"The 28th
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It's Not a Mopee... It's a Bereet!
Every once in a while a comic book story which doesn’t meet with universal fan approval is published. Soon after, a letter to the editor or a post to a message board such as this one calls for that story to be “Mopeed out of continuity.” But Mopee is not a verb (not an active one, anyway), and ironically, the call to “Mopee” a particular story disqualifies from Mopee status, because in order to be a true Mopee, it must be ignored. For purposes of this discussion, let us start with the definition of Mopee as used on this board by Commander Benson.
Mopee story: A comic-book a story which purports to alter a significant fact of a main character's established history and this change turns out to be so universally rejected by both the readership and the company that it is ignored, never to be mentioned in the canon, again.
Yet there must be a term to describe the call to overturn a universally rejected story.
There is (or at least I’m hoping there soon will be).
MARVEL TEAM-UP #28 / HULK #241:
On of my favorite such stories is from Marvel Team-Up #28, in which Spider-Man and Hercules confront the City Stealers, who plan to steal Manhattan Island and haul it out of New York Bay. I don’t have a scanner to post the double page spread of Hercules thwarting their plot, but “those who are witness to this scene… will remember it all their lives -- and those who aren’t witnessing it, will never believe those who are. Once, a long time ago, this Olympian God performed twelve labors, each more difficult than the last. Yet no mythical labor -- save, perhaps, the time he supported the world itself on his shoulders -- can surpass this labor for sheer physical glory as the noble son of Zeus literally drags Manhattan Island back to its spot in Ney York Bay… BY HAND!” thereby proving (as The Official Marvel No-Prize Book put it) “that not only can Manhattan Island float, not only can it slip through a Narrows which is smaller than the island is wide, and not only can he tow it back into place, but that he’s stupid enough to put it back with the Battery pointing towards the Bronx!”
I doubt that writer Gerry Conway ever intended this feat to be taken literally, but surely it constitutes a Mopee, no? No. Not only does this scene not “alter a significant fact of a main character's established history,” but it was not “ignored, never to be mentioned in the canon, again.” In Hulk #241, Prince Rey, one of the mysterious trio known only as “They (Who Wield Power),” confides to the captive Bruce Banner, “One of our pawns would have split New York asunder with earthquakes, had not the man-god Hercules braced himself against the city’s foundations and absorbed the generated shockwaves with his own immortal body. Of, course, the son of Zeus has since boasted of his feat in more grandiose terms, but no matter! All of them--man and godling, hero and scoundrel--have been but tools in the hands of our brotherhood!”
By explaining what “really” happened in Marvel Team-Up #28, Hulk writer Roger Stern invalidates its Mopee status. Later, in Thor #356, Bob Harras would pen a tale which reinforces Hercules’ reputation as a teller of tall tales. I am tempted to refer to such a story as a “Hercules,” but that’s not distinctive enough. The term must be, if not unique (like Mopee) then at least unusual. The term I use will not come from Hulk #241, but it will come from Hulk.
THE RAMPAGING HULK / HULK #269:
In 1977 Marvel launched a black & white magazine titled The Rampaging Hulk, the first nine issues of which purported to tell “untold tales” which were to have occurred immediately after Hulk #6, “retroactive continuity” in the original sense of the term. The stories it told, although entertaining, were problematic at best, presenting “first” meetings of the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, the Avengers and the X-Man before they “really” happened in established continuity. The stories also prominently featured the bird-woman Bereet, a “techno artist” from the planet Krylor, but it was Bill Mantlo in issue #269 of the comic book series who introduced Bereet into mainstream continuity and smoothed out the contradictions with the following monologue: “The Hulk! From afar, we witnessed his birth in gamma green fire! For more than a decade we have observed his exploits, weaving them into ever new fictional adventures, in which, through the magic of techno-art, we were able to take part. I have never met the real Hulk, nor any of his companions. I did not need to! Through the star eye, I could make them be whatever I wanted them to be.”
That is my term: a Bereet.
Because I’m coining the term I get to make up the rules, and I say that Bereet can be used either as a noun to describe the original story (“Marvel Team-Up #28 is a real Bereet!”), or as a verb to describe the story which overturns it (Hulk #241Bereeted Marvel Team-Up #28 out of continuity!”). The offending story doesn’t have to deal with altering “a significant fact of a main character's established history” because we’re not dealing with a Mopee. A Bereet can be either a story (or aspect of a story) that needs to be overturned, or the story which overturns it. Let’s look at a few more examples.
