Metamorpho Vs. The Super Skrull in: "Pliable Rivals!"

These two first battled in STF #4761, in a more Silver-Age style cover.  I thought that round two could have more of a Bronze Age feel.  Another month or so and we will finally get to see Rex Mason in live screen action!

 

Metamorpho Vs. The Super Skrull

 

We only got a split second shot of Metamorpho in the new Superman teaser trailer, but it was enough to get me excited.  I thought that Anthony Carrigan looks great in the make up they are using on him, he looked very comics accurate.  With at least one major scene taking place at Stagg Industries, will we possibly be getting Rex Mason's origin in this movie? 

The Totalitarians (Vs. One Punch Man)

 

I've been getting requests for The Totalitarians to return for a third appearance, but it was tricky to find an opponent that could provide a challenge for such a powerful team. Then, I also received some requests for One Punch Man to make his STF debut - he seemed like the prefect choice to up against this villainous team.

Wonder Woman Vs. The Super Skrull in: "Crossed... By Kl'rt!"

 

It would seem that there is some unfinished business following The Super Skrull's invasion of Paradise Island back in STF #4058.  This will be a recovery mission that calls for a rematch, I'd say.

The Totalitarians in: "When Cthulhu Calls!"

 

The is a group that I have had a lot of return requests for.  It took some thinking to come up with a good adversary for them.   What better than one of the greatest monsters of myth? 

The Totalitarians first banded together in STF #1380...

Wonder Woman Vs. The Super Skrull

 

The trailers for the upcoming Secret Invasion Disney+ show definitely show Skrulls with abilities beyond impersonation.  Will any of them be Kl'rt, the Super Skrull?  It would be odd to introduce him before the Fantastic Four are introduced, since it is their power set that he adopts.  Still, perhaps he will show up before he reaches his final form once the FF arrive.  The show is only a noth or so away, so we will find out soon enough.

Starfire and Namorita

 I've seen too many awesome cosplays of Starfire to believe that the version on the streaming Titans series is the best that they could have given us.  James Gunn professes to be a fan of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans years, so let's hope we see a more comics' accurate version on the big screen somewhere down the line.  After Namor's cinematic debut, I don't hold out much hope for Namoritia receiving a faithful portrayal.

Tigra and Cat-Man (Part 2 of 7)

 

For the second part of our week-long tale, we see that this alliance between a hero and a villain was doomed to fail. At the first sight of adversity, Cat-Man has turned tail and abandoned his partner.  You can bet she won't forget this if they should ever cross paths again - which they will in Part 3, coming tomorrow!

The Super-Skrull Vs. Darkseid

 

This may look like a relatively simple cover, but it was quite tricky to create.  In order to get the Super-Skrull to be trapped within Darkseid's beams, I had to remove Orion, who was originally there, then recreate the missing beam parts, then isolate that into a couple of layers and place them on top of one another, before inserting the Skrull and then adding in the background elements.  Here are some stages of development: 

I'll try to include some more of these "behind the scenes" looks on some future covers as well.

Green Lantern Vs. The Super Skrull

 

With the announcement that Secret Invasion will be one of the upcoming Marvel Disney+ series, we can expect a lot more Skrull Action in the MCU.  The Fantastic Four was also finally officially announced, but that still seems to be a way off.  The Super Skrull's gimmick of mimicking the abilities of each member of Marvel's first family means that he likely will not be a part of these series considering they will not have been introduced yet.  Perhaps Kl'rt will still show up though, but just in his un-powered form.

Captain Marvel Vs. the Super Skrull

Will there be a sequel to Shazam?  The film was well received, but did not make a huge dent at the box office in comparison to other superhero movies.  It sounds like Black Adam is underway - perhaps DC is waiting to see how well that film does before committing to a third film that combines both characters.  If that's the case, I can see them having to re-cast Billy Batson since Asher Angel is not getting any younger.

