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Welcome to the Marvel Handbook at the Nexus.

I’m Jim Trabold and your not, kidding. Well you know what I mean. I just thought I’d start off with a laugh. Ok I see your not really laughing. Especially you Daron. Want to get started already don’t you?

Please”¦

Alright then lets play ball.


Vincent emails to help with Bullseye

Hi Jim, Ummm I’m a long time reader first time writer (I know old joke) but despite that I love the column. Just to clarify the Bullseye issue, I don’t remember where I read this, but I believe they didn’t do the process that they did with Wolverine (remember at that time the guy who performed the operation on Logan somehow lost or had that process stolen from him) but as to Bullseye, it wasn’t all his bones that were given adamantium, just the broken/shattered ones from his battle with Daredevil after Bullseye killed Electra (sp?). I wish I remembered where I read that, a Marvel handbook I think.

Very interesting. At least we now may have the answer. But still he would need medicine or something so not to have adamantium poisoning. Wolvie had it without healing factor so Bullseye would be the same.

Well thanks for the time, you be good.

Oh and one more thing, Thanos would kick Blastaar’s ass, that’s my vote. I honestly think that Thanos hands down would be the winner of the tournament period. That’s just me though.

Wow that is a good vote. Thanks I will count it in the votes. You’ve been very helpful here with the Bullseye stuff.


John emails

Hey ya Jim,

First of all I am really liking the new ‘comicnexus’ as a whole. Nice work to whoever were the designer/concept people behind the project.

Have to thank Widro, Ben and Daron for that. I’m just a writer here.

Actually, you need to thanks Widro and Daniels if you’re referring to the actual site design, they did all of that”¦and in a relatively short time. Ben and I just handle content, and what not. Thank you though for the kind words. We’re all glad you’re enjoying the new site. – The Overlord

My question is do writers need to get permission from Marvel to ‘manipulate’ characters in titles. For example when Wolverine had the metal ripped from his bones by Magneto was permission given by Marvel to do so because it effects other books or are writers given free-reign over their titles and characters?

They do have to ask their editors before they do anything. Like lets say in Uncanny, Chris wanted to kill someone. He would need to ask the editor Mike Marts. Then they would report it to Joe Quasada if they liked the idea. The factors here are that the rest of the titles need to know about a death or someone getting badly hurt like Wolverine did. Also normally if it’s a big event like Fatal Attractions the writers and editors all meet in a room sometimes and talk about what will happen and debate it. This way all the titles know of a character being killed off or just badly hurt. Also the main title of a character like lets say Wolverine, the writer would need to be informed of him being hurt or anything like that.

There’s also many cases of editors coming up with stories for their writers to write. Take the Hal Jordan/Parallax deal. Ron Marz gets all the crap for writing that story, but it was actually an editorial decision that was hoisted on him (and he wasn’t even the first writer to tackle it. They originally had someone else working on it, then they took it away and gave it to Marz.) So yeah, editorial has a lot to do with how stories play out in comics. – The Overlord

Now since everyone else is doing it my Avengers team:

Black Panther – a person that brings a sense of justice, money and calmness to the team. I see him as the natural leader.

I still find this idea interesting to say the least. Black Panther makes a great member and leader just sounds interesting,

Firestar – an interesting underutilized character. I don’t know if she is still considered ‘young’ in the Marvel Universe but she is powerful enough.

Without Justice? They are married now after all. she left the team to marry him. They should rejoin together.

Scarlet Witch – a current member and a good member. You need someone magical and she is a cool character.

I would keep her around as well. Good move.

Speedball – laugh all you want but he can act as your comic relief (think Plastic man in the JLA) and still contribute. A few light hearted issues concerning Speedball’s training or ‘rookie’ hazing, would be great. That and it would allow for development of his unique powers.

Hmm this one I did not see coming. Speedball is just one member I didn’t think anyone would use.

Beast – your lovable genius who is obviously not getting along well with the X-men at the moment.

Wow bring the blue boy back to the Avengers. I really find this interesting. I like it.

Hercules – power to spare. Every team needs a person that punches their way out of problems and he is it for this team.

Strength and best replacement for Thor if you want to be technical

US Agent – they need someone less visible then Cap and he is it. He sound be here as a member and a team trainer.

Hmm taking him right out of his new book and putting him here. I find it interesting. Prefer Cap myself but I can see not using Cap here.

