The Craptacular B-Sides
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''The Craptacular B-Sides'' is a three issue
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...
published by
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
in 2002. The series is set in Raven's Perch,
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, a
fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
al town renowned in Marvel's main shared
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for having a far higher percentage of
superhuman The term superhuman refers to humans, humanoids or other beings with abilities and other qualities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. ...
s than any other small town in America. The three members are disenfranchised youths with little direction in life until they are approached by a man named Charley Huckle. He proposes that they become "The hottest new superhero team since the
New Warriors The New Warriors are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They traditionally consisted of teenage and young adult heroes, and were often seen to serve as a junior counterpart to Avengers (comics) ...
".


Members

;Jughandle: Jesse Metuchen is the son of the Raven's Perch
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. He has the ability to step "sideways in time", creating a parallel time stream into which he and others can step. There they are invisible and cannot be touched by those outside, but they are still able to see the world around them. ;Mize: Presumably Stuart Welles' code name is short for "demise". Mize can accelerate the decay of systems causing machinery to break down, materials to decay, create injuries/weaknesses in humans and even destroy both relationships and the high school football team's winning streak. He has little or no control over his powers, and often inadvertently breaks things nearby. ;Fateball: Luara Broadbahr is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant (rather fond of fighting dirty). She possesses a "Magic Fateball" that seems to have no limit to the number of answers it can give (though the information is still limited to affirmative or negative) and is always correct.


Synopsis

Jughandle, Fateball, Mize and Feeva are best friends that have just graduated from high school. However, Feeva lost the favor of her friends when she tricked them into a mission intended to gain her acceptance into the Pegasus Institute. The other three friends are left in Raven's Perch without direction. They receive mysterious invitations to meet at the local bowling alley, only to be surprised by Charley Huckle (a local con man). Huckle explains he wants to organize them into a local superteam (in his own efforts to make desperately needed money). The friends agree and become the Craptacular B-Sides. After Huckle takes them to their new headquarters – a deserted warehouse – he gives them their first mission: capture Doctor Dark. He was Huckle's first foray into creating a superhero, but things didn't go well and now Doc Dark has a bounty on his head. Locating Doctor Dark at the bowling alley, the B-Sides engage him. But Doc Dark turns out to be more than they bargained for, and the B-Sides are in over their heads. The
Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...
arrive just in time to stop Doc Dark and save the B-Sides. Huckle argues with the Fantastic Four to get the bounty on Doc Dark paid to himself and the B-Sides instead.
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agrees, and the B-Sides intend to go on their way. However, it turns out the Fantastic Four were actually in town to see Jughandle, not Doctor Dark. Jughandle's ability to step outside the timestream is equated to poking a needle through a large tapestry; doing it a few times has no negative effect, but repeated events could put holes in the fabric of time. Jughandle then drinks a glass of "juice" from the
Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), The Fantastic Four'' #1 (November 1961). Susan St ...
. Before they can finish talking and thus fully understanding each other, the teams are then are called off on another local crisis. At a nearby diner, a man is holding two cats hostage in a microwave. Jughandle correctly identifies the cats as
Skrull The Skrulls () are a race of List of fictional extraterrestrials, extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' #2 and were crea ...
shapeshifters, and the two superteams head off to stop him. Thanks to an earlier adventure, Jughandle recognizes both Skrulls and
Kree The Kree, briefly known as the Ruul, are an List of fictional extraterrestrials, alien race appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are native to the planet Hala in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and have a scientificall ...
at the scene. The B-Sides and the FF stop the situation before it can escalate into a minor Kree-Skrull War repeat. But after saving the day and going their separate ways, Jughandle is disenchanted with the Fantastic Four. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four are marooned on the
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after Mize sabotaged their ship and the Human Torch had left on a date.
Mister Fantastic Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The character is a founding member and the leader of the Fantastic Four. Richards has a mast ...
explains to Ben and Sue that the "juice" he gave Jughandle actually rearranged his molecular structure to stop the destructive nature of his timestream powers. Reed wished that he had gotten the chance to tell Jughandle that before the Fantastic Four left Raven's Perch. The B-Sides receive media recognition in an error-ridden newspaper article.


Bibliography

*''B-Sides'' #1-3


References


Notes


Sources


Grand Comics Database Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craptacular B-Sides, the Marvel Comics superhero teams