Archives by Tag: Marvel Mythos
Marvel Mythos and Media #6 - Ms. Marvel, Part Three
Mythos:
New to Marvel Mythos and Media? Please check out my previous columns!
Welcome to the last column covering Ms. Marvel. When we left her, Ms. Marvel was whole psychologically, but her storylines were still a mess. Despite being under the helm of Chris Claremont, her title lacked any sort of direction. Sadly, only a few issues after showing some serious promise, her title would be canceled mid-storyline. This time, we’ll be wrapping up Marvel’s shot at feminist progression and taking a look at the end to a series that was so controversial, the real world came calling for Marvel!
Ready for one more week Ms. Marvel?
After a myriad of bad storylines, Ms. Marvel’s peak came with Ms. Marvel #19. Taking Ms. Marvel back to her roots, she was confronted by Kree strong-arm Ronan, who kidnapped both her and Captain Marvel in order to return them to the Kree homeworld. At the behest of the evil Kree Supreme Intelligence, a being that has enslaved the Kree for its own purposes from time to time, they would be forced to work for the homeworld.
The art is a bit stiff, but the drama is much better than previous issues.
The chemistry between Ms. Marvel and Captain is terrific. They made a great team without a hint of romance, something that the book was already hemorrhaging. For whatever reason, Chris Claremont and Marvel continued to associate the liberation of this modern female superhero with making out with every male within New York’s various zip codes. The amount of anonymous male suitors continues to rise through the last few issues in an embarrassing fashion.
I knew a girl like you in college, Carol. The guys nicknamed her “Lipslut”. You don’t want that on your superhero resume, do you?
This little tryst occurs after Jameson ousts her from her job as editor of Woman. The issue of her unemployment was not resolved before the cancellation of the series, and neither is the reason she would make out with this shady former employee during a snowball fight. An issue or two later, though, he would be forgotten, and we’d get to see that a former flame, the psychiatrist Dr. Barnett, had not given up on her.
Way to go, Doc. Settle her down, impregnate her, and have her cook pancakes.
As seen above, Marvel continued to have the majority of males in the series voice sexist clichés. The only other good thing to occur in the last few issues of Ms. Marvel, aside from the Captain Marvel issue, is that Ms. Marvel was given a long overdue wardrobe change. This new costume would be so iconic that it is her costume to this day, having lasted a good quarter century. The reason why is apparent: it’s just an incredibly solid design that looks great on the page.
She shows less flesh in this costume, but she’s more attractive and “sexy” for it? Did somebody at Marvel have an epiphany?
With a new look and new haircut, Ms. Marvel was ready to roll into some new storylines. Unfortunately, she ran into an underground race of lizards living underneath the desert. Apparently, nuclear testing had forced lizards to evolve at a much more advanced pace until the point where they had reached an intellectual tribal equivalent on par with Native Americans of the nineteenth century. This story is as horrible as you might be imagining.
Remember that horrible dino sitcom with the baby dino screaming that his dad was not the mama? God, this panel brings up some horrible memories.
As she suffered through this litany of poor villains, Ms. Marvel was being set up with a nemesis. A shady shapeshifter was often seen guiding villains towards Ms. Marvel:
La Contessa blahblahthisseriesisalmostcancellediwonderwhy
Eventually, this nemesis is revealed to be prominent X-Men villainess Mystique. Unfortunately, the reason for her desire to harm Ms. Marvel was never given a chance to flourish in the Ms. Marvel series. It was cancelled before anything was able to truly develop. In her last issue, 23, Ms. Marvel was given a good villain to work with: noted baddie Sabretooth, the nemesis of Wolverine. Unfortunately, the storyline is horrible once more and the artist draws Sabretooth so that he looks something like John Goodman with Groucho Marx eyebrows.
A visual summarization of why this series’ cancellation was a mercy-killing.
With a whimper, the series was killed. However, the storylines would be wrapped up in a few issues of Marvel Super-Heroes. Here, we’re given Iron Man and Ms. Marvel working on the mysterious murder of Dr. Barnett. The culprit seems to be none other than Carol Danvers herself, but Carol soon learns the true form and identity of the killer. Mystique is now flushed out and has Carol tracking her after a short stint at the psychiatrist’s funeral.
Even I can’t make cracks about a guy’s funeral.
In a few short pages, we’re also given the reason for Mystique’s grudge against Ms. Marvel. Apparently, her evil mutant psychic friend has predicted that Ms. Marvel will one day harm Rogue, a young mutant she has raised as a daughter. This has proved to be a daunting task, because Rogue can steal the abilities of other superheroes through the power of her touch, albeit temporarily. Unfortunately for Rogue, she has no control over that ability and can’t touch another person. Regular humans are especially off-limits, since she can kill them with a single touch. Other than that, there’s nothing unusual about her outside of a horrible Southern accent.
Dramatic pose 12.
