Sunday, January 29, 2023

Sunday Splash Page #255

 
"She's Nutty for Him," in I 💓 Marvel Romance #1, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Paco Medina (penciler), Juan Vlasco (inker), A. Street (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

Believe me, I feel as dirty and foul for using an emoji as you think I should, but the title really does include a heart as opposed to the word "heart". This was one of a series of these Marvel released in 2006, this one with the subtitle "Masked Intentions". It's the only one I own, and I bought it up a couple of years ago out of curiosity.

There's two stories, each somewhat related to New Warriors. The other story, by Nicieza and Mike Norton, marks the end of Justice and Firestar's relationship, which had been going since the first year of the original New Warriors volume. Vance figures out Angelica's not as keen on getting married as he is (although he phrases it stupidly, declaring that he's being "the woman" because he's having to pick the invitations, the flowers, and her dress). They agree to put the wedding off, and I don't think they ever pick things up again.

As for this story, set some time after GLA: Misassembled, it establishes Squirrel Girl has a crush on Speedball, which gets referenced a few more times, like in the Deadpool/Great Lakes Initiative Summer Spectacular. Here, though, Doreen's on the Great Lakes X-Men, and Speedball's doing a public appearance in Madison, Wisconsin for the New Warriors reality show, so she goes to meet him. Her attempt to save him from an old foe doesn't go so well. Not because she fails, but the guy's only carrying paintball guns and so the cops feel she went overboard. Still, Speedball tracks her down, reveals he read all the fanmail she sent (and his manager alerted the FBI), and gives her a kiss.

It's bittersweet reading this with the knowledge the trainwreck of Civil War is only a few months away. I doubt this was ever going to go anywhere, but any chance got smothered with the damage Millar did. Speedball gets turned into Penance, and writers spend years digging him out of that hole. Minus his stint in Avengers Academy, Speedball never has gotten to the big-time, while Squirrel Girl had a decently long run as a solo star, which included being on an Avengers team. Admittedly, an Avengers team with Red Hulk, run by Sunspot with AIM funds, but an Avengers squad all the same.

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