Who is your favorite comic Villain?

As the title suggests, who is your favorite comic Villain and why?

Mine is `Mr Mastermind` in Sparky comics "I.Spy" strip! This fellow came sauntering onto the strip flanked by four `bouncers` who laid down a Red carpet for him!

He wore made to measure suits, smoked via a golden-diamond encrusted-holder and wore very cool eye shades!

Up to then, the top villian in the "I.Spy" strip had been a certain `Mr X` who looked like the archytypical villian from a victorian melodrama! Mr X was most formidible, but I think Mastermind topped him!

The character was given the `honour` of bieng in the three finest seasons (1969-70, 1970-71 & 1971) series finale's which is a bit like bieng the closing act on the bill of the `Palladium` (anyone remember that?)

yep! definatly my fave `fun-strip` villian of all time! Mind you; a certain Rab Smith may well demur from this viewpoint!

Any pictures of him? Be cool to see what he looked like

Afraid I havn't got a scanner! Rab, who posts here as `Mr X` (hence my comment about him demurring) has many posted on Comic uk site! I hope he could do similar here! Mastermind looked a bit like the `younger` Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider, only more smartly dressed! I would offer that he is DC Thomsons finest ever `fun strip` villian!

My favourite British comics villain would have to be Slaymaster, the arch enemy of Captain Britain. He was your basic traditional goatee wearing Islamic baddie (decades before Islam became the world's foremost bogeyman of choice), his particular gimmick being that he was a living weapon. He had pounded the side of his left hand repeatedly into sand to form a callous on it, then sharpened it so that his hand was essentially a blade! There's such a thing as taking your dedication to your art too far...

Sadly, Captain Britain eventually got tired of him constantly cropping up and caved his head in with a rock.

Mr. Superstore from Buster/Whizzer and Chips STORE WARS. He represented everything I hate about capitalism and how it tries to undermine smaller business'.

Hourglass wrote:Mr. Superstore from Buster/Whizzer and Chips STORE WARS. He represented everything I hate about capitalism and how it tries to undermine smaller business'.

I remember Mr Superstore. Mind you, I never could work out how the little guy across the road could afford to undercut him on absolutely everything...

Zenith the Albino! Sexton Blake's greatest foe, though i have far from read all of the Zenith stories, one of them called "The Box of Ho Sen" is brilliant.

Another great Blake villain was Marston Hume, the first recurring "supervillain" in the stories, all the way back in 1906! I found it interesting on the recent Sexton Blake radio documentary that this woman was going on about "people like heroes that don't always win" - Well this bloke virtually admitted his crimes time and time again but SB would never be able to prove them in court.

There's something about villains who seem untouchable by the law, isn't there? Like Marvel's Kingpin and Doctor Doom. You just know they're going to get away with it, so you're always, always hoping they won't, far more so than with your average crook.

Despite having read adventure and superhero comics for over 30 years, I don't think I have a favorite villain. Somewhat remiss of me, I know!

In newspaper strips, there's alway Maisie's unwitting bully from The Perishers, Beryl Bogey, blackbelt-all-in-freestyle liberated women's netball champion! Huge, gorilla-like, limited in both vocabulary and eyesight.

Spiff_B wrote:Despite having read adventure and superhero comics for over 30 years, I don't think I have a favorite villain. Somewhat remiss of me, I know!

In newspaper strips, there's alway Maisie's unwitting bully from The Perishers, Beryl Bogey, blackbelt-all-in-freestyle liberated women's netball champion! Huge, gorilla-like, limited in both vocabulary and eyesight.

She never spoke, did she? Just grunted. But Ithink Beryl was more of a henchperson than a villain-surely, the closest thing to a villain in the Perishers was Maisie herself! Well, and Kilroy, obviously.

tony ingram wrote:

Spiff_B wrote:Despite having read adventure and superhero comics for over 30 years, I don't think I have a favorite villain. Somewhat remiss of me, I know!

In newspaper strips, there's alway Maisie's unwitting bully from The Perishers, Beryl Bogey, blackbelt-all-in-freestyle liberated women's netball champion! Huge, gorilla-like, limited in both vocabulary and eyesight.

She never spoke, did she? Just grunted. But Ithink Beryl was more of a henchperson than a villain-surely, the closest thing to a villain in the Perishers was Maisie herself! Well, and Kilroy, obviously.

I reckon Kilroy would be closest to a villain but wouldn't be a 'favourite villain' for me.

It's a bit harsh calling Maisie a villain! And Maisie's nemesis would really be beauty queen rival Blossom McGinsberg, but as Blossom is entirely innocent it's Beryl who's more a villain.

