Crazy Gang (comics)

The Crazy Gang
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Superheroes #377 (September, 1981) (Earth-238) The Mighty World of Marvel #10 (March, 1984) (Earth-616)
Created by	David Thorpe, Paul Neary and Alan Davis (Earth-238) Alan Moore and Alan Davis (Earth-616)
In-story information
Member(s)	The Jester the Knave Red Queen Tweedledope Mad Jim Jaspers (creator) Slaymaster (employer) Executioner (destroyed) Arcade (employer) Feron (impersonating the Executioner)

Crazy Gang is a fictional group of supervillains, appearing in Marvel Comics. They are mostly petty thieves, but will work as mercenaries. The Crazy Gang has fought Captain Britain and Excalibur.

Publication history

The Crazy Gang first appeared as a parallel universe version in the pages of Marvel UK's Marvel Superheroes #377 (September 1981). This version was created by David Thorpe, Paul Neary and Alan Davis. This group subsequently appears in Marvel Superheroes #387-388 (June-July 1982), and Daredevils #1 (January 1983).

The Crazy Gang of mainstream Marvel Earth (Earth-616) first appeared in Marvel UK's The Mighty World of Marvel #10 (March 1984), by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. They subsequently appear in Captain Britain Comics #1-3 (January-March 1985).

The Crazy Gang first appeared in American comics in Excalibur #4 (January 1989), by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. They subsequently appear in #52 (July 1992), #54 (September 1992), #57-58 (November-December 1992), and #124-125 (September-October 1998).

The Crazy Gang received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #2.

Fictional history

Captain Britain was sent to an alternate Earth, known as Earth-238, by Merlyn. Together with Saturnyne, he hoped to save this world from the corruption that threatened it; instead they encountered Earth-238's Mad Jim Jaspers, a lunatic with the ability to warp reality. Serving Jaspers were the Crazy Gang, a group of superhumans based on characters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. Captain Britain and Saturnyne individually managed to escape this Earth and Jaspers and the Crazy Gang were killed when Earth-238 was destroyed by Saturnyne's successor, Mandragon.

Back on his homeworld, Earth-616, Captain Britain encountered his world's Mad Jim Jaspers. Jaspers was even more powerful here and in a moment of boredom he created the Crazy Gang from the Earth. Jim Jaspers was killed shortly afterwards and his death undid most of the changes Jaspers had done to the world, but the Crazy Gang continued to exist for some reason. Leaderless, the Crazy Gang tried to rob banks, but without a leader they were too incompetent to be any actual threat. They started looking for a leader and Slaymaster responded. Disguised as the Caterpillar from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, he convinced the Crazy Gang that he was like them. Under Slaymaster's leadership, the Crazy Gang became an effective band of thieves and he directed them to steal and vandalize objects and monuments that had symbolic importance to Great Britain. These actions angered Captain Britain and he attacks the Crazy Gang, walking into the trap Slaymaster set for him. Finding out that Slaymaster had used them, the Crazy Gang left him, disappointed.

Months later, they were hired by Arcade to kidnap Courtney Ross, Captain Britain's former girlfriend. In Arcade's deadly theme park Murderworld, the Crazy Gang fought Captain Britain's new group Excalibur. Crazy Gang member Tweedledope had created a device that allowed the Crazy Gang to switch bodies with Excalibur, but in the end Excalibur managed to restore everything back to normal.

Disappointed with their life of crime, the Crazy Gang kidnapped Joyboy of the Technet, now known as the N-men. They brought Joyboy to their Red Queen and Joyboy's ability to twist a person's dreams and desires and make them a nightmarish reality connected with the Red Queen's madness. The two entered a symbiotic embrace and created a beautiful land. They invited villagers from nearby to visit them and the villagers accepted. Their sudden disappearance was noticed and Excalibur was called in by their long-time ally Dai Thomas. Excalibur discovers the Wonderland, but Captain Britain's prejudices against the Crazy Gang made him attack the group (and they were attacked by the land itself). His girlfriend Meggan convinced him, though, that the Crazy Gang had changed their ways and was actually harmless, and Excalibur leaves the Crazy Gang as friends. The citizens of the land, mostly seniors, were allowed to enjoy this new paradise. Some time later, Excalibur sends a large group of trolls, who were living under London, to live with the Crazy Gang in their Wonderland.

Under unknown circumstances, Joyboy returned to the Technet and the Red Queen turned insane again. The Executioner was destroyed and the Crazy Gang buries it. Former Excalibur member, Feron, stumbles upon the Crazy Gang. Falsely believing his old friends did not care about him anymore, Feron disguises himself as the Executioner. He manipulates the Crazy Gang to attack Excalibur, but they were easily defeated and the Executioner was unmasked. The Crazy Gang was then invited to Captain Britain's wedding to Meggan. ^[1]

Members

• Mad Jim Jaspers: the creator of the Crazy Gang.
• The Executioner: A silent android swathed in a long robe and hood and armed with an axe. It follows the commands of the Red Queen and seems to lack any real intelligence. It was destroyed under unknown circumstances, but it had been destroyed and repaired before.
• Feron: A mage and former member of Excalibur
• The Jester, also known as the Clown. A very agile fighter and sometimes the self-proclaimed leader of the Crazy Gang. His Earth-238 counterpart was known as Coco.
• The Knave, also known as Jack of Hearts or the Knave of Hearts. He possesses superhuman strength and durability, but also a rather insecure personality. The Knave always argues with the Jester about the leadership of the Crazy Gang.
• The Red Queen, also known as the Queen of Hearts. She is completely insane, and all she ever does is shouting "Orv wiv 'is 'ead" ("Off with his head") - a command the Executioner follows without question.
• Tweedledope is an idiot savant; he is capable of creating incredible pieces of advanced technology like Widget, but has little practical intelligence. His vocabulary seems to be limited to grunts and chortles. He enjoys himself by training rats to obey his commands. In fights, Tweedledope is an unskilled but brutal fighter, who even bites his opponents.

Notes

• Most of the Earth-238 Crazy Gang was more intelligent and far more dangerous than their 616 counterparts. It also included several other members: the Conjurers, a duo of magicians and Dormouse, the pilot of their flying teapot.
• The Crazy Gang's members are supposedly all based on characters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, however only the Red Queen (who is actually more like the Queen of Hearts) and Tweedledope (based on Tweedledum and Tweedledee) are actually fit this.^{[original research?]} The rest of the characters are actually based on characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Feron and the Jester do not have counterparts in either books.

References

1. ^ "Excalibur" #124-125 (September-October 1998)

• Crazy Gang at the Comic Book DB
• Crazy Gang at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
• Alternate universe Crazy Gang at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe