Doc Bruce Banner,
Belted by gamma rays,
Turned into the Hulk…

Stan Lee has said that the Hulk, co-created with artist Jack Kirby, is based on Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, the good man who becomes a monster, and also on Boris Karloff’s version of Frankenstein’s monster, the misbegotten, persecuted creature. Those influences are fairly evident. What is absent from all but the original versions of the Hulk are his Cold War origins. Doctor Bruce Banner was a meek, bookish man who used his genius to build weapons of mass destruction and, caught in the blast of one of his bombs, became one himself.

The Hulk is Banner’s alter-ego. When angered, Banner becomes a seven-foot, thousand-pound, musclebound, lime-green, simple-minded version of himself (in most versions: he originally changed at nightfall, was gray-skinned, and merely terse, not simple). As he grows angrier, he gets stronger,often proclaiming “Hulk is strongest one there is!” After the anger has faded, he reverts back to a scrawny Bruce Banner by the side of the road somewhere, his clothes in tatters, barely able to remember what he’s done.

In the 1980s, writer/artist Barry Windsor-Smith proposed a story which would reveal that Bruce Banner had been physically abused as a child. The revelation would suggest that the Hulk was not merely Banner’s repressed anger, but a physical manifestation of the anger of an abused child, to some degree explicating the Hulk’s childlike demeanor. Marvel ran a version of  the story, but without Windsor-Smith (and interesting account of the behind-the-scenes story of how Marvel passed and then ended up using the story anyway can be found here).

The Hulk’s adventures both permit us to worry for Dr. Banner, the victim of violence who perpetuates violence without meaning to, and vicariously enjoy the demolition when he transforms and bellows “HULK SMASH!”

I hope you’ll return for tomorrow’s installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY even if tomorrow’s installment isn’t very nice.

In the 70s Marvel experimented with mixing superheroes with genres popular outside comics, such as martial arts (MASTER OF KUNG FU, IRON FIST), Satanic horror (SON OF SATAN), motorcycle culture  (GHOST RIDER), and blaxsploitation with LUKE CAGE, HERO FOR HIRE. Cage, the character and his comic, were both manifestly exploitative and well-meaning. The character was created by Archie Goodwin and John Romita written and (mostly) drawn by white men. The character was an innocent man who was sent to prison, volunteered for an experiment which gave him superhuman strength and “steel-hard skin” who escaped and used his powers for the good of the common man. For a price.

Operating like most private eyes (and a lot like Shaft), Cage set up in a dingy Times Square office over an “art house” movie theater and took superhero cases on a per diem basis, although he’d often waive or lower his fees for the needy. Despite his often angry and “steel-hard” demeanor, and signature exclamation of “Sweet Christmas!” (filling in for any real profanity in a comics code-approved book) Cage was a soft touch.

Eventually Cage adopted the more superheroic moniker Power Man, but it never seemed to stick. He also partnered with the costumed martial artist Iron Fist to become a crimefighting duo for pay.

In the last decade, much effort has been made to update Cage, his yellow shirt, metal tiara and afro now considered too dated, and he’s been given a more contemporary shaved head and goatee. He’s also lost any semblance of a costume, which strikes me as too self-consciously “cool.” Superheroes are and ever will contain some ridiculous whimsy and efforts to make them cool often underline this rather than obfuscate it.

Cage joined the Avengers, a much better-paying superheroing gig. He also fathered a child with former superheroine Jessica Jones, whom he married. Fatherhood and matrimony agreed with Cage, but he remains as “steel-hard” to his fellow Avengers as ever.

Tomorrow another incredible installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY.

J. Jonah Jameson, the self-aggrandizing publisher of NOW Magazine and New York City’s THE DAILY BUGLE, was quick to publicly lambaste the misunderstood hero Spider-Man on the pages of his tabloids. Most of his photos of the elusive wall-crawler were provided by freelance photographer and frequent whipping boy Peter Parker. In an ethical paradox, Peter Parker was secretly Spider-Man: Parker was selling “news” pictures of himself to the miserly Jameson. The fact that James used the pictures to accompany hatchet-pieces about Spider-Man seemed to assuage Parker’s already-heavy burden of guilt somewhat.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in SPIDER-MAN #1 in 1963, Jameson took what could have been a one-issue appearance and stretched it out for fifty years and counting. Forever chomping cigars, bellowing “PARKER!” and pounding his fists,  JJJ alternates between buffoonish, moments of occasional menace and even rarer heroism. Mostly a straw-man blowhard, he is sometimes surprisingly human and sympathetic. In one early internal monologue, we learn that Jameson’s hatred of Spider-Man stems from his own feelings of jealousy: Spider-Man is genuinely admired and seeks no reward for his good deeds. Jameson is shamed by Spidey’s selflessness and devil-may-care attitude. Despite all his worldly success, Jameson seems most proud of tarnishing Spider-Man’s reputation.

In recent years, Jameson has actually ascended to the position of mayor of New York City. This has given him a bigger pulpit from which to attack his hated rival, and greater height for him to fall on his face.

Christmas comes a little early in tomorrow’s installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

1980 was an amazing year, neither 70s or 80s. It was entirely transitional. Disco was over, but MTV was just an idea. Image was becoming synonymous with sound where popular music was concerned. The movie XANADU is 1980 in cinematic form. The hero Dazzler is 1980 in superhero form.

Introduced in UNCANNY X-MEN #130 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Dazzler was actually created by writer Tom Defalco and artist John Romita, with input by Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter as a promotional tie-in between Casablanca Records and Marvel Comics. Some of the earliest development drawings depict her has a tall black woman with close-cropped hair, once again recalling singer Grace Jones. The Casablanca deal was complicated and at one point there were negotiations for a film starring Bo Derek, hot from the movie “10.” But Bo Derek came as a package deal with husband John Derek and the film died in development.

Never one to throw a viable idea away, the character was introduced in an X-Men story before being launched into her own book. In it, Dazzler was a performer first and only very reluctantly a hero second. The title was never great, but Dazzler, the character, charmed me. Ridiculous as her premise was, no matter how unlikely the occasional appearance of Spider-Man or the X-Men,  Dazzler herself was strangely earnest and compelling. She just wanted to perform for the people. Who could hate that?
Tomorrow another powerful potentate of the printed page in the next installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

The opposite number to his former friend, mutant supremacist Magneto, Xavier seeks peace between mutant and humankind. Where Magneto formed a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Xavier founded a School for Gifted Youngers. He also created the X-Men, a mutant strike team, because Xavier believes sometimes ideology is not enough.

Generally depicted as a protagonist with good intentions, Xavier has always had a Machiavellian streak, present since his first appearance in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s X-MEN #1. Physically handicapped but gifted with telepathy from an early age, Xavier can easily read minds, cast illusions, and rewrite memories, and if he feels justified, he will with little provocation. He’s not only headmaster of his school, he often takes an authoritarian role with all mutantkind as well. As his student Kitty Pryde (whose parents’ memories of the school’s true nature he erased) once put it “Professor Xavier is a jerk.”

Xavier’s complex morality defies simple black and white characterization. He often does terribly things, such as sending a team of X-Men to their deaths and covering it up before recruiting a new team, for the best reasons.  In service to a dream of peace and brotherhood,  Xavier often pushes his basic humanity aside for the good of all.

I hope you’ll return tomorrow for another shining installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

Created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as an antagonist for the X-Men the first issue of their comic, Magneto spent his early years as a standard archvillain, going so far as to call his organization The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. At first we knew little about Magneto’s past or motivations, and Jack Kirby’s helmet design for him even disguised his age.

Many years later writer Chris Claremont revealed aspects of Magneto’s history that underlined why he used his powers against normal humans who would oppress mutants: Magneto’s family had been killed by Nazis and he barely escaped with his own life. When his powers emerged and he was once again part of a persecuted minority, this time he had the power to fight back.

Once a friend to fellow mutant and X-Men founder Charles Xavier, Magneto rejected Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence with humans. Magneto felt there could only be peace if mutants ruled, and for that to happen rivers of blood had to flow.

Magneto reformed for a time, tempered by Xavier’s influence, he even assumed  a position as headmaster of Xavier’s school in his absence. But eventually his anger and frustration got the better of him, and he realized that without the extremes he represented, the more moderate Xavier would never be heard.

Although he often wars with humanity, Magneto’s motivations are easily understood by anyone who’s felt powerless in the face of injustice an wished they could reverse the polarities of power. Although a villain, Magneto’s relatable anger make him all too human.

