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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 8, 2019 16:59:39 GMT -5
So, let's open this up. Which Superman villain would you have given a solo comic to, either back then or now? (I don't have an opinion on this because I'm struggling to think of a Superman villain that could carry a solo book). Terra-Man. If you don't count Bizarro as a "villain" (and I don't), Terra-Man has a head start on any of the Superman villains, being the first to get a solo story: Superman #249, 1972. Space cowboy on a flying winged horse, born in the old west, raised by an alien outlaw who killed his Pa, returns to a world that's 100 years older than the one he left behind thanks to some near-light-speed travels...there's really a lot to work with, there! Earth-bound, cosmic, time travel, all with a character that hasn't been overused or been burdened with too restrictive a back story. From the Batman villains, I've said before that when the Joker started up, I immediately began imagining how great a Two-Face series could have been. A much stronger opportunity to do the "Hero and Villain in One Man" than the awkwardly-defined Eclipso was! |
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Post by chadwilliam on Oct 8, 2019 23:20:43 GMT -5
So, let's open this up. Which Superman villain would you have given a solo comic to, either back then or now? (I don't have an opinion on this because I'm struggling to think of a Superman villain that could carry a solo book). Terra-Man. If you don't count Bizarro as a "villain" (and I don't), Terra-Man has a head start on any of the Superman villains, being the first to get a solo story: Superman #249, 1972. Space cowboy on a flying winged horse, born in the old west, raised by an alien outlaw who killed his Pa, returns to a world that's 100 years older than the one he left behind thanks to some near-light-speed travels...there's really a lot to work with, there! Earth-bound, cosmic, time travel, all with a character that hasn't been overused or been burdened with too restrictive a back story. This is such a great answer! Terra-Man was a great idea but he was so outmatched by Superman that he never really worked for me, but who hasn't wondered what Jesse James would make of the 20th/21st century and could he give today's lawmen a run for their money? Well, if by "today's lawmen" you mean "Superman" then...no. Get Superman out of the equation though and I don't think there's much to hold the character back. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Oct 8, 2019 23:31:34 GMT -5
So, let's open this up. Which Superman villain would you have given a solo comic to, either back then or now? (I don't have an opinion on this because I'm struggling to think of a Superman villain that could carry a solo book). Lex Luthor is the obvious choice. There would be plenty of bad guy rivals to challenge him. But the whole thing falls apart if he has to be stupid enough to get sent to prison at the end of every issue. Unless the whole book is about how he runs his criminal enterprise while incarcerated, like Pablo Escobar. Come to think of it, would a villain centric book even need to have the bad guy out of jail to work? Couldn't they have done a Joker title with him incarcerated at Arkham most of the time? Two-Face is planning to escape; Joker hasn't forgotten how he refused to take him with him last time; this issue he devises a plan for Two-Face to get caught while he works from behind the scenes. There's a story. Joker bets Mr. Freeze that his men can carry out a scheme in his name disguised as him on the outside without the police figuring out how he can be in two places at once; he loses the bet when the fake Joker gets caught; Mr. Freeze gloats, Joker reveals that it was Freeze's old loot that fake Joker got caught with; Joker gets last laugh. That's a story. I mean, you wouldn't want to do every story like that, but perhaps this idea that the villain has to break out and get back in to prison every issue isn't as inflexible as it sounds. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2019 2:53:09 GMT -5
I know, by definition, a superhero can only have one archenemy, but Batman has foes who could all be considered his archenemy: Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Two-Face, Bane, and Ra's al Ghul. Just my view, of course.
With Spider-Man, I consider either Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus to be his archenemy. But what about Venom? Not sure about that.
Lex Luthor is definitely Supes' archenemy for me!
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Oct 9, 2019 6:19:59 GMT -5
And we must not forget the absolute proof that supervillain comics can be absolute classics for the ages, proof that the hand of the divine does have contact with this mortal sphere...  Or, hey, at least I liked it. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2019 6:31:30 GMT -5
I like Chad's ideas very much!
And it got me thinking: doesn't Mister Freeze deserve a solo title?
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Oct 9, 2019 8:26:27 GMT -5
I was also going to say Terra-Man!
His origin is almost exactly the same as the movie version of Star-Lord. The Guardians of the Galaxy movie shows what can be done with the concept.
In terms of villains carrying their own solo series, Deathstroke the Terminator had a series that ran 60 issues back in the 90's. And apparently currently has a series that's going to run at least through #50. That's pretty solid.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Oct 10, 2019 12:25:49 GMT -5
Terra-Man. If you don't count Bizarro as a "villain" (and I don't), Terra-Man has a head start on any of the Superman villains, being the first to get a solo story: Superman #249, 1972. Space cowboy on a flying winged horse, born in the old west, raised by an alien outlaw who killed his Pa, returns to a world that's 100 years older than the one he left behind thanks to some near-light-speed travels...there's really a lot to work with, there! Earth-bound, cosmic, time travel, all with a character that hasn't been overused or been burdened with too restrictive a back story.
I was thinking of him, too! I actually loathed him as a Superman villain ... he was just too corny ... but as a protagonist I think he'd have a lot of potential.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Oct 11, 2019 19:05:44 GMT -5
With Spider-Man, I consider either Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus to be his archenemy. But what about Venom? Not sure about that. You're wrong on all counts. Spider-Man's archenemy is J. Jonah Jameson. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Oct 12, 2019 1:27:28 GMT -5
With Spider-Man, I consider either Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus to be his archenemy. But what about Venom? Not sure about that. You're wrong on all counts. Spider-Man's archenemy is J. Jonah Jameson. Huh. Yeah. Good call. |
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Post by Duragizer on Oct 12, 2019 3:53:57 GMT -5
With Spider-Man, I consider either Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus to be his archenemy. But what about Venom? Not sure about that. Venom is Bizarro-Spidey. He's hazardous comic relief and not much more. |
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Post by earl on Oct 13, 2019 14:32:13 GMT -5
There have been quite a few good comics featuring the villains in the past couple decades. I think the back stories on some of these long running characters not being totally mined out is partially why they work.
There has been some stories and plots that will show some of this, but I always thought a comic about the inter-workings of criminal underworld based either in Gotham or Marvel's NYC could be good. I think it would be neat to have say a Daredevil story line on what he has working on and have a title where you see the flipside of the bad guys planning and trying to execute their schemes. Joe Casey did a few issues of a comic called Codeflesh about a super villian bail bondsmen/bounty hunter that I thought was a neat angle. That type of story could work well.
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