February 9th, 2010
Mad Bagley Beyond Thunderdome
I like the guy, but I can’t admit that my liking isn’t wholly tinged by nostalgia. I grew up reading Bagley Amazing Spider-Man and I have more copies of comics drawn by him than by any other single artist. Not particularly on purpose, that’s just the way these things go. I think of Spider-Man and Mark Bagley is drawing him. Man, remember Cardiac?
Chris just absolutely hates him and said the guy couldn’t draw a circle if his butthole was shaped like a circle WHICH IT IS. He didn’t actually say that but I just renewed my dramatic license so I am just making shit up all over the place.
BUY THINGS AT OUR STORE ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!
February 9th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
:’(
For the record, I too like Mark Bagley, this was just a good opportunity to make another comic where we kill each other.
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February 9th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
“Man, remember Cardiac?”
No. No one remembers Cardiac.
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GummiVenusDemilo Reply:
August 6th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
I remember Cardiac. He was awesome.
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Red Joker Reply:
September 28th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
wasn’t he…. arrested?? YEEEAAAAAHHHHHH
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February 9th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
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February 9th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Man, I like me some Bagley art myself.
Also, Cardiac was invented before I was born. FEEL OLD.
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February 9th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
:’(
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February 9th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
aw man guys I’m sorry. I can’t comment right anywhere on the internet. Forgive me guys :’(
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February 9th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
It’s almost like I’m saying to you guys… LET’S BE FRIENDS AGAIN
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February 9th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Man, I LOVED Cardiac. I’m in no way above admitting that.
Do you remember the story where some guy was selling this box that athletes would get into and it would build their muscles but hurt their brains and then the guy selling the box got locked into one of them and turned stupid?
I realize that was a horribly constructed sentence, but remember that? Cardiac was all up in that. Cardiac and Chance.
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February 9th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
I haven’t seen Chris in awhile. I really hope he’s sporting this look.
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February 9th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
The blog is funny, cause assholes also make up shit all over the place.
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February 9th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Man, my best friend STILL thinks Cardiac is a badass.
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February 9th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Ah yes, Cardiac. He had an electric blue suit and a bo staff if I recall. But what was his power? He could cause heart attacks in other people? He was perpetually having a heart attack? No. I won’t break down and wiki him. I promised myself.
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February 9th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Let’s all promise not to wiki Cardiac and try to figure out what the hell his deal was.
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February 9th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I recall his first appearance was around Amazing Spider-Man #350. Without the aid of the internet, can anyone else confirm or deny this?
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February 10th, 2010 at 12:28 am
So this comic is perfect timing. I’ve been looking at Bagley’s Ultimate Spider-Man art and thinking “wow, that’s kind of bland / commercial.” I liked Stuart Immonen’s stuff a lot more.
Also that blood on Curt’s teeth is making him look like a chipmunk.
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February 10th, 2010 at 12:30 am
Going purely off memory, wasn’t #350 the one where the old thief dude stole a gem from Dr. Doom and Erik Larsen drew it or something? I would say Cardiac is more around 360′s to 370′s.
Was Cardiac a black dude? I seem to remember that. And that he had a boss that fucked him over. And there was a doll factory involved. Maybe?
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February 10th, 2010 at 7:40 am
man i remember #373 was a team up of Cardiac and Spidey taking down Stick and Stone….remember those dudes……also does anyone recall “Round Robin’s Revenge”….moon knight, night thrasher, nova and the punisher all help spidey!!!!!
I have and always will disagree Mark Bagley is a great Spiderman artist…he was better than MacFarlene but not as good as Erik Larson….yes he sometimes draws his head waaay to big……but his run on amazing and ultimate are some of my fav!!!!!!!!! also John Romita jr ‘s run on spidey also stands out in my mind….being a huge spidey fan i love this conversation!
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February 10th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Origin
Elias Wirtham is a doctor driven by his brother’s death to researching life-saving medical practices. His brother Joshua’s death was the result of corporate greed, who had a cure for his condition ready, but did not distribute the medicine due to it not being a “profitable” time for them, hence his motivation against corporations. As a part of his research, Elias replaces his heart with a beta-particle reactor, which supplies energy throughout his body, in addition to a vibranium weave mesh under his skin. This energy, channeled through his muscles, increases his speed, agility, and reflexes, and can also be fired through his fists or the power staff he wields. He adopts the moniker “Cardiac” in reference to the source of his power.[1]
Wirtham is a physician and surgeon, and the owner and administrator of a biological research firm.
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February 10th, 2010 at 9:35 am
That Mark Bagley is the artist for Justice League and Norm Breyfogle is forced to seek work with ARCHIE is probably the greatest of DC editorials many crimes.
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February 10th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Hell yes i remember Round Robin’s Revenge, but only because i have the final issue of the crossover in a shoebox somewhere. All I remember is the Punisher breaking some chump’s Guardsman armor with the handle of a bowie knife.
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:15 am
this comment thread is making me so happy :’)
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Mathematicscore – YES! Unbelievable. I did buy all of the Norm Breyfogle Archie stuff though, because even on Archie, he’s still awesome. That guy must have really burned some bridges or something that he’s not working at Marvel or DC. Such a shame.
