Secret Society of Super Villains
Secret Society of Super Villains is an American comic book published by DC Comics, created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Pablo Marcos, which first appeared in May–June 1976. The series' focuses on a titular group of supervillains, most of whom are foes of the members of the Justice League of America. The series was cancelled with issue #15 in July 1978, as part of the DC Implosion, a period when DC suddenly cancelled dozens of comics.
In the decades following the cancellation of the original book, the fictional group has returned in many forms.
Series conception
Editor Gerry Conway created the team to be "a kind of 'evil' Justice League", inspired by the "Rogues Gallery" that fellow editor Julie Schwartz created for the Flash. 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. Conway said: "Obviously, this was lifted from Dick Tracy, but having costumed villains with a shared goal — even if it was simply the destruction of their common enemy — seems to be something that was unique to DC".The first issue of Secret Society of Super Villains was drafted with artwork by Pablo Marcos. Then, according to Conway's assistant Paul Levitz: In the original story, Darkseid founds the group under the title of the Brotherhood of Crime in a bid to hold the world to 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 the Manhunter, turns on their benefactor when the Manhunter raises the issue of Darkseid's history of trying to enslave humanity. Darkseid is revealed to be an android. The Manhunter suspects Darkseid controls it from afar and suggests forming the Secret Society of Super Villains to combat Darkseid while pursuing their own goals.
In the revised first issue, the team's lineup included Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, Star Sapphire and the Manhunter from the original conception, and added Mirror Master, Copperhead, Sinestro, Shadow Thief and the Wizard.
Starting from the second issue, the comic's recurring hero is Captain Comet. Conway said that he wanted a regular 'lead hero' for the villains to interact with. The inclusion of a regular hero in the book helped to avoid Comics Code Authority concerns about presenting villains in a positive light.
Publication history
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 pencilers, while inkers changed from issue to issue. Harris felt that the series' 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".
Secret Society of Super Villains was cancelled with issue #15 as part of the DC Implosion. Issue #16 was already at the printer at the time of the cancellation and would have been the final issue, but writer Bob Rozakis appealed to DC to pull the issue since it was the beginning of a three-part story and he did not want to leave the readers hanging. Issue #17 was near completion at the time, and both it and issue #16 would see publication in the privately printed Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2. Issue #18, which concluded the three-part story, was scripted but never drawn. Rozakis later revealed where the story would have gone had the series not been cancelled in a weekly column for Silver Bullet Comics.
This series, along with the unpublished issues #16 and 17, were collected in a two-volume hardcover edition, with the volumes published in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Fictional team history
Darkseid's Society
First organized by Darkseid, the Secret Society of Super Villains were based in the Sinister Citadel in San Francisco. From early on, the team was plagued with power struggles. Lex Luthor, Wizard, Gorilla Grodd, and Funky Flashman all sought to control the powerful team; Manhunter and Captain Comet, on the other hand, sought to divert the villains' evil ways into a more positive channel. After discovering the true identity of their benefactor, the team rebelled against the alien overlord. To quash their uprising, Darkseid sent Mantis and Kalibak. At the end of the struggle, Manhunter sacrificed himself to seemingly kill Darkseid. After this, the team splintered, with Luthor, Wizard, Gorilla Grodd, and Flashman leading the team at different times. However, Wizard proved to be the most tenacious and created the definitive incarnation of the SSoSV. They went on to fight the original Crime Syndicate of America of Earth-Three and the Justice Society of America. While traveling between dimensions, back on Earth-1 the Silver Ghost, Mirror Master and Copperhead formed yet another team and fought the Freedom Fighters.Wizard's group eventually returned from Earth-2 and battled against the Justice League of America aboard their satellite headquarters. At one point in the battle, the two teams swapped bodies, allowing the supervillains to discover the true identities of their enemies. After gaining the upper hand, the Justice League wiped the memories of the supervillains, precipitating Identity Crisis and the formation of the current Society years later.
Also notable in this series' run is the first appearance of Captain Comet in over 20 years, as well as the introduction of a new Star Sapphire. Both were regular, recurring characters.
