MASTERS of the OBSCURE
Want to join the few, the proud, the...people who know a lot about a bunch of useless trivia on guys that most people have never heard of?
If so, then maybe you can join the Masters of the Obscure
Al Sjoerdsma | Al Soupless | Alexander Knowles | Angelo Mammone | Anti-Grimm | AstroCitizen | AvatarWarlord72 | Barry Reese | Beetle | BKole | Bob Almond | Caesar Godzillatron | caliban | Carycomix | Chad "Chadman" Anderson | Changeling | Cheyne | Chuck D | Cisco | Clay Jodee | Continental Op | Copeinator123 | Crazy Ivan | Cypher | Daevanator | Dagda | Darc_Light | Dark Rider | David Lawrence | David Sexton | Doc Savage | Donald Campbell | Dragynwulf | Elf with a Gun | ExWhaler | Fatum | Flank McLargehuge | FortMax | Future | Gauntlet | Clay Jodee | G Morrow | Giuseppe Mainardi | Graham Weaver | Graham Willis | Greg (Carycomix) | Greg O'Driscoll | Grendel Prime | Hawkguy | HBK123 | Henrique Ferreira | Hugo V. Negron | Hyku | Jean-Marc Lofficier | Jeff Christiansen | John Kaminski | Jordan Brodie | K W | Kevin Garcia | Kyle | Loki | Luis Dantas | LV | Madison Carter | Mark Caithness | Mark O'English | Markus Raymond | MarvellousLuke | Merzah from Prague | Michael Hoskin | Mick Martin | Mike Castle | Mike Fichera | Mike McDermott | Mike O'Sullivan | Mike Podgorski | Mikel Midnight | Minor Irritant | Monzo | nagromlt | Nemedian Chronicler | Norvo | Nyssane | Odd Rob | Omar Karindu | OmegaTherion | Patrick D Ryall | Paul Allen | Per Degaton | Peteparker | Peter Kroon | Prime Eternal | Proto-Man | Reddie | Ron Fredricks | Roger Ott | Ronald Byrd | Sammy7D | Sasasych | Shiryu | Skippy Farlstendoiro | Skullogeist | Snood | Somebody | Spaceknight | Spidermay | Spiderpool | SQUEAK | The Squid | Stunner | Technarch | Thor2000 | The_Valiant_One | Julien Vive | Voice of Doom | Wayne Lenihan | Will U | Wolfhead | Wolfram Bane | Zen Harawada | Zerostar | Zuckyd1
Mark Gruenwald ...the
original Master of the Obscure. One of my favorite writers, he
always used the little guys and stayed true to continuity. He is
greatly missed.
Snood (2592+++ as of 01/19/2021) Jeff
Christiansen.
AUTHOR/FOUNDER
I'm the author/creator/owner
of
the site and have done somewhere close to 1/5 of the profiles (this
percentage keeps going down, now that I'm getting more and more
contributors (and due to busy family and work life)...If it doesn't
have someone else credited, then I did it.
With many of the others, I put in the images, and/or did a lot of
the editing).
I'm a boarded Veterinarian Surgeon. I'm
married (with two kids) and live in Satellite Beach, Florida (on the
East Coast, an hour South of Orlando). I started collecting back in
1978 and I've
got a collection of over 37, 000 currently (not including perhaps 1500
or more doubles). I've always loved the
various incarnations of the OHotMU, and wanted to get the obscure
characters some time. I got further motivation by working with
the Beetle and the folks at Spider-Fan around 2001. After reading a
"Website
for Dummies" book, a little trial and error, some help from
some friends, and a few thousand curse words, my website has come
true.
When the site started out (and for quite awhile) I did everything.
Then some profiles started trickling in, and I added images and
missing info, converted them to HTML, etc. Eventually, I started
getting so much stuff and was doing so much editing that I no
longer had time to do my own profiles. So now I've got 12-15
people regularly submitting profiles, a couple of editors, and I'm
starting to figure out the delegating responsibility is a good
thing. Fortunately, I've got good help!
In addition, the work of
the Appendix got me an "IN" at Marvel.
I was:
Markus Raymond (678 +++)
MAIN EDITOR
Markus not only takes care of the editing but also the arduous task of
adding all the profile links to the Appendix's multitude of pages. This
is a ton of work, and it takes a BIG load off of the rest of the editors!
Real Name: Markus Raimund Ettlinger
Identity/Class: Human (really)
Occupation: Salesman
Affiliations: Feneberg, Masters of the Obscure, OHOTMU
formerly: Gallus, Marvelmaniacs
Enemies : Dr. Oetker, Mr. Nobody (MC2 character), NFL SuperPro, Wasps, the sun
Aliases: Markus Raymond
formerly: Amanda (don't ask), Dark Blood, Kartman, Misanthrop, Mr. Nobody, OMCDerStinker (and variations of this one), among others
Base of Operations: Bregenz in Voralberg, Austria
First Appearance: 28.05.1981
First Appendix Appearance: U'Sr'Pr (12/26/2003)
History: I was raised to become a Marvel Zombie. Before the age
of 7 my grandmother read Care Bares (Marvel licensed) to me. My own
comic reading career started with He-Man (Marvel licensed),
Transformers (Marvel licensed), Mask (DC, how could I) and Spider-Man
(Marvel). Spidey was joined by the Avengers a short time later and then
I became addicted. As a collector I entered comic-shops with the maniac
laugh of a super-villain. In the last couple of years I began to buy
more original comics than translated ones and thanks to E-Bay I got
some nice little packages from the 80s and 90s like Marvel Comics
Presents, Strange Tales Vol.2, Sensational She-Hulk, Hellstorm and so
on. Sometimes I'm lucky and older stuff gets sold as well, but for each
title I get there's another one I miss (like the original Namor
series). My collection is growing and for the first time in my life I'm
really gaining weight (which is a good thing for a weakling like me).
Comments: Created by my mother and a judicially undefined contributor.
Clarifications:
I have no known connection to:
E-mail: markus.raymond@aon.at
Prime Eternal (1332 + + + + + + + +)
FORMER EDITOR
Real Name: Michael Hoskin
This is the guy I ask for information when my own sources are lacking. He is a wealth of knowledge
on most aspects of the MU. He did the quite impressive and thorough
Encyclopaedia Olympianna and contributed info on Warlord Kaa, Godzilla,
Fat Man, and a bunch
of others. Now he's joining the group and going to contribute some
Cowboys, Monsters, and other characters. In addition, Prime Eternal is
one my Editors, helping to polish up and double check the profiles
before sending them on to me.The Prime One is also one of the former
editors, adding content and reformatting the profiles before they reach
me, in order to dramatically cut down on my workload!
Michael is also a contributor to the new line of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
Michael has served as:
Proto-Man (1420)
EDITOR
Real Name: Jacob Rougemont
Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Administrative Assistant, freelance writer/researcher; former retail associate
Affiliations: Gracey Grandstanders, Masters of the Obscure, OHotMU; formerly the Wings
Aliases: Art, the Rouge, "Big Tuna," "Mixtape;" formerly Safety Monkey, Aquaman, Jacobey, Jacobo
Identity: Publicy known
Citizenship: United States
Place of Birth: Clarksville, Tennessee
Education: BS in Internet and Web-based Technology (with a minor
in Studio Art)
Base of Operations: Clarksville, Tennessee
First Appearance: June 22, 1982
First Appendix Appearance: Ultimator
(1/8/2002)
Powers: Able to superhumanly multi-task; able to
locate and find
the most trivial bits of information, especially pertaining to Marvel
Comics
Equipment: A Mead #2 0.7mm mechanical pencil, my computer, many
old video game systems, a slew of vinyl records & movies
History: Growing up, the first comic I ever owned
was Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures SC (which collected TMNT Adventures#1-3
mini-series), published by Archie. The first Marvel book I ever bought
was Uncanny X-Men I#293, from back in 1992. I remember buying Fantastic
Four I#370, also back in 1992. Of course, the arcade game Captain
America & the Avengers
introduced me to the Avengers and I
began
collecting Avengers West Coast. Once Avengers volume 3 came out, I was
collecting any Avengers book and my collection is going strong, with
its weakest point being the first issues of volume 1. At a time I
collected a lot of first appearance books, I picked up
X-Force I#116 in 2001 and I was instantly hooked, eventually collecting
the
entire run of X-Force/X-Statix from X-Force#116 until X-Statix#26 (as
well the characters' later appearances in mini-series & random
issues).
