Super-Blog Team Up Presents IMMORTAL: Peter Loves Mary Jane.

Welcome Back Heroes!!  I am super glad to be back aboard the Satellite again today as its my favorite blogging day of the year…Its Super-Blog Team Up time!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with our team let me explain. The Mighty SBTU are a group of like minded Blogger’s and Podcaster’s who get together 3 to 4 times a year to write on a singular topic. The idea is that we share each others work so YOU the reader can get a sonic boom of content from a host of blogs and podcasts that you may not have seen before. Your new favorite blog could be right under your nose! Before we get started I urge to to check out the links of our other contributors below! There are a ton of excellent creators out there who are waiting to meet you and share their incredible library of work!

If you have been living under a cave you may have noticed our topic this round is IMMORTAL!! One of comicdom’s greatest tropes in general is the notion that “No one ever REALLY Dies” in comics and characters always, in some form or fashion, come back from the “Dead”. You will see multiple takes on this theme in our sister blogs below. Our take, for all intents and purposes, is in my opinion comics most turbulent relationship. The love story of Peter Parker our webslinging hero (also known as Spider-Man for the one person in the world who does’nt know!!) and his true love the fiesty red haired party girl and future super model..Mary Jane Watson (Parker). As you will see their relationship would survive everything from super villain attacks, stirring revelations, multiple kidnappings, a clone debacle, a plane crash and even the devil himself!!

Strap in tight Heroes the saga of The Immortal Love of Peter and MJ is NEXT!! Catch ya on the other side!

Begin Transmission: August 28th 2019

 

“Face It Tiger…You Just Hit The JACKPOT!”

For Spider-Man fans these 8 simple words would launch the long confusing, troubled and beautiful relationship of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in the pages of Marvel’s “The Amazing Spiderman” #42.  Like the majority of their storied life as a couple Peter and MJ’s union did’nt start like any typical comic book relationship with love at first sight. No sir…it would be the culmination of a year of Peter dodging blind date bullets as Aunt May and her friends tried to set up the young Parker with a beautiful young woman named Mary Jane Watson. Now Peter was not known for being super popular with the ladies but he had dated other girls previously in the past in the comics. Nothing had ever stuck relationship wise for the web slinging hero. Peter had been blowing off the notion of being set up by his much older Aunt and was of the mind that this Mary Jane was obviously no prize and that he would certainly NOT be interested in her. So after many hi-jinks by Lee and Romita, Mary Jane emerged from hiding (Editors note: Mary Jane was literally hid from view until her reveal in ASM #42.) They had gone through great lengths to block her face with objects to keep her appearance secretive. So when MJ shows up at her Aunts door for her blind date with Peter, both the reader and Peter himself are left gasping as Mary Jane Watson was no down on her luck homely girl, instead she is the breathtaking red haired party girl that would become the single most important person in the life of Peter Parker….but nothing would come easy for these two as there were more than a few bumps along the way.

Peter and MJ dated but their initial courtship did not last long at all and Peter would rekindle his relationship with Gwen Stacey. As a note Stan Lee was originally not in favor of a Mary Jane and Peter long term relationship. Stan felt that Gwen Stacey was the character that belonged in a relationship with Parker. As a result the Mary Jane character was paired with Peters best friend (And son of the original Green Goblin) Harry Osborn. The blood feud between Spider-Man and the Goblin would be the catalyst that would forever push Peter and MJ together. The Goblin (aka Norman Osborn) would discover that Peter Parker was actually living a double life as Spider-Man. Praying on this knowledge, Osborn as the Goblin, went after the one thing Peter held most dear…his blond haired beauty Ms. Gwen Stacey. The Goblin would kidnap Gwen but Spider-Man would be in hot pursuit of his nemesis. Peter would find them both perilously in danger high atop the Golden Gate bridge to which unbeknownst to him would be the very last time we would see the real Gwen Stacey alive again. During the battle between the Goblin and Spider-Man high along support pedestals of the bridge, Gwen Stacey would ultimately plunge to her doom as the Goblin would strike her causing her to fall from the bridge. Despite Peters attempt to save her life with a last minute web line to catch her it would also be the very thing that would kill her. Peter’s girlfriend in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man was DEAD. Gwen Stacey was gone and there was NOTHING that even Spider-Man could do to prevent it.

On a personal side note I got Amazing Spider-Man 121 given to me in a stack of comics for FREE!! For a long time it sat unattended in my book shelf with my other Spidey books! I had seen the cover a million times in price guides and on comic shop walls but I did not know at the time this issue was the Death of Gwen Stacey! Happy surprise to me when I found out!!

I didn’t read my old issues of ASM at the time so instead it would be a reprint that I got from a trip to the local drug store spinner rack where I finally read the story for the first time. I discovered the story in a special edition of the Spider-Man reprint title Marvel Tales #92 which collected the two issues into a double sized reprint. I remember being moved by the story for the first time ever from a comic book.

I grew up on the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon show so I was always aware of the never ending blood feud between The Green Goblin and Spider-Man. For me it was strange to see the Goblin in a different light in the comic book. In his cartoon persona old Gobby was a comedic pumpkin throwing side-villain and not the bat sh** crazy murderer I saw in the pages of these Spidey books. Seeing Peters reaction to Gwen’s Death was a powerful real legit touching moment. The tragedy however would be the glue that would forever bond Peter Parker to Mary Jane. No matter how much Peter focused on Gwen, MJ would always pop into his life, something that Gwen herself would bring up to him on occasion.

Their lives would often collide but this time something was different..something was realized once and for all. Peter Parker finally saw that no matter where life brought him his only constant was that he ALWAYS had Mary Jane. In good times and at the very worst of times. Whether they double dated, argued, or went out with each other the fact was MJ was ALWAYS there. This single panel at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man is one that I consider the most profound comic page in comics and it really hit hard for me. (Thats right Jacko…its MY Panel!! ) For the first time I actually had an emotional response from a comic. This page captured the relationship of Peter and MJ and it was a wash of sadness, yet also comfort in knowing that Peter would be okay…because he has MJ. There is something very raw and truthful in that single comic page. It was a relationship deeper than all the classic comic book relationships.

This page was not overstated and the last 3 silent panels still hits me in the feels to this day. It was bigger than Tony Stark and Pepper. It was much more than X-Men’s Scott and Jean. In fact I feel it is more significant than even Clark Kent and Lois Lane. The strength of Marvel comics was its ability to create “Real” people beyond their super heroic characters. Peter and MJ were real to me and in one single page..one so epically emotional and rendered as such, I knew this was THE comic book couple that I would always enjoy reading. There is something about Peter Parker that many boys growing up could relate to. He was not rich like his friend Harry Osborn. He was not the popular super jock like Flash Thompson either.

WITH GREAT POWER

Becoming that popular ladies man was what almost every kid aspired to be like and we each have our reasons why we didnt land all the votes to be crowned King at the school prom.. of course we all secretly wanted to be. Most of us identified with Peter. Maybe we were overlooked by the fairer sex. Maybe we didnt get all the dates on Saturday night however maybe we did well in school. Peter was no Football star, but secretly he was more of an athlete than his rival Flash. As a superhero he just could not show it. Peter was given a mantra by his co-creator Stan Lee that guided the character throughout his early years in comics that was the Immortal (See what I did there??) “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” tag line.

So while Peter could have easily dispatched Flash and looked good in front of the girls or the press, Peter had a responsibility to not only himself but to his loved ones. His relationship with MJ was his victory dance. In the end the every-man got the girl and it was blissful! So Peter and MJ became officially a couple and all was right with the world…for the moment.

As with everything Marvel no one can be at peace for too long and it would be Peters secret life as Spider-Man that would always be the catalyst for drama in their early relationship. As you recall The Green Goblin used his knowledge of Peter Parker’s identity and his relationships to haunt him and weaken him. This would be the story of Peter and MJs early relationship as well as they flip flopped in and out of their relationship but they always seemingly found each other. It was serendipity. Mary Jane was no Gwen Stacey. MJ was her own free spirit and one that was not naive to the ways of the world. In my books it is THE reason it puts her one step ahead of Superman’s Lois Lane. MJ discovered Peters secret and knew he was Spider-Man….for a long time!

THE MARRIAGE

Peter and MJ’s relationship would take turns, round corners, fall off cliffs, yet only at the end of the day would seemingly land safely. When you take a step back and look at all the events that the couple have endured it’s almost comical…but kids remember, it IS after all comics we are talking about. After the iconic Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 21 Peter and MJ finally were wed. Marvel would make a huge deal out of this even creating a mock ceremony in Shea Stadium to add media coverage to the event. Peter and MJs marriage was front page news even in media outside of the comics bubble.

It’s an interesting thing that many writers fail to consider leading up to an event like the marriage of a popular set of characters is …”What do we do now?” The easy part of writing a relationship story is the chase and of course the hills and valleys getting there. Writers were tasked with now writing a married couple and had to keep readers invested. Usually that is the kiss of death…just ask the TV industry! I firmly remember popular shows as far back as the early 80’s such as Threes Company. The lead character, Jack, was pegged to continue the shows lore with a spin off called Three’s A Crowd where Jack marries his love Vicky. Audiences were not thrilled with the stories and the Jack and Vicky marriage dynamic. Just like that, after one season, even sitcom Power house John Ritter could not carry the marriage bag. Then there was another famous example of Moonlighting which starred celebrity on the rise Bruce Willis and Cybil Sheppard who were a flirty but feisty couple of investigators who had a strong sexual chemistry on screen that audiences loved and tuned in week after week to showcase strong viewership numbers to see if David and Maddie would finally hook up. Of course they would eventually and the air went out of the room and ratings proving that the money is in the chase. For comics fans there was no better example than the show Lois and Clark which like the above mentioned examples of marriage, kills ratings and was the poster child for issue marriage deflation. As it was with comic book shows, they were not at their apex of popularity on the small screen like they would be in 2019 but Lois and Clark held their own in the ratings. Led by Dean Cain and Terri Hatcher, audiences fell in love with Superman all over again for the first time since the Christopher Reeve fronted Superman films. Despite a solid push on the comics side of DC’s business to create marketing synergy with TV and Comics and have Clark and Lois wed in the comic books the curse of the golden ring was in full force and the show ended that very season the marriage occurred and did not return.

As for Peter and MJ,their marriage in comic books was one of the few sure fire things that survived many corporate restructurings at Marvel. New writing teams, multiple kidnapping story-lines, a Ill fated plane crash and even a Clone Saga debacle where it was revealed that this Spider-Man we were reading all these years may very well be a clone dating all the way back to an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man in the 70s! If it wasnt a Super-villian taking a crack at the couple, it was their work-life balance. MJ had taken on a very successful modeling career and Peter had been bouncing from reporter/ photographer to running a company. The family’s fortunes seemingly changed..but so had the comics industry. The big two, DC and Marvel comics were faced with a serious decline in sales and comics availability in the main stream. The 90’s comics bubble had burst and sales numbers were the buzzword in every company meeting leading into 2007. Marvel had done several line enhancement shake ups since 1996 starring with the Heroes Reborn initiative. It was an attempt to get back to basics in the main stream comic books such as The Avengers and Captain America. With sharp continuity issues bogging down some of key franchises the idea was to relaunch many heroes with a new revitalized cannon. The results garnered an increased sales boost for Marvel. Only a short 4 years later the line overhauls continued with Marvels Ultimate’s and it is here we would get the first vibe that there was trouble in Spider-ville. Marvels Bendis led Ultimate’s line was an attempt to sidestep the years of worn out, supposedly played out back history of the Marvel Universe and create a new jumping on point for new readers with familiar characters like Spider-Man except updated to meet with the Status Quo.

ULTIMATE..

A new century requires a new status quo right? With creative stagnation and characters saddled with the effects of years of tumultuous baggage brought about by maintaining a linear continuity Brian Micheal Bendis delivered a new Spider-Man to the masses. Bendis and Bagley delivered a new Spider-Man and a younger and certainly more hip version of Peter Parker. Its was complete with a fully modernized updated take on the classic Marvel character for the 2000s boasting a supporting cast that would hopefully resonate with the fan base. In 2019 those words mean almost nothing as this has been done seemingly every couple of years or less. In 2000 however the Ultimates line was considered a risk…but it worked. Ultimate Spider-Man was a hit out of the gate.

Peter’s style and hair are updated to 2000s sensibilities. (Aunt) May Parker was no longer cast as a feeble elderly senior citizen as now she was now only a 50 year old mature lady and Uncle Ben is STILL ALIVE !!!!(At least in the beginning) Peter’s job was given a fresh coat of paint as it was updated from photographer/reporter to a Web designer to keep up with the current modern job scene. Gwen Stacey is also still alive in this Universe having never met her fate at the hands of the Green Goblin. One constant in this book was the fact that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were still a couple! Yes, even updating these characters from their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s incarnations, the one thing that remains unchanged is that Peter is with MJ cause that never goes out of style!

Speaking of style.. it was never Marvels style to let Peter and Mary Jane live happily ever after as their life together would be consistently drama filled. back in the main comic title Mary Jane’s modeling career fortunes exploded to unbelievable heights after marriage and she would fall prey to being stalked by her sleazy former landlord. This sleezeball not only sabotaged her modelling career but then kidnapped her which came as no surprise for long time fans as it sure wasnt her first time but we are not supposed to keep tabs on such things right?

How to further complicate matters? Any married couple can tell you one of the biggest threats to a marriage are…your In Laws?? Yep, if things hadn’t gone awry enough in the past now Peters long thought to be deceased Parents returned out of seemingly nowhere alive and well?  We would discover that they were life like robots sent to infiltrate the Parker’s lives though the plans of original Spidey villain and even his own former best friend Harry Osborn who was still not over that one little friendship detail of Peter causing his fathers demise. This gave a story-line explanation for Peter to have a meltdown of sorts and leave MJ temporarily. How convenient for the writers begging to write Bachelor Peter!

 

CLONES, CLONES EVERYWHERE…

One would be remiss if I didn’t mention the long lamented and lambasted Clone Saga. Spider clone Ben Riley returns from the 70s and convinces Peter that he is actually the REAL Peter and he (Our Peter Parker) has been living a false life as Peter Parker!!! OUTRAGE!!!! As one would assume this also put fire on the old wedding vows as now it appeared that MJ had married an imposter Peter?? On an interesting note Mary Jane would become pregnant but due to poisoning by one of the Green Goblins helpers. MJ delivers a still born baby…or so we think. More on that later! At this point Peter even drops the mantle of being Spider-Man as Ben Reilly took center stage as The Scarlett Spider! Of course shenanigans would be at play and Norman Osborn would return, Ben Reilly would apparently die (Dont worry folks..remember NO ONE REALLY DIES IN COMICS REMEMBER!!)  and Peter Parker..now fully cleared as the original Spider-Man would return to action as the genuine article Spider-Man but he had inherited some HUGE marriage baggage as a result of all the insanity that had just transpired!

MJs penchant for being kidnapped turns into a full time job as a telepathic mutant who was very interested in stealing whats important to Peter (That’s MJ for those taking score here!) stages an elaborate plane crash that Mary Jane had apparently been on presumably on business. This of course gave writers another open door to write a a single Peter Parker. Even when MJ returned they were kept apart while she “Recovered”. Fans of the series saw this as just another excuse not to write Peter as a married man. The marriage was a planet sized burden to creative teams and teams were often tasked with having to create convenient temporary back doors so Peter could momentarily  return to Bachelorhood. THEN…IT HAPPENED…

In 2007 Marvel finally pulled the trigger and ended the marriage DEAD..in fact they created a huge backdoor exploit to Peter and MJs relationship so they had written them as if they had NEVER married!! This remains to this day the single most polarizing story-line in the history of the franchise.

ONE MORE DAY

Meanwhile in real life…It would be one particularly strange trip to Florida in which we had a overnight stop over in Toronto which gave me some unusual time to browse the malls the evening before we would fly to our final destination. As my wife and kids shopped the clothing stores I checked out a small book store with no intention of doing anything except wasting time. I got to the graphic novel section which had expanded significantly since my heyday in the 80s. Marvel, DC and even other publishers had plenty of offerings but the majority of the case was given to Manga! As I browsed the books checking out small story arcs for Superman and Batman. I spotted a Spidey book. Cover looked all well and good enough then I browsed through it. The dark almost photo realistic artwork of Peter and MJ with Mephisto at the end caught my eye. I read the synopsis and it just hooked me. It checked all my boxes of interest! Of course I had no idea the book I was about to grab would become the most maligned comic arc in Spider-Mans modern history Clone Saga included! This of course would be the story known affectionately as One More Day.

The quick and dirty on this story-line is that after the revelation to the public during Civil War that Peter Parker is Spider-Man many folks are literally gunning for Parker. Tragically Aunt May is on the receiving end of an Assassin’s bullet intended for Peter and is critically injured and will certainly die. Peter desperate for help runs to his Avengers friends Tony Stark and Doctor Strange begging them to save his Aunt May. Help does not come from either…that is until an offer is presented from an unlikely source. Mephisto..Marvel comics version of the devil himself. Mephisto who thrives on misery tragedy and unhappiness makes an offer to save Aunt May from certain death in exchange for Peter and MJ’s marriage. If Peter and Mary Jane agree their marriage and years together, both good and bad, would never of happened For all intents and purposes Peter and MJ would have never have wed. This fascinated me as a fan..and more so as a lapsed fan because I had grown up on Peter and MJ. The Peter and Gwen thing was technically before my time despite having read every issue of The Amazing Spider-Man so I had an affection for the couple. As a reader this hit like a punch to the gut. Who would give up every happy moment in their lives and give the ultimate sacrifice to save a loved one. While fans hated this story I LOVED it. I put myself in Peters shoes. If I was faced with the same dilemma would I do the same? It was deep..it was dark and it was heavy.

The panels where Peter and MJ agonize over making the ultimate decision to me are simply heart breaking. The art is stark…amazing and desperate. I can’t tell you how much even to this day seeing these pages affect me. Not since the final page of MJ and Peter in ASM 122 after the Gwen’s death had another comic caught my heart. This one literally got me in the feels.

 

As a fan for 35 plus years Spider-Man, Peter and MJ were almost part of my family. I grew up and thrilled to every story panel but now it was about to be erased. Yes of course I was upset over that but almost in a mourning sense of sorts. This book to me represented a passage. It was a book end. The end of me as a comics fan. For me giving up comics made me feel like I was missing out or giving up something but this single book. A book that upset so many was the very book that told me “Chris..its okay to let go now”. It was THE END of my comics collecting days. It was my final chapter and I too felt a loss…and end of such a fun adventurous part of my childhood. Seeing Peter and MJ break up more or less was my break up from the “obligation” of being a comic book fan. Anyone who knows what is like to have something that makes you just happy, comics was and is that for me. The joy of having a fist full of coins and dollar bills and peddling on my bike to the store to grab the next issue of Batman because he had turned into a vampire in the issue before! It was sitting in your room with friends arguing and debating who was the best superhero and trading our comics for new ones!! It was the joy of getting that key 1st appearance or first issue. These are things that only a real comics fan would understand. The most haunting images in One More Day wer at the end of the story as Peter and MJ decide to sacrifice their marriage to save May. The intensity, the words and the gut wrenching emotion of the art just made me have an emotional reaction. Not many comics have done that..in fact very few ever had! This one did it.

With their final embrace and MJ’s final “Face It Tiger..You Just Hit The Jackpot.” it was one of the most emotional things I had ever read. The one sure thing in comics was done. Peter and Mj’s relationship was reset. Peter’s life picked up as if he had not married MJ and fans HATED it. It was the ultimate retcon. For me it was my time to step away from the maddening hobby that I had enjoyed so much. I released myself from the pressure of collecting every issue of a certain title. I released myself from the anxiety of beating the crowds to a comic shop and hoping to land that new HOT book before a sell out. I was free. Peter Parker was “Free” as well. This of course would be the perfect place to wrap up but this Installment of Super Blog Team Up is not about ENDINGS..but this is IMMORTAL!!

