X-Babies

History

In Uncanny X-Men Annual # 12, since the X-Men are assumed dead, Mojo (see his post) was left without his # 1 rating generator. He tried to create his own version of the X-Men. After numerous failures, he created the X-Babies (younger versions of the X-Men). They rebeled againist Mojo and he was going to kill them... only to discover his ratings were higher than ever. There have numerous versions of the X-Babies, usually they are younger versions of the current X-Men roster. X-Babies had several villain teams such as the Brotherhood of Bullies (based on the Brotherhood of Mutants). In Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem, a group of X-Babies were on the loose and Mojo tried to take advantage of their crushes on each other and "child-like" flaws to get them to sign contracts, but Kitty Pryde saved them. In the new X-Babies miniseries, the X-Babies discover that Mojo created the "Adorable X-Babies" (newer, cuter version of the team, but with shallower personalites), which became his # 1 rating generator.

Roster

The current members are:

• Colossusus (Colossus)
• Creepy Crawler (Nightcrawler)
• Cyke (Cyclops)
• Shadowkitty (Shadowcat)
• Psychild (Psylocke)
• Shower (Storm)
• Sugah (Rogue) (I'm as clueless as you are)
• Wolvie (Wolverine)

Former members include:

• Archangel*
• Bishop*
• Boyo (Banshee)
• Charlie X (Prof. X)
• Dazzler*
• Gambit*
• Havok*
• Iceman*
• Longshot*

*Please note some of the members without nicknames sometimes had "Lil'" in-front of their names when being referred to.

Notes

• The X-Babies are a parody of the fad of creating younger version of popular characters also called "babyfication".

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Babies

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Xbabies.png

Mojo

Character History

The denizens of what would be the Mojoworld had an inability to stand up right and they could not evolve to counteract this. However, a scientist called Arize invented exoskeletons that allow them to do the latter. Depspite this becoming popular, a few of the denizens refused to use these and used motorize platforms. The so-called Spineless Ones took over the world. Their leader, Mojo, became in charge of all the planet's television and film media. He was assisted by his loyal (but sarcastic) robot servant Major Domo. So many people watched it, Mojo had to create genetically engineered slaves to do all the work. One of these, Longshot, rebelled and (despite having his memories wiped) escaped to Earth. Mojo later turned Longshot's girlfriend Ricochet Rita into Spiral (Mojo's insane warrior) . Mojo de-aged the X-Men into children, but the New Mutants saved them. Mojo discovered that the X-Men boosted his ratings! Later, he created a younger version of the team called the X-Babies. But despite boosting ratings, they rebelled against him. Mojo was seemly killed and was replaced by Mojo II: The Sequel, who was just as bad as Mojo. Mojo returned. Due to his inability to learn from mistakes, he created more X-Babies until every X-Man had a X-Baby counterpart, all of whom rebelled against Mojo. He created the Mitey 'Vengers (Avengers) and babies versions of Age of the Apocalypse villains to stop the X-Babies, who also rebelled. However, Mojo (off screen) managed to defeat them somehow. He would later plague the X-Men numerous times to try and boost his ratings.

Powers and Abilities

His multi-legged platform has several weapons built into it such as particle beams and a mechanical tail. He is also very strong and can easily lift a grown man with one arm. He has magic powers proportional to his "worship of his followers" (the popularity of his shows). He is seen to be immune to Rogue's powers as seen as he bear hugged her. Mojo is a "force of death and corruption", as such his touch can age humans and wither plants. Doctor Strange claims if Mojo was on Earth long enough he would cause "natural" disasters such as storms.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_(comics)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Uncanny_X-Men_461.jpg

X-Men: The Ultimate Guide

Big Barda

Character History

Barda was a New God born about 250 years ago. She was on the planet Apokolips (ruled by Darkseid). Barda was taken from her mother by Granny Goodness and trained her to lead the Female Furies battalion (which she did). However, she fell in love with Scott Free (an enemy of the evil Darkseid). She later helped lead a rebellion led by the New God Himon. The duo freed Scott. She went to Earth and married Scott (who now called himself Mister Miracle). She became an on / off member of the Justice League and helped them in various crisises. She briefly left Scott, due to him being insensitive. She later resume her romance with him. After resigning from the JLA, she and Scott settled in Connecticut suburbs, but never stop helping people in time of need to the point she became a heavy hitter member of the Birds of Prey team. She was killed in Death of the New Gods # 1. But, she was reincarnated in Final Crisis.

Powers and Abilities

Like all of the New Gods, Big Barda is immortal. She also has super strength and durability. She's skilled in hand-to-hand combat and all weaponry / warfare. She has been seen fighting Wonder Woman to a draw. Her main weapon is the Mega-Rod. The latter produces powrful energy bolts and allows the user to increase gravitational forces. She is also able to summon / use the Aero-Disks, which allow her to fly.

Trivia

• The Teen Titans (in the event of 52) are shown to have a Big Barda-like member called Little Brada. Her connection to Big Brada is unknown.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Barda

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/img/b/BigBarda.jpg

Frankenstein (Dell Comics)

Dell Comics tried to cash in on the superhero craze, while getting horror fans to read it too. This is what they came up with.

Overview

This guy seems to be unrelated to the traditional monster. He was created by "the Doctor" (not the British time traveller) and somehow gave him "superior intellect and the strength of fifty men". He was dormant for over 100 years (and completely ignoring the concept of decaying), until a lightning bolt gave him life. He donned a rubber-like mask to hide the fact his face is green. He also dubbed himself Frank Stone, inspired a chuck of masonry that happened to have FRANK engraved in it. He befriended the millionaire Henry Knickerbocker and, when the old man croaked, he got his money and became rich. The only person that knew Frankenstein's alter ego was William, his butler, however, Miss Ann Thrope (pun off of "misanthrope), a Lois Lane-like character, suspected that Frank and the hero were one of the same.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(Dell_Comics)

http://upload.wikimedia/org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Dellfrank.jpg

Gag Covers

Gag Covers refers to a marketing technique used in comics in the Silver Age of Comics, most notably DC Comics.

