LIGHTMASTER
Real Name: Dr. Edward Lansky
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Criminal;
formerly physics professor and vice-chancellor of ESU
Group Membership: Lightmaster's Masters of Evil (Absorbing Man/Carl "Crusher" Creel, Blackout/Marcus Daniels, Bulldozer/Henry Camp, Mr. Hyde/Calvin Zabo, Piledriver/Brian Calusky, Thunderball/Eliot Franklin, Titania/Mary MacPherran, Whirlwind/David Cannon, Wrecker/Dirk Garthwaite);
formerly Hood's army (worked closely with Answer, Bloodshed, Scorcher, Speed Demon, Squid, Spot, White Rabbit), One World Church (Anton Kruch, and all the other blue people)
Affiliations: Batroc the Leaper, Bono, Bookie, Borya Cich, Electro (Dillon), Enforcers (Fancy Dan, Montana, Ox (Ronald Bloch) ), Genetech, Griffin, Griz, Icemaster, Kraven (Sergei Kravinoff), Mandrill, Mongoose, Plantman (simuloid), Quicksand, Radioactive Man, Remlik, Ruby Thursday, Schizoid Man, Shocker (Schultz), Silk Fever, Vic Slaughter, Sunic Pharmacopoeia, Supercharger, Tarantula (Rodriquez) and his henchmen, Vulture (Toomes), Whirlwind
Enemies: Avengers Unity Squad (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Havok/Alex Summers, Rogue, Thor Odinson), Mallory Book, Cable, Cloak & Dagger, Dazzler, Death's Head (FPA), Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Goldin, Richard Gorman, Guardsmen, Hammerhead, Inner Demons, Light Brigade, MI13 (Black Knight/Dane Whitman, Pete Wisdom, Excalibur/Faiza Hussain, others), Mr. Negative, NYC's Mayor, Quasar (Wendell Vaughn), She-Hulk, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Sun Girl (Selah Burke), Superior Six (Chameleon/Dmitri Smerdyakov, Electro/Max Dillon, Mysterion, Sandman/William Baker, Spider-Man/Otto Octavius, Vulture/Adrian Toomes), Tarantula (Rodriquez), Two-Gun Kid, White Dragon, White Tiger (Hector Ayala), X-Men (Mimic, Rogue)
Known Relatives: Selah Burke (Sun Girl, daughter)
Aliases: el Lider
Place of Birth: New York City, New York
Base of Operations: A prison in Upstate New York;
formerly the Raft, Ryker's Island;
formerly an abandoned hydro-electric plant in lower Manhattan, NYC;
formerly a lab in the abandoned Light Inc. factory, NYC;
formerly Empire State Universtiy & a Gramercy Park townhouse in NYC
First Appearance: (As Lansky) Spectacular Spider-Man II#1 (December, 1976); (as Lightmaster) Spectacular Spider-Man II#3 (February, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: Lightmaster wore a full body-suit with a padded inner lining to enhance the appearance of his average physique. The suit contained special circuitry that enabled him to manipulate photons. The suit used a high-density light-switch computer (which used photons instead of electrons) linked to his brain which enabled him to control photons for a variety of effects. Lightmaster's suit in enabled him to bind photons to create solid objects. The shape, size and relative velocity of these objects were determined by pre-programmed responses within the controlling computer, triggered by coded thought-patterns. They were limited in complexity to those which he pre-programmed and limited in speed by the speed of light. Lightmaster could also generate low-mass "beams" of light which he could direct from his hands as concussive force. Such a blast could deform one-inch thick steel and propel a human being standing ten feet from him about fifteen feet. The limits of the suit to control light were unknown.
Lightmaster could fly by surrounding himself in an aerodynamic nimbus of light to which he attached a complex spiral of solid light which he rotated at several hundred revolutions per second like a propeller. This enabled him to travel through the air at a maximum speed of 140 miles per hour. The nimbus of light protected him from the atmospheric effects of friction and wind. He could carry with him in flight any load he could carry with his arms.
At various points Lightmaster consisted of pure light. In this form he needed to surround himself with light to survive. During these times it was hard for him to sustain a stable form and he mostly wore variations of his original suit to stay alive or be able to absorb even more light. With the suit given to him by Genetech he was able to grow to giant proportions by absorbing a high quantity of light. In the suit he received from the One World Church he could fly nearly as fast as light.
