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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 19, 2022 4:59:42 GMT -5
Given my oft-stated love for the Justice Society of America, it's probably no surprise that today's selection made my list. The real challenge for me was deciding which incarnation of 6. The Injustice Society of the World
I would single out. I went back and forth for a while—the version that plagued the JSA in the mid-'70s All-Star Comics revival was a strong candidate—but ultimately I decided on the original from All-Star #37 (October-November 1947). My motivation for this was not rooted in the inherent quality of the story and art (although, by Golden Age standards, they're both good), nor by the sheer villainy implicit in the combination of The Brain Wave, Per Degaton, The Gambler, Vandal Savage, The Thinker, and The Wizard. No, this time it was about the plot: The Injustice Society orchestrate a nationwide jailbreak, organizing hundreds of convicts into an army with which the sextet of arch-fiends hope to overwhelm law enforcement. The plan fails, of course, but what it did accomplish was to jump-start the imagination of a would-be novelist some seven decades later. Yup, it was re-reading this issue of All-Star that gave your pal Cei-U! the foundation on which he built his novel Lash House, which can be read here. For that moment of inspiration, the ISW deserve their slot on my CCC honor roll. Cei-U! I summon the brainstorm! |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2022 5:32:30 GMT -5
Secret Society of Super-Villains (Ultra-Humanite Team) Similar to yesterday when I mentioned quality of stories was now weighing more heavily in my choices than just “cool characters”, today's pick is a villain team featured in the culmination of one of my favorite comic book story arcs of all time in All-Star Squadron Annual #2. To set the stage though, I do love all the characters in play here as well. I've always felt the Ultra-Humanite (an absolute favorite of mine) should never have been ignored all those long years (decades actually) after his initial appearances in Action Comics in the late 30's as an adversary to Superman. So in this incarnation of the Secret Society of Super-Villains in the early 80's, this is now his team, his show. Oh, and for a time he's now in the body of a mutated ape, taking the “brain transfer” in a crazy new direction. I also have nostalgia for the original Secret Society from the 70's. Sure, in execution it was a bit of a mess, coherent storytelling it often was not. But it was a fresh concept at the time, and a great selection of rogues nonetheless. That original version just barely missed my list for this year in fact. In this version though, the Ultra-Humanite assembles a new team per the picture above, and some awesome choices IMO, including other personal favorites like Cheetah, Psycho-Pirate, Killer Frost, Brain Wave, and Rag Doll. Their 3-part story in the JLA title lands them defeated and literally cast into limbo where they remain lost. Until the Ultra-Humanite shows up in All-Star Squadron (Earth-2 WW II era) now portrayed in the body of actress Dolores Winters (a nod all the way back to Action Comics #20). The team expands per the image below (All-Star Squadron Annual #2 ) as he has now recruited villains contemporary to that world and time like Deathbolt (along with the reluctant Cyclotron and soon to turn hero Amazing Man). Also in that image you see various returning members of his Secret Society he retrieves as well, and would be the team's classic era swan song in this issue. A most satisfying epic ride and conclusion that earns them my team choice for today. 
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 19, 2022 6:08:30 GMT -5
6. The Masters of Evil (circa “Under Siege”)Occurred in Avengers #273-277 (November 1986 thru March 1987) By Roger Stern and John Buscema I doubt there's much I can say here that commond hasn't said already, but I'll give it a try. Unlike many others here, I'm not in total awe of the Under Siege storyline, but I'll absolutely admit that this union of super-villains was unforgettable. What I always enjoy most about comics is characters and their relationships, and this team had enough to drive a 100+ issue series if things had gone that way. The scheming cold war between Baron Zemo and Moonstone, the deranged psyche of Blackout, the simple blunt demeanor of The Wrecker, the unbelievable savagery of Mr. Hyde, and everywoman Yellow Jacket just trying to get her job done amidst all of this – I couldn't get enough of them.  Why did Tiger Shark randomly get a cab and leave in the middle of that storyline, though?
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 19, 2022 6:44:25 GMT -5
6. Blob and Unus the UntouchableIn: Marvel Fanfare #7 (script: Steven Grant, art: Joe Barney/George Freeman) About halfway into 2020, I had one of those smack-myself-in-the-head moments when I realized that I probably should have included this story in my picks for the 12 days event for 2019, i.e., on the theme of favorite team-ups/crossovers. I’ve always been fond of this one, even though Blob and Unus in particular are far from my favorite bad guys. And these two ‘evil’ mutants aren’t really engaged in any illegal or even objectionable activities here. They’re just sort of lying low, running a travelling carnival that Blob took over. Unus, however, has lost control of the field that makes him, well, untouchable, so that he can’t even feed himself (it’s suggested that eventually even the air that he breathes won’t be able to reach him and he’ll suffocate). Blob, meanwhile, is doing everything to keep his buddy alive.  Interestingly enough, this is ostensibly a Hulk story, but he almost comes across as the bad guy in this one, as he compounds the troubles of the two when he – again on the run from the US military and feeling a bit peckish – lumbers into the carnival grounds looking for something to eat. Obviously a melee eventually breaks out between him and the two mutants. There’s nothing earth-shattering here; it’s just a little story I’ve found quite touching and memorable ever since I first read it, because there’s something quite moving about the way the friendship between Blob and Unus is portrayed here, especially former’s concern for his friend (it’s also the first time I’ve seen Blob characterized as anything but an obnoxious a-hole). And I bet I’ll be the only one to have Blob on his list twice this year...
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 19, 2022 6:47:49 GMT -5
6. The Legion of the unliving
Avengers #131, 132,
Giant sized Avengers #3( 1975)
Writer: Steve Engelhart
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Joe Staton The Legion of the unliving which is comprised of Baron Zemo, the Frankenstein Monster, Midnight, the Flying Dutchman's Ghost, the original Human Torch, and Wonder Man appeared during the Celestial Madonna storyline which started in Avengers v.1 129 with chapters in Giant sized #2 and 3. Kang uses technology taken by Immortus to draw deceased opponents to kill the Avengers and capture Mantis.There have been other iterations in Avengers V2 and West coast Avengers but this first time opened the door to bringing dead characters back. A few points about the book:Engelhart introduces the concept of bringing back dead characters with their personalities and memories intact. These appearances create problems with certain people that were never dead like Wonder man and the android Human Torch. The same dilemma is introduced when in future iterations, Mockingbird and Hellcat are “ dead” and part of the LOTU. 
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Dec 19, 2022 7:13:24 GMT -5
#6 – Doctor Doom and DormammuAs seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #14 (1980)  Doctor Doom has always been one of my favourite comic bad guys, and I consider him to be as much of a Spider-Man villain as a Fantastic Four one. After all, the Web-Slinger first faced off against Doom as early as Amazing Spider-Man #5 (which is one of my favourite ever issues of the series). In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #14, Doom is back again, but this time he is in league with the Dread Dormammu! The dastardly pair are bent on unleashing a mystical threat on the world that is a mixture of science and magic known as the "Bend Sinister", which is manifested as a half tech/half magic blue robot monster. Of course, it's up to Spidey and Dr. Strange to stop them, which they inevitably do, though Doom himself realises that the "Bend Sinister" is probably too dangerous for him to be able to control properly and is therefore better left alone. This annual feels very much like a spiritual sequel to the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko created Strange and Spidey team-up story found in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, and the fact that Frank Miller is doing his darnedest to ape Ditko's art style really accentuates that link. I think it was EdoBosnar who picked this pairing of villains earlier this week, and it was nice to see that there is someone else in the forum who remembers this annual fondly.  All in all, this is a really great comic and the pairing of Doom and Dormammu is such a memorable one that it immediately jumped into my head as soon as Kurt announced this year's theme. Oh, and I just love the way Doom drinks his tea with his little pinkie extended...  
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2022 7:16:32 GMT -5
6. Fearsome Five (DC) This can apply to any incarnation of the team, although I’m more familiar with their 80s exploits, pre-Crisis and post-Crisis. They’re visually cool. Their power set is cool. They are such a disparate bunch of villains - and I think they’d work against anyone. I’ve only seen them battle the Teen Titans - and then Superman. More than once. But I could imagine them working well against anyone with super powers - or maybe even against the likes of Batman and Robin. My write-up may seem simplistic, but that’s all I’ve got. They’re fun, and I simply like them on that basis.