Currently, I collect any book with Avengers in the title (at the
moment, just Avengers plus random one-shots & minis here &
there), any of those nifty "Facsimile Editions," Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles (& various minis), Marvel Action: Avengers (both from IDW),
Dial H for Hero (from the Distinguished Competition), Back Issue
magazine (from TwoMorrows Publishing) and naturally, any Marvel
Handbook that comes out!
Comments: Created by my parents
Proto-Man's
Appendix Profiles
E-mail: extremev@hotmail.com
Chadman (1403)
Real Name: Chad Anderson
Occupation: Clinical social
worker, documentary filmmaker, author of "The Mushroom Murders"
graphic novel and memoir "Gay Mormon Dad," blogger at SnapshotsofChad.com
Group Membership: Marvel Comics
Official Handbooks team
Enemies: Bullies in any form
Known Relatives: Mike
(partner), Jaxon and Asher (sons)
Aliases: Chadman, Chadley,
Chadford, and various other Chadisms
Base of Operations: Salt Lake
City, Utah
First Appearance: Springfield,
Missouri (November, 1978)
First Appendix Appearance: Ngh the
Unspeakable (1/29/2005)
Powers/Abilities: Chad spends a
lot of time at his keyboard and a lot of time at the gym, and he
generally has a book in hand.
History: After Archie
Comics cancelled their Ninja Turtles and Mutanimals series, I picked up
an X-Force comic on a whim and became an X-Men fan for a few years.
Quickly disenchanted with the dozens of titles out each month in that
group, I picked up Avengers 1 by Busiek and Perez and discovered the
rest of the MU! I'm now a HUGE fan of back issues, and love obscure
Marvel history. I've done my share of creative writing, but am probably
best 'known' for various Survivor competitions staged on the comicboards sites. In 2006, I
joined the Official Handbooks team and got the pleasure of seeing my
name and entries in comic ads, the books themselves, and even a couple
of Essentials books I helped proof. Chad is currently profiling his way
through the Daredevil series, picking up a project he started years ago.
E-Mail: hellochadman@yahoo.com
Grendel Prime (747 +)
FORMER EDITOR
Real Name: Marc Riemer
Identity/Class: Extradimensional human technology user
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Affiliations: Avengers, Exiles, Fantastic
Four, Inhumans, Micronauts, Shi'ar Imperial Guard, U-Foes, Alien Legion, Atlas era
Affiliations: Bengal, Living Lightning, Monkey King,
Namor, Northstar, Noh-Varr, Quasar (Vaughn), Rom
Annoyances: Red Skull, Impossible Man and deadlines
Alternate
Earth counterparts: Boomslang
Base of Operations: Melbourne, Australia; occasionally mobile
across alternate dimensions, esp. the Ultraverse
First Appendix Appearance: "Porcupine
Puss"
(5/24/2005)
Comments: I'd lurked on this
site for a couple of years before deciding to take the plunge into the
dire (wraith) world of html and submit the occasional profile.
E-mail: grendelprime7@yahoo.com.au
MarvellousLuke (520 ++)
EVENTS & IMAGE CLEAN-UP
Real Name: Luc Kersten
Identity/Class: Time displaced Human
Occupation: Graphic Designer
Group Membership: Masters of the Obscure
Aliases: Luke, Skywalker
Base of Operations: The Netherlands
First Appearance: December 31, 1985
First Appendix Appearance: Challenger
(7/31/2013)
Powers/Abilities: Graphic Design skills
Favorite Characters: X-Men, Death's Head (Freelance Peacekeeping
Agent), the Sub-Mariner, Captain Britain, Agents of Atlas, Clan
Destine, Thunderbolts, The Twelve and everything Golden Age;
E-mail: dezeisvoormij@hotmail.com
Norvo (443)
Real Name: Jef Willemsen
Occupation: Mild mannered reporter and freelance copywriter, specializing in the entertainment industry.
Aliases: Jeff, Jeffrey, Sjef, 'Hey, you, kid!'
Affiliations: Anyone who will pay me. Or feed me.
Enemies: Deadlines. And the people who remind me of them.
First Appearance: Early January 1982
First Appendix Appearance: L.D. 50 (8/20/2013)
History: Born in early 80s Holland to loving parents who handed him his first Marvel comics, unwittingly setting in motion a chain of events that led to a lifelong love affair with the funny pages. Many a back issue bin led me to grow a collection of late 70s and early 80s comics that continue to warm my heart. Claremont's X-Men, Byrne's Alpha Flight and FF and the ever so eerie DeMatteis/Gillis Defenders remain favorites to this very day. And let's not forget Thunderbolts or John Ostrander's late 90s ever so excellent Heroes for hire.
Favorite Marvel characters: The more obscure the better, which apparently makes me a perfect fit here. As much as I love Spidey, Wolverine and Iron Man, I adore lesser known characters even more because of their untapped potential. I still say an Avengers team with Dr. Druid, Deathcry, Mechamage, the Swordsman and Magdalene would sell like hotcakes. Do they still sell hotcakes?
Other interests: I've chronicled Chris Claremont's many, many mind control incidents on a blog called Chris Claremont: Mind Control Central. What started out as silly running joke in 2008 ultimately grew into over 200 posts detailing some of Claremont's most memorable stories. As an unexpected side-effect, my innocent little lampooning of a beloved writer's most prominent hang up proved quite popular among several rather disturbing online fetish groups into hypnosis and mental domination. Ah well, que sera...
E-mail: jef.willemsen@gmail.com
Spidermay (367)
Real Name: Giuseppe
Mainardi
Identity/Class: (Marvel) Zombie
Occupation: Dreamer
Group Membership: Masters of the Obscure
Affiliations: Formerly Andrea Stefani, Marco Polo, Giuseppe
my comics seller
Enemies: None
Known Relatives: Unrevealed
Aliases: The Scientist, Spider
Base of Operations: Foggia, Southern Italy
formerly Rome;
formerly Southern Italy
First Appearance: May, 1970
First Appendix Appearance: Astrologer (2/21/2005)
Powers/Abilities: To shift between the reality and the
Earth-616 Universe with
extreme ease.
History: (Sub Mariner I#57) - @1980 - Namor
the Sub-Mariner fought Ares to defend Venus. My first remembrance, the
Marvel Universe entered in my life (before 1980).
(Avengers#167) - @1983 - The Avengers explored the Guardians of the
Galaxy's spaceship. Charlie-27 mistook the Beast for a space monkey.
George P?rez ruled! It was my transformation in True Beliver: I
said: "These are the comics I like far more than the others";
the others were: Superman, Batman, Tex, Disney(s), Asterix and many
others.
(God Loves, man kills) - @1986 - After years without a publisher house
in Italy, the Marvel Comics were back !
(Unknown X-Man#1) - @1991 - My first Marvel fan fiction comic.
(The
Wondrous Wasp#1) - @1999- My first web site, in honor of the
Wonderful Wasp.
@2011 - I have 70% of the Marvel Comics production printed in Italy. It
translates to about 10000-11000 issues of the USA production.
Comments: Spidermay tends to forget "spaces" before the # sign, and to
miss some "not to be confused to" entries :-).
E-mail: ragnodimaggio@yahoo.com
Loki (349 +)
FORMER EDITOR
Real Name: Stuart Vandal
Affiliations: Masters of Evil ... erm, the
Obscure
Base of Operations: London, UK.
First Appearance: Scotland,
1970
First Appendix Appearance: Updates
on Wardog
(8/11/2002)
Powers/Abilities:
Sad and growing knowledge of superhero characters from around the
world. Disturbing amount of knowledge of the Doctor Who universe.
History: Started collecting comics in the
late
1970s, the stereotypical Marvel zombie. Read some British stuff,
mainly 2000 A.D. In the early 1980s, evil local comic shop owner
introduced me to independent comics and broke my resistance to DC
- resulting in me becoming the single biggest customer at
both of the major comic shops in the area. Early ninties saw me
leaving comics purely for financial, spacial and temporal
related reasons, with only the occasional return to the comics
world. A chance comment on an American message board disparaging
non-US superheroes got my back up, leading me to start
researching them, which in turn led me to the Appendix.
Comments: During the 1980s, I collected virtually
every
Marvel universe title, as well as much of DC and various
independents. There is a room in my parents' house which contains
nothing else but my collection, and there is literally no space
in my flat for me to bring them down.