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN

While Peter and MJ spent some time apart they crossed in and out of each others lives like old times. Both would re-enter the dating world but yet always fall back to each other. Peter went on to become a highly successful business man running Parker Industries as for MJ despite Peter’s apprehension went to work with Tony Stark! Marvel had done their job teasing a reconciliation but never going all in with it. Of note the Superior Spider-Man Arc saw the actual and literal death of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man leading to Doc Ock himself possessing the body of Peter Parker and living his life Including being with Mary Jane. Doc Ock while being terminally ill, discovered a way to swap consciousness with Peter leading to Doc Ock taking over Peter’s young healthy body and putting Peters consciousness in Otto’s disease ridden near death body. MJ always the perceptive one picked up on New Peter’s strange behavior and ditched him cold again breaking up the duo. Of course Peter would find his way out of death yet again only to discover that he had again lost Mary Jane setting him back to scratch all over again.  The on again off again game would continue but fans (Me included) longed for the Peter and MJ relationship that we all grew and loved. 2015’s Secret Wars attempted to again serve as a reboot for Marvel of sorts and mending Peter and MJ would be on the menu but not right away. It would be 2018’s The Amazing Spider-Man #1 when where Peter and Mary Jane would once again give fans what they wanted…

IMMORTAL LOVE

The issue ended with Peter realizing what was important in his life and he went to finally share his feelings with MJ who met him half-way before he could finish with a kiss that put smiles on hardened and cantankerous Spidey fans like myself.

While we may never see the remarriage of Peter and Mary Jane, the one constant in the Spider-Verse in the pages of comics and on the big screen is that Peter Parker’s love for Mary Jane Watson is forever.

 

Oh, and by the way, while I dropped off of comic collecting for many years I did return to comics later as well. Like Peter and Mary Jane, I reconciled my relationship with the medium  as I became mainly a digital reader. Istill enjoy buying collected arcs in trade format. Soooo..I guess it’s TRUE.. somethings..not matter how hard people or circumstances seem to try and break or change you, it seems we always manage find a way. Yes dear readers…somethings are truly IMMORTAL!

Thank you for reading this humble little blog. I’ll be back soon but only when I have something to say. I want to make sure that every post on this blog is not an obligation..but rather a part of my story that I wanted to share. Now if by chance you would like another spin on The IMMORTAL theme I urge you to check out the other members of our Super-Blog Team Up below. We have the best bloggers/ podcaster’s on the web just waiting to share their work with YOU faithful reader. Give em a try!! Your new favorite blog may be waiting for you to discover them! Oh..and Tell em Hero sent ya!

 

End Transmission

 

Super-Blog Team Up continues HERE! Click the links below and check out the rest of The Super-Blog Team-Ups Offerings for IMMORTAL!

 

Comic Reviews By Walt: TMNT and Highlander https://comicreviewsbywalt.wordpress.com/?p=16361

 

The Superhero Satellite: IMMORTAL Peter LOVES Mary Jane (One More Day) Hey! You are already here! Keep going!!

 

Comics Comics Comics Blog: Dr. Fate http://comicscomicscomics.blog/2019/08/21/super-blog-team-up-the-immortal-dr-fate

 

Between The Pages Blog: Big Finish: Doctor Who’s Finest Regeneration

https://betweenthepagesblog.typepad.com/between-the-pages-blog/2019/08/big-finish-doctor-whos-finest-regeneration.html

 

The Unspoken Decade: Archer and Armstrong:  Opposites Attract:  Archer and Armstrong http://theunspokendecade.com/sbtuarcherandarmstrong

 

DC In the 80s: Young Animals Bug   (Coming SOON)

 

Black, White and Bronze: What Price Immortality? A Review of Red Nails (https://blackwhitebronzecomics.blogspot.com/2019/08/super-blog-team-up-what-price.html)

 

The Daily Rios: Arion The Immortal (1992 Six Issue Mini Series)

 

Chris Is On Infinite Earths: Podcast Episode 26 – Resurrection Man 1997 & 2011  https://chrisandreggie.podbean.com/e/chris-is-on-infinite-earths-episode-26-resurrection-man-1s-19972011-super-blog-team-up/?token=b1768703b32e0ffcc76bd7e7d66bda6e
In My Not So Humble Opinion : It Came from the 1990s: Ivar the Timewalker

https://benjaminherman.wordpress.com/2019/08/27/timewalker/

 

 

Vic Sage “…of the upcoming Pop Culture Retrorama site.”: I am Legend

 

The Source Material Comics Podcast: Vampirella “Roses For The Dead” – https://www.spreaker.com/user/10409169/sm-vamp-final

 

Dave’s Comic Heroes Blog: Multi-Man https://davescomicheroes.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-immortal-foe-of-challengers-multi.html

 

Magazines and Monsters: Podcast episode – Kang/Immortus: Avengers-Kang: Time and Time Again TPB (Avengers 69-71), Blog post: https://billydunleavy.wordpress.com/?p=6243&preview_id=6243&preview_nonce=d756977e50&post_format=standard&_thumbnail_id=-1&preview=true&key=private_preview

 

Radulich Broadcasting Network: TV PARTY TONIGHT – Jupiter Ascending commentary – LINK GOES LIVE 8/28/19 – https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18840705

 

 

A Hero In Other Worlds…

Welcome Back Heroes!!

“YA GOTTA START SOMEWHERE KID!!”

Truer words were never spoken.This post is a tribute to the fine folks who helped me grow my blogging and podcasting wings over the years by allowing me to play in their sandbox for a few minutes! Lets get on the Satellite and see where it takes us!

All Crew Members on board the Satellite Today make your way  to the Viewing Chambers as we are getting a special peek into other worlds…worlds key to the operation of this very Retro Loving Blog! We are gonna turn the dial back several years in time to when your host here Charlton Hero, was just conjuring the idea to create the works that you see laid before you. Truth is I had some help along the way. Yes I have a mind filled with memories bursting to hit the written page but it helps when your friends inspire you to step outside your space and be yourself …elsewhere! I have had the good fortune of writing and podcasting alongside some VERY good creators. Creators who I consider Friends. From time to time I have written and guest spotted on various different sites and this is a little collection of that work for my own purposes that you may enjoy as well!! Soooo..Lets start at the beginning..

Transmission date: 03/23/2019

 

 

The Retroist:

As the internet grew up folks figured out that there were audiences out there for pretty much everything. I would always surf around the World Wide Web for anything from my childhood. Toys, movies, games, you name it I was all about it! There were sporadic sites out there but many were fly by night and didn’t update often…then I found The Retroist.  I had become a big audio listener and This Retroist site had it all. Equipped with a variety of MP3 players I blazed my way through the Retroist Podcast catalog and I was hooked! It’s an amazing podcast which I will say is still by far the best retro pop culture podcast out there! I’ll always thank the Retroist himself for allowing me to write for his site while I was working out my blogger voice as well as inviting me to be a part of his amazing podcast! I was invited to tell a Halloween story for the 5th annual Retroist Halloween Special. The beauty of this relationship was years later when myself and a group of Twitter friends began Super-Blog Team Up I invited Retroist to appear as part of our blogging event and he said yes. Vic Sage, the man I would like to call the “Hardest Working Man” on that site came to join us and that bond to the Retroist site has been there to this very day! I am very proud to showcase my old Retroist work for those Satellite Fans who have yet to see it! You can see the unpolished early stages of my Blogging style and even a little rough beginning to my mini Podcasting hobby.

Retroist Halloween Special 5

“Welcome to the Retroist Halloween Special V Podcast. Today’s show is all about Halloween memories! That’s right it is time for the 5th Annual Retroist Halloween Special. It was a fun show to put together and many of the folks associated with the site joined in to share their Halloween memories. You will hear Charlton Hero, Retro Justin, Doug, David Greelish, Weird Paul, Eric LeFeber and of course, Vic Sage.”

 Finding Pulsar The Ultimate Man

Do you remember that elusive toy from your childhood…that one you knew you had but just couldn’t put a finger on it. THIS is my story of The Ultimate Man: Pulsar which made me question my own sanity at times. Finding Pulsar was a journey for me to piece back together my memories of a toy that had been forgotten in the Twilight Zone of my mind for years.

Then there was…STAR WARS!! Marvel Star Wars to be exact!!!

 Star Wars The Marvel Way

I LOVED Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan of the variety that watches the movies faithfully, collected the toys, books, clothing, towels, mugs…and THE COMICS!! When Marvel Comics took the Star Wars property it hit a home run in my mind and managed to establish its own continuity and was the start of the original Expanded Star Wars Universe!

Speaking of things I loved as a kid..there was this one cartoon…

 

Remembering The Undersea Adventures Of Captain Nemo

The Captain Nemo show was not intended to be a full series rather a set of short cartoon breaks that were transitions between shows. Its theme song and quirky Canadian art style was something I fondly remember and treasure. It was also a memorable post for me as one of the creators emailed me….and basically told me to delete the embedded videos that were originally contained within the Retroist post!! Yikes. I still like the show so that’s that I guess..It was also my departure from the Retroist as I went exclusively to this blog you are reading right now! Somewhere along the road as I worked my little blog and found a presence on Twitter I landed at the lunch table with a few of my favorite Twitter peeps..The Nerd Lunch sessions began…

 

Nerd Lunch Episode 242: Our Favorite Pro-Wrestling Things

Nerd Lunch Podcast 242: Our Favorite Pro-Wrestling Things

Since 1986 I have been a die hard Professional Wrestling fan. I have ate, breathed and slept wrestling all my life and I was super pleased to have been invited on a podcast all about my favorite topic Wrestling!!

“Get in the ring with Jeeg and a wrestling roundtable featuring Jay Ryan from The Sexy Armpit, Charlton Hero from The SuperHero Satellite, and Mike Downs from(?) The Atomic Geeks. The fellas discuss their all time favorites in several obscure categories including pre-match attire, foreign objects, and wrestling video games. Almost all corners of the pro-wrestling world from 1980s WCW to present-day WWE to Japan are covered in this heavyweight episode. Grab your favorite steel chair, tear open a turnbuckle, and enjoy.”

My first Nerd Lunch invite was to be part of their inaugural Wrestling Episode! This was one hell of a fun time for me and technically my first official group podcast! I broke out my trusty new Podcast mic and the rest is history! Wrestling has always been a love for me and to get time talking about wrestling was JUST what the doctor ordered!!

 

Nerd Lunch Episode 290: 50 Cent Bin Legion Of Doom

Nerd Lunch Podcast 290: 50¢ Bin Legion of Doom

“This week Pax is flying solo and is joined by Digio, Evan Hansen and Charlton Hero to draft our own supervillain teams.  The only rule, they have to be villains that can be regularly found in the bargain bin comics of your local comic shop or comic convention.  Come listen to some awesomely obscure villains! This is the sequel to our 50¢ Bin Justice League episode!”

 

This was my “Final” appearance (Come On Folks…write em and tell em ya want me back on!! I’ll send ya a check in the mail!!) on the show and a great one with a variety of “Deep Cuts” to please the comics purists. Drafting our own 50 Cent Bin Legion Of Doom was harder than it looked and some actual research went into this one!! The Obscurity is what makes this show a stand out!!

 

Nerd Lunch Episode 274: Best Cartoon Dogs :

Nerd Lunch Podcast 274: Sweet Sixteen – Best Cartoon Dogs

“Returning guests Dubba and Charlton Hero join the nerds this week for the first ever Nerd Lunch Sweet Sixteen. The mission this time is to crown the king of all cartoon dogs. From classic Hanna-Barbera to obscure Saturday morning pups of the 1980s to the USA Network Cartoon Express to Marc Singer, this episode covers a lot of ground before a champion is named.”

Yes ..This is out-of-order but this episode remains my favorite of the Hero trilogy! This round Robin tournament allowed us to select several cartoon dogs to go head to head to crown a winner. Pssssstttt….shhhhh.. but I WIN!! Just sayin!! Ooops SPOILER WARNING…Too Late!

 

Chris is on Infinite Earths, Episode 4: Justice League America #52 (1991) PLUS: The Story of Super-Blog Team-Up!

Myself and fellow Super-Blog Team Upper Chris Sheehan who happens to run one of my favorite blogs and podcasts invited to come on and chat at length about one of my favorite topics..SUPER BLOG TEAM UP! Find out the Genesis of the internet’s favorite blogging conglomerate! Tons of quips and stories about how making this seemingly easy Blogging Event take place!

“Yes… we’re only four episodes in… it’s another bwah-ha-ha book, but there’s a special reason for that.  And really, that’s not the meat and potatoes of this episode anyway.  This time out, Chris (@acecomics) is joined by another Chris… Chris Bailey (@Charlton_Hero) of the SuperHero Satellite who shares the origins of the Mighty Super-Blog Team-Up!

After Chris (the usual one) discusses his first offering to #SuperBlogTeamUp, Chris (the other one) shares his comic book “secret origin”!  From his early days, reading coverless comics that missed the trash can… to his introduction to the internet comics community. 

Then… the main event, from the germ of an idea of a blogging crossover, to what became the Super-Blog Team-Up!

All that… plus, a special announcement!  It’s a great time… check it out!

(The Super-Blog Team-Up content begins at timestamp 21:04)”

 

 

Chris is on Infinite Earths, Episode 7: JSA #55 (2004)

The Christmas Episode! I am nostalgic for all things Christmas and what better topic to discuss then a Christmas comic book favorite of mine, The New Adventures Of Superboy issue 39! “A World Without Christmas. After we dissect Superboy we get into hijinks and hilarity as we recap some of out favorite Christmas memories including two infamous Hero stories of the “Cat Piss” Criminal and The “Christmas Ham” story, two legendary tales of lore which you will NEVER forget! Jump into the spirit even it it’s not Christmas this episode is ever green…like a Christmas Tree!! Get it!!??

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, Dear Listeners!

This time out, Chris (@acecomics) discusses a wonderful Christmas-themed issue featuring the Justice Society of America… and the return of one of the more unique Golden-Age characters. After going through the issue, he tries (in vain) to qualify and affix the nebulous comic-reviewing metric known as “heart”.

“During the second half of the episode, Chris (the usual one) is once again joined by Chris Bailey (@Charlton_Hero), and together they share stories of Christmases long, long ago. It’s a great time as usual… give it a listen, if you have a free moment or thirty between tearing into all the goodies Santa left under your tree!”

Next stop! I got an invite to appear on The Source Material Comics Podcast from Mr. Jessie Starcher and his two-fisted group of podcasting pundits and it was unlike all of my other appearances as this one got wild! Discussing Marvels Civil War and The Speedball solo series, To New Warriors and everywhere in between. If you liked Speedball..and I know you do cause if you don’t, we can’t be friends..lol.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Source Material Comics Podcast is back for our latest endeavor! We are pairing up with some of the greatest comic blogs/podcasts out there for the Super Blog Team Up topic “redemption.” Our focus will be on one of the most innocent of heroes, Speedball, ate up with guilt for his hand in the tragedy that started the Civil War event, Robbie Baldwin goes down a very dark path resulting in his deadly change into the pain driven soul, Penance! Tune in as myself, Ronnie Adams, Mark Radulich, and special guest Chris Bailey (@Charlton_Hero) journey alongside Robbie on his road to redemption.”

 

This time the topic was on one of my favorite all time Super Heroes…Speedball! This was off the cuff and irreverent and a real departure from my past appearances! Put the wife and kids to bed.this one is not PG folks!

The Source Material Podcast #205 “Penance: The Redemption Of Speedball

Well that’s it for now! As more appearances are had they will be added to this page and will be advertised via Twitter at #SuperHeroSatellite  Would love to hear what you thought of my guest spots! I’ll agree it needed some polish at times but heck! Ya gotta start somewhere! I am very thankful to The Retroist, The Nerd Lunch Gang, The Source Material Podcast folks as well my good man Chris Sheehan for not only giving me a boost on their own scene but for entertaining me with their solid work every week!

Take care all..ill see ya soon!!

Hero Out!

Dont leave yet…make sure you do yourself a favor and check out these great websites and Twitter accounts!!

1. Check out the Retroist Blog and Podcast here!! https://www.retroist.com/

follow their Twitter accounts @retroist and @vicsage2005

2. Then Move on too the Nerd Lunch website at Nerdlunch.net

Follow their core Twitter accounts at @nerdlunch, @paxtonholley, and @nerdlunchjeeg

3. Dont forget to make a visit to the Blogospheres hardest working blogger/podcaster Chris Sheehan at his website www.chrisandreggie.podbean.com to get a ton of excellent historical comic book podcasts! The icing on the cake is Chris’s blog www.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com where he blogs daily! I cant reccomend Mr. Sheehan’s work enough and please follow his Twitter at @acecomics You WILL NOT be disappointed!

4. Last but not least…put the wife and kids to bed cause its time to hit up the Source Material Comics Podcast and a billion other shows at Radulich In Broadcasting

Join the gang on Twitter at @SourceMatCast and @stiznarkey

Tell Em hero Sent Ya!!

 

 

FISHER PRICE ADVENTURE PEOPLE: Adventures In Compatibility!

Welcome Back Heroes!! Fans of this here little blog know that when it comes to vintage action figures we could debrief all day. I have gathered the team here today in the viewing chambers for a very niche pocket of the action figure universe known as Adventure People. Settle in Heroes..OUR Adventure begins NOW!

When you consider the fact that my childhood was defined by action figures of the 1980s you will quickly understand why today’s topic is so vital to our meeting today. Like many I was raised on the classics, Star Wars, G.I.Joe, Masters Of The Universe were among my absolute favorites. Like all great toy-lines of the day these miniatures occupied hours, days and weeks of my youth. All of my friends were onboard as well. We shared the same interest in all the aforementioned franchises all of which boasted their own motion pictures, cartoons , comic books, TV shows you name it!!

One toy line that predated them all had no such media offspring and literally existed unearthed in several of my friends toy boxes waiting for me to discover them. As was such a story as with the 1975 Fisher Price Toy Collection The Adventure People! These particular toys as we would come to find out were soully responsible for adventures to come in distant barbaric planets, on battlefields across the world and in Galaxies Far Far Away…The very Genesis of our playtime in the 80s with action figures could not have occurred without these 3 ¾ inch trailblazers. Meet Fisher Prices Adventure People.

 

 

 

Transmission Date: Feb 23 2019

I constantly talk about being raised in a small town with little shopping options. I think I have established that fact in my blog chronology. Whats little know is that for the first 4 years of my life I was born in a VERY small town of Harcourt NL Canada. It wasnt until I was 4 that I moved to Clarenville, NL where I would live out my childhood and have my main growing up experiences. The majority of my action figure purchases spawned from that glorious Christmas season. While I did very well over Xmas in super isolated Harcourt when I moved to Clarenville my fortunes multiplied. I remember several of my first Christmas’s at 75 Memorial Drive, one in particular my parents went shopping and not so secretly picked out many of my Christmas gifts while I was THERE!! By bringing me to a store called Lovelesses. They had a selection of everything there including a mini Toy “Department”. Exactly 4 shelves of them to be perfectly clear. As I pointed and ogled at some of these cool-ass toys in front of me I remember pointing out the Weeble Wobble Haunted House as well as The Weeble Wobble Clubhouse. Both items became childhood favorites that far outlived their expiration as being GI Joe and Star Wars play-sets long after the Weebles went to toy heaven. As a couple of side gifts I also pointed out the Fisher Price Adventure People. They were two seemingly harmless Divers in lime green swimwear. There was a guy and a girl..I thought they were cool and guess what they magically appeared under the Christmas tree on our first Christmas in our new home! Who would have guessed Santa had been blessed with clairvoyance?

 

I had no idea or context at the time what these toys were. I just knew they were fun to play with in the bathtub and that’s all that mattered.As time passed and I was in primary school I happened upon a strange kid with quirky hair and a different kind of look. When I think back he resembled Carmine Infantino’s Luke Skywalker in the 70s Marvel Star Wars comic book. His name was Leslie Card. “Lezz” as we called him became fast friends with me and we hung out all the time as he lived just a two-minute walk from my house. Lezz came from a small town from the west coast of our island of Newfoundland and as a result had an assortment of “Different” toys! I had become a good enough friend that I was invited to one of his Birthday parties and it was one of the first times in his home. It was a Blackstar party and we watched a Blackstar VHS tape as the main event! How amazing is THAT!!

After this I frequented his house especially in the summer. It was common to just hang out in his backyard and read comics in his camper that his parents had parked in the back of the house while sipping “Hires” Root Beer. As we grew tired of reading books like Royal Roy, The Amazing Spider Ham and Wally The Wizard one day we drifted inside his house to his basement. Inside its cavernous interior of his unfinished basement / laundry area I noticed a fine stash of toys in a series of storage bins. While Lezz didn’t have the socially acceptable toys of the Town of Clarenville he had something DIFFERENT!! The first thing that grabbed me was that he had Micronauts…and plenty of them!!

