10 Second-Stringers

Following up on yesterday's post, I thought it'd be nice to take a closer look at these guys, a posse of criminally underexposed characters introduced in 1974, who, if not for the cult of Wolverine, might well be far more respected in comics circles. Or they might not. You judge...


Nuklo was the son of a couple of golden age heroes, and briefly, the brother of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Created by Roy Thomas in the pages of Giant-Size Avengers, Nuklo, unfortunately, possessed the power of being highly radioactive, which probably scuppered his chances of joining any of the big-name teams. So naturally, he ended up appearing in the pages of Thunderbolts later on.


Created by Jim Starlin and Steve Englehart, Nitro's proved one of the more successful of the class of 1974. Not only was he indirectly responsible for the death of Captain Marvel, who died as a result of an illness contracted during this very issue, but, depending on your viewpoint, he was either indirectly or directly to blame for the disaster which led to Marvel's Civil War a couple of years back.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, unfortunately. That really is a man dressed up as a giant chicken. To be fair, he is a voodoo priest, so a chicken costume is not entirely inappropriate, but I'm not sure most comics readers are discerning enough to take that look seriously. Time remains to tell whether Black Talon ( a creation of Len Wein and Gene Colan) will once again show up as a foe of Brother Voodoo, now that he's the Sorcerer Supreme.


Oh, my... Mid-70s Marvel was many things, but subtle it wasn't. Mahkizmo, the Nuclear Man, came from an alternative future world where men enslaved women, a world at war with another alternative world, this one the female-dominated world of Thundra. Created by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler, Mahkizmo disappeared after his first appearance, only resurfacing when She-Hulk author John Byrne was looking for some bottom of the barrel villain to make fun of.


OK, so they can't all be winners. Marv Wolfman and George Tuska brought the Piranha into the pages of Sub-Mariner, as they were beginning to seriously run out of good ideas. Originally, a real piranha fish, this chap was mutated by radiation during one of Subby's many battles, and, rather than count his blessings, Piranha decided to hunt down Namor. Other than a couple of guest shots in the Defenders, alongside other fish-based foes, he's never been seen since. Good.


And talking of the Defenders, here's Nebulon. Introduced by Len Wein and Sal Buscema, Nebulon made a couple of half-hearted efforts to conquer the Earth, before vanishing into the mists of time.

Luke Cage had some wacky bad guys in the early days of his title. Created by Len Wein (him again) and George Tuska (and him again), Cottonmouth was a drug-dealer with ambition, a taste for snake skin shoes, and, when the occasion demanded, a bazooka. Like so many other animal-themed characters, he seems to have been a one-shot character, with his name being pinched later by a member of the Serpent Society.


From the mailbox: "It had to happen. Marvel was first among comics publishers to feature black superheroes - and villains. Marvel was first to recognise the women's movement in comics with characters like the Black Widow. And now, in this issue of STRANGE TALES, we're proud to introduce the comics' first Jewish monster-hero. Needless to say, we're looking forward to your reactions[]. So ... grab a sheet of paper or a post card or last week's leftover bagel and WRITE!!" I think you can guess how filled-to-the-brim the Mighty Marvel Mailbag was that week. Brought to the world by Len Wein (it's that man again) and John Buscema, the Golem lasted all of three months, before vanishing for the rest of the century.


Jeez, Len Wein gets about, doesn't he? Equinox, a curious blend of the power of fire and ice, turned up a few times in the pages of Marvel Team-Up, and even showed up a couple of years ago during the Secret Invasion, but despite having one of the more interesting visual looks of the era, never really seems to have found his groove.


Brought to us courtesy of Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, Grizzly must be the character who must resents the ol' Canucklehead. I mean, look at the guy. With that surly attitude, coupled with the ridiculous costume, he must have reckoned he had at least as good a chance as Wolverine of making the big time. If not for a quirk of fate, Grizzly could have found himself on the cover of Giant-Sized X-Men #1, and we might now be reading three or four monthly books about the exploits of the world's favourite ex-wrestler. There's no justice.

So there you have. Ten of the, er, best creations of 1974 who didn't go on to become superstars. I like to think that in some parallel universe, these guys are world-famous, with legions of fans. Well, except for Piranha. That guy sucks.

70 Years of Marvel - 1974

1974 saw Jim Starlin at the height of his cosmic powers, as writer of the Captain Marvel comic books, in which Mar-Vell was taking on the evil titan, Thanos, who would haunt most of Starlin's Marvel work for the rest of the century.

