The Badger

The series is a mismatch of genres: its a superhero spoof with magic / fantasy element, but has realistic martial arts. The tone varies from black to light comedy. Some people complain about the comedic portrayal of mental illness. However, others find it very funny. The setting is the very accurately portrayed Madison, Wisconsin.

Norbert Sykes, the main character, is a veteran from Vietnam that has multiple personality disorder. Among his personalities is the Badger. The Badger is a martial arts expert "superhero" that attacks innocent people due to his mental illness warping his perceptions of  what is going around him. He tries to help animals or environmental causes. He also the bodyguard for the wizard Hammaglystwythkbrngxxaxolotl ("Ham" for short), who he met after escaping an insane asylum. His other personalities include Emily (that of a nine-year old girl), the homicidal Pierre (who has a French accent), Leroy (that of a dog), Max Swell (an architect) and Gastineau Grover Depaul (who acts like an "inner city African American").

The series has other notable characters. Daisy is Nobert's caseworker. Marvis is Norbert's wife and expert in Vietnamese martial arts. Lord Weterlackus is a demon that used to working with Hammaglystwythkbrngxxaxolotl. 

My source is the Wikipedia page "Badger (comics)".

Bozo the Iron Man

Yes, this is real. Bozo the Iron Man was a Quality Comics character featured in Smash Comics until issue 42. According to Comicvine, Bozo has fallen to public domain.

Hugh Hazzard was a man with connections to the police. He found a robot and (temporily) deactived it. He enter the robot (it was hollow). He used to go back to find where it came from and found out it was made by an evil scientist. A fight broke out and the scientist died. Hugh took the robot and used to fight crime, dubbing it "Bozo". He altered the robot to make it fly. The robot was either used like a mecha robot (controled by a walkie talkie) or power armor (a la Iron Man). Bozo has made several cameos in DC Comics (who owe a majority of Quality Comics' superheroes). Bozo was the inspiration for the DC Comics villain "Gonzo the Mechanical  B*stard".

My sources were the Wikipedia page "Bozo the Iron Man" and the Comicvine page "Public Domain Characters".

Force of July and Freedom's Ring

Yes, I know the pun is lame. The Force of July is an antagonistic superhero team in the DC Universe. They are an extremely patriotic superhero team that works for the government. However, they end up fighting with other superhero teams such as the Outsiders and Suicide Squad. This team consisted of the leader Major Victory (a super strong hero who flies and fires energy bolts), the energy-blasting Lady Liberty (who could also fly), the self-duplicating Silent Minority, Sparkler (who could project light in the form of beams or fireworks and fly) and the planet-controlling Mayflower. All the original members would sooner or later be killed.

An offshoot of the team, called Freedom's Ring, appeared in  Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven. They protecting the titular city. Members were new versions of Major Victory, Lady Liberty and Silent Minority. The latter two were killed by the Nuclear Legion. The Freedom Ring was absorbed into First Strike (a special team working for S.H.A.D.E. led by Father Time). It got new members including the "grey skinned giant" Bigfoot, tiny soldier Doll Man, the robot Gonzo the Mechanical B*stard, Human Bomb (who can detonate matter), Lady Liberty III, Silent Minority III, Phantom Lady (who "bend dimensional reality" via her black light projector), Major Victory II, psychic Replicant and villain Major Force (the unrespected leader).

My sources were:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_of_July
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Force

Captain Marvel...Sort Of

Time to talk about Captain Marvel. Not the the DC one nor any of the Marvel Comic versions. I am talking about the Captain Marvel of M. F. Enterprises. He was made when Captain Marvel wasn't being published.

He is alien robot from another planet. He went to Earth when his planet exploded. He became the superhero Captain Marvel. He befriended a young Bill Baxton (sound like Billy Batson doesn't it?)

Despite being able to "fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, deflect bullets, and emit eletrical shocks", his most notable power was the fact by saying "Split" he could shoot off his limb and reattach them when he said "Xam" (I'm not joking nor were they). The character had only a handful of appearances.

My sources was http://www.comicvine.com/captain-marvel/29-38613/.

Transformers Generation 2

Some of you may know about Marvel's Transformers comics. You may not know about its sequel: Transformers Generation 2 (a comic based off the toyline of the same name).

After the first Transformers comic series, Decepticons (the villains) were defeated and exiled. Optimus Prime (the leader of the heroes) and the Autobots encountered Jhiaxus (the yellow-red guy pictured), a mysterious Transformer, and his army. Jhiaxus revealrf, in the years the Transformers were comatose when they first crash landing on Earth prior to awaking, both factions (save for the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth) ended the war and unified. However, Optimus' Autobots opposed Jhiaxus because he was attacking defenseless planets. 

On Earth, Cobra, enemies of the G.I. Joes, rebuilt Megatron for no reason. Megatron took over the Ark (the space ship the Autobots landed on Earth with) to draw out Optimus and steal the Matrix of Leadership. The G.I. Joes and Fortess Maximus destroyed the Ark. Simply delayed, Megatron decided beat up Bludgeon, the current leader of the remaining Decepticons, to regain leadership.

After eerie visions and encountering Jhiaxus, Prime, with aid of the Cybertronian elders, discovered that the Transformers once could reproduce but lost this ability when Cybertron (the Transformers' planet) had enough of a population. However, the elder reactivated this power when the Autobots went missing. The elders screwed this up so the new Transformers (such as Jhiaxus and his army) were flawed. Prime tried to convinced Megatron this is a serious threat. Megatron turned on Prime and stole the Matrix, despite beliving them, and later attacked Jhiaxus... only for Jhiaxus to take the Matrix. Decepticon Starscream defected to Jhiaxus' side in the hope of stealing the Matrix.

The Swarm, a "black energy" mass byproduct of the reactive reproduction, started to eat anything metal and went towards Earth. The Autobots and Decepticons battled Jhiaxus and his army. Starscream did manage to steal the Matrix only for it temporary mind wiped him into being good long enough for it him to give it to Optimus. Jhiaxus went crazy and nearly killed Optimus only to be killed himself by the Swarm. Optimus, figuring out what his visions meant, used the Matrix to give the Swarm a conscience. The Swarm disappear and the Autobots-Decepticons tensions temporary came to a halt. Apparently the outcome of this will be determined by a G2 Drone (the foot soldiers for Jhiaxus) and the mysterious Liege Maximo's conversation. THEN, the series just stops without explaining who Liege Maximo is.

My source was the Wikipedia Page "Transformers Generation 2" and the Atop the Fourth Wall Video "Transformers Generation 2 # 1".

Captain Copyright

Captain Copyright was a superhero made Canada's Access Copyright agency. He was designed to teach kids about copyright laws. His comic (and website) was canceled due to controversy involving the character (see below). The website is no longer viewable to a "400 Bad Request".

Controversy soon arose. Despite the fact he is the Captain Planet of copyright, some people question if the agency was actually following copyright laws. For example, the character's website had incorrectly sited Wikipedia quotes, which where quickly removed upon recovery. The comic is biased towards that it supports the commerical entity and not the little guy. It also "forgets" to mention concepts like fair use or blank media tax.

The comic has been parodied several times by supporters of fair use.

My sources were the Wikipedia page called "Captain Copyright" and http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060601/0139207.shtml

CrossGen Comics

In January 2000,  Ron Marz, Mark Waid and Barbara Kesel (with the aid of Mark Alessi and Gina M. Villa expanding the fictional universe) founded CrossGen Comics. The company tried to diversify its publications  by covering various genres while sharing a single fictional universe (unofficially called Sigilverse).

The first wave of CrossGen included a "military science fiction space opera" called Sigil, a fantasy called Mystic, Meridian (inspired by "traditional folklore"), Arthurian legend-inspired adventure called Scion and a fiction universe-expanding CrossGen Chronicles. Each of the protagonists of these comics had sigils that gave them powers and were dubbed "Sigil Bearers".

The first wave was quickly followed by other titles. 2000 unveiled the Homer myths-inspired The First. After 2001, the Atlantean myth-based Crux, epic fantasy Sojourn, Victorian detective story Ruse and Negation. Horror comic Route 666, samurai drama The Path and comedic Way of the Rat came out of 2002. 2003 had titles building up to "Negation War": Solus and Mark of Charon (which were meant to explain the origin of the sigils), Chimera ("about a Sigil-bearer on the far reaches of the Universe" according to Wikipedia), sword and sorcery Brath and pirate story El Cazador. Despite supposedly being in the same universe, these titles rarely crossed over. The most notable exmaple of an actual crossover was Negation War, a company cross over that never was finished. 

CrossGen became CrossGen Entertainment in 2003. They formed 11 sub-companies. For reference, Stan Lee managed to write 8 comics by himself, yet these guys (with more people) need  11 sub-companies. Code6 (one the sub-companies) published out-of-continuity comics, such as The Crossover, Demonwars and The Red Star, that were actually owned by CrossGen Entertainment. Comics on the Web (another sub-company) allowed fans to download digital copies of actual comics, however users had to hover over the word balloons to actually read them.

When a scandal involving "systemic financial problems" was exposed, creators left like it was a sinking ship. This and Barnes and Nobles and Borders returning tradepaperbacks led the company to file bankruptcy.

Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, announced Marvel will try to revive CrossGen.

My source was the Wikipedia page "CrossGen".