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 In 1982 Marvel realized they had so many characters already they could create a series just out of listing and summarizing the histories of the characters. And this was the birth of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. While it's not a constantly updated idea it is one that still pops up here and there today. There were three main versions of this published during the '80s and '90s that most here would remember. And while it was cool to see a good summation of the characters you loved I always loved them for a different reason. They showed me some of the really weird smaller characters that I had never come across at the time. I think my first exposure to a lot of the fringe characters in the Marvel Universe were through these books. I got a nearly full collection of the second series from my older cousin who was cleaning out his comics and I became fascinated with the series buying up the third series and putting them in a binder whenever I could find them. The second and third series are very different from each other. While the second series covered mostly characters that appeared often it also contained sizable character histories to go along with that. The third series was more like an extended set of big trading cards and it covered characters a lot of people have probably never heard of until this day. In this thread I'm going to post a character every day for as long as the thread sustains and we can talk about the character and maybe speculate on whether we'll be seeing them ever pop up or wondering why they were ever created in the first place. I'm going to try to mostly stick to the more unknown and weird characters but will sprinkle others in as well. I'm going to pick them randomly so we could get someone cool or someone really lame. I'll let you all decided in that. I'll be pulling mostly from the third series which has hundreds of characters to chose from. And remember this series was created in the early '90s so a lot of characters will be sporting some of their worst costumes ever, which should be fun. Here are the first pages from the issues that explain the power levels and the glossary. They appear in all the issues over the four years this was published so I guess they're a handy guide to the guide.  
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Feb 10, 2017 23:03
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 08:36 |
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Day 1: Chief Examiner Who? Apparently a character created for a video game and promptly forgotten after a 12 issue mini that was cancelled after 3 issues. I vaguely remember this guy showing up in Quasar. But since I'm one of the only people that probably ever read Quasar I imagine he's a complete unknown to most comic fans.  
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Feb 10, 2017 23:04
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'the general populace of earth is unaware of the chief examiner's existence' Ain't that the truth.
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Feb 10, 2017 23:15
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Man, I always think I read "most" of Gruenwald's Quasar and then I remember it ran for sixty issues and if you look up pretty much literally any alternate universe or comic being from pre-1990 there's a weird footnote on the wiki about what they did in Quasar. From Wundarr to the New Universe to Buried Alien to the Young Gods.
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Feb 10, 2017 23:51
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Edge & Christian posted:Man, I always think I read "most" of Gruenwald's Quasar and then I remember it ran for sixty issues and if you look up pretty much literally any alternate universe or comic being from pre-1990 there's a weird footnote on the wiki about what they did in Quasar. From Wundarr to the New Universe to Buried Alien to the Young Gods. I honestly think Quasar is what spawned my love for stuff like that, including Cosmic Marvel. I remember one of the first issues I read was Quasar and Stranger fighting Overmind and it had nothing to do with like anything I'd read in other Marvel stuff at the time. A lot of my comics around that time came from a huge collection my cousin gave me. It had this and old Captain Marvel and Eternals in it among the more mainstream stuff. It was a while before I actually read that older stuff though because being young I read the more familiar stuff first. Quasar was some of the more recent books in the collection and that stuff was my gateway in the those cosmic books. But even I don't really remember Chief Examiner. He looks familiar to me and it has to be from Quasar since that's the only thing he was ever in. But there's so many orb-headed villains out there I could be just be remembering someone else. X-O fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Feb 11, 2017 |
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Feb 11, 2017 00:02
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Normal speed has a peak range of 25-29 mph. Usain Bolt, generally agreed to be the fastest fucker in town, has a peak running speed of 27.8 mph (according to a cursory google). The lower bounds of 'athlete' speed is 4 mph faster than our known human limit. Their "normal" swimming speeds are similarly batshit fast.
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Feb 11, 2017 02:45
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Oh, neat! I've always been interested in obscure characters, from MGK's examination of DC's Who's Who to House to Astonish's Official Handbook to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. I think this should be fun! goatface posted:Normal speed has a peak range of 25-29 mph.
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Feb 11, 2017 11:30
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What's with the way the hands on all the character illustrations were posed like that?
