Issue(s): Longshot #1, Longshot #2, Longshot #3, Longshot #4, Longshot #5, Longshot #6
Published Date: Sep 85 - Feb 86
Title:
Credits:
Ann Nocenti - Writer
Art Adams - Penciler
Bill Anderson & Whilce Portacio / Whilce Portacio - Inker
Daryl Edelmen - Assistant Editor
Louise Simonson - Editor

Review/plot:
Bill (see comments below) Anderson is on issue #1 only. Daryl Edelmen may actually just be the Assistant Editor for the trade paperback; the credits list "Original Editor" (Simonson) and then Assistant Editor (Edelmen), Editor (Bob Harras), and Editor-in-Chief (Tom DeFalco).

Ann Nocenti writes an introduction for the Longshot trade (published in 1989) where she provides a nice mission statement and also acknowledges some differences between intent and result:

He's the unexpected laughter, the unbidden kindness, the fresh insight, the song that lightens your step, the smile from a stranger that lifts you up and floats you through your whole day. But how could such a glowing character exist? By making him man and child at the same time. To have no name, no history, no past, no memories, no prejudices - a tabula rasa, a clean slate - that is what made Longshot free. And it is that stance in the world - innocence, total freedom, and a good clean spirit - that makes Longshot seem to be life itself, at it's lightest wide-smiling moment.

Anyway, that was our intent. The goofy, bungling puppy dog that was the result is another matter entirely, but he has glimmers of his maker's intentions. Perhaps the silly naive buoyancy of Longshot has to do with both Art Adams and myself being brand new and over-enthusiastic to comic book business. Art drew Longshot with a radiance and inner light that expressed perfectly the soul I imagined him to have.

Art and I have since gone on to work with the usual dark and grim characters that seem to populate this industry, but, in a burst of second childhood, we brought Longshot to life.

It's an interesting statement. I find "goofy, bungling puppy dog" a great description of Longshot, without criticism. It's a little odd to see Nocenti describe her as "brand new"; she'd been writing for Marvel as far back as Spider-Woman in 1982, and it seems that Longshot was at least a glimmer in her eye during Assistant Editor's Month at the beginning of 1984. But i still get the idea. So let's take a look.

First of all, the 1990s apparently arrived 5 years early. Holy cross-hatching! And pouches! Wild lines and just... wow. But to be very clear, this is very good. Art Adams can tell a story with his art. It's not just a big mess of posed shots and splash panels. His characters look good, the action is clear, and he's got a whole bunch of wild ideas for us without it ever resorting to chaos. I just don't know where he came from. Based on what i know best (Marvel), i can't trace a line from any existing artist to Adams. From Adams you can get to McFarlane and, yes, Liefeld, but where does he come from? The future, that's where.

OK, i might be exaggerating a little bit.

I should also acknowledge that Whilce Portacio is inking, and i see a lot of his future pencil styles here too.

We start with a man with no memories, pursued by alien-looking humanoids on a strange world. He jumps through a portal and lands on Earth. His luck powers are evident right away, although it's luck for other people.

This fickle crowd scene is what i consider a Nocentism. One minute they love you and a slight hesitation and they turn on you.

Longshot is befriended by a crazy survivalist.

And he runs into a strange "dog" (really a creature called Magog from the same dimension as Longshot).

Longshot and the survivalist find a woman whose baby has been taken. Longshot has the power to hold an object read its past, and he uses it on the baby's doll to locate the kidnappers.

The trail leads him back to the animal-men that were pursuing him. Another Nocentism. Cramming in some exposition and your innermost feelings all into a single thought bubble ("Hey, my foot! They can fade out! I can't touch them! Who cares! All I want is that baby!).

Quark:

Gog, Magog's father:

Spiral:

Longshot's luck runs out when he starts thinking about how he can make the creatures tell them who he is instead of focusing on getting the baby back, but he adjusts accordingly, and rescues the baby. He says goodbye to the mother and the survivalist, gets his name, and moves on with "Pup".

Longshot joins a movie crew as a stuntman, partnered up with Ricochet Rita.

Longshot's skin apparently is a little weird for kissing.

Meanwhile, Magog is growing and evolving (into Alf, i think)...

...and he soon ditches his friend. This makes Longshot wary of his relationship with Rita.

The movie director is your typical sleazy stereotype...

...and he uses live ammo in a stunt. Since Longshot is feeling selfish, he winds up getting hurt, seemingly fataly, and the director dumps him in a river.

The next issue has a guy named Theo trying to commit suicide by jumping into a river, and he lands on Longshot's body, which is already healing quickly.

They decide to rob Con Edison, which has received a shipment of diamonds that will be used in experimental energy generation. Longshot is still very naive and the other guy is just a depressed middle-aged man.

While they're burglarizing, Longshot has a flashback of spineless creatures reviewing their slaves, which were made by Arize. It's said the slaves were created based on their worst mythological creatures.

Longshot and Theo are then attacked by demons, who wants to use the gems to re-open a portal home.

Magog shows up to warn him and "save" his friend, although he claims he was going to kill him. There's also a power outage due to the shenanigans.

