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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 13, 2022 5:24:07 GMT -5
Is everybody ready? Then let's bring on the bad guys! One of the perks of my gig as a comic book historian is discovering forgotten or overlooked milestones in that history. Such a milestone is America's Greatest Comics #1 (1941), a 15¢ 96-page quarterly that was Fawcett Magazines' answer to DC's similar World's Finest Comics. It was here that American comic books' first super-villain team made its nefarious debut. Ladles and germs, I give you 12. The Death Battalion
The Black Clown, The Black Thorn, Dr. Death, The Ghost, The Horned Hood, and The Laughing Skull, murderous fiends one and all, each a former foe of the crimson-clad crusader known as Mr. Scarlet, are sprung from prison by would-be dictator The Brain to carry out his plan to assassinate America's political, miliary, and industrial leaders. It is up to Scarlet and his sidekick, the oh-so-unfortunately-named Pinky the Whiz Kid, to thwart this scheme and save the US from Brain's particular brand of fascism. Is it a great story? Not by contemporary standards, certainly, but for its day it was a bold step forward in the evolution of the super-hero genre. The villains are heinous, their actions dark and bloody, and their defeat at Mr. S's hands satisfyingly violent. It is a far cry from the squeaky-keen antics of America's Greatest co-star Captain Marvel. Credits, alas, are unknown for this exercise in innovation but that doesn't lessen its importance. Cei-U! You never forget your first! |
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Post by foxley on Dec 13, 2022 5:48:54 GMT -5
Let's kick this off with the one team-up I am absolutely certain is not going to be on anyone else's list... 12. Terra-Man and the Penguin World's Finest #261 (1980) In "Showdown at Gotham City", The Penguin and Terra-Man team up to exploit an actor who has been hypnotized into believing himself to be the Wild West outlaw Butch Cassidy. Then they hypnotize Superman into thinking he is the Sundance Kid, and set him against Batman. The villains' plan backfires when the actor they hypnotized turns against them as he used to know the real Sundance Kid and he breaks Penguin's control over Superman, allowing the heroes to capture them and put and end to their criminal spree. So why is this on my list? Because it so delightfully oddball and off-kilter. I am not the biggest fan of Superman, and I find his rogues gallery, for the most part, kinda dull. But for some reason Terra-Man just appeals to me: the ludicrousness of a space cowboy played so wonderfully seriously. And if you are writer charged with teaming up a Superman villain with a Batman villain, most would go for the obvious and use Luthor and the Joker. Or you could pick two villains who were thematically linked, such as the Prankster and the Riddler. But Denny O'Neil plumped for the bizarre pairing of Terra-Man and the Penguin, which makes no sense whatsoever. And somehow, it is glorious. A nonsensical mess, but a glorious one. And isn't that what comics should be all about? |
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 13, 2022 5:49:37 GMT -5
#12 The U-foes
Incredible Hulk # 254
Marvel comics (1980)
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Artist: Sal Buscema
 In 1980 this team was invented by Bill Mantlo who was the regular writer for this series. Mantlo not known for having the most original plots , essentially created a Fantastic Four knockoff down to the origin and relationships. It seems that Bruce Banner stumbles on a spaceflight planned by billionaire Simon Utrecht , who takes along 3 others in order to get powers from cosmic rays. Utrecht's crew is Ann Darnell, Mike Steel, and Jimmy Darnell, who adopt the code names Vapor, Ironclad , X-ray respectively. Utrecht names himself Vector. There is no altruistic plan for this bunch, they just want to have power and take over the world. Well, when they crash land , they attack Banner for stopping the flight prematurely thus ( they think ) cutting short their potential power levels. Fighting ensues and Banner becomes the Hulk beating them in the end. Okay, not the most original nor sophisticated beginning but it was entertaining enough. This might be the first time a group purposely took a flight in order to gain FF type powers, No I don’t count the Red Ghost and his Apes. This team wasn’t used much after this , but it was a decent enough read for a 19 year old Icctrombone. The FF origin was ripped off down to Mike Steel being called Chicken. 
