DC Sampler #2 (September, 1984)

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Drawn by Chuck Patton with inks by Tom Mandrake, this piece was part of a free comic DC used to circulate once a year to hype their entire line. I loved these things growing up, as they really did feel like a window into another universe; always featuring exclusive art, synopsis, and other information on comics I didn't or couldn't read. For instance, I didn't get my hands on an issue of the "Detroit Era" Justice League until the mid-90s, and it looks like the artist hadn't gotten ahold of any Sword of the Atom reference, since he drew the classic Silver Age Atom there on Green Lantern's shoulder. Come to think of it, hadn't Hal Jordan been swapped out for John Stewart, or was that another year on? Regardless, it was nice of Ray to see the new team off, even if you just know he would have ridiculed and rejected them like he did Justice League International. Yeah, well, that type of attitude eventually led to his fantastic gig leading the Jurgens Teen Titans, so...

2010 Batman: The Brave and the Bold Atom Temporary Tattoos

I may not be the biggest fan of Ryan Choi*, but I'm glad his fans got to enjoy him in the animated arena. The hybridization of his and Ray's costumes translated well. He's so much better than Ray, it's not like he needed to borrow his style to go with the exact same name and power set. C'mon though, Ray Palmer didn't ask for Al Pratt's girdle, y'know, but whatever. It might have been about the jock itch, because Al never struck me as especially hygienic. Nothing beats crimefighting with cowhide against your bare ass, amIright? Anyway, I'm pretty sure the generation of fans raised on the cartoon will rise up and kill Ray Palmer for good is 2023, so you've got that to look forward to, assuming there's even still a comic industry by that point. It'll probably all be flash animation by then, or something.



The "logo" is in the same font for all the characters in this tattoo set, but the figure tat was kind of small to take up that much space, so I stuck them together. They're basically Colorforms for human flesh, so I guess you could have Ryan Choi surf on a logo anywhere on your body you like. Anywhere. He could also carry the logo that is your sin upon his back, or he could poop his own logo. It's really only limited by your creativity/depravity.

The Irredeemable Shag of Once Upon a Geek is always coming up with Ryan Choi stuff like this for the blog, which leads me to believe I'm the Deathstroke to his Dwarfstar in regards to poo-pooing his matchbox legacy. Shag shows a good deal more tolerance toward Jason Rusch in his comprehensive overview of Firestorm & Company on these Temporary Tattoos. Shag also afforded me the opportunity to dress-down Despero, for which I'm opportunistically exploitative "eternally grateful." I also finally knocked out a post on B:TBATB Sandylion Sticker Bits, if you've been dying to live out the fantasy of the Atom firing a really tiny Green Arrow off his (non-euphemistic) Bangstick for a change. That, or maybe play Table Soccer with the little bastards. I think Ray would be classy and just buy them all doll chairs for his Card Table of Justice.

*He's Asian, so he gets small! Shouldn't he also speak in Confuciusisms and practice martial arts?

1995 Skybox DC Villains: The Dark Judgment Monarch Trading Card #63

Art by Scott Hampton

Shot into the quantum field as part of a top secret experiment, Nathaniel Adam developed space/time warping powers and acquired the armor of Monarch. Now, the new Monarch plans to gain enough international popularity to become world dictator. His plan wickedly ingenious... but I could still give him a few pointers.

Let me see if I can break this down: The villain of the Armageddon 2001 annual event of 1991 was supposed to be a super-hero who betrayed and killed all his fellows to rule the world as Dr. Doom Monarch. The big reveal was to be that Captain Atom was Monarch, but plans changed so that it was Hank "Hawk" Hall instead. This made absolutely no sense, but Captain Atom fought Monarch until both slipped into comic book limbo. Then Hank Hall became Extant, which made only slightly more sense, and a new Monarch was introduced who was supposed to be the real conniving Nathaniel Adam to Captain Atom's altruistic quantum duplicate. That Monarch was forgotten about, and then Captain Atom returned from the Wildstorm Universe to have his skin breached by a Watcher Monitor and the Atomic Knights place the wounded Captain Atom in a new containing suit like Monarch's. Then Monarch turned paranoid and evil and raised a multiversal army he honed in a gladiator arena before trying to destroy the Watchers Monitors and their multiverse, except for one central world that he would rule for reasons undercooked. That Monarch was defeated and forgotten about, so let's pretend that Monarch was the quantum duplicate Nathaniel Adam who hopefully wasn't the original, and that Captain Atom's continuity isn't a gaping hole of suck, okay?

Relishing New Year's Evil this week? Find more malicious pin-up fun at the following blogs:

• Lyrl Dox by Mark Chiarello @ DC Bloodlines
• (unknown) by Joe Devito @ DC Bloodlines
• Cheetah by Mark Chiarello @ Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
• Circe "Gathering of Evil" by Steve Stanley @ Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
• Doomsday "Gathering of Evil" by Steve Stanley @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu

1995 Skybox DC Villains: The Dark Judgment The Baron Trading Card #80

Art by Tony Harris

A former Nazi war criminal, the long-lived Baron runs a vast covert network, engaging in illicit activities around the world. The Baron is incredibly powerful, and has displayed a huge tolerance for pain. There are some who even claim that he is no longer human. I know his secret... but I'm not talking.

