Real
Name: Unknown
MAD ARCHIE
Real
Name: Unknown
Identity/Class: Human (Old West Era), possibly from an alternate timeline (see comments)
Occupation: Gang member
Group Membership: The Doom Gang
Affiliations: Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)
Enemies: Invisible Woman, Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, A.D.1850
First Appearance: Spectacular Spider-Man#105 (U.K.) (29th September 2004)
Powers/Abilities: None shown. He was presumably a capable fighter, but not when matched against twentieth century superheroes.
History:
(Spectacular Spider-Man#105) - Mad Archie and other members of the Doom
Gang witnessed a pair of strange looking individuals fight and defeat two
of the Gang. Archie introduced himself and told the newcomers that they faced
the Doom Gang and were in a lot of trouble. He threatened to squash the one
that looked like a spider (Spider-Man) and barged past the female newcomer
(Invisible Woman), telling her to stay out of the way, since this was "men's
stuff." Much to his shock, he suddenly found himself restrained by an invisible
barrier, and watched as the Invisible Woman used another force field to snatch
a club from one of the other gang members. That was the last thing he saw for
a while, because the club was then sent hurtling into his mask, knocking
him out.
Comments:
Created by Jim Alexander (writer), Jon Haward (penciler) and David Roach
(inker).
The story that Mad Archie and The Doom Gang appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man, a British weekly published under license by Panini, the company which bought Marvel U.K. This title is virtually the only source of new, home-grown British material at the time of this writing. Aimed at younger readers, it's difficult to place these stories in the context of U.S. continuity (the issue prior to this one saw Spider-Man fight Kraven, apparently the original one!), and I've been informed that the stories are meant to be continuations of Spider-Man Adventures, the comic which featured stories set within the 1990's Spider-Man cartoon continuity. I've no proof of this, but the stories would fit, and it makes sense; it wouldn't be the first time a popular U.K. title started producing new material itself when the U.S. reprint stuff ran out.
In the rest of the story, which didn't involve the new characters, Dr.Doom had apparently fled into the past to escape when he was losing a battle with a particularly powerful rogue Doombot. The Doombot, passing itself off for the real thing, lured Spidey and the Invisible Woman to New York's Latverian Embassy, and sent them in pursuit. When the three returned to the modern day, they worked together to defeat the rogue robot.
It's not really clear why Dr.Doom would want to lead a group like this, since it's apparent they would have been no use had the Doombot sent more lethal pursuers back in time. One comment, "The gang was a useful distraction while I gathered my strength," suggests that Doom took control of them simply to stave off boredom. Given that in his own time he likes surrounding himself with robotic duplicates of himself to do his bidding, getting the gang to wear masks resembling his might have been his way of making the place feel more like home.
I can't help but wonder: even though the modern day stuff might be in a different dimension from regular Marvel stories, given that it's been established time travellers go slightly "sideways" into parallel timelines, the 1850's segment might be the past of Earth-616. Perhaps the Doom Gang inspired the 1870s Wild West villain Iron Mask?
Clarifications:
Mad Archie has no known connections to
The Doom Gang has no known connections to
The Doom Gang
The Doom Gang were a group of ruffians in 1850s New York who followed the timelost Dr.Doom. It's uncertain whether the gang was already formed when he arrived in the past and just changed their name in recognition of their new "Big Boss", or if Doom formed the gang himself. Either way, to show their allegiance, all of the gang wore masks similar to Dr.Doom's. When Spider-Man and the Invisible Woman travelled back to retrieve Doom, they witnessed two of the gang beating up an elderly man and intervened. Mad Archie and other gang members saw them beat up the two thugs, and attacked, but they were no match for superpowered opposition. The battle ended when Doom arrived and informed the heroes he would willingly accompany them back to the 21st century. One of the gang protested that their Big Boss couldn't leave them, and was sent flying by a back-handed blow for daring to question the Latverian tyrant. Since Dr.Doom did then depart, the subsequent fate of the gang is undisclosed (see comments).
-- Spectacular Spider-Man (UK)#105
images:
All images from Spectacular Spider-Man (UK)#105
Mad Archie: Top shot p.7, pan3
Mad Archie: Close-up p.23, pan 1
Mad Archie: Shoving IW p.7, pan4
Doom Gang: p.23, pan5
Last updated: 09/20/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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