Blog#1: Rick Jones

Blog#1: Rick Jones

 

For this entry on the blog I wanted to discuss my favourite super-hero sidekick, and that has got to be Rick Jones. Especially during the late 80's and early 90's during Peter Davids run on 'The Incredible Hulk'. Now in current Marvel Continuity he can turn into a Hulk-like creature called A-bomb but back in the day he was just a normal dude who hung out with super heroes. For a while he trained with Captain America and was his side kick, but most of his side-kicking career was with the Hulk. I liked him because he was funny, hip and just a normal human with no powers just martial arts training. He was also indirectly responsible for Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk. Bruce Banner rushed out to the Gamma bomb, which Rick was beside playing a harmonica, to save Jones from the test detonation of the Gamma bomb. Banner managed to push Jones into the fall out crater but he himself was blasted with Gamma rays upon detonation of the bomb and he then became the Hulk. Jones felt responsible and stayed with Banner, off and on for many years.

 

Rick Jones was always a fun character to read and see on the comic page. He had a great sense of humour, he was a wannabe rock star, a normal guy who hung out with super people, and he had a way with the ladies. He eventually married the beautiful Marlo Chandler, a stunningly beautiful woman by comic standards.

 

In a memorable Hulk mini-series called 'Future Imperfect' a very elderly Rick Jones from the future leads a band of humans who fight against an evil oppressor called The Maestro, who as it turns out is a twisted evil future version of the Hulk. Jones, who is about 100 years old at this point and confined to a wheelchair, sends his grand-daughter Janis (named after Janis Joplin) back in time using Dr Doom's time machine to find a young Rick Jones, who would in turn convince the Hulk to go with Janis back to the future to stop this evil tyrant. Sounds complicated, but it was one of the greatest comic book stories of all time.

 

I'm not a fan of the current status of Rick Jones, being a gamma behemoth called 'A-bomb', I think what made Jones such a great character was that he was just a normal dude who did incredible things. Giving him super powers just took away from the character and made him less interesting. But all the same, Rick Jones I salute your comic book greatness!

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That's all folks! Talk to you later!