Tag Archives: Casper

Harvey Comics vs. Marvel Comics

Introduction

What would happen if the heroes of the Harvey Comics universe meet their equivalents in the Marvel universe?  That is the goal of this article.  The challenge is finding the Harvey Comic equivalent character in the very different Marvel universe.  Also, the Harvey Comic character deserves to meet the most famous equivalent character.  Marvel characters that had their own title are considered more important than characters that did not have their own title.  If more than one character type had their own title then the character that had more impact on the history of the Marvel universe is picked as the “adversary” for the Harvey character.

1) Archibald the Talking Wishing Well vs. Cosmic Cube

As I stated in Harvey Comics vs. DC, I have a soft spot for objects with sentience and even wrote a book on the subject called Household Fables.  Archibald the Talking Wishing Well is a sentient magical object and deserves to fight another sentient magical object.  Hot Stuff’s trident is also sentient and capable of doing magic.

The following Marvel inanimate objects possess sentience: Cosmic Cube, Krimonn the Power Prism, Resurrection Stone, the Bottle Imp, and the Sword in the Star.  The cosmic cube is one of the most important objects in the Marvel universe and far, far, far more important than the other objects listed.  The Cosmic Cube evolves to sentience and becomes Kubik.  Kubik travels to the Harvey universe and is quite amused.  Kubik wanders the enchanted forest and comes upon Archibald the Talking Wishing Well.  The two actually have a lot in common.  Both provide wishes.  Kubik can provide wishes on a global scale and Archibald can only create objects and not even change events.  Kubik decides to grant Archibald a wish!  Archibald asks to be human for a day.

Kubik and Archibald travel to Spooky Town and scare the ghosts.  They wander to Deviland and get a lava bath, courtesy of invulnerability provided by Kubik.   Kubik and Archibald watch the none stop fights between ogres in Ogreville.  Goblin Gulch is more a forest than a town and there isn’t much to see so they leave quickly.  Archibald visits Wendy at Witch Way.  Archibald starts to turn back into a wishing well.  Kubik says goodbye and leaves Archibald where he found him.  Being human makes Archibald reflect on how horrible his existence really is.  A strange carriage made of metal with a cannon attached to the top clanks towards Archibald.

2) Baby Huey vs. Howard the Duck

The anthropomorphic animals of Marvel include Howard the Duck, Spider Ham, Super Rabbit and Top Dog. Spider Ham is a parody of Spider-Man.  I deal with this subject in more detail at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/

Baby Huey is an anthropomorphic duck.  Howard the Duck is Marvel’s foremost anthropomorphic duck well their only anthropomorphic duck unless you count the inhabitants of Howard’s world who are of the same species.  Thog the Overmaster had previously kidnapped Howard the Duck from his own dimension and brought to the Marvel human dimension.  Thog the Overmaster is not pleased at all the success Howard the Duck has had and is jealous of Howard’s relationship since Thog has never been able to attract hot chicks.  Thog decides the ultimate torture is to dump Howard into a dimension of sentient ducks that are basically idiots.  Howard is dumped in Duckville were he meets Baby Huey.  Howard shares his cynical existential philosophy with the inhabitants of Duckville and one by one they commit suicide until Howard is alone, so very alone….

3) Casper vs. Homer the Happy Ghost

Marvel only has two real ongoing ghostcharacters: Dead Girl, Homer the Happy Ghost.  There is a bad guy named Ghost that can turn himself and objects invisible or intangible but he does this trick with a battle suit and is basically a techy rather than supernatural being.  Homer the Happy Ghost on the other hand was created by Marvel, then Atlas, in direct response to Casper.  Homer actually lasted 22 issues in the fifties and there was an attempt to revive the character in the seventies.  The second run only lasted 4 issues.

Homer is basically Casper with an ectoplasmic cow lick.  Homer even has a ghost buddy with a derby just like Spooky, Casper’s friend, called Dugan.  Zelda was the Homer good little witch version of Wendy.  Homer was happy not friendly like Casper.  The Homer universe did include Melvin the mixed up ghost, a total idiot, and perhaps Melvin was supposed to give Homer the pathos that the Ghostly Trio provided in the Casper stories.  Homer escapes from Marvel comic book limbo and ends up in Harvey comic book limbo.  Casper and Homer become best of friends and have a happy relationship.  Casper remembers his horse Nightmare that disappeared now and then but Homer soon causes him to forget about Nightmare.

4) Hot Stuff the Little Devil vs. Daimon Hellstrom

Hot Stuff is called a devil but does not go around tempting weak mortals but generally causing the primitive chaotic havoc one associates with demons in Dungeons and Dragons. This is important when dealing with the Marvel universe since this universe does differentiate between demons and devils unlike the DC universe but is not as consistent as Dungeons and Dragons.  Actually I think the naming system of Dungeons and Dragons was copied by Marvel minus any of the logic used by Dungeons and Dragons!  Take that Marvel!  The following list includes all devils and demons in the Marvel universe combined: Abraxas (comics), Adversary (comics), Allatou, Amatsu-Mikaboshi (comics), Asmodeus (Marvel Comics), Azazel (Marvel Comics), Baphomet (comics), Belasco (comics), Blackheart, Blackout (comics), Crimson King, Dagoth, Daimon Hellstrom, Damballah (comics), Demogoblin, Dragon of the Moon, Dragoom, Dreamqueen, Gargoyle (comics), Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch)      , Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Glob (comics), Golem (comics), Haazareth Three, Helleyes, Hood (comics), Ikthalon, Inferno (demon), Kazann, KhLΘG, Kirigi, Lilith (Marvel Comics), Ludi (comics), Magik (comics), Marduk Kurios, Mephisto (comics), Nameless One (Marvel Comics), N’astirh, N’Garai, Ningal (comics), Null (comics), Olivier (comics), Randall Flagg, Roxanne Simpson, Satana (Marvel Comics), Satannish, Saturnine (comics), Seth (Marvel Comics), Shuma-Gorath, Six-Fingered Hand (comics), Skinner (comics), Sligguth, Spider-X, Stone (Marvel Comics), Suma-ket, Surtur (Marvel Comics), S’ym, Thog, Trauma (comics), Undying Ones, Vengeance (comics), Visimajoris, Y’Garon, Zarathos, and Zom

Only two demons/devils have graduated to their own title in the Marvel universe: Ghost Rider and Daimon Hellstrom.  The problem is that Ghost Rider doesn’t look very devil like and looks like, well, Ghost Rider.  Daimon Hellstrom even has a trident like Hot Stuff!  Hot Stuff has run away from Etrigan the Demon in the DC universe and gotten lost.  Hot Stuff meets Daimon Hellstrom in the Marvel section of hell which is actually a lot nicer than the DC section of hell.  Daimon is the son of Satannish and should be pretty evil due to his heritage but actually is a softy that is always helping the good guys.  Hot Stuff is crying and his asbestos diaper is soiled.Hellstrom teleports the poor child back to Deviland.

5) Nightmare the Galloping Ghost (Casper’s horse) vs. Dreamstalker

There are quite a few flying horses in the Marvel universe that can fly into the skies and battle Nightmare including: Aragorn, Brightwind, Dreamstalker, Sleipnir, Strider, Valinor.  However, only one horse has a “dream” theme and that is Dreamstalker the steed of Nightmare who in the Marvel universe is the ruler of the dimension of nightmares.   Nightmare has a terrible dream, which is kind or ironic if you think about it, in this nightmare, Nightmare runs into Dreamstalker.  Dreamstalker turns into what Nightmare wants more than anything else and that’s Comet the Super-Horse.  When Nightmare awakes, she is in the mood to wake up Comet who is sleeping next to her.

6) Richie Rich vs. Tony Stark

Royal Roy was a blatant rip off of Richie Rich published by Marvel under their Star Comics imprint and was sued by Harvey Comics for copyright infringement.  Royal Roy and later the entire Star imprint failed in the market place and were cancelled and the lawsuit was cancelled.  Royal Roy passes the type test but is a very obscure Marvel character.  Tony Stark is the alter ego of Iron Man and is a billionaire industrialist in his own right.  Tony Stark pays the bills of the Avengers including their mansion.  Tony Stark is also an alcoholic who has struggled with the demon in the bottle on and off during his career.  Tony Stark is just a lot more interesting than Royal Roy.