Instead of He-Man toys he had Blackstar figures. There were no Go-Bots to be found but there were Shogun Warriors! This was like bizarro world for me! That being said there were a few common Star Wars toys for good measure but a few things always stood out were a fleet of vehicles…toys that I had not seen before but looked mighty cool and became playtime favorites.

In this one box I uncovered a Sports Van, a Plane, an outdoors recreational vehicle and more. I had these to be Tonka Toys before but these were different!! These toys could fit our Star Wars figures inside them!! I had no idea what these toys were but I did note that they were very well made and colorful. We played with them all the time that summer mixing them seamlessly with our other favorite toy franchises…I would later find out that these belonged to the same family of toys as my two Divers. Remember kids these two Diver toys in particular would become VERY important to the layout of the entire Adventure People line! More on that later!

 

Fisher price had not been known for their action figures. Prior to this Fisher Price handled mainly young kids with their licensed lines for Sesame Street and other properties. Typically these toys were targeting pre-school children and you could spot a Fisher Price toy from a mile away. No matter where you went, schools, day cares, Doctors offices, you name it, they had some sort of Fisher Price toy looming in its fibres. The classic pop maker, and The Fisher Price Cash register were commonly found everywhere.

 

 

 

For myself I was blessed to have had two of the coolest playsets, The Fisher Price Garage and the Sesame Street Playhouse!! Both of these sets were long time stalwarts of the Hero action figure play time sets. These always doubled for other things during play of course. The Clubhouse was always a Cobra Strong hold as it was incorporated into my main line playtime. I always imagined these item as something else and that was half the fun.

 

The Parking Garage was an addictive toy that involved a multi level parking garage with a working elevator to the top floor. It boasted a ramp for cars to roll down to ground level and something so simple occupied my young mind for hours. Countless minutes spent mindlessly churning the elevator bringing my mini cars or ‘Dinkies” to the top floor and then rolling them down the ramp at a high-speed! These little cars which seated exactly one Fisher Price peg figure in its seat careened from the rampway of the garage across the kitchen floor to my delight. Mindless fun…but that was the trap of Fisher Price products. They were infinitely playable, incredibly sturdy and compact and stood the test of time while other toy lines often did not survive the rigors of the toy box.

The Fisher Price figurines were iconic and unmistakable. They did not have 10,000 points of articulation…in fact the ONLY thing they could do was turn their heads! They had a peg like body with a shortened molded base to allow them to fit into their environments. The signature piece of them were the classic round head with painted face. Sometimes the heads had an accessories like a hat or a helmet which made them decipherable from others in the line. When I see these today I cant help but smile. They were incredibly basic, but that’s all 4-year-old me needed.

Fisher Price however would not be content with simply letting their customer base walk away when they turned 6..they had to expand…they had to capture that lucrative 6-10 demographic that other companies like Hasbro and Mattel monopolized. Hence in 1975 Fisher Price unveiled a new brand of figures..a set that would change the way we play to this very day. It was here we were about see the beginning of the fall of the 12-inch giant toy..and things were about to get smaller..3 3/4 inch to be exact!!

 

Adventure People encapsulated a new shift towards action figures. Action figures and dolls mostly up to that point had been of the larger variety. G.I.Joe was a primary kids toy in the 60s and 70s with each figure looming in a 12 inch variety! The vehicles were equally as massive to fit this line. The Six Million Dollar Man line of figures debuting in 1975 as well continued on the 12 inch trend. For girls at the time Barbie was equally as sizable along with all her friends , vehicles and accessories. Big was the norm during this time so with Adventure People launching in its 3 3/4 format was considered radical at the time. The FOOLS!! No one would play with 3 3/4 inch figures…right??  Fisher Price was not known to dip its toes in the big boy toy market but maybe …just maybe kids of the 70s would want their adventures on a smaller more compact scale….and they would be RIGHT!!

Meanwhile Kenner, the toy company known at the time for creating The Easy Bake Oven and The Spirograph was commissioned with the task of producing a line of figures for a new Science fiction movie that was by all accounts going to be popular…little did they know HOW popular. Mego another popular toy company of the day had recently declined the contract believing that this property would be a miss financially. They had already seen decline in general toy sales so taking a gamble at an unknown property was not a gamble worth taking. Besides this Star Wars thing was like all the other movie failures at the time right? That’s where up and comer Kenner came in, yet woefully unprepared to know the challenge that was ahead. The Christmas of 1977 would be a big challenge. There was pressure on to release a Star Wars toy line for the peak shopping season and demand for Star Wars was at a fever pitch. Kenner scrambled. Now you may ask..what does this have to do with Fisher Price Adventure People??

Well when toy company designers rushed production of their figures there was no time to develop physical prototype molds as was typically done in the creation of a new line. Kenner associates instead took several Adventure People toys remodeled and repainted them into prototype Star Wars figure concepts to sell to the marketers for production. The Toys were green lit and the most successful line of action figures ever made was born…with a little nudge from the amazing Fisher Price Adventure people.

The 3 3/4 inch action figure market exploded! Large scale toys such as Hasbro’s G.I.Joe, Mego toys and even The Six Million Dollar Man figures would all experience a sharp and sudden decline in the scale of their format. Some toys adapted with the times while others perished. On the surface level Adventure People were basic. None of the figures even had names. Which kind of worked out because pulling one of these very similar looking figures from the toy box and trying to differentiate them with a name could be a challenge for any 7-year-old. It was best off that we named them ourselves anyways! They were differentiated by their sex this group was strictly Male and female and also very super caucasian!?? The line not known for its diversity  DID include only one African American figure named “Male Pilot”(That had two variants) as well as a black female news reporter! They also had one very cool Native American male (Not pictured) as well but that was it! None o the three figures appeared as repaints later which was a little odd! I assume we will give them a pass for the times being what they were socially but this was certainly NOT the era of diversity in which we live in now.

 

They reused only a small number of individual molds to make their figures. By simply repainting them and adding accessories to make them “New” figures! Before everyone gets boo boo faced and accuses Fisher Price of  high crime, at the same time the beloved GI Joe 3 3/4 inch line did the same first when they launched . If you look closely at the GI Joe line you will notice that there was a great deal of head sharing going on. (Mind out of the gutters please we are talking plastic action figure heads people!!) Hawk, and Steeler share the same head mold. Clutch and Rock and Roll are the same guy with new hair and accessories!!! I noticed this with the Fisher Price gang as well! My Male Diver figure is also the most popular retread in the whole line as he moonlights as Male Swimmer, Male astronaut, Male TV Crew, Male Construction Worker, Space Commander, X-Ray Man…well you get the point!! No one even bothered to name them! There were other variants though few and far betwen like two female molds that played and a  host of different moldslike a race car driver, a cowboy, a Kayaker and a hang glider to name the most common assortment of Adventure People varities! All of these figures were built so they could easily be repainted and repurposed in another set! It was genius when you think of it!

 

Another peculiarity of this line were the hands. Each figure had a hand that fit onto some sort of vehicle or corresponding accessory. This was a neat feature as unlike other toy lines at the time when you placed a figure inside a vehicle they just sat there and could not grip the wheel merely sit. Not Adventure People..these figures were meant to drive,  work and heck even paddle a canoe down river and look the part! The coolest part of Adventure People however were the playsets and vehicles!! This is where play really began. Once you moved past the idea that your Mountain Climber, Male Swimmer and The Space Commander were the SAME toy then came the mega cool rides and you were over it!

 

The awesome Daredevil Sport Van was one that was a common find in toy boxes around my town! The classic green color with motor cycle and kayak accessories made this toy a win! The wheels and general construction looked reminiscent of the Barbie campers of the day! These toys featured very basic but iconic paper sticker decals that made these vehicles stand out!

 

 

 

Fisher Price Deluxe sets often came with plenty of figures and extra accessories to play with. The complete Wilderness Patrol team was one of my favorites! One incredible accessory was the Pontoon Boat that paired with the Bush plane! But separate all the vehicles and you had a boat a plane and an all terrain vehicle! Hell they even stuck a Collie in this set for good measure!!

 

 

The beauty of all these sets were they were super compatible with other figure sets of the day. Who would not have loved to have this super cool Rescue Truck for your GI Joe Medic Doc!! Come on you KNOW you would have!! How about Stalker and Gung Ho figures using all the cool Wilderness Patrol toys. These sets opened up new possibilities for your other toys that may have been collecting toy box dust!

My favorite set of all the Adventure People line however was the amazing Space Collection. With Kenner cleaning up in toy stores with their Star Wars line and other lines like BattleStar Galactica trying to take a slice to the toy profit pie.  Fisher Price entered the fray with a solid entry into the game, Adventure People: Space

 

Fisher Price as usual did not invest millions into making new molds for this new line of toys as with all other sets this crew was made up of repaints of the original Adventure People. Space Commander was Fisher Prices answer to Commander Adama of BattleStar fame but upon closer inspection he was merely our old friend Male Diver with a painted beard and flashy new red space duds with decals! Hang Glider Male transformed into Astro Knight! Race Car Driver became Clawtron Male! Heck Male and Female Diver became my favorite figures of the entire line with their new space garb complete with the see through green X-Ray Man and X-Ray Woman! They didnt even try to cover up the diving suits! They were literally clear green androids with robotic detailing and yellow dots literally painted over their eyes…and I loved them!!

This set didn’t just rely on its figures!! Nooooo! It also bested anything on toyshelves at that time with simply incredible vehicles!! Enter: Alpha Probe!! An incredibly designed space ship with mini adventure ship and built-in and realistic space sounds and options!

 

 

Alpha Probe was the center piece to the space collection and in scale one of the largest toys in the entire collection! As with everything else in the sets its was wildly compatible with the Popular Star Wars/ Gi Joe sets of the day and just looked damn cool in anyone’s collection!

So your Adventure People could blast off to the stars for adventures beyond the imagination…but what happens when you get there?? They had that on lock too with more incredible set pieces, the first being the Alpha Star Space Exploration set. It came complete with the Alpha Star all terrain vehicle and full deep space exploration unit in tow! Throw in the figures, a mini explorer droid and a beast alien and this thing had it all! Oh and I didn’t mention it was motorized and could drive back and forth! These things were tough on batteries through so you would need a steady supply of D-Cell batteries to keep the action going!

Then the Alpha Interceptor! This one was a bunch of modular toys in one. It was a “Build Your Own” sort of toy that you could build basically three types of toys out of! I have not seen one of these in real life but this thing looks incredible!!

Now for kids on a budget Fisher Price also had you covered!! Fire Star 1 was a single vehicle black space ship that played well with your X-Wing and Tie Fighter battles in a Galaxy Far far Away!! It came with a connecting cable that attached to the vehicle and figure to give the illusion of weightlessness in space!! Yes that is good old reliable Male Diver as X-Ray Man inside the Astro-Suit!!

Bottom line…Adventure People were much more than a juveniles toy. The cross compatibility alone made these toys favorites during playtime back in the day! While there was plenty of cop outs design wise these toys were incredibly well build and durable. If you look around out there in that corner closet or that down stairs storage area you just may rediscover these classics! That kids…is one to grow on!

 

Thanks for checking out the Super-Hero Satellite! Do us a favor and drop me a comment in the box below! If you would like to chat about this article or anything retro you can find me on Twitter @charlton_hero! Give me a follow!! You wont be sorry…at least not right away! Till Next Time Heroes!

 

SUPER-BLOG TEAM UP: **REDEMPTION** Redeeming Negan.

**Deep Space**

***YEARS AFTER THE SUPER-HERO SATELLITE IS FOUND DORMANT IN SPACE ..TODAY SYSTEMS ARE RESTORED***

*Systems Monitoring returning from sleep, awaken mode in affect…systems full Restored.* Welcome BACK Heroes!! It has been a LONG Time and I am SUPER excited to be BACK! There is no better time to return than with my baby..The Super-Blog Team Up! After taking a much-needed break from the blog I am back and this year will definitely be the Year Of The Satellite! More on that later!! We have so many things planned its gonna take an entire post to get to them all!! For those of you unfamiliar with Super-Blog Team Up we are a group of like-minded bloggers who come together multiple times a year to write about a singular topic on one designated day! Not only will you get to enjoy this post (Hopefully!!) but at the end you will find links to all our other top shelf writers! We have many long time authors who are back, we have a few who are making their return to the fold and several new faces (Or Pens as it maybe!!) who are now debuting members of the Mighty Marching SBTU!! Without further adieu….strap in heroes the Satellite is about to blast off to the not so distant past to talk about a subject that I had been meaning to do many years ago…The Walking Dead! The theme this month happens to be…

 

Transmission Date: Jan. 23rd 2019

The first thing you need to understand is that there was a dark period in my time as a comics collector where I moved away from the hobby that I loved due to economics. When I finally got back into comics it  was on the heels of some new exciting books that spawned my returning passion for comics. In the late 90s I was driven out of comics a hobby that I loved. By the 2000s I was out of collecting completely as I had been priced out of the market. My pull list that was at 40 to 50 books a month had dropped to one or two and finally to NOTHING. It was a sad day. Through Wizard magazine from the magazine rack I stayed abreast of the business and following the big events going on in the big three. At least it was something. Podcasts however were a big source of fun for me and I was dumpster diving for whatever audio content related to things I enjoyed during the birth of the podcast market in the early 2000s. As I have mentioned many times before Comic Geek Speak was one of my go-to podcasts and the gang on there had spotlight episodes more so The Book Of The Month episodes! On August 2005 CGS put out its Book of The Month Club Selection: The Walking Dead

Click Here To Listen To CGS Book Of The Month: The Walking Dead

Little did I know I would become engulfed in this title like no other. It became almost an addiction..I could not put it down.

 

I had given up on most Image books around this time since many of the Superhero titles were gone by that period. Images offerings had not interested me for some time. However upon listening to the CGS crew rave about this book I wanted to know all about it. I had some time on my hands back then and I spent several hours a day reading comics on my computer. With one search, there was the entire collection..and a right-click later 35 issues of The Walking Dead were sitting on my hard drive. 35 issues was a daunting challenge but the CGS gang were rarely wrong in their recommendations so I was all in. I simply wanted to skim through the first few issues and get a taste for what my podcast compadre’s were raving about.  For those of you who haven’t seen or read anything Walking Dead related let me set the table for you. The Walking Dead is a monthly comic book published by Image Comics written from the mind of one Robert Kirkman who was a relative unknown in terms of mainstream fame in the business at that point. That would change in years to come. The book was intentionally done in Black and White which was not mainstream popular at the time but still existed in some books. The book debuted in Oct 2003 but it would be 2005 before I ever gave it a glance. I remember reading the first issue of the Walking Dead and let me tell you I was….underwhelmed. It was a “meh” for me. I know…I know..you were expecting me to say great things about this book right!! That will come later. The artwork out of the gate was by Tony Moore and I just could not wrap my head around the art. For such a book with such a serious tone I just felt Moore’s artwork not the right fit for the title. It had a loose almost cartoony feel to the work and it was just hard to take the book seriously. I compare it to Joe Staton’s artwork from Green Lantern Corp fame in the 1980s, I just don’t like a cartoony look to characters facially. Both Stanton and Moore suffer from this “Fault” in their armor.  I want to be clear it WAS good art but the damn faces drove me nuts. I was just turned off from it instantly. I valiantly read fours issues then stopped…for the time being. The story was solid enough though. A cop wakes up alone in a hospital only to discover that he is in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Sounds simple right? Well I was enjoying the story but not much else. Kirkman wasn’t just writing about zombies killing people he flipped the script and wrote about the human condition as they navigate through this new Dead Filled world. Life as we know it will be scarier, bloodier and more violent than ever….and that’s just the humans…THEN you throw zombies into the mix!

The bare bones of the story follows police Officer Rick Grimes as he becomes the unofficial defacto leader of a group of Zombie Holocaust survivors as they manage their way through the harsh new world. The humans all struggle for shelter food and weapons and the real fight is with each other. In this world however there is no power or luxuries like running water or plumbing. To make matters ever worse when you get bitten by the undead YOU become a Walker yourself!! Factions are created, battle lines are drawn and as food and shelter runs out we find out that desperate people will go to great lengths to survive including imprisoning, killing and murdering each other. The people themselves..the survivors find out it is not the Dead they have to worry about, it’s each other…they themselves have become The Walking Dead! The realism of the tragedy of the breakdown of civilization and of the human condition is what makes this book amazing. As I said after 4 issues while I was enjoying the book..visually it was a turn off so I walked away. It would be 6 months later that I would see a random new issue of The Walking Dead for sale and I grabbed it to get a feel for what’s going on in the book. Things had changed…dramatically.

 

Tony Moore’s art was nowhere to be seen and now a guy by the name of Charlie Adlard had taken over. This moody almost gruesome brooding style was PERFECT for the book. As I thumbed through the pages I was shocked by something that happened. Core characters had died!!? It was enough for me to jump back in. I began anew with issue 5 and I have never looked back! On to the story…As Rick and his family work with a small group of survivors as they struggle to stay alive by just trying to find the basics to support life and to just live till the next day. The group are faced with the dilemma of having to kill others to survive..including their friends. They see loved ones pass and turn into walkers and have to kill them all over again. Rick is faced with the horrible prospect of killing his best friend. His wife is murdered with their unborn child. His son is hideously disfigured. Rick himself is dismembered when he loses a hand. That is JUST the Grimes family. Every character in the book is faced with an impossible disturbing task of being driven to murder to stay alive. It’s the central tragedy of this series and Kirkman masterfully weaves his characters through this awful depraved journey. What would YOU do to survive? If you look for one sentence to describe the Walking Dead is…NO ONE IS SAFE. No other book in its genre is known for killing off its core cast like The Walking Dead. You do not have to look very far to know that you best not get invested in any characters because each one comes with an unofficial expiry date! This is the central theme of the book. Well we find out that the answer to that question is that when faced with death good people become VERY bad people in a damn hurry as is the case with our subject here for The Super-Blog Team Up…Negan. But first before the Hardcore Bat swinging madman there was…this man..

The Walking Dead has had its share of villains. Stand outs like The Governor are a classic example of what this new world can do to a good human. Issue 27 of TWD we are introduced to Brian Blake, the Governor of the Town Of Woodbury. Woodbury is a town that survives and lives on like an almost normal community in the middle of a collapsing civilization. Blake is their charismatic leader whose ruthlessness and brutality are the cornerstones of Woodbury’s very existence. He leads with an iron fist and outsiders are NOT welcome unless there is something to gain by their association. The Governor was the bench mark villain for the majority of the series with his greatest hits include cutting Ricks hand off, mutilating Michonne, Killing Ricks wife and undead baby not excluding the outright brutal murder of many core characters. Central to Kirkman’s writing he always gives us this human element to even his bad guys. Later we see that despite the Governors ruthless commanding presence and heinous acts we see a real father who lost his daughter to the horrors of this new world of whom he is unwilling to let go. He keeps the “walkerized” version of his daughter Penney tied up in his apartment and feeds her body parts of his victims to her to eat. Eventually The Gov is taken down we and it is here we experience the true tragedy of this book. While the Governor is considered one of comicdom’s most ruthless villains he is but the learner when it comes to the crown prince of barbarianism himself..the Leader of The saviours…Negan! Just as Rick and The group of survivors have seemingly over come the evils of their new world and have settled into a peaceful existence in a new town and trying to rebuild some semblance of a normal life for everyone…then we meet The Walking Dead’s real super bad. His name is Negan and the world of The Walking Dead would be beaten into brutal submission by this new psychopath on the scene.

 

So Negan’s tragic pre-outbreak story goes as such, he was a high school coach who had a reputation for intimidating and bullying his players. Negan (No last name given) lived a seemingly normal life with a job and a wife named Lucille (This name will become very crucial to our story a little later.) Negan was not a morally sound individual early on in his life and despite his outward happy marriage he was having an extramarital affair on the side. His whole world would fall apart prior to the outbreak as Negan discovers his wife has cancer when she collapses in front of him as they argued over this affair revelation. Negan rushes his wife to the hospital just as the outbreak begins, but he is too late. As his wife is placed on life support Negan desperately try’s to hang on to her and calls off his affair but it is too late. Lucille passes away when the power goes down and her life support system shuts down. As with all deaths in the Walking Dead universe our loved ones are reanimated as a “zombie” (Or Walker as we will call them moving forward). Negan has to make the decision to have his wife killed but he cannot bear to do it himself. Negan makes a deal with a child to do the honors for him, a trait we will see over and over when he becomes a leader. Out of the gate I love this origin. Every bad guy is at their best when it comes to their motivation. Negan’s guilt for his infidelity and the passing of his beloved wife scars him and drives him to become the monster we will soon see emerge.

