POPPA
WHEELIEPOPPA
WHEELIE
Real Name: Ed Wheeler
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrially-based
(Star
Stop) human (advanced technology-user)
Occupation: Owner, operator, mechanic, and
possibly still short order cook
Group Membership: Star
Stop
formerly the Short Stop
Affiliations: Al
the Alien, Mary
McGrill Archer (formerly Midnight), U.S.
Archer (Ulysses Solomon Archer; now U.S. Ace), Big Enilwen,
Jobber
Carosella, Louise "Weezi" Mason, Retread,
Taryn
O'Connell, She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Wide
Load Annie (Annie Wheeler), Razorback (Buford Hollis)
Enemies: Baron
von Blimp and his "Nazis"
(but only for the fashion), Highwayman
(Jefferson Hercules Archer), Clutch,
Grab & LeGreed, Leonardo the condo developer,
Spragg the Living Hill, Xemnu
the Titan
formerly Midnight
(Mary McGrill)
Known Relatives: Anne
"Wide Load Annie" Wheeler (wife), Ulysses
Solomon Archer (U.S., raised as his son), Jefferson
Hercules Archer (Highwayman, raised as his son)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Star
Stop
formerly the Short Stop
First Appearance: U.S. 1#1 (May, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Poppa is an experienced auto mechanic, able to help "super up" a big rig for speed and performance.
Although his skills may have atrophied over time, he was an experienced drag racer and big rig truck driver.
At the Star Stop, he has access to more
advanced equipment, such as his space
bulldozer.
Poppa was generally known (fondly) as a
bit of a coward, despite his drag racing past, and freely admitted he
was never one for fighting. Poppa would usually hide whenever a
confrontation became heated; his wife Annie was the brawler in the
family.
He was a competent (if loquacious)
storyteller and short order cook.
He's frequently seen smoking a big
cigar.
Also, Poppa's hat spontaneously flew
off his head and just kind of hovered there when he was surprised. It
happened at least 3 times. I guess that's his super power?
--Probably just
artistic/cartoonish license, but one never knows...--Snood
Height: 5'7" (by approximation)
Weight: 290 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(U.S. 1#8 (fb)) - Prior to opening the Short Stop, Poppa Wheelie was a drag racer.
(U.S. 1#1 (fb)) - Poppa spent his
youth working on cars and their engines, and became a drag racer who
traveled across the country, which is how he earned his nickname "Poppa
Wheelie."
He later retired and became a big rig truck driver, then retired from that to open the Short Stop.
(U.S. 1#1 (fb)) - Poppa stood by his wife, Annie, as the
funeral procession for truckers Sidney and Kathleen Archer passed
through the Short Stop, a 24-hour truck stop which he owned and ran with
Annie. He noted the funeral convoy was the longest he'd ever seen, and
the fellow truckers had all covered their rigs in black crepe fabric. He
offered to take in the Archer's children, Ulysses Solomon and Jefferson
Hercules, to raise as their own, and they accepted.
Many years later, Ulysses complained
that Poppa made him go to school while his brother Jefferson got to
start driving a big rig, to which Poppa replied "Jeff just didn't
have the head for book learning that you do." Jeff's money helped
to send Ulysses to college, where he graduated magna cum laude and
quarterbacked their football team. But despite that, all Ulysses wanted
to do was drive big rigs with his brother.
One night while they were driving together a mysterious big rig (later called the Blackrig) driven by the Highwayman forced them off a cliff. Ulysses was thrown free but Jeff was presumed killed. The Highwayman then appeared to summon demons (who were later revealed to be aliens and not summoned by him) that approached Ulysses, but the flaming rig exploded, and Ulysses was knocked unconscious.
