Hi everyone I’m Jim Trabold. Welcome back for another edition of the Handbook.
Hey Daron how’s it going?
Pretty good here, you?
I’m good too. Got a lot to cover so hope you don’t mind no small talk.
Sam emails
Howdy
Long time listener, first time caller. I recently read the first Ultimate Nightmare tpb, heralding the arrival of Ultimate Gah Lak Tus, which prompted some questions on my part.
First, a comment. I think breaking his name into 3 syllables is Kine Duh Dum. Anyways,
This is one reason I am not an ultimate fan. I mean it’s just too much for me. I prefer mostly 616 with the other alternate universes and the like. You know the Supreme Power and Spider-Girl vane.
As for Gah Lak Tus it’s so much more simple just to say Galactus. What the hell will they call Surfer it’s like that. Sil Ver Sur Fer? That’s just plain stupid.
Where in 616 is the big galoot currently ? I’m not sure, but vaguely recall that he became human and decided to eat donuts, not planets.
Yep in FF he became human and tried to make a new life but of course that was Impossible for a god like character like Galactus. He’s banished himself to another dimension so that all worlds would be safe from his constant hunger and the return of the big guy. Bet he comes back somehow .
What was / is the deal with the ‘Last Galactus Story’ that Byrne (John, not Tim) was working on ages ago ? Did it ever see the light of day, or if not, will it ever ?
I believe he did finish it, it just never went to print. But if it is in print your best bet is to check Ebay. There’s also pages of it online. Allow me to link you. Even though it’s black/white you might like it.
Some of the issues got printed in Epic Magazine. But I wish they would make it a trade myself.
Switching to Earth X, where Galactus was Franklin Richards and took on the Eternals. Is that the first mention of Franklin becoming Galactus or was that subject broached in earlier 616 issues ?
Actually that’s the first time the idea came into reality. I think Waid tried to hint at doing something along like that while he wrote FF but nothing ever came of it. It would be the future anyway. I suggest we let Franklin grow up some more. I think he has enough power (although he did use most up bringing Valeria into the world) but heck you know he can get that power back.
Good questions by the way.
C.J. Emails
Hey Jim,
Hey CJ
Enjoy your column a lot, and I thought you might want to know that Jim Starlin has used Spider-Man outside of the Infinity series. I don’t know if you read the Warlock saga, but Spidey was a major player in the battle against (& ultimately the death of) Thanos’ death in Avengers Annual #07 & Marvel Team-Up Annual #02. In the annuals, Thanos used the Soul Gems (now Infinity Gems) to extinguish various stars to prove his love for Death. Captain Marvel, the Avengers, & Adam Warlock tried to stop him; however, Warlock died, & Captain Marvel & the Avengers were captured by Thanos. Spider-Man was sent a telepathic message from Moondragon explaining everything. He and the Thing go to Thanos’ ship and, ultimately, Spidey frees Adam Warlock from the Soul Gem. Warlock then turns Thanos to stone. This was used to great effect in Silver Surfer #50 when Thanos’ (with the Infinity Gauntlet) used his old body to beat the crap out of the Silver Surfer & set the stage for the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series.
Ah good reminding. I remember that one. The whole story was reprinted in the in one of the Warlock series. I remember the whole thing and have the reprints and the originals. Almost forgot Spidey’s appearances. But again it proved the point. Starlin doesn’t hate Spidey.
Lastly – Kirsten Dunst lets slips that Spider Man 3 villains are Venom and Sandman – Truthful Slip or Media Manipulation ? YOU MAKE THE CALL !
I think it might be a little of all of the above. The villains mentioned make sense. There’s also the factor of everyone wants to know and there have been clues on Sandman all over the place. But the Venom one might really be a throw off. I can see the black costume maybe but not Venom yet. Eddie Brock yes though. The other villain would likely be GG II or Harry under the code name Hobgoblin.
Rhuid emails
Que Pasa?
Hello Rhuid
Great column, I catch Who’s Who and Handbook every single week, so please keep up the great work.
Plan to keep working hard at this till I get it right.
Now for my question, I am a huge, huge fan of Thor. I haven’t bought any comics in ages, and the only ones I did buy were Silver Surfer and Thor. Now with Thor, I remember grabbing up a Thor comic, and he had a red beard. Now I know about the mythology of Thor and how the red beard fit with the Viking mythology, but I’m wondering something.
What was the reasoning behind a red-bearded Thor when they’ve made him blonde? What about the reverse?
