Just A Small Little Thing: Okoye’s Hairstyle

Sometimes canon immigrants are big, like last week's Nuclear Man. But just as often, they're just a small detail that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things and might not stick around, but it still counts. This is one of the latter ones.

Okoye is a member of the Dora Milaje, Black Panther's bodyguards. When she first appeared in Black Panther #1 (September 1998), she looked like this:

In Black Panther #62 (July 2003), her last appearance for a long time, she looked essentially the same:

When Black Panther the film came out (February 2018), she was included but she had a much different style more in line with African culture, as did the rest of the movie:

And so, of course, when Black Panther #171 was released in March 2018, not only did Okoye return, but she suddenly looked a lot more like her movie counterpart:

When I first saw the image I thought she was just bald now, but looking at it again, I can see that she even has the cranial tattoos of the film version.

Kingdom Come Spotlight: Mister Scarlet

I try to avoid cross-comic canon immigrants when I can, but I set the precedent by including Kingdom Come ones on this site, so I guess I have to continue. As a compromise, however, I will post these and any future ones like these on Saturdays.

If you're not familiar with Kingdom Come, it's about a future of the DC Universe and how older versions of the current heroes we know clash with the new generation of heroes. The whole thing was basically a satire of 90s superheroes compared to Silver Age superheroes, and it was very successful, both critically and commercially.

Nearly every character who appeared in it got a new design of some sort, and for the most part, the designs fell into one of a few categories:

1) A design that combines aspects of multiple identities of the character to make it unclear which identity it was. Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman are examples of this kind.

2) A design that combines multiple separate superheroes as certain heroes take on new identities. Red Arrow and Red Robin are examples of this kind.

3) A design that plays on the trends of modern superheroes. Magog and Kid Flash are examples of this kind.

4) Minor tweaks. Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are examples of this kind.

Mister Scarlet definitely falls into #3.

Mister Scarlet was a superhero originally published by Fawcett Comics, along with Captain Marvel. He was essentially a Batman knockoff, complete with utility belt and kid sidekick, but he had the interesting gimmick that he was too good at his job. Despite being an attorney, he frequently had to find side gigs because of the lack of crime!

In Kingdom Come, a new Mister Scarlet appears. Although his look is partially derived from the fin on the original Mister Scarlet's cowl, I don't think it's a stretch to say that this Scarlet was more closely based on Image's Savage Dragon.

A Mister Scarlet looking just like this one made a brief appearance in Justice League of America #21 (December 2017).

Thanks to Thomas Parks for telling me about this one!

Character Spotlight: Nuclear Man

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) is not a good movie.

The reasons for that are many and varied, but the end result is a nearly unwatchable film that feels like it was supposed to be straight-to-video and only wound up in theatres due to a freak accident or some kind of vengeful spirit. That being said, I believe the villain of the piece, Nuclear Man, gets more hate than he deserves.

He seems to be treated like Jar Jar Binks, the one thing in the movie that gets held up as a symbol of the entire production's badness. But I would argue that Nuclear Man is the best thing about the film. He's the closest we've gotten to a live action Bizarro, he's got a great look (very of it's time, but still great), and he's a credible threat.

With all that in mind, I was elated to discover that this month's Superman #2 (August 2018) brought him into the comics fold. He's presented here as a Phantom Zone prisoner discovered by Rogol Zaar, the villain of the current story (he claims to have destroyed Krypton).

To be fair, Nuclear Man is killed in this same appearance. But that doesn't mean we've seen the last of him. This iteration is shown to be a member of the House of El, so he may become important later.

Character Spotlight: Jackie McGee

I've been hanging onto this one for months because I wanted to wait until her actual debut to write it up (side note: I'm writing this June 15), but I've been waiting for years to get the chance to include it.

I don't think it can be overstated how important the Incredible Hulk tv series (1978) is to the public consciousness of the character. Until the recent Avengers movies and Thor: Ragnarok, it's what people think of when they think of the Hulk. And yes, I do realize that doesn't take his two solo movies into account. Neither did the public. When people hear the Hulk, they don't think of those movies or his animated series or, for the most part, even the comics - to them, the Hulk is Lou Ferrigno, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", and the Lonely Man theme.

