Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by KorokoMystia »

...Wow, that's really dumb. Also, funnily enough, it reminds me of the whole "Ocelot is possessed by Liquid Snake's hand" thing in the Metal Gear Solid games.
Shock
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by Shock »

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Can relate
Jabroniville
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The Black Talon (Drew)

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE BLACK TALON II (Desmond Drew)
Created By:
Len Wein & Gene Colan
First Appearance: Strange Tales #173 (April 1974)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Chicken-Headed Voodoo Master
Group Affiliation: The Lethal Legion
PL 7 (85)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Magic) 10 (+13)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages: 
Benefit 3 (Millionaire), Equipment (Ceremonial Dagger, Clawed Gloves), Startle, Ritualist

Powers:
"Talks to the Dead" Communication (Mental) 1 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Zombies) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Talons or Knife +9 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Relationship (Mama Limbo- Mother)
Enemy (Brother Voodoo)

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 3 / Defenses: 12 (85)

-The second Black Talon is a Voodoo Witch Doctor and enemy of Brother Voodoo, who was quickly turned-on and murdered by his own cultists. The most famous is actually the THIRD Black Talon, and effectively is the same guy as the second- with the same chicken-headed outfit (making him one of FOUR Marvel characters dressed like that! The Gamecock & Bantam only WISH they were as famous as THIS chicken-headed man) and voodoo concept.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue May 10, 2022 1:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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kreuzritter
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by kreuzritter »

obligatory:
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Jabroniville
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The Black Talon (Barone)

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE BLACK TALON III (Samuel Barone)
Created By:
Gerry Conway & John Buscema
First Appearance: The Avengers #152 (Oct. 1976)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Chicken-Headed Voodoo Master
Group Affiliation: None
PL 7 (85)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Magic) 10 (+13)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages: 
Benefit 3 (Millionaire), Equipment (Ceremonial Dagger, Clawed Gloves), Startle, Ritualist

Powers:
"Talks to the Dead" Communication (Mental) 1 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Zombies) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Talons or Knife +9 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Relationship (Mama Limbo- Mother)
Enemy (Brother Voodoo)

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 3 / Defenses: 12 (85)

-The third Black Talon, Samuel Barone, resurrected Simon Williams and tried to turn him on The Avengers. He later allied with The Grim Reaper and Nekra in their attempts to make a more-human Simon and kill the "imposter" (who was Wonder Man, naturally), but their Lethal Legion split up and were defeated (The Reaper committed suicide upon realizing that Wonder Man WAS his brother, and was also naturally imperfect- Eric had deified his brother and was broken by this revelation). He later fought She-Hulk with his "X-Humed" (Changeling, Scaleface, Living Diamond & Harry Leland), but he couldn't control all of his Zombies at once. After this, he basically vanished except for the odd thing- Deadpool's ripping on his "Chicken Head!" outfit pretty much marked him as a Joke Villain for the rest of time, putting him on the level below even THE SHOCKER. He was killed by The Punisher, but alter turned up alive with no explanation.

-Black Talon is a particular kind of Mage- the kind whose only real ability is the power to summon and communicate with zombies- alas, he can't just whip 'em out all the time; he's actually forced to use a RITUAL to summon anything. The ritual isn't really that high-level (I mean, most zombies suck at fighting), and the Zombies aren't always easily-controlled, but he has to use the Ritual power to do it. He's been a giant wuss in every comic I've ever read featuring him, and he later turned into a joke, so PL 6 offense/PL 7 defense fits for him. The MAIN threat is however many zombies he's using, after all.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue May 10, 2022 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by Ares »

Voodoo is an interesting source of mysticism, giving it a different flavor, but it tends to mainly get used for "Speak with spirits" and "Raise zombies". I thought Green Ronin did something interesting by wanting the patron spirits of the Voodoo Loa to be as influential in their setting as the Olympian and Asgardian gods are in Marvel or DC. It'd be interesting to do some research into the customs and see what kind of comic book style stuff could be extrapolated from it.

Though much like Hinduism, there are actual Voodoo practitioners in the world, so there's always the risk of offending people. Myself, I don't see an issue as long as you aren't openly disrespectful. If you can point to some of the mythology / lore for an interpretation, and as long as you make a clear distinction between the people who practice a religion and the religion itself, then I don't see the problem. Hell, a setting where an Rama has a Thor-style role of kicking ass and saving people sounds fun.