X-MEN #146 / FANTASTIC FOUR #258:
In X-Men #146, Arcade strikes match on Dr. Doom’s armor, saying, “Thanks for the light. It’s nice to know yore tin suit’s good for something,” and oddly, Doom doesn’t smite him. Chris Claremont took an unusual approach to the characterization of Doom, one that evidently didn’t sit well with his former artist and co-plotter, because in Fantastic Four #258, John Byrne Bereeted that characterization out of continuity through the following dialogue, revealing that the “Dr. Doom” in X-Men #146 was actually a robot.
“Robot A76, you have a scratch on the shoulder of your armor.” observes the real Doom. “You are not a combat unit. How did you come to be damaged?”
“The human Arcade struck a match there during our recent confrontation with the mutant X-Men, sire,” Robot A76 dutifully responds.
“I see. And in what manner did you terminate Arcade for this affront to the personage of Doom?” Doom queries.
“I did not terminate him, master,” the robot explains. “I judged it conceivable you might have need of him later.”
“Need?” repeats Doom, just before causing A76’s head to explode, seemingly by sheer force of will. “Doom needs no one.”
But John Byrne is not immune from being “Bereeted” himself, as we shall see.
THE THING #3 / X-FACTOR #71:
In The Thing #3 (at the “suggestion” of Jim Shooter), John Byrne wrote the tale of Quicksilver’s intention to expose his human daughter Luna to the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists. To Quicksilver’s way of thinking, “It is an obscenity that a child of a mutant and an Inhuman should be a mere mortal human. Let me bathe her in the Mists,” he implores his wife, Crystal. “Anything would be preferable to this.”
“Anything?” says a voice from off-panel. “Anything, Pietro? Even… me?” Pietro abandons his plan when he discovers that the voice came from Lockjaw, not a dog after all, but an Inhuman hideously deformed by the Terrigen mists years ago!
Quicksilver himself, in Peter David’s X-Factor #71, later revealed that the entire scene was a hoax when he found Jamie Maddox (who had learned the story from Ben Grimm during a poker game) attempting to converse with Lockjaw. “Answer me this,” Pietro questions Maddrox, “If Lockjaw is a deformed Inhuman, then why have the Inhumans always talked to him like a dog? Wouldn’t that be somewhat patronizing?” He continues, “It was a joke, Madrox. Gorgon and Karnak utilized Lockjaw’s antenna as a high-powered transmitter, as a prank on their old friend Ben Grimm.” (He maintains to Jamie that he himself would never be so gullible.)
HULK ANNUAL 1999 / CAPTAIN MARVEL #2:
This is another John Byrne story overturned by Peter David. To be fair, this “Chapter One” continuity implant may have been editorially mandated in support of the never-published Lost Heroes limited series, but in any case, Igor Drenkov, the spy responsible for Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk, was revealed to have been a Skrull. Because this revelation completely overturns David’s own 30th anniversary issue of Hulk, #393, he may have decided to Bereet it for that reason. Captain Marvel #2 contains a scene of Rick Jones reading a copy of Hulk Annual 1999 and laughing uproariously: “BWAAAHAHAHA! Man, where do they get this stuff anyway? Skrulls? Yeesh!”
Okay, that’s all I have for today. Your mission (should you decide to accept it) is twofold. First, use this discussion to report your favorite Bereets, and second, the next time a comic book story doesn’t meet with your approval, don’t call for it to be Mopeed, but Bereeted!
Mopee story: A comic-book a story which purports to alter a significant fact of a main character's established history and this change turns out to be so universally rejected by both the readership and the company that it is ignored, never to be mentioned in the canon, again.
Yet there must be a term to describe the call to overturn a universally rejected story.
There is (or at least I’m hoping there soon will be).
MARVEL TEAM-UP #28 / HULK #241:
On of my favorite such stories is from Marvel Team-Up #28, in which Spider-Man and Hercules confront the City Stealers, who plan to steal Manhattan Island and haul it out of New York Bay. I don’t have a scanner to post the double page spread of Hercules thwarting their plot, but “those who are witness to this scene… will remember it all their lives -- and those who aren’t witnessing it, will never believe those who are. Once, a long time ago, this Olympian God performed twelve labors, each more difficult than the last. Yet no mythical labor -- save, perhaps, the time he supported the world itself on his shoulders -- can surpass this labor for sheer physical glory as the noble son of Zeus literally drags Manhattan Island back to its spot in Ney York Bay… BY HAND!” thereby proving (as The Official Marvel No-Prize Book put it) “that not only can Manhattan Island float, not only can it slip through a Narrows which is smaller than the island is wide, and not only can he tow it back into place, but that he’s stupid enough to put it back with the Battery pointing towards the Bronx!”
I doubt that writer Gerry Conway ever intended this feat to be taken literally, but surely it constitutes a Mopee, no? No. Not only does this scene not “alter a significant fact of a main character's established history,” but it was not “ignored, never to be mentioned in the canon, again.” In Hulk #241, Prince Rey, one of the mysterious trio known only as “They (Who Wield Power),” confides to the captive Bruce Banner, “One of our pawns would have split New York asunder with earthquakes, had not the man-god Hercules braced himself against the city’s foundations and absorbed the generated shockwaves with his own immortal body. Of, course, the son of Zeus has since boasted of his feat in more grandiose terms, but no matter! All of them--man and godling, hero and scoundrel--have been but tools in the hands of our brotherhood!”
By explaining what “really” happened in Marvel Team-Up #28, Hulk writer Roger Stern invalidates its Mopee status. Later, in Thor #356, Bob Harras would pen a tale which reinforces Hercules’ reputation as a teller of tall tales. I am tempted to refer to such a story as a “Hercules,” but that’s not distinctive enough. The term must be, if not unique (like Mopee) then at least unusual. The term I use will not come from Hulk #241, but it will come from Hulk.
THE RAMPAGING HULK / HULK #269:
In 1977 Marvel launched a black & white magazine titled The Rampaging Hulk, the first nine issues of which purported to tell “untold tales” which were to have occurred immediately after Hulk #6, “retroactive continuity” in the original sense of the term. The stories it told, although entertaining, were problematic at best, presenting “first” meetings of the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, the Avengers and the X-Man before they “really” happened in established continuity. The stories also prominently featured the bird-woman Bereet, a “techno artist” from the planet Krylor, but it was Bill Mantlo in issue #269 of the comic book series who introduced Bereet into mainstream continuity and smoothed out the contradictions with the following monologue: “The Hulk! From afar, we witnessed his birth in gamma green fire! For more than a decade we have observed his exploits, weaving them into ever new fictional adventures, in which, through the magic of techno-art, we were able to take part. I have never met the real Hulk, nor any of his companions. I did not need to! Through the star eye, I could make them be whatever I wanted them to be.”
That is my term: a Bereet.
Because I’m coining the term I get to make up the rules, and I say that Bereet can be used either as a noun to describe the original story (“Marvel Team-Up #28 is a real Bereet!”), or as a verb to describe the story which overturns it (Hulk #241Bereeted Marvel Team-Up #28 out of continuity!”). The offending story doesn’t have to deal with altering “a significant fact of a main character's established history” because we’re not dealing with a Mopee. A Bereet can be either a story (or aspect of a story) that needs to be overturned, or the story which overturns it. Let’s look at a few more examples.
X-MEN #146 / FANTASTIC FOUR #258:
In X-Men #146, Arcade strikes match on Dr. Doom’s armor, saying, “Thanks for the light. It’s nice to know yore tin suit’s good for something,” and oddly, Doom doesn’t smite him. Chris Claremont took an unusual approach to the characterization of Doom, one that evidently didn’t sit well with his former artist and co-plotter, because in Fantastic Four #258, John Byrne Bereeted that characterization out of continuity through the following dialogue, revealing that the “Dr. Doom” in X-Men #146 was actually a robot.
“Robot A76, you have a scratch on the shoulder of your armor.” observes the real Doom. “You are not a combat unit. How did you come to be damaged?”
“The human Arcade struck a match there during our recent confrontation with the mutant X-Men, sire,” Robot A76 dutifully responds.
“I see. And in what manner did you terminate Arcade for this affront to the personage of Doom?” Doom queries.
“I did not terminate him, master,” the robot explains. “I judged it conceivable you might have need of him later.”
“Need?” repeats Doom, just before causing A76’s head to explode, seemingly by sheer force of will. “Doom needs no one.”
But John Byrne is not immune from being “Bereeted” himself, as we shall see.
THE THING #3 / X-FACTOR #71:
In The Thing #3 (at the “suggestion” of Jim Shooter), John Byrne wrote the tale of Quicksilver’s intention to expose his human daughter Luna to the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists. To Quicksilver’s way of thinking, “It is an obscenity that a child of a mutant and an Inhuman should be a mere mortal human. Let me bathe her in the Mists,” he implores his wife, Crystal. “Anything would be preferable to this.”
“Anything?” says a voice from off-panel. “Anything, Pietro? Even… me?” Pietro abandons his plan when he discovers that the voice came from Lockjaw, not a dog after all, but an Inhuman hideously deformed by the Terrigen mists years ago!