Lightmaster at least once became human again after recreating the original accident that turned him into light. It is unknown if he is currently human or if he is still a being consisting of pure light.
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 175 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
History:
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Edward fathered Selah Burke with an unidentified woman. (see comments)
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Dr. Lansky wrote theoretical treatises on solid light.
One day during his tenure as vice-chancellor of ESU Dr. Edward Lansky got really angry when city officials denied ESU needed funds. He decided to do something against the budget cuts.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#203 (fb) - BTS) - Edward Lansky constructed a secret laboratory on the campus of Empire State University.
After finishing the Lighmaster suit he tested it and was very excited about the light constructs he was now able to create.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Lansky, as el Lider, hired Tarantula and his henchmen to do his dirty work and to stage his own kidnapping to give him more time to work on his plans.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#1) - Dr. Edward Lansky staged kidnapping by Tarantula and his henchmen happened during a speech to ESU's students about the city's shortening of money for ESU. After a short struggle with Spider-Man, Tarantula and his henchmen got away in a limousine with their hostage.
A few hours later Lansky brought Tarantula and his henchmen in the same limousine to the basement garage beneath City Hall and ordered them to kill the Mayor. Lansky then drove away.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#2 (fb) - BTS) - After Tarantula had failed to kill the Mayor due to Spider-Man's interference, Lansky hired Kraven the Hunter to assist Tarantula.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#2) - Lansky had to stop a dispute between Kraven and Tarantula which started upon Kraven's arrival. He told Tarantula that Kraven was needed because Tarantula had failed to kill the Mayor and threatened to kill them if they didn't stop fighting each other. He ordered them to take school chancellor Gorman dead or alive.
Some time later Tarantula delivered Gorman to Lansky while Kraven fought Spider-Man. Lansky paid him and told Tarantula to leave, but Lansky had the money boobytrapped with a gas-bomb that knocked Tarantula unconscious as soon as he had left the room.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Lansky tied up Tarantula and put him with Gorman into a room.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#3) - Lansky, now wearing his Lightmaster suit, tested his powers against Tarantula, who was able to flee break out of the room. Afterwards he knocked out Gorman, who was to Lightmaster's surprise still conscious, out as well. Lightmaster then left the house flying to start the final stage of his plan.
Lightmaster attacked city-controller Goldin at City Hall, but Spider-Man was drawn to City Hall when he saw a light. He found Lightmaster, who was able to defeat and blind him. Lightmaster then took Goldin with him without. A Spider-Tracer thrown by Spider-Man just bounced off of him.
Some time later Spider-Man, after some investigative work at the Daily Bugle, went to Lansky's house and found him while he was putting on the Lightmaster suit. With his eyes protected by lenses in his mask, Spider-Man attacked Lightmaster, who wasn't surprised that somebody had guessed his true identity. He told Spider-Man why he did what he did and then tried to kill Spider-Man with a blast. Spider-Man fled through the hole in the wall created by Lightmaster's first attack. Lansky decided to kill Gorman and Goldin as soon as Spider-Man was dead and then followed the hero through the city to a theater. When he had Spider-Man cornered he tried to shoot him, but Spider-Man jumped out of the way, switched the main power on and Lansky electrocuted himself when he hit the energy relay (Spider-Man knew about Lansky's theory that solid light was a conductor). His suit protected Lansky from most of the shock and a short time later the police and an ambulance arrived and he was brought to a hospital.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#19 (fb) - BTS) - During his time in prison Lansky tried to find out Spider-Man's identity and in the end he was sure that Spider-Man had to be a student at ESU.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#20 (fb) - BTS) - A few weeks after his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man Lansky's atoms began to change and he was turned into a being of pure energy. He needed to be surrounded by light to stay alive.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#19) - Lightmaster hired the Enforcers Fancy Dan and Montana and introduced them to their new partner Ox, the twin brother of their original partner. He promised them that they would get their revenge on Spider-Man with his guidance. When they were gone to do their job Lightmaster thought to himself that the Enforcers were just pawns to lure Spider-Man out of hiding and that he would kill Spider-Man himself. He then burnt the Spider-Man puppet the Enforcers were training with.
