Every dark lord needs his cannon fodder–someone to throw into the gaping jaws of death in order to fatigue, delay, or otherwise annoy his foes. Sauron has his orcs, Darth Vader has his stormtroopers, Ozzy Osbourne has his immediate family. Darkseid, Jack Kirby’s amalgam of Richard Nixon and Jack Palance who now serves as the DC Universe’s darkest lord, has his parademons.

What are parademons? Even after reading a good amount of New Gods comics, I’m not quite sure. I don’t think Kirby himself ever really got into their background much. The prefix “para-” suggests they’ve not quite graduated to being full demons. On the other hand, given Darkseid’s obsession with Anti-Life, perhaps parademons are simply the Apokoliptian equivalent of paramedics–they try to kill you rather than save you.

In the original New Gods comics, parademons were depicted as ugly gray-skinned humanoids in green-and-yellow outfits; they didn’t look anything like the classic Western conception of a demon. When Kenner and DC created the Super Powers toy line in the 1980s, they paid Kirby to redesign some of his characters (most notably the parademon and Mantis)–possibly just so he could be paid royalties for his work. Oddly enough, Kirby’s redesign of Mantis ended up looking much like the original parademon, while his new parademon looked a lot more like the classic pitchfork-bearing devil. Aside from the odd appearance in a DC comic (parademons are almost always depicted based on Kirby’s original green version), the only media this version of the parademon appeared in was the final season of the Super Friends cartoon.

Since the Four Horsemen and the designers and brand managers at Mattel are such fans of the original Super Powers line–and Kirby–it’s no surprise we got both the classic green parademon as well as this one. They’re available in equal 50/50 case ratios, although the comic-accurate green version is more popular with collectors. (more…)

The eighth wave of DC Universe Classics is heavy on members of (or foes of) the Justice Society of America. For those who may not know, the JSA is the older sibling of the better-known Justice League of America, having been created in the Golden Age of superheroes. Composed of the original versions of DC heroes such as Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Hourman, the Spectre, the Atom, Green Lantern and the Flash, the JSA and its Golden Age members would later make sporadic appearances in Justice League of America during the Silver Age.

In the late 1990s, the JSA was brought back as a regular series by super hero screenwriter extraordinaire David Goyer (Dark City, the Blade films) and James Robinson, and later, an up-and-comer named Geoff Johns. While the JLA dealt primarily with threats to the world, the JSA’s ostensible mission was helping to teach the next generation of superheroes. One of the heroes who would become integral to the JSA was Mr. Terrific, another modern-day reinvention of a Golden Age character. It’s a testament to the writers that a character with such a goofy name can become one of the most compelling superheroes of recent years (even rating a high-profile role in Justice League Unlimited‘s final season). (more…)

Last year, an extremely obscure Batman villain, Killer Moth, not only got his own DCUC figure but also appeared in the bestselling videogame Lego Batman. If 2008 was the Year of Killer Moth, 2009 appears to be the Year of Gentleman Ghost.

While the relatively obscure villain made a few brief appearances on Justice League Unlimited, he’s had starring roles in two Batman: Brave and the Bold episodes–including a memorable origin episode, “Trials of the Demon,” which also features Etrigan and Batman in his Gotham by Gaslight get-up.

And now Gentleman Ghost receives his very own DCUC figure, featuring a brand-new body sculpt. It’s already known this sculpt will be re-used for the Joker later this year, and I think it’s a good bet we’ll see similarly-dressed characters such as Uncle Sam and Ra’s Al Ghul in the near future. (more…)

While sidekicks have been around almost as long as superheroes, the trope of a female version of a male superhero, while common today (hi, X-23), was more rare during the Golden Age of comics.

While many female versions of male superheroes often come off like cheap gimmicks, there are some cases where they work out quite well. Such a one is Hawkgirl, whose alter ego, Shiera Saunders, was introduced in the same 1940 comic as Hawkman and became his high-flying partner a year later.

Shiera (later renamed Shayera in the Silver Age) was neither a sidekick nor a simple female version of Hawkman. She was his lover (later wife) and a full partner in his adventures, and her popularity has often rivaled or even eclipsed that of her significant other, particularly when Hawkgirl was made into a founding member of the animated Justice League.

Like Hawkman, Hawkgirl’s continuity is a mess. I won’t even try to summarize it, but suffice to say the current Hawkgirl’s real name is Kendra Saunders. The current status of Hawkman and Hawkgirl in the DC Universe–including their identities–is something of an ongoing question. This figure is unquestionably based on Shayera Hol, the Silver Age Hawkgirl, but the packaging bio is taken from the current Kendra Saunders Hawkgirl. (more…)