Super Sunday: Captain Krakk and the Propheseer

Captain Krakk

When Dr. Malevolence was defeated by her superhero enemies for the umpteenth time, her teleportation technology went haywire and sent her spiraling through various dimensions. Just barely managing to save herself, Malevolence found herself stranded in a strange dimension populated by crustaceoid beings that were apparently as intelligent as humans. Arbitrarily, she picked one of these beings and offered him the benefit of her technology if he would serve her. And serve her he did. This crab-like man, named Krakk, became Malevolence’s loyal military leader, helping her raise an army to conquer not only that world, but to bring back to Earth with her once she was able.

Now Malevolence is home again, but she maintains a interdimensional portal in her secret laboratory. Captain Krakk is in charge of things on his world, living in a palace built by the strange Earth technology and using his army to keep the rest of the populace as slaves. While he must occasionally quell uprising of his people, he is also summoned to Earth to aid his benefactor in her times of need.

I wanted to draw some kind of lobstery guy, so I did. I think I was at least partially inspired by General Traag, the leader of Krang’s rock soldiers from Dimension X on the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, so I tried to create a similar-feeling for Krakk’s backstory.

Propheseer

An old man with a big book. Where the Propheseer received his book is not known, but it seems to contain factual depictions of future events. The bad news is, the book describes dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of disasters that will befall the human race. The good news is, it ends with the wounded remains of humanity recovering and forming a new and better society. That future ideal world is the Propheseer’s motivation. To bring that happy place into existence, he has to make certain that the disasters happen. But since the Noblewoman came onto the scene, disasters are having a harder time wiping out humanity.

Is there any hope for the human race? Would we be better off just wiping the slate clean and starting over? I’ve known people who are down on the world and have said that. But I consider that a defeatist attitude. My superheroes would be about making the world a better place through hard work, not giving up and trying anew. I’ve already given Noblewoman a few villains this year, but she seemed a good fit for this concept, so she gets another.

Probably the worst thing about the Cold War is that we can’t use the word “Comrade” anymore.

Super Sunday: The Network City Bastards

The Network City Bastards

Network City, corrupt as it is, is a place of rules and order. With cybernetic police soldiers patrolling the streets and every corner of the city watched by cameras, rebellion is hard to do. So those who do rebel have to rebel hard:

Augmentor

Network City is the world’s technology leader, so with his exceptional hacking skills (using augmented reality goggles and “hacking guns” of course), Augmentor is right at home. He is the leader of the group, inasmuch as they have a leader, and he is also responsible for their ability to escape the omnipresent cameras and police databases. He probably pretends like he is fighting against the fascist pigs who run the city, but that’s just an excuse to do whatever he wants.

Antipathi

Antipathi has nanotechnology coursing through her veins, keeping her muscles and bones superhumanly strong and making her quick and agile. She also has a general hatred for humanity coursing through her mind. Her alliance with the Bastards is mostly just a convenient means for her to punch stuff and hurt people. She’s good at it too.

Exoskeleto

A cybernetics genius with a bad attitude, this teenage troublemaker wears a powerful cyber suit that makes him a physical rival of even the strongest cyborg police officers in the city. And he is always ready to prove himself in a fight. Exoskeleto’s favorite activity is showing off just how powerful he is. That can sometimes lead to problems when the rest of the team is trying to be subtle and Exoskeleto is aching for a fight.

Spikethrower

Spikethrower throws spikes. She has cybernetic devices in her bones that, in addition to giving her an unnatural jumping ability, also produces metal spikes that “grow” out of her back. When you’ve got spikes, might as well throw them, right?

These four characters: I had not drawn them with any connection in mind, but I figured that grouping them together would move us along more quickly. It does also help me fill one niche: This is less true than it was when I was young, but teenaged villains were once not particularly common. For the longest time it seemed that teenagers would be the super heroes and they’d fight adult criminals (starting with Spider-Man, I guess). I suppose this was about appealing to the target audience, youths, but c’mon… we all know that actual teens are jerks. Let’s let them be super-jerks. (“Prove me wrong, kids! Prove me wrong!”)