31 posts tagged “dc comics”
Ah, another one in the category of “salacious one-shot characters” that seem to spring forth effortlessly from the pen of comic maestro John Byrne, Arathaza is at once both awe-inspiring and utterly disposable!
Issue# 585 of Superman’s ACTION COMICS begins with a bang not so unlike the explosive opening teasers of the great JAMES BOND movies of yesteryear where we come in not at the beginning but rather the end of the last mission, and so we see Superman already engaged in battle with a new (and after, never again seen) villainess who is slowly draining the life force out of Supes.
Through their dialog we learn that the majestic (and slightly Tina Louise a la Ginger Grant looking) Arathaza was once only a mild mannered secretary named Barb Kowaleski until she found the means of transferring Superman’s powers to herself. It is here that he turns the tables on her, rendering himself completely passive so that there is no power to draw from!
At that point, he grabs her staff, which he rightly figures is the source of her powers, and she’s turned back into the frumpy looking mortal that she was. Supes sweeps her up, saving the day and delivering the coupe de grace to the latest would-be world dominator!
And then and ONLY then did the actual story featuring the Phantom Stranger start!
When DC rebooted the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES in the mid-nineties, it was a take-off of Frank Miller’s DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, in that it was set in the future of that character’s life. Only difference was, in Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne was now an old man, and in LEGION, the heroes, who’d been mere teenagers in their original comic, were now-gasp- responsible adults living VERY adult lives such as raising families and keeping 9 to 5 jobs!
One of the more offbeat side stories in this controversial update was an interlude featuring one of the Legion’s more wacky members, Tenzil Kem, better known (back in the day) as “Matter-Eater Lad”. We tuned in on Tenzil as an adult and found he’d been running (very poorly) through a multitude of different jobs, including an archaeological explorer and even a space age lawyer!
Tenzil has been called to defend Brek Bannin (Polar Boy) in court, and while I don’t have time to go into it, (Trust me, the story was wacky and funny as hell!) one of the things that I found endearing was his banter with his able assistant, a beautiful blonde named Cal. In passages, I found her name to be “Calorie Queen”, and I laughed that they had created an assistant with a name to match “Matter-Eater Lad”
Little Did I Know that they HADN’T just created Calorie Queen, and that she was a character created a WAYS back! Imagine my surprise when (shopping in a comic store near Pike’s Market in Seattle) I found an old back issue of Superboy (Featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, of course) and saw that one of the girls in the menacing super-team on the cover was none other that Tenzil’s trusty assistant, Calorie Queen Herself!! Getting that original issue with Calorie Queen as nature intended should have been a real eye opener into the character, for I now knew she had : 1) a costume, 2)a real name (Taryn Loy), and 3) a home planet (Bismoll, just like Tenzil!!!)…but honesty, it really didn’t do much for me. I simply liked the “later” Cal more! Smart and funny, cool and witty, she was the perfect foil for outlandish Tenzil Kem, and besides, If I have to choose between 70’s disco jumpsuit costumes or pretty dresses I always go with the latter. Because I do love a pretty girl in pretty clothes!
Props to Jim Shooter and Mike Grell for creating Cal, and BIG KUDOS to Tom and Mary Beirbaum and Keith Giffen for the “Update”!
Taryn Loy
Calorie Queen
First Appearance: Superboy #212
Bu Jim Shooter and Mike Grell
One thing you could always count on with writer/artist Howard Chaykin’s stories were the appearance of his gorgeously stylized Femme Fatales, and his 1984 DC Mini Series revamp of THE SHADOW didn’t disappoint!
I’d already been quite familiar with Chaykin’s work from his awesome AMERICAN FLAGG! series and CODY STARBUCK strips in Heavy Metal, and from these, knew that I could expect to see what he was best at: Extreme Violence, Gratuitous Cheesecake and a heaping helping of Noir thrown in for good measure!
