I don't have any specific memory of first reading Bloodstone, a monster hunting immortal who popped up in the pages of Marvel Presents in its debut issue.
Here was a brawling blonde hero who warred with giant monsters, monsters very like the myriad which had been rising in a host of Marvel Comics in the preceding years.
In a hodge-podge story written by John Warner and drawn by Mike Vosburg, Pat Boyette and others we learn that Ulysses Bloodstone is a caveman who finds a meteorite which bonds itself to him and gives him eternal life and vast powers. This starstone is at once a great weapon for good despite being a totem for great evil. Bloodstone disappears from the pages of Marvel Presents, to be replaced by the Guardians of the Galaxy. (I wonder what happened to those guys?)
He found a home of sorts in the back pages of The Rampaging Hulk, a wildly entertaining black and white magazine which tried to capitalize on the Hulk's massive popularity at the time. Bloodstone never got a mention on the cover but continued to battle against alien forces until he and his enemies are all destroyed. Some dandy artists (John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Bob Brown, Val Mayerik, Keith Pollard, and more) take the helm refined by the luscious inking work of Rudy Nebres.
This saga was recently collected in the pages of Bloodstone and the Legion of Monsters. I lingered over this tome for quite a few minutes before passing on it. I'd pop for a handy-dandy Bloodstone collection in a heartbeat, but this one is fronted by way too much modern comics material featuring Bloodstone's offspring. Maybe I'll find it reduced one day and snatch it up, I hope so.
Rip Off
There was a 4-issue Bloodstone mini-series in the earlier part of this century featuring Ulysses Bloodstone’s daughter Elsa as the title character. It wasn’t half bad. Frankenstein’s Monster turned up as a supporting character - serving sort of as Elsa Bloodstone’s Watson. She was quite buxom but otherwise looked similar to her father.
ReplyDeleteI know the story line and I thought when I first read the solicitation that this was the series included. If it had been I likely would've popped for the collection, but the one included was more modern and more strange.
DeleteRip Off
I used to have Marvel Presents #1 a very long time ago. What struck me about those 1970s non-superhero comics (that still sported the look of superhero comics, notwithstanding) was the genre possibilities. I was attracted to this because at the time, all I knew was superheroes. I don't remember much about Bloodstone, except the double barrel shotgun and the moody art, but I liked that these different types of stories existed.
ReplyDelete