The Beast. Artist: John Buscema.

THE BEAST

Original Medium: Comic books
Published by: Marvel Comics
First Appeared: 1963
Creator: Stan Lee (writer) and Jack Kirby (artist)
If this site is enjoyable or useful to you,
Please contribute to its necessary financial support.
Amazon.com or PayPal

The Beast (aka Hank McCoy), one of Marvel Comics' many super-powered mutants, was one of the founding members of The X-Men. His mutation was …

continued below

… great strength and agility, coupled with prehensile toes. As counterpoint to his ape-like appearance, he adopted the habit of using big words. Like all X-Men founders, he first appeared in issue #1 of that comic (September, 1963) and remained with the group throughout the 1960s. Unlike most, after the title was cancelled, he began to roam free.

His first stop, a couple of years after X-Men folded, was a series on his own (he was the first of the X-Men to have one, although The Angel had appeared in one or two solo back-up stories on an irregular basis) in Marvel's Amazing Adventures, starting with its 11th issue (March, 1972). There, his original mutation became more pronounced. In keeping with a trend toward monster/horror-oriented heroes (such as Morbius the Living Vampire and Werewolf by Night — even Frankenstein and Dracula themselves had Marvel series in the '70s), he suddenly grew long, pointed ears and head-to-toe blue fur. He took to wearing a rubber mask to maintain his secret identity, but eventually gave that up as a lost cause. The series (in which, by the way, Patsy Walker was a supporting character) lasted only seven bimonthly issues (the last of which was a reprint), but the additional mutation stayed with him.

Next, he joined The Avengers, where he stayed for a few years, forming a special friendship with Wonder Man, a long-time member. When The X-Men got going again, he returned to become a semi-regular member of that group. Later, he joined The Defenders, where he was an every-issue regular for several years. Still later, he was involved in X-Factor, an X-Men spin-off. Nowadays, he turns up from time to time as a semi-active member of either The Avengers or The X-Men, but isn't part of either group on a regular basis.

The Beast was able to hold down a series of his own only for that brief period in 1973-74, and doesn't seem to stay with any one group permanently. But he doesn't seem to stay completely out of the public eye for very long, either.

— DDM

BACK to Don Markstein's Toonopedia™ Home Page
Today in Toons: Every day's an anniversary!

Webring:

This site is a member of WebRing.
To browse visit Here.

Google
Web www.toonopedia.com

Purchase Marvel Comics Merchandise Online


Text ©2000-06 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Marvel Comics.