After much haranguing and battles with evil mutants, Rogue comes after Ms. Marvel. Unaware of Rogue’s abilities, Ms. Marvel is easy fodder for Rogue’s unusual abilities. Even more unfortunate for Ms. Marvel, an odd sort of “feedback” is caused, perhaps because Ms. Marvel is already so mentally and physically unique due to her Kree imprinting. Rogue, in essence, drains her dry. She takes her abilities permanently and takes all her memories, leaving her powerless and cursed with amnesia.
Ms. Marvel goes from “the next big thing” to “the tool used to goose Rogue’s powers.”
Eventually, Ms. Marvel would return in various ways: Binary and Warbird. Each was an attempt to remold her with a new power-set and get her relevant again, but they failed abysmally. She would only regain her fame until she became leader of the Mighty Avengers in 2007 with her original abilities, but before that would occur, she stumbled into controversy, which will be the focus of Media.
Does one really need to ask why this Binary gimmick failed?
Media
Ms. Marvel reached the mainstream in a most ignominious way after the cancellation of her series. While in the Avengers, squished between her loss of powers and the cancellation of the series, the Avengers ran afoul of a creature named Immortus that pulled a phantom accelerated pregnancy on her. Within a matter of days, Ms. Marvel gave “birth” to a creature that accelerated at an extreme pace to something resembling manhood. Ms. Marvel declared that she was in love with this creature to the Avengers, and proceeded to leave with him. This scary being went by the name of Marcus.
A couple of problems were evident. First, whatever the circumstances, this amounted to a form of incest, something that seemed gratuitously out of context for Ms. Marvel. Second, the Avengers let her run off, knowing full well that he possessed psionic powers that could be influencing her decision to run off and have sex with her pseudo-son.
The reaction from one fan led to an infamous essay called “The Rape of Ms. Marvel”, lambasting Marvel’s handling of the character and its handling of female characters in general. Carol Strickland’s essay is still accessible through online search, and in the aftermath, she states that she received horrifying responses from some male comic readers, including many that said she needed to get “laid.” Undeserving of such a puerile response, the essay is a well-written examination that raises serious questions of how comics are influencing gender roles.
Despite the response of a few fools, Strickland was entirely correct in her accusations, and Marvel agreed. Marvel was motivated by Strickland’s essay to rectify the problem in Avengers Annual #10. In this issue, Carol explains to the Avengers her anger at them and the untimely end of Marcus. It seems that he miscalculated how fast he would age once he was “born” and soon perished.
Marcus looks like a tool. No joke, there; he just looks like a tool.
Ms. Marvel becomes upset and tells the Avengers how she never loved Marcus and that his mind-manipulation powers amounted to rape. She yells that they should have known better and saved her. All the accusations are correct, but they should have been leveled at Marvel. Their attempt at feminist recognition failed miserably, ending in proof that most male comic writers at that point in time understood precious little about females. Whether that’s changed is a debate I’m not ready to tackle today!
In the eyes of many, including Strickland and myself, this was too little, too late.
Join me again next time as we give the unsung heroes and multi-part columns a rest for a week. We’re going to spend some one-off time with Marvel’s main man, Spider-Man, and things are sure to get lively!
*All black and white images used are from Marvel Comics’ Essential Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Mythos and Media #5 - Ms. Marvel, Part Two
Mythos:
New to Marvel Mythos and Media? Please check out my previous columns!
When I left you last, we were just beginning a three-part look into the history of Ms. Marvel. If you haven’t checked out her extremely confusing origin, please visit my previous column and attempt to get the basics.
I have no idea what turns her eyes white when she puts on that little domino mask, but it drives a grown man wild.
Okay, if you’ve read the first column on Ms. Marvel, you know that she was Marvel’s attempt at being “hip” to feminism. As previously detailed, the attempts were amateurish at best, even under the pen of talented comics scribe Chris Claremont. However, Claremont did make a major change to Ms. Marvel that was very beneficial to all six people buying the book on a monthly basis; he cleared up the story angle involving multiple personalities. Before we get to that point, let’s look at what took up Ms. Marvel’s time while she waited for that necessary reboot.
Desperate for villains, Claremont seemed to think that the dynamic of having a large Cro-Magnon man would set up a nice comparison. The liberated woman destroys the misogynistic man? Whether or not that’s the intended metaphor, it’s given to the reader through some very suspect dialogue between Ms. Marvel and this goon who goes by the name of Grotesk. In what’s become a comic book cliché, he’s from an underground civilization that hates humanity because we unknowingly destroyed them.
Every single villain needs to first mention that Ms. Marvel is a woman. What clued you in first? The breasts or the lack of a bulge through the spandex, you idiot?!
Never heard of Grotesk? There’s a reason for that. Depressingly, long and drawn out battles with this hairy chump consume several issues at the beginning of Claremont’s arc on the book. When he finally disappears, Ms. Marvel’s best feud comes as a result of a run-in with AIM, a terrorist organization that is based in the Marvel universe. Specifically, she clashes with a former commander of AIM named MODOK. His acronym stands for Mobile/Mental Operative Designed Only for Killing. If you’re unfamiliar, he’s a big head in a flying wheelchair that looks scarily like a fetus.