Tony is attending a party at the mansion of Richie Rich.  Tony is on his 20th martini.  Tony sees Richie and gives him a long lecture about how with great power comes great responsibility and ditto for great wealth.  Richie doesn’t really understand what Tony is going on about but is upset and Richie starts to cry for the first time in his life.  Tony is escorted of the grounds of the mansion.  The next morning, Tony feels about as guilty as he ever has.

7) Sad Sack vs. Sgt. Fury

I have written about comic book war heroes before at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/

Marvel war heroes include Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, Captain Savage and his Leathernecks, the characters in the The ‘Nam series, and the Phantom Eagle.  Sgt. Fury is by far the alpha male of the Marvel war heroes.  Sad Sack did not actually get killed by a sniper when part of Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company but just played possum.  Sad Sack is unlike a Marvel toon and is kind of made out of some sort of indestructible rubber and even that description doesn’t really work.  If anything Sad Sack is tougher than any sort of rubber and kind of invulnerable.

Sad Sack has never been in combat before and is in the midst of a total nervous breakdown when he runs into Sgt. Fury.  Sgt. Fury has a sense of humor, unlike Sgt. Rock and just finds Sad Sack hilarious!  Sad Sack finds himself the butt of any number of pranks by the Howling Commandos but it’s all good natured fun, well until someone gets hurt but luckily Sad Sack is the sort of toon who can recover from just about any injury.

8) Stumbo the Giant vs. Henry Pym (Giant-Man)

Giants of myth are a big part of the Marvel landscape compared with the DC universe and include: Frost Giants of Jotunheim (Fafner II, Fasolt, Laufey, Utgard-Loki), Ice Giants of Jotunheim (Ymir), Mountain Giants of Jotunheim (Knorda), Rime Giants of Jotunheim (Bergelmir , Glump , Kai-Ra), Storm Giants of Jotunheim (Brimer, Ghan , Grondar, Hrungnir, Kagger, Nedra, Ogre, Skagg, Skoll), and Giants of Olympus (Agrius , Alcyoneus , Callias, Enceladus, Eurymedon, Eurytus, Gration, Mimas, Pallas, Polybotes, Porphyrion, Zeno).  However, none of these mythic giants has ever gotten his/her own title and on the whole are pretty interchangeable!  Mostly the giants of myth in Marvel provide hammer and mace fodder for Thor and Hercules and have zero characterization.  Ymir is probably most important of these giants.  Loki is technically a half-giant but is of normal size and would not be a good match against Stumbo is a real giant.

Henry Pym as Giant-Man on the other hand has been on the front cover of over a dozen issues of Tales to Astonish and shared the comic book with the Hulk.  Giant-Man was also a regular on the cover of the Avengers.  When you think giants in Marvel, you think Giant-Man!  Heck his name has giant in it!  Giant-Man stumbles into Tiny Town while searching for Ultron across the multiverse.  Giant-Man realizes that Stumbo has some sort of mental deficiency and talks to him in a very slow, steady voice that calms Stumbo greatly.  Giant-Man’s Ultron detector finds the dimension Ultron is hiding in.  Giant-Man teleports to that dimension.  Giant-Man and Stumbo part on good terms.

9) Wendy the Good Little Witch vs. Scarlet Witch

Marvel has many witches including:  Amanda Sefton, Agatha Harkness, Arcanna, Black Widow (Claire Voyant), Calypso (comics), Clea, Crimson Curse, Jaine Cutter, Enchantress (Marvel Comics), Jennifer Kale,Karnilla, Morgan le Fay (Marvel Comics), Lilith (Marvel Comics), Lorelei (Asgardian), Magik (comics), Nico Minoru, Pixie (X-Men), Satana (Marvel Comics), Scarlet Witch, Selene (comics), Spiral (comics), Margali Szardos, Talisman (comics), Topaz (Marvel Comics), Umar (Marvel Comics), and Witchfire (Marvel Comics).

However, only the Scarlet Witch has had her own series.  The Scarlet Witch was also ranked 97th in Wizard‘s “200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time” list.  Wendy has left Zatanna with her make over (Harvey Comics vs. DC Comics).  Wendy loves how she looks but wonders if she can get more make up tips from other sexy witches in other dimensions.  Wendy spies the Scarlet Witch with her crystal ball and decides she loves what she has done with red, Wendy’s favorite color. Wendy arrives in front of the Scarlett Witch.  The Scarlet Witch begins combing Wendy’s hair.  Wendy doesn’t mind having her hair combed and has Casper do that all the time well until Homer started hanging around.  Homer doesn’t make Wendy happy at all.  Then the Scarlet Witch starts calling her “daughter”.  Ok, Wendy can even accept the daughter stuff.  However, the Scarlett Witch goes through her gigantic closet and tosses out outfits left and right like so much garbage.

Finally, the Scarlett Witch yells, “No more wooden hangers ever!”

Wendy decides the Scarlett With is nuts or as they say in Witchland, one straw short of flying broom, and quickly teleports out of the Marvel universe.

My other website at:

Fox Superpower List

More comic book articles on this blog at:

http://foxhugh.com/?s=comic

Introduction

What would happen if the heroes of the Harvey Comics universe meet their equivalents in the Marvel universe?  That is the goal of this article.  The challenge is finding the Harvey Comic equivalent character in the very different Marvel universe.  Also, the Harvey Comic character deserves to meet the most famous equivalent character.  Marvel characters that had their own title are considered more important than characters that did not have their own title.  If more than one character type had their own title then the character that had more impact on the history of the Marvel universe is picked as the “adversary” for the Harvey character.

1) Archibald the Talking Wishing Well vs. Cosmic Cube

As I stated in Harvey Comics vs. DC, I have a soft spot for objects with sentience and even wrote a book on the subject called Household Fables.  Archibald the Talking Wishing Well is a sentient magical object and deserves to fight another sentient magical object.  Hot Stuff’s trident is also sentient and capable of doing magic.

The following Marvel inanimate objects possess sentience: Cosmic Cube, Krimonn the Power Prism, Resurrection Stone, the Bottle Imp, and the Sword in the Star.  The cosmic cube is one of the most important objects in the Marvel universe and far, far, far more important than the other objects listed.  The Cosmic Cube evolves to sentience and becomes Kubik.  Kubik travels to the Harvey universe and is quite amused.  Kubik wanders the enchanted forest and comes upon Archibald the Talking Wishing Well.  The two actually have a lot in common.  Both provide wishes.  Kubik can provide wishes on a global scale and Archibald can only create objects and not even change events.  Kubik decides to grant Archibald a wish!  Archibald asks to be human for a day.

Kubik and Archibald travel to Spooky Town and scare the ghosts.  They wander to Deviland and get a lava bath, courtesy of invulnerability provided by Kubik.   Kubik and Archibald watch the none stop fights between ogres in Ogreville.  Goblin Gulch is more a forest than a town and there isn’t much to see so they leave quickly.  Archibald visits Wendy at Witch Way.  Archibald starts to turn back into a wishing well.  Kubik says goodbye and leaves Archibald where he found him.  Being human makes Archibald reflect on how horrible his existence really is.  A strange carriage made of metal with a cannon attached to the top clanks towards Archibald.

2) Baby Huey vs. Howard the Duck

The anthropomorphic animals of Marvel include Howard the Duck, Spider Ham, Super Rabbit and Top Dog. Spider Ham is a parody of Spider-Man.  I deal with this subject in more detail at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/

Baby Huey is an anthropomorphic duck.  Howard the Duck is Marvel’s foremost anthropomorphic duck well their only anthropomorphic duck unless you count the inhabitants of Howard’s world who are of the same species.  Thog the Overmaster had previously kidnapped Howard the Duck from his own dimension and brought to the Marvel human dimension.  Thog the Overmaster is not pleased at all the success Howard the Duck has had and is jealous of Howard’s relationship since Thog has never been able to attract hot chicks.  Thog decides the ultimate torture is to dump Howard into a dimension of sentient ducks that are basically idiots.  Howard is dumped in Duckville were he meets Baby Huey.  Howard shares his cynical existential philosophy with the inhabitants of Duckville and one by one they commit suicide until Howard is alone, so very alone….

