I think everybody has a favourite obscure villain. A character that you were exposed to when you first started reading comics that caught your imagination and seemed really cool at the time. Mine was The Grizzly. When I was too young to read I would sometimes look at my older brothers' comic books. One that managed to survive was Amazing Spider-Man #139 (1975). This comic debuted a new villain named The Grizzly. Man, was he ever cool in that issue. He attacks J.J.J, and throws him out the window because he says he used to be #1 in town before Jamison destroyed him (Ooh… cryptic mystery). Spider-Man catches JJJ in a web, then goes after The Grizzly and gets his ass handed to him. Grizzly leaves, but then Spider-Man says he was faking because he had left Jamison hanging and his web was about to dissolve. In the end the Jackal and Grizzly catch up to Peter Parker, knock him out and use him to "lure" Spider-Man. I loved the Grizzly. When I was in grade 8 I actually once wrote a story for a school assignment using him, which my teacher liked so much he gave me an A and read it in front of the class. The Grizzly wasn't a super powered person, just a pro-wrestler who had to fight some thugs for some reason. I gave him a manager and he double crosses him. Previous to that, when a class assignment was to pick an animal and do an essay on it, I picked the Grizzly Bear. I really liked that character. I still have that tattered comic, but it wasn't until a couple of decades later that I came across Amazing Spider-Man #140. It's odd that I never even thought about looking for it, just came across it while going through some long boxes and I had never read the follow up to it. I gotta admit I was really disappointed when Spider-Man just easily beats him in the next issue. It's also revealed that his power was simply in his grizzly bear suit/costume. Without it, the Grizzly was fat ex-pro wrestler named "Crazy" Maxwell Markham. Years ago JJJ saw him wrestle, thought he was too violent and ran a crusade to get his wrestling license revoked. It worked and Markham has been a has-been since. He went from Cool to "Chump" (as Spider-Man calls him) in an issue. Man, what a let down. And J. Jonah Jameson was a John Stossel before his time. Even Spider-Man agrees that the Grizzly deserves to "Dr. Death" him. As a side note, issue #139 also debuted a cranky landlady Mrs. Mamie Muggins that Peter had for a very long time and issue #140 debuted Gloria Grant. Both of them were still supporting characters when I started reading comics in the mid 1980s (15+ years later). Peter moved out after he got married and Mary Jane started making some serious money. Gloria Grant replaced Betty Brant as JJJ's secretary for a long while and was eventually brought back when JJJ became Mayor. Then one day like any other I'm at a comic shop and I see on the racks, Web of Spider-Man #58. On the cover is "I hear a Grizzly coming--- coming down the track..." and Oh. My. God. IT'S THE GRIZZLY! I snatched it up right away. Inside is a really good done in one story about how the Grizzly wanted a rematch with Spider-Man. Peter gives it to him and the Grizzly wins, via Bear Hug. At first. Then it's revealed that Peter knew the Grizzly was just fighting for pride, opted to let Grizzly think he won (again!). It's Peter's hope that Markham's self esteem will recover and he won't be bothering him anymore. The Epilogue shows that Markham figures this out too and he's okay with it. A happy ending for the character. Both stories were written by Gerry Conway. But over the years the Grizzly has made his return and different writers had different takes on him. He appears in Spectacular Spider-Man #244-246 (1997), where he gathers up a group of "Legion of Losers" villains to beat up Spider-Man. The other villains are The Spot, The Kangaroo (new version) and The Gibbon. The Spot and Kangaroo decide to rob a bank first, which the Grizzly doesn't agree with. The Gibbon takes his side and they split from the group. The police are there when they leave the bank and a chase ensues. Spider-Man catches up to Grizzly and Gibbon and a fight starts, then Spot and Kangaroo catch up to them. Together they beat up Spidey and take him back to The Grizzly's apartment. The Grizzly and Gibbon have a change of heart and decide they want to give back the money Spot and Kangaroo stole and let Spidey go. The four villains fight among themselves and Grizzly and Gibbon win. The two decide to form a partnership and be heroes. Spidey reveals he wasn't really hurt (AGAIN!), he was just faking it to see what they were up to. Spider-Man says he'll clear things up with the police so they don't go to jail. The two come back in issues #252-3, Gibbon turns Grizzly's station wagon into a "Bear Mobile" and the Grizzly, drives it off a dock and into the water believing Gibbon gave the car the ability to turn into a boat. The two get kidnapped by a villain and held