marvel comics

Back Issues [HulkaMAYnia]: The Fantastic Four #12

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Since his explosive debut in May 1962, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s gamma-irradiated Jade Giant has been one of their most recognisable and successful characters.

Story Titles: “The Incredible Hulk”
“Part 2. Mission: Stop the Hulk”
“Part 2. Who is The Wrecker?”
“Part 4. The Hulk at Last!”

Published: 10 December 1962 (cover-dated: March 1963) 
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Quick Facts:
Inspired by a story of a hysterical mother summoning superhuman strength to rescue her child and classic screen monsters, Doctor Robert Bruce Banner’s monstrous alter ego quickly crossed paths with one of his most notable rivals, Benjamin “Ben” Grimm/The Thing, about six months after his debut. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Thing echoed the Hulk’s position as a misunderstood, often feared creature and they have butted heads numerous times over the years.

The Review:
The story of the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing’s first encounter with the Incredible Hulk begins outside the New York City symphony auditorium, of all places. Disguised by a long trenchcoat, fetching hat, and shades, the Thing exits the auditorium with his girlfriend, blind sculptor Alicia Masters, after sharing (begrudgingly, on Grimm’s part) a romantic evening at the orchestra. When a patron suddenly gets all excited and patriotic at spotting a passing company of infantrymen, the Thing is annoyed and insulted to have his disguise knocked off and be branded a monster. When the Thing accosts the blustering civilian, the soldiers spot him and assume he’s the super strong target they’ve been deployed to find and surround Ben, apparently not recognising him. Aggravated by the brazen attack, the Thing douses them with a nearby fire hydrant and easily snaps their “special flexible steel bands”. His patience at an all-time low, the Thing moves to up his attack and is pacified by gas shells, only for the commander to step halt the attack. Although he apologises, the commander riles Ben up further when he reveals the soldiers have been deployed to find the Hulk. Insulted to be mistaken for such a mindless beast, the Thing returns to the Fantastic Four’s headquarters at the Baxter Building and impatiently rips the elevator doors off and climbs thirty-five floors to the living quarters when he misplaces his key card. When the Thing shares the incident with the team, he’s angered to learn that General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is popping over to discuss the Hulk’s threat with the Fantastic Four.

Although the Thing’s eager to fight the Hulk. Dr. Banner’s adamant that the real culprit is the “Wrecker”.

Sure enough, ol’ T-Bolt shows up, also apologises to the Thing, and reveals that the Hulk is suspected of sabotaging the military’s desert missile installations. During the presentation, Sue Storm/The Invisible Girl is so unnerved by the monstrous Hulk that she briefly loses control of her powers, much to the concern of the fascinated Doctor Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic. The Thing, however, is unimpressed by the brute and boasts that he could easily overpower the Hulk. Hot-headed Johnny Storm/The Human Torch mocks the Thing and gloats that he would stand a better chance against the Hulk, suggesting he could trap the beast in a maze of flames. Mr. Fantastic suggests a simpler approach: simply baiting the Hulk into a trap so Reed can envelop him with his malleable body. Oddly, Sue downplays her usefulness and, annoyingly, Ross reduces her to a simple cheerleader with a statement that even Reed backs up. Mr. Fantastic then shows off the team’s new Fantasi-Car and Ross joins them in flying over to meet Dr. Banner, his assistant (Doctor Karl Kort), and his “young helper” (perennial sidekick Rick Jones). While Dr. Kort is all for catching the Hulk, Dr. Banner insists that the damage doesn’t align with the Hulk’s most logical form of attack, earning him the ire of General Ross. After being insulted by Dr. Kort’s double take and annoyed by the Human Torch, the Thing decides to crash the meeting, angering both Reed and General Ross, who blows a gasket when the Thing proves his strength by tearing apart a stash of Ross’s bound telephone books. Cooler heads prevail and Dr. Banner offers to help Mr. Fantastic locate the true saboteur (dubbed “The Wrecker”), though he and Rick secretly lament that they can’t share the knowledge of Dr. Banner’s dual identity with the dysfunctional team. Dr. Banner and Rick’s wish to find the man behind the sabotage of an experimental nuclear deterrent instantly comes true when Rick glances at Dr. Kort’s wallet and finds he’s a card-carrying member of a “subversive communist-front organisation”, leading to the Commie bastard taking him hostage.

A brief scuffle between the Hulk and the Thing sees the Wrecker’s threat ended.

Rather than search for the Hulk, Mr. Fantastic fixes the base’s rocket sled for the Thing to take a jet-powered ride, only to be scuppered by bent tracks. Though rescued by Johnny and Reed, the incident convinces Ben that the Hulk is behind the sabotage. Thus, the team dismiss Dr. Banner’s protests to the contrary, so he slinks back to his laboratory to activate a special gamma-inducing machine and transform into the Hulk. Uncharacteristically retaining much of his intelligence and reason, the Hulk traverses the base using a network of underground tunnels, soon bumping into the Fantastic Four when they follow the Thing’s hunch that the Hulk is hiding underground. The Hulk eagerly clobbers the Thing, only to immediately regret it due to Ben’s stone hide and attempt to leave, dousing the Human Torch with sand and clawing his way to the surface in search of Rick. The team regroup in an abandoned town, so the Hulk upends a house and tries to crush them with it, only for the Thing to swat it aside. The Hulk easily overpowers Reed’s attempts to subdue him and again makes short work of Johnny, leading to a brief fist fight with the Thing. However, just as they’re getting into it, the Hulk is zapped by a “strange, atom-powered ray” from underground and knocked unconscious. Annoyed at being cheated out of his victory, the Thing burrows underground and destroys the Wrecker’s machine, realising that Dr. Banner was right all along. The Thing then busts down an iron door and discovers Dr. Kort armed with a ray gun, with Rick tied up as a hostage. Luckily, the Invisible Girl swats the device away and Dr. Kort is easily apprehended by the incensed Thing. In the confusion, the Hulk slips away to revert to Dr. Banner and thank Mr. Fantastic for all his help, watching from afar (as the Hulk) as the team are celebrated by the military and race off to their next adventure.

Final Thoughts: 
Obviously, this is very early in the Hulk’s Marvel career (the same year as his debut, no less!) so you have to cut it some slack and realise that a lot of his now-recognisable tropes were still being developed. For example, the Hulk isn’t a mindless, rampaging beast or even a child-like creature. In fact, he’s barely that angry at all and Dr. Banner can freely control his transformations using a special machine, retaining some control as the Hulk (though appearing noticeably more aggressive and confident when transformed). This story is also about a year after the Fantastic Four’s debut, so there are still some kinks being worked out there (the military doesn’t recognise the Thing, for example). This may also be one of the first, if not the first, crossovers between Marvel Comics characters as the Fantastic Four are specifically sought out by General Ross to combat the Hulk’s apparent sabotage. This issue is also set in the less-than-progressive sixties, meaning Sue is depicted as a fragile, useless woman only good for bolstering the men’s morale (though I did like that she played a pivotal role in apprehending the Wrecker). The story is a bit inconsistent at times, too. General Ross initially says that the “only way” to recognise the Hulk is by his superhuman strength, then immediately hands the Thing a photograph of the Hulk and treats the Fantastic Four to a slideshow of the Green Goliath, making me question why the hell those soldiers mistook the Thing for the Hulk! I can only assume they weren’t properly briefed, being mere infantrymen, and it seems the goal was to show that the Thing is as feared and judged by others as the Hulk. This also emphasises the Thing’s prideful nature and his incredible strength, both qualities continually highlighted throughout the issue to present him as being at least equal to the Hulk in these regards.

Sadly, the fight between the Hulk and the Thing is as disappointing as Sue’s characterisation.

This was actually one of the first Hulk and Fantastic Four stories I read as a kid (I think it was included in a generic Marvel annual I had), so I have some nostalgia for it. However, the much-anticipated clash between the Hulk and the Thing is disappointingly lacklustre. Despite the Thing’s boasting, the Hulk proves far more formidable than he thought and even the Hulk is surprised by how painful it is to strike Ben’s rocky hide. One punch is enough to have the Hulk rethink his strategy, though he easily bests the Human Torch and shrugs off Mr. Fantastic’s attempts to wrap him up. I enjoyed the irony of this, as Johnny and Reed were very confident of their chances against the Hulk, but it turns out the Thing stands the best chance of subduing the Green Goliath, only for the two to be depicted as equally matched and for the Wrecker’s atom ray bullshit to end the fight just as it’s about to get interesting. Considering the story is squarely on the Thing, it would’ve been far better to have him and the Hulk tear through that “ghost town” knocking the stuffing out of each other while Reed and the others deal with the Wrecker and his machine. There’s not much to Dr. Banner and Rick here; it’s just the same thing of them protesting the Hulk’s innocence and being judged for it. I did like that he and Reed seem to hit it off, but we don’t get to see them working together in any meaningful way. Hell, we get more of a rivalry between Rick and Johnny than a science bromance between Dr. Banner and Reed, which was a shame. The Wrecker was also a lame villain, but I liked that Dr. Kort was smart enough to frame the Hulk and how easy it was for him to do thanks to Thunderbolt’s prejudices. Ultimately, this is a decent and note-worthy story but probably best read in a collection of other, more dramatic and exciting confrontations between the Hulk and the Thing.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy the first encounter between the Hulk and the Thing? Were you also annoyed that the military mistook the Thing for the Hulk? Did you enjoy seeing the Thing’s pride and strength take the spotlight? Were you disappointed that their fights were barely worth mentioning? What are some of your favourite fights or moments between the Hulk and the Thing? How are you celebrating the Hulk today? Whatever you thoughts on the Hulk, share them below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Hulk content for the site.

Back Issues [X-Men Day]: The Uncanny X-Men #141-142

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To commemorate the culmination of their long-running and successful X-Men movies, 20th Century Fox declared May 13th “X-Men Day”.

Story Title: “Days of Future Past”
Published: 21 October 1980 (cover-dated: January 1981)
Writers: Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Artist: John Byrne

Story Title: “Mind Out of Time”
Published: 18 November 1980 (cover-dated: February 1981)

Quick Facts:
Revitalised by a 1975 revival courtesy of acclaimed writer and artist duo Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s socially conscious X-Men dabbled with time travel in this purposely focused, much-lauded, seminal story that influenced both comics and X-Men media for years. Many videogames reference it, issue 141’s cover is repeatedly recreated, the story as notably adapted for the highly-praised animated series, and “Days of Future Past” inspired Bryan Singer’s critical and commercial hit 2014 movie of the same name.

The Review:
This classic two-part X-Men story, collectively known as “Days of Future Past”, is set in one of many possible Marvel futures (later designated Earth-811). In this dystopian future world, New York City has been devastated, leaving it a depressing shambles of debris and wreckage. Thanks to the internal monologue of the aged Katherine “Kitty” Pryde/Sprite, who’s scrambling through the ruins to rendezvous with James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine, we learn that the cause of the destruction was the Sentinels, gigantic, mechanised weapons created to hunt and destroy Mutants. Already uneasy about being forced to venture into an unsafe part of the city, Kate is frustrated when she falls for a trap laid by the “Rogues”, punk-like human survivors with no love for “Muties” or Sentinels. Although she tries to talk her way out of it, Kate lashes out when the punks advance on her, unwilling to go down without a fight despite her Mutant power to become intangible being negated by an inhibitor collar. Luckily, the visibly aged Wolverine shows up to help, purposely avoiding popping his Adamantium claws to avoid alerting the Sentinels. Still, Logan easily handles such street trash and rescues Kate, revealing that the world is on the brink of nuclear destruction should the Sentinels advance out of North America. Logan hands Kate the last component to the “jammer”, a device she and her fellow enslaved and imprisoned Mutants secretly made to disrupt their inhibitor collars. Returning to her Mutant internment center, Kate quietly laments 2013 America, which is divided into three classes: “clean” humans, humans with the potential to sire Mutants and who are this forbidden to breed, and outcast Mutants who are either killed or kept in camps.

To prevent an apocalyptic future, Kate has her consciousness sent back into her younger body.

Kate is one of the latter, forced to work as slave labour for the Sentinels and carry the guilt of outliving her Mutant and super-powered friends. Kate’s interred alongside two surviving X-Men – her husband, Piotr “Peter” Rasputin/Colossus and Ororo Munroe/Storm – Franklin Richards, last survivor of the Fantastic Four, and his “lady”, telepath Rachel (later revealed to be the daughter of Scott “Slim” Summers/Cyclops and Jean Grey/Phoenix)), and unlikely ally Erik “Magnus” Lehnsherr/Magneto, ironically now confined to a wheelchair like his long dead friend and rival, Professor Charles Xavier/ Professor X. Alongside Wolverine, the six represent the Anti-Sentinel Resistance and plot to undo the death and destruction caused by the Sentinels, which resulted in the deaths of Kate and Peter’s children. Franklin completes the jammer and restores Rachel and Kate’s powers, allowing Rachel to mysteriously send Kate’s consciousness back through time. Logan then leads his fellow Mutants through the subways, where they’re quickly discovered by the Sentinels. When Franklin is vaporised, Rachel fights back with her telekinetic powers, holding off one of the machines to protect Kate’s unconscious form while Storm and Wolverine (with the aid of a “fastball special”) take out the second Sentinel. Colossus then brings down a nearby building to bury more Sentinels so the grieving survivors can reach the Baxter Building, the heart of the Sentinel’s operation. When the story shifts to the 1980s, Kitty walks in on X-Men testing their powers and combat prowess in the hazardous Danger Room and Professor X’s school, much to the shock of Colossus, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Storm, Warren Worthington III/Angel, and Wolverine. After the X-Men to save her and Kitty showcases her amazing phasing powers, Sprite suddenly writhes in agony and collapses as her future self possesses her, leading them to rush her to the medical bay and be amazed when she rants about being from the future.

Tensions run high as the X-Men battle the Brotherhood to safeguard the future.

