Post by DSkillz on May 18, 2014 4:27:31 GMT
Secret Society of Super Villains
The Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) (also known simply as Secret Society or The Society) is a group of comic book supervillains that exist in DC Comics. The SSoSV, first introduced in their own eponymous series with issue # 1 (May–June 1976), could be considered an enemy of the Justice League of America, in whose series they made several appearances during the late 1970s.
Editor Gerry Conway created the team to be "a kind of 'evil' Justice League". Since other editors were somewhat possessive towards the more popular DC Comics supervillains, Conway resorted to sifting through DC's back issues in search of members, finally selecting a lineup of relatively obscure and/or forgotten villains.
The first issue of Secret Society of Super Villains was drafted with artwork by Pablo Marcos. Then, according to Conway's assistant Paul Levitz,
"Custom in those years was for the editor to bring the finished inks of an issue in to [editorial director] Carmine [Infantino] for a cover conference, during which Carmine would usually sketch a cover design in pen on typing paper. While I wasn’t in the room, I clearly recall Gerry coming back down the hall to his office, confused, as Carmine had looked through the issue wanting to see the villains’ clubhouse or headquarters, and when that wasn't in the book, asking Gerry to redo it. In my time at DC in Carmine’s years, this was the most significant change in an issue I recall his asking for at that late stage."
In the original story, Darkseid (demanding to be called the Director) founds the group under the title of the Brotherhood of Crime in a bid to hold the world ransom by stealing the world's deadliest nerve gas. The group, made up of Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, Clayface, Star Sapphire, and a clone of Manhunter, turns on their benefactor when Manhunter raises the issue of Darkseid's history for trying to enslave humanity. Darkseid is revealed to be an android. Manhunter suspects Darkseid controls it from afar and nominates forming the Secret Society of Super Villains to combat Darkseid while pursuing their own goals.
Due to the delays caused by having to redo the first issue from scratch, Conway assigned David Anthony Kraft to script the next three issues of Secret Society of Super Villains over his plots. After issue # 4 both Conway and Kraft abruptly left DC, leading to a mad scramble to produce a fill-in issue.
Jack C. Harris took over as editor, and Conway returned as writer only with issue # 8, but artists on the series rotated nearly as often as the lineup of the titular supergroup, with Rich Buckler, Mike Vosburg, and Dick Ayers all contributing short stints as penciler, while inkers changed from issue to issue. Harris felt that the series's mediocre sales might have been partly his fault: "The cover concepts were one of my editorial duties. Rich Buckler turned my ideas into the best he could do, but I never felt as if my ideas were good enough for his art. I think there was a ‘sameness’ to my ideas which might have hurt the title in that casual readers might have missed buying an issue because they thought they’d already seen it."
Links:
Wikipedia
DC Comics Database
Copyright Owner/Official Site
DC Comics
Record:
W: - 1
electricferret.freeforums.net/thread/2445/secret-wars-iv
L: - 1
electricferret.freeforums.net/thread/2444/secret-wars-iii
Editor Gerry Conway created the team to be "a kind of 'evil' Justice League". Since other editors were somewhat possessive towards the more popular DC Comics supervillains, Conway resorted to sifting through DC's back issues in search of members, finally selecting a lineup of relatively obscure and/or forgotten villains.
The first issue of Secret Society of Super Villains was drafted with artwork by Pablo Marcos. Then, according to Conway's assistant Paul Levitz,
"Custom in those years was for the editor to bring the finished inks of an issue in to [editorial director] Carmine [Infantino] for a cover conference, during which Carmine would usually sketch a cover design in pen on typing paper. While I wasn’t in the room, I clearly recall Gerry coming back down the hall to his office, confused, as Carmine had looked through the issue wanting to see the villains’ clubhouse or headquarters, and when that wasn't in the book, asking Gerry to redo it. In my time at DC in Carmine’s years, this was the most significant change in an issue I recall his asking for at that late stage."
In the original story, Darkseid (demanding to be called the Director) founds the group under the title of the Brotherhood of Crime in a bid to hold the world ransom by stealing the world's deadliest nerve gas. The group, made up of Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, Clayface, Star Sapphire, and a clone of Manhunter, turns on their benefactor when Manhunter raises the issue of Darkseid's history for trying to enslave humanity. Darkseid is revealed to be an android. Manhunter suspects Darkseid controls it from afar and nominates forming the Secret Society of Super Villains to combat Darkseid while pursuing their own goals.
Due to the delays caused by having to redo the first issue from scratch, Conway assigned David Anthony Kraft to script the next three issues of Secret Society of Super Villains over his plots. After issue # 4 both Conway and Kraft abruptly left DC, leading to a mad scramble to produce a fill-in issue.
Jack C. Harris took over as editor, and Conway returned as writer only with issue # 8, but artists on the series rotated nearly as often as the lineup of the titular supergroup, with Rich Buckler, Mike Vosburg, and Dick Ayers all contributing short stints as penciler, while inkers changed from issue to issue. Harris felt that the series's mediocre sales might have been partly his fault: "The cover concepts were one of my editorial duties. Rich Buckler turned my ideas into the best he could do, but I never felt as if my ideas were good enough for his art. I think there was a ‘sameness’ to my ideas which might have hurt the title in that casual readers might have missed buying an issue because they thought they’d already seen it."
Links:
Wikipedia
DC Comics Database
Copyright Owner/Official Site
DC Comics
Record:
W: - 1
electricferret.freeforums.net/thread/2445/secret-wars-iv
L: - 1
electricferret.freeforums.net/thread/2444/secret-wars-iii