Friday’s Femme Fatale-Harley Quinn

Thursday’s Throwback – The Original Hulk – Bruce Banner

 

Robert Bruce Banner – The end of an era or another example of Marvel’s diversity campaign run amok?

Marvel has been re-vamping it’s character base and diversifying, making mainstay superheroes that were once predominantly, white and male, into a variety of ethnic and gender groups with some success and some just laughable. Ms. Marvel is Muslim, Ice-man is gay, Captain America is African-American, Spider-man is a mixed race, Iron Man is soon to be a teenage African American woman, Thor is female and the Hulk is a young Asian kid who likes being the Hulk. None of this is wrong or bad, though it may get some comic purists up in arms. But for me it would be awesome if it just wasn’t a blatant attempt at promoting and pandering to the current social and political climate in America. Which by the way, doesn’t buy your comic books in the first place Marvel. I would honestly like to know when was the last time any of those ladies on The View actually bought and read a comic?

But with the Hulk, Marvel actually took this change a bit further. Past, for now, the point of no return. They not only made the alter ego of the Hulk a minority, they murdered the original. Shot him through the head with an arrow (which may be the only relevant comic book act Hawkeye has ever done, with the exception of screwing some of Marvel’s most damaged and attractive female superheroes) as he protests his innocence.

Bruce Banner is dead, so let’s take a moment to look back at the original Bruce Banner. A brilliant, but troubled and lonely man.

Banner was the product of an abusive childhood. His father, Brian Banner was an atomic physicist, and an alcoholic who routinely lost control and beat both Bruce and his mother Rebecca. This treatment led Bruce to become withdrawn and as he was quite science nerd; he was also bullied when he was school. When he grew into a young man, his brilliance came to the attention of the military where he pioneered some of the early work into gamma radiation. But his withdrawn and quiet nature led him to be bullied by the military personnel around him and his unrequited love for Betty Ross (a General’s daughter no less) created a fragile psyche that would be unleashed in a terrible moment.

During a test in a blast zone, a young boy, Rick Jones, wanders onto the test site and into danger. Banner rushes out and shield the boy from the blast, taking the full brunt of the gamma radiation himself. This selfless and heroic act splits his personalities into two separate personas. When Bruce Banner becomes upset and under stress, the mild mannered Banner transforms into the raging behemoth known only as the Hulk.

But this is not about the Hulk, it is about Banner. Puny Banner. Hulk smash.

Bruce would now go into hiding, not to protect himself, but to protect the world from the monster he would become. He would wander the country and then the world and eventually the Universe trying to keep the Hulk under control. When it benefited mankind and the superhero universe, the Hulk would become a valued team member as in his stint with the Avengers. But it should also be noted that it was these same “friends” of the Hulk that betrayed and exiled him into space. Marooning him on a distant planet where he would have to become a gladiator and wage war just to survive.

The Hulk and Bruce Banner characters were patterned after Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But it is better said that it was more of a Victor Frankenstein and his Monster comparison. Unlike Hyde, the Hulk is not inherently evil, just when he loses control he doesn’t understand the damage he is capable of doing.

Banner for his part is simply out of his element. While the Hulk is every part of him that would be considered bad, you cannot come away from the early books without the sense that Banner actually envies as well as fears the Green monster. Actually grey in the first few issues.

Consider this, there have been various movies featuring the Hulk, but it is only in the television show that an actual actor played the big guy. Lou Ferrigno. It was the character of Bruce Banner that gave this medium its only success with the Hulk.

Though the television show, which ran from 1978 – 1982, was called The Incredible Hulk, there was little doubt that the star of the show was actually Dr. David Banner (no real reason is given for the name change) portrayed by Bill Bixby. The role is iconic. So is the catch phrase, “Mr. McGee don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” Bixby and the series proved that besides Batman and Superman, a superhero television show could work and not be ridiculously campy and goody two shoes.  Bixby’s Banner was a modern day Fugitive, pursued by intrepid reporter Jack McGee, Banner searches for a cure and in the process, saves lives, does good and overall is as much a hero as the green guy.