Kate quickly convinces them by revealing that the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are due to assassinate Presidential candidate Robert Kelly, Professor X, and Mutant specialist Doctor Moira McTaggart. This escalates the fear and hatred or Mutants and sees the election of an anti-Mutant President, who orders the reactivation of the Sentinels and the summary execution and imprisonment of all Mutants and super-powered beings. Though sceptical, Storm agrees to fly them to Washington, D.C. so Professor X can mind scan Kate, unaware that Raven Darkholme/Mystique has already infiltrated the Pentagon using her shape-shifting powers. Mystique has also snuck in her Brotherhood comrades – Dominic Petros/Avalanche, Fred Dukes/The Blob, Irene Adler/Destiny, and St. John Allerdyce/Pyro – to assist in her plot, despite blind precog Destiny revealing the future is clouded and the Blob objecting to Mystique’s leadership. While Senator Kelly shares his concerns about Mutantkind with the United States senate, the Brotherhood strike, just as Kate predicted. Despite Kelly’s bigotry, the X-Men defend him and a fight ensues that sees Avalanche send the X-Men flying by erupting the ground and Storm forced to whisk Wolverine away with a whirlwind when the bloodthirsty X-Man goes to gut Pyro. In the fracas, Professor X and Moira are saved by a policewoman, who turns out to be Mystique in disguise, who subdues them with nerve gas. The fight between the X-Men and the Brotherhood spills into the streets, where the Army attack both teams and the X-Men struggle to protect innocents. After being roasted by Pyro, the enraged Wolverine argues with Storm when she asserts her authority, begrudgingly deferring to her wish that he sheaths his claws.

Although Senator Kelly is saved, the future remains uncertain for the X-Men…

Thanks to some physics-based teamwork, Colossus and Wolverine defeat Avalanche and the Blob. Although Storm douses Pyro’s flaming monster avatar and takes him off the board with a bout of rain, Nightcrawler hesitates to finish Mystique when she hints at knowledge of his past, allowing her to escape. Still, the X-Men are victorious, unlike their future counterparts. After infiltrating the Baxter Building and pondering what affect their time meddling will have, the future survivors encounter an “Omega series” Sentinel. Naturally, Logan insists on tackling the threat alone and is horrifically reduced to a smouldering metal skeleton by a single blast! When she fights back, Storm is fatally impaled by another Sentinel, driving Colossus into a berserker fury that also ends with his death. This leaves a distraught Rachel to cradle Kate’s body and hope that her friend can change the future, or at least create an alternative, less painful timeline. As the time switch has conveniently made Kitty invisible to Destiny’s prescient abilities, she easily prevents the precog from assassinating the defiant Senator Kelly, expelling Kate from her younger body and leaving the X-Men to wonder if they prevented the apocalypse and Mystique to swear revenge. Rather than give a definitive answer to this, the story ends with the President of the United States meeting with Senator Kelly and industrialist Sebastian Shaw. Despite Kelly owing his life to the X-Men, his concerns about Mutants have not softened and are only fostered by the scheming Shaw, who’s secretly part of the malicious Hellfire Club. The President appears to agree with their concerns but insists that any actions they take must remain top secret. He then introduces them to Henry Peter Gyrich, whom he tasks with head up “Project Wideawake” and begin construction of a new series of Sentinels…

Final Thoughts: 
While I appreciate “Days of Future Past” telling its story over two issues rather than dragging the plot out across a sprawling, multi-issue saga, I do think it would’ve benefitted from being at least four issues long just to further explore the past and future events. We’re dropped into this dystopian world that sees Mutants executed or imprisoned on sight and the few survivors making a desperate gamble to alter their fate, but don’t spend much time getting to know them in this environment. Like, how did Magneto end up in a wheelchair? How did the surviving X-Men set aside their past with him to form a resistance movement? How did Logan escape the Sentinels? What’s with Rachel and Franklin? These questions, and others, are left purposely vague as the story intentionally presents the worst, most intriguing future for the X-Men and then wastes no time in focusing on preventing that future. Ironically, I’ve read most of the follow-ups to “Days of Future Past” and found them lacklustre, so clearly keeping things vague was the best idea, it just would’ve been nice to explore just how dire things have become in America with a racist, warmongering, crazed bigot running the country. I like the idea that the Sentinels have usurped governmental and societal control, taking their anti-Mutant programming to the extreme to exterminate all super-powered individuals and ensure the extinction of the X-gene by limiting breeding. It ironically means that the machines built to ensure the survival of humanity have largely destroyed it, at least in America. The world now fears the Sentinels more than Mutants and is prepared to launch nuclear weapons against them, resulting in one of Marvel’s bleakest future worlds since basically all the superheroes (and supervillains) have already fallen and the Sentinels’ power is absolute.

Kitty takes centre stage in this harrowing time travel adventure.

I’ve never been a big fan of Kitty Pryde, but this is a great showcase of her. In the future, Kate is desperate to change her fate and the fate of her friends and children. Distraught at having seen all her loved ones murdered or enslaved, Kate gambles everything on a drastic plan to cobble together a jammer and have Rachel project her mind into her younger body. While this leaves Kate defenceless in the future, it sees her quickly convince her old friends of the looming threat and ultimately intervene to save Senator Kelly. Kate doesn’t get to do much between those points as much of the story focuses on the battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood, but it’s fitting that she’s the one to stop Destiny (literally and figuratively). Kate’s overwhelmed to see her friends alive, and they are noticeably shocked by her adult demeanour when she’s in her younger body, especially as the X-Men largely regard Kitty as a child and someone they must nurture. Still, they’re quickly convinced and throw themselves against the Brotherhood to protect Kelly, Professor X, and Moira. This leads to some conflict between Wolverine and Storm as Storm seeks to assert her authority, overcoming her insecurities and demanding that Wolverine use non-lethal methods to avoid tarnishing their reputation. Ironically, the future Wolverine willingly sheathes his claws so as not to attract attention and Storm worries she’s becoming as ruthless as Logan since she’s ready to kill to protect her few remaining friends and to try and change the timeline. Indeed, the future X-Men are ready to die one way or another to change their fate since they will potentially be erased from existence if Kate succeeds. The story is vague about this, with Rachel suggesting their timeline may continue unaltered but will result in an alternative future for their past selves, and gives no resolution on what happened to the dystopian 2013 beyond Kate being expelled from Kitty’s body.

The ruthless Sentinels are portrayed as a significant threat here.

This is doubly interesting considering the story ends with the President ordering Kelly, Shaw, and Gyrich to work on “Project Wideawake”, meaning Sentinels will stalk Mutants regardless of Kate’s actions, but it can be assumed that the future will be at least partially different as the President isn’t a gibbering racist with a bad tan. Predating Cyberdyne System’s finest by a good four years, the Sentinels are ruthless mechanical terminators, towering robot giants who detect heartbeats, anticipate enemy movements, and vaporise with a single blast. The fact they do this to Franklin, one of Marvel’s most powerful cosmic beings, is one thing but seeing them reduce Wolverine to his Adamantium skeleton is quite another. Rachel telepathically feels the pain whenever her friends die, leaving her an enraged, distraught mess when her lover is killed and seeing her left cradling Kate when she feels Colossus die. Though this happens off-panel, it’s said to be horrifically fast and also showcases just how powerful the Sentinels are. The Sentinels are used sparingly, appearing as looming, authoritative slave drivers at the Mutant camp to begin with. Instead, we see the fallout from their rule, expertly presented by John Byrne. The Sentinels more than live up to their threat once they start blasting Mutants, but the story does a phenomenal job of showcasing their devastating power by focusing more on an air of ominous dread. We see New York reduced to rubble, society divided and living in fear, and the gravestones of Marvel’s famous heroes and villains, which emphasises that the Sentinels are a serious threat. The Brotherhood are no slouches either as their fight against the X-Men takes up most of “Mind Out of Time” and paints them as a significant threat, one willing to kill in the name of Mutant supremacy. All-in-all, “Days of Future Past” remains a quintessential X-Men story, one that’s both shocking and intriguing, that might’ve benefitted from being a few issues longer but still makes quite an impact even to this day.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Do you consider “Days of Future Past” a classic X-Men story? Do you think the story should’ve been a few issues long or do you think it’s the perfect length? Were you horrified to see so many of our heroes killed in the future? Can you imagine a world where the President of the United States is a racist fanatic? Did you enjoy any of the sequels to this story? Which stories involving the Sentinels are your favourites and how are to celebrating X-Men Day today? Whatever your thoughts on the X-Men and the Sentinels, drop them in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more X-Men related content for the site.

Back Issues [Dare-DAY-vil]: Daredevil #227-231

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Co-created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett (alongside the legendary Jack Kirby), blind lawyer Matt Murdock debuted in April 1964.

Writer: Frank Miller – Artist: David Mazzucchelli

Story Title: “Apocalypse”
Published: 22 October 1985 (cover-dated: February 1986)

Story Title: “Purgatory”
Published: 26 November 1985 (cover-dated: March 1986)

Story Title: “Pariah”
Published: 24 December 1985 (cover-dated: April 1986)

Story Title: “Born Again”
Published: 28 January 1986 (cover-dated: May 1986)

Story Title: “Saved”
Published: 25 February 1986 (cover-dated: June 1986)

Quick Facts:
Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett’s most challenging hero yet, Daredevil became a popular and enduring character thanks to writer/artist Frank Miller, who spearheaded many of Daredevil’s most memorable stories. Miller was behind perhaps the greatest Daredevil story of its time (or ever), colloquially referred to as “Born Again”, a story so definitive that it inspired Daredevil’s celebrated return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2025.

The Review:
This seminal storyline was kicked off by Karen Page, former secretary for Murdock and Franklin “Foggy” Nelson’s law firm and Murdock’s ex-girlfriend, who left to pursue an acting career and ended up a heroin addict. She becomes so desperate for cash and a shot of heroin that she trades the only thing of value she has left, Daredevil’s true identity, to the unscrupulous Raldo. He sells it higher up the chain to Tonio, who eventually brings it to Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, who immediately orders the death of everyone who’s touched the document and heads to New York City to verify its contents. Unaware of this, Murdock awakes from a troubled sleep, nursing the bruises of his recent battles, to find only bills and a breakup cassette from his girlfriend, Glorianna “Glori” O’Breen, rather than job offers. To make matters worse, Murdock gets a disturbing phone call from his accountant and is then accused of perjury by decorated cop Lieutenant Nick Manolis. As snow blankets the city, Foggy comforts Glori after a break-in and reporter Ben Urich tries to offer Matt some council, only to get a cynical brushoff. Murdock uses Daredevil as an escape from all this drama, sprinting and leaping into the bitter winter night and gives Manolis a scare, learning that the cop lied to protect his son and then returns home to find his utilities have been cut off. The Kingpin watches with relish as Murdock’s life falls apart over the next few weeks. He exhausts himself trying to build a defense with Foggy, physically deteriorating from the stress and becoming increasingly violent as Daredevil, and becoming a shell of his former self as he loses his licence to practice law and is faced with poverty and public shame.

The Kingpin makes Murdock’s life a living hell and targets those closest to him.

Grateful to Foggy for his help, the destitute and despondent Murdock wanders home just as his apartment building is destroyed, leaving even his costume a smouldering ruin. Forced into a dingy, cramped hotel room, the distressed Murdock considers killing the Kingpin for all the pain he’s caused him but resolves simply to beat Fisk to within an inch of his life instead. The Kingpin, meanwhile, continues to savour the pain he’s caused his foe, who hounded him relentlessly, and in the knowledge that Murdock is at his lowest point. Disorientated and exhausted, Murdock fantasises about leaving the Kingpin a bloody mess, babbles nonsense to Glori, and threatens Foggy and rambles to a dial tone thinking it’s his friend. The Kingpin is amused to learn that Murdock throttled the hotel manager, paranoid that he’s one of the Kingpin’s men, and attacked punks and even a cop while in his civilian identity on his way to Fisk’s opulent tower. The Kingpin welcomes Murdock’s challenge, easily shrugging off a few hits with a baton and flooring Murdock with devastating haymakers. Restraining himself from tearing Murdock apart, the Kingpin settles for staging an accident, leaving the battered Murdock to drown in a cab off the East River. However, the Kingpin is enraged when the cab is discovered some weeks later and there’s no sign of Murdock’s corpse as he dragged himself out and ended up sleeping on the streets, haunted by memories of his origin and his losses. While Foggy and Glori grow closer over Christmas, Manolis reluctantly confesses to Urich after his son dies, leaving them brutally maimed by the Kingpin’s burly henchwoman. Over in Mexico, a Karen steals and sells herself to Paulo Scorcese for a fix and get back to New York after barely escaping the Kingpin’s assassins, desperate to be reunite with Murdock and wracked by guilt, eventually taken in by Foggy despite the danger.

Murdock overcomes great physical and mental trauma to rescue Karen and return to action.

After stumbling into traffic in a stupor, Murdock takes a knife to the gut when trying to stop lowlife Turk Barrett from stealing a Santa Claus suit, only to find his childhood home torn down. While taking shelter in his father’s old gym, Murdock blacks out from blood loss, though miraculously survives after he’s rescued by nuns (one of whom is implied to be his mother). While Murdock recovers and struggles through pneumonia, Urich is left traumatised and meekly drops all interest in the Kingpin. However, Urich finds his resolve after overhearing Manolis being strangled to death, goes to the cops, and prints an exposé on the Kingpin. Luckily for Urich, a recovering Murdock saves him, his wife, and a cop from the Kingpin’s henchwoman. Murdock also learns that Melvin Potter has been contracted coerced into fashioning a replica Daredevil costume for a psychopath Fisk wants to send after Karen and Foggy, and Murdock encourages him to take the job to discover this plot. With Scorcese outside gunning down cops, Karen cold-clocks Foggy and flees, intending to take the heat off him, while Murdock confronts his crazed imposter. Though the imposter is violent and determined, Murdock subdues him by targeting his pressure points, allowing Matt to save Karen from a gunshot…and from taking one last hit of heroin. The two emotionally embrace, finally reunited and, in the aftermath, Urich pens another story wrapping everything up. The doctor who the Kingpin ordered to release the crazed imposter was dismissed, the cops Scorcese killed are mourned and their killer arrested, and Urich is left determined to track down Murdock and find out what happened to him as he’s been missing, presumed dead, for some time.

