WOMEN OF MARVEL (in comics and behind the scenes) Appreciation 2019

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Storm representing Fall!

[Phoenixx9]

Yes, it is. What a nice way to celebrate it!

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X-Factor #44 Sep 1989
Judgement War! Part 2 of 7. "Another World!"
Continued from last issue...

With X-Factor separated on an alien world when they were teleported into the middle of a battle between the Chosen and the Rejects,
Cyclops finds himself alone in the evacuated battlefield as Gammenon the Celestial slowly descends on the area.
Unable to stop the giant cosmic being with his optic blast, Cyclops instead
decides to try to blast a hole in the ground deep enough to avoid getting crushed.

Meanwhile, the Beast has fled with the Rejects along with one of their warriors Zharkah.
When Zharkah wonders what tribe Beast has come from, Hank considers that she may not be able to
understand the concept that he came from another world decides to pretend that he has partial amnesia.
Zharkah believes this and thinks that his mind has been partially wiped by one of the Chosen's Jammers.

This allows Hank to ask questions about he conflict between
the genetically pure Chosen, and the mutates known as the Rejects
and the fact that the "space god" that has arrived on their world has come for
yet another test of their world, one which Zharkah believes they will not pass.
Arriving at the Reject village, Beast is shown that they live in tall platforms suspended over their refuse.
He is shown Old Vlon, a powerful Telekinetic that was mind wiped by a Jammer.
Beast also meets Zharkah's child and sees the grief of the pregnant reject Wilghe
when she learns that her husband Zheops had died in the battle.
As Zharkah goes to aid the grieving widow, she tells Beast to go and get some food.
As Hank wanders away, he considers the parallels on this world with human mutant relations on Earth.
Upon thinking about the fate of his comrades, Beast wonders how the Chosen would view
his comrade Archangel who is mostly human if not for his blue skin and metallic wings.

If Beast could look upon his friends fate, he would learn that Warren is a prisoner of the Chosen and has his wings restrained in a plastic restraint
as Princess Seera and Lord Rask and one of the Chosens scientists try to make sense out of why a "Reject" would save the Princess in combat.
They refuse to believe Warren's stories that he has no idea what the conflict was about, or that he is from another world.
When Rask intends to put Warren into the arena, Warren breaks free and attempts to flee.
However Rask manages to incapacitate Warren again with his force blasts.
Witnessing this display, the Princess can't help but find Warren's display magnificent.
All present believe that Seera was speaking of Rask except for her robot ZZ-105.
Zee-Zee points this out when they are walking away from the lab alone, and although the Princess
struggles to understand it she can't help but wonder what her feelings about the encounter are.
When she begins talking of the stories Zee-Zee told her as a child about how children used to be birthed
the robot warns her not to tell anyone that it told her such tales and insists that they are false.

When a supply robot zips past them, Seera and Zee-Zee go into another lab where another scientist is examining Iceman with Lev watching over.
Confusing him for a "Dueler", a class of the Chosen with an alternate form,
and Lev is mocked for attacking one of her own in battle when she confused him for a Reject.
When the scientist finds no records, they dismiss him as probably being a member of some outer colony that is bad at keeping records.
When Bobby revives, they begin trying to ask him questions, but find that he has amnesia.
When he attempts to reach out and touch the princess -- an act that is forbidden -- the scientist knocks him out before he can.
He then turns Bobby over to Lev to try and stir his memory.

While back at the site of the battlefield, Gammenon has left leaving giant foot prints in his wake.
Cyclops manages to blast his way out to the surface and finds a green skinned telepath waiting for him.
The man asks Scott if he is one of the Chosen or a Reject.
Scott tells him that he is from a far away world and that his friends are missing.
Helped out of the pit, Cyclops begins calling out to his friends, however the humanoid
tells him it's ultimately useless as there is nobody around and invites him to follow.
As Cyclops is led away, he wonders what became of his friends, and most importantly, his son Christopher.

Back at the Chosen's citadel, Seera looks over the vats of genetic material that they use to create new members of their race.
She remarks over how fewer and fewer batches of these artificially created
people come out pure enough to live in their society, or alive for that matter.
When a sci-bot overhears Seera talking about how it must have been "better" when children are born biologically it begins demanding answers.
However she threatens to send it off for repairs in order to keep it quiet and send it on it's way.
She is then met by Father-Sun, the man who recovered young Christopher Summers from the battle field.
Feeling an instant maternal love for the child she offers Father-Sun Zee-Zee's entire supply of mood altering drugs in exchange for the child.

