Before I get started I'd just like to take a moment to introduce myself. For those of you who don't know me my name is Ciarán Marcantonio. I'm a writer based in Dublin, Ireland, I write comic books, web comics, prose pieces & reviews and now for the first time a Blog. I'd like to thank everyone at Nerd Invasion for letting me be a part of this fine array of Artists. Some of you I know quite well and others I hope to get to know better soon. I'd especially like to thank Chris Duffy for inviting me to write these (hopefully) weekly Blogs. What he has asked me to do is simple: Spew my many nerdy opinions on the weekly topic here at Nerd Invasion and in particular, the characters featured by our Artists each week.
Kingpin
In Amazing Spider-Man #70, Stan Lee decided to add more to Wilson Fisk's character by “humanizing” him. Revealed to be a married man, Fisk would show readers that aside from his life of crime, he would be a devoted husband who cared for his family as much as he cared for his title as the Kingpin of Crime. He has been successfully translated into several other mediums appearing in nearly every Spider-Man animated series ever made. He also made a live action appearance played by the late Michael Clarke Duncan in 20th Century Fox's adaptation of Daredevil. He is drawn this week by Nerd Invader Padraic Byrne.
Morbius The Living Vampire
Doppelganger
Doppelganger was created by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim in 1992 and first appeared in Infinity War # 1. During the Infinity War, Adam Magus created doppelgangers of Earth's Mightiest Heroes and sent them to Earth to attack the heroes. When Doppelganger encountered Spider-Man, he was already engaged in battle with the Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin defeated the doppelganger by impaling it on a fence. Later Demogoblin
found Doppelganger and infused it with supernatural energy. This energy
allowed Doppelganger to remain on earth after Magus was defeated. Personally I have only ever been a fan of the visual image of Doppelganger. A character that I feel has been underused by Marvel in favor of the likes of Venom and Carnage. His current status in the Marvel Universe is deceased having met his end in last year's Carnage Limited Series. But that won't stop Nerd Invader LuCa P. from turning in a fantastic sketch of the character.Venom
Amazing Spider-Man #252 (pictured here) marks the first appearance of the Venom symbiote suit within the
pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. This issue begins with people wondering
where all the heroes have gone. Then Spider-Man and Curt Connors come
through a portal, followed shortly by the Avengers. Spider-Man then goes
about patrolling the city, enjoying the fact that he is finally back
home. He also continues to find out what his new costume that he got during
the Secret Wars can do.
The character really came into his own when Spider-Man finally managed to free himself from the symbiotic suit, and the symbiote went on to bond with Peter Parker's rival Eddie Brock, forming the Venom most recognised today. It was this version that elevated Venom's status to a truly iconic level. His popularity soared and the mythology around symbiotes in general was expanded due to this success, leading to the introduction of Carnage, Toxin and Anti-Venom to name but a few. He is so popular that the Nerd Invaders decided to draw him twice this week! The first Venom this week is in the main Marvel Universe style drawn by Paul Kavanagh. The second is drawn in the Ultimate Universe style by Robert Carey. Venom is truly one of my favorite villains in comics. I personally love the Eddie Brock version, I was never crazy on the later incarnations such as Mac Gargan the former Scorpion taking over and, lets be honest, the less said about Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3 the better! I do have to say that after much early protesting on my part, I have been won over by the recent bonding of the Venom symbiote to the now legless Flash Thompson as Agent Venom (pictured right). While I initially thought the idea of attaching a chemically neutered version of Venom to a now battle scarred version of Peter Parker's former high school bully was a bad idea, I have to say I was wrong. It has led to some of the best stories involving Venom since his mid-nineties glory days. The idea that Flash is using one of Spider-Man's greatest villains for good is executed extremely well in the current Venom series from Cullen Bunn and Ireland's own Declan Shalvey. I recommend that any fan of the character should be reading this book.The Green Goblin
Finally we come to the Greatest Spider-Man Villain of all time in my opinion. Norman Osbourn as The Green Goblin drawn this week by Nerd Invader Chris Duffy. The Green Goblin made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man Issue #14 (pictured here). Stan Lee had originally intended to have the Green Goblin an ancient mythological monster found in an Egyptian-like sarcophagus. However, Steve Ditko
re-imagined the Green Goblin and turned him into a human instead. The
Green Goblin's whole conception was all Ditko's idea. His secret identity wasn't known
but he became instantly popular. Lee and Ditko disagreed on the
character's alter-ego; Lee wanted it to be someone Spider-Man knew but
Ditko preferred it be a new character to introduce a sense of realism to
the stories. According to Ditko, he had intended to have Frederick Foswell
be the Green Goblin. This disagreement may have led to Ditko leaving
Spider-Man and in issue #31, the Green Goblin was finally revealed as
Norman Osborn. 
The
Green Goblin first appeared as a villain determined to rule the
underworld and in order to do that he needed to prove himself by
defeating New York's newest hero, Spider-Man.
The Goblin's secret identity wasn't shown at first and he made several
appearances where he would prove himself as a worthy foe for Spider-Man.
The Goblin first appeared using a jet powered flying broomstick (pictured here) which
was later replaced with the now iconic Goblin Glider. The
Green Goblin was elevated to an even bigger villainous threat when he became the
first villain to uncover Spider-Man's secret identity as Peter Parker. He was also revealed as Norman Osborn, the father of Peter's best friend Harry Osborn, further adding a sense of drama to the Spider-Man stories. However, he would lose the memory of being a super-villain and would often make appearances as Harry's kindhearted father. Eventually, he would return to his villainous role. Spider-Man's arch-enemy had always been Doctor Octopus until the Green Goblin killed Peter's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, elevating the Goblin further to the status of being Spider-Man's arch-enemy, the villain who has hurt Spider-Man more than any other. After Gwen's death, Osborn would seemingly die as well and would disappear for the rest of the Silver Age from the Spider-Man comics.
During
his absence, his son Harry would follow in his father's footsteps and
become the Green Goblin himself. Also, Harry's psychiatrist Bart Hamilton would later take up the mantle as well. By the end of the Silver Age and the beginning of the Modern Age, the Hobgoblin,
a Green Goblin copycat, would become Spider-Man's arch-enemy. Osborn
would return in the late 90's when it is revealed that he had been
manipulating everyone from the start. His rivalry with Spider-Man
becomes even more intense when he kills Ben Reilly,
Peter's "brother". Norman would return to the role of "evil
businessman" and would torture Peter by being one of the
few people to know of his dual identity. The character was successfully incorporated into the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, portrayed by screen legend Willem Dafoe, and while there may be something to be said for the (meh!) translation of his costume, it can't be denied that his performance in the role is spot on. Bringing to the screen a feeling of true menace and breathing life into Spider-Man's arch-enemy.So that's it from me for this week. I'll leave you all with a blast of my favourite Spider-Man intro sequence from the celebrated 1994 animated series. Until next week, see you all in the funny pages!
