Blue Marvel Appreciation 2019

[mugiwara]

Yea Al Ewing neutered the crap out of Blue Marvel. The character under Ewing is completely different from the one under his original creator. I don't want Ewing writing Blue Marvel again to be honest.

He couldn't neuter him more that Grevioux who had him doing nothing but pouting during half of a century.
Ewing revaled that he was actually active and had 50 years worth of stories to be told, and gave him a family that opens far more narrative opportunities than "dead wife". That's better than having him win pissing contests right and left.

[XPac]

Blue Marvel was suppose to be the BLACK representation when it came to powerhouses like Hulk, Thor and Sentry. Sure Black readers have badass Black character like Black Panther who is king of the most advanced nation on Earth but however we do not a representation when it comes to "godlike" characters. And no offense(hope I do not cause any bad intentions with this) but I do not mean Storm but I mean characters who can give Thanos a good fight. Characters who if they let lose they can potentially destroy a planet. Now..... People are going to see this post as very shallow and say its more about the characterization than just powers or feats and they are correct however... A Black powerhouse who has the power of anti-matter(1g equals the nuke of Hiroshima) installs a lot of joy in Black readers. Think about it... a BLACK character who can give Thanos a good fight physically. The Black Nighthawk in the Squadrom Supreme was right when he was complaining that the Black heros had the less formidable powers. Again this post comes off shallow but don't care. It is a big shame that Marvel has not done anything with the character. Yes we explored his characterization that's nice but we never explored what happens when he cuts "loose."

All in all Blue Marvel has not had a "Denzel Washington" movement. The last time he had a "Denzel Washington" movement was back in his original miniseries and that was back in 2008. I'm still waiting Marvel.

Storm, Monica Rambeu and Doctor Voodoo are all actually pretty powerful. But yeah... for those who want a black Superman character I do think Blue Marvel fills that void very nicely.

[Golden Guardian of Good]

He couldn't neuter him more that Grevioux who had him doing nothing but pouting during half of a century.
Ewing revaled that he was actually active and had 50 years worth of stories to be told, and gave him a family that opens far more narrative opportunities than "dead wife". That's better than having him win pissing contests right and left.

That was the few things that Al Ewing did great for the character(especially giving him a Black gf like Monica ) and understand your point. Again I admitted my post was shallow. However, overall Ewing hardly did anything with Blue Marvel. He mostly had him sit back like the grandpa of the group while T'Challa and Carol did the heavy hitting. Heck Miss America had more action time than him. Yes characterization is important but readers also want to see what the character can do.

I do hope Adam and Monica stay together.

[Golden Guardian of Good]

Storm, Monica Rambeu and Doctor Voodoo are all actually pretty powerful. But yeah... for those who want a black Superman character I do think Blue Marvel fills that void very nicely.

I agree with Monica Rambeu. But Storm is not that insanely powerful. And Doctor Voodoo(while I LIKE the character) I don't really know where he stands unless I missed something. But speaking on Storm and mutants most of the omega level mutants are White. Stuff like that is what I really mean.

[Golden Guardian of Good]

Ewing had its moments when he wrote Blue Marvel to be honest. The image of him one-shotting Ultimate Hulk is pretty legendary and, due to the writing, I always got the impression he was the strongest Ultimate (Which he was) even if he rarely had the need to go all-out.

I get the point though. But Blue Marvel doesn't get the chance to do much 'powerhouse stuff' for no reason other than not being a recurrent character in any book.

One shotting Ultimate Hulk which came very late and in the second volume iirc. For the most part Ewing had Blue Marvel like he was the grandfather of the group.

[Lukmendes]

I agree with Monica Rambeu. But Storm is not that insanely powerful. And Doctor Voodoo(while I LIKE the character) I don't really know where he stands unless I missed something. But speaking on Storm and mutants most of the omega level mutants are White. Stuff like that is what I really mean.

Well, Storm was retconned into an Omega level mutant, so hopefully they show her being a power house (Since Omega level has "No defined upper limit"), and isn't just a cool title.

[Golden Guardian of Good]

Well, Storm was retconned into an Omega level mutant, so hopefully they show her being a power house (Since Omega level has "No defined upper limit"), and isn't just a cool title.

Wait what!? When did this happen??? Scans??

[JTHM]

Wait what!? When did this happen??? Scans??

House of X #1. Don't have scans though but she's there.

[Golden Guardian of Good]

House of X #1. Don't have scans though but she's there.

Going to have to check this out. Thanks.

