MARVELous Wisconsin

Our search for the Wisconsin state superhero, which was begun in the last installment of the Hero’s Hangout, will now take us to the Marvel Universe. The reason for this is that the Marvel map of the state of Wisconsin is dotted with superheroes all over the place: some powerful, some cool, some interesting, some just really strange and weird.

Mark Gruenwald

The late, great Mark Gruenwald is actually not a superhero, but he was a super comic book writer and editor. He came from Oshkosh, Wisconsin and was a very respected editor-in-chief at Marvel, who died in 1996 while he was still working there. He was in fact such an integral part of Marvel that when he died, he was cremated and his ashes were mixed into the ink used to print the last comics he was ever involved with! While the Marvel Universe is largely credited to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, The Wisconsin territory of Marvel belongs to Gruenwald, who paid tribute to his home state by creating many of the following characters or at least overseeing their introduction while serving as editor, although Wisconsin has been blessed to have many comics creators come from this state and pay homage to their heritage as well. But Gruenwald’s contribution is so significant that this column is dedicated in his memory.

Thor

While Thor is a superhero, he is not only not from Wisconsin, but not from this dimension, being from Asgard! However, I once read an issue of Thor where he (In the guise of the character who would later become Thunder Strike who was filling in for the regular Thor) had to come to Wisconsin and even flew over Wausau! So while he does not qualify to be the Wisconsin state hero, let’s give him a special shout out anyway.

D.P.7

D.P.7 (Displaced Persons 7) was one of the core titles of Marvel’s short lived New Universe line that existed in the 80s. Thus they are not a part of the regular Marvel Universe, but they were all from the Fox Valley area, which includes Oshkosh, and they were created and written by Mark Gruenwald. D.P.7 is very arguably the most successful series from the New Universe line. It is about seven Wisconsinites who are radically transformed by a cosmic event and given super powers. If any one deserves super powers, it’s definitely us Wisconsin people, but the New Universe no longer exists and thus neither does D.P.7, so we are going to stick with the mainstream Marvel Universe from here on in.

Hannibal King

Hannibal King is an old character from the Tomb of Dracula, Blade, and Nightstalkers titles. He is a supernatural detective who was made a vampire and gained some of the benefits, but through sheer will power refused to give in to the affliction and would not consummate his vampiracy by taking a human life.Thus he is straddling two worlds and has been an ally of Blade’s. Also, he happens to come from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, though the state is not a large part of his story. He was portrayed in the third Blade movie by Ryan Reynolds,albeit comedically while the real Hannibal King is very serious. Hannibal King is a very cool character, but he is more of the horror/suspense genre than that of the superhero.

The Sentinel

The Sentinel debuted in 2002 and was created by Wisconsin native Sean McKeever. The Sentinel was part of Marvel’s Tsunami line, which was designed to appeal to fans of Japanese Manga. Of course, what better place to evoke Japanese culture than Antigo in Central Wisconsin, where the story takes place?! For those who are confused, yes, I am talking about the Sentinels from the X-Men series, the big mutant hunting robots. However, this is an old, discarded Sentinel who winds up in a junkyard in Antigo, Wisconsin. He is found by a poor, lonely boy genius who rebuilds and reprograms him and two become buddies and have to go on the run together to avoid the robot’s being found. I’m sorry though, but despite his reformation, we cannot give the Wisconsin title to someone with mutant hunting in their past. Disqualified.

The Great Lakes Avengers

Here comes a tricky one. The Great Lakes Avengers are a group of Super Heroes who are based out of Milwaukee. Unlike most of these characters, however, they were not created by someone from Wisconsin, but by John Byrne, who is from Canada. This is significant because Byrne was apparently tired of people making fun of Canada and decided to point the finger at Wisconsin instead. He decided to create a Wisconsin version of the Avengers, which was really meant to be a joke on us. This team formed by responding to an ad in a newspaper! They are mostly rediculous superheroes such as Door Man (whose power is that people can walk through him) and Flat Man (a completely flat and flamboyantly gay guy). It even has a character named Dinah Soar, a dinosaur (get it? groan) who somehow wound up in Milwaukee. Perhaps the most interesting member of the group, however, is Big Bertha. Big Bertha is a beautifu supermodel named Ashley Crawford. This is apparently a play on Cindy Crawford who actually comes to Wisconsin quite often as she has relatives here. Howver, Big Bertha has a Mutant ability to spontaneously generate a tremendous amount of fat cells, giving her powers and appearance similar to the Blob. In order to go back to her normal self though, she has to vomit out the fat, making her perhaps the only super hero to have a form of bolemia. Some well known super heroes have actually joined this team. Hawkeye and Mockingbird from the real Avengers were trying to whip them into shape at one point to try to maintain the integrity of the Avengers name, but ended up presenting the team with a cease and desist order to stop using their name. Deadpool also once joined the team as a reserve member, but was kicked out. He tried dating Big Bertha in fact, but it didn’t work out as he was only sexually attracted to her in her obese form. The team is currentlty representing the state of Wisconsin as part of the Fifty State Initiative, which grants every state in the union protection by giving them their own Avengers team. Now, ok. There ours and we love them for that, but seriously, I think these guys need to be sent to Minnesota or some place. There aren’t many superheroes there and Wisconsin has a lot better to draw from.

Next month I will present seven Wisconsin characters that would make a much better Wisconsin Avengers team. Their nomination will also include the character who will be nominated for the coveted State Superhero title.