Simon's also kind of a weakling in the '80s & early '90s. He's been easily defeated by the Wizard and got KO'd by JAWBREAKER of the Pacific Overlords.
Oh, I forgot about that. My issues of the current run are all kinda in a pile so I didn't go through them again. That isn't listed on Wikipedia or even Marvunapp!brothersale wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 12:11 amShe has appeared after that point ((Fantastic Four: Wedding Special #1) where she attacked Alicia at her bachelorette party under the moniker of "Mole Woman." Her aim was that no foe of her beloved mole man would be able to marry and find happiness before she was able to. The assault ended when mole man interupted it, rejecting her once more.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:31 pm -Later on, she appears heading towards a wedding to the Mole Man, with the Thing as her unwitting escort, and Ben discovers that they're planning to destroy the surface world- ultimately, she betrays the Mole Man, but he confesses to still being in love with her. She & Tyrannus capture him and plan to destroy the surface world with volcanic eruptions, but Tyrannus betrays her in turn, imprisoning Kala. Desiring sole rulership of the world, Tyrannus is beaten by the Fantastic Four. Kala later wars against the Mole Man, but marries him "out of desperation" in order to save her kingdom. Later, she goes to the surface world to get Tony Stark and Iron Man (back when the world didn't know they were the same man) to help the Mole Man fight the Deviants- she finally finds that she loves the Mole Man, nearly sacrificing herself to save his life! A couple years later, an FF one-off has him trying to restorer her in a "Rejuvenator" tank, which explodes, leaving their fates unrevealed... but she hasn't appeared since the very early 1990s, and has gone unmentioned since then. Clearly the following writers forgot about her.
I don't have a statement of intent I can quote or anything, but I'm positive the eyelashes are to make the Puppet Master look like a puppet himself. You can see that blush on his cheeks in the first picture, too. Alicia's probably lucky there isn't too much of a family resemblance.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:53 am
The long eyelashes have always weirded me out. That's such an odd visual quirk to throw on a character.
Oh, I forgot about that. My issues of the current run are all kinda in a pile so I didn't go through them again. That isn't listed on Wikipedia or even Marvunapp!
He's Alicia's stepfather so there wouldn't be any resemblance.RainOnTheSun wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:24 amI don't have a statement of intent I can quote or anything, but I'm positive the eyelashes are to make the Puppet Master look like a puppet himself. You can see that blush on his cheeks in the first picture, too. Alicia's probably lucky there isn't too much of a family resemblance.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:53 am
The long eyelashes have always weirded me out. That's such an odd visual quirk to throw on a character.
(Although Harley Quinn did make something similar work)
ahhhhh- that makes sense. I don't recall puppets having long eyelashes, but in the '60s, yeah.RainOnTheSun wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:24 amI don't have a statement of intent I can quote or anything, but I'm positive the eyelashes are to make the Puppet Master look like a puppet himself. You can see that blush on his cheeks in the first picture, too. Alicia's probably lucky there isn't too much of a family resemblance.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:53 am
The long eyelashes have always weirded me out. That's such an odd visual quirk to throw on a character.
(Although Harley Quinn did make something similar work)
I checked my copy of Marvel Treasury #25, and that's where he first appeared.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:00 am
BOULDER (Real Name Unknown)
Created By: Bill Mantlo & Joe Sinnott
First Appearance: Rom #28 (March 1982)
Crazily enough, Red Ghost's 'evil Communist Super Ape' shtick was possibly inspired by a real Russian-Soviet scientist by the name of Ilya Ivanov. Known for his work in advancing artificial insemination, Ivanov became fixated on the idea of creating ape-man hybrids by using his techniques on chimpanzees. He spent most of the 1920's on his 'project' and failed repeatedly, until Josef Stalin began purging what he saw as 'bourgeois psudo scientists' at the start of the 30's*. Ivanov died in exile in modern day Kazakhstan in 1932.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:00 pm
THE RED GHOST (Igor Kragoff)
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The Fantastic Four #13 (April 1963)
Role: Evil Counterpart (to Reed Richards), Evil Communist
Group Affiliations: The Super-Apes, The Intelligencia
PL 7 (176)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Deception 7 (+9)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Science) 7 (+15)
Expertise (Communist) 5 (+13)
Insight 4 (+7)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Perception 5 (+8)
Technology 8 (+16)
Treatment 1 (+9)
Vehicles 8 (+10)
Advantages:
Daze (Deception), Equipment 8 (Various Tech), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Cosmic Radiation Powers"
Insubstantial 4 (Feats: Selective) (Extras: Attack, Ranged) [29]
"Air-Walking" Flight 1 (4 mph) (Feats: Subtle) (Flaws: Limited to While Phased) [2]
Immunity 4 (Drowning, Suffocation, Thirst & Starvation) (Flaws: Limited to While Phased) [2]
"Invisibility" Concealment 4 (All Visual Senses) [8]
"Leave Object Inside Something" Damage 8 (Feats: Penetrating 8) (Extras: Affects Corporeal) (Flaws: Limited to Size of the Object) (Inaccurate -1) [15]
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+1 Damage, 16)
Leaving Objects +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Laser Blaster or Something +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +5
Complications:
Motivation (Ego, Power)
Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 56 / Defenses: 15 (176)
-The Red Ghost is a rarely-seen villain, and a total relic of the Silver Age. I mean, a Red Communist in a parka (using a "Jack Kirby is Half-Assing It" Ugly Scientist Face) who leads a team of super-powered Apes? How is that NOT dated as all hell? That same datedness is what made him a relatively minor villain during the past dozens of years, but could easily lead to a big comeback now that it's kind of kitzchy to have something so blatantly "Sixties" in a modern comic book. It hasn't quite taken, despite a more recent appearance in Fantastic Four, though.
