Evil Week Finale: Rogues Delivered In A Flash, Or Your Money Back!

I'll be curious how this entry plays out, since I'm basically on my fourth day in a row where it feels like I've only received about five hours of solid sleep in a night.  How Bruce Wayne manages with four hours in a day, and divides a successful corporate daytime life AND a impactful vigilante detective night, beggars my imagination.  Sigh... But in a weird way, we go full-circle for the conclusion to my Evil Week theme.  (And I worked on scheduling for the rest of this month, and I made ABSOLUTELY sure to give myself at least a month's break before I tackle another "series" intention.)  For those that remember, I began the week of devilry with coverage of a DC villains team that was initially launched as a television program, featuring the superstars of wickedness of that universe.  ... And they also included Toyman and the Riddler in the group.  HAH!  At the end, we find ourselves back in my tried and true neck of the comic book woods, to discuss a group of nasty individuals that stemmed from DC's key figure to launch the "Silver Age" of comics.  A group of villains that may have made the term "Rogues Gallery" a CONCRETE description for any heroes' history...

Not even the wise Wikipedia is able to provide me with the EXACT first appearance of "The Rogues"... And before ANYONE gets on my case, this picture is a tad bit "expansive" for its "Rogues"-proper membership.  (Last I checked, Gorilla Grodd and Reverse Flash were primarily solo-operators.)  But this is also a fine example of illustrating the core establishment of a team whose M.O. made them different from most villain gatherings.  Before we discuss that detail, let's talk about the members we know AND love of the Rogues:

• Captain Cold: With a name like Leonard Snart, you're either destined to be bitter enough to become a super criminal... or consign yourself to a life of bizarre fandom.  It was discover of a freeze gun... which CAN happen at ANY point in real life... that makes career criminal Snart realize this weapon had the potential to block the effectiveness of the speed abilities of the Flash.  Captain Cold has, throughout the years, essentially served as the "leader" of the Rogues.  We'll talk about his sibling more later, but let's just say in our "New 52" universe, she did turn the tables on that equation.
• Mirror Master: Sam Scudder begat Evan McCulloch, which returned back to Scudder in our "New 52" universe.  But the Mirror Master legacy began when Sam discovered a mirror that could hold images, and eventually the ability to use mirrors to travel between a Mirror Dimension.  That continued after Sam died in the first "Crisis", and Evan discovered that ability.  Then discovered cocaine, which got him booted from the Rogues.  And THEN discovered sobriety.  Yay for Villain REHAB!
• Pied Piper: Hartley Rathaway started off deaf, but weird enough, when the miracle cure came to him, Hartley decided this twist of fate was just what he needed... to DEVELOP SOUND WEAPONS TO USE FOR CRIME.  But Pied Piper is a special case in that he was one of the first Rogues to reform in the post first "Crisis" universe.  And Hartley was one of the first comic villains... period... to come out as gay!  Sadly, the twists of universes has apparently found him back on the side of crime, again.  MAYBE if he immigrated to the Marvel Universe, and started a relationship with Northstar, he could have started a happy domestic life?
• Weather Wizard: Mark Mardon was a bit like Cain onto Abel, in that discovering his brother invented a killer "weather wand" that could change the climate in an INSTANT, killed his brother for possession of such a device.  Of course, he denied that claim to HIGH HEAVEN, but you cannot lie in those green pixie boots, Wizzo!