When he turns around to get the bounty of narcotics, Seera uses her own jamming powers to make Father-Sun forget about the child completely.
Not wanting to have to give the child up to the scientists, Seera hides young
Christopher within Zee-Zee so that she can smuggle the boy back to her quarters.

Back at the home of the Rejects, Beast is joined by Zharkah whom he begins asking if anyone has seen his friends.
When he begins describing Marvel Girl to Zharkah, the Reject wonders if he is referring to the
"Chosen" woman they have captured after jamming and is now locked up in one of their dungeons.
Finding Beast's questions suspicious she decides to keep this bit of information from him to see what else she can learn from him.
Beast himself decides it's best to continue to keep up his feigned amnesia in order to get the answers he wants.
Turning his attentions to a shooting star he wonders how their Ship is faring since it was captured by the Celestials.

High above the planet, Ship is continuing to explain to Gammenon about it's origins that it's known about since it's come online.
However, the massive Celestial doesn't seem to be satisfied with the tale and as Ship continues to probe deeper into his data banks he
comes to consider that it might not have been built by Apocalypse, but by some other force all together and decides to tell it's tale again.

Scott is led to an underground cavern where he is introduced to the Beginagains, a group of Rejects and Chosen
who have come to realize that unity is the only way for either of their races to survive.
They explain to Scott that the arrival of the "Space God" Gammenon was ordained
as the Celestials have come to their planet many times to judge it's inhabitance.
In every previous encounter, they have been deemed worthy to continue.
However, Zalph has had a preventative flash that suggests that this time, they might not be so lucky.

Story by Louise Simonson http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....uise_simonson/. Art by Paul Smith and Al Milgrom.

[Electricmastro]

Classic cover art by Syd Shores from Blonde Phantom Comics #12 (December, 1946):

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Unpacking the Power of Power Pack - Episode 38:
June Brigman & Louise "Weezie" Simonson Interview

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Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #5 Sep 1984
"The Battle of Four Armies!"
Mister Fantastic's worse fears have been realized: trapped on Battleworld by the Beyonder,
Galactus has summoned his worldship so that he can consume this patchwork world and sate his hunger.
Although this is an awesome sight, the assembled heroes try to figure out what to do next.
The healer named Zsaji is in a panic, so the Human Torch tries to calm her down,
however there is a language barrier between the two of them. In order to break past them, Zsaji takes Johnny to her home
where she opens a bottle containing a strange gas that allows them to meld minds so Johnny can tell her what's going on.
He recounts how they were gathered by the Beyonder to battle to the death
and obtain their heart's desire, leading to a clash with super-villains being led by Doctor Doom.
This resulted in the injuries the heroes sustained before seeking Zsaji's help.

Elsewhere, the X-Man known as Colossus tries to sleep but cannot help but think about his girlfriend Kitty Pryde whom he left at home.
His thoughts about her are quickly cut off by the telepathic summons of Professor X.
Colossus joins the rest of the X-Men in meeting with Xavier and Magneto.
With the threat of Galactus becoming apparent, Magneto orders the X-Men to attack him in order
to distract the world devourer long enough for Magneto and Xavier to take a more subtle attack.

When Wolverine balks at taking orders from Magneto, the Professor tells his team to follow Magneto's orders.

Meanwhile, the Molecule Man and Volcana are bonding and growing closer together.
As they walk past the Wrecking Crew and the Absorbing Man, Pile Driver decides to pick on the Molecule Man.
When none of his friends back him up in bullying the Molecule Man, Pile Driver learns why it is not a good idea to make him angry:
Owen Reece channels his powers to change Pile Driver's costume into into an ultra hard metal causing him to fall over.
Adding insult to injury, Pile Driver has his face pushed into the mud by Volcana
and they leave him to be ripped out of his costume by the others.
As the others just begin to notice Galactus' worldship hovering over Battleworld,
Doctor Doom has long since been aware of its arrival and is busy working on a plan to use this to his advantage.
His work is interrupted by the Enchantress who tries to seduce Doom by offering to repair the damage done to his face.
Doom resists her offers and tells her to begone. Frustrated by being rejected by a mere mortal, the Enchantress teleports away.

