The mutants of the Marvel Universe have a variety of powers. Magneto has the ability to control magnetic fields, for instance, while Storm can control the weather. Iceman can manipulate ice, Cyclops can emit energy beams from his eyes, and Wolverine has the ability to heal himself. Mutants also come from a variety of backgrounds, with Hank McCoy being a scientist, Warren Worthington III heir to a family fortune, and Piotr Rasputin raised on a Russian farm.
Then there’s Alison Blaire, who has aspired to become a musical sensation ever since she was in junior high. In addition to her natural ability to sing and dance, however, she also has the mutant power of generating powerful light rays, which she uses as special effects during her concerts. Better known by the stage name Dazzler, Blaire is now a bona fide star within the Marvel Universe, initially finding success as a disco singer before branching out into rock and adult contemporary music.
In issue thirty of the Dazzler comic book series – published in September 1983 – a still-struggling Dazzler is flying back to Los Angeles with the more high-profile entertainer Roman Nekoboh when their private Learjet is attacked by a fighter plane. Although Alison Blaire is able to destroy the enemy craft with her mutant abilities, both the pilot and Nekoboh are injured during the mishap. Unable to fly the Learjet herself, Blaire parachutes them to safety instead.
When she arrives at the home of her stepsister’s father – who also happens to be Roman Nekoboh’s agent – later that evening, she is scolded rather than congratulated for her bravery. “Where is your brain, girl!” Nick Brown asks her. “If you’d played this right, you could have milked a ton of publicity out of it! As it stands, you’ve probably blown the opportunity. You should have stayed in the hospital. Think of the headlines. ‘Heroic Singer Clings to Life.’” Alison Blaire replies that she is fine, but Brown quickly counters, “No, you’re not! You are a nobody, Ali, and for a performer, that’s not fine.”
As the two continue to argue, Blaire’s stepsister Lois enters the room and immediately defends her father. “Daddy’s in a rough business,” she says. “You know that. You’re in it too. Sometimes it’s dirty and sleazy. Daddy does what he has to do.”
By now Alison Blaire has had enough and declares that she can no longer stay in the same house as Nick Brown. Despite having nowhere to go and no money in her pocket, she leaves and begins walking the streets of Los Angeles. Fortunately a passer-by notices her and offers a lift. “I know everybody says you shouldn’t accept rides from strangers,” he tells Blaire. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t offer a ride to a stranger, either, but it’s raining and you don’t look like a mugger.”
Acknowledging that the man doesn’t look a mugger either, Alison Blaire accepts the offer. When asked where she is going, she simply replies, “Right now, any place far away from Los Angeles is fine with me.” The man asks if San Diego is far enough, since that is where he is headed. He then introduces himself as Ralph Macchio – not the actor but the real-world editor of Marvel Comics – and says he is attending a comics convention at the San Diego Convention Center that begins the next day.
When they arrive at their destination, Macchio realizes that Blaire doesn’t have any money and hands her a twenty-dollar bill. At first Alison Blaire refuses to take it, but Ralph Macchio insists, adding that she can consider it a loan if that makes her feel better. Using the money, Blaire gets a room for the night and then calls her New York agent the next morning. “Of course I’ll wire you a cash advance,” he tells her. “You do have a hit record on the charts, after all!”
At a secret underground base in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that serves as the headquarters for an anti-mutant military operation, the commander expresses his dismay over his pilot’s failed attempt at shooting down the Learjet. “We suspect the Blaire girl is potentially the most powerful and dangerous mutant yet known,” he says. “In fact, we were willing to sacrifice two civilian casualties to sanction her.” The commander then leaves for a briefing in Washington D.C., and although he orders his men to remain on base until his return, one of his subordinates has other plans, telling the group that they are going to capture Alison Blaire themselves.
For one of the few times in his life, Ralph Macchio is running late and is immediately confronted by fans – who quickly begin barraging him with questions – when he arrives at the San Diego Convention Center. Alison Blaire has likewise entered the comic book convention, intent on paying Macchio back the twenty dollar she borrowed. “Wow, so many people!” she says in amazement. “You’d think Paul McCartney was playing here today or something!”
The size of the crowd – as well as the fact that a majority of them are dressed in costume – has enabled a small group from the military operation to not only enter the San Diego Convention Center but set up a device designed to trap any mutants inside an energy field. Alison Blaire soon feels the effects, as does a one of the soldiers. Unknown to even himself, he is actually a mutant, and the energy field activates his previously dormant powers and transform him into a giant dinosaur.
Everyone at the convention immediately head for the exit. The remaining soldiers, however, are torn between turning off the machine that caused their colleague to transform and killing him. The dinosaur, however, incapacitates them before they can decide and then destroys the machine himself. Now free from the energy field, Alison Blaire attempts to reason with the dinosaur, but he attacks her instead. Without any other option, Blaire blasts her fellow mutant with a light ray that brings down part of the ceiling inside the San Diego Convention Center.
The only other person remaining in the building is Ralph Macchio, and Alison Blaire pushes him out of the way of a falling beam. Although dazed, the Marvel editor is otherwise fine, and Blaire is finally able to repay him the twenty dollars that he loaned her the night before. “I’ve got to run,” she then says. “I’d better check on the dinosaur man.” As she looks around, however, there is no sign of the creature, and Blaire realizes he probably transformed back into his human form and left the scene.
Afterwards, Alison Blaire decides to do the same. “No more running away for this little Dazzler,” she tells herself as she boards a bus out of town. “Watch out L.A. – I’m coming back, and I’m going to make it!”
Anthony Letizia