Later Lightmaster watched the fight between Spider-Man and the Enforcers in the Coffee Bean on TV. After the fight Hector Ayala, the only man that stayed inside, left the Coffee Bean to tell the police that three criminals were beaten by Spider-Man inside. Lightmaster was now sure that Ayala was Spider-Man.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#20) - Inside the abandoned Light Inc. factory Lightmaster watched the tapes of the fight and Hector Ayala leaving the Coffee Bean again. He planned to expose Spider-Man's secret identity, so that he would be never save again from criminals as revenge for what Spider-Man did to him. Lightmaster flew to ESU and caught Hector Ayala in front of his girlfriend, Flash Thompson and Peter Parker, who put a Spider-Tracer on Ayala's jacket before Lightmaster flew away with him.
Lightmaster brought Ayala to his HQ and wanted to fight him, but Ayala felt to sick to even stand up. Lightmaster still planned to reveal Ayala's secret to everyone and connected the cameras in the warehouse with his lightpower with all big television stations. The true Spider-Man arrived while Lightmaster talked to the cameras and gave Ayala his amulet back, which turned Ayala into White Tiger. He had no problem revealing this to the cameras. A surprised Lightmaster was then attacked from the behind by Spider-Man. Lightmaster was able to recover and tried to kill Spider-Man with his light objects. Spider-Man fled through the roof into the giant light bulb of the former factory and Lightmaster saw his chance to end it. He tried to burn Spider-Man alive inside the light bulb, but he accidentally overloaded the city's back-up power systems with his light power. With all the light gone Lightmaster faded away.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#203 (fb) - BTS) - Dazzler's power inadvertently plucked Lightmaster from the Light Dimension he was banished to since his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man and White Tiger.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#203) - As a pure lightball Lightmaster hunted Dazzler through the streets of NYC, but Spider-Man pulled her with his net out of Lightmaster's way before he could get her. Later that night Lightmaster finally got Dazzler and absorbed enough of her light energy to rebuild his light body. He wanted to kill Spider-Man for his banishment and told Dazzler that he would keep her as battery, but Dazzler didn't really want to play her part and tried to escape. Lightmaster grabbed her with a light hand and tried to knock her out with a light blast, but she moved and he destroyed a movie theater's wall. Unknown to him, Peter Parker was watching a movie in this theater and immediately put on his Spider-Man costume to see what was going on outside. He saw Lightmaster chasing Dazzler and attacked the villain, who wasn't willing to make this his final battle against Spider-Man. He knocked the hero out with various light constructs and then flew away with Dazzler in a light sphere. He took her to his lab at Empire State University where he connected her to a machine that would allow him to absorb even more light energy from Dazzler. Spider-Man found the lab as he remembered that Lansky had been ESU's vice-chancellor, but Lightmaster got the chance to activate the machine that didn't work as expected. A fire broke out and Lightmaster seemingly disappeared. Spider-Man freed Dazzler, who immediately attacked him because Lightmaster had taken her over. After a long fight over the streets of NYC, Spider-Man webbed Dazzler's eyes and fled. The Lightmaster controlled Dazzler couldn't find him anymore. The next day Spider-Man found Dazzler through a spider tracer he had placed onto her, but only seconds after telling her that he wanted to help her, Lightmaster was in control again and tried to kill Spider-Man. Dazzler was webbed up by Spider-Man and brought back to Lansky's ESU lab, where he used Lansky's own machine to get him out of Dazzler's body.
(Marvel Team-Up I#113) - Quasar felt a disturbance on the ESU campus and found Lansky's lab. Upon entering it he was attacked by a light ball. He tried to blast it of with, but the light ball absorbed the Quantum Bands' energy until it became Lightmaster again. Quasar knew Lightmaster's history from his file at Project: PEGASUS. Spider-Man, who was at nearby at ESU as Peter Parker, soon arrived to learn why his spider sense was tingling and was got a bright welcome from Lightmaster, who seemed more powerful than ever. Spider-Man jumped on his opponent's back and Lightmaster left the Quantum Bands and Quasar to attack Spider-Man from the distance. With the seemingly limitless energy from the Quantum Bands he thought he was unstoppable and nearly killed Spider-Man with a light construct. Lightmaster took over Quasar again and went to his former hideout at Light Inc., but all his machinery was gone and Lightmaster had to make a list of everything he needed to rebuild his machines. He stole everything he needed when Quasar woke up and fought him, but Lightmaster knocked him out again. Lightmaster returned with all the stolen components and Quasar to his lab. He rebuilt his machinery and put everything into the right place, so he could duplicate the accident that transformed him into light and reverse it. He needed the enough energy from the Quantum Bands to start the process, but Lightmaster's light show brought Spider-Man's attention to the lab. The hero disturbed the process and Lightmaster tried to kill him for it. Quasar woke up and turned off the Quantum Bands to stop Lightmaster, whose light duplicates slowly vanished. Lightmaster then vanished as well without the energy from the Quantum Bands. Spider-Man and Quasar then worked together to bring Lansky back to life. It worked and Lightmaster was really happy to be human again only to be knocked out by Spider-Man, who felt that Lansky was going to shoot Quasar with a light blast. Afterwards Quasar took Lightmaster to the authorities.