I realize this is a powered down team but I happen to like powered down teams. Marvel fans complain all the time about the JLA being to powerful (I could argue the old X-men were just as powerful) so this fixes that ‘problem’. What I would have happen is the Avengers lose public support due to the attack on the mansion (the city could become). The city does not have to be anti-super-here just see the Avengers as being a giant target because as a group and individually they have more enemies then people can count. This could lead to a break-up of the old group and a reforming of a more low-key group that could be more ‘Justice League Elite’ than ‘JLA’. Black Panther decides he wants to run things his way which might be a little more ‘in the shadows’ then Cap and Iron Man ran things. He brings people in that do not have a large public following but as a group can handle any situation. He also sees it as a training ground to create the next generation of heroes. This would not be the most powerful team ever put together but it would have a purpose of protecting and developing. This would allow a platform for Marvel to showcase and develop characters that are unique and not used often

Thanks.

Very interesting comments. I would hope people would read your title. Might need more star power somewhere down the line.


Jason emails

Hello,

Great columns recently, I really like the look of the new web site you are on.

That question this week about the High Evolutionary really got me wondering what IS up with the guy. He’s a villain in the “Evolutionary Wars”, an addled nut in the pages of Thor, and a heroic figure in some early-90s Avengers, defending Wundagore from Exodus. High Evolutionary is obviously a pretty complicated individual. How about a history run-down on the guy?

Oh interesting character to have a history run down on. I’ll have it in order thanks to Marvel Chronology Project

Thor 134-135: he first meets Thor for the first time and they battle Man-Beast and his evil New Men. He also evolved into a godlike being
Tales To Astonbish 94-96: He recruited Hulk to battle the New Men
Marvel Premiere 1-2: He turns human again and created Counter-Earth
Warlock 1,5,8: High Evolutionary sends Warlock battles Man-Beast on Counter Earth
Hulk 158: Hulk battles on High Evolutionarys counter Earth.
Fantastic Four 172-175: High Evolutionary and the FF battle Galactus on Counter Earth
Marvel Two-In-One 62-63: Counter Earth disappears. He joins Thing and others to find it on world of the Beyonders
Hulk 266: He fought the Hulk
1988 Annuals: Evolutionary War. Many readers should know it by now.
Thor 407-408: Thor battles Mongoose as High Evolutionary again is seen.
Thor 417: Thor and High Evolutionary meet again
Thor 419-425: High Evolutionary shows up as part of the Black Galaxy in Black Galaxy Saga. He also created the New Immortals here
Warlock and the Infinity Watch 3-4: Adam Warlock again visits High Evolutionary and this time he saves his life again from Man-Beast
Thor 449-450: In back up story seen on Wundagore planning his next move.
Thor 472-489: Thor comes to Wundagore and joins High Evolutionary for a time
Fantastic Four Unlimited 9: I missed this issue myself so no idea.
Avengers 380-382: In back up story Quicksilver and Crystal battle on Wundagore Mountain.
Scarlet Spider Unlimited 1: High Evolutionary shows up to inform Scarlet Spider he faked Jackals diary and says he battled clones
Spider-Man Dead Mans Hand: Spidey battles Carrion and again High Evolutionary is seen here.
Excalibur 113: Colossus and Meggan show up on Wundagore and battle the New Men.
Quicksilver 1-12: Quicksilver joins the Knights of Wundagore and helps protect Wundagore
Kazar vol4: 12-14: Kazar battles High Evolutionary
Heroes for Hire 15-17: In Siege of Wundagore (also happening in Quicksivler) the battle is on for Wundagore. The Heroes for Hire and Quicksilver help High Evolutionary defend it from Exodus and crew.
Uncanny X-Men 379-380, X-Men 99: The X-Men lose their powers and High Evolutionary is involved but the true mastermind is Sinister.

That should give you some interesting reading if you want the full story.

As for the Marvel Universe inhabitants making use of Adamantium, there is a villainous robot named Tess-One that was made entirely of Adamantium. Tess-One was created during World War II as a fail-safe in case America’s super-soldier program was subverted for evil purposes (though why the US government just didn’t send Tess-One to Berlin and blow away Hitler is beyond me). Tess was brought out of a mothballed state by a mutant named the Overrider who could control machines, and battled Wolverine and Captain America, who defeated Tess-One and Overrider. Tess-One later popped up as a member of the all-robot team “Heavy Metal” in the pages of the Avengers, and later on in “Acts of Vengeance” if I remember correctly.

