1. Who is Tensen, and
why should I care about him?
John Tensen is a comicbook character
from Marvel Comics' "New Universe" with the superhuman ability to manifest
psionic "swords" and "shields" from his hands. He is an ex-employee
of the U.S. Department of Justice. Some time after gaining his abilities,
he was enthralled by a powerful superhuman being named Daedalus Darquill,
a druglord who caused complex illusions in the minds of anyone he wished.
In Tensen's case, he became a "Justice Warrior" from an alien dimension.
Eventually, after being freed from the fantasy realm by Nightmask, Tensen
was recruited by the National Security Council as a special operative.
Sometime later, Tensen was inexplicably thrust into the future, and into
another universe altogether--the Marvel Universe circa 2099. At first,
he could not remember his past or real name, and his powers were severely
changed. He counts the Spider-Man of 2099 and Father Jennifer D'Angelo
as his closest friends, and has an arch-enemy in the form of the "death-god"
Thanatos. For more information about Tensen, explore the rest of
this site. If you like what you see, you can pick up back issues
of Justice, Spider-Man 2099, and other titles referenced
in this website, at a comic shop near you.
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2. What is 2099?
Is that, like, a year or something?
"2099" indeed refers to a year--but it also refers to a line
of comics released by Marvel Comics, set in the Marvel Universe of that
year. From the years 1992 to 1997, several titles were published,
including Spider-Man 2099, Ravage 2099 (cocreated by Stan
Lee), Doom 2099, Punisher 2099, X-Men 2099, Hulk
2099, Fantastic Four 2099, X-Nation 2099, and the anthology
titles 2099 Unlimited and 2099: World of Tomorrow.
The line was edited by Joey Cavalieri and Lia Pelosi. Tensen, in
his guise as the Net Prophet, was introduced into 2099 in Spider-Man
2099 #12. Read summaries of Tensen's adventures in 2099 (up to
the point when I start Tensen 2099: No Justice) here.
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3. What's the New Universe,
and how's it different from the Marvel Universe?
The New Universe was a line of comics released by Marvel from
1986 to 1990, consisting of eight titles: D.P.7, Justice, Kickers Inc.,
Mark Hazzard: Merc, Nightmask, Psi-Force, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters,
and The Star Brand. The concept of the line was that the Earth
depicted in each title was our own world, in every respect, up until
the moment a strange atmospheric disturbance, referred to as the White
Event, occurred and gave a small percentage of the world's population superpowers.
This means that no superheroes, supervillains, aliens, or extranormal entities
existed in the New Universe, that their technology was on-par with ours
as of 1986, and that the citizens of the New Universe read about Marvel
Comics superheroes just like you and I have over the years. In addition,
the comics took place in real-time--that is, in a year's worth of issues,
a year passes for all the people of the New Universe. For more information
regarding the New Universe, you may read a complete, abbreviated history
here.
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4. I remember the Net
Prophet/Justice. Why aren't you calling him that anymore?
Call it my prerogative. Remember, he only really called
himself "Justice" on two occasions; once, when he was under Daedalus Darquill's
influence, and again when he took over the leadership of the Forsaken,
going by "Justice Tensen." As for his "Net Prophet" moniker, I always
felt that, when Tensen was meandering around in Spider-Man 2099,
he was never really at home with the name. I mean, he was being referred
to as the Prophet of Thor, and really, he strikes me as someone who wouldn't
be reliant on another (Thor) to provide his alias. In my opinion,
he only used the "Net Prophet" name because he hadn't yet remembered his
own name. Once he did remember, and seeing as he's not the type for
comic-booky codenames, he resumed merely calling himself Tensen.
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5. Why did people refer
to Tensen in 2099 as the Prophet of Thor?
Beats me. This is one mystery I won't be covering
in Tensen 2099: No Justice. Remember that since Spider-Man
was the first to show up in 2099, he was labeled the Harbinger of Thor--probably
because the people knew the original Spider-Man knew the original Thor.
Perhaps it was the nature of Tensen's super-powers, which are energy-based,
that led the people to call him the Prophet. Although it bears noting
that on Tensen's original costume, he wore a lightning-bolt insignia, and
Thor is the God of Thunder...
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6. OK, you've explained
2099. What's the '2099 Underground'?
From the 2099 Underground website: "The 2099 Underground is
a project whereby a group of fans are putting together a series of stories
continuing from Marvel's fantastic futuristic 2099! Ignoring the ignoble
and inaccurate 2099: World of Tomorrow, we're exploring what we
feel is the true spirit of 2099 as envisioned by then Editor-in-Chief Joey
Cavalieri. Participation is open to all." For more information, visit
the official site of the 2099 Underground here.
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7. Where can I get
back issues of the New Universe and/or 2099?
In the back-issue bins of any well-stocked comic book shop.
Most you can even find in their bargain bins! Call 1-888-COMIC-BOOK
for a store near you!
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8. Where can I get
back issues of the 2099 Underground?