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 13, 2022 5:53:42 GMT -5
Is everybody ready? Then let's bring on the bad guys! One of the perks of my gig as a comic book historian is discovering forgotten or overlooked milestones in that history. Such a milestone is America's Greatest Comics #1 (1941), a 15¢ 96-page quarterly that was Fawcett Magazines' answer to DC's similar World's Finest Comics. It was here that American comic books' first super-villain team made its nefarious debut. Ladles and germs, I give you 12. The Death Battalion
The Black Clown, The Black Thorn, Dr. Death, The Ghost, The Horned Hood, and The Laughing Skull, murderous fiends one and all, each a former foe of the crimson-clad crusader known as Mr. Scarlet, are sprung from prison by would-be dictator The Brain to carry out his plan to assassinate America's political, miliary, and industrial leaders. It is up to Scarlet and his sidekick, the oh-so-unfortunately-named Pinky the Whiz Kid, to thwart this scheme and save the US from Brain's particular brand of fascism. Is it a great story? Not by contemporary standards, certainly, but for its day it was a bold step forward in the evolution of the super-hero genre. The villains are heinous, their actions dark and bloody, and their defeat at Mr. S's hands satisfyingly violent. It is a far cry from the squeaky-keen antics of America's Greatest co-star Captain Marvel. Credits, alas, are unknown for this exercise in innovation but that doesn't lessen its importance. Cei-U! You never forget your first! Do I dare ask what the Whiz kids powers were ?  |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 13, 2022 6:19:48 GMT -5
I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it... 12. Thaddeus Killgrave, The Toyman, and GillespieOccurred in Adventures of Superman #475 (February 1991) By Dan Jurgens (writer and artist) While I positively adore the Mike Carlin Superman Office of the early 1990s, villains are seldom one of the run's better qualities. I'm sure someone out there is going to have a great classic villain team-up between Lex Luthor and Brainiac, Bizarro and Myxlplyz, or what have you to go on about, but I know '80s and '90s Superman, leaving me with precious few memorable team-ups to speak of. Other than this one. Classic villain The Toyman and recent villain Thaddeus Killgrave are teamed up with low-ranking Intergang underling Gillespie, and the pairing proves priceless. The three react completely differently from one another to each development in the story, as they are each working towards completely different (and somewhat conflicting) goals. Killgrave wants to kill Superman at any cost, Toyman wants to protect the children involved at any cost, and Gillespie just wants to keep his job with Intergang.  It's incredibly funny, and yet it also gets dark as each secretly conspires against the other in typical villain fashion. It's the super-villain version of the odd-couple...only there's three of them. Were these three all big, established Superman villains, I'm confident this story would be better remembered today. As they were third-rate villains at best, these great characterizations and interpersonal relationships were pretty much wasted on a team-up that was never going to happen again. A shame really, as there was so much potential here. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2022 6:54:07 GMT -5
"From the pages of the Metal Men" I give you the Elements of Evil, the Molecules of Mayhem, the Compounds of Chaos, and other Pernicious Puns.... número doce: Gas GangMore chemical abuse than a sold-out Grateful Dead concert, and just as trippy, these evil machinations will never do you a solid. When Doc gets exposed to cosmic rays in Metal Men #6, the FF origin story it is not. He turns into a robot, and as we all know, robots do bad things, and the creation of this team is the result.  |
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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 13, 2022 7:06:22 GMT -5
Do I dare ask what the Whiz kids powers were ? I wish I had an appropriately snappy response but unfortunately he was just another Robin-style kid acrobat.
Cei-U! I summon the letdown!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Dec 13, 2022 7:12:01 GMT -5
#12 - The Masked Marauder and The GladiatorAs seen in Daredevil #19 and #22-23 (1966)  I picked my first entry in this year's Classic Comics Christmas mostly due to a soft spot that I have for the Masked Marauder – especially in his early appearances in Daredevil. I think it's the combination of his dorky costume and corny name that I like so much, long with the fact that he is actually a pretty formidable Silver Age foe for ol' Hornhead. The Marauder and the Gladiator first met in Daredevil #19, and after exchanging some insults and a round of obligatory fisticuffs they decide to join forces to defeat their common foe. They re-appear in Daredevil #22, plotting to become leaders of the Maggia. To accomplish this, the Marauder creates an android called the Tri-Man designed to take down Daredevil, with the idea being that this will impress the Maggia so much that they will want the two supervillains to run the crime cartel. Daredevil battles the Tri-Man at a boxing match in Madison Square Garden no less, and is subsequently captured by the dastardly pair, but of course he breaks loose and eventually defeats them – but not before the Marauder double-crosses the Gladiator in a failed attempt to cut him out of the arrangement and become the sole leader of the Maggia. It's all glorious Silver Age nonsense, of course, but what I particularly love about this supervillain team-up is the utter contempt that the Marauder has for the Gladiator, who he clearly considers his intellectual inferior. Add to that the underhanded double-cross that the Marauder tries to pull near the end of the story, and you have an enjoyable and pretty memorable pairing of supervillains. 
