Dr. Zarkad

A physicist of world reknown, Dr. Zarkad was performing and experiment, trying to teleport a lab rat across time and space. The experiment backfired and Zarkad and his entire laboratory (except the rat) were taken apart and rematerialized in the Bronze Zone! Discovered by the soldiers of the tyrant Oppressar, Zarkad bargained for his life and those of his assistants by offering fealty and service. Oppressar recognized the value of scientific knowledge and had his forces construct a gigantic laboratory/fortress in which to construct all manner of experiments, so long as the results would benefit Oppressar’s rule.

Dr. Zarkad quickly came to revel in his new position. With access to the Bronze Zone’s cosmic technology, Zarkad saw results to his experiments that he never saw on Earth. He was unlocking the secrets of the universe and didn’t care how his findings were being used. Naturally this led to the Fortress being attacked by Bludgeonak and those who rebel against Oppressar. Zarkad, seeing them as terrorists trying to prevent his learning the truths of the cosmos, began to create new and more powerful weapons that would hopefully be able to destroy Oppressar’s foes.

Prince Subterrak

The Kingdom of Twenty Caves is not an evil place, it’s rulers, King Stalactor and Queen Spelunka are loving rulers who care for the populace and maintain peace between the Twenty Caves, each made up of a different tribe (Rock People, Lizard People, Mole People, Slime People, and so on). Their son the Prince, however, is a jerk.

The powerhungry Prince Subterrak wants to rule the surface world. He knows he will someday inherit rule of the Twenty Caves, but it is not enough. Not when an entire world is above him, out of his reach. With an army of loyal soldiers, Subterrak makes journeys to the surface, attempting to seize territory or destroy targets of military value.

Boggles

James Adam Kendall was not a good person. As a boy he had killed animals and hurt other children. Though nobody ever suspected, he was also responsible for his grandfather’s fatal fall down a flight of stairs. His fascination with killing came to its peak when Kendall was nearing sixteen. Threatened with expulsion from high school, Kendall was happy to go, but couldn’t bring himself to do it without lashing out one final time. Dressing in a mascot costume and attending a football game, Kendall planted explosives beneath the bleachers. Dozens were killed and Kendall, still in the costume, opened fire on the first responders. He would have escaped if a dying police officer hadn’t gotten off a shot and fatally wounded the teenage monster. Unfortunately, the story did not end there. Kendall died in a location of weakened space-time, through which a demonic being witnessed his actions and liked what he saw. The entity offered the dying boy a chance to serve as an earthly servant. Kendall had no problems killing in the name of this otherworldly intelligence and rose again in the monstrous form of Boggles.

Boggles would work as an enemy for Demonoclast, why not?

Stoneholder

The Cosmic Ossuary Wall has been shattered. The dividing line between the Realm of the Hated Dead and our living realm has a hole. Obviously that causes some problems, Skeleterrors can reach the Earth. But other, less obvious problems spring from this as well. The remains of the Wall have been scattered through the Cosmos, and one of them has come into the possession of Curt Shears, petty crook. Shears was on the run when a mysterious stone fell from the sky and crashed to the ground near him. He picked it up, planning to throw it at his pursuers, but when he felt the energy that the stone gave off, he held onto it. Soon he discovered that, as long as he held the mystical stone, he could emit waves of pure force and create forcefields. Shears had no problem escaping police then, but he was still not criminal mastermind material. Perhaps not living up to the potential the stone could grant him, he offers his services as hired muscle to better supervillains.

Stoneholder is a sketch that I looked at and I thought: “What?” I had no idea where I was going with this. A guy holding a glowing rock. “Well, that rock must be significant,” I thought. “And his name on his shirt makes me think of old-school Batman henchmen.” So I threw that into the blender and served up the results.

The Warrior Poet

Oswald K. Whittaker was a weak, sickly child. Never able to live up to the standards of manhood set by his father, a famous footballer, young Oswald spent his days in books. But when Oswald turned sixteen, the secret magic blessing that runs in the family line granted him with amazing strength and power (and his father lost his). Now, with the strength that rivaled his intellect, Oswald became the Warrior Poet, a super-strong wordsmith who is willing to break any laws he feels he must to create a work of art.

I’ve always liked when you get a scientist villain who robs for chemicals or computer parts for their experiments, instead of just going for money. The Warrior Poet here is like that, but instead of science, he is a patron of the arts. He might break into an art museum to steal some painting that he wants to write some ekphrasistic poetry about, or he might break into a library to steal a rare first edition of some obscure book of sonnets.

Josiah Curse

With a distinctive facial scar and trademark clawed hand weapons, Josiah Curse is not an assassin you hire for subtlety. Josiah Curse is hired when you want to make a point. You’re saying, “This is what happens to those who have wronged me. You don’t want this to happen to you.”

Josiah Curse once drove a motorcycle off a cliff and landed on his target’s face. He once stole a bunch of monkeys that had been used for science experiments, kicked them until they were all really pissed off, then locked them in a room with a target. He once threw a javelin into his target and it was then struck by lightning. He once bit a guy’s forehead off and held him down while he bled to death. He’s basically not a nice guy.

