Jab’s Builds! (Solomon Grundy! The Flash! Suicide Squad! Captain Marvel!)

[Jabroniville]

Oh good! Another set of votes for my Polls! The results were fairly interesting:

(I wrote down their numbers, but then lost the sheet, so I had to re-do it... and ended up with different numbers, probably because I didn't register Hoid's quotation of the catchphrase as a vote . I count a #1 vote as 3 points, #2 as 2, and #3 as 1. A few #4s gave me some half-points, though they don't shift the dynamics very much)

Fighting Games:
Power Instinct: 3 (FB), 6 (Koroko), 9 (DrKrash)
Way of the Warrior: 1 (FB)
Kasumi Ninja:
Rise of the Robots:
TMNT: 1/2 (Ares), 1 1/2 (Koroko)
Double Dragon: 2 (Koroko)

Regular Builds:
JLU: 2 (Jack), 4 (Rusche), 5 (Ken), 6 (MC48), 7 (Gilliam), 9 (DrKrash)
Namor: 2 (FB), 5 (Jack), 6 (Ares), 9 (Rusche), 11 (Ken), 13 (MC48), 15 (chaos)
HBO:
Cosmic Beings: 1 (Jack), 2 (Ken/MC48)
ThunderCats: 2 (Ares), 5 (Ken), 8 (MC48), 11 (Koroko), 13 (Gilliam), 16 (Hoid), 19 (HJ)
Mario: 1/2 (Koroko), 3 1/2 (chaos)
Fire Emblem: 2 (Koroko), 5 (Gilliam)
Shining Force: 3 (Ares), 4 (Koroko)


So it looks like ThunderCats have a pretty commanding lead, with Namor not too far behind them. Curious, because Namor's builds are only 3.5 years old, really. I guess people just really like the Avenging Son . JLU is fairly close behind them, as is Power Instinct of all things. Are people really that familiar with that game? I couldn't name a single character if I tried!

A little bit of anticipation for Fire Emblem & Shining Force, which have been on my "To-Do" list practically since 3e became a thing, but I never got around to doing them. FE builds would be pretty simple, but open myself up to stat literally hundreds of characters, so I might just stat the ones from the game *I* like, and leave templates for the rest .

The To-Build List:
1) Teen Titans (2nd Generation)- currently ongoing; nearly finished
2) Killer Instinct (it got an AMAZINGLY big reaction last time I did a poll)
3) Marvel Randoms (4 days of random characters from The List)
4) Mega Man 11 (finally got around to looking up and researching the characters)
5) Marvel- The Letter "P" (More of The List)
6) Punisher Builds (I was gonna add him as one of the "P" names, but looking up his villains got away from me, and it's too late to go back)
7) Tekken Builds (again, a big reaction, and people shaming me to do the builds despite the huge roster. Three weeks of hell for anyone who doesn't like my Fighting Game builds, though )

After that, I'll slot in some of the stuff from this poll- ThunderCats will probably be first (it's only a few days, given the small cast), then Namor Builds. JLU/Power Instinct/Marvel Cosmics would probably be next, though JLU is such a long project that I might put at least one of the others ahead of it.

[Jabroniville]

MISS MARTIAN (M'gann Mor'zz, aka Megan Morse)
Created By: Geoff Johns & Tony Daniel
First Appearance: Teen Titans #37 (Aug. 2006)
Role: Distaff Counterpart (of J'onn J'onzz), Breakout Character
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans
PL 11 (338)
STRENGTH 14 STAMINA 14 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 5 (+7)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+10)
Expertise (Streetwise) 4 (+10)
Insight 3 (+8)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Investigation 8 (+13)
Perception 8 (+13)
Stealth 5 (+8)
Technology 4 (+10)
Vehicles 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Jack-Of-All-Trades, Languages 3 (Any He Needs), Power Attack, Set-Up, Ranged Attack 8, Takedown, Teamwork

Powers:
Power-Lifting 5 (12,000 tons) [5]
Impervious Toughness 7 [7]
Flight 13 (16,000 mph) [26]
Quickness 6 [6]
Regeneration 4 (Feats: Regrow Limbs) [5]
Immunity 10 (Life Support) [10]
"Martian Senses" Senses 7 (Extended Vision 2, Vision Penetrates Concealment, Danger Sense) [7]
"Telepathy" Communication (Mental) 4 (Extras: Area, Selective) [24]
Morph 4 (Any Form) [20]

