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Robert Greenberger
by Robert Greenberger
Stop me if you heard this before. A teenager is accidentally irradiated as well as gains unusual powers as well as abilities, then struggles to master them as well as figure out exactly how to have a typical life when not fighting super-villains.
Speedball the Masked Marvel
Every generation of so, a innovative team is available in as well as tries to recreate the innovative stimulate that visitors felt with outstanding fantasy #15, when Peter Parker very first got bitten by a radioactive spider as well as ended up being you-know-who, courtesy of Stan Lee as well as Steve Dikto. In the 1970s, Marv Wolfman as well as Sal Buscema introduced visitors to Richard Ryder who ended up being Nova. as well as in the 1980s, Robby Baldwin was an intern at Hammond Labs as well as got zapped, ending up being Speedball the Masked Marvel.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Speedball is that he is Ditko’s final considerable contribution to the marvel Universe. Not that this was the original plan.
Creator Tom DeFalco told Ed Lute in Back Issue, “I composed the bible— although I originally called him Ricochet—and provided him to Jim Shooter for the new Universe. Jim didn’t feel the character in shape into his concepts for the new world as well as told me we should ultimately do him for the marvel Universe.”
Amazing Spider-Man annual #22
It took two years, however Ricochet, now renamed Speedball, lastly shown up in the summertime of 1988 as part of the Evolutionary war crossover event. Then, for a two-year period, Speedball was everywhere, with Ditko right there with DeFalco.
Those contemporary classics are now being collected in Speedball the Masked Marvel, collecting outstanding Spider-Man annual #22, marvel Age annual #4, Speedball #1-10, marvel Comics provides #14 as well as 56, as well as marvel Super-Heroes #1-2, 5-6.
Speedball #1
We don’t truly get Robbie’s origin up until his solo series as well as the satisfying with his spiritual ancestor really fits right after Speedball #2. Interestingly, he seldom interacted with the marvel world after this up until a period after his series was cancelled. Instead, the stories we are treated to focus on smaller matters, lower opponents, as well as workable threats. This definitely in shape Robbie’s suburban Connecticut locale. Not that Robbie had it easy, caught as he was between a father, Justin, who expected his son to be a attorney as well as his mom Madeline “Maddy” Naylor, who motivated him to be a free spirit as well as a creator of some sort. While a DeFalco invention, the contending sides of an problem is pure Ditko.
Speedball #5
While DeFalco produced Robbie, he wound up sharing plotting as well as scripting chores with Ditko, David Michelinie, Jo Duffy, Roger Stern, as well as Fabian Nicieza. Stern told Back Issue, “I always believed of Robbie as a likable, typical kid. as well as by average, I mean in comparison to Peter Parker, to whom he’s most frequently compared. Peter was always the smartest boy in institution with genius-level intelligence. Now, Rob has a great head on his shoulders, as well as he obviously has an rate of interest in the sciences—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to land that after-school internship at Hammond Labs—but he’s more of an everyman character. Where Rob is like Peter is that they both obtained their powers by accident, as well as of course, they were both co-created by Steve Ditko. other than that, they’re truly extremely different guys ”
If there’s anything missing from this collection of stories is the sense that Robbie had a circle of buddies or even a girlfriend. This was definitely focused on Robbie as well as his family, which made sense since most of the tales were short stories, frequently two to an problem of his solo tile. He had only a few full-length tales, so the supporting cast would have to wait.
Once his series ended, the character began appearing in anthology titles, still with Ditko pencilling the stories. He had an able cadre of inkers, most of who were honored to be inking the legendary artist, starting with Jackson Guice however including mark Badger, Tom Christopher, Chris Ivy, as well as Jim Sanders III. From out of Marvel’s earliest days, Sam Grainger turned in one of his final tasks as did Dan Adkins.
Speedball #7
With the bulk of his stories set on the fringes of the present marvel Universe, Speedball definitely felt like a pleasant memory, a throwback to comics’ Silver Age. Don’t get me wrong, these are all fine stories, solidly told.
Nicieza grew especially fond of Robbie so when he developed his new Warriors, very first appearing in DeFalco’s run of Thor in 1989, Speedball was there, lastly a full-fledged member of the MU. Nicieza was partnered with mark Bagley, who drew the lead in the Spidey annual so things came full circle.