Actually that was used as a replacement Thor idea first created in Thor # 276 by Loki to take down Thor at first. He was later explained as a backup should Thor be on Earth when Ragnarok happened. He was killed in battle at that time. After Thor left Asgard again after regaining his sanity after Blood and Thunder and joining High Evolutionary Red Norvell Thor came back.
Why did they make Thor blonde instead of a redhead? Has anyone ever spoken about this?
Back in the day when Thor came into Marvel created by Stan and Jack I think Jack wanted to make him a tad different then myth and made him blond. Also to fit into his secret identity of Donald Blake having blond hair as well. Artist interpretation in many ways. I don’t think anyone ever covered why it was done though so it’s my speculation.
Other differences:
Thor wields Mjolnir without aid. The Classical version needs his belt and gloves to wield Mjolnir.
Marvel’s Mjolnir looks like a mallet. In the Norse stories, it’s a war hammer (the metal top is curved)
In the classical Norse stories, only Thor and his son Magni can lift Mjolnir. In Marvel, only those worthy can lift it.
Thor was a bachelor without children. In the classical Norse myths, his wife was called Sif and they have two children, Thrud and Modi, and a stepson called Ullr. With Jarnsaxa, Thor had the son Magni.
Thor will kill and be killed by Jormungand at Ragnarok. In Marvel, Thor kills Jormungand and survives, as he was then cursed by Hela to be denied the gift of death.
Also, what has Thor been up to lately? I haven’t bought a Thor comic in probably 10 years, so I’m waaay behind. I quit buying the Thor comic because all of the storylines tended to be the same thing each week, and it got pretty damn boring. I’m just curious if it’s worth buying again
10 years worth? Wow that’s a lot of Thor. I think like your email says to do. I’ll save this one for next week if you don’t mind. I’ll do an indepth last 10 years of Thor with arcs and the like covered so make sure to look for it.
The short answer though is that Thor is currently doing nothing since his series ended a few months back. He is however in the process of being relaunched.
Another question, since Thor has ties in mythology, wouldn’t DC or any other comic company be able to pick up the character and create their own Thor?
Actually DC has a Thor. I think they’ve had more then one just not sure they can give him his own title. Marvel can’t really copyright Thor since he’s mythology.
DC: Thor is one of the greatest of the Aesir, the Gods of Norse Mythology. The red-bearded Thunder God is not very active in these days, but has encountered Dream the Sandman and the New Gods, as well as the JSA, the All-Star Squadron, and the JLI. He has a magic Hammer called Mjolnir. If he rubs it, it gets bigger.
*Looks around in wonderment and speculates whether or not to censor that last line*
Final question I swear, has there ever been a character owned by Marvel that was bought by DC and turned into a profitable character, or vice versa with Marvel on the buying end?
I don’t think so. I mean Marvel has bought out companies and so has DC. Made some stuff profitable but I don’t think they’ve ever bought characters from each other.
Thanks again, if those are too many questions, feel free to chop them up and use them in future columns or just answer the ones you’d like.
Your welcome and I never skip questions. I’m always willing to come back and do them the following week. This time I’m doing that with your one Thor question.
Have a great week!
You too.
Blake asked
Can you list anyone who ever was a Defender?
Sure I can Blake.
Founders:
Doctor Strange
Hulk
Namor
Joined after:
Aeroika
Beast
Black Knight
Black Panther
Captain America
Charlie-27
Clea
Daredevil
Devil-Slayer
Dracula
Gargoyle
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Hawkeye
Hellcat
Hellstorm
Henry Pym (Yellowjacket)
Howard the Duck
Jack Norriss
Luke Cage
Man-Thing
Martinex
Mister Fantastic
Moon Dragon
Moon Knight
Ms. Marvel
Namorita
Nighthawk II
Overmind
Professor X
Scarlet Witch
Starlight/Red Guardian
Silver Surfer
Spider-Man
Starhawk
Thing
Valkyrie
Vance Astro
Vision
Wasp
Wonder Man
Yondu
Defenders For A Day
Black Goliath (Bill Foster)
Captain Mar-Vell
Captain Ultra
Falcon
Havok
Hercules
Iron Fist
Jack of Hearts
Marvel Man/Quasar
Nova (Richard Rider)
Paladin
Polaris
Prowler
Stingray
Tagak the Leopard Lord
Torpedo
White Tiger
Villain group:
Batroc
Beetle
Blob
Boomerang
Electro
Joe the Gorilla
Leapfrog
Libra
Looter
Melter
Pecos
Plantman
Porcupine
Sagittarius
Shocker
Toad
Whirlwind
New Defenders
Andromeda
Angel/Archangel
Beast
Candace “Candy” Southern
Cloud
Gargoyle
Iceman
Interloper
Manslaughter
Moondragon
Nick Fury
Seraph
Valkyrie
Secret Defenders
Founders
Doctor Strange
Ghost Rider II
Hulk
Spider-Man
Wolverine
Joined later:
Captain America
Darkhawk
Namorita
Nomad (Jack Monroe)
Northstar
Nova
Punisher
Scarlet Witch
Sleepwalker
Spider-Woman II
Thunderstrike
War Machine
Thanos villain team:
Geatar
Nitro
Rhino
Super-Skrull
Thanos
Titanium Man
Doctor Druid’s recruits
Archangel
Cadaver
Dagger
Deadpool
Deathlok II
Doctor Druid
Drax
Henry Pym (Giant-Man)
Iceman
Iron Fist
Luke Cage.
Shadowoman
Spider-Woman II
USAgent
Defenders Vol2:
The Order:
Doctor Strange
Hulk
Namor
Silver Surfer
Others:
Hellcat
Nighthawk
Red Raven
Valkyrie II
Against the Order:
Ardina
Clea
Namorita
She-Hulk
Current:
Doctor Strange
Hulk
Namor
Refused to join for now:
Silver Surfer
Comments on the Iron Man/X-Men fight from the board:
Beadle posted
Jim,
Gotta say I agree with you rather than Daron on the Iron-Man vs X-Men thing, but with a couple of exceptions.
The questioneer already ruled out telepaths (thankfully for Shellhead) which rules out Emma, Charlie, Jean & Rachel, but it also depends on the rest of the team. I think there are a couple of others that might cause difficulties for Tony.
Wolvie – no matter what Tony does, Logan’s gonna get better (unless he literally flays the flesh from his adamantium bones with repulsors, which isn’t exactly the Avengers way). But I don’t think Logan could stop Tony from throwing him out of the fight. He’s just too quick and strong.
Bishop – Whatever Tony throws at him, he’d absorb and throw right back at him. However, same rules would apply as for Logan: Neither of them can fly, so just throw them out of the fight.
Storm: If Tony gets the first shot in, then he’d take Ororo down. But if he isn’t quick enough a well-placed lightning bolt would fry his circuits.
There’s one more I’ll mention at the end, but firstly the ones Tony could take down (even if they were all combined):
Rogue – she’s not invulnerable anymore.
Colossus – Just about.
Beast – Check.
Iceman – Check.
Cyclops – Check.
Archangel – Check.
Nightcrawler – Check.
Kitty – if he was quick enough to stay out of her way so she couldn’t phase through his circuits. Which he should be.
Psylocke – Check.
Gambit – Check (and I’m sure Daron would love to see it).
Havok – As long as he takes him down quick. Alex’s plasma would hurt the armour pretty rapidly.
But the one person that would make an Iron-Man vs Avengers fight a complete walkover for the muties if they were on the team would be……
Polaris: Sorry Tony. Metal suit = play-thing for Lorna.
I ruled out the telepaths myself when I answered the question. But with prep I think Tony might be able to deal with Wolverine maybe. I love Wolverine in that fight though.
Bishop is a problem that could cause Tony some problems finding something to use against but he is super smart.
No way in hell he’s beating Lorna. I agree there as well.
Good points Beadle.
Ah but you see my main point was not even mentioned here. And that is the X-Men RARELY fight alone! Sure Tony might be able to take down some of these guys in single combat (of course it could the other way as well”¦especially Havok – one or two good shots and the suit would be mush). The point is Tony would have be taking on at least 5 or more X-Men (the usual minimum team size) and of course you know Wolvie will be there since he’s on every single team ;)
I would as Beadle mentioned really like to see Tony fry Gambit”¦that would make my year.
wolfbaronxylo posted
Iron man can fly and shoot to beat Wolverine. For Bishop, he just needs to use projectile weapons instead of energy weapons.
As for Polaris, well he just needs to find a polymer suit, or one of his suits made out of something without Iron Nickel or Cobalt.
I’m sure he has some sort of non-magnetic aluminum/titanium/something alloy for Magneto emergencies.
Good point but it’s still metal so I’m thinking unless he makes plastic armor or something he’s not beating Lorna.
A_Faceless_Name posted
I would imagine if magneto can make anti-telepathic helmets, so can Tony. So he could have a chance there. Plus he has had suits for everything, I think he can handle the magnetism or electricity. All at once, probably not.
I think the worst think for him is if Kitty, Storm amd nightcrawler team up. Storm creates a distraction with a tornado, Kurt teleports kitty up to tony. Throws her, she phases through Tony. And Kurt catches her on the way down.
