Saturday Showcase: Man-Wolf

 

Greetings Comic Lovers,

Tis the season to get our scare on so my Saturday Showcases for the month of October will deal with the "thrilling" side of comics.  For today's post I decided to focus on a classic Spider-Man "villain" who is not utilized enough in the Marvel Universe in my opinion. So, without further delay, I present to you my showcase on the being known as the Man-Wolf.

To understand the plight of the Man-Wolf, you need to understand his beginnings.  You see John Jonah Jameson III is the son of The Daily Bugle's John Jonah Jameson Junior. Jonah is immensely proud of his son, whom he sees as a true hero. I mean his son was an astronaut, however his first mission was almost a failure if it was for being saved by Spider-Man when his craft malfunctioned on re-entry*. Which ticked Jonah off to say the least.  [*ASM #1 Jay]

Fast forward a few years an we find John is on another mission in space, this time on the Moon.  While he was on the Moon, Jameson found the mystical Godstone, an other-dimensional ruby.  The jewel grafted itself to his throat (Later, he eventually made it appear as if it was  a pendant and started wearing it around his neck) and extended tendrils through his body. Moonlight activated the gem, which transformed him into the lycanthropic Man-Wolf.  While in this form, he fought Spider-Man several times and lost.  The ruby was eventually removed by Spider-Man.

Some time after that, the ruby was reattached to Jameson by Morbius the Living Vampire who used the Man-Wolf as a pawn so that Morbius could find a cure for his condition. The Man-Wolf was again defeated by Spider-Man.

John would come to the realization that Spider-Manis not the enemy that his dad made him out to be. In fact he would ask his dad to take it easy on Spidey in the papers. John would also go on to team up with Spider-Man in some situations. Spidey, isn't the only hero that the Man-Wolf has clashed with.  He also had some battles with Hell Cat and the She-Hulk.  Later in life, we find out that John and She-Hulk were dating and all was right in the world...temporarily.  

Eventually, John went back to working for the military, he even had a short stint with the Agents of Wakanda.   We really haven't heard much since then.  I want to know why.  The Man-Wolf could easily be made into a series for Disney and Marvel Studios.  The stories of John on space would be a huge hit and then he could do guest spots on other shows like Moon Knight and dare I say...She-Hulk. Anyway, that is some food for thought.

Publication Information

Publisher:  Marvel Comics

First Appearance:  The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March 1963)

John Jameson Created by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko 

Man-Wolf Created by Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas

In-Story Information

Alter Ego:  John Jonah Jameson III

Species: Human (normal form) & Werewolf (the Man-Wolf and the Stargod)

Place of Origin: New York City

Team Affiliations: Agents of Wakanda

                                Symbiote Task Force

Supporting Characters: Spider-Man, Captain America, & She-Hulk

Notable Aliases:  Colonel Jupiter, Man-Wolf, the Stargod, Carnage

Abilities:

Skilled Pilot and Astronaut

Experienced hand-to-hand combatant

Use of various weapons

(As Colonel Jupiter):

Superhuman strength, durability, agility, stamina, jumping and leaping

Enhanced size

(As the Man-Wolf):

Superhuman strength, speed, agility and durability

Enhanced senses

Accelerated healing factor

Large razor-sharp claws and teeth

Lunar empowerment

(As the Stargod):

Vast superhuman strength

High-level durability

Cosmic and telepathic powers

Self-sustenance

Wears scale mail armor

Uses a broadsword, dagger, and longbow and arrows as weapons

Until next time, get your READ on!

Saturday Showcase: Evil Ernie

Evil Ernie (Dynamite Entertainment)

    Nothing says Halloween more than a good scare and it doesn't get more scary in the world of comics than Evil Ernie.  Evil Ernie is an undead psychotic killer comic-book character created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes in 1991 and originally published by Eternity Comics.  The comic was then published by CHAOS! Comics in 1993 then moved on to Devil's Due in 2005.  Evil Ernie is now property of the Dynamite Entertainment publishing company.

   
    Evil Ernie was born Ernest Fairchild.  Ernest was born with supernatural powers.  Basically, whatever he sketched eventually came to life.  He drew a car crashing into a tree and his mother ends up wrecking her car into a tree and had a miscarriage.  This lead to her going slightly insane and Ernest's parents blamed him for everything and abused him for it.  After years of physical and mental abuse, Ernest grew stronger.  Finally, he was under observation by one Dr. Price, who thought he could cure "Ernie" of his problems.  While in "captivity" Ernest made a connection with Lady Death during one of his mental breaks to the netherworld.  He was convinced that he was Lady Death's instrument of destruction.  He fooled everyone to believe he was cured only to kill his parents and thirty five others before Dr. Price shot and captured him.

    During his second batch of treatments, he was killed and Lady Death was able to bring him back thus Evil Ernie was born.  As Evil Ernie, he brought death and destruction to his universe, eventually causing the annihilation of his Earth. Not often do you see a comic go that far, but yup, Evil Ernie destroyed all in his path and no one could stop him.

Smiley made me do it.

Evil Ernie's Abilities include:

Telepathy

Near-limitless Regenerative Ability

Superhuman Strength

Ability to animate and control dead bodies

Manipulation of Arcane Energy

Future Art Illustration

Mindscape Materialization

    So, like I said earlier, it doesn't get scarier in the world of comics than Evil Ernie.  Your parents told you the story of the boogeyman, well Ernie is what the Boogeyman fears.  Until next time, good night and good haunt.

And as always, get your READ on!