3) Casper vs. Homer the Happy Ghost

Marvel only has two real ongoing ghostcharacters: Dead Girl, Homer the Happy Ghost.  There is a bad guy named Ghost that can turn himself and objects invisible or intangible but he does this trick with a battle suit and is basically a techy rather than supernatural being.  Homer the Happy Ghost on the other hand was created by Marvel, then Atlas, in direct response to Casper.  Homer actually lasted 22 issues in the fifties and there was an attempt to revive the character in the seventies.  The second run only lasted 4 issues.

Homer is basically Casper with an ectoplasmic cow lick.  Homer even has a ghost buddy with a derby just like Spooky, Casper’s friend, called Dugan.  Zelda was the Homer good little witch version of Wendy.  Homer was happy not friendly like Casper.  The Homer universe did include Melvin the mixed up ghost, a total idiot, and perhaps Melvin was supposed to give Homer the pathos that the Ghostly Trio provided in the Casper stories.  Homer escapes from Marvel comic book limbo and ends up in Harvey comic book limbo.  Casper and Homer become best of friends and have a happy relationship.  Casper remembers his horse Nightmare that disappeared now and then but Homer soon causes him to forget about Nightmare.

4) Hot Stuff the Little Devil vs. Daimon Hellstrom

Hot Stuff is called a devil but does not go around tempting weak mortals but generally causing the primitive chaotic havoc one associates with demons in Dungeons and Dragons. This is important when dealing with the Marvel universe since this universe does differentiate between demons and devils unlike the DC universe but is not as consistent as Dungeons and Dragons.  Actually I think the naming system of Dungeons and Dragons was copied by Marvel minus any of the logic used by Dungeons and Dragons!  Take that Marvel!  The following list includes all devils and demons in the Marvel universe combined: Abraxas (comics), Adversary (comics), Allatou, Amatsu-Mikaboshi (comics), Asmodeus (Marvel Comics), Azazel (Marvel Comics), Baphomet (comics), Belasco (comics), Blackheart, Blackout (comics), Crimson King, Dagoth, Daimon Hellstrom, Damballah (comics), Demogoblin, Dragon of the Moon, Dragoom, Dreamqueen, Gargoyle (comics), Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch)      , Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Glob (comics), Golem (comics), Haazareth Three, Helleyes, Hood (comics), Ikthalon, Inferno (demon), Kazann, KhLΘG, Kirigi, Lilith (Marvel Comics), Ludi (comics), Magik (comics), Marduk Kurios, Mephisto (comics), Nameless One (Marvel Comics), N’astirh, N’Garai, Ningal (comics), Null (comics), Olivier (comics), Randall Flagg, Roxanne Simpson, Satana (Marvel Comics), Satannish, Saturnine (comics), Seth (Marvel Comics), Shuma-Gorath, Six-Fingered Hand (comics), Skinner (comics), Sligguth, Spider-X, Stone (Marvel Comics), Suma-ket, Surtur (Marvel Comics), S’ym, Thog, Trauma (comics), Undying Ones, Vengeance (comics), Visimajoris, Y’Garon, Zarathos, and Zom

Only two demons/devils have graduated to their own title in the Marvel universe: Ghost Rider and Daimon Hellstrom.  The problem is that Ghost Rider doesn’t look very devil like and looks like, well, Ghost Rider.  Daimon Hellstrom even has a trident like Hot Stuff!  Hot Stuff has run away from Etrigan the Demon in the DC universe and gotten lost.  Hot Stuff meets Daimon Hellstrom in the Marvel section of hell which is actually a lot nicer than the DC section of hell.  Daimon is the son of Satannish and should be pretty evil due to his heritage but actually is a softy that is always helping the good guys.  Hot Stuff is crying and his asbestos diaper is soiled.Hellstrom teleports the poor child back to Deviland.

5) Nightmare the Galloping Ghost (Casper’s horse) vs. Dreamstalker

There are quite a few flying horses in the Marvel universe that can fly into the skies and battle Nightmare including: Aragorn, Brightwind, Dreamstalker, Sleipnir, Strider, Valinor.  However, only one horse has a “dream” theme and that is Dreamstalker the steed of Nightmare who in the Marvel universe is the ruler of the dimension of nightmares.   Nightmare has a terrible dream, which is kind or ironic if you think about it, in this nightmare, Nightmare runs into Dreamstalker.  Dreamstalker turns into what Nightmare wants more than anything else and that’s Comet the Super-Horse.  When Nightmare awakes, she is in the mood to wake up Comet who is sleeping next to her.

6) Richie Rich vs. Tony Stark

Royal Roy was a blatant rip off of Richie Rich published by Marvel under their Star Comics imprint and was sued by Harvey Comics for copyright infringement.  Royal Roy and later the entire Star imprint failed in the market place and were cancelled and the lawsuit was cancelled.  Royal Roy passes the type test but is a very obscure Marvel character.  Tony Stark is the alter ego of Iron Man and is a billionaire industrialist in his own right.  Tony Stark pays the bills of the Avengers including their mansion.  Tony Stark is also an alcoholic who has struggled with the demon in the bottle on and off during his career.  Tony Stark is just a lot more interesting than Royal Roy.

Tony is attending a party at the mansion of Richie Rich.  Tony is on his 20th martini.  Tony sees Richie and gives him a long lecture about how with great power comes great responsibility and ditto for great wealth.  Richie doesn’t really understand what Tony is going on about but is upset and Richie starts to cry for the first time in his life.  Tony is escorted of the grounds of the mansion.  The next morning, Tony feels about as guilty as he ever has.

7) Sad Sack vs. Sgt. Fury

I have written about comic book war heroes before at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/

Marvel war heroes include Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, Captain Savage and his Leathernecks, the characters in the The ‘Nam series, and the Phantom Eagle.  Sgt. Fury is by far the alpha male of the Marvel war heroes.  Sad Sack did not actually get killed by a sniper when part of Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company but just played possum.  Sad Sack is unlike a Marvel toon and is kind of made out of some sort of indestructible rubber and even that description doesn’t really work.  If anything Sad Sack is tougher than any sort of rubber and kind of invulnerable.

Sad Sack has never been in combat before and is in the midst of a total nervous breakdown when he runs into Sgt. Fury.  Sgt. Fury has a sense of humor, unlike Sgt. Rock and just finds Sad Sack hilarious!  Sad Sack finds himself the butt of any number of pranks by the Howling Commandos but it’s all good natured fun, well until someone gets hurt but luckily Sad Sack is the sort of toon who can recover from just about any injury.

8) Stumbo the Giant vs. Henry Pym (Giant-Man)

Giants of myth are a big part of the Marvel landscape compared with the DC universe and include: Frost Giants of Jotunheim (Fafner II, Fasolt, Laufey, Utgard-Loki), Ice Giants of Jotunheim (Ymir), Mountain Giants of Jotunheim (Knorda), Rime Giants of Jotunheim (Bergelmir , Glump , Kai-Ra), Storm Giants of Jotunheim (Brimer, Ghan , Grondar, Hrungnir, Kagger, Nedra, Ogre, Skagg, Skoll), and Giants of Olympus (Agrius , Alcyoneus , Callias, Enceladus, Eurymedon, Eurytus, Gration, Mimas, Pallas, Polybotes, Porphyrion, Zeno).  However, none of these mythic giants has ever gotten his/her own title and on the whole are pretty interchangeable!  Mostly the giants of myth in Marvel provide hammer and mace fodder for Thor and Hercules and have zero characterization.  Ymir is probably most important of these giants.  Loki is technically a half-giant but is of normal size and would not be a good match against Stumbo is a real giant.

Henry Pym as Giant-Man on the other hand has been on the front cover of over a dozen issues of Tales to Astonish and shared the comic book with the Hulk.  Giant-Man was also a regular on the cover of the Avengers.  When you think giants in Marvel, you think Giant-Man!  Heck his name has giant in it!  Giant-Man stumbles into Tiny Town while searching for Ultron across the multiverse.  Giant-Man realizes that Stumbo has some sort of mental deficiency and talks to him in a very slow, steady voice that calms Stumbo greatly.  Giant-Man’s Ultron detector finds the dimension Ultron is hiding in.  Giant-Man teleports to that dimension.  Giant-Man and Stumbo part on good terms.

