In this series we spotlight comic book stories that I wish we could just forget. Here is an archive of past installments.
Today we look at the bizarre devolution of Speedball into Penance during Civil War...
In Civil War #1 (by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines), the New Warriors were fighting Nitro when he exploded, killing hundreds of people (including most of the New Warriors)...
However, as we see in Civil War: Frontline #1 (by Paul Jenkins and Steve Lieber), one of the New Warriors, Robbie "Speedball" Baldwin survived, although the explosion sendt him flying miles and miles away, ultimately landing somewhere in upstate New York, with his powers now sort of shorted out...
He is in a coma, but when he wakes up, he is given some bad news (the whole "I hope you don't have an attachment to the number four" is an odd line, no?)...
In the next issue, the government is holding him as an "unregistered combatant," which really doesn't make sense since the Superhuman Registration Act wasn't passed when Baldwin was arrested and as far as anyone knew at the time, Robbie did not have his powers anymore, soooo....
But anyhow, they continue to try to get him to sign a confession, hoping he'll essentially get the confession beaten out of him...
Robbie is adamant that he is not guilty.
This continues through the third issue, as Robbie rails against the system and refuses to accept guilt. Although, he is also not exhibiting any remorse, either, and clearly what Jenkins is going for here is that Robbie is just repressing it all. It comes up when his mother visits in #4, how he won't even show any remorse...
Robbie is then incarcerated in the Negative Zone in the giant prison that Mister Fantastic and Iron Man built there. Mister Fantastic visits and offers Robbie a chance to testify in front of Congress. On the way there, though, he is shot....
And yes, this scene was based on the photograph of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Is that tacky? Probably. But hey, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!
While being transported to the hospital, Robbie's powers sort of mutate and he kind of has a mini-explosion, leading to the ambulance getting into an accident. Robbie then sort of explodes again, and the next issue, Reed Richards explains that Robbie's powers have mutated, but Maria Hill doesn't particularly care...
Back in prison, another criminal tries to take Robbie hostage to break out of prison, but Robbie surprises him...
He ends the prison break and then makes a startling announcement...
Okay, go to the next page to meet Penance!
Civil War: Frontline was an odd little comic book, because the basic set-up for the series was that the first 80% would show us how awful the Registration side of things were (in this case with Robbie being abused, thrown into a fascist prison situation, routinely beaten and insulted and basically having all of his rights violated) and then the last 20% were, "But oh yeah, the Registration side is correct, though."
That's basically what we have here, as well, although with a more cynical edge, where Robbie decides to just register. Part of the deal is that the man who shot him (who lost a daughter in the explosion) goes free. But when Robbie visits him, he basically mocks the guy's pain.
Then Robbie burns his Speedball costume and a guy shows up with Robbie's new costume...
I don't think you need me to point out how silly and overwrought the whole thing is, right? Or how logistically, it doesn't even make sense?
What a weird, weird idea. Luckily, it did not last very long, and Robbie eventually went back to being Speedball and this period in Marvel history has been mostly glossed over.
If you have a suggestion for another comic book plot that is probably best forgotten, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com or at my new CBR e-mail, brianc@cbr.com