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:31 am
So… this guy replaced his heart. With a nuclear reactor. And was also a doctor.
Man, I’m glad I don’t remember the 90s.
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Maxtothemax – Your “name” is so great that all of your comments are always just right, so don’t sweat it.
dwolkin – I have no idea what you’re talking about, but for some reason it made me think of character from that same era “Solo”. You guys remember him? Like Nick Fury, except with big shoulder pads and a green jumpsuit.
Joel – http://www.flickr.com/photos/86928994@N00/4346055049/
GN&7 – Same here.
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Curt – That was indeed what happened in #350, but that was Erik Larsen’s last ish if I remember correctly, and I think #351 was when Bagley took over, and it was in #352 I think that Cardiac first showed up.
Joe – The point was you weren’t supposed to use the internet, we were going to see if we could just piece it all together from our memories and see how close we got. Also, it is so weird seeing correct grammar and punctuation in a comment attributed to you.
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:49 am
kalyarn – That would have been a hilarious power. “Stop right there, criminal! Don’t make me have a heart attack!”
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February 10th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Re: Breyfogle; yeah, that Archie stufff was enjoyable. I’m not sure how the bridges got burned, because he seem super nice in interviews and on his website. He is pretty new-agey, anti corporate douchbaggery though, but even in that he seems pretty reasonable and openminded. I could give a rat’s ass, I’d just love to have an artist I actually care about on Justice League on a regular basis.
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February 10th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
I’m willing to meet you half-way: I think Bagley was the right artist for Ultimate Spider-Man, certainly the right artist to bring Cardiac (and other classic entries to the Spider-Man rogues gallery like Stunner, Shriek, and Carrion) to the masses…
But, at this point he’s using Ultimate Peter’s face for Dick Grayson, Vixen, Zatanna… and basically everyone else that shows up.
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February 10th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Dude, Mark Bagley’s like the hardest working man in comics. Isn’t that what they call him? It’s a rags to riches story…only the rags are that he kept trying to draw comics and never made it and the riches are he finally made it when he was like 40. I guess that’s not really rags to riches. I could take him or leave him. And Shit yeah, I remember SOLO. He showed up in some Erik Larsen Spiderman comics. I had a nasty tendency to model most of my made-up comic characters after SOLO. I mean…no I didn’t. That was totally somebody else.
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Curt forever, Chris fucking never
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
friendlyneighborhoodillustrator – I still marvel at the fact that he was able to draw the main feature of Trinity and never miss an issue, sure the book was boring, but god damn it if it wasn’t impressive.
Though I will never forsake Bagley, his current work on JLA doesn’t match up with his Marvel stuff. Or maybe it’s like JRJr in that I find it weird seeing him do something not Spider-Man
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Man this one hits close to home. I got into comics in the 90s with Spider-Man, and Mark Bagley’s art was largely influential for me. I used to study his pages to teach myself how to draw. When I’d hear people say he’s a bad artist I couldn’t for the life of me see what they were talking about. These days there are other artists I respect more, but Bagley still holds a special place in my heart and I’d like to think it’s more than just nostalgia. He’s one of my heroes, I could never deny the impact that art had on me at a young age.
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February 11th, 2010 at 9:02 am
I was first exposed to Mark Bagley’s art in the 1988 Amazing Spider-Man Annual (Evolutionary War crossover). That was also the 1st appearance of Speedball. I enjoyed his work on New Warriors, Amazing Spidey, and Ultimate Spider-Man. He’s like Old Faithful, he may not be the flashiest or the greatest artist, but he’s consistent, and he’s always there. I haven’t really gotten into his JLA run b/c I don’t care for the lineup, but I’ve always been a fan. Good strip, guys. I also like seeing “Future Curt and Chris”.
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February 11th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Mark Bagley is one of the reasons I stopped collecting comics. For 15 years.
No offense to him, I just can’t hang with his style.
GN&7 – Bagley doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Immonen. What’s interesting is Immonen started out pretty bad, but he actually improved to his flawless levels today. Whereas Bagley just won that Marvel Try-Out contest and never got any better.
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February 12th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Wow the 90′s were a strange time, glad i was busy learning my times tables while this was going on.
also I showed this strip to a friend who hates Bagley, we argured for like and hour. haven’t done that in a looooong time, it was fun.
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February 28th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Is that 20 posts about f’n Cardiac???
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March 1st, 2010 at 11:28 am
Paul – That’s how we do things at LBFA. You can come here and get involved with people posting at length about Cardiac.
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June 2nd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
God damn it! Is this a Cardiac-centric blog or something?
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June 7th, 2011 at 5:36 am
Dude, of course I remember Cardiac, and I love Bagley illustrations. He was my ultimate model artist when I was a lil kid.
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July 22nd, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Cardiac was a man that found a miracle cure had been designed by a company in time to save his sister, but the corporation didn’t release it so demand would be higher when they did.
He had large portions of himself replaced with cybernetics. I remember he had pseudo skin.
I owned the Spider-Man encyclopedia as a kid, ok?
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chrishaley Reply:
July 23rd, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Yes, it is okay.
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