#ultraverse

Ultraverse/Marvel Dream Team #01 Back Cover

Mantra And Adam Warlock

Original Art

Art by Alan Davis And Mark Farmer

Malibu (1995)

We’ve lost another important voice in the Justice Society family.

Writer and educator Len Strazewski passed away on April 27 at the age of 71, following a prolonged illness and a series of hospital stays.

For DC fans, especially those of us who spend time in the JSA corner of the universe, Strazewski’s name carries real weight. He contributed to titles like Starman, The Flash, and Justice Society of America, helping shape the post-Crisis era while honoring the legacy of DC’s Golden Age heroes.

That sense of legacy showed up clearly in his creations. Strazewski co-created Jesse Quick, the daughter of Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, along with the second Phantom Lady, Delilah “Dee” Tyler, and Kiku Thunder, the last Badhnisian. These characters feel right at home in the JSA’s world, where history and inheritance matter as much as the present.

His work extended well beyond DC. At Impact Comics, he helped revive the MLJ heroes, co-creating and writing The Fly and contributing to The Web. At Malibu, he played a key role in building the Ultraverse, co-creating and writing titles like Prime, Prototype, and Elven. It was a career defined by range, curiosity, and a willingness to explore different corners of the medium.

But comics were only part of his story.

Strazewski spent more than two decades at Columbia College Chicago, where he became a cornerstone of the journalism program. As a professor, mentor, and administrator, he challenged students to be sharper, clearer, and more disciplined in their writing, while backing that toughness with real support and belief in their potential.

At the same time, he maintained a long career as a journalist, writing about health care, insurance, and public policy for more than 30 years, including work with the American Medical Association.

He once described himself as the “Batman of comics writers,” and it fits. He balanced two demanding careers, moving between superhero storytelling and real-world reporting with a sense of purpose in both.

On a personal note, I recently had the chance to record an episode of JSA in the ’90s with the Irredeemable Shag, where we covered Justice Society of America (1991) #3. What stood out was just how much story he could fit into a single issue. There is a density and confidence to his writing that rewards a closer read.

Strazewski’s work is part of the foundation of what we think of today as the Justice Society. His emphasis on legacy, the characters he helped create, the stories he told, and the writers and readers he influenced have had, and will continue to have, a lasting impact.

Happy Halloween, everyone! What’s that? It’s not Halloween anymore? BALDERDASH! HALLOWEEN IS IN MY SOUL! IT CAN BE HALLOWEEN IF I WANT IT TO BE! (harumphs) …Anywho. In the past, I’ve covered all kinds of typically Halloween-y things here. I’ve talked about vampires, I’ve talked about werewolves, I’ve talked about the Frankenstein Monster, I’ve talked about skeletons, the list goes on…but somehow, there’s one staple of Halloween I never managed to touch on. Pumpkins. Jack O’Lanterns. More specifically, Pumpkinheads. The history of why the pumpkin has become the staple squash of autumn, and especially around Halloween, is a long story that I won’t get into here. Suffice it to say, the idea of characters with carved pumpkin craniums is a rather common trope found in all kinds of places. It’s not hard to see why, the visual is just a very interesting one: a glowing, carved Jack O’Lantern atop a more or less human body just has a sort of unsettling vibe to it, and yet can also lead to all kinds of directions to take characters. Some of them are cute, some of them are creepy, and some of them are just plain fun. Before I get into this list, there are three big characters/creatures I need to bring up who will NOT be on the countdown. First, there’s the titular monster from the horror film “Pumpkinhead,” and the character of Sam from the movie “Trick ‘r’ Treat.” They are not included here simply because I have not seen those movies, and therefore do not know much about them. Second, there’s the Great Pumpkin from the Peanuts franchise, and similar characters who are basically just pumpkins rather than specifically having pumpkinheads. Aside from that issue, in the case of the Great Pumpkin, the whole idea of the character is that…well…he may or may not even EXIST, so that makes it a bit hard for him to count on any rubric you name. With that said, hopefully the ten I’ve chosen will be of some interest! If there are any famous pumpkinheads you know and love not found here, chances are good it’s just because I’m not familiar with them. So, without further ado, here are My Top 10 Favorite Pumpkinheads!

