ARCHIMAGO ARCHIMAGO
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Unrevealed (see comments)
Occupation: Stage-magician, would-be conqueror
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Great Archimago, the Wizard
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Marvel Presents the Fantastic Four Annual (UK) 1980/3 (Winter 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Archimago can control the elements. He generated ice rapidly enough to entomb an audience before they had time to escape, summoned sheets of heavy rain and gale force winds, generated fireballs, fired barrages of earth and soil, and raised mud barriers and tornadoes to block attacks. His abilities seem to be sorcerous and called on via gestures, but Mr. Fantastic suspected there was a technological component to them. Archimago could only do each attack for a brief period of time before needing to stop for a momentary rest and switch to a different element. He drew power from the earth itself, though he can do this via a connecting wire if on stage, and he apparently had to avoid contact with water or he would short out like a faulty electrical circuit.
Height: 6' (by estimation) (see comments)
Weight: 160 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black
History:
(Marvel Presents the Fantastic Four
Annual (UK) 1980/3 (fb) - BTS) - Archimago was a stage-magician
who claimed to have found the secrets of ancient Egyptian sorcerers,
thus learning true magic, allowing him to control the four elements,
earth, air, fire and water; however, his powers may have had some
technological component (see comments), as he drew power from
the ground, needing to maintain contact either directly or via metal
wiring. For his American debut., he announced a free performance in
Central Park, starting at 2pm. However, for unrevealed reasons (see
comments), Archimago turned on the audience and entombed them
within a dome of ice several feet thick.
(Marvel Presents
the Fantastic Four Annual (UK) 1980/3) - Arriving late having
intended to watch the show, the Fantastic Four saw what Archimago was
doing and the Human Torch flew down from the Fantasticar to rapidly melt
the ice, freeing the people trapped within. Having been too focused on
generating the ice to notice the Torch's intervention until the shouts
of the freed crowd alerted him, Archimago turned his attention to the
interloper and summoned a rainstorm to douse the hero's flames, causing
him to drop from the skies. Only winded by the fall, the Torch was
joined by the Thing, who tried to rush the magician. In response
Archimago called forth gale force winds strong enough to lift the Thing
off his feet and throw him back. As the Thing wondered aloud how
Archimago was doing all this, the remaining two members of the Four, Mr.
Fantastic and Invisible Girl, arrived. Hearing Mr. Fantastic describing
him as a master of the elements, Archimago agreed, then added that he
was master of more than, proclaiming himself master of the world, since
the world would hear of him once he crushed them. He quickly
disconnected from his belt a cable that trailed down off the stage to
the ground, then jumped down and began walking confidently towards the
quartet, raised his hands in the air, and produced a fireball that
hurled towards them. However, to Archimago's annoyance the Human Torch
stepped in front of his teammates and simply absorbed the flames,
restoring the dampened hero's powers. As Archimago continued to advance,
Mr. Fantastic noted that he carefully avoided stepping in any of the
streams of water left by the melting ice dome, but before he could muse
on this Archimago gestured at the ground, causing it to throw up soil,
stone and debris that then flung themselves at the Four. While Invisible
Girl protected the others with a force field and the Human Torch threw
firebolts at the wizard to keep Archimago's attention focused on him,
Mr. Fantastic braved the barrage to run forward and examine the
abandoned cable, confirming it was merely wire and spotting that
wherever Archimago's feet had contacted the ground it had been left burn
marks. Realizing that Archimago was drawing his power from the earth
itself, Mr. Fantastic informed his teammates that they needed to somehow
raise the magician into the air.
