RICHARD FENSTER
Real Name: Richard Fenster
Identity/Class: Human, civilian of the United
States
Occupation: Public relations agent to the stars
(mainly Stunt-Master);
formerly business manager
to the Champions of Los Angeles;
formerly UCLA lecture agent
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Champions of Los Angeles
(Angel/Warren Worthington III, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Darkstar/Laynia
Petrovna, Ghost Rider/Zarathos/Johnny Blaze, Hercules/Heracles,
Iceman/Bobby Drake), Emerson
Bale,
Governor Jerry Brown, Ivan Petrovich, Stunt-Master (George Smith),
Roy Thomas, Venus (Aphrodite),
Enemies: Ares, Cerberus,
Crimson
Dynamo (Yuri Petrovitch), Cylla, Griffin,
Harpies, Hippolyta,
Menoetius,
Mutates of Earth-6943,
Pluto, Rampage (Stuart Clarke),
Titanium Man (Boris Bullski), Typhon
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Dick" (common abbreviaton of Richard),
"Dickey-boy" (nickname used by Iceman)
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California;
formerly Champions
Building, Los Angeles, California;
formerly an office building
in Los Angeles, California;
formerly Warren
Worthington's beach house, California;
formerly the UCLA campus,
Berkely, California
First Appearance: Champions I#1 (October, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: Richard Fenster possesses no
known superhuman abilities. A gifted writer with a flair for producing
dramatic speeches, he goes to great lengths to keep his clients happy.
Fenster doesn't regard himself as a man of action. However, he does not
scare easily in the face of superhuman danger. Fenster is a fan of comic
books.
Height: 6'1" (by approximation)
Weight: 165 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
History:
(Avengers Assemble#14AU (fb) - BTS) - At an unrevealed
point in time, Fenster joined Marvel Comics fan club Friends Of Old
Marvel (F.O.O.M.) and proudly carried his membership badge in his
wallet.
(Champions I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Richard Fenster was working for UCLA as a lecture agent. The university wasn't too pleased with his most recent bookings, especially Marvel Comics writer Roy Thomas had proven disappointing. Fenster had a distinctly different image of the writer of Conan the Barbarian, with Thomas ultimately turning out to be a "scrawny, mop-haired New York writer, a real Hitchcock type". To ingratiate himself with the campus brass, Fenster managed to arrange for the Avenger Hercules to travel to Los Angeles for a series of lectures about the glories of Olympus.
(Champions I#1) - Even though Hercules showed up on time,
Fenster was still decidedly nervous, hoping the booking would please his
bosses otherwise he could very well lose his "thankless but so necessary
job". Hercules assured him the young people would "verily swoon with
wonderment". Before he could respond, Fenster was shocked by the sudden
appearance of the Mutates (sent by
Pluto in a convoluted scheme to conquer Olympus). Fenster kept
out of the way while Hercules dealt with the threat.
(Champions I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Following the battle at UCLA that caused
Hercules, Black Widow, Iceman, Angel and Ghost Rider to form the
Champions, Richard Fenster was fired by UCLA as their lecture agent.
And, to add insult to injury, was told he had to inform both Hercules
and the Black Widow they were fired as well.
(Champions I#5) - Rushing to UCLA to tell Hercules and the Black Widow
of their financial windfall, Angel spotted Richard Fenster who was
heartbroken over just having gotten fired. Angel immediately offered
Fenster a new job as the Champions' business manager, his first task:
finding them a suitable headquarters in Los Angeles provided it wasn't
too big: "twenty or thirty floors ought to do it".
(Champions I#5 - BTS) - Fenster arranged temporary headquarters for the
team: a plush suite in a 23 story top-dollar Los Angeles office building
while he continued to search for a more permanent base of operations.
(Avengers Assemble#14AU (fb) - BTS) - After Richard Fenster finalized the deal on the Champions' new 30 story skyscraper headquarters, the team threw a party to celebrate. During the joyous gathering, Fenster met the Stunt-Master (George Smith). To mark the occasion, everyone posed for pictures. Fenster kept a print in his wallet as a memento.
(Champions I#7) - Fenster was visiting with the Champions and their houseguest Ivan Petrovich to discuss the team's upcoming, official presentation which would even be attended by the governor. Their meeting was interrupted when Ivan and Natasha's old boss Brushkin shot a flying projectile through the window everyone believed to be a bomb (Brushkin wanted to get the Widow's attention because he'd learned of Russian plans to kidnap them). Fenster helped Hercules catch the otherwise harmless device, which was handed to Ivan for study. Later that night, Fenster convinced Hercules and Iceman to accompany him to the team's new headquarters, the site of next day's dedication ceremonies. After that morning's incident, Fenster was worried something might go wrong and wanted the heroes to search the building from top to bottom. Hercules questioned the necessity of all the pomp and circumstance attending the founding of the Champions, but Fenster assured him it was exactly the right approach in these high-powered times. Both Fenster and the heroes were unaware that Russian agent Outcast (Yuri Petrovitch aka the Crimson Dynamo) was on the premises as well. Outcast managed to get away unnoticed when Fenster spotted what turned out to be a young boy. Hercules tore out half a wall to get to the child, causing Fenster to comment on how much repairing the damage over night would cost them. He then listened to the sobbing boy's plea for help.
(Champions I#8 - BTS) - In preparation for the team's
upcoming gala, Richard Fenster wrote an inauguration speech for the team.