Other comics-related events included the first appearance of The Punisher, Gerry Conway's assassin to the stars, hired to kill Spider-Man, and at this point, lacking any sort of defined origin. We also so the debut of Iron Fist, Marvel's attempt to combine the superhero and martial artist genres, as well as Doug Moench and Rich Buckler's cyborg sensation, Deathlok. 1974 also saw the Marvel Universe being brought a little bit closer, as ex-Avenger, Quicksilver, married ex-Fantastic Four member and full-time Inhuman, Crystal. Oh, and I suppose it would be a sin not to mention that Incredible Hulk #180 and #181 saw the debut of everyone's favourite shortarse Canadian.

In the real world in 1974, Tricky Dicky finally gave in and resigned. Fortunately, his immediate successor pardoned him for any crimes which he may have committed. It's a good life, eh?

70 Years of Marvel - 1964

Yes, Thunderbolts fans, that is the self-same Baron Zemo who would go on to become Captain America's WW2 nemesis, who would subsequently go on to found the Masters Of Evil, and whose son would in turn found his own team of Masters, start up the Thunderbolts as the biggest con in history, and eventually become an almost-good-guy. In his first appearance, though, Doctor Zemo was merely one of many Nazi stooges who took on Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos, and lost.

Famously, Sgt Fury was the result of a bet at the Marvel offices, in which Stan Lee wagered that he could make a war comic in the Marvel manner and make it a success. It worked, for at least the next couple of decades, thriving throughout any number of successes and failures at the House of Ideas.

Making a return to regular appearances in 1964 was Captain America, albeit only as a member of the Avengers. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver made their first appearance in this year, as did Daredevil, the Black Widow, Wonder Man, and Hawkeye.

1964 also saw the US Government suggest (god forbid) that smoking cigarettes might be harmful to ones health. The Beatles were conquering America. And IBM were unleashing the S360 mainframe! Meanwhile, the war was hotting up in Vietnam.

At the movies, Clint Eastwood was scowling his way through A Fistful of Dollars, while Santa Claus was Conquering the Martians. Meanwhile, on the telly, Top of the Pops was not yet tragically unhip. The Munsters and the Addams Family were both tearing up the airwaves, as was the Man From UNCLE. And a generation of kids were thrilling to the adventures of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

70 Years Of Marvel - 1944

Miss America was one of the more successful Timely heroines, though given how few of them there were in the '40s, this perhaps isn't saying very much. Created by Otto Binder, who who would go on to do a power of work for DC, Miss America gained her powers through a not-yet-a-trope lightning strike. She would go on to be a member of the All-Winners Squad, before disappearing at the tail end of the decade.

Years later, Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Roy Thomas, would make use of Miss America in one of his continuity-establishing exercises. According to Rascally Roy, Miss America had married fellow hero, the Whizzer, and the two of them had gone on to have children, two of which were now famous superheroes: Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Later, of course, the Maximoff twins' parentage would be revised somewhat, and the Miss America connection would be severed.

Since then, Miss America's been pretty much gone, other than a brief reappearance, in the pages of X-Statix, a couple of years back. God bless Pete Milligan, for remembering a little bit of Marvel history.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the war was going badly for the Axis Powers, the Normandy invasion and the Battle of Guam among several setbacks. Terrible things continued to happen in various concentration camps, and Anne Frank was on her way to one of them.

July 6th saw the Hartford Circus fire, which killed several hundred members of the audience, when the big top they were, which was waterproofed by means of parrafin and gasoline, caught ablaze, Nasty stuff.

Film fans may note that 1944 saw the release of Double Indemnity, a nice bit of film noir, in which she-vixen Barbara Stanwyck persuaded Fred MacMurray to participate in a spot of mariticide. More related to our topic, Captain America was starring in a Republic serial, which by all accounts was terrible.

The Old Order Changeth!

Avengers #16, May 1965.
(By Lee, Kirby & Ayers)
Well, here we are then, the first in what will become a very regular event in the Avengers, the "changing of the guard" issue. Common as muck now, back in the day this must have been a bit of a puzzler for the readership, who'd got used to the adventures of Marvel's Mightiest Heroes, and the Wasp. Off we go.

Our story picks up where the last one left off, with the Avengers polishing off the battered remains of the Masters Of Evil. Here they are.


That there, folks, is the Melter (with the stripy tights), the Black Knight (with the horse), the Executioner (with the skirt), and the Enchantress (with the Executioner). They are unaware that the reason Captain America is missing, is because he's in South America, dropping a large number of rocks on the bad guys' leader, Baron Zemo.