9) Wendy the Good Little Witch vs. Scarlet Witch

Marvel has many witches including:  Amanda Sefton, Agatha Harkness, Arcanna, Black Widow (Claire Voyant), Calypso (comics), Clea, Crimson Curse, Jaine Cutter, Enchantress (Marvel Comics), Jennifer Kale,Karnilla, Morgan le Fay (Marvel Comics), Lilith (Marvel Comics), Lorelei (Asgardian), Magik (comics), Nico Minoru, Pixie (X-Men), Satana (Marvel Comics), Scarlet Witch, Selene (comics), Spiral (comics), Margali Szardos, Talisman (comics), Topaz (Marvel Comics), Umar (Marvel Comics), and Witchfire (Marvel Comics).

However, only the Scarlet Witch has had her own series.  The Scarlet Witch was also ranked 97th in Wizard‘s “200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time” list.  Wendy has left Zatanna with her make over (Harvey Comics vs. DC Comics).  Wendy loves how she looks but wonders if she can get more make up tips from other sexy witches in other dimensions.  Wendy spies the Scarlet Witch with her crystal ball and decides she loves what she has done with red, Wendy’s favorite color. Wendy arrives in front of the Scarlett Witch.  The Scarlet Witch begins combing Wendy’s hair.  Wendy doesn’t mind having her hair combed and has Casper do that all the time well until Homer started hanging around.  Homer doesn’t make Wendy happy at all.  Then the Scarlet Witch starts calling her “daughter”.  Ok, Wendy can even accept the daughter stuff.  However, the Scarlett Witch goes through her gigantic closet and tosses out outfits left and right like so much garbage.

Finally, the Scarlett Witch yells, “No more wooden hangers ever!”

Wendy decides the Scarlett With is nuts or as they say in Witchland, one straw short of flying broom, and quickly teleports out of the Marvel universe.

My other website at:

Fox Superpower List

More comic book articles on this blog at:

http://foxhugh.com/?s=comic

Hugh Fox III - Carved (2)

Hugh Fox III - Carved (2)

Introduction

What would happen if the heroes of the Harvey Comics universe meet their equivalents in the Marvel universe?  That is the goal of this article.  The challenge is finding the Harvey Comic equivalent character in the very different Marvel universe.  Also, the Harvey Comic character deserves to meet the most famous equivalent character.  Marvel characters that had their own title are considered more important than characters that did not have their own title.  If more than one character type had their own title then the character that had more impact on the history of the Marvel universe is picked as the “adversary” for the Harvey character.

1) Archibald the Talking Wishing Well vs. Cosmic Cube

As I stated in Harvey Comics vs. DC, I have a soft spot for objects with sentience and even wrote a book on the subject called Household Fables.  Archibald the Talking Wishing Well is a sentient magical object and deserves to fight another sentient magical object.  Hot Stuff’s trident is also sentient and capable of doing magic.

The following Marvel inanimate objects possess sentience: Cosmic Cube, Krimonn the Power Prism, Resurrection Stone, the Bottle Imp, and the Sword in the Star.  The cosmic cube is one of the most important objects in the Marvel universe and far, far, far more important than the other objects listed.  The Cosmic Cube evolves to sentience and becomes Kubik.  Kubik travels to the Harvey universe and is quite amused.  Kubik wanders the enchanted forest and comes upon Archibald the Talking Wishing Well.  The two actually have a lot in common.  Both provide wishes.  Kubik can provide wishes on a global scale and Archibald can only create objects and not even change events.  Kubik decides to grant Archibald a wish!  Archibald asks to be human for a day.

Kubik and Archibald travel to Spooky Town and scare the ghosts.  They wander to Deviland and get a lava bath, courtesy of invulnerability provided by Kubik.   Kubik and Archibald watch the none stop fights between ogres in Ogreville.  Goblin Gulch is more a forest than a town and there isn’t much to see so they leave quickly.  Archibald visits Wendy at Witch Way.  Archibald starts to turn back into a wishing well.  Kubik says goodbye and leaves Archibald where he found him.  Being human makes Archibald reflect on how horrible his existence really is.  A strange carriage made of metal with a cannon attached to the top clanks towards Archibald.

2) Baby Huey vs. Howard the Duck

The anthropomorphic animals of Marvel include Howard the Duck, Spider Ham, Super Rabbit and Top Dog. Spider Ham is a parody of Spider-Man.  I deal with this subject in more detail at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/

Baby Huey is an anthropomorphic duck.  Howard the Duck is Marvel’s foremost anthropomorphic duck well their only anthropomorphic duck unless you count the inhabitants of Howard’s world who are of the same species.  Thog the Overmaster had previously kidnapped Howard the Duck from his own dimension and brought to the Marvel human dimension.  Thog the Overmaster is not pleased at all the success Howard the Duck has had and is jealous of Howard’s relationship since Thog has never been able to attract hot chicks.  Thog decides the ultimate torture is to dump Howard into a dimension of sentient ducks that are basically idiots.  Howard is dumped in Duckville were he meets Baby Huey.  Howard shares his cynical existential philosophy with the inhabitants of Duckville and one by one they commit suicide until Howard is alone, so very alone….

3) Casper vs. Homer the Happy Ghost

Marvel only has two real ongoing ghostcharacters: Dead Girl, Homer the Happy Ghost.  There is a bad guy named Ghost that can turn himself and objects invisible or intangible but he does this trick with a battle suit and is basically a techy rather than supernatural being.  Homer the Happy Ghost on the other hand was created by Marvel, then Atlas, in direct response to Casper.  Homer actually lasted 22 issues in the fifties and there was an attempt to revive the character in the seventies.  The second run only lasted 4 issues.

Homer is basically Casper with an ectoplasmic cow lick.  Homer even has a ghost buddy with a derby just like Spooky, Casper’s friend, called Dugan.  Zelda was the Homer good little witch version of Wendy.  Homer was happy not friendly like Casper.  The Homer universe did include Melvin the mixed up ghost, a total idiot, and perhaps Melvin was supposed to give Homer the pathos that the Ghostly Trio provided in the Casper stories.  Homer escapes from Marvel comic book limbo and ends up in Harvey comic book limbo.  Casper and Homer become best of friends and have a happy relationship.  Casper remembers his horse Nightmare that disappeared now and then but Homer soon causes him to forget about Nightmare.

4) Hot Stuff the Little Devil vs. Daimon Hellstrom

Hot Stuff is called a devil but does not go around tempting weak mortals but generally causing the primitive chaotic havoc one associates with demons in Dungeons and Dragons. This is important when dealing with the Marvel universe since this universe does differentiate between demons and devils unlike the DC universe but is not as consistent as Dungeons and Dragons.  Actually I think the naming system of Dungeons and Dragons was copied by Marvel minus any of the logic used by Dungeons and Dragons!  Take that Marvel!  The following list includes all devils and demons in the Marvel universe combined: Abraxas (comics), Adversary (comics), Allatou, Amatsu-Mikaboshi (comics), Asmodeus (Marvel Comics), Azazel (Marvel Comics), Baphomet (comics), Belasco (comics), Blackheart, Blackout (comics), Crimson King, Dagoth, Daimon Hellstrom, Damballah (comics), Demogoblin, Dragon of the Moon, Dragoom, Dreamqueen, Gargoyle (comics), Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch)      , Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Glob (comics), Golem (comics), Haazareth Three, Helleyes, Hood (comics), Ikthalon, Inferno (demon), Kazann, KhLΘG, Kirigi, Lilith (Marvel Comics), Ludi (comics), Magik (comics), Marduk Kurios, Mephisto (comics), Nameless One (Marvel Comics), N’astirh, N’Garai, Ningal (comics), Null (comics), Olivier (comics), Randall Flagg, Roxanne Simpson, Satana (Marvel Comics), Satannish, Saturnine (comics), Seth (Marvel Comics), Shuma-Gorath, Six-Fingered Hand (comics), Skinner (comics), Sligguth, Spider-X, Stone (Marvel Comics), Suma-ket, Surtur (Marvel Comics), S’ym, Thog, Trauma (comics), Undying Ones, Vengeance (comics), Visimajoris, Y’Garon, Zarathos, and Zom

Only two demons/devils have graduated to their own title in the Marvel universe: Ghost Rider and Daimon Hellstrom.  The problem is that Ghost Rider doesn’t look very devil like and looks like, well, Ghost Rider.  Daimon Hellstrom even has a trident like Hot Stuff!  Hot Stuff has run away from Etrigan the Demon in the DC universe and gotten lost.  Hot Stuff meets Daimon Hellstrom in the Marvel section of hell which is actually a lot nicer than the DC section of hell.  Daimon is the son of Satannish and should be pretty evil due to his heritage but actually is a softy that is always helping the good guys.  Hot Stuff is crying and his asbestos diaper is soiled.Hellstrom teleports the poor child back to Deviland.