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 19, 2022 7:17:47 GMT -5
6. The Masters of Evil (circa “Under Siege”)Occurred in Avengers #273-277 (November 1986 thru March 1987) By Roger Stern and John Buscema I doubt there's much I can say here that commond hasn't said already, but I'll give it a try. Unlike many others here, I'm not in total awe of the Under Siege storyline, but I'll absolutely admit that this union of super-villains was unforgettable. What I always enjoy most about comics is characters and their relationships, and this team had enough to drive a 100+ issue series if things had gone that way. The scheming cold war between Baron Zemo and Moonstone, the deranged psyche of Blackout, the simple blunt demeanor of The Wrecker, the unbelievable savagery of Mr. Hyde, and everywoman Yellow Jacket just trying to get her job done amidst all of this – I couldn't get enough of them. Why did Tiger Shark randomly get a cab and leave in the middle of that storyline, though? I enjoyed his story the second time I read it a lot more than the first time. And now I have to re-read the Tiger Shark cab scene, cause of this post.   |
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Post by foxley on Dec 19, 2022 7:20:23 GMT -5
Because you get the best of the old and the new... 6. Injustice, Unlimited (First Appearance: Infinity Inc. #34, 1987)(Wizard, Artemis, Fiddler, Hazard, Icicle II, Shade, Dummy, Harlequin II, Solomon Grundy) Injustice, Unlimited was founded by the Wizard as a successor group to the Injustice Society. They clashed with Infinity, Inc and the Global Guardians in Calgary but were thwarted when the Wizard was apparently acidentally killed by Hourman. Months later a slimmed down version of the group led by the Dummy and the second Harlequin took revenge on Infinity, Inc by murdering Skyman, and setting in motion the events which led to Infinity, Inc's dissolution. When I started assembling this list, I thought--given my fondness for the JSA and love of DC's golden age supervillains--that the Injustice Society of the World would be a lock. However, when I started trying to work out which incarnation of ISW to use, I realised that my favourite version of the team wasn't really the Injustice Society at all, but rather Injustice, Unlimited. At its best Infinity, Inc. combined the things many of us love about the Golden Age with a modern comics sensibility. And I think no arc demonstrates this better than Injustice Unlimited's first story. This is Roy Thomas doing what he does best: combining the Golden Age stories that he loves with new elements that pay homage to the past without slavishly imitating them. So you have team consisting of three established golden age villains (the Wizard, Fiddler and the Shade) and three new bloods: Artemis (later Tigress), the daughter of Sportsmaster and the Huntress; Icicle II, son of the original; and Hazard, granddaughter of the Gambler. Another tip of the hat that I did not notice until later, is that the first story follows the structure of a golden age JSA story: after Hourman and Icemaiden are captured by Injustice, Unlimited, and Infinitor and a Guardian are assigned to accompany a villain to achieve their personal goal: mirroring the way JSA would split up, deal with an individual problem, and then team up again at the end of the story. Artemis/Tigress and Icicle would go to be major villains in the The DCU. I just wish writers would do more with Hazard, who was my favourite member of the team. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 19, 2022 7:20:42 GMT -5
Secret Society of Super-Villains (Ultra-Humanite Team)Their 3-part story in the JLA title lands them defeated and literally cast into limbo where they remain lost. Until the Ultra-Humanite shows up in All-Star Squadron (Earth-2 WW II era) now portrayed in the body of actress Dolores Winters (a nod all the way back to Action Comics #20). The team expands per the image below (All-Star Squadron Annual #2 ) as he has now recruited villains contemporary to that world and time like Deathbolt (along with the reluctant Cyclotron and soon to turn hero Amazing Man). Also in that image you see various returning members of his Secret Society he retrieves as well, and would be the team's classic era swan song in this issue . A most satisfying epic ride and conclusion that earns them my team choice for today. This was a fun 3 parter. I might have to revisit it. Jerry Ordway draws the Golden age heroes better than everyone else and that dress on the Ultra Humanite is eye catching.  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 19, 2022 8:22:25 GMT -5
The first name I had for today's entry was Typhoid Mary's ad hoc bunch of dudes beating on Daredevil (for lack of a better team name!) However, since commond DID come up with a better name for the same gang, I'll use that one instead! (It makes tallying the votes easier, too). 6. The Daredevil Revenge Squad Typhoid Mary's mission in those days was to break the man without fear, physically and emotionally. She did so by making Matt Murdock fall for her "other self "(the gentle and vulnerable Mary) and betray his live-in girlfriend Karen Page. Typhoid would then reveal her evil side and show Matt what a heel he was; for all his big words about truth, justice and morality, he could still hurt someone he loved for selfish reasons. That's for the heartbreaking part. Now physically, she didn't have access to a lot of quality; no Bullseye, no Mr. Hyde, no Gladiator... and so she settled for quantity. She recruited a bunch of low-level lowlifes who went at Daredevil one after the other, beating him up a bit more each time, until he was almost dead : Bullet (no power; he's just big), Bushwacker (O.K., that one can form a gun out of his arm; but just a regular gun), Ammo (no power; just a street thug who dresses like a reject from the Village Peope), the Wild Boys (two hooligans who are into stealing handbags and toppling cases of produce in front of groceries). We are NOT talking The Hand, here. But these Z-listers kept coming and taking shots at our hero, until Typhoid provided the coup de grâce. What I really enjoyed with this concept is that none of those guys, individually, proved much of a threat; but all together, they really fulfilled the mandate of a super villain team. It doesn't matter if a particular fellow isn't superpowered; if he's the third one to beat your shins with a baseball bat, he's gonna do damage. Which Daredevil finally understood the hard way. (For those interested: a broken and helpless DD was thrown off a bridge and into a ditch by Typhoid, but since her Mary persona was actually in love with the man, she apparently couldn't bring herself to stab him one final time. Matt was left to rot, which he sort of did for a few days until Inferno happened. How his broken bones healed so fast was probably due to some kind of limbo-magic. Still, the ordeal threw him into a deep depression and he left New York for several months). |
