Sal Buscema’s impact on Marvel Comics can’t be measured by a single run or a single title — although given the depth of his work on Incredible Hulk and Spectacular Spider-Man, I can see why someone might. Passing away Jan. 23 at the age of 89, Buscema left behind decades of work that shaped how Marvel stories looked and felt. He was a master storyteller whose art anchored everything from cosmic epics to street-level brawls.
Just as enduring are the characters and concepts he co-created druing his long career, like the Grandmaster, Hyperion, Firebird and Constrictor, all of whom continue to appear and evolve long after their debut. Here’s 10 of my favorites.
10. The Wrecking Crew (minus the Wrecker)
I don’t know if I ever realized the Wrecking Crew didn’t debut in an issue of Thor. Given their ties to Asgardian lore, I probably just assumed that they came onto the scene as Thor villains. The Wrecker, of course, did start out as a Thor villain, appearing first in Thor #148 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but the rest of his team wouldn’t make their first appearance until Defenders #17 by Len Wein and Buscema. And despite their original ties to Thor and Defenders, they’ve proven to be a versatile set of villains, taking on everyone from the Avengers to Spider-Man to Doctor Strange to the Runaways.
9. Warpath and the Hellions
Buscema took over as artist of the New Mutants in the mid-1980s, picking the book up from original artist Bob McLeod with issue #4 and staying on until Bill Sienkiewicz began his well-regarded run with issue #18. During that time, writer Chris Claremont and Buscema introduced the Hellions, the “rival school” of young mutants run by Emma Frost, who at the time was the White Queen of the villainous Hellfire Club. That class of Hellions introduced us to James Proudstar, who resented the X-Men for the death of his brother, John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird. James would go on to become the longtime X-Force member Warpath.
8. Firebird (and the Rangers)
During his epic run on Incredible Hulk, Buscema had the opportunity to not only introduce a number of villains to the Hulk’s rogue’s gallery, but also a lot of heroes who came into conflict with the Green Goliath. In Incredible Hulk #265, Bill Mantlo and Buscema introduced a team based in the Southwest United States called the Rangers, made up of existing and new characters — including Firebird, the most prominent of the new ones. She would go on to eventually join the West Coast Avengers and appear in the main Avengers title. I always thought she had a simple but cool design.
7. Soviet Super-Soldiers
Speaking of the Incredible Hulk title, there was a series of stories back in the 1980s that saw him travel the world and meet various heroes from different countries, like China’s the Collective Man, Israel’s Sabra and the (at the time) Soviet Union’s Soviet Super Soldiers. Now, technically, the only new character Mantlo and Buscema brought into the group was Ursa Major, but the team of Darkstar, Vanguard, Crimson Dynamo and Ursa Major first appeared together in Incredible Hulk #258. The team would go through roster and name changes over the years, like Supreme Soviets and Winter Guard, but the concept of a Russian super team would endure.
6. Constrictor
Rounding out characters I dug from Buscema’s Hulk run, here’s a villain that probably felt like a throwaway at the time but went on to make numerous appearances in comics — the Constrictor. The snake-themed villain would plague everyone from the Hulk to Iron Man to Power Man & Iron Fist, but was probably at his most compelling when he turned down the Serpent Society for membership and started to flip to the side of the heroes. He’d go on to appear as a “good guy” in books like Deadpool and The Thing.
5. The Time Variance Authority
First introduced in Thor #372 in 1986, the Time Variance Authority, or TVA, was co-created by Walt Simonson and Buscema as an endlessly bureaucratic organization that monitored and regulated the multiverse’s timelines. Originally conceived as a quirky commentary on continuity and editorial oversight, the TVA has endured and evolved, growing from a comics curiosity into a centerpiece of Marvel’s broader storytelling thanks in part to its later appearances in other media.
4. Cypher + Magma of the New Mutants
During his short tenure on New Mutants, Sal Buscema helped introduce some of the book’s enduring characters — like Magma and Cypher, the latter of whom just had a whole X-Men event built around him. He also helped introduce the grown-up version of Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik, to the Marvel Universe, drawing not only part of the Magik miniseries that told her origin story, but also the issues of New Mutants that brought her to the team.
3. Hyperion, Nighthawk + the Squadron Sinister
This “dark mirror” homage to DC’s Justice League first in Avengers #69, co-created by Roy Thomas and Buscema. While the Squadron itself would be reworked, rebranded and reinterpreted over the years, two of its members, Hyperion and Nighthawk, went on to have particularly long afterlives in the Marvel Universe. Hyperion evolved into one of Marvel’s most powerful and morally complex Superman analogues, appearing in multiple incarnations across universes and eventually becoming a central figure in Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers. Nighthawk, meanwhile, transformed from a villainous Batman pastiche into a hero that would serve a long tenure in the Defenders, among other appearances.
2. Lady Deathstrike
While Yuriko Oyama first appeared in an issue of Daredevil, her more well-known alter ego, Lady Deathstrike, first appeared in Alpha Flight #33 by Mantlo and Buscema. Over time, the character became one of Wolverine’s most persistent and recognizable adversaries
1. The Grandmaster
I’ll end with one of Marvel’s most distinctive cosmic antagonists, the Elder of the Universe known as the Garndmaster. First appearing in The Avengers #69, the Grandmaster was devised by Roy Thomas and Buscema as an immortal who viewed existence as a game to be manipulated, wagered and replayed, pitting heroes and villains against one another as pieces on a cosmic chessboard. Over time, he became a recurring figure in Marvel’s cosmic hierarchy, serving as a centerpiece of events like Contest of Champions, JLA/Avengers and most recently the Imperial miniseries. Buscema’s visuals gave the character a regal menace that made the Grandmaster feel timeless.