Archangel by Art Adams

The Angel by Ron Frenz and Keith Williams

Angel by Bob McLeod

The X-Men and The Danger Room by Walt Simonson

Grabbed from the Walt Simonson Appreciation Society Facebook page

Okay. Let’s be clear. I am never drawing this damn room again! Ever. Pencil. 10.5 x 11. 2013. 

- Walt Simonson

1984 - Anatomy of a cover - New Defenders #127

http://www.coollinesartwork.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=292853&ArtistId=586&Details=1&From=Room

1980: Marvel's Two Writing One part V: Toadies, Tiaras and Thundras... Oh my!

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the fifth part of Marvel's Two Writing One, the writing duo of Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio decide to shake things up by doing several oneshots that wrapped up a number of long running threads. This resulted in stories featuring Thundra, the Angel, Hyperion and the Toad... Y'know, certified sales boosters.

"My name is Thundra, Sandman... not "crazy dame!"

Full disclosure: I love Thundra.

Don't ask me why, but I've been fascinated by this 23rd century alternate Earth uberfeminist ever since I first saw her in the pages of Fantastic Four # 148. For a character that hasn't appeared in more than 50 comics ever since her introduction back in 1972, Thundra's appeal has proven remarkably lasting. Heck, I cheered when she of all possible characters got introduced in the free Avengers Alliance game on Facebook.

But wait a minute... A tiara wearing, super powered princess from a world where women rule... using her durable, metal chain as her weapon of choice... That certainly has a familiar ring to it, now doesn't it?

Remind you of anyone?

Gruenwald and Macchio seemed to share this affection for Thundra and gave her a meaty role in their Marvel Two In One run. Their take on the character was a tragic one: she felt alone and adrift in this world, longing for the Thing's love but getting spurned by Ben at every turn. She lacked a purpose in life, and that's when she was contacted by the mysterious Nth Command. This shadowy cabal of business men promised Thundra a gift that would mean the world to her, if she helped destroy Project Pegasus during the appropriately titled Project Pegasus saga

In the end, Thundra sided with Ben and the others in defeating the Nth Man, but there was still the matter of the Nth Command and just what they promised Thundra. That was resolved in # 67.

Why, yes, that is Hyperion next to Thundra. Or, rather, *a* Hyperion. The history of this alternate reality Superman analogue is complicated at best. Suffice to say, he was recruited by the Nth Command to bring Thundra back so she could get her reward.

"I have been informed that you have a device which can return me to the alternate Earth that is my home."

Ah, so thát's what they meant with 'a gift that means the world'. Using the Nth projector, Thundra would be able to return to her home dimension. One has to wonder if the projector can also transport people through time, considering Thundra hails from three centuries in the future. 

But let's not get too nitpicky, it's commendable enough that Gruenwald and Macchio went through the effort to pick established characters. It would have been far easier to just come up with new ones, but they choose bespectacled business man Albert DeVoor, a Fantastic Four character involved with travelling to alternate realities... And the tiny scienitist is Abner Doolittle, better known as Brother Wonderful of the Night People, from Jack Kirby's seminal Captain America run.

Still, the story is a little odd. The Nth Command offers Thundra a trip home, free of charge. They're not making any demands or 'one final mission and you can go...' cliches. They even prove to her the process is safe when Doolittle uses the projector to pop into her dimension.

Yet, she grabs the device and attempts to take off with it, shooting everyone who stands in her way to lord knows where... Doesn't work on Hyperion, though.

"I'm faster than a speeding bullet!"

Careful there Hypes, you're dangerously close to committing a... super... case of copyright violation. 

The fight between Hyperion and Thundra eventually moves to the streets of New York, where... wouldn't ya know it... Ben Grimm just happened to walk by. But the Thing was in no mood for a fight. Back in issue # 64 he had broken up with his longtime girlfriend Alicia Masters because he feared for her safety. Realising what a fool he was, Ben went to her appartment to make up, just in time to see this:

"It's Alicia... But who's that guy with her? They're doin' a lotta laughing' an' lookin' at one another, real friendly"

Lookin' at one another? ... Erm, Ben, she's blind, remember? Still, let's get back to the fighting. While Ben does his best to hold off the vastly more powerful Hyperion, the Nth Command has sent some flunkies with high tech weapons to stop Thundra from escaping with the Nth Projector. It's an invaluable piece of equipment that should not be damaged in any way.

That's why they do this...

"Instantly, thousands of volts course through the grav-mesh, forcing the struggling Thundra helplessly to the pavement"

Yeah... thousands of volts usually tend to fry my equipment, though. Not to mention the amount of artificial gravity generated necessary to hold a super powered Femizonian down would be enough to crush any device. 

Ignoring that pesky bit of logic, the issue ends with Hyperion admitting he has feelings for Thundra, who is a little too busy setting up the Nth Projector to return her home... But not before saying goodbye to her unrequieted love.

"She's gone! I had my chance an' I passed it up. She slipped away, an' I just stood here and watched."

