Last year, I had the pleasure of having my first book, The League of Regrettable Superheroes, published by the fine folks over at Quirk Books in Philadelphia, PA. Although the cat has been out of the bag for a little while, I'm nonetheless proud to announce that the logical sequel -- The Legion of Regrettable Super-Villains -- is slated to debut on March 28th! You can now pre-order the book over on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and probably on the weird superhero book black market. It does thriving business!
To whet your appetite for the new book, every Friday leading up to the release date, I'll be providing brief snapshots of just some of the 108 (!) historically effed-up bad guys covered in the book (and that's not even counting the sidebars).
Everybody loves the villain, right? The villain gets all the good lines, all the good parts, and they usually get to be a little sexy, t'boot. Well, what if they're horrible monsters? Depending on where you are on the internet, they're still sexy, but only on certain Tumblrs. Here's a batch of baleful fiends from all over the map of grotesque nogoodniks ...
Created by: Mike Sekowsky and an uncredited writer
Debuted in: Captain Flash #1 (Sterling Comics, November 1954)
Arriving from a malevolent dimension with the murder of Earth's greatest scientists on his mind, Mirror Man probably could have picked a more dignified destination spot than a men's bathroom. Well, beggars can't be choosers, I suppose, and Mirror Man's ability to enter and exit any mirror or mirror-like surface allows him easy access and egress from our dimension as the mood suits him. If he had to pee just after he arrived on Earth, hey, it happens to me all the time. I've damn near missed a flight because of a 32 oz Diet Coke.
Created by: Otto Binder and Frank Thorne
Debuted in: Mighty Samson #5 (Western Publishing, March 1966)
It must be total bullshit to survive the nuclear apocalypse and rise up to be a figure of some importance in your desperately rebuilding human settlement only to turn into a ridiculous purple cat monster whenever you get too close to some glowing ferns. It's a living!
Such is what happens to Oggar's unfortunate alter-ego, creating a sort-of Jekyll and Hyde situation for the pacifist scientist and his brutally carnivorous other self. They do end up making an accord in the end, which is a good sign that it was time for Mighty Samson to throw him off a building.
Debuted in: Tally-Ho Comics #1 (Bailey Publishing,
December 1944)
Cognitive dissonance rules the day in this tale, illustrated by Frank Frazetta, in which a black-skulled fiend from an island of criminals slaughters his way across the oceans, only to be beaten back by what is basically the mascot for a frozen foods company. Snowman is apparently some sort of avenging demigod, living in the form of a statue but coming to life when evil threatens the safety of the innocent. Also he has a little corncob pipe and a red button nose. I know I'm supposed to be talking about Fang but that is just nuts, man.
Created by: Bob Hebberd and an uncredited writer
Debuted in: Whiz Comics #34 (Fawcett Comics, September 1942)
The lousy leg, the shitty sideboob, the nasty nuts ... all kinds of body parts probably vied for the role of this liberated limb. But you gotta give the guy ... A HAND. You got to. I checked. It's in this contract you signed on your way in.
The Horrible Hand was actually just a sort of trained pet for a former foe of Ibis The Invincible, sent after the magic-wielding superhero in order to avenge past defeats at the wave of his mighty magic wand. The revenge did not work out. It turns out that Ibis is invincible, for christ's sake, it's right there in his name and everything.
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5 comments:
Speaking of monsters ... RIP Bernie Wrightson. :(
I'm fuckin' gutted. The hours I spent in college trying to emulate his Frankenstein pieces never got me within one one-millionth of his skill, expression and precision...
I've got that hardbound edition that Dark Horse re-issued a few years back and I've been flipping through it all afternoon. That iconic laboratory scene with the Monster and Victor seems to be the one showing up the most on social media (for good reason) ... but I've always loved that snowy cemetery image.
She died on the first approach of cold weather, at the beginning of this last winter.
That Mirror Man image looks like it was drawn by Gil Kane.
Nope, that's our boy Sekowsky
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