Ask the comic guy 2

Cafe Society
161

Betty Is Dead?

When did this happen? Why?

Ranchoth

#1-Idunno.

#2- A few of Marvel’s Midnight Sons titles fit Goth culture.

   NightStalkers- A team of detectives made up of King, Drake, and Blade. You've probably seen the Wesley Snipes film based on Blade. King is a man trapped between humanity and vampirity(vampirism? vampireness? nosfertuity?). King has the powers of a Marvel Universe  vampire (OTTOMH-Mist form, control over some animals, superhuman strength, heightened senses) but none of the vulnerabilities. King does not need blood, but he still hungers for it. King dressed in Victorian clothes, complete with cloak. He also had plenty of angst. Drake is actually a distant relative of Dracula. He carries a big techno-occult gun and also dresses in antiquated clothes.

  Morbius- In the 70s, Morbius was just another brilliant scientist who'd accidentally turned himself into a monster. He was dying of a rare blood disease. His serum cured him but had extreme side effects. He became a living vampire. Then he was cured of that. Then, he relapsed to living vampireness. In this series, Morbius has found a treatment. It makes him human for several hours. But he must drink blood for the serum to work. Deciding that he's had enough tragic angst and self  pity, Morbius declares "Very well. If I must drink blood let it be the blood of the guilty, the blood of those who deserve to die." Morbius buys himself an extreme leather outfit and takes a bite out of crime. The series began with an excellent creative team. Later, Morbius was changed from a dark avenger to another whiny reluctant blood drinker(Think Nick Knight of Forever Knight crossed with Doctor Smith of Lost In Space "I'm doomed to drink blood! Oh, the pain! The pain of it all!"). With a change of artists, Morbius appearance changed from a gaunt figure with bestial characteristics to an undead Keebler elf.

From Marvel 2099-

    MetalScream- A technomage in leather jacket. Metalscream is more GothicPunk(As in White Wolf) than Goth.

  Lachryma-A Goth vampire heroine. Embraced by an undead nun, Lachryma is brought into the Sisterhood Of Tears. Their sacred mission is to protect humanity from evil supernatural forces.

Haircuts-
OMAC- A crewcut, with a mohawk in the center.

162

Shortly after the “Heroes Return” storyline. The Peter David version was simply that Betty died of massive exposure to gamma radiation. Source unknown, although it was postulated that years of exposure to Bruce might have done it. Basically, Bruce just woke up one morning and found Betty’s body falling apart. They managed to cure her, but killed her in the process (go figure).

PAD’s final issue was depressingly freaky. Banner seemed to resign himself to having an accursed life and just sorta took off. The issue closed with hints that the Hulk was well on his way to becoming his evil future self, the Maestro. (That’s a whole 'nother can of worms.)

Then Joe Casey took over. Personally, part of me wished they’d ended the Hulk’s story right there (although you get a faboo Hulk epilogue in “Hulk: The End” by PAD). Casey slightly retconned PAD’s ending by revealing 1) that Betty was never cremated, but sitting in suspended animation somewhere (comebacks are inevitable), and 2) the Abombination, a 1000-lb., ass-ugly gamma monster, had somehow managed to sneak into the Banners’ military installation and expose Betty to his own blood, killing her.

Banner’s gotten revenge on the Abombination. Twice now. And 'bomby can now say, “Hey, but I killed your wife” every time they clash.

For the short of it, I recommend reading either those final Hulk issues of PAD’s (#466ish, I think) or the “Beauty and the Behemoth” paperback, and Hulk: The End.

163

A coupla quick questions…

First…was the term “dolt” supposed to be like a really bad insult, in older comics?

And second…are there any superheros with full beards? What about supervillains?

164

Ranchoth:

“Dolt” means “idiot”…it’s a genuine word, not a made-up comic book one.

In DC, there’s Chief from the Doom Patrol and Star Boy during the Levitz era of the Legion of Super-Heroes. And Aquaman, for a while. In Marvel, Thor had one for a while, as did two of the Warriors Three.

In Marvel: Doctor Faustus and Nicholas Scratch come to mind.

165

I know that…it’s just that the context of it’s usage seems a little “odd” at times. It’s like the characters are using “dolt” in place of “the 12 letter ‘M’ word.”