Captain Marvel- Quasar/Marvel Man
The other day, while looking around for info on the second character named above, I happened upon a message board posting where some nerd was talking about how much he liked Quasar, a “cosmic” hero that kicked around without much notice until he starred in what I gather was a highly wonky series penned by Mark Gruenwald and which ran from the late ‘80s to the mid ‘90s (this was the time I was not reading funnee books) .
In the Image era to which the series yielded, said the poster, every character grimaces while he blows villains heads off. Whereas Quasar is a noble young man who tries to do the right thing. To which another poster, evincing the cheap scorn some nerds on the internet indulge in so as to create a geek pecking order, sneered “every character, no matter how lame, is someone’s favorite.”
Apparently, Gruenwald saw Quasar as an “everyman” character who would explore the cosmic byways of the MU in a different, more wide-eyed manner than, say, the Silver Surfer. I liked Gruenwald’s Captain America and enjoy superhero wonkiness, so I’d like to check the series out one day.
So of course, a character known only to earnest goofballs will be paired with a hero who frequently outsold the Superman books in the 1940s and early ‘50s; provoked a lawsuit from DC Comics against the character’s publisher Fawcett Publications over a reasonable similarity to Superman; ceased publication and saw its copyright languish so that other publishers could use the name; gave Gomer Pyle his favorite exclamation; and was finally purchased by DC and fully integrated into its fictional diaspora. Most importantly, Captain Marvel is probably better known than any DC character save Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman.
The fanciful mythos common to the Big Red Cheeses probably doesn’t work past the 1940s: talking tigers and worms are best left in the past. But Captain Marvel worked well for about 25 years as a wish-fulfillment of many kids who read comic books before (and to a lesser extent after) the Stan and Jack revolution. Now he’s taken the wizard Shazam’s place as a mystical vizier, or somesuch other dumb shit.
Commonalities:
It’s the sense that both are essentially decent young fellows charged with great powers by ancient beings.
Differences:
Ostensibly, Quasar’s abilities to create energy constructs with his quantum bands, not to mention his relative youth and his cosmic bailiwick, would line up with Kyle Rayner. And Roy Thomas linked Rick Jones to Mar-Vell as an explicit nod to his namesake.
Alternate histories:
CM: Billy Batson is a rookie operative at a government agency who acquires an artifact once used by a that grants him immense strength, stamina and control of mystical thunderbolts. After a few years as the novice hero Captain Marvel, he travels into space and discovers that the artifact is a remnant of a offshoot civilization of “New Gods,” and that he has been chosen by the alien wizard Shazam to succeed the deceased Hawkman as a guardian of the “rock of eternity.” While he joins the Justice League for a short time, Captain Marvel spends most of his time opposing menaces throughout the cosmos; he apparently has been revived in a quasi-spectral state after he was thought to have been killed by an extraterrestrial antagonist.
QU: Teenager Wendell Vaughn encounters Eon, an omniscient creature who grants him various “quantum” abilities, which he henceforth accesses by transforming into adult form. Using the name Marvel Man and then Quasar, Vaughn is one of the few superhumans who can credibly challenge the Mighty Thor. During stints with the Avengers and the Liberty Legion, many colleagues, unaware that he’s truly an adolescent, note his naive demeanor. After a cosmic conflagration, Quasar has taken the place of the slain Eon as a universal guardian granted with “cosmic awareness.”
Showing posts with label Eternals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eternals. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The escapist and the pussyhound
Mr. Miracle-Starfox
The first character cited is key to Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. The second was conceived by writer/artist Jim Starlin as a part of his supporting cast for his mucho cosmic run on Captain Marvel: it was only later that the folks of Titan were judiciously decided to be a subset of the Eternals. I don’t know what Starlin has made of his Titanians being folded into Kirby’s rejiggered-for-Marvel New God/Eternals mythos, but since he’s fooled with Fourth World concepts for DC, I suspect he wouldn’t mind.
I’m much more familiar with the Starfox character, via ‘80s Avengers stories that showed him to be a super-hedonist, than I am with Mr. Miracle. But I don’t see big problems here…
Commonalities:
Both oppose nigh-unto-omnipotent opponents, and have a more keen interest in the affairs of humans than their most of their kin.
Differences:
Again, Starfox, Thanos and other Titianians were ret-conned into being Eternals. And Mr. Miracle is an escape artist nonpareil, as opposed to a guy that can subtly suggest that women open their legs for him. I know which ability I would prefer…
Alternate histories:
MM: Scott Free is raised by his father Himon alongside his brother, Uxas, in an outpost in Earth’s solar system populated by their fellow “New Gods.” While his brother becomes obsessed with an "anti-life equation" and becomes Darkseid, Free is a —wait for it— free spirit: he’s moved to take existence with greater purpose when his brother threatens the universe. He allies with Hawkman and the Justice League to oppose Darkseid, and eventually joins that organization, using the codename Mr. Miracle. He has since traveled the universe and sporadically returns to active heroic service.