Mind-Reading 11 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Cumulative, Effortless) (45) -- [69]

• Dynamic AE: "Martian Vision" Blast 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (25)
• Dynamic AE: Shapeshift 2 (Feats: Dynamic) (17)
• Dynamic AE: "Intangibility" Insubstantial 4 (Feats: Selective, Dynamic) (22)
• Dynamic AE: "Invisibility" Concealment 4 (Visuals) (Feats: Dynamic) (9)
• Dynamic AE: "Mind Over Matter" Move Object 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (21)
• Dynamic AE: "Sonic Scream" Damage 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (17)
• Dynamic AE: "Telekinesis" Move Object 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Damaging) (31)
• Dynamic AE: Mind Control 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (33)
• Dynamic AE: "Psi-Bolt" Blast 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Will Save) (25)
• Dynamic AE: "Psi-Wave" Damage 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (25)
• Dynamic AE: "Astral Travel" Remote Sensing (Hearing & Vision) 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (25)
• Dynamic AE: "Psionic Shields" Create 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Movable) (25)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Martian Vision +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Mind-Reading -- (+11 Mind-Reading, DC 21)
Psi-Bolt +10 (+8 Ranged Will Damage, DC 23)
Sonic Scream +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +14 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude +14, Will +8

Complications:
Prejudice (White Martian)- M'gann is actually one of the hated White Martians, and seeks to avoid being linked to that genocidal race.
Weakness (Fire)- Even proximity to fire has a huge negative effect on M'gann psychologically, but touching it does extra damage- she'll take more damage than an un-powered human from it. Sometimes. Things change A LOT- sometimes it's more psychological, and other times it's basically this all-consuming Death Blast.

Total: Abilities: 102 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 21 / Powers: 179 / Defenses: 10 (338)

Miss Martian- The Most Popular Martian at DC, Now:
-One of the big "New Character Finds" of the 2000s was the creation of Miss Martian in the Teen Titans book. Kind of ruining the "only Martian" thing the Martian Manhunter had going on, she was a long-lost member of the White Martian race, but mimicked J'onn's appearance. While not ENORMOUSLY popular, she's now one of very few characters in fiction to basically outscore their predecessor in popularity, as you seen Miss Martian in more stuff than you ever seen J'onn in these days! She's had recurring roles in the Supergirl and Young Justice TV shows, and features in the new Justice League Animated Movie as well- the character has gone over really well. Me, I just find her color scheme rather weird- green skin, red hair and a white & blue costume is all kind of a mess when added together- oddly-colored charaters should have either monochromatic costumes (ie. Starfire, Argent, The Hulk/s) or otherwise fairly simple ones- this one kind of has four separate colors fighting for dominance in her design. Maybe that's just me, though.

M'gann the Titan:
-The character's popularity is funny because she was only created because Geoff Johns was disallowed from using Supergirl- he wanted to add her to his Teen Titans book, but in a rare moment in which their top writer was told "no", he was informed that she was promised to the Legion of Super-Heroes book. And so Johns had to create a NEW character- ironically, that Legion book would fail and the series would disappear, and Supergirl eventually joined the Titans ANYWAYS, but during a disastrous era that did neither her nor the Titans any good. In any case, she's shown as one of the "One Year Later" joiners of the team, having escaped to Earth via a rocket to avoid the civil war between the Green Martians and White Martians. Initially, she pretended to be a Green Martian, owing to the White Martians' reputation as genocidal mass murderers. She was initially hurt by the suspicion of her teammates, but when she helped them out against Bombshell, the REAL traitor, she was happily accepted.

-However, she leaves the team during Sean McKeever's run- he said it was part of his grand plan, but various circumstances necessitated him dumping SCORES of characters from the book in this era, meaning that each person leaving just hurt the book even more, and mattered less overall. She goes undercover as "Stargirl" and is forced to fight by the Terror Titans, but was instrumental in freeing the other Titans from that group, then rejoins the Titans. Around this time, M'gann starts getting used more and more in various OTHER books, as the Martian Manhunter himself basically leaves comics for the most part. I think DC was always a bit uncomfortable with the "Every Power Ever" J'onn hanging around, as he raises some uncomfortable questions (ie. he SHOULD be the most powerful hero alive, but somehow isn't) and rivals the established "families" too much, being in the Superman/WW/Marvel tier, without being a member of those groups. She is badly injured and leaves the Titans again, helping the whole squad fight Superboy-Prime just as continuity ends. She appears a bit in the New 52.