Chameleon Boy and The Human Torch

One of the great things about The Legion of Super-Heroes was that so many of the individual members were strong enough to be solo stars in my eyes.  Some, like Karate Kid, Mon-El, and Cosmic Boy have even made that leap.  I'd like to see Chameleon Boy in some solo adventures, I love his power set.  Other choices to branch out on their own would be Dawnstar, Ultra Boy or Wildfire.

Ultra: The Multi-Alien Vs. The Super Skrull

Ultra the Multi Alien was a hero that I used to think of as a one-off creature character, like the monsters that appeared so often in early Marvel comics.  Looking back though, he was given a real push, appearing in multiple issues of Mystery in Space.  I wonder why he never made it to the Big (or even Middle) Leagues?  Maybe the popularity of other characters like Adam Strange pushed him out of his series, or maybe his look was too similar to Metamorpho's, who knows?  At any rate, I always thought is would be cool to see him in battle with The Super-Skrull, so here goes!

Captain Marvel and Dreadstar

Space epics seem like the next big wave in comic book movies.  The success of Guardians of the Galaxy and the now space-bound Thor (not to mention Star Wars) have given studios to green light more interstellar adaptations.  Captain Marvel is up next, then more Guardians of the Galaxy and now there's news of Green Lantern Corps,  The New Gods and The Eternals in the planning stages.  How long before Dreadstar gets his chance?

Superman Vs. The Super Skrull

I was sorry to hear of the recent passing of Rich Buckler.  He illustrated many of my favorite Marvel and DC comics and I always enjoyed his style.  My favorite work of his was the tabloid-sized Superman Vs. Shazam.  Years back, I was lucky enough to b purchase the original art for the final page of that special, and it is another great example of his masterful storytelling abilities.

I also picked up original art for a Hulk newspaper strip by Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott:

He was an amazing talent and will be missed.

You would think that Superman might have learned his lesson after the last time he tangled with The Super Skrull.,.

The Totalitarians

The only problem with a team like this is finding anyone who could stand up to them.  By my calculations, they have the combined powers and abilities of The Justice League, The Avengers, The Legion of Super-Heroes, The X-Men and The Fantastic Four.  That's a lot to overcome!

Martian Manhunter Vs. The Super Skrull

I have already featured a couple of covers where J'onn J'onzz has gotten in trouble by being mistaken for a Skrull, so I thought it was about time that he confronted the villain behind the deception.  Who says this isn't the swinging STF age of resolving dangling plot lines? 'Nuff said!

The Super-Skrull Joins The Superman Family

The Superman titles of my youth may seem kind of hokey by today's standards, but they were endlessly creative.  This was a time when you couldn't spend six months on one plotline, each issue was its own epic, so the editors and writers were constantly coming up with wild  new conflicts and concepts for our hero to face.  Add in great artwork by by the likes of Curt Swan or Jim Mooney, and you had stories that I just devoured for all the crazy ideas contained within.  Grant Morrison is about the only current writer to tap into that side of Superman for his stories, and it's no wonder his work with the character has been so well received.

Batman and The Super-Skrull

It was a fun moment at the end of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer when Johnny Storm temporarily gained the powers of the entire team. It was clearly a nod to one of the Fantastic Four's coolest villains, the Super Skrull.  That was a nice tease but what I as a fan really would have preferred was a full out adventure with the actual Super Skrull.  I had the same feeling when watching Ang Lee's Hulk - Lee made the strange decision to combine the Hulk's abusive father with classic villains Zzzax and The Absorbing Man.  I would have much rather had a solo appearance by one of those villains rather than the odd mashup we got.  There's still hope for future movies, though.  With a FF film reboot on the horizon as well as rumored Skrull involvement in the Avengers film, maybe there's a chance we'll finally see the Super Skrull on the big screen one day.

Batman and Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel is a character that I am glad to see having been given a boost in the last five years or so. Her recent solo series was unfortunately encumbered with tie-ins from one crossover to another and never really got the chance to find its own identity. Hopefully she will get another chance soon and will still be able to maintain a high profile in the team books she is a part of.