Spiff_B wrote:

tony ingram wrote:

Spiff_B wrote:Despite having read adventure and superhero comics for over 30 years, I don't think I have a favorite villain. Somewhat remiss of me, I know!

In newspaper strips, there's alway Maisie's unwitting bully from The Perishers, Beryl Bogey, blackbelt-all-in-freestyle liberated women's netball champion! Huge, gorilla-like, limited in both vocabulary and eyesight.

She never spoke, did she? Just grunted. But Ithink Beryl was more of a henchperson than a villain-surely, the closest thing to a villain in the Perishers was Maisie herself! Well, and Kilroy, obviously.

I reckon Kilroy would be closest to a villain but wouldn't be a 'favourite villain' for me.

It's a bit harsh calling Maisie a villain! And Maisie's nemesis would really be beauty queen rival Blossom McGinsberg, but as Blossom is entirely innocent it's Beryl who's more a villain.

Maisie can be pretty villainous when she wants-just ask Marlon!

tony ingram wrote:Maisie can be pretty villainous when she wants-just ask Marlon!

In turn, Baby Grumpling can be Machiavellian in his dealings with Maisie!

Spiff_B wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Maisie can be pretty villainous when she wants-just ask Marlon!

In turn, Baby Grumpling can be Machiavellian in his dealings with Maisie!

And with everyone else! Hmm, it's actually harder to find a character in The Perishers who is heroic! Wellington is a con artist, Marlon an idiot...I guess Boot is the closest the strip has to a hero!

tony ingram wrote:Hmm, it's actually harder to find a character in The Perishers who is heroic! Wellington is a con artist, Marlon an idiot...I guess Boot is the closest the strip has to a hero!

That's a point that's I saw raised on a fan page somewhere, that the children are a flawed bunch.

Boot sees himself as some sort of hero, although with his delusions of being an 18th century lord he's often guilty of vanity!

Spiff_B wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Hmm, it's actually harder to find a character in The Perishers who is heroic! Wellington is a con artist, Marlon an idiot...I guess Boot is the closest the strip has to a hero!

That's a point that's I saw raised on a fan page somewhere, that the children are a flawed bunch.

Boot sees himself as some sort of hero, although with his delusions of being an 18th century lord he's often guilty of vanity!

He is, however, the only character who routinely seems to be concerned for the welfare of anyone else (usually Wellington or Tatty Oldbitt). The kids are basically selfish, as kids their age usually are.

How did this turn into a Perishers thread? Not that you can ever have too much Perishers...

tony ingram wrote:He is, however, the only character who routinely seems to be concerned for the welfare of anyone else (usually Wellington or Tatty Oldbitt). The kids are basically selfish, as kids their age usually are.

How did this turn into a Perishers thread? Not that you can ever have too much Perishers...

Blame it on Beryl Bogey!

Yeah, Boot displays some nobility (while not actually being nobility!); Marlon's the most amiable of the kids, but his generosity only extends to accidentally distributing the contents of his inch-thick ketchup sarnies.

Confession time: Inspired by this strip, I once made myself a thick ketchup sandwich to see if I could repeat Marlon's feat. I have to report that under laboratory conditions, it is impossible to actually achieve Marlon's level of coverage; you just end up with ketchup dribbling all over your hands and the bread quickly disintegrates.
And then your nan shouts at you.

I've had a few ketchup sandwiches in my time -- I even have the occasional one as an adult -- but never thought of 'doing a Marlon'! At least you tried!

You'd need to put a barrier around the bread to dam the ketchup, then let it congeal (yeuck!). Or freeze it, like Marlon once tried to prevent splash-outs, and end up with a ketchup lolly sandwich!

Spiff_B wrote:

I've had a few ketchup sandwiches in my time -- I even have the occasional one as an adult -- but never thought of 'doing a Marlon'! At least you tried!

You'd need to put a barrier around the bread to dam the ketchup, then let it congeal (yeuck!). Or freeze it, like Marlon once tried to prevent splash-outs, and end up with a ketchup lolly sandwich!

Hmm, there's clearly more involved in this process than seems at first apparent. Perhaps some sort of vacuum formed, ketchup resistant sandwich holder is needed?

I hope Rab who posts here as `Mr X` might hop on this thread and extoll the virtues of I.Spy strip villian `Mr X` Hope Rab might pop on a photo of X and Mastermind! You there Rab?

alanultron5 wrote:I hope Rab who posts here as `Mr X` might hop on this thread and extoll the virtues of I.Spy strip villian `Mr X` Hope Rab might pop on a photo of X and Mastermind! You there Rab?

