I Marvel...

[Munch]

"Stan Lee's wife Joan Lee dead at 93 after 'being hospitalised following a stroke'"

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/stan-lees-wife-joan-lee-10752047

Joan Lee, wife of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, has died aged 93.

Joan passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday. She had reportedly been hospitalised after suffering a stroke earlier this week.

"I can confirm the sad news that Joan Lee passed away this morning quietly and surrounded by her family," a spokesperson for the family said in a statement to Variety.

"The family ask that you please give them time to grieve and respect their privacy during this difficult time."

Joan, a former British hat model, married Stan on December 5, 1947. The two, who were married for 69 years, met when Stan was supposed to take her friend on a blind date.

Together, they had two children: Joan Celia (J.C.) and Jan, who died three days after her birth.

Before meeting Stan, Joan impulsively married an American soldier during World War II, in what turned out to be an unhappy relationship.

After a six-week stay in Reno, Nevada, a judge granted her divorce, and he married her and Stan in a room next door.

The newlyweds returned to New York, where Stan Lee worked for Timely/Atlas Comics, now known as Marvel Comics.

Stan co-created the Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby in 1961, with Stan citing Joan as inspiration for the then-burgeoning project.

They moved to California in 1981 so Stan could develop Marvel TV and film works. Joan did voice work on Fantastic Four as Miss Forbes and Spider-Man as Madame Web in the 1990's animated Marvel shows.

She also had a role in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse.

Joan Lee authored a novel, The Pleasure Palace, in 1987 about a man's mission to create the world's most luxurious ocean liner who simultaneously balances three romances.

aww, poor Stan :(, they'd been together so long.

I hadn't really followed much of what she did, but when I learned that she played the role of madam web from spiderman the animated series, knowing she was stan lees wife, that character always stuck with me after.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKXFLDVTVQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7EsS0WIFoU

[Hydra009]

Let Tony Stark die and be replaced by the black guy who as been close to him.

*triggered*

Marvel did the exact opposite of that.  It was...unpleasant...to say the least.

I can maybe - and I stress maybe - see Tony passing the torch to the new generation (something like Batman Beyond).  But it'd have to be one hell of a character for that change to stick for more than a couple months.

Let Mantis become a major character.

Now that I could go for.

I'm just saying don't mess with the existing origins; have the courage to make new ones.

They've done a little bit of this.  There's Silk (Asian Spider-Man expy), White Tiger (Hispanic off-brand Black Panther).  Probably others.  They're not wholly unique, but they don't displace existing characters.

Also, there are plenty of characters who were originally non-white that could easily be returned and revamped.  Portal is Native American (Darkhawk frienemy, mutant who opens portals at will and has stockpiled an impressive array of alien gadgets)

[Cavebear]

Sounds good to me...

[Munch]

Well, looks like he's back.




https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/30/16379010/marvel-wolverine-return

3 years ago, Marvel killed Wolverine. He just came back from the dead.

Wolverine is now the star of Marvel’s next big comic book event.

In 2014, Marvel did the unthinkable: It killed off Wolverine, a massively popular X-Man whose superhuman healing power should have, by all means, prevented him from dying. Wolverine’s death was a huge event, one of the rare moments where what happens in a comic book becomes mainstream pop culture news.

But now, three years later, the adamantium-enhanced mutant is back.

Marvel brought back Wolverine, a.k.a. Logan, in Marvel Legacy No. 1 this week, kicking off the next giant event in the comic book publisher’s schedule. In typical Wolverine fashion, the moment was brutal, violent, and commemorated with a murder. And in typical Marvel fashion, it wasn’t the issue’s only twist.