E-mail : ohotmu@gmail.com
John Kaminski (299)
Real Name: John Kaminski
Occupation : Professional Ne'er-do-well
Base of Operations : South Bend, Indiana, USA
History : He started collecting comics 30 years ago
Favorite characters : Marvel monsters, Fantastic Four, Invaders, 1950's Avengers, Avengers
First Appendix Appearance: "Dr. Shrinker" (3/8/2005)
Minor Irritant (245)
Real Name: Rob London
Class: Normal human (but Canadian, so not that normal)
Affiliations: Masters of the Obscure, OHotMU
Enemies: People who leave the hyphen out of "Spider-Man"
Aliases: "Bobert"
Place of Birth: London, Ontario
First Appearance: September, 1985
First Appendix Appearance: Teraknid (5/22/2005)
Powers/Abilities: Rob possesses a vast knowledge of Marvel
Comics minutia, with a particular focus on Spider-Man and his galaxy of
spin-offs and supplementary titles. Also, he has a weird extra tooth.
History: During a local murder investigation, an 8-year-old Rob
was given a copy of Spider-Man: Dead Ball, in which Spider-Man and the
Montreal Expos battle the Green Goblin, at the police station. From
that point on, he embarked on a Sisyphean quest to accumulate and
record all Spider-Man knowledge.
Thor2000 (244++)
The resource for any mythological character, able to contribute the real world "histories" to any of the "gods."
William's been submitting some profiles on the more obscure gods of the Marvel Universe, complete with their
history in mythology, as well.
Real Name: William Uchtman
About: I'm
a writer, author and paranormal historian with special interests in
mythology, world history and paranormal research. My expanded interests
include television, film, comic books and cryptozoology (the study of
unidentified animals). My earliest comics were Avengers, Incredible
Hulk, Spider-Man, Justice League, Supergirl, Superman, Batman, and
She-Hulk, but now that I’ve cut back on my comics buying (I’m now on
disability due to depression and autism), I only pick up the handbooks.
I’ve been writing for several years; in high school, I used to write
ghost stories and biographies for fictional super-heroes in a Marvel/DC
Universe and create my own comic strip, “Horror Inc.,” kind of an
Addams Family/Far Side horror satire. Today, I still write bios for
mythological characters and haunted locations from film and television.
The highlights of my life have been publishing two books, “Volunteer
Ghosts” and “Ghosts Coast To Coast” (now both out of print), a credit
in the book “Weird Tennessee” and my short stint with the Appendix
people.”
First Appendix Appearance: Ahpuch (1/18/2002)
E-mail: aesgaard41@hotmail.com
Madison Carter (221)
FORMER EDITOR
Real Name: Madison Carter
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Wanderer; independent video store manager; freelance writer
Aliases: Madman; Mad Dog
Base of Operations: Dallas, Tx
First Appearance: May 5, 1976
First Appendix Appearance: Manphibian (1/22/2003)
Powers/Abilities: Though he has no superhuman powers of his own,
Madison apparently is watched over by a being who keeps him safe from
fatal injuries. When delivered, he was showing no discernable heartbeat
or breathing. Over the years since, he has fallen head first off a
second-story balcony onto asphalt, fallen out of the back of a truck
moving at least 30 mph, been thrown 30-40 ft. from a go-cart, been shot
at numerous times, fallen down three flights of stairs (missing every
single step until the last one in one incident), fallen out of a 25 ft.
tall tree, been involved in over a dozen vehicular crashes, among other
events. He has yet to break, crack or fracture a single bone. Perhaps
he is just injury-prone and really #*@!ing lucky.
History: Never officially "began" to collect comics, they were
just always around. Ended up running my own comic shop, which lasted
from 1992 until 1998. Original claim to Marvel fame was getting my name
in OHOTMU Update '89 #6, in the Data Update section. Also did a
write-up on the later adventures of the "Jack Kirby Monsters" in JACK
KIRBY COLLECTOR #28. Since joining the Appendix, I have managed to snag
a
swanky gig working freelance for Marvel, like many other Appendix
contributors. So far, my work has been published in Marvel
Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster
Hunters#1 (where I was the primary, though not head, writer), the
All-New OHOTMU 2006 A-Z#1-12 (and Update 2007#1-2), Legacy Handbooks
1970s-1990s, Spider-Man Handbook: Back in Black, Outlaw
Files, and Civil War Files.
E-mail: madisoncarter@gmail.com
Ron Fredricks
(240 +)
Strong interest in Atlas & Timely publications. He also does a lot of image cleanups and expansions for older profiles.
First Appendix Appearance: Background
info on Moonglow
(1/30/2015)
Stunner (189++)
FORMER EDITOR
Real Name: Gabriel Shechter
About: Where to start about me?...well, I was born at a very
young age, as is the tradition in my family :) I was born 7/27/87.
Aside from comic books, I enjoy gymnastics, wrestling (amateur not
professional), and writing poetry and music. I have been reading comic
books since 1997. My favorite heroes would have to be Thor, Spider-Man,
Hulk, and Captain Marvel. I have too many favorite villains to name. My
dream is to
write for Marvel Comics some day, and as a teenager already have so
many ideas that I have trouble keeping track of them. My among my
favorite writers are Kurt Busiek, Peter David, Chris Claremont, Stan
Lee, Jim Starlin, Tom DeFalco, J.D. Demattais, Paul Jenkins, Roy
Thomas, Steve Englhart, Roger Stern, and Mark Gruenwald among many
others. Until I came into contact with people from this site, I had
never met anyone who knew more about comics than I do. But now I
realize how little I really know. I'm not a huge authority, but I
really enjoy the site and writing whatever profiles I can.
First Appendix Appearance: General (2/8/2003)
Beetle (143)
Kim Henckel... The Appendix's first contributor.
Kim is the moderator at the Marvel Universe message board and author of the Marvel Guide, a great resource for tons
and tons of characters. The Beetle's page was part of Snood's inspiration to start the Marvel Appendix.
How did I become interested in comics: I
actually don't remember I think I got my first Anders And [Donald
Duck] comic when I was about 2 years old, and I've collected
comics ever since. I do remember when I began reading Marvel
Comics though. I got a Fantastiske Fire [Fantastic Four] #4 from my
maternal grandfather in summer '83. I was hooked and the next day
I went out buying my first Edderkoppen (Spider-Man), and all
other Marvel comics I could get my hands on, my very first
american Marvel comic was Amazing Spider-Man #280, featuring the
Sinister Syndicate
Favorite Marvel Characters:
Spider-Man, Daredevil,
Human Torch II, Wasp, Hawkeye, Nova, Beetle, Electro, Death-Stalker,
Cobra, Baron Zemo II, Moonstone II and a dozen of other well
known and especially obscure ones like Goldbug, Boss Morgan, Ani-Men,
White Rabbit, Walrus, Shades and Comanche
Favorite Comicbook Writers: Roger
Stern, Marv
Wolfman, David Michilinie, Kurt Busiek, Christopher Priest, Peter
David, Joh Ostrander, Keith Giffen, Mark Gruenwald, Stan Lee and
Doug Moench
Favorite Comicbook Artists:
George Perez (no one
above no one even close to being beating Perez as my favorite
artist)
All-time Favorite Comics:
Spectacular Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, , Master of
Kung-Fu (Moon Knight, Tomb of Dracula, Avengers, West Coast Avengers,
The Man Called Nova, Thunderbolts, Black Panther, Spider-Girl, Captain
Marvel, Suicide Squad, Star-Man (the series by Roger Stern), Teen
Titans/New
Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, Bat-Man, Detective Comics (okay I admit
a few DC titles have been good) ;-)
My monthly list of must haves: Avengers, Spider-Girl, Thunderbolts, Black Panther, Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Spider-Man and Captain Marvel
First Appendix Appearance: The Grip
(10/11/2001)
David Lawrence (110)
Real Name: David Lawrence
Base of Operations: American Southeast
First Appendix Appearance: Sando & Omar (10/27/2006)
AvatarWarlord72 (106)
Real Name: Michel Gariepy
Base of Operations: Penticton, B.C., Canada
First Appearance: February 2, 1972
First Appendix Appearance: Caviar Killer (2/4/2007)
Occupation: Customer Service Specialist, father and husband
I began collecting comics when I was 11 years old and it all started
with GI Joe. I did have many others before that but not on a monthly
basis. I then started my major comic collecting and began buying the
Silver Surfer and within a few months of that I had to buy any Marvel
comic on the racks I could find. I started playing the Marvel
Superheroes RPG with friends and loved making the Character Stats up
for new never-before seen characters to put into my games. Over the
years, I began trying to complete as many past series as I could and by
the time I turned 21, I had too many comic boxes and ran out of room to
store them all. I ended up selling off some of my collections just to
make space available; well that's when I met my wife ... I had to put
my collecting on hold for a few years but with thanks to the Appendix
site, I picked up where I left off and now my wife is into collecting
comics and I have 2 wonderful children who seem to be interested in
this phenomenon now as well. I collect anything Marvel or affiliated
with Marvel comics and my favorite ones are in order of preference:
Fantastic 4, Silver Surfer, The Avengers and Captain America. My wife
collects A Nightmare on Elm Street, Marvel Zombies, Friday the 13th,
Night of the Living Dead and any other horror comics. My kids collect
Anime and Sonic the Hedgehog comics monthly. In a nutshell: I live in a
small house and I need a bigger one to store my collection in, well
someday, someday soon ...
