The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part One
In baseball, all you have to do is succeed about 1/3 of the time to make it into the Hall of Fame. Try messing up two out of every three tasks your boss gives you at work and see how long you last!
Comics, obviously, are a more demanding medium than the National Pastime. No book can last if the vast majority of its stories are inferior. That being said, even all-time Silver Age greats like Gardner Fox and Stan Lee didn’t hit a home run every time up to the plate. In this series, we will examine some of the Silver Age’s lamest do-badders.
First up is…cue drum roll…The Tumbler, from Tales of Suspense #83, November 1966. He isn’t that bad a villain, really, I guess. He was a good match for Captain America powerwise, a well-trained but non-super-powered athlete and acrobat much like Cap himself. But his costume is just awful. I can just imagine what went through this guy’s head when he decided to embark on a life of crime…
“Hmmm, I’ve spent years getting in shape for this gig. I’m gonna need an outfit that tells people right up front that I’m a genuine threat not to be taken lightly…I know, I’ll go with pink long johns!”
He didn’t get a cover appearance in his debut, because it was Iron Man’s turn to be on the Tales of Suspense cover that month, but check out his one and only cover appearance from Captain America #169, January 1974. (And his costume is really a lot pinker than it looks in this scan…it’s literally the color of the human tongue.)
And, just in case you think I’m picking on Marvel, let’s look at a DC loser, too…
…Generalissimo Demmy Gog, from Justice League of America #66, November 1968. Come on! His name alone tells you this guy is nothing more than a joke! And his homeland is called Offalia? No series of negative adjectives is sufficient to describe this stupidity! And the story behind the issue just makes it that much worse. The previous issue was the last written by long-time JLA scribe Gardner Fox, and featured a heart-rending final page with the newly-introduced android Red Tornado lamenting his lack of humanity. This idiotic story was written by none other than Denny O’Neil! Yes, the selfsame Denny O’Neil who a few years later would turn Batman from a TV show-inspired parody of himself back into a fearsome creature of the night! The plot and characters for this tale seem more appropriate to a Jerry Lewis or Inferior Five comic than DC’s flagship team book!
In baseball, all you have to do is succeed about 1/3 of the time to make it into the Hall of Fame. Try messing up two out of every three tasks your boss gives you at work and see how long you last!
Comics, obviously, are a more demanding medium than the National Pastime. No book can last if the vast majority of its stories are inferior. That being said, even all-time Silver Age greats like Gardner Fox and Stan Lee didn’t hit a home run every time up to the plate. In this series, we will examine some of the Silver Age’s lamest do-badders.
First up is…cue drum roll…The Tumbler, from Tales of Suspense #83, November 1966. He isn’t that bad a villain, really, I guess. He was a good match for Captain America powerwise, a well-trained but non-super-powered athlete and acrobat much like Cap himself. But his costume is just awful. I can just imagine what went through this guy’s head when he decided to embark on a life of crime…
“Hmmm, I’ve spent years getting in shape for this gig. I’m gonna need an outfit that tells people right up front that I’m a genuine threat not to be taken lightly…I know, I’ll go with pink long johns!”
He didn’t get a cover appearance in his debut, because it was Iron Man’s turn to be on the Tales of Suspense cover that month, but check out his one and only cover appearance from Captain America #169, January 1974. (And his costume is really a lot pinker than it looks in this scan…it’s literally the color of the human tongue.)
And, just in case you think I’m picking on Marvel, let’s look at a DC loser, too…
…Generalissimo Demmy Gog, from Justice League of America #66, November 1968. Come on! His name alone tells you this guy is nothing more than a joke! And his homeland is called Offalia? No series of negative adjectives is sufficient to describe this stupidity! And the story behind the issue just makes it that much worse. The previous issue was the last written by long-time JLA scribe Gardner Fox, and featured a heart-rending final page with the newly-introduced android Red Tornado lamenting his lack of humanity. This idiotic story was written by none other than Denny O’Neil! Yes, the selfsame Denny O’Neil who a few years later would turn Batman from a TV show-inspired parody of himself back into a fearsome creature of the night! The plot and characters for this tale seem more appropriate to a Jerry Lewis or Inferior Five comic than DC’s flagship team book!
There are plenty more where these two came from, so pop in frequently to see if your favorite ridiculous villain is profiled!
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