Dazzler
Section X Fantasy fight (Dr.Light Vs Dazzler)
Dazzler as seen on the cover of Secret Invasion: X-Men #3.
Art by Terry Dodson.
Dazzler (Alison Blaire) is a Marvel Comics superheroine, usually associated with the X-Men. She first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #130 (February 1980).
A mutant with the ability to convert sound vibrations into light and energy beams, Dazzler was originally developed as a cross-promotional, multi-media creation between Casablanca Records and Marvel Comics until the tie-ins were dropped in 1980. The character was created by a committee of Marvel staff, principally writer/editor Tom DeFalco and illustrator John Romita, Jr.
Despite the fact that Dazzler was originally commissioned as a disco singer, the character shifted to other musical genres, including rock and adult contemporary. She starred in a self-titled solo series in the early 1980’s which lasted forty-two issues, a Marvel Graphic Novel titled Dazzler: The Movie, a four-issue limited series co-starring The Beast titled Beauty and the Beast, and later joined the cast of the X-Men. She was briefly a member of the spin-off group Excalibur but has since re-joined the X-Men. Dazzler was ranked 83rd in Comics Buyer’s Guide‘s“100 Sexiest Women in Comics” list.
Publication history – Origins of Dazzler
First appearance of the Dazzler
Dazzler was originally a project commissioned by Casablanca Records in the mid-to-late 1970’s to be a cross-promotion in the mold of KISS, who had two successful comic book tie-in super-specials by the end of 1977. Marvel Comics would develop a singing superhero, while Casablanca would produce a singer. The two companies would then work with Filmworks and produce a tie-in motion picture; Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter wrote a treatment for the project.
The character was originally conceptualized as “The Disco Queen” with the power to make people tell the truth. Initially, no one wanted anything to do with the project. Marvel Comics appointed former Archie Comics writer Tom DeFalco to the character and he developed some changes to the character, namely suggesting light-based powers. Roger Stern conceived of the character’s name, Dazzler, while John Romita, Jr. provided pencils.
Artist John Romita, Jr. originally intended for the character to resemble model, actress, and singer Grace Jones, as seen in early depictions. However, representatives from Filmworks – wanting to promote model and actress Bo Derek – insisted on design changes to reflect Derek’s features.
To promote Dazzler, Casablanca wanted it cross-promoted within several key Marvel Comics titles: The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man in particular, with Dazzler debuting in The Uncanny X-Men because she was a mutant character. However, Casablanca continued to request conceptual changes to the character’s appearance and personality, leading to several cancellations of the project. Eventually, Casablanca Records backed out of the Dazzler project altogether due to financial concerns. Marvel Comics, left with a much-publicized new character, decided to launch the project as a monthly series.
According to writer Tom DeFalco, Dazzler was canceled “five or six times” prior to its launch in March 1981. At the time, Marvel Comics was looking for other filmmakers to invest in a Dazzler cross-promotion. However, Jim Shooter and Stan Lee decided to launch the series without such a partnership because of their “faith in the character.”
By this time, Dazzler #1 was edited to reflect changes in the Marvel Comics universe and to fit the new twenty-two page publication format. X-Men member Cyclops was edited out of the issue, and Kitty Pryde inserted, and an additional “origin of the Dazzler” sequence was added to fill new pages. Also, Dazzler distanced its character from the disco genre, as the creators recognized the disco fad was fading by 1980.
In a revolutionary move, Shooter decided to release Dazzler #1 exclusively to comic specialty shops, bypassing the wider circulation market. This was the first comic exclusively delivered to comic shops – a relatively new industry for 1981. Over 400,000 copies of issue 1 were pre-sold, more than double the average comic sales amount.
Dazzler: 1981-1985
From The Amazing Spider-Man #547 (March 2008) Art by Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines
Dazzler proved a success, largely due to the many Marvel Comics characters in its first few issues; Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Doctor Doom, Galactus, the Hulk, the X-Men, and Klaw were just a few of the several guest stars who placed Dazzler squarely into the Marvel Universe. Dazzler herself also guest starred in Marvel titles, such as The Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers, and the Marvel crossover, Contest of Champions.
The series, however, was not free from critique. Several readers disapproved of the “real life” focus of Dazzler, including the focus on “soft plots” — career, family, relationships — rather than action-based and more traditional superhero plot devices. Dazzler’s “superhero” outfit was her performance outfit, which also serves as a major disconnect from the superhero staples of the day. Years later, DeFalco reflected on these criticisms as an inherent hypocrisy with the readership: on one hand, readers clamored for something “new”, which was how Dazzler was conceived. Yet on the other, they wanted Dazzler to be a superhero in the mold of Phoenix and conform to other superheroic stereotypes.
John Romita, Jr. left Dazzler in issue #3, and was replaced by Frank Springer, who penciled most of the Dazzler series. DeFalco stayed on as chief writer through issue #6, and helped successive writer Danny Fingeroth with several of the following issues. Fingeroth and Springer remained the Dazzler stable team through issue #27.
Eventually, Dazzler failed to adequately create its own cast and began to lose commercial appeal. With issue #25, Dazzlerbecame a bi-monthly publication. This schedule, along with extreme character changes and a lackluster spin-off miniseries, further complicated the character and series’ appeal to both existing and new readers. Springer changed Dazzler from a singer in New York to an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. To promote this new direction, Marvel had artist Bill Sienkiewicz do painted artwork pieces for several Dazzler covers, from issues #27 through #35. Springer left Dazzler with issue #32, and returned briefly for issue #35 and the Dazzler: The Movie graphic novel.
Marvel attempted to jump-start the series with a tie-in graphic novel and miniseries that would highlight the character’s career struggles in a prejudiced world. While the graphic novel received acclaim, the miniseries and regular Dazzler series suffered.
In a final attempt, Archie Goodwin and Paul Chadwick were assigned to Dazzler with issue #38, ditching the singer-subtext and making Dazzler more of a generic superhero with an official costume. It did not save the series, and Dazzler was eventually canceled in 1985. After that, she was briefly considered as a possible X-Factor founding member, but the decision to resurrect Jean Grey put that idea aside.
Cover art to X-Treme X-Men #1.
X-Men
After this, the character would go on to a notable run as an X-Men member, before disappearing completely for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, barring occasional cameos. With the launch of New Excalibur, she returned to monthly publication for the first time as a prominent cast member in over fifteen years.
When Marvel canceled New Excalibur, Dazzler was brought back as a supporting character in Uncanny X-Men written by Matt Fraction.
In February 2010, Marvel published a one-shot Dazzler special by writer Jim McCann and artist Kalman Andrasofszky.
The 2012 series X-Treme X-Men features Dazzler as the leader of a dimension-hopping X-Men team.