Perhaps our Mr X has been kidnapped by his namesake?

no, I'm still here, guys, I've just been busy finishing off my own strips. As requested, here's the top-hatted deviant MR X:




followed by Alan's all-time fave I SPY villain, MR MASTERMIND:

here, he dons the cool shades. All illustrations from latter-period LES BARTON [the original artist];

MR X followed by MASTERMIND were my favourite childhood comic villains, although later on in my teens, the notorious ANGEL GANG out of JUDGE DREDD were my 'favourite' villains.



some of you must surely be familiar with these unsavoury characters.

[i]However, the villain that haunted my imagination most was not from the pages of a comic, but this film character ALEX out of 1971 film

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: I never even saw the film til 1990, but the stills alone I saw previously of this eerie bloke had an adverse effect on me: sinister and forboding!!




STILL creeps me out......

FYI parts of clockwork Orange were filmed at my university (Leeds), mainly by the Roger Stevens building

There's actually a touch of Junior Angel in that picture of Alex. Must be the bowler.

The Angel Gang were among the most memorable of the Dredd villains, though I think their menace was slightly diluted by their constant reappearances after they were killed off at the end of The Judge Child Quest. The introduction of surviving brother Fink Angel was a nice twist, and the resurrection of the Mean Machine pleased me at the time, but then he jusst kept on coming back, which was highly illogical; surely, the Judges would just have removed his bionics and tossed him in a cube for the rest of his natural? And when Pa and Junior resurfaced too, that was a step too far, I think...

1971 a good year for Malcolm McDowell as he played a radically different role in the film "The Raging Moon" where due to contracting Tetanus he becomes disabled and has to reside at a care home for similar inflicted persons. He enters a romance with fellow disabled resident played by Nanette Newman! Very well portrayed sexual scenes that aren't gratuitous or unseemly in any way! A most underrated film and-in my view- McDowall's finest performanc!

Back to Villians! Thanks Rab! Mr X and Mastermind are surely the greatest villians ever in a `fun strip` even Mike Higgs truly superb `Cloak` strip in `Pow` (then "Smash & Pow") didn't produce villians like those two... Maybe `Deathshead` to some extent, but `X` and `Mastermind` are DC Thomsons finest `fun strip` villians in my book!

I saw 'RAGING MOON' once, Alan...it was OK: difficult to believe that Mc Dowel made this sensitive film the same year as 'ORANGE!' I saw Malc in 'BOOK of ELI' at the pictures last week; he's clearly aged, but still recognizable...



Tony; I always thought that Junior Angel was slightly based on Alex, and I agree that the original 1980 'JUDGE CHILD QUEST' was the first and best: pretty graphic stuff with torture-scenes suggested on XANADU by the Angels; hard-hitting stuff for a comic of the time, but excellent use of the sci-fi comic medium.-----there was far too much 'I'll go up to FOUR on him!' from MEAN MACHINE later on: the character never really evolved past this.

I stopped reading 2000 AD by the time JUNIOR and PA returned: how were they 'ressurected'?------was the explanation the same elixir that brought back MEAN in '82?



JUDGE DEATH was another great character that started off brilliantly---especially in the first two BOLLAND stories....again, too much familiarity creeped in, although the truly nightmarish NECROPOLIS story of 1990 [drawn and presumably painted by EZQUERRA] was an attempt to introduce Nazi-like atrocities into the mix: strange and slightly disturbing, that one, I thought.

No, Pa and Junior were supposedly never killed-it was revealed in the story 'Awakening of Angels' that when they apparently fell to their doom, they actually ended up trapped in suspended animation in some sort of crystal. Pretty much everyone hated the idea, John Wagner has since admitted it was a mistake and said he has no plans to reuse them again, and I don't think they've been seen since-but in theory, they're still out there, somewhere.

Judge Death was a terrific character, and I really liked his three sidekicks, too-particularly Judge Fear. His most iconic moment, of course, is when he opens up his faceplate and utters his trademark 'gaze into the face of Fear' line, only to be met with 'gaze into the fist of Dredd'.

Remember it well, Tony! The latter scenes on 'DEADWORLD' with DREDD and ANDERSON were superbly-realized: possibly BOLLAND'S last-ever full story drawn by him in 1981.

The Awakening of Angels story sounds ill-advised: was there any redeeming factors, like good artwork? That finale on Grunwald's Planet in the original was excellent stuff, even by RON SMITH standards....the first three DREDD epics: CURSED/CAL/CHILD were the best in my view; by APOCALYPSE WAR, a sense of routine had began to creep in, but perhaps this was just me becoming over-familiar with the DREDD concept.

