Richard Rory is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.He initially was a sort of author surrogate or alter ego for writer Steve Gerber, though Gerber is also shown to exist in the Marvel Universe.He was introduced in The Man-Thing #2, a bit of a loner who rather easily befriended the nearly mindless monster.In rural areas, he was frequently belittled for his college education and rather left-wing perspective.Later, under the pen of David Anthony Kraft, he became friends with She-Hulk, with slight romantic overtones that went nowhere.The character is named after Richard Cory, a character whose opposite, whose song was playing on the radio when Gerber created the character.[1]
Fictional character biography
Richard Rory, an eternal pessimist who claims that the doctor dropped him at his birth, had been a disc jockey for an Ohio radio station when he is introduced at age 23.
When he made fun of Foolkiller on the air, Foolkiller pursued him all the way to the FloridaEverglades.
There, he punched Steve Gerber in the face, mistaking him for Foolkiller because they drove the same model car.
Rory survived, and Foolkiller did not, after Rory pounced on him while he was shooting.
He befriended Ruth Hart, a nurse from St. Louis.
After some time together, in which Rory suggested marriage, she went to New York City to pursue her nursing career, deciding the gentle but opinionated Rory was not her type.[2]
He decided to remain in Citrusville, a town near Man-Thing's swamp, and got a job at the local radio station. This was short-lived. Speaking out on the air against the Citrusville book burning, Rory gets fired, and Josefsen, the mad Viking, threatens him for being "less than a man". Deciding it is time to leave Citrusville for good, he is accompanied, at their insistence, by Man-Thing and Carol Selby, the daughter of the book burning instigator, Olivia Selby. As Carol is still in high school, he becomes a wanted fugitive, legally a kidnapper, but he cannot leave her in Citrusville. He escapes with them to Atlanta, but is eventually caught and given a prison rap in Citrusville, and Carol returns to her parents.[3]
Tony Stark briefly visits Rory, knowing his connection to Man-Thing and seeking information, but his most important visitor is cellmate Greg Salinger, who is in on disorderly conduct charges.While in the cell together, Rory tells Salinger of his past, including details about the Foolkiller incident.[4]
When Rory is released, Ruth Hart allows him to stay in her Hell's Kitchen apartment, where she lives with Daily Bugle photographer Amber Grant and James-Michael Starling, a young orphan and former patient with a mental link to Omega the Unknown. Greg Salinger has also come to New York, equipped with Foolkiller gear Rory never dreamed he would seek for his own use. Searching for James-Michael, he helps the Defenders deal with Foolkiller, initially attempting to get Salinger to join the team, but it does little good, and Kyle Richmond's mansion is burned to the ground by Foolkiller's purification gun when he learns that the team does not kill their foes.[5]
When we next see him, he is still down on his luck, wandering through the streets of Las Vegas. He finds a silver dollar on the ground and decides to use it in the slot machine of a nearby casino. He hits the jackpot, and is horrified that no money comes out, assuming it is his constant bad luck. The manager explains to him that a prize that large can be given only as a check. He places the entire amount on a single spin of the roulette wheel at the urging of a showgirl in the employ of the casino manager. Instead of losing, as the casino manager hoped, he wins, breaking the bank.[6]
While driving his new car, he gets into a minor accident with She-Hulk, who changes back into Jennifer Walters in a nearby alley. It does not take him long to realize that they are the same person, but he chooses to keep that knowledge to himself. He decides that what he really wants to do with his money is buy the Citrusville radio station that fired him, and Jennifer accompanies him. When She-Hulk shows up in the swamp, where he is briefly reunited with Man-Thing, Rory's suspicion that she is Jennifer is confirmed beyond doubt, but he still does not let on that he knows.[7]
With Zapper and Zapper's rich new wife, Rory showed up for Jennifer's Christmasparty many years later, once again a wealthy man, this time inherited from an aunt who he did not know existed.[8]
External links
Richard Rory at the Appendix to the Marvel Handbook
