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  1. #1
    Spectacular Member Speedball's Avatar
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    Default Speedball "The Masked Marvel" - Appreciation

    Well, it looks like the old Speedball appreciation thread had been deleted?

    Weird.

    Since the Marvel pantheon cannot be considered complete without the inclusion of the bouncing boy wonder, I have re-launched it here.

    Just a quick update on two recent sightings:

    Robbie popped up on the cover of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6

    Unbeatable Squirrel Number 6 (1).jpg

    And in the pages of Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1

    Spider Man Renew Your Vows.jpg

    He is sitting across the table from Nova on the left side.

    If you guys see him popping up anywhere else, please post the info here!

    Thanks!
    Last edited by Speedball; 06-14-2015 at 11:59 PM.

  2. #2
    Spectacular Member Speedball's Avatar
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    Speedball through the years

    1988 - Speedball's 1st appearance. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22)

    1988 Speedball 1st Appearance.jpg

    Classic blue and orange. Weird Squiggly lines on the mask, arm bands, waistband and boots. This costume was apparently a manifestation of his extra-dimensional, kinetic energy field, and the squiggly lines represented bubbles trapped within the layers of the suits surface. Later artists (Mark Bagley and onward) would take greater care in drawing individual "bubbles" or circles within the orange portions, creating a cleaner presentation rather than simply overlapping them in squiggly lines. Notice the blue gloves which would later become an orange extension of the armbands.

    Speedball, in his solo title, portrayed an anachronistic appearance for an early teen in 1988. His hair was short and, when not in Speedball form, was combed over to the side. Robbie lived in the 80's but dressed more like a teen from the early 60's. A Richie Rich hairstyle, neatly tucked collared shirts, sweater vests etc. In only 2 short years from his first appearance we would see him moving through a period of angst as he strove to find his own identity as a teenager in the 90's. But here, as initially envisioned, Robbie was a clean cut, goodie-two-shoes with a simple super hero costume.

    His power set, on the other hand, was new, complex and brimming with creative potential which would later be stretched but never fully realized.
    Last edited by Speedball; 06-16-2015 at 10:15 PM.

  3. #3
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    I liked 616 Speedball The Masked Marvel.
    He was created by Tom DeFalco and STURDY STEVE DITKO, the man who co-created Dr. Strange : Master of the Mystic arts and of course The Amazing Spider-Man!

    I am grateful that since Earth 616 was destroyed in Secret Wars # 1, he died, because for the past 11 years the custodians of the 616 marvel characters did a to me godawful job guiding their comic book lives.
    616 Robbie Baldwin is no exception.

    I cannot wait to find out which counterpart of 616 Robbie Baldwin will replace him on the new mainstream marvel Earth post Secret Wars! Perhaps the one from the domain The Regency

    R.i.p. 616 Robbie Baldwin 1988-2015

  4. #4
    Mighty Member kevlon's Avatar
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    He went backwards at the end of NW volume 1. He had so much potential with those powers. Fabian had hinted that he could be capable of such amazing things (in fact a lot of the new warriors never reached their true potential) only for at the end of volume 1 an amped up speedball turned out to be some kind of clone.

  5. #5
    Y'know. Pav's Avatar
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    I recently found Speedball #1 at a local second-hand store. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it for a single dollar, despite not really being a "collector" in the classic sense. (I just like to read comics!)

    Ha! It was not good. I can see why it didn't last long.

    -Pav, who loved the late issues in the first NW volume...
    You were Spider-Man then. You and Peter had agreed on it. But he came back right when you started feeling comfortable.
    You know what it means when he comes back
    .

    "You're not the better one, Peter. You're just older."
    --------------------
    Closet full of comics? Consider donating to my school! DM for details

  6. #6

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    so what does robbie remember about the Penance tenure?

  7. #7
    Spectacular Member Speedball's Avatar
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    Robbie's thoughts were accessed by a mind reader during a scene in the latest run of New Warriors and it was revealed that he is still affected by Stamford and his time as Penance, although he is now able to more effectively subdue the manifestation of his trauma. He is still moving through a period of healing. He is on an incline but still has a ways to go to fully shed his guilt.

