It’s Trivia Tuesday! Tell us, which of the below characters did Stan Lee have a hand in co-creating?
A. Plantman
B. Puppet Master
C. Paibok
D. Poundcakes
And the answers are…
A. Plantman and B. Puppet Master!
But before we pry into their histories, let’s take a brief peek at the two other characters.
Paibok
Paibok, also known as Power Skrull, marched his way into the pages of Fantastic Four #358 in November 1991, from the brains of Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan.
Poundcakes
This female wrestler pounced her way into Marvel Comics in Marvel Two-In-One #54 back in August 1979, courtesy of the team of Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio and John Byrne.
And now onto Stan’s co-creations!
Plantman
Plantman (real name: Samuel Smithers) sprung to life in October 1963’s Strange Tales #113, co-crafted by Stan Lee, Jerry Siegel and Dick Ayers. He got his start as a lab assistant to a botanist in Great Britain who studied the intelligence of plant life. After his boss passed away, Plantman relocated to the United States, where he concocted a gadget that could communicate with plants. Though his invention wasn’t taken seriously, a fluke lightning strike endowed his “Vege-ray” with the ability to control plant life. Now, he was also able to create duplicates of himself, as well as plant armies in an effort to advance his evil deeds!
Puppet Master
Sculpted by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962, Puppet Master made his debut in Fantastic Four #8. Interestingly, this villain shares some general attributes with Plantman. First, they are both bad guys. Second, Puppet Master also crafts things that can he can use to control others – in this case, puppets fashioned from radioactive clay. That doesn’t sound weird at all, right? Oh, and using his abnormal powers, he’s been able to control heroes to fight each other, like Iron Man vs. Captain Marvel and Thor vs. the Fantastic Four!
Every couple of weeks, we’ll spotlight some of Stan’s most obscure co-creations through trivia, starting with A and ending with Z! Stay tuned for ‘Q,’ coming soon!