Besides, any comic readers following any of the the Judeo-Christian faith variants had to endure "Preacher". If they could be thick skinned about that, so can everyone else.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Ares
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Re: The Black Talon (Horta)

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:55 pm The first Black Talon was Pascal Horta, a painter who lost his hand in an auto accident. Undergoing experimental surgery, he was given the hand of a black serial killer named "Strangler Burns", who was put to death. The serial killer blood in his new hand overcame Horta's peaceful nature and drove him to commit murders-
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God damnit comics. I try to make allowances for the era something was written, I LOVE a lot of Pulp stories of that era and earlier, despite some . . . questionable content from folks like Lovecraft and Howard. But Jesus Christ, how in the world did that actually get published?
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Jabroniville
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Blink

Post by Jabroniville »

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BLINK (Clarice Ferguson)
Created By:
Scott Lobdell & Joe Madureira
First Appearance: X-Men: Alpha #1 (Feb. 1995)
Role: Everybody's Red Guardian Character, Teleporter
Group Affiliations: The X-Men, The Exiles
PL 9 (152)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+7)
Athletics 6 (+8)
Deception 2 (+3)
Perception 5 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Javelins) 2 (+10)
Stealth 3 (+8)

Advantages: 
Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Javelins), Improved Defense, Improved Smash, Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Teleportation"
Teleport 10 (Feats: Changed Direction & Velocity) (Extras: Extended, Portal +2, Easy, Accurate) (62) -- [66]
  • AE: "Piece-Removing Javelins" Blast 8 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Penetrating) (Diminished Range -1) (24)
  • AE: "Javelins" Teleport 8 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Ranged, Accurate, Attack +0) (Diminished Range -1) (32)
  • AE: "Teleport Out Of Phase" Affliction 8 (Feats: Split) (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (Diminished Range -1) (24)
  • AE: "Displace Objects & Attacks" Deflect 12 (Extras: Redirection +2) (36)
Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Piece-Removing Javelins +10 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Teleporting Javelins +10 (+8 Ranged Teleport, DC 18)
Phasing Javelins +10 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Quirk (Blinking Teleports)- Blink's powers are accompanied by a trademark "Blink!" noise. This is more of a quirk than anything, but it could ruin attempts at Stealth.
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Clarice has lilac skin and inhuman eyes, marking her as a mutant.
Responsibility (Murderer)- Blink was tricked into murdering people on Selene's behalf- this makes her believe that she is unworthy to join the X-Men.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 66 / Defenses: 13 (152)

-Blink has an interesting history- debuting as a random Sacrificial Buddy character for the start of the Generation X team, she sacrificed herself to save her teammates from The Phalanx (Warlock & Magus' race turned into Borg knock-offs). In Age of Apocalypse, she was thrown out as a bad-ass chick trained by Sabretooth, with a cool look, and this made her an instantly-popular character. I remember reading as many letters begging for Blink to make a comeback as there were for the return of MAGIK, which was a very impressive feat for someone with such a short run. Marvel would basically leave fans hanging for SIX YEARS, however, only showcasing her in Exiles in 2001! Similarly, they waited until fans had basically stopped caring to resurrect Illyana Rasputin.

-The "mainstream" Blink was a sweet-natured, innocent young girl who was panicky and frightened of her powers, which were uncontrollable- anything caught in her "Blink Wave" came out shredded. She used her powers to cut up Harvest, the Phalanx intent on destroying her new friends, but died in the process. And dead she stayed, even as a more famous Blink was created for AoA, which led to a lot of fan demand, then a starring role in Exiles. It wasn't until the Blackest Night rip-off Necrosha (starring all the dead X-characters) that we finally saw Blink again, as she was brought back as part of Selene's new "Inner Circle" of Mutants, alongside Wither and Senyaka.

-It turns out that Blink was in a death-like state the whole time, but Selene went out of her way to trick the girl and manipulate her into being loyal, and hating Emma Frost. She's a standard-issue minion in the story, and escapes in the end, while Selene dies.  Eventually, she is saved by a group of X-Men and convinced of Selene's lies, but rejects their offer of joining the team.

-Blink only returns for The New Mutants, the surprisingly-good renewed series that brought the old team back together. In the latter half of the book, the creative team and roster is shaken up, with "discarded mutants" like Nate Grey and Blink joining the squad- Blink effectively replacing Magik as "Team Transport" (ironically, MAGIK had replaced BLINK in the Exiles title in the same role, though these were both alternate versions). The book was cancelled only a handful of issues after Blink joined, so we never really got any aspects of her personality beyond "Sorta-Bad Girl" (she acted a bit punk-ish during her return, in fact), before she fell into the dreaded "X-Limbo", where characters only show up in background shots from then on.