Leaders rise…followers Follow.

 

As the story goes, Negan is on the run during the outbreak but happens upon a group of survivors led by a Walking Dead core cast member, Dwight. As we find out Dwight is no natural-born leader but a scrappy survivalist who manages to keep himself and his followers alive during the devastation. As Negan is welcomed into the fold it is clear the leadership foundation is weak with Dwight at the helm. It is only a matter of time as Negan uses his natural charm and hard-nosed foundation that Negan becomes their groups obvious emerging natural leader. Once in position of power Negan renames his group the Saviors, a group of which overtime grow into the hundreds. The band discovers ways to defend themselves against the walker hordes and creates a large communal compound and series of outpost satellite locations to maintain their way of life against the horrors of the walkers. Before long as the outside world collapses and resources become scarce, everyone is chasing food and supplies. Negan being a creative entrepeneur uses his sheer brute force, charm and intimidation to bully other groups the Saviors encounter to give up large shares of their supplies, weapons and food in exchange for their “Protection”. The tactic worked numerous times over and over as Negan and his Saviors began to stockpile weapons and supplies while other groups in the wild starved and struggled under their foot. That is until Negan and group ran into Rick Grimes and his posse.

Rick and his group had found their way into a place called Hilltop, a society that was seemingly surviving and self-sustained despite the horrors of the Outbreak. They had developed a government of sorts ran by the dubious Gregory They lived a basic but sustainable lifestyle. Farming and weapons making were trademarks of Hilltop and Negan saw great opportunity to offer his “Protection” to the Hilltop natives and in turn take their food and weapons. Gregory being a weak leader was living under fear of Negan and his group and had a bad habit of caving and conformity like a coward every time when Negan and the saviors came knocking. It didn’t take long before new Hilltop inhabitant Rick Grimes observed what was happening to the citizens who were sustaining a real living to have to hand it over to these bullies with not so much as a harsh word said in retaliation or compromise. Rick had seen enough and mobilized a strike force of the usual suspects.

We get a closer look to what Rick and his group are dealing with as we peel back the layers of their newest foe. We see that this once well-adjusted High School coach has transformed into a deadly brutal sadistic cult leader. Negan’s own people were also living in fear of his shadow. His own people are not spared mercy either as Negan hoardes the saviors women for his own sexual pleasure, taking whomever he wants at any time. Anyone who does not conform with his desires are dealt with….very harshly. Public beatings of his own people are common to set the example. Many of his people whom he dubs “disloyal” are literally horrifically branded facially and horribly disfigured to bear the living reminded of what happens when you show disobedience to Negan. Even former leader Dwight is the living embodiment of what happens when you cross the boss as he wears the branding scar on the side of his face and still stands by Negan in his war against Rick and the outsiders .

 

No Turning Back..

While Rick and the team are attempting to extinguish Negan’s handle on Hilltop they hit one of the Saviors main security outposts by surprise and kill several of Negan’s henchmen seemingly gaining the upper hand in the first real shot in what would be a War for the ages. This would lead to the most famous and irredeemable act of Negans reign of terror in The Walking Dead saga. When Rick and his group are surrounded by The Saviors and forced to their knees in a line up and it is here that Rick and Company are introduced to the King Of Swing himself..Negan. The leather jacket clad villain debuts with a barbwire baseball bat lovingly named after his dead wife Lucille. Ricks group is threatened with death as they endure a lethal game of Eeneee Meaneee Mineee Mo” to decide who will die to pay for the death of his men. When Negan finally painfully and  slowly decides to flat-out murder core Walking Dead fan favorite Glen!

 

 

The act is one of the most heinous deaths in the history of comics! Glen is not only murdered in front of his friends but his pregnant wife Maggie is forced to endure his brutal demise as Glen calls out to her during the ordeal. Glens graphic death is Negan’s first stamp on the world of the Walking Dead and it sets the tone for what the character will stand for. It is interesting to compare the previous super bad The Governor with his contemporary Negan. While the Governor was a vile human being capable of horrific acts, Negans level of  violence goes beyond anything the governor has dealt.

 

The Seduction of the Innocent.

One of Negan’s most heinous acts was not in fact the list of people he has murdered, had killed or desecrated but rather his obsession with the son of Rick Grimes. Carl Grimes a battle weary hostile teen by this point in our story has seen enough blood shed and death. He has grown tires of bowing to a homicidal maniac and takes matters into his own hand and goes to take out Negan on his own killing six of Negans men in the process before getting captured and faced with his own execution. Negan stops any attempt on Carl’s life and gains an admiration for Carl’s guts in coming after him. Instead of killing the headstrong teen he takes him under his wing and shows him all the riches he has gained as leader of The Saviors. Carl sees another side of this vicious killer and even begins to warm up to the man who murdered his friends. Negan in a moment where we see he is still a human under his hostile hard-assed exterior demands Carl remove his bandage from his head which covers an awful disfiguring scar that the young Grimes has kept under wraps since an horrific incident where he was accidentally shot in the head while fleeing a Walker outbreak. Negan humiliates Carl by exposing his wound and demands to even touch the inside the hole of the wound on his head where an eye once was now leaving only a deep hole.

Carl finally breaks down from the overwhelming pressure of Negans imprisonment and just the horror of the world he lives in. Seeing Carl break something happens to Negan..he finally shows sympathy for the first time and apologizes to Carl! This is a point in the character we had not seen up to that point. After this incident the Carl and Negan relationship is changed. Negan is protective of Carl and almost sees him in a Father/ Son dynamic. Negan and Carl have many interactions later through out the series but it is this odd overtone to his character that shows there may still  be a human under that brash murderous character after all.

 

One of the main storyline’s in the chronology of The Walking Dead is the Epic All Out War story that documents the final end to the war between Rick and his Survivors against Negan and his Saviors. One of the cornerstones to The Walking Dead book in general is the theme of “No One Is Safe”. This is very apparent in this particular story and the body count on both sides escalates to epic proportions. The war finally ends with the main event of Negan facing his nemesis Rick Grimes. Rick and various bands of communities and splinter survivor groups come together to finally topple the Saviors regime.

 

The final battle between the leaders has not yet finished but when the bloodshed stops and its left with Rick face to face with Negan himself.  Both sides have endured grave loss and it looks like the two warriors have had enough. Negan and Rick look like they have put their weapons down and agree to a truce…that is until Rick Grimes savagely cuts Negan’s throat leaving him for dead on the battlefield to end the bloodshed.

The Confinement

After all out war we are served with a time jump seemingly years into the future.Negan we learn has survived but has been imprisoned ever since the war. We see a haggard Negan who has basically given up on life and lives the rest of his natural life behind bars. For Negan this is a worse affliction than death. He has become almost unrecognizable in appearance and gone is the hulking womanizer and we now see a frail bearded long hair recluse. Of course he cleans up well and after Negan has been torn down and humiliated and that is exactly what Rick Grimes has planned he restores himself to his old look as he begins to plot his escape. All the evil this man has perpetrated to humankind his penance is to rot in a jail cell isolated eternally from civilized man….at least that was the plan.

Redeeming The Irredeemable.

Isolation has its merits. It allows a person to reflect on their life and their mistakes. I would like to say this character served his time, completely rehabed his image and spent the rest of his days making the world a better place ..right? Well in Negans own special way I guess!

Negan decides to adopt the “If you can’t beat em join em” philosophy..Negan using his persuasive powers uses a weak-minded pawn who visits his jail cell who also shares has a deep-seated hatred for Rick Grimes. With the help of his new Grimes hating minion Negan convinces the man to free him!!. The world has changed so much since Negan has been exposed to the outside world and the latest threat to safety and humanity are a group known as The Whisperers. Lead by the emotionless monster Alpha, a bald-headed female leader who along with Beta, collectively runs a group of survivors who conceal their human forms with Walker flesh and to camouflage themselves to be able to walk freely amongst the Walkers. THe Whisperers are very much still a threat despite many societal and technological advancement humanity has progressed since the original outbreak. The man named Brandon Rose the man responsible for freeing Negan tells him of this group and plans to bring him into Whisperer territory to possibly join them. Negan smelling another group takeover goes along with his rescuer ..but before he enters Whisperland, Negan murders Brandon in cold blood and goes to face them himself. Of course with Negan being the personality that he is he is almost instantly detained and imprisoned again. This time however Negan who is used to manipulating people from confinement gains the trust of their leader Alpha and eventually begins to build trust from the Whispers. Negan and Alpha begin to show moments of affection and Alpha after years of being a straight nosed emotionless leader of savage survivalists she unknowingly lets her guard down emotionally and lets Negan and his charms in. Negan shows his affection back the only way he knows how..

He beheads her…as a matter of fact he beheads her with a small knife in savage Negan fashion and in a weird way, but maybe not so weird for a character like Negan, THIS would be his redemption.

Making Peace

Often as humans if we have a disagreement, a fight or an all out estrangement with a friend, or family member we for the most part, attempt to make things right. We want to make amends. After the dust settles we hope to just move on with things..we extend an Olive branch. Negans proverbial “Olive Branch” was bringing the very HEAD of the enemies leader directly to his nemesis and drop it on the ground in front of him as an apology. Rick Grimes the leader and mortal enemy of Negan, who had watched his friends murdered, also who watched his own son be manipulated by this madman, and who attempted to murder him personally several times could only stand in shock. This man who was so evil, so vile, so irredeemable yet he had just ended the war between Rick’s group and the Whisperers. The man he had imprisoned for years out of public fear and outcry was suddenly loose and killing again for RICKS team!!? Negan at one point even saves Rick from certain death from a walker attack. He try’s to convince everyone his time in prison has rehabilitated him. Rick finally concedes to  Negan and agrees to no longer jail him. The deal however is  that Negan CANNOT live in their community..he will be for all intents and purposes EXILED! Negans past history could not be replaced but somehow he gained the trust and maybe a shade of respect from a man he cost so much. Negan however finds peace with the only person he was truly at war with..Himself.

Both men…and hundreds of other survivors faced horrible odds and did things that no human should ever have to face. Taking lives and seeing horrific tragedy that would break a normally strong person. These people have endured unquestionable horror and to survive committed unspeakable acts. While some are considered great leaders, others are seen as cold-blooded murderers and in the world of the Walking Dead we discover that the line that separates a Rick Grimes from a Negan is very thin. Indeed the truth about The Walking Dead is that “We Are All The Walking Dead…”

 

Well that is it Satellite Subscribers!! But the fun does not end as Superhero Satellite this year we are debuting the monthly Superhero Satellite podcast this summer! Stay tuned for that!

If you liked what you read…(or even if you didn’t) please feel free to leave a comment as  we read and respond to them all! If you want to catch up with us on social media follow us on Twitter @Charlton_Hero or read our archives right here on the site! Till next time Heroes!!

End Transmission..

Thanks so much for reading and for sticking with us despite our year-long absence I have truly missed my readers. The good news is that there is SO much more to enjoy with the rest of our rag-tag group of Mighty Marching Blogging Brigade as Super-Blog Team Up Continues RIGHT NOW! Visit the rest of our team below!

 

Coffee and Comics Blog: Green Lantern #100 https://coffeeandcomicspodcast.blogspot.com/2019/01/episode-31-green-lantern-100.html

Two Staple Gold: Just a Pilgrim  twostaplegold.blogspot.com

Comic Reviews By Walt: SBTU Presents – Redemption/Coming Home: Shredder https://comicreviewsbywalt.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/super-blog-teamup-redemption-the-shredder/

Comics Comics Blog : Elfquest :Cutters Redemption http://comicscomicscomics.blog/2019/01/23/super-blog-team-up-elfquest-and-the-redemption-of-cutter

The Superhero Satellite: The Walking Dead: “Redeeming Negan” https://coffeeandcomicspodcast.blogspot.com/2019/01/episode-31-green-lantern-100.html

Longbox Review: Nightwing’s Redemption http://longboxreview.com/2019/01/23/the-redemption-of-nightwing/

Between The Pages Blog:   The Secret Origin Of Spider-Man https://betweenthepagesblog.typepad.com/between-the-pages-blog/2019/01/the-secret-origin-of-spider-man.html

The Unspoken Decade: What If V2 #46 and 47. https://theunspokendecade.com/

Black, White and Bronze: The Redemption of Red Sonja, Savage Sword of Conan #1 https://blackwhitebronzecomics.blogspot.com/2019/01/super-blog-team-up-redemption-of-red.html)

The Daily Rios: http://thedailyrios.com/

Chris Is On Infinite Earths: The Pied-Piper Reforms!  Flash (vol.2) #31 https://www.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

Crapbox Son Of Cthulu: http://crapboxofcthulhu.blogspot.com/

In My Not So Humble Opinion – The Other Side of the Wind: The Redemption of Orson Welles https://benjaminherman.wordpress.com/

The Retroist Via Vic Sage:https://www.retroist.com/

The Source Material Comics Podcast: Penance – The Redemption of Speedball https://www.spreaker.com/user/10409169/sm-sb-final

 

BLOGS UNITED: The Justice League That Time Forgot..

Following the FINAL Super-Blog Team Up Crisis Event The Satellite Deactivated itself after being taken over by its internal living computer that has taken control of its navigation and programming. Its crew are sustained in hyper sleep chambers not knowing its vile intentions. Alas Computer continues the mission of the Superhero Satellite to document and report on all things retro from the past..Today…we build our own Super Team from the ground up. While the Mighty SBTU is dead fragments of the team come together to reform Super Teams from the ashes to once again restore order to the Blogosphere…Blogs United..

Transmission Date: 1/27/ 2018:

The challenge posed to the team was “What If” we could put together a Do It Yourself Version Of The Justice League using any heroes from any time and company in the history of Comicdom or other media? What would we come up with!!?? In keeping with the theme of this particular blog that allows me to simply catalogue my childhood I went with a group of unlikely heroes from titles that do not necessarily land on the top of everyone comics list. These characters hold very fond memories of books that I enjoyed as a kid and I feel get overlooked but deserve a look again. I have taken the time to create a team name and origin for the team and I go through why I have selected member of the crew. I also give a relectionon what they mean to me personally. Each one of these characters hold a special memory for me while growing up and its my chance to share and remember why I became a comics fans to begin with so many years ago! At the end of this list I have also included a base storyline for their existence of our team!! First enjoy my selections, then read how and why they come together!!

Star Brand: (Leader): First Appearance: Star Brand #1 Oct. 1986 (Created By Jim Shooter)

Origin and Powers: While on a random dirt bike joyride, Pittsburg mechanic Kenneth Connell discovered an Old Man in the woods who bestows upon him the powers of the Star Brand! This power created by a universal anomaly called the “White Event gives many regular humans in the New Universe miraculous powers. Kenneth gains the biggest gift of all.. limitless power!! He struggles to figure out his time and purpose in the world. He slowly understands he can use his powers for good and protect the world as Star Brand!! Unbeknownst to Kenneth he has inherited powers far beyond his capacity to control them and accidentally allows his excess build up of power to be unintentionally unleashed creating a nuclear scale event called “The Black Event” The result is the annihilation of his own city of Pittsburg from existence. This will be the entire basis of the formation of my own #DYIJusticeLeague . More on that later..read on!

My history with the character: I’ll never forget my anticipation for Marvels latest concept in 1986, the debuting New Universe. It was touted as “The World Outside Your Window”. I saw it in ads all over my favorite comic books, on posters in stores, etc. This New Universe was going to change comics. As a novice collector one thing my collective group of friends knew was that first issues of our favorite comics were eventually “Rare” and valuable. So when a whole new group of titles were about to appear on my favorite spinner racks in my town I could not wait to jump on! Surely this was the beginning of “MY” own Marvel universe! Having missed the original birth of the Marvel Universe I was determined to damn well be front and center for this “Happening!!”

So the comics eventually came out, but others in my town were on the trail and snatched up the first wave before I had a chance to grab them all!! I was pissed..but I was confident I would get them somehow. Eventually through my regular channels at New England Comics..they surely would have them. But I grabbed what I could.Kickers Inc, Spitfire and the Trouble Shooters, Justice, I was not missing this!! One fateful day at a friend of a friend’s house I uncovered some treasures. The friend who had just begun his comics buying spree opened his stash of comics as my friend Jason and I scanned through the books. There were several very good titles and key issues of Hulk, Spiderman,and Daredevil. He even had some obscure Archie books that grabbed my eye..but then he pulled it out!! No not THAT…Star Brand #1!! Damn it! I had found the hoarder who grabbed MY New Universe books before I could!! It was Kiman Tom!! Kiman was a great guy who shared a lot of my passions like Video games, comic books and wrestling. His Mom and Dad has a successful Chinese Food restaurant in my home town and they allowed him to jump-start his collection in a big way!! I was very envious..and maybe a shade and a half jealous. Underneath Starbrand was Merc #1 and then DP7 #1 and so on . Kiman had the Full Monty!! The image of Star Brand #1 may as well have been Action Comics #1 that day as the memory is so vividly BURNED in my mind. Not sure what he did with those books but I knew I wanted them. That said I had no trouble buying the consecutive issues as they were in great supply. I knew this New Universe was a dud..but I troopered on. I bought the entire run of each title over time and I still love them..but I have resigned to the fact it did NOT deliver on its promise. Despite all this I always felt Star Brand could have been more. Yes he was brought back recently but it was not “MY” Star Brand. The re-imagined kid version of the 2017 character I could do without.

OUR STORY BEGINS…

This is the foundation and starting point of my version of the JLA.

It is The Black Event that we base the existence of our newly formed Super Group..As the White Event created a brand “New Universe”..The unwritten story of The Black Event (For our story purposes) shifted all known comic Universes that we know out of chronological alignment in an event know as “The JLA That Time Forgot”. For a moment in time a ragtag group of survivors who are miraculously brought together by this new alignment of Universes must join forces to go back time before the Black Event happens and destroy their own leader Star Brand and return the universe to its original rhythm.

Now on to more of the players..

Megalith: (Strong Guy)

First Appearance: The Revengers #1 in 1985, Created by Neal Adams.

Origin: Farm Boy and local High School jock, Joe Majurac, was a hopeful future Olympian. He was also a family guy with superior morals and lifestyle. When his family’s farm fell under financial hardship Joe took a sponsorship deal from an unknown German company to help keep the family business alive. As he trained under this shady new German training facility, Joe began to suspect that somethings were not as they seemed. During this time he gained a “Mind/Body link which gave him superhuman abilities beyond his wildest imagination. However this corporations motives were not pure by any means and Joe uncovers that he is not being trained for the Olympics but for far more sinister purposes. He breaks out of the facility to discover his family’s farm is destroyed and his parents are missing!! On a mission of revenge, Joe dons a heroic costume and becomes Megalith who is on a search to find his family! Who could not love this story?? Pure 80s schlock, but super fun!!

Powers: As stated above Megalith’s ability to achieve Mind/Body link gives him Super Human capabilities many of which he uncovers along the way in his journey to become a hero. His main power of course is his super human strength and a jacked up physique!

My history with the character: As I matured in my comics buying habit I loved when other publishers began showing up on my hometown spinner racks!! I would buy them all up to show my “Indy Cred” to my friends! I was a fan of Comico, NOW, Malibu,Valiant, and Ultraverse (Much later) and of course the crown jewel..Continuity!! It was unique in that these books were traditionally more expensive but for good reason. The books overall quality was great! From coloring to paper quality ,Continuity looked physically imposing on the shelves!! These were all new characters to me as well!! Yes, some came from other publishers however in small town Clarenville these had never been seen! We had cool characters like Armor, Valeria She-Bat, Ms.Mystic, Hybrids and others! The one that stuck out to me was Megalith!! He was drawn by Neal Adams who I grew to love from DC books like Green Arrow and Batman. Continuity was a company based around realistic art and quality output and Adams himself was at the helm!! Megalith was as strong as The Incredible Hulk seemingly and had a kick ass Legion Of Superheroes style costume..thats all this 80s kid was interested in. Continuitys delivery schedule was spotty at best so I could only buy intermittent issues but I bought them all the second I could grab them. Megalith was the one Continuity character that I always went back to and I have fun, nostalgic memories to this day of him. Go ahead..pick up a Continuity back issue and I dare you to tell me the quality is not great!!

