I liked the idea that Marvel and DC's shared universes not only included their roster of superheroes, but but their horror and western stars as well. It was cool that we could read about these characters in their own setting, and then in another story they might be crossing paths with the likes of Batman or The Hulk.
Even this Lobo is better than the current waste of space lobo DC has running around. I really miss cool 90s Lobo.
ReplyDeleteGreat cover, and long live a mega western crossover.
I loved the brief stand-off between Jonah Hex and the Silver Age Two-Gun Kid in the first issue of ACCESS Volume 1. Thanks for the nostalgic reference!
ReplyDeleteI bet Cain and Digger would hit it off :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! Red Wolf debuted in the first Avengers comic I ever bought. I loved the character and was disappointed that he didn't become a regular.
ReplyDeleteWhen Marvel gave him his own series, I was surprised that it was a western and not set in modern times. I'm not sure but he might have been Marvel's first legacy hero.
One of the things that I thought was great about the series was that RW was not a generic Indian; he was a Cheyenne, and we got some glimpses of his unique culture. There were Cheyenne words used in the stories and translations in the text boxes. (I now suspect that these words were made up but they really impressed me as a kid).
I was excited to see the series jump to the present in about issue 8. Sadly, the quality dropped off and the modern RW was never integrated into the Marvel Universe. He had a new secret identity, there was no mention of his meeting the Avengers, and the writers seemed confused about what city he lived in, what tribe he came from. And he didn't get any cool supervillains. The closest he came was the forgettable King Cycle. I'd have loved seeing him go up against some Spider-man or Daredevil villains, or getting his own rogues gallery.
He's been around a few times since then, sometimes written well and others kind of a throwaway character the writers didn't seem very interested in. I wish they would give him a good role somewhere. He's a character who has never had a chance to live up to his potenatial.
I'm glad someone else rememhers him affectionately.
Anonymous#1: I'm pretty sure the Lobo mentioned in the word balloon is meant to be Red Wolf's wolf partner Lobo (in the foreground), not the alien DC character. (Although that would be an interesting team-up too... )
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