Spotting that Archimago also needed to rest
for a few seconds between attacks, the team took advantage of the next
respite to go on the offensive. Though able to block 
some of their attacks Archimago
recognized that their numbers gave them an advantage and tried to
withdraw, but was prevented from doing so by Invisible Girl's force
fields, and when the Human Torch made him jump up to avoid a flame
attack, the Invisible Girl placed a force field under him, denying him
contact with the ground. As she extended the field to form a bubble
fully encasing Archimago he summoned what energies he still had to try
to break free, but before he could do so Mr. Fantastic looped himself
around a couple of trees to form a giant catapult which the Thing then
pulled back. Invisible Girl swiftly placed the bubble containing
Archimago in the center of this, and the Thing let go, firing Archimago
into the sky. The heroes watched as Archimago flew out over the Hudson
River and into the Atlantic, finally splashing down a mile or so out to
sea, his impact with the water marked by a bright flash of light as he
shorted out, leaving the heroes unsure whether or not the magician had
survived (see comments).
Comments: Creators unknown. Sadly the U.K. annuals don't include credits for writers, artists or anyone else for that matter. Like most UK Annuals, it would have been released a few months before the end of the year, in time to be bought for Christmas. Typically annuals which had the year printed on their cover were actually released the year before, so that children receiving them as presents on Christmas Day would not think they were getting an out-of-date product. However a lot of British Marvel annuals of the late seventies / early eighties didn't carry a date on the cover, and the date given in the copyright section of the indicia is often wrongly used for the year distinguisher - so if you are looking to buy the annual, be aware that online listings might be mixing up the years. The one you want has a Bob Budiansky/Joe Sinnott cover (you can see their signatures) with the Fantastic Four flying in the Fantasticar.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, U.S. Marvel stories were largely reprinted in comics belonging to either Alan Class Comics or Odhams, and the latter also usually handled any reprints in annuals. That changed in the 1970s, around the time Marvel took things in-house and established Marvel UK. However, despite the existence of Marvel UK, the UK annuals were generally published via one of a number of established companies that specialized in publishing the hardcover annuals for the Christmas market, and who got the rights to do so could change from one year to the next. This particular annual was published by Marvel Comics Group "in association with" Grandreams. Up until the late 1970s these were purely reprints with no new fiction, but right at the end of the decade and into the start of the 80s, just as Marvel UK began producing its own stories in the weekly comics, the annuals started carrying text stories sprinkled with a handful of illustrations.
We're told that the event the FF attend is
his American debut, so he's apparently from somewhere else in the world,
but we're given no clue as to where. We're not told why he suddenly
decided to conquer the world; if he'd been planning to do so for a
while, freezing a crowd in Central Park seems a strange way to start, so
maybe he genuinely did intend just to hold a performance until someone
in the crowd annoyed him, and things just escalated from there?
Similarly, we're left uncertain as to the
source of his powers; when they see him short out upon landing in the
ocean, the Thing wonders if Archimago's powers were really magic or from
some kind of electrical gizmo. It's worth noting that the team are
uncharacteristically uncaring about Archimago's fate. Sure, he did
attack his audience and them, but that's not something that normally
warrants a death sentence, yet not only do the Four throw the man out
into the sea, when they see him land a mile out into the ocean they make
no attempt to rescue him. The Torch wonders if he survived, but Mr.
Fantastic's response shows that is more about wondering whether they'll
have to face him again one day, not a "oh, oops, I wonder if we've
accidentally sent him to his death?"
He doesn't actually call himself the Wizard
at any point, but since the story's title is "Where Walks the Wizard" I
felt it should probably be included in his aliases.
We're not shown Archimago standing near
anyone whose height has been established, so his height as a guesstimate
based on the fact that he appears to be drawn as tall and thin.
This profile was completed 09/28/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Archimago has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Presents the Fantastic Four
Annual (UK) 1980/3, p33, pan1 (main image)
Marvel Presents the Fantastic Four
Annual (UK) 1980/3, p35, pan1 (conjuring winds)
Marvel Presents the Fantastic Four
Annual (UK) 1980/3, p38, pan1 (being catapulted out of Manhattan)
Appearances:
Marvel Presents the Fantastic Four
Annual (UK) 1980/3 (Winter 1979) - credits unknown
First Posted: 09/29/2021
Last updated: 09/28/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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