When Longshot learns the diamonds don't really belong to Theo, he decides to return them. Theo decides to go back to his wife.

Longshot is implicated in the power outage, and Spider-Man and She-Hulk go looking for him. She-Hulk finds him first.

He gets away from her and she composes an essay in her head about him.

Next up, Spidey.

Longshot gets away from him too. Spider-Man draws a comparison to the Black Cat.

"Impossibly, elsewhere" we get our first non-flashback glimpse of Mojo and his right-hand Major Domo.

Mojo is a complete nut, but Domo knows how to manipulate him to keep him under control.

They're concerned that Longshot has escaped to a planet where everyone looks like their slave race. He has Spiral take him to Earth to continue the search.

They wind up at Rita's.

Meanwhile, Longshot has another flash-memory of his past.

And then a group of kids lead him to the now monstrous Magog.

Quark shows up as Longshot is getting overwhelmed with self-doubt again.

Quark has a weird ability to just turn into a floating head when he's attacked.

Magog remains undefeated but Doctor Strange detects the presence of the extra-dimensional visitors.

With Strange's help, Magog is defeated.

More flashback info dumps:

Longshot gos to rescue Rita, but he oddly refuses help from Strange and Quark.

Mojo's presence on Earth is causes sickness and death. Longshot finds Rita but she's in bad shape.

But not as bad as her dog.

Doctor Strange and Quark show up to help Longshot anyway. Strange stays to heal Rita, and Longshot and Quark head off after Mojo.

They are surprisingly successful, and Mojo flees.

Longshot meets Arize.

Gets a horse.

More fighting.

Mojo flees back to his dimension, and Longshot follows, bringing Rita with him.

So, a confession. I harbor a hatred of Mojo that has nothing to do with this story. But it's affected my ability to read through this properly. And i'm also not a fan of Nocenti's writing style. So i really had to plow through this, especially for the recap, which is why it's exceedingly dry, and probably overly long, since i kind of glaze over this stuff and have a hard time filtering out what's not important.

This is without a doubt the best thing i've read by Nocenti. Mojo's crazy dialogue and his henchmens' reaction to it is usually amusing.

And since she's not writing characters that have established personalities, and since the main character is a naive, confused individual, her "emotion-dump" narration doesn't feel out of place. But it's still a hard read for me. I don't really "get" the story beyond the action-adventure aspect.

There's occasional attempts at political commentary, but they feel out of place.

And despite the intro, the story actually seems exceedingly dark to me. All this talk of slavery and madness and isolation and a whole heck of a lot of depression.

Anyway, i like Art Adams's art (to be clear, i'll take a John Byrne or John Buscema any day, especially when looking at the established characters. She-Hulk is a bit off model, and she and Doctor Strange seem to have the exact same face. But it's still really innovative.), there's some interesting ideas here, and as far as Nocenti goes, it's not that bad.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 8 - first Longshot, Spiral, Mojo, Major Domo. First Mojoverse.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Spiral appears in Uncanny X-Men #199 after coming to Earth in Longshot #1 but before leaving for the Mojoverse again in Longshot #6. I'd love to see how she got a gig with Freedom Force in that short period of time. The rest of the pre-existing Marvel characters (She-Hulk, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and his support cast) are context free and just need to take place in any gap in their own books. Dr. Strange requires the most consideration because he's in the Dark Dimension between Doctor Strange #71-74. Since i have these issues all bundled in a trade i have the added concern of getting all the characters' schedules to open up at the same time (with UX #199 taking place "concurrently" with these issues).

References: N/A

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: Longshot trade paperback

This became an unbelievably hot title really fast, and Art Adams instantly became a fan favorite. Unfortunately, the immediately-promised unlimited Longshot series never happened.

I think it was actually Bill Anderson who inked the first issue. That issue was previewed in an issue of Marvel Age, and there were some dialogue alterations before #1 actually came out.

That gang of kids later got labelled "the Bratpack" in a New Mutants Annual.

I remember Art Adams naming Neal Adams as a prime influence; that may be his name on that movie marquee in the crowd scene.

Both the UHOMCC and GCD list Brent Anderson but it does seem odd for Brent to be on inks.

The title page just shows last names.

Is it possible to obtain a scan of the first page of the actual 1985 issue? I believe it identifies Bill.

I've updated that first scan to show the credits. The scan is from (a download of) the actual issue, not my trade.

I think Art Adams is often stated to be influenced by Michael Golden.

During this series Longshot speaks about having a wife and child. I'd love to know what Nocenti's plans were with regard to this, and whether this was a hint that Arize based Longshot on a human male?

We also never got to know her intention with regard to Spiral's true origins!

Was there ever an in-story explanation for Longshot's family comment?

No there never was an in-story explanation for Longshot's family comment.

So does anyone have any theories?

Can you point me to which issue/scene has the reference to the family? I tried to find it today but wasn't able. I'll throw up a scan.

Spiral ended up being Rita. I thought that story was told either in this mini or in comics by Claremont written when Nocenti was his editor, meaning it was her official intended origin.

In any case, Spiral is a favorite character of mine. Beautifully conceived and designed. Criminally underused since.