5) Nightmare the Galloping Ghost (Casper’s horse) vs. Dreamstalker

There are quite a few flying horses in the Marvel universe that can fly into the skies and battle Nightmare including: Aragorn, Brightwind, Dreamstalker, Sleipnir, Strider, Valinor.  However, only one horse has a “dream” theme and that is Dreamstalker the steed of Nightmare who in the Marvel universe is the ruler of the dimension of nightmares.   Nightmare has a terrible dream, which is kind or ironic if you think about it, in this nightmare, Nightmare runs into Dreamstalker.  Dreamstalker turns into what Nightmare wants more than anything else and that’s Comet the Super-Horse.  When Nightmare awakes, she is in the mood to wake up Comet who is sleeping next to her.

6) Richie Rich vs. Tony Stark

Royal Roy was a blatant rip off of Richie Rich published by Marvel under their Star Comics imprint and was sued by Harvey Comics for copyright infringement.  Royal Roy and later the entire Star imprint failed in the market place and were cancelled and the lawsuit was cancelled.  Royal Roy passes the type test but is a very obscure Marvel character.  Tony Stark is the alter ego of Iron Man and is a billionaire industrialist in his own right.  Tony Stark pays the bills of the Avengers including their mansion.  Tony Stark is also an alcoholic who has struggled with the demon in the bottle on and off during his career.  Tony Stark is just a lot more interesting than Royal Roy.

Tony is attending a party at the mansion of Richie Rich.  Tony is on his 20th martini.  Tony sees Richie and gives him a long lecture about how with great power comes great responsibility and ditto for great wealth.  Richie doesn’t really understand what Tony is going on about but is upset and Richie starts to cry for the first time in his life.  Tony is escorted of the grounds of the mansion.  The next morning, Tony feels about as guilty as he ever has.

7) Sad Sack vs. Sgt. Fury

I have written about comic book war heroes before at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/

Marvel war heroes include Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, Captain Savage and his Leathernecks, the characters in the The ‘Nam series, and the Phantom Eagle.  Sgt. Fury is by far the alpha male of the Marvel war heroes.  Sad Sack did not actually get killed by a sniper when part of Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company but just played possum.  Sad Sack is unlike a Marvel toon and is kind of made out of some sort of indestructible rubber and even that description doesn’t really work.  If anything Sad Sack is tougher than any sort of rubber and kind of invulnerable.

Sad Sack has never been in combat before and is in the midst of a total nervous breakdown when he runs into Sgt. Fury.  Sgt. Fury has a sense of humor, unlike Sgt. Rock and just finds Sad Sack hilarious!  Sad Sack finds himself the butt of any number of pranks by the Howling Commandos but it’s all good natured fun, well until someone gets hurt but luckily Sad Sack is the sort of toon who can recover from just about any injury.

8) Stumbo the Giant vs. Henry Pym (Giant-Man)

Giants of myth are a big part of the Marvel landscape compared with the DC universe and include: Frost Giants of Jotunheim (Fafner II, Fasolt, Laufey, Utgard-Loki), Ice Giants of Jotunheim (Ymir), Mountain Giants of Jotunheim (Knorda), Rime Giants of Jotunheim (Bergelmir , Glump , Kai-Ra), Storm Giants of Jotunheim (Brimer, Ghan , Grondar, Hrungnir, Kagger, Nedra, Ogre, Skagg, Skoll), and Giants of Olympus (Agrius , Alcyoneus , Callias, Enceladus, Eurymedon, Eurytus, Gration, Mimas, Pallas, Polybotes, Porphyrion, Zeno).  However, none of these mythic giants has ever gotten his/her own title and on the whole are pretty interchangeable!  Mostly the giants of myth in Marvel provide hammer and mace fodder for Thor and Hercules and have zero characterization.  Ymir is probably most important of these giants.  Loki is technically a half-giant but is of normal size and would not be a good match against Stumbo is a real giant.

Henry Pym as Giant-Man on the other hand has been on the front cover of over a dozen issues of Tales to Astonish and shared the comic book with the Hulk.  Giant-Man was also a regular on the cover of the Avengers.  When you think giants in Marvel, you think Giant-Man!  Heck his name has giant in it!  Giant-Man stumbles into Tiny Town while searching for Ultron across the multiverse.  Giant-Man realizes that Stumbo has some sort of mental deficiency and talks to him in a very slow, steady voice that calms Stumbo greatly.  Giant-Man’s Ultron detector finds the dimension Ultron is hiding in.  Giant-Man teleports to that dimension.  Giant-Man and Stumbo part on good terms.

9) Wendy the Good Little Witch vs. Scarlet Witch

Marvel has many witches including:  Amanda Sefton, Agatha Harkness, Arcanna, Black Widow (Claire Voyant), Calypso (comics), Clea, Crimson Curse, Jaine Cutter, Enchantress (Marvel Comics), Jennifer Kale,Karnilla, Morgan le Fay (Marvel Comics), Lilith (Marvel Comics), Lorelei (Asgardian), Magik (comics), Nico Minoru, Pixie (X-Men), Satana (Marvel Comics), Scarlet Witch, Selene (comics), Spiral (comics), Margali Szardos, Talisman (comics), Topaz (Marvel Comics), Umar (Marvel Comics), and Witchfire (Marvel Comics).

However, only the Scarlet Witch has had her own series.  The Scarlet Witch was also ranked 97th in Wizard‘s “200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time” list.  Wendy has left Zatanna with her make over (Harvey Comics vs. DC Comics).  Wendy loves how she looks but wonders if she can get more make up tips from other sexy witches in other dimensions.  Wendy spies the Scarlet Witch with her crystal ball and decides she loves what she has done with red, Wendy’s favorite color. Wendy arrives in front of the Scarlett Witch.  The Scarlet Witch begins combing Wendy’s hair.  Wendy doesn’t mind having her hair combed and has Casper do that all the time well until Homer started hanging around.  Homer doesn’t make Wendy happy at all.  Then the Scarlet Witch starts calling her “daughter”.  Ok, Wendy can even accept the daughter stuff.  However, the Scarlett Witch goes through her gigantic closet and tosses out outfits left and right like so much garbage.

Finally, the Scarlett Witch yells, “No more wooden hangers ever!”

Wendy decides the Scarlett With is nuts or as they say in Witchland, one straw short of flying broom, and quickly teleports out of the Marvel universe.

My other website at:

Fox Superpower List

More comic book articles on this blog at:

Hugh Fox III - Carved (2)

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Harvey Comics vs. DC Comics

Introduction

What would happen if the heroes of the Harvey Comics universe meet their equivalents in the DC universe?  That is the goal of this article.  The challenge is finding the Harvey Comic equivalent character in the very different DC universe.  Also, the Harvey Comic character deserves to meet the most famous equivalent character.  DC characters that had their own title are considered more important than characters that did not have their own title.  If more than one character type had their own title then the character that had more impact on the history of the DC universe is picked as the “adversary” for the Harvey character.

1) Archibald the Talking Wishing Well vs. Haunted Tank

Archibald the Talking Wishing Wellis a very, very minor character in the Harvey universe but I have a soft spot for sentient objects.  I even wrote a book on the subject called Household Fables.  Archibald the Talking Wishing Well is a supporting character in the Casper universe.  Hot Stuff’s trident is also sentient and capable of doing magic.  Unfortunately while the Casper universe is overrun with, one-shot, sentient objects this is really not something that is done in the DC universe.  However, there is the Haunted Tank which is a tank haunted by the ghost of Robert E. Lee and this is pretty much the foremost sentient object in the DC Universe and actually almost the only sentient object in the DC universe that is not a one-shot.