Highwayman***
(U.S. 1#1) - Poppa immeadiately broke the fourth wall and narrated the above history of Ulysses and Jefferson directly to the reader. Poppa and Annie visited Ulysses at the hospital after the accident. He was gravely injured but his life was saved by experimental surgery (which was later revealed to have been performed by those demon-like aliens who then decided to pose as surgeons) that replaced the entire top of his skull with a metal alloy, which received radio transmissions and he called his "CB skull." While he was recovering at the Short Stop, Poppa told Annie to stop feeding him green vegetables, they didn't help cracked skulls.
Ulysses convinced an uncertain Poppa that the Highwayman was real, and Poppa agreed to finance a new big rig for Ulysses to chase him, which he and Annie helped to modify. Ulysses showed off some modifications he himself made, like a bulit-in radar system and a Susan B Anthony silver dollar that he could use to remotely control the big rig. Ulysses eventually found the Highwayman on stormy night and was racing him to a bridge, but for some reason Poppa was standing in the middle of the bridge at midnight in the midst of a terrible thunderstorm with an unbuttoned rain coat. Ulysses managed to push the Blackrig up an incline to miss Poppa, and then off a cliff, though mysteriously no crash was heard. Poppa explained he was worried about Ulysses and had walked up the road to find him, and now he believed in the Highwayman after that close call.
(U.S. 1#2) - Poppa hid behind the counter during a bar fight at the Short Stop, bemoaning having to wash the walls again. After Ulysses triumphed against a rowdy patron mind-controlled by Midnight, Annie found Poppa crouched behind the counter, while he pretended to clean up ketchup and claimed that he never hid from a fight. He saw Taryn, a regular and experienced truck driver, arrive and flirt with Ulysses, which caused their waitress Mary some distress. Poppa said good night to both women as he and Annie took the night shift.
(U.S. 1#3) - Poppa, Annie, and Mary all rushed into Ulysses's room when they heard a scream, but the naked (under a sheet) trucker hero had just been having a nightmare. Poppa brought Ulysses some java and they taked about his nightmare of the Highwayman. Poppa listened to a story from an old man (who was actually the Highwayman) about the Highwayman's mystical origins, but Poppa said "it sounded like so much eyewash" to him. Poppa was later introduced to Retread, who became a regular at the Short Stop.
(U.S. 1#4) - A massive brawl was taking place inside the Short Stop, which was "business as usual." Poppa hid behind an overturned table. Retread told everyone about the shark-faced blimp hovering over the Short Stop, which ended the brawl. Poppa went outside to meet Baron von Blimp after he descended, and then held Annie back after she threatened the Baron for slapping Ulysses. Baron challenged Ulysses to a big rig vs blimp race (to prove the superiority of lighter-than-air craft for cargo transport), but Poppa cautioned him against getting involved in this contest. But after Ulysses agreed to it, Poppa reassured him that "you can beat that blowhard Baron, no matter what his game is."
(U.S. 1#6) - As Ulysses pulled in, another patron was ejected yet again through the Short Stop front window by Annie. He was Paul LeGreed, and after dusting himself off he said that he was a lawyer on official bank business, and the Short Stop's mortgage payment was past due. LeGreed said it would be his "pleasure to foreclose on this filthy hovel of yours!" if they didn't make the payment, after whixh he left. Poppa said he couldn't have run off that lawyer any better himself (which seems very likely) and not to worry about the money, they'd lick the problem together. Ulysses overheard that the reasons they were so behind was that they had taken a second mortgage to pay his hospital bills and for the building of U.S. 1, his super big rig.
LeGreed later returned to the Short Stop with three police officers to have Annie arrested for assault. When the Short Stop patrons were asked about the previous assault, they all said they hadn't seen or heard anything. When the police didn't immediately leave, the patrons started a giant brawl and assaulted all three police officers. Poppa, as usual, hid while Ulysses dragged a very reluctant Annie away before she could be arrested.
