GoCollect Blog: Oddball of the Week: Humbug (oddball-of-the-week-humbug )

It’s Christmas in July, and this week’s Oddball is the regrettably named Humbug.

Who would have known that Charles Dickens would inspire a Spider-Man villain? Granted he’s a Z-lister, but Ebenezer Scrooge’s iconic line was morphed into the oddest of the oddballs, Humbug.

WHO?

For a villain whose name was taken from A Christmas Carol, you would think Humbug would be connected to Christmas. Not so. Instead, David Micheline and Marc Silvestri leaned into the bug part of his name.

Created in 1986, Buck Mitty was a professor of entomology at Empire State University. Obsessed with the insect world, Buck needed funding for his experiments. He did what practically every other would-be supervillain does and turned his genius into a criminal career. Buck crafted his own power suit that gave him increased strength and reflexes. Taking a page from Ant-Man’s playbook, he built technology that allowed him to communicate with all manner of bugs, hence the name, Humbug.

Despite his incredible tech, Humbug’s crime spree would not be as productive as he imagined. After Spider-Man thwarted his first theft, Humbug became the Marvel Universe’s punching bag and running gag.

Today, we salute the villain who missed his chance to be the new Grinch, Humbug.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #19

This cover has become infamous among comic collectors. Having a guy in an orange suit with cartoony antennae on his head has a way of doing that. Just the word “Humbug” on the artwork is enough to garner attention. With the strange, offbeat characters becoming the stars of superhero cinema, it could pay to invest in this overlooked issue. You also get the first appearance of Solo, so think of this as a two-for-one sale.

Surprisingly, the prices have been climbing. For the past year, the graded 9.8 has averaged $150, but July 15 saw the most recent sale jump to $178.

SPIDER-MAN: BUG STOPS HERE #1

Believe it or not, Humbug had his own one-shot in 1994 that was fittingly sponsored by Orkin as a promotional comic. Technically, it was a Spider-Man comic, but the story was all about Buck Mitty and his latest unsuccessful crime spree. Following the insect theme, Humbug broke into the New York Museum of Natural History to steal a priceless scarab amulet. Naturally, he was defeated when he fell through the floor that had been ravaged by termites.

Since virtually no one cares about this issue, sales are rare. In fact, there are no sales records for graded Bug Stops Here #1s. However, a raw copy sold for $45 on June 15.

HEROES FOR HIRE #15 (2007)

At different points, Humbug had his skin eaten by South American fire ants thanks to Deadpool before, and Buck was thought to have been eaten by giant insects in Antarctica. Actually, he made a deal to serve them.

When Hulk returned from Sakaar to wage World War Hulk, he brought with him a Brood queen. Humbug devoted himself to the queen, who plants eggs inside him. Buck's former masters were none too pleased about the betrayal, so they poisoned him and the Brood queen. With Buck mutating and dying, he begged Shang-Chi to kill him, and the Master of Kung-Fu decapitated Humbug.

Humbug’s horrific death goes unappreciated among collectors, so there are no graded sales on the books. The raw copies typically sell for less than $5 on eBay.

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

Maybe Marvel’s Humbug has nothing to do with Christmas, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a Christmas character. In fact, I would not be surprised if James Gunn tosses him into the mix for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Humbug is just weird enough to pique the writer/director’s interest. For that matter, he could fit into the cartoony antics of future Spider-Man movies, whether that is Sony, Marvel, animated, or live-action.