Interesting characters created in the 70's

[berk]

Moon Knight

This is my favourite version of the character, visually and conceptually: the mercenary of ambiguous morality and mysterious origins as he appeared in Werewolf by Night. Moench took him in another direction later on, and some of those stories were pretty good, but I still prefer this one, especially as drawn by Don Perlin.

Starhawk

Another Gerber character, I think?

Omega the Unknown



the Red Guardian (Dr. Tania Belinsky)

Both these were from Gerber as well, I believe, weren't they? Omega was one of the most innovative series of its time, and the new, female Red Guardian was an excellent addition to The Defenders. Somebody - Dave Kraft? - wasted the character in a later story, IIRC.

[berk]

Deathstalker, the best Daredevil villain that nobody uses anymore:

I'd forgotten all about this character - wasn't he from the early Miller issues, or right before then? I've always liked this design - variations have been used on more than one character. There was an early Shang Chi adversary too, wasn't there, that used something close to this look? Midnight, I think. The Phantom Stranger, of course. It can probably be traced back to The Shadow, I suppose, as far as comics are concerned.

[GavinR]

Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy

Doh, how could I overlook that!!!!

[tony ingram]

I'd forgotten all about this character - wasn't he from the early Miller issues, or right before then?

Technically, in fact, the character debuted in April 1968, though back then he was called The Exterminator and had a very different look; we didn't find out he and Death Stalker were one and the same until Death Stalker's final appearance, in which he died. He first appeared as Death Stalker in September 1974, so quite a long time before Miller (almost five years).

[VDCNI]

This is my favourite version of the character, visually and conceptually: the mercenary of ambiguous morality and mysterious origins as he appeared in Werewolf by Night. Moench took him in another direction later on, and some of those stories were pretty good, but I still prefer this one, especially as drawn by Don Perlin.


Another Gerber character, I think?



Both these were from Gerber as well, I believe, weren't they? Omega was one of the most innovative series of its time, and the new, female Red Guardian was an excellent addition to The Defenders. Somebody - Dave Kraft? - wasted the character in a later story, IIRC.

Yes it was Kraft - joined her with The Presence and made her radioactive. Kraft wrote some great issues in that run but some really terrible ones as well and I always thought it was a shame he dumped that character.

[Roquefort Raider]

I'd forgotten all about this character - wasn't he from the early Miller issues, or right before then? I've always liked this design - variations have been used on more than one character. There was an early Shang Chi adversary too, wasn't there, that used something close to this look? Midnight, I think.

Yes indeed, Midnight was Shang-Chi's adopted brother and he sported an all-body black leotard with a cape and a fedora. Very good character who died during his first appearance, but was (OF COURSE!) eventually brought back... In Silver Surfer, of all places, as I recall.

I always loved the simplicity of single-color uniforms with as little pouches and other bits and pieces as possible. Black Panther, Daredevil, Midnight, Even Moon Knight in his Sienkiewicz version... graphically, I find them elegant. Their simplicity, I think, makes them new user-friendly; the opposite, of, say, someone like Cable who sort of needs explaining. What's with the metal arm, the glowing eye, how can he move with so many belts strapped on, what's the deal with the guns and stuff, what's in all those pouches? Black Panther, by comparison, is dressed like a black panther. You immediately assume that he must be strong, agile and a proficient hunter; it's very efficient.

Moon Knight is a good example of how to screw up a good design: his lean and clean jet and silver look was at one time replaced with one including gold bracelets and assorted weapons; that detracted from the simplicity, ruined the elegance of the design, and served little purpose. (And I certainly won't go into the matter of his Moon Knight armor... ugh).

[berk]

Yes indeed, Midnight was Shang-Chi's adopted brother and he sported an all-body black leotard with a cape and a fedora. Very good character who died during his first appearance, but was (OF COURSE!) eventually brought back... In Silver Surfer, of all places, as I recall.

I always loved the simplicity of single-color uniforms with as little pouches and other bits and pieces as possible. Black Panther, Daredevil, Midnight, Even Moon Knight in his Sienkiewicz version... graphically, I find them elegant. Their simplicity, I think, makes them new user-friendly; the opposite, of, say, someone like Cable who sort of needs explaining. What's with the metal arm, the glowing eye, how can he move with so many belts strapped on, what's the deal with the guns and stuff, what's in all those pouches? Black Panther, by comparison, is dressed like a black panther. You immediately assume that he must be strong, agile and a proficient hunter; it's very efficient.

Moon Knight is a good example of how to screw up a good design: his lean and clean jet and silver look was at one time replaced with one including gold bracelets and assorted weapons; that detracted from the simplicity, ruined the elegance of the design, and served little purpose. (And I certainly won't go into the matter of his Moon Knight armor... ugh).

Totally agree. The Black Panther is another great design they seem to want to mess with all too often - adding gold ornaments and bone necklaces or whatever. Ridiculous.

[Shellhead]

I'd forgotten all about this character - wasn't he from the early Miller issues, or right before then? I've always liked this design - variations have been used on more than one character. There was an early Shang Chi adversary too, wasn't there, that used something close to this look? Midnight, I think. The Phantom Stranger, of course. It can probably be traced back to The Shadow, I suppose, as far as comics are concerned.

They killed off Deathstalker in one of the early Miller issues, just after finally revealing his identity and origin. I think he was introduced during the Gerber run three years earlier.

[tony ingram]

They killed off Deathstalker in one of the early Miller issues, just after finally revealing his identity and origin. I think he was introduced during the Gerber run three years earlier.

See post #169 above. Introduced as the Exterminator in 1968 and as Death Stalker in 1974 (almost five years before Miller took over).

[hondobrode]

so beautiful~

In keeping with the 70's theme, I tried my best to get pics from their first appearances or right around that era.

I assume you're talking about the Starjammers piece there by Art Adams and Terry Austin. It was too good to pass up.

[Doug_Brunell]

The Daredevil follow-up story on the death of Deathstalker was wonderful, though it wasn't '70s. Deathstalker's mother wants revenge and goes through some elaborate means to do it in a story by Harlan Ellison. Great stuff.

[tony ingram]

Every dead bad guy from the Mandrill to the Basilisk has been resurrected, but Death Stalker is still dead. How can that have been allowed to happen?

[Venomous Mask]

Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy

I don't know if you're following the this series, but these two characters are currently starring in Avenging Spiderman.

[Roquefort Raider]

Every dead bad guy from the Mandrill to the Basilisk has been resurrected, but Death Stalker is still dead. How can that have been allowed to happen?

He's been replaced by a female Death-Stalker. I suppose when some nostalgic writer comes around, the original one may resurface (although I'd rather they let all the "non gimmicky-death" dead rest).

[berk]

He's been replaced by a female Death-Stalker. I suppose when some nostalgic writer comes around, the original one may resurface (although I'd rather they let all the "non gimmicky-death" dead rest).

I don't mind the resurrections, to be honest - perhaps because almost all deaths in the respective shared universes of Marvel and DC actually are gimmick deaths, in that they only happened because the writer had to come up with something to make his/her story dramatic that month.

Perhaps that would make Starlin's Captain Marvel the exception that proves the rule, but we see in this particular case that Marvel simply resurrects the name or title and assigns it some different character, which I'm not sure I like any better.

So my feeling is, why should a potentially good character lie in oblivion just because someone needed to make a deadline 10 or 20 years ago? If we were given an arbitrary character death, which most of them were, I don't mind it being remedied by an equally arbitrary resurrection if someone has a good story to tell about that character.