I hope you’ll be back for tomorrow’s extra-special installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY.

Most of you are probably familiar with the story of billionaire playboy inventor Tony Stark, a munitions maker injured by (in most versions) his own weaponry in the field. With a shrapnel precariously close to his heart, a makeshift electromagnet is all that keeps him from death. He escapes captivity and saves his own life by making himself a weapon: Iron Man.

Originally created by old standbys Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, in a story scripted by Larry Lieber and drawn by Don Heck in TALES OF SUSPENSE #39 in 1963. Iron man gets periodic updates to his origin, which originally took place in Vietnam and has been moved to Afghanistan, and to his armor, once “powered” by transistors. He’s always remained ahead of the pace of even real-world science.

Although Tony Stark’s identity as Iron Man was secret for most of his career, in recent years he’s gone public with it. An autocratic technocrat, Tony tries to make the world better with his inventions, at the same time steadfastly guarding against people who would misuse it. He often fails to recognize any authority but his own, which sometimes puts him at odds with government and other superheroes (although Tony was thoroughly pro-government in the CIVIL WAR miniseries which pitted brother superhero against brother superhero). Tony has also hit bottom a number of times, such as in the “Demon in a Bottle” storyline, in which his alcoholism costs him the Iron Man armor and even his company.

Constantly teetering between progress and self-ruin, human and machine, Iron Man perfectly represents the nature of technology. And he does it with style.

Iron Man’s look is always evolving, too. After the initial, bulky, robotic Kirby design, Steve Ditko created the first version of the more iconic, streamlined yellow-and-red armor. Although the version I’ve done, inspired by artist Adi Granov, is not his favorite, I dedicate this piece to Iron Man fan Steve Bannister, who’s as resolute (and right more often) in his opinions as Tony Stark himself.

Tomorrow I’ll present a very attractive character for MIGHTY MARVEL MAY.

When Rogue first appeared in AVENGERS ANNUAL #10 in1981, long before that internet, artists were often at the mercy of their local libraries and bookstores for reference. If a story called for them to draw the Taj Mahal or a Gemini spacecraft, they couldn’t use Google image search, so they had to do research on their own time at their own expense. Writer Chris Claremont’s script described a new villain called Rogue as looking like Grace Jones, artist Michael Golden didn’t know who Jones was. So he made Rogue up out of his imagination.

Seemingly a remorseless villain, Rogue’s mutant power to absorb other superhuman powers (as well as short-term memories) from other superhumans meant she was almost a match for the Avengers. A heroine named Ms. Marvel fell victim to Rogue’s ability and, for the first and only time, the transfer of powers and memories was permanent. Since that time, Rogue has had the basic set of superpowers in addition to her own: flight, invulnerability and super-strength… And the memories of Ms. Marvel clamoring in her head.

Rogue fought the X-Men next, but soon Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers)’s memories were impossible to drown out, and Rogue turned to her enemies at the Xavier’s School for help.

She was not greeted warmly. (Art by Walt Simonson)

Having fought her before, the X-Men were not happy to have her on the team. But gradually she became one of the longest-lasting, best loved members of the team.

With her superhuman strength, invulnerability and Mississippi sass, Rogue appears  confident and brash. But to me, her inability to come into physical contact with anyone makes her a tragic heroine, and highly vulnerable. Her capricious, criminal youth means her career as a hero is a redemptive one. She can never give back what she’s taken, but she never stops fighting to correct the mistakes of her past.

Don’t be filled with dread- MIGHTY MARVEL MAY continues tomorrow!

When you think “arch villain,” no one fits the bill like Doctor Doom. Originally an adversary of the Fantastic Four, also created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Doom grew to be one of the main antagonists in the Marvel Universe.

Victor Von Doom was a college student from the European kingdom of Latveria when he met Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, who would later become Mister Fantastic and The Thing of the Fantastic Four. Doom was Richards’ greatest scientific rival. When Richards tried to correct Doom’s faulty equation on an experiment, Doom’s hubris kept him from listening. The experiment literally blew up in Doom’s face; he blamed Richards.

Now scarred (Lee preferred Doom’s face be ruin in the accident; Kirby wanted to reveal only a tiny cheek  scratch which to the egomaniacal  Doom would amount to the same thing), he donned an iron suit, studied super-science and magic. He declared himself Doctor Doom (because, after all, he never graduated college) and returned home to conquer Latveria.

If Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor is a cutting edge supercomputer in human form, Doom’s armor is a Panzer tank. With no less than the entirety of Latveria’s resources, and endless supply of lookalike “Doombots”, and one of the most formidable intellects on earth, Doom has set out to conquer the world many, many times. And he even succeeded once.

Doom is a complicated character, conflicted by his own desire to be the best, most noble, greatest man and his own selfishness. Ashamed of his Gypsy heritage, he fought and succeeded to make himself a king. His intellect matched (and exceeded) only by Reed Richards, Doom seeks to destroy him. But like many egotists, Doctor Doom is his own worst enemy. He is just as often undone by his own self-sabotage as by his enemies.

Please return tomorrow for another touching installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

Originally created by artist Dave Cockrum as a character for DC’s LEGION OF SUPERHEROES, Nightcrawler made his way into GIANT-SIZED X-MEN #1 in 1975.

Blue, furry, and with a prehensile, barbed tail, German-born Kurt Wagner was a mutant who could never pass as a normal human. His outlandish appearance even drove a number of German peasants, seemingly drawn from FRANKENSTEIN, to try and lynch him before he was rescued/recruited by X-Men leader Charles Xavier. With his ability to teleport short distances and swashbuckling heart, he was a proud addition to the team.

I like Nightcrawler for his exuberance and refusal to give up in the face of adversity. A devout Catholic, he and his unlikely best friend Wolverine  would have long spiritual discussions. I always liked that the two men could disagree but had enough respect for one another to listen.

I hope you’ll be back for tomorrow’s regal installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

Before she was finally revealed by creators Stan Lee and John Romita in SPIDER-MAN #42, the running joke was that Peter (Spider-Man) Parker didn’t want to be set up with Mrs. Watson’s niece Mary Jane. Steve Ditko had teased readers with glimpses of her here and there, suggesting she was a high-fashion femme fatale. But when Peter opened the door to meet her, it was Romita’s version that greeted him.

Peter was smitten with Gwen Stacy at the time, and MJ was introduced to complicate things with a love triangle. She was immediately irrepressible, the ypart girl to Gwen’s chaste girl-next-door. Peter was destined to be with Gwen, it seemed, but MJ was hard for him- and readers- to resist.  She was fun but troubled. Smart but irresponsible. Lovable but frustrating.

Eventually Gwen was murdered by the Green Goblin. Over a surprisingly long time, Peter and Mary Jane became a couple. A retcon (retroactive continuity addition) had Mary Jane declaring she’d known Peter was secretly Spider-Man all along, had loved him from afar, but couldn’t be with him because of it.  They were eventually married, had numerous rocky years, and their marriage was, after two decades, magically annulled by editorial fiat in a story too dumb to waste any time on. Such is the grind of monthly comic book continuity.

Because she was never designed to be Spider-Man’s girlfriend- at the time that was Gwen- Mary Jane’s life didn’t revolve around his the way numerous other superhero-accessory-girlfriends seem to. She had her own interests, and disappeared from Peter/Spidey’s life for long stretches. Later stories would suggest a more longstanding connection between her and Peter, but they were never able to tamp down the larger-than-life spirit that first told Peter that, upon meeting her, he’d “hit the jackpot.”

That’s all for today, but don’t be blue: more MIGHTY MARVEL MAY tomorrow!

Hank McCoy ought to be the poster child for mutants. As created by stalwarts Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in  X-MEN #1 in 1963, Beast was a hirsute, agile man, with oversize hands and feet, but recognizably human. His brutish exterior  was at odds with his eloquent, erudite manner and genius intellect. Seeking the genetic cause of human mutation, Beast transformed himself into a blue-furred, apelike creature (courtesy of writer Gerry Conway and artist Tom Sutton. He also got a great Gil Kane cover out of it!). He could no longer hide his mutation from the world.

More gray than blue on this great Gil Kane cover. And more people need to work “lo” into sentences.

Far from withdrawing from society, Hank became a celebrated member of the  Avengers and continued his work as a scientist. He was a quirky, verbose, well-adjusted guy. Years passed and Hank mutated once again. This time the mutagen was writer Grant Morrison’s mind.