SF: Eros is the son of Zuras, the leader of the Eternals, a godlike race that resides in the extradimensional realm of Olympia. As an infant, Eros is traded to Thanos, the leader of the Deviants of Lemuria, in order to broker a truce between the two races that has been waged for centuries. Growing up amongst Deviants, he and fellow Eternal Thena are influenced by Alars to rebel against Thanos: the two escape to Earth, where their efforts to defeat Thanos nullify the truce mentioned above. Using the codemname Starfox, he marries Thena, joins the Avengers and commutes between Olympia and Earth. Both have apparently been killed in a massacre of all Eternals.
The first character cited is key to Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. The second was conceived by writer/artist Jim Starlin as a part of his supporting cast for his mucho cosmic run on Captain Marvel: it was only later that the folks of Titan were judiciously decided to be a subset of the Eternals. I don’t know what Starlin has made of his Titanians being folded into Kirby’s rejiggered-for-Marvel New God/Eternals mythos, but since he’s fooled with Fourth World concepts for DC, I suspect he wouldn’t mind.
I’m much more familiar with the Starfox character, via ‘80s Avengers stories that showed him to be a super-hedonist, than I am with Mr. Miracle. But I don’t see big problems here…
Commonalities:
Both oppose nigh-unto-omnipotent opponents, and have a more keen interest in the affairs of humans than their most of their kin.
Differences:
Again, Starfox, Thanos and other Titianians were ret-conned into being Eternals. And Mr. Miracle is an escape artist nonpareil, as opposed to a guy that can subtly suggest that women open their legs for him. I know which ability I would prefer…
Alternate histories:
MM: Scott Free is raised by his father Himon alongside his brother, Uxas, in an outpost in Earth’s solar system populated by their fellow “New Gods.” While his brother becomes obsessed with an "anti-life equation" and becomes Darkseid, Free is a —wait for it— free spirit: he’s moved to take existence with greater purpose when his brother threatens the universe. He allies with Hawkman and the Justice League to oppose Darkseid, and eventually joins that organization, using the codename Mr. Miracle. He has since traveled the universe and sporadically returns to active heroic service.
SF: Eros is the son of Zuras, the leader of the Eternals, a godlike race that resides in the extradimensional realm of Olympia. As an infant, Eros is traded to Thanos, the leader of the Deviants of Lemuria, in order to broker a truce between the two races that has been waged for centuries. Growing up amongst Deviants, he and fellow Eternal Thena are influenced by Alars to rebel against Thanos: the two escape to Earth, where their efforts to defeat Thanos nullify the truce mentioned above. Using the codemname Starfox, he marries Thena, joins the Avengers and commutes between Olympia and Earth. Both have apparently been killed in a massacre of all Eternals.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Two '70s cosmologies conceived in a Kingly manner
New Gods - Eternals and Deviants (part 1)
So “the King” left the employ of Marvel, and proceeded to craft his own cosmology at DC in 1971: the “Fourth World.” Intended to have a beginning and end, the three series New Gods, Mr. Miracle and the Forever People were unfinished insofar as Jack Kirby's conception. As great as the FW is, he really needed someone to smooth his rough edges (clunky dialogue, often less-than-coherent concepts). Some believe, however, that the Fourth World had a great influence on the conception of Star Wars.
Kirby returned to Marvel in the mid ‘70s, and rejiggered the concept into the Eternals. So clearly the players in these grand, cosmic epics are best paired up.
Commonalities:
Mainly, it’s the sense that it might have been best for both diasporas to remain separate from each company’s main continuity, but that both enrich the DCU and MU, respectively. Otherwise, both revolve around concepts of a “true history of the universe,” and races waging war with the highest stakes imaginable.
Differences:
The New Gods reside on two planets in an extradimensional realm, whereas the Eternals and the Deviants live in hidden realms on Earth. And Kirby never came up with a Deviant that represented ultimate evil; a retcon that saw Jim Starlin’s characters becoming Eternals saw to it that Thanos filled the Darkseid slot.
Alternate histories:
NG: A series of “Old Gods” engineer two variant offshoots of the early human race: the first is a long-lived and (by human standards) aesthetically pleasing subset, who depart to the hidden realm New Genesis; whereas the second, a genetically unstable and grotesque (by human standards) sect, departs to the similarly situated Apokolips. The two races war against one another for hundreds of thousands of years (a delegation of former inhabitants of New Genesis departs to another planet) until the modern age, when the “old gods” return to judge the worthiness of their creations. Many New Genesis-ians leave this plane of existence, but some have recently awoken in human hosts.
Izaya: The ruler of New Genesis, now deceased.