Perhaps that is problem, because since then, the movies of the Hulk have flopped. With the CGI effects, the computer generated Hulk has been more of the star and unfortunately hasn’t met with much success. Several reasons. 1) the stories sucked, 2) the bad guys sucked and 3) the actors Eric Bana and Ed Norton sucked as Banner. Like in sucking on a grapefruit kind of sucked.

Mark Ruffalo however, doesn’t suck. True he has not taken the character out on a solo run and has only been part of the team, but still, one can tell that he has given Banner more than a cursory review. Perhaps Ruffalo has simply done the character the respect of understanding the simple truth, that Bruce Banner is just as important as his counter-part.

But now Banner is dead. An arrow through his head from one of his so called friends. Seriously, with friends like the Avengers, who needs Ultron? Granted Hawkeye did it at the behest of a vision shown to him by the Inhuman Ulysses and on the orders of Captain Marvel. It should also be noted that at this time Banner is free of the Hulk and just a regular kind of guy, albeit a genius scientist who may have been trying to radiate himself with gamma rays again. Still that didn’t keep Hawkeye from executing him on the spot.

So the Hulk goes on, but the man who gave birth to him is gone. A great scientific mind whose life was one of pain and trauma and regret. An abused child. An outcast. A fugitive and outlaw. A man whose love dies from radiation poisoning that he blames himself for. Who when he finally thinks he has friends, is betrayed by them, marooned on a distant planet and eventually murdered by them.

Bruce Banner was far more Frankenstein than Jekyll and Hyde. Hated and feared, misunderstood and driven away. He often had more to fear from the world than the world had to fear from him. Yet he still tried to save the world time after time. Some of my favorite Hulk stories are when he is coupled with the Wolverine and for any Hulk fan, the fairly recent Planet Hulk and World War Hulk are not to be missed. A very different Banner is to be found in the original short series Old Man Logan.

Bruce Banner is dead. But this is comic books and no one stays dead for long. Thing is, when he comes back, will he be angry?

 

Puny Marvel….

 

It’s a Wonder Woman Wednesday!

Tuesday’s Tragic moment is the Life and Death of Karen Page

Tuesday’s Tragic moment is the life and death of Karen Page.

With the popularity and justifiably so, of Netflix’s Daredevil series, the character of Karen Page is getting thrust back into the conversation of comic book mainstream. Granted, Matt Murdock aka Daredevil aka blind man-whore, has had many love interests during his time, from Black Widow to Elektra; it is Karen Page that is so often considered the most tragic of all of these.

However, it would be important to note that beyond just killing Karen Page, Marvel did far more to this female character.

Karen Page came into being in Daredevil #1 in 1964 as the legal secretary for the law firm, Nelson and Murdock. Though she was often pined after by Foggy Nelson, it was Matt Murdock she fell in love with. In fact she spent quite a bit of time searching for a cure for his blindness. In the early years she was often kidnapped during the Daredevil comics by the likes of the Owlman and the Purple Man of Jessica Jones fame. Her own father turned out to be a super villain known as Death’s Head. But through it all she stayed on as Nelson and Murdock’s girl Friday and crusader. Eventually Matt decided he had to come clean with Karen and shared his secret identity that he was in fact the Daredevil.

Unable to cope with being a superhero’s girlfriend, Karen left New York and went to California to pursue a career in acting and here is where her complicated life to a very tragic turn. While trying to establish contacts to further her career, Karen becomes involved with some very nefarious characters. It was during this time that Karen witnesses the Kingpin dealing with a betrayal by one of his men. She and other witnesses are then tortured and drugged, hooking her on heroin, to make forget what they saw. In this state Karen turns to pornography to support herself and her drug habit. Eventually, Karen sells out Matt Murdock’s secret identity as the Daredevil to the Kingpin to get drugs. Karen, now fearing for her life, buys her way back to New York by exchanging “favors’ sexual or otherwise, to get back to Matt hoping that he will protect her from the Kingpin. Matt takes her back and tries to help Karen get clean.