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Feb 11, 2017 19:24
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Wheat Loaf posted:What's with the way the hands on all the character illustrations were posed like that? It's just a way some people do character model sheets. Day 2: Ms. Marvel It's the forgotten Ms. Marvel! Sharon Ventura. Former pro-wrestler turned superhero. Most of my exposure to Sharon, and probably yours if you remember her at all, was when she was "She-Thing" in the Fantastic Four in the '90s. She was last seen in her "She-Thing" form in the last volume of Fantastic Four before Secret Wars. I'm not sure if she's showed up anywhere post Secret Wars but she's very rarely used in any case.  
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Feb 11, 2017 19:48
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Man, I know people use "problematic" a lot, but Sharon Ventura was a PROBLEMATIC character. She was introduced as a pro wrestler who engaged in lots of really dangerous physically demanding activities because her mom died in childbirth and her dad was a military jerk who hated her for being WEAK and KILLING HER MOTHER and denying him the chance to have A SON, THE ONLY WAY FOR A MAN TO HAVE A LEGACY. So she hated her dad but wanted to prove SHE WAS JUST AS GOOD AS A MAN. Then she got super powers through *THE POWER BROKER* aka Mike Carlin's weird steroid allegory. Except also the Power Broker's goons [did whatever the CCA/Shooter would allow in terms of heavily implied rape] so now she still hated her dad but also hated all men and she was going to prove she was BETTER THAN MEN, BECAUSE MEN ARE MONSTERS AND PIGS AND NO MAN WILL EVER TOUCH HER AGAIN. During this she struck up a friendship with fellow pro wrestler Ben Grimm, who clearly had a crush on her but she only hung around him because while she hated ALL MEN he was just a lumpy rock monster, not a MAN, so she could feel really comfortable around him.    So then she joined the Fantastic Four, but only because Ben was the leader and not THAT MAN Reed Richards, and then on their first mission she got hit by cosmic rays and mutated into a Thing. Upon turning into a Thing, she immediately snapped and turned suicidal.   Because, she laments to the Thing, what man would ever want her if she's some hideous rock monster? A quick Fall of the Mutants crossover cheers her up, because as bad as she's got it, at least she isn't a mutant, and a few issues later she finally decides it's okay to hook up with the Thing now that they're both rock monsters. She stuck around on the FF and dated the Thing for awhile, until Doctor Doom slid up in her DMs and was all "hey I can make you a pretty lady again instead of a rock monster, but you have to spy on the FF for me" and she accepted the plan, but when Doom told her to KILL the FF, she reneged on the deal and thought everything would be cool. It was not cool, and Ben broke up with her, she was very sad, then Doom like turbo-reversed his thing so she turned into an even worse looking monster and tried to kill the FF for real and got put in jail, where she has been almost completely, politely, ignored for the past two decades.
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Feb 11, 2017 21:19
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I don't think this is literally true, but I could swear I read somewhere that Sharon is hanging out with Wyatt Wingfoot on a reservation. Waiting for anyone to remember they exist.
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Feb 11, 2017 21:40
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wasn't she on some 50 state initiative team?
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Feb 11, 2017 21:42
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Edge & Christian posted:Many very good reasons for not appearing in comics anymore. Yeah, there's a reason she's the forgotten Ms. Marvel. For someone that wasn't around that much she has a crazy history. When Ben was put in jail during the last arc of FF before Secret Wars she was running the place. She was not happy to see him, considering he never even once checked in on her since she'd been in there.
