You might as well give it up, because you can’t beat this:
Scanned from
FOOM #10 (June 1975). I sure hope the poor guy had some battery-operated fans in there. Also, he wasn’t carrying a sign – that’s the title of the article superimposed over the photo. I only mention it because I know you jokers will crack wise about it in the comments.
Tomorrow: some non-FOOM content. Hopefully.
So I’ve been going through this recently-acquired run of FOOM magazines, Marvel’s self-produced news and interview ‘zine, and it turns out that entries for that character creation contest I mentioned yesterday appeared in more issues. Issues #2 (Summer 1973) and #4 (Winter 1973) had some fine examples of reader creativity, like this fella:
I would totally have loved to see, like, the Avengers fighting this guy. Reminds me a bit of the dude Superman’s fighting at the end of
this post.
And then there’s this dude:
Pfft. “Wolverine.” Like anyone’s gonna go for a character with
that name.
There are some now-known folks from Before They Were Famous Funnybook Creators who contributed to this contest. I think this is the same Bill Morrison who’d go on to work on Simpsons comics:
…but I’m pretty sure this is the same Steve Rude of
Nexus fame:
Has twice the absorbing power of competing absorbing super-characters! Cleans up big messes
fast!
Issue #4 also had an extensive list of entrants’ names, including several folks who would go on to be comics pros (or at least have the same names as comic pros). A few that stick out include Bill (“William”) Jaaska, Steve Vance, James O’Barr, Larry Mahestedt, Stan Woch, Jerry Ordway, Fred Hembeck, and Carl Potts.
“Reggie Hudlin” pops up, but no idea if it’s the same guy. Could be! Also in the list? A certain Mr. “Danny DiDio.”
Like I said, this was just a list, so I have no idea what character concepts they may have submitted. I’m guessing Didio’s was “Annoying-Online-Fandom Man.”
So some of you may remember the saga of Humus Sapien (originally “Humus Sapiens”), a contest-winning fan-made character who first appeared in Marvel Comics’ news ‘n’ interview ‘zine FOOM #3 (Fall 1973). The character was supposed to be used in a comic at the time, but the folks at Marvel never got around to it…until the year 2001, when the character finally made its professional debut in an issue of Thunderbolts. It’s a fun and interesting story, and you can read a newspaper account of the events right here.
Anyway, that issue of FOOM announcing Humus Sapiens’ victory also ran a few shots of other submissions, a few of which I’d like to share here:
The name of this character certainly gets right to the point:
“IN THIS ISSUE: Mr. Kung-Fu faces the nefarious menace of…Señor Judo!”
I like the Legion of Super-Heroes-vibe I’m getting off this next fella:
He probably would have got along just fine with Substitute Legionnaire
Infectious Lass.
This next fella sort of reminds me of Spider-Man’s Iron Spider outfit:
Sort of like a low-rent Doctor Octopus, only not able to reach as far, and with the very specific power of quickly feeding bits of food from the seabottom into his mouth.
This next fella raises more questions than he answers:
Is he part rock? Is he a practicing Christian? Whatever’s going on, he doesn’t look too happy about it.
And now…um….
I will say I have to admire the fact that this dude’s costume is basically just super-flares.
This one cracks me up:
…mostly because I’m picturing him as just some guy who got his hands on a sword and a Viking helmet and is always following Thor around and trying to be his pal. “C’mon, man…just swing by the apartment. I got the new Candlemass album!”
I sorta like the look of this guy’s costume:
…though his power appears to be the ability to make huge oil stains on your driveway. Hey, thanks, guy, got that covered.
I’m going to guess this character’s ability is not taking your guff:
…and proceeding the beat the crap out of you. And looking
damn good while doing it.
Now, this character didn’t have a name printed along with him:
I’m going with “The Sensual Scotsman,” assuming, of course, that isn’t redundant.