Karen gets clean and opens a free drug and legal clinic with Matt’s help, but unfortunately this doesn’t last for long. She soon finds out that Matt was having an affair with Typhoid Mary her clinic is destroyed in a demonic invasion of Manhattan. Karen tries to go on and even becomes a radio personality and makes herself an activist against child pornography. Realizing she is too dependent on Matt, she goes back to California to take a new job and takes a routine drug test. The super villain Mysterio, in another attempt to destroy Daredevil, disguises himself as a doctor and tells Karen that she is HIV positive. Karen believes this to be the result of her days as an actress making pornography.

Distraught, Karen returns to New York to tell Matt what has happened. She gets caught up in a battle between Bullseye and Daredevil and throws herself in the way of a billy-club aimed at Daredevil’s head. The billy-club impales her and she dies in Matt’s arms.

So to recap, Karen falls in love with Matt, and then when she cannot become part of the Superhero community, Marvel does the following.

Exiles her to California to pursue a failed acting career.

Has her witness a mob hit and then gets her tortured and hooked on heroin.

Has her become an actress in pornographic films and a prostitute to support her drug habit.

Has her betray the man she loves.

When she becomes clean and even opens a clinic to help others, finds out the man she loves and is finally happy with has been screwing a crazy diseased super villain known as Typhoid Mary. Then to add on a little more, destroy her clinic in a demonic invasion.

She leaves it all behind to go back to California to pursue a career and is made to believe she has an incurable disease due to her immoral actions while on the drugs that she was addicted to against her will. Not just any disease either, but at the time, the one with the worst stigma attached, AIDS.

She returns to the man she loves and in a final act of love, takes a billy-club through the chest.

Hopefully Netflix will be better to Karen than Marvel ever really was.

 

Monday’s Mutant is Marrow!

Monday’s Mutant is Marrow!

Marrow (Sarah) is one of those mutants whose mutation manifests itself in such a way that it cannot be hidden from the outside world. As a child, she was taken in by the Morlocks and lived in the underground tunnels beneath New York City with them, away from the rest of the world. It was here that she came to the attention of the X-Men.

Raised by Morlock Leader Callisto, Marrow leads a violent cell called the Gene Nation and was a mutant terrorist. As she grew older she learned that her actions were wrong and eventually joined the X-Men to redeem herself. She learned to control herself and developed a moral code, yet still fell in with a paramilitary group calling itself Weapon X. Marrow’s tendency to react violently has not always followed in line with the beliefs of the X-Men, she is a trained fighter and assassin whose loyalties are often called into question. A mutant loose cannon with an endless supply of weaponry at her disposal.

Despite her anger and disdain for humanity, Marrow struggles to find peace for herself and desires to co-exist. She has proven herself to be the ultimate team player who is willing to risk her life to save her teammates.

Marrow’s mutation is that her bones grow outside of her skin and can be removed to use as weapons, like knives or clubs. It also provides a shell at times, providing her with body armor to protect her from attack. She also has a healing factor and enhanced immune system much like the Wolverine does. To keep up with her rapid bone growth she has two hearts as well. One of which was ripped out by Storm. It is assumed that with her healing factor, she grew the heart back.

Marrow lost her powers during M-Day and now lives as a woman named Rem, with the visible remains of her lost mutation, a deformity now.

Marrow first appeared in Cable #15, September of 1994, as a child and was created by Joseph Loeb and artist David Brewer.

Friday’s Femme Fatale-Josie Schuller

Throwback Thursday – Sue Storm

Throwback Thursday welcomes Sue Storm, an original member of the Fantastic Four and the very first female superhero created by Marvel Comics during the Silver Age of Comics. Created by the team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Sue was first introduced in The Fantastic Four #1 in November of 1961.

Sue’s powers were initially more defensive than offensive in the early books so that she often ended up being the damsel in distress. But as time went on, Sue grew far more assertive while her husband, Mr. Fantastic seemed to take a back seat and follow along with what other superheroes wanted. Most noted in the original Civil War series as he does what Tony Stark asks for and creates a fake Thor who ends up killing other heroes. It is Sue who takes a stand and protects Captain America and the other super heroes from Stark and her husband. She eventually joins the resistance and leaves her husband. His actions as part of the Illuminati is another example of the rift that comes between See and Reed Richards making her very much her own character.

