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The Strong Guy Story That Nobody Is Telling
I am a big fan of the X-Men character Strong Guy, and I’ve noticed something kind of cool and quiet happening with him in the ongoing Inhumans vs. X-Men saga. I don’t think it’s been remarked upon anywhere else, so I thought I’d take a moment and just point it out, for any other fans.
Basically, a quiet little Strong Guy story is taking place in the background of Inhumans vs. X-Men, and it feels kinda meaningful.
This takes me back
Strong Guy is Guido Carosella, a mutant whose power is to absorb any impact to make himself stronger and more muscular. He’s a bit of a comedian — hence a name like ‘Strong Guy’ — and he’s got that very iconic look. He’s big and bulgy, because of his powers, and he likes to wear weird little glasses and have a single shock of white hair. The guy is a card.
He’s also never been a particularly prominent mutant. Strong Guy has never been a member of the X-Men, and mostly hangs out in the margins on teams like X-Factor. He’s not an important or noteworthy character by any means, is what I’m trying to say. It works for him.
Quite recently, at the start of the whole conflict between mutants and Inhumans, Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man was killed by the Terrigen Mist in the first issue of Death of X.
Never forget
Madrox is Strong Guy’s best friend.
Strong Guy hasn’t been in any comics for several years now, especially not in any X-Men comics. But in the second issue of Death of X, when the X-Men hold a funeral for Madrox, someone at the X-Office at Marvel Comics remembered to have Strong Guy show up to pay his respects.
Poor Rahne, too
Makes sense. Of course Strong Guy would be there. But he doesn’t get any lines. Nobody talks to him or even mentions that he’s there. It’s just a nice little background detail.
Flash forward to the new Big Event series, Inhumans vs. X-Men. Because of the dangers of the Terrigen Mist, the X-Men are in a big superhero brawl with the Inhumans. At the end of the first issue of Inhumans vs. X-Men, there’s a big splash page of X-Men launching a massive, head-on attack against the Inhumans.
And who should appear in the background of this big splash page? Strong Guy.
There, on the left
Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a scene in the follow up fight. And again, nobody mentions that he’s there. Maybe he’ll show up again somewhere else in the event. I don’t know.
But all that aside, I’m rather touched at what must have happened here behind the scenes in continuity. Think about it. Strong Guy isn’t a member of the X-Men, and he definitely isn’t part of any of the X-teams that have come together against the Inhumans. He’s just not active in comics right now.
So when his best friend died, someone in the X-Men had the forethought to reach out to Guido to let him know the tragic news. Guido then made the trip to Muir Island so he could help bury his friend and grieve with others.
Then eight months pass, during which Strong Guy does not use his visit to Muir Island to join any of the X-Teams. Have we seen him show up in any of the X-books in the past year? I haven’t been following them too closely. Does anybody know if he showed up in the background or anything?
Either way, at some point somebody must have reached out to Guido again to let him know that the X-Men were going after the Inhumans. Maybe they wanted his strength to help out. Who knows. But at some point, Guido decided that he wanted in on the attack. And the X-Men let him come along. Maybe he wanted revenge against the Inhumans or some kind of justice.
Just think about what this means for the character. And nobody is telling that story, at least not directly. It’s all being told in random background sightings.
Marvel isn’t paying much attention to Multiple Man’s death. HIs name gets dropped whenever the X-Men mention that he was killed by M-Pox, but his death is not a major part of the story. He was clearly picked as cannon fodder to make M-Pox seem more severe. It happens all the time in comics. Anybody could have been chosen, and Marvel just happened to go with this random, popular and unused character.
But rather than let it go completely unremarked upon, someone somewhere is telling this story about Multiple Man’s best friend and his grieving process. I don’t know if it’s an editor, an artist or the writers of Inhumans vs. X-Men themselves.
Somewhere, between the lines of the big Inhumans vs. X-Men conflict, is the story of a man who lost his best friend, and who now wants a chance to stick it to the people who caused his death. I just think it’s a neat detail.
I’ll let you know if he does anything else during the crossover. Consider me on Strong Guy Watch.
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The Greatest Superhero Halloween Adventure of All Time!
Gather ’round, boys and ghouls, and let me tell you the tale of a spooky battle between good and evil that took place on a Halloween night, much like this one. No, it’s not Batman’s Long Halloween. It’s not even Hellboy vs. the Boogeyman. The greatest comic book Halloween adventure of all time is X-Men Unlimited #21 from the extra terrifying year 1998, when Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane and the Beast defeated an army of demons and saved a wedding with the help of a flaming toupee.
I kid you not. It is just as amazing as it sounds.
Any 90s era comic is pretty scary
For Halloween this year, I’m going to share with you my all-time favorite superhero Halloween story. You can keep your Batmen and Sandmen and Hellchildren, there isn’t anything better than a couple of B and C-list X-Men on a wacky adventure in a tertiary anthology comic! It’s got action, it’s got comedy, it’s got angst, and it’s got more nicknames for manly hairpieces than you can shake a witch’s broom at.
So join me after the jump – if you dare! Moohahahahaha!
Review: X-Factor #239
Forgive me for saying this, oh great comic book gods, but I think X-Factor is starting to show its age. If we take into account the renumbering, this current volume of X-Factor has published roughly 90 issues since 2005, and that’s not including the excellent MadroX miniseries that serves as an introduction. And all 90 issues have been written by the great Peter David. But after 90 issues starring essentially the same team members doing essentially the same thing, I’m starting to think this series is running a bit thin. Why do I say this? Because this one-off issue about Havok and Banshee teaming up to fight a real Banshee doesn’t really offer a whole heck of a lot.
X-Factor #239
Sure there is action and peril, but where is the character depth? Where is the exploration of the relationship between Havok and Banshee? Or more appropriately, where is the heart and soul of the comic?
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
Peter David is a master of character work. The early issues of this volume of X-Factor are a glorious examination of the Multiple Man character and the new headspace that David created for him. Not to mention all the twists, turns and relationships of the rest of the cast. Peter David is hailed as a genius for the character work he did with Quicksilver back in the now legendary X-Factor #87 from the 1993. And when Peter David is at the top of his game with this cast, he’s turned out some fantastic single issues. I was in stitches that time Multiple Man took the team to Las Vegas, because it was just such a fun and funny issue.
But after the last few issues, and especially this one, I’m just not feeling it anymore. They’re goods reads, I suppose. I enjoyed myself. But this issue is as bland as bland can get – except for a small scene between Strong Guy and Monet that captures that Peter David genius I’ve been talking about. That scene is stellar. But everything with Havok and Banshee is just boring. Maybe it’s the characters. It’s not like Havok and Banshee have any kind of history to draw on together. But as the writer, it’s Peter David’s job to provide an interesting relationship between these two characters, to make me care about them teaming up like this. And unfortunately, in that regard, he fails.
Full synopsis and more review after the jump!
Henchman-4-Hire 