage. But it's not a Symbiote! It's actually an alien called a xenophage, which is a predator of Symbiotes. Here's a picture of one:

Regardless, they had another Symbiote they needed a name for, and Phage is what they chose, no doubt because it was used in this toyline. Phage's name first appeared in Carnage USA #2 (January 2012).

You might notice the final (pink) Symbiote, Agony, is not in the toyline either. And no toy is named Agony. So I don't know where her name came from. Regardless, these Symbiotes (minus Scream) are part of a task force called the Mercury Team. Each soldier is assigned one of the Symbiotes and keeps them contained until they're needed, then bond with them just long enough to finish the task at hand.

Pretty neat, right? The immigrants that catch me off-guard are always my favorite.

For completion's sake, you might also notice there's a toy we didn't mention: Hybrid. Hybrid's name is from the comics, but it's not its own Symbiote. It's a combination of Lasher, Riot, and Phage, who first appeared in Venom: Along Came A Spider #1 (November 1995).

Edited to Add (6/27/21): As evidenced by the upcoming Extreme Carnage #1: Lasher (August 2021), Lasher is, indeed, the name of the symbiote and not the dog.