Zapgunner

With his green skin, antennae, and high-tech pistol, the Zapgunner is, in fact, not an alien being. Bernard Einhorn was a feeble two-bit conman, scamming people in bars just to get by. During one such con, Einhorn was trying to convince a scientist that he had proof of extraterrestrial life. He had no such thing, but his claim was overheard by an actual undercover alien, who thought his cover had been blown. In a panic, this alien arranged things such that Einhorn would be trapped in an apparently alien form, distracting the scientist while he made his escape.

And so Einhorn was transformed into an alienoid form, but he also found the real alien’s raygun. Quickly noticing its power, Einhorn was able to escape the scientist and start using his strange new energy weapon to go on a crime spree he would never have been capable of when he was a frail loser criminal. With the help of this strange fortuitous transmutation, the Zapgunner had his the big leagues. Once barely worthy of the notice of the police, he is now an opponent of the Guild of Crime Fighters.

Termination Dwayne

Dwayne Nelson, a resident of Hoboken, is a troubled man. Dwayne has issues with alcohol, with anger, with authority. Of all the people you would want to wind up in a high-tech battlesuit, Dwayne is the last. But, somehow, Dwayne has indeed become mentally bonded to a high-tech battlesuit. Isn’t that always the way?

But having a powerful suit of armor capable to bringing down buildings and standing up to military shelling has not made Dwayne’s ambitions any grander. He is still more likely to rob a liquor store than to try to conquer the world. To make matters worse, the bond between Dwayne and his high-tech battlesuit functions even from a distance. Even when HAULER brings him in and Dwayne is separated from his suit, he can mentally control it to come and break him out again.

The name “Termination Dwayne” is something that I thought up very young, and a sketch of the character has been in my files. Now he gets his chance to shine! Or whatever. Dwayne’s full name and the fact he was a drunken loser were all there in my notes with the sketch, so I didn’t have to add much here tonight. I tied him to HAULER because a drunken crook seems like the sort of thing a cop-powered robot would be used to arrest.

Sorcerox

A life-long coal miner, Karl Jandacek was caught in a mine collapse. Caught in a pocket, his foot pinned under a rock, Karl watched in horror as some sort of liquid seeped into the cave and began to fill what space he had. It looked like he would drown. But he did not.

Instead, as the strange fluid finally submerged the wounded man, it caused a burning sensation. Karl soon lost consciousness.

When he came to, Karl wasn’t Karl anymore. His body had changed. He looked down at his clawed hands and grey skin from new eyes and noticed that he could see things he could not see before, mystical energy fields that permeated everything around him. And he could affect this energy.

The people on the surace assumed Karl Jandacek had died, but instead he wandered further underground to test his powers. When he dug himself out a year later, he was Sorcerox, a sorcerous monster intending to conquer the world.

To serve him, Sorcerox has created two mystical monsters, Fire-And-Wind and Water-And-Rock. Each with the powers of the elementary materials of which they are made. Fire-And-Wind is a flying flame and Water-And-Rock is a flowing torrent with a stone core. While these are beings of rudimentary intelligence, they have developed a sort of personality. Fire-And-Wind is a reckless, impulsive, angry creature. Water-And-Rock is more patient, more calculating, more cunning. Together, these elemental enforcers make a powerful pair, a threat to the heroes that oppose Sorcerox. The primary line of defense against Sorcerox’s villainous invasion is the wizard dog Wizardog, who makes a point of digging up the villain’s schemes and routing them wherever they turn up.

Okay, behind the scenes stuff: Sorcerox was another one of those unnamed sketches that I found among my files and decided to give a name and a story to. He looks more like something I’d been trying to fit into a more generic (and probably terrible) fantasy story, but I figured he could work in the context of a superhero story just fine. To that end, I tried to give him a more standard supervillain origin (a blue collar worker who has an accident and gains powers is Electro, for example). I didn’t quite nail it, but I like how it turned out well enough.

The two elemental monster things I just drew because, once I’d had the idea, they seemed like they’d be easy to draw (and it is easier than drawing people, even if they aren’t too indicative of their nature). I thought that they’d be henchmen for some mad scientist character, but when I sat down today to write some villains up, it all looked like it fit together.

Dr. Malevolence

Dr. Janessa Tindall will show them all! They laughed at her theories about a connection between the human mind and teleportation. Tindall turned to criminal backers to fund her projects. She still failed. Her attempt to prove her findings resulted in a terrible disaster and dozens were killed. Tindall was sent to prison. But her criminal backers did not forget her, they broke her out of prison and put her to work as their own weapon designer. Tindall killed them all for their insolence and went on to be her own criminal, holding cities hostage and building rampaging robots. Nobody would ever laugh at her again.