Powers:
-M'gann's stats are a bit tricky to figure out, as she's in that strange DC Tier shared with Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, Superboy, Mary Marvel, Freddy Freeman, and others, where they're clearly VERY STRONG, but not, like... SUPERMAN strong. Like, where IS she on that level? And... where is she compared to the Martian Manhunter? She's clearly a bit young, but White Martians are just as strong as J'onn is, and HE's really strong. I ended up dropping her stats by just a bit, and lowering her fighting ability, lest she be far and away the best Titan. Still, though... Martians aint' cheap. Especially because she apparently has a bunch of powers that J'onn DOESN'T, such as Mind Control, Telekinesis and a Sonic Scream!

[HalloweenJack]

Miss Martian = waifu

[Davies]

Kind of ruining the "only Martian" thing the Martian Manhunter had going on, she was a long-lost member of the White Martian race, but mimicked J'onn's appearance.

It's worth noting that J'onn's "last Martian" business was a massive post-Crisis revision of the character -- who had actually disappeared for years while moving his people off of Mars and into another solar system -- and really just imitates Superman's "last Kryptonian" thing. Frankly, this is on the same level as destroying the Green Lantern corps so that Hal or later Kyle can be unique, or the many times they've tried to get rid of Paradise Island so that Wonder Woman can be unique. The fact that the writers would rather not deal with the implications of such subsidiary characters just speaks to their lack of imagination.

Also, God, she's hot.

[catsi563]

Miss Martian is another example of a character that imo Young Justice the show improved on. they used the white shirt version early but replaced that outfit with an all black outfit with red stripes and the blue cape and a hood.

looked really neat.

[Jabroniville]

See, it’s funny- she’s SO BELOVED, yet for green girls, I heavily prefer green hair (She-Hulk, Jade) or black (Elphabaaaaaaaa). Maybe it’s the more pastel green? Or the red haired- I have the same issue with Marvel’s Lyra.

[Jabroniville]

SKITTER (Celine Marjorie Patterson)
Created By: Scott Lobdell & Brett Booth
First Appearance: Superboy- The Clone #1 (Nov. 2011)
Role: Bug Lady
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans

-Okay, I have no idea who this character is. Skitter is a bug-like person who helped out the Teen Titans, and formed a friendship with Bunker (another Titan, I guess). She sort of allies with them, and frequently forms cocoons, which reveals her human identity. She was created during the last year of the original continuity run- she didn't seem to reappear in the "New 52". Her powers are bug-related stuff like Wall-Crawling, Super-Strength, Web-Spinning and Durability.

[KorokoMystia]

I remember there was a thing during the "The Culling" storyline where Skitter was left behind after the rest of the group was teleported away, and despite people in the story voicing concern, from what I recall she never showed up again after that.

[greycrusader]

Kind of ruining the "only Martian" thing the Martian Manhunter had going on, she was a long-lost member of the White Martian race, but mimicked J'onn's appearance.

It's worth noting that J'onn's "last Martian" business was a massive post-Crisis revision of the character -- who had actually disappeared for years while moving his people off of Mars and into another solar system -- and really just imitates Superman's "last Kryptonian" thing. Frankly, this is on the same level as destroying the Green Lantern corps so that Hal or later Kyle can be unique, or the many times they've tried to get rid of Paradise Island so that Wonder Woman can be unique. The fact that the writers would rather not deal with the implications of such subsidiary characters just speaks to their lack of imagination.

Also, God, she's hot.

Hey, good to hear from you Davies! Hope everything has been going well for you.

[Davies]

Hey, good to hear from you Davies! Hope everything has been going well for you.

Been better, been worse. Thanks!

