Character Spotlight: Shriek

Shriek was originally a part of my Batman Beyond Super-Post, in which I said this:

Shriek

Shriek first appeared in the Batman Beyond episode of the same name (1999); his first comics appearance was a mention in Batman Beyond [miniseries] #4 (November 2010).

But he has actually appeared since then, so he gets an entry all his own. 

His first actual appearance is Batman Beyond #21 (April 2013) and #22 (May 2013), in which he's an obstacle that prevents Batman from helping Max fight the Undercloud's Rebel One.

He later appears in Batman Beyond 2.0 #2-7 (August-November 2013) as part of Rewire's team, along with Spellbinder and Inque.

Costume Spotlight: Royal Flush Gang

The Royal Flush Gang is a really interesting concept. As the name implies, they're a gang of criminals with a playing card motif, but beyond that they can be pretty much anything. They're relationship to each other, how big the gang is, their costumes, and even which suit they represent are all up in the air. They first appeared in Justice League of America #43 (1966), and since then, they've been standard and realistic...

...bright and dark...

...and even a little weird.

But when the group appeared on Arrow in the first season ("Legacies", November 2012), they were taken in a direction they've never been before: low-rent.

And it is this depiction they chose to emulate for the New 52's version of the Royal Flush Gang, first appearing as a cameo in Forever Evil #1 (September 2013) and then appearing in full in Forever Evil: Rogues' Rebellion #4 (January 2014):

At least they get to keep the cool card hoverboards.

52 Shake-Up: Protector and Mas y Menos

The below picture is from the recently released The Multiversity: The Just #1 (October 2014). Multiversity is Grant Morrison's tour through the multiverse, and The Just presents Earth-16, a world that's part Kingdom Come, part Young Justice (the series), and 100% 90s DC. It's a world where our generation of superheroes did their job so well, the only left for the new generation - made up mainly of teen heroes and forgotten 90s characters - is to fight each other and party. They're celebutantes more than superheroes.

This picture is of one of those parties, and you can see some of the members in attendance are Protector (star belt in the middle) and Mas y Menos (far left and far right). Protector appeared as an ersatz Robin in some Teen Titans PSA comics before becoming an official member for one issue, while Mas y Menos are speedster brothers that first appeared in the Teen Titans cartoon before showing up as Teen Titans members during the One Year Gap...also, I think, for one issue. Whether or not these characters exist on Earth-0 is left to be seen, and they probably don't, but they definitely exist on Earth-16, and that still counts.

Edited to Add (7/6/21): Protector appeared on Prime Earth in Heroes in Crisis #3 (November 2018). He died in issue 6, though his most recent appearance was in The Flash #771 (June 2021) as a corpse.

Costume Spotlight: Mad Dog

Mad Dog is a bounty hunter that appeared in Suicide Squad #3 (November 2011). That's pretty much all we know about him so far. He looks like this:

Someone pointed out that he looked liked the Young Justice version of Sportsmaster (first appearance: "Drop Zone", January 2011). "Kinda, I guess," I said. "I mean, I suppose the mask is pretty similar." But then I looked up Sportsmaster, and...

...it's hard to argue with facts. They're not 100% the same, but they are at least 90.

Putting the "Goth" in Gotham

Everyone knows what Gotham looks like: gargoyles, overhangs, and grey grey grey. Just look at the 90s Batman movies, or Batman: The Animated Series, or any of the Arkham games. But Gotham didn't always look like that - Batman '66 is a perfect example of that. So when did the change happen? Surprisingly, not until 1992. I could recount the story for you, but Comics Alliance did a great article on it a few months back, so I'll just link to it.

http://comicsalliance.com/batman-89-anton-furst-gotham-city-destroyer-grant-breyfogle-aparo-design/

Team Spotlight: Mighty Avengers

Normally I don't include things like this, but I keep feeling like I should in this case, so I'm just getting it out of the way.

The Mighty Avengers, the team, is original to comics. Most of the characters on the team are original to comics. But this team - at least at the start - is so blatantly patterned on Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) that I feel I have to say something. Here is the team in Ultimate Spider-Man - Spider-Man, Power Man (Luke Cage), Iron Fist, White Tiger, and Nova:

And here is the original Mighty Avengers line-up in Mighty Avengers #1 (September 2013) - Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Power Man, White Tiger, and Spectrum:

Clearly, it's not exact. This Spider-Man is Doctor Octopus, for one thing, and there's no Iron Fist or Nova. On the other hand, the teen Power Man looks similar to the animated version and has powers similar to Iron Fist, and Spectrum has similar powers and a similar logo to Nova. So even though it's not 100% the same, it's still a 1-to-1 match and I think that's probably worth noting.

Spider-Verse: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

Spider-Verse is a currently running event in the Spider-Man comics that will involve every* Spider-Man we've ever met, including several Spider-Women and Spider-Girls (not to mention Scarlet Spiders and Spider-Hams and whatnot), and several brand-new versions. The premise is simple: there's a group of people trying to wipe out every Spider character across the multiverse, so all the Spider characters will team up to stop them. This is, of course, a massive event - multimedia even, since it will also feature in the Spider-Man Unlimited video game and the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man - and given the premise, it's only natural that it will add a few entries to this catalog.

*I say "every" because Marvel says "every", but there are a few that won't be showing up, such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

Today's entry is Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is a 1981 animated series about a team called the Spider-Friends, consisting of Spider-Man, Iceman, and cartoon original Firestar. You can read a little more about Firestar, as well as fellow immigrants Ms. Lion and Videoman, here. From what I've seen, the show was standard '80s Saturday morning cartoon fare, but people seem to love it.

The Spider-Friends were recently seen in Amazing Spider-Man #7 (October 2014) as the latest victims of the multiversal rampage. The villain noted the world as a "kinder and gentler universe". There's a bright spot, though: these Spider-Friends are from Earth-1983, while the ones in the show are from Earth-8107. So as far as we know, the real Spider-Friends are still out there somewhere.