MR X wrote:Remember it well, Tony! The latter scenes on 'DEADWORLD' with DREDD and ANDERSON were superbly-realized: possibly BOLLAND'S last-ever full story drawn by him in 1981.

The Awakening of Angels story sounds ill-advised: was there any redeeming factors, like good artwork? That finale on Grunwald's Planet in the original was excellent stuff, even by RON SMITH standards....the first three DREDD epics: CURSED/CAL/CHILD were the best in my view; by APOCALYPSE WAR, a sense of routine had began to creep in, but perhaps this was just me becoming over-familiar with the DREDD concept.

Awakening of Angels had very little to recommend it, as I recall. though I might re-read it now we've mentioned it. But some of the later Dredd epics still had something going for them-Necroplois was pretty good, as you've already said.

The angels re-appeared in the Judge Dredd Megazine a few years back in a prequel, followed by the adventures of whichever one of them makes the "pizzens" trying to make one that will kill an immortal Jabba The Hutt / Elvis type creature.

felneymike wrote:The angels re-appeared in the Judge Dredd Megazine a few years back in a prequel, followed by the adventures of whichever one of them makes the "pizzens" trying to make one that will kill an immortal Jabba The Hutt / Elvis type creature.

That would be Fink, he of the all purpose pizenin' pizen and the pet rat. More recently, they introduced his son, Ratfink Angel.

tony ingram wrote:

felneymike wrote:The angels re-appeared in the Judge Dredd Megazine a few years back in a prequel, followed by the adventures of whichever one of them makes the "pizzens" trying to make one that will kill an immortal Jabba The Hutt / Elvis type creature.

That would be Fink, he of the all purpose pizenin' pizen and the pet rat. More recently, they introduced his son, Ratfink Angel.

That Megazine appearance was only about a year ago, and seemed to come very quickly after the previous one. As has been said, the Angel gang have been seriously overused so I audibly groan (well, almost!) whenever there's another strip -- they bore and irritate me now.

Thankfully, they seem to have at least stopped using Judge Death, for now. Overuse will ruin any villain. Far better to take the approach they did with Trapper Hag-it took twenty years for him to come back!

Does this prove that the Angels and Judge Death are 'one-dimensional' characters, who never evolved past the initial, 'great' strips: most of the sequels were passable, but lacking compared to the original stories?

Maybe it was the scripting, but we all seem to agree that the Angels and Judge Death were overdone to the point they became routine.

MR X wrote:Does this prove that the Angels and Judge Death are 'one-dimensional' characters, who never evolved past the initial, 'great' strips: most of the sequels were passable, but lacking compared to the original stories?

Maybe it was the scripting, but we all seem to agree that the Angels and Judge Death were overdone to the point they became routine.

I don't think they were bad characters; quite the reverse, in fact. I don't think there's any such thing as a bad character. I just think that the Angel in particular were originally written to have a finite life, which has been artificially extended to the detriment of the characters. They were created for a story which ended with their deaths-there's nowhere to go after that without diluting them. Judge Death is a character with slightly more potential. He basically has the one gimmick but it's one which can be used in an infinite variety of ways. He's just often been been poorly served by the writers. 'Young Death-Boyhood of a Superfiend' was an example of doing something new and fresh with the character, so it can be done. It just frequently hasn't.

I did look through a book version of young Death, Tony, and it was quite intruiging: set in the days when he was a .normal' judge in his dimension: the scene where his pet dog goes over the cliff is the image that sticks in my mind!


Good point about the Angels being definately finished off in the JUDGE CHILD: it was stretching credibility bring them back so conveniently, later on............they were of course, just one of many attractions in the episodic, 26-part epic: the JIGSAW MAN, and MURD the OPRESSOR were other highlights of the extended story.


NECROPOLIS of course took off on another tangent, with intruiging offshoots like the DEAD MAN...[did you suss out the identity of the central character, Tony?] and of course PJ MAYBE: DEATH will doubtless return in a new angle, but to be honest, I'm fed up of hearing: 'the crime issss life!'

Maybe if they concentrate on good visuals with a new premise to explore, the character can return......but leave it for a decade or two, perhaps......

Have to admit, no, I didn't figure out the true identity of the Dead Man until pretty close to the end of the story. Blindingly obvious with hindsight, but at the time-no.

The Jigsaw Man. Heh. I'll have to find that cover and post it here. One of of my favourites. 'Help me Judge Dredd, i'm going to pieces!'

