Who's Who Wednesday #4

Another great '80s team from the imagination of Mike Barr is the Masters of Disaster.

Rather than theming a team around firecrackers and other conservative American values like he did with Force of July, this time the team is based around natural disasters. This is a much better option, and although he missed out on being able to give them a punny name, the rhyming almost makes up for it. My favourite member of the team has to be New Wave, because you can't get any more '80s than that.

Nate

Who's Who Wednesday #3

Vartox - elder sibling of Botox - is not the worst name I've ever heard, but just look at that get-up! At what stage of the 80s was wearing undies and thigh high boots acceptable for men? Just call him Super Mardi Gras Guy and let him be himself.

More DC goodness next week.

Nate

Who's Who Wednesday

I enjoy a pun as much as any other nerd, but this one is awful. The Force of July doesn't stop with a terrible team name, though - no, there is much more to inspire the cringe factor in the modern reader. The characters have abysmal names and terrible backstories. Take for instance, Sparkler, a 'young boy whose powers make him a human fireworks display.' Or Lady Liberty 'a woman presumed to be of French origin' of course, despite this being a top secret US government operation. How about Silent Majority - a man who doesn't talk much and can produce duplicates of himself. It is like someone sat down and decided they needed a team that represented conservative American values, rattled off some words associated with Stars and Stripes patriotism and then made characters that would fit the names. In fact I'm pretty sure that is exactly what their creator, Mike Barr, did. Pretty hokey for the 1980s, but enough to make me choke on my tea in 2015.

'You'll never take our guns...'

More cringe-worthy characters to come next Wednesday.

Nate

Who's Who Wednesday

I'm busy painting Geoff's figures at the moment, which means nothing to blog about in the miniatures line for a while. So I'll do one of those rare comics posts. In fact, I'm thinking about making this a regular feature, if I can manage to sustain it past two posts.
I recently acquired the complete DC Who's Who from the 1980s. This was an attempt to do for DC what Marvel was doing with the Handbook to the Marvel Universe, which I still have as I collected it at the time (although Dan was in possession of it for a long time). Looking back through the pages, there are a number of characters that just make me giggle. Now I have to admit that I didn't really read DC comics in the 1980s - Justice League International for a short period - so apologies if I knock any memories that are near or dear to you, but looking back from 2015 I just can't believe that some of these guys were ever created.
Number One on the hit-list is this guy - Grimbor!

'And the safe word is...'

Occupation: Chainsman. Really? Forget 50 Shades of Grey - apparently you just need to read Superboy #221. And we all thought Wonder Woman's magic lasso was riding close to the edge.

Who will it be next time? I have my eye on a team entry that just makes me cringe...

Nate