Spiral's origin was first revealed in X-Factor Annual 7, written by Fabian Nicieza and edited by Bob Harras. So no, it probably wasn't her intended origin.

I missed this post of yours, or you'd probably have gotten a much meaner and nastier me in the political debate on the Daredevil comic.

Let me preface this by saying that I don't know you from Adam. Or, I didn't when I replied to you in that Daredevil thread. Michael is a pretty generic name, your reply wasn't exactly idiosyncratic, so I responded to the post you made, rather than to you. There was no ulterior motive.

However, I have just been re-reading all my comments left on this site in order, and I find that you have responded to an inordinate number of them, and never to agree with me. In fact, you vehemently disagree with me, and contradict me, in literally every one of them. If I had known this when reading your reply to me in the Frank Miller thread, as I say - I'd have really destroyed you, and probably gotten banned (if there is such a thing here).

I'm going to say this once - stop responding to me on here. I will not interact with you again, please do the same for me. I have no interest in dealing with someone like you (though I do think it's funny that you've been on me like a gnat for months, and I didn't even know who you were or that you'd been doing it - unlike you, I was always just responding to the posts themselves, never to the poster).

Paul, I don't know you and have nothing against you, but would you please consider keeping your comments civil? This has become one of my absolute favorite sites on the internet to visit and I do not want to see your aggressive behavior lead to the owner's losing interest in keeping it updated. I'm sure you feel as though you are the aggrieved one here, but as an outsider who sees all the arguments you get into, I have to tell you that you are not. Don't ruin this for everyone else, please.

Fnord12, sorry to have my first post strike this tone, but I really do love your site and hope that you continue to update it. It's really an excellent (and sizable) base of information, and you should be applauded for giving it to all of us free of charge. I hope that having to play moderator doesn't ruin any happiness that doing this brings you... it would be fantastic to see you accomplish your goal of making this site comprehensive!

I'm going to make an attempt at playing peacemaker here and if it doesn't work i guess Paul's recommendation is the best we can do. Either that or i'll just follow the advice of my evil doppelganger "effinord12" and hand out chamomile tea to all visitors.

One of the earliest comments Michael left on this site was on a post where i was trying to make sense of Spider-Woman's convoluted and multiple origins. His comment started "Sorry, but there was another retelling of Jessica's origins that you neglected to mention..." but i read it as "Sorry (you asshole), but you are wrong!". There's really nothing in his comment that supports that reading, but tone is a difficult thing on the internet, especially when the commentor has a succinct writing style like Michael's. I've since found Michael's comments invaluable; he's got a lot of knowledge about this stuff and he works with the MCP so he's already thought about a lot of the placement issues that i'm working through.

Paul, i've just read through Michael's interactons with you and i don't feel like he's been attacking you or chasing your comments. It looks like there were three disagreements: the Amanda Sefton/Supporting characters who become super thing, which i thought was a reasonable debate on both your parts, the Miller vs. Moore issue that started this argument, and the comment here, which was just a factual correction. You can read his last sentence as snark, but i don't think it was meant maliciously. I could be unconsciously playing favorites, but that's how i see it.

The reason i keep jumping in here is that i don't want to drive anyone away. Not you, not Michael, and not anyone else who might want to respond to something you say but will be afraid that it'll set off another one of these threads. My alarm bells go off when it seems like the person is being attacked instead of their thoughts, but i realize that's a fine and subjective line. I just ask that we try not to read too much into peoples' tone, keep the arguments focused on the subjects instead of the people, and don't ascribe motives to other people ("You're only arguing that because you're a _____.").

Thanks!

P.S. - Back to the fun stuff, i've removed Ricochet Rita as a character appearing, since it turns out she's really Spiral.

Ross, thanks for the kind words.

Paul, I'm sorry that you took my comments the wrong way. I'm not trying to single you out- I also respond to Mark's comments, kveto's comments, etc. I'm sorry if you took my comment about Spiral the wrong way. I just meant that since Nicieza wrote it and Harras edited it, Rita probably wasn't Spiral's intended origin but you never know- the Rita origin could have come from Nocenti's notes. If you want, I can avoid responding to your posts.

Fascinating concept, terrible execution, way-too-dark story, and one of the worse storytellings that I ever met.

Arthur Adams is a fine penciler, but not for this. The inker and the script did not help at all. It was all a confused, vaguely depressing haze which sometimes let a brief sight of the good ideas shine through.

To return to this: Spiral's origin appears to have actually told in X-Factor Annual #7, which is by Nicieza, with Bob Harras as editor rather than Nocenti. So, no idea if it lines up with her intended origin or not. But it's actually pretty good. And based on the Longshot series and some asides by Spiral and Longshot when Claremont had them fighting (when Nocenti was editing), I have to think the Rita origin is right.

Re: Her intended origin I emailed Annie last year and she advised that Rita becoming Spiral was not her intention.

So as to who Spiral was, it's still up in the air as to who originally.

Finally found what I was looking for: Amazing Heroes #39(1/15/84) confirms "Anderson" to be Bill Anderson(per quote from Ann Nocenti).

Thanks for digging in on this, Mark. I've updated the credits.