As Magneto and Xavier channel their powers together to try and establish telepathic contact with Galactus,
the heroes gathered at the base of his mountain decide what to do next.
Mister Fantastic figures he can try to reach out to Galactus as he had recently saved the world devourer's life.
However neither ploy works, and Galactus rebuffs telepathic contact
and causes a section of Magneto's base to explode while also blasting Reed aside.
Seeing the heroes as pests, Galactus unleashes a robot to keep them busy
while he begins forming the device he needs to consume Battleworld.
Although the heroes manage to destroy the robot set upon them, they are suddenly attacked by Doctor Doom's villains.
While the battle rages, Doom watches from a distance.
When it appears that his minions are going to succeed,
the heroes get saved thank to the timely intervention of the X-Men.


The sheer force of the battle is enough to temporarily distract Galactus from his work and while
the world devourer's head is turned, Doctor Doom quickly pilots his ship in to the Worldship of Galactus.
Doom's minions are forced to flee, but not before seriously wounding Colossus.
With the battle over the X-Men pull back but are forced to leave their comrade behind.
Although Wolverine protests this, Xavier points out that Colossus' injuries were serious enough that
to move him would have killed him and that the heroes have a healer on their side who can save his life.

In the aftermath of the battle, the heroes find Colossus and see that he needs medical attention.
When they get Zsaji to heal him, Colossus is taken by how beautiful she is
and grows instantly jealous that she happens to be interested in the Human Torch.
Colossus then pretends to be in even more pain in order to get more of her healing touch.
Meanwhile, as Mister Fantastic and Captain America fear the worst about Galactus,
they are unaware that Doctor Doom has gained access to his ship.
From within, Doom hopes to find the tools he needs to defeat both Galactus and then the Beyonder.
Suddenly his attention is drawn toward something of great interest on one of the walls of the ship.

Story by Jim Shooter http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....y_jim_shooter/. Art by Bob Layton and John Beatty.

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Ka-Zar #5 Sep 1974
Bobbi Morse guest-stars in "A Man-God Unleashed"
Bobbi angers Man-God into throwing her into the pit with Ka-Zar and the Man-Apes

before leaving them to their fate. Back in the Fall People's village, Zabu
senses Ka-Zar's need for help and leaves to find him and join in the battle.

El Tigre barely manages to escape the vengeful Fall People and finds Man-God,
who abandons the pleading lackey to pursue his goals of world domination alone.
El Tigre heads into the mystic mists in attempt to gain the same powers Maa-Gor did, but is instead
horrified to find his mind and body degraded to a bestial state, driving him to run off a cliff to his death.
Man-God returns to find the corpse and theorizes that the mists are the source of the Savage Land's evolutionary anachronisms.
Realizing the power to control evolution will help him conquer the world,
he dives back into the mists to find their source, a seemingly alien machine.
When he attempts to grab the machine, it splits him into two copies:
a cold and logical blue Man-God, and a violent and emotional red Man-God.
The red Man-God snaps and kills his blue half, prompting the machine to incapacitate him with a blast of energy.
The machine then issues a report, referring to itself as a "reporter", explaining that
the organism that touched it had created total disharmony and it acted to restore balance.

With Man-God defeated, the revived Man-Apes vanish. Bobbi and Ka-Zar determine that the crisis has passed
and Bobbi can return home. Elsewhere, Maa-Gor emerges from the mists, restored to his original state.

Script by Mike Friedrich and others, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Mike Esposito.

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Uncanny X-Men #185 Sep 1984
"Public Enemy"
Government agent Henry Gyrich is having a meeting at the Pentagon where he is reporting on the mutant known as Rogue.
After explaining her powers, her previous criminal history and recent attack on SHIELD,
he tells those gathered that he has been authorized to use the neutralizer weapon invented by Forge to stop her.
When Raven Darkholm protests this move, wondering how Gyrich got a prototype when it hasn't even been tested,
she is shocked to hear that her co-worker Valerie Cooper supports this move
and no amount of protests will stop the action from being carried out.