How Marvel killed Wolverine â€" and then brought him back from the dead
Because of how Wolverine has been showcased in movies (Hugh Jackman has made a nice career out of playing the character) and marketed as the face of the X-Men in comic books, video games, and the beloved ’90s animated TV series, the superhero has become a mainstream pop icon. He has a couple of signature features: his scruffy, shaggy hair; his adamantium claws and adamantium-laced skeleton; and his ability to heal, extremely rapidly, from just about anything. In regards to the latter, the X-Men movies have repeatedly used Wolverine’s healing power as both a gag and a storytelling device, like in X-Men: Days of Future Past when Wolverine was the member of the X-Men who was selected to go back to the past because the power would help him withstand the trauma of time travel.

So when Marvel announced that it was killing Wolverine in 2014, it set off comic book sirens. The company was killing a character who was previously thought to be unkillable, not to mention one of the most popular characters it had ever created.

The moment came to pass in the aptly named comic book miniseries The Death of Wolverine, which saw the title character’s healing ability go kaput, leaving him as vulnerable to death as the rest of the characters in the Marvel universe. It ended with the hero dying, encased in a shell of adamantium.

But in Marvel Legacy No. 1, which was released this week, Wolverine and his trademark “snikt” (the sound his claws make) crash into the story out of nowhere. He sideswipes a Frost Giant with a truck, appearing to murder said giant and collect an Infinity Stone:

The initial reveal is a shock, and it isn’t even confirmed until later in the issue that the shaggy, clawed figure is the real Wolverine and not some sort of impostor, clone, or lookalike.

We don’t know how Wolverine found the Frost Giant, who was sent by Loki, or what he intends with the Infinity Stone he now has. We also don’t really know which Infinity Stone it is (blue is traditionally the color of the “mind” stone, but the lore around the stones changed during last year’s Secret Wars crossover). It sets up a giant mystery, which no doubt will unfold little by little as Marvel’s Legacy event continues.

Wolverine’s death and his return are good stories. But they’re even better for comic sales.
The simple reason comic book characters die and are brought back to life is that comic book companies are in the business of selling comic books. Major plot events â€" wars, death, resurrections â€" drive sales.

When Wolverine met his demise, the first and second issues of The Death of Wolverine were the top-selling comic book issues of September 2014. And while we don’t have the exact sales figures from Marvel Legacy No. 1 yet, judging by hugely successful character resurrections like Peter Parker’s in 2012, it seems that Wolverine’s return and this kickoff issue for Legacy will be another top seller for Marvel.

Eliminating a beloved major character might seem like it would hurt a comic’s sales after the character’s death. The thought being that if you get rid of a fan favorite, people might stop reading ongoing stories that no longer feature the character. But Marvel has figured out a way around that dilemma.

While Wolverine has been presumed dead for the past three years, a couple different iterations of the character have lived on. One of those is Laura Kinney, a.k.a. X-23, a.k.a. the character portrayed as a Wolverine’s quasi-daughter/sidekick/clone in Fox’s critically acclaimed Wolverine movie Logan. Kinney has appeared in X-Men stories in Wolverine’s absence, as well as in her popular standalone comic All New Wolverine.

There’s also Old Man Logan, a version of Wolverine from an alternate future timeline who is, well, old. He carries with him the trauma of killing his team in that alternate future, but he’s part of the main Marvel X-Men timeline and has appeared in many different storylines. He’s currently a fixture in the X-Men: Gold comic.

By having these two characters function as Wolverine analogs and relying on their connections to the real, original Wolverine, Marvel almost cheated the character’s death a bit. While the actual Wolverine died, his spirit â€" the strange amalgam of vengeance, remorse, homicide, and humanity â€" was still around in the comics.

Now, with Legacy, Marvel will presumably bring Laura Kinney and Old Man Logan into the same story as the real Wolverine’s return. At this point, we only have the first issue to go on, so there aren’t a lot of details about how this might happen, but the story will reflect multiple generations of Marvel characters and has already promised the return of a few other familiar faces in addition to Wolverine â€" there’s another reveal at the end of the issue that I don’t want to spoil. (Additionally, Marvel has a Jean Grey resurrection comic in the works.)

But in order to keep up with the iconic character’s new adventures and find out whatever the hell he had to do to come back from the dead, fans will have to follow the Legacy event and buy the comics â€" music to Marvel’s ears.

