12. Tarantula and his Web Masters (Battle/Eagle, circa 1980s, published by IPC)







Tarantula (I’m not sure he has a real name) is the twin brother of a Swiss millionaire. As a young boy, he was tormented by his twin, so ran into the jungle, far from his father’s plantation. He was declared missing, presumed dead. However, he had developed an affinity with arachnids in the wild, eventually mimicking their behaviour and evolving into something more akin to spider than man.

He eventually assembled a team called the Web Masters. They battled against Storm Force, a top secret British anti-terrorist organisation led by John Storm, a former army captain. The Web Masters included Bolas (pictured), Crab, and Mutant.

I chose these because they were an irresistible force who could not be stopped easily; Tarantula cheated death on countless occasions, and he and his cronies had ZERO redeeming qualities. They were pure, unadulterated evil, but a lot of fun to read about.

I'll admit that this theme didn't exactly resonate with me.  And I'm less prepared than usual...and I'm usually not super prepared.  But we will gut it out with what I have.  

12.  The Daltons (Lucky Luke).  



Non-American comics are something of a blind-spot for me (though it's getting better).  Lucky Luke is one of the exceptions.  While I've not read a huge amount of Lucky Luke, I've read a fair amount.  The Daltons are, to an extent, Lucky Luke's Beagle Boys.  They're identical, except for height.  But they have their own names and somewhat distinctive personalities.  They're the quintessential western villain gang...just a little stupider and more inept.  And they never fail to make me smile.  

12. The Triumvirate of Terror

12. COBRA

12. Cobra Commander, Destro, The Baroness, and Major Bludd

Cobra Commander realized pretty early on that his horde of interchangeable minions weren't going to cut it against G.I. Joe, so he began bringing in villains like Destro, Stormshadow, The Baroness, Major Bludd, Zartan, Tomax and Xamot, the Dreadnoks, and more. These guys often didn't get along with each other, so often the comics focused more on them fighting with each other than fighting the good guys!

In particular, I was a fan of the dynamic between Cobra Commander, Destro, The Baroness, and Major Bludd. Fearing that Destro was going to try and stage a coup, Cobra Commander hired Major Bludd to assassinate him. This put him in conflict with The Baroness, who was in love with Destro. Bludd's attempt was foiled, but later he ended up working with Destro on some missions, which was awkward to say the least.  

12. The Blitzkrieg Squad

As others here have written during the build-up to this year’s event, I have only rarely revisited most of my choices. Thus, they are dripping with nostalgia, tinged with sepia, and quite apt for vilification, pun intended. However, as I looked over earlier posters’ choices, I see I am not really alone, if only because at least one of my higher-ranked picks is well represented already.

“And So It Begins” *

 

The Blitzkrieg Squad, recruited and led by the malevolent Baron von Strucker, was introduced in Sgt. Fury 14 as the Nazi counterpart to the Howlers. Strucker, like all OCD villains who recruit counterparts to the good guys, insisted on near-exact matches for each Howler, which of course, as a goofy ten-year-old war movie, war comics nut, I loved.

Even at that age I realized how self-referential, meta and post-modern Stan was being and that he was both exploiting and satirizing a trope.**  

Yeah, sure. Though I did think it was both cool and funny the way Strucker was so obsessed with precisely re-creating the Howlers, as if, for instance, having a musician among them was a “key” to their success.

The Blitzkrieg Squad consisted of Strucker and six other unique soldiers.

Siegfried, a big rough-and-tumble strong guy with a doofy hat. Guess who his opposite number was.

Ludwig Schroeder. He’s the only one whoever wears a helmet. And guess what? He’s a mechanical wizard. He’s Izzy’s antagonist.

The upper-class gentleman Manfred Adler wears a French-looking beret, because… Alsace-Lorraine? Anyway, he’s recruited to take on classy pom pom-wearing Percy Pinkerton. Oh, and Manfred carries a sword-cane. Can you say “bumbershoot”?

Otto Rabe plays the flute. Makes a hell of a counterpoint to Gabe’s bugle, n’est-ce pas?

Ernst Mueller is a horseman from a genteel heritage, just like Kentucky-bred Reb Ralston.

Fritz von Sydow (Clever you, Stan!) wears a garrison cap and is a renowned “ladies’ man.”

Fury’s designated nemesis is Strucker, naturally, who’s also fond of running around bare-chested. And, in a bit of foreshadowing, he wears a monocle, just as Fury will one day wear an eye patch. Of course, Strucker can see through his monocle.

The Blitzers were unconventional, though; they were so unthreatening that the Howlers just beat up their evil twins whenever they faced them as opposed to pulling the usual ingenious comic book strategy of swapping equally matched opponents.

Not exactly a Magnificent Seven, but if you longed to see what a Bizarro-Howlers group would look like, the Blitzkrieg Squad more than filled the bill.


*Tales of Suspense 97

** Hey, Face-Fronters, we Marvel Madmen left you to figure out just how similar each Blitzer is to one of the Howlers. -- Subtle Stan.

Maybe Manfred picked up a Basque beret, while serving with the Condor Legion, in Spain.

Strucker was supposed to be a Prussian Junker, which makes Manfred a bit redundant.  Should have brought them back later, with an American turncoat, to offset Eric.

Really, if Stan had any clue, they would have been pulled from the falschirmjagger, who would have been the closest equivalent to the Rangers and Commandos.

And before we poke too much fun at Percy's headgear, take a look at this man....




That's Lt Col Blair "Paddy" Mayne, commanding officer of the Special Air Service regiment, in WW2 (after David Stirling was captured).  The man won 4 DSOs and was the most decorated soldier to never be awarded the Victoria Cross and one bad mofo.  Laugh at his tam o'shanter and see what happens......

I'm staying up late to write this. My choices this year are all completely nostalgia-based. I looked thru the covers of comics I read in my first few years of reading and found 14 villain combos whose stories I remember fondly. The two who didn't make the cut will show up in the traditional "Near Misses" thread on Boxing Day.

My #12 group didn't have a name, so I'm going to call them

Nefaria's Washington Heist Gang from X-Men #22-23.

This is an early Roy Thomas effort; he started scripting X-Men with #20. So this might be the first supervillain group he created. In this story, his second appearance, Count Nefaria was still just a wealthy, ambitious criminal who dressed like a 19th-century aristocrat. He hired a group of second-tier (at best) super-baddies to help him hold the city of Washington DC for ransom. The group consisted of Unicorn, Plant-Man, Eel, Scarecrow and Porcupine. He tried to recruit the X-Men as well, because nobody was sure if they were heels or faces. When they refused, he went on without them. His gang, being villains, got together and decided to betray Nefaria at the earliest opportunity and keep the ransom themselves. Before too long, they betrayed each other as well. Other notable bits from these two issues: Professor X surprised everybody by walking with the aid of mechanical braces (which didn't last long), and in a goof reminiscent of "Bob Banner" and "Peter Palmer", Iceman is referred to as "Bobby Blake".

I was nine years old at the time and I had fun reading these issues. Lots of characters, lots of super-powers on display, and the contrast between the X-Men working together and the villains being out for themselves was crystal clear.