The Haunted Tank gets lost in a back story of Tales of the Unexpected, just before Lee’s fight with the other ghost Captain Fear, and finds himself in the Casper universe.  Archibald asks the Haunted Tank if he wants a wish.  Robert E. Lee wants his body back!  One can assume that Archibald can see and hear ghosts since Archibald communicates with Casper.  Archibald gives the transformation a try but just doesn’t have the juice for such a giant magical spell.  Lee starts to wheel himself back home but Archibald yells “stop”.

Archibald has been a sentient magical well for thousands of years and is sick of his existence.  Archibald gives and gives and sometimes doesn’t even get a thank you.  Archibald realizes that the Haunted Tank is the only being he has ever met in the Casper universe that has the guts to do what has to be down.  Archibald tells the Haunted Tank in piteous voice, “Please kill me!”  Lee understands the pain of the wishing well since he has been trapped in a similar manner.  Lee realizes that Archibald’s plight is far worse since it’s been his lot for thousands of years not just a little over a hundred.  At least the Haunted Tank has mobility and adventures.  Lee slowly lowers the turret of the Haunted Tank and blows the well to bits.

2) Baby Huey vs. Rubberduck

I have written about anthropomorphic animals before at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/

The anthropomorphic animals of DC include Alley-Kat-Abra, American Eagle, Bulldog Drumhead , Captain Carrot , Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew, Dodo and the Frog, Doodles Duck, Fastback, Flippity & Flop, J. Rufus Lion, Little Cheese, McSnurtle the Turtle, Nutsy Squirrel, Peter Panda, Peter Porkchops, Pig-Iron, Racoon Kids, Rubberduck, Tito and his Burrito , Three Mouseketeers, and Yankee Poodle

Baby Huey deserves to fight another anthropomorphic duck.  The foremost and actually only anthropomorphic duck of the DC universe is Rubberduck.  Rubberduck is a supporting character of a second tier title, Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew.  Rubberduck was trying to visit Superman with his interdimensional vehicle but ended up in the Harvey universe instead.

Baby Huey thinks Rubberduck is so cute and tries to give him a big sloppy kiss.  Rubberduck mistakes this attempt at affection for an attack.  Baby Huey effectively has super strength and has been known to toss cars around.  Rubberduck can stretch his body like Mr. Fantastic or the Elongated Man.  Rubberduck wraps his body around Baby Huey and starts the big squeeze.  Baby Huey almost passes out but with one gigantic push of his arms manages to snap out of Rubberduck’s grip.  Baby Huey then whirls Rubberduck around and around by his legs and finally lets him go.  Rubberduck falls into a convenient lake unconscious.  Baby Huey jumps into the lake but remembers that he can’t swim.  Rubberduck drowns.  Baby Huey cries and cries until Papa Duck calms him down.

3) Casper vs. Spectre

DC doesn’t have that many ongoing ghost characters.  Ghosts in DC include: Dark Angel, Dead Boy Detectives, Deadman, Gentleman  Ghost, Haunted Tank, and the Spectre .  The Dead Boy Detectives, Deadman, Haunted Tank and the Spectre have all had their own title.  However, the Spectre has been around since the Golden Age and is generally considered the archetype of the ghostly superhero that abounded in the Golden Age.

Casper hears the meowing of the Phantom Zone Cats and follows the meowing to the Phantom Zone.  Casper is surrounded by evil Kryptonians that have been sentenced to the Phantom Zone.  The Kryptonians are mean and scary, far scarier than the Ghostly Trio, and Casper begins to cry.  The Spectre hears the crying of the ghost child and takes him by the hand and leads Casper back to his own universe.

4) Hot Stuff the Little Devil vs. Etrigan the Demon

The following is a list of demons in the DC universe:  Anton Arcane, Asmodel, Azazel (DC Comics), Belyllioth, Blaze and Satanus, Blue Devil, Chantinelle, Demons Three, Dreamslayer,Etrigan the Demon, First of the Fallen, Great Evil Beast, Heggra, Jeannette (comics), Lucifer (DC Comics), Mazikeen (comics), Mnemoth, Nebiros, Nekron, Neron, Onimar Synn, Raven (comics), Sabbac, Trigon (comics) and Yuga Khan.  Hot Stuff is technically a devil not a demon but these terms are interchangeable in the DC and Harvey universes unlike the Marvel and more especially the Dungeon and Dragon universe.  Hot Stuff should meet DC’s foremost demon since DC appears to avoid the appellation of devil, probably for religious reasons.

Only the Blue Devil, Etrigan the Demon and Lucifer had their own titles at one time or another.  The Blue Devil is an odd little second or even third tier character that is currently in comic book limbo.  Lucifer is one of the most powerful characters in the DC universe and could probably wipe out the entire Harvey universe without much trouble.  Poor Hot Stuff would be hopelessly over matched in a contest against Lucifer.  Therefore, Etrigan the Demon emerges as the champion of the DC universe.

Hot Stuff wanders away from Deviltown and encounters a section of hell he has never seen before.  Etrigan is considered one of the more powerful demons even in the much darker recesses of hell.  Etrigan is probably stronger than any demon in Deviltown.  Hot Stuff is a baby that wears asbestos diapers.  Hot Stuff takes one look at Etrigran and runs back to Deviltown.

5) Nightmare the Galloping Ghost (Casper’s horse) vs. Comet the Super-Horse

There are not a lot of important horses in the DC universe.  Bat Lash has a horse named DaisyVictory and Vanguard are flying horses used by the Shining Knight.  Comet the Super-Horse is Supergirl’s horse and the most famous DC horse and just about the only DC horse even hard core DC fans can name.  Comet was once a human but was turned into a horse and then a super-horse by Circe.  Circe is generally a bad witch but will do good deeds if a good looking blonde hunk is involved.  Comet has all the super powers of Superman and Supergirl but none of their weaknesses.  Comet is immune to Kryptonite and does not lose his powers under a red sun due to the magical rather than Kryptonian origin of his super powers.  A horse is stronger than a man and a super horse is stronger than Superman.  Superman alone can defeat Supergirl but Supergirl astride Comet can defeat Superman.  Super-Girl with Comet beating on Superman is more or less a story line in more than one Silver Age Superman family issue.  Krypto managed to survive the destruction of the Silver Age continuity by DC during the Crisis on Infinite Earthsbut Comet and all the other super pets  that included Streaky the Supercat and Beppo the Supermonkey did not so this adventure takes place in the Silver Age exclusively.  When is HeroClix going to create a Supergirl plus Comet miniature using their Brave and Bold combined hero system?

Casper has disappeared and Nightmare follows his astral trail to the Phantom Zone.  The Phantom Zone Cats telepathically tell that Casper was in the Phantom Zone but was led back home by the Spectre.  You can see the DC Earth easily from the Phantom Zone and Nightmare sees Comet.  Nightmare’s heart beats like her heart has never beat before.

Nightmare thinks, “That’s one fine stud!”

Nightmare descends from the Phantom Zone to the DC Earth and offers her haunches to Comet.  The two can communicate telepathically.  Comet once was a human but has been a horse for a very, very long time.  Normal horses are not as intelligent as Nightmare and break easily.  Nightmare’s fluffy mane is like nothing Comet has ever seen before.  Nightmare’s Disney style eyes give her an exotic look that Comet finds irresistible.

Nightmare and Comet begin a torrid love affair.  Will Nightmare ever return to Casper?  Will Casper care?  Will Supergirl become jealous of Nightmare?  Will Superman become jealous of Nightmare?  What will Lois Lane do?  What convoluted plan will Lex Luthor come up with in order to use Nightmare to destroy Superman?  How will the editors at DC transform Jimmy Olsen into a male version of Nightmare?  Will there be a Nightmare/Ace the Bat-Hound team up against a Comet/Krypto team up?  Stay tuned for another day in the lives of the Silver Age, Super Family.

