Tag Archives: superheroes

July 19, 2025 · 12:01 am

WHEN CRYSTAL JOINED THE FANTASTIC FOUR

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post will look at the time when the Inhuman named Crystal replaced Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four while she was pregnant.

FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #81 (Dec 1968)

Title: Enter – The Exquisite Elemental

Villain: The Wizard

Synopsis: With Sue Storm-Richards (Invisible Woman) deep in her pregnancy, the Human Torch’s (Johnny Storm’s) longtime girlfriend Crystal of the Inhumans temporarily replaces her in the Fantastic Four. This marks the first time any team member has needed replaced.

The team’s old foe the Wizard invades the Baxter Building to keep his recently confiscated Power Gloves from being reverse engineered by the Fantastic Four.

(Our heroes took them after defeating the Wizard a few issues back.)

The battle leads all the way to the docks, where Crystal’s elemental powers prove her value to the team by being crucial to defeating and driving off the Wizard. Continue reading →

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July 12, 2025 · 12:01 am

THE DEFENDERS: THEIR FIRST ELEVEN ADVENTURES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the first eleven stories of Marvel’s Defenders.

MARVEL FEATURE Vol 1 #1 (December 1971)

Title: The Day of the Defenders

Villain: The Omegatron

Defenders Roster: Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange, MD), the Hulk (Bruce Banner, PhD) and the Sub-Mariner (Prince Namor McKenzie)

Comment: The Defenders were originally far different from the mere “street level” heroics that fans of Marvel Television adaptations associate with the team’s name. In 1971 Marvel had just one Avengers team in addition to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. The Defenders often fought to save the entire world or even the entire universe or multiverse.

Doctor Strange and the Hulk had been around since the 1960s. The Sub-Mariner was introduced in 1939 (so BEFORE Aquaman), back when Marvel Comics was called Timely Comics.

Synopsis: The evil scientist Yandroth, an old one-off foe of Dr Strange, has been spending his years since his defeat at Strange’s hands mastering sorcery as thoroughly as he had previously mastered science. He is on his death bed after having devised a scheme to ensure that the world will be destroyed shortly after he dies. Continue reading →

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July 5, 2025 · 12:01 am

ONE HUNDREDTH ISSUE STORIES FROM MARVEL

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at the stories that Marvel Comics offered up for the 100th issue milestone for its various titles.

AVENGERS Vol 1 #100 (Jun 1972)

Title: Whatever Gods There Be

Avengers Roster: Thor, Wasp, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, the Swordsman, Black Widow, Hercules, Black Panther, the Vision, Black Knight and Captain Marvel (Rick Jones) 

Villains: Ares and the Enchantress

Synopsis: This issue picks up where the previous one left off. Ares, the Greco-Roman God of War, has allied himself with the Avengers’ longtime foe the Enchantress. Ares has imprisoned the other gods and taken over Mount Olympus.

He and the Enchantress are about to unleash armies of monsters from Greek myths to conquer the Earth first and then Asgard. Thanks to the former Avenger Hercules our heroes were brought into all this over the previous two issues. 

The Avengers summon every single hero who had ever served as an Avenger to a meeting at the Black Knight’s Garrett Castle home (at right) to plot strategy against Ares and the Enchantress. From the mystic brazier in Garrett Castle, Sir Percy, the ghost of the current day Black Knight’s ancestor (featured in Marvel’s 1950s comic books) addresses all of the Avengers, Force Ghost style. Continue reading →

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June 28, 2025 · 12:01 am

MISS LIBERTY: REVOLUTIONARY WAR SUPERHEROINE

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at DC’s Revolutionary War superheroine Miss Liberty since the 4th of July is coming up.

MISS LIBERTY

Secret Identity: Bess Lynn

First Appearance: Tomahawk #81 (August 1962)

Origin: Nurse Bess Lynn decided she could further help the American Rebel cause in Massachusetts and its department of Maine by employing her other skills in the costumed identity of Miss Liberty. Bess was a blonde but wore a black wig in her costumed form.

Powers: Miss Liberty had secretly trained herself to be the equal of any man in armed or unarmed combat. She was a dead shot with her pistols and often used lit powder horns as makeshift grenades to hurl at Redcoats, their Native American allies and Hessians.   

This heroine was also very skilled with a sword and had mastered trick riding on her horses. Continue reading →

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June 21, 2025 · 12:01 am

1940s MARVEL SUPERHEROINES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the neglected superheroines of Marvel Comics, known in the 1940s as Timely Comics.

SILVER SCORPION 

Secret Identity: Betty Barstow

First Appearance:  Daring Mystery Comics #7 (April 1941) Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1942.

Origin: Betty Barstow, a feisty secretary for private investigator Dan Hurley, donned a costume and investigated a case her boss was refusing to look into, a case involving unusual activity at a graveyard. She wound up capturing a ring of counterfeiters and resolved to continue fighting crime as the Silver Scorpion.

Powers: The Silver Scorpion was in peak physical condition and excelled at jiu-jitsu and other martial arts. In addition, she was as agile as an acrobat. 

Comment: Since the only things “silver” on the Silver Scorpion’s costume were her wristlets, boots and the scorpion logo on her cape, I think they should have made her wristlets into revolving bracelets which fired long silver needles coated in scorpion venom. Non-fatal scorpion venom, of course, but painful and inducing temporary paralysis. Continue reading →

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June 14, 2025 · 12:01 am

SUPERHERO WEDDINGS FROM MARVEL

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at several weddings for Marvel characters.