E-Mail: avatarwarlord@yahoo.ca
Donald Campbell (103)
After
months of
supplementing and
correcting
errors in profiles, Donald jumped in feet first on the monster-sized
Werewolf by Night profile
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer
on Werewolf
by Night (12/11/2004)
E-mail: donaldac@hotmail.com
Patrick D Ryall (101)
Patrick
D Ryall (the "D" is for "the Blazing Skull") has declared himself an
independent nation, but he is currently located in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada. He promises not to limit himself to the lame, strange
and silly characters of the Marvel Universe, but they are his
specialty. His own web site, Book of PDR, the Official Nonsense Homepage is a testament to his own strangeness.
And Patrick's added a page collecting all of his profiles at the Contains2 website!
First Appendix Appearance: Basher (8/29/2004)
Zerostar (89)
Real
Name :
Bill Lentz
Enemies : Howard Mackie; Writer X (aka
Howard
Mackie or Devin Grayson)
Known Relatives : A lot, to be sure.
Base Of Operations : Here and there, mostly
here...
Powers : If I had powers, I wouldn't tell
you...
Pretending to be Kakashi from Naruto in profiles
History : Well... Again, there's a lot.
Some
interesting... Some not...
Interests : Way too many current comics,
2099
comics, alternate future/reality comics of all kinds,
really... Reading Manga. Creating pro wrestling videos. Reading
Manga. Recording super lo-fi "songs". Reading
Manga.
Disturbing Comment : "X-Nation 2099 wasn't
so bad, really. Well, the first 3 issues anyway."
First Appendix Appearance: Splice
(9/8/2002)
FUTURE (81)
FORMER EDITOR
Artist, janitor, comic enthusiast
First Appendix Appearance: Sensational Hydra (1/17/2004)
E-mail: Deadend4l@aol.com
Changeling (79)
another voice from the UK, with a specific interest in the Marvel UK characters. He's also been kind enough to shoulder the Sleepwalker load!. Also a writer for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Real Name: Richard Green
Class: Human Mutant/Technology User, UK citizen
Occupation: Health Care Assistant, Musician
Affiliations: Cornerstone (a local covers band), the Love Cult
(a tribute to the Cult), previously S.T.R.I.K.E. Psi Division
Base of Operations: Cannock, Staffordshire
Powers: Limited psionic potential, including mental
communication with fellow band members, and to a lesser degree other
musicians. Ability to attract the most bizzare happenings.
Equipment: Westone Bass, Ibanez Ergodyne Bass, Ashdown Max 300
Amplifier, Boss Overdrive Pedal, Tascam Porta Ministudio07
First Appendix Appearance: Joseph Hauer
(5/27/2002)
History: As a boy I was very much into Dr Who. I then got into
the Transformers comics, which had back up strips like Spider-man and
Iron Man. During my years as a music student I began collecting more
and more. My favourites are Daredevil, Spidey, X-Men, New Warriors,
Ravage 2099, Cardiac, Deathlok (Michael Collins), Sleepwalker, Alpha
Flight, Cloak and Dagger, Generation X, Ghost Rider, Blade, Power Pack,
pretty much all the Marvel UK characters, including (of course) Captain
Britain (During my time at S.T.R.I.K.E I worked closely with his sister
Betsy honest). I now juggle work and music when not trying to fill the
large gaps in my comics collection.
Email: changeling616@btinternet.com
Skullogeist
(78)
Real Name: Anthony Flamini
Identity/Class:
Human technology user
Occupation: student
Affiliations: Amalgam Comics: The Archives
Enemies: (currently) Wil Wheaton (of Star Trek:
TNG); The
Olsen Twins; Senator Trent Lott; the Peanuts Gang; Michael Bolton;
Mr. Snuffalupagus;
(formerly) the population of Banksville, Nebraska
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New Brunswick, NJ
First Appearance: a hospital (January, 1979)
First Appendix Appearance: Access
(11/28/2002)
Powers/Abilities:
Skullogeist possesses the
uncanny ability to spend hours upon hours trying to figure out
the component parts of Amalgam Comics characters.
History: Skullogeist began reading Marvel and DC Comics as a kid in the early 1980s after compulsively watching episode
after episode of SUPER FRIENDS. He never regularly collected any title, but rather bought various mini-series and
story arcs that he found particularly interesting. Among his favorite comic "events" were REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN,
BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL, AGE OF APOCALYPSE, KINGDOM COME, JOKER: LAST LAUGH (well, the core titles, anyway) and, of course, DC VS.
MARVEL and the subsequent AMALGAM COMICS.
AMALGAM COMICS changed everything for Skullogeist, who thought that it was the most original and refreshing idea to come out of
the comics industry in years. Skullogeist, who always knew a good deal of information about the "big guns" of DC
and Marvel, began to learn about the more obscure characters in his obsessive quest to accurately catalogue the component parts
of every character in the Amalgam Universe.
Comments: Created by Ron Zimmerman; retconned by John Byrne
Per Degaton (72+)...John McDonagh, aka Doc Savage
...always there to contribute real world history and literature info into entries, where appropriate. He gave great back history on the members of the fourth Lethal Legion, and a bunch of others. Now he's started doing profiles that cross-over with other media.
First Appendix
Appearance: Background info on Coldsteel
(5/16/2002)
e-mail : docsavage80@yahoo.com
G Morrow (65)
First Appendix Appearance: Walter Declun (10/17/2007)
Darc_Light
(61)+...
Real Name: Michael King
Identity/Class: Human/Brood
Occupation: Archivist of Brood History/ Brood Propaganda Minister
Affiliations: Agent of the Brood Imperiatrix, member of the
Brood Propaganda Ministry, Member of The Fang Liberation Front (Down
with Shi'ar Aerie Domination!), Member of The Masters of the Obscure,
Member of The Noh-Varr Legal Defense Fund. (Free Noh-Varr!), Supporter
of Wild Child, Ally of the Atanteans, Devlor, The Doctor, The Morlocks,
Neophyte, Runner, Squidboy
Enemies : Anyone who ever hurt
Kyle Gibney/Wild Child, The Church of Humanity, The Cockroach
Conspiracy, The Cybermen, Cyclops, The Daleks, All Demonic Entities,
The Devil (by all his names), The Director, Frieza (DBZ, DBGT),
Galactus, The Grandmaster (Elder Of The Universe), Hoppered The
Gauntlet (Trigun, Manga Only), The Marauders (particularly
Scalphunter), Mesmero, Mister Sinister, Mistress Death, Mystique, The
Obliterator (Elder Of The Universe), People who hurt/kill children,
Sabretooth, The Secret Empire (For what they did to Kyle Gibney/Wild
Child) The
Sentinels, The Shi'ar Military, SHIELD, Sire Hate, Storm, Thanos,
Trunks Briefs (Future Trunks only, DBZ, DBGT), Valerie Cooper, (for
what she let the Secret Empire do to Wildchild), Vegeta (DBZ,
DBGT),Weapon X (For killing Tar Baby and Ape and turning Kyle
Gibney/Wild Child into a whatever-the-heck-he-is-now), Nicholas D.
Wolfwood (Trigun, Anime Only)
Known Relatives: Classified for their own protection
Aliases: Darc_Light
Base of Operations: A top-secret base in Northwest
Florida
First Appearance: July 31 1977, in Grand Forks,
North
Dakota
First Appendix Appearance: Josey Thomas
(12/6/2003)
Powers/Abilities: Incredibly Obsessive. I also like
to
draw all kinds of characters and creatures.
