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Obscure Stan Lee Characters from A to Z: The Quirky Q’s

It’s Trivia Tuesday! Tell us, which of the below characters did Stan Lee have a hand in co-creating?

A. Quagmire

B. Quasimodo

C. Queen

D. Quicksand

And the answer is…

B. Quasimodo!  (No, not from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.)

But before we learn more about Quasimodo, let’s find out who these other ‘Q’ characters are!

Quagmire

Let’s just get this out of the way at the start, Quagmire the Marvel character is not to be mistaken for Glenn Quagmire of Family Guy fame! This punk rock-looking villain (real name: Jerome Meyers) projected himself into the pages of Squadron Supreme #5 in January 1986 courtesy of Mark Gruenwald. (Technically, he appeared in a flashback in the previous issue.)

Queen

Also obviously not the iconic band, royal family members from any country, or any other Marvel characters who may go by this name. For this occasion, our Queen is Adriana “Ana” Soria (currently known as Spider-Queen), and she does not serve for the good of humanity; in fact, she had it out for the US government for abandoning her after a WWII military experiment. This super-villainess, a foe to Spider-Man, first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2 #15 from August 2004 from the creative team of Paul Jenkins and Michael Ryan.

Quicksand

This makes three villains in a row! Quicksand was first sculpted by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, making her first appearance in the pages of Thor #392 back in June 1988. And you guessed it – she possesses the power to transform into a pliable sand-like substance, which allows for shape-shifting, among other things.

And now onto Stan’s co-creations!

Quasimodo

Well, it seems like we are 4-4 on the villain front today. Crafted by the team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in November 1966, Quasimodo made his debut in Fantastic Four Annual #4. This supervillain isn’t actually human – he’s a computer, the Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organ, crafted by the Mad Thinker. Once the technologically advanced Quasimodo became sentient he implored the Mad Thinker to make him human, but his maker refused to comply, granting him only a face, arguing that he was designed to be a computer. Silver Surfer, who felt sorry for Quasimodo, also tried to help by bestowing him a semi-humanoid body… but that didn’t exactly work out, because Quasimodo’s vexation with his inferior physique prompted him to attack the Silver Surfer, who temporarily immobilized him. It sounds like it’s not easy being a computer with feelings!

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 ‘R,’ coming soon!

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