Now, the Shadow strip was filled from page to page with lovely ladies, from Preston Mayrock’s lady loves and agents, (even a tough as nails police detective falls victim to The Shadow’s charms), but the one reigning Sex-kitten that flies miles above the rest of them is the invention of the deliciously ditsy and HELLA sexy MERCY MAYROCK!
Our story finds The Shadow on the hunt to find Preston Mayrock, an aging billionaire who’s been killing former agents of the Shadow to draw him out. It seems he’s dying of cancer and wants The Shadow to take him back to the mystic village of where he believes they can transfer his brain into a healthy young clone of himself. And as an added incentive to make them do his bidding, he’s got a Nuclear Missile in his possession which he’ll set off if he doesn’t get his wish!!
Now, Mayrock thinks he’s got his master plans all uner control, but not only has his sexy trophy wife Mercy been “getting it on” with his clone for years, she’s got an even CRAZIER plan in that she has a DEADLY infatuation with the Shadow, and her ultimate fantasy is to get down with him as the nuclear bomb devastates the city! We readers were like “WHOAA! beautiful, ditzy, conniving…and BATSH*T insane!!!”How could you EVER come up with a more interesting character!!!
Upon recently re-reading THE SHADOW series, Mercy seems horribly dated because she was supposed to be a “modern girl”, and was depicted wearing the latest fashions and sadly, this was the 80’s! Look at that image above of her in those new-wave glasses, gads, could anything look more “Cyndi Lauper”?! But MAN, dress her up in a sexy teddy compete with the garters and stockings, and you’ve got Chaykin drawing what he does best, this is pure, timeless BABE-NESS!!!
THE SHADOW Mini-Series was so successful, it garnered a new monthly title written by Andy Helfer and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, but without Howard Chaykin at the wheel, it always seemed to be missing something. Chaykin’s masterful style of Violence, Sex and Film Noir really was what MADE the Shadow work, in my opinion…and there’s no greater example of ALL THREE of those qualities in Mercy Mayrock…a REAL “Dame to Die For”!
Mercy Mayrock
The Shadow: Blood and Judgment
By Howard Chaykin
Below: The wonderful Wedding of Duo Dansel and Bouncing Boy splash page that eventually led to Dave Cockrum leaving the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Apparently, the story goes that Dave loved that illustration of the wedding so much, he asked editor Cary Bates if he could have the original art as a keepsake. “I don’t see why not,” was Bates’ reply. Later, however, when editor Carmine Infantino came into Cary’s office, he saw the artwork on his desk and asked what it was doing there. When he told him he’d like to give it to Dave, Infantino said flatly, “We don’t give the artwork back!” Dave was so hurt by this callous descision, that he left, right then and there!
Happily enough, Dave was able to pull some strings and get his hands on that artwork some years later! In an interview with Philip Schweier for BACK ISSUE magazine, he admitted that although he DID have it at one point, by the time of the interview, he’d already sold it off! Ahahaha!
Triplicate Girl
First appearance: Action Comics # 276
By Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Back in my day, (gads, I sound like a grandfather!) the top five major BATMAN villians were:
1. Joker, 2. Penguin, 3. Two-Face, 4. The Riddler, and 5. Catwoman.
While the origins and personalities of the first four villians have remained consistent for DECADES, the CATWOMAN of today has almost no similarity to the Catwoman I grew up with and loved.
I’m talking, of course, about the ORIGINAL Catwoman, tht is, Ms. Selina Kyle, she of feline tendencies, and on-and-off again lover of Bruce Wayne himself! It was this lovers/arch enemies twist that made those stories so interesting, and it was really cool to be aware that the HUNTRESS was the daughter of Earth Two’s Batman and Catwoman!
Back then, the art was usually handled by Dick Giordano or Irv Novick, and I have to say, their depictions of Selina are the ones that all others must be judged!-There was this one particular story I really had a fondness for, where it somehow ended up that Catwoman’s costume was so shredded in a battle with the Cat-Man, she ended up naked in the Batcave! What a treasured moment!
