RIP Joe Simon, New MONSTER KING, and the Skull Mob

"Wait. What War?"

Before we get started, all of us here at TORC Press would like to express our condolences at the recent passing of the legendary Joe Simon. The co-creator of Captain America, and Jack Kirby's artistic and writing partner from the 40s through the 50s, Simon's most impressive trait (besides his business acumen, a rarity among us artistic types) was his offbeat perspective, that led to such oddball (and utterly cool) comics like "Fighting American" and "The Fly". He will be missed.

In other news, we've got the second to last installment of MONSTER KING Issue 6 up and running starting over at http://www.torcpress.com/mk17.html. Page 19 has just about every character I've ever created crammed into one page.

So, let's talk about the Skull Mob.

Originally, the Skull Mob was inspired by "The Bulletproof Coffin" and the cartoon "Batman the Brave and the Bold". Batman TBatB got my brain running on the idea about how in the cartoon Batman was everywhere. He was running around in Space, and he was a member of the Justice League and the Justice League International and was the leader of the Outsiders all at the same time. I thought it was neato. So I decided to throw the Clown and Penguin into all of these different situations with all of these different teammates. When I did Monster King #3, I threw the Clown & Penguin into this new group called the Skull Mob. The other members were inspired by the comic "The Bulletproof Coffin" which was this killer comic about these warped Golden Age Superheroes, so I kinda ran with that and came up with this little group of Gold Age Inspired TORCverse characters.

Somewhere along the line, I got the bright idea to have the Skull Mob be more like the Avengers or the Justice League. Basically, a big fat team of heroes where, sooner or later, just about everybody is a member. I then got the idea to divide the Mob into different divisions of Five. So, for those of you that are in the mood for some heavy duty anal retentive nonsense, here is the entire rundown on the Skull Mob.

Skull Mob Division One:
Colors: Orange and Black
Nickname: Butterfly Mob
Members: Cactus Joe the Clown (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.1. The Unkillable Clown Faced Killing Machine), Pengy Penguin (first appearance: The Bunnyville Experiment. Mute, blue Penguin), Broken Tea Cup (III) (first appearance: Watchdogs #1/SDF: Crumpled Planet. Chaos fueled Heavy Metal Robot), Mike the Butcher w/Kolby Koala (first appearance: Monster King #2, Undead Samurai Warrior and a sleepy koala), Johny Eraser (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #11. Superstrong redneck bunnymon), and Rakka the Witchdoctor (first appearance: Sideshow. Masked witchdoctor).

Skull Mob Division Two:
Colors: Yellow and White
Nickname: Masked Mob
Members: El Exclamation Point! (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v2.1. Masked, metaphysical detective!), Agent D (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.5(?). Hi-tech, armored secret agent), Armageddon Clock (first appearance: Monster King #3. The Dashing dandy of Doom), Dr. Z (first appearance: Monster King #3. Mystic surgeon of mystery), and The Kingfisher (first appearance: Monster King #4. Fishmon vigilante who really hooks criminals).

Skull Mob Division Three:
Colors: Red and Black
Nickname: Shadow Mob
Members: Bad Jack (first appearance: SDF:Pulp #1. Undead vigilante and master of Black Science), Beelzebub Joan (first appearance: Sideshow. Cyborg homunculus wasp woman), The Puzzelor (first appearance: Gulatta! #1. ?), Spookshow (first appearance: Gulatta! #3. The Avenging Wraith), and Mr. Hex (first appearance: Monster King #3. Baseball bat wielding masked psychopath).

Skull Mob Division Four:
Colors: Blue and White
Nickname: Colorful Mob
Members: Cosmico Rex (first appearance: SDF:Pulp #3(?). Cosmically energized cat-man), aliceislost (first appearance: SDF: Crumpled Planet. Unique, wandering changeling), Run-No-No-Run and Stop-Go-Go-Stop (first appearance: Anarchy Bootleg. Dancing Fools), and Riddle Bug (first appearance: Monster King #3. Masked Insectmon Vigilante).

Skull Mob Division Five:
Colors: Green and Purple
Nickname: Eyenigma
Members: King Dark (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.4. Living darkness and the greatest fighter in the world), Phantom Butterfly (first appearance: Gulatta! #4. The cowboy with a thousand faces), Creepshow (first appearance: Gulatta v2.1. The hyperactive poltergeist), The Masked Platypus (first appearance: Gulatta! #4. The duck billed, web footed avenger of the night), and Sparrow Girl (first appearance: Gulatta v2.1. Bird themed female vigilante.)