(Spider-Man: The Root of All Annoyance#1) - Lightmaster attacked Spider-Man in Manhattan and was quickly knocked out by him with a bag full of money.
(Sensational She-Hulk#24) - Lightmaster, Radioactive Man, Plantman and Whirwlind were hired by the slimey lawyer Bono to retrieve a vase that had a computer disc with evidence for a case involving his future self. The priceless vase with the computer disc somehow came into possession of She-Hulk, who had to fight off Lightmaster and the other villains. Meanwhile Death's Head was hired in the future by the lawyer, who originally sent the vase with the evidence to the past, to retrieve it. Lightmaster and his allies couldn't defeat She-Hulk, but got a second chance to get the vase when she was fighting Death's Head. Death's Head protected her from one of Lightmaster's blasts and then knocked him out. The hired villains were defeated by She-Hulk and Death's Head, who could return the disc to his employer in the future.
(Quasar#35 - BTS) - While some Guardsmen led the Angler through the hallways of the Vault Lansky commented on his return.
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#26/5 (fb) - BTS) - Lansky got his prison sentence shortened when he became a test subject for the corporation Genetech. Unknown to Genetech their experiments had turned Lansky again into living light.
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#26/5) - Lansky used his returned powers to escape Genetech and found in their computers a suitable light source that could prevent him from dissipating. After finding a file on Cloak and Dagger he killed two guards that were seemingly alerted by a silent alarm and then left. A short time later he arrived at Cloak & Dagger's hideout the Holy Ghost Church. He broke through a window and attacked the heroes. Dagger's light daggers were useless and Lightmaster knocked her seconds later out. After stunning Cloak with a light blast, Lightmaster abducted Dagger.
(Spectacular Spider-Man Annual#12/5) - Lightmaster brought Dagger to the sub-basement of an abandoned hydro-electric plant, which was a hideout filled with every technology Lightmaster needed. He absorbed light of Dagger until it had to replenish itself. Dagger still had a little power left and used it to attack Lightmaster, but only one light dagger hit him and it only made him angry. Cloak, who had learned from Genetech were Lightmaster was hiding, teleported with a gun, Genetech had created to stop Lightmaster, into the former power plant and shot Lightmaster, but the weapon only made Lightmaster bigger and stronger.
(Web of Spider-Man Annual#8/5) - Grown to giant proportions Lightmaster was too powerful for Cloak. Dagger managed to damage his containment suit and Lightmaster began to loose his power slowly. Cloak then pulled him into the Dark Dimension. Genetech's Light Brigade and Chadwick entered the hideout and Chadwick demanded from Cloak to give him Lightmaster. After a futile attack by the Light Brigade he released what was left of Lightmaster from his cloak. Chadwick's sensors showed that there was still something left of Lightmaster's energy and ordered the Light Brigade to put him into the Light Molecular Recombinator, so they could regenerate Lightmaster's consciousness at Genetech.
(Cable & Deadpool#5 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Edward Lansky joined the One World Church, which wanted to turn everyone on Earth blue through a virus and bring peace to the world.
(Cable & Deadpool#4 (fb) - BTS) - Lightmaster was hired by Sunic Pharmacopoeia to protect their facility in Singapore.
(Cable & Deadpool#4) - At a Sunic board meeting in Frankfurt Lightmaster suddenly appeared to remind them that he was hired to protect the Singapore facility when the board discussed it.
