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Post by Batflunkie on Feb 5, 2016 8:11:57 GMT -5
I'm not entirely sure how much of this is true or not, but I was always under the impression that the Steve Ditko character of Speedball, was intended to be the next big thing, even usurping Spider-Man (due to their similar origins). So what happened exactly?
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Post by MDG on Feb 5, 2016 9:05:56 GMT -5
The name probably didn't help.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 5, 2016 9:43:35 GMT -5
I think he works alot better in a team than solo. He was great in New Warriors... and they even made sense of the Penance nonsense in Avengers Academy. Hopefully next time he turns up it'll be as an adult with the character development done there rather than reverting him back to being the class clown (as the did in the last New Warriors attempt)
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 5, 2016 11:08:35 GMT -5
John Belushi's death from a speedball did not help
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Post by foxley on Feb 5, 2016 18:13:35 GMT -5
A really dull costume did not help. Neither did Ditko's inabilty to create an interesting rogues gallery. The Basher, the Bug-Eyed Voice, the Feathered Felon, the Two-Legged Rat...? Sheesh!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,583 
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Post by Confessor on Feb 5, 2016 18:42:58 GMT -5
I much preferred him as Penance. At least the guilt over the Stamford accident and the self-harming/self-loathing that followed made him an interesting character. Speedball just seemed really dull and a bit lame...with a rubbish costume.
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 7, 2016 16:41:39 GMT -5
I much preferred him as Penance. At least the guilt over the Stamford accident and the self-harming/self-loathing that followed made him an interesting character. Speedball just seemed really dull and a bit lame...with a rubbish costume. Sometimes I just don't understand you at all. |
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 7, 2016 16:44:21 GMT -5
I think Speedball is generally underappreciated (as are many Ditko characters). The original series is really good. Fun, energetic. A character with a strong personality and unique powers. I suspect its failure was not being of its time. It was trying to recapture the magic of the '60s at a time when people were looking to Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee.
Speedball was the hero the period needed, but not the hero it deserved. The hero it deserved was Deadpool. Or perhaps Gambit.
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Post by Batflunkie on Feb 7, 2016 18:25:50 GMT -5
Speedball was the hero the period needed, but not the hero it deserved. The hero it deserved was Deadpool. Or perhaps Gambit. Didn't Deadpool only become somewhat popular in the early two-thousands though? |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 18:41:13 GMT -5
I wonder if Speedball were created in the 60's at Marvel, would he be a more popular character now?
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Post by Batflunkie on Feb 7, 2016 19:29:45 GMT -5
I wonder if Speedball were created in the 60's at Marvel, would he be a more popular character now? Probably so. Like coke & comics said, Speedball was most definitely a throwback 60's comic sensibilities, same with Nova |
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 7, 2016 19:55:34 GMT -5
Speedball was the hero the period needed, but not the hero it deserved. The hero it deserved was Deadpool. Or perhaps Gambit. Didn't Deadpool only become somewhat popular in the early two-thousands though? I think he's always had a following. His popularity has grown over the years and reached its height much later. But he was a successful character created in the era. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 7, 2016 21:12:51 GMT -5
For all his trouble that he had with Marvel, you would think that Ditko would create Speedball for himself in Pacific comics. He just wanted a paycheck and sold it away to Marvel , same as in the early 60's.
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Post by Batflunkie on Feb 7, 2016 21:41:09 GMT -5
Didn't Deadpool only become somewhat popular in the early two-thousands though? I think he's always had a following. His popularity has grown over the years and reached its height much later. But he was a successful character created in the era. I like a lot of goofy/funny characters in comics, but Deadpool never really "clicked" for me exactly |
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Post by foxley on Feb 8, 2016 1:38:12 GMT -5
Didn't Deadpool only become somewhat popular in the early two-thousands though? I think he's always had a following. His popularity has grown over the years and reached its height much later. But he was a successful character created in the era. Well, he was a blatant rip-off of Deathstroke created in the era. Later writers turned him to a character some find interesting (personally I don't). |
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