Favorite Characters: Adam X The X-Treme, Adric, Ape, The Brood,
The Brood Empress, Cannonball, Champion (Tryco Slatterus),
Changeling (Garfield Logan, DC Comics), Chapel The Evergreen (Trigun,
Anime Only), Kogu AKA Gokua (DBZ), King Cold (DBZ), Deathbird,
Devil Dinosaur, Devlor, Prince Dezan, The Doctor (Doctor Who),
Ego The Living Planet, Fang (Of the Shi'ar Empire, all of
them), Godzilla (Dark Horse, Toho and Marvel), Jeice (Ginyu Force,
DBZ), Kaite Trevisick (Trigun), Moon-Boy, Morlocks, Namor the
Submariner, Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy), Pretty Boy (Reavers), Rictor (Julio
Esteban Richter), The Reavers, Runner (Elder Of The Universe),
Skin (Angelo Espinoza), Skrulls, Son Goten (DBZ, DBGT), Tar Baby,
Vash The Stampede (Trigun), Wild Child (Kyle Gibney), Yamcha, (DB,
DBZ, DBGT) Zarbon (DBZ), Zazie The Beast (Trigun) and lots of
minor characters like Batwing (Jimmy Santini), Bliss, Berzerker,
Bobo (The Atlantean), Giganto, Gnork (Ogron), the Neophyte,
The Ogron race, Primal (Adam Berman), Scaleface, Shinobi
Shaw,
Squidboy, (Samuel Pare), Sugarman, Wolf Cub (Nicholas Gleason),
Wulff and most of the people and creatures listed on this site.
SQUEAK
(57)...
I started reading comics in 1977 with Marvel Two-in-One #36. The
cover had superheros, dinosaurs, and rockets, everything a 13-year old
needs in life (and yes, the villain of that issue, the
Jaguar Priest, has never again appeared, dooming me to a lifelong
appreciation of the obscure). Many many years later, I'm still
reading, and even had the good fortune to marry a woman who reads
comics too!. Our collection is up to over 16,000 comics, nowhere
near the owner of this site, but still on the unwieldy size. At
the moment, we're tucked out in Pullman, Washington. When I
returned to grad school a few years back, I started a Marvel Two-in-One
web site, The
Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Home Page,
as a stress release, and then got sucked into working
on Marvel's Fantastic Four Encyclopedia and a couple years worth
of their Handbooks. As my "real" job required more
attention I mostly left the Handbooks, but I still occasionally
hang around the Appendix here and fill in a few holes with some of the
under-appreciated MTIO villains or personal favorites (here's a list of my
Appendix entries).
First Appendix Appearance: Ranark the Ravager
(12/29/2003)
Omar Karindu
(47++)
He takes his name after the former guardian of the
Star of Capistan, @ Defenders I#42...and now you know as much as I do!
Omar has extensive knowledge of the MU, and also supplies a
wealth of
background info on characters as they relate to other forms of media,
past literature, etc. Omar was one of the first contributors to the
site.
First Appendix Appearance: Steeplejack
(11/1/2001)
LV (45)
Graham Weaver
First Appendix Appearance: Death
Master (12/27/2004)
Ronald Byrd (42)
Ronald Byrd has job experience in education, journalism,
and state legislature (none of which, so far, apparently sounds quite
good enough on a resume for a better job). He's been reading Marvel
comics for over twenty years, coming on board just in time for
Phoenix's funeral. He is the creator (but not the maintainer) of the
Unofficial Wolverine Chronology (http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7160/byrd.html,
which WILL eventually be updated (the site manager has a life, after
all) with, among other things, information from "Wolverine: The
Origin" despite that title's total waste of a fascinating character's
potential history) and has contributed information to http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7160/gaguide.html
, http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7160/toc.html, http://ratmmjess.tripod.com/gold/page.html, http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7160/annos.html, http://www.reocities.com/jjnevins/pulpsintro.html, http://www.reocities.com/jessnevins/vicintro.html, http://www.gayleague.com/wordpress/characters/, http://blaklion.best.vwh.net/time_links.html.
A contest-winning short story of his can be read at http://www.aristotle.net/market/freep/1053/feature/tnf.html.
He has submitted plot synopses to several Marvel titles and, although
unsuccessful, at least received positive feedback from a number of
Marvel editors, including the late Mark Gruenwald; with the permission
of Jason Liebeg, he submitted a set of potential resolutions for
"Heroes Reborn," which Mr. Liebeg did not use but did call "a hell of a
read."
First Appendix Appearance: Updates on Dromedan (7/5/2002)
Kyle Smith (40) former editor
He was the second contributor to the Marvel Appendix.
He was the
first
contributor
with whom I had no
previous association.
Kyle passed away in 2009. Read his Obituary and below how he presented
himself.
My real name is Kyle SIMS. I use
the name
Smith to increase the likelihood that somebody will recognize
from where I reference my former e-mail address,
stinkpalm@yahoo.com.
When this is read or heard, the only person, thus far, to give me
a response other than, "Stinkpalm?" after all the
years I've had this address has been the fine designer of this
obscure web-site (hint: go watch Clerks).
I reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, born and raised
here
the span of my entire life, that being 23 years. Despite what's
portrayed so often in the movies, not everybody lives in a
trailer here (I really hate it when they do this, especially with
strippers since some of them live in upscale neighborhoods
because of the amount of money they make). I'm a graduate
assistant at UNLV working on my masters in criminal justice.
My specific area of study is the relationship between crime and
religion. I do this just in case my dreams of becoming a
comic bookwriter/artist don't pan out so that I have something to
fall back on.
Comicswise, my interest mainly lies with
superheroics, specifically with Marvel characters, but
that's not the only thing I know about. Currently, I read
anything by Frank Miller, Garth Ennis, and Neil Gaiman. I'm
more selective with other writers but I like certain works done
by Morrison, Busiek, and Larsen just to name a few.
Personally, I think that Millar and Bendis are overrated (what's
so great about these guys?). Maybe my knowledge of things
criminal colors my outlook with Bendis, seeing how simple,
predictable, and straightforward most of his stories are.
First Appendix Appearance: Azrael
(10/30/2001)
Sammy7D (39)...
My name
is Sam. I
started
collecting comic in
1998. I read most of the comics that are published but my
favorites are Avengers, Thunderbolts, and X-Force. After I
started reading comic books I started looking on line for many of
the characters I read about. When I found this website I started
posting lots of requests until I got offered to write some
profiles--and I did, even though I only know about pretty recent
obscure characters.
First Appendix Appearance: Alanna Neramani
(6/27/2002)
Jean-Marc Lofficier (39)
He
wrote for Marvel,
among many other stories, most of the wonderful "Book of the
Vishanti" back-ups that gave such great details on many,
many obscure and otherwise forgotten characters. He often
supplies us with great inside tidbits on these characters.
He's also given us permission to publish
two
"lost stories," intended for publication, but which
just never made it:
Check
out his official site at http://www.lofficier.com/
that has all his Marvel, DC, Image, etc. credits (and more).
First Appendix Appearance: Background
info on Cagliostro
(2/8/2004)
Greg O'Driscoll
(34)...
Formerly our Former Swords and Sorcery editor.
After giving lots of good supplemental info in mythology and other
literature, he's jumped in and started doing profiles from the Conan
Universe, and other areas as well. Then he faded from existence...
In addition, he writes his own line of comics under Cyborg
Caveman Comics. Check
it out!
First Appendix Appearance: Man-Bats of
Ur-Xanarrh (2/16/2002)
Gauntlet:
Dark Rider (28)
I've been reading comics since
about as
long as I could read, discovered Marvel through Transformers, GI
Joe and mid-'80s Spider-Mans, found a comics shop in '93, and got
hooked on collecting.
Realising the implausibility of my lifelong dream of becoming a
supervillain and/or a robot, I settled for mastering as much
useless trivia on them as I could, while spending as much time
living on the net as possible, becoming something of an authority
on villain-teams and early '90s stuff that nearly everyone else
hated.
