Tag Archives: Marvel Premiere

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog resumes examining Marvel Premiere, this time from issue #31 to 40.

MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #31 (Aug 1976)

Title: A Birthday Nightmare

Villains: A violent mob and Major Del Tremens’ troops

Synopsis: This was the origin story for Woodgod, created by Bill Mantlo. Just outside Liberty, NM is a ranch used by government scientists David Pace and his wife Ellen Pace. It serves as their residence AND laboratory for their Top-Secret projects.   

One such project is a deadly nerve gas called Purple Mist. Another is the cross-fertilization of human and animal genetic material which has resulted in the unnatural “birth” of Marvel’s newest character – called Woodgod by David Pace.

Under observation by the Paces, Woodgod grows to maturity in just three days and his enormous intellectual potential has him speaking in simplistic English but we’re told Woodgod will be at genius level in a few more days.

Superstitious people in Liberty, NM get covert glimpses of the creature and decide to raid the Pace ranch to destroy Woodgod and any other such “monsters” being created there. David and Ellen are shot to death in the attack but our main character is super-strong and invulnerable, so he survives being shot multiple times.

Woodgod’s still-childlike mind is confused by the violence. The attackers destroy all the lab equipment at the ranch and unintentionally unleash the Purple Mist nerve gas into the air. All the attackers die, then all the human and animal life within 15 miles of the ranch drops dead as well.

The only survivor is Woodgod, whose healing powers make him immune to the gas. At nearby Vertigo Military Base (later retconned into Tranquility Base) Major Del Tremens and his troops become aware of the chaos at the Department of Defense installation on David and Ellen Pace’s ranch. Continue reading →

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at Marvel Premiere. Like Marvel Spotlight and Marvel Preview, this series served to introduce new characters and see if they proved popular enough for their own separate series.

MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #1 (Apr 1972)

Title: A Man-God Reborn

Villains: Man-Beast and his Animal Men

Synopsis: The long-time Marvel character the High Evolutionary, a sometime hero and sometime villain, used the almost God-level powers he possessed in his hyper-evolved state to create Counter-Earth. Traveling in time, the High Evolutionary created that twin of planet Earth 5,000 years in the past and guided its history into a near-perfect rerun of Earth’s own.

The main difference was that the High Evolutionary intervened to prevent super-powered beings from ever coming into existence on Counter-Earth. This allowed him to observe how the “real” Earth might have developed without super-powered interference.

The High Evolutionary studied his creation from an orbiting headquarters, kept company by the remaining New-Men of Wundagore Mountain, animals he had evolved into intelligent humanoid form. Those New-Men had clashed with Hulk and Thor up to this point in Marvel Comics prior to his creation of Counter-Earth.

His orbiting lair one day snagged the space-faring cocoon of the super-powered Him, a golden-skinned superbeing created by the Fantastic Four’s old foes the Enclave (aka the Hive). As Him had previously done when he clashed with the F.F. and then Thor, he emerged from his cocoon.

The High Evolutionary renamed Him Adam Warlock and explained that his evil wolf-like New Man called the Man-Beast had rebelled against him. The Man-Beast had recruited his own evil version of the High Evolutionary’s Knights of Wundagore – all of them New Men like himself. Continue reading →