Another Villian that impressed me was a fellow who was confined to a wheelchair! He appeared in the second "White Eyes" story in Lion & Thunder circa mid 1972 I think!

Ezra Creech was so `evil` that the `white-eye` gas didn't really change his persona-just amplified it! When under the gas' influence he didn't need the wheelchair!

He later partnered up with another `L&T` villian-Professor Krait from the `Shadow of the Snake` serial. Creech though, was the more depraved of the two!

alanultron5 wrote:Another Villian that impressed me was a fellow who was confined to a wheelchair! He appeared in the second "White Eyes" story in Lion & Thunder circa mid 1972 I think!

Ezra Creech was so `evil` that the `white-eye` gas didn't really change his persona-just amplified it! When under the gas' influence he didn't need the wheelchair!

He later partnered up with another `L&T` villian-Professor Krait from the `Shadow of the Snake` serial. Creech though, was the more depraved of the two!

I remember Ezra Creech, but not Professor Krait. Was Ezra any relation to Septimus Creech, the Waxer?

I don't think he was related Tony! They certainly didn't look at all similar! Prof Krait was in the "Shadow of the Snake" series also 1972 `Lion & Thunder` This-and the "White Eyes" series were pretty popular with fans!

Some of it was fairly voilent in a `pre-Action` way! Creech captured the scientist (Timmins or Timms he was called) who accidentally conceived the `White Eyes` gas and forced him to work for him via does of the `treatment`

This consisted of Electric shock torture to poor Timms which for 1972 was pretty strong stuff! I wrote to I. P.C to state I thought they were getting close to sadism there! I got a reply apologising for such scenes and the strip did tone down this aspect a bit!

Similar to the "Master of Menace" series in `L&T` where Creech and Krait teamed up I always hoped for a similar `Mr X, Mastermind` liason in Sparky's `I. Spy` strip! Sadly, this was never to be! I. Spies ultimate nightmare!!

alanultron5 wrote:I don't think he was related Tony! They certainly didn't look at all similar! Prof Krait was in the "Shadow of the Snake" series also 1972 `Lion & Thunder` This-and the "White Eyes" series were pretty popular with fans!

Some of it was fairly voilent in a `pre-Action` way! Creech captured the scientist (Timmins or Timms he was called) who accidentally conceived the `White Eyes` gas and forced him to work for him via does of the `treatment`

This consisted of Electric shock torture to poor Timms which for 1972 was pretty strong stuff! I wrote to I. P.C to state I thought they were getting close to sadism there! I got a reply apologising for such scenes and the strip did tone down this aspect a bit!

I remember the White Eyes strip. It was a bit strong, in places, I agree.

Strange that two villains in the same comic should share such an unusual surname. Maybe they were trying to see if the readers were paying attention?

Another two very strange villians were "Mr Sun & Mr Moon" in 2000 ADs "Strontium Dog" Johnny Fly Eyes and Wulf were in some type of "Hell World" that these twop ruled! It was pretty weird but no pretentious! The kind of strip in 2000AD I liked!

Afraid it was "Halo Jones" and "Nemesis" that ended my reading 2000AD I found the pretentious in the extreme!!

alanultron5 wrote:Another two very strange villians were "Mr Sun & Mr Moon" in 2000 ADs "Strontium Dog" Johnny Fly Eyes and Wulf were in some type of "Hell World" that these twop ruled! It was pretty weird but no pretentious! The kind of strip in 2000AD I liked!

Afraid it was "Halo Jones" and "Nemesis" that ended my reading 2000AD I found the pretentious in the extreme!!

I remember the Hell World storyline! Fly's Eyes was a criminal they were trying to bring in when they got sucked into that weird world-they ended up meeting the Devil! Strontium Dog was always an imaginative strip. I think my favourite story was 'The Schickelgruber Grab', in which the boys were contracted to go back in time and capture Adolf Hitler (who they'd never heard of).

Actually, Adolf may just be the greatest ever comic strip villain: he's faced everyone from Captain America to Desperate Dan!

Adolf was a real person (sadly) who did far worse things than comic villians could conceive! Stalin was every bit as bad, but how many times has he been portrayed in comics?

alanultron5 wrote:Adolf was a real person (sadly) who did far worse things than comic villians could conceive! Stalin was every bit as bad, but how many times has he been portrayed in comics?

I can't actually think of even once...

Hitler 'starred' in a short series in the adult orientated comic Crisis about twenty years ago. We've a feature on it in an upcoming Crikey!

Stalin was responsible for the deaths of more people than Hitler...which is scary...