I didn’t really have any big plan with this one. I wanted another street-level hitman type, and the name just came to me, then I drew this guy. Maybe he runs afoul of Marv Thinker on some case, why not?

All-Time Champ

In the late thirty-third century there is a man born with incredible power. He’s stronger, faster, more agile than anyone else, and he proves it by challenging the toughest fighters of his age. He defeats them all. But the Champ has another power, he can travel back in time. Using this ability, he decides, he can prove himself the greatest fighter ever: the All-Time Champ. Projecting himself into history, the Champ challenges the best and brightest warriors. Travelling chronologically, the Champ trounces the Stone-Ager, a caveman made from living rock. The Champ wears down ancient Africa’s Lightning Lioness after two solid days of combat. The Champ knocks out the Sumerian Boar King with a single punch. The mysterious Kung Fu Supergenius, the Viking Wizard King, the Knight of the Lamp, and so many more. All the greatest heroes are beaten by the Champ. But his world comes crashing down when he reaches the twenty-first century. The Noblewoman is the first opponent to defeat the Champ. Now, nursing his bruises and his bleeding lip, the Champ swears: He will have his revenge. He will defeat her, even if he has to kill her to do it.

The All-Time Champ is one that’s been in my head for a long while. I mentioned in my post about Noblewoman that I had ideas for stories, the All-Time Champ is an important element to a few of those stories. One aspect of his time-travel powers is that he can not go back in time further than a time period he has already been in (with the obvious exception of his present), so after his first encounter with Noblewoman he can’t just go back and beat her up as a kid or anything. Rematches, but no prematches.

Cicada

Mary Branston was a disgruntled employee at a weapons design company. Overlooked for promotions after a decade of service, she decided she could do better on her own. Designing a suit of armor that enhanced her strength, allowed her to fly, and fired powerful sonic bursts, Mary became the Cicada. With that, it was easy to start robbing armored trucks, banks, and jewelry stores. As tends to happen, this brought Cicada to the attention of heroes like Stegosauress, Vanquisher, and Justifier.

There’s no denying that this character is inspired by the old Spider-Man villain, the Beetle. But more specifically, it is my reaction to the new female Beetle who has taken up the role since original Beetle has become a good guy with a different identity. If you follow that link, you’ll see a woman wearing sleek feminine armor that makes sure to show off her curves. Ain’t no reason for it, but it is actually quite typical for armored women in comics to have armor that accentuates their sexiness in ways that male characters’ wouldn’t. Adding breasts to a suit of power armor is not necessary, but it is ubiquitous. I should note that out of the, I think, five replacement Beetles since the original quit, three have been women and this is the only one who wasn’t just wearing old Beetle armor, so this is one armored super-identity where the sexism already has been mildly avoided, but its still the example that led to this character’s creation. Still, Cicada, unlike the replacement Beetles, is given the distinction of creating her own armor rather than taking someone else’s.

Hurtch

Hurtch is your typical Fifth-Dimensional Ogre. He’s just angry all the time and wants to beat the heck out of people. Luckily for him, he knows how to get to that puny Three-Dimensional world called Earth. In the Third Dimension, Hurtch is so powerful that he would Blow Your Mind! Unfortunately for Hurtch, Volcanocles is hanging around on that Earth planet. And Volcanocles isn’t going to let Ming Blowing Power stop him.

The idea for a Fifth-Dimensional Ogre is something that’s been rolling around in my head for a while, a reaction to the Mr. Mxyzptlk, Superman’s Fifth-Dimensional Imp. But, where Mxy gives Superman an opponent to fight with his mind, Hurtch and Volcanocles are just all about the punching each other. Because that’s the kind of guys they are.

The Larcener

The world’s cleverest thief. The Larcener is a mysterious criminal. He seems to work for himself, never taking jobs for hire, but he also targets items that are too unique to ever be fenced without getting noticed. Perhaps he is amassing some collection or the world’s most valuable knickknacks, or perhaps he is more interested in the act of thievery than the personal gains, but nobody can say for sure. The Larcener has never been captured and nobody has even heard his voice.

With all the tricks you might expect from a master thief (smoke grenades, suction cups, grappling hooks, laser cutters, etc.) the Larcener has broken into Billionaires’ mansions, top-secret military bases, an ancient temples, leaving only a monogrammed calling card with a monogrammed “L” is left behind to taunt the victims.

Allow me to paraphrase my thought process in creating the Larcener: “I should make a thief-lookin’ guy.” That was followed by “I wonder if there’s an old-fashioned word for a thiefy dude.” I turns out there was. The Larcener would work as a foil for Securitaur. I envision the Larcener being the One Who Gets Away, the enemy that Securitaur and company come up against again and again, but can never seem to capture. Maybe they foil his crimes from time to time, but he always gets away. Maybe Securitaur successfully repels the ninjas, then turns around to find the loot that he’d been hired to protect has vanished.