Wow I forgot him myself. Nice name to mention. Thanks.

I have an Avengers team and plot for you. The storyline would be called “Schism” and would revolve around a dissension in the ranks of the Avengers. Reserve Avenger Spider-Man comes to his avenging pals asking for help to fight Venom. It doesn’t really make sense to fight Venom by himself when he knows guys like Iron Man and Quasar (Remember Quasar beating Venom by simply trapping him in a force field bubble in “Acts of Vengeance”?). So, Spidey has wised up and decided to take the advantage of numbers

So, the Avengers agree to help him. But some Avengers note Venom’s sordid past, and how the villain is responsible for many innocent deaths. This gets a faction within the Avengers thinking about the possibility of perhaps really “avenging” innocent deaths by removing these villain threats for good, not simply defeating them and dumping them in the revolving door Marvel Universe prisons.

This leads to a long-running story arc where two teams of Avenger work at cross-purposes. One group, idealistic and believing strongly that killing makes them no better than the enemy, tries to bring the bad guys in before the other guys get to them, and tries to find and stop the other team for good. The ‘avenging’ team, meanwhile, works in the shadows, avoiding their former teammates, and makes a list of bad guys to snuff that includes the likes of Bullseye, Doctor Octopus, Carnage, Venom, Sabretooth, the Marauders, Shriek, Hobgoblin, and others of this ilk.

It’s friend against friend as two teams of Avengers with opposing viewpoints hop all over the world, trying to stay one step ahead of each other and accomplish their goals. This recalls events in “Operation Galactic Storm” that never really were brought to fruition…some Avengers being true Avengers, while the rest of the team stood by and let them kill the Supreme Intelligence.

Our Avengers who remain true to the older code: Captain America, Quasar, Spider-Man, Sandman, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Photon, She-Hulk, Thor, Firebird, Yellowjacket, Beast, Stingray, Warbird, Quicksilver, Vision, Crystal.

Our Avengers who decide to avenge: Iron Man, Namor, Wonder Man, Wasp, Black Knight, Black Widow, Hercules, Sersi, Hellcat (and her hubby Hellstorm), Rage, Scarlet Witch, Moondragon, Living Lightning.

By no means do all the characters have to be involved. But imagine Vision and Quicksilver in an uneasy partnership to track down Scarlet Witch. Or Iron Man and Wasp at odds with their fellow founders and old friends, Cap and Yellowjacket. Or the tactical chess games that could play out with the minds of Cap, Hawkeye, Vision, and Black Panther on one side, and Iron Man, Wasp, Black Knight, and Black Widow on the other.

This storyline could be played out over the course of a year or so, and end when both groups have to unite against some sort of common enemy that has taken advantage of the division in the Avenger’s ranks to destroy them all. This has all come about somehow through the manipulations of the Grandmaster, that Elder of the Universe who loves a good wager, and a long-vanished Spider-Man enemy who also loves a good bet, too…Chance!

Sorry this is so long, and it’s pretty vague, I know, but it could be a great jumping-off point for a lot of different stories.

It’s not that long. I’ve seen longer. I like your idea. Almost think one team could recruit Punisher. Of course being out for revenge and all. I have to admit some of the choices are really interesting.

Wasp is a little to peaceful for me. Don’t see her fitting on Shell Head’s team much. The rest well I can see. Again I can see the rosters expanding and changing. Of course as I said Punisher would fit the revenge team later.


Bob emails

My rosters would consist of two teams of eight.

Avengers East would be:

Captain America
Blade
Iron Fist
Doctor Strange
Warbird
Photon
Nova
Marvel Girl III

Which Nova. I’m betting on Rich here but you never know. This team is very interesting. Some big power on the team and I don’t think anyone would want to mess with this group.

Avengers West (reserve)
Hawkeye
Johnny Blaze
Black Widow
Scarlet Witch (she’d take courses from Dr. Strange and Agatha to become more of a Witch and lean more about her mutant powers at the Xavier Institute (where she’d cross paths with Nightcrawler)
She-Hulk
Tigra
Iron Man
Quicksilver

Bringing back the West Coast team I love it. I would use reserves elsewhere and just have two books. I would love this book to come back and it’s a great team in the book even

My reserve members would be the genius types like Beast, Giant Man, and Vision. They’d be in the uses but not doing active missions unless it was absolutely necessary. Also Crystal and Luna would be supporting cast with Pietro.

