ORIGIN: James "Jim" Craddock grew up in 1800's England. His mother was poor, and he lived in poverty. He soon turned to robbery to support himself. He eventually immigrated to the United States, where he was falsely accused of a violent crime and killed by Nighthawk, a masked cowboy.
Craddock soon discovered that he would remain a ghost until the spirit of the man who murdered him moved on to "the next plane of existence." He also quickly discovers that Nighthawk is actually an incarnation of ancient Egyptian royalty, meaning that his soul, and therefore Craddock's, will never pass on.
Nighthawk is later reincarnated as Hawkman, who Craddock finds he is unable to truly kill. He becomes Gentleman Ghost and begins antagonizing superheroes in order to pass the time.



ORIGIN: In prehistoric times, a caveman named Vandar Adg led the Blood Tribe, a Cro-Magnon tribe. He encountered a mysterious meteorite, and was bathed in its radiation. This radiation wrought a change in him, affording him amazing intellect and immortality. Since this time he has claimed to be numerous famous and vicious leaders, and to have been close with numerous other famous people through history. He has been in conflict with possibly every one of Earth's heroes over the years, usually as a result of his plans to control the world.



ORIGIN: An immortal around 200 years of age, the shadow-wielding Shade has a long and winding history filled with a many stories of heroics, villainy, darkness, love, tragedy, and practically every other dramatic element. He has served as a hired killer, been an adventurer, a villain, and in recent times has been considered what others refer to as a “hero.” He has gone by many aliases in his lifetime, Mr. (James) Black, Louie Fox, and so on. He has met many famous figures from history during his extended life. During the ritual that made Swift change into an immortal, Swift was exposed to horrors to this day he will not dare recount. Despite succumbing to amoral apathy, Swift eventually redeemed himself in the fight for his only true love, Opal City. He has by now come to the realization that many have helped him along a lighter path, though not one of the light and the white. He’s still revels in his amoral sense of life, likely fallout from his immortality.

ORIGIN: The current Icicle is the son of the first Icicle and an unknown woman who died of hypothermia as a result of freezing from the inside out as she was giving birth to Cameron. Cameron somehow inherited his freezing powers from his father's prolonged exposure to his cold-ray gun which altered Cameron's DNA as well as his skin pigment which is now albino. Cameron is capable of generating cold and he blames the Justice Society Of America for his condition.





ORIGIN: A group of scientists during World War II, known as the Time Trust, developed a ray which could transport people and objects through time. The Trust was contracted to create a means to protect America from enemy bombings should it enter the war. The Time Trust, learning that a technology existed in the 25th Century to create a force field, sent the Justice Society to acquire the information necessary to build such a device, but it was sabotaged by a lab assistant. Years later the same lab assistant, working with one of the Trust former scientist, murdered his employer and stole a time machine in an effort to alter the past and conquer the world as Per Degaton.







or090 U Gentleman Ghost
Team: Injustice League
Range: 4
Points: 83
Keywords: Injustice Society, Secret Society of Super-Villains, Mystical

9 9 17 3

8 9 16 2

8 8 15 2

7 10 15 2

7 10 14 2

8 9 14 2

8 8 13 2

8 8 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: I'll kick this off with mentioning that this is perhaps one of the greatest sculpts in all of Heroclix. I know that doesn't really have a ton to do with gameplay, but it bears mentioning. It's just a beautiful piece. One of the nice little "Suprises" about this piece is the unassuming four range. WIth the four clicks of exploit weakness, you're going to want to get in close with him, but the four range gives him another option that your opponent is likely to forget about and not see coming when you exercise your option. It will come in handy when you get ranged shields and incapacitate mid-dial as well. Defensively his stats are average, but hopefully you'll get some lucky rolls and super-senses will keep your bacon safe. Tie that all together with the phasing/teleport that he has throughout most of his dial, and you have probably one of the most fun, but least played figures in Heroclix.

CONS: ARGH!!!! It's the return of that darned Injustice League team ability. It just won't go away. It's unfortunate that it probably adds 15-20 points on to his cost making him a bloated 83 points. I think it's the only thing that keeps him from seeing as much play as he should. I know he isn't usually a character that directly involves himself in a fray, but another click of three damage could have helped his case out a little as well.

THEME: Pick a keyword, any keyword. I just don't think that you will be going wrong placing him on any theme team that he has a keyword for. Perhaps the weakest one he has is the generic "Mystical" keyword. It has the most options, but when you look at who is there to play with, eventually you're going to find somebody who is better to play with than the Gentleman Ghost and he'll be replaced. I would see a lot of fun playing him on either the Injustice Society or the Secret Society of Super-Villains theme teams, though.

Other players' comments/reviews

or091 U Vandal Savage
Team: Injustice League
Range: 0
Points: 133
Archenemy: Green Lantern (Green)
Keywords: Injustice Society, Secret Society of Super-Villains, Warrior

8 11 16 4

8 11 15 4

8 11 17 3

7 10 16 3

7 10 15 3

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 8 15 3

6 8 14 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: His dial is nearly as long as the character's life. As if this wasn't enough, his dial exudes offense. He keeps it pretty economical as well at only 133 points. Even when he himself isn't putting the hurt on opponents, he has a bevy of support powers which includes Leadership, Perplex, and Outwit. One of the coolest things about his dial is the fact that he can be on the very last click of his dial, and with a little bit of luck can regenerate back to the top of his dial over the course of a couple turns. I've seen him played in games before where the total damage that was done to him in the course of the game was close to 30+ clicks. However, with some lucky healing, he was on click one when time was called.