At the X-Mansion, Storm interrupts Professor Xavier's session with Rachel Summers to inform him that Rogue has left.
The Professor leaves Rachel alone while he and Storm go downstairs to try and track Rogue using Cerebro.
Left to her own devices, Rachel decides to look around the Professor's office.
Finding a phone book that lists her father Cyclops living in Alaska, she decides to call and speak to him.
However, when she hears his voice and the voice of Madelyne Pryor in the background,
Rachel cannot bring herself to utter a single word and eventually Cyclops hangs up.

While back in Washington, Mystique returns to her room to find that Destiny is there waiting for her.
Irene warns that Rogue is in trouble, however Mystique wonders if allowing Gyrich
to neutralize her powers could be to the benefit of Rogue having a normal life.
When she asks Irene what the future has in store for Rogue, Destiny cannot see
into the immediate future as some temporal anomaly prevents her from doing so.
As Gyrich approaches where they are tracking Rogue,
Mystique contacts Forge and tells him that the government is using his prototype without testing it.
Forge is furious and flies after them in his private jet, while placing in a call to the president.

While in Caldecott Country, Mississippi, Rogue is spending time relaxing along the banks of the Mississippi River.
She is found by Storm who confronts her with the truth about the phantom memories she's been living of Carol Danvers.
When Rogue admits that she is struggling to find a way to control her powers and fears harming them,
Storm convinces her to willingly absorb some of her power.
Rogue is reluctant at first, but since Storm is willingly offering up her powers, Rogue tries it out.
The power absorption knocks Storm out, and Rogue is completely amazed by the abilities she has gained and how Storm sees the world.

After finding that mastering Storm's powers would take some work, Rogue is attacked by Gyrich and his men.

As Rogue attempts to avoid getting blasted by the neutralizer,
her weather controlling ability spirals out of control and a massive storm is created, threatening a nearby boat.
Storm, having revived, comes to Rogue’s aid to control the weather and pull the boat to calmer waters.
Gyrich takes this as an opportunity to get a clear shot on Rogue, however Storm shoves her out of the way.

Storm is struck by the weapon, causing her powers to flare out of control,
destroying the ship and knocking Rogue far away, before being neutralized.
Storm falls unconsciously to the water below where Forge, having arrived just in time to witness the event, dives in to her rescue.
He is furious at Gyrich for using his untested prototype and the fact that he hit an innocent woman.
He points out that Storm is a member of the X-Men and Gyrich's stupidity today
may have turned the X-Men from champions of humanity to their enemies.

Watching this from a mystical pool far away are the Dire Wraiths who have analyzed Forge's weapon
and find that it is similar to that which was used by ROM the Spaceknight.
In order to guarantee their victory in taking over the Earth, the Wraiths have come to the decision that Forge must die.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by John Romita, Jr. and Dan Green.

[Crimz]

By David Yardin

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Uncanny X-Men #248 Sep 1989
"The Cradle Will Fall"
Donald Pierce and his new compatriots, the Reavers, practice their coming attack on the X-Men.
Meanwhile, back in Australia, Longshot dreams.
In the state of Dreamtime, brought on by Gateway, Longshot speaks with Storm
and tells her that he must leave the group to search for his identity.
Nanny and the Orphan Maker, knowing of the coming deadly conflict with the Reavers,
finalize their plan to save the X-Men, quite against their will.
They arrive at the X-Men camp and swiftly capture Psylocke, Havok and Dazzler.
The three captured X-Men are placed in armor, designed by Nanny, which bend the X-Men against their will.
The three are then forced to use their powers against the still free X-Men, Storm and Colossus.



During the following conflict Havok is freed from his armor.
Still groggy, he fires a plasma discharge at Nanny's fleeing sky ship, which crashes to the ground, exploding on impact.
To his horror, Havok is informed that the ship carried not only the fleeing Nanny and Orphan Maker, but the captured Storm as well.
She is found dead among the debris.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by Jim Lee and Dan Green.

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Force Works #3 Sep 1994
"Deathblow"
Force Works has safely returned to California following their harrowing adventure on Scatter world!
But now Shell-head is concerned that the planet-devouring Scatter could somehow follow FW to Earth in a few days!
Is that possible? Forebodingly yes! However with help from the chaos computer,

the Scarlet Witch determines that the Scatter's invasion site will be in the lone star state!
To meet the aliens' attack, Force Works flies to Houston for a Texas-sized tussle!
And the gruesome Scatter do not disappoint!
As the battle rages, Century realizes that the key to victory lies back on Scatter world!
Part of FW must return there ASAP to halt the invasion from its launch point!