I’m not sure why Selina Kyle’s character was constantly reimagined and reworked, maybe her history of amnesia, her shifting back and forth between a heroine and a villianess was too confusing? Too Boring? I don’ know, but with each update, she seems less and less like the Catwoman from my comics.
But then again, that’s probably true for most of my beloved comic heroes, huh?
Catwoman
Selina Kyle
First appearance Batman #1 (Spring 1940)
By Bill Finger & Bob Kane
Finally got off my duff to check out Zack Snyder’s take on the epic Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons masterpiece WATCHMEN, and for the most part, I was satisfied with what I saw, and even thought a few scenes were good enough to rival the comic itself!
To be sure, there were a few things I had problems with, but most of those points have been covered and discussed a hundredfold over on the various webpages and discussion groups online, so I thought I’d just focus on the positive here. I took the time to reflect on what things about the movie made an impression on me and kept going through my mind all night…
* The “Look” of the Movie.
The stills of the city sets were the first things leaked online in the early stages of production, and right off, I was impressed at how they really made the atmosphere of the comic come to life- it REALLY looked like the world of the Watchmen, from
the buildings like Dan Drieberg’s flat to Ozymandias’ massive fortress in the Antarctic.
Also loved the mechanical and intricate details to Nite Owl’s Aircraft “Archimedes” and “Owl Cave”.
* Malin Akerman as Laurie “Silk Specter II” Jupiter
I was disappointed the first time saw the stills of Malin in the redesigned Silk Spectre costume. I just didn’t like the tinkering of the outfits. But after watching her fight, move, hell, even just struttin’ down those stairs, she DID rock it! She brought depth to the character and I liked the way she brought life into even the little lines like laughing about Rorschach and the “Captain Carnage” story.
One of the more exciting scenes for me was the butt-kicking fight sequence where Silk Spectre and Nite Owl break into the Prison to free Rorschach. Those two literally just cut a path through the rebelling prison mates, and it was entrancing just to watch her moves!!
* Carla Gugino as Sally “Silk Spectre I” Jupiter
You know, reading the Watchmen Novel, I understood that Sally was supposed to be the cheesecake model of the group, but MAN, it wasn’t until I saw Carla done up as the 40s “Bettie Page” vixen that I “GOT IT!”
WOW! Was she SEXY! And I thought she was equally convincing as the aged, retired ex-heroine as well!
* Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach
I have to say, I was extremely satisfied here! Every scene with Rorschach was a joy to watch! Jackie Earle Haley got it right, both in AND out of costume! From the opening scenes of Rorschach investigating the “routine homicide of Edward Blake”, to his frame and subsequent arrest & incarceration to the jailbreak and final showdown, I felt 100% like I was watching the “real” Rorschach on the screen!
And my favorite thing about the WATCHMEN flick:
That AWESOME Opening Scene featuring the 1940’s MINUTEMEN!
Oh my god, when the movie faded to black and the strains of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’ Changing” began, I knew I was in for something good- then the montage of the Minutemen began scrolling, and I got to see with my own eyes the exploits of the 1940’s team in action! More than anyone else in the movie, the Minutemen were the ones where I found myself saying ‘I am watching the comic characters actually living and breathing!”
The “Golden Age” vibe is nailed down here, the gaudy colors and outlandish designs, and the whole segment is done with a dreamy, slightly out-of-focus sepia wash, like you are walking through the memories of one of the Minutemen.
And then there was The Silhouette. Special Mention MUST be made of HER!
YE GODS!!! When she first came on the screen , I couldn’t believe how fricking GORGEOUS she was! As played by actress Apolonia Vanova, right from her first appearance in the “Photo Shoot” session she just exuded this powerful presence that just came right out and demanded your attention!
WOW, what a striking image she was!
