TOMORROW STONETOMORROW STONE
Classification: Power item (see comments)
Creator: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Gambit: The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone (December 27, 1999)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Tomorrow Stone can be used to heal mortally wounded beings and to undo temporal effects (return to normal age someone being de-aged by alien technology, for example).
It apparently could only be contained within certain casing units and, after being used (see comments), it relocates to a new holding casing after its energy is used.
History:
(Gambit: The Hunt for the
Tomorrow Stone (fb) - BTS) - Hired by unspecified parties, Gambit,
Grovel, and Spat sought Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth.
In the process, Spat took
a blast of a Chronometric Liquid Compound (in/from a Shi'ar ship) meant
for Gambit. As a result, Spat began to grow progressively younger.
Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza and Dærick Gross Sr.
See below. The Tomorrow
Stone was pictured in the story, but the Cybercomic was just missing for so long.
The profile above is based on notes I took for my
comic indexes when I read the story back when it was published and
still on-line.
It was my favorite of the CyberComics, and, as far
as I know, the only one referenced in the comics themselves.
HUGE thanks to Dærick Gröss Sr. for supplying the images, which he painstakingly restored from the cells he had.
He noted that the image showing the impaled Gambit just had a lot of
"glow," which is why we don't see the Tomorrow Stone as Sekmeht is
using it to heal Gambit.
The case of the elusive Gambit: The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone cyber-comic (still in progress)
Per Bleeding Cool News
The Gambit Gazette has been on the hunt for a comic book. Gambit: The Hunt For the Tomorrow Stone , published as part of Marvel's CyberComics line, published from 1996-2000 and available exclusively through MarvelZone on AOL.
That is how they did things back then.
And now… no one seems to have copies of most of them anymore. Including Marvel.
Written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Dærick Gröss Sr. Dærick has some of the original black-and-white art…
https://gambitgazette.tumblr.com/post/144525792297/gambit-gazette-exclusive-gambit-the-hunt-for-the
Does anyone have any copies of these early stabs at digital
comics? And may be willing to share?
UPDATE: Fabian Nicieza says
"I wrote it. I barely remember it… I might have hard copies of the plot or
script in an old folder in the basement, but I'm not going dumpster diving to
find it. On the list of "Fabian comics Marvel WISHES they could have lost
forever," I'm sure this one doesn't even make the top 50."
An ex-employee writes
"Produced by Gregg Sanderson, <it> tied into the series Fabian was writing at
the time. Very Indiana Jones. Spat is re-aged at the end of it. It should still
be on a Jazz Drive archived in John Cerilli's office."
John Cerilli is VP
Content and Programming, Marvel Digital Media Group. However Mark O' said a few years
ago,
Five or six years back, when I was working on their Official
Handbooks, Marvel simply no longer had these. Like many early internet
materials, they'd simply been lost at some point in time. My professional
archivist side hopes that people holding the originals will either pass copies
along back to Marvel, or to some other place which can permanently archive them
(Michigan State University's comics library jumps to mind as one of the better
possibilities).
Anyone have any other ideas?
https://www.liquisearch.com/marvel_cyber_comics/mutants
Gambit: The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone (December 27, 1999) Was the first CyberComic referred to in a printed comic (in the pages of Gambit #12). The plot occurred approximately after Gambit #10 - Gambit helps Spat obtain the Tomorrow Stone to stop her de-aging and save her life. In his quest for it he encounters Sekmeht who needs the Stone herself to save her mother from the suspended animation she was put in by her husband. Sekmeht finally gets the Tomorrow Stone but provides it to Spat and saves her life. After that, Sekmeht goes on looking to find help for her mother
Per Wikipedia:
Gambit helps Spat obtain the Tomorrow Stone to stop her de-aging and save her life. In his quest for it he encounters Sekmeht who needs the Stone herself to save her mother from the suspended animation she was put in by her husband. Sekmeht finally gets the Tomorrow Stone but provides it to Spat and saves her life. After that, Sekmeht goes on looking to find help for her mother”. This story is one of the few appearances of the characters Spat and Grovel, notable for being an attempt by their creators to come up with X-Men characters Marvel couldn’t make action figures out of. The attempt failed, as figures were produced.
I personally asked Fabian in May, 2020, and he said:
I don't remember a single thing about it! access to the original plot/script is long gone. sorry i can't be of more help.
Here's what I can offer personally:
MY INDEX
This is
what I INDEXED for this comic the one time I read it on-line around
1999 (I preserved the information as I had it, but adjusted the
formatting to make it more reader friendly, capitalizing, getting rid
of abbreviations, adding spaces, etc.):
HUNT for the TOMORROW STONE Cyber Comic
First Appearances: TOMORROW STONE, Andrea Conoway(d), [KARCY (truth) + GHALA (youth) (Guatemalan gods)], Manuelo Griscolda (wealthy Guatemalan
art collector, possesses a casing unit for Tomorrow Stone), KROKIAN SONIC
EMBALMER (Sekmeht Conoway’s weapon, broken), ELECTROMAGNETIC GRAVITATIONAL NEGATOR (Sekmeht Conoway’s transportation), CHRONOMETRIC LIQUID COMPOUND (in Shi'ar ship)
Guest stars: Anwar Anubar, Sekmeht Conoway, GROVEL, SPAT
Other locations/groups/etc.: Elysian Enterprises
Flashback: Gambit, Grovel & Spat hired to find Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth, spat de-aged by Chronometric Liquid Compound
Summary: Gambit travels to Guatemala after Tomorrow Stone, nearly
killed by traps in temple, healed by Sekmeht Conoway using Tomorrow Stone.
