Released across two months in December 2013 and January 2014, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe is probably one of the few stories since the original Nocenti/Adams mini-series that actually explores the ramifications of Longshot's powers, and the tightrope he would have to walk to use them.
In this case, Longshot finds himself targeted by the In-Betweener - who Camagni draws in a nifty suit and a face like a harlequin mask, black on one side, white on the other - because his incredible luck is a threat to the universe. But, Longshot happens to be mixed up in trying to stop a robbery of a super-scientist (which went awry the moment Longshot wished he had some money to buy tacos, because that constitutes a selfish desire to use his powers) at that moment, and Reed Richards and Tony Stark are cruising past with a Cosmic Cube, and well, things go wonky.
Now SHIELD's run by a mysterious guy with a white theater mask, who is hunting all magic users as a threat to Order. Also a child's teddy bear, which has a peculiar reflection. Longshot ends up briefly teamed up with Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Ghost Rider, and Deadpool. Sure, Deadpool's not technically magic, but he's certainly a threat to Order. Plus, the 4th wall breaking probably registers as weird. Dazzler, working for SHIELD(?) gets involved, because of course Longshot doesn't remember they dated. Superior Spider-Man shows up, too. Well, they can't all be winners.
Things get weirder and weirder as Chaos manifests and Longshot's powers are stretched further and further to pull his butt from the fire. He's under attack by vampire Wolverine and Cyborg Dracula! A taxi crashes and Blade somehow flies out of the trunk. That sort of thing. It gives Camagni the chance to draw a lot of goofy stuff. Iron Hulk. Giant Doombots. But that much improbability is kind of a bad thing.
Hastings writes Longshot initially as sort of breezily confident. He takes good things in stride, he takes weird things in stride. The cable guys turned out to be criminals, and the scientist has a hot daughter? Yeah, that'll happen to Longshot. He does recognize the risk of his powers, but sometimes all it takes is a momentary slip. He hadn't even fully committed to wanting some money so he could buy tacos and suddenly a wall is exploding and money is falling from the sky.
The longer the series goes, and the more Chaos and Order openly war against each other - with Order being very precise in their speaking, while Chaos is a total shit, saying things like, "On behalf of my butt, I order you to smooch my butt," - the further the ramifications of Longshot's powers stretch.
Sure, it's wonderful that after those nice hairdressers gave Longshot a new look for free (because they thought he was hot, Hastings really plays up the idea that Longshot's hotness is an actual superpower) some big movie star just suddenly appeared outside their store and loved the look they gave him. What a lucky turn of events!
But it completely fucks the haircut place across the street, a couple who struggled for years to find some measure of success and now are going to have to sell their shop because all their business switched to the trendy place the movie star touted. Causality stretches a long way, and it's hard to avoid harming one person while helping another, unless you're really thoughtful about it. Which doesn't really seem like a strong point of Longshot's, thoughtfulness. What with all the memory wipes and whatnot. But maybe that's the only way it can work for him, he can't think about it, he just has to act. Thinking about what he's doing brings motives into it.
2 comments:
I assume somewhere they've teamed Longshot up with Domino and Black Cat. That seems too obvious for Marvel to resist.
Gail Simone brought Longshot into her last arc on Domino, but he was sort of poisoned, and this other character was trying to convince Domino she needed to kill Longshot before he destroyed the future. It wasn't great.
If he's ever interacted with the Black Cat, I haven't seen. It'd be fun, because I got the impression in Jed MacKay's work that the Cat didn't like using her luck powers when it was a personal job, rather than a professional one, meaning she thought her bad luck was more likely to hurt her or someone she cared about when she acted more altruistically, which would be the opposite of how Longshot's power works.
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