When I DO go back and see the movie again (and of course I’m gonna!), It’ll be due primarily to these things. Sure, there are scenes I wish they’d done differently, but I can totally handle that with how much of it they managed to get RIGHT!
Well, I was to get educated by my friends James and Lar, those brothers with the unlimited cache of awesome silver age comics (and the passion and expertise to go with it!) who let me borrow some of their old DOOM PATROL comics to peruse.
First thing that struck me was how cool Cliff Steel AKA Robotman was, (and what kid didn’t dig Robotman?) here’s this nearly indestructable guy listening to Guy Lombardo records! Larry Trainor was cool as Negative Man, a dude who looked like a cross between Jimmy Olsen and Human Torch! And then there was Rita Farr, the lovely movie star turned exotic Giantess when exposed to volcanic gasses during a bad photo shoot. Remember my love of Diana Rigg? Well, that’s EXACTLY who she looked like to me!
Rita was simply a pleasure to look at, especially when they’d get her all dolled up for some dance or event, whether it be a love-in to investigate a mad guru, or the school to play chaperone to Beast-Boy and his date (and by the way, just WHAT was their relationship? Sometimes they acted like Rita was him MOTHER!)
Funny, there were issues where it was pretty obvious to me that they’d drawn one good head shot of Rita, and stuck photo stats of the head onto several different panels of Elasti-Girl in various predicaments…(Maybe she didn’t look good in the original pencils?) but as an artist myself, know that it’s rare when you can get a face looking just right, and quite frustrating when you’ve gotta duplicate it three or four times every page!
* * * * * * * * *
Their enemy Captain Zahl had a bomb set to go off in a fishing village that would kill 14 innocent people, or the DP could sacrifice themselves instead. In a wacky ending, the group said, “Those ordinary people are important-We’ll Die!” Ba-Boom, The End!
Well, it seems like John Byrne had the SAME problem that we did, for when he relaunched the DOOM PATROL in his controversial 18 issue run, one of the thing he did was this EXTREMELY funny passage where Cliff Steele is time-shifting through various dimensions, and one of the scenes he lands in just happens to be that deadly ending from issue #121, and this time Cliff has a decidedly more realistic take on the proceedings:
PS: I know a LOT of people had problems with Byrne’s reboot of Doom Patrol- specifically his elimination of the various incarnations of DP that came before. I certainly understand that, but for me, it was kind of nice to see the group return to the original four members I grew up with (though Byrne DID introduce his OWN new members), and besides, where else are you gonna see Rita Farr doing her impression of The 50 Ft. Woman? Ahahahaha!
Rita Farr / Elasti-Girl
First appearance: My Greatest Adventure #80
By Arnold Drake, Bruno Premiani
Murray Boltinoff and Bob Haney
There have been many yeas and nays regarding John Byrne’s SUPERMAN reboot back in 1986, and while I’ve agreed and disagreed on the various pros and cons of the jumpstart, the very creation of Silver Banshee has already made it worth my while- folks, I just LOVE this super-villainess!
Yes, she’s (like) a walking vampire, sucking the life out of anyone hapless enough to get in her way, but at times, she is downright ADORABLE! YES! So powerful and yet so much like a “fish out of water” in ways…gotta love when she’s propositioned by the construction worker, and asks, “Are you addressing ME, little man?”! She couldn’t believe some guy of the street was trying to pick her up…I, however, fully understood!
(and I guess would have met the same fate as the now-deceased dude!)
And I think secretly even Jimmy Olsen has a thing for Ms. McDougal, because it really seems like he spends an AWFUL lot of time spying on her as she “does her thing” in those bookstores. He ‘s always peeking at her through a window in the background! Ahahaha!
Now, what’s the deal with Silver Banshee? Is she ALSO supposed to be silver with black accents? I hope not…I think the solid black and white contrasts give her the shocking impact you’re supposed to have, reminding me so much of a pirate ship flag with its stark skull and crossbones design. Plus, the white gives her the ghostly, ethereal look, too!
