3. The Council of Kangs
Occurred in Avengers #267-269 (May thru July 1986)
By Roger Stern and John Buscema

An amazing idea used poorly: what if, every time Kang altered time, he created an alternate time stream with its own version of him in it, each a little wiser or more foolish, weaker or stronger as a result of their actions? And what if those Kangs began working together to thin the heard, finding the strongest, most capable Kangs in the multiverse and killing the rest?

I'm so glad that this concept got recycled into the Loki television series as it had so much more potential than it was given a chance to realize.



As I've said before, I'm not much of an Avengers fan, but I can't get enough of Kang, so three Kangs working together to kill off countless other Kangs? I'm in.

Clever choice! I want to dig out these comics, and I am 100% sure I have the issues in a box. One of the best Kang tales.

#3


Superman Count Nefaria / Lethal Legion
Avengers # 165-166
Marvel Comics ( 1977)
Writer: Jim Shooter
Artist: John Byrne
Inker: Pablos Marcos




In General the Jim Shooter era was among the top runs in this book. In my opinion it rates right after Stan Lee and Roy Thomas. In particular , I consider this story arc to be his top action packed tale filled with action, mystery, team conflict and maybe the Avengers most formidable foe.

In a nutshell- Count Nefaria who has fought the Avengers and the X-men primarily , decides that he wants to finance the augmentation of the abilities for the Whirlwind, the Living Lazer and the original Powerman. The trio take on the Avengers but during the fight, their increased powers fade . Turns out the process was in reality meant to drain them in order to combine and give Nefaria unbelievable powers. Nefaria takes on the Avengers and beats them rather easily. It isn’t until Thor shows up that the tide turns.



A few points about the book:

Byrne does a great job aided by wonderfully complimentary inks by underrated Pablo Marcos. I have looked back on his work over others like George Perez and he never disappoints.

During the Thor confrontation , Nefaria catches and stops Mjolnir. Maybe the first time it happens and it is copied in JLA vs Avengers and most recently in the Movie Thor: Ragnarok.



Thor's appearance in the end of part two is dramatic but it is also a plot point that leads to the Korvac saga.

Peter Gyrich is introduced in this story and is soon to be the team's royal pain in the neck as their government liaison.

Nefaria recruits Eric Josten on the promise that with his powers increased  he can regain the name Powerman , which has been taken by Luke Cage

Because hail, hail, the gang's all here...

#3. "All My Enemies Against Me" (Detective Comics #526, 1983)
(Joker, Black Spider, Captain Stingaree, Catman, Cavalier, Clayface (Matt Hagen), Gentleman Ghost, Getaway Genius, Killer Moth, Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, Signalman, Spook, Tweedledee & Tweedledum, and Two-Face)



Confessor has already done an excellent write-up on this story, so I won't rehash the details. So what remains is to explain why I chose this particular team-up. And it turns out I had already done so back in the 2014 12 Days, so I'll just reuse that. ('Work smarter, not harder' I'm always being told.)

Batman is my favourite comic book character. One of the (many) reasons for this is that he has the coolest rogues gallery in comics, bar none. What could possibly be cooler for the 13 year old me than seeing all of them assembled to take on Batman? Answer: nothing. This issue even introduced to me to some Batman villains I'd never encountered before, like Black Spider and the Getaway Genius (okay, so they can't all be classics). But 13 year old me will not allow this issue to not be on my list.

And just look at this 'convention of wanted posters' as the Penguin puts it. Now that's a rogues gallery!

10. Ir, Ur and Ar, the Mutants from Doom Patrol 115 -116 (Nov-Dec 1967)

   

"Three Against the Earth"*

These guys were just about the freakiest looking creatures I'd ever seen in a comic book. The guy with eyes in the palms of his hands got the best of the mutations caused by -- what else? -- atomic radiation. (Turns out the three were born near the first atomic tests in 1945.) Those other two? I could never decide who'd got the worst of it. And who cared that "Chestface" decided to wear his yellow jammie bottoms for whatever reason? You never even noticed those because of the grotesqueness of the anomalies that cursed these poor guys.

