SANDY HERKOWITZ
Real Name: Sandy Herkowitz
Identity/Class: Human, citizen of the United States
Occupation: Store clerk
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Avengers (Beast/Hank McCoy, Captain
America/Steve Rogers, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Ms.
Marvel/Carol Danvers, Vision/"Victor Shade", Wasp/Janet van Dyne)
Enemies: Absorbing Man (Carl "Crusher"
Creel)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Chippie" (nickname used by the Absorbing
Man)
Base of Operations: Hoboken, New Jersey
First Appearance: Avengers I#183 (May, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Sandy Herkowitz has no known
superhuman abilities. A skilled store clerk, she was able to overcome
her fears and take getting pulled into superheroics in stride. Sandy
wears glasses.
Height: 5'7" (by approximation)
Weight: 120 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
History:
(Avengers I#183 - BTS) - After finally assembling enough of his
shattered form in one place, the Absorbing Man managed to reconstitute
himself and regain human form on a New Jersey landfill. Eager to get
away before any other superheroes would come after him, he planned to
leave the country. In order to get some money, he broke into Simply
Simon's, a closed Hoboken clothing store where shop clerk Sandy
Herkowitz was all alone doing inventory.
(Avengers I#183) - Sandy tried to call the police, but Creel smashed the
phone with his ball and chain. He then forced her to show him where the
safe was, ripping it out of the floor after absorbing some steel to
enhance his strength. Disappointed there wasn't enough money for air
fare, he decided there was still plenty to book passage for two on a
freighter. Herkowitz got a nasty surprise when she learned Creel wanted
to take her with him to South America, where there weren't any
superheroes to stomp on him all the time. Unable to stand up against him
or run away, Sandy was dragged along in a cab headed for the docks where
Creel arranged passage on a ship headed for Punta del Rey. With an hour
to kill before the boat was scheduled to leave, he took her to a sea
side bar for a bite to eat where Clint Barton also happened to be at.
Creel got into a fight with Clint and some of the local patrons, using
his powers to turn into formica to repel their attack. This clued Barton
in on who he was facing and he quickly called the Avengers before
donning his Hawkeye costume and facing the villain. Hawkeye kept him
distracted until the Avengers arrived. Seeing the heroes, Creel had
enough. He grabbed Sandy, touched a tire to turn into bouncy rubber and
jumped on board the nearby ship. Before the Avengers could board the
vessel to look for Creed, he emerged as a giant, fiery metal version of
himself after having absorbed the power of the engine.
(Avengers I#184) - Herkowitz kept out of sight while the
Avengers tried to contain the vastly powerful Absorbing Man who had
moved on to the mainland to fight the heroes. It wasn't until after Iron
Man had siphoned off most of his engine fuelled energies that Sandy
dared to emerge from her hiding place. Overhearing the crew agreeing that
despite the damage to the ship, they were still ready to leave for South
America, she rushed past them and off the boat. She spotted Iron Man
flying towards her and figured she'd be safe if she caught his
attention. However, when she followed the golden Avenger she was brought
straight to the team's fight with Creel elsewhere on the docks. Fighting
off the Avengers long enough to notice Herkowitz, Creel almost
charmingly informed his "chippie" they were ready to go. He grabbed her
and ran for the dock his boat was berthed at, only to see the ship
disappearing out to sea in the distance. Furious and frustrated at the
Avengers for causing this while he wasn't even looking for any trouble,
Crusher faced the team. Before he engaged them, he shoved Sandy aside
because he didn't want her to get hurt. This surprised the store clerk
who took his advice in stride and hid while Creel matched his strength
with Vision. Taking over the android's powers, he was ill equipped to
control Vision's density altering abilities, falling through the docks
into the waters below. Figuring this was his way to escape, Creel
decided to swim after the boat. When it became clear to him he was never
going to catch up, with Ms. Marvel, Falcon and Vision in hot pursuit, he
became one with the ocean and disappeared. Out on the docks, Iron Man
went to check on Sandy who assured him she was fine, just a little lost
in thought. After all, if Creel was truly such a psycho why did he push
her out of harm's way instead of using her as a hostage? She then
wondered if maybe, just maybe, they'd all been better off if they'd just
let Creel go in peace like he wanted to. As she teared up, Iron Man
found he had no answer for her.
Comments: Created by David Michelinie (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks).
A violent criminal breaks into your store to rob you, then decides you're cute enough to kidnap while he flees the country so you can serve as his personal plaything... And after the Avengers beat him to save you, all you can say is "gee, maybe you shouldn't have interfered with the guy... He wasn't all bad"? The Absorbing Man might have planned to take her to South America, but Sandy sure was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sandy Herkowitz should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Avengers I#184, p17, pan5 (main image)
Avengers I#183, p10, pan6 (grabbed by the Absorbing Man)
Avengers I#184, p13, pan5 (spotted by Creel again)
Appearances:
Avengers I#183 (May, 1979) - David
Michelinie (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Roger
Stern (editor)
Avengers I#184 (June, 1979) - David Michelinie
(writer), John Byrne (pencils), D. Hands (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Last updated: 09/22/13
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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