-Blink is fairly capable in some regards, though is far diminished from the Exiles version of the character, who was trained by Sabretooth and is much more capable.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue May 10, 2022 1:09 am, edited 3 times in total.
DominusExMachina
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Re: The Black Talon (Horta)

Post by DominusExMachina »

Ares wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:36 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:55 pmThe first Black Talon was Pascal Horta, a painter who lost his hand in an auto accident. Undergoing experimental surgery, he was given the hand of a black serial killer named "Strangler Burns", who was put to death. The serial killer blood in his new hand overcame Horta's peaceful nature and drove him to commit murders-
Image

God damnit comics. I try to make allowances for the era something was written, I LOVE a lot of Pulp stories of that era and earlier, despite some . . . questionable content from folks like Lovecraft and Howard. But Jesus Christ, how in the world did that actually get published?
This acually reminds me of a conversation between the muse Serendipity (played by Salma Hayek) and Bethany "The Last Scion" Sloane (played by Linda Fiorentino) in the 1999 film Dogma (and before Ares brings the ban-hammer down, this is a direct quote from the script for the film, crude language and all):
SERENDIPITY: I'm responsible for nine of the ten top-grossing films of all time.
BETHANY: Nine?
SERENDIPITY: The one about the kid, by himself in his house; burglars trying to get in and he fights them off? (Bethany nods) I had nothing to do with that one. Somebody sold their soul to Satan to get the grosses up on that piece of shit.
I'm guessing a similar "transaction" took place in the halls of Marvel...

And as for the second & third Black Talon...guess we know what inspired the Black Coq from Minoriteam...
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Ares
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Re: The Black Talon (Horta)

Post by Ares »

DominusExMachina wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 5:58 am
Ares wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:36 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:55 pmThe first Black Talon was Pascal Horta, a painter who lost his hand in an auto accident. Undergoing experimental surgery, he was given the hand of a black serial killer named "Strangler Burns", who was put to death. The serial killer blood in his new hand overcame Horta's peaceful nature and drove him to commit murders-
Image

God damnit comics. I try to make allowances for the era something was written, I LOVE a lot of Pulp stories of that era and earlier, despite some . . . questionable content from folks like Lovecraft and Howard. But Jesus Christ, how in the world did that actually get published?
This acually reminds me of a conversation between the muse Serendipity (played by Salma Hayek) and Bethany "The Last Scion" Sloane (played by Linda Fiorentino) in the 1999 film Dogma (and before Ares brings the ban-hammer down, this is a direct quote from the script for the film, crude language and all):
SERENDIPITY: I'm responsible for nine of the ten top-grossing films of all time.
BETHANY: Nine?
SERENDIPITY: The one about the kid, by himself in his house; burglars trying to get in and he fights them off? (Bethany nods) I had nothing to do with that one. Somebody sold their soul to Satan to get the grosses up on that piece of shit.
I'm guessing a similar "transaction" took place in the halls of Marvel...

And as for the second & third Black Talon...guess we know what inspired the Black Coq from Minoriteam...
I . . . don't see anything ban-worthy in that post. Am I missing something?
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Arkrite
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by Arkrite »

Maybe it was just the language concern?
We do seem to try to keep the language clean, by and large, so I could see how dropping a swear might worry the person posting it.

Now liking Home Alone, that should be a ban worthy offense.
But I may be biased due to a sister who watched it, every day, religiously for three years straight.
Jabroniville
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Brass Bishop (Benedicto)

Post by Jabroniville »

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BRASS BISHOP II (Benedicto de Vica Severtes)
Created By:
Steve Seagle & Duncan Rouleau
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #14 (Sept. 1998)
Role: Forgotten Villain

-Brass Bishop is one of those weird ideas that only show up when an Alpha Flight writer has no idea what to do next. He's a Spanish monk who sold his soul to Mephisto in order to win the heart of a woman who turned out to be a nun- he won her heart, but she would not break her creed. Heartbroken and enraged, and owing his soul to one of the Hell-Lords, he built a suit of armor meant to protect the soul of the wearer. He powered the armor with the soul of the nun who'd rejected him. However, she ends up in Heaven, and he tries to gather her soul so Mephisto will finally leave him alone (he's been sending Demonic servants to hunt the Bishop). He attempts to sacrifice an entire town in the process, but Puck unlatches his armor and has him taken away to Mephisto's realm.