Sheesh, Ben... way to make it all about you. So you've lost two women in one day. Plenty of fish in the sea, right? That's why issue # 68 started with the Human Torch dragging Ben to a disco. After all, what better way to enjoy your newfound single status. Heck, Ben even showed up wearing a John Travolta Saturday Night Fever inspired outfit...

Only to feel sorry for himself once again and leave the dancefloor to get a drink at the bar. There, he ran into Warren Worthingon, better known as this issue's guest star: the high flying Angel.

"Mission has gone as programmed, master"

Warren and Ben get gassed and wake up in, as the cover blurb claimed, the dungeon of doom. Actually, that's not entirely inaccurate: the heroes were taken to the replica of Doctor Doom's Latverian castle the villain had built in the Adirondacks a few years ago. 

"You two have been brought here to play a game for the master's amusement. The game is somple: all you have to do is escape from this castle alive!"

But it wasn't Doom they were facing in this story that seems to have inspired slasher movie franchises like Hostel and Saw. Or even Arcade, who was already well known for toying with his victims before their inevitable termination. No, after smashing through weird traps, Thing and Angel finally came face to face with the big bad... Toad?

"The terrible Toad-King!"

After leaving the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants where Magneto treated him like a joke, the Toad had been trying to prove himself as a man ánd a supervillain. He used the powers of the Stranger a while back in Avengers # 137, rechristening himself 'the Toad King' (that never stuck) and now was ready to make it big in the assassination business.

He had purchased all this equipment from a certain 'Mr. A' (for Arcade, obviously) who also helped him install everything... like those iron toadstools and the robot Scarlet Witch he had for a companion. Nah, that's not creepy at all.

Toad tried to kill Angel and Thing with all the gadgets he had equipped his mechanical swamp with... and he almost succeeded too, if not for one little telephone call.

"Uh, yes? But... you can't. I need time! You promised...! Hello...?"

Poor Mortimer, his financial backer Mister A wanted to get paid for services rendered... But Toad didn't have a proverbial pot to piss in, that's why he did the one thing a supervillain is never supposed to do... Cry. A lot.

"I've never been able to kill anyone, not even those who deserved it. I'm just a failure..."

Releasing his superhero captives, Toad is ready to give up... But the ever clever Angel had a great idea: you have a medieval style castle loaded with tons of robots and other animatronic figures, surrounded by pristine real estate... Why not make like Disney and open an amusement park?

No sooner said than done...

However, Toadland didn't exactly last very long. In May of 1981, the X-men fought Doctor Doom and Arcade there in Uncanny X-men # 145, while in November of that same year John Byrne had the FF taken there for their classic Liddleville simulation in Fantastic Four # 234's Terror In A Tiny Town.

From amusement park to existential death trap... Guess Walt Disney was right: "It's a small world after all..."

In part VI of Marvel's Two Writing One: The Guardians of the Galaxy, Mr. Fantastic and those other two...

1983 - Anatomy of a cover - Uncanny X-Men #169

Here's the original cover:

And here's the unpublished version, which I like a lot more... interesting choice to go with the one with the big rat rather than the cover that has the X-Men on it!

John Byrne - Uncanny X-Men vs. The Imperial Guard

If anyone is looking for a Christmas Gift for me...

From the collection of Scott Green (http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=943056&GSub=45436):

1989 - X-Factor headshots for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

From the Walt Simonson's Facebook albums:

"X-Factor's original members. Pencil. 9.5 x 15. 1989??. Found this as I was rummaging around for something else. These are the pencils for the portraits of the characters that appeared in the X-Factor entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. (Thanks to various folks who were able to identify the drawings, where I was clueless. )"

And here's the published version:

Guest Blog: 1983 - The New Defenders (Part One)

The New Defenders: Teaming up the Non-Team Part One
By: Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

Anyone remember the time some of the founding X-Men fought crime alongside a demon? On a team led by a woman with no super powers?

No, not the Champions of Los Angeles…. The New Defenders. The year is 1983 and J.M. DeMatteis decided to reinvent the non-team by turning it into… well, a team. And what a team it was! Having Beast, Iceman and Angel team up with Valkyrie, the demonic geriatric Gargoyle, the  hermaphroditic Cloud and  a rather reluctant Moondragon? It should have bombed horribly. But it didn’t. Reason enough to take a fond look back at the New Defenders…

So, how did this new and improved Defenders team come about? DeMatteis had been writing the title for a number of years, penning his usual psycho-analytical stories on the meaning of life and the human condition, when he slowly started working towards ridding himself of the team’s founding fathers Hulk, Doctor Strange, Namor and Silver Surfer.

This resulted in a convoluted storyline that convinced the four of them that their continued adventuring together would lead to the inevitable destruction of Earth. Buying into this, the foursome showed up at the end of issue #125, to dovetail a tale that also saw long-time Defenders Hellcat and Hellstrom married off. They were right on time to give the new team their blessing.