[Jabroniville]

BUNKER (Miguel Jose Barragan)
Created By: Scott Lobdell & Brett Booth
First Appearance: The Teen Titans #1 (Nov. 2011)
Role: Flamboyant Gay Guy, Green Lantern Lite
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans

-Man, is there any group of new characters more unfortunate than the ones from Scott Lobdell's Teen Titans run? I mean, there's been some newbies with some crap luck before, but to join a brand-new incarnation of the team RIGHT AFTER an entire line-wide reboot that kills continuity, thus ensuring that these newbies are neither relevent, nor well-remembered? Now THAT sucks. Bunker adds some diversity to things by being both gay and Latino (oddly, exactly like Hero Cruz, who's being statted next), with Lobdell deliberately making him open and honest (ie. flamboyant) about it, pointing out that many gay people are like that. Well, he's right, I suppose- it's actually unrealistic if every single gay man in comics is a standard-looking, regular-acting "like everyone else, but just happens to be gay" type.

-Bunker gained the power to create Psionic Energy Contructs, and is recruited by Red Robin to be a hero. He sticks with the book for its 2 1/2-year run, before it's suddenly cancelled and replaced by a new Titans book by a new writer. His whole run was about 2-3 years long.

-Bunker's Create effect is manifested as purple bricks- they can be made into soft cushions (to save others from falls) or powerful battering rams. He could create platforms for his team, body armor, shields, Blasts, and more.

[Jabroniville]

HERO CRUZ
Created By: Karl Kesel & Steve Mattsson
First Appearance: Superboy and the Ravers #1 (Sept. 1996)
Role: Randomly-Powered Hero
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans (ally)
PL 8 (142)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+5)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Space Hero) 4 (+6)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 2 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Technology 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 6, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"H-Dial Powers" (Flaws: Removable) [68]
Shapeshift 12 (Powers of Any Hero) (Extras: Continuous) (Flaws: Unreliable Powers, Random Identity Each Hour) (84 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Power Loss (H-Dial Powers)- Hero will revert to normal form after expending a "pre-set" amount of energy. Larger uses of Extra Effort or other things will lower his powers further.
Prejudice (Homosexual)- Even one of Hero's own teammates is a bit disturbed by his sexual orientation.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 68 / Defenses: 12 (142)

-Hero Cruz was a member of Superboy's "Ravers" team (god what an awful title for a book), and a Multiple Minority- a black-descended gay Latino superhero who happened to come across the H-Dial- the same one that gave Chris King and other characters their powers. He gained the invincible "Achilles Vest" from The Scavenger, a packrat-type who collected various villainous accoutrements. He later lost the Vest, but gained the H-Dial, which was much better. After briefly flirting with a female teammate, he revealed his homosexuality. Later, his teammate Sparx began to grow distant, thinking he was "not natural" and "wrong"- an attempt at throwing some real-world stuff into the book. Hero's link to the Titans is VERY small- he was a one-off in the background of the Secret Files one-off "Titans L.A.".

-I really have no idea what Hero was capable of, so I just changed up Chris King's template a little bit, since this guy was apparently discovered already hanging out in outer space.

[Jabroniville]

MAS Y MENOS (Unnamed Twins)
Created by: Sam Register & Glen Murakami, David Slack & Alex Soto
First Appearance: Teen Titans Animated Series (Season 3/Episode 12), Teen Titans #38 (Sept. 2006)
Role: Introduced Characters (from Cartoon)
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans

-Más y Menos come from the Teen Titans cartoon series, and were added as a one-off "they joined the team during One Year Later, but soon quit" thing, along with numerous other characters. Their names meaning "Plus and Minus", they were part of Titans East in the cartoon, and mind-controlled into fighting the Titans. In the comics, they appeared teen-aged instead of like small kids, but are seen only in background panesl for the most part. They are seen being badly injured in Final Crisis- an expanded edition was needed to indicate that they survived being impaled by shards of glass.

-The twins gain super-speed whenever they touch each other, and can sense each others' presence.

[Jabroniville]

A few brief thoughts/notes:

The "One-Year-Gap failed membership-drive" bit REALLY end up tarnishing the Titans for what was supposed to be a little throw-away joke; it essentially resulted in numerous killed-off, fringe characters which pumped up the "dead Titans" count. And sadly, some of these guys seemed to have a bit of inherent potential, if they hadn't been introduced en masse and immediately seen as utterly disposable.

Yeah, I kind of get what Johns was going for (that the team was a mess during the break and is only now getting their footing), but it seems like him and every other author decided to take those characters (90% of whom were COMPLETE JOKES never meant for real characterization) and just ran with it, resulting in stuff like Young Frankenstein or other murdered characters.

