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Defenders #12 - Was That Star Land?

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BradW8

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Dec 29, 2001, 10:08:25 PM12/29/01
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The amusement park where the second story was set
featured representations of characters from Marvel's
long-gone STAR line -- Top Dog, Wally the Wizard and
(I presume) Midas the Million Dollar Mouse.

I kinda felt that Chronarch was more than a little like
the old JLA foe, The Lord of Time -- same shtick, same
second-string status.

KurtBusiek

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Dec 29, 2001, 10:29:50 PM12/29/01
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From: <A HREF="mailto:bra...@aol.com ">bra...@aol.com </A> (BradW8)

>>The amusement park where the second story was set featured representations of
characters from Marvel's long-gone STAR line -- Top Dog, Wally the Wizard and
(I presume) Midas the Million Dollar Mouse.>>

That was Midas, but he wasn't a STAR character. Ivan had reference on Planet
Terry, too, but didn't seem to use him.

>> I kinda felt that Chronarch was more than a little like the old JLA foe, The
Lord of Time -- same shtick, same second-string status.>>

But a better costume, if nothing else!

kdb
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RJDiogenes

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Dec 30, 2001, 9:12:41 AM12/30/01
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>That was Midas, but he wasn't a STAR character. Ivan had reference on Planet
>Terry, too, but didn't seem to use him.

Aw, Planet Terry was my favorite from the Star line... kinda reminded me of
Casper in Space when I was a kid.

I also wish that Marvel would get around to publishing Midas Mouse. I always
thought they should publish a direct-sales book for fans called the Marvel
Basement Book or something where they could publish things like Midas, the
final tale of the Zombie, Kirby's Prisoner, et cetera.

Robert Kennedy

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Dec 30, 2001, 6:53:26 PM12/30/01
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"RJDiogenes" <rjdio...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011230091241...@mb-cb.aol.com...

> I also wish that Marvel would get around to publishing Midas Mouse.

Funny how that's the one character that didn't get mentioned in Marv
Wolfman's lawsuit...


BradW8

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Dec 30, 2001, 9:38:36 PM12/30/01
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>>That was Midas, but he wasn't a STAR character. Ivan had reference on Planet
Terry, too, but didn't seem to use him.<<

I always wondered if Midas was bionic or a billionaire. At least
that's been cleared up.
As someone else mentioned, Midas was going to be written
by Marv Wolfman as part of an earlier kids' line from Marvel.
They junked that and went with their Hanna-Barbera books,
but not before Midas was used as a punchline in an issue of
NOVA.
How bout that STAR line, anyway? Get-along Gang, Care Bears and
Strawberry Shortcake were just too nicey-nice; Royal Roy, Wally
and Terry harkened back to their creators' earlier works much too
much; Bullwinkle had flashes of competence but was let down by
the writing. What can you say when the most successful title --
which outlasted both STAR and its source -- was ALF?

AKieswetter

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Dec 31, 2001, 4:55:23 AM12/31/01
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bra...@aol.com (BradW8) wrote in message news:<20011229220825...@mb-fj.aol.com>...

> The amusement park where the second story was set
> featured representations of characters from Marvel's
> long-gone STAR line -- Top Dog, Wally the Wizard and
> (I presume) Midas the Million Dollar Mouse.
>
> What, no Planet Terry or Royal Roy? I haven't read DEFENDERS #12 yet,but I'm happy that some people out there remember Top Dog (my favorite!) and Wally the Wizard.

Andrew Kieswetter-Who thought Vermin the Vile looked like the Yellow Claw.

apkies...@hotmail.com

Rio Maria

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Dec 31, 2001, 9:35:11 AM12/31/01
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>As someone else mentioned, Midas was going to be written
>by Marv Wolfman as part of an earlier kids' line from Marvel.

As I recall, this was put into production when Howard the Duck was hot--a very
brief period of time. I had the impression then that it was to be aimed at the
same HTD audience. I certainly don't recall Marvel trumpeting a coming kids'
line then.

RJDiogenes

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Dec 31, 2001, 1:18:11 PM12/31/01
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>As I recall, this was put into production when Howard the Duck was hot--a
>very
>brief period of time. I had the impression then that it was to be aimed at
>the
>same HTD audience. I certainly don't recall Marvel trumpeting a coming kids'
>line then.

Yes, back around 76. The first issue of Howard was super-hot, sold-out, hard to
find (hard to believe now). I have a vague recollection that there was also a
3rd character planned, in addition to Howard and Midas, but I could be wrong.