-The Ghost himself is an evil Commie scientist who saw Mr. Fantastic's voyage into space and copied it, giving he and his apes (apes & monkeys were often used in tests for Outer Space travel, as most everyone should know) superhuman powers, with which he decided to... I dunno, kick some ass and stuff. It's actually kinda funny that it's that easy to deliberately gain great super-powers in this manner. In any case, they and the Four engaged in a battle for "supremacy of the Moon" (remember, this is before Americans ACTUALLY landed on it), and the Four lost at first, but the Super-Apes rebelled when Sue gave them the food the Ghost had been keeping from them in order to get them to do his bidding. He eventually returned to Earth after repeatedly trying to steal the Watcher's secrets, and was booted from the Soviet Union for his failure.
-He was really kind of a Mr. Fantastic wannabe (in an era where nearly EVERY major threat to the team was a Mr. Fantastic wannabe), was pretty good at science himself, and didn't have too much success overall. He just kind of popped up between major arcs here or there, threatening the team (sometimes with the Apes, sometimes without). He and the Mad Thinker teamed up against the Avengers once, with Attuma against the Defenders, and with the Unicorn against Iron Man- here, he was turned into a permanently-intangible "ghost" after using a weapon to give two new apes (Alpha & Beta) some powers. He regained them after stowing away on Reed Richards's ship, and re-teamed with the Super-Apes, fighting Spider-Man, the Soviet Super-Soldiers, Quasar (during Acts of Vengeance), and Power Pack on separate occasions.
-Later, the Super-Apes gained advanced intelligence and the Red Ghost lost his, but he recovered and joined the anti-Hulk "Intelligencia", replacing Mikhlo (who had been killed by the Red Hulk) with a super-strong baby gorilla named Grigori. Eventually, he and the Super-Apes were killed by Doctor Octopus when the Intelligencia were attacked by his Sinister Six- Ock shot them all into space. They were resurrected almost IMMEDIATELY by M.O.D.O.K. in a silly bit, but promptly killed again by a HYDRA-loyal Captain America. So yes, even the RED GHOST can cheapen death in comics.
-Red Ghost is expensive, and can be quite deadly, but is generally under-pointed and needs to have plans in place to do damage. His Internal Attack is quite powerful, but it's not that accurate, and he's only PL 7 even with that. He falls into that ever-common "Super-Genius, but less than Mr. Fantastic" category where he knows a ton of stuff, but not enough to really RIVAL Stretcho or anything. It's expensive to have all those Skills, to be sure. Most of his pointage is either spent there, on his Internal Attack, or on his Attack/Ranged Insubstantial, which can be put to great use, especially in team battles.
oh, interesting! I'd never heard of that guy! Given how little Stan ever cared or knew about science, I can't imagine he was overly familiar with the guy, but Jack might have been.Grenzer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 5:20 am
Crazily enough, Red Ghost's 'evil Communist Super Ape' shtick was possibly inspired by a real Russian-Soviet scientist by the name of Ilya Ivanov. Known for his work in advancing artificial insemination, Ivanov became fixated on the idea of creating ape-man hybrids by using his techniques on chimpanzees. He spent most of the 1920's on his 'project' and failed repeatedly, until Josef Stalin began purging what he saw as 'bourgeois psudo scientists' at the start of the 30's*. Ivanov died in exile in modern day Kazakhstan in 1932.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Ivanovich_Ivanov
I have to wonder if Stan and Jack stumbled across this story at some point since they were involved in the science fiction scene of the 1940's and 50's, where Americans must have heard all kinds of rumors of what the Soviets were trying to develop.
*Fun fact, Stalin despised all kinds of advanced science like genetics, computer engineering, and cybernetics since he considered them the spawn of capitalist society and degrading to the spirit of socialism. He specifically distrusted genetics and bio-engineering due to their links to the theories of Gregor Mendel, since he considered anything authored by a monk to be tainted by connections to religion. He also passed this prejudice on to his successors, which is one of the reason the Soviet Union fell so behind the West when trying to advance in computer science or new medical techniques. The image of the evil Soviet scientist creating advanced battlesuits or mutant super-soldiers in the name of the Motherland is not one that has much in common with reality.
