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I know most of you have seen this already but it ties into a little research I've been doing lately in regards to Brock Jone's participation in the Marvel Universe outside of his appearances as The Torpedo. I found out it pretty much revolves around Delmar Insurance which is where former pro football star Brock worked prior to his move to Clairton with his family to take a job as the local high school's football coach as seen in Rom #21. But as most of you know Machine Man's alter ego as Aaron Stack also worked at Delmar Insurance which is what prompted me to add The Torpedo into this fictitious cover which I did as an after thought.
First off I found this appearance of Brock Jones in
Marvel Team Up Annual #3 (1980) featuring Machine Man, The Hulk, Luke Cage and Iron Fist and Delmar insurance.
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Also, while doing some research on Machine Man back issues I discovered that Brock was mentioned at least a couple of times in the series and may have had a cameo once. I also learned that Brock had a sister who worked at Delmar which I think I kinda knew about already in the back of my mind. Turns out she was a pretty regular character in that series and had a serious thing for Aaron. Imagine what a surprise that would have been when the lights go out. You know how Machine Man always had these special attachments added to him right? So I'm sure "Aaron Stack" would have come up with just the right attachment for that occasion too. Aaron Stack, that's a good porn actor name but then again so is Brock Jones.
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Brock Jones as himself and as the Torpedo first appeared in the Rom series in issue #21 in which we find out he didn't move to Clairton just to take a new job but also to keep his family safe from The Rocketeers he battled in his Marvel Premiere issues. Unfortunately we also learn in Rom #21 that the Dire Wraiths had infiltrated Delmar and learned of Brock's change of address leading to an action packed issue #22 in which Rom and the Torpedo battled a squadron of these now Wraith Rocketeers.
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If you don't have Rom spaceknight #21 and #22 go here:
http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/rom_21-22.shtml
i wanna open up the comments on this posting by letting you all know that i had bought a copy of Marvel Team Up Annual #3 last week on ebay only to find out that the douche bag seller only put it in the mail yesterday and being that they're on the East Coast i don't want to wait that long to publish this posting. so i found a page on comicartfans.com from the issue that i was able to get some clip art from to use temporarily. but when the issue finally arrives i'll swap what i have now with a full color scan of the same or maybe some different panels of that scene with Brock Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.
ReplyDeleteGotta love those slow movers on ebay. I make sure to give the ones who ship out same or next day glowing feedback. I appreciate them so much more after having to wait a month or more for some stuff. Hopefully it's in good condition when you get it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the detailed background, Dave. I never knew that all that had come out of one little insurance company. Kind of funny to think of something good being produced from one of them.
Didn't Brock Jones/Torpedo appear in Daredevil before ROM?
ReplyDeleteyes, but i was talking specifically about his first appearance in the ROM spaceknight series.
DeleteOh I misinterpreted. I thought you were just looking to trace back connections to ROM via the Torpedo. According to Wikipedia, he also appeared in a couple issues of The Defenders, but I don't have those.
DeleteAs a kid I remember, Brock & his family's ultimate fate (along with the rest of Clairton) was really dark and shocking. Still gives me a lump in the throat to think about.
indeed that was a dark moment in the series. especially since Brock had a wife, two kids and a new born at the time the Wraiths murdered him. as for his stint in The Defenders it was much to do about nothing. but if you're curious about it you can find some back postings about it by doing a Defender for a day and The Defenders word search in the blogs search feature top left corner.
DeleteI only knew of him via ROM and his death was quite shocking.seeong him sucked dry in that issue comming after the deaths of the others one isssue before. As he said it himself "this is the day the torpedo dies"
Deleteoh when you first you saw that splash page if only you knew was coming next. eerily prophetic words in retrospect as it turns out. but at least they kept the Torpedo legacy going on a bit in The New Warriors series.
DeleteI didn't know about Torpedo outside of his ROM appearance. Thanks for the link to supermegamonkey. The Delmar connection between Machine Man, Torpedo and the wraiths was cool.
DeleteClairton had that air of being the innocent, safe town where everybody knew their neighbors... and turned out to be the creepiest, most dangerous little town on the planet. Neighbors you've known all your life were actually wraiths or had been replaced at some point by wraiths... I remember thinking back to this little town when I was watching the new Battlestar Galactica series. You never really knew who you could trust.
definitely an Invasion of the Body Snatchers kinda theme with Clairton.
DeleteMy Head Asplode!
ReplyDeletethat's it? i was so expecting you to something snide about Maggie Jones from the Machine Man clip art.
DeleteWhy? Because she was all like- "Come over for cocktails and I'll have some of YOUR COCK!" Hey, man- I'm not gonna slut-shame!
Deletethat's more like it : ) by the way check you Youtube account inbox i have a quick question for you before i run by the post office.
Deletethis was great. I have all those old Machine Man issues and never made the connection!!!
ReplyDeleteno shit the whole series? too bad I didn't know that before I wrote this posting. I believe issue #19 has an actual brief appearance by Brock Jones if you could check it out and get back to that would be great. or if possible post the clip art on face book.
Deletehmmm. I just looked up #19. Seems that may be one I am missing. Seems I jumped the gun. Sorry bro.
ReplyDeleteRom curator Gary Martin Jr. just sent me the issue #19 clip art sit tight while i update this posting.
DeleteHey man, I got that in the mail today! I had my bomb-diffusing-robot handle it- and you may have exploded Johnny Five but you missed your primary target! Hahaha! Sucker!!! Seriously, thanks for those art-prints of yours... I especially like the Bill Mantlo tribute piece- matches the color-scheme in my comic/toy room and shit!
ReplyDeleteYou da man!
and here i was just about to send you a message asking if you got it yet. got some good stuff coming up in my next posting which will either be later today or first thing tomorrow morning.
DeleteNice detective work! I'm really going to have to add some Rom comics to my '80s collection.
ReplyDelete