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18.4.10



Comic-Book Heroes & Villains Night

A night devoted to everyone's favourite caped crusaders and helmeted hoodlums where we asked people to nominate their favourite Heroes and Villains, then tell us why they thought they should be honoured by being included in our all-new Hall of Heroes or Vault of Villains.

Competition was fierce as only five places were available in each with everyone voting for the eventual winners. The results were surprising, with no sign of Batman, Superman or Spiderman and with some very unusual suggestions.


The Hall of Heroes

1. THOR (12 Votes)
"Enough Talk!"




Reasons why they should go in:

1. He fires lightning bolts.
2. He has an awesome hammer that returns to his hand.
3. There's a large Viking stood behind me who looks like he might kill me if I don't vote him in.

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. He's mythical.

Weapons/Powers: Thor's hammer, Mjolnir

Who is he?:

A Marvel Superhero created by Stan Lee based on the Thor of Norse mythology. Thor's Father Odin decides his son needs to be taught humility and so places Thor (without memories of godhood) into the body of a partially disabled medical student, Donald Blake.

Thor's arch enemy is his step-brother Loki, who returns to Earth repeatedly to try to destroy him.


2. REID FLEMING - World's Toughest Milkman (11 Votes)
"Why don't you shut up?"





Reasons why they should go in:

1. He's a working class hero.
2. He likes 'sticking it to the Man'
Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. None

Weapons/Powers: Milk Truck

Who is he?:

Reid Fleming was a comic strip drawn by David Boswell in the late 1970s. Reid is not a superhero, he's just a regular guy who has to deal with grouchy managers, angry customers and mad dogs, all without once missing his favourite TV show. Reid has what today we might call 'anger management issues' and on the very first page of his comic he beats someone up for making fun of his Milk Truck, drinks a bottle of whiskey and pours milk into someone's fish tank.

His irascible manner, refusal to do anything he is told and ability to talk his way out of any situation with his boss, Mr. O'Clock, makes Reid a hero of an entirely different sort!


3. The TICK (8 Votes)
"Not in the face!"


Reasons why they should go in:

1. Spoooooon!
2. He has a sidekick named Arthur.

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. None

Weapons/Powers: He's nigh-indestructible with super-strength (and very very stupid)

Who is he?:

The Tick began life in 1986 as a newsletter mascot for a chain of comic stores in the Boston area. He is an absurdist spoof on comic-book superheroes and span off into a comic book series in 1988 before gaining mainstream popularity through an animated TV series on Fox in 1994.

He protects a city called 'The City' and travels about by running and jumping over rooftops, causing damage to the rooftops as he goes. He is well-intentioned, friendly, good-natured, high-spirited and prone to quipping odd remarks and 'inspirational' speeches filled with bizarre metaphors. He is also know for his nonsensical battle cry, "Spooooooon!", which he decided upon one day while eating breakfast.


4. DAREDEVIL (8 Votes)
"Bullseye!"


Reasons why they should go in:

1. I dare you to call him disabled.
Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. Ben Affleck
2. Spent too much time 'angsting'
3. He's a lawyer
Weapons/Powers: Billy Club, Heightened Senses

Who is he?:

Another Marvel Superhero in our list, also created by Stan Lee. Matt Murdock is blinded by a radioactive substance that falls from an oncoming vehicle. Despite not being able to see anymore, the radioactive exposure heightens his remaining senses beyond normal human ability (yes, that old chestnut!) 


5. WOLVERINE - (8 Votes)
"As Mark Twain said... I forget what the hell Twain said, but I ain't dead."



Reasons why they should go in:

1. 'Cos he's such a badass.
Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. He's a weapon who can't think for himself.
2. Adamantium is named after Adam Ant

Weapons/Powers: Regeneration/Adamantium skeleton.

Who is he?:

The third Marvel Comics superhero in our Hall of Fame, Wolverine is James Howlett, born in the 1880s and commonly known as Logan. Wolverine has a special healing ability which not only allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin but which also slows down his ageing process, enabling him to live beyond the normal human life span. His powerful healing factor enabled the supersoldier programme Weapon X to bond the near indestructible alloy adamantium to his skeleton and claws without killing him.

Wolverine was typical of the many tough anti-authority anti-heroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War. His willingness to use deadly force and his brooding nature became standard characteristics for comic-book anti-heroes by the end of the 1980s and as a result the character became the clear favourite for fans of the increasingly popular X-Men franchise.