(U.S. 1#7) - Ulysses arrived home at the Short Stop after completing a job with Annie (who was currently mind-contolled by Midnight). Poppa said that he missed them both as Ulysses got paid by Jobber. Ulysses gave the money to Poppa and Annie to cover the mortgage. LeGreed pulled up with two police officers, and happily accepted the money, but he demanded an apology from Annie for assaulting him earlier, and he called her "odious, horrid, unkempt, a cretin, and fat." As everyone braced for Annie to explode with rage, hypnotized Annie surprised them by haltingly apologizing, and LeGreed agreed to drop the charges. Poppa was grateful Annie wasn't in jail, but asked if Annie was feeling all right, but she claimed she was just tired.
Later, two customers were ejected through two windows of the Short Stop during a brawl, and Poppa and Retread fled the fight as usual. Poppa told U.S. 1 he was going to overhaul her in the morning and talked to her as if she was a woman. At this point, the U.S. 1 big rig had become sentient and decided she felt secure in that gender identity. Poppa and Retread were then also hypnotized by Midnight, though U.S. 1 really wanted to warn them. They brought Ulysses before Midnight and held him while Midnight whipped him. Then U.S. 1 (the truck) fought Midnight by itself, though later Ulysses claimed he had just discovered he could control it via his CB skull. U.S. 1 grabbed Midnight's hypno-whip with a grappling hook and then ran her into the desert and fired missiles at her. Ulysses broke free and grabbed the fallen whip and pushed some buttons until its hypnotizing effects ended.
(U.S. 1#8 (fb)) - Annie, Poppa, Retread and Ulysses investigated the spot in the desert where Midnight's motorcycle had been struck by missiles, finding only wreckage.
(U.S. 1#8)
- Ulysses and U.S. 1 barrelled right towards Poppa
Wheelie and Retread, who were running in a circle around a tree. Ulysses
slammed on the brakes and skidded over a patch of loose earth after
having grappled the tree to stop, and he barely missed them. Poppa
huffed out "All the years I spent drag racing and that's as close as
I ever came to meeting that big garage mechanic in the sky!"
Apparently U.S. 1 trying to run them over was part of a test to ensure
the big rig was in top shape. Poppa wondered about how it almost seemed
to have a mind of its own...
Poppa recounted their recent troubles with the mortgage, the Highwayman, and Midnight (whom they knew was working for the Highwayman). Taryn came in and kissed Ulysses, much to Mary's chagrin. Taryn later sat in Ulysses' lap and kissed him again, which Mary again saw. Mary then pulled Midnight's costume out in the diner and accused Taryn of being Midnight, saying she'd found it behind the seat of Taryn's truck. No one believed Taryn's protestations, especially when she picked up the hypno-whip and Poppa directly accused her of betraying them. Mary tackled Taryn in a bid to stop her from activating its hypnotic powers, but Taryn broke free and then dived through yet another Short Stop window. Annie ran outside to see Taryn steal a motorcycle and attempt to flee, until U.S. 1 cut her off and forced her back. Annie, Poppa, Retread, and Ulysses all surrounded her and demanded she give the whip back. When she refused, they tackled her. Taryn blindly pressed a button on the whip resulting in a huge flash of light, which incapacitated and seemingly killer her, as the real Midnight stepped out of the shadows.
(U.S. 1#9) - The real Midnight taunted them for "killing" the wrong person, and held Poppa responsible for Taryn's death, though he protsted that in all his years as a drag racer, he'd never caused a death and that it was all Midnght's fault. As Ulysses, Midnight, Poppa, and Retread (along with two innocent patrons) tussled in an oil slick, Midnight's electric hypno-whip flailed and shocked Taryn, reviving her. Midnight threatened to whip Taryn dead again, despite the fact her whip had just revived her. Ulysses's CB skull (or maybe the truck itself?) drove U.S. 1 towards Midnight while he protected Annie and Taryn. Midnight dodged the truck and then re-hypnotized Poppa, Retread, and Annie, and commanded them to attack Ulysses and the now awake Taryn (and two more innocent patrons, who wandered outside to complain about the slow service.) The brawl was interrupted by a familiar shark-faced blimp flown by Baron von Blimp (along with Paul LeGreed and his partners Clutch and Grab) that dropped a squadron of Nazis (but not real ones -- they only posed as Nazis for the fashion) for the purpose of wrecking the property and assorted big rigs so the lawyers could foreclose on it. As the larger brawl started, yet another Short Stop window was broken, from someone being thrown inside for a change. Somehow, Ulysses's CB skull interfaced with the hypno-whip which he had wrestled away from Midnight, and it resulted in a bright flash of light and everyone being hypnotically frozen except Ulysses, Taryn, Midnight, and the newly un-rehypnotized Poppa, Retread, and Annie. Taryn took the opportunity to unmask Midnight, who was revealed as Mary McGrill. Mary had been hypnotized by her own hypno-whip the whole time, under the direction of the Highwayman, who suddenly appeared in the now quite crowded Short Stop parking lot.
