Saturday, March 17, 2007
Comic Art
Today we will continue the series on speedsters. As I said when we looked at Quicksilver, who is basically the only other Marvel speedster than the one we consider here, Marvel doesn't have many of them, particularly as compared to DC. Of course, today's character, The Whizzer, goes a long way towards explaining that.Consider the official Marvel website listing for the character name - you get three choices! Old school - alternate earth -- new school.
A lot of this confusion stems from bad copyrights and multiple acquisitions by Marvel through the decades. The name kept popping up with other publishers and Marvel kept trying to protect it. That mess is even worse if you consider the character name "Captain Marvel," but that is for another time.One of the cooler things though is all that diverse characterization has led to a lot of diverse looks for the character. I've tried to give you a good assortment here, but it's tough to do in a short space.
The character appears to have reached its zenith as a part of the Squadron Supreme, but being an old guy, I kind of like the old school versions of him from back in the Golden Age. Top right being the best example.The real problem with a character that has gone through so many changes like this is that you never really get to know him. They become prop rather than person. It seems like in the Marvel Universe when they need a speedster, up pops the Whizzer, redesigned and reinvented to fit whatever circumstances have arisen. I know he is a fictional character and all, but is that really fair to the guy?
Related Tags: comics, comic books, comic art, speedsters, Whizzer, Speed Demon
