The Fatal Five was always one of the cooler and formidable villain teams of my youth. Not only could they take on the Legion of Super-Heroes, they were all so creepy - The Emerald Empress had that big crazy floating eyeball that would follow her, Tharok was the first half man/half machine character that I had seen. Mano had the hidden face and The Persuader had his scary mask and giant axe. Creepiest of all was Validus - a giant with no eyes and an exposed brain! Great stuff!
As mentioned before, simply the "coolest" team of super- villains ever !
ReplyDeleteAnd by a thirteen year old boy , Jim Shooter !
He also created " Nemesis Kid " who would have worked as a member of the five in addition to Karate Kid, Ferro Lad and Princess Projector !
It was one of the coolest parts of The Great Darkness Saga when it was finally revealed that Validus was the son of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl from the future, twisted and sent back in time by Darkseid, who intended that parent or child should kill the other. Suddenly Validus' psi-bolts with lightning made sense, and a long twisted plot by Darkseid is always great. Too bad they retconned that history with Zero Hour. Some people just can't let a good story stand.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding! I've always loved the five, especially Validus.
ReplyDeleteYou could do a follow up on this. The Terrible Three, the Frightful Four, the Fatal Five, the Sinister Six and the Count from Sesame Street.
My favorite Legion villains - though followed closely by Mordru.
ReplyDeleteI have a battle to the death commission featuring them that should not be missed. :)
http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1024807
FF vs. FF? Nice alliteration, Ross. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering if the referee is Dev-Em (the Phantom Zone parolee who ultimately became an undercover agent for the Silver Age Science Police of 30th-century Metropolis).
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ReplyDeleteI hate to say it but I think that the Fatal Five could take the Fantastic Four (unless the Fantastic Four got help from the Freedom Fighters)....
ReplyDeleteBonus points for the wrestling theme!
ReplyDelete@Sonofjack: FemForce could beat 'em all.
ReplyDeleteI was also fascinated by the Fatal Five, though in my case it was Tharok who caught my imagination more than the others. I did consider the bunch of them to be pretty frightening, but Tharok's split-down-the-middle half-machine appearance was just creepy.
ReplyDelete(And if I thought anyone would recognize it, I'd add him to my list of potential cosplay subjects. Or if I could get four friends to dress up as the rest of the Five.)
Four versus Five, though... I can't help but wonder if maybe Reed's up to something here.
And the chosen art, story, setting, and so forth all have that great Silver Age feel to it.
Oh, and regarding Matthew's suggestion, that list of villains would of course have to be pitted against the Dynamic Duo, possibly teamed up with Prime.
This is one of the covers I have been waiting for. Great job! The FATAL FIVE are awesome. Now on a similar theme a team-up of BLOK and The THING would be epic.
ReplyDeleteClick on "The Quarrymen" label to see The Thing and Blok together.
ReplyDeleteFF va FF is great! The wrestling theme and the art, characters, etc I think to be fair Fantastic Four should've had Spiderman or one of their other members to make five on five! Didn't know much of the Fatal Five, but Fantastic Four were rather creepy as well, stretchy guy, pile of rocks, fire guy, and invisible girl?! Good thing I saw the old cartoon version before reading the comic!
ReplyDeleteI do remember lots of these "heroes die" covers, where our favorites either die or lose to the villains! Sold alot of comics, even when the scenes were dreams or the hero tricking the villain!
@Bob G: Don't forget The One!
ReplyDeleteor The Seven Soldiers of Victory!
ReplyDeleteOr even the Final Five!!
ReplyDeleteThese comments are starting to sound very Enid Blyton-ish. I'm just waiting for the Adventurous Four, Famous Five, Secret Seven, or even the Five Find Outers.
ReplyDeleteBob Greenwade said...
ReplyDelete"I was also fascinated by the Fatal Five, though in my case it was Tharok who caught my imagination more than the others. I did consider the bunch of them to be pretty frightening, but Tharok's split-down-the-middle half-machine appearance was just creepy."
Have you seen the issue of 'The Brave and the Bold', from the last series of that title before Flashpoint, in which Batman spent some time (mostly in the LSH's era) as what we might call "Bat-Tharok"?
@ Simreeve: Holy 31st Century Cyborg, Batman!
ReplyDeleteP.S. @ Carycomic: The ref looks more like Brin "Timber Wolf" Londo of the Silver Age LSH (before Mike Grell drew him to look like the love-child of Wolverine and Little Orphan Annie).
ReplyDelete