Comic Book Resources

It's neat to see Jesus America ascending into the heavens as his worshipers bid him farewell.

And the Jimmy cover: July 1942 Thrilling Wonder Stories. Gimme us something hard, like what magazine is inspiration for the 1951 cover of Strange Adventures #5.

Best Reporter, Urich. No question

I'd say Ben Urich, but then he is the only reporter in the Marvel Universe I could name.

As for the snark free challenge, My guess was Dick Giordano until clue 4 so I'll change it to Klaus Janson

Terry Austin. I thought of him immediately with clue #1, but wasn't aware of him writing anything, so I was unsure after #2, but #3 and #5 convinced me I was initially correct.

I'm going to go with Al Milgrom.

Terry Austin did indeed write; he worked on 'Power Pack' and 'Cloak and Dagger' during the late 80s/early 90s. (Just was looking at some of the stuff he wrote yesterday, in fact.) I don't know if he is, indeed, the person under discussion, but he certainly qualifies under #2.

And yeah, it'd have to be Ben Urich, just because there aren't many candidates.

Oh, yeah. The Jimmy Olsen cover homages a cover to Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Ooops - I forgot about the writing bit which rules out Klaus Janson (I'm pretty sure it does anyway)

Whichever reporter wrote the "Kid Who Collected Spider-Man" column for the Daily Bugle. (Jacob Conover, I think?)
Just because I love that Roger Stern/Ron Frenz story (but not enough to remember who wrote the Bugle column that framed it, apparently).

I think they later turned the columnist who wrote that piece, James (I think it was Jacob Conover) into a VILLAIN!

How lame is THAT?

Terry Austin, and it was actually clue 1 that made me think of him. I'm not entirely sure why, other than that I was recently wishing he was writing again. The later clues just cemented my answer.

In addition to Cloak and Dagger and a couple of issues of Power Pack, I think he wrote the X-Men Annual that was part of the Atlantis Attacks storyline. He was good.

Hmmm, reporters in the Marvel Universe...There's Trish Tilby, although she's a reporter like Katie Couric is a reporter; Kat Farrell, but she's kind of Urich's protege; that girl from Civil War Frontline, whatever her name is; the Lois Lane stand-in who got killed in The Pulse; and Ben Urich. Oh, and wasn't there a guy named Ken Ellis who tried to prove Peter Parker was Spider-Man? And there are various photographers, but that's a different category. Yeah, I think we gotta go with Ben Urich.

"It’s neat to see Jesus America ascending into the heavens as his worshipers bid him farewell."

That is one funny sentence. Kudos.

Best reporter in the Marvel U?

Clark Kent or Lois Lane. They've appeared occasionally, dammit! Thor bumped into Clark during the Simonson run. And I forget where Lois showed up, but she did. Not just in a crossover. Mwahahaha.

Wait a second...

Spider-Man, one of THE characters in the Marvel Universe works at a newspaper for basically his entire existence, and we can't do better then "I’d say Ben Urich, but then he is the only reporter in the Marvel Universe I could name."?

First of all, J. Jonah Jamieson was, and occasionally is, a reporter. And he is patently awesome.

Second of all, Eddie mom lovin' Brock.

Frederick Foswell.

There was another one (whose name escapes me) who was killed by Bastion in the warm-up to Operation:Zero Tolerance.

The list goes on and on.

Yeah, Ben Urich is okay. Even though he smokes, like, twelve packs a day, he was still able to figure out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man through his sense of SMELL. I haven't been reading Frontline, so I don't know how he's faring there, but he was always a pretty stand-up guy in Daredevil.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Ned Leeds from Spider-Man. Wasn't he one of the identities for Hobgoblin? How many other Marvel reporters can claim that?

Sorry - Jonah Jameson did occur to me, but I wasn't aware that he did any reporting any more. I didn't know Eddie Brock was a reporter and I'v never heard of Frederick Foswell

Ned Leeds was revealed to not be the Hobgoblin after all (due to a very long, complicated story involving Roger Stern leaving ASM, then coming back to the book to reveal who he intended the Hobgoblin to be all along...).

Off-topic, a potential future Snark Free column (maybe?). I can remember "Clark Kent" making guest appearances in at least two Spider-Man comics. One was the Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man and Red Sonja (written by Chris Claremont and penciled by John Byrne, incidentally). The other was an issue of Web of Spider-Man, where the New Warriors (guest-appearing) save a newly-wed couple who were visting New York City for their honeymoon (guess who?).

If you want a detailed list of current and former Bugle employees, Wikipedia has one (of course).

Don't forget Neal Conan and Manoli Wetherell, who first appeared covering the death of the X-Men during Fall of the Mutants.

What about Phil sheldon from Marvels. Wasn't he a reporter?

Phil was a photographer. He did some feature writing as well, but I don't think you could call him a reporter.