This left a new core team consisting of Angel, Beast, Iceman, Valkyrie, Gargoyle and, of all people… Moondragon. It soon became clear DeMatteis clearly was most fond of this snooty bald telepath and she quickly became the breakout character of the book.

Most of her appeal came from the fact she didn’t even want to be there. Moondragon had been judged by the Asgardian ruler Odin himself after she had enslaved an entire alien race over in Avengers. Odin’s verdict was simple: Moonie was to relearn humanity and the meaning of humility. Not exactly an easy process.
He created a mystical headband that severely limited her mental abilities and caused great pain whenever she tried to use more of her powers. The headband would only come off once Moondragon had been taught humility.

Making sure  she would learn this lesson, Odin placed her in the care of long-time Defender Valkyrie. Returning to Earth with Val, Moondragon reluctantly joined the team. Her trademark arrogance quickly became a bitter sort of comic relief when her abilities proved no longer equal to her notorious bluster and bravado.

Fortunately, the mistress of the mind was determined to make the best of the situation. Sure, she was no longer able to control the minds of the masses… but all she needed was a few good men. She began to subtly alter the minds of the male members of the team, trying to make them  fall in love with her so she might persuade them to remove the headband.

Speaking of the Defenders’ male members… The presence of so many founding X-men on the team, allowed DeMatteis to examine just how they had evolved since the early days at Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. The Beast, the eldest of the three, was looking for new ways to reinvent himself as he had matured beyond the blue-furred class clown. Angel was also looking for a deeper meaning to life, having grown tired of the playboy millionaire shtick. And under DeMatteis’ tutelage, Iceman was reinvented as a graduated accountant who found his chosen line of profession dull beyond words and felt forced to crunch numbers in order to appease his parents who simply couldn’t stand his superheroing.

DeMatteis wrote the three mutants as older, more experienced people. They were the best of friends thanks to their shared experiences as X-men, but their individual paths in life had showed them being a superhero wasn’t necessarily the be all and end all of existence. A refreshing change of pace at the time.

Complimenting the roster was the Gargoyle, aka Isaac Christiaans, an old Defender and one of DeMatteis’ original creations. He proved an excellent vehicle for the writer’s interest in introspective tales on ageing, regret, the despair of roads not taken and accepting the inevitable. After all, if a 78 year old man sells his soul to the devil and gets trapped in the body of an immortal gargoyle, there are quite a few stories to tell. Yet, it was a change he actually took in stride. Gargoyle even found new love with the Defenders’ housekeeper Dolly… Yet even Isaac got the hots for Moondragon.

This subplot was ever present during the team’s first adventure.  A mysterious force was causing trouble for Nick Fury and SHIELD, so Beast, eager to prove the new Defenders’ worth, volunteered to help Fury out. They soon discovered the culprits were  Professor Power and the Secret Empire. But before the Defenders got to Power himself, they had to face off against Mad Dog and his Mutant Force, the gargantuan Leviathan and even the Mandroids. During all this, Moondragon took every opportunity to shine and impress…

Eventually, they confronted Power and the Empire… And lost. Capturing the team, Power decided to use them as pawns in his ongoing revenge against professor Xavier. Power still believed Xavier was responsible for the fate of his son Matthew, a young man who was rendered comatose during a fight Xavier had with the evil telepath Mentallo.

Power, his mind transferred to the fit body of his son, planned to take Xavier’s ‘children’ from him as well by having the Defenders kill the New Mutants. Still, Power hadn’t considered Moondragon’s powers, trying to control someone who once ruled several billion minds is like trying to drown water. She saw through the ruse and was essential in Power’s eventual downfall... Crossing a line few heroes ever dared cross.

On a sidenote: thematically, DeMatteis was able to tie this plot point into the storyline of Beast, Angel and Iceman pondering  how their lives had changed since their days at Xavier’s. They were no longer teenagers let alone students or young heroes in training. For better or worse, they had come into their own…

This realization could have provided DeMatteis with plenty of new stories to tell, but he actually left with # 131, handing over the reigns to Peter B. Gillis. Existing subplots like Moondragon’s scheming were taken into new, unexpected territories as the tone of the book shifted from the introspective to the bizarre and horrific. More on that in part two of The New Defenders: Teaming Up The Non-Team.

1986 - Early Archangel design by Walt Simonson

From Walt Simonson's Facebook albums:

"Very early Archangel design drawing. Maybe the earliest."

"It's the original color sketch done to show the colorist what I had in mind for the character's costume and look. The drawing was done with felt tip and magic marker on typewriter paper. I modified the red slashing in Archangel's final design somewhat, but stayed with the color itself in the final scheme."

"A more finished Archangel design. Pretty much done I think. The yellow color is really an artifact of Photoshop. The original, again on typewriter paper, is just pencil on white paper. But age and Photoshop combined to make it look a bit like a Leonardo da Vinci drawing. (I wish!) Ah, that Leonardo. Really ahead of his time!"

Bob McLeod's X-Men in the Danger Room