In one of those occasional cross-overs of nelly/nerdy impulses, I just bought the entire run of Dazzler, including another 4-issue Beast/Dazzler mini-series that I hadn’t know about before. I read Dazzler for quite a while in my formative years, without it even occurring to me why I might be drawn to a disco-singing mutant who just wanted to be left alone to be a glamorous roller-skating pop star without all the hassle of being different. (Who knew?) As if that weren’t gay enough, she was constantly plagued by a blonde Asgardian bitch who was jealous of her career. It was totally the disco Dynasty of the Marvel Universe.
But since the poor dear apparently isn’t considered such a hot ticket with the typical comic-book set, the whole thing cost about as much as a couple of trades of Wolverine of something suitably macho. Once the box of the original issues arrives, expect more exciting ads to appear in the sidebars.
I remember fondly when Dazzler debuted, and all the plans that Marvel Comics had for her. Of course, shortly thereafter the whole disco thing folded. I’ve always had a fondness for the character regardless, and it’s funny how I didn’t think it all that cheesy at the time…
It’s funny, there was a bit of a Dazzler storyline going on in one of the X-books* when I started reading comics when I was 8 or 9. And as such, I thought she was a core, important main character. It was a bummer when I realized she was completely peripheral. Good hair, though.
*erm, now that I think about it, it was like 1985 so there was probably just the one: Uncanny X-Men. Ah, the good old days.
Have they Ultimate-ized her yet? I guess, if they wanted to keep her a “sign-of-the-times” character, she’d have to be in some kind of 80’s-revival/electro band that the kids are so fond of these days…they should have brought her back in the late 90’s and had her DJ’ing raves in England. She could be kind of a Marvel Universe Jenny Sparks– the Spirit of the Times, or at least the Club Scene.
I was just reading last night about the Ultimate version of Dazzler, and apparently she’s a punk singer now who hasn’t shown her powers yet. (Much easier for straight, teenage fanboys to relate to, no doubt.) There’s a picture at the bottom of the page here.
I remember it seemed kind of cool when she began, in that her powers could affect moods and hyp-mo-tize people. Then she just seemed to shoot lasers and blinding light. It was as if they sort of forgot she had a potentially interesting power.
Then there was the Dazzler:The Movie graphic novel (back when that term meant, for Marvel, a glossy “mature” book), in which there were plenty of pages of Dazzler’s nips in full view.
Sad to say, I think I bought the full run of Dazzler, The original She-Hulk (pre-Byrne) and Spider-Woman. God, was I anal.
Ha! Then you’ll be amused to hear that I also picked up the full run of Spider-Woman this weekend (who I always loved) as well as a good chunk of the Byrne She-Hulk. You and I must have been the only guys on Staten Island buying these when they first came out.
I had full runs of all those books as well, and I have to confess that Spider-Woman was one of my favorites titles at the time. I still think some of that stuff was damn good, and I am pleased to see the original Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman back in the limelight. I may not have been on Staten Island, but I was another guy (in Boston) who was buying those when they first came out. (Along with Ms. Marvel and a bunch of others.)
Man, if you wanted all of that stuff, I still have it in boxes in my apartment. I’d be willing to nobly let go of all my Marvel Team Ups and Champions, as well.
brian, you and i met her at the same time. i remember she had a fantastic fight with juggernaut and then went off and reluctantly became a member of a totally random group of x-men (rogue, psylocke, and longshot?). i do remember that she used her powers on stage once to show up a fellow performer, and a catfight ensued. bring on electobitch dazzler, punk is dead!
Bah! You children don’t know what you missed. Someday we’ll arrange a loan so you can know how much more fun Dazzler was before she got so deeply sucked into the quagmire of the X-books.
Would it be possible to “re” introduce Dazzler now yet keep some of the 70s disco-ness of her? I think I’d like that.
That whole X-Men era Dazzler just sucked.
*sigh*
And nobody wears mirrored roller skates anymore.