Feel bad for MODOK’s mom? Imagine pushing that head out during the birthing process!
Though he’d return to torment Ms. Marvel, you never get the sense that Ms. Marvel is in any real danger. After all, MODOK was never intended to be much of a physical threat. Instead, like many other Ms. Marvel villains, he relies on a beam that shoots out of his head. One wonders where this “head beam” technology is originating and what one could do to stop it.
Needing a change of scenery, Ms. Marvel finds her way back to Florida to watch an old friend go into space. Predictably, said friend is endangered. Having plumbed the angle of sexist villains who doubt they can fall to a “woman”, Ms. Marvel was given a villainess. Finally, somebody of her own gender to battle. Predictably, Marvel didn’t over-sexualize this villainess in any way, giving her plain looks and a normal physique. Yes, that’s sarcasm. Bring on the boobs, Marvel.
I don’t see any conflict between attempts to espouse the tenets of feminism AND having all females look like models with bulging cleavage. Do you?
This character, Hecate, played up to her moniker. Hecate is the name of a pre-Olympian Greek goddess who’s portrayed as good or evil depending on the hands crafting the story at the time. Eventually, it’s revealed that this Hecate isn’t evil-incarnate, even teaming up with Ms. Marvel to take down her ambitious cronies once they turn on her. Before that can happen, though, Hecate forces Ms. Marvel to confront the truth about her dual personalities.
Why does this cheesy moment seem so familiar?
“That’s not true! That’s impossible!”
Though the reveal is unforgivably melodramatic, it cleared up the annoying dual personality storylines and allowed for much greater freedom with the character. No longer bound, one would think that the storylines would improve greatly. While facets of character development regarding Carol Danvers improved, her supporting cast and rogues’ gallery continued to be less than stellar. Enter Steeplejack.
Not only does she get another reject-villain that even I had never heard of upon first read, she gets the lame successor of said reject.
Continuing to ram the feminist angle down our throats, this issue introduces us to Carol’s father, Joe Danvers. Hoisting stereotype upon stereotype, Joe is a construction worker. Joe also happens to be a raving misogynist who disapproves of his working daughter, wondering when she’s going to settle down and get married. Working for a crooked job site, it’s he who initially runs afoul of the new Steeplejack.
Ah, speakin’ in contractions and losin’ unnecessary consonants. That’s all us lower class chumps do, ya’ know?
Predictably, when a woman who can crush bricks is put up against a loser named Steeplejack, whose best gimmick is shooting a nail gun, this is going to be a one and done storyline. By the end, Steeplejack is gone and Dad Danvers is still a raving sexist, having not really learned his lesson. Perhaps the oddest part about this issue is a random appearance by Dracula, which would lead to nowhere in the coming issues. Was Dracula being considered for a run at Ms. Marvel? Who knows? He had a successful run battling the X-Men, and he would have at least been an upgrade over Steeplejack.
On a random aside, does anybody else think the Marvel version of Drac is an ode to Vincent Price? The resemblance is uncanny.
Oddly, this stumbling about after she’s found herself continues into the next few issues, another C-list villain appearance that would lead to nowhere. A water-based villain, Tiger Shark typically fought Namor, but he and Ms. Marvel tussle through an odd turn of events that leads to Ms. Marvel forcing to fight him in order to save Namor’s cousin, the poorly named Namorita. Never heard of her? Well, she’s dead, anyway, and you didn’t miss much when she was alive.
Hard to believe, but Ms. Marvel is nearly defeated by this doofus.
After defeating Tiger Shark, the series would hit a few high notes and a few more valleys of suck before its cancellation. Return next time for our last look at Ms. Marvel!
Media:
In Media, we’re going to be taking a look at the lineage of the late, great Captain Marvel. He’s the gentleman who is the founder of this feast so to speak, having a hand in creating a number of interesting situations in Marvel Comics and its media.
No wiseass cracks for this guy. Great character with a great look!
As mentioned in the first article on Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel was a Kree warrior who fought alongside Earth’s heroes from time to time, showing a great deal of moral fortitude. Powered through psionic abilities that were amplified through the bands he wore around his wrists, he was able to fly, generate energy, and was granted super-strength. Sadly, his tenure in the Marvel universe would come to an untimely end. On the bright side, his poignant death was captured in a very well known one-off written by Jim Starlin.
Very bleak cover, but it conveys the mood.
The interesting thing about his death was that he was laid low by something very pedestrian, at least in the superhero sense. Captain Marvel contracted incurable cancer. While the manner in which he contracted it is a bit fantastic, toxic gas from a villain battle, the death is handled professionally and in a surprisingly gentle fashion for a mainstream graphic novel. He passes quietly in bed, surrounded by friends. Indeed, his death is known as one of the most well-written and poignant in comics’ lore.
However, controversy would spring up when Captain Marvel recently reappeared during the Civil War storyline, during which Marvel’s superheroes fought amongst themselves. However, in the subsequent storyline, the Skrull Invasion, it was revealed that this Captain Marvel was a Skrull imposter. The awesome part of this is that the Skrull was imprinted so heavily with Captain Marvel’s pure, moral personality that he went rogue, fighting for Earth before perishing!
