This week, Marvel Comics released issue #1 of an ongoing series featuring solo adventures of Magneto, one of the Marvel Universe’s oldest (and most dangerous) super-villains. It’s not the first time a “bad guy” has been the protagonist (The Joker had his own book briefly in the ’70s, while many ‘tweeners’ such as Deathstroke have had various levels of success as a headliner), but it’s certain an interesting choice. The old adage states that “A villain is the hero of his own story’, and that’s certainly true in the case of Erik Lensherr, but it also points out a growing change in the nature of the villain/hero praxis, also seen with the decision to have Lex Luthor lead the Justice League. (One might also say that it is reflected in the growing tendency for the good guys to fight one another as much as any world-toppling bad egg.) For my money, I’m fine with buying the monthly adventures of even a capital-v Villain, as long as the story and art are up to snuff, though I wonder how many of them have Magneto’s potential. This, in turn, begs a query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) isn’t going to get involved in whether it’s pronounced “Mag-NEE-Toh” or “Mag-NEH-To”, because that way lies madness, asking: What villain (of ANY origins) would you most like to see in their own solo adventures?
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Major Lash or Kalibos from the old Grimjack comics. No doubt about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grimjack_characters
I’m a big fan of stories dealing with immortals, so Vandal Savage gets my top vote. You can really get experimental with it, issues jumping centuries backwards and forwards, gambits being set up that take millennia to pay off, etc.
Dr. Doom
Strong Bad, I would read it. Wouldn’t you?
I’ve never considered Strong Bad a villain, personally. Definitely not a good guy either, but not really a villain. That said, I’d definitely read it.
Dr Dinosaur would be great.
Modok. With Black Widow as his nursemaid, in the same style as Fred Van Lente’s Hercules series. Comedy Gold.