(U.S. 1#10) - After the Highwayman monologued for a bit about his evil plan of hypnotizing Mary to defeat Ulysses, Poppa reluctantly decided not to flee into the diner and lunged toward Mary, taking the waitress out of harm's way, as Ulysses grabbed for the hypno-whip (which he apparently had dropped and kicked over by the Highwayman between issues). Ulysses tried to hypnotize the Highwayman with it, but that failed and Ulysses stepped between Poppa and the Highwayman. Then U.S. 1 and the Highwayman's truck, the Blackrig, got into a "truck duel" with Ulysses and the Highwayman mentally controlling them, respectively. After an inconclusive result, the Highwayman revealed that Ulysses's brother Jeff was still alive, and as Ulysses lunged for him, Baron von Blimp descended from his blimp to protect the Highwayman, for whom he'd also been working for. Poppa watched as Baron von Blimp fell from his blimp ladder about 30 feet with a sword in his mouth, yet managed to not severely injure himself, as the Highwayman proclaimed that Baron von Blimp had "ruined my wonderful moment of dramatic revelation!" Then an alien spaceship showed up in the sky next to the blimp which caused the Highwayman to shout "No! It isn't time yet! You promised me more time!" He then fled in the Blackrig, with Ulysses close behind in U.S. 1.
(U.S. 1#11) - The next time that Poppa saw them, both of the big rigs floated behind the alien spaceship and had returned to the Short Stop. Poppa asked Annie what they should do next, in a parking lot filled with an alien spaceship, two big rigs descending from mid-air, a shark-faced blimp, some greedy lawyers, a recently unhypnotized waitress who had been hypnotized for weeks to dress in fetish gear and hypnotize other people, a bunch of Nazis (but only for the fashion) and some oil-covered trucker patrons who had been frozen in place with hypnotism for quite a while now. Poppa kept Taryn and Mary from bickering with each other. When the Blackrig touched ground, Poppa was shocked when Jeff, Ulysses's presumed dead brother whom he had raised along with Ulysses, stepped out of the cab, revealed as the Highwayman. An alien (later named Al) in a metal suit with 4 large green tentacles and many protrouding face tentacles then descended from the spaceship and transported Baron von Blimp and his fashion Nazis to "where their strange, outmoded garments will garner all the attention their undernourished egos crave," speaking in perfect English. That location ended up being downtown Tel Aviv. Al the alien then unfroze all the other tucker patrons, who had indigestion from being hypnotized too long and swore never to come there again.
Everyone (Annie, Poppa, Retread, Ulysses, Taryn, Midnight/Mary, Highwayman/Jeff, and Al the alien) calmly went inside to get some explanations and coffee. Al the alien had learned to speak from consuming mass media, and represented the Federated Planets, who wanted to contact Earth to find someone "willing to face the terrors - and adventures - of space, the final frontier." They wanted Ulysses, but had messed up and contacted Jeff, giving him the training and technology instead, to become what Jeff assumed was a "space diplomat." Jeff never told them he wasn't Ulysses; he hated his brother because he was jealous of Ulysses always being the best. He had given up on his own dreams to allow Ulysses to go to college, which Ulysses then threw away to become a truck driver himself. He revealed that he faked his own death to get time away from Ulysses to impress the aliens, and the demons Ulysses saw that night were merely other aliens who then transported him to the hospital and disguised themselves as surgeons and installed his CB skull after they had realized their mistake. Right after that incident, Jeff had convinced the aliens to make it a contest to see who they would take into space, him or Ulysses, but he couldn't defeat Ulysses within a preset time limit covered by the previous 11 issues. Al the alien proclaimed it was time for one final contest to decide it all!
