Comic Book Resources

Aww man, Hercules. Missed opportunity for some Bob Layton art there. And now I need to find that BW GN...

Have to agree, should be a Bob Layton Hercules cover at the least.

Red Skull - the best baddie in comics, imo.

Is there a more glorious sight in all comics than Captain America decking Red Skull?

I really liked both of the 80's Herc mini-series. He's a fun character. All he wants is a beer, a couple of women, and a good fight.

I always thought Northstar was a putz. Making him gay didn't help.

Bad anatomy on thar BW GN. Her face is horrid and her boobs are at the bottom of her rib cage. The character, however, isn't bad. Her recent minis are better suited for the character: spy work & investigation. She's a street-level hero, and not well suited to face anyone with big powers ot to be in a large team.

Richard K. Morgan's two Black Widow miniseries are some of my favorite Marvel material in recent memory. I've been a huge fan of Morgan's novels since I first read Altered Carbon, and Bill Sienkiewicz, Goran Parlov, and Sean Phillips are all immensely talented artists. I've always been disappointed that Morgan never got to do his third volume with the planned Black Widow/Elektra confrontation or resolve the subplot with the paralyzed trucker from the first miniseries seeking revenge on Natasha, but at least we got the first 2 great miniseries out of him. Hopefully he'll do more comic work in the future.

That the Widow ain't higher is a damn disgrace.

Natasha is definitely in my top ten at least. I would assume that she'd at least be around 30 on a larger scale.

"I always thought Northstar was a putz. Making him gay didn’t help."

The character was gay during John Byrne's run on Alpha Flight. So, he was never "made gay" in the sense that it was a retcon.

Byrne outed the character in an early 1980's issue of a comics news magazine called Comic Collector. In the interview he states that several female fans had written in asking about it, but no male readers had.

This, of course, makes him no more or less of a putz.

Byrne can say what he wants in Comic Colector. Unless it happened in the actual comic, it doesn't matter. I don't doubt that he wrote Northstar as gay. It wasn't ever said or depicted until #110 (at least I'm prety sure that was the issue number). He could as easily have said that NS dyes his hair black. If it ain't said in the book, it ain't real.

How many times have we heard from a creator "This is what I was going to do with it" after they left the book and it went in a completely different direction? That may have been what what WAS going to happen, but it isn't what DID happen. That NS came out later coincided with Byrne's original direction is pure coincidence.

But we can agree to disagree with this point. At least we agree that NS is a putz.

Bad anatomy on thar BW GN. Her face is horrid and her boobs are at the bottom of her rib cage.

That's called being middle-aged.

"That’s called being middle-aged. "

Oh snap!

And it really looks like Daniel Clowes drew Doc Ock on that Spider-Man 11 cover. Before he was born even!

Byrne can say what he wants in Comic Colector. Unless it happened in the actual comic, it doesn’t matter. I don’t doubt that he wrote Northstar as gay. It wasn’t ever said or depicted until #110 (at least I’m prety sure that was the issue number). He could as easily have said that NS dyes his hair black. If it ain’t said in the book, it ain’t real.

I agree with, "Author intent is not that important if it is doesn't happen in the comic," but in this instance, Byrne clearly wrote Northstar as gay IN the comic - he just wasn't allowed by editorial to come right out and say, "I am GAY!"

To wit, Maggie Sawyer never said she was gay during Byrne's Superman run either - but you wouldn't get very far arguing that she was not, indeed, gay in the comic.

Vincent Paul Bartilucci-More glorius than Cap punching Red Skull? Yes, Cap punching Hitler of course.

As for Northstar is this the first member of Alpha Flight we've seen? I've read he became an X-Man but really he is a putz. Also I like him better when he was a Fairy.

He may be my least favorite member of Alpha Flight.
Wheres Puck?

mrjayberry - okay, you got me there.

I love the Skull's group of evil guys from around then.

" in this instance, Byrne clearly wrote Northstar as gay IN the comic "

How so? I was reading the comic at the time, and I don't recall anything that would have made me say "Aha! This character's gay!".

Northstar visits his old boyfriend early in the series.

At one point the team all gets the call to action and Byrne showed Northstar lounging around the pool with some dude. I didn't even know what gay was, exactly, but even I picked up a vibe.

avengers63, Patrick Joseph: um, you do know what "putz" means (literally), don't you?

I've looked it up as it's not a common term in the UK.

Have to say thats really really funny.

Bill Mantlo was even more up-front about Northstar's sexuality than Byrne was (up until editorial fiat forced him to change direction), with his sister observing that he loved Sasquatch as much as she did and asking him "Since when did you object to men in tight clothing?" (And note that the editorial change of direction didn't consist of abruptly trying to present him as straight, so none of the earlier setup was negated.)

LOTHOR: I was using "putz" to call him a jerk. "Putz" is vastly more descriptive than "jerk". After looking it up on Wkik just now, I did indeed use the term correctly.

[...] more here [...]

Doc Ock got beat by Northstar? Weird.