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Feb 11, 2017 21:43
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Yeah, there is not a huge amount of effort being taken to ensure consistency in Sharon Ventura backstory. Her last real storyline was in Tom DeFalco's FF run where she was super monster-y and working for the Frightful Four, in which she nearly beats Sue to death before escaping with the rest of the evil team. (1994) Then she doesn't get mentioned for several years, until she appears in a few pages of Claremont's run attacking Wyatt Wingfoot's tribe. Wyatt talks her down and she surrenders, and I guess maybe they let her stay with Wyatt because _________ rather than putting her in jail. (2000) She next turned up (I think in human form, but i forget) in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Marvel Knights 4, still chilling with Wyatt Wingfoot. Sue calls her up to invite her to a Ladies' Night. (2005) Then Dan Slott had her appear on one of the 50 States Team in the Initiative (as a traditional looking She-Thing) but she is shot and killed by the Skrull Kill Krew almost immediately, because whoops! She had been replaced by a Skrull at some point. The next issue she's shown getting recovered from a Skrull ship, but then never really mentioned again. (2008) And then yes, she turns up as like an evil prison warden or something in James Robinson's F4 story arc, made that no one had come checking up on her in prison, even though by all rights she was actually in some combination of chilling with Wyatt Wingfoot, working for the Initiative, or being kidnapped by Skrulls. No idea how she actually got put in jail, unless like she was abducted by Skrulls in prison offscreen circa 1995 and then when she came back SHIELD went "oh no, we paroled a Skrull, not you, get on back to jail." (2014) FInally, she showed up again as a normal looking human lady wrestling at Madison Square Garden in that goofy rear end wrestling issue of Captain America: Sam Wilson a few months ago. Edge & Christian fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Feb 11, 2017 |
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Feb 11, 2017 22:52
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Edge & Christian posted:And then yes, she turns up as like an evil prison warden or something in James Robinson's F4 story arc, made that no one had come checking up on her in prison, even though by all rights she was actually in some combination of chilling with Wyatt Wingfoot, working for the Initiative, or being kidnapped by Skrulls. No idea how she actually got put in jail, unless like she was abducted by Skrulls in prison offscreen circa 1995 and then when she came back SHIELD went "oh no, we paroled a Skrull, not you, get on back to jail." (2014) I believe she got involved in some shady pro-wrestling poo poo involving drugs because she was having trouble trying to make a buck when nobody wanted anything to do with her after the Skrull stuff. Edge & Christian posted:FInally, she showed up again as a normal looking human lady wrestling at Madison Square Garden in that goofy rear end wrestling issue of Captain America: Sam Wilson a few months ago. Well good, hopefully Secret Wars fixed it so she's got a relatively normal life now.
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Feb 12, 2017 01:49
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Oh man I loving loved these things when I was a kid. Something about how much history and character design were all crammed together. I must have seen books from the second series because all the backstory was fascinating, and in some cases probably better to just read the highlights and imagine how it happened than read what actually did happen. There's something fun about seeing so many characters, and this is a cool thread idea! Though I will forever laugh at the fact that according to these bios Captain Marvel is a clinically underweight woman, they really should update that poo poo.
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Feb 12, 2017 02:05
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X-O posted:Day 1: Chief Examiner Took me one sentence to remember he's the guy from the Questprobe computer games. I'd love to know if there's a Marvel character I wouldn't recognize. I'm hoping there is.
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Feb 12, 2017 20:06
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Well, we'll get deeper so maybe there is. Probably not this guy if you're familiar with Chief Examiner. Day 3: Quagmire Oof. What a terrible series of design choices. quote:Costume Specifications: Leather and rayon. That's pretty much all that needs to be said.  
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Feb 12, 2017 21:23
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That dog collar with chain leash that I assume is connected to his cockring is pretty amazing.
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Feb 12, 2017 21:50
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Wow. I didn't even notice that poorly placed chain. So it was worse than I thought.
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Feb 12, 2017 22:21
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Got me there. I guess the Chief Examiner stands out more than this guy, because the Questprobe games are a fun little footnote in super hero games, and this dude is just...what? Leather dude that makes things sticky is just gross. Also funny that his last appearance was with the Chief Examiner in Quasar.
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Feb 12, 2017 22:30
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Other distinguishing features: i think they missed a few
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Feb 13, 2017 02:34
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goatface posted:That dog collar with chain leash that I assume is connected to his cockring is pretty amazing.  It's amazing that under personal weaponry, "none is listed. I would have expected no less than 8 guns, both bullet and laser PenguinKnight fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 02:49
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Speaking of Gruenwald's Quasar being a repository of cosmic/other-universe weirdos... I remember Quagmire from Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme maxiseries which serves as a weird contemporary/mirror to Watchmen, but I didn't remember him looking quite so spiky and bondage-y. Turns out he didn't!  It's kind of confusing in that practically everyone in Squadron Supreme is a clear pastiche of various DC characters (kind of like Angor/Extremists at DC, coming soon again in JLA!) but none of these folks in the INSTITUTE OF EVIL particularly map to anything at DC that I can tell. He's also linked the ~THE DARKFORCE DIMENSION~ which everyone seemed to try to make A Big Thing in the 1980s, but I don't think has been referenced anywhere at all outside of I guess Mister Negative, obliquely?
