This is the one-hundred and eighty-first in a series of examinations of comic book legends and
whether they are true or false. Click here
for an archive of the previous one-hundred and eighty.
Let’s begin!
COMIC LEGEND: Marvel once did a special G.I. Joe comic made up of a comic by Todd
McFarlane that was deemed unacceptable by Marvel only a few years earlier!
STATUS: True
Reader Billy Ray asked me about this a ways back (towards the end of last year), but I could not
really help him out, as I did not have the issue in question either until recently.
As it turns out, this certainly was quite an interesting situation.
Some readers might recall that Todd McFarlane was slowly breaking into Marvel Comics in the late
1980s, and among the work he did was a fill-in issue of G.I.Joe, specifically #60.
What is NOT as well known, however, is that McFarlane actually drew the NEXT issue, as well!
For whatever reason, though, McFarlane’s issue was deemed unacceptable, so venerable
veteran, the late, great Marshall Rogers was brought in to draw the issue, and that was G.I. Joe
#61.
Rogers WAS asked back, as he would go on to draw two more issues of G.I. Joe in the next couple
of years.
By 1994, the title was no longer the top seller it was in the mid to late 80s, when it was
routinely Marvel’s top selling comic book (it even had a spin-off comic, G.I. Joe Special
Missions). So with #155, Marvel ended the book.
However, in the time between #61 and the book ending at #155, a funny thing had happened, the
young, inexperienced fill-in artist, Todd McFarlane, had gone off and become a major comic book
artist superstar!
So now, somehow, the same pages that were considered unacceptable in 1987 were good enough to be
published, for the first time, in a G.I. Joe Special, coming two months AFTER the cancellation of
the series!!
Here’s the Phil Gosier drawn McFarlane homage cover.
Here, for your amusement, is a side by side comparison of five pages from McFarlane’s
unaccepted take on Larry Hama’s script and Marshall Rogers’ accepted one.
Rogers did seem to do a better job.
All in all, though, it’s a weird situation through and through.
Thanks to Billy Ray for the suggestion!
Now, for something a bit different this week.
I’ve gotten enough suggestions involving Madelyne Pryor that I could get four or more urban
legends just out of covering the story behind her creation and subsequent usage, but at the same
time, it is a bit difficult to answer ONE of them without, in effect, answering ALL of them, so
I’m just going to answer all of them at once here.
COMIC LEGEND: The Madelyne Pryor in Avengers Annual #10 was the first appearance of the
Madelyne Pryor who married Cyclops.
STATUS: False
COMIC LEGEND: Madelyne Pryor was meant to be Jean Grey with amnesia.
STATUS: False
COMIC LEGEND: Madelyne Pryor became a clone of Jean Grey in an attempt to deal with the
whole “Cyclops is married to Madelyne while hanging out with Jean Grey” deal.
STATUS: True
COMIC LEGEND: Madelyne Pryor and Cyclops were intended to stay married and live happily
ever after.
STATUS: True
As has been established in more than one installment of Comic Book Legends Revealed (here
and here,
for two), Chris Claremont likes to work in the names of people he’s fond of into his
comics. I think it’s a neat little thing he does.
However, his fondness for doing this has led to some confusion when it comes to Madelyne
Pryor’s origins.
Claremont was a fan of the folk band, Steeleye Span, and of their popular lead singer, Maddy
Prior.
I do not believe Claremont was a personal acquaintance with Ms. Prior, but I could be wrong
there.
In either case, in the pages of Avengers Annual #10 (one of the first comics written specifically
to address what a writer found to be a bad story by a different writer - in this case, Claremont
addressing his distaste for how Carol Danvers was written out of the Avengers), Claremont
featured a young girl named Madelyne Pryor as a minor background character.
A few years later, Claremont introduced a new character named Madelyne Pryor as a love interest
for Scott Summers, Cyclops.
The two characters were not meant to be the same people - just the same name. That said,
I’m sure someone will ultimately come up with a way for them to be the same person.
Claremont actually even joked about the confusion in an issue where he had the little girl show
up again (wearing the same clothes) as a mental manifestation by Pryor, only singing one of
Steeleye Span’s more popular songs!
When introduced, Madelyne Pryor caused a lot of anxiety among the X-Men for her great resemblance
to Jean Grey, as well as the fact that she had been in a plane crash at the same time Jean died
in outer space.
However, Claremont’s intent with that stuff was strictly to be a really weird coincidence,
so Cyclops and the X-Men would always be left wondering, “COULD she be Jean?” But in
Claremont’s intention, she was not related to Jean Grey at all.
Claremont’s plans were for Scott to marry Madelyne and have a child and be in, more or
less, retirement from that point out, only showing up for major events/emergencies (similar to
how Claremont used Alex and Lorna and others during the early days of the All-New, All-Different
X-Men). Claremont got to start the first part of his plan, the marriage and the baby part, but
events out of his control led to his plans not working out.
Marvel decided to bring Jean Grey back from the dead and put her on a team with Scott Summers and
the rest of the original X-Men. Part of that story involved Scott flying away from his family
when he hears Jean is alive.
To Claremont, this was a major problem (and most readers agreed that it did not make Scott look
too cool).
So ultimately, to deal with a story that he had no part of, Claremont decided to play along and
help out X-Factor by revealing that oops, yes, Madelyne WAS a clone of Jean Grey. And now she is
an evil villain named the Goblin Queen!
And bam, now she’s dead, so Scott and Jean can be together without having to feel bad -
Scott’s wife was not REALLY his wife - she was a clone designed to marry him so that they
could bear a child together, and now she’s dead anyways, so smooth sailing on the
Scott/Jean love boat!
Maddie is (perhaps) appearing right now in Uncanny (perhaps) back from the dead! Good timing, as
Jean is currently dead!
Thanks to Mike (who asked a couple of these), Jason and a few other readers over the years that
escape my memory for the Maddie suggestions!
Okay, that’s it for this week!
Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My
e-mail address is cronb01@aol.com.
See you next week!
Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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