The Secret Society of Super Villains #1.

How many people came out of a cinema in 1977, wanting to be Luke Skywalker?

Not one.

That's because everyone came out wanting to be Darth Vader.

That's because everyone knows super-villains are better than super-heroes.

And so it was that there were, at times in my youth, attempts to create comics built around wrong-doers. I think we all fondly remember the Astonishing Tales series in which, thanks to the pencils of Wally Wood, Dr Doom has various battles with various foes. And, of course, there was also Marvel's short-lived Super-Villain Team-Up book.

Clearly determined not to be left out, DC also had the odd fling with the genre too. I remember the Joker having his own series at one point. Whether it was good, I couldn't say, as I neither read nor saw a single issue of it.

I did, however, read an issue of another DC book in which villains were the stars.

And that was The Secret Society of Super Villains #1.

It's the present, and various baddies are minding their own business, committing crimes and escaping from prisons, when they each receive a letter inviting them to the first ever meeting of the Secret Society of Super Villains in San Francisco.

Thus it is that Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Grodd, Copperhead, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Captain Boomerang, the Wizard, Catwoman and Shadow Thief find themselves in a skyscraper, being welcomed by one of Manhunter's evil clones who says each must pass a test, in order to deserve membership.

Despite the prerequisite grumbling, Grodd and Copperhead agree to their test and set off to raid a lighthouse which contains a secret lab housing a great big ball of plutonium. Despite having everything going for them, Grodd and Copperhead completely fail to acquire their target, and Grodd abandons his accomplice in the sea, having decided he's useless. So far, the society's having about as much success as an England batting lineup.

Building a comic around a bunch of super-villains may not be an idea that seems like it's going to work. For a start, being villains means they're going to have to fail in their dastardly aims or the Comics Code people will never speak to DC Comics again but the book is surprisingly appealing, mostly because it feels bright and breezy, moving quickly and efficiently in its story-telling.

Despite the fact I don't have a clue who half these villains are, they're a strangely engaging bunch - for would-be murderers and cutthroats - and the mystery of who their financier is gives us a reason to keep reading beyond this issue.

Gerry Conway's script does its job but I should also praise the art. The thing's drawn by Pablo Marcos who's one of my least favourite pencillers. I still shudder at the memory of his work on the last few stories of Captain Britain's original run. However, under Bob Smith's inks, his performance here is perfectly acceptable, even to me. I'm not going to rave about the artwork or claim it's magnificent but it's not off-putting and tells the story cleanly and without fuss.

But who is the group's mystery benefactor? Is it Lex Luthor? Is it the Joker? Is it Brainiac? Is it Darkseid?

I don't have a clue but I'm assuming it's one of those because none of them are present in this comic. Nor are they or their absence mentioned, which seems an odd thing, given their status in the ranks of DC villains.

Then again, maybe it's not a villain at all. Maybe it's someone with a grudge against them, who wants to lead them down the path of ruin.

Anyway, it's not for me to know. I'm afraid I must remain in ignorance until such a time as I've read the series to its, no doubt, senses-shattering conclusion.

Random comics I have owned. Part One.

In the recent past, I've done posts devoted to such things as Batman comics I've owned, Superman comics I've owned, horror comics I've owned and Fantastic Four comics I've owned. But, hold onto your hats, dear World because I'm not through yet.

Here's where I launch an exciting new feature; where I post comics-that-I-can't-be-bothered-to-categorise that I've owned.

Can the internet take such a strain?

Only the next few minutes will tell.

It always seemed an odd thing for me that Jack Kirby was writing and drawing a comic based on 2001. Clearly, his love of grand concepts and visual spectacle made him a good fit for the title but the glacial sterility of the film seemed massively at odds with Kirby's action-packed instincts.

Was the comic any good?

I can't really remember. But I know, from my Googlings, that it did inspire some great splash pages from him, at the very least.

I don't like to be critical of a new hero but you know you're in trouble when, by your fourth issue, you're reduced to fighting Stilt Man, a foe whose devastating super power is having extendable legs.

This cover's by Jack Kirby. At the time, I never noticed. For some reason, I was convinced that all 1970s non-Kirby mags that had Kirbyesque covers were sporting frontispieces drawn by Rich Buckler doing his Kirby thing. Oh what a fool I was.

This one came in one of those sealed triple-packs Marvel were so keen on for a while. I'm not sure what the other two comics were that came with it. Possibly an issue of The Defenders and something else.

As for this comic, I have vague memories that it involved a Mary Whitehouse type character, trying to clean up the nation. If you're a reader who's unfamiliar with Mary Whitehouse, consider yourself very lucky.

I only had two issues of Nova - this being one of them - but encountered most of his adventures in the pages of Marvel UK's Rampage and Star Wars comics. I sort of enjoyed it when it was drawn by Sal Buscema but, like a lot of others, found it more of a challenge to read when Carmine Infantino took over.

More importantly, I seem to remember having one of my school exercise books wrapped in the cover taken from a spare copy of this issue.

DC's greatest villains get together to cause mischief.

At the time, I knew little of most of DC's villains. It did seem an interesting concept though and I always wanted to get my hands on the second issue; although I assume that, being villains, they never got very far in their dreams of victory.

I have absolutely no memory of the contents of this comic. The truth is I always preferred DC's mystery and horror mags, as Marvel just seemed to use their own equivalent mags to reprint old Lee and Kirby horror tales, which were never really my cup of tea.

I recall really liking this one, though don't recall what actually happened in it. I suspect that a large part of my enjoyment of this mag came from having read DC's unhealthy-looking 1970s take on the character and finding Marvel's more robust version far more in line with my tastes.

Plus, how could you not love that Gil Kane cover?

The thing I remember most about this one is the nipples.

Yes, Reader, it's true; Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241 was the first super-hero comic in which I ever encountered characters whose nipples protruded through their costumes. This may not sound like a big deal but, at the time, I was much impressed by such anatomical accuracy.

Other than that, the story was quite fun, with a distinctly retro vibe to the artwork - as the floating brain with eyeballs and tentacles might suggest.

There was also a Timber Wolf back-up tale that left you in no doubt he'd been remodelled to be more like Wolverine than ever before.