Blazing Skull
Blazing Skull | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Mystic Comics #5 (March 1941) |
Created by | Bob Davis (writer / artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Mark Anthony Todd |
Species | Human Mutate |
Team affiliations | Defenders Invaders |
Notable aliases | Steve Valiant, Richard Stetson, the Skull, Koos, the Smoking Head |
Abilities | Superhuman strength Immunity to fire Regenerative healing factor Flame generation and projection Ability to make his tissues invisible while leaving his bones visible |
The Blazing Skull (Mark Anthony Todd) is a fictional character appearing in
The Blazing Skull should not be confused with Marvel's unrelated supernatural motorcyclist the Ghost Rider, who is depicted with a flaming skull. Also, the unrelated Marvel character Skull the Slayer (James Scully) briefly used the alias "Blazing Skull".
Publication history
The Blazing Skull debuted in "The Story of Mark Todd", a nine-page tale in the 1941 comic that also introduced cover character the
A
in The Avengers #97 (March 1972).The actual Blazing Skull starred in a solo period adventure, set during World War II, in Midnight Sons Unlimited #9 (May 1995). Nearly 10 years later, he was reintroduced into modern-day continuity in the four-part story arc "Once an Invader" in The Avengers vol. 3 #82-84 (July-Sept. 2004) and in New Invaders #0 (Aug. 2004). The Blazing Skull appeared through the final issue, The New Invaders #9 (June 2005).
A separate character, Jim Scully, also known as
Fictional character biography
Foreign correspondent Mark Todd, assigned by his newspaper to cover the Second Sino-Japanese War, is forced to take refuge in a cave during an artillery bombardment by the Japanese. There he meets the Skull Men, a strange race with burning skulls for heads. They inform him he has been chosen by the forces of destiny to be the champion of freedom, and they begin his training, which grants him abilities such as invulnerability to fire.[3] Once his training is completed, he returns home and, motivated by the horrors of Nazism, dons a uniform with a flaming mask (in honor of the Skull Men), taking the name "the Blazing Skull".[4] As time passes and he continues to master the Skull Men's teachings, he gains the ability to turn his flesh invisible, mimicking his teachers' appearance, and stops using the mask.
Soon afterwards, Todd comes into contact with the
As the war in
In the early Golden Age stories, Mark Todd's given occupation is a District Attorney.[5][6] He is also referred to in one story as an "amateur criminologist".[7] It was not until the 1990s, starting with the retroactive Invaders series that he was established as a newspaper reporter,[8] perhaps negating the descriptions of him as a D.A. and/or criminologist.
In modern day
The Blazing Skull later appears in modern times as a captive of Middle Eastern terrorists, having not aged in the decades since the war due to his healing factor.
The Blazing Skull is recruited by the
Powers and abilities
Due to being trained by the Skull Men, the Blazing Skull is immune to fire. He also possesses superhuman strength, a regenerative healing factor, and the ability to turn his flesh invisible, giving him the appearance of a walking skeleton. He later gains the ability to generate and project flames.
Footnotes
- ISBN 0-87833-808-X. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
- ^ Christiansen, Jeff. Jim Scully at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- ISBN 978-1-61318-023-5.
- ISBN 978-1605490892.
- ^ Mystic Comics #7 (December 1941)
- ^ Mystic Comics #9 (May 1942)
- ^ Mystic Comics #8 (March 1942)
- ^ The Invaders vol. 2 #3 (July 1993)
- ^ The Avengers, vol. 3, no. 82 (July 2004). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The New Invaders, no. 1 (Oct. 2004). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Last Defenders #1 (May 2008)
References
- Marvel.com's Marvel Universe: Blazing Skull (Mark Todd)
- Blazing Skull at Nevins, Jess, A Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters. WebCitation archive of latter.
- International Heroes: Blazing Skull
External links
- Blazing Skull at the Marvel Universe wiki
- Comics Nexus (Sept. 24, 2004): "Caught in the Nexus: Allan Jacobsen" (interview, New Invaders writer)
- Blazing Skull - Appearances in Publication Order