She's a (Cosmic) Brick House

Back in the 90s, Broadside was not exactly one of my favorite Force members.  I didn't much care for her balding orange power-lifter look.  As with Eightyfive, it's hard not to see many of the derivative elements in Broadside.

Her status as the team's resident physical "heavy hitter" recalls earlier examples such as: She-Hulk, Titania, Thundra, et al.  Even at that, however, with age I've come to have a greater appreciation for the subversion of having a woman be the powerhouse--especially in this case since she was clearly intended to be the Force-counterpart to the Hulkish proportioned Charlie-27.

On that note, Valentino & company did give Broadside some interesting character depth via her crush on Charlie-27.  I figure some people will see that as sexist or diminishing or whatever, but I don't buy it.  Love...the desire for companionship...is natural.  Everybody feels this, and most people feel it for members of the opposite sex.

Guardians of the Galaxy #11 (APR 1991)

Furthermore, it seems to be pretty common for people to seek out lovers who they perceive to be their "equals" in terms of status, wealth, power, etc. etc.  Given Broadside's powers, it's natural that she would have a difficult time finding a man who considered her equal--thus, the excitement when she met the last Jovian.  On the basis of their earlier fight, however, I seriously question whether Charlie is her "equal"...maybe he's the least-weak option she's found. 

Guardians of the Galaxy #5 (OCT 1990)

Speaking of Broadside's powers, the mechanism by which they worked was also derivative.  According to the Marvel Wiki, she "channels a planet's gravity" into her body to augment her strength.  Comic Vine, in contrast, says it's the planet's mass that she she channels.  Either way, this power set immediately reminded me of another one of my forgotten favorites, Earth Lord.

Guardians of the Galaxy #13 (JUN 1991)
In the previous one-page appearance of Force (in Guardians of the Galaxy #11) the members were assembled on the bridge of their ship pondering the nature of an "anomaly" headed straight toward them.  The anomaly is revealed to have been neither Firelord, nor the Phoenix (as the reader might have assumed) but instead Malevolence, daughter of the demon Mephisto, who first crossed the Guardians in Guardians of the Galaxy #7 (DEC 1990).

Though we don't see it, obviously Malevolence apparently threw down on Force almost as soon as she arrived.  They're all out cold except for Brahl, who negotiates to aid Malevolence in exchange for his chance to get revenge on the Guardians. 

And on that note, we'll end this post.  Next week:  Brahl!

An 80s Character for the 90s

I said last time that Tachyon was one of my favorite members of Force.  Today's focus, the oddly-named Eightyfive, was the other.  He seemed the product of a pitch for What If...?  I can just imagine the bullpen session:  Hey Stan, what if Tom Selleck was born the mutant master of magnetism and then joined a hair band?  Thanks to Jim Valentino, the world need wonder no longer.

The Magneto comparison was pretty in-your-face.  Eightyfive was a mutant...just not a human one.  Rather, the one who makes the ladies' hearts point to true north was a mutant pink-skinned Kree!  (That was quite a shock to me when I first read it.) 

The Magneto parallels continue in the explanation of Eightyfive's name.  Due to being a member of the maligned Kree racial minority, at birth he was merely issued a batch number, rather than a real name. (Marvel Wiki) (Yet again, however, Comic Vine reports a slight variation on this, claiming the character's name derived from, "the cell block in which he was kept captive.")  It's hard not to read that and remember Magneto's own backstory as a persecuted minority under the Nazis.

Finally, like the X-men's original big baddie, Eightyfive is frequently called the "master of magnetism."  He even even exhibited the ambiguous moral qualities and conflicted virtues of Magneto.  Take, for example, his battle with Aleta in Guardians of the Galaxy #6 (NOV 1990):

The parallels are so blatant, it's difficult to imagine they weren't conscious choices on Valentino's part.  What I'm curious about is why?  Especially given the direction he took Guardians with the creation of Haven and the lost colony of mutants, it seems like Eightyfive (or a similar character) would've fit better there.  (Especially considering some of the oh-so-forgettable lieutenants of Rancor like Batwing and Rhodey.)  I've always wondered what Valentino's long-term plans for Eightyfive were.

Following the events of Guardians of the Galaxy #6 (NOV 1990), the Guardians took possession of Captain America's shield.  Having lost Mainframe/Vision's tournament, Force (and their ship) were transported 15 parsecs away from the planet.  Though there were some voices that wanted to go back and kick the crud out of the Guardians, Interface definitively announces the mercenaries will be cutting their losses and moving on. (This makes sense, as Interface now realizes the shield did not possess the mystic power that he had assumed.)

The Guardians are gifted (again, by Mainframe) with the coordinates of the long-lost colony of free earthmen.  The next several issues are dedicated to the saga of their travel to this long lost world, which winds up being quite deflating when they finally get there.  Rather than a colony of free men, what they find is a world under the oppressive authoritarian rule of a handful of mutants.  While the Guardians are busy struggling to free the humans from the yoke of Rancor and her lieutenants, Force is ever so slowly re-introduced into the storyline.  This takes place in

Guardians of the Galaxy #11 (APR 1991) 
In a single page, we drop in on Force where Interface informs his crew that something the size of a person, but the heat of a star is heading toward them on an intercept course from, "the space sector we just left" (presumably, the sector containing Mainframe's world.)  This is, literally, all we hear of Force for another issue.  We're left to ponder if this "anomaly" is Firelord...the Phoenix...or something else entirely.

you can spot Eightyfive on the far right of this panel

Tachyon, my wayward...son? daughter? it?