Morrison and artist Frank Quitely redesigned the X-Men for the 21st Century beginning with NEW X-MEN #114. “Increased sunspot activity” was blamed for secondary mutations around the world, and Beast was now a blue-furred, catlike humanoid who felt “like a Hindu sex god.”  While rebuffing an ex-girlfriend, he also alluded to being gay, a revelation which was hastily retracted by Hank himself a few issues later (I’ve always suspected the change was mandated by Marvel’s management, who realized Beast action figures were sold at Walmarts around the country and feared a conservative backlash). Hank’s shifting orientation was not as controversial as his shifting appearance. Although many embraced his leonine look, which he has to this day, others wished for a return to his earlier, more apelike appearance.

I like both looks. My guess is that Quitely was inspired by Jean Cocteau’s Beast in La Belle et la Bête. I went with this version because I haven’t seen it represented in 3D as often.

With luck, you’ll be back for another edition of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY tomorrow!

Jean Grey: What makes you such a bitch, Emma?

Emma Frost: Breeding, darling. Top class breeding.

Although originally part of a mutant cabal determined to rule the world, Emma has always been a wild card; a villain motivated by love for other mutants, and later a superhero motivated by self-interest.  Her allegiances shifted, but she has never been easily labeled hero or villain. Unlike Rogue, who began as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before reforming, Emma’s road to heroism is nowhere near as  smooth, nor would it be surprising if she changed again. Currently she is involved with the straight-laced Cyclops, leader of the X-Men, a weakness that seems to appall her as much as it does many fans.

Writer Grant Morrison did some of my favorite work with Emma (although he gave her a secondary mutation, the ability to transform into a humanoid diamond, which I think dilutes her some). From her Wikipedia entry:

…in 2001 Frost appeared in New X-Men as a teacher for the mutant population …Using Frost as a character was suggested to writer Grant Morrison on his website by a fan.

That fan was my friend Ken Kneisel, to whom this sculpture is dedicated.

Certain as the sun, there will be a new MIGHTY MARVEL MAY installment tomorrow, so please come back.

Wakanda’s culture seems, at first, to be a primitive tribal stereotype, yet it’s actually highly technologically sophisticated culture, has never been successfully invaded by another nation, and is one of the only sources on earth of the  element Vibranium. It is a fictional pastiche of “Africa” as Doctor Doom’s Latveria is of an imagianry “Europe”: it represents no real place or people on earth.

Appearing first in FANTASTIC FOUR #52 in 1966, T’Challa is the latest Black Panther, an honorific held by the king (although born a prince, T’Challa still had to defeat the previous Black Panther in ritual combat to earn the title). Armed with little more than enhanced human abilities like Captain American (who was defeated by a previous Black Panther during a misunderstanding during World War II), Black Panther is also a mechanical and tactical genius. At various times he’s been an ally of the Fantastic Four and a member of the Avengers, all while ruling a country.

Black Panther is simply one of the coolest-looking characters around. His black catsuit might be too understated for most other characters but he’s allowed because he did it first. It will sometimes be adorned with a high-collared ceremonial cape or gold adornments, which I find incredibly gaudy and ugly. Whenever he wears those I feel like someone decided he was “Too black. Too strong.”  Interestingly, the name “Black Panther” predates the Black Panther Party by a few months. Once again Lee and Kirby were ahead of the curve.

Please come back for a gem of a character in tomorrow’s installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY.

First appearing in THE FANTASTIC FOUR #48 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966, Galactus brought cosmic to superhero comics. He could only be defeated through the deus ex machina of the “Ultimate Nullifier,” a weapon that guaranteed mutally-assured destruction.

Galactus is generally portrayed as aloof and remorseless, often comparing humanity to insects. Although in stature and seemingly humanoid, later stories indicated that he merely appeared humanoid to us and differently to other intelligent species. This accounted for the subtle differences in interpretation by artists interpreting Jack Kirby’s intricate and idiosyncratic design.

My version here borrows from Kirby’s design, but is also strongly influenced by the late artist Moebius, who once drew Galactus in the wonderful SILVER SURFER: PARABLE.

This is the second time I’ve depicted Galactus. The first was several years ago when I drew a comic outlining what would have happened if Stan Lee hadn’t team with Jack Kirby, but instead with religious tract artist Jack Chick. It was written by my friend Ed Conley, creator of the webcomic ED CONTRADICTORY.