Final Thoughts: 
“Born Again” is undoubtably one of Daredevil’s most iconic stories, and some of Frank Miller’s best work with the character. It’s a very different story; very mature and gritty and full of brooding and interpersonal drama. Drugs and addiction are at the forefront as a desperate Karen sells her ex-lover’s identity for a fix and is then so consumed by guilt that she prostitutes herself to Scorcese to reunite with Murdock, convinced he’s the only man who can save her. Along the way, she continually shoots up and fantasises about kicking the habit to be with Matt again, though she only goes cold turkey when she’s taken in by Foggy, and this just leaves her a paranoid wreck. Karen’s story somewhat echoes Murdock’s as he’s driven to exhaustion, paranoia, and violence by the Kingpin’s machinations. With his life literally falling apart, Murdock tries to escape from reality through Daredevil, lashing out at lowlife scum and taking his anger out on anyone who gets in his way and only exacerbating his self-destruction. Murdock becomes disorientated and confused, randomly blacking out and babbling to his friends (or pretending to), all while hyper-fixated on avenging himself on the Kingpin. Naturally, this means Murdock is no match for Fisk, who’s more than just a bulbous criminal mastermind. He’s pure iron and muscle and easily takes Murdock’s best shots before beating him unconsciousness without a word, making for a short, brutal confrontation between the two that’s sadly not followed up on in this story.

Murdock gets put through hell thanks to the Kingpin’s malicious machinations.

Instead, the remainder of the time is spent following Murdock’s struggles. The Kingpin makes Murdock’s life hell almost to the point of parody, freezing his accounts, framing him, blowing up his home, and targeting his loved ones, all while Glori and Foggy fall for each other. Publicly shamed and disbarred, Murdock’s forced to live on the streets and only suffers further torment when his impulsive nature leaves him hit by a car and mortally stabbed. It’s only near-literal divine intervention that keeps him alive and, even then, Murdock must fight through his physical rehabilitation. When he does, he’s confronted by a Daredevil imposter, though the significance of this is sadly downplayed. I was hoping that the thematic allegory of Murdock facing his literal devil and obsession would have more relevance, but the fight’s over extremely quickly and is merely an inconvenience for Murdock, who’s more focused on saving Karen. This is disappointing as it might’ve been good to see Murdock become so lost in his Daredevil persona that it worsens his woes, meaning he’d have to mentally overcome his trauma and then physically best the monster he’d become to reclaim himself. Still, I liked the side stories, such as Urich fighting in Murdock’s corner behind the scenes and having to overcome his own issues to do what’s right. It’s a nice parallel to Murdock’s tumultuous journey and these little victories extremely aggravate the Kingpin, who turns to the violent and the insane to do his bidding. It’s a shame there isn’t a rematch between Daredevil and the Kingpin here, and that some of Miller’s wonky dialogue and let’s say “colourful” writing is peppered throughout the otherwise harrowing drama, but there’s no denying how important “Born Again” was and still is. It’s a fascinating showcase of Daredevil’s near-superhuman willpower and shows that he continues to fight, even when emotionally and physically wrecked, placing him as an inspirational underdog who does what’s right regardless of the personal cost.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Do you consider “Born Again” an all-time classic Daredevil story? Do you think the hardship Murdock suffered was a tad over the top? Were you disturbed by Karen’s struggles with heroin? Did you enjoy seeing Murdock having to overcome the odds staked against him by Fisk? What are some of your favourite Daredevil stories and how are you celebrating the Man Without Fear this month? Let me know what you think of “Born Again” in the comments below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Daredevil content for the site.

Back Issues [Deadpool Day]: Cable & Deadpool #1-6

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February 1991 marked the debut of Wade W. Wilson, the wise-cracking, fourth-wall-breaking Merc With a Mouth, one of Marvel’s most popular anti-heroes. Sideshow even rechristened April 1st as “Deadpool Day” to give fans an excuse to celebrate all things Deadpool.

Story Title: “If Looks Could Kill” (Part 1 to 6)

Published: 19 May 2004 (cover-dated: July 2004)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Mark Brooks

Published: 21 April 2004 (cover-dated: June 2004)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Mark Brooks

Published: 19 May 2004 (cover-dated: July 2004)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Patrick Zircher

Published: 16 June 2004 (cover-dated: August 2004)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Patrick Zircher

Published: 21 July 2004 (cover-dated: September 2004)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Patrick Zircher

Published: 18 August 2004 (cover-dated: October 2004)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Patrick Zircher

Quick Facts:
As instructed by then-chief editor Jim Shooter, Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod create the New Mutants, Mutant youngsters tutored by time travelling Mutant Nathan Summers/Cable as (eventually) X-Force. This also saw the debut of Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld’s Deadpool, a composite of James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and (most infamously) DC Comics’ Slade Wilson/Deathstroke the Terminator. Years after establishing himself, Deadpool famously partnered with his frenemy, Cable, in team-ups that would define them as one of Marvel’s most entertaining and chaotic duos.

The Review:
Our story begins with Wade lounging around his apartment, aimlessly flicking through channels until called about a job. Although Wade’s initially reluctant as his client, the One World Church, is based in France as he mistakenly believes the United States is at war with France, he soon dons some synthetic skin and jets over there with the promise of a big payday. He’s met by the less-than-inconspicuous robed representatives of the church, who accept Wade’s gruesome, scarified visage as they’ve been “cleansed” of their identities and rendered androgynous, blue-skinned monks by their order. Though Wade warns them about preaching to him, he meets with their Prime Minister, Anton Kruch, at their colony and, though dubious, learns that the order has purged themselves of all material goods and societal boundaries. Inside the church’s high-tech mansion, Deadpool learns that Sunic Pharmacopoeia created a synthetic virus that could destroy or greatly benefit mankind, and that his mission is to retrieve the “Façade Virus” from their German facility. The toxin was created by Hans Beimer, a scientist currently being mind scanned by Cable. After advising a Mutant bellboy to reach out to Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X, Cable asks Irene Merryweather at the Daily Bugle to fill him in on Sunic, whom he suspects are up to no good. However, he finds the facility in chaos as Deadpool is cutting, shooting, and blasting through the security. Disturbed to find his old nemesis ransacking the place, Cable takes Wade’s advice and “[blows his] mind” with his telekinetic powers but is concerned to find the Façade Virus has been stolen and Beimer has been exposed to it, rendering him a blubbering mess of tumours, and realising too late that the fear he detected in three of the staff was actually guilt from the thieves. These “Spammers” experience different side effects from the virus, with Gunther Herschein/Sour Kraut being violently sick, Asahiri Aoki/Go-Go finding her skin extremely malleable, and Tuatola T’Tuana Timōn/T-5 seemingly unaffected.

Cable and Deadpool clash when it comes to a potentially dangerous man-made virus.

When his telepathic, city-wave search for the three proves futile, Cable calls Irene to learn their real names before running into Deadpool again. As Wade’s been contracted to steal the virus and hopefully help disfigured people like himself and Cable’s made it his mission to destroy it, the two seem destined for a conflict, only for Cable to blow Deadpool’s brains out again. By the time Cable reaches Sour Kraut, he’s literally melting from the virus after using it to masquerade as a movie star in a misguided attempt to cause anarchy. Despite his dismissive attitude towards Sour Kraut, Cable permits him a swift death and then confronts T-5 as he’s gunning down civilians and shouting about government hypocrisy. Chastising T-5’s hypocrisy, Cable easily brings him down and then evaporates Go-Go’s bazooka before extracting the virus from her as she did the others. The effort leaves Cable physically and mentally drained, allowing Deadpool to get the drop on him and bring the sample back to the church so its disciples can forgo the agony associated with their physical transformation. However, the church betrays him and harvests his unique accelerated healing factor to stabilise the virus, allowing them to quickly and efficiently transform everyone into their followers with a simple injection. Luckily, Cable’s ridiculously overpowered telekinetic abilities kept him from being killed and he takes some time to heal from the mental strain in Switzerland with a fully healed Professor X. Since Cable has purged his body of the “techno-organic virus” that held back his powers, Professor X worries that he’s overexerting himself, especially as he’s easily able to hold the returning virus at bay and push himself beyond his previous limits. Brushing these concerns aide, Cable asks for advice about how to best utilise his incredible powers while he still has control and Professor X warns him against employing them in a God-like manner to “fix” society’s ills.

Deadpool seemingly becomes transformed into the church’s loyal acolyte.

While infiltrating the church, Cable reluctantly apologies for the position the delirious and helpless Deadpool has found himself in and the two bury the hatchet through a psychic rapport, though Cable postpones rescuing him to scope out Kruch’s operation while functionally invisible. Kruch preaches of eliminating strife and bigotry by remaking everyone in their image and presents a fully transformed and brainwashed Deadpool to his congregation, who immediately exposes Cable, though Kruch insists that the church is no threat. Cable is amazed to see that Deadpool’s been cured of his mania and anger, though he’s sceptical about Kruch’s vision of world peace. Invited to witness the first test of the “Deliverance”, Cable and Deadpool witness Kruch’s plan to “infect” the world using electrical transmissions beamed into the eyes, afflicting Cable with the Façade Virus. When Cable decides to use it for himself, he unwittingly allows the virus to run rampant within him, sending his Mutant and technological abilities haywire and leaving him wide open for Deadpool’s sudden attack. After fending Wade off, Cable threatens Kruch was castration if he doesn’t tell him how to stop the virus. When Deadpool redoubles his attack, he ends up tossed into his dorm room, his healing factor struggling with the virus as he struggles with his sanity, slipping back into his costume to attack Cable. Stunned to learn that there is no cure for the Façade Virus, Cable’s easily overwhelmed by Deadpool since the infection is causing his techno-organic virus to spread like wildfire. Conveniently, Cable crash-lands into the church’s armoury, allowing him to blast his way into the facility, only for Deadpool to attack again, convinced that Cable’s become the very thing he claimed to fight against.

Tensions between Cable and Deadpool remain high after Cable takes Kruch’s plan for his own.

Upon seeing Cable transformed into a bizarre, tentacled grotesque as the combined Façade and the techno-organic virus partially melts and ruins his body and his cyborg parts, Deadpool briefly takes pity on him but refuses to use his blood to cure Cable. Although Deadpool believes that Kruch can eliminate xenophobia, which justifies taking away people’s opinions, he’s stopped in his tracks when his body also begins to melt from the Façade Virus. Though he keeps talking nonsense even as he melts into a pile of goop, Deadpool cannot drag himself to Cable’s paralysed form to cure them both. Luckily, Cable uses his telekinetic powers to draw Deadpool’s liquified remains to him, restoring him and literally puking up the restored Deadpool. Pissed at being deceived by Kruch, Deadpool insists on accompanying Cable to Sunic’s Singapore office, where Merryweather tells him the church has fled, though Cable leaves the visibly cured Wade to find his own way there. Although Cable arrives first, he’s intercepted by Doctor Edward Lansky/Lightmaster, who attacks with blades at blinding speed and ends up teleported into the Moon’s orbit. While Cable agrees with Kruch’s philosophy for world peace and anticipated that he planned to spread the Façade Virus through Lightmaster, he redirects Dr. Lansky’s counterattack into the Singapore Deliverance Device, spreading a modified version of the virus across the world and turning them pink instead of blue. Cable then flies over the world reassembling his old space station and worrying Merryweather so much that she asks him to visit her in person. Knowing he’d use his teleporter, and that the incident has genetically bonded Cable with Deadpool, Merryweather leads Cable into a confrontation with Wade, one Cable easily ends by repeatedly tearing Deadpool apart with teleporters. Cable then restores everyone to normal and proclaims himself a saviour, unwittingly restoring Deadpool’s gruesome visage. Deadpool then vows to abuse their biological link to keep tabs on Cable and ensure he doesn’t let his God complex go to his head, a sentiment shared by the X-Men.

Final Thoughts: 
I was expecting a lot more from Cable and Deadpool’s first team-up. On the plus side, the art is pretty much flawless. While I prefer Cable as a man-mountain and it was jarring to see him so trim, lacking in ostentatious accessories, and relying on his awesome psychic powers, the art had a very kinetic and colourful style to it. The few fight and action scenes we get are frantic and detailed and I particularly enjoyed how expressive Mark Brooks and Patrick Zircher make Deadpool, despite his disappointing lack of time in his costume. This is Deadpool at his most self-referential and wacky, with him constantly chattering nonsense and making timely pop culture references to Dennis the Menace and Brigitte Nielsen. I liked that Deadpool is haunted by his ghastly appearance, which leaves him a cross between “Ryan Renolds [sic] and a shar-pei”, and that this seems to inform his defence of the One World Church. Sadly, this isn’t as developed as I’d like. Indeed, when Deadpool hears Kruch’s pitch, he’s sceptical and only in it for the money, then he’s suddenly fighting Cable to the death over the Façade Virus even before he’s pumped full of it and seemingly indoctrinated into the order. It seems Deadpool is only half-heartedly on Kruch’s side, with him finally achieving inner peace thanks to his restored visage (even if he is blue) and believing there’s a small chance the church can end conflict and bigotry. However, this isn’t as explicit as I would’ve liked. It seems Deadpool’s been brainwashed, then he seemingly denies that. Then, he makes amends with Cable a couple of times and then turns on him, suddenly convinced Cable wants to conquer the world by perverting the Façade Virus, which kind of comes out of nowhere, and Wade turns against Kruch when he suffers the horrendous side effects of the virus.

While the art is great, the plot and characterisations are distractingly haphazard.

This is much more of a Cable story, one centred on his conflicting morality regarding his incredible powers, which are stronger than ever. Having witnessed apocalyptic futures and a lifetime of conflict and suffering, Cable is obsessed with saving the world and is tempted to use his almost God-like powers for the greater good even if it means putting himself on a pedestal. Indeed, Cable is ridiculously powerful here, forgoing any weapons but his telekinetic abilities and easily rendering himself invisible or having psychic conversations from half a world away. Cable sees a logic in Kruch’s twisted vision for the world, which would make “all as one” as a homogenised, placid species. Although Cable believes Kruch is taking away people’s opinions, it’s not clear to me how Cable’s plan for the Façade Virus is any different beyond making people pink instead of blue. He spreads the virus and worries friends and foes alike by reconstructing his space station, but seemingly does nothing despite claiming to have full control of the virus. He then restores everyone and is apparently heralded as a hero, though I’m not sure how or why, inspiring Deadpool, the X-Men, and others to believe he’s gone “too far”. I can just about understand Deadpool’s behaviour being all over the place as he’s nuts, but I don’t get why Cable’s characterisation is so radically different panel to panel and issue to issue. I can only assume it was part of an ongoing story arc, but it made this first six-part story unnecessarily difficult to read. The dialogue bounces around so much I had trouble keeping track of what was going on or why the two were fighting and I was left disappointed that this wasn’t a more action-packed, unhinged team-up between the titular Mutants.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy the first story arc of Cable and Deadpool’s team-up comic? Were you also disappointed that it wasn’t a more action-packed story? Can you explain why Deadpool was so devoted to the One World Church and what the hell was going on with Cable? What are some of your favourite moments between Cable and Deadpool and how are you celebrating Deadpool Day today? Let me know what you thought down in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other, better Cable and/or Deadpool content for the site.