Siobahn McDougal
Silver Banshee
First Appearance Action Comics #595
Created By John Byrne
Taking one look at evil chanteuse EMERALD EMPRESS’ striking features, one would immediately assume that the Marvel Comics character she reminded me of was Lorna Dane, that OTHER green-locked vixen POLARIS of the X-Men...but you would be wrong!
While it’s true that the two girls look awfully similar in both appearance AND their flight/attack mode, for some reason, the character that Emerald Empress always reminded me of was that THOR and AVENGERS baddie The Enchantress! Maybe part of it was the similar sounding names and green-coordinated outfit. And perhaps part of it was her haughty yet alluring personality that was so akin to the Asgardian outcast. But most likely, the BIGGEST reason was that both were paired up with a giant armored warrior with a huge-ass axe!
As the reigning queen of the Legion of Super-Heroes diabolical arch enemy group THE FATAL FIVE , she appeared alongside four other baddies: Leader THAROK and his mind controlled powerhouse VALIDUS, MANO, the mutant with powers to make things crumble at his touch, and finally, THE PERSUADER, the wielder of the giant battle “Atomic” Axe, the character that reminded me SO MUCH of Enchantress’ sidekick / partner THE EXECUTIONER!
Take a Side-By-Side analysis of both Emerald Empress & The Persuader along with The Enchantress & The Executioner:
I never drew any connections between them when I was reading Legion comics with the Fatal Five intact (i.e., all five members present) but when Emerald Empress and Persuader broke off from the group and became a duo , something in my mind clicked! Ahahahaha!
By the way, it was interesting to note that in almost every story where the Fatal Five (or sometimes even all by her lonesome), at the end when The Empress is “defeated”, she’s always detained simply by being held down by one of the male members of the group, and when you look at some of the illustrations, part of me thinks Superboy and the guys rather looked forward to their chance to "subdue" her...!
Sarya's one of the Legion's oldest foes and one of the most enduring characters, She's absolutely my favorite villain in the series, and she sports one of my very favorite costumes as well! That's a thumbs up, all around! Now If I could only catch her without that darn Emerald Eye spying on me...
Sarya
Emerald Empress
First Appearance: Adventure 352
By Jim Shooter and Curt Swan
When I used to read by friend’s old battered copies of DC’s strange and quirky super robot team METAL MEN, my eyes just naturally settled on the pretty silver maiden who obviously stood out as she was the smurfette to the otherwise all-male demographic!
The Metal Men were a group of metal robots with varying densities and personalities befitting the metal they'd been made out of, but something about these characters always reminded me of another very human super-group called the INFERIOR FIVE, they were so zany!
I can’t say I ever took a more than passing interest in the actual STORIES in those old comics, but the illustrations of Tina by Ross Andru (he later of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN fame) always gave me enough incentive to go ahead and read ‘em all, anyway! Delicate and doting on Doc Magnus, Tina always seemed the most "human" out of the group, frequently crying and worrying about the latest crisis that might threaten her beloved creator!
At the time, I recall is being really puzzled as to why there were two robots made of Tin. I mean, there was Gold, Lead, Mercury, and Iron, then Tin and Tina. It was only years later that I found out Tina was actually Platinum, NOT Tin!
A few things I remember were that it seemed (to me, at least) like they were ALWAYS fighting this one villain called CHEMO, this humanoid-shaped container filled with a mixture of chemicals that gave him sentience… I’d pull out a different issue, and groan, “Ahg, not THIS villain again!” But my memory’s probably distorting the facts…
Wait...I just checked that John Byrne Action Comics Superman story where he teams up with the Metal Men- and the villain is...CHEMO! I WAS right!
Platinum (Tina)
First appearance Showcase #37 (March-April 1962)
Created by Robert Kanigher
Ross Andru
Mike Esposito
supervixens!@greyvictory
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