Quicksilver himself, in Peter David’s X-Factor #71, later revealed that the entire scene was a hoax when he found Jamie Maddox (who had learned the story from Ben Grimm during a poker game) attempting to converse with Lockjaw. “Answer me this,” Pietro questions Maddrox, “If Lockjaw is a deformed Inhuman, then why have the Inhumans always talked to him like a dog? Wouldn’t that be somewhat patronizing?” He continues, “It was a joke, Madrox. Gorgon and Karnak utilized Lockjaw’s antenna as a high-powered transmitter, as a prank on their old friend Ben Grimm.” (He maintains to Jamie that he himself would never be so gullible.)
HULK ANNUAL 1999 / CAPTAIN MARVEL #2:
This is another John Byrne story overturned by Peter David. To be fair, this “Chapter One” continuity implant may have been editorially mandated in support of the never-published Lost Heroes limited series, but in any case, Igor Drenkov, the spy responsible for Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk, was revealed to have been a Skrull. Because this revelation completely overturns David’s own 30th anniversary issue of Hulk, #393, he may have decided to Bereet it for that reason. Captain Marvel #2 contains a scene of Rick Jones reading a copy of Hulk Annual 1999 and laughing uproariously: “BWAAAHAHAHA! Man, where do they get this stuff anyway? Skrulls? Yeesh!”
Okay, that’s all I have for today. Your mission (should you decide to accept it) is twofold. First, use this discussion to report your favorite Bereets, and second, the next time a comic book story doesn’t meet with your approval, don’t call for it to be Mopeed, but Bereeted!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff of Earth-J on
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AVENGER ANNUAL 2001:
There was a time, in the mid-1990s, when I honestly didn’t think Marvel could ever pull itself out of the slump into which it had fallen. The only Marvel title I was reading at the time was Peter David’s Hulk; I found all other Marvels virtually unreadable. Iron Man went nuts and killed three innocent women; Tony Stark was killed and his place in the MU was filled by his teenage counterpart from another timeline; the Wasp kept her life but lost her humanity. Ugh. This was the state of affairs leading into that summer’s massive crossover event, “Onslaught”.
From that point, the “Heroes [were] Reborn” (more “ugh” stories), and after that, the “Heroes Return[ed]”. It was not until then (IMHO) that Marvel’s comics became readable again. But the MU was still tainted with the residue of the stories leading up to “Onslaught” (and some stories older than that). It was Kurt Busiek who Bereeted these stories which deserved to be Mopeed.
Avengers Annual 2001 splits off from the main story after issue #43 (or #458, if you prefer). The focus of the main story is Henry Pym, but it is the back-up which captures my attention. In it, Jarvis answers an e-mail from Dwayne Freeman, the Avengers security liaison at the time, clearing up some questions for him. Cleverly (so as not to “invalidate” anyone’s potential favorite stories), Busiek did not invalidate any of the previous Mopees, but rather acknowledged the fact that three individual “Tony Starks” existed: the dead original; the teenager from the parallel universe; and the “Heroes Reborn” version. The surviving Stark retains all three sets of memories, and the grave where the original was buried is empty.
Franklin Richards (the architect of the “Heroes Reborn” universe), restored the heroes as best he remembered them when they returned. This explanation also counts for the Wasp’s return to human form and the curing of Hawkeye’s deafness. While he was at it, Busiek also clarified that captain America’s shield is not an adamantium/vibranium alloy and that the Falcon is not a mutant. Now if only someone would Bereet the Sub-Mariner to non-mutant status.
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Permalink Reply by ClarkKent_DC on
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Jeff of Earth-J said:
AVENGER ANNUAL 2001:
Franklin Richards (the architect of the “Heroes Reborn” universe), restored the heroes as best he remembered them when they returned. This explanation also counts for the Wasp’s return to human form and the curing of Hawkeye’s deafness. While he was at it, Busiek also clarified that captain America’s shield is not an adamantium/vibranium alloy and that the Falcon is not a mutant. Now if only someone would Bereet the Sub-Mariner to non-mutant status.
Too bad the Captain America -- The First Avenger movie scriptwriter didn't read Avengers Annual 2001; he had Howard Stark declare the shield is made of vibranium.
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Permalink Reply by Kirk G on
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I liked the idea that vibranium and admantium might be combined to make the sheild... as the first prototype, and before the metals had their current names, the boys in R&D might have been looking for the best weapon/defense for Supersoldiers to carry.
I especially liked the depiction in the Avengers Movie without saying anything that it wasn't a normal sheild.
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Kirk G said:
I liked the idea that vibranium and admantium might be combined to make the sheild...
Except the shield pre-dates the development of adamantium by several decades.