Big Barda: his warrior daughter and presumptive heir to throne of New Genesis.
Orion: A warrior who assumes the throne of New Genesis.
Lightray/Sollis- A warrior who has taken a keen interest in human affairs.
Himon- Izaya’s brother, who leads an off-world sect of former residents of New Genesis.
Scott Free- Son of Himon, who takes the name Mr. Miracle and joins the Avengers.
Uxas/Darkseid- Son of Himon, who becomes a harbinger of death.
ET: A “godwave” unleashes energy that produces two perpetually warring “godlike” races: one, the peaceful and conventionally beautiful Eternals, resides on extradimensional realm Olympia; the other, the warlike and grotesque Deviants, resides in the similarly situated Lemuria. The two war against one another for hundreds of thousands of years until a truce is brokered by the trading of the firstborn children of the rulers of Eternals and the Deviants to the other. But when both children choose sides against the Deviants, their ruler Thanos strikes out against the Eternals, the inhabitants of Earth, and the rest of the universe in an effort to extinguish all life forever. The Eternals oppose him: recently Thanos has been exterminated by Ikaris, but at the cost of most the lives of most Eternals and Deviants. Some, however, have “awoken” in human hosts.
Zuras- The ruler of the Eternals of Olympia, now deceased
Thanos- The ruler of the Deviants of Lemuria
Ikaris- Son of Thanos who is traded to Zuras in childhood, but opposes Deviant aggression upon adulthood
Eros- Zuras’ son traded to Thanos who returns to Olympia and later Earth to oppose Deviant aggression, known later as Starfox
Thena- A Deviant with Eternal attributes, wife of Eros
Makkari- A high-spirited Eternal
Alars- An Eternal living in Lemuria who mentors Eros
So “the King” left the employ of Marvel, and proceeded to craft his own cosmology at DC in 1971: the “Fourth World.” Intended to have a beginning and end, the three series New Gods, Mr. Miracle and the Forever People were unfinished insofar as Jack Kirby's conception. As great as the FW is, he really needed someone to smooth his rough edges (clunky dialogue, often less-than-coherent concepts). Some believe, however, that the Fourth World had a great influence on the conception of Star Wars.
Kirby returned to Marvel in the mid ‘70s, and rejiggered the concept into the Eternals. So clearly the players in these grand, cosmic epics are best paired up.
Commonalities:
Mainly, it’s the sense that it might have been best for both diasporas to remain separate from each company’s main continuity, but that both enrich the DCU and MU, respectively. Otherwise, both revolve around concepts of a “true history of the universe,” and races waging war with the highest stakes imaginable.
Differences:
The New Gods reside on two planets in an extradimensional realm, whereas the Eternals and the Deviants live in hidden realms on Earth. And Kirby never came up with a Deviant that represented ultimate evil; a retcon that saw Jim Starlin’s characters becoming Eternals saw to it that Thanos filled the Darkseid slot.
Alternate histories:
NG: A series of “Old Gods” engineer two variant offshoots of the early human race: the first is a long-lived and (by human standards) aesthetically pleasing subset, who depart to the hidden realm New Genesis; whereas the second, a genetically unstable and grotesque (by human standards) sect, departs to the similarly situated Apokolips. The two races war against one another for hundreds of thousands of years (a delegation of former inhabitants of New Genesis departs to another planet) until the modern age, when the “old gods” return to judge the worthiness of their creations. Many New Genesis-ians leave this plane of existence, but some have recently awoken in human hosts.
Izaya: The ruler of New Genesis, now deceased.
Big Barda: his warrior daughter and presumptive heir to throne of New Genesis.
Orion: A warrior who assumes the throne of New Genesis.
Lightray/Sollis- A warrior who has taken a keen interest in human affairs.
Himon- Izaya’s brother, who leads an off-world sect of former residents of New Genesis.
Scott Free- Son of Himon, who takes the name Mr. Miracle and joins the Avengers.
Uxas/Darkseid- Son of Himon, who becomes a harbinger of death.
ET: A “godwave” unleashes energy that produces two perpetually warring “godlike” races: one, the peaceful and conventionally beautiful Eternals, resides on extradimensional realm Olympia; the other, the warlike and grotesque Deviants, resides in the similarly situated Lemuria. The two war against one another for hundreds of thousands of years until a truce is brokered by the trading of the firstborn children of the rulers of Eternals and the Deviants to the other. But when both children choose sides against the Deviants, their ruler Thanos strikes out against the Eternals, the inhabitants of Earth, and the rest of the universe in an effort to extinguish all life forever. The Eternals oppose him: recently Thanos has been exterminated by Ikaris, but at the cost of most the lives of most Eternals and Deviants. Some, however, have “awoken” in human hosts.