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Feb 13, 2017 03:05
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I only ever got one of these issues. The last one so it had people from W-Z, including Wonder Man, Yellow Claw, ZZZAX and Zeus. Also it had the appendix of alien races. Every single one that had appeared to date. There were a lot of the fuckers. Oh hey here it is 
Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 03:09
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darkstar was a russian mutant who had access to it, but i think she is dead again.
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Feb 13, 2017 03:19
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Cloak's (Coming soon to a TV near you!) teleportation powers go through the Darkforce Dimension.
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Feb 13, 2017 03:35
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gimme the GOD drat candy posted:darkstar was a russian mutant who had access to it, but i think she is dead again. Jeph Loeb brought her back in Red Hulk because he did not give a poo poo about any sort of status quo for the Winter Guard so an assistant editor literally added in some dialogue about how this was a new Darkstar who was surgically altered to look like the original Darkstar and colored her hair red. Then original Darkstar came back in the Necrosha crossover but re-died at the end. Then the redheaded one got killed in a one-shot about the Winter Guard. Then a THIRD Darkstar was introduced, but she got killed and replaced by a Dire Wraith in a "Darkstar & the Winter Guard" mini-series a year or two later. Then the original Darkstar I guess like came back as a ghost and possessed the Dire Wraith and became Darkstar again. *Then* Doctor Octopus when he was trying to kill 99% of the planet so he'd be remembered as History's Greatest Monster ("WORSE THAN HITLER! That's what people will say when they mention me!") teleported all of the Winter Guard into deep outer space, where it was suggested that Darkstar and everyone else died. But then they showed up fighting monsters in Monsters Unleashed so I guess they got back from space?
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Feb 13, 2017 03:43
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Aphrodite posted:Cloak's (Coming soon to a TV near you!) teleportation powers go through the Darkforce Dimension. That's where I know it from! I read that and I was like "Darkforce Dimension? Is that a thing? It sounds plausible, I guess."
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Feb 13, 2017 03:52
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Edge & Christian posted:
Out of curiosity, how does Ben take to dating her? As goodhearted as Ben is, I feel like the dude would actually struggle being in a romantic relationship with someone who looks like him.
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Feb 13, 2017 04:11
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Edge & Christian posted:
The Darkforce Dimension and various Darkforce powers were the main plot of Agent Carter season 2.
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Feb 13, 2017 04:11
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Unfortunately more people remember Quagmire than watched Carter S2.
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Feb 13, 2017 04:13
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I loving love these things. This and the DC Who's Who really brought me into comics after just sort of skimming them for years as a kid. I have like 8 binders of these my dad gave me, and you have inspired me to dig through them tonight and try to find a character to stump myself or everyone else.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:12
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Edge & Christian posted:He's also linked the ~THE DARKFORCE DIMENSION~ which everyone seemed to try to make A Big Thing in the 1980s, but I don't think has been referenced anywhere at all outside of I guess Mister Negative, obliquely? It was in New Thunderbolts after Civil War - I think the Smuggler (Atlas's brother, Conrad) was trapped in the Darkforce Dimension and Zemo got him out with the moonstone.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:23
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Day 4: Captain Ultra Very rarely have so many colors been combined in such an ugly way. This guy got superpowers accidentally when his hypnosis therapy to quit smoking went awry. It also gave him a crippling case of pyrophobia. Yes. That is what happened.  
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Feb 13, 2017 22:05
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I need to know more about this Marvel Dr. Spock. IRL Dr. Spock was a pediatrician.
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Feb 13, 2017 22:14
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X-O posted:Day 4: Captain Ultra Griffen Gogol.
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Feb 13, 2017 22:18
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I always loved these books. I think my two favorite entries had to be: Garrok, the Petrified Man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garokk and The Living Mummy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%27Kantu,_the_Living_Mummy
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Feb 13, 2017 22:28
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X-O posted:Well, we'll get deeper so maybe there is. Probably not this guy if you're familiar with Chief Examiner. he had charlie brown hair + a ponytail
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Feb 13, 2017 22:45
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 08:36 |
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We might get a lot of mileage out of the 50 State Inititive, seeing as it got a lot of mileage out of gone & forgotten characters. Cap'n Ultra over there was the Nebraska team. The whole team.
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Feb 13, 2017 22:52
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