Sue is also the object of affection for other Marvel characters even though she is married to Reed. Doctor Doom and namely, Namor the Sub-Mariner, though it is never really revealed if she step outside her marriage, it is often noted how neglected she was while Reed was in pursuit of his science and superhero teams.

In the early books, Sue could disappear but much like the Invisible man, her clothes would remain visible so she would have to be nude to be really invisible. This was deemed to be too sexy for comics, boy how times have changed, and so her power was changed to make it possible for her to not only make herself invisible but others as well. She could also create a force field to protect herself and others. Eventually she was given the power to create psionic blasts and when John Byrne took over Sue really came into her own as not only a valuable member of the team but a leader as well.

Sue’s history before the Fantastic Four is pretty dark. The daughter of a prominent physician, her parents have a car accident one evening coming home from a party. Her father, Franklin Richards, is unhurt and insists on operating on his wife himself. He is unable to save her and slips into a deep depression. Turning to gambling and alcoholism to help him cope with his wife’s death, he accidently causes the death of a loan shark and is imprisoned for murder. It is left to Sue to become the surrogate parent to her younger and brash brother, Johnny Storm.

While the Fantastic Four as a whole have become somewhat out of style, Sue Storm remains one of the most powerful and experienced characters of the Marvel Universe. One could only imagine the different and more intelligent direction the Universe would take if she was leading some of these super groups.

 

 

It’s Wonder Woman Wednesday!

Tuesday’s Tragic Moment – the Death of Sarah Kinney

One of Marvel’s most popular new characters is the New Wolverine, Laura Kinney. However, her past is one filled with despair, tragedy and regret. Perhaps one of the most horrific acts to happen to a young Laura Kinney is the death of her surrogate mother, Sarah Kinney. Sarah, who would be killed by her own daughter, Laura Kinney, X-23, the New Wolverine.

Doctor Sarah Kinney was a renowned genetic scientist specializing in the mutant genome. She is recruited by Doctor Martin Sutter to help recreate the original Weapon X program that created the mutant Wolverine. The issue is that the genetic sample available from the original Weapon X program is damaged and they are unable to salvage the Y chromosome after twenty-two attempts. Sarah Kinney decides to create a female clone, but is denied permission. Sarah goes forward with the experiment anyway and when it is successful, it forces Sutter to reconsider against the wishes of Dr. Zander Rice, the son of the man who was killed in the original Weapon X project by the Wolverine. Sutter allows Kinney to proceed but to punish her insubordination, Rice forces Kinney to become the clone’s surrogate mother and give birth to the girl who would be X-23.

Sarah Kinney attempts to protect the child but Zander Rice subjects X-23 to radiation poisoning to activate her mutant gene and forcibly extracts her claws to coat them with adamantium. All without anesthesia or pain killers. Rice also creates a trigger scent that sends X-23 into a berserker rage. He then sells her services as a killer to the highest bidder. This destroys X-23’s emotional growth and she becomes cold. Rice then sends X-23 to kill Doctor Sutter and his family. X-23 kills Sutter and his wife but is unable to murder their young son. X-23 tells Sarah what Rice made her do and that she could not complete the mission. Sarah sees hope in this moment. That perhaps X-23 is more than a killing machine. Rice then shows Sarah a chamber of incubation pods where he is creating an army of female clones. Sarah flees but gives X-23 one final mission. Destroy the pods and kill Rice. However Rice is able to enact his final revenge upon X-23 and Sarah Kinney.

Zander Rice exposes Sarah Kinney to the trigger scent, sending X-23 into the berserker rage and she kills her own mother. X-23 is torn at what she has done and this moment will haunt her forever as she tries to understand what has happened. This sends her on a path of self destruction and perhaps Sarah realizes this and gives X-23 something to hold onto. A hope of her own humanity. As she lays dying in X-23’s arms, she tells the young girl she loves her and names her, “Laura”.