6) Richie Rich vs. The Green Team: Boy Millionaires

The Green Team is a team of rich kid adventurers.  The entry fee for the club is a million dollars.  The Green Team hates Richie Rich!  They are millionaires while Richie Rich uses millions of dollars to make common place objects.  Richie Rich has slept on a sleeping bag of hundred dollar bills (Richie Rich Dollars and Cents #11).  Richie Rich exercises with a jumping rope made out of precious jewels (Richie Rich Dollars and Cents #23).  Richie Rich made a bridge of dollar bills (Richie Rich Dollars and Cents #30).  The list goes on and on.  The Green Team is in DC comic book limbo and in this state have metafictional awareness.  The Green Team is aware that they are a poor copy of Richie Rich.  They tried to bribe Animal Man (Animal Man #25) into getting them out of comic book limbo but failed.  If the Green Team ever escapes comic book limbo then Green Team plans to buy DC Comics and get Richie Rich to join their team as a butler that works for them!  Of course if they get out then their metafictional awareness will disappear.  The Green Team is aware of this and have tattooed directions on their bodies as to what to do in case they ever escape DC comic book limbo.  Where Harvey comic book characters go when their title and even their comic book company is gone is unknown.  Oh they end up on my blog!

7) Sad Sack vs. Sgt. Rock

I have written about comic book war heroes before at:

http://foxhugh.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/

The DC heroes include Blackhawk, Boy Commandos, Captain Storm, Creature Commandos, Enemy Ace, G.I. Robot, Gunner & Sarge, Haunted Tank, Hunter’s Hellcats, Johnny Cloud, the Losers, Mademoiselle Marie, Red, White and Blue and Sgt. Rock of Easy Company. Sad Sack is sadly assigned to Easy Company and has Sgt. Rock has his NCO.  Sgt. Rock takes one look at Sad Sack and knows what he has to do.  Sad Sack is put on point and taken out by a German sniper shortly afterwards.  Even two days later, no one in Easy Company even remembers Sad Sack.

8) Stumbo the Giant vs. Colossal Boy

Stumbo is a giant and logically should fight the foremost giant of the DC universe which is Colossal Boy.  Colossal Boy wanders through a dimensional rift and finds himself in Tiny Town, the home of Stumbo.  Stumbo has once against accidentally destroyed a house in Tiny Town.  Colossal Boy surveys the destruction and decided Stumbo is some sort of evil giant that likes to destroy houses of those smaller for fun.  Colossal Boy grows to the size of Stumbo and loses some self control because at that size his intellectual capacity is diminished.  Diminished capacity or not, Colossal Boy has had extensive Legion martial arts training plus years of fighting experience.  Stumbo almost never fights enemies and mostly has accidents in Tiny Town.  Colossal Boy starts the fight with quick Karate chop to the jugular followed by a Judo throw.  Once down, Colossal Boy get Stumbo in a neck choke and chokes him out.  The small natives start throwing rocks at Colossal Boy and he is confused.  Fortunately, Braniac 5 has found Colossal Boy and uses an interdimensional transporter ray to bring Colossal Boy back to the DC universe.

9) Wendy the Good Little Witch vs. Zatanna

Wendy deserves to fight the foremost witch of the DC universe.  There are a ton of witch choices in the DC Universe including: Alley-Kat-Abra, Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Circe (comics) , Dark Angel (DC Comics), La Encantadora, Enchantress (DC Comics), Glorith, Jinx (DC Comics), The Mad Mod Witch, Madame Xanadu, Madame Zodiac, Manitou Dawn, Lyta Milton, Morgaine le Fey (DC Comics), Queen of Fables, Raven (comics), Satan Girl, Silver Sorceress,Tala (comics), Titania (DC Comics), Traci Thirteen, Warlock’s Daughter, White Witch (comics), Witchfire (DC Comics), Yellow Peri, Zatanna, and Zealot (Wildstorm).

Only Madame Xanadu and Zatanna have had their own series.  Zatanna has been an important member of the Justice League of America.  Zatanna even appeared in the Superboy TV show Smallville!  Zatanna is also famous for her costume and especially her fish net stockings.  Zatanna wins the DC witch wars.

Wendy accidentally creates an interdimensional portal that takes her to the DC universe.  Wendy is flying around Gotham City with her broom and literally runs into Zatanna.  Wendy is used to ugly adult witches with green skin warts and ugly purple robes.  Wendy can magically sense that Zatanna is a witch like she is but the sort of witch she wants to be when she grows up.

Wendy, “You are beautiful”.

Zatanna responds in a maternal voice, “You are pretty cute yourself kid but do you mind if I give you some fashion advice?”

Wendy, “Please, please, please!”

Zatanna uses her magic to give Wendy a makeover.

Wendy is overjoyed.  Zatanna helps Wendy get home and promises to visit her someday.  Casper meets the new Wendy and feels a strange sickly sweet nausea that disturbs him to his astral core.  Suddenly Casper doesn’t feel so friendly towards anyone that looks at Wendy.  Casper has been lonely ever since Nightmare disappeared but this new Wendy more than makes up for the disappearance of Nightmare.

More comic book articles on this blog at:

http://foxhugh.com/?s=comic

Hugh Fox III - Carved

WereVerse Universe Baby!

WereVerse Universe at Google Drive Link

The Bicycle Thief: 200th Post!

I first saw the Bicycle Thief when I was in Venezuela as a kid. This means I was around eight at the time and it was 1964.  I remembered being bored to death and crying. The film was Italian with subtitles. I had started to learn to read on my own around five by reading comic books.  When I was young I mostly read Casper and Archie comic books and had only recently graduated to super hero stuff.  However, the subtitles were way beyond my comic book learned reading levels. My dad was not a big fan of young boys that cried in movie theaters and gave me a nice slap across the face to shut me up. My dad had this very special way of slapping me across the face that really was quite skillful.  I have a baby face and have always had a baby face.  I have lot of body fat in my cheeks that provides a lot of protection to my face.  I have been slugged on the cheek and light punches just bounce right off.  My dad had figured out that if he slapped me across the cheek he could get in a pretty solid blow without doing much damage. That slap generally did shut me up later but at the time the slap just made me cry some more and we were asked to leave the theater!

There weren’t a ton of Americans watching movies in Venezuela in 1964 and I remember Venezuelans staring at us as we left the theater. I remember some of them saying “gringo” this and “gringo” that. I think this was the first time I consciously realized I was not just judged as a person but as a representative of a country. I grew up in a world without internet, only 3 B&W channels and very few TV shows from Italy with subtitles so I really didn’t see that movie or think about it for years. My dad started teaching a cinema class at Michigan State University in the American Thought and Language Dept. were he was professor in the seventies. My dad included the Bicycle Thief among the films he showed
in the class. I watched the film for the first time in many years during one of
his classes. I was about 14 at the time. My dad had a cup of coffee after the class as was our custom and we discussed the role of neorealism in general and how there was a need for these sorts of films in US cinema but that this was probably not going to happen due to the interests of the ruling class of the US. For the record, that was my view of the world at 14 since then I have become convinced that chaos generally rules human affairs and the idea of a ruling class of any sort that really controls political events is a fictive.  Chaos not China will soon replace the Pax Americana and thoughtful humans will regret the passing of the days of relative order we once enjoyed.

I mentioned the film incident in Venezuela and he assured me this incident had never happened.  I lived with my mother not my father at that time.  Later I talked with my mom who had divorced my dad several years earlier and she remembered the incident in detail including a blow by blow description of what the Venezuelans said in Spanish.  My mother was a professor in Spanish before she retired and understood a lot more than I had. My mom claimed she had been very ashamed of my father’s behavior.  My mom is Peruvian and I know from experience she feels more shame when something like that incident happens in front of fellow Latin Americans than when stuff happens in front of “gringos”.  I guess some of the Venezuelans had made comments along the lines of “that’s what happens when you marry a gringo” while giving my mom the once over with their eyes.  Latin Americans have a way of talking with their eyes that I have inherited from my mom that most Americans are oblivious to.  I am sure my dad, who was just learning Spanish, did not understand most of what was being said.  Most Americans don’t realize this but your typical Latin American admires the work ethic, democratic and scientific habits of Americans but do feel we are not as well mannered and you know what?  Maybe they are right!  Today I ran into Harvey Pekar’s description of the Bicycle Thief in a comic book of his I downloaded and a flood of memories overwhelmed me.  This in turn motivated me to write my 200th post!  The Bicycle Thief comic book story is part of the American Splendour comic book series.

I want to do a comic book story about my reaction to this comic book page!

WereVerse Universe Baby!

DC vs. Marvel Kids

Casper and Fox

Casper and Fox

This is the eighth post in this series. DC versus Marvel superhero posts have been done to death on the internet and I wanted to do something different. This series looks at what happens when you pit the non superheroes of these two companies. This series also gives me an excuse to revisit some of the obscure comic book characters of my past. The dominance of the superhero genre in American comic books has meant that characters of other comic book genres have been ignored for decades and this series to some extent is an attempt to rectify this unfortunate state of affairs.

The first post looked at Westerns and Western heroes. http://foxhugh.com/2009/02/13/dc-vs-marvel-western-heroes/

The second post looked at war comics and war heroes. http://foxhugh.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/

The third post looked at women’s comics and working women. http://foxhugh.com/2009/04/11/dc-vs-marvel-working-women

The fourth post looked at space operas and spacemen http://foxhugh.com/2009/04/20/dc-vs-marvel-spacemen/

The fifth post analyzed funny animals.
http://foxhugh.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/

The sixth post looked at the teenagers of teenage humor comic books. http://foxhugh.com/2009/07/15/dc-vs-marvel-teenagers/

The seventh post looked at horror comics and horror hosts. http://foxhugh.com/2009/07/27/dc-vs-marvel-horror-hosts/

I am inventing a comic book genre name for this series. Women’s comics are defined as comic books that appeal to women. I would like to propose there is a genre of comic books that appeals to very young children as opposed to children in general and I would like to name this genre kids comic’s. The ultimate example of this genre would be the children’s Harvey Comics line that included such characters as Baby Huey, Casper, Hot Stuff, Little Audrey, Little Dot, Little Lotta, Spooky, Richie Rich and Wendy the Good Little Witch. Harvey Comics also published comics with superheroes but is best remembered for its kid’s comics. I see similarities between Harvey Comics and Archie Comics.

Faced with hopeless competition with DC and Marvel in the superhero arena, these two comic book companies found success in non superhero genres, an example of niche marketing in the comic book marketplace. Archie Comics has dominated teenage humor for decades, right up until the present and squashed attempts by DC and Marvel to make titles that compete in this genre. Harvey Comics was also able to survive in a similar manner with kids comic books. Interestingly, both Archie Comics and Harvey Comics tried superheroes but eventually gave up these titles probably because of competition from DC and Marvel. Both Archie Comics and Harvey Comics had to learn hard lessons about their core business which turned out to be genres other than the superhero one.

There is tremendous overlap between the funny animal genre, dealt with in the post about funny animals (http://foxhugh.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/) and kid’s comics and many comics fit both genres. Still, characters such as Casper are obviously not funny animals. I would propose that funny animals are a subgenre of kid’s comics logically but the funny animal subgenre is so big it must be treated as a genre. In a similar manner, logically superheroes are a subgenre of science fiction but are such a dominant subgenre in terms of the comic book marketplace that superheroes are best dealt with as a separate genre. This post will only deal with kid comics that are not funny animals.

This genre is characterized by a simplified cartoon style, very G rated material, even by comic code approved standards, and very simple plots. The defining characteristic is that the comic book is aimed at a very young readership. I would say the comic books should be able to appeal to preschoolers and they should be able to handle the material without the aid of an adult. Older readers may like the simplicity of the comic books in the same way that even adults can appreciate a children’s book but the reverse is not true. A relatively G-rated comic book like Superman, especially a more recent Superman comic book, will not be appreciated by preschoolers unless their literacy is especially high.

DC kids include the Brat Finks, Stanley and his Monster, as well as, Sugar and Spike. Stanley and his Monster replaced the Fox and Crow in issue #109 but the retitled comic book only lasted until issue #112. Stanley is a six year old with a lisp that mistakes a monster for a dog and lets him secretly live with him. The monster is covered with pink hair, has enormous fangs and is gigantic, maybe nine feet? The parents never catch onto the existence of the monster. In the innocent comic book logic of that era, hiding a nine foot monster in a typical suburban house is considered totally possible. The comic book was printed in the sixties. In the nineties, DC decided to add some back story to the series and include Stanley and his Monster in some DC crossovers. I still prefer the more innocent less sophisticated Stanley and his Monster of the sixties.

Sugar and Spike was created by comic book legend Sheldon Mayer and is one of the best comic books lines ever! Somehow DC forgot to reprint this comic book in their current reprint Showcase series. This is extremely unfortunate and I urge DC to add Sugar and Spike to the Showcase reprint line. Sugar and Spike are two preschoolers that talk to each other in baby talk that adults can’t understand.

Sugar and Spike are constantly trying to figure out adult logic and the adult world and come up with outlandish explanations that nevertheless are totally logical. Mayer was able to capture kid’s logic in a way few cartoonists ever have. The closest any cartoonist has ever come is Calvin and Hobbes but I actually think Mayer does a better job and he is dealing with much younger children that are harder for adults to understand. Sugar is a blonde haired kid. Spike is a red haired kid. Other characters came and went in the strip such as Little Arthur, Uncle Charley and Bernie the Brain and even the secondary characters of this great strip were better than the primary characters of most cartoons. The strip lasted 98 issues, from the seventies into the nineties, and I am sure would have gone on even longer except for his death in 1992.

Marvel Kids, pre-Star imprint, is a much shorter list and I want to mention Homer the Happy Ghost who was brought to my attention by a reader of this post (see comments).  Homer the Happy Ghost was an obvious imitation of Casper that lasted 22 issues, between March, 1955- November 1958, which for a none superheroe is not bad!  Supporting characters included Melvin the Mixed-Up Ghost, Invisible Irwin, Dugan the Dead End Ghost, and Zelda the Zany Witch.  Homer was reprinted for five issues between from November 1969 to May 1970 and I vaguely remember seeing this version of the title.  Anway, thanks for the info Mark!

Marvel Kids include all the characters of their Star imprint that lasted from 1984-88. The characters of the Star imprint included Air Raiders, ALF, Animax, Bullwinkle and Rocky, Care Bears, Chuck Norris and his Karate Kommandos, Defenders of the Earth, The Flinstone Kids, Foofur, Fraggle Rock, The Get-Along Gang, Heathcliff, Heathcliffs Funhouse, Hugga Bunch, Inhumanoids, Madballs, Masters of the Universe, Masters of the Universe Motion Picture, Misty, Muppet Babies, The Muppets take Manhattan, Peter Porker The Spectacular Spider Ham, Planet Terry, Popples, Royal Roy, Silverhawks, Star Wars Digest, Star Wars Droids, Star Wars Ewoks, Strawberry Shortcake, ThunderCats, Top Dog, and Wally the Wizard. Marvel did publish a couple of Casper comic books in 1997.

Most of the Star comic books are not Marvel properties and will not be looked at given the topic of this post. Spider Ham, Planet Terry, Royal Roy, Top Dog and Wally the Wizard are the only true Marvel properties of the Star comic’s line. Spider Ham was already dealt with in the funny animals post so we are down to Planet Terry, Royal Roy, Top Dog and Wally the Wizard.

Planet Terry, Royal Roy and Top Dog were all written by Lennie Herman. Planet Terry was a space saga. Planet Terry was looking for his parents in space with his sidekicks a robot named Robota and a green-scaled muscular alien named Omnus. I swear that Planet Terry’s facial features are very similar to those of Casper. He flew around in a jet pack and many of his flying poses seem directly lifted from Casper comic books. Top Dog is a talking dog and therefore a funny animal and the subject of another post. Royal Roy is Marvels version of Richie Rich of Harvey Comics. Prince Roy lives in Cashelot (Camelot plus Cash) and only
lasted six issues. Wally the Wizard was an apprentice wizard to Marlin the Wizard, Merlin the Wizards older brother.  Wally the Wizard was created by Bob Bolling who had also created Little Archie.

Sugar and Spike team up with Stanley and his monster for a day at the sandbox and run into these two weird kids in weird costumes. One is dressed like a prince, one is dressed like a spaceman and one is dressed like a wizard. Sugar and Spike know all about Halloween and love that day and know darn well this day isn’t that day. They start laughing at the costumed kids and soon a fight ensues. Stanley’s Monster sits on the Marvel kids until they agree to behave. DC wins this round.

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Fox Superpower List

Other DC vs. Marvel Posts

Big Monsters

Fourth Wall Heroes

Funny Animals

Horror Hosts

Kids

Robots

Sidekicks

Spacemen

Superpets

Teenagers

Transportation

War Heroes

Weapons

Western Heroes

Women in Refrigerators

Working Women

WereVerse Universe Baby!