[Lukmendes]

Wait what!? When did this happen??? Scans??

Was in House of X#1:



But so far it's just a cool title, she hasn't done anything to really show off her power, which is fair, House of X/Powers of X were just world building and establishing the new status quo, and as of now, we only have X-Men#1 and Marauders#1 out, but then again, Marauders does have Storm as a main character, and the whole first issue was mostly about Kitty, but later issues may make it into an actual team book.

Oh well, so I don't know much about Blue Marvel, initially dismissed him as "Sentry, but black", but I hear he's a cool character, so uh, recommended reading?

[Golden Guardian of Good]

Was in House of X#1:



But so far it's just a cool title, she hasn't done anything to really show off her power, which is fair, House of X/Powers of X were just world building and establishing the new status quo, and as of now, we only have X-Men#1 and Marauders#1 out, but then again, Marauders does have Storm as a main character, and the whole first issue was mostly about Kitty, but later issues may make it into an actual team book.

Oh well, so I don't know much about Blue Marvel, initially dismissed him as "Sentry, but black", but I hear he's a cool character, so uh, recommended reading?

Thanks for this post and the scan. Appreciate it.

[Golden Guardian of Good]

Matter fact I take back MOST of what I said. While I am still not a fan of Ewing's run I agree 100% with @mugiwara that Ewing did WAY more for the character than his own creator Kevin. Rereading his miniseries Kevin made his own character come off as a damn coward no offense considering this is an appreciation thread. "The USA govt doesn't want me to offend poor White people so let me step down from being a HERO even tho I have all this power. Also let me not even address the civil rights movement." Yea that definitely rubs me the wrong way. Hope I don't get banned for these terms(only using them in terms of this context) but in real life lets just say some "less understanding" Black people would have labeled him an "Uncle Tom." Of course we know he is not one. But the way Kevin wrote him may rub some people that way. Ewing being a WHITE writer fixed that....

But anyways Superman iirc(think it was New 52) GAVE UP his USA citizen for the greater good. Kevin could've had Blue Marvel doing that. While being undercover in the USA fighting crime. Win-win. Yea characterization comes FIRST before powers/feats.

[XPac]

Matter fact I take back MOST of what I said. While I am still not a fan of Ewing's run I agree 100% with @mugiwara that Ewing did WAY more for the character than his own creator Kevin. Rereading his miniseries Kevin made his own character come off as a damn coward no offense considering this is an appreciation thread. "The USA govt doesn't want me to offend poor White people so let me step down from being a HERO even tho I have all this power. Also let me not even address the civil rights movement." Yea that definitely rubs me the wrong way. Hope I don't get banned for these terms(only using them in terms of this context) but in real life lets just say some "less understanding" Black people would have labeled him an "Uncle Tom." Of course we know he is not one. But the way Kevin wrote him may rub some people that way. Ewing being a WHITE writer fixed that....

But anyways Superman iirc(think it was New 52) GAVE UP his USA citizen for the greater good. Kevin could've had Blue Marvel doing that. While being undercover in the USA fighting crime. Win-win. Yea characterization comes FIRST before powers/feats.

The story does point out that both black and white people were pretty unhappy when Blue Marvel was exposed as a black man. Many had similar views to how MCU Killmonger felt about Wakanda... why didn't you do more. So poor Adam was getting it on both sides.

But ultimately I think the same reason Wakanda did nothing to do more helping is the same reason Adam didn't do more... because realistically he COULD have, but you don't want him do. The MCU history would be different than the real worlds if there was some black super man or some futuristic african nation trying to change things, and marvel doesn't want their history being different from the real worlds. So they need to invent reasons for Adam and Wakanda not to get involved, even if it potentially makes them look bad.

There are other ways they could have benched Adam rather than having him sit out all these decades.. he could have been exiled into space or whatever. It's a comic book afterall. But I do think the means Kevin chose allowed him to tackle certain issues that a more sci-fi sollution would sort of side step. I don't disagree with Adams decision either on a personal level and I'm sure a lot of people feel that way... Adam himself in hindsight probably does. But in a lot of ways that leads to a far more interesting story to tell than having him simply vanish off into space.

[JudicatorPrime]

Anyone here watching the new HBO series Watchmen? I wonder how much more powerful would Blue Marvel's story have been if Grevioux had anchored Adam's history (and the audience's idea of context) to a real life tragic event like the Tulsa/Greenwood race massacre of 1921?

[JudicatorPrime]

From Marvel Comics 1000?