Skull Mob Division Six:
Colors: Blue and Red
Nickname: Anarchy Mob
Members: Akuma Boy (first appearance: Gulatta! #1. An American Punk possessed by a Japanese Chaos Spirit), Lady Luna (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #3. Warrior Woman created by the Goddess of the Moon.), Namo Redrum (first appearance: Gulatta! #3. The Gentleman Monster), Medusa Tina (first appearance: Gulatta! #3. The Gorgon with a heart of gold), Johny Payday (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #3. Money making fishmon), Mini-Toro (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #3. The world's most agile minataur), and Shinobi Crow (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #3. The crowmon master of ninjitsu).

Skull Mob Division Seven:
Colors: Dark Blue
Nickname: Halloween Mob
Members: Mr. Halloween (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.1. The pumpkinheaded protector), Doom Harvest (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.4. Primitive Plant Monster), Asylum (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.3. The hockey mask wearing flesh juggernaut), Candy Cane (first appearance: Truth or Consequences Monthly #1. The prisoner of Purgatory and the idiot savant of murder), and Zombie Chick (first appearance: Truth or Consequences Monthly #1. Um, a Zombie Chick).

Skull Mob Division Eight:
Colors: Dark Green
Nickname: Pig Mob
Members: Johm Smythe (first appearance: SDF: Perfect/Ugly. The not-so-retired Atomic Cop), Gemini Aqualung (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.3. The mysterious master of Technomagick), Shirac (first appearance: Super Duper Fun Comix (v 1): Killing Machine #2. Rough and tumble claw handed detective), Xavier Mystery (first appearance: Truth or Consequences Monthly #4. Psychic detective with an unpredictable anatomy), and CutUp (first appearance: SDF: Drifter's Rhapsody. Rotting flesh Golem).

Anyway, I was gonna do more with the Skull Mob, but I'll be honest with you, those ideas never really came together. Still, it was nice to see them all together, at least once.

Anyway, here's who's not in the Skull Mob:

Characters not in the Skull Mob because they're DEAD: Pale Man (First appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v.1.1. The half-demon monster hunter. Killed by the Deathbringer), The Crimson Enigma (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v. 1.1. The gun-toting predator of evil. Killed in the Mosquito City War.), Arcadie Sabat (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v.1.2. The Samurai Exorcist. Killed in the Mosquito City War.), Psychodriver (first appearance: Truth or Consequences Monthly #1. A Psychic Warrior. Killed by the Deathbringer), Pom-Pom Girl (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v1.2. The Genetically Engineered Cheerleader. Killed by Princess Perfection (there's a reference to this in Monster King #5)), Aphrodite Midnight (first appearance: Super Duper Fun Comix: Bristol. The NuAge Goddess of Torture. Killed by Princess Perfection), Mystery Woman (first appearance: Super Duper Fun Comix: Killing Machine #1. A mysterious woman. Killed by Minor Demons), Kanabub Abul (first appearance: SDF: Very Odd Jobs. Bizarre Scorpion Monsterman. Killed by the Founder's Cult), Lydia Sukuvent (first appearance: SDF: Very Odd Jobs. Cyborg woman. Killed by the Founder's Cult), Doom Eagle (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v2.1. Freakish superhero wraith. Killed by the Bob Mafia), and Secret Soldier (first appearance: SDF: Drifter's Rhapsody. Undead Cyborg Soldier. The Greatest Superhero ever. Killed by the Vampire God Lord Vlad).

Characters not in the Skull Mob because they're God-like Beings who can't be involved in such matters: King Smooth (first appearance: SDF: Strange Patterns. ?), Xipe Topec (first appearance: Pulp Horrorshow v.2.2. Dark Lord of the Vermin Angels), Darkwatcher (first appearance: Cosmic Love #2. The Prophet of Omnichronus), Abyssal Dragon (first appearance: SDF: Drifter's Rhapsody. The Space God of Righteous Destruction), Dawn Phoenix (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #15. The Space Goddess of Hope and Inspiration), and Proteus Platypus (first appearance: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #8. Technologically Brilliant Space Platypus and leader of the Waterbearers).

Characters not in the Skull Mob because they're Mercenaries or just didn't want to join up: El Gorio (first appearance: SDF: Perfect/Ugly. Fleshless, moral-less, four armed Mercenary Outlaw), Lab Bunny (first appearance: SDF: Very Odd Jobs. Genetically mutated Kung fu Bunny Rabbit), and Kikki Fortune (first appearance: Cosmic Love #1. Alien assassin and whore).

Also, obviously, none of my "silly" characters are in the Skull Mob.

So, there's that. Too much information, right? I dunno.