I have always been into Baron Blitzkrieg. There aren't two finer words that could be combined in the English language for naming a super-villain, so they had to reach out to der Vaterland for that extra element of evil. Here's two more glorious tastes that taste great together: Nazi Superman. It's so deliriously comic-booky it gives me a sugar high just thinking about it. Blitzkrieg's also had some awesome costume designs with atypical but acceptable color schemes, like the yellow suit with a red iron eagle and cross as the chest symbol, with arm length orange gloves/thigh highs incorporating swastikas. Baron Blitzkrieg was so bad, he made Red Skull look like a moderate. They even threw in some magenta every now and again, because all those high ranking Nazis were kinky like that.

Baron Blitzkrieg started out as a Wonder Woman villain, but thanks to Roy Thomas, got around to punching most every World War II era super-hero at some point. As the '90s were wont to do, Baron Blitzkrieg was deemed to gaudy and dated, and got an update. Surprisingly, "The Baron" just got cooler, establishing that Blitzkrieg was still getting his von Strucker on with a secret criminal organization. The Baron switched to a brown uniform shirt, gray pants, and flared knee-high leathers, so you know he was still up for a ride. The Baron was twisted up in Damage's origins, and brought him a mentor figure in the form of Iron Munro.

Despite claiming a love of Damage, Geoff Johns killed of Baron Blitzkrieg in Infinite Crisis, and Damage himself in Blackest Night. The world is a poorer place for the loss... unless you're Jewish, gypsy, gay, mentally or physically handicapped, a member of the All-Star Squadron and are otherwise non-Teutonic.

Relishing New Year's Evil this week? Find more malicious pin-up fun at the following blogs:

• Scarth by Thom Ang @ DC Bloodlines
• Circe by Kent Williams @ Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
• Darkseid "Gathering of Evil" by Steve Stanley @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu

1995 Skybox DC Villains: The Dark Judgment Major Force Trading Card #8

Recruited for a secret government project, former Air Force Sgt. Clifford Zmeck -- court-martialed and under life sentence for murder -- was thrown into the quantum field and transformed into the superpowered Major Force. In or out of prison, he remains a most deadly killer.

Villains who serve as dark analogues for the heroes they fight was nothing new in 1988, but I find it amusing that Major Force predated the debut of Venom by just a couple of months. In terms of physique, demeanor, and even haircut, Eddie Brock and Cliff Zmeck had a lot in common. Yet, I like Major Force, and often use Venom as an example of how to make a cynical, pandering, unimaginative bad guy. I suppose my personal biases come into play there. Card art by Thom Ang.

I'm not the only blogger relishing New Year's Evil this week. Find more malicious pin-up fun at the following:

• Lady Shiva by Simon Bisley @ DC Bloodlines
• Ares by Kent Williams @ Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
• Mongul "Gathering of Evil" by Steve Stanley @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu

2009 Plastique TampaCon Sketch by Pat Broderick

Click for Original


Allow me to level with you a moment, dear reader. I'm running a series of posts related to painted DC Villains art from 1995-1996 across multiple blogs as filler material during the post holiday lull, while trying to stockpile meatier posts for later. The Atom has a fairly terrible rogues gallery, and Captain Atom's isn't much better, so I just can't keep up the pace at this blog that I've set elsewhere. For perspective, I ran through most of the art I would have used for my Martian Manhunter blog last year, and still managed to scrounge up enough leftovers for him to participate more fully than here. I repeat, there are more Martian Manhunter villains than for every Atom combined (spanning two companies.) It a sorry state of affairs, my friend.

I was desperate enough to try running searches for Atom villains at Comic Art Fans, and after the lousy returns on Chronos and Major Force, Plastique was something of a Hail Mary pass. Now, I liked Plastique from the first time I saw her in an early issue of Captain Atom, and the two were even married in some version of continuity I doubt is still being honored. Plastique was one of Pat Broderick's better character designs, and I like his sketch of her here. I just wanted to come clean about how we got to the point where there's a Plastique sketchbook entry, and to let you know there'll be more painterly stuff in a few days.

1996 Rogues Gallery #1: Chronos by John Van Fleet

In 1995, Skybox produced a card set consisting of paintings of super-villains.
In 1996, DC released a pin-up book consisting of paintings of super-villains.
One of these things is very much like the other.

Chronos started out as a timepiece-themed thief in about the gaudiest costume imaginable. By 1996, Chronos had one arm left, an almost all black costume, and was using his control over temporal energy to age members of the Legion of Super-Heroes at will. In a few more years, an anti-hero would be jumping around time under the Chronos banner in his own series, and a few more years later, Chronos would be a Chinese woman. What a long strange trip...

I'm not the only blogger relishing New Year's Evil this week. Find more malicious pin-up fun at the following:

• Cheetah by Cliff Nielsen @ Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
• Dementor by Ray Lago @ DC Bloodlines
• Killer Frost by John Hanley @ Firestorm Fan
• Mongul by John Hanley @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu