Fantastic Four Annual #26

[iamrman]

Writer: Tom DeFalco

Pencils: Herb Trimpe

Inks: Bud LaRosa

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It’s the return of the character nobody demanded, Dreadface! Also, the annual's rad new character Wildstreak, I guess.

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Let there be an origin!

Ben is moping about his lot in life when Wildstreak comes crashing in.

Ben goes off to clobber Dreadface.

Dreadface is next seen in an issue of Fantastic Force. Wildstreak's next appearance is in an issue of Thunderstrike (another DeFalco book). After that, she isn’t seen again until Civil War.

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

They should bring back Wildstreak if just because she's disability rep -and- a character of color and deserves better than to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

(Okay, yeah, it's disability rep countered and enhanced by comic book super-science, which is convenient, but you can't tell me -some- writer couldn't work with this.)

[mastermahan]

Maybe team her up with Hitmaker, the other paraplegic character of color who uses an exoskeleton to overcome his disability and get superpowers introduced in a 1993 annual. Maybe throw in Annex, the amputee who uses an exoskeleton to overcome his disability and get superpowers introduced in a 1993 annual.

Maybe a team of disabled heroes that's also a support group? Silhouette could be the leader/facilitator.

Poor Dreadface. He's an amorphous alien symbiote made of living darkness who bonds to people and is vulnerable to heat, and no one has bothered revealing he's a Klyntar.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

"The Uncanny Exo-Men"!

[beyondthefringe]

There was a rather unfortunate trend going on, wasn't there. I admit I did think of Silhouette when I posted above. Naturally, I forgot about Hitmaker and Annex.

There were a LOT of forgettable characters that year, between Marvel and DC's Bloodlines event. Kaos! Empyrean! Bantam! Etc! (I just went back to check out a CBR article about the Marvel characters and I pretty much forgot 95% of them ever existed. Apart from Adam-X, X-Cutioner, and Legacy/Genis-Vell, they ranged from cannon fodder to Limbo bait.

[iamrman]

The DC characters are even worse. I can only remember Hitman and, umm...

[mastermahan]

There was the biracial guy named Mongrel, which was not well thought out.

Oh, and Gunfire, the Len Wein creation with the wonderfully goofy power of turning ordinary objects into guns. Gunfire got a short-lived series, giving him the dubious honor of being the second-most successful Bloodlines character.

[iamrman]

Not even Venom wants to get involved with that loser.

[freezer]

So who came first: Wildstreak or Silhouette from New Warriors? They seem pretty similar.

[iamrman]

Silhouette came first. She is different from Wildstreak though, because she has Dark Force powers.

[mastermahan]

Silhouette also can't negate her paraplegia like Wildstreak. It's just that her physical enhancements and skill means she can kick ass in spite of her disability.