The inner conflict begins for the Skrull Mar-Vell.
However, the Kree race, their long-time enemies, just found out that the Skrull Empire got one more dig in, this time at their most famed hero. To say that the Kree are pissed and looking for revenge is a bit of an understatement. Where that will lead is anybody’s guess, but expect it to be bloody and to involve Captain Marvel’s son, the heir to the Kree superhero position AND an heir to the Skrull throne!
So with that, we arrive at another comic controversy, Captain Marvel’s son, the Hulkling of the Young Avengers. Why controversial? Firstly, he’s the son of Marvel and a Skrull princess. So, he has a claim to both races and abilities of both. He can shape-shift, but possesses the extreme strength of his father. He was pivotal during the Civil War storyline, helping the rebels under Captain America achieve a near-victory before Cap commanded a surrender.
Teddy, Marvel’s son, in civilian form.
Teddy is set to become a major shaker in the Marvel universe some day, but that might lead to major heat for Marvel Comics as a company. The reason for this is that Teddy is, as far as I know, the most mainstream gay character in comics. Marvel has been less than shy lately about acknowledging the sly hints of a relationship between him and fellow Avenger, Wiccan. They have even referred to each other as “boyfriends” in recent issues.
Teddy in fighting form with his boyfriend, Wiccan.
I like to think that I, like most comic fans, am accepting of any sort of lifestyle. If anything, I’d be excited because it represents a big step forward in mainstream comics and would open up some interesting storylines. However, I do worry about what will happen if Teddy is given a boost in importance along the lines of Ms. Marvel, which appears to be in the works. Will fundamentalists balk even though most comic readers are no longer underage? Only time will tell what the future will hold for the family line of Captain Marvel.
*All black and white images used are from Marvel Comics’ Essential Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Mythos and Media #4 - Ms. Marvel, Part One
Mythos:
New to Marvel Mythos and Media? Please check out my previous columns!
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be taking a look at Ms. Marvel. While previously abused and maligned by the Marvel Universe, she has reemerged in recent years as a major character in Marvel, even being tapped by Tony “Iron Man” Stark to head up the Mighty Avengers! Clearly, Ms. Marvel has become a major mover and shaker in the Marvel universe.
She’s back, and she apparently has the same plastic surgeon as Demi Moore.
Who is Ms. Marvel, though? If you’re a casual fan and you’re scratching your head, don’t feel lost. Most hardcore comic fans know precious little about the origins of the character. In fact, to trace the crazy evolution of this character, we’re going to have to journey all the way back to the popularization of superhero comics themselves. That means traveling back to 1938 and the creation of a character named Superman. I know he’s not a Marvel character, but bear with me.
With the success of Superman and others, superheroes started springing up all over the place. One of these mighty heroes went by the name of Captain Marvel. Possessing similar powers to Superman and a similar look, he had a much different origin involving magic. Though there were stark differences, the similarities were obvious to all.
Totally different color scheme means no copyright infringement, right?
With a hefty amount of litigation, the publishers of Superman pulverized Captain Marvel into oblivion. Thus, Captain Marvel was fundamentally buried under legal tape while Superman went on to become the most recognizable superhero icon from comic books. Eventually, this Captain Marvel would become owned by DC Comics, the very company that owned Superman. Thus, in a crazy bit of irony, the supposed Superman copycat has become a contemporary.
The only mortal badass enough to hold his own with Superman!
Well, we’re going to be looking at another Captain Marvel. Confused? Well, during the time this Captain Marvel was hung up in litigation, Marvel Comics had a great idea. It was 1967 and the copyright had been shot to hell on the Captain Marvel name, so they created their own Captain Marvel!
Marvel’s Captain Marvel. Getting an ice cream headache yet?
Well, this Captain Marvel was a Kree warrior by the name of Mar-Vell. The Kree are an alien race that exists in the Marvel Universe and is quite warlike. While on Earth battling another Kree, a NASA security chief named Carol Danvers was caught in the middle. After the battle, she ended up with superpowers as the result of an explosion and fought crime as a female counterpart of Captain Marvel.
Bared midriff? Scandalous!
Why is Ms. Marvel important? Beyond her importance in Marvel today, the reason is that she was Marvel’s inept attempt at recognizing women’s liberation. Intended to be written as an enlightened and modern woman, Ms. Marvel is handled shabbily in spots and stretches. This is shocking, because much of this early history is penned by the great Chris Claremont. For those unfamiliar, Claremont would eventually have a heavy hand in the history of X-Men, creating characters such as Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, Sabretooth, etc. If you’re a casual fan who has seen the movies, he’s the writer that penned that famous Jean Grey turns into Phoenix storyline, the inspiration for X-Men III.
Originally, Carol’s powers were explained as being the suit she wore as Ms. Marvel, but it’s eventually revealed that she herself possesses the strength and flying ability. However, here is where things get tricky: Carol is suffering from a split personality. Carol is unaware that she is Ms. Marvel. Spontaneously changing into this super-being, Ms. Marvel will begin flying around, speaking of her Kree heritage while unaware of Carol.
