Trivial realization...

[Renegade]

...about me.

I've been reading comics for 35 years and yet I've never read one where the spider-man villain The Shocker was the featured bad guy.

I also don't think I've ever read a comic with Deadpool in it, but that's less interesting to me and will change as soon as I get around to reading the recent Deapool/GLI special.


Told you it was trivial.

[lugaru]

The shocker is honestly nothing special but I've always had a soft spot for those villains who are basically a thug in a powerful suit. In his case he's got a good head on his shoulders but no real creativity or ambicion, so he usually fights for poeple like the Kingpin. In particular I remember one comic where he's fighting spider-man and spidey defeats him by dropping a big vat of grease on the ground. Shocker's boots hold him in place when he uses his blasts but since the ground was greased up he goes flying backwards and into a wall. Physics of superheroes right there, hehehe.

Deadpool... In particular I recomend his own comic book series. What can I say? He's a fun 90's style character who dosent play by the comic book rules, breaking the fourth wall very often. Reading his series are half spider-man and half wolverine with a lot of fan service and I love the fact that as a hero he sometimes loses.

Personally:

I dont know a LOT of DC characters, the only DC comics that would make it to my neck of the woods was superman and batman. I have read some of it in retrospect though.

[zuludelta]

I've been reading comics for 35 years and yet I've never read one where the spider-man villain The Shocker was the featured bad guy.

Does one actually exist? Not the biggest Spider-Man fan or reader (only read the early Erik Larsen/Todd McFarlane stuff from the late 1980s/early 1990s and sporadically checked in during the infamous "Clone Saga") but I thought the Shocker was always more of a "nuisance villain", usually used as a plot device to show the reader just how much more dangerous the main featured villain is.

[JKCarrier]

Shocker never quite made the A-list of bad guys, but I've always had a soft spot for that goofy "quilted" costume of his:

http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=20833&zoom=4
http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=22716&zoom=4
http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=29456&zoom=4

[UnkoMan]

The Shocker has shown up as the big bad a number of times. More so in the early years. I actually owned a reprint of his first appearance, and loved it. Yes, Shocker is one of my favourites. Him, Sandman, and the Lizard. What a choice for favourite Spider-Villains.

A great couple of issues to look for are when he teams up with Hydro-Man (lamest sandman rip ever, but actually amusing in this) to rob something or other. It's more their interaction that is cool. I love how Shocker is all "welp, Spider-Man is here, so let's run away," but Hydro-Man ruins it. Villains WITHOUT vendettas are cool.

Speaking of awesome villain books... There's a couple with Rhino. One where he moves in next to Grizzly Bear (or whatever he's called), and one where he tries to increase his intelligence. Very good stories.

But yeah, Shocker... Definately not a topper, but he shows up everywhere.

[Renegade]

It wasn't until the last couple of years that I found out that Shocker's powers weren't, as I had always assumed, electricity based. I thought he was just Electro lite or something.

[psychopanda]

He's one of the Spidey villains I always liked based on design. Personality-wise, they never seemed to do much with him. I thought I saw a JrJr pic of him at one time, but not sure if he was the "big" villain in that issue or not.

The thing to remember is, any character is only as good as the Writer that writes them. Bullseye was not so great in his first appearance, but when Frank Miller got behind him (and other Writers since) he got amped up to be a serious contender. Over the years, I've seen comics writers do some amazing things with very little to work with. It's often inspired me to try to think of clever twists on older characters.

[detourne_me]

He's one of the Spidey villains I always liked based on design. Personality-wise, they never seemed to do much with him. I thought I saw a JrJr pic of him at one time, but not sure if he was the "big" villain in that issue or not.

The thing to remember is, any character is only as good as the Writer that writes them. Bullseye was not so great in his first appearance, but when Frank Miller got behind him (and other Writers since) he got amped up to be a serious contender. Over the years, I've seen comics writers do some amazing things with very little to work with. It's often inspired me to try to think of clever twists on older characters.

in one of the spidey video games he was a boss,  and they had him use his powers in some cool ways...   he would fire at the ground and propel himself for a little bit...  kind of like in "My secret Identity" when the kid would use spray paint cans to fly.

[Sword]

Among my list of goals is to submit a "Shocker goes Legit" script to Marvel. I like the goon and his sonic suit is pretty cool. I need to find a way to make it so he does more than sonic blasting. With any kind of tweaking he could use his power to put people to sleep, or hypnotize them, or stimulate their rage centers to fight each other.

So yeah, I'll be working on that. Anyone want to suggest a reason Shocker would go legit?

[murs47]

Among my list of goals is to submit a "Shocker goes Legit" script to Marvel. I like the goon and his sonic suit is pretty cool. I need to find a way to make it so he does more than sonic blasting. With any kind of tweaking he could use his power to put people to sleep, or hypnotize them, or stimulate their rage centers to fight each other.

So yeah, I'll be working on that. Anyone want to suggest a reason Shocker would go legit?

His girlfriend is pregnant and decides to lead a straight life........decides he wants to be someone his eventual son/daughter would be proud of. Or simply, he doesn't want his child to lead the same life he did.

The Superhuman Registration act is the perfect opportunity for him, he gets a steady income and benefits to provide for his family.

Eh, bit of a bad idea, the best I could come up with though........but sometimes a bad idea can spark a good idea for someone else.

[Silver Shocker]

Nowhere does Shocker get a worse wrap than Ultimate Spider-Man, where he doesn't have a costume per say, and Spider-Man beats him up at least 3 or 4 times over the course of the book, every time as a quick aside to the main story. You'd be reading a storyline, and all of a sudden the Shocker would show up again, and you'd be like "Oh geez, it's him again!"

The thing to remember is, any character is only as good as the Writer that writes them. Bullseye was not so great in his first appearance, but when Frank Miller got behind him (and other Writers since) he got amped up to be a serious contender. Over the years, I've seen comics writers do some amazing things with very little to work with. It's often inspired me to try to think of clever twists on older characters.

If Gail Simone can make Catman, Ragdoll and Mad Hatter cool, and Joe Casey can make the Clown and Ringmaster (from the Circus of Crime no less, the lamest group of villains ever, who had a tendancy in the sixties to show up EVERYWHERE just to annoy the heck out of me!) cool, nobody's out of the question.

I also don't think I've ever read a comic with Deadpool in it, but that's less interesting to me and will change as soon as I get around to reading the recent Deapool/GLI special.

If you can find it, I highly recommend the Gail Simone run of Deadpool and Agent X, among the best comics I've ever read, no doubt, and the first three storyarcs in Cable & Deadpool are great.

[murs47]

I also don't think I've ever read a comic with Deadpool in it, but that's less interesting to me and will change as soon as I get around to reading the recent Deapool/GLI special.

If you can find it, I highly recommend the Gail Simone run of Deadpool and Agent X, among the best comics I've ever read, no doubt, and the first three storyarcs in Cable & Deadpool are great.

I pretty much agree with everything Silver Shocker just said there, I would also recommend Joe Kelly's run Deadpool as well