SHABBY DAYES
SHABBY DAYES
Real Name: Shabby Dayes
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (possibly Kree or Zenn-Lavian; see comments)
Occupation: Prospector
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Rick Jones, Rusty
Enemies: Jaqe Murania and his gang, Stranger
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None (see comments)
Base of Operations: OK Space Station on an asteroid near Deneb IV
First Appearance: Captain Marvel I#41 (November, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: He had the standard physical attributes and strengths of an elderly of whatever race he belonged to.
He was also batshit insane (but not in a dangerous way) due to prolonged exposure to a poisonous gas created during thyamite mining.
He was the owner of the mechanical land transport mule Rusty-Paint (it was upgraded by Mar-Vell with space travel capabilities).
Height: 5'4" (by approximation)
Weight: 145 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
History:
(Captain Marvel I#42 (fb) - BTS) - When Ol' Smithy discovered thyamite on an asteroid near Deneb IV a mining community was practically set up overnight on the asteroid. The mining facilities poisoned the asteroid's air. At first the workers tried to live on a normal life, but eventually a dome was erected over their town to protect them from the poisonous fumes, but the fumes had already affected them.
Like all other citizens of the O.K. Space Station Shabby Dayes had been driven insane by breathing in the poisonous fumes from the mines for too many years. Due to the poisoning Shabby and the other settlers believed themselves to be from a time similar to Earth's Old West. Firearms got outlawed to protect the laminite dome because one stray shot could crack it and expose the community to the deadly fumes once again.
(Captain Marvel I#42 (fb) - BTS) - Shabby Dayes had his problems with Jaqe Murania and his gang, who threatened him and advised him to never show his face again in O.K. Space Station.
(Captain Marvel I#43 (fb) - BTS / Captain Marvel I#45 (fb) - BTS) - The Supreme Intelligence caused Mar-Vell's Nega-Band to glitter and attract Shabby.
(Captain Marvel I#41) - While searching for thyamite outside the domed O.K. Space Station Shabby Dayes saw a light in the distance behind a mountain.
(Captain Marvel I#42) - Shabby found Mar-Vell and Rick Jones rendered unconscious by the poisonous fumes.
(Captain Marvel I#42 - BTS) - Shabby put helmets on them as protection against the fumes and put them on his metallic mule Rusty.
(Captain Marvel I#42) - On his way back to O.K. Space Station Shabby noticed Mar-Vell awakening. He told Mar-Vell how lucky he and his friend were that Shabby always had extra helmets with him and that he saw a light he thought to be thyamite where he found Mar-Vell and Jones. Shabby, who had seen the star on Mar-Vell's chest, believed him to be the marshall he had sent for to deal with the criminal elements in O.K. Space Station. When Rick Jones awakened as well Shabby was glad he had made it. On their way to O.K. Space Station Shabby showed them the Millennia Bloom on the way, a flower that only blossomed once every thousand years.
Inside the space station Shabby took off his helmet. When Jaqe Murania saw Shabby Dayes had returned he attacked him and threw him on the ground. Captain Marvel came to Shabby's aid and alongside Rick Jones and a little help from Shabby's mule Rusty beat up Jaqe and his gang under Shabby Dayes' cheers. During the fight Shabby warned Mar-Vell when Jaqe pulled a gun on him. After the fight Shabby Dayes invited Mar-Vell and Jones to a drink at the Red Dog Saloon where he told him what he remembered about the O.K. Space Station's mining origins. The good folks of O.K. Space Station asked Mar-Vell and Jones to leave before the Big Boss of the owlhoots arrived. Shabby Dayes couldn't tell Mar-Vell anything about him because he had never actually seen him.
Moments later the Big Boss crashed through the Red Dog Saloon's wall and revealed himself as the enigmatic Stranger, who challenged Mar-Vell to a duel. When Stranger reflected one of Mar-Vell's energy blasts into the dome and cracked it the poisonous fumes seeping through the crack affected Shabby Dayes and the other citizens immediately. Rick Jones fixed the crack while the Stranger defeated Mar-Vell. Unsatisfied with the outcome because he had shot Mar-Vell in the back the Stranger left O.K. Space Station because he felt his experience of this rustic community and its crazy inhabitants had been ruined. Shabby Dayes thanked Mar-Vell for saving the space station and loaned him and Jones his mule Rusty to leave the asteroid.
(Captain Marvel I#43 (fb) ) - Shabby Dayes stayed behind while Rick Jones and Captain Marvel escaped the loony bin on his steed Rusty.
(Marvel Graphic Novel#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Rusty returned (or was returned) to Shabby Dayes. He eventually heard the news that Mar-Vell was dying of cancer.
(Marvel Graphic Novel#1) - Sitting at a campfire Shabby Dayes alongside Rusty thought back to his adventure with his friend Mar-Vell.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart & Al Milgrom.
A crazy old coot and a town full of owlhoots and old-timey times prospectors doing wild west stuff. That was fun for a few minutes.
For years we mistakenly believed this guy's name to be Shabby Allus, but it is not. The Supreme Intelligence called the old guy Shabby Dayes in Captain Marvel I#43. More explanation below by our own Donald Campbell:
Like you, I noticed the discrepancy between Shabby's
last names in issues #42 and 43 of Captain Marvel. At first I just
ignored it, figuring that is was a mistake by the writer. But then,
decades later, I took another look and realized that, in the context it
was used in Captain Marvel I#42, "allus" was actually an adverb being
used to modify the verb "totes." A quick Google search brought me to
the online Oxford dictionary which revealed that "allus" is actually a
"non-standard spelling of always."