What is it?

A gag cover was a cover where something shocking and seemly out of the ordinary (usually a character such as Superman acting grossly out of character), so the fans will buy it. Usually, this is just a scene taken out of context. For example, a cover may have Superman destroying a car and inside it turned out the car belonged to criminals. However, sometimes the cover completely lied. For example, the cover of Superman # 293 shows Superman refusing water to people dying of thirst despite the actual story is about the people becoming avert to water and Superman has to find away to get them to drink it.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_in_comics

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Superdickery
http://www.comicvine.com/superman-293-the-miracle-of-thirsty-thursday/4000-15757/

Dream of the Endless

Dream is a member of the Endless, a group of living personifications of their name sake. Dream (as the name implies) controls dreams. However, in Gaiman's world, Dream also defines reality.

Morpheus

Morpheus is the first Dream of the Endless and is much older. Despite usually appearing to be a tall, “bone-white” skinned man with black eyes and unusually colored pupils, his appearance is known to change 'depending on who's watching'. For example, while Mister Miracle saw him as a man, Martian Manhunter saw him as Lord L'Zoril, a Martian god with the appearance of a flaming alien skull. However, when many gods were meeting with Morpheus, he appeared in the same form. To confuse the matter more, Bast, goddess of cats, said "I much prefer you in cat form, Dream old friend". So, it’s unknown how this appearance thing works. He likes to wear a helmet that is made out of the skull of a now-dead enemy of his, which is also his sigil to the other Endless. His speech bubbles tend to appear wavy and black with white lettering in normal caps (as opposed to the other character’s block caps).

Despite ultimately being heroic and responsible, he does have some negative traits. He tends to be cold, selfish and unwilling to accept change. The most extreme example of this was in “The Kindly Ones”, where he lets various denizens of the Dreaming (the heart of Morpheus’ domain) including Able, Fiddler Green and Merv Pumpkinhead, die in gruesome deaths instead of trying to save them (although he later let himself die to stop the Kindly Ones ). He is also usually blind to his flaws, but he can confront them if someone points them out. If an Endless loves a mortal, it will end badly. As a general rule, all of Morpheus’ romances end badly.

Prior the The Sandman series, it’s implied he is even more of a jerk. In “Preludes and Nocturnes”, he is imprisoned for 70 years and his kingdom falls apart. He escaped and after getting back his bag of sand, helmet and ruby, he started to rebuild his kingdom. In “Season of Mists”, he allows Loki to walk the world free. In “Brief Lives”, he kills his son (who was begging to be killed as he is now a bodiless head). In “The Kindly Ones”, Lyta Hall (who thinks Morpheus kidnapped his son, though Loki did it) released the Kindly Ones on the Dreaming and they go on a rampage (they’re able to do so because he killed his son). After several of his servants and friends die, he allows himself to be killed to stop them.

Daniel Hall

Prior to becoming the new Dream, Daniel was the infant son of Lyta Hall. His father was Hector Hall, whose ghost was manipulated by Brute and Glob (two nightmares) to become the lord of dreams. They did so in a forgotten corner of the Dreaming. Morpheus came and imprisoned the duo, “killed” Hector and sent Lyta back to reality. He later dubbed Lyta’s son Daniel. Loki kidnapped Daniel, but Lyta thought Morpheus did the deed and sent the Furies after him. Morpheus sent Matthew (A man now transformed into a raven) and the restored Corinthian (a nightmare loyal to Morpheus) to save him (which they did). When Morpheus was toast, Daniel (because he was a “child of the Dreaming”) became the new Dream.
The new Dream was a mix of Daniel and the entity of the Dreams. Unlike Morpheus’ speech, his was mostly normal, except for his word balloons being wavy. Notably, Daniel is much more nice and gentle than Morpheus. However, he is also inexperienced in some matters. So, he relies on the advice of the raven, Matthew, who worked closely with Morpheus.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_(DC_Comics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hall
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Dream.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Danielhall.jpg
The Sandman TPBs

Seaguy

Seaguy and Chubby Da Choona playing chess... with Death.

Publication history

Seaguy is a 3 volume comic written by Grant Morrison (who did All Star Superman, Doom Patrol, JLA, Animal Man, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Invisibles, and Batman) and drawn by Cameron Stewart. Grant created Seaguy to be the opposite of the popular "bad-ass" characters, which he felt were "trendy and unconvincing". He wanted to make two sequels to Seaguy, but it had low sales making the latter unlikely. According to rumors, Grant said he would do the 52 series if he could do Seaguy sequels. Eventually, Morrison got the okay to do so. The first volume was simply called Seaguy. The second was entitled "The Slaves of Mickey Eye". The third one, "Seaguy Eternal", has not being put into action yet.
Plot

In a seemly perfect world, where most people think all the world's evil is gone, superheroes aren't needed. As such, Seaguy is just a guy in a wet suit with a talking tuna fish named Chubby Da Choona. However, the duo discovers that Xoo, a food staple of their world, is alive and they try to protect it. The comic combines light-hearted whimsical and dark tragic elements, but each adventure get more tragic than it's predecessor until he learns the secret of the moon.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaguy

http://mildmanneredcast.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/seaguy-wins.jpg