First Appendix Appearance: Suzi Endo
(5/23/2002)
Elf with a Gun (26)
Hi there. My name is Chris Biggs. I am a woman living in the state of Indiana, USA. I have a degree in Commercial Photography, though finding work out here is a little hard sometimes, since everyone wants to hire 'experience' rather than someone straight out of school. (Currently I'm working at a small paper where I'm getting some exposure and some 'experience' in one of my chosen fields of endeavor). My other choices are artist and writer; in fact one of these days I may yet achieve one of my dreams of working on some of my favorite comic book characters, if I can get myself to stop cat-vacumning and start working on developing my talents. Chuck
D
(20)
*INACTIVE*
Let's see, I'm a 25 year old
lawyer
currently living in Cincinnati. I was raised on Marvel
comics by my dad and always loved the OHOTMU (except for the ones
on the little cards! ugh!). Glad to be able to contribute
to a GOOD version of the OHOTMU.
First Appendix Appearance: Tuatara
(1/21/2002)
The
Squid (17)...Nick Hill...
is currently pursuing his masters in
business
degree and has lived in Salem, OR his entire life. He has
collected comics for about 9 years now, 90% of which are
Marvel.
He is an avid Marvel Comics action figure collector, his favorite
line being the underappreciated Secret Wars line. He also
enjoys customizing action figures, having over 120 custom figures,
all Marvel of course, ranging from Surtur to Hammerhead.
Outside of comics his interests are history, mythology, and
watching bad movies.
First Appendix Appearance: Ghaszash Nyirh
(4/22/2002)
Henrique Ferreira
(17)
a native of Portugal, Henrique
writes for the
Spider-Fan
website. He
has
done several characters for Spider-Fan, as well. He's been kind
enough to reformat some of these to post to the Appendix site as
well...and Stunner's been nice enough to reformat others of
his.
First Appendix
Appearance: Walrus
(1/12/2002)
Mikel Midnight (15)
Mikel has offered us profiles
of members of
the Captain Britain Corps, Evan Dorkin characters, and a
smattering of metafictional heroes. He also kibitzes a lot.
Place of Residence: Northern California
Real World Ambition: Get a real job
Favorite Marvel Character(s): The Captain
Britain Corps
Favorite Mid-Afternoon Snack: Mixed Nuts
His Origin in 20 words or less: Born
Queens NY,
then on to Florida, Arizona, the United Kingdom, Michigan, and
California ... with diversions along the way.
The first Marvel comic he reads when he gets home is:
Supreme Power
And when he's reading that comic or writing
profiles he listens to: Reel Big
Fish and various
other members of the worldwide ska community, or my new favorite
band, The Used.
First Appendix Appearance: Captain Albion
(1/3/2004)
Spaceknight (12)
First Appendix
Appearance: G-Men
(10/6/2002)
Flank McLargehuge (11)
has
been
extremely
helpful in the computer
know-how department ,
establishing a group e-mail, and
helping us to
figure out some of our HTML problems.
He hails from sunny, glorious
Fairbanks,
Alaska, where he's a Theatre student in his fourth year at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks, with no graduation in sight, or
intended
either.
The fact that, behind the blue hair and hawaiian shirts he's a
comic geek isn't something he bothers to share with many of his
friends -- most of them simply wouldn't understand. Besides
acting and comics, Flank is a college radio DJ under the name MC
Escher at UAF's student station: where he plays quirky, charming,
underplayed
bands
with names like The Weakerthans, Soul Coughing, Man or Astroman,
The Impossibles, Prozzak, Ugly Duckling, jimmy eat world, and
Plastilina Mosh, on a show called Mastering the Art of Falling
Down. Flank's special section of Marvel Universe obscurity
is the home of Marvel's early-'90s teen heroes the New Warriors,
and includes Power Pack, Darkhawk, Cloak & Dagger, and the
heroic Green Goblin, among others. His current favorite
books include Thunderbolts, New X-Men (though the continuity
freak in him would rather ignore that), and Captain Marvel.
First Appendix Appearance: Volx (1/21/2002)
Luis
Olavo Dantas ,
the Daevanator
(11)
Former formatting and image coordination editor. Another
guy who started out with lots of helpful info, and then finally decided
to jump in himself! Best know to his fellow Counter-Strikers and
Warcrafters as Epistemologia Escatologica, Luis' best resource is his
persistence at web searching. He has a strong, vivid memory of comics
read years ago. This has proved useful time and again. His secret is a
strong love for 1970s comics. He was born at January the 9th, 1969. Is
something of a prodigy, since Dantas is a rather common Brazilian
surname. He's known for his strong personal opinions on child parenting
and for his interest in compared religions. As of late he has taken to
comment on Buddhism and Hinduism, leading to his choice of alias as
"The Daevanator".
First Appendix Appearance: Ballox/The
Monstroid (10/24/2002)
Alexander
Knowles (10)
Hails from the Bahamas and has an interest in the Olympian gods of which he provides profiles on.
First Appendix
Appearance: Co-writer of Aphrodite
(4/10/2003)
Mick Martin, The
Anti-Grimm
(10)
Mick was an assistant
editor ,
helping me out by
putting images with files that are sent in, and doing any
necessary editing. Makes my job much easier, and gives me more
time to do my own files! Mick is currently on
hiatus
from the Appendix, but we hope to have him back soon.
...I've been reading comics for twenty years and I'm a foaming
mad Hulk nut. Most of the characters I provide will probably be
Hulk and/or Defenders related. One of my goals is to get as many
Defenders related profiles done before Omar Karindu can steal
them from me. I post quite a bit on the Hulk and Defenders
message boards at the Alvaro Comic boards under the name "The
Anti-Grimm," so feel free to say hi if you're ever in the
area.
First Appendix Appearance: Talos the Tamed
(2/17/2002)
FortMax (7)...
Name:
Mike
McTighe
Location:
Charleston, SC
Nicknames:
FortMax, Mikey, Doom
Class:
Marvel Expert (still
learning more everyday)
Areas of Expertise:
Daredevil,
X-Men, Cyclops, X-Factor,
Wolverine, Pre-WWII history, and Dr. Doom
Bio: I was
born in
Boston. My first Marvel comic was X-Men
#160 when I was five years of age. At age 18 I
still
read, only much more so. My knowledge of Marvel is
more like a historic knowledge. I can tell you about the
time when a bandaged Dr. Doom (pre-Iron suit Von Doom) went back
into the past to WWII and wreaked some havoc on Hitler as
"Hans".
But for the life of me I can't tell you what issue it happened
in.
Guess thats the breaks. I joined the site last year
and love it. This is the only place where I know people who
know more about marvel than me, its cool. Plus the best
part is I wrote the bio for the most obscure character of them
all "Bronek".
First Appendix Appearance: Bronek (3/5/2002)
Caesar
Godzillatron (7)
First Appendix
Appearance: Madam Web
(12/20/2002)
Nyssane (7)
Clint Theron
First Appendix Appearance: Poundcakes
(8/21/2007)
Reddie
(6)
First Appendix Appearance: The
Gibborim (8/17/2005)
The Voice of Doom
(6)
Real Name : James Murton
Identity/Class :
Normal human
Occupation :
Schoolboy (sob)
Affiliations :
None
Enemies :
All who dismiss
obscure characters... mwah ha ha... oh, and Scrappy Doo
Known Relatives : Way too many to
mention here
Aliases :
Slug-Man,
Scooby-Doo II
Base
of Operations : Derby, England
First Appearance : Derby, England,
(March 1989)
First Appendix Appearance: Mingo
(8/22/2002)
Powers :
Disturbing
amount of trivia on the 'Avengers under Siege storyline, as well
as the ability to find countless ways to annoy my friends and
family.
History :
I got into
comics through the animated series' of Spiderman and X-Men, and
became hooked! Sure, I started late, but my uncle, the internet
and the old black and white Essential reprints helped me make up
for lost time. I currently collect 3 British comics which reprint
Spiderman, X-Men and the Avengers from 3 or 4 years back.
Comments :
Do not
dismiss 60s comics as poor near me. Just don't.
DragynWulf
(5)
Real Name: David Wiltfong
Relatives: Wife and beautiful daughter
First Appearance: Nixon was President, Monday Night
Football debuted on ABC, the Beatles broke up and Jimmy Hendrix
and Janis Joplin both die drug-related deaths. Some movies
released that year were M*A*S*H, PATTON, LOVE STORY, and AIRPORT.
