Comic Info
Comic Name: Quasar/Avengers (Volume 1)/Marvel Comics Presents
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Artist: Paul Ryan/Mark Bagley/Mike Manley
# of Issues: 11
Release Date: 2012
Quasar #6
Reprints Quasar #1-9, Avengers (1) Annual #18, and Marvel Comics Presents #29 (October 1989-April 1990). Wendell Vaughn has dreams of being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent but a passive nature has deemed him unfit for much else but desk work. When Wendell’s father pulls some strings and gets him a guard duty, Wendell comes in possession of the Quantum Bands and finds himself on cosmic adventures. Teamed with a cosmic entity named Eon, Quasar is investigating alien entities on Earth, starting a new business, and joining as a fledgling member of the Avengers.
Written by Mark Gruenwald, Quasar Classic—Volume 1 collects the early adventures of Quasar as his solo comic launched in 1989. Quasar #1 was collected as part of Annihilation Classic and involves the Marvel Comics’ “big event” crossover storyline “Acts of Vengeance” in Quasar #5-6 (December 1989-January 1990) which were also part of the Acts of Vengeance Omnibus. The series features the art of Paul Ryan, Mark Bagley, and Mike Manley.
Quasar was Marvel’s equivalent to DC Comics’ Green Lantern. The character has a long history and first appeared in Captain America (1) #217 (January 1978), but it also predates that in a character called Marvel Boy who was a Golden Age hero (and later resurfaced as part of the Agents of Atlas). In 1989, the character was reintroduced for a continuing series, and Quasar was spread around the Marvel Universe.
Quasar #9
Unfortunately, Quasar was very generic. The series did a lot to give him personality by making him an architect with a receding hairline…but he comes off as kind of a gross yuppie with a semi mullet. I don’t find him a very compelling character, but I do kind of like his storyline.
The idea of an extraterrestrial police officer on Earth is a good one. With so many characters in the Marvel Universe being extraterrestrial in origin, Quasar hunting them down (as a potential threat to Eon) and classifying them is a great way to bring in a lot of different characters. The issues feature cameos by popular characters like Venom and the New Mutants and members of the Avengers and Spider-Man. It not only makes sense as a storytelling aspect, but it also brings the character into more of a public eye.
Quasar was one of the ’80s (or really ’90s) more generic characters, but he did feel like a throwback to older comics and superheroes. Marvel was really both struggling and experimenting in the ’90s with new challenges from companies like Image and Dark Horse challenging them. Quasar was more of a traditional character like Sleepwalker or Darkhawk and in that sense a little unique. It is kind of fun to read a more wholesome ’90s character instead of the darkness that permeated comics at the time. As of now Quasar Classic—Volume 1 was followed by Quasar: Cosmos in Collision.
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