Back Issues [Stark Sunday]: Tales of Suspense #46

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Anthony “Tony” Stark/Iron Man first lived, walked, and conquered in March 1963 and has gone through numerous armours and shot to mainstream superstardom thanks to Robert Downey Jr.  

Story Title: “Iron Man Faces the Crimson Dynamo!”
Published: 9 July 1963 (cover-dated: October 1963)

Writers: Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein
Artist: Don Heck

Quick Facts:
Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Don Heck’s questionable hero has fought many colourful villains over the years, such as many iterations of his Soviet counterpart, the Crimson Dynamo. First appearing as Doctor Anton Vanko and mirroring escalating tensions between America and Russia, versions of this villain have long-dogged Iron Man and directly influenced his live-action counterpart, Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke).

The Review:
Our story is set mid-way through the infamous “Cold War”, a period of animosity between the United States and Soviet Russia. Nikita Khrushchev (“the “Mr. Big” of the Iron Curtain”), visits Professor Anton Vanko (the titular “Crimson Dynamo”), a man even Khrushchev hates and fears. However, since Vanko is the “world’s greatest expert on electricity”, Khrushchev begrudgingly tolerates Vanko’s lofty arrogance. Amusingly, the animosity and resentment between the two is mutual, though Khrushchev begrudgingly sets his hostilities aside to see Vanko’s latest breakthrough. Although Khrushchev is initially sceptical when Vanko dons an elaborate, spiked, armoured suit said to give his control of electricity, the First Secretary is amazed when the Crimson Dynamo obliterates a robotic duplicate of Iron Man. Khrushchev’s nerves are further shot and his doubts fully settled when the Crimson Dynamo commands a tank to stop mere inches from the First Secretary’s face and then reduces it to wreckage. Though impressed by the demonstration, Khrushchev is left rattled and secretly vows to dispose of Vanko once he’s outlived his usefulness as he presents a threat to Khrushchev’s position. Before that, Khrushchev appeals to Vanko’s vanity and orders him to head to America and scupper Tony Stark’s operations at Stark Industries, and destroy his “bodyguard”, Iron Man, to weaken America’s military and eliminate one of their greatest scientific minds and heroes. The story jumps ahead two weeks and halfway across the world to the testing site of Stark’s latest missile, where Stark’s chauffeur, Harold “Happy” Hogan, and his secretary, Virginia “Pepper” Potts, are busying arguing as Pepper decides to question Happy’s courage and be unnecessarily mean to him. Still, inspired by their concerns over the missile’s safety, Stark heads to his office to slap on a special “collapsible extensible armour” to oversee the missile launch as the gold-plated Avenger.

The Crimson Dynamo systematically attacks Stark’s facilities, sabotaging his reputation.

And good thing, too, as the Crimson Dynamo just happens to be waiting in the nearby forest. As soon as the missile launches, the Crimson Dynamo messes with its circuits, causing the missile to suddenly plummet to the ground, endangering the crew onboard (making it more of a rocket than a missile…) and those below. Luckily, ol’ shellhead intercepts the missile and slows its descent, allowing it to land clumsily, but far less dangerously. The effort leaves Iron Man dazed and provides the Crimson Dynamo with a perfect demonstration of his abilities. While Stark puzzles over what could’ve fried the missile’s circuits, the Crimson Dynamo spends days targeting Stark’s plants, destroying his rockets, electrical equipment, weapons, and facilities (all with no loss of life, conveniently), all from a distance and anonymously. Stark’s so dumbfounded by the massive, nationwide assault that he suspects every enemy nation is targeting him. As if the risk of losing his military contracts isn’t bad enough, the fat cats in Washington, D.C. also decide to investigate Stark, fearing he may be sabotaging his plants to weaken the American military (because paranoia was rife during the Cold War!) Though Happy and Pepper vow to stick by Stark, he’s desperate for his unseen adversary to expose himself. Similarly, Vanko is frustrated that Iron Man didn’t show up during his rampage so he dons his armour once more and openly attacks Stark’s research centre, correctly conveniently surmising that ol’ shellhead must be there. After urging Happy and Pepper to flee, Stark slips on his armour and finally comes meets his armoured foe, immediately recognising that the Crimson Dynamo wields similar electric powers to him.

Iron Man easily bests the Crimson Dynamo and turns him away from the Commies with a simple ruse!

This allows Iron Man to erect an invisible force field to negate the Crimson Dynamo’s electrical bolts and also propels him into the air to avoid being fried when the Crimson Dynamo electrifies the ground. Iron Man then emits static to interfere with the Crimson Dynamo’s electric signals and challenges him to counter his abilities, frustrating Vanko and driving him to boast of his mission to destroy Stark’s operations, allowing Iron Man to take a recording of the confession for later. Aware of the universal truth that “all Commies are chronically suspicious of each other”, Iron Man lures the Crimson Dynamo into the woods, uprooting and chopping down giant oak trees to cage his armoured foe since, for all Vanko’s vaulted genius, he never built a pair of rocket boots or a rocket pack into his armour! Iron Man then grabs the Crimson Dynamo and flies him to the coast, threatening to dunk him in the water and kill them both from the resultant electric shock. The Crimson Dynamo immediately begs for his life and is convinced to surrender, much to Iron Man’s pleasure. Once safely on the pier, Iron Man offers the Crimson Dynamo a pair of special earplugs to eavesdrop on Khrushchev’s orders to execute Vanko once he’s defeated the armoured Avenger. Although this is another ruse by Iron Man, the Crimson Dynamo buys the deception and is incensed to learn that his Communist masters planned to kill him; he even doubles down and thanks Iron Man for opening his eyes! Incredibly, Iron Man offers Vanko the chance to put his genius to work for a country that appreciates him and the Crimson Dynamo accepts, revealing that the Commies are holding a fortune in gold for sabotage purposes and being given a job at Stark Industries for his intel! Naturally, Khrushchev is left incensed by this betrayal and vows to make Iron Man pay for stealing away his top scientist.

Final Thoughts: 
Well, this was shit. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh, but this was such a nothing, throwaway story that really could’ve been so much more. The Crimson Dynamo should’ve been positioned as Stark’s equal and Communist opposite, a brilliant inventor and industrialist who’s deeply committed to his country and willing to do anything to defend it, even if it means launching pre-emptive attacks against the United States. Imagine a Tony Stark without a moral compass, a man who puts his genius and technology to work to destroy, rather than defend. That could’ve been a really unique twist, especially if the story had been spread out over two issues. Instead, we get this mess of a story that’s full of weird moments. Like, why is there a crew onboard the missile? What sense does that make? Wouldn’t they die once it hits its target? They’re literally there to add some stakes when the Crimson Dynamo sabotages the missile, but just changing the dialogue to say it’s a “rocket” would’ve made all the difference. Then, the Crimson Dynamo attacks a whole bunch of Stark’s facilities and Iron Man isn’t there for any of them? Stark seemingly makes no effort to try and track down their saboteur, instead assuming it’s multiple assailants all acting in conjunction and spending his days worrying about losing his lucrative military contracts. He’s left blindly hoping for his foe to make a mistake, which isn’t a great strategy, and lucks out when Vanko gets annoyed by Iron Man’s absences. I also didn’t like seeing the American government suspect Stark of being a traitor. This cropped up a lot back then and I get it’s emblematic of the Cold War, but it was stupid to think Stark would cost himself millions of dollars and willingly destroy his reputation, and it made Iron Man’s belief that all Communists are distrustful of each other that much weaker. If the Reds had been betrayed as backstabbing, immoral assholes and the Yanks as united, honourable people, it would’ve made the parallels and differences between Iron Man and the Crimson Dynamo that much more impactful. As is, it just reads like we’re all as bad as each other. Which is true, but still…

Sadly, the Crimson Dynamo fails to be all that he could be and the story is weaker because of it.

The Crimson Dynamo certainly look the part. He’s got pretty cool, spiked armour like an iron maiden and all these fancy, somewhat vague “electrical powers”. He can blow up robots with a button, tear tanks apart with electrical bolts, screw up circuitry from afar, and destroys many of Stark’s facilities without being seen. His armour is pretty cool, being all red where Iron Man is all gold and having ridges and spikes all over him while Iron Man is sleek and smooth. Vanko is said to be this renowned expert in electricity and he certainly bothers Khrushchev, who’s intimidated by Vanko’s ambition, arrogance, and power. However, while the Crimson Dynamo deals a heavy blow against Stark, he’s undone by his arrogance as he gives up his one advantage so he can satisfy his desire to destroy Iron Man and is immediately humiliated once the fight starts! Seriously, Iron Man barely breaks a sweat with this guy as he deflects his one attack, messes up his systems, and easily cages him with trees because Vanko can’t fly! What the hell kind of flaw is that? How do you base so much of your armour and weaponry on Iron Man but omit the fucking rocket boots!? Then, Vanko is easily tricked into surrendering, and betraying his country, and revealing Commie secrets, all because he was made to believe that Khrushchev wanted him dead! I assume that Vanko is later revealed to be working as a double agent or something; that’s the only explanation for the abrupt ending, which barely acknowledges the crimes Vanko committed! I was expecting so much more from this story, a true mirror match and clash of politic and moral ideologies from these similar, but radically different scientists and investors. Instead, it’s another bog-standard, “villain-of-the-week” story designed to show how awful the Soviets are compared to the righteous and capable Americans.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Were you also disappointed by the Crimson Dynamo’s first appearance? Did you also think that Vanko failed to live up to his full potential as a dark counterpart to Stark? Were you also amazed at how ineffectual the Crimson Dynamo was against Iron Man? What are some of your favourite Iron Man vs. Crimson Dynamo stories? Which of Iron Man’s armours is your favourite and how are you celebrating Iron Man this month? Share your thoughts in the comments, like this review, and donate to my Ko-Fi to support the site.

Back Issues [Wolvie Wednesday]: The Uncanny X-Men #212-213

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Since his first full debut in November 1974 and joining the X-Men in 1975, James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine has become one of Marvel Comics’ most recognisable and enduring superheroes.

Story Title: “The Last Run”
Published: 9 September 1986 (cover-dated: December 1986)
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Rick Leonardi

Story Title: “Psylocke”
Published: 7 October 1986 (cover-dated: January 1987)
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Alan Davis

The Background:
Back 1974, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas tasked writer Len Wein with creating the first-ever Canadian superhero, resulting in the short, feisty “Wolverine”. John Romita Sr sketched the original concept art for the character (including his now-iconic retractable claws) and Herb Trimbe put the finishing touches to Wolverine’s design. Although Wolverine’s past and true identity was initially kept a mystery, readers got a glimpse into his background through his ongoing and violent rivalry with fellow Mutant, Victor Creed/Sabretooth. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Sabretooth initially debuted as an enemy of Danny Rand/Iron Fist in 1977 before transitioning to a minor X-Men foe during the “Mutant Massacre” event (Claremont, et al, 1986). Originally intended to be Wolverine’s father and sometimes hinted to be his brother, the exact nature of their history is shrouded in mystery, with the only recurring element being their intense hatred of each other. Sabretooth famously makes a point of causing Wolverine anguish every year on his birthday and cemented himself as Logan’s archenemy by targeting his loved ones and being his toughest, most persistent foe. Accordingly, Sabretooth often accompanies Wolverine in other media and is naturally regarded as his worst enemy.

The Review:
Wolverine’s first clash against Sabretooth came when Creed was running with the Marauders, ruthless Mutant assassins working for Doctor Nathaniel Essex/Mister Sinister. As part of his plot to wipe out or otherwise experiment on Mutants, Mr. Sinister sent the Marauders to massacre the Morlocks, outcast sewer-dwelling Mutants beneath New York City. While reviewing the slaughter, Wolverine is telepathically contacted by newcomer Betsy Braddock/Psylocke, who passes along a request from the grieving Ororo Munroe/Storm for Logan to apprehend a Marauder to learn more about their plot. The effort of contacting Wolverine drains Psylocke, but her suffering is little compared to Storm’s as she ran with the Morlocks for a time and finds herself surrounded by dead or grievously injured allies. Storm’s so traumatised that she flees from Charles Xavier/Professor X’s school in anguish, desperate to return to nature and outrun her guilt. Concerned about Storm and his girlfriend, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (who’s been left in a permanently out of phase), Piotr “Peter” Rasputin/Colossus tries to ask Psylocke for help, only to suddenly collapse from his own injuries. Luckily, Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto is allied with the X-Men at this time and he uses his amazing powers to try and help Colossus, only to leave him conscious but paralysed. Meanwhile, Anna Marie/Rogue asks Storm’s Morlock friend, Callisto, to find the weather witch, with the one-eyed Morlock opting to treat Storm to some tough love and literally beat some sense into her.

With the X-Men reeling from the Marauders’ attack, Wolverine renews an old rivalry.

Down in the sewers, Wolverine shrugs off Psylocke’s sudden silence and struggles to pick up the Marauders’ scent only to be jumped by Sabretooth, a hulking, animalistic sadist who has the Morlock Healer in his grasp. Confirming that he’s part of the Marauders and happy to assist Mr. Sinister’s scheme to take out the Morlocks and the X-Men, Sabretooth goads Wolverine into a fight (not that he needs much encouragement) by mocking him and backs up his arrogant claims by proving Logan’s physical better, wrestling with Wolverine and deftly avoiding his patented Adamantium claws. Rather than fighting harder, Wolverine opts to fight smarter, collapsing the already weakening tunnel on his foe, bringing their brief scuffle to an anti-climactic end as Wolverine’s more focused on getting Healer to safety than wasting time fighting Sabretooth. Just as he reconvenes with Rogue, the tunnel is immolated by a mysterious plasma wave that potentially threatened the New Mutants, a young Mutant team Wolverine sensed had gone against orders and ventured into. Despite Wolverine’s best efforts, the blasts apparently obliterate the Morlocks and Storm suspects that her unstable powers may have been the cause. Unwilling to give into despair, Magneto suggests he ally with the Hellfire Club to bolster their numbers, a suggestion Storm naturally balks at considering how dangerous the group has been in the past. As Doctor Moira McTaggart works tirelessly to save the lives threatened by the Marauders, Psylocke struggles with her sense of belonging with the X-Men, eager to prove her worth and lamenting their losses. In an effort to help, Psylocke suggests (well, “insists”) that she bolster her powers with Cerebro to search for the New Mutants and the Marauders, though Storm orders her not to take the risk as they need her to monitor for threats against the school.