Well that’s why teamwork will hurt Tony in the fight the most. If they all gang up on him he might not have too much luck defeating them.
Which is exactly my point, and how the X-Teams always work”¦this is why they rarely fight single villains and why Magneto has evolved into such a badass. The X-Men just have too much power between the various characters that no single character hardly has a chance against them”¦
House of M
Wolverine # 33
We start this issue with a review of Logan jumping ship from SHIELD. Mystique and Sebastian Shaw are reviewing the tape and information
We start with a review of the Red Guard mission from two weeks before. South Eastern Mexico: They are sent to find Paula D’onofrio Assistant Press Secretary. As well as the Human Resistance. They succeed from the mission
2 hours later at the Four Seasons Hotel Logan and Mystique talk over the mission and we find out Logan is doing drugs and drinking to much.
More talking between Mystique and Shaw leads to reasons why Logan might do what he’s doing
The New Sentinel showed up in Mexico and they held a ball in it’s honor which Logan and Raven go to. The Human resistance attack and take out Logan. Then when they go after the main man there and find Raven instead. Armed soldiers help settle the event down and save the day.
In the end we find out that Raven thinks this all leads back to one man and one mission involving Nick Fury.
New X-Men # 18
We start at the Institute where the Cuckoos talk to Brian Cruz (Tag) about Quentin’s death.
In Tokyo the New Mutants (Prodigy, Sophie Cuckoo, Wallflower, Mercury, Jubilee and Dust) have a run in with Donald Pierce and his resistance group and battle against them
Laurie the spy from SHIELD in the group contacts her father about these events
Elsewhere in the Food Recycling Facility, Tokyo we find out it’s the place for the Project Genesis where the Hellions (Scion, Wind Dancer, Magik, Quill and Synch) are located.
Back in New York Karma speaks with Tag as well and Karma finds a computer open to SHIELD.
Surge confronts her daughter about the resistance and we find out more about Genesis
Project Genesis is revealed to be a program that forces humans to evolve forcing mutations on them regardless of whether or not they survive. It is being tested on the poor and homeless of Tokyo. The New Mutants agree to help deal with it.
Karma and Doug Ramsey break into Sean Garrison’s file. They discover he is a deep cover SHIELD Agent who had worked in Japan under cover of doing a year of his TV show there. Garrison is the brains behind Emperor Sunfire’s Project Genesis, and he finds Manh and Ramsey snooping, projecting his pheromones and threatening to cause them to commit suicide just like Quentin. Garrison shows up afterwards
Laurie Garrison decides that the truce between the Hellions and the New Mutants does not work to her advantage and uses her pheromone powers to stir up the lingering hostilities between the two groups to end the issue
Spider-Man House of M 4
Spidey after being revealed as Green Goblin tells Gwen and Rhino’s gang (for now I’ll call them the Enforcers with Ox and Vulture as the other members) He says he was doing to get the real Goblins attention and he thinks is someone that hates him and his friends
Pete tells Gwen that in his journal he already killed her. (of course this may be a prelude that means Pete sort of remembers) he has Gwen promise him that she won’t let him near their baby, Richard. Then he leaves.
J. Jonah Jameson is on a television interview program tells how Goblin gave him the journal. The news hits Pete is GG and makes JJJ look like a fraud
Gwen, George Stacy, and Uncle Ben decide to arm themselves with web-shooters and try to recover Peter’s journal from Jameson, while simultaneously searching for Peter.
Jameson meets with Norman Osborn, who tips him off about a way to protect himself from Spider-Man: Spencer Smythe the creator of the Spider-Slayers in 616.
While that is happening the Stacy’s and Ben go to get Pete’s journal and run into the Spider-Slayer. Only with the help of Spidey himself they escape and gain back the journal
As I said, it’s a big week for us, Daron. I bet you might even want it cut before it’s posted so the readers might not know how big it is.
No but if you keep throwing lines like that out all over the column I may have to start cutting SOMETHING!
Personally I had fun with it. How about you?
You know at this point I’m almost afraid to answer.
Well let’s sign off then. You can go first.
Yo!
My turn
Notes:
1. Marvel.comquestion of the week: Who would you like the Runaways to meet next?
2. Superherohype poll: If “Spider-Man 3” does indeed have 2 1/2 villains, do you think that’s too many?
3. The Spidey 3 site has information up on all of the options for Spideys next foe here
That’s all from here. Reporting from my corner of the Marvel Universe I’m Jim Trabold. Have a great week and see you at the comic shop.