for ransom by a woman named the White Rabbit. Spider-Man shows up (without costume, with a paper bag on his head), but fakes getting knocked out (AND AGAIN, holy crap get a new idea guys!) so the Grizzly and Gibbon can take out White Rabbit on their own. Man what a huge let down. That was even more disappointing than Amazing Spider-Man #140. The Grizzly mainly shows up as a background character here and there after this. Among the appearances are Spider-Man: Get Kraven #1 (2002) in a background of a villain bar. Spider-man shows up and a fight breaks out. Grizzly gets out of Jail(?) in Spider-Man's Tangled Web #19 (2002). He rents an apartment and discovers his neighbour is the Rhino. He tries to go straight but everything he does the Rhino beats him to the punch, even going to the sperm bank. In the end, he decided to go "back" to crime. The art is by Jim Mahfood who is better known for his indy work. It's a very cartoonish story. His face appears in Secret War #1 and 2 (2004) as one of many villains using tech based weapons. She Hulk #6 (2006), he's being defended by She-Hulk's firm (from being wrongfully accused of a crime). Starfox is also being defended and he punches Grizzly because he's a villain. He says he's going to sue Starfox. Underworld #3-5 (2006) is a major change to the character. Now he's a bouncer for the Owl's bar and he no longer has a bear suit. He wears spandex (nothing that would indicate a bear, unless you count an outline that looks like sharp teeth) and appears to be just naturally super strong and he now has fingernails/claws. He also has long, wild red hair and a beard (he had yellow and brown hair in previous appearances). #3 references Web of Spider-Man #58 with him giving a bear hug. The Grizzly isn't played for laughs and actually wins this fight. But he later gets shot with Adamantium bullets and then the Owl stabs him while in the Hospital for his failure. He shows up again in Punisher War Journal #4, again in a super villain bar and back in his old Bear suit. This story is about Stilt Man's wake. In the end the Punisher blows up the bar, it kinda indicates that he kills everybody but that's obviously not the case. Gibbon is here as well but there is no indication of their previous friendship. Grizzly and some of the other villains from that issue show up in Punisher War Journal #15 (2007) where a messed up Kraven the Hunter puts explosive collars on them to use them for some purpose. What is likely his most famous appearance would be in the back up story of Amazing Spider-Man #573 (2008). This is one where Stephen Colbert "teams up" with Spider-Man and they come across the Grizzly robbing a bank. Colbert, on the roof, drops an eagle statue on the Grizzly's head, knocking him out. They used the Grizzly due to Stephen Colbert's fear of bears. He then shows up in Punisher #4-5 (2009). He's a thug for The Hood. He orders the Grizzly to kill and *eat* everybody in a building. Grizzly's not fond of becoming a cannibal, but he goes to the building anyway. It's a set up though, inside there is a bomb that blows up. The Grizzly survives. He later is among the villains that fights the Punisher and loses. He appears briefly in 2 issues of Agents of Atlas (2009) as head of the ATF under Norman Osborn. He replaces Man Mountain Markio after he gets eaten by a dragon. Oddly his bear power suit is more like a jacket with the bear head on top which looks really dumb. Osborn puts The Grizzly on the Thunderbolts for issues #139 - 143 (2010) because he feels the team needs his power. They have a couple of missions together. He's still wearing that fur coat only it looks more like a trench coat this time, the bear head is gone. There's a kinda lump on his neck to indicate something, but it looks more like a hood. First story has them destroy an Atlas manufacturing plant so they could fight the Agents of Atlas. 2nd one was to get the Spear of Odin. That particular team of Thunderbolts fell apart and split, a whole new team was picked the next issue. In Deadpool 23-25 (2010) he shows up to rob a casino. Without getting too much into this crazy storyline, Deadpool makes a deal with him, lets him go so they can rob the vault of the casino where a lot more money can be taken. Then Deadpool sets it up so The Grizzly gets locked into the vault and caught. Avengers Academy #4 (2010) He's in a super villain jail and he's witnessed the power going out and all of the prisoners getting out. While it's not clear, I believe he fails in an attempt to take a hostage. He gets threatened with cancer and decides to let the woman go. That's it for his history so far. When I was younger I always thought the character still had potential. Especially if they played up his pro-wrestling in a snark kind of way. But those days are gone, I think.

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Text Copyright © 2011 Jamie Coville About the Author E-mail: jcoville@kingston.net