It's surprising, then, how little impact that series has had on the comics. It's impacted the franchise as a whole, of course; both movies make reference to it and The Incredible Hulk (2008) specifically is basically a giant love letter to it, but the comics seem to keep it at arm's length. I can't even be completely certain I've seen a "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" reference, although I'm sure they exist.

If you know where I can find one, be sure to let me know!

It's particularly surprising because Bruce - excuse me, "David" - Banner isn't the only main character in the show. The only major recurring antagonist is reporter for the National Register named Jack McGee, who's convinced the Hulk is a threat and that exposing him will make him famous. That's a great villain for the Hulk and a different kind of threat than the military or supervillains. And yet, he has never appeared.

You know where this is going.

In June 2018, a new series called The Immortal Hulk debuted. The goal of the book was to bring the Hulk back to its horror roots. The Hulk was created from the idea, "What if Frankenstein and his monster were Jekyll & Hyde?" The series has come along way since then, going to the future in the 90s, going to space in the 00s, and this decade replacing him with a teenager, not to mention all the stories in between. Those weren't bad directions, and this new/old direction wasn't even necessarily treated as a course correction, but more of a "hey, we haven't done that in a while." With that in mind, the Hulk is now an immortal vengeance monster that once again comes out at night as he did originally. And since Bruce Banner is technically dead but the Hulk definitely is not, they might get into some undead stuff as well.

With all that being said, the first issue of the new series introduces us to Jackie McGee. She's a black woman instead of a white man, and she seems to work for the National Inquisitor instead of the National Register; regardless, she's hot on the trail of the Hulk, trying to find out what he's doing and how he can be back considering Banner is dead.

Is she in it for the fame like her counterpart, or does she have more altruistic reasons? Only time will tell.

Character Spotlight: Golden Pharaoh

This is another one I've been hoping to feature for a while now, but I never really expected I'd get the chance to. (Which is silly; if maintaining this blog has taught me anything, it's becoming a canon immigrant is more of a when than an if, no matter how obscure the detail is.)

Golden Pharaoh was created as a toy for the Kenner Super Powers line in 1986, and unlike every other figure save one, he was created by Kenner and not DC. I don't know why they felt the need to create their own characters when DC had so many to choose from; maybe it was a royalties thing. Either way, his packaging established his real name and his powers.

Later, DC decided to make a tie-in miniseries to the third series of the toyline, so Golden Pharaoh appeared in all four issues. Super Powers #1 (June 1986) established his career, country of origin, and the origin of his powers.

His action figure showed up in Green Lantern #89 (June 1997), which I guess technically counts as his first time as a canon immigrant, but it's not good enough.

(For completion's sake, I'll also include that he got another action figure in the "DC Universe Classics" line in 2010. He has so few appearances that I might as well include them all.)

Finally, in Doomsday Clock #5 (May 2018), they have a feature on international hero teams that have been popping up recently. The UK team, Knights Inc., lists Golden Pharaoh as one of its members.

He's only a name at the moment, but it's a name I never thought I'd see!

Vehicle Spotlight: The Milano

I've been waiting to feature this one for almost a year, but I could never find visual proof...until now.

Many people don't know this, but the film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) took a lot of liberties with the property. Although the main cast matches the post-Annihilation version of the team, a good chunk - possibly a majority - of the rest of the movie is original to it, even including some of the main characters' personalities and backstories. One such example is the Milano, Star-Lord's personal Ravager ship.

In the comics, the Guardians used a much different ship. However, beginning in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, the team was suddenly using the Milano - name and all, despite the fact that the name is pretty dependent on Quill's man-out-of-time-who-grew-up-in-the-80s persona that doesn't really jib with the backstory of the comics version. The ship first appeared in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (May 2017).

Its origin is given a couple days later in Free Comic Book Day: All-New Guardians of the Galaxy 2017 (May 2017), where we learn the Guardians' ship was impounded by the Nova Corps, and they went to steal it back but decided to take the Milano instead.