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Post by commond on Dec 13, 2022 7:42:33 GMT -5
12. The Brotherhood of Evil I'm a fan of quirky, offbeat comics, and I like both Arnold Drake's Silver Age Doom Patrol and Grant Morrison's run. What better opponents for the Doom Patrol than the oddball collection of a living brain hellbent on world domination, his 6' 3", 345lbs muscle, Monsieur Mallah, and the wicked Madam Rouge with her diabolical French accent? Later on, they teamed with other Doom Patrol enemies, such as General Immortus and the alien Garguax, before The Chief, Niles Caulder, and Madam Rouge, developed feelings for each other in one of my favorite late series subplots. There was also the hopeless henchman, Mr. Morden, who played a larger role in Morrison's run as Mr. Nobody. I actually considered Morrison's Brotherhood of Dada for my list, but technically, they didn't consider themselves good or evil. Another memorable story in Morrison's run was when Monsieur Mallah and The Brain broke into the Doom Patrol's headquarters in an effort to transplant The Brian inside Robotman's new body, which led to one of last year's Classic Comics Christmas' stranger romances. The Brotherhood of Evil never got very far in their quest for world domination, and I doubt they'd get a seat at the table of any serious villain meet up, but they made it onto my list!
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Post by DubipR on Dec 13, 2022 8:32:47 GMT -5
As the Joker says in "The Dark Knight"..... "And here we go." #12- Mr. Nice, Mastermind and The Perfessor  Today's trio of terribleness is a fun one because it's from one of my favorite comics of the 90s that spun off from the Batman Animated TV series. Three outstanding criminals in their fields but can't perfect the crimes they plot out. While they succeed in their crimes, its usually their in-fighting that leads to their downfall. Mastermind, who's brilliant work with machines makes for daring escapes, The Perfessor is the real brains behind the trio and Mr. Nice is the heart of the group's villainy. But it's Mr. Nice that is usually the one that slips and there's Batman to take them all in to jail. From there Mastermind's terrible temper bubbles over at Mr. Nice and it's chaos until they are released into the public, back to commit more crimes. This is a fun one because I do love the folks that were running the Batman Animated comics line in the 90s. It was the best Bat title on the shelves and to show their love to their company, these three were created. Mastermind is a caricature of Mike Carlin, then editor of the Superman line. The Perfessor is Denny O'Neil and Mr. Nice is the great Archie Goodwin, who was the nicest man in comics. Their legacy of being some of the best editors in the business was honored and made fun of. When Archie passed on, Kelley Puckett and Rick Burchett put out Batman: Gotham Adventures #13, a wonderful tribute to Archie. Fun baddies and comic history tied together. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 13, 2022 9:16:56 GMT -5
12. The Grapplersfirst appearance (as team): Marvel Two-in-One #56 line-up: Screaming Mimi, Poundcakes, Letha and Titania (+ Thundra)  This is a case in which I like the idea of the team more than their actual performance in any of the stories that featured them (at least the ones I’ve read). Much of this has to do with where they first appeared: the Project Pegasus arc in Marvel Two-in-One #53-58. Back in the day I so loved this entire story and every little detail in it, so I was fascinated by the sub-plot involving Thundra eventually getting enlisted to lead a team of women pro wrestlers to infiltrate the Pegasus facility. The introduction of new costumed characters – hero or villain, regardless – always delighted me, and the Grapplers were particularly intriguing because they were all women and all really tough bruisers, something that was a bit out of the ordinary for the time. Even so, except for Thundra, they really didn’t acquit themselves very well their first outing (Quasar and the Bill Foster Giant Man dispatched them pretty easily). But I still liked them, and always wished they’d made a bigger splash – and maybe even became regulars in the rogues’ gallery of, say, Spider-man, Power Man & Iron Fist, or Daredevil.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 13, 2022 9:21:01 GMT -5
#12: The Royal Flush Gang Beyond I see DubipR 's selection from the Batman the Animated series comic and raise with a selection from the Batman Beyond comic! Although the look closely matches their classic counterparts previously seen in Justice League of America and Justice League International what sets the iteration from Batman Beyond apart from the rest was that this was a "real" crime family where the members were actually related by blood which was a really neat concept. On top of that I enjoyed the sympathetic aspect of Ten and her flirtation with Terry as Batman despite feeling obligated to support her family. And while their appearance in the cartoon was great their stories in the comic really built on the concept, with further exploration of the family dynamic in #4's "Two of a Kind" and especially #23's "Family Day" |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 13, 2022 9:39:37 GMT -5
