boyajian@akov68.DEC (06/11/85)
> From: cvl!kwc (Kenneth W. Crist, Jr.) > The Squadron Sinister has also made other appearances: Defenders 13-14 > where Nighthawk becomes a hero and Avengers Annual 8. Hyperion(bad) also > appeared in Thor 280 with Hyperion(good). Whizzer changed his name to > Speedemon in a Spider-Man issue that I don't remember to number of. He > also changed his costume. It should perhaps be mentioned that the villain Nighthawk was, after his reformation, the Nighthawk that lead the Defenders for however many issues it was. As a villain, Nighthawk also appeared in DAREDEVIL #62. And the Squadron Sinister's Dr. Spectrum appeared in IRON MAN #63-66. > I, for one disagree when people call > the Squadron Supreme just a JLA rip-off. If that were true they would have > only shown up once, and definitely not in their own book. Nothing personal, but this is a rather silly argument. They were never intended by Marvel to be a rip-off. When they first appeared, it was a joke much like the Teen Titans/DNAgents "cross-over" that appeared recently. Roy Thomas created the Squadron Sinister/Supreme to be a pastiche of the JLA so that the Avengers could "fight the JLA". At the same time, Mike Friedrich, who was writing JLA at the time, created a super-team to fight the JLA (I don't remember the exact ish -- somewhere around #87) that was very similar to the then current Avengers line-up. Of course, the Squadron Supreme did make later appearances, but they were few and far between. As long as they were used sparingly, they stayed in the realm of pastiche. But using them in their own title is, I feel, overstepping bounds. Certainly Marvel doesn't intend them as a rip-off, but intent is not the issue. Fawcett didn't intend Captain Marvel to be a rip-off of Superman, either, but the courts decided that it was a close enough imitation to award a trademark infringement suit to DC. The fact that the Squadron Supreme *is* an imitation of the JLA is enough. The fact that Marvel was willing to take Aardvark-Vanaheim to court for the latter's use of the character of Wolver- roach (*clearly* meant as a parody) should make them much more sensitive to this trademark infringement issue. I feel that they are being hypocrits in this matter. > From: hpfclg!neutron (Jack Applin) > Mark Modrall (or is it mark modrall?) says about the Squadron Supreme: > >> the thing that really got me was that when the squad first appeared, >> they were a bunch of super-villans that had banded together to rob better >> (a la earth 3)... the next time you see them, they were still together >> and employed by the govt as mercenaries (the govt was corrupt, and run by >> nelson rockafeller)... > What first appeared back in the Avengers was the Squadron Sinister (evil), > which lives on regular Marvel-Earth. They were created by the Grandmaster > as an imitation of the Squadron Supreme (good guys) who live on this other > Earth where Nelson Rockefeller was president. True, but irrelevant. When the Squadron *Supreme* first appeared in AVENGERS #85, they were villainous, but if memory serves (I no longer own the issues) they were under the mind-control of the mutant, Brain Child. I think that the Avengers that journeyed to Marvel-Earth-2 freed them from Brain Child's control, and they helped those Avengers defeat Brain Child. So they actually *did* start out as villains, though through no fault of their own. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA soon to be: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.COM