GOLDEN GRENADIER
GOLDEN GRENADIER
Real Name: Brit Saxon
Identity/Class: Human mutate (probably - see
comments)
(Post-WWII,
pre-Modern and Modern
era);
British
citizen
Occupation: Grenadier Guard, government agent;
former astronaut
Group Membership: British Army (Grenadier Guards), unidentified British covert government agency
Affiliations: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon)
Enemies: Fin Fang Foom, Tim Boo Ba
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Buckingham Palace, London, U.K.
First Appearance: None
Powers/Abilities: Able to fly; other powers unrevealed.
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black
History:
(Golden Grenadier#1-4 (fb)) - Britain's first astronaut, 25 year
old Brit Saxon, gained superhuman powers in 1959 when his capsule burned
up during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
Publicly declared dead, he took on a new identity as a grenadier guard stationed outside Buckingham Palace, but secretly worked for a British covert organization run by Britain's Queen Mother as the Golden Grenadier.
(Golden Grenadier#2) - The Grenadier battled alien invaders Fin Fang Foom and Tim Boo Ba in Trafalgar Square, where they temporarily pinned him under one of the stone lions that they had ripped from its plinth, and later continued the fight as the villains attacked Tower Bridge.
(Golden Grenadier#1-4) - His aging slowed, the Grenadier remained active into the modern era.
Comments: Created by Tim Quinn (writer), Adolofo Buylla and John Watkiss (art).
When Marvel UK contracted in September 1993, several forthcoming titles were abandoned, some within days of publication. Late in 1994, Marvel U.K.'s Editor in Chief Paul Neary tried relaunching Marvel U.K., initially with four new titles, one of which was the Golden Grenadier. However, these plans died abruptly as Marvel U.K. was sold to Panini. All new titles were cancelled, and, in preparation for moving, one weekend Panini staff cleared out Marvel U.K.'s offices, including binning work done on the commissioned but unpublished titles. Two issues had been written and drawn, and were awaiting coloring when the end came. The second issue featured Tim Boo Ba and Fin Fang Foom; Tim Quinn explained "Stan Lee’s Tim Boo Ba and Fin Fang Foom featured in issue #2. This was something I’d discussed with Stan after interviewing him for the South Bank Show programme."
With the Grenadier initially active from the
late 1950s, the story was intended to be split into two parts; Adolofo
was to handle the past sections, while John Watkiss drew the modern day parts.
Visually, the Grenadier was based somewhat on Paul Neary himself.
Since the origin of his powers was something to do with his space flight, it seems likely he was a mutate; perhaps he was exposed to cosmic radiation like the Fantastic Four? In regards to Brit Saxon being declared dead, Tim Quinn noted "The grave scene was a tip of the hat to the Spirit's origin."
Giving credit where credit is due: Though I'd read a little about the lost Marvel U.K projects in solicitations in the comics and comic news magazines back in 1993, I first learned more about them from the excellent blog Starlogged. This profile was put together with information from there, articles on Down The Tubes, and from interviews I did with creators for an entry on the lost projects for Eaglemoss' Marvel Fact Files. Space constraints for the Fact Files entries meant I could only use a tiny fraction of what was so kindly provided, so this and similar Appendix entries are a way of hopefully addressing that injustice, letting fans know more about some of the fun characters and concepts that were in the works. I'd like to add a specific thanks to Tim Quinn, who provided both information and scans of artwork, many of which have, to the best of my knowledge, never been seen by the public before. I have zero clue how the rights issues now lie, but assuming those wouldn't be a problem, I'd love to see all these characters eventually make it into proper publication; I want to read these stories!
For the non-Brits reading this, it's hard to describe
how absurd-sounding yet appropriate it would be for the Queen Mother to be
running one of Britain's covert agencies in the 1950s. The wife of King George
VI, she was known during his life as Queen Elizabeth, but isn't counted in
the numbering of the Queen Elizabeths because she was queen by dint of having
married the king, not in her own right. She hadn't married with the expectation
of becoming queen, because her husband had been the second son of King George
V, but then the elder son and current King Edward VIII decided he wanted
to marry Wallis Simpson, an American one-time divorcee, and at that time
still in her second marriage as another divorce process was underway; in
this era, the monarch wasn't allowed to marry a divorcee regardless, but
the situation was worsened by Simpson being American, still married but divorcing
again, and the suspicion that she was a Nazi sympathizer and lover to
a prominent Nazi stationed in London. Edward tried to find a way to marry
her and also remain monarch, but the Prime Ministers of Britain, Canada,
Australia and South Africa all refused to accept this, ultimately forcing
Edward to abdicate in 1936. George VI became the new king, and Elizabeth
unexpectedly found herself queen, reigning alongside him during the hard
times of World War II. An extraordinary individual, she refused to evacuate
to Canada as the government advised, even during the height of the Blitz.
She repeatedly visited parts of London that had been bombed and when Buckingham
Palace itself was bombed, she commented "I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes
me feel I can look the East End (of London) in the face." Adolf Hitler
described her as "the most dangerous woman in Europe" because of her popularity
and her bolstering of British morale. She was also the last Empress
of India, which gained its independence from the British Empire in 1947.
When George VI died in 1952 and Queen Elizabeth the Second came to the throne,
George's wife was thereafter publicly called the Queen Mother almost exclusively,
to avoid confusion with her daughter. So, given her part in World War II,
the idea of her running a spy agency for Britain in the 1950s, when she'd
just had her public duties reduced because her daughter had taken over ruling,
sounds weirdly credible. However, it's also truly bizarre, because the Queen
Mother lived until she was 101, remained publicly active for most of that
time, and only died in 2002, so for most Brits who were born post-War, the
enduring memory of her is of a cheerful, tiny (5'2"),
white-haired grandmother.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Golden Grenadier has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Golden Grenadier#1 cover (main)
Golden Grenadier#1, p1, pan3 (headshot by his own gravestone)
Golden Grenadier#1, p1, pan1 (the future Grenadier's space capsule burns
up during re-entry)
Golden Grenadier#2 cover (confronting Tim Boo Ba and Fin Fang Foom at Tower
Bridge)
Golden Grenadier#2, p1, pan1 (the Grenadier pinned under a stone lion in
Trafalgar Square)
Appearances:
None
First Posted: 01/27/2019
Last updated: 01/27/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
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