So the witch, agent and Century warp back to that desolate planet, while Iron Man and Spider-Woman hang on in Houston!

Will Force Works' scatter-shot plan stop the Scatter?

Force Works Lineup: Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman aka Julia Carpenter, Century and the U.S. Agent.

Script by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Pencils by Tom Tenney. Inks by Rey Garcia.

[Electricmastro]

Classic art of six superheroines by Al Milgrom from Avengers #240 (February, 1984).

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Nice seeing the women of marvel: Tigra, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk depicted on the page thanks for sharing

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Daredevil #114 Oct 1974
First full appearance of Death-Stalker in "A Quiet Night In the Swamp!"
Continued from last issue...

As Death-Stalker watches on, the Gladiator is about to lay the killing blow to Daredevil,
but out of the Florida Everglades comes the Man-Thing, drawn by the emotions on the scene.
The muck-monster grabs the Gladiator's arm, triggering a fear response in the crook, causing the Man-Thing's touch to burn him.
As the Gladiator tries in vein to injure the Man-Thing, Daredevil revives and is shocked by what he is "seeing" on the scene.

When the Man-Thing takes notice of Death-Stalker's presence, the mire monster hesitates before attacking the strange costumed villain.
However, the Death-Stalker proves to have superior strength and easily knocks the Man-Thing aside.
By this point, Daredevil is back on his feet and attempts to land a punch to Death-Stalker's face,
but much to Daredevil's surprise his fist passes right through his enemy's face leaving his hand numbingly cold.

As Daredevil continues his attack he is surprised to find that Death-Stalker can become immaterial at will
and his touch causes the Man Without Fear severe pain causing him to black out once more.
Furious that Death-Stalker didn't use his death touch on the Man-Thing to begin with,
Gladiator yells at his employer who explains he wanted to get a measure of the Man-Thing's abilities.
Gladiator contains himself realizing that he is in no place to argue with Death-Stalker
unless he can learn the secret of his "Touch of Death" so that he might double cross Death-Stalker.
Death-Stalker decides to take Daredevil and Richard Rory back to his hideout
in order to see if they have any useful information before killing them and orders.
Taking them inside Ted Sallis' old home they begin interrogating Candace Nelson over her knowledge of Operation: Sulfur.

While back in New York, Foggy Nelson paces aimlessly to hear back from Matt Murdock about his missing sister when the phone rings.
It is the Black Widow who is looking for Murdock, although she is upset she feigns being casual in her call and tells Foggy to have him call back.

Later when she hangs up she realizes that now that she and Ivan are homeless, Matt has no way to contact her.

Upset over her stupidity, the Black Widow then swings off into the air to clear her mind.

While back in Florida, the Death-Stalker is convinced when Candace tells him that Daredevil and Richard Rory
know nothing about Operation Sulfur and absconds with her leaving the Gladiator behind to dispose of the two men.
The Gladiator douses the house in gasoline and sets it ablaze and leaves Daredevil and Richard inside to die.
Daredevil revives and just barely manages to free himself and carry Rory outside to safety.
There, Daredevil finds the Man-Thing has taken down the Gladiator,
and seeing that Daredevil is okay, the muck-monster shambles off into the swamp once more.

Daredevil then changes back into his guise of Matt Murdock, and drives himself, Rory and Gladiator
out to a location where they can be found by the authorities.
Later, when Rory questions what might have happened, Murdock feigns not knowing what happened either.
Contacting Foggy to reconnect, Foggy acts strange and is distant while on the phone,
and asks that Murdock come back to New York to discuss things further.
When the call has ended, Matt realizes that there must be a trap, as Foggy mentioned
Daredevil being in Florida when Foggy could not have known and suspects a trap.

Matt could not be further from the truth, as the Death-Stalker has both Foggy and Candace hostage,
planning on killing everyone who knows about Operation: Sulfer so that he can capitalize on it himself.
Candace is furious at Foggy for "selling out" his best friend to the enemy.

Script by Steve Gerber, pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Vince Colletta

[Electricmastro]

Classic art by Herb Trimpe of Hellcat, Valkyrie, Wasp, and Moondragon at Las Vegas from Defenders #77 (November, 1979).