Read the entire comic here: Galactus is Coming!

Come back tomorrow for another too-strong edition of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

Artist Bill Sienkiewicz had only recently shaken off his early Neal Adams style and took new inspiration from Gustav Klimt and Ralph Steadman when he began drawing  the good-but-conventional X-MEN spinoff comic NEW MUTANTS. Compared to cartoonists who’d absorbed the DNA of Jack Kirby, Sienkiewicz’s work seemed sloppy at first, like he’d spilled ink across a page and then tried to connect the splatters and blobs into a coherent story. But when the shock wore off, when one got over how unlike a standard superhero comic it looked, you would notice how fully he commanded anatomy, perspective, light and shade… He’d add uncalled-for by the script details creating intriguing visual asides. He could experiment because he was just that good.

I couldn’t stand it. I was a dumb kid.

But a couple of issues in, Sienkiewicz did a Disney pastiche, and then it penetrated even my child-brain: “oh my god, this guy can draw anything.”

His work was not safe. It was challenging. It was dark. And if you could decipher it, it was beautiful. It was suddenly perfect for a book about confused teenage mutants (because weren’t we all confused teenage mutants?).

Warlock was introduced in issue #18 in 1984. Visually, he was the embodiment Sienkiewicz’s art: a vaguely humanoid inkblob, amorphous with angry, jutting spikes and gnashing teeth. But as written by Chris Claremont, then master of all things mutant at Marvel, Warlock became a gentle, childlike creature with a signature Claremontian patois. An alien “techno-organic” metamorph on the run from his genocidal father, Warlock was  a mutant even among mutants. He could be anything, look like anything, and found a home among misfits.

Others drew Warlock over the years. Arthur Adams masterfully drew a recognizable Warlock who was at once cartoonier and more fully-realized as a 3-dimensional figure. But no one but Sienkiewicz could have created a lovable adolescent out of such a unique, lively mess.

I hope you’re hungry for more and will return for tomorrow’s installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby introduced Cap in his own CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS in 1941, the cover of which famously depicts Cap socking Hitler in the jaw. This was before the US was actually in the war, mind you. The result of an unreproducible science-fiction procedure, 4-F Steve Rogers, a stout-hearted weakling from Brooklyn, was transformed into the pinnacle of physical perfection, Captain America. Outfitted with an unbreakable shield, Cap fought his way though WW2. When the war ended and interest in superhero comics waned, Cap was suspended in the arctic ice, thawed by the superheroic Avengers to fight for justice again.

Captain America was also the favorite superhero of my friend James, who died almost a year ago. Like the Captain himself,  James was often disillusioned by it by his country, but continued to believe in it. This piece is dedicated to James. RIP, buddy.

Hope you’ll make the circuit back here tomorrow for the next superstar of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY.

Although World War II had been over almost twenty years when SGT. FURY premiered, the character was still alive and ornery- and now missing an eye- in a 1965 issue of STRANGE TALES which introduced Fury and the reader to SHIELD (The Supreme Headquarters of International Espionage Law-enforcement Division). It turned the brave-but-ordinary war veteran into comic equivalent of  the Man From U.N.C.L.E. or an American James Bond. Outfitted with Jack Kirby gadgets  he fought a not-so cold war against the evil organization HYDRA.

As years went on, Fury’s adventures skewed more toward superheroics, with SHIELD agents donning black tights (which carried over to the recent AVENGERS movie) and more and more outlandish gear. The great Jim Steranko drew some amazing Fury tales in the 60s with an eye on Pop Art and design. Other than the introduction of the age-defying “Infinity Formula” to account for his relative youth, Fury himself remained a mortal tough guy able to go toe-to-toe with superhumans.

Fury has been portrayed in live-action not only by Samuel L. Jackson (playing the “Ultimate” version of Fury who was, himself, based on Jackson) most recently in THE AVENGERS , but also in an unlikely 1998 TV movie by David Hasselhoff. Having survived WWII and the Cold War, Fury seemed just as able to brush that one off.

Please join me for tomorrow’s MIGHTY MARVEL MAY for a big star!

Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely in NEW X-MEN #134 in 2003, Quire was a smart little thug who couched teenage self-interest in lofty idealism and violence. He was also a compelling character, one you could simultaneously secretly root for and be glad when he was given his comeuppance.  X-Men comics are  an ideal metaphor for (among other things) adolescence, and Quire was an ideal teenage hero/villain, fighting for an agenda he didn’t necessarily believe in, hoping someone in authority would stop him, with a vague understanding that he might destroy himself in the process.

Quire’s story began and ended beautifully in the pages of NEW X-MEN, a rarity in superhero comics. But of course no comic company ever lets any story finish, so Quire has returned, but to me he’s not the same character anymore.

There’s also a rumor circulating that Morrison pulled and interesting trick with Quire. In his creator-owned series THE INVISIBLES, Morrison introduced a malevolent, dwarfish, masked psychic named Mister Quimper. At Marvel, he introduced the malcontent Quire. In DC’s ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, a benevolent but somehow sinister character named Mr. Quintum was an ally to the man of steel. One theory is that each of these characters are the same person, beginning with the unformed and angry Quimper and ending with the kindly-but-suspicious Quintum. If so, Quire represents the angry adolescent, forever at war with the world and who he’ll become.

Today’s minibust is dedicated to my friend Youri, who understands why “Magneto was right.”

You’ll want to keep your eye out for tomorrow’s MIGHTY MARVEL MAY character!

Hank Pym was created by Stan Lee, Stan’s brother Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby in 1962′s TALES TO ASTONISH #27 in a story called “The Man in the Ant Hill” . At first, he wasn’t a superhero, but a victim of his own experiment, a pretty direct lift from the film version of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957). In his next appearance, he was Ant-Man. Despite the numerous, obvious liabilities presented in being a man who can shrink to the size of a bug, Ant-Man actually did pretty well and went on to co-found the Avengers (along with his wife-then-girlfriend, see MIGHTY MARVEL MAY #2: THE WASP ). Soon he learned to grow and became Giant-Man instead. Then Goliath. Then back to shrinking as the anti-hero Yellowjacket. Then simply Dr. Pym. Giant-Man again. He even took his wife’s superhero name, The Wasp (she wasn’t using it at the time). Etc.

Pym has never seemed happy as a superhero. He’s rarely seemed happy, period. He and the Wasp are the Burton/Taylor of the Marvel Universe. Infamously, in the midst of a nervous breakdown, he once backhanded her (supposedly the result of an artist misinterpreting a written plot description).

So what is there to like about this guy?

Saddled with what might be the saddest, most meager set of superpowers, Hank Pym tried again. He reinvented himself. And when that didn’t work, he tried again. And again. He keeps trying to make himself better, to overcome his past, and to do the right thing. It has never been easy for him, but he keeps trying. Most of us are never going to have the happy lab accident that gives us a superpower, but all of us are going to screw up (although, one hopes, not so spectacularly), and keep our fingers crossed that we’ll get it right the next time.

Ant-Man is depicted here with a little Grant Williams, star of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, style. I believe Williams was the physical model for Pym. Kirby’s bizarre, inventive helmet, with its loudspeaker/mandibles, is both ridiculous and cool all at once.  Also depicted is the Wasp, Hank’s partner and love at this time.

Hope you’ll come back for tomorrow’s installment. This next character is a riot.

There have been efforts over the years to humanize the character, but for the most part, he is not so much a person as an ideal of pure evil. And on that level,  coupled with his striking visual, he works.

This picture scared the living hell out of me as a child. (Art by Al Avison.)

Whether the Red Skull is masked or disfigured is controversial and changes from version to version (one Golden Age story suggested he was wearing an actual, painted human skull over his head… Somehow). Although drawn by many people over the years, once again I stuck with Jack Kirby as a guide. Kirby’s 1960s, Silver Age version of the character doesn’t particularly look like an actual human skull, it looks like what it is: a monster.

Quick reminder that today is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY at comic shops throughout the US (and maybe other countries, as well?), so go get some free comics!

And come back tomorrow for our next MIGHTY MARVEL MAY installment for a character who’s had a lot of ups and downs.

