Ambush Bug's Rogues Gallery

Hey, weren't you talking about usurping crossover events this week, Siskoid?

Sorry, but with only two weeks to go before Ambush Bug usurps the whole last three years of crossovers, I have to devote my every Wednesday to him. In other words, he just usurped this week's event.

In fact, we're presenting a rundown of Ambush Bug's greatest villains! Are any of them bound for a comeback? Step right up! Infamy! Menace! Terror! Humiliation! They all await you behind these doors (or, uhm, below this scrollingamagigger). And while AB did fight some of the DC Universe's biggest stars (Joker, Kobra, Two-Face) and its most obscure (Scabbard, Titano), a true Rogues' Gallery should only be made of foes that don't bother with anyone other than our hero, indeed, who originated in our hero's own title.

These then, are Ambush Bug's TOP 5 VILLAINS:

Clocking in at #5 is Darkseid.Well, not Darkseid per se, but the Inflatable Darkseid who created a great big cliffhanger at the end of every installment of the original Ambush Bug mini-series. Excellent shock value, but ultimately revealed as a hoax to keep the readership up (apparently by 50,000 copies in comics shops alone) and deflated by AB at the end of the series.

At #4, it's Quantis, the Koala Who Walks Like a Man!
Quentin Quantis was a scientist who researched cuteness. As per usual, to get things moving, he recklessly injected himself with koala fluids. This turned him into a giant koala bear bent on death and destruction who's got the authorities going "awwwww" instead of fighting him. Jonni DC tries her best to stop him. She fails. So it's up to AB to reverse engineer a cure and, riding a giant syringe, inject Quantis with it. Current status: Quentin Quantis is still puking his guts out from having eaten a bunch of people.

None of these villains were ever given the proper Who's Who treatment, by the way, except Argh!yle and then not in a proper Who's Who series. He's #3.
Argh!yle is the "evilest of socks" and AB's only true recurring archenemy. He's an alien sock dropped from a damaged rocket flying to Earth, animated by radioactivity and scarred by alcohol and cat claws. Let's just say you don't want to see what's under that mask. There was only one other survivor from that crash: AB's teleportation suit! See the connection? Argh's plots have included raising an army of lost socks from his orbital Bureau, animating a cannibalistic cloned AB suit to frame the Bug, and something to do with Superman's lost boot. Sadly, he was destroyed by our #2 before that plan could come to fruition.

#2 then: The Interferer.
This handsome guy caused all sorts of trouble in the Son of Ambush Bug mini-series. His real name was Clarence, and he was his planet's most famous comic book artist. This was a world where comics were the most important commodity. When his numbers dropped off, he tried to commit suicide, but before he dropped off the ledge, he had this new idea for a mini-series about a guy who was hit by lightning and became immortal and could rewrite continuity as he saw fit... and so it became true. Erasing things here, butching up things there, sending AB to Dinosaur Island, he did it all. It was he who was responsible for getting AB kicked out of the DC Universe (until the Nothing Special). In the end, he made a fatal mistake: He tried to fix Omega Men just as it was getting canceled. I guess he's still trapped there.

So who's #1? Hint: He's been with Ambush Bug since the beginning, sometimes just a voice, sometimes in person, usually in the guise of a friend. No, not Cheeks. He's more powerful even that the Interferer... Have you got it yet? It's Julius Schwartz -- The Editor!
Yep, ol' Julie was revealed to be behind all of AB's troubles in the Nothing Special and the true reason why AB couldn't have a place in the DCU anymore. While AB could interfere with the Interferer's plans thanks to his Reality Check power, you can't trump the man who INVENTED Reality Check back in the Silver Age. You really can't.

Comments

Sea-of-Green said…
LOL! Great overview! :-) I can't WAIT for this new series to come out!
Jeff R. said…
Where's Jonni DC?
Siskoid said…
I definitely number of her among his allies.
rob! said…
Egg Fu!

still, good call on Schwartz @ #1.
The Mutt said…
Lots of great villains, but none is more fear-inducing than Your Call From Al.