• The Trickster: James Jesse... RRREAL subtle name... wasn't happy with his Dick Grayson-esque family life of acrobatics.  So he began developing technologies that were in a Toyman/Joker theme of gimmicks to commit crimes.
• Captain Boomerang: Digger Harkness was our token Aussie member, with some... at times... AWFUL stereotypical dialogue.  Heck, it wasn't bad enough that his gimmick was also an Australian stereotype, being the master of various boomerangs.  Basically he was the Green Arrow/Hawkeye of the boom slang.  And you could say he was another "legacy Rogue" in that in the events of "Identity Crisis", Digger died... BUT passed on his skills and mantle to his son, Owen Mercer.  (And a fun fact about Captain Boomerang is that he was ALSO a founding member of the Amanda Waller "Suicide Squad"!)
• The Top: Man... Having a goofy name must be the true path to darkness, because no one's going to apparently buy a hero named Roscoe Dillon.  BUT not only did he possess the ability to spin like CCCRAZY... he also possessed many top-themed villains.  He also managed to inter-date with a fellow Rogue's sister!  But the legacy of the Top is a... really weird one.  You see, Roscoe died, but his mind was able to "possess" subsequent people.  And from the information I've read, he ALSO pulled a mental manipulation whammy on his fellow Rogues.
• Abra Kadabra:  ... "I want to reach out and grab ya.".  SORRY, SORRY!  Could not resist.  Anyways, what seems like magic to us was, to Abra, regular super science from his home time of the 64th Century. 
• Heat Wave:  You can't have the cold on a team without some HOT!  Mick Rory finally found his place with the Rogues, who would appreciate this genocidal pyromaniac that build his own flame weaponry.
• Golden Glider: Remember how I mentioned one Rogue that was a sister of another, and whom dated YET another Rogue?  Let me introduce you to Lisa Snart, sister of Leonard Snart.  Talk about dedication to your loved ones; before her Rogues entry, she was perfectly satisfied being a champion-level ice skater.  But when her squeeze, The Top, died, she decided to take out all that misery on the Flash with skates that made their own ice... and I GUESS making her super-speedy.  I would say we don't speak of Lisa anymore, because before the "New 52", she was killed by a villain that gained access to Captain Cold's weaponry.  BUT we have the new universe to thank for bringing Lisa back to life, and giving her a newly developed sense of savagery that drove her to LEAD a new team of Rogues.

There have been other additions to the Rogues team in the wake of various events, like the first "Crisis", "Underworld Unleashed", "Final Crisis", "Flashpoint"... and in the late 90's and early 2000's, the creative whims of Geoff Johns.  But the Rogues... in all those times... had two established rules to operate on, which makes them probably the most OBSESSIVELY focused team of villains in comicdom's existence.

1. There is no "world conquest" or "domination" plan design.  Simply earning buttloads of money is satisfactory enough for schemes.
2. You CANNOT kill anyone else other than the Flash.  Sure, you can freeze cops and such solid, and incapacitate citizens, but greasing some innocent jerks is a MAJOR No-No.  (Many members were put in their self governing "hot waters" because of such rules.)

I did essentially crack-wise about Geoff Johns, but in reality we DO owe him for making the Rogues a certified team connected to the Flash in the same way that we define Superman with his rivalry with Lex Luthor, and Batman with the Joker.  Even though Johns has not worked on the title since... probably post "Infinite Crisis", that Rogues legacy has stuck to the Flash brand.  Heck, when Wally West was "lost in time", and Barry Allen was still finding his legacy footing, the future Flash family member in Bart Allen AKA Impulse wore the crimson suit.  And because of a splinter team of Rogues, led by Bart's OWN "Reverse-Flash" in Inertia, Bart Allen was the ONLY Flash that was actively killed off by the Rogues.  Not bad for a time-span when the "Flash" name was being passed around like a hot potato, because DC executives couldn't figure out ANYTHING out... other than they DID NOT want Wally West as Flash any more.  Harumph.

The "New 52" path of the Rogues was an unusual path, because before we met a new team of Rogues, in the aftermath of "Brightest Day", we saw an alternate universe team of Rogues that were actually CRIME FIGHTERS, and they were trying to convince the Flash that they served this reality's greater interest.  But like all great villains, the Rogues never seem to be a vanished concept, no matter HOW many times a universe gets shuffled and twisted around.  I mean, they practically had their foundation not long after Barry Allen was first struck by a freak lightning and chemical accident!  And with the coming "Flash" television series, we can only see the Rogues' popular influence expand even further.

I think a week dedicated to spite and wickedness was exhausting enough!  Tomorrow, I think we need a bit of a more "calm" attitude to the blog.  Join me for an entry that kind of coincides with a REAL LIFE event that I want to mark!  I'll leave you to chew on that nugget!