With an origin this hung up and confusing, this series needed some serious grounding. The original writer of the book, Gerry Conway, sent Ms. Marvel to that favorite of Marvel superhero spots: New York. As a career switch to magazine editor, she created the magazine Woman for renowned misogynist J. Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle and boss to one Peter Parker, aka Spider-man.
Not only does he have to hire a woman, he has to pay one? What is the world coming to?!
Clearly, the women’s lib message is being crammed down the throats of the reader at this juncture. The title is also affected by a glut of male villains spouting insults about her gender, saying such drivel as “I’ll never be defeated by a woman!” Considering this “woman” can punch holes in a building, I’m not sure there’s a lot of shame in getting your butt handed to you. Furthermore, the series is harmed by a series of Carol’s “dates”, a line of anonymous men with zero personality, meant to showcase her sexual liberation. A ho-hum psychiatrist was the most consistent suitor.
Yeah, he figured it out. It doesn’t matter, though. He’s a loser.
In another ridiculous allusion to the powers of the fairer sex, Ms. Marvel was granted a “seventh sense” that would give her premonitions about upcoming events. Why is it called the seventh sense? Answers are elusive, but one would guess that it’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to a sixth sense, ESP. In my experiences, the possession of a sixth sense is used most often in reference to females.
I sense the cancellation of this series...
Over the first few issues, armed with her powers, Ms. Marvel is forced to slog through poorly written feminist-oriented personal situations and several lousy villains. Firstly, as seen in the shot of her seventh sense, Ms. Marvel ended up with a B-list Spider-man villain by the name of the Scorpion. While he’s become more respectable in recent years due to his parading around as the new Venom, at this juncture in time, he was nothing more than a goon with a goofy suit.
Get used to this move. The tail swipe is about the only move this guy has.
Still, even the Scorpion was better than the Destructor. With the tired evil scientist handle, this Cro-Magnon looking fool got himself a special “beam” weapon, mounted it on his melon, and figured he was good to go. I could make fun of this gentleman for entire paragraphs, but I’ll let the picture tell the story.
I was going to rag on him for being the Destructor, but I guess anything’s better than Kerwin Korman.
By the end of the first few arcs, Ms. Marvel was still suffering and so were the readers. The split personality was resulting in havoc for Carol and Ms. Marvel and leaving readers with a spot of irritation. After Claremont came on board for Ms. Marvel #4, there would be a general improvement. Come back next week to take a look at how Carol and Ms. Marvel would inevitably become one.
I wouldn’t trust that cabbie. He has that “date-rape” look to him.
Media:
This is going to be a depressingly thin media this week because of the lack of attention given to Ms. Marvel. Her appearances in other media forms have been brief and lacking pop. Drudging through my personal memories, I do know that she made a brief appearance in the X-Men cartoon that ran during the early 1990s, but it’s nothing more than quick encounter with Rogue, a member of the X-Men. The two have quite a history, one that we’ll explore in coming weeks.
I loved this show so much as a kid, but God, it looks so goofy to me now.
Carol Danvers has also appeared in numerous “altiverses”, differing versions of the Marvel universe. For instance, her character in the Ultimate Marvel universe is a kick-butt Shield agent. While she’s appeared and is as physically and mentally competent as her regular universe counterpart, we’ve yet to see her appear as Ms. Marvel.
She just has government spook written all over her in that get-up.
Thin, huh? Well, with the depressing past wrapped up, let’s look at the future. In recent film hits such as Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, an Avengers movie is a foregone conclusion. This is cemented by the fact that the remainder of the original Avengers, Captain America and Thor, will be receiving their own treatments in film. With a dearth of female members, there just might be a chance for Ms. Marvel to slip into the line-up and provide some punch. Fans of Ms. Marvel, start your email campaigns now and let them know that “The Wasp” isn’t enough! See you next time!
*All black and white images used are from Marvel Comics’ Essential Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Mythos and Media #3 - Ghost Rider, Part Three
Mythos:
Welcome! If this is your first visit to Marvel Mythos and Media, be sure to take a look at previous columns to orient yourself!
Welcome to the conclusion of our in-depth look at the comic and media history of Ghost Rider and friends. In our first column, we took a look at the origins of everybody’s favorite possessed biker, while the second column gave us a chance to examine his powers, villains and friends. In this last column, we’re going to wrap up the opening arcs of Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider before mentioning some of the other versions of Ghost Rider.
When we last left Johnny Blaze, he was in a bit of an identity crisis. He’d somehow defeated the Hulk and was fresh off a victory over Satan thanks to the help of Jesus. (Check out my previous column if you don’t believe THAT crazy synopsis!). During battles with the Zodiac, a lame super villain outfit I mentioned last column, Ghost Rider met a friend named Stuntmaster. After befriending him as Johnny Blaze, and needing fresh scenery and no more Roxanne as hostage bait situations, Johnny made his way to Cali to call in some favors.