(U.S. 1#12) - As they were modifying U.S. 1 for spaceflight based on Al's instructions, Jeff came into the garage, and nearly got into a fight with Ulysses, but Poppa tried to separate the two of them -- from a healthy distance. Annie and Poppa bemoaned the lack of customers since a bunch of truckers were hypnotically paralyzed for an extended period (which had given them acute indigestion); they had then used their CBs to tell other truckers to avoid the Short Stop. Clutch, Grab, and Paul LeGreed showed up to taunt them that they were going to turn the Short Stop into "Bongo Condos." Poppa held back Annie from assaulting them, as they got into their limousine and screamed they'd be back that night to take possession of the property. Poppa wished they'd be able to just pull up stakes and start over somewhere else again. They went inside and saw Mary and Taryn insulting each other again, to which Poppa just sighed.
Later that day the race was on, with a course that started and ended at the Short Stop and traveled around the world, into space, and beyond. The Higwayman refused to shake Ulysses's hand, and the racers left in their flying big rigs. Poppa witnessed the race on a monitor screen Al had set up and saw the victorious Ulysses return after the Highwayman forfeited when his truck was destroyed on the Moon. Ulysses learned he was going to be a trucker in space, not a diplomat as Jeff had assumed, and Retread asked to come along. Poppa and Annie lamented that Ulysses was leaving and that they couldn't join him. Al the Alien overheard them and said it could be arranged, and he had been impressed by how well they had modified U.S. 1 to become space-worthy and also by their home cooking. Al said he could take the whole Short Stop into space. Poppa excitedly exclaimed "We won't be losing our son, but gaining a galaxy!" Mary also decided to come along, but Taryn declined. As Ulysses and Retread took off in U.S. 1, the alien levitated the Short Stop into space with Poppa, Annie, and Mary inside and encased it in an airtght dome and placed it in a well-traveled quadrant of the galaxy. He (or possibly Poppa and Annie) changed the sign to read "Star Stop."
LaGreed***
(Sensational She-Hulk#40 (fb)) - Poppa cleared all the nearby debris with a space bulldozer when they first arrived in that system of space.
(Sensational She-Hulk II#6) - She-Hulk hitched a ride on a rocket with Taryn and Razorback, who were looking for Ulysses. As they pulled into the much-expanded Star Stop, Poppa greeted them after giving directions to a time-lost Guardians of the Galaxy. Poppa, who had gained significant weight, greeted Taryn and Razorback warmly (he knew Razorback from back on Earth), but accused She-Hulk of being a Skrull and told her she wasn't welcome there, but Taryn vouched that she wasn't one. He told them Mary was expecting a baby and had been married to Ulysses for a while now. They met up with Annie, who reprimanded Poppa for just blurting it out to Taryn about the baby and the marriage. Just as Annie wondered why Ulysses was late, U.S. 1 crashed into the Star Stop (though Poppa assured everyone that the dome would reseal) and out of the cab stepped a large white furry alien who called himself Xemnu.
(Sensational She-Hulk#7) - Xemnu grabbed Ulysses and
Retread from the cab and threw them at the group. Ulysses moaned to "protect
the baby" as She-Hulk remembered that Xemnu wanted kids to
repopulate his world. Xemnu caused everyone to fall unconscious and then
strung them upside down by their ankles in the Star Stop garage, which
it had rapidly converted to a lab. Poppa while upside down noted that
the all other patrons had been knocked out and "The parking lot's
littered with kayoed aliens!"Xemnu revealed his plan was to
transmit "metamorphological data to your unborn child, reshaping its
genetic structure" so that it would be born one of his species.