(Cable & Deadpool#5) - Lansky put the security measures in place in Sunic's Singapore facility in case of an attack. Singapore's Sunic board thought it was unnecessary until Cable attacked. Lightmaster had him under control, but then Cable used his telekinetic powers to encase Lightmaster inside steel debris and then sent him to the moon. Lightmaster freed himself and returned immediately to Earth to help Kruch of the One World Church against Cable, but Cable already knew that Lightmaster was Kruch's back-up plan and had the One World Church's machine that was built to transmit the virus through optic lines, recalibrated to turn everyone pink instead of blue. Cable blocked Lightmaster's assault and redirected him into the machine, which exploded and released a ray of light that turned everyone on the world pink.
(She-Hulk II#17) - Back in his original costume, Lightmaster was present at the Bar With No Name in NYC when lawyer Mallory Book confronted the present villains because nobody wanted to hire her anymore since her affair with Awesome Andy. Two-Gun Kid beat everyone up when Batroc treated Mallory badly.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#552) - Present at a Bar With No Name in New York City, Lightmaster didn't want to make a bet on the content of a cocoon seen on TV because it seemed to him like a Fantastic Four deal. The Bookie told him that he didn't had to make a bet.
(Dark Reign Files) - Quasimodo researched Lightmaster for Norman Osborn.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1 (fb) - BTS) - Lightmaster joined the Hood's army.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1) - White Dragon, corrupted by Mr. Negative, returned to the Hood's Hell Kitchen hideout and attacked several Hood agents including Lightmaster. The attack was stopped by the Hood, who shot White Dragon.
In retaliation the Hood sent Answer, Bloodshed, Lightmaster, Scorcher, Speed Demon, Spot, Squid and White Rabbit to deal with Mr. Negative. Lightmaster caused a blackout in Chinatown by overloading the local power system. He watched in awe as HAMMER agents closed down the area to enable them to take care of Hood's business. After taking care of the Inner Demons they were confronted by Hammerhead and Spider-Man, who had been corrupted by Mr. Negative.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#2) - Lightmaster was knocked out with a streetlight by Spider-Man.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3) - The Hood surrounded Mr. Negative with his team including Lightmaster, but before he could finish him off, the Hood got a call from Norman Osborn, who had made a deal with Hammerhead to save Mr. Negative. Nobody paid attention when Spot teleported Negative to safety.
(X-Men Legacy#275 (fb) - BTS) - Lightmaster was transferred from the Raft to a prison in Upstate New York.
(X-Men Legacy#275) - Ruby Thursday, Griffin, Schizoid Man, Icemaster, Quicksand, Silk Fever, Supercharger, and Lightmaster staged a prison break, but were stopped by Rogue and Mimic, as well as Guardsmen.
(Gambit V#17 - BTS) - Lightmaster ended up imprisoned at Pace Federal Penitentiary.
(Gambit V#17) - Lightmaster was one of the prisoners, which also included Griz, Icemaster, Vic Slaughter, Mandrill, Supercharger and others, taking Borya Cich's offer to kill Gambit, who had broken into the prison, for one million dollars or 100,000 for aiding in his death. He participated in the battle, which was soon joined by Gambit's friends from MI13 and the Avengers Unity Squad. The prisoners failed to kill Gambit.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#1 (fb) - BTS) - Lansky's daughter Selah Burke created her superheroic identity Sun Girl.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6 (fb) - BTS) - Sun Girl used equipment based on her father's designs.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#5 (fb) - BTS) - Lansky hired the Wrecking Crew to steal a quantum particle engine from Alchemax.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#5 - BTS) - The theft was thwarted by the combined efforts of Sun Girl, Lansky's daughter, Spider-Man (Octavius) and Spider-Man's mind-controlled Superior Six.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#5) - The Wrecking Crew returned to Lansky without the engine and asked for more money because it got complicated due to the interference of heroes and other villains. Lansky promised them money wouldn't be an obstacle anymore after he had the engine, which he would use to extort a large amount of money from the city. Lansky trasnformed into Lightmaster and told Wrecker to put back together a team for Lightmaster to lead: the Masters of Evil.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6 - BTS) - Selah called her father, who was too busy talking to her.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6 (fb) - BTS) - Lightmaster sent the Masters of Evil to Alchemax to distract Spider-Man, the Superior Six and Sun Girl.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6) - Lightmaster arrived at Parker Industries where Spider-Man had taken the engine after the Wrecking Crew had tried to steal it.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6 - BTS) - Lightmaster stole the engine and toke it to Alchemax.