Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1994-11-01 01:02:21 |
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Marvel Comics Presents #168 (Valkyrie)
Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #168 (Valkyrie story only)
Cover Date: Nov 94
Title: "Freedom"
Credits:
Mariano Nicieza - Writer
Pino Rinaldi - Penciler
Pino Rinaldi - Inker
Michael Kraiger - Assistant Editor
Richard Ashford - Editor
Review/plot:
Since the resurrection of Valkyrie, Andromeda, Manslaughter, and Interloper in Doctor Strange #3-4, this is the first time i've seen it acknowledged that they share bodies with human hosts.
And unfortunately, that narration gets it wrong. Genevieve Cross was the "supple otter" who was transformed into Andromeda. Valkyrie shares a body with Sian Bowen (brave eagle).
In any event, that's as far as that goes. The story doesn't explore the fact that Valkyrie is sharing a body with a human, and neither Genevieve Cross nor Sian Bowen actually appear. Which is for the best, considering the error.
Instead there's an unrelated story about a wizard named Taaru the Terrible who controls elementals.
Valkyrie stops him by destroying the talismans that he uses to control them.
Which raises a minor question. The talismans that Taaru uses are the same ones that Diablo used in Fantastic Four #232. But at the end of that story, they were taken away from Diablo. And yet he was controlling elementals again in Fantastic Four #306. So did Diablo get the talismans back and then Taaru got them after that second time? Or was Diablo controlling elementals a different way in FF #306? There's no contradiction here; i'm just curious.
Quality Rating: D
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: The opening narration says, "For months since her return, Valkyrie has wandered the Earth". By publication date, Valkyrie had appeared twice before this story, and neither time on Earth. So you could assume that this takes place before those stories. But the MCP just places it at publication date, and i think that's fine so i'll follow that. We can just assume she's mostly been on Earth with a couple of excursions.
References:
- Valkyrie "returned" in Doctor Strange #4.
- Taaru has the Talismans of Power that Diablo used to control the elementals in Fantastic Four #232.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
"Taaru" was also the word used by DC's Forever People to summon the Infinity Man.
Marvel let a great character like Val waste away in limbo for a good 15 years or so after Defenders was canceled.
You can count all of her appearances in this time on one hand and they're all done with D-list talent.
I agree Valkyrie is a great character that Marvel always managed to sabotage. She had a great look, a strong power set, and immediate ties to important Marvel characters. But Marvel always managed to overly complicate the character. After they resolved all the ridiculousness with her human hosts and brought her back in her actual body, she was finally ready for a good run. But then they cancelled the Defenders and screwed it up.
This is not the only character with huge potential they screwed up. It happened to Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Wonder Man, and some others. They were given more chances than Valkyrie, but their execution was botched and neglected at various points while great effort was put into derivative and appalling characters instead. With all the potential talent out there, could they really not find anyone who could pitch a strong series?
Diablo was later able to control the Elementals in Fantastic Four 35-36- the 2nd series. So apparently, Diablo DOES have some other way to control the Elementals. Unless he managed to restore the Talismans after Valkyrie destroyed them.
Sadly, Pino Rinaldi passed away last week
It would´ve been a better idea to have a Valkyrie solo series instead of turning Jane Foster into Thor...