I’m not sure what it is about him, but there’s something about Stuntmaster that makes me want to punch him square in the crotch. Haha! Witty banter, gents!
Luckily, Stuntmaster is able to find some work for our friend Johnny, and he’s soon employed as a stuntman for the movie studio at which Stuntmaster works. Why this studio needs two stuntmen who specialize only in driving motorcycles is baffling, but it would lead to Johnny meeting a new lady. Unfortunately for him, this was a lady with some baggage.
Stealing a blind hero’s girlfriend? Poor Daredevil. He didn’t even see it coming...
Karen Page just happens to be one of Matt Murdock’s, Daredevil’s, unlucky ladies. Why unlucky? Daredevil is notorious for having lady friends who meet untimely ends. Karen Page would ultimately become addicted to heroin, become a porn actress, and then sell Daredevil’s identity for a hit of smack before being killed off. Again, I can’t make this stuff up. However, in this tale, Karen still has her life together and is trying to spend some time away from her superhero ex.
Unfortunately for Karen and Johnny, a Ghost Rider nemesis that first appeared in an issue of Marvel Team-Up came looking for him. For those unfamiliar, Marvel Team-Up can be a fun read, but it’s basically a throwaway book. This apt description helps one understand the lameness of this villain. Sadly, though, aside from Mephisto, this villain would become his well-known rogue. Meet Orb, a former stunt motorcyclist who feels he was wronged by Johnny’s adoptive father, Crash Simpson. In a competition with Crash, the man who would become Orb was left horribly disfigured.
Visine purchases almost bankrupted the poor bastard.
While recovering, Orb was granted a mystical helmet, blah blah blah. The long and short of it is that this silly looking eyeball helmet allows him to hypnotize people into doing what he wants. While that power does little for him against Ghost Rider, he can use those Johnny cares about like chess pieces to torment Ghost Rider. Despite his prominent place in Johnny’s rogues’ gallery, Johnny makes short work of him and Orb is still left with a face that looks like Silly Putty.
Insert Sloth joke here. “Friend?!”
While lame, he fares better than the C-list Fantastic Four villain known as the Trapster. What does this loser with the power to trap with gadgets have to offer? Clearly, Ghost Rider was still suffering from a dearth of villainy when he’s forced to battle a man whose original villain name was Paste-pot Pete!
Yeah, he really looks nefarious.
Soon enough, the series hit an even more disastrous detour that my brother and I, in a private joke, consider one of the funniest comic stories ever published. In a journey to the coast, a random one-shot story, Ghost Rider encounters a man living with his adult daughter shooting at dolphins from his beach house. It seems this man, a former government agent, blames the death of his wife upon these dolphins and is fixated upon revenge.
F***ing Flipper...
Published in Ghost Rider #16, the issue is hilarious and well worth a look to anyone searching for something amusing. Of course, by the end, the man learns a valuable lesson and loves all aquatic life once more. The point is that the series was faltering and needed a jumpstart. Within an issue, it was time to trudge out the supernatural again. A friend of Johnny’s starts to suffer from possession, showing clear influences from The Exorcist in terms of the distorted face and behavior.
So this is what Bea Arthur looks like before makeup...
Ugh. Read the dialogue and shudder. Clearly, this was leading up to more demonic storylines. Also, notice that this is an exorcism. That means our old pal Daimon Hellstrom can’t be far behind as well.
Well...Daimon looks a little less ridiculous than the last time we saw him.
Despite that his powers originally came from Satan, the Prince of Darkness once again fails to strip Johnny of his powers. The logic behind this isn’t explained, and even Johnny seems incredulous himself that he’s able to keep his powers. Imagine how the readers feel. Predictably, Satan fails again. After pummeling Satan with a few good punches, Johnny is free to be Ghost Rider as he pleases once more.
As previously mentioned, Karen Page is around, so the obligatory Daredevil crossover was on its way. Together, they battled Deathstalker, a villain so lame that his origin barely passes even the flimsiest of comic book logic. A scientist gone wrong story, he’s somehow trapped between two dimensions with the one clear ability of having his own sort of death touch. One wonders why he never touched himself just once and spared Marvel readers years of agony.
I love the properly accentuated EMPHASIS.
So, that brings us to the end of Ghost Rider #18 and the end of the material covered within this column. I’ll give you some more information in the Media section, but other than that, if you’re curious, hunt those back issue bins, search online, and buy those essentials to learn more about Ghost Rider!
*All images used are from Marvel Comics’ Essential Ghost Rider Volume 1.
Media
Media is being taken over for a bit of Mythos overtime this week to wrap up Ghost Rider!
The original Ghost Rider series stretched on for ten years, beginning in 1973 and meeting its demise in 1983. Johnny Blaze was ultimately stripped of the Ghost Rider persona, revealed to be a demon named Zarathos which inhabited his body, and he was left to live curse-free and pursue the American dream with Roxanne.
