Monday, December 3, 2012

Deadly, But With Fashion Sense


Can YOU


Name This Marvel Villain??



This villain's initial appearance was almost laughable--in fact, you couldn't help but chuckle at some of the dialogue, not to mention the "menace" she posed. And despite this particular issue featuring a major villain as her benefactor, you felt like you were reading a story outside of the regular continuity (one of those "filler" stories kept in the wings, ready to be inserted in case a deadline couldn't be met). One tip-off to that was the presence of a guest artist on the artwork, which would account for a rendering of Nick Fury that's just a tad removed from the norm:


(Aside from the artist's preference, there isn't really any call for this clothing choice in order to mount an assault on the Yellow Claw, as Fury and SHIELD have demonstrated often enough.)

But as difficult as it sometimes was to take her seriously, Nightshade, the self-styled Queen of Werewolves, did manage to cause a good deal of trouble--mostly because she's very intelligent and innovative. She was just too young for this line of work, and terribly misguided. Her work required that she take on sponsors for expenses to create and refine her werewolf serum; but she also found that she could pull some strings of her own with other criminal elements. Initially, though, she had aspirations to work with the Claw. And to give an impressive demonstration of her talent, she lured the Falcon and Captain America to a prison facility and gave Falc a dose of her serum:



Which led to Falc's mindless attack on Cap. Fortunately, this was during the period where Cap had super-strength--which, combined with his knowledge of offensive tactics, helped him to subdue the Falcon. That led to the Claw losing interest in Nightshade's experiments:



Unfortunately, Nightshade, being a little unhinged to begin with, was pushed over the edge. Or, rather, she leapt over the edge:



Despite appearances, we didn't see the end of Nightshade here. Let's hope we can say the opposite for that outfit of Nick Fury's.

3 comments:

  1. Ah she was in my 'first comic'.. Whaaat an eye-opener for a 10yr old.

    Hubba-hubba.

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    1. I'm sure she'd be flattered! And then she'd probably want to perform deadly experiments on you. Probably best not to crush on a villainness in league with the Yellow Claw!

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  2. Being my first comic, I didn't really know Nick Fury's costume was that outlandish.., until later.

    Alan Weiss was such a provocative artist. For as off-beat as this story was, I give it 5-Stars for it's cockyness and approach, what I soooooo loved about Marvel during the heady days of its early Bronze period with the likes of Steranko, Barry Smith and Steve Gerber.

    Ish 164 was so off on so many levels, it actually glows in it's own awesomeness.

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