Sekmeht seeks TS to
resurrect mother
Gambit uses it to return Spat to normal age, after
which Tomorrow Stone vanishes to another unknown casing unit
Obviously I wish I had taken more detailed notes and/or figured out how to save it somehow....
My related MASTER LIST entries:
TOMORROW STONE - power item, relocates to
holding casing after energy is used, used to heal Gambit after he
was mortally wounded by spears, returned Spat to normal age,
sought by Sekmeht Conoway to revive her mother
--Gambit Cyber Comic: Hunt for the Tomorrow
Stone
SPAT ( ) - mutant, partner of Grovel, grew
progressively younger as a result of taking blast of Shi'ar
Chronometric Liquid meant for Gambit, duped into aiding Erik the Red in
exchange for a cure he never possessed, aged back to
eighteen years by Tomorrow Stone.
white female, blond, skilled warrior
--Uncanny X-Men#347 (Gambit: Hunt for the
Tomorrow Stone Cyber Comic(fb), [Uncanny X-Men#346],347-350, Gam:HftTs
CybCom
I will profile her on the Appendix at some point
CONOWAY, SEKMEHT - Egyptian-American woman, daughter of Anwar Anubar,
archeological engineer for Elysian
Enterprises, encountered Ozymandias and Gambit in past, investigated temple of
Garba-Hsien, sought Tomorrow Stone to revive mother who was apparently killed under mysterious
circumstances, sought Momentary Princess
--Gambit III#1(3(fb),1(fb)1,3 10 Gambit: Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone Cyber Comic, Gambit#12,15
I will profile her on the Appendix at some point, but it will take a while longer as she has more appearances.
ANUBAR, ANWAR - head of Elysian Enterprises, father of Sekmeht
Conoway, former agent of Strucker in
the search for the Momentary Princess @ 1968, wife killed under
mysterious circumstances
--Gambit III#1 ([12(fb2)], 1, Gambit: Cyber Comic: Hunt for
Tomorrow Stone,
Gam15 (fb)
I will profile him on the Appendix at some point
GROVEL ( )- alien bounty hunter, partner of Spat and Landscape,
former agent of Erik the Red
immense intelligent lizard
--Uncanny X-Men#347 (Gambit: Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone Cyber Comic(fb2), UX347-350, Gam:HftTS
I will profile him on the Appendix at some point
KARCYA - god of truth for
Guatemalan sect
--[Gambit: Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone
Cyber Comic]
I don't recall much
else...I think he was either pictured or named in writing within the
temple or invoked by a tribesman or something...although, I don't
have any tribesmen listed as appearing in that issue, so perhaps
not...then again, I didn't put the Guatemalan temple in my index,
either..
GHALA - god of youth for Guatemalan sect
--[Gambit: Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone Cyber-Comic]
I don't recall much else...I think he
was either pictured or named in writing within the temple or invoked by
a tribesman or something...although, I don't have any tribesmen listed
as appearing in that issue, so perhaps not...then again, I didn't put
the Guatemalan temple in my index, either..
Apparently, I didn't think
Andrea Conoway, Manuelo Griscolda, the Krokian Sonic Embalmer, the
Electromagnetic Gravitational Negator, or the Chronometric Liquid
Compound were important enough to warrant entries.
I'll give Andrea a sub-profile when I cover Anwar Anubar.
I've given Manuelo and the Chronometric Liquid Compound each a sub-profile in this profle.
I don't recall any more about the Krokian Sonic
Embalmer or the Electromagnetic Gravitational Negator than is covered above.
I feel like Gambit knew that Sekmeht
wanted to use the Tomorrow Stone to save her mother, but -- perhaps
because her mother was in stasis and could be revived later while Spat
was in danger of de-aging out of existence -- he convinced Sekmeht to
let him use it instead on Spat.
I'm also not sure why, if my notes were
right and she used it to save Gambit, that it didn't vanish after that?
Perhaps there was a set amount of energy that it could use before
vanishing/transporting to new casing? Perhaps it could be used twice
before vanishing?
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Tomorrow Stone should be distinguished from:
 Based on memory (over 20 years old, from reading the story once), I believe he had the casing unit that Sekmeht used to obtain the Tomorrow Stone. Maybe he had both the casing and the stone? Or maybe Gambit obtained the casing unit? Given that Sekmeht was supposed to be going after another, "unknown" casing unit, I don't think she was going after Manuelo's, but rather that his had already been used. Given that I didn't have my notation for Behind-the-Scenes for him or have him listed as appearing in a flashback, I believe he appeared/was pictured at some point during the main story I believe the top left image image as well as the one to the right represent the Tomorrow Stone within the casing unit. Presumably this is where it was when Sekmeht obtained it...Gambit and Sekmeht appear to be at a party, and then there's an image of viewscreens and weapons, presumably indicating security. |
In the process, Spat took
a blast of a Chronometric Liquid Compound (in/from a Shi'ar ship) meant
for Gambit.
As a result, Spat began to grow progressively younger.
(Gambit:
Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone Cyber Comic - BTS) - The de-aging effect
was neutralized, and Spat was restored to her true age by Gambit using
the Tomorrow Stone.
images: (without ads):
Inaccessible!!!
Gambit: The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone, chapter 2. pg. 2, panel 1 (Tomorrow Stone in Guatemalan temple)
panel 2 (Sekmeht holding the stone)
panel 3 (Sekmeht using the stone to cure Gambit);
pg. 7, panel 1 (Gambit and
Sekmeht with stone in casing unit (obscurred at bottom);
panel 2 (stone in casing unit, partially off panel)
The other image was apparently one the cover to the story, one of Dærick Gross' original
black and whites, and I copied an image from the Bleeding Cool page.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First posted: 9/2/2020
Last updated: 5/28/2021
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