Psylocke gambles on Wolverine’s durability to outlast Sabretooth’s assault.

Disheartened, Psylocke suddenly detects an intruder and receives agonising psychic feedback when she tries to probe them. As Rogue wanders the grounds, pondering her past, she’s suddenly attacked by Sabretooth, who easily overpowers her before trashing Cerebro and injuring Psylocke’s arm with his razor-sharp claws. Shrugging off her psycho-blast, Sabretooth pursues her with a sadistic, murderous rage, easily crushing a dumbbell and driving Psylocke to the roof. Though injured and outmatched, Psylocke grabs Storm’s knife after plummeting into her attic apartment, much to Sabretooth’s glee as he seemingly gets off on her feisty attempts to fight back. Just as Sabretooth gets his claws on Psylocke, he’s interrupted by Wolverine and Storm, who attacks Creed with her staff to save Psylocke. Sabretooth draws first blood in his rematch with Wolverine, somersaulting over him and clawing his back, even sampling Logan’s blood before they charge each other. Wolverine buries his claws into Sabretooth’s thigh, causing him to hurl Logan through the skylight in a rage. Sabretooth quickly follows and is tackled to the pool below. Though Magneto wishes to restrain Sabretooth to probe his mind, Psylocke argues that Creed’s psychic defences are too strong and that their best chance is to invade his mind while he’s busy fighting, trusting that Wolverine can take the punishment. Thus, as the two trade blows and cut each other to ribbons, Psylocke discovers that they have fought before and finally extracts knowledge of Creed’s mysterious master. Angered that he’s been so obviously duped, Sabretooth dives off a nearby cliff and into the sea, disappearing from Psylocke’s probes, much to Wolverine’s anger. In the aftermath, Psylocke is formally welcomed to the team and Storm prepares to move their wounded to Dr. McTaggart’s research facility on Muir Island to protect them from further Marauder attacks.

The Summary:
“Psylocke” is one of the first X-Men stories I ever read as it was included in a Marvel Comics annual I owned back in the day. Consequently, I have some fondness for this era in the X-Men’s history and this art style, which depicts one of the quintessential incarnations of the team. Wolverine, for example, dons his brown and tan suit, Storm has her wild punk-rock look, Rogue sports short hair, and Magneto wears a more heroic outfit to reflect his position as the X-Men’s headmaster. While the art is often simplistic at times, appearing washed out and lacking detail (specifically the faces), this is more noticeable in group panels and doesn’t apply to Wolverine’s brutal fights with Sabretooth. These issues also take place in the middle (or early days) of the “Mutant Massacre” story arc, so there’s a much bigger narrative of the X-Men and their allies being targeted by Mr. Sinister and the Marauders. Therefore, your enjoyment may hinge on your familiarity with the Morlocks as their slaughter takes centre stage. Storm, especially, is distraught by the deaths of her colleagues and questions her leadership skills, while Psylocke is equally filled with doubt about her place on the team and usefulness beyond simply monitoring for threats. Ultimately, Psylocke proves herself by betting on Wolverine’s tenacity and durability, believing he can take whatever Sabretooth dishes out and thus provide them crucial information regarding the Marauders. Similarly, Callisto’s unique brand of tough love and the pressing nature of their situation forces Storm to snap out of her despair and help save Psylocke, and their injured teammates.

Wolverine’s history with Sabretooth takes a backseat to the wider narrative.

I really like this era for Wolverine, where he was a bit of a gruff loner but still loyal to his team. Wolverine’s happy to tackle the dirty jobs alone since he’s “the best there is at what he does” and his animalistic side relishes the chance to get his claws dirty extracting a measure of revenge on the Marauders. While stunned to find Sabretooth running with the group, Wolverine doesn’t hesitate to fight Creed despite being physically outmatched. Sabretooth is presented as a sadistic psychopath who relishes torturing and slaughtering his prey. He happily targets the defenceless or fights dirty and is presented as a dark mirror to Wolverine, being a killer whereas Wolverine is “a man–who sometimes kills”. Interestingly, while Sabretooth embraces his animalistic side in a way that Wolverine constantly fights against, he’s not some mindless killer and is, instead, loquacious enough to goad his victims and taunt Wolverine relentlessly. Although their dialogue and Psylocke’s probing hints at their past, very little time is spent exploring how Wolverine and Sabretooth know each other. Instead, they simply clash as old rivals, eager to see who is the better between them. Unfortunately, their fights aren’t that impressive. The first was an interesting character study for Wolverine as he chooses the higher path rather than giving into his rage. The second fight is better and longer and is great for showing how tough Wolverine is, but it takes a backseat to Psylocke’s psychic probing. It might’ve been nice to spend a bit more time with the two, to have a few more breadcrumbs dropped regarding their past, and to let them go at it a bit more, but this is still a decent first round bout between the fierce rivals and a notable moment in Wolverine’s long history.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What are your thoughts on Wolverine’s first battle with Sabretooth? Were you a fan of the “Mutant Massacre” story arc? What did you think to the hints towards Wolverine’s history with Sabretooth? Were you a fan of Psylocke and this incarnation of the X-Men? Were you a fan of Claremont’s work with the team, and Wolverine? How are you celebrating Wolverine’s debut this month? Whatever you think about these issue, or Wolverine in general, leave a comment below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Wolverine stories for me to cover.

Back Issues [F4 Friday]: The Fantastic Four #5

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In November 1961, four intrepid explorers were changed by mysterious cosmic rays. Marvel’s “First Family” of Marvel heroes and featured in cartoons, videogames, and live-action movies.

Story Titles: “Prisoners of Doctor Doom!”, “Back to the Past!”, “On the Trail of Blackbeard”, “Battle!”, and “The Vengeance of Doctor Doom!”
Published: 10 April 1962 (cover-dated: July 1962)
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

The Background:
Back in 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby debuted the dysfunctional Fantastic Four as a counterpart the Justice League of America. Despite some debate over the team’s creation, the issue popularised the “Marvel Method” of writer/artist collaboration and subsequent issues introduced pivotal Marvel characters as enemies and allies of the relatable team. Without question, one of their most important villains was the egomaniacal Doctor Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom, the ruling monarch of Latveria who was driven to destroy the team and prove his intellectual superiority over Doctor Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic. Lee and Kirby sought to create a truly engaging villain in Dr. Doom, inspired by classic depictions of Death and bolstering his characterisation with an inflated ego and thirst for power. While Dr. Doom’s primary adversaries are the Fantastic Four, he menaced the wider Marvel universe, gaining God-like power more than once, in addition to brief spells as a morally ambiguous anti-hero and journeys beyond the stars and reality. Naturally, as the Fantastic Four’s most recognisable villain, Dr. Doom has heavily featured in the team’s ventures outside of comics, being a principal villain in cartoons and videogames, though his depiction in live-action has ranged from disappointing to down-right insulting.

The Review:
Our first glimpse of one of Marvel’s most enigmatic and menacing villains comes with the masked, hooded Dr. Doom literally playing with his toys amidst tomes on demons, science, and sorcery and boasting to himself of his superiority compared to our colourful heroes. Half a world away, New York City is struck by an unexpected power cut that affects every building save the towering Baxter Building. With no threat to focus their energies on, Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Benjamin Grimm/The Thing gripe with each other, forcing Mr. Fantastic and his lover, Susan Storm/The Invisible Girl, to intervene and scold the two like they are children. Their bickering is suddenly interrupted when Dr. Doom ensnares the Baxter Building in a gigantic net dropped from his helicopter! Coated with asbestos so durable that even the Human Torch cannot burn through it, the four are left at the mercy of Dr. Doom, whose voice chills Reed as he remembers the tragic story of his old college roommate, Victor Von Doom. Fascinated by the occult, the unseen Doom mixed science with the dark arts and constructed a machine to contact the netherworld, only to be horrifically scarred and expelled from the school when the machine exploded. Humiliated, Doom fled to the frigid wastelands of Tibet to seek deeper, darker secrets and Reed assumed he was dead and is therefore shocked to find Doom alive and demanding Sue as a hostage!

Dr. Doom kidnaps the Fantastic Four and, bizarrely, sends them to run errands in the distant past!

Naturally, the Thing reacts in anger and receives a few thousand volts for his outburst. Realising she has no choice but to acquiesce to Dr. Doom’s demands, Sue bravely volunteers herself to buy her family time to plan. Now holding the ace, Dr. Doom demands the remaining three board his ship and they’re forced to obey, ending up tapped in a mechanical prison and transported to Dr. Doom’s impressive, medieval stronghold in Latveria. In Dr. Doom’s throne room, he holds them off with his pet tiger and reveals that he wants them to take his time machine into the past to steal the legendary treasure of Edward Teach, the notorious pirate known as Blackbeard, since Dr. Doom cannot use his magnificent creation because someone must operate the controls. Dr. Doom promises to return them (he needs the treasure, after all) and to release Sue even if they fail, and the three promptly travel through time and space via a simple glowing square. The three waste no time acquiring period-appropriate attire and head to a local bar, where they’re immediately drugged and shanghaied onto a rival pirate ship. Once they awaken, a good old-fashioned donnybrook breaks out and the crew are in awe of the three’s incredible powers. Their standoff is soon interrupted by a rival ship, which they assume is Blackbeard. The battle goes swiftly thanks to their awesome superpowers and, before long, the ship and its treasure is captured, with the crew praising their mighty commander, the Thing, whom they dub “Blackbeard” in a fun predestination paradox. Though victorious, Reed shares the booty amongst their crew and trick Dr. Doom with an empty treasure chest, but things go awry when the Thing suddenly decides to stay in the past where he can be more than a reviled freak and orders his men to restrain Johnny and Reed!

Despite all his contingencies, Dr. Doom is driven to flee by the Fantastic Four’s awesome powers.

Thankfully, a twister strikes the ship, ransacking it and scattering the crew. Mr. Fantastic rescues the Human Torch before he drowns and they wash up on land to reunite with a remorseful Thing, who regains his senses and apologises for his momentary madness right as Dr. Doom decides to retrieve his foes. Dr. Doom praises them and reveals that the gems are mystical artifacts that once belonged to the ancient wizard Merlin, which he plans to use to conquer the world. However, Dr. Doom is stunned to find the chest filled with useless chains and, with the egotistical villain distracted, the Thing strikes. Unfortunately, Dr. Doom anticipated this and the Things shatters a sophisticated robot decoy and the three are left trapped in a death chamber. While Dr. Doom gloats, the Invisible Girl takes the chance to short circuit his equipment, freeing her family before they can suffocate. Realising Dr. Doom’s entire fortress is full of booby-traps, Reed leads his family in bypassing death traps such as voracious crocodiles and Johnny creates a circle of flames to try and smoke Dr. Doom out. Unimpressed, and perfectly fine with his fortress burning his secrets, Dr. Doom flees with his “rocket-powered flying harness” no less determined to plan a new world-conquering plot. The Human Torch is massively outclassed by Dr. Doom’s technology and barely saves himself from a fatal fall. Angered that Dr. Doom escaped, the Thing vows to handle the masked maniac next time and Reed reassures a despondent Johnny that they’ll dedicate their lives to tracking the villain, and others like him, down.

The Summary:
Dr. Doom is one of my favourite Marvel villains. He’s a scheming, egotistical, self-absorbed madman with delusions of grandeur whose ambition often exceeds his grasp. He’s revered as a monarch in his home country and influential enough to topple governments and menace anyone from the Fantastic Four to the mighty Avengers! So, imagine my disappointment to find he’s merely a run-of-the-mill villain of the week here. Sure, Dr. Doom gets a bit more backstory than most villains of this era, but it’s painfully rushed and has little impact on the story. There’s no in-depth portrayal of Dr. Doom’s hatred of Reed or his vendetta against the Fantastic Four. Indeed, Dr. Doom targets them primarily to prove his superiority and coerce them into stealing treasure for him, which his robot duplicate could’ve done! Rather than stewing in his fortress for years, fostering a hatred for Reed and planning how to counter the Fantastic Four’s powers, Dr. Doom has barely any emotional connection to Reed since Mr. Fantastic hardly factored in his accident. There are no fist curling cries of “Richards!” here, no attempts to torture and humiliate his old roommate, and no desire to humble the Fantastic Four or destroy their reputation. Instead, Dr. Doom simply kidnaps them (a feat easily accomplished by a simple net!) and forces them to do his bidding by, of course, taking Sue hostage. While Sue isn’t written as an air-headed bimbo in this issue, for a change, and gets a chance to show her maternal side in chastising Ben and Johnny, she’s reduced to a mere damsel in distress to force the others to obey Dr. Doom. Still, she does take advantage of his distraction to mess up his equipment and free the others, showing she’s a fully capable superhero when she’s not distracted by Reed’s opinion of her.

Despite Dr. Doom’s visual appeal and maniacal genius, he’s just another run-of-the-mill villain.

Unfortunately, rather than focus on Dr. Doom and develop a villain with a deep-rooted rivalry with Reed, The Fantastic Four #5 mostly focuses on a bizarre time travel adventure! As if this idea wasn’t ludicrous enough, the jaunt is further padded out by unnecessary drama when the Thing randomly decides he likes the adulation he receives in the past and betrays Reed and Johnny to stay there! It’s a fleeting moment barely worth the panels devoted to it, and I can’t help but think this time would’ve been better served with Dr. Doom lording his superiority over Sue or using his mixture of science and magic (something barely touched upon here) to best the Fantastic Four’s powers. Latveria isn’t even named here; we get no sense of her people or Dr. Doom’s reputation and his abilities are painfully limited to “mad scientist”. Dr. Doom’s fortress is said to be a fortified castle filled with death traps, but we barely see these and they’re easily circumvented by the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic. Dr. Doom still comes across as a conniving, scheming villain smart enough to install robot duplicates and whose backup plans have backup plans, but it’s disappointing to see his first plot to simple be stealing jewels. We learn all-too late that they’re Merlin’s property, but again the magical nature of Dr. Doom’s abilities is hardly a factor, so he just comes across as a common thief who happens to own a time machine. He doesn’t provide his enemies with a return module and instead simply gets lucky that the three have succeeded when he randomly decides enough time has past, he resorts to taking a woman hostage, and he doesn’t even seem to care that his castle is at risk of being destroyed. Ultimately, The Fantastic Four #5 is an important story since it marks the start of Dr. Doom’s epic saga but it’s by no means the best or most engaging Dr. Doom story.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the first appearance of Doctor Doom? Were you impressed by his menacing appearance and advanced technology? What did you think to the bizarre time travel plot and the Thing’s brief moment of madness? Were you surprised that the connection between Reed and Dr. Doom was downplayed? What are some of your favourite Dr. Doom stories and moments? Whatever you think about Dr. Doom and the Fantastic Four, leave a comment below and check out my other Fantastic Four content.

