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Marvel Comics special a real heartbreaker

By Bill Radford, The Gazette, Source: MCT News Service

"Marvel Heartbreakers" tells four stories of love and loss _ just in time for Valentine's Day.

The Marvel Comics special is set for release this week. Some of the stories have appeared online at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited (http://marvel.com/digitalcomics/), but it's the first time for them to see print.

"Marvel Heartbreakers" is the brainchild of editor Michael Horwitz.

"I was raised on a healthy diet of Betty and Veronica comics, so you could say I'm a sucker for a good tearjerker," Horwitz said via e-mail. "When we realized we had these various stories that were all thematically linked, it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

The book leads off with a Spider-Man story that follows a college-age Peter "Spider-Man" Parker as he's forced to choose between Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy. But first, Horwitz said, "he has to survive a science experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong. It's the Blob meets Betty and Veronica."

Another story focuses on monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone and mutant party girl Boom Boom _ "two of Marvel's more underappreciated ladies," Horwitz said. There's also the tale of Snowbird, a shape-shifting heroine wrestling with her animal instincts and desires, and a story featuring Dazzler and the Beast.

The last was written by Jim McCann, who knows a little something about romance _ he was in the ABC Daytime Writer Development Program, wrote an episode of "One Life to Live" and, more recently, wrote one of Marvel's wildest crossovers, with members of the New Avengers meeting characters from the CBS soap "Guiding Light."

For "Marvel Heartbreakers," Horwitz said, "I needed someone who knew how to turn on the waterworks with a tight page count. Jim's background in soaps made him a natural choice."

McCann didn't need any convincing. "I will always jump at the chance to write Dazzler," he said.

His story picks up some story threads from Dazzler's long-ago solo series.

"The idea popped into my head of resolving the Dazzler-Beast relationship that had been kind of left hanging way back then," McCann said.

While "Marvel Heartbreakers" highlights some of Marvel's female characters, a bigger stage is coming in "Marvel Women," a yearlong initiative "spotlighting the female characters that we have and the incredible female talent that we have," McCann said.

In March, Marvel launches "Girl Comics," a three-issue anthology from female creators. Look for various specials to follow, featuring the women of Marvel.

"I personally have always loved female characters and found Marvel to have a really strong batch," McCann said.

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(c) 2010, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

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