10. Pumpkinmon, from Digimon: Ghost Game.

Also called “Pumpmon;” not sure which is the more common or correct name. I should add I am SPECIFICALLY talking about the version that appears in the series “Ghost Game” because…well, to be honest, I’m not a Digimon fan. I don’t know any other versions OF this little rascal EXCEPT the one in this series, which is the only Digimon series I can honestly say I’ve seen and really loved. (Although the ongoing Beatbreak series MIGHT eventually join it as a close second…but I digress.) This show was basically Digimon meets Scooby-Doo, with the main characters solving various creepy mysteries seemingly connected to such supernatural beasties as ghosts, vampires, and zombies…only for it to quickly be revealed the supposed occult goings-on are the results of rogue Digimon running amok. It’s only fitting that, fairly early in the show, this spooky series decided to do a Halloween-themed episode, and featured Pumpkinmon as the central antagonist of the hour. This spooky fellow can summon giant sized pumpkins to attack with in various ways, and turn people into pumpkinheaded thralls under his control. Interestingly, this little gremlin is usually depicted as more “cute” than “creepy,” to my understanding, in other versions of the franchise…but in this series, they managed to make this little monster BOTH. Pumpkinmon at first is downright TERRIFYING, and what he’s doing is quite disturbing - the sound effects and visuals only adding to the horror - but when you find out his true motivations, he honestly becomes a very sympathetic character. We find out his horrible hauntings were essentially just the result of him being lonely and misunderstanding how Halloween works. As a result, an episode that starts off as extremely frightening ends on a surprisingly warm, fuzzy, wholesome note. Despite being one of the earliest entries in the show, it’s still one of my favorite episodes from the series, and while I don’t know how this hobgoblin stacks up in other versions, he’s worthy of placement in the top ten for this appearance alone. Speaking of Hobgoblins…

9. Jack O’Lantern, a.k.a. Mad Jack, from Marvel.

Jack O’Lantern - sometimes called “Mad Jack” - is a somewhat obscure villain from the Marvel universe. He’s faced foes like Ghost Rider and Captain America a few times, but is most well-known (when he’s known at all) for his rivalries with Spider-Man. Multiple people have donned the mask and armor of this spooktacular scoundrel over the years, but most of them have a few things in common…such as their arsenal. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Jack uses a hoverboard-esque glider, pumpkin bombs, and gauntlets that blast energy bolts as his primary weapons. Seem familiar? If you’re thinking, “Wow, that’s basically a ripoff of the Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin,” then you’re correct…and what’s interesting is, that’s kind of the point. A lot of people write Jack off as JUST a Diet Goblin, but what I find intriguing about the character is that his similarity to these two villains is a big part of what makes the character in the first place: most versions of Jack depict the character as a cold-blooded mercenary who uses weapons self-consciously similar to the Goblins as a means of committing crimes. Jack doesn’t usually have superhuman abilities, and isn’t typically a hyper-strategic or exceptionally intelligent fellow, but he’s rarely treated as a joke, either: most of the time, Jack is a stone-cold serious crook who WANTS to be one of the “big boys,” but can never quite make it work. Ironically, a few versions of Jack have either teamed-up with or even temporarily BECOME the Hobgoblin, in particular, during the course of their supervillain careers. I love this idea of a villain deliberately inspired by other villains who isn’t necessarily an incompetent loser: left to his own devices, Jack IS a force to be reckoned with, but when you put him up against his predecessors, it becomes quickly clear the power level is off, and that’s what’s fun about it. There have been occasional attempts to rework and revamp this character, usually giving him a supernatural blend (such as the one in the animated series “Ultimate Spider-Man,” where he’s a sentient scarecrow brought to life by Morgan le Fay) or taking him full out into the realm of horror (such as the one in the Agent Venom series, where he’s a disfigured and deranged serial killer who carves people’s faces up like Jack O’Lanterns), but somehow Jack’s creators and handlers tend to keep falling back on him as the pumpkinheaded mercenary. While I definitely like the Goblins a LOT more, I do have a soft spot for this villain, too, and he’s earned some recognition here as a result.