Movie Night: Blade: Trinity

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Released: 8 December 2004
Director: David S. Goyer
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Budget: $65 million
Stars: Wesley Snipes, Dominic Purcell, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Parker Posey, and Triple H

The Plot:
After being exposed and vilified by a vampire ruse, half-human, half-vampire vampire hunter Blade (Snipes) reluctantly teams with the upstart “Nightstalkers” against the resurrected Count Dracula/Drake (Purcell).

The Background:
The brainchild of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, Eric Brooks/Blade (an obscure and culturally problematic vampire hunter) first appeared in The Tomb of Dracula decades before a radically different version essentially birthed the modern superhero genre. Following years of development and rewrites, Blade (Norrington, 1998) was a critical and commercial hit that was followed by a divisive (if profitable) sequel about three years later. Plans for a third film were made before Blade II (Del Toro, 2002) was released, with writer David S. Goyer tapped to pen the film and Oliver Hirschbiegel initially in talks to direct. When those plans fell apart, Goyer took the big job after receiving advice from previous Blade directors Stephen Norrington and Guillermo Del Toro. Ryan Reynolds signed on, with Goyer tentatively hoping for a spin-off for his wise-cracking character, though the shoot was reportedly tense when star Wesley Snipes fell out with Goyer, refusing to talk to him or even follow basic directions. Though co-star Patton Oswalt spoke negatively of the experience, Snipes later claimed these reports were over dramatised and an elaborate ruse. Although it grossed slightly more than the first film, Blade: Trinity was widely panned for being a nonsensical mess lacking the style and substance of its predecessors and for having one of the worst onscreen renditions of Dracula. Though plans for a crossover with the Underworld franchise (Various, 2003 to 2016), the character lived on in a short-lived TV show and Snipes even reprised the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ahead of a complete reboot.

The Review:
Things start out normal for everyone’s favourite dhampir as he knocks off vampires and operates out of a repurposed garage/warehouse much like in the first movie. Blade is oddly baffled when a victim shrugs off silver, despite claiming to have killed 1182 Familiars, and being easily fooled by fake fangs despite his heightened senses. This costs him when bystanders witness him killing a man in cold blood and Danica Talos (Parker Posey) releases the footage, painting Blade as a psychopathic murderer and exposing him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.), specifically Agent Ray Cumberland (James Remar). While Blade’s mentor and father figure, Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) returns, he’s little more than a cameo who encourages Blade to rely on others and dramatically sacrifices himself holding off Cumberland’s strike team. The normally stoic dhampir is once again anguished by the loss, which further undermines his unnecessary return in Blade II. Much of Blade’s exchanges with Whistler set up his central character arc, namely his reluctance to rely on others or accept help (which is also a bit odd considering he worked with others, and even a vampire crack squad, before and Blade II painted him as a natural leader). Though Blade openly scoffs at the idea of having friends or relying on others, Drake’s threat forces him to fall in with the Nightstalkers, who Whistler secretly organised to aid him (despite them not appearing the last time Whistler died).

Devastated by Whistler’s loss, Blade reluctantly teams with a group of upstart vampire hunters.

The Nightstalkers are an eclectic bunch of young upstarts who immediately rub Blade the wrong way, with wise-cracking Hannibal King (Reynolds) particularly grating on Blade’s nerves due to his motor mouth. Despite Blade’s very aggressive and unapologetic scepticism, though, the Nightstalkers sport state of the art tech and weapons, such as Abigail “Abby” Whistler’s (Biel) ultraviolet bow and Sommerfield’s (Natasha Lyonne) “Daystar” pathogen to wipe out the vampire species (which is doubly impressive considering she’s blind). Abby and Hannibal join Blade as the titular “trinity”, leaving Blade stunned to learn that Whistler had a secret daughter. While we never learn how close she and her father were, it’s clear she’s as haunted by her past and driven by revenge like Whistler, who wanted to destroy all vampires for torturing and killing his family. While Blade reluctantly becomes a key figure in the Nightstalkers, he also becomes a mentor for Abby, teaching her to “use” her pain and anger at the death of her friends to better aid her in battle, though she impresses with her speed and deftness and her ability to fight while listening to music. Hannibal’s fast talking, smarmy attitude clashes with Blade’s reserved personality, leading to the dhampir all-but dismissing King despite him formally being Danica’s plaything. This gives him all the motivation for hating vampires and wanting to wipe them out, something Blade can definitely relate to, though he remains adamant that the Nightstalkers need an attitude adjustment and some proper, experienced leadership. Hannibal may be a shit-talker, but he’s both extremely cut and loyal, insulting sadistic brute Jarko Grimwood’s (Triple H) manhood and bravely defying Danica, but he’s terrified of being turned back into a vampire and forced to feed his loved ones.

Parker Posey drags every scene down with her atrocious line delivery and ham acting.

Blade: Trinity shows a new side to vampire society as Familiars wage a public relations war against Blade and control the local police, placing Blade in an unwinnable and desperate situation. Danica leads her brother, Asher (Callum Keith Rennie), and Jarko, in reviving Dracula in hopes of cementing their race’s dominance. In a film full of missteps and poor ideas, Parker Posey has to be one of the worst. While she seems to be having fun and is certainly chewing the scenery with her over the top performance, she’s literally painful to watch and drags the already questionable script further down with her atrocious delivery and childish tantrums. While Triple H doesn’t fare much better, he at least has an imposing presence and some funny character quirks, such as his love for a Reaper-like Pomeranian and his heated rivalry with Blade and Hannibal, matching his brawn and smart mouth against both. While the vampires are clearly well funded and have many resources, even setting up literal blood banks to sustain them when they take over, they seem far less organised and capable, with Danica so desperately unearthing Dracula to blood can transform her race into dhampirs. Danica and Jarko hate Blade and Hannibal with a passion, the former because he’s systematically wiping out their race and the latter because he’s a smart ass who routinely insults them even when suffering brutal torture. Having previously turned and tortured Hannibal and presumably had numerous run-ins with him, Danica delights in seeing him suffer but seems to have some respect for Blade and is especially envious of his ability to walk in daylight. While Drake quickly acts in his own interests, exploring the city and toying with Blade on his own terms, Danica seems okay with this (not that she can stand against Dracula’s power) since she’s convinced Drake will turn the tide for her entire race.

Despite his impressive demonic form, Drake may be one of the worst filmic Dracula’s ever seen.

Echoing the same sense of superiority as the Pure Bloods of the previous films, Drake is said to be the first vampire, a demonic entity who’s never had to evolve who was a feared Sumerian warrior before entering a long period of hibernation after becoming disgusted by the world. However, as much as I enjoy Dominic Purcell’s work, he’s a poor fit for the role. With his stocky physique and robotic delivery, he’s very much the opposite of the Dracula legend as told by Hannibal, to say nothing of the classically trained actors who usual embody the part. While Blade: Trinity repeatedly downplays the movies and popular depictions of Dracula, Drake is fast enough to avoid bullets, exhibits superhuman strength, and is an accomplished shapeshifter. Drake strangely mimics Whistler to attack the Nightstalkers and is initially depicted as a monstrous, armoured demon overcome by “The Thirst”, a look that’s honestly more menacing and unique than his bog standard “Everyman” guise. Before he takes the lame-ass name “Drake”, Dracula is disgusted by Danica and modern-day vampires, rightly seeing them as “shadows” of their former glory. However, Drake’s convinced to begrudgingly aid them to test himself against Blade, whom he sees as the future of the vampire race and a formidable opponent. Drake is mesmerised by the modern world, it’s glorification of vampires, and how decadent and soft humanity and vampires have become. Unlike Blade, who resists the bloodlust of the Thirst, Drake gives into it at every opportunity, using it to further augment his abilities and freely feeding upon his victims to fuel his strength. Said to have the purest blood of all vampires, Sommerfield theorises that Drake holds the key to eliminating all vampires with Daystar just as Danica hopes Blade’s blood will ensure vampire survival. Thus, Blade and Drake are positioned as opposites and equals, though Dracula only ever appears as such when in his impressive, sadly little seen demonic form (which, interestingly, also sports Reaper-like fangs).

The Nitty-Gritty:
Knowing how chaotic and troubled Blade: Trinity’s production was, it’s hard not to read more into Blade’s disgust at the Nightstalkers, whom he sees as “amateurs”. Indeed, he shows more animosity towards them than he does the Blood Pack, though this may be because Whistler never told him of the “sleeper cells” he prepared to aid Blade. While the Nightstalkers are more capable than Blade gives them credit, they lack his years of experience and unique insight into fighting vampires, though they recognise this and see him as essential to the cause. It’s equally true that they’re slightly less impressive than their comic book counterparts, with Hannibal King, especially, being quite different as it was originally him, not Blade, who was a dhampir. I don’t mind this change much, mainly because I barely know Hannibal and the changes made to Blade only benefitted the character, but I can’t help but be unimpressed by Dracula, who lacks gravitas and finesse and comes across as just another formidable vampire threat for Blade. Blade: Trinity leans more into humour than its predecessors, particular through Ryan Reynolds’ obvious riffing. While I enjoy his humour and delivery, it’s constantly framed as inappropriate and awkward as no one, not even Abby, acknowledges his quips regarding Danica’s vagina fangs, pop-culture references, or Blade’s grim façade. While it’s clear Hannibal is using humour as a coping mechanism, he’s portrayed as a hyperactive little kid whom Abby keeps in check like a big-sister. Abby’s thus devastated when Drake slaughters her friends and kidnaps Somerfield’s young daughter, Zoe (Ginger “Haili” Page), channelling her grief and rage to emulate Blade’s stoic demeanour despite Zoe showing no fear even when Drake tries to intimidate her with blasphemy.

Fights are still very impressive, with Abby especially taking the spotlight with her archery skills.

Blade has some new toys here, including a fun silver-lined roped dagger and a new delivery system for his serum, alongside his usual muscle car, trademark sword, and gun. However, it’s the Nightstalkers who get all the cool gear, such as Abby sporting a silver danger in her boot, lugging around a high-tech bow that sports an ultraviolet laser and lets her shoot around corners, and a wrist-mounted dagger. While Hannibal largely relies on pistols and his smart mouth, he also busts out ultraviolent grenades and Hedges (Patton Oswalt), the Nightstalkers’ resident armourer, develops an “electronic pistol” that fires explosive silver rounds and a high-impact shotgun (similar to those used by the Blood Pack) that fires anything from stakes to heat-seeking mini rockets. While these are rarely used, and Wesley Snipes may appear more lethargic and stoic than usual, Blade continues to ooze charisma and shine in fight scenes, executing kicks and throws with a slick precision to showcase Blade’s raw power whenever the Thirst takes hold. Overall, fights are easy to follow and vampires still explode into cinders and ashes when killed. There are some fun montages of Blade, Hannibal, and Abby knocking around Familiars to get a lead on Drake and Blade frantically chases Drake through the city, leading to a tense rooftop showdown where Drake endangers a baby simply to parlay with the feared Daywalker. When Sommerfield’s research leads Blade and Abby to a vampire “blood bank”, revealing they keep braindead vagrants as a food source, they return to find Zoe and the injured Hannibal kidnapped and the other Nightstalkers dead, with Drake using the two as bait. This leads not just to the now traditional montage of Blade suiting up and preparing for battle and Abby compiling a suitable playlist, but also to Abby working through her grief by preparing her bow and practising her impressive archery skills.

Though victorious after an intense sword fight, Blade’s war is apparently far from over…

Sommerfield leaves a message asking Abby to take care of Zoe and discussing the Daystar prototype, though warns that it must be injected into Drake to work and could potentially kill Blade alongside the other vampires. Regardless, Blade and Abby take the virus (helpfully forged to be fired as an arrow) and follow Hannibal’s tracker, spreading silver dust through the facility’s air conditioning to weaken the vampires ahead of a full-frontal assault. While Blade and Abby fend off Danica’s disposable goons with their karate and toys to rescue Zoe, Hannibal struggles against the hulking Jarko while Blade gets into a swordfight with Drake, now garbed in ceremonial armour. For all the shit I’ve talked about this Dracula, this sword fight is actually really cool (despite some dodgy CGI sequences where Drake defies gravity) and nicely spliced alongside Hannibal and Jarko’s more brutal smackdown, which ends with an exhausted and overwhelmed Hannibal stuffing an explosive ultraviolet round into Jarko’s mouth and blowing him inside out. Although relishing matching swords with Blade, Drake assumes his demonic form to overpower Blade, leaving him prone for a bloody end. While Drake has the wherewithal to catch Abby’s arrow, a second shot stuns him long enough for Blade to inject the Daystar virus, which immediately reacts with Dracula’s blood to reduce all remaining vampires in the building (including Danica) to choking, rotting corpses. In his final moments, Drake commends Blade and praises him as the future of his species, using the last of his power to mimic Blade’s form to spare him future persecution. Though the wounded dhampir’s recovered by his allies, Hannibal’s final narration delivers an anticlimactic and open-ended coda that sees Blade continuing his war, suggesting that Daystar will take some time to eradicate the vampire threat.

