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The MISFIT CHARACTERS of MARVEL

(... and Why I Love Them: Part 4)

Okay, then: seeing as how this segment is (judging from all of the e-mail hereabouts, at any rate) one of the most popular of the attractions currently available, here beneath the Silver Age circus big top -- I figured it was probably just about time for another installment.

One of my absolute, all-time favorite career second-raters in the Marvel Universe -- even if I have teased him relentlessly, elsewhere on this site -- is a gent by the name of "Red Wolf."

Bopping the bejeesus out of bad guys back in the days of the Old West, Red Wolf -- in reality, Fort Rango cavalry scout "Johnny Wakely"; often referred to, by his fellow tribesmen, as "Owayodata" ("Wolf Spirit") -- dispensed justice in the name of "Wakan Tanka" ("The Great Spirit"), in a short-lived series that was quite... well... spirited, actually. [*Rimshot*] )

Lushly and evocatively penciled by departed comics great Syd Shores [see picture, above], the stories often revolved around the relentless, oceanic swells and tides of tension between the soldiers of Fort Rango; the surrounding American Indian tribes; and the Red Wolf, himself -- never fully welcomed (or even trusted) by those within either encampment.

The story in issue #1 -- "A Thunder of War Drums" -- is aptly illustrative, here. Three Sioux braves are gunned down in cold blood by an unsavory lot of ranchers, who suspected their victims of having trespassed on their land.

However: it turns out that one of the three Sioux hadn't perished, along with his tribesmen, after all; he'd merely been wounded, instead. (And at point blank range, no less! You go, Wakan Tanka -- !!!)

He gets word of the atrocity to the Red Wolf; the Wolf, in turn -- aided and abetted by his faithful pet and sidekick, "Lobo," who's also a wolf ( a "for real" wolf, I mean) -- tracks down the butchers; and brings them in for jury trial, over at Fort Rango...

... only to stand, stunned and disbelieving, as the sitting judge for said trial refuses to "try a white man for murder... on th' word of an Injun!"

The final panel shows a solemn and pensive Johnny Wakely, scanning the horizon for some sign, somewhere, that justice might someday prevail for all men, west of the Rockies...

... and then (if I had been writing the series) he gets up; finds himself a gleeful and unrepentent rancher; and gets medieval on said lout with that big, honkin' coup stick he was always totin' about. I'm just sayin', here, is all. )

... and -- speaking of Savage and Unrelenting Retribution (which I do believe we were, as a matter of fact) -- there's one of my all-time favorite Marvel ladies: THE VALKYRIE.

The spirit of a displaced Asgardian "Chooser of the Slain," inhabiting the body of presumed-to-be-but- not-quite-dead Barbara Norris -- it's a long story, people; trust me on this one -- the Valkyrie holds the signal honor of having served as the "linchpin" for practically every DEFENDERS line-up since that team's inception.

Whenever drawing forth her enchanted broadsword ("Dragonfang") from where it lay sheathed, invisibly, at her hip... the Valkyrie would instantly assume her costumed persona, and promptly set about to Sundering the Unsavory with a cheery sort of vengefulness [see pictures, abovve and below].

Now, I grant you: a very little bit of this sort of thing can go a long, loooonnnnng way, ninety-nine times out of every hundred, certainly. And, the Good Lord only knows, no died-in-the-mylar Silver Age junkie such as myself is ever going to champion the cause for more blood-crazed and gore-splattered so-called "heroes" than we have on the comics scene nowadays -- ! ("Obsessive" and "hag-ridden," a la the Batman: no hey problema. Stacking the bodies like so much cordwood, in the current "Spawn" or "Wolverine" mode, on the other hand...? Nope. Sorry. Nope. Can't deal.)

However: as the accompanying page demonstrates... the Valkyrie was an odd and altogether winning combination of combativeness and (quite often, when least expected) compassion. This was largely (read: solely) due to the literate and and meticulous groundwork laid out on behalf of the character by penultimate DEFENDERS scribe, Steve Gerber.

The undisputed "high point" of his work with the Valkyrie in said magazine came with the "Valkyrie In Prison" sub-plot, near the tail-end of his tenure on same; a sub-plot which quickly took on a hopelessly deranged sort of life all its own. [See pictures, below]

After dispatching (although not in the, ummmm, ultimate sense of the word) of a super-villain-type menace in the midst of a jam-packed downtown Manhattan eaterie, the Valkyrie is taken into custody by police officers who -- quite frankly -- don't know the sullen and reclusive Defender from Ingrid Bergman. Not having any real, temporal "identity" of her own -- hence: no Social Security number, or any other means by which she may prove she is who she claims to be -- the woman warrior is unceremoniously lobbed into the Stygian darkness of the notorious New York City "women's penal system."

Riffing madly away on every old, "B"-movie "women in prison" cliche you can think of -- think: "Jimi Hendrix, shredding 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock," here -- writer Gerber proceeds to have Our Heroine run afoul of a swinish "Cell Block Bessie"-type; antagonize a sexually-predatory prison warden; and -- I know you could see this one coming -- end up the unwilling "polestar" in the midst of a full-scale, all-out (waaaaaaiiiiiit for it) women's prison riot -- !!!

It was kinda sorta like a Roger Corman flick... only with better dialogue, and actual characters. )

My beloved Valkyrie fell upon hard, hard times, shortly after the talented Mr. Gerber finally bid the DEFENDERS comic a reluctant "adieu." Lesser scriveners than he (and when I use the term "lesser," in this instance... I'm talking the goodbye-and-good-riddance likes of "David Kraft" and"Ed Hannigan," here." "Lesser" is just my way of being kind, is all. Not to mention non-actionable, legally.) took up the character, upon being assigned the title... gave her a quick, cursory once-over... and promptly relegated her to the background, in favor of such "winner" character concepts as "the Hellcat" and "Lunatik." (Who...?) )

However: it certainly isn't every comics heroine -- Lord knows -- of whom it may truthfully be averred, in the final anlaysis: "By God... now this is the character 'Wonder Woman' should have become!" And that's not so despairing a legacy, really, when you get right down to it.

(Actually -- now that I think of it -- I suppose you could make that very selfsame claim about, say, Captain America. Or Superman. People will probably look at you a little funny, sure... buuuuuuuut... ) )

In any event: the character is still kicking about in the Marvel Universe, somewhere. Like the aforementioned Red Wolf: she deserves another chance at comics super-stardom. I mean -- gee whiz -- how many "X"-books does a body really need, y'know...? )

OTHER SIGNIFICANT MARVEL TITLES of the Silver Age
PAGE ONE: The Defenders

MONSTERS, HEROES AND GOOD/BAD MEN
PAGE THREE (Jonah Hex)

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