She-Hulk broke free of the ropes and slugged Xemnu, but then fell under
Xemnu's hypnotic spell and slept.
The next we saw, Al the alien arrived with a fleet to respond to Ulysses's earlier distress call and took custody of Xemnu and fitted him with a psychic damper. Poppa and Annie suggested the lonely Xemnu be given to Big Enilwen, a gigantic humanoid alien at the Star Stop that collected larger than human-sized teddy bears, who would think Xemnu was one. Poppa observed that from all the teddy bear gifts space truckers were bringing for Mary's baby, apparently teddy bears were the most common toy in the whole galaxy. Two days later, She-Hulk went home in a '59 Dodge modified for spaceflight.
(Sensational She-Hulk#40 (fb)) - Despite Poppa having previously cleared all the nearby debris with a space bulldozer in that system of space, the Star Stop was now under continual bombardment from meteors. Large parts of the Star Stop were now destroyed. Annie deduced that a ring of "flying mountains" were herding the meteors toward the Star Stop.
(Sensational She-Hulk#40 (BTS)) - Al and Ulysses summoned She-Hulk (and inadvertently her friend, Louise "Weezi" Mason) to help via her flying car, and She-Hulk recognized this assault as the work of Spragg, the Living Hill, whom she and the Mole Man had sent into space.
(Sensational She-Hulk#42) - She-Hulk punched through Spragg and his stone clones, and eventually Ulysses was able to cocoon the true Spragg in a metal net and shut off his mental powers that allowed him to control other rocks. He towed Spragg to the damaged Star Stop, where Poppa and Annie greeted them, and Poppa asked how she knew that the metal net would work, She-Hulk related the original Spragg story from all the way back in Journey into Mystery I#98. Big Enilwen came by to show them his oversize rock collection and added Spragg to it. He said he had let all his teddy bears go because he didn't collect them anymore... which meant Xemnu was free.
(Sensational She-Hulk#43) - Xemnu explained that even with a psychic damper, he was able to influence Big Enilwen at a low-level, eventually causing him to give up his teddy bear collection. Xemnu froze She-Hulk and was explaining his plan to sell her on the galactic slave markets when She-Hulk's friend Weezi knocked him out with one of Poppa's oversize wrenches. She-Hulk asked about Razorback and Taryn, who had remained as space truckers. Retread said he'd just picked up a transmission from them that they "had been captured by the Asparagus people."
Comments: Created by Al Milgrom, Jim Shooter, and Herb Trimpe
Poppa sent Jefferson out to drive big
rigs at roughly age 16 because he "didn't have a head for book learning"
and he came back the Highwayman. Yeah, no one believed in him, he'd show
them all, classic super-villain origin stuff. Ulysses went to college
and he became a hero, so that's real proof that education can stop
super-villainy! Unless you become like super-science smart, then you're
definitely a super-villain. Hmm... "A moderate amount of education stops
super-villainy! But don't overdo it." (Put that on your inspirational
poster.)
Poppa was normally a pretty laid-back guy, but in his first appearance he told his wife to "hush up and stop blubbering" AT A FUNERAL. Geez, empathy much, Poppa? That's kinda the one place crying is like, encouraged. I'm surprised Annie didn't throw him through a plate glass window.
So, to test U.S. 1's readiness, Poppa had it chase him (and Retread) around a circular track. What exactly this was testing? How is almost running over a 300-pound wheezing man going to demonstrate something? You could have watched Ulysses drive in circles from a safe distance WITHOUT needing to get right on the track yourself. Binoculars exist, people!