Young Justice is definitely treated as by current DC editorial as a better-forgotten embarrassment, likely because it was intended as a FUN comic-not a humor book, but just one that was mostly light-hearted and positive, even though it did tackle a few serious subjects. Given the main characters (Impulse, Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl) were subsequently TOTALLY remade in terms of personality and then had their backgrounds/origins altered radically by the failed nu-52, its no wonder the supporting heroes of the series (Arrowette, Empress, Secret, and Slobo) all entered comic book limbo.

What's weird is it hasn't gotten the customary "LOL EVERYONE DIED HORRIBLY!" of the side characters (we lost Bart & Superboy, but only years later, and for assorted other reasons- the "Superboy Lawsuit" being an excuse at the time)- it's simply been forgotten. Aside from the random appearances of Empress & Secret in a couple of books, it's basically like Young Justice never, ever happened. It was only around for four years, but that's like TWO DOOM PATROLS. That's worth SOMETHING.

Mia/Speedy III wasn't the first comic book hero to have HIV; aside from Shadowhawk, there was also a semi-infamous Iron Ager called Grips, one of Tim Vigil's earliest indie characters, the Shadowhawk from Image which Ares mentioned, and a couple of the obscure, failed New Guardians from DC. This was all 80s/90s stuff, when "grim and gritty" combined with "topical", so...yeah. I don't think anyone would really say these were GOOD attempts at portraying what dealing with the situation would actually be like. Mia came later. And while I don't think any particular condition or disability should automatically preclude a character from being used as a superhero (four-color comics allow for all sorts of accommodations), a hero who uses BLADED weapons in training and combat, and engages in loads of hand to hand melee is REALLY not a solid idea, even in a four-color world.

All my best.

Man, I was just looking at the New Guardians on my set of '90s DC cards. They pretty much went the way of Marvel's Young Gods, huh? Completely forgotten and ignored.

[Jabroniville]

Looking at that set of 1990s DC Cards (I bought the whole set at the last Edmonton Comic Expo), I'm astonished by their "Famous Events" set. I mean, it has some big ones- The Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Great Darkness Saga, and a couple of others... but then you REALLY see DC fall apart.

See, Crisis was apparently IMMEDIATELY followed by a series of "Big Crossovers", probably meant to ride on its coattails and get some of that sweet, sweet crossover money. Marvel was doing a similar thing around the same time (hard to imagine there was a time when MANY heroes had never met!). I knew most of these existed, but I didn't know the sheer speed with which they'd come out.

1985-1986:
The Crisis on Infinite Earths: Marv Wolfman & George Perez get everything they want and upend the entire DC universe, killing a score of characters and merging all the Earths together. An all-time classic story with countless memorable scenes and beautiful art.

1986-1987:
Legends: Following only months after the Crisis, Darkseid leads Apokolips in a war with Earth, creating an "Anti-Hero" movement throughout humanity, causing superheroes to be outlawed. Very similar to a later Astro City story, and having a very "Marvel" feel to it. Utterly forgotten today, but formed the "Manhunter/Capt. Marvel/Guy/Blue Beetle" Justice League, setting off a trend for that book for the next several years. It also launched Captain Marvel and the Flash in their new concepts.

1988:
Millennium: The infamous one where a bunch of random side-characters are revealed to be Manhunter androids, including a Golden Age Manhunter's dog and LAUREL KENT, ruining the infamous poncho-girl forever. It revolves around gathering the "Chosen Ones" who become The New Guardians- an infamous team of stereotypes that are immediately forgotten. This is some "Dork Age" level shit, right here.

Invasion!: The Dominators and a bunch of other aliens invade Earth, fearing the "Metagene"- a ripoff of Mutant Powers that sprung up in the '80s to "Me Too" with Marvel's popular X-Men. A handful of characters (like King of the Royal Flush Gang) would gain powers as a result.

---

Curiously (and like what Ken noted much earlier), the Teen Titans, DC's top-selling book, are not overly featured in ANY of this from what I can glean from the cards or Wikipedia (oh, Changeling appeared in Legends, I guess). Instead, DC seems to be trying to make launching points for various books (the yellow & purple Starman pops up in the last one; the new JLA debuts in another). Jon Ostrander wrote one or two, which might be why the Suicide Squad appear prominently on various cards. None of these stories but the Crisis appear to be remembered at all.