The state of the Female Mad Scientist in fiction is one that could use some improvement (here is an article on the topic). Heck, women are underrepresented as regular scientists too, and not just in fiction. In the real world even. But given my belief that how we shape our fiction can affect how we see our world, it is my duty to pump out some lady science-types. And this is villains year, both of today’s villains are Mad Scientists Who Aren’t Dudes. Dr. Malevolence here is, I guess, more of a standard Crime Scientist that you’ve gotta have if you are dealing with superheroes.

Injectia

Some people might make a poor life choice in a fleeting moment after having a bad idea, but Tara Jensen was truly devoted to her bad idea. Removing her left arm, Tara has replaced the limb with a giant syringe. But the device is more than a simple needle, it contains high-tech workings that allow her to work with chemicals and formulas and viruses, giving her various ways to utilize her new appendage. Naturally, Tara has styled herself as the supervillain Injectia and embarked on a career of crime with no end in mind greater than continuing her messing around with chemicals and viruses. She has become a primary target for the government’s hero, the Securer.

Not much to add. Another mad scientist, this one perhaps more of the kind of obsession with her interests than a desire for revenge or anything. I think Injectia would barely care about people who have wronged her or who are trying to capture her. She’s just really interested in her science and doesn’t care who she hurts in the process.

Kill-A-Lot-Bot

When the robotics wing of Astounditech Incorporated was the victim of serious financial cutbacks, the staff decided, in a moment of anger, programmed one of their most advanced robots to go on a killing spree. Unfortunately for them, it was very good at it. The robot killed the heads of the company, the programmers and engineers, and just about everyone it came across. It killed a lot. Eventually, the authorities were able to stop the robot’s rampage, but just then the Robotic Raiders arrived to recruit Kill-A-Lot-Bot to their goal of human extinction. Taken to the machine team’s secret base, Kill-A-Lot-Bot continues to join the serve.

I have opinions on the idea that Artificial Intelligences would want to destroy all human life. To greatly simplify those opinions: I figure they probably won’t have much reason to want do that. This character is the opposite of that. Unlike most of the villains I’ve done so far, this one is neither a villain assigned to one of my heroes from previous Super Sundays, nor meant to stand alone. The Robotic Raiders have appeared in one of my Robexor stories. Why make another robot for a team already staffed with several robots in a story I already did? Honestly, I mostly just wanted to draw a robot, so I did.

Fireclops

In this corner, from the Isle of Mystic Fire, the terrible daughter of the Burning Sky, the flaming creature with a hunger for roast human: Fireclops! Striding forth from the vortex that leads to the Magic Realms, Fireclops tears through cities and towns setting fire and eating people. This is the exact kind of magical threat that Konwaag the Magic Hunter seeks to put to an end. Which of these two powerful beings will come out on top? And how much damage will the human race suffer in the meantime?

Nothing much to say about this one. Just drew a cyclops, then added fire. That happens sometimes. If Konwaag is meant to be a rival hero to Noblewoman, Fireclops is the kind of threat that makes us know that Konwaag is still a relatively good guy. And that way, Fireclops and Noblewoman can work together to fight.

Mr. Slime

While making an attempted robbery of a chemical plant’s payroll office, Deke Sleeman happened to be spotted by a particularly bitter security guard. The guard chased the crook, who fell over a safety railing into a vat of toxic waste. Sleeman seemed to dissolve, and the company decided it would be best to keep the authorities in the dark about what had happened. No need to draw unwanted attention. A few weeks later, a mass of ooze pulled itself out of the vat of chemicals and attacked the security guard, leaving him dead.

In time, Sleeman was able to pull himself into a shape resembling his former human self. He now had the ability to transform himself into slime, simply ooze or deadly acidic, and he was noticed by the owner of the chemical plant. He could use a man of those unique talents for certain unconventional jobs. Sleeman was willing.

I drew Mr. Slime one time years ago, at work I think, and just left him among my notes. I liked the idea and the look, a pretty conventional villain I thought, so it seems perfect to break him out now. I think that Mr. Slime could do double duty in my superhero universes, fighting regular superheroes like the Beam as a crook following the Hydro-Man archetype, but also he would be on the team of pollution-themed villains who fight CommandOak. Let’s get the most out of our slime guy.

Krygax the Killer

Krygax was created by the mystical Night Fellows to serve as their perfect killing machine. They did a good job with creating a killer, but were not as careful as they should have been with creating a loyal servant. Krygax will serve the Night Fellows as long as it allows him to kill, but given any bit of freedom and any bit of boredom and he will find new victims of his own choosing. The Night Fellows, worshippers of a demon called Karaksus the Uncontrollable, are now, ironically, burdened by an uncontrollable minion. Still, no matter how hard it is to wrangle the mystical assassin, he is useful as a weapon against the Night Fellows’ sworn enemy, Skullserpent.

Like Mr. Slime, a sketch of this character has been in my filing cabinet for years. The difference here is that, as far as I know now, I had no idea of who he was when I drew him. I certainly never gave him a name or any kind of backstory. He was just a doodle. But now he’s a guy on my website thing. No idea gets left behind.