Superman Rogues Gallery Appreciation 2023

[Kuwagaton]

Good point on Parasite. Max, Delinquent Rudy, Wonka Rudy, Josh Allen? We can literally only tell who he is by the name-drop. He's not a character, but it's okay that Williamson didn't feel obligated to force him into being one. It's just a neat little monster movie starring Superman.

[Vordan]

Good point on Parasite. Max, Delinquent Rudy, Wonka Rudy, Josh Allen? We can literally only tell who he is by the name-drop. He's not a character, but it's okay that Williamson didn't feel obligated to force him into being one. It's just a neat little monster movie starring Superman.

My only strong opinion on Parasite’s pre-transformation life is that I think he should’ve always been a bad guy. His outside just matches his inside now. Attempts to give him a sympathetic backstory only hurt his effectiveness as a villain.

[Kuwagaton]

Yeah. If anything I think it's too easy to fall into the greed thing though, and that he's much more fun when people highlight how he's actually just mean. A guy who finds out the secret identity, trolls Clark Kent at work, and then utterly beats his ass in an era where that really wasn't a thing that happened.


"First black eye? Well here, have two!"

One of the first reprints of anything I ever had contained Action #361 and that always stuck with me. Can only imagine how cool that story was back then

[The Frog Bros]

How have we been enjoying Metallo (Action Comics) and Parasite (Superman) so far?

I really enjoyed the Parasite arc, particularly visually with the legions of mini-parasites running amok, wreaking havoc over everything.

Metallo has been ok. Not great and not terrible. I do like the part that the Warworld tech played so far though. Also liked Clark calling him a bully, beating him down, and trying to help him afterwards, that whole bit was pretty cool.

[Will Evans]

Is there any reason Baron Sunday never caught on?
Superman needs more magic foes.
.

[Kuwagaton]

Good question. You'd think any multimedia character would be on the shelf for just a bit longer. I stumbled onto the old Gammill comics around the time of the show actually, and I remember Cress Williams seemed to be in everything. But... nothing into the 90s

[Vordan]

Is there any reason Baron Sunday never caught on?
Superman needs more magic foes.
.

Might have been hurt by his design. A guy in a suit isn’t very memorable. Could make him the leader of the 100 in Metropolis.

[Frontier]

Might have been hurt by his design. A guy in a suit isn’t very memorable. Could make him the leader of the 100 in Metropolis.

He does look like a Black Lightning villain.

[TaliaJoy]

Is there any reason Baron Sunday never caught on?
Superman needs more magic foes.
.

Gotta be honest, I found the episode of Lois & Clark featuring him to be rather off-putting since I just don't enjoy that kind of creepy voodoo magic stuff and I don't think it fits with Superman very well.

[Robotman]

Yeah. If anything I think it's too easy to fall into the greed thing though, and that he's much more fun when people highlight how he's actually just mean. A guy who finds out the secret identity, trolls Clark Kent at work, and then utterly beats his ass in an era where that really wasn't a thing that happened.


"First black eye? Well here, have two!"

One of the first reprints of anything I ever had contained Action #361 and that always stuck with me. Can only imagine how cool that story was back then

This is definitely my favorite version of the Parasite. The melty face design was just creepy and the fact that Superman couldn’t be anywhere around him without being drained made him a very dangerous member of the rogues gallery.

One of my favorite Parasite moments was from the second Superman/Spider-Man crossover. Rudy is chasing Spider-Man around and draining his powers and abilities as the chase goes on. He starts wall crawling and leaping faster and faster all while Spidey is slowing down as his energy is being sapped.

[Kuwagaton]

Agreed. We're almost 40 years after Venom to name just one so the jumpsuit monster thing doesn't feel unique.

Might have been hurt by his design. A guy in a suit isn’t very memorable. Could make him the leader of the 100 in Metropolis.

"Middle aged black crimelord" doesn't sound like a distinct character design until you remember that the #1 villain in Superman is just "bald with eyebrows."

As a Haitian American with African family ties, I was glad that voodoo didn't bring about cringe worthy stereotypes

[Vordan]

Agreed. We're almost 40 years after Venom to name just one so the jumpsuit monster thing doesn't feel unique.



"Middle aged black crimelord" doesn't sound like a distinct character design until you remember that the #1 villain in Superman is just "bald with eyebrows."

As a Haitian American with African family ties, I was glad that voodoo didn't bring about cringe worthy stereotypes

Minus the green pants which are just kinda silly, I love the current Campbell design for Parasite. The vampire fangs are reminiscent of Venom, but I love them more than the previous attempts at giving Parasite a creepy sucker “mouth” personally.

Fair point about Lex but he does have his “war suit” look too. What if you kept the blue and white color scheme that Sunday has, he still mostly wears a suit and tie, but when he’s fighting Superman in public, he also wears a blue and white voodoo mask?



Too stereotypical even to do that much? I just think he needs some kind of accessory beyond just a suit and tie to make him stick out.

[Kuwagaton]

I think for me personally the past history of other associations have just made some of the gaudy elements undesirable. Like I don't hate on Marvel for their traditional Brother Voodoo, which I haven't read, but regardless I'd never show that sort of thing to someone who is actually from the Caribbean and happens to ask me about comics.

A mask could be cool as I'm not really that knowledgeable on those aspects of tradition but ultimately I'd just hope an artist consulted someone in the know before pulling trigger.

Oh and if you think the Parasite is silly with shorts well... I think a lot of iterations save you on some real "body horror."

[Vordan]

I think for me personally the past history of other associations have just made some of the gaudy elements undesirable. Like I don't hate on Marvel for their traditional Brother Voodoo, which I haven't read, but regardless I'd never show that sort of thing to someone who is actually from the Caribbean and happens to ask me about comics.

A mask could be cool as I'm not really that knowledgeable on those aspects of tradition but ultimately I'd just hope an artist consulted someone in the know before pulling trigger.

Oh and if you think the Parasite is silly with shorts well... I think a lot of iterations save you on some real "body horror."

Definitely don’t want Sunday sporting a loincloth or any of the other “traditional” depictions of Voodo that veers into outright racism. I feel the combo of a modern day business suit + traditional mask is good way to still make him stand out, and isn’t any more gaudy than what most supervillains wear. But yeah it should probably be something an actual Haitian designs or gives their opinion on.

Heh in my mind the accident that transformed Rudy also neutered him. He doesn’t have anything to cover up anymore, so to speak. Which doesn’t mean he can’t reproduce via other methods…

[Ascended]

Yeah I'm with Kuwagaton. Media of all kinds tends to take any kind of paganism, voodoo or wicca or even the neo-Norse stuff, and turns it into a stereotype that would be insulting, if it didn't happen so much that everyone is just numb to it.

I'm not against such characters being used or anything, but it's always clear when the creators don't do any actual homework and just lean on whatever Hollywood showed them (which is *always* wrong).