The Summary:
While Blade: Trinity is nowhere near as bad as many would have to believe and is still a sleek, sexy, kick-ass vampire action movie, there’s no denying the drop in quality from the previous two films. While the action is as hard hitting and bloody as ever, there are some unmistakable flaws, like Blade’s stupidity regarding Familiars, the glossed over explanation of Abby’s birth, and the overreliance of Ryan Reynolds’ smart mouth humour. While I do enjoy him here, your enjoyment of Blade: Trinity may depend on if you can stomach his wise-ass jokes, which are oddly framed as awkward and childish. Personally, I much preferred Hannibal King to Abby, who showed little personality until Sommerfield’s brutal death, with the film bizarrely avoiding emphasing her heritage, how that affects Blade, and his role as a mentor to her. While the film is as stylish as its predecessors and competently presented in the same visual style, with fun, well-choreographed, and well edited fight scenes, I do question the casting of Parker Posey. She’s just awful here, hamming up every line and looking spaced out in every scene. Triple H’s physical performance was impressive, leading to a decent David vs. Goliath fight between him and Hannibal and I did like his animosity towards Hannibal, which was in stark contrast to Blade’s stoic dismissal. For me, Blade: Trinity drops the ball with its depiction of Dracula. Robbed of his aristocracy and screen presence, Drake appears as just another vampire thug unless he’s in his impressive demon form. Dominic Purcell just doesn’t have the gravitas for the role, and I would’ve much preferred he took Danica’s place, and a classically trained actor was cast as Dracula to give him a better aura of menace and refinement. Additionally, Blade: Trinity does do a disservice to the title character by having Abby, Hannibal, and the Nightstalkers eat into his screen time to set up a spinoff we never got. In the end, I think Blade: Trinity is a decent film to throw on in the background and is unfairly saddled with a negative reputation. It’s not as good as the last two and has far more flaws, but it’s decent enough, though I appreciate how many see it as disappointing end for the character.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Blade: Trinity? How do you think it compares to the previous Blade movies? What did you think to the Nightstalkers? Did you enjoy Hannibal’s lewd sense of humour and do you agree that the film dropped the ball with Abby’s potential? Were you disappointed by Dracula’s lukewarm portrayal and did you also find Parker Posey a grating inclusion? What would you like to see from Blade in future movies? Whatever your thoughts on Blade: Trinity, share them below, check out my other Blade reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Blade content.

Back Issues: The Tomb of Dracula #1

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Story Title: “Dracula”
Published: 16 November 1971 (cover dated: April 1972)
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Gene Colan

The Background:
Inspired by famous butchers like Vlad II/Vlad Dracula/Vlad the Impaler, Count Dracula first appeared all the way back in 1897 courtesy of author Bram Stoker’s classic Gothic novel, which became the great-great-grandfather of what we now know as the vampire mythology. An instant classic, Dracula was adapted many times over the years as plays, movies, videogames, and even comic books. Indeed, when publishers like Marvel Comics were finally allowed to print stories involving vampires and other supernatural creatures, writers like Gerry Conway and artist gene Colon selected the infamous Count to spearhead the Tomb of Dracula series. Heavily inspired by classic Hammer Horror films, The Tomb of Dracula saw numerous writers and artists come and go as it struggled to find its identity and is perhaps best known for introducing Eric Brooks/Blade to Marvel readers. Still, Dracula went on to clash with many Marvel heroes, especially those who were involved with the supernatural. Dracula worked alongside the Avengers to fend off the Dread Dormammu, spawned a Nazi vampire, established a vampire colony on the Moon, and even matched wits with various cosmic beings. Perhaps surprisingly, Dracula also appeared in many Marvel cartoons but was most infamously brought to life by Dominic Purcell in the much-maligned Blade: Trinity (Goyer, 2004).

The Review:
Marvel’s version of the enigmatic Count was first introduced, fittingly enough, against the backdrop of a storm swept Transylvania, where Count Dracula’s mighty, gothic castle stands ominously on a hilltop. Despite the torrential weather and poor visibility, Frank Drake and his girlfriend, Jeanie Ovington, brave the storm alongside Clifton Graves, Frank’s cantankerous long-time friend who chastises Drake’s decision to fly from London just to sell the castle, which he recently inherited. While the three lament their misfortunes, hopelessly lost, residents of the nearby village discuss Frank’s impending arrival. While Fritz Burgeister predicts only sorrow will come from continuing to mess with the long-abandoned castle, a local barmaid hopes that Frank will bring some much-needed tourism and revenue to their sleepy Romani town. Just then, the three stumble into the Baron’s Inn seeking transportation to Castle Dracula from Fritz. However, Fritz refuses to take them to the castle and is adamant that none of the townsfolk would volunteer to replace him. While Clifton scoffs that the locals believe the wild tales spun by Bram Stoker, one of the patrons, Otto, volunteers to take them…for a small fee. Naturally, this is by horse and carriage and, on the way, Otto shares tales of how Dracula’s legend is debatable for, while such a man possibly existed, none can be sure if he were actually a vampire as Stoker claimed. Regardless, fear of the Count and his kin drives many of the locals to bar their windows, leave wolf’s-bane at their doors, and wear crucifixes to ward off any evil spirits. While Otto claims to be an exception in this regard, he’s no fool and refuses to take them right to the castle door, forcing the three to walk the rest of the way and costing Clifton his last ten bucks for the pleasure.

Broke Frank Drake is forced to visit his alluring, Gothic ancestral home to recoup his losses.

While Frank’s distracted by the grandeur of Castle Dracula, Clifton tries to put the moves on Jeanie. However, while they used to be a thing, she ended it months ago and is sick of his refusal to accept that she’s moved on. Frank, however, is lost in memories of how he stupidly blew his father’s fortune, how Jeanie stuck by him despite his money woes, and him being refused financial aid from banks and friends alike. While sharing his woes with Clifton, Frank mentions how all he has left is an old castle, one passed down through his family line and which his family has struggled to sell. This is where we learn that Frank is a descendant of Dracula’s and that it was actually Clifton’s idea to capitalise on his lineage by turning the castle into a tourist attraction. While reading through a family journal (strongly implied to be Stoker’s novel, reinterpreted as a historical document), Frank felt the stirring of “some ancestral memory” and was captivated by the descriptions of Dracula. The book also told of his ancestor’s shame and fear of being associated with the Count and of how Abraham van Helsing (referred to as “van Helfing”) seemingly destroyed the vampire lord by driving a wooden stake through his heart. Haunted by the text, Frank nevertheless agreed to head to Transylvania with Clifton and Jeanie in hopes of turning the castle into a museum though, as he stands in the shadow of the gothic structure, Frank can’t help but be unnerved by the strange feelings of home and destiny exuded by the dark building. As they tour the interior, Frank’s odd behaviour worries Jeanie, who’s startled when a cloud of bats suddenly swarms them. Although Frank fends them off, Jeanie’s left traumatised and wanting to leave, noting that Frank’s changed and is no longer the sweet man who gifted her a silver compact mirror.

The enigmatic count mesmerises Jeanie, corrupting her despite Frank’s best efforts.

Determined to force Jeanie back into his arms and screw his friend over, Clifton takes off and ends up tumbling into a dungeon. There, he discovers a narrow stone stairway leading to an ancient tomb, where Dracula’s coffin rests. Seeing only dollar signs, Clifton draws a gun and arrogantly opens the crypt, discovering the skeletal corpse of Dracula, stake and all, lying within. Excited, Clifton removes the stake and sets out to kill Frank so he can reap all the rewards, unaware that this act causes Dracula to reconstitute and rise again! Weary and famished from his long slumber, the eloquent Count pounces upon Clifton, shrugging off his gun shot and tossing him into a deeper dungeon for safekeeping. Entranced by the sound of others, especially a woman, Dracula heads to the upper floors in his bat form, frightening Jeanie and then horrifying both her and Frank when he reveals his true self. Thanks to his silver tongue and hypnotic eyes, Dracula easily sways Jeanie to leave Frank’s side, so he knocks her out with a right hook to keep her safe (!) and sends Dracula fleeing by flashing her silver compact. As Frank rushes Jeanie upstairs (since she’s somehow “close to dying!”), Dracula flies to the village and feeds upon the barmaid, turning the locals into an angry mob when they rightly assume that Frank and the others disturbed the legendary vampire. Returning to his castle, Dracula spies on the unconscious Jeanie and, though tempted by her purity and innocence, is again denied another meal by the glittering crucifix around her neck. Frank takes credit for this and confronts his ancestor, warding the vampire off with the compact’s mirror, enraging Dracula and casing him to strike his cousin, knocking him out. Although Dracula compels Jeanie to remove her crucifix, the angry mob sets the castle alight and Frank recovers in time to flash the compact once more, forcing Dracula to flee. Unfortunately, Frank was too late to stop Jeanie being bitten and she awakens as a vampire, mocking his grief and fleeing into the misty night.

The Summary:
This had a bit of potential, but didn’t fully deliver on its premise. I quite like the idea that Dracula is treated as folklore, a retelling of factual events whose veracity is disputed. For the Transylvanian locals, Castle Dracula is all-too real and the fear of the vampire lord within is strong enough to stir up superstitions and debate between them. While none of them dispute that Dracula did exist, some aren’t convinced he was a vampire and yet many take precautions nevertheless because…why tempt fate? Fritz takes these concerns very seriously, presumptuously speaking for his fellow villagers and claiming that no one will help Frank and the others. This isn’t quite true as Otto’s assistance can be bought, though even he’ll only go so far despite boasting of his disbelief of such superstitious nonsense. Whether they believe it or not, Castle Dracula stands as an ominous monument. Its very presence evokes fear and it’s become a symbol of all their superstitions, though ironically may hold the key to bring some much-needed revenue to the struggling villagers as it could lure in tourists. The ill-fated barmaid is almost as excited by this prospect as the opportunistic Clifton, who maliciously manipulates Frank into buying into his family’s account of the Count and profiting off his inheritance, with no understanding of what truly lurks within Castle Dracula. He’s perfectly happy to use his friend, openly complaining and criticising him and gaslighting Frank into believing the troubles they’ve suffered from the trip are his fault, all with the aim of profiting both financial and by regaining Jeanie’s affections. While she has no time for Clifton (and even Frank quickly loses patience), Clifton refuses to take no for an answer and is even prepared to off Frank just so that he can weasel his way back into Jeanie’s bed, a selfish ambition that blinds him and makes him easy prey for the rejuvenated vampire lord.

Despite his visual appeal, Dracula is strangely weak and fails to match his filmic counterparts.

Yes, Dracula is very real here. Clearly modelled after Christopher Lee’s iconic portrayal from Dracula: Prince of Darkness (Fisher, 1966), the Count is a tall, alluring figure with hypnotic eyes and even more hypnotic voice. A gothic figure of ancient legend, he’s ripped straight from Bram Stoker’s novel and sports many of the same tropes and weaknesses. He can transform into a bat, mesmerise his prey, feeds on their blood, and is warded off by wolf’s-bane, silver, crucifixes, and mirrors. The Drake journal reveals that their bloodline largely distanced themselves from Dracula out of fear and tells how an old vampire hunter finally slayed the creature, revealing that Dracula can be killed with a wooden stake (though this doesn’t come into play, except to revitalise the fiend). Immune to Clifton’s bullets, Dracula’s scared off by Jeanie’s convenient silver combat mirror and heads into town to feed, though seems displeased by the barmaid’s blood and desires purer, sweeter blood. Thus, he targets Jeanie, a caring spouse who worries about Frank’s distracted state and fends off Clifton’s advances, though she crumbles like paper whenever bats appear, much less Dracula. Dracula seems a bit weak here, which is understandable since he just woke up, but it’s weird that his strike didn’t kill Frank. The story’s also incomprehensible at times; Frank seems to think Jeanie’s in danger of dying after simply passing out and she gets bitten between panels, which wasn’t very clear. In the end, this was an alright story with some unique visuals. I like the gothic depiction of Castle Dracula and the torrential rain, and Dracula’s very Lee-esque appearance and unique, haunting way of talking. However, it was quite a repetitive story (Frank relied on that silver compact way too much) that didn’t fully deliver on all its plot threads (Clifton being a prime example). I can only hope that future issues of The Tomb of Dracula characterised the titular Count as less of a weakling as this wasn’t a great showing for him here, even if he did get the last laugh by turning Jeanie.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to Count Dracula’s debut story? Were you disappointed by how weak he was depicted? What did you think to Frank Drake and the depiction of Dracula’s legend? Did you ever read The Tomb of Dracula books and, if so, did you enjoy them? What are some of your favourite Dracula moments from Marvel Comics? Have you ever read Stoker’s novel, and what are some of your favourite vampire stories? No matter what you think, good or bad, feel free to share your thoughts below, show me some love on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Dracula content.

Back Issues [A-Day]: The Avengers #54-55 / The Mighty Avengers #66-68

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In September 1963 the legendary duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby assembled Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, who became the premier team of Marvel Comics, formed the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and become an unbelievably popular and successful franchise.

Story Title: “…And Deliver Us From–The Masters of Evil!”
Published: 9 May 1968 (cover-dated: July 1968)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: John Buscema

Story Title: “Mayhem Over Manhattan!”
Published: 11 July 1968 (cover-dated: August 1968)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: John Buscema

Story Title: “Betrayal!”
Published: 13 May 1969 (cover-dated: July 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith

Story Title: “We Stand at Armageddon!”
Published: 10 June 1969 (cover-dated: August 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith

Story Title: “…And We Battle for the Earth!”
Published: 8 July 1969 (cover-dated: September 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Barry Windsor-Smith

The Background:
After DC Comics brought together their most popular and powerful superheroes to form the Justice League of America in 1960, Marvel Comics head honcho Martin Goodman tasked Stan Lee with creating a similar team following his success with the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Luckily, Lee and his most famous collaborators had already introduced numerous colourful characters and, thus, Anthony “Tony” Stark/Iron Man, Doctor Robert Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Doctor Donald Blake/Thor Odinson, and Doctor Hank Pym/Ant-Man and Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp became the first Avengers. Since the debut issue, the Avengers have been a consistent and influential presence in Marvel Comics and their roster has constantly shifted and changed, with the long-retired Captain Steve Rogers/Captain America joining their ranks in issue four. The Avengers splinter groups, been disassembled and reassembled, aided in massive cosmic events, and battled some of Marvel’s most powerful supervillains. Perhaps one of their greatest recurring enemies is the psychotic cyborg Ultron, who was first revealed under the guise of the Crimson Cowl in The Avengers #55. Created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, and built in-universe by Hank Pym, Ultron is a sentient android who developed a murderous obsession with destroying the Avengers and conquering the world. Capable of changing his form, improving and becoming more powerful over the years, Ultron inadvertently created one of the Avengers’ most powerful allies, the Vision, expanded his schemes to include both the galaxy and altering the timeline, and even merged with his creator at one point. Ultron has made regular appearances in videogames as a powerful, penultimate, or final boss, is often portrayed as a formidable villain in Marvel cartoons, and was masterfully brought to life by James Spader in Avengers: Age of Ultron (Whedon, 2015).

