Who’s Ultraa?
http://siskoid.blogspot.ca/2015/01/whos-uitraa.html

) Back when I was first doing the Idol-Head blog, I read library copies of multiple Showcase Presents and did write-ups for all the early JLA stories, only to have the drive that stored my copy crash. The Unimaginable was in there. That is my sole connection to the concept.

û) The ex-GL bit is played out, but I otherwise dig Universo, mostly because I liked a story arc of his from the Baxter format series where he enslaved and imprisoned the Legion. He’s your classic Ming-y vaguely exotic tyrant, and he taught Dr. Mindbender how to dress. His logo could use more pizzazz, but the art here is swell.

6) DC is going to take at least half as much money during Convergence as I’ve spent on the whole of the New 52. I’m irritated by that, but I still care enough about prior incarnations of DC properties to support this “love letter.”

7) My period of familiarity with the Legion began with the Baxter series and ended with the start of DnA, though there are other areas before and since I’ve delved into. Especially in the reboot years, the Fatal Five were major players, which means my perception of Tharok’s prominence has been colored by this reading.

8) At some point I’d like to talk at greater length about dropping a whale on my co-host, but between still feeling guilty about screwing up my recording session with Rob and the planned subject matter being pushed into next year, I expect that discussion will have to wait until 2015…

5) “It Ain’t Me Babe” is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, which was covered by Johnny Cash, and Dylan helped inspire one of my favorite Cash songs, “Understand Your Man'” while the similar subject matter makes me wonder if “Man” helped lead to “Babe.”

aops) Forgot to mention that Sandy Plunkett did many of the best OHOTMU entries and a lot of gorgeous Marvel covers because he was far too slow to produce sequential stories on any kind of schedule. In defense of Roy Thomas’ under-use of Aquaman, he tended to shy away from the Earth-1 paralleled heroes outside of Infinity Incorporated, and even there tended to only use the heroes with progeny. It wasn’t his fault that Aquaman was left out of the JSA because there is no Earth-2 Aquaman. I want to say my first Two-Face story was about one of the multiple versions (Moench and Mandrake?) Rob’s recollection reminded me of the dissonance I experienced when Skeletor appeared to die by the sword to his breast during his debut story in DC Comics Presents only to brush it off in the subsequent MotU mini-series. That story was drawn by Curt Swan, who also finished out the previously-Michael Nasser drawn Martian Manhunter serial of the 1970s, so I can see where Shag’s Trigon hate comes from.

T) So the Firestorm-related entries are back-to-back and dull-to-duller. Shadow agencies are a dime a dozen, and the 2000 Committee is simply Firestorm’s. Meanwhile, the Typhoon entry is downright ugly, and I don’t see much to the character beyond his sad sack origin.

U) I’m not sure why I never bought a Tyr action figure, but it’s probably because he was an amputee with a prosthetic, and that was a fate shared by about 40% of my action figures through normal play. I think my toy collection just had a gross overrepresentation of handicapped combatants without buying them that way. The Mohawk/handlebar mustache makes an excellent combo, though. I cannot recall if I’ve ever encountered the character in actual comic books. Danny Trejo was the Latino Al Leong until Machete, so I can cut Shag a little slack.

V) That Tyroc entry is just like BAM! He wouldn’t be out of place in the Eros Coley Running Wild series. Dude is accentuated in ways usually reserved for female exploitation. Props to Norm Breyfogle for this daring art. I don’t want to discuss this character. At all.

W) Ultraa is exactly the type of character that gets your nerd senses tingling with his extraordinary power levels and unique place in Multiple Earthery, but in execution is such a tool that it kills your interest. He’s the only character so awful that getting drafted into Maxima’s backstory was an upgrade (the issue of JLQ that became “hot” due to an early Joseph Michael Linsner cover.) Mike Machlan does not “get” Erik Larsen, and inked him terribly as a result. Shag was very wrong about the Savage Dragon, a character Larsen had been drawing since childhood in his own personal mini-comics and had already made two small press appearances by the time this issue came out.

X) I’ve never felt strongly enough about Ultra Boy to dislike him, but I have difficulty seeing why anyone would like him, either. He’s Superboy stuck using one power at a time, simultaneously too powerful and not powerful enough. Post-Zero Hour, he was an actual reformed gang member, but it didn’t make him any more interesting. The main book I associate Ron Frenz with is Thor/Thunderstriike, and I didn’t like him at the time, but I came to appreciate his work. He also replaced Dan Jurgens as artist on Superman, drawing the Red/Blue period.

Y) Ultra-Humanite is a cool concept that outside of maybe The Golden Age I haven’t seen used all the well, and I haven’t detected much of a personality in the comics. Wasn’t he one of the first true super-villains, and was he the guy the Superman newspaper strip artist confused with Lex Luthor, prompting the shift from ginger to cueball? John Statema was one of my favorite inkers in the ’90s, and I think the only Ultraverse comic I still own was an issue of Mantra he drew very well.

Z) I’m reasonably confident that I’ve read one Gary Concord story from the ’40s, but can’t elaborate beyond that. Maybe it was just a lookalike, unlikely as that seems? Ultra is an idea that seems ginchy, but I lack the imagination to see where you could go with stories of a Multi-Alien. Liking the stark ’60s retro-art on the entry. Neapolitan ejaculate.