Ameythyst: Princess Of Gem World (Resident Amazon type)

First Appearance: 16 Page Preview Special in the pages of Legion Of Super-Heroes Vol. 2 #298 created by Ernie Colon, and Gary Cohn

Origin: I am gonna be honest here. Amethyst is almost a clone of She-ra in every way and I love that. From the gems, to the Winged Horse to her transformation. Either way, she is cool so here goes. Part of the royal Family of Gem World, Princess Amethyst, finds herself an orphan when her parents are slain by their kingdoms sworn enemies, The House Of Opal. After this tragedy Amethyst is hidden and brought to safety by a Witch who hides her on Earth with an average family the Winston’s. All is well up until the age of 13 where she is discovered on Earth by The same House Of Opal leader ,The Dark Opal, the same individual that murdered her parents. She is transported to Gemworld where her powers are unveiled to her and she transforms into Amethyst gaining the appearance of a grown adult. Amethyst swears to use her new gifts to rescue Gemworld from the oppression of The Dark Opal. With the help of her Winged Unicorn Max, Lord Topaz, Princess Emerald, and others her journey begins!

Powers: Amethyst was some basic powers but we see them fantastically used differently in various situations. First and foremost she posseses the power of magic. This power varies and seems to be used differently depending on creative teams involved. One consistent theme of the Amethyst character is her ability as a skilled sword wielder.

My History With The Character: The DC 16 page specials were always a favorite thing of mine in the very early 80s. It was a clever way to put over a new character or title while selling it from the pages of popular existing books. Almost all of them hooked me! I bought Masters of the Universe 3 issue Mini Series after reading the preview issue, I became a Captain Carrot fan. It opened my eyes to the New Teen Titans and Night Force. I was a self made DC zombie and I bought everything they were feeding me…all except Amethyst. Yes I missed the 16 page preview issue of Amethyst in my favorite book Legion Of Superheroes at the time and by the time she debuted in her own Maxi Series (Despite loving and mini/maxi or limited series format ) I passed. Unusual for me at the time. Then a funny thing happened. I was in the process of buying back issues of Legion Of Superheroes vol. 2 when issue 298 was sitting in a long box staring me in the face and was priced for little of no money with some other low priced Legion books. I nabbed em all. Not for Amethyst, but for the fact I collected Legion. I remember thinking this particular issue looked rather thick but didnt give it a second thought. I honestly do not recall even reading it at the time. It likely got added to my swelling collection and sealed away for a possible eternity. Then possibly 25 years later I visit my parents home where the vast majority of my collection lies and I am sifting through my comics remembering almost point ,day and place where I bought each book. Then I stumble upon the 298th issue of Legion. Looking it over I didnt remember even buying it so I pulled it out of its eternal phantom zone and finally cracked it open..and there she was. The 16 page Amethyst preview was very fun. I could not believe I actually missed one of these preview issues back in the day. I have since found a nice collection of Amethyst books online but this book always bothers me as “The one that got away”. She deserves better…and it is for this reason she is in the place of Wonder Woman in my version of the Justice League getting a fresh start for me!

Jemm Son Of Saturn: (Resident Martian type) Jemm is my placeholder for Martian Manhunter…and originally was written to be DCs new version of the classic Green Skinned JLA legend when MM was not a part of the DC cannon. Jemm was created as a descendant of Jonn Jonzz (Martian Manhunter) but during the creative process on the series the creative team was informed that DC had planned to bring back the original Martian Manhunter and the original concept for Jemm was scrapped and an all new original character was created!!

Powers: Jemm is a high functioning telepath who also has super strength , and the ability to fly. His coolest power is the ability to shoot energy blasts from the gemstone on his forehead.

First Appearance: Jemm, Son of Saturn #1 (September 1984). Created by Greg Potter and Gene Colon

My History With The Character: As a kid I always related my comics with the store I purchased them at. For Doctors appointments and visits to my friends house weekly I would always visit a little basement pharmacy attached to a medical clinic that happened to carry a wonderful selection of comic books. I rarely left without at least one comic book and landed more than a number of treasures. On this particular day in 1984 I made my regular trip to Budget Drug Mart and walked immediately to the comics rack near the back of the store. On this day I noticed something new on the rack …Jemm :Son OF Saturn #1. I snatched it quickly as there seemed to be only two copies on the shelf. I was a fan of limited series books and DC’s Maxi series books were something new. It exciting to me so I went home with that book. I was unfamiliar with this new Red Alien character that was Jemm, but his depiction by master DC Artist Gene Colon instantly won me over. I was a Gene Colon art fan which I recognized from Batman books of the day. His detailed moody style nailed this vibe of this character. This book was different. This was not a story of classic super heroism like DC’s stalwarts like Batman or Superman..this book was a deep emotional roller coaster and I was hooked. I still kick myself to this day for not being able to land each issue and to this day I always grab a Jemm book if I find them in 50 cent bins!

Future Batman (Batman Type..Duh!!)

First Appearance HEX #11 1986

Origin: Long before the Batman films of the day Future Batman had the Flying Batwing ship as well he has moved his headquarters from the Batcave to the new base of operations in the head of the Statue of Liberty. It sounds hokey kids but this stuff was GREAT to my 11 year old eyes was the BEST book on comics shelves!! I was hooked on everything 80s DC!! Like the Batman of old Mr. Cohen’s family were murdered by and he spends his life mission neutralizing bad guys..especially ones with guns!! Of course..that flew in direct course of collision with the gun toting Jonah Hex!!

Powers: This version of Batman boasts no super power set as such but like his Batty forefathers he maintains the same classic attributes. He is seemingly an engineer and a brilliant detective/pilot whom is very tech savy and utilizes those weapons in his fight in post apocolypictic New York of 2050. Not to be outdone by his Bat Family ancestors ,Leonard is well schooled in martial arts, showcasing above average strength and endurance.

My History with the character: I am a card carrying super fan of the DC Comics series HEX. Yes..the one where Jonah Hex is thrust into the future and takes on a Mad Max like persona. LOVED IT!! I made it a mission monthly to grab that title. HEX was everything I wanted in a comic. Hex himself was a character I loved from his wild west comic book and his new support characters really sold me on the deal. Stilletta, Chain, and The Dogs of War were all great new additions to the already loaded DC Universe!! This all existed in its own self contained futuristic bubble and unaffected by DC storylines of the day. In HEX issue 11 we were introduced to Futuristic Batfan and 2050s new Dark Knight, Leonard Cohen. (Canadian Music Fans can laugh here..). He looked baddass. A sleek new “darker” version of the Bat suit paired with its wearer having a bad attitude and grim sense of vengence. This was Batman with an extreme mean streak. He immediately did not see eye to eye with HEX and engaged in a brutal fight. Of course this Batman appeared in two issues and despite early doubts ended his appearance valiantly sacrificing himself for the greater good…or did he?? I was all about futuristic shit. I loved Mad Max and The Terminator films back in the day and I LOVED and still LOVE the HEX series. This Batman is damn cool and easily earns his spot on my team as our version of Batman on the team!

Wildfire (The Living Energy Bomb)

First Appearance: Superboy and The Legion Of Superheroes #195 June 1973 Created by Dave Cockrum and Cary Bates

Origin: Astro Engineer Drake Burroughs was a victim of a horrific energy explosion during a routine test. His human form had apparently disinitegrated but somehow his consciousness still remained and he existed as a simple blob of Anti Energy. Luckily his scientist friends managed to engineer a containment suit to at least give him a human like vessel to continue somewhat of a “Normal” life. In a sad realization Wildfire would never be able to ever live a normal life as he now lacked all senses of touch and taste. This would be a major point of what makes Wildfire so interesting! Wildfire would eventually be accepted into the hallowed halls of The Legion and would fall in love with fellow female Legionaire Dawnstar. This is where the tragedy of this character is really felt that he had feelings but could never physically express them.To make matters worse It was believed though that if for whatever reason that Drake unleashed his powers he would cease to exist. He was dubbed “The One Shot Hero” Wildfire seemingly sacrificed himself saving a fellow team member however it was discovered his energy could regenerate to its original form over time. From his look to his demeanor in the 80s this one shot hero was everything this comics fan boy could want from a character!!

Powers: Wildfire can shoot energy blasts and can fly with the help of the Legion Flight Ring. Wildfire still has the ability to physically combust into a megaton energy explosion as well. Now kids…THAT is POWER!!

My History With The Character: My mother who worked hard keeping the lights on at our house by working a great gig at a convenience store. That store as I have told many times in the past had an amazing comics spinner rack. The best part of her job was when she would put out the new comics on the racks the staff were allowed to take home the old ones …minus the covers (Uggghhh). So monthly, I would get a healthy stack of coverless comic books and among them ..The Legion Of Superheroes!! I will not again go into detail of my love for this group of superheroes but I will tell you all about my favorite!! Wildfire instantly hooked me. He was “The One Shot Hero” . He was a living energy burst with a heart of gold with a slight attitude problem locked in a containment suit no longer able to live, love and laugh like a normal human. I fell in love with this theme and each time he would unleash his full power I for one sat in awe turning those pages. Legion books were my companions on camping trips, and alone time at home.

Raven: (Mysterious Magic Type)

First Appearance: DC Special 16 page Preview for The New Teen Titans in DC Comics Presents #26 Oct. 1980 Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.

Origin: Half Human and half Demon , Raven was born of human Mother Angela Roth and demon father Trigon in an alternate dimension of Azarath. at a young age she was taught to repress her Father demonic side should she unleash her demon self on the world. She knew she had to protect her loved ones from her father who was on a demonic warpath. Raven would eventually go to Earth to join the JLA to stop her father from unleashing his terror on the world. She was rejected but as luck would have a new group of Teens were banding together to form the New Teen Titans! Raven at times felt out of place as her background was shrouded in mystery and even her own teammates did not know the full extent of her powers of origins. As the team bonded they witnessed the true horror of her upbringing and helped her see herself as a person and not the monster that lurked in the darkness of her soul.

Powers: Raven has a host of supernatural demonic abilities such as being an empath allowing her to manipulate the emotions of others and sense their emotions and actions. She has the ability harness her “Soul-self” to transform into a large bird like creature made of pure black energy. This ability allows her to be able to teleport and travel great distances.

My History with the character: I have told this story over and over at length that one of the first comics I ever physically purchased on my own was New Teen Titans #1. It was based solely on the cover and the fact Robin was in charge of a super team!! I was a DC fan and more specifically a Batman fan!! I loved the Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin occupied a lot of my time from reading their adventures in comics to hours spent at the drawing pad, to play time at my friends house. New Teen Titans had my number, I was powerless to resist it. Of course you open one page and see the George Pere’z art and I knew I made the best call that day comparing books to buy at the spinner rack. As I continued to read the title I began enjoying the “New” characters. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Star Fire and of course Raven herself!! Raven in particular had a certain mystery around her that alway interested me. Despite her awesome powers and design she jumped off the page! She was not you stereo typical fighting female in skimpy underwear or fishnets, Raven looked bad ass and had powers to match!!

Speedball (Comedic Relief)

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 Jan.1988. Created by Steve Ditko and Tom DeFalco.

Origin:

Robbie Baldwin a average teenager from the town of Springdale, Connecticut and son of a District Atourney Father and a former soap star mother. Robbie is involved in a Labratory accident and is exposed to a mysterious other worldly energy source which bestows him some very unusual powers. He finds himself surrounded by energy bubbles and a very strange suit energy which allows him to become the bouncing costumed crime fighter Speedball!! Hiding his new powers and secret identity Robbie tries to maintain a normal family life while secretly fighting crime on the side. His antics mirrors early Spidey stories where Robbie deals with school problems, and parental issues at home while saving the world in his spare time!

Powers: Following exposure to this weird energy field leaves him with the ability to manipulate this energy which surrounds him giving him and unsual kenetic energy allowing him to bounce freely around any surface from any distance and be able to absorb any impact without any harm.

My History with The Character: When looking for the “Next”big hero to latch onto I took a chance on Speedball. He had already appeared in a Amazing Spider-Man annual #22 as part of Marvel The Evolutionary War and I dug his retro vibe. So when Speedball #1 came out My friend John and I went to our local shopping center Convenience store and bought it. We always made our walks to the store for comics a major part of our friendship. John was a great guy and a wizard at restoring battered comics with simple pencil leads! We bought our comics at the stores , from ads, shops and where ever you can imagine. We would compare notes, share comics, and spend hours drawing our favorite characters on Notepads, sketch books and what ever we could find. We always had a habit of taking a different route home which involved walking through a large underground storm pipe. Near the end of the Pipe led to an open wooded area where a new subdivision was being built. We would sit at the end of the pipe reading our new comics and just doing life. Speedball was one of those books. It was retro…impossibly dated for its time. It existed in its own bubble.The art could have come from the 60s and it easily could have have fit well in the early days of Marvel. This character just stuck with me to this day. He had a great retro look, and a classic origin story very reminisent of early Spider-Man of which I was a HUGE fan of it at the time. Pair all those positives with the fact he was drawn by Steve Ditko was in last hurrah as a Marvel artist. The title was a miss sales wise and cancelled after only 13 issues. I always say with the right creative team on this character, Speedball has all the attributes of being one of Marvels cornerstone characters. Quirky and fun, Speedball will always have a place in my heart and the fun childhood memories sitting at the edge of a sewer pipe reading that book will never be forgotten.

Shaft (All teams need a cool 90s Archer!!)

First Appearance: Youngblood #1 August 1992 Created by Rob Liefeld

Origin: Shaft aka Jeff Terrel is an Under cover FBI agent and a skilled archer and martial artist. Believe it or not that is the extent of his early character development. He is then recruited by the government who is looking to build their own super powered team. His is recruitment occurs after he neutralizes an attack at a shopping mall where he draws attention and is swiftly recruited by Government agents. Shaft is born but he would not be alone as he is joined by such luminaries as Badrock, Vogue and Photon. The team would be a public relations experiment designed to draw publicity and create media attention. Thus is born Youngblood.

Powers: Again…not much to say Shaft is a skilled archer who boasts a above average strength and fighting ability. He is also a skilled martial artist.

My History with the Character: This one is easy. If you were a fan of comics in the 90s you knew when the tides turned and comics collecting entered its extreme boom period! The biggest story in all of this shifts into the era of excess was the defection of Marvels top artists walking out of the company and creating direct competition with the start of Image comics!! I was a huge art fan at that time and I loved the new 90s style. The bigger the better..the more Xtreme the better. Guns, pouches, no feet, xtreme anatomical disparities were all present in every book you touched in the 1990s. I was a big fan of Todd McFarlane on Spider-Man who created the definitive version of the webslinger for the next 20 years. When he left Marvel at the very height of his popularity I was stunned. With him was a younger kid named Rob Liefeld who was equally breaking ground on X- Books for Marvel and had a style that is still mirrored, both loved and hated to this day. I give Rob credit…or blame for the definitive 90s Super hero look. Crazy twirled hair, massive weapons, huge chests and arms, pouches and guns everywhere…and no feet!! Just look at a 90s title..it was all there!! I LOVED IT!! While reading all about the launch of Image in the pages of trade magazines of the day such as Wizard I was PUMPED!! The Image books appeared on shelves in my local grocery stores and they stood out from everything on the shelf. Bombastic characters on the covers, slick paper, beautiful color inside!! It was like The New Universe and Continuity Comics getting it right!! Youngblood #1 hooked me at the front cover!! Liefeld nailed the front cover and its one of the most instantly recognizable covers of all the books in my collection. The problem with early Image outside of horrible shipping times and late artists was the books lacked serious writing issues. They were horribly written and Youngblood was one of the very worst of the lot. For what it provided art wise it retracted equally and opposite with the storyline. It was the sheer beauty of the books that I always remember fondly. I came to hate the Youngblood title but Shaft was one of those characters that I can honestly say I just enjoyed for his design. My team needs an Archer and Shaft is my pick and I promise I can do a better job writing him!!

The Story Of The Justice League That Time Forgot..

Well that’s the team…our story premise is simple. The Black Event needs to be prevented as it has knocked the universes and historical continuity out of sync. Events happen, some disappear from the timeline. Some heroes are never born, and events like Crisis never happened. Many terrible other consequences occur as a result of this disaster as the majority of the worlds Super Heroes are mysteriously de-powered with the exception of a few fringe heroes who are mysterious protected from the effect of the Black Event. Wildfire is sent from the future to meet with Raven both are aware of the long lasting horrors that have resulted from the Star Brand initiated destructive happening. Raven is able to use her powers to travel in between worlds to find the last of the Super Powered beings to help stop a mega powered Star Brand. Their first stop is to The New Universe where they find Kenneth Connell himself month prior to his powers escalating out of control that resulted in the destruction of Pittsburg. Raven and Wildfire explain to him that result of his own powers. Connell offers to help but Raven can see that by even stopping him at this point will still result in tragedy in the future as not to interrupt the time line they need to go to the very moment when Star Brand loses control to cause the least interuption to continuity as possible. Connell offers to be the one to sacrifice and make things right and joins Raven and Wildfire on their journey to stop this disaster.

They need to find something strong enough to neutralize the Star Brands power.Raven goes into a deep trace searching the deepest darkest corners of the multiverse and discovers an equally as powerful Gem stone that if harnessed right may be able to stop the disaster. They discover the Gem Stone exists only in Gem World an upon arrival they fall right in the middle of a battle between Amethyst and The Dark Opal. They run off The Dark Opal but Amethyst engages in a brief tussell with Raven whom she mistakens for a member of the House Of Opals minions. Star Brand stops the altercation utilizing his powers to free Raven from Amys magic spell long enough to explain the dire situation. Amethyst offers them help by leading them on a quest to find the Gem Stone of power…the only stone capable of containing power the likes of The Star Brand. As they leave the team discovers Amethyst is the only one with the proper magical capabilities to be able to manipulate the Gem Stones powers. Raven senses trouble but cannot understand the images she see in her consciousness.

The future is changing by the minute…it is now discovered that the Star Brand power is being tracked by The Monarch (DC Villain from Armagedon 2001) through the timeline and he has utilized Wave Rider to race our team of Leaguers through the time line to steal the power of The Star Brand to add to his already Earth Shattering powers. The Monarch has dispatched a number of Villains through the timeline to prevent our Heroes from reaching their destination first. Our team is intercepted by a hoard of para-demons who overwhelm our team despite a valiant effort from Amethyst and her swordplay. Raven uses her soul self to transport the team out of harms way and into another dimension several Para-Demons led by Apokolips favorite son Kalibak are teleported with them.

Upon Reaching the new dimension they discover that Ravens attempt to save our heroes has rendered her in a state of catatonic suspension however her consciousness is alive and well. Amethyst and Wildfire fend off the Para-demons as best they can as Star Brand goes toe to toe with Kalibak. When it seems the Heroes have the upper hand Darkside arrives with another army of intergalactic warriors to finish the job. Darkseid and Star Brand have all all out battle, while Kalibak looks to sweep in for the kill on Amy. Suddenly Kalibak is dispatched with a brutal punch..Its Megalith. With brute force he destroys the remaining demon army with sheer power. He picks up Amethyst and Raven rushing them to safety. Darksied however is on the winning side of his fight with Star Brand who at this point has still not mastered the full extent of his powers. As he falls at the feet of Darksied the team panics knowing that if Kenneth Connel does not make it back to Pittsburg at the right moment they will never be able to fix the universes time lines and tragedy will occur for far more than the Human Race. At that moment..Ameythysts Gem Stone rises from a pouch on her side as everyone stops in awe of its power and glow. Darksied suddenly stops as his eyes widen…he knows this is no ordinary Gem stone..it belongs to someone he knows quite well.The stone while suspended in mid-air flies projectile like towards Darksied who moves out of its rocket like path..but it is not aiming at the evil being it finds its owners..Jemm The Son Of Saturn who looks weak and dishevelled appearing out of nowhere and the gem afixes itself on Jemms forehead where his own Gem once rested. The power is overwhelming..Jemm is restored and unleashes his full power at Darkseid and his minions. Raven awakens from her state and tells the team that time is running out. Megalith and Jemm offer their help. Star Brand is damaged in the battle but knows how to stop the uncoming event.