INVISIBLE WOMAN & MR. FANTASTIC 

It’s June, the traditional month for weddings and since summertime is also the season for superhero movies I figured why not take a look at a superhero wedding. And since the movie reboot of the Fantastic Four will be coming out soon I’m going with the wedding of Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and Sue Storm (Invisible Girl then, Invisible Woman now).

The actual comic book in question was the October of 1965 issue of Fantastic Four Annual # 3 and it featured virtually all the superheroes and supervillains in the then-young Marvel Comics Universe.

The heroes were guests invited to the wedding, Nick Fury and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were providing security for the event and the Fantastic Four’s arch-enemy Doctor Doom was mentally controlling the various supervillains into crashing the ceremony and trying to kill the heroes. Bedlam at the Baxter Building was the title. Continue reading →

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June 7, 2025 · 12:15 am

MARVEL CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS (1982)

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Marvel’s pre-Secret Wars miniseries collecting a huge assembly of their heroes in a competition for the fate of the Earth.

CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS Vol 1 #1 (June 1982)

Title: Gathering of Heroes (No matter what the cover says.)

Villains: The Grandmaster and Death

Synopsis: The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum in the movies), one of the Elders of the Universe, the very first intelligent species to evolve after the Big Bang, challenges Death’s female incarnation, the same being wooed by Thanos during his attempts to wipe out all life in the universe.   

They both agree that since Earth has the greatest concentration of superbeings it will be the site of their mysterious contest. The two villains abduct every single superhero in Marvel Comics at the time, plus several new ones from around the world who were just introduced in this story.

The Grandmaster and Death address the captive heroes and explain the circumstances. The duo have placed the entire Earth in a state of stasis in which it will remain unless the figures agree to participate in a contest of champions between the two villains. Continue reading →

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May 31, 2025 · 12:01 am

BATTLE BRICK ROAD (2020 – ?)

This weekend’s escapist and light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at the independent comic book series Battle Brick Road from Eric Weathers, Farah Nurmaliza and Zeb Hatfield.   

BATTLE BRICK ROAD IS NOT TO BE MISSED.

This ongoing series is an exciting work from some of the most daring and visionary creators in sequential art today.

Battle Brick Road presents a post-apocalyptic take on Frank Baum’s Oz stories twisted through the ingenious prism of artist ERIC WEATHERS and writer ZEB HATFIELD with lettering by FARAH NURMALIZA.

Get ready for Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion like you’ve never seen them before – as technologically and biologically enhanced warriors in a dystopian world that not even Mad Max could survive. 

Battle-hardened, survival savvy Dorothea Gale – Thea for short – searches for her father through the futuristic technological wasteland called O.Z. (Operation Zephyr).

Continue reading →

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May 24, 2025 · 12:01 am

WHEN JIM RHODES WAS IRON MAN (1980s)

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the period during the 1980s when Tony Stark’s latest bout with alcoholism prompted him to let his pilot Jim Rhodes take over as Iron Man. 

IRON MAN Vol 1 #169 (Apr 1983)

Title: Blackout

Villains: Magma and Obadiah Stane

Synopsis: Iron Man (Tony Stark) is very drunk but is recklessly flying around New York City. His lapse back into heavy drinking was triggered by a combination of being dumped by his latest love interest Indries Moomji and corporate rival Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges in the movies) outmaneuvering Stark in several business deals recently.

Tony faces trouble from the mayor over minor damage caused by his “employee” Iron Man. NOTE: This was back when Tony kept it a secret that he was Iron Man and claimed the hero was just his high-tech bodyguard to explain why they both often showed up at the same locations at the same time.

At a board meeting, Stark gets more pressure regarding his careless spending and mountains of debt he has run up. Obadiah Stane is trying to talk the angry creditors of Stark International into letting him buy and assume the debts, which would give him very serious leverage over Tony’s business.

Tony’s personal pilot and friend Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes, who had been a supporting character in the series for years at this point, catches Tony drinking even more after the meeting. Iron Man’s old supervillain foe Magma, his tank and troops attack Stark’s Long Island HQ. 

When Tony proves too drunk to handle his Iron Man armor, Jim Rhodes dons it instead and flies out to face Magma and company. Continue reading →

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May 17, 2025 · 12:02 am

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS (1976) DARKSEID, MANHUNTER AND MORE

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist comic book post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the early stories of a 1970s DC Comics series.

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS Vol 1 #1 (Jun 1976)

Title: Attend – Or Die

Villain Roster: Captain Cold, Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd, Copperhead, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire II, the Wizard, Manhunter III, Shadow Thief and Captain Boomerang

Comment: “What are we, some kind of Secret Society of Super-Villains?” (Had to be said.)

Synopsis: Captain Cold and Mirror Master pull off a large jewel robbery and while dividing up their loot they get an invitation to join the title “Society” at a place called the Sinister Citadel in San Francisco.

Identical invitations are received by the supervillains called Gorilla Grodd, Copperhead, Sinestro and others. Everyone but Catwoman accepts. When they are all assembled in the aforementioned Citadel they meet the new woman using the Star Sapphire nom de guerre. They also meet their butler, Carstairs.

Suddenly, the Justice League members burst in and attack, but the villains fight and destroy what turn out to be robotic duplicates of the League. The costumed Manhunter III enters the room and tells the villains they passed their initiation by wiping out the robots. He calls himself a representative for their anonymous “host.”

NOTE: Their host is really Darkseid, as will be made clear soon. This third person using the Manhunter alias is one of the “evil” Paul Kirk clones whose organization the Council was thwarted by the lone “good” Paul Kirk clone, who also destroyed all the evil clones. (Paul Kirk was the original Manhunter from DC’s 1940s comic books.) Continue reading →

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