Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control part II: Ghosts In The Machine

When we last left the X-men in Marvel Fanfare # 33, the team had been surprised by the appearance of the alien Chief Examiner, a character from Marvel's shortlived 1984 videogame tie in Questprobe. The Examiner was on Earth to assess the abilities of superhumans in order to use their powers to defend his homeworld of Scadam from the invading Black Fleet.

After turning most of the team to statues, the Examiner somehow took over Magneto's mind and attacked Rogue who came to the party late. But as she escaped from this cage, Rogue was in for one more surprise...

"Suddenly got an itch to... va-MOOSE?!?"

After hitting the Chief Examiner's trademark dark portal, Rogue suddenly manifested the strength of the She-Hulk, the agility and spider sense of Spider-Man and the flame powers of the Human Torch. In earlier Questprobe issues, the Examiner copied their powers and apparently Rogue's mutant absorption gifts were able to tap into that as well. But while she fought a dressed up Magneto, the actual Erik Magnus Lensherr was somewhere else...

"Where... am I?! What am I?!? Not my living self, in any organic sense. I seem to have become a pattern of energy."

Gotta love that organic sounding exposition. We all narrate our own lives to ourselves in the third person, right? But Magneto found himself trapped inside a matter-energy egg with a chap called Durgan. He's the brain behind the Chief Examiner, who is revealed to be merely a computerised construct that. Wait, I could type up paragraphs of dry exposition, or I'll have Durgan tell you the same boring story himself... with pictures!

"I am master of magnetism. All electronics are vulnerable to my powers. Obviously, I disrupted the circuitry of your device and created a scramble feedback loop that trapped both our consciousnesses in its mnemonic system."

... Yeah, obviously.

Durgan and Magneto were trapped inside the Chief Examiner's operating system. But who was running the show then? 

"I felt another essence replace mine as I was drawn here. But whose...?"

So, if we can trust the omniscient narrator's explanation... Durgan didn't realise the seemingly decorative artifact he'd placed right next to his invaluable creation, was actually a sentient evil gem bent on taking over the Chief Examiner computer and use it for conquest and all that fine stuff. Ah, comics...

So how did Magneto escape? Simple. By convincing Durgan he was boss and demanding control of the device back. 

"I feel myself regaining control of the Chief Examiner, whatever force opposed us is now gone."

Now, isn't that might convenient? Whatever evil presence inhabited the Examiner or the gem it came from is just gone. And with Magneto back in his body, the Chief Examiner is ready to go on looking for suitable superpowers. But not before saying goodbye...

"Bozo's crazy"

When the mass murdering mutant master of magnetism starts quoting Ghandi and Jesus...  Worry. Or snicker. Or do a trademark Liz Lemon eyeroll. Whatever feels most appropriate.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief ánd common sense... this wasn't the last appearance of the Chief Examiner. The late great Mark Gruenwald, ever the champion of little known or used characters, brought in the Examiner during his run on Quasar. Still looking for super powers to poach, he homed in on Kayla Ballantine who had just become the unwitting host of the New Universe's uberpowerful Starbrand.

He asked to siphon this energy source and Kayla willingly agreed, figuring she'd be better off without them. It didn't go quite the way either one of them planned...

That's what you get when you try to make 1984 computer equipment compatible with anything more challenging than Pong.

Game over for Questprobe, but at least the Chief Examiner went out with a bang.

Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control part I: If I Mae Ask, Is That A Joystick In Your Pants*...

Today's entry couldn't be any more 80s if it tried... Consider this: what did just about every 80s kid love beside Marvel comics? Why, videogames of course!

So, why not combine the two and rake in the dough. Nowadays, with the Marvel movies dominating the cinema, having superheroes star in their own games is a no brainer. But it all started back in the mid 80s with Questprobe, a videogame series that incorporated actual Marvel heroes... in all their kinda 8-bit glory...

The guy in the middle with the purple gown and the Mysterio style headgear is the Chief Examiner. First appearing in comics in August of 1984, the Examiner's deal is to test Earth's heroes in order to determine whose powers are best suited for the defense of Scadam, his recently invaded home planet. By pitting hero against hero or villain and copying the victor's powers, the Examiner planned to form the perfect army.

As origin stories go, you could do worse. But if the Chief Examiner had truly investigated Earth's heroes, he'd have noticed their uncanny ability to lend a hand to just about every other race that came looking for help. Why not take everyone you can find?

Still, that tidbit of logic didn't stop Marvel from launching the Chief Examiner into his own series... It only lasted a handful of issues, yet he observed fights between Hulk and the US Army, the Human Torch and the She-Hulk and Spider-Man and his lookalike Mysterio. 

And then the series got cancelled. Because, well... having heroes and villains fight isn't that original and if you wanted to see most of the then current crop of bad & good guys duke it out in 1984, you'd just be better off buying Secret Wars. But no one told Chris Claremont, June Brigman and Terry Austin who produced an issue of Questprobe that never saw print. That is, until editor Archie Goodwin decided to run the story in 1987's Marvel Fanfare # 33.

By then, the status quo of the X-men and New Mutants had significantly changed. On the run, severly wounded after the Marauders and the Morlock massacre... Seeing them in their relatively carefree 1984 surrounding, on Magneto's Bermuda triangle island, was a welcome change of pace. Apart from the mind control, of course...

Yeah, such relative peace and tranquility never lasts too long. But even in 1987, it's nice to revisit the relative innocence of those three, short years gone by. Shadowcat and Colossus were still an item, as were Magneto and boat captain Aletys Forester, despite her ever so brief fling with Cyclops that led to her first meeting with the mutant master of magnetism.

