Friday, February 1, 2013

2013 is for Evil Lovers



At the start of 2012, I announced Happy Zook Year as part of the lead-up to the blog's fifth anniversary. Like most resolutions, it came up a bit short. While I did spotlight a fair number of supporting characters, including some nifty art commissions, important players like Diane Meade and the titular Zook still haven't seen enough play here. I also probably got more character biographies done last month than in all of 2012, and I plan to keep up with that going into February. In fact, since I tend to associate the ladies with the month of valentines, expect to see a number of posts spotlighting the y-chromosome challenged. Maybe we'll get to the patrolwomen of Middletown before it's done?

Anyhow, I couldn't very well let 2013 pass without emphasizing the evils investigated by the Sleuth from Outer Space. The blog isn't called "The Alien Atlas Shrine" nor "Martian Manhunter Maniac," but instead The Idol-Head of Diabolu after a magical box that once regularly released monsters to battle J'onn J'onzz. 2013 will be all about reevaluating and redefining the rogues gallery of the Manhunter from Mars. Too often, the emphasis is on "name brand" bad guys shared by more popular heroes, where part of this blog's mission statements is to shine a light on the villains that are wholly "owned" by the Martian Marvel. A manhunter is judged by the quality of his enemies, so a strong Martian means healthy adversity from a Vile Menagerie of foes. Besides, the nickname works better once you focus on the freak show that is the collective of nasties dedicated solely to destroying the Manhunter from Mars.

Hope you folks like the new banner. It features quite a few pieces of art I commissioned last year and will start posting individually again this month. Anyone care to try to name all the characters feature and/or the artists who drew them?

2 comments:

Anj said...

Love the new banner and look forward to this year.

Makes me wonder if the usual sites should post who they think their character's archest enemy is.

Is it Reactron or Lesla Lar for Supergirl?

Is it Multiplex or Killer Frost for Firestorm?

Is it Black Manta or Ocean Master for Aquaman?

etc

Diabolu Frank said...

Heck yeah! I'd love to see more rogues gallery spotlights across the DC blogosphere!