Interesting reserves here as well. Could always use more later.

These are just combinations of characters I think would be interesting.

What do you consider the definitive versions of these teams to be: Avengers, X-Men, Excalibur, Fanastic Four, and so fourth. Which characters do you think had the most impact and would have made the best rosters. Take for example New Warriors last run. The fans wanted them back but the writer didn’t give us the characters we really wanted. Instead of Night Thrasher we got Aegis. And Chris Bradley instead of Justice and Firestar. Which characters do you think were the worst personal creations the writers forced on us.

Here’s my choices for most ill conceived characters:

Marrow, Maggot, Thunderbird II (Neal Sharra), Aegis, and Silver claw

Definitive versions of those teams above. That is an interesting question. Lets try this. I’ll use just the ones listed for now. I’m hoping this works. Infact I’ll split the Avengers. My rule always has been 7 but the X-Men need more. 7 Avengers though. I won’t give what I want as an Avenger roster just who I think fans would want on teams atleast

Avengers: Captain America, Wasp, Thor, Hercules, She-Hulk, Black Widow and Black Panther

West: Hawkeye, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Tigra, and Henry Pym (as any of his personas)

Some of the reserves: Spider-Man, Quicksilver, Beast (X-Men though), Falcon, Warbird, Photon, Quasar, Namor, Black Knight, Crystal, and Sersi

X-Men: Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean (Phoenix), Colossus, Beast, Archangel, Storm, Iceman, Rogue, Gambit, Banshee, Psylocke, and Bishop.
Reserve: Shadowcat, Marvel Girl III, Nightcrawler, Forge, Havok, and Polaris.

Excalibur: Nightcrawler, Rachel (Marvel Girl III), Shadowcat, Captain Britain, and Meggan.
Reserve: Moira Mactaggert

Fantastic Four: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, Human Torch, and Franklin
Reserve Crystal

Just for fun:

X-Factor: Havok, Polaris, Forge, Val Cooper, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, and Wolfsbane

New Warriors: Night Thrasher, Rage, Justice, Firestar, Speedball, Namorita, and Nova

Defenders: Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Valkyrie, Hulk, Namor, Nighthawk, and Hellcat

Invaders: Captain America, Human Torch, Namor, Union Jack, and Spitfire.

I mean there are so many teams I’d need to go for a long time. These are just some of the best characters for rosters. Next I’ll do my Avengers dream rosters.


Now I’m not going to go about a long story here. I’ll give a short one.

Avengers (East): Captain America (leader), Black Panther, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Black Widow and Quicksilver

West Coast Avengers: Hawkeye (leader), Iron Man, Wonder Man, Wasp, Moonstone, Vision, Tigra, and Songbird

Cosmic Avengers: Photon (Leader), Thor, Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, Warbird, Quasar, and Sersi

New Warriors: Night Thrasher, Living Lightning, Justice, Firestar, Rage, Speedball, and Namorita

I would killed off Stingray, Pym, D-Man, Triathlon, Ant-Man, Captain Britain.

I’d bring New Warriors back in place of Young Avengers. The New Warriors would be an Avengers in training team as well as being like the original Warrior group. Bringing back the West coast team will be a way for Hawkeye to get away and lead a team again. Notice also the star power for each book. All titles have at least two solo title stars on the roster.

Note: The full Marvel Universe will be reserve members so I’ll be able to call in any character to help the team. The main teams will change every so often as well. These are the teams that are first formed.

After the destruction of the mansion a new base is built. The East team will be located in a special S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters till it is finished. Nick Fury will ask Cap to reform the team because the Earth needs the Avengers. More then ever after this attack. Cap has a meeting with Iron Man, Hawkeye, Photon, Black Widow, and Scarlet Witch. Wasp is still to shocked to join them at the meeting. Hawkeye wants to reform the West Coast team and will take Janet with him so she can rebuild her life. Photon thinks they will need to also make sure all alien threats are handled in other ways so she ask Steve to allow her to form a cosmic team. The cosmic team would be located on the moon. While the meeting is taking place a group of villains decide to attack the city. Many other heroes go to battle them. Nick Fury informs the Avengers of the attack and that Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Fantastic Four, and many former and current Avengers are battling the threat. Captain America and crew come out and Cap yells AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! The heroes hear the call and stop fighting joining Cap and the others side. Cap: I hope your ready for a fight because the Avengers are here to stay.The Villains know their limited numbers and decide to retreat for now. Cap: Now allow me to finish this meeting right here and now. It’s time for a fresh start. Any of you who wish to join us are welcome. The others I would hope if we need your help you will answer the call. I welcome you all to the AVENGERS! end issue.

