Bring On The Bad Guys: Dr. Doom

What makes a good super hero? I would say an equally fascinating super villain, so lets start out with one of Marvels best. With his debut appearance in Fantastic Four #5, the evil genius Victor Von Doom was the first major new villain of the Marvel Age as well as a truly new kind of enemy.  As villainous as he was brilliant, Doctor Doom was as strategic as he was maniacal. Being a former classmate of the Fantastic Four leader, Reed Richards, the bad doctor could match his wits with their team-leader in scientific skill and his connection to the team's past gave Victor great insight in his many battles with the super team. Psychologically and physically twisted by a lab accident in college, Doom's villainy was unquestionable, but there was always something sympathetic about his plight, as shown below in this Jack Kirby page from the Fantastic Four Annual #2. This dichotomy made him different from most comic book villains that came before as Doom served as a template for many that came after. It should come as no surprise that writer Stan Lee has said on many occasions that Doom is his favorite villain. Lee once stated that "[Doom] could come to the United States and he could do almost anything, and we could not arrest him because he has diplomatic immunity. Also, he wants to rule the world and if you think about it, wanting to rule the world is not a crime."

National Cartoonist Society Profile: Brant Parker

Artist Brant Parker co-created and drew The Wizard of Id comic strip  until passing the job on to his son, Jeff Parker, in 1997. Cartoonist Johnny Hart, his co-creator, continued writing the strip until his own death on April 7, 2007. Parker passed away in April of 2007, here is his short bio he did for the NCS.  Born in Los Angeles, California once upon a time long, long ago. Mother was an artist and three years later I was drawing weird, distorted doodles on the walls, floors and furniture, etc. It took another thirty-five years, however, to find my "NICHE". Los Angeles Daily News as a staff artist, trainee and in-B-tweener at Walt Disney Productions, Inc. An editorial cartoonist for Gannett Newspapers' Binghamton Press, freelanced magazine gags, advertising and promotion with IBM. Greeting cards for American Greetings and finally, "The Wizard of Id" comic strip in 1964, not to mention what seemed like a lifetime in the U.S. Navy, somewhere in there. Winning the Reuben was my greatest moment!

Atlas/Seaboard Comics: The Grim Ghost

In January 1975, The Grim Ghost debuted written by Michael Fleisher and illustrated by Ernie Colon. Set in Colonial America, dashing Matthew Dunsinane was a successful silversmith by day and masked highwayman by night, feared by all as the Grim Ghost. Betrayed by a woman in 1743, he was captured and executed, but the quick thinking rogue struck up a bargain in hell with Satan, becoming his agent delivering evil souls to Hell or suffering there in eternity for his crimes. Now the avenger travels nightly on a flying jet black steed firing his spectral pistols transporting the still-living thieves and murders down to the flames of Perdition. While posing as a living descendant of himself, still in his original baronial New England mansion, two centuries later, he also carries  on his greatest mission, capturing the demon Brimstone, who is trying to overthrow Satan himself to rule the underworld. Dunsinane even has to team up with Lady Sarah Braddock, the woman who betrayed him to accomplish his goals in this moody horror/adventure title. This Earth-bound specter was an interesting addition to Seaboards stable of titles, drawing the best elements from other characters like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ghost Rider, Zorrro, and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Tony Isabella was called in to script the third issue with a more mellow spectral hero, but unfortunately the series ended in January of 1976 when the company folded with issue #3 and a Russ Heath cover as shown below.