8. The Pumpkin People of Pottsfield, from Over the Garden Wall.

Much like Pumpkinmon from Ghost Game, the People of Pottsfield are characters who start off as EXTREMELY creepy…but by the end of it, suddenly become much more sympathetic and understandable. In the second episode of the animated dark fantasy series “Over the Garden Wall,” our protagonists find themselves stumbling upon a rural community of mysterious folk who live in a little town called Pottsfield…and every single person in Pottsfield has a pumpkin for a head. At first it’s unclear what’s going on in this little town, and whether the pumpkin people are wearing costumes or not…but bit by bit, we eventually learn the truth. That truth is both sad and honestly REALLY disturbing. You see, the People of Pottsfield AREN’T men and women with ACTUAL pumpkinheads technically speaking…but instead are living corpses, reduced to naught but bones, who wear the pumpkins and scarecrow-like outfits as protection, to give themselves some semblance of a body again. The reason they are this way is because of the main antagonist of the series, a devil-like creature simply called “The Beast.” It’s eventually revealed that those who are claimed by the Beast may lose their physical forms, and the Pumpkin People of Pottsfield are the result of that; they are slowly being eaten away by the Beast’s power, but they still try to go on living their usual lives within their pumpkinheaded shells. These are some of the friendliest and yet most deeply unsettling characters on this countdown at the same time, and that is saying a lot on both counts, as we’ll see going forward.

7. Merv Pumpkinhead, from Sandman.

I should note that I’m specifically referring to the character from the Netflix TV series version of “Sandman,” as I am woefully unfamiliar with the comics, where Mervyn “Merv” Pumpkinhead I believe has a larger role. Even though he’s a relatively minor character in the Netflix series, in comparison, he still manages to make a big impression. Visually inspired by Jack Pumpkinhead from the Oz series (more on him later), Merv is a very different character in spirit: he is cynical, cantankerous, snarly, tough, and eternally sarcastic. Merv is the janitor of the the Dreaming, and essentially fills the role of local handyman: he’ll mop the floors and fix cracks in the windows and all sorts of other little jobs here and there, but he also knows where all the demolition equipment and weapons are kept, and he has no problem using them. He also has no problem voicing his doubts and sniping back at his employers - Morpheus and Lucienne - if he disagrees with them, speaking bluntly and plainly about any issues he has. It’s no surprise that, towards the end of the show, he’s one of the few characters willing to stand up to The Furies with intended-to-be-lethal force: Mervyn doesn’t take bull from anybody, least of all those who may mean the Dreaming harm. Part of the joy of the character, of course, comes from the novelty of his voice actor: Merv is voiced in the Netflix show by Mark Hamill, and I think the reason why that’s awesome hardly needs further explanation. The only reason he isn’t higher is simply because I wish there had been more of him.

6. Jack O’Lantern, from Billy & Mandy’s Jacked-Up Halloween.

Voiced by the inimitable Wayne Knight in this Halloween special for the classic creepy-and-crazy Cartoon Network series, Jack O’Lantern is a character very, VERY loosely inspired by the folkloric figure of the same name. For those who don’t know, the legend of Jack O’Lantern - in brief - tells of a trickster by the name of Jack who played pranks on the Devil himself, only for his scheming ways to lead to his own downfall. In the “Billy and Mandy” Universe, it isn’t the Devil, but instead the Grim Reaper who Jack fools. It’s revealed that Jack stole Grim’s scythe, but agreed to return it to the Reaper in exchange for immortality. Grim, however, had the last laugh: he agreed to these terms, but as soon as Jack held up his side of the bargain, Grim lopped off his head with his scythe. Jack - unable to die, obviously - replaced his stolen skull with a carved pumpkin. In “Jacked-Up Halloween,” he plans to take revenge by pilfering the Reaper’s scythe once more, and - using its power - summon a horde of demonic pumpkin monsters to create a Halloween that never ends. I absolutely LOVED Jack O’Lantern; he’s easily one of my favorite villains, if not my favorite villain, from Billy & Mandy; I’m a sucker for trickster characters, especially those who go off the deep end. A big part of the nostalgia isn’t just due to the episode, though, but also a game: the episode inspired a platforming web game called “Harum Scarum,” in which the player can control Billy and/or Mandy on a quest to defeat Jack’s pumpkin army and then face off against the pumpkinheaded prankster himself. I played that game a LOT of times as a kid, and I still have fond memories of it. For both the show and the game’s sake, I feel I have to give this Jack O’Lantern a decent place…but I think there are a few other characters I like more who take the top five.