Do you remember when America was obsessed with Gang violence? When people nowhere near South Central Los Angeles were terrified of the war between the Crips and Bloods? The movie 'Colors'?
Well in the late 80s Wolfman decided to bring gang violence to Metropolis. As a stark contrast between a more real world level of violence and the typical kind of crime Superman traditionally takes on, it was an attempt to modernize (and humanize) the Superman books.
Enter Gangbuster, a street level vigilante who focused on the crime that Superman wasn't dealing with. Jose Delgado was a school teacher who was tired of all of the youth crime that was plaguing his beloved home town and decided to do something about it. (Like the movie The Substitute...of the movie Class of 1999...or the movie 187...or the Substitite 2-4...man, there's a lot of movies about Teachers kicking highschool ass!)
He'd wind up getting paralyzed when he was overwhelmed by criminals (pretty realistic scenario for a Superman comic) until Lex Luther provided him an exoskeleton that would allow Jose to walk, but also allowed him to be remote controls by Luther (annnnd back to "comics".)
I genuinely loved the character as a kid, especially when drawn by Jerry Ordway....but the whole nunchucks-as-belt thing still bugs me.
#59: THE RED GHOST
Before the Russians were buying American Presidencies, they were trying to beat us to the moon!
Ivan Kragoff and his 3 trained apes took off his own lunar rocket, and were subjected to the same cosmic rays that gave them their superpowers!
Ivan could become intangible and invisible, Mikhlo the Gorilla was superhumanly strong, Igor the baboon could shapeshift and Peotr the orangutan could control gravity (or magnetism, depending on the writer) and they soon set off in a feud with the FF over supremacy of...the moon? Really?
Somehow, this gang of crazy knuckleheads is still around today, which just goes to prove that people love super apes.
#58: THE WINTER GUARD
Look, more Russians!
The Winter Guard AKA The People's Protectorate, AKA The Supreme Soviets...
Man, I used to love these guys. As a kid, I didn't hate Russia (I was an Ivan Drago fan). I love RUSSIAN they are. They couldn't be more Russian if they were drinking Vodka out of a fur hat and posting dash cam footage on Youtube.
Comics are stupid, but in a good way. I mean, how do you not love a Russian dude who transforms into a huge Bear?
#57: CAPTAIN ULTRA
Griffin Gogol was hypnotized by an alien psychologist who unlocked his super human potential. He had a myriad of impressive powers. There was one problem, he had a severe phobia of fire, and would even feint if someone lit a cigarette.
I've never been a fan of Captain Ultra...he was meant to be a joke, and the joke was never funny. I would normally exclude a character like him from being included in this list, but Marvel, over the years, has actually developed the character beyond his "Super-Loser" origins. (True Palookas aren't losers by design, but they might be losers by nature.)
#56: BLUE DEVIL
As a kid, when I first started collecting, it seemed like every comic character had like 100 years of confusing continuity, so I subconsciously gravitated towards newer characters that I could call my own.
Blue Devil was part of DC's launch of new titles in 1984. He was stuntman and special effects wizard Dan Cassidy, who was working on a movie when he got attacked by an actual
Demon, and ended up getting permanently bonded with the exoskeleton he had designed for the movie, eventually becoming a reluctant superhero.
Blue Devil was the perfect combination of tragedy and comedy. He was trapped in a form he hated, but managed to remain a jovial, fun character. Unfortunately, the next few years would see DC take a turn towards darker, more angsty stories, and BD never found an audience. He would eventually become an actual demon, and be a member of the Shadowpact, but just faded away from monthly comics altogether. I feel like a writer could still find a home for him in the right book, though.
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