They teleport to moments before the Black Event In Pittsburg. Kenneth knows they have little time. Upon arrival to The New Universe they know something is different. Pittsburg looks different. As a matter of fact the city is crawling with military and police. It appears someone or something has tipped them off and let the world know that the End Of The World..or at least the end of Pittsburg is upon them. The team is blindsided as government officials surrounding them calling for the immediate surrender of Star Brand. Ken Connell trys to explain to them that they are there to stop the event but they are hearing none of it. The Government has brought along Youngblood and a slew of TV cameras to stop zero hour from happening. The team engages in battle with Youngblood who have been displaced within the timeline as well. Carnage ensues as Megalith and Badrock go toe to toe, Wildfire lights up Chapel, Amethyst protects Raven holding off Vogues attack but Jemm uses his telepathing abilities to get inside the head of Shaft to bring down his own team members Badrock and Chapel with neutrazing arrows. As the stand off ends the countdown begins to The Black Event and the heroes await the arrival of that timelines Star Brand but NOTHING happens. Pittsburg celebrates. The displaced heroes are confused. Suddenly Kenneth Connell senses the Star Brand…but its not of this timeline. The Event will take place… but NOT in Pittsburg!! Raven and Jemm unite their powers to find out the event will now happen in New York City!! The team prepares for another time jump..but as the heroes go to leave Shaft threatens that they are not to leave the area that they are now in custody of Youngblood and will be brought to justice. The team laughs at his assertion as his team members have been immobilized but he stands firm. Megalith threatens to eliminate him with one punch but Wildfire steps in breaking up the argument. As Shaft realizes he is over matched he demands that he go along to help stop the cataclysmic event and afterwards he promises to bring them back to government custody after this whole affair ends. The group laughs and allows him to come along. All media have cleared the area once the fighting had broken out. All except one teenage boy who watches carefully talking on his phone. His name is Robbie Baldwin (Aka Speedball) who apparently has not discovered he even has powers at this point due to the timeline mess. Shaft orders him to accompany him to film the arrest of the team in the future and to capture the entire thing for social media. As they are about to teleport Shaft drags a reluctant Robbie with them.

Final Scene the group is almost all assembled as they land in New York city..but its clearly not THEIR New York..It is far in the Future..2050 to be exact. The arrive in the midst of a huge battle at the base of the Statue Of Liberty were it is clear the Monarch has beaten them there..in his control is the future Star Brand contained in an energy field above New York’s Staten Island, chaos is occuring on the city streets. Para Demons hordes surround the base of the Statue Of Liberty as Shaft, Wildfire, Amethyst and Megalith go to war fighting away at the mass of demon souls running rampant as Robbie Baldwin frightened for his life hides in a corner recording the event.As things seem to overwhelm a large flying Bat shaped craft flys over head blasting away at the demon masses with pin point accuracy..It is shown to be the Batman of 2050!! One blast later from Kalibak and his forces and the futuristic Batwing careers into a building ..the exact one Robbie Baldwin is hiding. He is impacted with extreme force sending him crashing through a building wall. Batman sensing he has killed someone ejects himself from his vehicle looks at the massive hole he has placed in the wall and almost not wanting to look at the death he has just caused…before his eyes the rubble separates and Speedball (Robbie Baldwin) emerges finally transformed into the masked Marvel to his surprise and others. With no time to think Batman engages in battle with the hordes as he is joined by our other heroes..they attack Speedball as he trys to run but is tossed high into the air free falling to his death upon impact he BOUNCES straight back up deflecting off various buildings, trucks and signs taking out the Demon army in his wake. The remaining Demons flee as the battle has been won however the war with Monarch is far from done as Jemm is sent crashing to New York city streets dispatched by the Giant Monarch who appears to be about to unleash the Star Brand on New York but is still fending off a Raven Soul Self attack as Raven self has transformed into a giant black bird enveloping the Villain…

Star Brand moves into help Raven as she holds Monarch off temporarily but soon falls as well..It is now Star Brand and The Monarch battling for control over the imprisoned Future Kenneth Connell. On the ground the team sees the Star Brand being released from it energy encasement..The Black Event is upon us. Amethyst knows the only thing able to contain the power is the Power Gem now in the head of Jemm..she pulls it free of Jemm but wonders how to engage it with the Star Brand as the power would be too much for one person to endure and certain death would follow. The team seems stumped as they see Kenneth Connell beginning to waiver at the hands of Monarch. It is Armagedon 2050!! Abruptly Shaft snatches the Gem stone from Amy as Megalith reaches in to pound him but Wildfire holds him back…Shaft mounts the gem on one of his tracker arrows and blasts it directly at the Future Star Brand high above the city…Wildfire takes off as well directly at Monarch as it seems he is about to get the better of Kenneth Wildfire catches Monarchs attention momentarily unleashing his full capabilites upon on him stunning him momentariliy giving Kenneth enough time to strike at the Future Star Brand at the moment of the Gems impact reversing the massive explosion as the skys and land are swept into a great wind funnel as the two Star Brands extinguish themselves..Kenneth Connell plummets to the ground as the Monarch is sent spiralling into another dimensional timeline opened by Raven at the moment of impact. Megalith grabs Speedball hurling him into the direction of Kenneth upon his descent as he catches him mid air deflecting off various buildings before coming down safely to the streets.

The battle is over as our heroes stand victorious on the streets of New York 2050…the skys clear as people gather in the area clapping wildly at our heroes. Robbie is nudged by Shaft and he knows what to do..he pulls out his cell phone and catches a selfie of the team assembled at this moment of victory. The crowd mutters that the Justice League has returned…the team is met by Time Line hero Wave Rider. Wave Rider informs them that the time line has been repaired but all heroes will return to their own time with all things back in place except the Black event has never occurred.

Time has no record of this event ever happening and the Justice League That Time Forgot becomes yet another lost thread in the time space continuim. Until We see Monarch as he stands in a familiar place we know very well…it is the moment where the DC Universe is reborn from Flashpoint…the Monarch pulls off his helmet revealing himself to be Barry Allen and prevents the chain of events from occurring leaving the DC Universe in the Flux of the New 52 Timeline with one exception..the Heroes from The New Universe are now part of the DC timeline…as the Monarch laughs to himself …as he turns to a sea of Manhunters ready at his command. The New Millenium is upon us…

End…

Wow…thats was a ton. If by chance you did enjoy this little DYI event there is more where that came from as my Blogging Betheren put their spin of their own version of #DYI Justice league!! Check em all out…tell em Hero Sent Ya!!

Between The Pages Blog: What If Marvel Had Published The Justice League!!

Comic Reviews By Walt: My All Star TMNT TeamUp!

Crapbox Of Son Of Chuthlu: The Justice League Of Science Fiction!!

Coffee and Comics Blog: Design My Own Justice League!!

Chris is On Infinite Earths: Americomics Special #1 (1983)

SuperHero Satellite: The Justice League That Time Forgot!!

Appreciating Kirby..

**Last Time On Superhero Satellite**

*The 5 Year Mission of The Superhero Satellite had ended with the disbanding of the mighty Super-Blog Team Up group leaving the Captain Of The noble retro seeking wonder of the space-ways to go deep into space sleep. The Satellite itself went into hibernation mode as all systems shut down with only vital networks left open to sustain function…or so we thought! Seemingly a glitch in the Satellites operating system re-activated the main computers AI.. slowly..systems restore as we are unsure were these directives are coming from as we are only to assume it is happening as a result of the ships internal Artificial Intelligence system itsself..the Living Computer…*

“Systems…ALIVE..Access Consciousness Of The Captain.”

Transmission Date: 08/30/2017

I still remember the store like it was yesterday. The front doors opened up to a lobby where you could go one of two directions. To your left was another door with a set of stairs that lead to one of two medical clinics in my home town of Clarenville at the time. The second door lay straight ahead and led  to the Drug store below which happened to be one my favorite comic book buying haunts..Budget Drug Mart. As you passed the main counter and all the candy, confectionary, chips and soft drinks you had to take a sharp left and just down a little ways on the right stood the old comics rack! It was actually two long book racks built on to the wall. It was always impressively filled with all sorts of my favorite magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated, StarLog, and Fangoria to name a few. From time to time it also sold Presto Magic transfers from those very shelves as well! I came for the comics most of the time and it would be the place I would purchase many of my most memorable keepsakes.  IT was also the very spot I bought HEX #1 and my crown jewel G.I.Joe # 2 (Which at the time was rare people!!)  just before a camping trip!! My friend lived just a couple of houses up from the Drug Store so when I came to visit with him we would ALWAYS end up at Budget Drugmart and left with some comics!! Growing up in the early 80s many of the artists I was familiar with were Neal Adams, Gene Colon, Jim Aparo, John Romita Jr, John Buscema, and  John Byrne. to name a few. I was reasonably new to the hobby but it was those artists that had already spoiled me so badly in my formative years of comics art appreciation! Each one of those names were masters of the art and each book they contributed to was a thing of beauty to 11 year old me. I was more or less unfamiliar with any comics pre 1980 at the time as back issues were not readily available in my town unless you snagged a couple at a yard sale or if a friend or relative would visit another city or country. I knew one day I would love to be a comic book artist…I wanted to draw Batman like Colon or Aparo, I wished I could have the ability to draw Green Lantern like Adams!! Bottom line…at a early age I knew what I liked and disliked in a comic book. It was never about the stories for me..it was ALWAYS about the art work! My heroes looked a certain way…and thats what I expected every time I hit the spinner rack!

 

In 1984 I was not only becoming a very hardcore comic book buyer but I also boasted a great action figure collection. I had The Six Million Dollar Man figures, I also had a ton of G.I.Joe and Masters Of The Universe figures. Of course my main collectible action figure line had to be Star Wars Toys. I loved action figures and I loved comic books…that was what I did!  With that said from a small collection of Mego figures I had few Superhero toys. Sure Batman, Robin, Superman, Spider-Man and The Hulk were available for me in my home town but that was it. I had no villains..only two vehicles (The Batmobile and Spider-Car).Megos didn’t play well with the 3 3/4 action figures from Star Wars or The Joes so my superheros sat in the toy box without any love as my play adventures surrounded a galaxy far away with some Real American Heroes!! Then came Super-Powers from Kenner…at last my prayers had been answered.

The DC Super Powers Collection boasted a host of bad guyswithi the set and when they were released in store and I was all over them!! I had Batman, Robin, Superman, Green Lantern, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Darkseid and plenty more later on!! They featured an action motion when a body part was manipulated. To things even more exciting DC was releasing a 5 issues mini series based on the action figure line!! The Comic Book ads featured great artwork by an artist who I felt created the absolute definitive look for the DC Universe in the 80s Jose Louis Garcia Lopez! Each character was perfectly captured and the thought of a Super-Powers mini series set my heart “AFlame”. So at some point in 1984 after seeing ad after beautiful ad by Mr. Garcia Lopez my friend and I took our regular jaunt to the Drug Store and there it WAS!! Super Powers #1!! The logo looked great and the cover colors flashy …but the cover artwork was TERRIBLE!!

There was clearly something “off”. This comic looked NOTHING like the smooth definitive versions of the DC heroes like those featured in the ads and all over every piece of DC related merchandise out there in the main stream market. I remember commenting to my friend how “Stupid” Superman looked. on that Super Powers book. I was not a fan and even though I left the store with #SuperPowers No. 1.. I did NOT return for issue two. I didn’t look at the art credits at the time as artists names were not a thing for me to be concerned with. Visually however, I knew what I liked..and at that time it WASNT Jack Kirby. What did I know?? I was only a couple of years into my comics buying routine butI would learn a lot in the coming years!

 

Comics were never red-hot in my town in 1984 but a war was happening in the industry for companies to make it in the very lucrative toy market in the early 80s. The competition would not be outdone as Marvel around the same time released their own 12 issue mega event called Secret Wars. I was a staunch DC kid but suddenly Marvel had my attention. DC had won me over with their Super Powers action figures but suddenly sharing the shelf was Marvel Secret Wars toys!! Now Spiderman, Wolverine and Captain America and a host of others had a popular toy line and a full comics limited series to coincide with its release. While I despised Kirby’s rendition of the DC Heroes on the covers of Super Powers Mike Zeck powered through an amazing looking Secret Wars cross over event!!

 

For a moment, Marvel hooked me. The heroes were rendered in the hot style of the day and the storyline was far superior to that of Super Powers that was clearly written to sell toys. Secret Wars was created for the same purpose but felt like a real event. That Super Powers comic affected me so much I just wanted to try something new…Marvel.

 

Comics stores began to pop up in the mid 80s. I remember hearing about a gentlemen in a nearby town who boasted a great comic book collection of vintage books. It was about 45 minutes away in a small town called Lethbridge. John Butt was the personable owner of this collection that he housed in a shed behind his home and he allowed me to come in to see his collection. John was an interesting gentlemen who looked like a later day elvis in his final days and the prototypical old guy next door. He was a salesman who knew this kid was NOT leaving his clutches without dropping some cash! As a kid I bought into John’s sales pitch as he walked me through his collection calling everything a “Nice Book”. I saw first appearances of Wolverine, The Punisher, The Red Skull, tons of old western comics and classic Marvel books all of which in Johns Opinion where “Nice Books”. I saw plenty of the very early Fantastic Four and X-men books and I was in awe The comics had bombastic covers and interiors that was old school but looked so different from what was on the shelf in 1985-1986. I only brought 40 dollars with me that day and did not walk out with much of anything outside of a 1970s Captain Marvel number one and a few other books that escape my memory…but my mind kept going back to those FFs and X-Men books!! I wanted to read those books and see what the early days of Marvel were all about. The images stayed with me for many months and I only recall going back one last time for some a Marvel Treasury Edition of Star Wars!! Worth the trip right!!

In 1985 it seemed like my 11-year-old mind was put at ease as Marvel released a history of their universe in a recap title called Marvel Saga!! It was a monthly comic that attempted to take the Marvel Universe and detail it all in Chronolgical order featuring reprinted panels from the original books. I LOVED Marvel Saga!! I waited for it to land on the spinner rack every Thursday!! I loved the vintage artwork from Steve Ditko on Spiderman, JOhn Busema on Silver Surfer…and literall Jack Kirby on EVERYTHING ELSE!! !! It would be the issues featuring The Fantastic Four and The X-Men that hooked me! I loved the early visual of the characters…in fact I began to prefer it!! Little did I know it was the SAME artist that I trashed only a year earlier for his Super Powers work. I was beginning to enjoy Jack Kirby’s work and was totally oblivious to it as an 11-year-old kid!! Kirbys work had that retro quality that I loved and had a signature appeal that I did not see in anyoe since Ditko. From the FF to the X-Men..to The Incredible Hulk to The Mighty Thor and so many more..Kirbys footprint was all over the Marvel Universe!!

Comic shops finally started to gain ground in the Province I lived in Canada. The Capital city featured two great collectible shops (Time Masters and Sword and Steel!! Name Drop!!) but my trips to the city (2 Hours from my home town!!) were so infrequent I could not rely on them for maintaining any sense of collecting. It was great for spot issues, but not much else. Several used book stores popped up in my town that featured great selections of comics! Rodways Office Supplies was literally what it sounded like.. an office supplies store that sold photocopys and staplers but they also managed to have 8 to 10 huge long boxes of comics and seemed to mix up their variety on a semi regular basis. They had books I had not heard about or saw before like Sgt. Fury and The Howling Commandos and Nick Fury Agent Of Shield! I was at the time a  Sgt. Rock fan and was semi familiar with Nick Fury from then modern 80s so Fury and his Howling Commandos were a sure grab for me!

Around this time Machine Man had gone through numerous series and reboots that as usual were always promptly cancelled. I loved that character! Hence I managed to nab several issues of 2001 with Machine Mans early beginnings from the Rodways catacombs. He didn’t look like the Machine Man that I had recently bought off the racks by Ditko…whose version was loose and frankly a little sloppy..Ditkos Machine Man moved on the page like Spider-Man instead of a robot that he was. Barry Windsor Smiths version in the 80s Machine Man mini series looked a little too “man-like” and not robotic in nature. Dont get me wrong..the Machine Man Mini series was great but the art in that issue too didnt look “Machine” enough like I wanted my Machine Man to look. Kirby’s Machine Man felt properly alien as it should. Kirby was always sure to surround him with other worldly technology unlike anything drawn by other artists. No one did Machine Man like Kirby.

 

As I read them I saw that familiar art and style..and something in me was drawn to that. I was raised on George Perez and Jim Aparo who had a more “realistic” style while Kirby had his own thing happening. Highly visual..very otherworldly detailed!! Sgt. Fury the same thing. While Kuberts Sgt. Rock was a very somber dramatic style to Sgt. Rock as it was about war after all…Kirby gave Fury a more lively feel! It was fun, bombastic and full of life. Bullets and action jumped off the page. Very stylilized…very high energy art..both Fury and Machine Man shared Jack Kirby as their artist. It was here I fully began to recognize and appreciate the style. I could decipher Kirby’s work from everybody else now. Now I looked for it! It became a hunt for me..and a very fun one!

By 1987 my Comics passion was at an all time high. In my teenage mind I considered myself a serious collector. I was buying higher priced comics, 1st appearances, Gold Key books, and classic books and what ever Overstreet Price Guide told me was a “Hot” book I tried to  hunted down. I felt like I knew my stuff. I knew for example that a “Frank Miller Daredevil” with the Death Of Electra was a “hot book”…and how much it was worth in various cycles of condition. Yep this comics kid was becoming John Butt level comics savant at the age of 13!! Now I knew who Jack Kirby was..as I explored what my dream list of comics would be, Kirbys name was attached to almost all of em. Fantastic Four, Avengers, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk..all Kirby!! His name was attached to so many books..

There were elements of his work that no one else could properly duplicate…at least at the time. The first thing that hits me about a Kirby work was his use of hands..his characters are always reaching for something..and you know what..it looks damn cool!! His characters jumped off the cover page at you!! Everyone jumped…everyone leaped..there was movement at every stroke!! Bodies contorted to portray the full swing of a punch, the throwing of a shield, or the swinging of a hammer

Kirby created universes..landscapes..worlds that could only come from his imagination. His World Building is something he took with him no matter what company he worked for. His work on Marvel properties like The Silver Surfer, Thor and The Inhumans stretched the boundaries of what alien environments looked like visually. Large elaborate worlds bursting at the seems with bright visuals, extremely detailed robust costuming, backgrounds and staggering technology that only Kirby could depict!

There is no way to put it in words Kirby’s use of detail. The level of detail he CREATED was over an above what everyone else did at the time. A simple computer or gun was excessively detailed and visually breathtaking!!

His use of costuming was on another level. He added detail so foreign and so elaborate many artists could not even imagine it..let alone put it on paper!!

He built universes outside of the regular Marvel and DC Universe’s all his own that other artists and writers stayed away from by in large. Kirby’s vision of what space looked like and what alien planets, people and technology were visualized as was so very organic! In comparison it felt that when other artists created things.. Kirby was always a million years beyond them. Concepts like The Inhumans and the birth of Marvel Cosmic is all Jack Kirby. Kirbys forray into DC Comics after his well documented fall out with Marvel also allowed him to build a brand new foundation all to its own with characters like the New Gods and The Forever People..all high concept work that few outside of Kirby would dare touch!!

DC would designate a full pocket of their universe to Kirby affectionately known as the Fourth World where luminaries like The New Gods, Mr. Miracle, The Forever People, Darkseid and literally millions of others resided. Kirby had his own world to play in and because of the stroke that he had in the business he was given a blank cavas to work from.

Many of these properties are still in use today with Marvels Inhumans television series about to debut very soon! The Marvel cinematic universe is filled with Jack Kirby created concepts and making billions for Marvel and Disney to this very moment. Kirby’s legacy is everywhere in pop culture and its hard to deny that his title as King Kirby is surely the fitting crown.

So as I flash back to 1984 at Budget Drug Mart as I hastily cast dispersions on the cover art for that Super-Powers book…this is my apology letter to the architect of comic books that I hold so dear. Thank You Jack Kirby… for creating my childhood…ALL HAIL THE KING!!

End Transmission….

**ASSUMING CONSCIOUSNESS**

END OF LINE…

More #Kirby100 Fun continues with my favorite bloggers on the web!:

Comic Reviews by Walt

Jack Kirby at 100

Between the Pages

The Top 10 Reasons Jack Kirby is the King of Comics

Coffee and Comics Podcast

Episode 9: Phantom Force #0

In My Not So Humble Opinion

This King… This Kirby!