(Champions I#8) - Fenster, lawyer Emerson Bale and the
Champions were all in their temporary headquarters when the team's old
enemy Rampage (Stuart Clarke) arrived, carrying photos of Titanium Man
capturing Black Widow and Brushkin. The boastful Clarke was unaware his
boss (the Outcast) had implanted a bomb inside his armor, telling Clarke
it was actually an audio message he wanted the Champions to hear.
Rampage activated what he thought was a recording, causing the bomb to
go off. Fenster, Bale and the Champions escaped unscathed thanks to
Iceman's hastily erected ice-screen. Slightly frazzled, Fenster and Bale
emerged from underneath Angel's wings to inspect the damage. After
checking on the seriously injured Rampage, Richard was in for another
shock when he realized Ghost Rider wasn't wearing a mask and that he was
indeed a flaming skeleton. Ghost Rider took Rampage to the nearest
hospital, allowing Fenster to turn the topic to the team's official
inauguration that was supposed to take place in less than two hours.
Angel considered cancelling the event, even though that would be bad PR.
Ivan Petrovich was fed up and left to look for the Widow on his own,
followed by Iceman. This only left Hercules and Angel to take the stage
and address the crowd gathered in the park to meet LA's newest heroes.
Fenster introduced himself to governor Jerry Brown and, a little later,
was impressed by the way Angel delivered his speech. Richard felt that
even though he himself wrote the words, Worthington actually made him
believe them. He was then surprised by the sudden appearance of the
Crimson Dynamo, Griffin and Titanium Man who come to disturb the
proceedings.
(Champions I#9) - The two
Champions fought valiantly, with Hercules easily holding his own against
the Crimson Dynamo. Richard Fenster even decided to be proactive and hit
the Dynamo over the head with a folding chair, though the damage he
inflicted was negligible. Eventually, despite the arrival of Ghost
Rider, the Russians managed to overwhelm and defeat the Champions.
Fenster and the others were helpless as the villains took the
unconscious heroes captive.
(Marvel Premiere#26) - Reunited with Hercules who he'd booked for another speaking engagement in Marin County, Fenster drove him up there when the road was blocked by a freak forest fire (caused by the arrival on Earth of Typhon and his ally Cylla). Hercules used his strength to help contain the fire and the duo resumed their trip.
(Marvel Premiere#26 - BTS) - Typhon, his hand magically fused to his axe, learned from Cylla that only the blood of his worst enemy could free him. Figuring this had to be Hercules, he sought out his enemy and attacked.
(Marvel Premiere#26) - Typhon's sudden appearance on a steep mountain pass caused Fenster to drive the car off the road. Richard fainted from shock, though Hercules kept him safe as they fell. He left Dick at the bottom of the cliff, figuring he would be safe there. Hercules climbed back up to engage Typhon, though he was soon finding himself fighting both the Titan and the sorceress Cylla. Just then, Fenster woke up and climbed his way back up the cliffside where he soon spotted Cylla using her magics to weaken Hercules. Not hesitating for an instant, he grabbed a piece of wood and clobbered her over the head, breaking her concentration and allowing Hercules to gain the upper hand. In the end, blood from Typhon's own wound freed his axe hand, proving he was his own worst enemy. Moments later, Zeus recalled both Typhon and Cylla from Earth, leaving Hercules and Fenster to walk to their Marin County speaking engagement.
(Avengers Assemble#14au (fb) - BTS) - Following the disbanding of the Champions, Fenster reinvented himself as a talent agent for the superhero community working out of San Francisco. One of his biggest clients was Stunt-Master, who he tirelessly tried to help in reinventing his act.
(Avengers Assemble#14au) - Fenster was visited by Natasha Romanoff who had come to San Francisco to relax and catch up with the Champions' former business manager. They were joined for coffee by Fenster's best client, the Stunt-Master. The old friends caught up and reminisced about the days of old when Natasha noticed Fenster still carried around a picture in his wallet taken at the party thrown when the Champions bought their headquarters. He admitted that night was "kind of the best moment of his life". After all, they were all still together in the same city, their friend Ivan was still alive as well. It made Fenster feel they were doing something good at the time (see comments).
Comments: Created by Tony Isabella (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks).
"Fenster" is German for "window", which makes having the
Champions discuss their good ol' business manager "Dick Fenster" worthy
of a chuckle or two.
Most of Avengers
Assemble#14au takes place on Earth-61112, the designation for
the Age of Ultron crossover. However, the events leading up to Black
Widow and Richard Fenster having coffee remain unaffected by the fact
the Ultron attack that followed was ultimately undone through time
travel.
Possibly true!
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Richard Fenster should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Champions I#1, p11, pan4 (main image)
Champions I#5, p6, pan5 (hired by the Champions)
Champions I#9, p5, pan4 (attacks Crimson Dynamo)
Avengers Assemble#14au, p3, pans3&4 (remembers the best night of
his life)
Appearances:
Champions I#1 (October, 1975) - Tony Isabella (writer), Don Heck
(pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Champions I#5 (April, 1976) - Tony Isabella (writer), Don Heck
(pencils), John Tartag (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Champions I#7 (August, 1976) - Tony Isabella (writer), George Tuska
(pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Champions I#8 (October, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Bob Hall
(pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Premiere#26 (November, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), George
Tuska (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Champions I#9 (December 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Bob Hall
(pencils), Bob Layton (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Avengers Assemble#14au (June, 2013) - Al Ewing (writer), Butch Guice
(pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Jake Thomas & Lauren Sankovitch
(editors)
First Posted: 03/24/2015
Last updated: 03/24/2015
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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