Ultra-Humanite's Society
The next incarnation of the Secret Society appeared in 1981, headquartered in a new Sinister Citadel in Nepal, and was created by Ultra-Humanite, who organized foes of both Earth-One's Justice League and Earth-Two's Justice Society. This version of the Society consisted of Ultra-Humanite, Brain Wave, Killer Frost, Cheetah, Signalman, Floronic Man, Monocle, Rag Doll, Mist, and Psycho-Pirate, and marked the first appearance of Ultra-Humanite's albino gorilla body. After capturing and sending 10 heroes of the JSA and JLA to Limbo, the Society was betrayed by Ultra-Humanite, who had his own agenda. In response, the betrayed villains of Earth-1 freed the 10 heroes and attacked the Ultra-Humanite. The entire Secret Society of Super-Villains was incarcerated in Limbo by the JLA and JSA.Ultra-Humanite contacted his younger self in 1942, who helped to break out the SSoSV using the power of Brain Wave. The white gorilla Ultra-Humanite attacked Infinity, Inc. in the modern day, while the rest of the SSoSV battled against the All-Star Squadron in 1942. The villains were defeated and returned to their proper times.
Underground
The SSoSV in time grew into a large underground group with dozens of villains. After the reformation of the JLA, the seven superheroes decide to infiltrate and shut down this new Society. Martian Manhunter lures the villains to one spot by disguising himself as the late Brain Wave, claiming to have returned from the dead. Brain Wave also claims that the Secret Society has members in scattered cells, with Captain Cold, Felix Faust, Goldface, Kobra, Metallo, Mister Mind, Ra's al Ghul, Two-Face, and Vandal Savage as their chairmen. All of the SSoSV are told to gather in Kansas to attack the Justice League Watchtower at midnight. Blockbuster twice questions if Brain Wave is supposed to be dead before Brain Wave asks him to hang back. When the villains leave their meeting place, they are confronted and defeated by the Justice League. The Justice League members find Blockbuster knocked out next to Martian Manhunter. As the tale was told by Rainbow Raider to Sonar, it is uncertain whether these events actually happened. At the very least, there may have been some embellishment.Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Society
After the defeat of the last incarnation of the SSoSV, a great amount of time would pass before villains would band together in any sort of large organization. Fueled by rumors of the mindwiping of Dr. Light, a new Society emerged. This Society was founded by Alexander Luthor Jr. posing as Lex Luthor, along with five other supervillains: Calculator, Doctor Psycho, Deathstroke, Talia al Ghul, and Black Adam.Alexander Luthor Jr.'s intent was to gather together a cadre of supervillains to retrieve several key superheroes who have ties to the Multiverse to harness their residual temporal vibrations to recreate the Multiverse. Only Psycho-Pirate, who remembered the Multiverse, knew of this plan, as Alexander Luthor Jr. lied to the members of his inner circle, telling them that he was building a massive mind-erasing machine to use against all of the heroes in the DC Universe.
Playing on the fear of superheroes, retaliation for refusal, and the desire for power, Alexander created a Society the size of which is larger than all previous incarnations combined. Out of all the villains in the DC Universe, the only one not even offered an invitation was Joker on the grounds that he was "too wild".
The group, referred to simply as the Society, was featured in the miniseries Villains United as background characters and foils for the new Secret Six. The follow-up one-shot issue Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1 focused on the Society itself as they enacted Alexander Luthor Jr.'s back-up plan to conquer Earth in the event that his main plan failed. This led to a final battle, referred to as the Battle of Metropolis, where the Society, led by Doctor Psycho and Doomsday, made their final battle against the various heroes of the DC Universe.
At the end of Infinite Crisis, Alexander Luthor Jr. was killed by the Joker who was brought to him by Lex Luthor. Lex let Joker kill Alexander Luthor Jr. as part of his revenge for not including him in the Secret Society. Black Adam, betrayed by Alexander Luthor Jr., fought the Society in the Battle of Metropolis, tearing off Amazo's head, and returned to Khandaq to rule full-time.