If a story's called Shadows On The Soul, things tend to get weird fast. For instance, when the Chief Examiner appeared out of nowhere with his abduction portal all raring to go. Here we have Claremont indulge in some pretty hot tentacle porn featuring Storm... It left her hard as rock...

"She's petrified, a living stasis... suspended animation."

Unfortunately, Storm wasn't the only X-man who fell prey to this. Magneto watched helplessly as Colossus, Kitty, Wolverine and the others were turned to statues as well. Luckily, Rogue wasn't on the island when all this went down... That's why she was on hand to do this...

"Free! Miracle of miracles... at long last. I... am...free!!"

Somehow, the Chief Examiner had been able to gain control of Magneto's mind. What better way, after all, to defeat the cybernetic creatures dominating your homeworld than by possessing a mutant capable of controlling, disrupting or bending all things metallic to his will. 

Unfortunately for the Examiner, Rogue was still there, ready to stop him. But she didn't really have the best of luck...

So, after hitting the portal Rogue involuntarily took on the shape of the She-Hulk, unknowingly absorbing part of the jade giantess' essence already 'borrowed' by the Chief Examiner...

And that's just when the fun really began. Check back next time for part II of Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control: Ghosts In The Machine.

* Free after Mae West's infamous line from the 1933 movie She Done Him Wrong.

Starting Marvel Fanfare with mindcontrol melodies

Back in 1982, Marvel started a new experiment in publishing: Marvel Fanfare, an anthology title that featured top creators crafting special stories printed on deluxe format paper. More bang for your buck, basically. 

 So, who was selected to kick off this auspicious new title? Considering Chris Claremont was one of Marvel's most popular writers it was pretty much a no-brainer he would write the first arc.

Unfortunately, while the format was new, the plot relied heavily on the old familiar mind control and enslavement shtick. It all started with Spider-Man and Warren Worthington teaming up in the Savage Land to find Karl Lykos, a man who was presumed lost.

Alas, what was supposed to be a relatively simple search & rescue mission turned sour when both Spider-Man and Angel were ambushed and captured by Brain Child and the other Savage Land mutates who subjected them to a little experiment.

This leads to several interesting mind control and transformation situations.

While Spider-Man fights against his conditioning, Angel fully embraces his new feral state.
In the end, both manage to break free and return to normal.

Alas, the damage was done by then: Lykos was forced to drain Angel's mutant energies, which caused him to revert to the villainous, energy draining man-reptile Sauron.  

Time to call in the cavalry... With Spider-Man returning to New York, Angel awaited the arrival of his fellow X-men. Together they set out to deal with Sauron and his henchmen.

After rather easily beating most of the Savage Land Mutates, they made their way to Sauron's island citadel and then this happened.

So... Not only have they had their will power silently sapped the second they entered the Savage Land and, now they are subjected to Sauron's mind control hypnosis and will soon get reverted to animalistic versions of themselves thanks to BrainChilds machine? 

Yes, I do believe we just hit the mind control trifecta. Angel barely managed to evade capture and met up with Ka-Zar. The lord of the Savage Land had a little trouble getting Angel to join him in opposing Sauron.

 Warren felt a little jittery going up against the raving reptile. But surely, what are the odds he would mess up and get beaten three times in the same story?

Ah, yeah. Oops. 

 Meanwhile, inside Sauron's citadel, Brain Child had Storm sent up for this particularly disturbing scene.

Having a drained, battered and virtually helpless woman dolled up and sent to your room is just... Wrong.  

 It didn't take long for Storm to knock out her dimunitive stalker. She escaped and freed the other X-men who made short work of both Sauron and his cronies.  

 All's well that ends well, and despite its obvious mind control involved flaws, the tale is well worth seeking out, if only because it features amazing art by Michael Golden, Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith in their undisputed prime.  

Doctor Strange doesn't mind... control

As we established previously, Chris Claremont has a certain appreciation for Doctor Strange.

By the time Marvel Fanfare rolled along in 1982, he got his chance to write the master of the mystic arts once more. This time, Claremont was paired up with the massively talented Paul Smith who would later join him on a short but memorable Uncanny X-men run.

Chris'  Strange tale appeared in Marvel Fanfare # 5 and featured a plethora of mind tampering and control. It all started with a little girl showing up at the doctor's sanctum sanctorum.

Leaving aside the obvious question how a little girl knows about the elusive sorceror supreme, let alone his place of residence... having a child show up at your door at four in the morning and entering like this is cause for concern.

A quick examination of the girl shows she's been drained of her magic potential, leaving her soul vulnerable to mind control. 

Strange decides to search the astral plane for the girl's mysterious assailant, but his apprentice/lover Clea already has a pretty good idea who it is... The villain to beat is, well, he just told you who he is. 

Nicodemus is a technomage that uses both science and sorcery to increase his somewhat limited magical powers. And who better to drain then Earth's master magician?

He robbed the little girl of her soul, in essence mind controlling her to enter Strange's home like a trojan horse. Once safely inside, a post hypnotic suggestion kicks in that forces the entranced girl to give Nicodemus entrance to the sanctorum.

And this is where the masterplan really kicks in... This rather ingenious move allows Necrodemus to surprise Strange and drain about half of his mystic might. 

Wait... wha? Did Strange actually shoot the girl? Sheesh, isn't that a little rough?

Have no fear true believer, this was back in the early 80s, before Watchmen, Dark Knight or all that other grim 'n gritty stuff Frank Miller did.. So, it was before good guys blasted innocent children... Well, not without a very good reason at least.

Watch what happens when Clea finally gets home and finds herself in deep doodah... 

So, Strange forces himself upon an already traumatised young girl, taking over her body and playing it like a puppet just to deliver a message? 

Talk about taking ''the doctor is in...' too literally.