The whole "U.S. 1 becomes sentient" plotline is one of the most confusing dangling plot threads I've ever seen in a Marvel comic. It only appears in a single issue, #7, and then is never mentioned again or given any resolution. In that same issue, Ulysses allegedly developed the power to direct the truck solely with use of his "CB Skull" after he was electro-whipped in the head by Midnight. So to everyone inside the comic, it's perfectly plausible that the truck moved because he spontaneously developed the power to remote control his big rig. Well, ok, maybe that's not perfectly plausible, maybe insanely implausible but at least no one thinks the truck is sentient! But we as readers SEE the thought balloons and narration from the truck. We absolutely 100% KNOW that it is sentient and its consciousness is trapped in there. To make matters more confusing, the truck really wants to help capture Midnight but thinks that it can't move until Ulysses gives it the order via his Susan B Anthony control coin. But then Ulysses drops the coin and the truck suddenly moves once Ulysses somehow spontaneously "develops" the power to control it remotely with his mind. So did the truck move itself or not? I see only two possibilities:
And then in a completley separate moment, the sentient truck had a gender identity crisis when Poppa called it "old girl". The truck initially identified as male, but it suddenly reconsidered and it's now "secure in my identity!" I mean, you go girl, I'm all for figuring one's gender stuff out, it's actually very progressive for 1983, but um, we are still talking about a big rig truck that developed sentience for exactly one issue. This comic is insane.
It has been pointed out to me before that if you remove all the "truck is sentient" narration from issue #7, not a single thing changes. No plot points or actions actually hinge on its sentience at all. Was this whole thing some kind of weird dare from a fellow writer to add a bunch of unecessary thought balloons to make the truck into more of a "character" or something? And then everyone hated that and they immediately stopped doing it, the end.
Ok, Poppa, you're worried about
Ulysses driving out in a storm, so you decided to: walk up a mountain,
at midight, in said severe thunderstorm, with no flashlight, along a
route you expect big rigs to come hurtling down, and stop in the middle
of a bridge. And you didn't even bother buttoning your raincoat!
Ulysses, who was an adult and a professional truck driver, was in the
most advanced big rig cab of all-time with heated everything, and yes,
it ALSO did have a roof. But you were worried about HIM out in a storm?
He's gonna be fine unless you built his big rig to dissolve in water,
whereas you almost became pavement pizza twice in the span of 12
seconds. Poppa's the most misguided adoptive helicopter parent of
all-time. He's worse than Aunt May!
Ok, so Baron von Blimp, himself dressed like a German aristocrat from the late 1800s, dresses a bunch of his henchmen as Nazis, not because he cares about Nazi-ism, but because he always thought Nazis had the best looking uniforms? And he's just faking being German and having a German accent? And he instructed his faux-Nazis in how cultivate their own fake German accents and sprinkle some German words into their speech? Those are some really weird revelations, even for this off-the-wall book.
I don't at all understand the plan of Leonardo, the land developer we briefly meet who hired Clutch, Grab, and LeGreed to foreclose on the Short Stop. Who does he think wants to buy a "Bongo Condo" right next to an interstate highway in the middle of nowhere? Why would he build a multi-story condo building in that spot and exactly which rural yuppies does he expect to live there? And if he really wanted "a spot near an interstate highway off ramp that was in the middle of nowhere," he really couldn't find an easier to acquire spot anywhere in the state? Had to be the Short Stop, huh? By the way, after Al takes the Short Stop into space, Leonardo and the lawyers arrive to take possession of the land, but apparently Al made the parking lot glow, so that Leonardo thought the area was radioactive, and couldn't build any condos there. Thanks Al!
The inside cover of the final issue of U.S.1 is a full-page ad for the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, which amused me. It has the exact same kind of insanity that this series has, and more than a few shared thematic (and even plot) points. I'll leave it to you to draw the comparisons, you should probably rewatch it anyway, right?
I'm not sure what's up with the cartoon logic of Papa's hat jumping off
his head and hovering in mid-air whenever he's surprised, but it sure is a
thing that keeps happening in this comic. Someone definitely decided it
should do that on purpose. For what purpose? I can't even begin to
imagine.