Also-rans:

Howard the Duck:
1. He's a Duck
2. Ran for President
3. Master of quack-fu
4. Officially a non-person
5. Classic Film

Hit Girl
1. Violent
2. Violet
3. The Banana Splits

Too Much Coffee Man
1. He has a coffee cup for a head
2. His sidekick is called Espresso Boy
3. He loves coffee... and loves doing as little as possible

---------------------

The Vault of Villains


1. MAGNETO (15 Votes)
"You must be Wolverine. That remarkable metal doesn't run through your entire body, does it?"



Reasons why they should go in:

1. He is Quickfire's Father.
2. He can control Wolverine's body.
3. Even when working with others he has his own agenda.
4. He's Polish.

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

None

Weapons/Powers: The ability to control metal

Who is he?:

Another Marvel character, the arch nemesis of Charles Xavier of the X-Men. Max Eisenhardt is a powerful mutant with the ability to generate and control magnetism. He was born some time in the 1920s to a middle-class German Jewish family whose father, Jakob Eisenhardt was a highly decorated World War I veteran. Surviving hardship and discrimination during the Nazi rise to power Magneto later becomes determined to keep such atrocities from happening to mutant-kind.

He gathers a group of angry and disenfranchised mutants, including his own son and daughter Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch and forms the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Side note: Darth Vader Vs Magneto
Magneto: So that life support suit keeps you alive does it? Not any more.


2. ROB (12 Votes)

Reasons why they should go in:

1. He's Evil.

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. He's never actually appeared in a comic and isn't fictional.

Weapons/Powers: Ability to drink vodka which looks like shampoo.

Who is he?:

Er, we're not quite sure how this happened, but I think due to a massive administrative error we might have accidentally voted Rob into the second slot in our Vault of Villains.


3. The RIDDLER (11 Votes)
"Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big, black bat?"



Reasons why they should go in:

1. Can a bad guy have more fun?
2. His name's 'Edward Nigma', E. Nigma "geddit!"

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. Green Lycra

Weapons/Powers: Possesses extreme ingenuity in decoding and formulating puzzles of all kinds.

Who is he?:

Our first representative from the D.C. canon, the Riddler is a regular supervillain in the Batman franchise. He is obsessed with riddles, puzzles and word games. He delights in forewarning both Batman and the police of his capers by sending them complex clues. With this obsessive-compulsion (in one strip he tried to refrain from leaving a riddle but failed), the Riddler's crimes are flamboyant and ostentatious.

Unlike most of the other prominent members of Batman's rogues gallery, the Riddler is not a psychopathic murderer; rather he is a malignant narcissist with an ego that rivals or may even surpass that of the Joker. He commits crimes in order to flaunt his intellectual superiority and a large portion of his crimes are non-violent in nature.


4. DR. DOOM (10 Votes)
"Aaaaaah!"



Reasons why they should go in:

1. Doom!
2. Kneelegporedoom!?
3. DOOM!!!

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

None

Weapons/Powers: A master of Scientology

Who is he?:

Dr. Victor Von Doom is a remote viewer who specialises in predicting utter crap. In 1983 he was called into learning Remote Viewing technique under Ingo Swan. Many of his readings were unsatisfactory. In 1989 he started a private company to teach the technique to the public sector. He currently still owns the world.

Due to being the eldest direct descendant of Chivalry Hawkins, Dr. Doom is the current ruler of Latveria and the result of an indiscretion involving a Latverian Witch named Rita and Elvis Presley. Victor studied the dark arts of Dianetics and learned all he could about Scientology. His younger sister died at the age of 6 from severe brain haemorrhaging as the result of a massive head trauma from a donkey punch delivered by Brian Peppers.


5. DARTH VADER (9 Votes)
"Luke, I am your Father."



Reasons why they should go in:

1. He's Luke's Dad.
2. He can use 'the force' and not get an ASBO
3. Only way to get sci-fi included in this list.

Reasons why they shouldn't go in:

1. He gave us Luke.
2. NOOOOOO! (Angry at the sky)

Weapons/Powers: The Force, Lightsabre

Who is he?:

Okay, so we're not quite sure what he's doing in a list of 'COMIC-BOOK' heroes either, but he has certainly appeared in comic-book adaptations of the Star Wars saga. As a Villain, he is certainly up there with Dr. Doom, Magneto and Rob. 

Also-rans:

Judge Dredd:
1. An anti-hero but also a Villain, a violent oppressor.
2. He's a British creation

Edward Cullen:
1. Worst Vampire, Ever!
2. Ruined Vampires for all time.
3. He sparkles.

Galactus:
1. He can wear purple and blue and get away with it.
2. He has power cosmic
3. He has to destroy planets to survive

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