The gap between Ghost Rider series was seven years, and when Ghost Rider returned, it wasn’t Johnny Blaze taking control of those fiery handlebars. In 1990, Daniel Ketch, who would eventually be revealed to be a very distant relative of Blaze, was granted the power. His costume change will probably be more familiar to younger readers: Ghost Rider suddenly gained spikes and chains to wield. Again, though, Ghost Rider couldn’t maintain a consistent following. The series was cancelled in 1998.
Ghost Rider was given a third shot in a limited series penned by the very able Garth Ennis, but Blaze is put in as Ghost Rider again with no explanation, contradicting the end of the second series. The five people who actually read this series received nosebleeds from trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
Somehow, based on his failed series, a movie project was greenlit. Given Ghost Rider’s previous financial failures, this is remarkable! One can only guess that Nic Cage’s star power and Marvel’s movie successes led to the maneuver.
How many favors did this man pull to get the movie made?
Despite the fact that the movie was roasted by critics and many fans, it managed to make a tidy sum and renew interest in the character. Predictably, Marvel rushed out a new ongoing series in 2006 putting Johnny Blaze back on the cycle. This series has survived thus far, but Ghost Rider is having a difficult time fitting in with Marvel’s current superhero culture. He’s noticeably absent from any major crossover events such as World War Hulk and Secret Invasion. Once again, he’s being underused.
Maybe Ghost Rider is way in the back somewhere...
Whether Ghost Rider will ever receive a decent shot as an elite Marvel character is yet to be seen. Stranger things have happened. Such obscure characters as Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel and Iron Fist have all found themselves to be given prominent spots in the Marvel universe in recent years. Will Ghost Rider receive the same upgrade? Only time will tell.
Marvel Mythos and Media #2 - Ghost Rider, Part Two
Mythos:
Welcome! If this is your first visit to Marvel Mythos and Media, be sure to take a look at my first column to orient yourself!
In the previous column, we left stunt-rider Johnny Blaze, Ghost Rider, estranged from humanity and cursed with superpowers granted from Satan. The exact nature of these abilities became clearer as the Ghost Rider’s adventures continued in the Marvel Spotlight series. Ghost Rider’s instant success caused him to assume this series as his own for over half a year after writer Gary Freidrich took over and attempted to flesh him out and find him some decent villains.
First, let’s examine the development of his powers. His head appears as a flaming skull, but what else is in his repertoire? The failure to use this consistently as Ghost Rider developed was a major factor in his decline in popularity after the emergence of his own series. Marvel has struggled with any character that has magic-based powers, having the character wildly powerful or weak depending on the writer. So, in one scene, we may see Johnny Blaze battling a demon of Hell with increased strength and stamina:
Nasty snake, but it appears as though Satan’s face is an afro.
The next time we see Johnny, he may be running frantically from the cops.
“I’m sure the captain won’t question our destroying the car in an unsuccessful chase when we tell him we almost caught the biker with the flaming head.”
This idea of writers struggling to work out the exact nature of a character’s powers is nothing new. Even such Marvel stalwarts as Spider-Man have struggled under various writers. In one issue, Spider-Man may struggle fighting Kingpin, who is nothing more than a really fat gangster without superpowers. The next writer go-round, he’s fighting Firelord, a former herald of Galactus. If you’re unfamiliar with Firelord, think the Fantastic Four movie and Silver Surfer. Silver Surfer is roughly on the same tier as Firelord, a galactic heavy with cosmic powers. Sure enough, Ghost Rider’s power problems would continue as it was later decided under writer Tony Isabella that he could wield fire and go toe-to-toe with the Hulk! He even manages to defeat him!
The Hulk can toss around tanks, but Johnny takes him out with the aid of a few dirtbags?
Clearly, Ghost Rider started to suffer from some inconsistencies in power level. This is a dent in believability that can cause many fans to abandon a title and character. However, you can ride it out if you have a beefy rogues’ gallery. It’s cliché amongst hardcore comic geeks, but it still holds that a character’s success is defined by the rogues’ gallery. Here is where Ghost Rider started to struggle once more. Every villain either focused on the supernatural, motorcycles, or both. Often, Johnny Blaze would find himself at odds with human bikers, with the writers succumbing to the “criminal biker” stereotype.
Big Daddy Dawson’s Ruthless Riders sounds like a really good or really bad porno, depending on your outlook.
Given that most of the book takes place in the southwest, Native American characters make frequent appearances. While a few are portrayed well, a few stereotypical “injun” villains make appearances, including Snakedance. Take a look at his normal and “monster” forms and wince.
White eyes? Can that even be a racial thing? Aren’t all our eyes white?
Instead of inspiring terror, it just looks like he’s throwing up Alphabet soup.
Predictably, Snakedance wasn’t evil per se, but was just defending tribal lands from those “white devils”. This hackneyed story took up far too much time in Marvel Spotlight, but it did introduce us to a man who would be the first attempt to find a superhero “buddy” for Ghost Rider. This man was Daimon Hellstrom, an exorcist by trade.
And please give me my face back?