Zuras- The ruler of the Eternals of Olympia, now deceased
Thanos- The ruler of the Deviants of Lemuria
Ikaris- Son of Thanos who is traded to Zuras in childhood, but opposes Deviant aggression upon adulthood
Eros- Zuras’ son traded to Thanos who returns to Olympia and later Earth to oppose Deviant aggression, known later as Starfox
Thena- A Deviant with Eternal attributes, wife of Eros
Makkari- A high-spirited Eternal
Alars- An Eternal living in Lemuria who mentors Eros
Friday, May 16, 2008
The worst of the worst…but in the best way
Darkseid- Thanos
I reckon that no one would disagree that Jack Kirby’s most enduring creation, after he left Marvel for DC in 1970, is Darkseid. Finally, after an interchangeable series of intergalactic despots menacing Superman and the Justice League in the 1960s and 1970s, this one stuck (although you could say that various Green Lantern antagonists fit the bill). Darkseid might even be known to non-nerds via Superman: the Animated Series and the Justice League Unlimited program.
As for Thanos, anyone can see that his character owed rather a lot to Darkseid. I wonder if the character's creator, Jim Starlin, minded that Thanos and his fellow residents of the moon of Titans were later said to be an offshoot of the Eternals. But as it is, Kirby Eternals series never had a really truly awe-inspiring antagonist anyhow: the Deviants leader Brother Tode didn't fit the bill, in my view.
Commonalities:
Big scary guys with ambitions to dominate or destroy on a universal level: not too much difference between Darkseid’s “anti-life equation” and Thanos’ love for the personification of death.
Differences:
Only that Starlin did not intend Thanos and the residents of Titan to have any connection to Kirby’s Eternals mythos. But, as of the late 70s, they do.
Alternate histories:
DA: Uxas is born the son of Himon and brother to Scott Free on a colony populated by “New Gods” ostensibly native to the hidden realm New Genesis. He possesses genes that mark him as part of the race of “New Gods” native to Apokolips, and is thus alienated from his family; taking the name Darkseid, he becomes obsessed with the “anti-life equation,” a means by which he could control all life in the universe. Darkseid is opposed by Hawkman, the Justice League and virtually every superhuman champion on Earth and beyond.
TH: Thanos is the ruler of the Deviants, an genetically unstable offshoot of humanity based in Lemuria, an underground kingdom that spans the Earth. A war between Deviants and their ancient enemies the Eternals reaches a truce when Thano’s son Ikaris is sent to live with the Eternal’s leader Zuras, who sends his own son Eros to Thanos in exchange. The ceasefire ends when Thanos begins to seek a means to court the personification of Death; his war with the Eternals becomes enmeshed with his desire to destroy all life in the universe, which finds Thanos opposed to nearly every superhuman champion on Earth and beyond.
I reckon that no one would disagree that Jack Kirby’s most enduring creation, after he left Marvel for DC in 1970, is Darkseid. Finally, after an interchangeable series of intergalactic despots menacing Superman and the Justice League in the 1960s and 1970s, this one stuck (although you could say that various Green Lantern antagonists fit the bill). Darkseid might even be known to non-nerds via Superman: the Animated Series and the Justice League Unlimited program.
As for Thanos, anyone can see that his character owed rather a lot to Darkseid. I wonder if the character's creator, Jim Starlin, minded that Thanos and his fellow residents of the moon of Titans were later said to be an offshoot of the Eternals. But as it is, Kirby Eternals series never had a really truly awe-inspiring antagonist anyhow: the Deviants leader Brother Tode didn't fit the bill, in my view.
Commonalities:
Big scary guys with ambitions to dominate or destroy on a universal level: not too much difference between Darkseid’s “anti-life equation” and Thanos’ love for the personification of death.
Differences:
Only that Starlin did not intend Thanos and the residents of Titan to have any connection to Kirby’s Eternals mythos. But, as of the late 70s, they do.
Alternate histories:
DA: Uxas is born the son of Himon and brother to Scott Free on a colony populated by “New Gods” ostensibly native to the hidden realm New Genesis. He possesses genes that mark him as part of the race of “New Gods” native to Apokolips, and is thus alienated from his family; taking the name Darkseid, he becomes obsessed with the “anti-life equation,” a means by which he could control all life in the universe. Darkseid is opposed by Hawkman, the Justice League and virtually every superhuman champion on Earth and beyond.
TH: Thanos is the ruler of the Deviants, an genetically unstable offshoot of humanity based in Lemuria, an underground kingdom that spans the Earth. A war between Deviants and their ancient enemies the Eternals reaches a truce when Thano’s son Ikaris is sent to live with the Eternal’s leader Zuras, who sends his own son Eros to Thanos in exchange. The ceasefire ends when Thanos begins to seek a means to court the personification of Death; his war with the Eternals becomes enmeshed with his desire to destroy all life in the universe, which finds Thanos opposed to nearly every superhuman champion on Earth and beyond.
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