KurtBusiek

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Dec 31, 2001, 1:32:22 PM12/31/01
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From: <A HREF="mailto:riom...@aol.com.aol.com ">riom...@aol.com.aol.com </A>
(Rio Maria)

>> As I recall, this was put into production when Howard the Duck was hot--a
very brief period of time. I had the impression then that it was to be aimed
at the same HTD audience. I certainly don't recall Marvel trumpeting a coming
kids' line then.>>

What I read at the time -- in THE COMIC READER, I expect -- was that Marvel was
going to launch a kids' line, and MIDAS THE MILLIO-DOLLAR MOUSE was going to be
one of the three titles. But it was to be a kids' line, not a book like
HOWARD. It was to be drawn by John Costanza, who has drawn a bunch of Mickey
Mouse stories, and perhaps some other stuff along those lines -- but who
wouldn't be able to produce a book that looked like a companion book to HOWARD.

ShadZ

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Dec 31, 2001, 4:39:15 PM12/31/01
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kurtb...@aol.comics (KurtBusiek) wrote in message news:<20011229222950...@mb-mr.aol.com>...

> From: <A HREF="mailto:bra...@aol.com ">bra...@aol.com </A> (BradW8)
>
> >>The amusement park where the second story was set featured representations > of
> characters from Marvel's long-gone STAR line -- Top Dog, Wally the Wizard and
> (I presume) Midas the Million Dollar Mouse.>>
>
> That was Midas, but he wasn't a STAR character. Ivan had reference on Planet
> Terry, too, but didn't seem to use him.

Back when the Star line started, Marvel (in publicity) said that one of the
Star books was actually set in the Marvel Universe, but which book it was
was a secret, to eventually be revealed. Well, they never revealed it (to
my knowledge), but I always suspected that the MU book was Planet Terry. From
his clothing, he was a pink Kree, not a human, and the stories all took part
in some backwater of Kree space that hadn't been seen before in any other
MU book.

Does anyone know if I was right?

ShadZ

BradW8

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Dec 31, 2001, 10:45:32 PM12/31/01
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>>Back when the Star line started, Marvel (in publicity) said that one of the
Star books was actually set in the Marvel Universe, but which book it was
was a secret, to eventually be revealed. Well, they never revealed it (to
my knowledge)>>

Well, Top Dog met Spider-Man. However, so did Powdered Toast Man.
Make of that what you will.

Brian Doyle

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Jan 1, 2002, 12:50:45 PM1/1/02
to

"BradW8" <bra...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011230213836...@mb-fd.aol.com...

> How bout that STAR line, anyway? Get-along Gang, Care Bears and
> Strawberry Shortcake were just too nicey-nice; Royal Roy, Wally
> and Terry harkened back to their creators' earlier works much too
> much; Bullwinkle had flashes of competence but was let down by
> the writing. What can you say when the most successful title --
> which outlasted both STAR and its source -- was ALF?

The one that SHOULD have lasted longer was the "Based on an excellent if short lived
toy line and toon" Visionaries, though it wasn't a STAR title for long, though only
slightly less time than the comic was published!


ShadZ

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Jan 2, 2002, 12:08:41 PM1/2/02
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kurtb...@aol.comics (KurtBusiek) wrote in message news:<20011231133222...@mb-fz.aol.com>...
>
> MIDAS THE MILLION-DOLLAR MOUSE [. . .] was to be drawn by John Costanza,
> who has drawn a bunch of Mickey Mouse stories, and perhaps some other stuff
> along those lines -- but who wouldn't be able to produce a book that looked
> like a companion book to HOWARD.

The comic that Costanza did the most artwork for, and is best known for, is
TWEETY & SYLVESTER

ShadZ

ShadZ

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Jan 2, 2002, 12:21:30 PM1/2/02
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bra...@aol.com (BradW8) wrote in message news:<20011231224532...@mb-bg.aol.com>...

> >>Back when the Star line started, Marvel (in publicity) said that one of the
> Star books was actually set in the Marvel Universe, but which book it was
> was a secret, to eventually be revealed. Well, they never revealed it (to
> my knowledge)>>
>
> Well, Top Dog met Spider-Man.

No, he didn't. In the issue of Top Dog that CLAIMED (on the cover) to
be a Spider-Man crossover, the main plot revolved around an actor/stuntman
who plays Spider-Man at store openings, etc. The story strongly implied
that Spider-Man was wholey fictional in Top Dog's universe. At the
very end of the story, Peter Parker showed up as a news photographer,
nothing was done to indicate that he was secretly the "real Spider-Man"
(winking at the reader, one of those shots with half the mask, etc.).

ShadZ

BradW8

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Jan 3, 2002, 9:48:57 PM1/3/02
to
>> Well, Top Dog met Spider-Man.

>No, he didn't. In the issue of Top Dog that CLAIMED (on the cover) to
>be a Spider-Man crossover, the main plot revolved around an >actor/stuntman
>who plays Spider-Man at store openings, etc. The story strongly implied
>that Spider-Man was wholey fictional in Top Dog's universe. At the
>very end of the story, Peter Parker showed up as a news photographer,
>nothing was done to indicate that he was secretly the "real Spider-Man"
>(winking at the reader, one of those shots with half the mask, etc.).

I thought he had those "Spider-Sense" emanata coming from his
head -- but it's been a while...

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