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6) - Lightmaster gloated that the heroes could not stop him now because he had the engine and his plan was flawless, but Spider-Man told the Masters of Evil that Lightmaster was a joke and had no money to pay them, which convinced the Masters to turn on their leader and take the engine for themselves. Before they could do that though Lightmaster tried to active the engine, but distracted by his daughter Selah's presence, he failed and was attacked by Spider-Man and the Superior Six. Lightmaster's light blast at Spider-Man was deflected by Sun Girl. Knocked to the ground by this counter Lightmaster lost the engine and Spider-Man asked Sun Girl, whose equipment was based on her father's designs, to shoot the engine. She did and the engine activated causing the Masters to disappear and break Spider-Man's control over the Superior Six. In the process Spider-Man, Sun Girl and Lightmaster were buried beneath Sandman's massive sand form.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#7) - Though badly beaten up Lightmaster survived, but believing his daughter had died, was a broken man. Vulture and Eletro kept beating him up to learn how the engine worked. They ultimately decided he was of no help to them anymore and Vulture dropped him from the sky. Sun Girl, who had survived, came to his rescue, catching him in mid-fall. Set down on the ground Lightmaster warned her of an impending attack by the Superior Six.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#7 - BTS) - Ultimately he had disappeared and was not involved when his daughter Sun Girl saved the city by shooting apart the overloading engine.
(X-Men Unlimited III#20 - BTS) - At an unrevealed point in time, the Warden of superhuman prison the Dungeon acquired a genetic sample of Lightmaster which he later used amongst other samples to become the Human Adaptoid. While invading Krakoa, the Human Adaptoid activated Lightmaster's powers along with those of Arclight, Solarr, Vibro and others to combat Juggernaut and Deadpool.
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito.
Originally Lansky had good intentions, but the means he used were flawed (to say it nice). Later he became just another revenge driven lunatic and then, even worse, a mercenary. He should sue some of the heroes he encountered over the years. I felt really sorry for Lansky when he was knocked out by Spider-Man after becoming human again and then an evil corporation turned him into an energy being again. Who could condemn him for trying to stay alive by absorbing the light of freaks like Dazzler and Dagger? Oh, and Cloak tried to kill him. We have a case here because Dr. Edward Lansky, a former vice-chancellor of Empire State University, was once a good man, driven into madness at the hands of a dangerous sect by the cruel acts committed against him by so-called heroes, greedy corporations and tight-fisted politicians.
There is nothing so-called about Spidey being a hero. Whereas Edward Lansky wound up becoming one of those monsters of Nietzschean philosophy.
---Carycomic
Bah! Spider-Man is a menace to society! J. Jonah Jameson was right!
Spider-Man: The Root of All Annoyance is said to take place "some time ago" - it appears to have been around the time Spider-Man was living in his Chelsea apartment and dating the Black Cat, so somewhere between 1983 and 1985, real-time. It was originally published online, via Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited service; it was later reprinted in physical form in The Many Loves of the Amazing Spider-Man one-shot.
--Minor Irritant
It is possible that Selah Burke only recently reconnected with her father due to his life of crime and was raised by her mother, who at this point is unrevealed.
Lightmaster received entries in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#6, Deluxe Edition#7 and Master Edition.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Lightmaster should not be confused with:
Goldin has no known connection to:
Richard Gorman has no known connection to:
Light Brigade has no known connection to:
City-controller Goldin was one of the men responsible for the budget cuts for education. Lansky as Lightmaster attacked him in his office and took him to his townhouse after a short struggle with Spider-Man. There he tied him up and put him in a room with Gorman. When Spider-Man found Lightmaster, the criminal promised Gorman and Goldin that he would kill them, as soon as Spider-Man was dead, but Lightmaster was defeated by Spider-Man.
--Spectacular Spider-Man II#3
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#2) - Gorman was school chancellor and like Lansky himself he wasn't happy with the way the city made budget cuts in the education department. He was kidnapped by Kraven and Tarantula, who brought Gorman to Lansky, while Kraven fought Spider-Man.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#3) - When Gorman woke up he was tied up in a room and Tarantula, his kidnapper, was next to him. Gorman watched Tarantula's attempt to escape and how he was caught again by Lightmaster, who saw too late that Gorman was awake. Lightmaster, who was sure that Gorman had recognized his voice, then knocked him out again with a lightburst.