Chris Is On Infinite Earths

OMAC #1 (1974)

The Crapbox of Son of Cthulhu

Fantastic Four #1 Review

 

The Death Of Super-Blog Team Up: Death Of A Collectors Passion and The Redemption!

 

Welcome Back Heroes…its been a while! “Satellite systems ACTIVATE!” *Lights on the deck of the Satellite bridge illuminate as the gentle hum of each and every system firing up after extended inactvity..I make my way to the observation deck punching in coordinates for our next destination. The deck sits alone aside from the lone Captain. I take a seat in the Captains helm and slowly open up the com-link as a map of planet earth displays Holographically.* “Computer.. hail the Super-Blog Team Up….” *Each Team Members face displays on the Holo-grid of Members old and new…each member of the Active Roster is located and online..I wait momentarily taking a deep breath before addressing the team* “Team…I have gathered the team here today as there is a matter of extreme importance. As of 15:00 hours today the Blogoverse is in Crisis. Worlds are colliding..Paralell Universes are merging..the world we live in today will cease to exist if we do not act fast. I have called on YOU the elite SBTU Members to set our world right one last time. The mission is very dangerous..the situation is dire…many of us may not return. You are the worlds last hope. Each of us will be tasked with a separate mission…I want to thank you all for your dedicated service to the cause. The time is NOW to make a difference…so join me …UNITE for ONE LAST TIME….SUPER-BLOG TEAM UP…LETS ROLL!!…”

 

Transmission Date: July 19th 2017

When I think about this blog and what it means to me I think of enjoyment, I think of good times and I think of everything and how it fit into my childhood. When piecing together what I would write about in this all important “One Last Time” installment on Super-Blog Team Up and I went through all the things “Death” related in comics. I remembered how impactful the “Death of Robin” was and the endless conversations it spawned with my friends. I remembered the Doomsday series leading into the “Death Of Superman” and how hot the collectible market was at that time and how everyone seemed to be jumping into the hobby that only a few of my friends and I shared. As years went on other Heroes died and Super-Groups disbanded. Comic Companies closed, my favorite titles cancelled. Of Course everything came back…it ALWAYS came back in comics. As prices increased, everything I loved about comics slowly changed while other parts decayed. Suddenly I was priced out of the market and forced to cut down my pull list. Then the final straw companies rebooted…and everybit of the continuity and stories that I loved so much ceased to exist and were replaced with something newer..something more sanitized and unappealing replaced what I enjoyed…so all the deaths of my favorite characters that I had read over the years  did not have as big of an impact on me as the biggest death of all..The Death Of My Passion For Comics….something I never EVER thought would happen. Then one day in 2000….I walked away from the media that gave me such joy and memories while growing up. This however is NOT a sad story…this is a story of celebration. A celebration of what it meant to me to be a comics fan and the sheer passion that went into that. So….to understand how we arrive at the Death of my passion…we must first understand the beginning. Before all the reboots, before all the computers, before all the companies came and went..there was a 6-year-old kid who walked into a convenience store saw that immortal sign for the first time..”Hey Kids…COMICS!! resting atop the loaded spinner rack. I was hopelessly hooked.

Old Mrs. Brown would stand diligently at her cash counter at the Clarenville Shopping Center Drug store as I spun that spinner rack around no less than 50 times making my decision on how to divide up my healthy 20 dollar a week allowance! I was in my comics buying prime and I always remembered every detail of its location in the middle of the store, the sound it made as it turned, to the selection of comics it contained every week!! Mrs. Brown knew that I loved my comic books and always took special care sliding them in the thin paper bag when I got to the cash register…sometimes the bag would be so full that there would be tears in the sides of the bag!! I would hurry home on my BMX bike so I could pull them out all over my bed and read these 24 page joys! At first it was my thing…none of my other friends were so into comics as I was which gave me a competitive advantage later as a comics trader. Sure some friends had a little stack of comics but I was slowly and surely building a library.  I loved comics as a kid. It was the single investment that I bought outside of action figures of which my parents would normally foot the bill for..or my lunch money.

I got into comics sort of by default..In the very early 80s my parents moved from a small town to a bigger growing town..still small by most standards, for work. My Dad had a new Wholesale Business selling Soft Drinks and my Mom got a job at one of the few Convenience stores in the town that was strategically placed between Clarenvilles Upper and Lower roads called Stanley’s Variety. I enjoyed visiting the store while Mom worked there as it usually meant that she would buy me a treat. That could include anything from some great snacks like some Hostess Potato Chips, to a Buried Treasure Ice Creme, a paper bag of candy, a ViewMaster slide at times…or COMICS!! They were new to me as a 7-8 year old but it was like a magnet every time I walked into the store. I vividly remember classic DC comics around 1980 such as New Teen Titans #1!! It stood out in all its glory to me.

 

A White bombastic cover with all sorts of new heroes I hadn’t seen before but led by my main man at the time Robin The Boy Wonder!! That was my first “Wow” that a comic ever gave me!

The 80s were rich with 80s books and I entered the market at a great time. I was a DC kid. Batman was by far my favorite character as I was a Mego collector and Batman and Robin were my first Mego toys complete with BatMobile!!

Batman caught me in every way. He had the iconic Blue and Grey look! He was drawn by Neal Adams and Gene Colan during the first books that I received and plus he had gadgets galore and of course The Boy Wonder Robin!! My playtime with friends was dedicated to making up Batman adventures and acting them out as I toggled between playing Batman or Robin just having so much fun with our imaginations. Afterwards my friend and I would sit on the bed or at the table and read through issues of Batman..its what we did. His house was located next to a Drug Store where his Aunt worked and we would make the 2 minute pilgrimage to Budget Drug Mart in hopes of finding the latest Batman issue and a brown paper bag of candy and of course Hostess Chips!! I fondly remember us both being so blown away by the Batman “Bloodsport” storyline where Batman became Vampire!! Or maybe when Deadshot showed up..or how about when Robin was replaced by Jason Todd..so many memories..so many endless debates around Batman..my entry drug to comics!! You could not buy that type of enthusiasm!!

DC would not let up..so many books to buy and I wanted them all!! My next obsession was the Legion Of Superheroes!! I guess I am a fan of huge Super groups because the first time I saw Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl I never turned back!!

Team books were everything to me. Legion was something different though. They started with three basic heroes who time travelled from the future to meet Superboy..also one of my faves!

Superboy was the odd man out…he was Super-powered but these teens always had his number and seemed infinitely more super-powered than he did! They had a Superhero Clubhouse and members had to audition to join their ranks. Even Superboy did not make the cut at first…in a manner of speaking! Each Hero had a basic super power. One controlled Lighting, others could see the future, one could bounce, others could shape shift, fly, turn invisible..and even knew Karate!! Karate you say! Charlton..what kind of super-power was ‘Karate” when compared to someone who could control ice? Gosh darn it Karate was a big deal in the 80s!! Case closed.

My fondest memories of collecting were my trips to the grocery store with my Father every Thursday night in 1980 something. I would always come home with a comic or even several during our shopping excursions which also involved picking out a Novelty Cereal or two as well but usually ended with a DC Digest!! Dc Blue Ribbon, Batman, Superman, and Adventure Comics were some of the titles you would see featured alongside of check-outs at the local Co-op or Sobeys grocery stores during the 80s!! Almost certainly I hooked one every trip!! The covers always told a story and contained a ton of individual stories inside!!The Digests were compact, always full of content which introduced you to characters you probably would not have picked up individually (That means YOU Challengers Of The Unknown!!) and they were my travel companions on road trips and vacations!

As a fan no matter what my destination was I always sought out the comics rack..even in obscure places like Hardware Stores! I always remember a local Hardware store in my hometown on the water front called Handy Andy’s and they happened to have a small magazine shelf that carried a small handful of comics. The best part of that was that they rarely rotated their comics so you could find 4-5 issue arcs of your favorite books because they literally pulled NOTHING off the shelf. It also had the distinct honor of being one of the only stores that carried Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! Comics at the time did not have that level of realistic seriousness like books of today. It was perfectly acceptable for Superman and other to team up with Funny Animal character’s. Cap and The Zoo Crew was a insanely funny book that parodied the JLA and it had a certain charm to it that appealed to this kid!!

My DC Passion Burned brightly by the mid to late 80s as Marvel books crept their way into my weekly pull-list but I remained a staunch DC buyer. It was John Byrne who burned white-hot in the mid 80s thathooked me first with his excellent X-Men work but mostly with his Super-Man reboot called Man Of Steel! Byrnes definitive Superman art work launched a refreshed DC on the spinner rack that had recently seen their competition creep in and steal their top spot amongst Comics fans.  DC re-aligned their core titles and in my opinion did the ONLY soft reboot that made things better than worse..(That means YOU DC New 52!!) Man of Steel reimagined the Superman Mythos. Not long after JLA had broken up and reformed..New characters were everywhere!! I was overwhelmed!! Then it happened..Justice League reformed and it became my favorite title!! but that’s for a little later!!

The Events:

Now I know that I stated that I was mostly a DC kid..however Marvel roped me in from time to time with Events!! I was an Event guy! I bought em all!! Crisis on Infinite Earths, Secret Wars, Millenium, Super Powers, Inferno, Secret Wars 2, Legends,  Invasion, Evolutionary War, you name it..I bought it!! I was a sucker for books filled with multiple characters!! Secret Wars 2..the Black sheep of the Secret Wars volumes was my favorite as a kid watching Marvels best battle the Super- Powered Jeri Curled White Micheal Jackson style character the Beyonder. He would battle every character Marvel had and beat them with ease!! On the DC side of things I waited anticipation when my favorite DC characters were revealed as Manhunters in Millenieum!!

I yelled out loud when the JLA reformed in Legends! I popped seeing SpeedBall for the first time in the Evolutionary War and convincing myself that he was the next big thing!! Bottom line was that Events won my dollar every time. I always felt DC did better more coherent events and had longer event books with more far-reaching consequences!! My long boxes were filling fast locking with all the spinoff books from each event. I was being taken advantage of by the Comic Companys..but I loved it..the more the better. I was buying it all up!! I was a passionate fan..I ate everything that I was served and loved it!!

My Favorites.

While I sampled most everything..I COLLECTED several titles faithfully! I loved Star Wars, G.I. Joe, The Amazing Spider-Man, from Marvel, at DC it was always Batman, Justice League, Legion Of Super-Heroes and Superman/Superboy. These were my “go to” books..above any and all these books got my money every month whether I liked the storylines or now..this was my core! Marvels Star Wars opened up the expanded universe before it was a thing and did it better in my opinion! GI Joe took a toy property and literally built it from the ground up! These were ground breaking stories with characters I loved! Spidey was the constant. I enjoyed everything John Romita!

I loved his art..his Spidey, his MJ. When you think of Spider-Man, Romita embodied EVERYTHING that was great about the the Marvel Universe.Marvel was a cool place to be through the Spidey lens! As for DC The Legion was Loaded to the gills with all sorts of heroes of every size shape and power! It was my entry drug to Superboy and I instantly related to that team. Starting with a club house with membership then growing into time travelling adults, the Legion kicked serious ass!! The Giffen / Levitz era was amazing!! Of course NOTHING and I MEAN NOTHING beat the Justice League Bwah Ha Ha Era by Giffen and DeMattieis! This book featured many of my favorite characters and many new ones but hit every note of every page! I still have huge runs of all of these books and these are on the “No trade No sell” list. While some are not physicallyworth the paper they are printed on Price Guide wise to me you cannot put a price on the happiness they gave me!!

The Boom.

My friends began to catch on to this comics thing much to my chagrin. It was a mixed blessing though as from time to time I had to compete for some of my books, However it was the thrill of the hunt was what was important!! A couple of my famous battles on the buying field yielded me great results. One of my lesser close friends had garnered a copy of Amazing Spider-Man 129 and was interested in selling it!!.The Punisher was the hot commodity at the time and by this time I considered myself a prophet and knew that this was a big win! 1^st appearance of the Punisher was this big, however, as I was about to buy this prize book I was informed that one of my own cousins had already made claim to the book. I was not to be defeated..I raised his price an extra 5 bucks and said I would go get the money now rather than later like my own flesh and blood offered. In fact I jumped aboard my trusty bicycle on this Clarenville day..blazed a trail 20 minutes away to my house..begged my parents for 25 bucks..not telling them what it was for and got it!! Back to the bike..in 20 minutes later I had beaten my cousin to the punch and walked away with the prize!!

A while later Batman was about to debut in theaters and the Dark Knight was all the rage..and of course there was competition to buy up ALL of the issues of Batman and Detective as they came out. Robin had died and being replaced as told in the Lonely Place Of Dying story arc. Cabot Pharmacy in my home town was THE destination for comics and Gail one of the cashier’s, would always hold some of the more popular books for me. However..with Batman others got in the game and the chase was on every week on comic day..it would be the first time I was shut out of an issue of a comic!! My supposed friends had beaten me to the punch!

It would only get worse as we entered the era of excess!! The 90s proved to be a big bloated, fun time to be a comics fan. No longer were comics my little niche..now it was an aggressive market and we had two comics stores open up in our area. Butts Books and Jamie’s Comics would open up and prices exploded. Every book was HOT!! The Death Of Superman was a craze like nothing else. Superman number 75 would blow the lid off of comics! I was gouged 50 bucks at a card dealer at my mall for Supes 75 in the famous Black Bag. Of course everything was relaunching!! Jim Lee was exploding on a New X-Men Group!! Liefeld was demanding big money on the brand new X-Force, McFarlane was breaking artistic ground on Spider-Man! The comics world was exploding and I was in the middle..but now I had a job at the dollar shop and could feed my habit!! Comic shops pushed new company after new company at me that I became fond of two in particular at the time in Valiant and Image. Everyone had new characters and you could get in on the ground floor at issue number one. Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Rai and The Future Force, Bloodshot..you name it!! Then came Image with Spawn, Savage Dragon, Wildcats, Shadow Hawk, and YoungBlood led the charge from this new company that would last and be successful to this day!

Gimmicks were everywhere..polybags, Chromium covers, Hologram covers, Trading Card inserts, Variant covers you name it..they did it!! I bought it all..and I knew it was crap but no one cared!! These things look great on the shelf!! Plus inmy teenage mind these books would bring you a fortune when you grew up. We were wrong but it didn’t matter. I loved my collection that had ballooned now to about 6000!

Everybody had become an expert..now once scorned comic shirts were everywhere. Comics related cartoons and merchandise erupted. It was insane. Comics movies began development and my friends and I ate it up!! Comics were everywhere..and people began to charge more than ever for them. Suddenly every average Joe had a collection…then it happened. As the 90s were drawing to a close..the comics balloon broke..collectors tried to dump their inventory but there was no one buying. People sat stuck with boxes filled with Spider-Man #1 in a polybag while XMen #1 littered the streets. Prices plummeted and comic stores went under. As quick as Butts Books and Jamie’s Comics store had opened they quickly closed up shop and left town with their long boxes ticked between their legs.

By this time I was in University until 97 and  I however had not abandoned my hobby and was still buying comics regularly with a student loan assisting me feed my habit! I endured such drek as The Spider-Man Clone Saga. The final nail in the coffin was when  prices hit the top of my pay scale and the gas tank ran empty..suddenly I could not afford all the books I wanted. My core titles were all but cancelled..and literally every company had done a complete or at least soft reboots by that time. The books I loved were unfamiliar to me now. I spoke about my undying love for titles such as GI Joe and Star Wars of which both lasted a considerable amount of time but creatively burned out. The Justice League moved away from the Bwah Ha Ha Era and changed up the cast so much I didn’t care to keep buying it. Superboy and The Legion were not even the same characters that I grew to love..I knew as the prices went up my passion for buying died with it. I could walk by a spinner rack or a magazine shelf in a grocery store and keep on walking. I remember the day I walked away completely. I picked up an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man and it had moved to $3.50 Canadian cents a book. I had bought these things since they were .50 Cents but now these titles were 4 to 5 times more expensive and honestly …these were NOT my heroes anymore. The “Hot” artists that I had grown up with like Ditko and Kirby had all but retired or passed on. The McFarlanes, Liefields, and Lees, had stepped in and out of the big two and were not used as frequently. I decided that my time as a comics fan were over. The market had forced me out and the characters did not connect with me anymore..so I stopped.

Then something funny happened…years and years had passed and I had not kept up on the industry outside of a brief chat among friends or an update online about the latest news. In the early days of podcasting I bought myself an MP3 player and decided to check out some wrestling podcasts..I had been a life long fan and really got into the daily ritual of listening. One day it dawned on me. I wonder if such podcasts existed for comics? Enter Comic Geek Speak which was the first podcast that I found and I listened to a show. It was like every conversation I had with my friends growing up about comics! These guys loved comics like I did for 20 years. They talked about all the old titles I read as a kid and even what was happening in the recent times. I was intrigued. There were more people out there who still shared my passion that once burned bright inside me. This coincided with the dawning of the digital era. Companies published their books online for the first time and I sampled them and I really, really dug them. This was the best overall discovery for me. Whether through honest or nefarious the digital age allowed me to access every book I ever read or wanted to read! I began to get weekly books again but I could read them on my computer or early midevil tablet!! I felt myself enjoying comics again for the first time in years. Twitter and Facebook had become popular and the way we discussed comics changed..suddenly there was a nation of folks to talk with. There were podcasts, early blogs, websites a plenty. I was catching up..I was talking comics again! I had unlimited digital resources to get my comics fix. My passion had returned. I felt like that 6-year-old kid picking up New Teen Titans number one from the spinner rack again! Sure I was older now but could still enjoy the things that made me happy as a kid! It was still not en vogue to be a “Nerd” per say but the once impenetrable barrier between “Geek and Normal” was shifting. Geek Culture was being reborn before my eyes and I was in front of it! I wanted to share my stories and passion with everyone so one day I decided to sit in front of my computer and begin a blog…this very blog you are reading today! The Super-Hero Satellite was my love letter to my childhood and more specifically comics!

 

I remember the joy in seeing 10 hits on my blog!! I had an audience…at least ten people took time to click on my words and even comment on what I wrote. I never claimed to be a writer and just write what I feel but I always enjoyed sharing. I read others blogs and learned from some of my favorite writers on the web and I loved it. One evening during a Twitter debate with a few of my twitter friends I shot the idea of doing a blog event…something big…something unified. Longbox Graveyard (The famous retro 70s Comics Blog!) and Flodo’s Page (A Green Lantern Blogger!) tossed Ideas back and forth and after several concepts and ideas thus was born the Mighty Super-Blog Team UP!!

The first event was small in scale but big in feel. We felt like we did something different..Super-Blog Team Up was what was missing from my passion that was taken from me years ago. It was about Comradship..discussion..debate..but good times. As the roster grew and faces rotated in and out of the group we maintained a set of devoted bloggers to our cause but always made sure each round we introduced new faces. From Bloggers..to VBlogs to Podcasts and all other formsof social media The Mighty SBTU made an impression! Not only did it deliver unique perspectives on comics we each learned and laughed with each other!! I want to thank this unit of exceptional people who worked tirelessly with every event whether they had time or not. I am so proud of our output over the years and at the end of the day I may be considered by some the puppet master of this SBTU beast but in reality I am a fan ..a fan of all the talented people who make up this machine and who’s blogs deserve to be read. That is why I do this. I am a comic book fan again..and The Super-Blog Team Up was my redemption.

So as I lower the lights on The Super-Blog Team Up..I want to say a big thank you to Paul, Karen, Dean, Mike, Chris, Ben, and Walt for helping me with this last kick at the can. This one is dedicated to you guys and your passion.

I am a comic book fan…and proud of it. These are my friends ..and we are SUPER-BLOG TEAM UP. Thanks for joining us on this ride.

End Transmission…

 

 

Comic Reviews by Walt : Death Of The Mutanimals (Archie-TMNT)

Longbox Graveyard: Death Of Captain Marvel

Between The Pages: The Death Of Spock (Wrath Of Khan)

Chris On infinite Earth’s: Death Of Supergirl

Crapbox Son Of Chthulu : Death Of My Love For Marvel Comics.

Comics and Coffee: Superman: The Man Who Murdered The World.

Superhero Satellite: Death of a Collectors Passion and the Redemption!

In My Not So Humble Opinion: The Death Of Galactus.

Retroist : These Pirates Of The Caribbean Models are to die for!