U.S. 1#7-12 (which all have amazing Michael Golden painted covers) form one long continuous story arc that takes place over just a few days. Look above to see the absurd amount of things that happen in those issues, including one or possiby two types of aliens, faux-Nazi and their blimps, at least three rounds of whip-based hypnotism followed by unhypnotism, a demonic-appearing alien-powered master villain who's revealed as the hero's long-lost brother, several big rig races on both land and in space, a truck duel, greedy lawyers and land developers, multiple defenestrations, lunar truck crashes, and plot-relevant acute indigestion. Oh, and that whole thing about the truck developing its own sentience. Comics! This is the kind of crazy and goofy Bronze Age Marvel story that I really enjoy. I definitely appreciate that every villain in the entire series just kind of decides to show up at the end so they can wrap up every plot.
Poppa and the Star Stop are LONG
overdue for a return appearance (though note that an alternate version
of him did appear on Earth-21398 in Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet
#2). A space truck stop, and the owner and lead mechanic is an older
woman with unbelievable strength who gets into brawls at the slightest
provocation, while her husband Poppa dives behind the nearest counter?
C'Mon, there's plenty of story hooks in there. I can't believe Rocket
Raccoon or the Guardians of the Galaxy haven't stopped by in the past 30
years...
--Definitely, more
Star Stop!!--Snood
Earth-21398 When Thanos collected the Infinity Gems and eradicated half of the universe's population, Earth's heroes had to team up with Doctor Doom to bring everyone back and restore order. They flew into space in a large truck driven by Ulysses Solomon Ace and confronted Thanos. This reality diverged from Earth-91939 when Spider-Man, using the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems, wished that Thanos had never obtained them. Avengers & the Infinity Gauntlet #1 (2010)
Poppa Wheelie previously had a
sub-profile under the Star Stop, originally published 02/25/2003.
This profile was completed 01/03/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the
Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event to represent
the US1 series and characters.
Profile by caliban.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ed Wheeler, aka Poppa Wheelie, has no known connections to:
 Used to clear debris from the star system where the Star Stop is located. Poppa did it "before work was even started on the Star Stop", which implies the location Al the Alien put the Star Stop in on the final page of U.S. 1#12 was not where it ended up. The Star Stop in She-Hulk was much expanded, and no hint of the original building could be seen. Maybe they just left it where Al had placed it and built a new Star Stop elsewhere after Poppa cleared the debris? |
Appearances:
U.S. 1#1 (May, 1983) - Al Milgrom (writer), Herb Trimpe (artist), Ralph
Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#2 (June, 1983) - Al Milgrom (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Mike
Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#3 (July, 1983) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer (pencils),
Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#4 (August, 1983) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer (pencils),
Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#6 (October, 1983) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer
(pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#7 (December, 1983) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer
(pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#8 (February, 1984) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer
(pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#9 (April, 1984) - Al Milgrom (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils),
Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#10 (June, 1984) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer (pencils),
Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#11 (August, 1984) - Al Milgrom (writer), Frank Springer
(pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
U.S. 1#12 (October, 1984) - Al Milgrom (writer), Steve Ditko (pencils),
Mike Esposito (inks), Ralph Macchio (Editor)
Sensational She-Hulk I#6 (October, 1989) - John Byrne (writer, pencils),
Al Gordon (inks), Bobbie Chase (Editor)
Sensational She-Hulk I#7 (November, 1989) - John Byrne (writer,
pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bobbie Chase (Editor)
Sensational She-Hulk I#40 (June, 1992) - John Byrne (writer, artist),
Renee Witterstaetter (Editor)
Sensational She-Hulk I#42 (August, 1992) - John Byrne (writer, artist),
Renee Witterstaetter (Editor)
Sensational She-Hulk I#43 (September, 1992) - John Byrne (writer,
artist), Renee Witterstaetter (Editor)
First Posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 09/13/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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