On the one hand I'd be happy that the real wolverine, not old man logan or another alternative reality version, but the real wolverine we grew up with, is now back from the dead. But honestly, I don't trust marvel these days, and even this seems more an action to try and increase sales that have been tanking due to bad writers and stories.

We're have to see if this helps marvel recover from the hole they dug.

[SGOS]

I stopped reading the comics, back about 1993, just before the comic-book bubble collapsed. I haven't seen anything that Marvel, or anybody else, has done lately to make me start up again, especially given how expensive the damn things are now.

I'm prepared for sticker shock.  The last comic book I bought was 10 cents.  I'm pretty sure that is correct.  I can't remember ever paying anything other then 10 cents.  So how much are they now?

[Mike Cl]

I'm prepared for sticker shock.  The last comic book I bought was 10 cents.  I'm pretty sure that is correct.  I can't remember ever paying anything other then 10 cents.  So how much are they now?

I remember 10 cents, as well.  Then 12 cents.  I think the last time I bought one it was 25 cents.

[SGOS]

I remember 10 cents, as well.  Then 12 cents.  I think the last time I bought one it was 25 cents.

Now I remember that some comics would put out an occasional issue (maybe an annual spectacular) that was so big, it had a square edged binding, similar in shape to a national geographic.  They had a content perhaps 3 or 4 times that of an ordinary comic book.  I do remember those being 25 cents, and I did buy a few, but the going rate for the monthly editions was still 10 cents.

[Cavebear]

Now I remember that some comics would put out an occasional issue (maybe an annual spectacular) that was so big, it had a square edged binding, similar in shape to a national geographic.  They had a content perhaps 3 or 4 times that of an ordinary comic book.  I do remember those being 25 cents, and I did buy a few, but the going rate for the monthly editions was still 10 cents.

I started buying Marvel comics in about 1961, the first time I had enough of an allowance to actually choose what to buy at 11.  I had FF#1.   I used all my allowance for subscriptions to Spiderman, Avengers, and FF.  I had enough to fill a steamer chest.  I stayed with Marvel through college.

Then I was on my own and broke.  I sold them to pay rent and buy food.  Life is like that.

When I had a little more money than I needed, they had got a lot more expensive,  I gave up.

[trdsf]

Well, looks like he's back.

On the one hand I'd be happy that the real wolverine, not old man logan or another alternative reality version, but the real wolverine we grew up with, is now back from the dead. But honestly, I don't trust marvel these days, and even this seems more an action to try and increase sales that have been tanking due to bad writers and stories.

We're have to see if this helps marvel recover from the hole they dug.

Well, really, the only characters in comics that stay dead are Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, and Bruce Wayne's parents.  Everyone else can be brought back any time they like.  How many times has Jean Gray been killed off?

[Munch]

Well, really, the only characters in comics that stay dead are Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, and Bruce Wayne's parents.  Everyone else can be brought back any time they like.  How many times has Jean Gray been killed off?

perhaps, but honestly while I should be excited at the idea that they brought the real wolverine, not alternative reality wolverine, gender swapped wolverine, robo wolverine, none of those but the real one we've read about for decades now, while I should be excited that he's back, I look at marvel comics three years ago how it was to now, and just the idea of his character being brought back in the state marvels in now just concerns me greatly how the modern marvel writers will use it.

Bearing in mind, wolverine/logan is one of my favorite marvel comics characters, or comic characters in general, infact I'd go as far to say one of my top five favorite fictional characters. But even with that, if they fuck up his character or stories with the modern marvel writing team thats been turning fans away in droves, him being brought back won't be enough to make me come back, they've got a lot to answer for lately.

[Cavebear]

I don't like it when dead characters are returned. 

Well, I lprefer Marvel characters seeing them for college grads and think DC characters are designed for high school students.  But I admired when Superman was returned by Braniac detecting very low levels of Superman's existence.  That was at least clever.  DC has upped their game over the years.