First Appendix Appearance:
Taskmaster's
Avengers robots (10/27/2006)
Favorite Marvel Characters: Taskmaster,
Thunderbolts,
Thunderbolts (Counter-Earth), Thunderbolts (CSA), U.S.Agent, She-Hulk,
Yellowjacket (Pym), Moonstone (Sofen), Baron Zemo (Helmet),
Hawkeye (Barton), Squadron Supreme (Earth-712), Sinister Squadron,
and others.
My Monthly Must Have: Any Taskmaster appearance,
THUNDERBOLTS, EXILES, ASTONISHING X-MEN, CABLE & DEADPOOL,
and all Handbooks. I buy other comics when I can afford them
these days.
Marvel Comics Recommendations: THUNDERBOLTS, CABLE
&
DEADPOOL, MOON KNIGHT, EXILES, and ASTONISHING X-MEN
Other interests: Wrestling and movies (horror,
suspense/thrillers,
sci-fi, comedy)
Comments: I'm the owner/webmaster of the
TaskmasterSite.com and big time Taskmaster fan. I handle the Data
Corrections for the OHotMU Handbooks, a moderator for the Marvel.com
online encyclopedia as well as the message boards. I've also been
a moderator at various other message boards online over the past
6 years as of 2006.
Peteparker (5)
Real
Name: Nathan Elliott
Class: of
2010
Occupation:
Nuclear Physicist; Grad Student
Affiliations:
Masters of the Obscure
Aliases:
AnotherPeteparker, Spidy207
Base of Operations: Albuquerque, New Mexico
First Appearance: November 17, 1979
First Appendix Appearance: Katherine
Pryde of Earth-1298 (12/30/2009)
Powers: Able
to use comics or the web to put off doing any work that
really needs to be done, a.k.a. procrastinate.
Equipment:
Thousands of digital comics and a trusty copy of GIMP
History: I
was always a fan of heroes, beginning with being an avid
watcher of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, but only infrequently
was able to get comics when I was sick or on family road
trips.
(Some of which included various parts of the Maximum Carnage Saga, just
try reading that sporadically with no prior knowledge of any character
but Spidey). The first series I specifically purchased was
the Death of Superman, hopping on the '90s bandwagon of collecting
books
that seemed like they would be worth more money someday. It
wasn't until the late '90s X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons that I
converted back to buying Marvel books, and it's been a
torrential love affair ever since. For several years, I was
able
to buy every comic I wanted to read every week, which resulted in a
'collection' of more than 5000 mostly worthless books. My
most
recent interests are in alternate realities, most notably the Exiles
and What If? books.
Kevin Garcia (5)
Also one of the writers for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
First Appendix Appearance: Drug Lords
(7/15/2012)
Hawkguy (5)
My name's Scott Greenwood and I live in England with
my wife, Andrea, and two sons, Lucas and Kai. I've been a Marvel fan
since I was 5 and grew up on 1980s comics particularly Power Man/Iron
Fist, Iron Man and Moon Knight. My main interest is in street-level
heroes (Moon Knight, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Ghost Rider etc).
First Appendix Appearance: Javelynn
(1/2/2014)
Hugo
V. Negron (4)
Birthday 12/25/68. Reside in
Illinois.
Currently finishing up the thesis requirements for an M.A. in
Clinical Psych while working as a Forecast Specialist for a
silver jewelry importing firm with the intent to go on for a PhD
in Industrial/Organizational Psych (there's more of a return on
your scholastic investment using psychology in the business world,
I've learned!). I've been a Marvel/Iron Man fan since I was 8
years old (thanks Dad for hooking me into comics). Used to
be a big medieval/fantasy buff (anyone still remembers how to
play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons out there??), so the concept
of a modern day knight in shining armor really took hold of me -
and it's never let go! Soon to be married on 10/12/02 to a
fellow psych major. Hobbies? Besides reading Iron Man, that
is - chess, basketball, biking.
First Appeandix Appearance: Updates
on Half-Face
(5/25/2002)
Shiryu (4)
Roberto Branca
Hi,
I'm Roberto. I was born in Italy back in 1982 and I've read Marvel
comics since I was 10, hooked by Roger Stern's Avengers and
Spider-Man, and JM De Matteis' Captain America. Today, I read most
Marvel characters, with a preference for Thor. For nearly the last 10
years I've been the moderator of the Avengers Assemble boards over at
vplexico.proboards.com, and I've been one of the contributors to the
"Assembled 2" book. I spent most of the last 15 years in good old
England, but, at present, I work in Italy as chiropractor and part-time
translator.
First Appendix Appearance: Daillus
the Daring (5/3/2014)
CrazyIvan (3)
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer on Spider-Man 2099 (12/5/2003)
E-mail: crazy_ivan_thx11@yahoo.com
BKole (3)....
First Appendix Appearance: Vendetta
of Earth-1298 (3/26/2005)
Peter
Kroon (3)...
from the Netherlands. Peter writes for the Spider-Fan
website. He's
contributed the White
Dragon and Photon.
First Appendix Appearance: White Dragon
(2/14/2002)
Real Name:
Thomas
Person
Occupation: Retirement Center, Security &
Safety
Officer. Air Force Veteran
Aliases: Crom, Mitra, Aesir, Set, and the list goes
on
like that. Whatever the Hyborian people choose to call me.
Affiliations: Loki (Stuart Vandal)
Enemies: Outside Thoth-Amon I hope nobody.
Base of Operations: Goose Creek, SC
1st Appearance: Watertown, SD
1st Appendix Appearance: Sabia
(11/12/2004)
History: My 1st comic was a fresh right off the rack
issue
of the Amazing Spider-Man. A short while later I picked up an
issue of Conan. From that time on I would pick up an occasional
issue of whatever seemed interesting at the time. At the age of
eleven, I had about 25 comics. At that time I felt like I had
every comic in the world. As I got older I joined the Air Force
and my mother stuck about 200 comics of mine in her attic. After
10 years and two major military operations later (Just Cause [Panama]
and Desert Storm [Kuwait]) I got out. By this time my collection
was around 5 to 6 thousand issues and hundreds of titles. Marvel,
Image D.C., etc. Now I actually have time to read them. I found
the Appendix while searching for info on Umbu the Unliving. I
choose to do profiles on Conan characters because (1) He's my
favorite character and (2) He kills 90% of everyone he meets, so
each issue there is always a fresh supply of new obscure
characters around....for a while.
Favorite characters: This is just a sampling of who
I like.
Favorite
comics:
Stray Bullets, Sin City,
Teen Titans (The Judas Contract), Savage Sword of Conan, Preacher,
and any comic with the above characters. Still I love all my
comics and graphic novels.
Other interests: Movies (new and old), Star Wars,
Star
Trek, PC Games, basically any girl repellent activity which I
guess is O.K. cause I'm happily married to one. Helping my kids
with homework then teaching them useless info about comic
characters, 80's music. Also writing, because I would not be
doing this if I didn't like it so much. Finally driving and
caring for my 16 year old Mercedes-Benz 300E.
Monzo (3)...
Matt Karpowich
First Appendix Appearance: Decathalon
(3/19/2005)
Mike Fichera
(3)
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer
on Seymour
O'Reilly (10/14/2004)
Base of Operations: Spain
First Appendix Appearance: Detail on Spanish language for Ojo Macabra (c. 2006)
Mark
Caithness (2+)...
hails from the UK and
helped expand the
puny, incomplete Night Raven entry into the extensive work in
progress it now is. In addition, he's now going to start doing
some profiles on the Marvel UK characters (well, Yi Yang and Dr.
Claw, anyway).
First Appendix Appearance: Yi Yang (3/4/2002)
Fatum (2)
Base of
Operations:
Hungary
History: I
have collected comics since kindergarten.
I was born in the same month and year as Spider-Man's black suit
debuted
or the first issue of the Secret Wars and the Ninja Turtles (according
to the cover dates).
First Appendix Appearance: Preserver
(6/6/2010)
ExWhaler (2)
Real Name: Jim Mullins
Identity/Class: Human (?)
Occupation: Professional
fool
Affiliations. Masters of
the Obscure;
others classified
Enemies: 90% of the
world's population,
at large
Known Relatives: More
than I could name,
honestly
Aliases: HartWhale,
"J"
Base of Operations:
Boston, MA
First Appearance:
Milford/Hopedale Regional
Hospital; October 1979
First Appendix Appearance: Damek
the Earth-Shaker (6/20/2003)
Powers/Abilities:
ExWhaler is has no true
superpower, but is remarkably talented in the usage of sarcasm
and humor as weapons; and is very adept at missing the obvious.
