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1st app of the Red Guardian (Alexei Schostakov); Black Widow & Hercules app; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 6 (CBI)
Since the announcement of David Harbour of “Stranger Things” fame portraying the Red Guardian in the “Black Widow” MCU film, Avengers #43 has seen heightened interest and an impressive jump in value. Originally an ally during the wartime era of the Golden Age, the Red Guardian was reworked into a Cold War adversary in the Silver Age. The character was the husband of the Natasha Romanova aka the Black Widow; gifted with deadly hand-to-hand combat skills, great strength and a magnetic flying disc as a weapon, the character was conceived as a Russian version of Captain America. When the Guardian was reworked as a baddie by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, the timing could not have been better as the US and USSR’s hostilities were heating up and the possibility of nuclear war was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. The character’s name would go on to be inhabited by several other individuals over time, and now, MCU fans everywhere are excited about what Harbour brings to the role in the Widow feature.


Artists Information

'The Michelangelo of comics.' Buscema was one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s heyday, best known for his run on the The Avengers and The Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword-and-sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. In addition, he penciled at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title, including long runs on two of the company's top books, Fantastic Four and Thor.

George Roussos also known under the pseudonym George Bell, was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early issues of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four. Over five decades, he created artwork for numerous publishers, including EC Comics, and he was a staff colorist for Marvel Comics.