    He also still retains his Penance power set alongside his original Speedball effect making him a formidable combatant with both extremely high defensive (Speedball) and offensive (Penance) capabilities. It was implied that he still cuts himself in order to activate his Penance powers, which he is able to store up and release at will until depleted.

  8. #8
    Spectacular Member Speedball's Avatar
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    Speedball through the years

    1989 - Speedball #10

    1989 Speedball #10.jpg

    June of 1989. Speedball's solo series was coming to an end along with the exploits of Alex P. Keaton, new wave music and Reaganomics. By this point, the artist had given up on trying to represent the kinetic energy bubbles within the orange portions of his suit as circles and had regressed to representing them as full on squiggly lines. It looks like some kind of wild animal pattern and always kind of reminded me of the zoo for some strange reason. You can see that the orange of the armbands now extends all the way through his fingertips as gloves, although the pattern stops at his wrists.

    One of my favorite features of Speedball was always his colored kinetic energy bubbles. I always thought they looked cool and, at times were used to great effect to represent his speed and velocity by stretching them out in the direction he was travelling. Those bubbles were there from the very beginning, although they would later evolve alongside Speedball himself.

    The next time we see Speedball, he will have received a remarkable Mark Bagley make-over in the pages of New Warriors #1. Speedball has a fairly small but very passionate fan base. I believe that most of those fans became endeared to the character in the pages of New Warriors, thanks to a combination of Mark Bagley's modernization of the character along with some exceptional writing by Fabian Nicieza.

  9. #9
    Incredible Member strathcona's Avatar
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    I've asked for it before, but when do we get a collection of the entire Speedball series? I got to shows (not comiccons, they are too expensive. Just the small ones in convention halls and hockey rinks) a couple times a year, but I don't recall ever seeing this series in the back issue bins. I know it's not going to be good, but I'd love to get my hands on it anyway... Come on Marvel, Speedball Epic!

  10. #10
    Spectacular Member Speedball's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by strathcona View Post
    I've asked for it before, but when do we get a collection of the entire Speedball series? I got to shows (not comiccons, they are too expensive. Just the small ones in convention halls and hockey rinks) a couple times a year, but I don't recall ever seeing this series in the back issue bins. I know it's not going to be good, but I'd love to get my hands on it anyway... Come on Marvel, Speedball Epic!
    I would certainly buy that. Also, still waiting for New Warriors Classic volume 4!

  11. #11
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    I like him more as Penance.

  12. #12
    Incredible Member Den's Avatar
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    With the latest attempt at New Warriors over, I have no idea where we'll see the bouncing Baldwin again, but I'll definitely be watching for it.

    As long as it isn't in Penance form. I really hated that.

    Frankly, I'd love to see him get a guest appearance in Ms. Marvel. Her exuberance might remind him off his more innocent days
    "A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me."-Frederick Douglass

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Speedball View Post
    Well, it looks like the old Speedball appreciation thread had been deleted?

    Weird.

    Since the Marvel pantheon cannot be considered complete without the inclusion of the bouncing boy wonder, I have re-launched it here.

    Just a quick update on two recent sightings:

    Robbie popped up on the cover of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6

    Unbeatable Squirrel Number 6 (1).jpg

    And in the pages of Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1

    Spider Man Renew Your Vows.jpg

    He is sitting across the table from Nova on the left side.

    If you guys see him popping up anywhere else, please post the info here!

    Thanks!
    Still haven't seen him popping up anywhere else

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pav View Post
    I recently found Speedball #1 at a local second-hand store. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it for a single dollar, despite not really being a "collector" in the classic sense. (I just like to read comics!)

    Ha! It was not good. I can see why it didn't last long.

    -Pav, who loved the late issues in the first NW volume...
    I envy you

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by kevlon View Post
    He went backwards at the end of NW volume 1. He had so much potential with those powers. Fabian had hinted that he could be capable of such amazing things (in fact a lot of the new warriors never reached their true potential) only for at the end of volume 1 an amped up speedball turned out to be some kind of clone.
    Fabian did great

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