So confident are the Masters of their ability to win the day, that they stand around while Thor twirls his magic hammer; never a good idea.


With the Masters of Evil beaten, and with Cap stranded in South America, the remaining Avengers (Thor having shot off to take care of some private business) meet to decide what to do next. Go rescue Cap, you say? Guess again.


What, just like that? Where's your gumption? Your fighting spirit? Or has Tony Stark had a meeting with his accountants, and found out just how much it's costing to keep his Superfriends on the payroll?

Before the Avengers can make good on their plan to abandon Captain America in the Amazon and retire, they receive a mystery visitor. A visitor who leaves only one clue: an arrow. Wonder if Iron Man can work out who it is...


Hawkeye then spins a sob story about how he's just been misunderstood this whole time, a pawn of the Black Widow and her commie masters. Then he does a trick shot with his arrow. And then the Avengers hire him on the spot. Somehow, I'd have expected the interview process to be more formal. At my work, it takes three months of credit checks, police checks, and god knows what other checks, to even get in the door, and these guys are giving Hawkeye the keys to Avengers Mansion with barely a twenty-second chinwag? Some might say they're being indecently hasty in their rush to retire.

Having hired a two-bit hood to replace them, they next move onto a would-be world conquerer.


I mean, what?!? At this point, the Avengers have only fought Namor a couple of times, but he's gone toe-to-toe with everyone from Daredevil to Spider-Man, and recently led an invasion of New York! Sixties superheroes presumably didn't worry so much about public relations. Ah well, perhaps after he's conquered the surface world, he'll be ready to join up.

Who's next?


Yes, it's everyones' favourite members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, taking a relaxing time after the dissolution of their gang of villains (in this month's X-Men #11) I don't know what I like more, Quicksilver's sensible yet stripy jumper, or that they feel the need to get changed into their super-togs before deciding to try for membership in the Avengers.

Odd though, wouldn't you really expect them, if they've finally gotten the oppoortunity to join the forces of good, to hang out with their old pals, the X-Men. Or is that speciesist, to think that way. In fact, it's odd to see them contemplating signing up at all, given this exchange, less than a month ago, in that self-same X-Men #11:


Anyway, let's move back to New York, where the Avengers are announcing their latest recruit:


On the one hand, it's comforting that the team actually have some sort of official screening process. On the other hand, it's a bit disconcerting that the Feds didn't pick up on Hawkeye having spent the last few months working with a commie spy. Not to mention that the assembled ladies and gentlemen of the press don't have anything
to say about it. Perhaps part of the American Dream is the crimes of supervillains and mutant terrorists are just never mentioned again, once they've apologised. Like so:


Quicksilver, the fastest man alive, proceeds to race Tony Stark's chauffeur through the streets of New York, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he wins. Which is enough for both him and his sister to get a seat at the big table.

No sooner have the new members settled in, then Captain America finally gets back from South America. Without so much as a "where the hell was my lift home?", Cap welcomes the chaps who'll be joining the team.


Ever get the feeling you've been shafted, Cap? Rick's worked it out, he's smart enough to realise that Paste-Pot Pete and the Vulture would have got a job, if they could pass the qualifying test: showing up.

Anyway, with the new team assembled, it's time to meet the people...


Good question, Hawkeye, although I can't but notice that you don't even mention the Wasp. It was tough being a woman in the sixties, huh?

So there we have them: Cap's Kooky Quartet. As anti-establishment as their predecessors were Republican, things are going to be a mite different round Avengers Mansion from now on...

Ten Things We Learn From These Two Issues Of Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men #5-6, March-May 1964.
(By Lee, Kirby, and Reinman)

Or rather, ten character traits which will become well-established over the next 40 years or so.


1. The Scarlet Witch (here in her first appearance) takes no guff from anyone!


2. The Toad (in his first appearance) is a grass.


3. Mastermind (yes, it's his first time out as well!) holds a grudge (just ask Phoenix in about 16 years).


4. Professor X and Magneto like to rant at each other on the psychic plane.


5. Angel, heir to the multi-billion dollar Worthington Industries, apparently has amnesia! (OK, this one is a cheat, and I guess Warren Worthington's not been established as a billionaire-to-be yet, but, hey, it made me laugh.)


6. Magneto likes to have a cool secret headquarters.


7. And he gives one heck of a pep talk!


8. Cyclops doesn't appreciate being interrupted when he's brooding.


9. Quicksilver (you guessed it) really cares for his sister.


10. Professor Xavier is a jerk. Continued, forever.