History: ExWhaler
learned to read through
comics, and hasn't looked back since. He shamefully admits
to have slightly fallen from the fold recently, and hangs his
head.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.
Despite popular belief, "ExWhaler" is not a
reference
to hunting actual whales; it instead refers to the late, lamented
Hartford Whalers of the NHL. In my opinion, ExWhaler was an
inspired creation; but has been mishandled by other creators
since.
Barry
Reese
(2)
I got to work with Barry on the Marvel
Knight
Encyclopedia (he wrote the Ghost Rider / Blade sections), and
then I drafted him into the Handbooks
First Appendix Appearance: Nighthawk
(Neal Richmond of Earth-S) (1/17/2005)
Spiderpool (2)
Real Name: Kevin Smith
(no, not the
director! It's my real name!)
Class: Borderline human
Occupation: Video game store guy
Affiliations: Proto-Man; Masters of the Obscure
Aliases: Spidey, Hal, 129, Merc-with-a-Mouth
Base of Operations: Clarksville, Tennessee,
sometimes
referred to as Hell
First Appearance: October 31, 1980
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer
of Black
Swan (12/8/2004)
Powers: Extensive knowledge of video games and
occasionally, comics. Ability to magnetically pull other
automobiles into his own.
Equipment: Nintendo DS and pretty much any video
game
system; a Game Informer magazine, as well as Tips & Tricks;
Wizard and ToyFare mags too...basically, any magazine in print
that relates to fanboys
History: My first comic was a ratty issue of Amazing
Spider-Man that someone gave me. It was missing a cover. A bunch
of random Marvel issues later, I began collecting Deadpool base.
David Sexton (2)
I finally roped him into writing some profiles on characters he created for the Marvel Tarot...bio to followFirst Appendix Appearance: Mu (12/11/2001)
Zuckyd1 Real Name: David A. Zuckerman |
![]() |
Merzah from Prague
(1)
First Appendix
Appearance: Jane
Crawlins (1/1/2009)
Cheyne (1)...
Name: Mike
Cheyne
How Did I Become Interested in Comics?: For a
Christmas
present one year, I got one of those "Big Box of Comics from
One Particular Year." It turned out that most of these were
Marvel from the Acts of Vengeance crossover. I didn't
understand anything, but I reread every one of those stories time
after time trying to make sense out of it. Naturally, the box did
not contain the ending stories
Favorite Marvel Character: Spider-Man, although it
is very
easy to write bad Spidey. I also like villains, especially the
lesser-known, not-so-powerful guys, such as the Trapster.
He's cool.
My Specialty: Umm, not much. I'm not a
comic
authority, just a fan that specializes in writing one-shot
character profiles. Why one-shot? Because my collection is so
miniscule, and I don't collect much comics anymore. In fact,
that's what stuns me as I read through the profiles on this
way-cool site, finding out such tidbits that the Fox OF ALL
PEOPLE came back, while the poor old Baron Zemo imposter schlub
is still in comic book limbo. I do know a lot about the early
Silver Age period, know a ton about G.I. Joe, have a pretty good
knowledge of Spidey, and saw about every episode of X-Men on TV.
Oh yeah, I know all about Secret Wars I. Yeah, take
that.
Why Are You Writing Profiles?: Well, I dunno. I just
acquired and read the entire Atlantis Attacks series as a lark,
read a cool backup story, and decided to write a profile.
I'm just happy to find this place so many beloved
characters!
Website: Um, none. You're a mite
late I used to
work at the fabulous NitCentral, dedicated to nitpicking
everything and everywhere. But time got in the way, and that
regular gig is no more
Other Interests: The Avengers
(not the comic, the
British TV show); Major League Baseball; and in a neither so
obscure nor unimportant vein, Christianity.
First Appendix Appearance:
Lady Karlot
(4/6/2002)
Somebody (1)
Real Name: Gerard McMenemy
"Bio": Hails from somewhere in Scotland, started
reading US comics regularly through UK reprints [came in in the
depths of the Clone Saga - and liked it! :)], and spends too much
time making banners for comicboards.
First Appendix Appearance: Gaunt
(2/2/2004)
Cypher
(1)
Graham Willis
First Appendix Appearance: Franklin
Richards of Earth-811 (9/30/2004)
Odd Rob (1)
Rob Pickering
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer
of Baron
Brimstone (9/16/2006)
PaulAllen
(1)
First Appendix Appearance: Monark
Starstalker (1/9/2007)
Jordan Brodie (1)
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer
on Iron
Man 2020 (11/10/2003)
First Appendix Appearance: Co-writer on Dracula (10/29/2002)
Mike O'Sullivan (1)
First Appendix Appearance: Kid Reaper (10/28/2018)
Little known fact: All photographs of stunningly handsome brown-haired dudes wearing white t-shirts and blue jeans taken in 1950 is him.
Bob Almond
Bob was the inker for the Black Panther, one of our favorite
titles, for an outstanding run of over three years. In addition
to helping to convince his co-storytellers to use the obscure
characters we enjoy so much, he's also given us lots of inside
information on the characters as they've been used, and why or
why not things went they way they did. We're very thankful for
all his info...plus its pretty frickin' cool to a Marvel Zombie
like me to be able to communicate directly with a member of the
House of Ideas.
In addition, Bob has
been mind enough
to provide some nice images for some of the Black Panther,
Hostess, and other characters.
I've been a Marvel Zombie since '76 and my fave title is the
AVENGERS of which I own every issue of all the volumes. I'm
fairly competant with Marvel obscura but things get fuzzy around
the late '80s, early 90's. I have some of the Marvel
indexes, I'm trying to find and own all the Olshevsky ones, and I
own all the OHOTMU editions except the last one(36) to the 3-ring
binder version. I was lucky that Marvel sent me 35 of these
free in my comps but cut the comps before 36 arrived:-( My
fave artist is George Perez, who inspired me to become a pro
artist in the first place, but other faves include John Byrne,
Frank Miller, Michael Golden, Klaus Janson, Josef Rubinstein,
Terry Austin, Neal Adams, Jim Starlin, Jim Steranko, Mark Framer,
Tom Palmer, Bob Layton, Gene Day, Adam Hughes, Bernie
Wrightson, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Carlos Pacheco, Jeff Jones,
Alex Ross, Sal Velluto(of course!) and numerous others. I
enjoy the stories of Grueny, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Fabian
Nicieza, Peter David, Roger Stern, Priest(of course!) among
others as well as many of the Marvel writers in the '70s and
early '80s like Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, David
Michelanie, Bill Mantlo, Doug Moench, Chris Claremont, Jim
Shooter, and some I'm certain I forgot. While I have very
long runs of many/most Marvel titles over the years I've cut back
over time. My present books I'm buying (as opposed to
'reading'
since I'm 2-3 years behind due to deadlines!) include: Avengers,
Defenders/The Order, Thunderbolts, Captain Marvel, Thor, Black
Panther(duh!) and usually a couple of related limited series and
a few cool trade collections each month. Just a few past
projects I've worked on include Warlock and the Infinity Watch,
Bloodshot, JLA, a bunch of Malibu series like Siren and Foxfire,
Star Trek: DS9, Ultragirl, and even Starmasters by Grueny (too
bad it ranks among my early horrific work:-P). Presently I'm
marking the third year on the critically-acclaimed Black Panther
title which has been my most enjoyable experience to date.
And
please visit The Bob Almond Inkwell at http://www.almondink.com/
AstroCitizen
First Appendix Appearance: Comments on Miss
Locke (9/10/2016)
Wayne
Lenihan ...
he gave me lots of great info on the Conan
characters...appearances
and chronology, and clears up anything that confuses me in my
surface knowledge of the Hyborian era.
Wayne says: "I'm married with a daughter, 18 , son 16. I'm
45 yrs old , work as a train driver, live in Toowoomba Queensland
Australia although I come from further west. Ive been interested
in conan comics since 1980 & until the age of the internet
was the only conan fan I knew of. my other interests
include motorcycling,fishing,gym& bush walking."
Carycomix (Greg) - always happy to provide...interesting/random tangent concepts on dozens and dozens of profiles.
First Appendix Appearance: Issue summary for Ricky North (7/31/2013)
Want to join the few, the
proud, the...people who know a lot about a bunch
of useless trivia on guys that most people have never heard of?
If so, then maybe you can join
the Masters of the Obscure