There has been a perception of Modok as "lame" on the part of creators, I think, due mainly to the character's bizarre Kirby-esque visual. The same with Arnim Zola. It becomes a serious problem for the future viability of the character when these creators cue the readers in on how they feel about him. Mantlo may or may not have been kidding when he turned Katherine Waynesboro into "Ms. Modok" for one issue, but the current staff of Marvel are definitely not kidding about how lame they believe the character to be when they publish entire issues and series on the topic such as Modok: Reign Delay and Modok's Eleven.

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Ah, but the ol' Marvel gang were also quick to turn such presumptions on their heads, with the likes of the Thing, the Hulk, even the Beast in his original more brutish incarnation.

MODOK was a character that scared me as a child, but as I grew older the things that once scared me were things I wanted to learn more about. The more I learned about the character and his history the more fascinated I became with MODOK.

The thought of the character as being some sort of goofball never entered my mind, so I was quite surprised when I found out so many did.

Will he be known as a "goofball" ten years from now? There is a good chance, but it would be nice if this character gained more respect in the next few years.

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Returning to this comment, perhaps worth mentioning that I have found, the few times I have drawn MODOK, that the best way to capture his face is to think of a crying baby!