Time for a good old fashioned super-villain team up. Sometimes it was hard for me to get into villain-centric tales as a kid - I wanted to have someone to root for. When the villains were battling other villains, however, it was a different story. Then it was easier to pick a side and cheer on a bad guy.
Yeah, I agree. There's nothing like a good (or, at least, not-so-bad) anti-hero. With Sax Rohmer arguably the first author to star one in a book series!* I speak, of course, of the indefatigable Fu Manchu.
ReplyDeleteBut, yes, SVTU was the first Marvel comic I read, back in the Seventies, to feature a pair of super anti-heroes more-or-less voluntarily working together. Doc Doom and Prince Namor of Atlantis. Talk about your nightmare tag teams!
*He might've drawn inspiration from Victorian-era predecessors most modern readers have never heard of (including me).
Some of the most interesting stories, whether in comics or elsewhere, have premises along the lines of, "Yes, I'm a murderer, but I didn't commit this one!" That's the sort of thing you could do with, say, Killer Croc and Daredevil.
ReplyDeletei was going to ask why Victor would bother to team up, then the obvious answer..if he needs to 'volunteer' his services for anything Doom wants.
ReplyDelete@Ross: Exactly the reason that the first 5 issues of Secret Society of Super-Villains was my favorite title of the '70s. Thr villains of the DC universe banded together to fight Darkseid's invasion; to do the jobs that the heroes couldn't.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, I never saw Namor as a villain,so didn't get why he was in SVTU. I prefered the later issues, where Doom was pitted against the Red Skull and Magneto.
ReplyDeleteLoved SSOSV and was very disapointed when it was cancelled in the Great DC Implosion.
I wonder how many anti-hero lovers remember DC giving the Joker his own magazine during the 1970's?
ReplyDeleteDC's Joker and Secret Society of Super-Villains were two of my favorite titles back in the 70s. My favorite Joker issue featured The Creeper, a misunderstood hero whom most took as a villain. Like Harry said previously in the comments, I never perceived Namor as a villain. He was most often misunderstood much like The Creeper, and like Captain Comet in SSOSV. Anyway, great cover! Black Manta vs. Tiger Shark would be a great follow-up to this cover, or maybe they would form a team to take down Dr. Doom.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather see villains fighting each other than heroes fighting each other. Heroes should be fighting villains and villains should get their butt kicked by everybody, including each other.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of seeing Scud The Disposable Assassin making an appearance in STFP?
ReplyDeleteMaybe, but I confess I have never read one of his stories.
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