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Post by foxley on Dec 19, 2022 8:35:04 GMT -5
Roquefort Raider, you got Bushwhacker and Ammo the wrong way round. Bushwhacker is the one can form his arm into a gun, and Ammo is the Village People reject with an eyepatch and blonde dye job.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 19, 2022 9:06:32 GMT -5
And on the seventh day of Classic Comics Christmas I give to thee Megavolt, Quackerjack, Bushroot and the Liquidator Darkwing Duck: The Duck Knight Returns #1-4 2010, Boom! Sure, this kid friendly quartet of villainy may just look like a bunch of quirky funny animal knock offs of better known comic villains like Hydroman, the Shocker, Poison Ivy and the Joker on the surface, but they have personalities all their own. And while they are fun and zainy on their own as a group they really reach the next level with some seriously funny meta-comments about not only their own histories as former cartoon characters but comics in general which were a blast to read. And while I could have gone back to the Disney Afternoon comics and also thrown in Darkwing's evil doppelganger, Negaduck, into the mix who lead the group(under the name The Fearsome Five) in those comics and in the cartoon as well those adventures just didn't have the same self depreciating humor that this story did and tended to play it more straight...and where's the fun in that?
What's really interesting though is that although their villainous scheme did succeed, as they did get revenge on their corporate over lords who forced them to do menial tasks...their success actually ended up saving St. Canard. No evil deed goes unpunished I guess. |
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Post by commond on Dec 19, 2022 9:07:39 GMT -5
6. The Decepticons Transformers continuity is a mess, and really depends on which cartoon series, comic book, or movie you're talking about, but for the purposes of this list, I'm drawing upon Marvel Comics continuity where Megatron rose through the ranks as a gladiator in the Cybertron city-state of Tarn, and in the aftermath of an inter-city war between Tarn and Vos, convinced the survivors to unite as a new faction, the Decepticons. I was five years old when the Transformers debut, and they blew my little mind. Robots that could transform into cars and airplanes? Are you kidding me? What I loved about the original group of Decepticons is that unlike the Autobots, who were steadfast in their loyalty to Optimus Prime, the Decepticons were prone to petty jealousy and infighting, especially from the treacherous Starscream, who was continually plotting to overthrow Megatron and take control of the Decepticon leadership. Megatron snapping and throttling Starscream was often more exciting than their skirmishes with the Autobots. My exposure to the Transformers comic was mostly through the Marvel UK magazine, which was a weekly publication that reprinted the original US series along with other back up features and the occasional original story. We got a lot of the weekly British comic magazines back then, and while I didn't have the means to collect it every week, I definitely had a collection of issues prior to collecting comics regularly. I'm not sure if I understood they were reprints, but in retrospect, it was a cool way to read comics.
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 19, 2022 9:09:14 GMT -5
6. Luthor and Brainiac Quite honestly, I'm surprised by this team being on my list, but once it occurred to me it kept sticking around. I'm not a huge Silver Age Superman fan, but I'm almost always entertained by any of those stories, and reprints from that era were a big component of my early comics reading. Whenever this duo teamed up, the stories stuck with me, leaving me with permanent impressions of specific Curt Swan-- always Curt Swan!--panels and splashes. The team almost always elevated a standard Superman story, and that makes it deserving of my high esteem. Given how ridiculously overpowered Superman was, it makes sense that the most promising avenue towards defeating him is brain power, and with Luthor and Brainiac, you're doubling up with two villains whose primary "power" is intelligence. But the pair don't feel superfluous to each other, even in the limited characterizations of the Silver Age. Brainiac must have had the edge in raw intellect, and he had the advantage of countless alien technologies available to him. But these two tended to be more cooperative than competitive in pursuing their goals, something we'd expect of super-intelligent beings. While I can enjoy a good double-cross, it's not something that's in my nature, so I like villains smart enough to see the wisdom in not backstabbing each other. As an AI, Brainiac showed a lot more emotion in the Silver Age than he did in more robotic--that admittedly cooler looking!--later years, but Luthor always seemed to be the more emotionally driven, bringing a critical human venality to the team-ups. Of the two characters, I admit a much greater fondness for Brainiac, right down to those freaky looking interconnected lights on his scalp, but Luthor's never better than when he's got the superintelligent android from Colu as his partner!
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