The next time he was seen, Goldin was tied up next to him and Lightmaster promised to kill them both as soon as Spider-Man was dead, but Lightmaster was defeated by Spider-Man.
--Spectacular Spider-Man II#2 (Spectacular Spider-Man II#2-3
They were Genetech agents armed with light ray guns to capture Lightmaster. They were led by Genetech's Chadwick to Lightmaster's hideout. They entered it after Lightmaster was defeated by Cloak & Dagger. When Cloak didn't want to release Lightmaster from the Dark Dimension, they attacked him, but their weapons were useless against Cloak and he threatened to pull them into the Dark Dimension as well. He left them alone when Dagger asked him to stop. After Cloak had released Lightmaster from the Dark Dimension they put what was left of Lightmaster into the Light Molecular Recombinator to be able to return him save to Genetech.
--Web of Spider-Man Annual#8
images: (without ads)
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#5, p21, pan1 (main image)
Amazing Spider-Man I#203, p6, pan6 (original costume)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#3, p13, pan5 (head shot)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#20, p17, pan7 (Lightmaster fades away)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual#26, p52, pan2 (Genetech: Lightmaster)
Cable & Deadpool#4, p11, pan4 (One World Church: Lightmaster)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#2, p5, pan1 (with Hood's army)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#3, p14, pan4 (Goldin)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#2, p8, pan1 (Richard Gorman)
Web of Spider-Man Annual#8, p50, pan4 (Light Brigade)
(ohotmu)
Appearances:
Spectacular Spider-Man II#1 (December, 1976) - Gerry Conway (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#2 (January, 1977) - Gerry Conway (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Dave Hunt (inks)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#3 (February, 1977) - Gerry Conway & Jim Shooter (writers), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#19 (June, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#20 (June, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#203 (April, 1980) - Marv Wolfman (writer/editor), Keith Pollard (pencils), Mike Esposito & Friends (inks)
Marvel Team-Up I#113 (January, 1982) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Tom DeFalco (editor)
Sensational She-Hulk#24 (February, 1991) - Simon Furman (writer), Bryan Hitch (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Quasar#35 (June, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry Candelario (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual#26 (1992) - Eric Fein (writer), Vince Evans (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man Annual#12 (1992) - Eric Fein (writer), Vince Evans (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Web of Spider-Man Annual#8 (1992) - Eric Fein (writer), Vince Evans (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Cable & Deadpool#4 (August, 2004) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Rob Ross & Alan Tam of UDON (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Cable & Deadpool#5 (September, 2004) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Rob Ross & Alan Tam of UDON (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
She-Hulk II#17 (May, 2007) - Dan Slott (writer), Rick Burchett (pencils), Cliff Rathburn (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#552 (May, 2008) - Bob Gale (writer), Phil Jimenez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Dark Reign Files (February, 2009) - Michael Hoskin & various others (writer), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#1 (August, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Gianluca Gugliotta (pencils), Andy Lanning & Justice (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#2 (September, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Gianluca Gugliotta (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3 (October, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Gianluca Gugliotta (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Spider-Man: Root of all Annoyance (2009) - Chris Yost (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Jody Leheup (editor) [digital comic]
The Many Loves of Spider-Man#1 (July, 2010) - reprints Spider-Man: Root of all Annoyance
X-Men Legacy#275 (2012) - Christos Gage (writer), David Baldeon (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), Dan Ketchum (editor)
Gambit V#17 (November, 2013) - James Asmus (writer), Clay Mann (breakdowns/finishes), Jay Leisten & Ed Tadeo (finishes), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#5 (December, 2013) - Christopher Yost (writer), Marco Checchetto (artist), Sana Amanat (editor)
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#6 (January, 2014) - Christopher Yost (writer), Marco Checchetto (artist), Sana Amanat (editor)
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#7 (February, 2014) - Christopher Yost (writer), Marco Checchetto (pencils), Paco Diaz (inks), Sana Amanat (editor)
X-Men Unlimited III#20 (January, 2022) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Matt Horak (pencils, inks), Jordan D. White (editor)
First Posted: 06/03/2007
Last updated: 04/07/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
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like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
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