Introduced in 1964′s DAREDEVIL #1 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, Daredevil, a dark, pointy-headed hero who fights a gritty urban underworld, is often called Marvel’s answer to Batman. I don’t think this is really accurate. While Daredevil’s stories are often dark (and the groundbreaking and career-making work done by Frank Miller are often pitch black), there’s something much more affable about DD. He’s more like a friendly cop on the beat, swinging his signature billy-club and leaning comfortably against a building, albeit one twenty stories up. The current Daredevil comics by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin is much more upbeat than the book has been for years.

Although I grew up reading Miller’s wonderful Daredevil comics, I chose to depict him with the broad, smiling Irish face depicted by the legendary Gene Colan.

More trivia: Miller’s DAREDEVIL comics, many of which involved a ninja clan called The Hand led by Daredevil’s old sensei Stick, were parodied by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, creators of the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Hand= Foot; Stick=Splinter, etc.). In fact, in their origin issue the turtles were mutated by the same radioactive isotape that blinded Matt Murdock.

I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for the next installment of MIGHTY MARVEL MAY when I present a villain who’s really under my skin.

Well, this little lady- and I mean “little” literally- was not only a founding member along with Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk and Ant-Man, but she actually named the group. Not only that, but when I read AVENGERS comics as a kid, the Wasp was their chairwoman. Yes, she was Captain America’s boss.

Like most female characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (in TALES TO ASTONISH #44, 1963), Janet Van Dyne was defined by mercurial mood swings, obsession with clothes, and driving her boyfriend insane by fawning over Thor and Tony Stark (she was way ahead of the curve). Given the seemingly-useless ability to shrink to an inch in height or smaller, Dr Hank Pym a.k.a. Ant Man, also gave Janet insect wings and antennae (the latter of which eventually and thankfully fell off). She also possessed a wasp’s sting; a kind of bio-electric energy blast. Outfitted with these attributes, she immediately outshone her partner.

Janet and Hank married and divorced, then later remarried. In the interim, Janet became a world-renowned fashion designer, dated Tony Stark (and she dumped him when she found out he’d secretly been her team-mate Iron Man all along), and ran the Avengers as its chairwoman while sporting the most costume-changes of any superheroine in history. I love the Wasp because she  evolved from a broadly-sketched love-interest/sidekick into a well-rounded and powerful character. In other words, she grew.

She’s depicted here in her youthful, wide-eyed phase.

Please come back tomorrow for more MIGHTY MARVEL MAY. I hope you’ll drop by and see.

Between the Golden Age superhero boom of the 40s and their resurgence in the Silver Age of the 60s,  superheroes in the 50s were scarce. EC Comics had much success with a line of action and horror titles, but the other publishers conspired to put them out of business and created the Comics Code Authority, a restrictive censorship agency that forbade most of the horror stories in which EC specialized.

What the code permitted, along with tamer fare, were fanciful monsters. Proto-Marvel Comics, under the authorship of writer/editor Stan Lee and top artist Jack Kirby, came up with dozens of these bizarre, giant monsters, many of whom wore modest boxing trunks no matter how outlandish their anatomy. One of the best loved of these monsters was FIN FANG FOOM who appeared in STRANGE TALES #89 in 1961. Partially it was Jack Kirby’s bizarre, Jabberwocky-like dragon design that stuck him in people’s memories. Mostly it was the name.

Fin Fang Foom has appeared many times since in mainstream Marvel Comics, sometimes as the talkative giant he was originally, sometimes as a moronic brute (in NEXTWAVE he was obsessed with putting his victims in his pants), and he once filled in for the mythological Midgard Serpent kin THOR. Meant as a disposable antagonist in a short story fifty years ago, Fin Fang Foom still makes many fans smile at the mention of his name.

Please check back tomorrow, and all month long, when I present another of the Marvel Universe’s giants- So to speak.

Starting tomorrow and throughout May,  I’ll be presenting thirty new mini-busts representing my favorite characters from Marvel Comics. They’ll be ranked from least to best-loved, according to me.

My choices may not be everyone’s choices, and the ranking may not resemble anyone else’s. But spirited debates over which characters are your favorites is a ongoing pastime for superhero comic fans , and I invite these debates in the comments section. Will your favorite be on my list?

The inspiration for this series of sculptural sketches comes from Ilias Kyriazis’s  amazing Marvel and DC favorite character banners. May seemed like a good month because it coincides with my birthday. And apparently Marvel is releasing a movie about some of their characters?

Please join me tomorrow when we begin MIGHTY MARVEL MAY!