-The Bishop had no real powers- merely a suit of armor that kept his soul in check. The original Brass Bishop was one of the Chess Set- a themed-Jobber group from the early '90s of Alpha Flight.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue May 10, 2022 1:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by Ares »

Arkrite wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 6:43 am Maybe it was just the language concern?
We do seem to try to keep the language clean, by and large, so I could see how dropping a swear might worry the person posting it.
Ah, I see. Well, I did say that this place was suppose to have the feel of a PG-13 movie, so a bit of profanity every once in a while isn't a huge deal. I've indulged in it myself every once in a while.
Now liking Home Alone, that should be a ban worthy offense.
But I may be biased due to a sister who watched it, every day, religiously for three years straight.
I'll admit, I like Home Alone in a "Tom and Jerry" sort of way where it's a "watch, chuckle and forget about it" sort of film.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Basilisk! Black Swan! Beetles! Black Goliath!

Post by Jabroniville »

Ares wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:31 am Ah, I see. Well, I did say that this place was suppose to have the feel of a PG-13 movie, so a bit of profanity every once in a while isn't a huge deal. I've indulged in it myself every once in a while.
Boy, is that South Park set gonna be interesting, then :).
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Bishop! Black Swan, Black Goliath & Black Talons! Blink!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Heh- doing a random search for Marvel: The Untold Story stuff on Steve Gerber, I see the bit on Gwen Stacy:
Of course, the new guys weren’t going to be allowed anywhere near Amazing Spider-Man or Fantastic Four or The Incredible Hulk or The Mighty Thor — those best-selling titles were reserved for Thomas himself, or for wunderkind Gerry Conway. Those comics were going to stick to their formulas, professionally executed to the point of monotony — and there was no longer any doubt that that was exactly how Stan wanted it. Conway learned this the hard way.

Casting for a way to shake up Amazing Spider-Man, Thomas and Conway had discussed the idea of killing off a member of the supporting cast. Aunt May — elderly, generically kindly, and seemingly always at death’s door anyway — was the logical nominee. But when John Romita got wind of the plans, he suggested a different victim: Peter Parker’s girlfriend, the lovely Gwen Stacy. Conway thought it was a stroke of genius.

“She was a nonentity, a pretty face,” he said. “She brought nothing to the mix. It made no sense to me that Peter Parker would end up with a babe like that who had no problems. Only a damaged person would end up with a damaged guy like Peter Parker. And Gwen Stacy was perfect! It was basically Stan fulfilling Stan’s own fantasy. Stan married a woman who was pretty much a babe — Joan Lee was a very attractive blond who was obviously Stan’s ideal female. And I think Gwen was simply Stan replicating his wife, just like Sue Storm was a replication of his wife. And that’s where his blind spot was. The amazing thing was that he created a character like Mary Jane Watson, who was probably the most interesting female character in comics, and he never used her to the extent that he could have. Instead of Peter Parker’s girlfriend, he made her Peter Parker’s best friend’s girlfriend. Which is so wrong, and so stupid, and such a waste. So killing Gwen was a totally logical if not inevitable choice.”

Thomas then cleared the plans with Lee. “He was okay with it to the extent that Stan paid attention to anything,” said Conway. “At that time he was primarily interested in expanding the line, asserting his authority as publisher to the higher-ups that owned Marvel, and promoting his own brand and his own career. Once he stopped writing a given comic he stopped thinking about it. And so when he stopped writing Spider-Man, even though he had a proprietary interest in it, really, it was ‘Yeah, whatever you want to do.’ ”

Conway, Romita, and Gil Kane worked out a story in which Green Goblin kidnapped Gwen Stacy and threw her off the top of the George Washington Bridge; in a perverse twist, someone added a “snap!” to the panel in which Spider-Man’s web catches Gwen, implying that it was not the fall but whiplash from the catch that caused her neck to snap, that Spider-Man was implicated in the death.

The readership started hyperventilating as soon as the issue hit stands.

“Stan didn’t think about it until he went to a college campus and got yelled at by fans,” Conway said. “Instead of acting like he was in charge, he said, ‘Oh, they must have done it while I was out of town — I would never have done that!’ The pretty horrendous backlash that I received from the fan press, and the lack of support I got from Stan, who said we did it behind his back, had a huge impact on me in terms of my emotional state. He basically threw me to the wolves. This was the first time a beloved character had been killed off in comics. I couldn’t go to conventions.”

“The idea that the three of us together, or even separately, would have tried to sneak in the death of Gwen Stacy without Stan approving it is just so absurd,” said Roy Thomas. “Besides, he was never out of town that long.” It came back to what Stan had told Roy Thomas, years before: he didn’t want to fix what wasn’t broken; he only wanted “the illusion of change.”
It blows my mind that Gerry Conway was twenty years old when he was given the reins to Spider-Man, and had the authority to kill off GWEN STACY of all people.
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