And just for fun I’ll give you my roster. Personally I don’t think we need a big “shake up” or anything. The Avengers are supposed to be Eart’s Mightiest Heroes, here’s how I think THAT lineup should look.

Captain America: The indelible leader of the team. Is there a better leader in the Marvel U?

Iron Man: You get a technological genius and someone who’s pretty good in a fight all rolled into one”¦

Thor: The powerhouse of the team”¦have to have him.

She Hulk: Tho’s back up, you need to have at least 2 “strong” characters, plus Shulkie has become quite an interesting character.

Dr. Strange: If you’re going to have magic on the team, it’s best to have the Sorcerer Supreme, everyone else just pales in comparison.

Quicksilver: Every super team should have a speedster”¦even if he’s nowhere near as cool as the Flash.

Wasp: Always good to have an espionage type character, plus Wasp can grow and be a formidable force in a fight.

Hawkeye: The team’s “everyman,” the character the readers can most relate to”¦plus he’s pretty good in a fight.

Havok (aka Alex Summers): The team should really have a couple mutants in their ranks, and Alex has worked for Government affiliated teams in the past, so he has no problems taking orders. But most importantly, he brings the one thing the Avengers are almost always lacking”¦a ridiculously powerful energy projector. (That and he’s just been underused over in the X-Verse for so long, I think he’d make an interesting Avenger.) – The Overlord


Villain Tounament

East

1. Thanos (5)
14. Blastaar

Winner: Thanos

2. Mephisto (5)
10. Terrax

Winner: Mephisto

4. Aron the Watcher (1)
8. Molecule Man (4)

Winner: Molecule Man

5. Beyonder (4)
6. Magus (1)

Winner: Beyonder

North

1. Apocalypse (4)
10. Bastion (1)

Winner: Apocaylpse

2. Magneto (3)
9. Shadow King (2)

Winner: Magneto

3. Mister Sinister (3)
6. Holocaust (2)

Winner: Mister Sinister

4. Onslaught (5)
5. Exodus

Winner: Onslaught

South

1. Loki (5)
13. High Evolutionary

Winner: Loki

2. Dormammu (5)
11. Baron Mordo

Winner: Dormammu

3. Morgan Le Fey (2)
8. Set (3)

Winner: Set

5. Hela (3)
7. Kurse (2)

Winner: Hela

West

1. Doctor Doom (5)
13. Deathbird

Winner: Doctor Doom

2. Kang (4)
11. Graviton (1)

Winner: Kang

3. Ultron (4)
9. Venom (1)

Winner: Ultron

5. Mandarin (2)
7. Morlan (3)

Winner: Morlan


Next round

East

1. Thanos
8. Molecule Man

2. Mephisto
5. Beyonder

North

1. Apocalypse
4. Onslaught

2. Magneto
3. Mister Sinister

South

1. Loki
8. Set

2. Dormammu
5. Hela

West

1. Doctor Doom
7. Morlan

2. Kang
3. Ultron

Send your votes. Good luck to the contestants


A little Avengers, a little bit of villains and a whole lot more. Have to admit this is a full issue. Did you have fun editing Daron?

Oh”¦yes”¦it”¦was”¦the”¦highlight”¦of”¦my”¦morning.

Very good. Want to give your snappy sign off stuff?

Um”¦ok. First off, if you haven’t already, everyone should check out my return to regular column writing: Missing The Boat Vol.2 #1: Small Gods. I’m finally back at it, plus the title I’m discussing this week is one everyone should check out. Other than that, I’d like to once again invite everyone to come over to 144Anima.com. We’re getting bigger and better each week, and we do it all for you. I hope to see you over there, and back here next week for another edition of the Handbook.

All right now my turn. Send your emails to me as usual and reporting from the Marvel Universe I’m Jim Trabold. Have a good week and see you all again next Thursday for the MARVEL HANDBOOK. Excelsior! Ok went to far that time. Later folks.