You can find electronic copies (the only kind there are) of
all 2099 Underground titles at the 2099 Underground website, http://www.oocities.org/ug2099.
All issues of Tensen 2099 can be found on this website as well as
the general site.
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9. Is the way you're
doing things in TENSEN 2099 the way they would've been done in the real
comics?
I doubt it. I never consulted with Peter David before
embarking on this adventure. However, that doesn't mean that all
my work, or the work of the UG in general, hasn't at least been based upon
suggestions or story leaks, e.g. the revelation of the Goblin of 2099 being
Gabriel O'Hara (in Spider-Man 2099 #45) was reversed in the UG because
in our continuity, #45-up didn't count, and so we were able to safely reveal
the identity of the Goblin as Father Jennifer D'Angelo, whom Peter David
originally intended him to be, in a two-part adventure in Morbius 2099UG.
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10. Have you ever
met Peter David (PAD), writer of stuff? If so, what's he think of
your work?
Yes, I met Mr. David in April of 2000
at the Pittsburgh Comic-Con
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA. He's an incredibly talented and
nice gentleman, and he signed all my Justice and Spider-Man 2099
comics (featuring Tensen) written by him! He was surprised to find
a fan of his old series, and could scarcely remember the days when he wrote
Justice
(it was one of his first writing jobs). He recommended the novel
series
Psi-Man which he'd written several years ago; it turns out
that Tensen is in book 6 of the series, "Haven." Check this book
out at
amazon.com,
it's great! And yes, I told him a little about Tensen 2099--but
not too much. He seemed amused when I told him that in my series,
Tensen had the opportunity to meet his own great-grandchildren! But,
I've said too much about the series already...
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11. Back in established
non-UG continuity, who was the Net Prophet supposed to be?
The Prophet revealed his real name to be John Tensen in Spider-Man
2099 #44. I think that's conclusive evidence, don't you?
And, FYI, there's a possibility the "great battle" with "beings from different...worlds"
as per his lines in Spider-Man 2099 #14 was the Starblast
crossover, in which he was involved in 1994--although I've never outright
asked PAD. Was the battle to which Tensen and Thanatos refer to the
same one in this series? Maybe, maybe not...keep reading!
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12. Back in established
non-UG continuity, who was Thanatos supposed to be?
As posted on the newsgroup rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe
by Spider-Man 2099 writer Peter David himself:
From: Peter David
Subject: Re: PAD: who was Thanatos 2099?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe
Date: 1996/06/14
Aw, what the heck.
Thanatos was a discorporated malevolent spirited [sic] who
inhabited the body of Aaron Delgato after Aaron was killed from his fall.
PAD
That answers one part of the question, right? But what "discorporated
malevolent spirit" inhabited Delgato? It's a question that PAD has
never caved on. Allegedly, PAD had several ideas as to Thanatos'
true identity, but never committed to one. One letter writer was
allegedly censored by editor Joey Cavalieri because he got "too close"
to figuring out the mystery, but that was, as per PAD's accounting, a red
herring. We may never know who Thanatos really was, as per Marvel
continuity.
UPDATE!!!!! As of 10/24/2001, the long quest for answers
from PAD may indeed be over. According to solicitations for Marvel
Comics in the month of January 2002, CAPTAIN MARVEL will be taking a trip
to 2099 in a storyline called "Time Flies" that will run from issues #27-30.
Spider-Man 2099 and Thanatos will appear, and PAD has stated that Thanatos'
true identity will be revealed! Let's hope Tensen will show up, too!
(Hint: e-mail PAD at padguy@aol.com
and tell him you want to see Tensen in CM!)
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13. What, really,
is Virtual Unreality?
Ah, you tried to trick me, eh? You'll find out in Tensen
2099. Let's just say it has a lot more to do with Reed Richards'
work than you might have initially thought. Interspace is just a
part of the overall puzzle. I'll just state for the record that it's
no coincidence that someone calling himself Reed Richards is around in
this series...
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14. Where can I go
to discuss Tensen's miniseries? Is there a forum available?
Not exclusively for Tensen 2099, but there is a general
forum for all 2099 Underground titles available at http://www.comicboards.com/2099ug.
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15. Will you be doing
more TENSEN miniseries in the future?
Hard to tell at this point if I'll have the time, but I do
have ideas to that end. If all goes well, I may be able to do a second
limited series, tentatively titled Spider-Man & Tensen 2099: Goblin
Hunt.
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16. Anything else
to tell me before I go ahead and read TENSEN 2099 #1?
I hope everyone enjoys Tensen 2099.
It's a great adventure starring a number of great characters. If
you're a fan from the New Universe days especially, you'll be in for a
real treat. If you're a fan from the 2099 days, I hope you'll find
this series entertaining. If you're a fan from both universes, well,
that's even better! But I don't aim to alienate anyone. If
you're new to Tensen and like this website, I do encourage you to check
out back issues at your local comic shop! (I really can't say that
enough!) Excelsior!
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