Essential Dazzler: Volume 1

My all-time super favorite super heroine. Dazzler kicks-a and does it in spandex and roller skates! I only wish it were in color but you get so many old issues this is a bargain. So good I bought two copies.

Alison (Dazzler) Blaire was going to be a star of movies, music and comics...until the boogie nights ended up in a cutout bin. The character was initially part of a planned cross-promotion between Casablanca Records, Filmworks and Marvel Comics, with Blaire drawn to capture the style of Grace Jones and then Bo Derek. But by the time the disco diva - with mutant powers to turn sound vibrations into light and energy beams - made her debut in Uncanny X-Men #130 (February 1980), all the glitz of the real Hollywood was gone and the plans for a comic book was nearly axed. But Blaire made it into her own comic book, with this volume reprinting Dazzler #1-#21, along with Uncanny X-Men #130-#131 and the Amazing Spider-Man #203. The book covers 1980-1982 and features a number of guests, including the X-Men, Spider-Man, Human Torch, The Hulk and Galactus, which was an excellent means to cross-promote the new character through established superstars. And Dazzler #1 was initially released only to comic book specialty shops, which created a buzz and made that issue a highly sought after item. The stories are solid and art work slowly inched away from disco themes, since that music genre was quickly fading from the record charts. She may have not stayed the dancing queen for long, but Alison Blaire was a dazzling - and underrated - addition to the Marvel Universe.

I found this essential to be quite an enjoyable read. It was like one of 'In the day of...' stories we got in other bigger comics ala X-Men and Teen Titans, but that was the main focus of her overall story. Sure, she was a herald of Galactus for a minute, but she also had trouble getting stable work as a sessions singer, and often had to eat peanut butter and jelly for dinner. It was also quite enjoyable because, even though she was a mutant who was just trying to make it in the entertainment industry, when she did face a super-villain, it was a more mainstream villain from the Fantastic Four, or the Avengers, rather than being battling Magneto every weekend, or a human who wanted to destroy all the mutants in the world. The costume(if you can call it a costume) fits in so well to not only back then, during the disco days, but if you look at a lot of pop stars ala Jennifer Lopez, and Kylie Minogue they often wear outfits very similar to her original costume. BTW, if you're a fan of Oz, you will LOL @ the prison issue! Overall, I would say buy the issue if you're interested in learning about a very interesting, and different hero for the the new 'modern' woman from the 80's, I say pick up the book! I also enjoyed that

"Essential Dazzler Vol. 1" is simply one of the most surprising collections Marvel Comics has added to their Essential line. Dazzler has been something of a comics in-joke for years -- "That silly disco rollerskating heroine!" -- but one glance over this new collection, reprinting 21 issues from the self-titled solo adventures, proves that, hey, Dazzler was actually pretty good! The collection follows the life of one Alison Blaire -- the Dazzler -- a mutant who turns sound into light. The clincher is she doesn't want to be a superhero, but wants to be a singing sensation, using her abilities to make fancy lightshows for her stage acts. But in the process, Dazzler deals with family drama, emotional rollercoasters (oh, the men!), and action-packed superheroics. The result is a dynamic, engaging mix. Dazzler's mix of stories, largely relying on guest stars from Marvel's big-names, reads like a fantasy trip through the Marvel Universe. When reading through the issues, you realize that Dazzler is an excellent point-of-view character for readers new and old, acting as our own liason through the best of the 80s -- and most of these guest stars are again the best of the present day! Dazzler's status as being outside of the spandex allows readers to become familiar with the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, She-Hulk, Hulk, Spider-Woman, Quasar, Doctor Octopus, the X-Men, the Absorbing Man, Galactus, and Terrax all over again -- or for the first time! It's continuity-heavy, but in an accessable way. Often times there's more plot in one issue of DAZZLER than most modern-day story arcs combined -- and once you hit Issue 6 of her solo series (vs. The Hulk!) Dazzler has you hooked. The backbeat pulses and you start to care about the character most readers barely know. Author Danny Fingeroth (who, despite low billing, penned the majority of this collection) creates strong links from issue to issue, making the series read like a serial rather than as simple superhero vignette. Great work all around. Art by John Romita Jr., Frank Springer, John Byrne, and Keith Pollard is great in the black and white format. You can especially see the love Springer had for the Dazzler -- he draws one hot Alison Blaire. The downside includes the wonky origin issues of Dazzler. The character was forced into the X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN series before her own launch, and it shows. Dazzler is hardly a compelling character in these issues. The X-Men stories by Claremont (as often is the case in trades that collect one or two issues by Claremont) particularly do not collect well as stand-alones. The Spider-Man issue is just wonky. And the first two issues of Dazzler may make you roll your eyes to the point you may not get into the good stuff. By issue 6, and especially 10, you'll be a Dazzler convert. Easily one of the best TPBs published by Marvel. Take a gander at this book, and feel the fever of Dazzler fandom.