So, in Captain Marvel I#42, Shabby's statement "Lucky
fer you ol' Shabby allus totes extra helmets out here on the range!"
should be understood as "Lucky for you old Shabby always carries extra
helmets out here on the range!"
In my opinion, Shabby Dayes was named after George
Francis "Gabby" Hayes, an American radio, film, and television actor
who was best known for his numerous appearances in Western movies as
the colorful sidekick to the leading man. If you Google images of Gabby
Hayes you'll see that there is a definite resemblance between the two
characters.
--Don Campbell
Shabby Dayes was seen again in Captain Marvel I#46 (September, 1976) in a flashback when the Supreme Intelligence told Mar-Vell and Rick Jones that they had never made move he had not planned.
Deneb IV was a Skrull world before the Kree drove them off the planet. The population was oppressed by sentient war machines left behind by the Kree: the Null-Trons, which had been outlawed by the Supreme Intelligence when he came to power.
Deneb IV is Zenn-La, one of 37 planets and 93 moons in the Deneb system (as mentioned in the comments of the A'askvarri profile). Could Shabby Dayes be from Zenn-La?
--Gammatotem
I doubt the fact the planet seen
in this storyline was Zenn-La because last time I checked neither the
Kree nor the Skrulls had a big presence on Zenn-La and I also didn't
hear about any Null-Trons terrorizing Norrin Radd back home. People at
Marvel just liked the star Deneb for some reason and used it on
multiple occasions and using the logic of our sun system repeatedly
named the third or fourth planet as some species' homeworld. Mistakes
happen!
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Shabby Dayes has no known connection to:
Jaqe Murania has no known connection to:
Rusty has no known connection to:
Rusty
aka. Rusty-Paint
(Captain Marvel I#42) - Rusty carried Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and Rick Jones, who had both been rendered unconscious by the poisonous gas on the asteroid, for Shabby Dayes. When they awakened Rusty had one less burden to carry. Shabby led Rusty and his new friends back to O.K. Space Station. During Mar-Vell's fight against Jaqe Murania and his gang Rusty aided Rick Jones against Jaqe by kicking Jaqe in the head with his right back hoof, knocking him out.
(Captain Marvel I#42 - BTS/Captain Marvel I#43 (fb) - BTS) - Mar-Vell made a few adjustment to Rusty to make her capable of space travel by modifiying her power source.
(Captain Marvel I#42) - Shabby loaned Rusty to Mar-Vell and Rick Jones, who rode the mechanical mule to outer space, leaving the asteroid and O.K. Space Station behind them.
(Captain Marvel I#43) - Mar-Vell and Jones rode Rusty through outer space to Deneb IV, but during their voyage the Supreme Intelligence sent out a signal from Hala to influence Rusty to throw off Rick Jones and run wild. Mar-Vell assumed one of her circuits had rotted with age and coaxed her to land on a nearby moon. On the moon Mar-Vell tried to find the defect in the robot mule to repair it, but he couldn't find anything wrong with the mule.
(Captain Marvel I#44) - The Supreme Intelligence sent another signal to fix Rusty. When Mar-Vell found Rick Jones near death (he had gone for a walk and took off his helmet) somewhere else on the moon he took him back to Rusty and hoped for the best. Fortunately for Mar-Vell Rusty was working again and Mar-Vell with Rick Jones in the back rode Rusty to Deneb IV. Over a destroyed city on Deneb IV Rusty, overburdened by the long distance travel, began to smoke and sparks went flying. Mar-Vell jumped with Rick Jones off Rusty before the mule dropped into the city below like a rock.
(Marvel Graphic Novel#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Rusty was repaired (or just started working again) and returned (or was returned) to Shabby Dayes.
(Marvel Graphic Novel#1) - Rusty stood next to Shabby Dayes at a campfire when the old prospector remembered his dying friend Mar-Vell.
--Captain Marvel I#42 (Captain Marvel I#42-44, Marvel Graphic Novel#1
images (without ads)
Captain Marvel I#42, pg. 6, panel 2 (unhelmeted head);
p9, pan3 (main image)
Captain Marvel I#42, p2, pan8 (upper body with helmet)
Marvel Graphic Novel#1, p30, pan6 (Shabby Dayes & Rusty at campfire)
Captain Marvel I#43, p1, pan3 (Rusty with Captain Marvel & Rick Jones)
Appearances:
Captain Marvel I#41 (November, 1975) - Steve Englehart (plot/script),
Al Milgrom (plot/pencils), Bernie Wrightson, Craig Russell, Bob McLeod,
Terry Austin & Al Milgrom (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Captain Marvel I#42 (January, 1976) - Steve Englehart (plot/script), Al
Milgrom (plot/pencils), Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito & Bernie
Wrightson (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Captain Marvel I#43 (March, 1976) - Steve Englehart (plot/script), Al Milgrom (plot/pencils/inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Captain Marvel I#44 (May, 1976) - Steve Englehart (plot/script), Al Milgrom (plot/pencils/inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Captain Marvel I#45 (July, 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom
(artist), Terry Austin (finishes), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Graphic Novel#1 (1982) - Jim Starlin (writer/pencils/inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
First posted: 03/16/2016
Last updated: 03/03/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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