The Review:
The Avengers’ first encounter with the killer automaton Ultron began with T’Challa/The Black Panther testing Dr. Hank Pym/Goliath’s new defensive protocols at the Avengers Mansion. Satisfied that the booby traps are fully functional, Giant-Man alerts the Avengers’ butler, faithful Edwin Jarvis, who’s shocked at the subtle insinuation that he would ever betray his team’s secrets. However, Jarvis then slinks away to make a clandestine phone call and then slips out to visit his mother, only to venture to a secret base beneath a condemned building to meet the villainous Masters of Evil! Rather than being brainwashed or some elaborate decoy, Jarvis has truly betrayed the Avengers for a hefty cash sum and, while Chen Lu/Radioactive Man is suspicious of their enemy’s butler working with them, the team’s newest leader – the elusive and secretive Crimson Cowl – vouches for Jarvis. Still, Ulysses Klaw is anxious to have his revenge against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, specifically the Black Panther, and is tempted to kill Jarvis as a substitute. Thanks to Dane Whitman/The Black Knight and Bruno Horgan/The Melter, the enraged villains cool off enough to let Jarvis speak. However, after Jarvis delivers the floorplan for Pym’s new defences, the Crimson Cowl double-crosses him with a puff of knockout gas and sends the Masters of Evil on their way. While flying about on his winded horse, Aragorn, the Black Knight recalls how he joined the new Masters of Evil to betray them to the Avengers. However, the Crimson Cowl anticipates this and sends the others to intercept Whitman at the Avengers Mansion. Though overwhelmed, the Black Knight orders Aragorn away but, while Clint Barton/Hawkeye spots the horse, the abrasive Avenger is attacked by the Melter before he can alert the team.

The Avengers and their foes are stunned when their newest adversary turns out to be more than he seems.

Though he fires off a few arrows, Hawkeye’s downed when the Melter buries him under some debris. Simultaneously, David Cannon/Whirlwind attacks the Black Panther, sending him flying with a whirling cyclone, and the Wasp is accosted by Klaw. Despite showing no fear and her super shrinking ability, the Wasp is easily defeated when she flies head-first into a door! Similarly, Radioactive Man surprises Goliath and Doctor William “Bill” Foster in the Avenger’s lab, subduing Foster with a super adhesive and luring Goliath into a trap where he’s ensnared by his own devices! With all the Avengers captured, the gloating Masters of Evil introduce their master, who’s first revealed to be a distinctly Ultron-looking robot decoy and then unmasked to be Jarvis! The Masters of Evil load their prisoners into a futuristic craft and head back to their master, relishing their victory, though the villains are as unnerved by Jarvis’s turn as the Avengers, if not more since Jarvis demonstrates an uncanny ability to be fully aware of everything, no matter how trivial. Although Goliath escapes his restraints, Klaw’s saved by the Crimson Cowl, who admonishes his carelessness. When Klaw turns his incredible Sonic Claw on his master, he’s amazed when it has no effect and is left grovelling at the hooded figure’s feet, suitably humbled. The Crimson Cowl then reveals his plan to drop the Avengers into the ocean and blackmail New York City with a hydrogen bomb. However, the Crimson Cowl purposely drops the Avengers in a craft so they can slowly suffocate after learning that Jarvis was hypnotically duped into betraying them by none other than Ultron-5!

After freeing Jarvis from Ultron, the Avengers are later betrayed by the Vision!

Though it seems like the Melter crushes Jarvis under some rubble during his desperate escape, the remorseful butler survives and wanders the streets, succumbing to exhaustion just as he’s found by the Black Knight. Thanks to Jarvis’s tipoff, the Black Knight intercepts Ultron-5’s craft and frees the Avengers. The team quickly avenge themselves against the Masters of Evil, causing Whirlwind to flee but apprehending the others and easily dismantling the hydrogen bomb. When the Avengers confront their regretful butler, Jarvis reveals he sold out to pay for his mother’s treatments, and they quickly forgive him and part with the Black Knight on good terms, though Ultron-5 is left vowing revenge. Some time later, aboard a Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.) Helicarrier, a new version of the Avengers tests the durability of the mysterious Adamantium, a substance powerful enough to tank blows from Thor Odinson’s hammer and Iron Man’s Repulsor Rays. This proves that, as the team feared, the mineral has been altered by a “molecular rearranger” and presents a serious threat. As Goliath (now Barton garbed in a garish costume) tries to prove he can succeed where they failed, the strangely silent synthezoid, the Vision, is suddenly assaulted by an unseen force and compelled to brood over the grave of Simon Williams/Wonder Man, whose brain patterns formed his personality. Though he first suspects Simon’s spirit is calling him, the Vision suddenly has a revelation and flies off, leaving Pym (now known as Yellowjacket) to ponder his ally’s fate. While Iron Man tests himself in the mansion’s combat simulator, the Vision returns to the team’s Helicarrier, subdues a guard, and steals the Adamantium before lowering the ship’s air pressure to leave none alive. When the team finds out and find Janet attacked, they angrily confront the Vision, who coldly rejects his humanity, easily shrugs off their attacks, and heralds the rebirth of his creator, now in the jet-powered form of Ultron-6!

The remorseful Vision tries to atone for his mistakes by battling his creator to the death.

Now made of the indestructible Adamantium, the vengeful Ultron-6 attacks without mercy, easily defeating Thor and Goliath when the battle hungry Thor strikes the android’s body with his enchanted hammer, Mjölnir, and causes a massive shockwave. Though Yellowjacket gets the drop on his creation, Ultron-6 easily throws him off and then targets Pym over Iron Man and the Wasp, hell-bent on killing his “father”, though he proves too powerful for Iron Man to affix some electrodes to stop him. Bored of the conflict, Ultron-6 flees, unknowingly pursued by the repentant Vision, realising his creator programmed a failsafe to ensure his servitude. After regrouping, the Avengers set out to stop Ultron-6, who returns to his stronghold and prepares to launch a cache of nuclear weapons, determined to wipe out the human race! When confronted by his melancholic, wayward “son”, Ultron-6 flies into a rage, desperate to prove himself superior to his creation, though the Vision’s incredible matter-altering powers make him more than a match for his “father”. Ever the stubborn android, Ultron-6 escapes the Vision’s wrath by transforming into “sheer ionic force” and leaves the Vision to be attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers for stealing their Adamantium. When the Avengers arrive, they discover Ultron-6 is one lever pull away from causing nuclear destruction, though the murder machine is left incensed that lever is mysteriously inoperable. Regardless, Ultron-6 is still powerful enough to endure Yellowjacket’s electrical blasts and throw the team around like ragdolls with a burst of explosive ionic power. Yet, despite apparently being strong enough to kill the Avengers and then enact his diabolical plot, Ultron-6 simply vanishes and the team is left to witness the Vision’s theatrical sorrow for being controlled by his creator. Before collapsing from his efforts to defeat Ultron-6, the Vision also reveals that he caused Ultron-6’s plan to go awry by trashing his apparatus.

Despite his all-powerful new form, Ultron is undone by some Pym trickery.

After convincing S.H.I.E.L.D. to relinquish custody of the Vision, the Avengers fail to rouse him with a concentrated dose of solar energy and thus turn to Yellowjacket’s “rudimentary mind-probe” to learn that the molecular rearranger is the key to stopping Ultron-6 since the only thing that can rearrange Adamantium. Although the device was also stolen alongside the Adamantium, Yellowjacket contacts the Black Panther while he’s fending off an invasion of Wakanda and requests a chunk of his nation’s Vibranium. Upon learning that the Avengers plan to publicly reveal his threat, Ultron-6 decides to enter their obvious trap and slaughter them, intent on kidnapping Adamantium expert Doctor Myron McLain and forcing him to build an army of Ultron duplicates so he can conquer the world. Despite being a capable and adaptable fighter, the Wasp is more concerned with dressing well for the team’s arrival at the United Nations building, where Dr. McLain is attacked by Ultron’s newest shell, a towering humanoid construct claiming to be the “ultimate” Ultron. Easily dispatching the nearby S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Ultron calls out the Avengers and renews their battle, barely flinching when struck by Mjölnir and shrugging off the clumsy Goliath’s gigantic fist before briefly putting both Avengers down with lasers. Ultron then forces the Avengers to back off lest he murder Dr. McLain, leaving them powerless to stop him from affixing a “mind-draining device” to the doctor’s head to absorb his immense knowledge and secrets. However, Ultron’s forced to break the connection when he struggles to contain Dr. McLain’s vast intellect, leaving him on the brink of a complete meltdown. Thankfully, Thor averts this by containing Ultron within a special expanding chamber…thing…made of Vibranium, seemingly destroying Ultron in the process. In the aftermath, it’s revealed that “Dr. McLain” was really super genius Hank Pym in disguise and that he forced Ultron to absorb a phrase so alien to him that it led to his destruction: “Thou shalt not kill.”

The Summary:
While I’ve always been a fan of Ultron, his first encounters with the Avengers felt a bit lacking to me. The first two issues, especially, are a bit of a mess, overloaded with characters and painting Jarvis, of all people, as a deceiver and a villain! I understand the idea of behind bringing together a new Masters of Evil, especially as the villains nicely counter each hero’s abilities, but their victory felt forced here. Ultron-5 goes to the effort to brainwash Jarvis (despite him later admitting that he “sold out” for money for his sick mother) to acquire Pym’s floorplan, only for Whirlwind to just enter through a window and the Melter to…well, melt…a hole in the wall. There was barely a co-ordinated attack on the Avengers Mansion, the villains just caught them by surprise with such sophisticated tricks as fancy glue and slamming a door. I would’ve much preferred it if Ultron-5 had used Jarvis’s knowledge to reprogram or take control of Pym’s machinery, turning them against the Avengers as he turns training room against Iron Man and overwhelming them with a real show of power. Instead, the first two issues try to sell Jarvis as a traitor, with no one (not even Pym) recognising Ultron-5 until he reveals himself and the Masters of Evil happily following Jarvis’s commands. Ultron-5 is also depicted as a grandiose fool, more focused on gloating and humbling his enemies than finishing the job, and ends up undone by the Black Knight, of all people, and a comparatively weak incarnation of the Avengers. For me, this makes the “Crimson Cowl” part of Ultron’s history an odd and forgettable side note in the killer robot’s lineage, one perhaps only good for a pub quiz.

Despite his menacing appearance, Ultron is a boasting, psychotic braggart whose plans go awry.

Ultron makes a better impression in the second story, even if Hawkeye is parading around in a gimp outfit as Goliath and Pym is making a fool of himself as Yellowjacket. One thing I’ve always loved about Ultron’s design is his permanently screaming face, with the flaming energy bursting from his mouth, which is surprisingly expressive and matches his chaotic mood swings. These three issues are also noteworthy for introducing Adamantium and depicting it as the strongest and perhaps most dangerous substance on Earth. Its nigh-indestructible properties make it the perfect target for Ultron-6, who compels his “son”, the Vision, to steal it and fortify his otherwise laughable half-torso, half-rocket jet form. This also seems to facilitate an evolution in Ultron’s physical self, allowing him to project and even transform into ionic energy, easily making him a physical match for Thor and making fools of Goliath and the Wasp. By this point, Ultron-6’s plan has changed from blackmail to worldwide destruction and there’s a real sense of tension as the team desperately pursues him, especially as Ultron-6 is depicted as psychotic in his desire to eradicate human life. Yet, Ultron-6 apparently cannot construct new bodies for himself or robotic minions, which leads to his undoing when he targets Dr. McLain and is easily fooled by Yellowjacket. Still, despite “ultimate” Ultron failing to impress, Ultron is depicted as a significant threat as he outmatches, outwits, and outpowers a far stronger team of Avengers and comes dangerously close to enacting his plan. While he meets his end in dubious fashion, seemingly destroyed by the thought Pym plants in his head and the laughable Vibranium bell-thing Thor encases him in, I enjoyed seeing Ultron throw the Avengers around and be publicly revealed as a very real threat to the world.

Melancholy Vision proves ineffectual against Ultron compared to Pym’s elaborate scheme.

These three issues also largely focus onto the Vision, a melancholy, brooding figure who’s treated with some distrust by Barton, apprehension by Pym, and naturally seen as a tortured soul by the flakily Janet. Prone to breaking into gloomy soliloquies, the Vision is constantly questioning his purpose and humanity and is torn between his loyalties to his teammates and the programming forced upon him by Ultron-6. Having created the synthezoid some time ago, Ultron-6 compels his “son” to subdue any in his way using his bizarre powers, phase through walls, and betray his allies by stealing the Adamantium. Conveniently, Ultron-6’s control over the Vision isn’t permanent and he soon comes to his senses, only to be set upon by S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers and put his relationship with the Avengers in doubt. This, as well as the desire to stop his creator, drives the Vision to confront Ultron-6 in a battle to the death. Thanks to the Vision being effectively all-powerful, their fights are brutal and merciless, though Ultron-6 maintains the advantage with his ionic powers and the Vision is left seemingly comatose after exerting himself. I’m not a big fan of the Vision’s dramatic ways but it is fun seeing him go toe-to-toe with Ultron-6 and getting a sense of how powerful Ultron can be since he holds his own against powerhouses like the Vision and Thor. Still, the Avengers’ first counters with Ultron were surprisingly low-key, despite Ultron wishing to wipe the human race off the Earth. Ultron’s shown to be incapable of making good on this threat after the Vision wrecks his equipment, ironically needing the knowledge of a human to prove his mechanical superiority, and spends more time boasting and plotting than actually seeing things through. It definitely makes him a megalomaniacal villain and I really dig his creepy aesthetic, but I don’t think it did him any favours to go up against such mismatched Avengers teams, who handily defeated him despite not being as powerful as they could be.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to Ultron’s first encounters with the Avengers? Where does Ultron rank in your hierarchy of Marvel villains? Did you believe that Jarvis had turned traitor? Were you surprised when the Vision betrayed his team? Which incarnation of Ultron is your favourite or who would you like to see on the Avengers roster one day? What are some of your favourite Ultron stories or moments? How are you celebrating the debut of the Avengers today? Share your thoughts on Ultron, and the Avengers below and, if you’d like to see more Ultron reviews, go support me on Ko-Fi.