I Cornered Marvel Premiere #28: The Legion Of Monsters!

Happy Halloween!  I submitted this to the Cornered blog and it should be up today as part of their Halloween themed event.

--B

The Legion Of Monsters: The Man-Thing

Dr. Ted Sallis was a bio-chemist working on a super soldier serum as part of a scientific team in the Everglades.  When agents of AIM attacked his laboratory, Sallis fled with the only vial of serum he had been working on, injecting it into himself.  He soon crashes his car in the swamp where chemical and mystical forces transform his body into a living swamp-creature: the hulking Man-Thing.  With hazy, fading memories and a dimmed intellect, Man-Thing roams and has the ability to now burn anyone who knows fear with but a touch.

Man-Thing first appeared in the magazine Savage Tales #1, May 1971 and first joined the Legion of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28, Feb. 1976.  Also, if you do a search for "Man-Thing" on this blog, you'll see I dig him and draw him a lot.

--B

The Legion Of Monsters: Morbius, The Living Vampire

While researching a cure for his fatal blood disease, Dr. Michael Morbius experimented upon himself and was scientifically changed into a living vampire.  Cursed with a lust for blood, Morbius stalks the night and currently leads the Legion of Monsters.  Morbius was first introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #101, Oct. 1971 and joined the Legion of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28, Feb. 1976.

--B

The Legion Of Monsters: Werewolf By Night

Jack Russell (ba dump dump) carries a family curse: three nights around a full moon he is transformed into a werewolf and prowls the streets, occasionally teaming up with other heroes.  Werewolf By Night first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2, Feb. 1972.  He joined The Legion Of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28, Feb 1976.

--B

The Legion Of Monsters: Ghost Rider

Johnny Blaze was a motorcycle stuntman in a circus act with father-figure Crash Simpson.  When Crash was diagnosed with a terminal cancer, Johnny turned to the occult, making a deal with Satan by offering his soul in exchange for curing Crash's cancer.  Like most deals with the devil, Blaze was duped as Crash shortly died after a failed motorcycle stunt.  After being unable to claim Blaze's soul due to a woman's pure love for him, Satan bonded Johnny Blaze with the spirit of vengeance, a demon named Zarathos, who would take control of Blaze's body, granting him hell-spawned powers and the visage of a leather-cladded, flaming-skulled monster known as Ghost Rider.  Equipped with a mystical bike, Ghost Rider was summoned when evil reared its head, exacting the will of Satan by returning the wicked to a punishment in Hell.

Ghost Rider first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #5, Aug. 1972.  He joined the Legion of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28, Feb. 1976.

--B

Halloween Brings... THE LEGION OF MONSTERS!

Each year, I try to draw a little something bloggy-wise to celebrate Halloween, the greatest time of the year.  Last year, I celebrated by drawing pin-ups of Marvel's old monsters from the 50s-60s with the Amazing Marvel Monster Cocktail Party.  The year before, a 31-card set entitled Monster Month.  This year, inspired by Remender & Moore's Frankencastle run on the Punisher and the new Legion Of Monsters limited series by Hopeless & Doe (go buy it now), I present ghoulish pin-ups of favorite Legion members, all week long, starting tomorrow through Halloween.  Above is a pilfered and redrawn logo from the old black & white magazine of the same name.

--B