However, Daimon Hellstrom harbors a terrible secret. While he works as an exorcist and attempts to exorcise a Native American pal of Johnny’s, he is the son of Satan. Daimon’s human side possesses a desire to do well, but every once in a while, his dark side manifests itself. Unfortunately, his “evil” side looks like an evil elf mixed with an S&M enthusiast. Throw some bad eyebrows into the recipe and you get the Son of Satan.
Huge nipples, bad hair, and a trident? Evil or just homoerotic?
While Daimon would pop in every once in a while after the conclusion of his arc, he never really clicked with Ghost Rider. Thus, the search for Ghost Rider’s villains and friends continued into his brand new regular series. The first real attempt was a villain who could match him in supernatural abilities. A former gangster in life, Roulette was a man who was killed and buried in the desert outside Las Vegas. A deal with Satan later, he returns to the land of the living to terrorize Las Vegas in Ghost Rider #5.
Roulette looks like a lizard wrapped in rags with turd lining, but at least he’s a step up from Snakedance.
By this point, Roxanne Simpson has been reduced to little more than hostage bait as the image above indicates. The series spends a couple issues in Las Vegas and really starts to bog down and suffer. A villain team known as the Zodiac is introduced, but they’re nothing more than leftovers from The Avengers. Each member is a sign of the Zodiac, tapping into the lame astrology fad from the seventies. It became even more tragic when they forced a member or two onto motorcycles so they could mesh with Ghost Rider.
Mad cow disease, motherf***er!
Perhaps recognizing how tragic the title was becoming, Satan became less of a behind-the-scenes player and was thrust into more of a straight rogue role. No longer in the shadows, he was given a revamped look and asked to play a much more prominent role in the title. While he was busy playing the role of Richard Nixon at the time, he was more than happy to make the cameo.
Can some fellow Voltron fan please email me and agree that Satan’s new look makes him look like he’s from Planet Doom?
While he was making his presence known, Satan still left his work to underlings, so the series still lagged. If Satan himself started throwing around flames and evil, perhaps the series would have flowed more efficiently. However, his lackeys lacked pop and personality. Inferno, a beast from Hell, is a prime example.
Like the inkblot on his chest? I see a butterfly.
While lame, Inferno managed to beat around Johnny because of his size and ability to inspire fear in every human within a large range. Thus, he always had an army at his disposal to throw against Ghost Rider by inspiring legions of normal humans to attack him. At its lowest point, this epic arc against Satan is ended by the appearance of Jesus. No, that isn’t a typo or a lame joke.
The metaphor here is just too turgid for words.
To be blunt, this doesn’t work. I’m very open-minded about religion and respect anybody’s right to practice whatever they wish. Heck, as a Catholic, I’m a Christian myself, but this just rubs me the wrong way. Using Jesus as deus ex machina for a comic book is a bit underhanded. After Jesus saves Johnny, Satan disappears, leaving Ghost Rider with freedom from supernatural storylines for a while.
With writer Tony Isabella trying to figure out what to do with the character, this is the point where Ghost Rider will find himself wandering about the west until he finds his way to California and Hollywood! Come back next time to see how Johnny flirts with fame in Cali!
*All images used are from Marvel Comics’ Essential Ghost Rider Volume 1.
Media:
Today in the media section, we’re going to talk about the Prince of Darkness and his portrayal as it pertains to Marvel Comics. Firstly, I may have lost some people in these two columns because of the movie version of Ghost Rider. Peter Fonda, the villain, is clearly referred to as Mephisto. In this column, I have been referring to Satan. What’s the difference?
To begin with, the entity that granted Ghost Rider his powers was referred to as Satan from the beginning and given a very distinctive look ad personality wholly separate from the Marvel character of Mephisto. Whereas Satan was just Satan, Mephisto was a sort of comic book sidesteps around Satan. Mephisto ruled another dimension that basically was like Hell, was all-powerful there, and basically conformed to the human conception of Satan.
“Pureed baby cocktail?”
However, at this point in time, Mephisto was strictly a baddie for the likes of Silver Surfer and Thor, with a Doctor Strange entanglement thrown in every once in a while for good measure. Years later, though, “Satan” was revealed to be none other than Mephisto. Why? It could be a move that was merely meant to tie up a loose end and connect Ghost Rider more fully to Marvel canon. It’s also possible that Stan Lee and/or Marvel caved to some sort of public pressure about using Satan in “kids’” books. Numerous informal meanderings indicate that Stan Lee, the father of Marvel, was notoriously susceptible to changing things around based on public opinion.
Still, even with the name change, Mephisto’s appearances in media have been few and far between due to his demonic nature. His Satan-like appearance made him taboo for any of the comic cartoons, but he did manage to make it as a major villain in the abysmal and aforementioned Ghost Rider movie. Peter Fonda is barely passable as Mephisto, but he’s far from the worst performance in that movie.
As mentioned in my previous column, there was that wonderful video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance released a few years ago. In this game, Mephisto is finally given a chance to shine. Players spend an entire glorious level in his realm, battling through demons and even freeing Ghost Rider himself before getting a chance to battle Mephisto’s son Blackheart and Mephisto himself. At least once, the devil was given his due.
Until next time.