From Arnold Drake's opening narration: "What terrifying cauldron could have spewed out this witch's brew? "

Or Robotman's first reaction: "YICHHHH! Look at those things They look like people that got made in a Mix-Master!"

And Neg-Man's response: "Operated by a cockeyed cook! BLEUCHH!"

Of course, leave it to Rita to bring these two up short: "The Doom Patrol -- Outcasts of the world -- fabulous freaks -- poking fun at someone else's strangeness?...

Cliff, who hasn't quite caught the irony yet, says, "Honey, these aren't strange -- I mean they're stomach-turners!"

At which point Rita lifts Cliff high into the air and drops the hammer: "Really? And what about us -- a walking mummy, a rubber girl and a tin man! You don't think we've killed a few appetites?"

These three refugees from a Basil Wolverton comic have haunted me ever since I first saw them in all their simple, horrific glory. Don't know if it was Arnold and/or the great Bruno Premiani who designed these poor guys, but all praise to both of them!

The three brothers were angry, arrogant, vengeful creatures, naturally, as who wouldn’t be if he looked like one of them. What was interesting here, however, was that as their two-part saga went on, the violent mutants became increasingly sympathetic characters.

Rita, the heart and soul, as well as the common sense of the DP, realizes that these are not evil monsters, but “the first children of the atomic age! No wonder they’re angry – the poor things!” However, the three brothers defeat the DP and use their powers to draw a comet closer to Earth, setting off a slew of global disasters, intending to immolate the planet. Ur declares, “The world that made us this way – ugly, horrifying – shall die at our hands. And before everyone on this planet dies in one blinding flash – all shall know that those whom they rejected – destroyed them!”

When the Earth is 17 minutes from utter destruction, Rita confronts Ur and tells him the DP is very much like the mutant brothers, explaining that “we were outcasts, too! Then a great man showed us how to be accepted by the world again!”

I don’t know if young readers were supposed to realize it, but given the usual turn of events in many a Doom Patrol story, she was at the very least exaggerating and at worst, lying… for a good cause. The Doom Patrol were referred to as freaks, even called themselves freaks, acted out against each other, were almost always just a “freak” away from tearing each other or the city apart. (Rita was much less susceptible to this kind of anger, but she often lost it with her three male compatriots.)

To tell you more about the fate of the Earth and the mutants would spoil the ending, which seems at first to be headed toward a standard ending via a deus ex machina, but the three brothers prove more gallant than anyone would have guessed. I wish the story could have been just a few pages longer, but for whatever reason, the first chapter was shorter by a few pages to accommodate a Beast Boy back-up story, which could have gone anywhere.

The story has stuck with me since I first read it back in 1967, partly because of the mutants’ genuinely frightening appearance, and also because of the cleverness of Drake’s writing. Whoever designed Ur -- Drake, artist Bruno Premiani, or both -- seems to have realized that Premiani could draw his enormous eye to show a wide range of emotions, from looking vengeful in one panel to looking hurt a few panels later. And the same is true of Ir and Ar.

Like other characters considered monstrous as a story begins, Ur, Ir and Ar soon became less repulsive and more attractive thanks to Drake and Premiani and created a beautiful, unforgettable story.

At least I find it to be, and that’s what counts here, right?

*My Greatest Adventure 82

#3- Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy



What makes Harley and Ivy so beloved by fans? Yes, their across the board fanbase is appealing to a wider audience but what makes them such a great villainous duo? It's two opposite forces of evil that make for compelling reading. You have a junior X-factor of crazy in Harley to bounce off of a calm and collected Ivy. I think what goes away from the modern reader's mind is that their both accomplished doctors, which makes them even more dangerous. The dangerous toxins created by a master botanist that can kill, thwart and alter people's minds and bodies; that's pretty lethal! Dr. Quinn is a psychiatrist that was bend men to her will. That's an insanely powerful duo.

Going back to the opposite forces aspect, which what makes the duo so loveable comes to their crimes. It's rare to have strong female antagonists, let alone two of them that can hold the readers enjoyment as they mess with the Bat family and the DC Universe.