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According to Jarvis: “No — there’s no adamantium in Captain America’s shield, although the confusion is understandable. The shield was created by Dr. Myron Maclain, while attempting to create super-strong metals for the U.S. Army. He was attempting to bond a sample of Wakandan vibranium to a new steel alloy, without success — until one night, he dozed off in his lab, and awoke to find that the metals had n=bonded, though he did not know why. He cast the resultant metal into a disc shape, for testing — and that disc is what became Captain America’s shield. Maclain was unable to duplicate the process, however — and has to this day been unable to discover just what it was that bonded the steel and vibranium. He tried for decades to re-create his miracle metal — but the closest he was able to come was his far later creation, adamantium. It’s an impressive achievement, to be sure — a metal almost completely impervious to damage — even at the hands of the mighty Thor. So it’s understandable that people occasionally confuse Dr. Maclain’s two gret discoveries. But it’s no more than that — the shield pre-dates adamantium by decades.”
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Permalink Reply by Luke Blanchard on
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Ah, but Dark Secrets of the Marvel Vaults: Captain America (2025, recovered from a crashed 23rd century time capsule found at an archeological site in Hawaii) will reveal that the shield is really a Kryptonian discus which was regarded as a national treasure on that planet as it was the favourite one of the famous athlete Herc-Les, who also challenged the tyrant-king Antai-Os to a wrestling match with his kingdom as a wager and defeated him, thereby freeing his people and laying the foundations of Kryptonian democracy. It was kept in a cache of national treasures which survived the destruction of the planet and reached Earth before Superman. That's also where the Black Knight's ebony sword really comes from (it was the personal spit of a famous chef). I submit this is obviously a better explanation of the shield's properties than either the vibranium or adamantium alternatives. Apparently Honolulu will the capital of the US in the 23rd century, by the way.
If the shield is invulernable, how are the straps fixed to it, do you think? Would superglue cover it?
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Permalink Reply by Philip Portelli on
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My personal theory is that while Maclain was asleep, Odin put some uru metal into the mix to give the Alliies a weapon against the Nazis who perverted the values of the people whose ancestors once worshipped him. That's why Maclain could never duplicate it, why Thor's hammer can't dent it (possibly enchanted??) and why it returns to Cap so easily.
As for the straps, it was cast with nubs for them. Of course, it doesn't explain why the straps are so durable!
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That's a really elegant explanation of the shield, Philip.
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Thanks, Luke. If people like each hero's backstory seperate from the others', it's overly complicated. But if you want an interconnected Marvel Universe, it makes some sense, even involving Howard Stark, if he supplied the vibranium in his travels.
Odin probably was shocked to see the metal cast into a shield, not forged into a sword!
It's a bit neat to have the fathers of two of the Avengers' Big Three intertwined with the origin of the third!
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I rather like the notion that the “mystery ingredient” of Cap’s shield might be Uru metal. That theory also fits the circumstances when, during the Steranko run, Hydra had captured the shield and one of its scientists declared, “Whatever this metal is, it was not mined on this Earth!” I doubt Odin was involved, though, due to his strict “non-interventionist” policies at the time. The fact that Maclain mysteriously fell asleep does suggest godly involment, though. Either that or perhaps Immortus. Immortus has a history of interfering in/influencing the Avengers affairs, plus there’s a precedent for one of his selves (the Scarlet Centurion) causing someone (the Wasp) to fall asleep in a case also involving Captain America in WWII (Avengers #56).
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Immortus is a likely candidate except for the fact that I don't trust him or hims! It could work with Zeus, Zuras, an Elder of the Universe or even (remotely) the Watcher.
But I like the concept of it being Odin. It fits. He's a manipulator but thinks himself a benevolent one. As a Sky-God, Odin has bursts of prophecy. He could feel that his getting involved, which never bothered him that much, was worth it to protect the Earth and its people. He mated with Mother Earth to create a guardian for her: Thor. He made it absolute law that no Asgardian could harm a mortal, an edict that not even Loki, the Enchantress and the Executioner dared to break. And Thor reclaiming his true identity and becoming one of Earth's greatest heroes sure sounds like "involvement" to me!
Look at Timely's Big Three: The Sub-Mariner needed no help and if he did, it would have came from Neptune; the Original Human Torch was an android and was possibly looked over by any sort of cosmic intervention and the mortal Captain America. Perhaps Odin (or Frigga or Balder or whoever) felt he needed something special to combat the growing menace of the Nazis with their terrible advanced weapons in the MU. Maybe the blond hair, blue eyed Steve Rogers had Nordic roots or more simply Odin knew that Captain America would be a vital hero in the course of future events and prepared accordingly. He dropped a "seed" of uru metal that grew into the foundation of Earth's heroic community!
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