Welcome to the four hundred and ninety-fourth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the previous four hundred and ninety-three. This week, did Twin Peaks almost continue as a comic book? Does Marvel really have a trademark on the words "thwip" and "snikt"? Was Bobbi "Mockingbird" Morse's debut published six issues after her first appearance?

Let's begin!

NOTE: The column is on three pages, a page for each legend. There's a little "next" button on the top of the page and the bottom of the page to take you to the next page (and you can navigate between each page by just clicking on the little 1, 2 and 3 on the top and the bottom, as well).

COMIC LEGEND: Twin Peaks almost continued as a graphic novel series.

STATUS: True

The TV world was shocked by the news earlier this month that Mark Frost and David Lynch were bringing Twin Peaks back to television after being off the air for nearly twenty-five years!

However, did you know that the story of Twin Peaks almost continued in a whole OTHER format?

Comic book artist Matt Haley (who is a really strong comic book artist) was a big fan of the show and he inquired about the possibility of doing a graphic novel "Season 3" of the show that would be included in the Twin Peaks box set that was released in 2007.



Back in 2007, Haley explained to Jerry Horne at the Twin Peaks Archives about how close the project came to existing after he decided to try to do a sequel comic book...



I finally got in touch with the right people at CBS/Paramount, specifically Paula Block, whom it turned out I had worked with on my very first comic project, "Star Trek" for DC Comics. She found out that they did indeed have the rights to do a Twin Peaks comic, but warned me up front that there was a 'trail of broken hearts' where Twin Peaks licensed products was concerned. Once I realized there was a chance of actually doing this, I understood I couldn't do a Twin Peaks comic and just write it and put my name on it, as fans would want one written by somebody connected with the show, and Bob Engels (co-producer and executive story editor of the series) seemed a logical choice to write it, so I contacted him and he said if I could secure Lynch and Frost's blessing, he would write the graphic novel.

From there, I got in touch with various people involved with the tv series, including Angelo Badalamenti and Sheryl Lee, and finally Mark Frost, and they all seemed to think it was a good idea. Mark in particular told me Lynch probably wouldn't go for it, but that he had my blessing to proceed.

As it turned out, the project entirely came down to whether Lynch wanted to do it or not. He had the total final say. Ultimately, he told Haley (through his assistant):

"While David respects the artwork and the effort put into this project, he just does not want to continue the story of Twin Peaks in any way."

(That must be especially hard to see for Haley now that Lynch has decided to continue the story of Twin Peaks)

Haley gave some details on what he and Bob would have planned for the graphic novel (which Top Shelf would have published and which would have been included as part of the box set):



Bob and I had a number of discussions about what the story would be, I was keen to use whatever notes they had for the proposed third season, I really wanted this to be a literal '3rd season' of the show. Bob told me they really wanted to get away from the high school setting, so after the resolution of the Cooper-BOB-possession plot point, they would have cut to something like "Ten Years Later", and then shown us a Twin Peaks where Cooper had quit the FBI and had become the town pharmacist, Sheriff Truman had become a recluse, etc. He also mentioned they were going to have Sheryl Lee come back yet again, this time as a redhead, and probably have her character killed by BOB again. There were also some vague ideas about BOB and Mike being from a planet made of creamed corn, something about Truman driving Mike backwards through the portal into the Black Lodge (which I think would have been a really nice cinematic scene).

Haley's concept art is good. What a fascinating "What If?"!

Go to the Twin Peaks Archive for the full interview plus more Haley artwork!

Thanks to Haley and the Twin Peaks Archive for this very cool story of what might have been!

Check out my latest Movie Legends Revealed at Spinoff Online: Was the famous "Ghostface" mask for the Scream films originally discovered in an abandoned house during location scouting for the first Scream film?

On the next page, does Marvel seriously have trademarks on the terms "Snikt" and "Thwip"?

COMIC LEGEND: Marvel has a trademark on the words "Snikt" and "Thwip."

STATUS: True and Seemingly False

Reader Marjorie A. wrote in to ask:

I've read in many websites that Marvel trademarked Spiderman's "thwip" and Wolverine's "snikt", but this rumour always comes from the same source: Wikipedia. I couldn't find anything on that matter at US Trademark Database. Would you be kind to clarify this?

But of course, Marjorie!

Spider-Man's "thwip"...



and Wolverine's "snikt"...



definitely are two very famous sound effects, but are they something that Marvel actually uses in commerce?

Surprisingly enough, in the case of "snikt," Marvel does, in fact, have a registered trademark on the term. Here it is...



In the case of "Snikt," it seems to me that that phrase is a little more famous and also a little easier to market. To wit, Marvel had a comic specifically CALLED "Snikt"...



So I could see a case where Marvel felt that they could make money off of the term (t-shirts and the like) and they wanted to make sure that it was protected.

For "thwip," though, it seems like there is zip. I put up "Seemingly" only on the off chance that I somehow missed something somewhere. I don't believe I did, so I'm pretty confident in saying that Marvel does not have a registered trademark on "thwip."

There ya go, Marjorie, thanks for the question!

On the next page, was Mockingbird's first appearance published six months after her debut?

COMIC LEGEND: Bobbi "Mockingbird" Morse's first appearance was published six issues after her debut?

STATUS: Essentially True

Yesterday, we featured an updated version on my exploration of the extremely long and convoluted history of Bobbi Morse, the Marvel hero known as Mockingbird. After finishing it, I realized I had enough for an entire Mockingbird edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed. But then I realized, "I don't think many people would particularly be interested in an all-Mockingbird edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed," so instead I'll parcel them out over the next few weeks. Probably one a week, but maybe not. I am mysterious like that.

Anyhow, the first piece of odd history involving Mockingbird is something that reader Huey Sheridan (who did extensive work on Mockingbird's Wikipedia page) wrote in to ask me about and he brought up a fascinating point.

Okay, as noted in the Mockingbird history piece, her debut came in Astonishing Tales #6 by Gerry Conway and Barry Windsor-Smith...





It wasn't until a couple of issues later, when Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich had taken over the book, that we learn her name...









As you might notice, the Barbara in the later issue is nothing like the psychic lady we saw in issue #6. This is because (as Huey theorized and he is absolutely correct after he mentioned it) it is NOT the same woman. It just RETROACTIVELY became the same woman. You see, in 1971 (right around the time of Astonishing Tales #6), Len Wein and Neal Adams were going to have a Man-Thing story in Savage Tales #2. That story was to introduce a woman (among many characters) named Dr. Morse. However, their story in Savage Tales #2 was canceled, as the book became strictly a Conan comic after #1.

So look at what Roy Thomas had when he took over Astonishing Tales. He had a character with no name and barely any exploration by Conway. He also had this story by Wein with a new female character. So he clearly decided to MERGE the two characters, and then he and Friedrich wrote a few stories in the Ka-Zar feature in Astonishing Tales that set up Barbara as a character in the books and then, whammo, Astonishing Tales #12, which used the unpublished Wein/Adams story as Barbara's "origin," while also giving her a reason for being...



That's brilliant work by Thomas there.

So Barbara Morse first appeared in Astonishing Tales #6, but she REALLY first appeared in the unpublished Savage Tales #2 story, a story that wasn't actually published until Astonishing Tales #12. So her first appearance came six months after her debut!

Geat work by Huey picking up on it all. Thanks, Huey!

Okay, that's it for this week!

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for this week's covers! And thanks to Brandon Hanvey for the Comic Book Legends Revealed logo!

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Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed

See you all next week!