Some of you may have heard of the term mort in reference to very cheesy/lame comic book characters. I believe this term was pegged by Wizard Magazine when they ran a "Mort of the Month" article in their magazine 10 years ago or so. I don't remember the exact reasoning to use the word mort. I'm sure it was in reference to some obscure character.
For fun I looked up mort on dictionary.com and came up with:
1. Hunting. the note played on a hunting horn signifying that the animal hunted has been killed.
2. Obsolete
3. A three year old salmon
OK.....I'm not sure about the first or third definitions, but maybe the second one applies. Thanks to my love of Wizard Magazine in the early to mid '90s, mort with forever mean dorky, cheesy, and/or lame.
Now on with the blatant rip off of the "Mort of the Month." I'm going through my Marvel Universe Handbooks from the late '80s and picking out the biggest losers. These have probably been done before. Oh well. I'm having fun.
Aguila
Aguila jumps out at me as a really bad take on Zorro. He has the mask, the sword (rapier), the Old West/Spanish styling and the Errol Flynn moustache!
Background: Alejandro Montoya, born in Spain and later moved to America, dons the name El Aguila (The Eagle) upon discovering he has mutant powers. He has the power to discharge electricity (up to 10,000 volts) through conductive matter. He decides to use a sword as his electric conductor of choice. A Zorro fan from childhood, in case you couldn't tell, El Aguila battles drug deals and crooks that victimize the poor people of New York.
De-Morting Potential: Moderate. El Aguila still has some minor relevance in today's comics. He was apparently on the list of depowered mutants from the House of M fallout. He could possibly be used in the new Initiative program that resulted from the Civil War storyline. There isn't really a whole you can do with El Aguila. Except kill him. Marvel seems to be bringing back a lot of D-listers lately. Mostly, I'm sure, so they have some cannon fodder to kill off for any upcoming events like World War Hulk.
Mort-O-Meter: 4 out of 10. Yeah, the costume isn't spectacular and the power is so-so, but he could be a lot worse.
Ugh, not a very fun Marvel Mort post. I'll try and amp up the crazy for the next ones.
2 comments:
You know, I always liked the cheesy characters the best. Maybe it takes a certain kind of person
Cheesy is a very subjective thing. Especially when dealing with characters who wear spandex/tights. For me, most of the mortiness comes from the outdated costumes and/or the poor character origins/powers.
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