Tachyon has always been one of my favorite Force members...perhaps even the favorite.  Unlike Interface, who was cursed with a name that implied tech/computer powers, while he actually possessed elemental manipulation powers, Tachyon had a super-cool name and a defensive power-set that was just different enough to make Tachyon stand out from the likes of Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Binary, etc.

[Tachyon] has the ability to fly and can also reflect any form of energy back to its original source. Tachyon can travel faster-than-light instantaneously, but is only reactive in nature. Having no offensive capabilities, Tachyon can only use its enemies attacks against them. (Tachyon. Comic Vine)

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion out there in comicdom over the nature of Tachyon.  Comic Vine reports Tachyon was a robot (and thus, routinely uses the pronoun "it" to refer to Tachyon.)  The Marvel Wiki, in contrast, posits a much more interesting nature when it theorizes Tachyon is "from a race of human-sized tachyons."  The only point I would quibble with on this is:  if Tachyon is from a "race," then why assume (as the Wiki does) that Tachyon is an "it" rather than a "he" or a "she"?  He might even be some sort of asexual (but non-robotic) being.  I would really love to see a background story fleshing out this (and other) features of Tachyon's history.

All apologies, Dear Reader, I spent over an hour writing out a much longer post on Tachyon and walking you through issues #5 and #6 of Guardians of the Galaxy. Yet somehow, I lost all of the new content. To say I am "disappointed" would be a massive understatement. This, on top of realizing how deep we are in medical debt, has taken the wind out of my sails. I just don't have it in me to re-write everything all over again. Though it pains me to offer such a disservice to my readers (and to my favorite Force member), I'm gonna declare this one of those times in life when "done" is better than "good." Join me again next week for an entry the lady's man of Force: Eighty-Five.

 

 

 

Profiles in Force: Interface

Force is led by a being known as Interface.  He is a survivor (possibly the last survivor?) of the advanced planet of Uloc.  Uloc was conquered by the Universal Church of Truth, which forcibly converted those of the planet that it did not slaughter.  Interface was compelled to program the Church's computers until being freed by his eventual teammate Tachyon (for reasons never explained). (Interface. Comic Vine)


Eagle-eyed fans of the MCU will notice a suspicious similarity between the 1990s Interface and today's Black Order member, Ebony Maw.  (Thus far, I've not found any real discussion of this...but surely I'm not the only person who sees the resemblance, am I?) 

There seems to be some ambiguity out on the Web over just what powers Interface possesses.  The aforementioned Comic Vine entry lists: genetic manipulation, leadership, intellect, and longevity.  While the Marvel Fandom Wiki says he can "see elements the way humans see color," and can "transmute any element to any other element at will."  For whatever it's worth, this is  much nearer my own memory of what Interface's powers were show to be throughout Guardians of the Galaxy.  And speaking of GotG, let's take a brief review of Force's allusions/appearances through the first

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (JUN 1990)

While the first visual appearance of Force occurs in Guardians of the Galaxy #3 (AUG 1990), they are foreshadowed in the very first issue of the series.  Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (JUN 1990) begins with a midstream storyline in which the Guardians are using clues in the Centaurian Book of Antag to seek a legendary "disc" which will grant its wielder invincibility in battle.  This quest is undertaken at the singular insistence of Major Vance Astro--who is fully convinced that the "disc" in question is actually the long-lost shield of Captain America.

In the midst of other struggles in the first two issues, we learn that the Guardians are repeatedly frustrated in their quest for the disc, as they arrive on some out-of-the-way world only to find that "others" have beaten them to the punch.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (JUN 1990)

In the third issue, we finally learn that these mysterious competitors are--you guessed it--Force.  back-up storyline.  While the main storyline this episode followed the Guardians continuing conflict with the rapacious alien Stark in the midst of their attempt to recover the shield of the legendary Captain America, in this episode we finally learn the identity of the mystery people who have been retrieving clues seemingly one step ahead of the Guardians (a recurring theme since issue #1)


Guardians of the Galaxy #3 (AUG 1990)

The Force narrative picks back in errr....earnest with issue #3. In the midst of their Round Two battle with the Stark (another interesting set of alien villains populating the Guardians' timeline), Yondu gets knocked into the home of a terrified Courgan and has a more extended version of the same foreshadowing we saw in issue #1.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1

Guardians of the Galaxy #3

Meanwhile, out in the void of space, Firelord (the 31st century's Protector of the Universe) is en route to Courg.  He is observed by a group of aliens on a spaceship...aliens who also have a copy of the Book of Antag...aliens who we will come to know as, Force.

 

The Brooding baldy in the top left panel is the focus of today's post.  This is the (should've been) infamous Interface! This page is pretty much all you get of Force in this issue, as the book shifts back to the primary conflict between the Guardians the Stark.

Guardians of the Galaxy #4 (SEP 1990)

Having skipped out on issues #2 and #3 (I guess I spent that money on a New Warriors, or Captain America, or something else) Issue #4 was the first time I actually saw the Force characters in real-time.  To be honest, though, they had absolutely nothing to do with my purchase decision.  Rather, I recall thinking, "I gotta buy this one!" when I saw the dramatic appearance of Firelord (one of my favorite characters from a strictly visual perspective).  

The aforementioned Firelord shows up to aid the Guardians in their Round Two fight with the much-maligned Taser Face. 

I mean, honestly...I don't get why Taser Face is so mocked.  I thought (and think) his name is actually kinda cool.  At least his name actually made sense given his powers! 

If only everyone had a reason for their name.

Anyhoo...while the Guardians are busy with Taserface, the story cuts away for the official member-by-member introduction of Force.

And that's where we'll pick up next week, with a focus on my second-favorite Force member:  Tachyon.