 

*I switch off all screens on the Holo-grid saying goodbye to all my colleagues* “Computer prepare my Hyper sleep chamber…we are shutting the Satellite down for an extended period. I have given you the coordinates of our next mission…however we have a long road to get there.!!”

*As I step into Hyper sleep watching the vessel close securely..I watch through the window as the lights ondeck slowly dim..each system slowly winds down as finally the once mighty Super-Hero Satellite finally rests…Only computer remains online..monitoring..watching. Without prompt..without asking I am alerted by the mainframe system…*

Computer: “Rest Well Captain…YOU WILL NEED IT…Systems…OFFLINE”

The Complex Second WWF Title Reign of Macho Man Randy Savage.

Begin Transmission: Dec. 28 2016

 

Rolling back through Satellite Archives I happened upon an old match I hadnt seen in quite some time. My joy for wrestling in the good old days was large in part due to the Macho Man Randy Savage. I was so excited when he first captured the championship at WrestleMania 4…I was then horrified when he lost it at WrestleMania 5 back to Hulk Hogan. Depressed when he lost a retirement match years later to the Ultimate warrior at Wrestlemania 7. Then as the hands of fate would have it he would recapture the world title again in 1992…I remember loving it but always found it strange when he won it again. Little did I know HOW strange the circumstances were in which he was given the opportunity. Strap in heroes as we go behind the scenes of the WWF political landscape of 1992..

The way it was meant to be…Randy and Elizabeth forever. Randy Savage was my all time favorite wrestler and I was never prouder of him when he became the WWF champion for the first time! However his second title reign would not be as glorious and joyous as this one when Randy and Liz ruled the world!

 

We are about to discuss the seemingly little know back story to this controversial title change that is virtually lost in the storage closet of  the WWE Video Library. This is the weird tale of the 2nd WWF title reign of Randy Macho Man Savage,  how it was never meant to be and was born out out of a weird series of events and would end in the same bizzare fashion it began.Those who think they know how booking in professional wrestling works really needs to think again and sit back and study this extraordinary series of events that changed the WWF Title picture forever.

For a bit of perspective we need to flash back months before said title match. Randy Savage had recently won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship April 5th 1992 at WrestleMania 8 from Ric Flair following a very well played out storyline which suggested that Ric Flair had photos of a previous relationship with Randy’s wife Elizabeth. Of course those who knew how protective Randy was of Liz in real life knew that despite this being a storyline persay it touched a very real nerve in Randy. This was a revenge match at the highest level and Randy came out on top..However suddenly only several months removed Savage would be booked to drop the belt on a episode of Prime Time Wrestling (WWF Superstars in Canada) Sept.1st of the same year! It seemed out of place..Something didn’t sit well with me, almost as if it was suddenly improvised. This match and the reason it played out like it did is one that may surprise even the most hardcore wrestling fan.Savage was never meant to win the title at WrestleMania 8 in the original booking plans.

The Savage vs Flair WrestleMania 8 match was not on the original card..In fact Randy Savage was not even scheduled to wrestle!?  The scheduled main event match was a  Champion vs Champion match, Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan, the ultimate dream match for wrestling fans at the time. WWF had done a couple of dry runs at the time with Hogan vs Flair on the house show loop but the matches didn’t draw or receive the reaction the WWF was looking for in the proposed main event at Mania. So the course of matters changed. First Flair has arrived in the WWF complete with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which eventually legally would be mixed forcing the WWF to video distort any visuals of the title on WWF TV.

On top of the WCW legal ramblings WWF would find themselves in they were also being subjected tothe beginnings of a steroid investigation and Hulk Hogan would also put the company in an undesirable light by shining a light on steroid abuse by lying on public TV (On The Arsenio Hall show in 1991)

Hogan lied about not taking steroids which spiraled into further investigations into steroid abuse within the WWF and led to a full on Steroid trial in 1993-1994. The company could not risk putting the title on Hogan in the interim as he was toying with the idea of stepping away from the limelight to pursue other opportunities while some speculated he was hoping to let the heat die down from the steroid fire.

Once the Hogan and Flair proposed match was aborted the Wrestlemania booking plans changed.The company decided to put the WWF strap on Ric Flair at the 1992 Royal Rumble while also setting up a feud between Hulk Hogan and the then face Sid Justice.

Now with Hogan paired with Sid..The company needed someone to pair with Flair.There were no clear contenders worthy of a WrestleMania main event as the WWF had just recently finished a series of matches with Ric Flair and Roddy Piper so they could not go back to that well easily. The call was made to Savage who toiled behind the announce table. He would easily fill the Co-Main event slot and be a contender that fans would buy into.

 

So due to some internal politics and a Hulk Hogan steroid scandal brewing on the horizon the decision was made to not give Hogan the title back from Flair but to have a blow off match with Sid Justice and re-introduce the Ultimate Warrior back into the mix as the companies number one face.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4syhy7_ultimate-warrior-returns-wrestlemania-viii_sport play

With that Savage vs. Flair was set for WrestleMania 8 with Randy walking away with the belt in one of the best WrestleMania matches especially of that era.

Savage was chosen to win the strap for a number of reasons outside of the Hogan vs Flair decision. The WWF had “retired” Randy Savage one year earlier at WrestleMania 7 and had placed him in an announcer position to keep him on-screen..A position that Savage was good at but he disliked not being an active wrestler and felt marginalized behind the mic.

Savage was beloved by the WWF and particularly by Vince McMahon. As a favor to Savages loyalty the decision was made to give Randy another run as a in ring wrestler and put the strap on him at the biggest show of the year in the “Co-Main Event”

 

Things looked good for Savage after WrestleMania 8 as a wrestler ..He had officially returned to the ring and was once again the world champion. However in real life Savage’s legit marriage to his Manager and spouse Elizabeth was falling apart and WrestleMania would be their swan song. Amongst the roars of thousands of fans, and a full on fireworks celebration and his shiny new championship..Savages relationship with the love of his life was over...on live PPV this would be the last the fans would ever see of the couple in the WWF.

While Savage headed back to the road as a full time wrestler Elizabeth would not join him and this would lead eventually to a divorce for the long time beloved couple. Randy would never be the same. Reports of his demeanor and in ring professionalism changed. Randy struggled without his Liz..and it was apparent to everyone including Vince McMahon and the quick decision was quickly made to take the title away from Randy and put it temporarily back to Flair until a suitable suitor to the title could be found! (It would later be Flair dropping the title to Bret The Hitman Hart)

So the decision was made that Savage needed to get his personal life together before the company seriously used him in a reliable full time capacity. So it was set on Sept.1st 1992 on a taping for WWF Prime Time Wrestling that Ric Flair vs. Randy Macho Man Savage would be the main event for the WWF Heavyweight Championship.

Both Flair and Savage were informed of the title switch and were given their finish of where Savage would lose to Ric Flair’s figure 4 leg lock after interference by Razor Ramon and Mr. Perfect. Randy would “Pass out from the pain” as a way of protecting Randy even in a loss situation. This match only existed as a result of political jockeying, personal marital issues , and an impending company steroid scandal was about to be marred by yet another bombshell. Apparently as Vince McMahon watched the match play out backstage he ordered the wrestlers to the back and was quite upset about the quality of the match and ordered the wrestlers out to the ring to reshoot the match in front of a confused television audience who had just watched the same match play out. The audience was informed that as a result of the match finish the match would be restarted. It was the second match that would eventually air on Sept. 14th 1992 edition of Prime Time. This sequence of events would be very important to the business as it represented the changing of the guard as Flair would go on to drop the strap to a younger Bret Hart and the WWF would never be the same..

That’s your history lesson wrestling fans..thanks for reading. Strap in heroes 2017 has so much more in store for us…so to all my readers Happy Holidays and Happy New Year..thanks so much for your support all year. See ya Next Year!!

Hero Out.

End Transmission..

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Super-Hero Satellite : 4th Annual Holiday Special. Super-Blog Team Up Edition.

High above our planet…our mighty Satellite Orbits the Earth stuck in a time-warp perpetually leaving us stranded in my childhood of the 1980s. As all of the Satellite Team have beamed home for the holidays I remain solo in the command deck of the Satellite overlooking our beautiful planet as we begin our annual Christmas celebration. The Good Will, the presents, the excitement is all around. In complete blissful silence I lean into to our mission recorder to share a tale of Christmas gone by and all the joy and laughter that comes with it. Its Christmas Time…Computer…start us off with some Christmas mood music to start the show!

Happy Holidays faithful readers! As is tradition here on the Satellite we present our year end tradition the ever popular Super-Hero Satellite Holiday Special!! This time around we have invited a few friends from the mighty Super-Blog Team Up to join us as we share Christmas related stories and other Holiday related antics!! So as is tradition…grab that glass of Egg Nog, fill up a bowl of Pretzels and before you watch some good old Holiday TV Specials give this old blog a read to get you primed for the season festivities to kick off!

Transmission Date: Dec 21st 2016

Its no secret that this writer loves the Holiday Season. So many great memories attached to Christmas morning and all the anticipation and everything that Christmas as a kid brings!! Growing up I always awaited the one morning a year when Santa and my parents would pack the Christmas tree full of amazing gifts many of which appeared in no coincidence from my Christmas list that I would draft yearly. I was very fortunate..my parents always made Christmas a big deal and spent way more money than they probably had to give my brother and I a great morning. Yes while it was true at times I would find that hiding spot in the guest bedroom…maybe behind a certain black storage chest…I may even have peeked at a few of my incoming treasures! It was a very exciting time growing up in 1980 something! Many Christmas mornings would bring such gifts that I still hold dear to this day like my Star Wars and G.I. Joe Collections, The Six Million Dollar Man , Kiss Dolls, you name it…I was blessed to be sure.

One gift in particular I will always remember due to its curiosity factor.It was NOT one of my Top Ten favorite Xmas gifts..nor would it fall in my bottom ten. Nope this one had a weird place all to its own. As documented in other posts the annual Sears Wish Book was the primary way of getting cool stuff on Christmas Morning. This particular year in the late 80s at the height of my comic buying madness, I happened upon a novel item in Sears golden tome known as The Wish Book. It was the Sears Comic Collectors Box. It was the size of a regular Comics Short Box , black in color and claimed to feature 20 Valuable collectors item comics as well as some 1st issues.

Okay Sears..you had me at hint of getting first issues. I bought anything with the number 1 on the cover, I just had to have them. It was the very symbol of value. Superman number 1 went for big bucks, as did Green Lantern and Batman number ones!! Surely this collectors box included at least one of these coveted books…right? Not quite, as it turned out.If the anticipation wasnt enough it was one of those gifts that seemed invisible in the house prior to Christmas. It was not discovered early on one of my Pre-Christmas scouting missions when Mom and Dad would leave the house..in fact I was convinced I was NOT getting this gift on Christmas Morning. My parents being my parents they came through…like they always did. They delivered this one Christmas morning bypassing my Big Brother like radar. So there it was…the Sears Comic Collectors Box!

It was slightly bigger than a comics short box and did not contain the usual comic box lid…instead one of the sides came down to expose the inside of the box which contained three divider boxes to hold and stand your comics collection. Once you filled up your boxes you cold re-seal the side panel via its velcro tabs on each side of the door. The box was jet black and had in bold heroic lettering on the front panel reading “Comics Collector Box”! It was pretty damn great honestly! That was just the box!! By god this thing was about to reveal 20 Collectors Item Comics with 1st issues included!! I lifted the sealed bag of comics out of the box just waiting to reveal the books that would one day secure my future and put my kids through college!!

Upon inspection of the first few titles..I was hopeful!! ROM #1 started proceedings!!I still love this book to this day! Stunning cover based on an awesome toy property…it was a first issue…it looked like a first issue ..smelled like one and all! This was a good start. I loved ROM and his robot bad self! I thumbed though the book…it was mint condition and not a crack to be seen! Sears did not let me down out of the gate..This book masterfully crafted by Marvel Scribe Bill Mantlo was based on a toy property in the 70s called Rom Space Knight from board game guru’s Parker Brothers. While the toy was a small scale misfire, the comic book took this bare bones Robot toy gave it a universe and a back story based in the Marvel Universe. It was penciled by Marvel legend Sal Buscema in the classic Marvel house style!!

Next up was something called Captain Victory and The Galactic Rangers. This was an independent selection from Pacific comics! I had never purchased anything from Pacific nor did I ever read anything Captain Victory related. That said, it was a NUMBER 1 so in my teenage mind it would be valuable at some point!As I thumbed through the pages I was surprised to see the art work of one Jack “King” Kirby! At this point I was still not sold on Kirby’s fit as an artist in the 1980s world of comics and actually was not a fan of his work. Yes…that’s a crime…I get it. I did eventually wake up and appreciate Kirby’s work and contribution to the business but at the time he was “That artist who screwed up the Super Powers Mini Series” What did I know. Nothing apparently. I did go on to buy all issues of Captain Victory down the line and gain a high appreciation of the Kirbyverse.

Another classic followed with the John Buscema cover art on the 1st issue of The Savage She-Hulk. This was the best find in the lot. I loved the Incredible Hulk series in the 1980s and was a huge fan of the television series…so She-Hulk was just up my alley!! I my mind I was 3 for 3…only 17 more books to go….but sadly that’s where it stopped. If you looked up the book value of all three books at the very time my Collectors box arrived it added up to an astronomical …$9.35! Yes…LESS than ten bucks!! How could that be…all these NUMBER ONE’S!!?? Well…what would follow would be 17 other titles that may or may not have been used to light fires, line bird cages, clean up spills and…well you get the point.

The picture above is not the actual comics that were presented in the set…from what I recall remaining titles included The Marvel Index, an issue of Jon Sable, an issue of ALF from STAR Comics, a random issue of Superman, a funny animal comic that I had never heard of…and drum roll please…an amazing issue of Meet Misty….yes…Misty.

This will be the ONLY time I swear to Jesus that “Meet Misty” will ever appear in this blog but the point of all this is that calling some of these titles in this Comic Collectors Box “Collectors Items” may have been a stretch!! So as it stood, I gained three comics that still remain in my collection to this day and a great memory on Christmas morning! As I get older I finally realized the true value of Christmas. I now have 4 kids of my own and on Christmas day it doesnt matter if there is anything under the tree with my name written on the tag I try to give them the same sense of wonder and excitement Christmas brought me.This year is a special one for me and its all about family. This blog has always been about sharing my memories of growing up and all the things that I enjoyed as a kid.

All these memories were made possible by my parents who worked their hands to the bone to make sure no matter what that us kids had everything we ever wanted for Christmas above all else…the same values my wife and I share to this day…so I dedicate this post to my Mother and Father who will celebrate Christmas with us for the first time in 8 years and I am so thankful. You only get one family…make the most out of it…be thankful for the time you have. So this one goes out to you guys..thank you for making growing up awesome and for your unrelenting support over the years…this blog has been and always was a tribute to my childhood, the one my family gave me! I just humbly say Thank You…I can never repay that..but Ill try!

End Transmission..

To my Super-Blog brethren I am thankful as well that this team keeps me motivated and excited to write this little blog and with their support I have not waivered! To each of them I wish everyone of my friends a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best in the New Year where hopefully we can do this all over again!! Thank-you for your friendship and excellent work you all do. To all a good night..

Visit my Colleagues in arms as we continue to share the Comics Christmas Spirit!! Click their links below to continue the festivities!!

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1. Chris Is On Infinite Earth’s: Christmas With The Super-Heroes #1

2. Between The Pages Blog: The Ghost Supergirl Past

3.Crapbox Son Of Cthulhu: Impact Winter Special

4. The Retroist Blog via Vic Sage: Christmas Knight

5. Super-Hero Satellite: 4Th Annual Christmas Special: Sears Comic Collectors Box 

6.The Unspoken Decade: The 1991 Marvel Holiday Special

Super-Blog Team Up: Strange Magic

“We have a new character in the works for Strange Adventures, just a five-page filler named Dr. Strange. Steve Ditko is gonna draw him. It has sort of a Black Magic theme. The first story is nothing great, but perhaps we can make something of him! Twas Steve’s idea..!”         Stan Lee- Comics Reader Interview 1963

“When like minded bloggers come together to write on a singular topic on a singular day the blogosphere bends at their mercy….they are called Super-Blog Team Up. Their mission is to provide a “Magical”blogging experience to our readers and share the words from the edges of the blogging universe under one banner. Welcome to the mighty SBTU…for our older fans…welcome back!!”

From the moment I saw David Copperfield make the statue of liberty disappear I knew I loved Magic. I was always the “How did they do that?” Kid. The secrets however most times were better as secrets as sometimes the belief in the trick is what makes it fun. When it came to “Magic” in comics most of what I had read came from DC in the very early 80s. Whether it was the Golden helmet of DC’s own wizard of the Supernatural Dr. Fate or the Top Hat and Fishnets of Zatanna. If I really wanted more  I also had the likes of The Phantom Stranger and Deadman.The DC is where I lived as a kid!

While I was an ardent DC fan none of those characters ever struck a real emotional chord with me. There are stories of the infamous Marvel bullpen and all the creative inspirations that resulted from the recreational activities of Stan Lee and company. During the 60s and 70s Marvel were banging out plenty of new concepts and titles. Lee met with Spider-Man power artist Steve Ditko and proposed a new concept that played into his strengths as an artist…one that Stan Lee would actually NOT take credit for!

 

Steve Ditko’s tale of a self-centered , materialistic Surgeon who is involved in a career ending car accident and reflects on a life takes to the Mountains of India to find himself. What he finds is the Ancient One who opens his eyes to the world the Mystic Arts making him into the eternal Earths defender from the evils of Black Magic!! Hence is born Dr. Strange! Strange was a classic product of the Marvel Method of making their Heroes “real” like normal people who happen to be living super heroic lives…The Doctor was no exception.

What made Strange different was that could exist in other world dimensions. Ditko was a master of developing unique settings for his characters. His creator set Steven Strange in a bizarre geometric weirdo worlds beyond description. Ditko took simple circles, triangles and squares, mix them with moons, smoke and floating eyeballs and you have the multiple mystic dimensions in the mind of Steve Ditko and it was like nothing ever seen on the printed page before.

Personally the character has always been a struggle for me. I loved the youthful energy in books like Spider-Man or the swagger of Millionaire Bruce Wayne and his many gadgets as Batman. Strange was always ..well..Strange to me. The middle-aged, moustached man in pajamas who was able to harness magic. He was not the Super Heroic looking enough for my 9-year-old mind. I always wondered what it would be like I drew a new Dr. Strange and what he would look like? I would do away with the pajamas and sash and by god he would be cool. Well others felt the same way I did. The Doctors title was in serious jeopardy of cancellation and the new creative team headed by master horror artist Gene Colon decided the good Doctor needed an update!

In Doctor Strange #177 Doc’s classic costume was replaced with a flashy skin-tight unitard some slick new boots and gloves! The most glaring change was that he was also masked!!?? Roy Thomas the famous Marvel scribe penned a reason for the change where Strange’s nemesis  Asmodeushad literally taken the place of Steven Strange’s identity on Earth, while trapping  the real Doctor in another dimension.  The only escape, the Doctor needed to transform himself to free himself from his dimensional trap!

Colon did his best to make this work and actually did a fine job of switching the character out of his geometric Ditkonian dimensions to a more realistic looking alternate universe.though as with every major costume change it would eventually revert to his original garb in issue #183. I realized after reading these issues many years later that some characters are not cut from the typical mold and intended to stay that way!! So as much as I hated the baggy panted middle-aged magician look it is one of those iconic looks that simply defies age. So if you have never picked up a comic book in your life..or just a fan of the supernatural genre pick up some classic  Strange books in the quarter bin and check out the big screen debut on Nov.4 2016!

SBTU Continuess Below…be sure to check em all out!!

LongBox Graveyard: Doctor Strange vs. Dracula

Between The Pages: The Wondrous Worlds of Doctor Strange

DC In The 80s: Magic edition: examining The Immortal Doctor Fate v1 (1985)

The Unspoken Decade:Nighttime Sunburn: Rise Of The Midnight Sons

Crapbox Son Of Chuthulu: The Makings of a Sorcerer Supreme: Optimism and Sacrifice

Chris Is On Infinite Earths Blog:Batman Visits the Sanctum Sanctorum

Coffee and Comics Blog:Review: Doctor Strange #84

The Daily Rios: Amalgam Dr Fate / Dr Strange

The Retroist: The OTHER Dr. Strange Film

The Super-Hero Satellite: You are here already!!

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