12. The ZodiacIn all honesty, I never thought much about the Zodiac. I never hoped that my favourite heroes would face them. I don't even know what their individual powers are! But there's an image that really struck me as a kid: that of the Zodiac bursting through a wall, led by Taurus, in a double-page spread... and I thought at the time "okay, those guys MUST be trouble! So many bad guys! I love American comics and their nutty costumed characters!"  The Zodiac is the kind of supervillain team that could only come from the naive past, when any group of evil-doers could don colourful costumes, adopt a silly theme a silly theme and rob banks or something. No need for a complicated back-story. "What super-villains could we create this month? Mmmmh... wait, there are twelve zodiacal signs? Then we should have a twelve-member supervillain team, each with some kind of power associated with a star sign! Or even without such a connection!" Case in point, in the issue of The Avengers the above image was taken from, team leader Taurus is seen recruiting members without knowing what their powers are, leading us conclude that as long as a villain is named "Gemini", "Sagittarius" or "Leo", then they're a good fit! In hindsight, it's just such a nutty concept. Some of these guys seem to have no power at all, and others are rather farcical. What's the deal with Cancer? He's a guy with giant lobster claws for hands? How can he go to the toilet, much less take on Earth's mightiest heroes? Well, it doesn't matter. Comics could be unapologetically crazy back then while keeping a straight face. I love 'em!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 13, 2022 9:58:10 GMT -5
"From the pages of the Metal Men"I give you the Elements of Evil, the Molecules of Mayhem, the Compounds of Chaos, and other Pernicious Puns.... número doce: Gas GangMore chemical abuse than a sold-out Grateful Dead concert, and just as trippy, these evil machinations will never do you a solid. When Doc gets exposed to cosmic rays in Metal Men #6, the FF origin story it is not. He turns into a robot, and as we all know, robots do bad things, and the creation of this team is the result. I love the idea of Chloroform and Oxygen on the same team. A match is all it would take! |
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 13, 2022 10:07:22 GMT -5
It's the first day of Classic Comics Christmas 2022 and we already have a duplicate, because my #12 is the same as supercat's... 12. The Gas Gang, debuting in METAL MEN #6, Feb/Mar 1964 Well, I do love an audacious concept, and this one certainly fits the bill! One might think it was an obvious idea: you've got a team of super-hero robot made of specific metallic elements, it's only natural to pit them against another team of element-based robots. But... gas ?! I applaud the creative team of writer Robert Kanigher and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito for conceiving and executing this daft team of villainous vapors! While the idea alone is enough for me to love them, their debut short-changed the reader, as issues of Metal Men tended to do. Padded with flashbacks (including a half-page reproduction of the previous issue's cover!), daydreams, sequences that repeat the same essential information, this issue doesn't even introduce the Gas Gang until part 4, on page 20 of a 25 page story! Doc Magnus has been transformed into an emotionless robot, and when he threatens to replace the Metal Men with "robots of gases--or liquids--or--", Gold, Mercury, and co. lock up their creator in his quarters. While the Metal Men research a means of turning Doc human again, Magnus is fulfilling his latest lunatic vision--the Gas Gang! If that isn't the epitome of Silver Age silliness I don't know what is! The Metal Men succumb to uncontrollable laughter--not because of the absurdity of their antagonists, but because they are (somehow!) vulnerable to the initial effects of chloroform! Oxygen then rusts them, Carbon Monoxide asphyxiates them (what?!) and Carbon Dioxide freezes them, leaving Helium to float them to the scrap heap, until, of course, Gold comes up with a "scientific" approach to burning away the enemy. And of course, Doc recovers his humanity. But the Gas Gang is too good an idea to use up in four measly pages, so they return in "Revolt of the Gas Gang" in issue 10, Oct/Nov 1964. Once again, Doc has a mind to destroy the Metal Men, 5/6ths of which have assembled into a monstrous amalgamation. He decides to get the Gang back together, and once again, Kanigher puts it off as long as he can, with Doc Magnus rebuilding the villains on page 18!  The Gas Gang made a third and final (somewhat) substantive appearance in the highly regarded "Whatever Happened to What's'ername?" by Charlie Boatner and Jim Aparo, in BRAVE & BOLD #187, Jun 1982:  Jim's fully faithful to Andru's comical designs, but the Gas Gang almost immediately disappears to allow for a parade of many more of the Metal Men's most outlandish foes, as the mystery of Tin's long-forgotten robot girlfriend is solved. So why do I like these guys? Unapologetically, I get a big kick out of nutty ideas in comics. I can only imagine how many wild premises were thrown out because they weren't sustainable, couldn't carry a whole story, wouldn't make for good ongoing threats. The Gas Gang is one of those ideas that expire almost as soon as they're defined, and Kanigher must have recognized that, using them in so limited a manner in their own few appearances. What counts is not how the Metal Men fought with a bunch of gases, it's just that they did. |
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?! I applaud the creative team of writer Robert Kanigher and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito for conceiving and executing this daft team of villainous vapors!