CONS: I honestly don't think that the Injustice League TA is hurting his point value too much here. I'm sure it's effecting him, but he just has so much going for him that it doesn't seem to be dragging him down as much as it did for Gentleman Ghost. The biggest thing that I say is wrong with him is his overall low defensive numbers combined with the fact that he has little to offer for damage reducers. I don't think the character merrits impervious at all, but if he were made today, I would hope he would have some kind of special combining toughness and regen for the majority of his dial. In the interest of maximizing dial effectiveness, I would love if we could re-allocate the points spent on his Team ability and put them into a much more useful charge power on his first 2-3 clicks.

THEME: Very similarly to what I said about Gentleman Ghost, I don't think that Vandal Savage's generic keyword is the right choice for him. I don't think he would get much from that team, and I don't think it would get enough from him to help them either. So, just like the Ghost (And potentially teamed up WITH him) I would play Vandal on either the Injustice Society or Secret Society of Super-Villains team.

Other players' comments/reviews

un061 R Shade
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 4
Points: 27
Keywords: Central City, Mystical

7 8 15 2

7 8 14 1

7 8 14 1

6 7 13 1

6 7 13 1

6 7 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: I can tell you right now that he's not going to be your MVP. He's not even good enough to be a third tier attacker. What he does offer is some support and cover fire. He isn't going to be able to throw that smoke cloud very far, but he is going to throw it down often thanks to his willpower. This could be enough to slow down an opponent enough to protect allies, keep allies in stealth protection, or just to add a +1 defense to allies for hindering terrain modifiers. He has mid-dial TK which could potentially come in handy, but I don't see it becoming game changing. You never know, though. It could come in handy if you get to it and can use it to push/pull friendly or opposing characters into or out of combat. The regen at the end of his dial could keep his support powers in play longer than a 27 point character would normally allow.

CONS: I kind of touched on his cons a bit in the pros section. His range is probably his biggest weakness. He is pretty much useful for the various tricks that he can pull off with smoke cloud, but his area of effect with the power is miniscule. If you get any use out of his TK clicks, it will likely only be able to push or pull friendly characters. The likelyhood of you pushing or pulling opposing characters or attacking them with an object is going to be a hail-Mary play at best.

THEME: I would love to see him on a Mystical team. As a cheap little tie-up/support piece for 27 points, he is a good point filler for that kind of team that may annoy the opponent and cause more trouble than he is worth. I really don't care for the Central City keyword on him since the team would be mostly comprised of various Flash characters...and Shade. It would just be awkward and he would seem very out of place on that team.

Other players' comments/reviews

un062 E Shade
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 49
Keywords: Injustice Society, Mystical, Opal City

8 9 16 2

7 8 15 2

8 8 14 1

8 8 14 1

8 7 13 1

8 7 13 1

6 7 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: Though the experienced version of Shade is nearly double the point value of the rookie, he also brings about double the effectiveness as well. This one really takes the concept started by the rookie and runs with it. He still has the stealth, smoke cloud, and willpower but has added phasing, a few more clicks of TK, an extra click of regen, phasing mid-dial, and two clicks of the ever useful outwit. It really averages out to a dial with a lot of utility. Early in his dial I would employ the same tactics that I recommended for the rookie, but here you get a bump in range. A phasing outwitter with a spot of TK is no laughing matter for a character under 50 points.

CONS: His most useful clicks always seem just out of reach. You either have to take just enough damage in one direction to get to his most useful clicks or you have to hope to use his regeneration and not overshoot them in the other direction while you're healing. They seem so far away if you were to try to push him to get to them, and even if you take that route you'll be essentially wasting half of his life to get there.

THEME: He just doesn't seem to fit right on an Opal city team nor is there a lot of choices there for a team. I think he would best use his abilities either on a mystical team as mentioned in the rookie's review or by providing annoyance to distract opponents from the bigger targets that the Injustice Society keyword provides. No matter what, he'll probably be the most stylish looking character on your team.

Other players' comments/reviews

un063 V Shade
Team: Mystics
Range: 6
Points: 73
Keywords: Mystical, Opal City

8 9 16 2

7 8 15 2

7 8 14 1

8 8 14 1

8 7 13 1

8 7 13 1

8 7 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: Kicking it up another 24 points more than the experienced Shade, the Veteran only adds a little bit as far as powers go. He gets yet another click of regeneration and more importantly another click of outwit. One of the biggest things to note with this dial is the overlapping of phasing, willpower, and outwit. This makes him a very mobile support piece that will be where you want him and when you want him. To put a little cherry on top, he now has the Mystics team ability. With the added click of regeneration, he can take a beating, regenerate to full health, and keep taking hits while dishing out retaliation damage just to do it all over again. Even if you don't get to use TK or outwit, that is pretty great.

CONS: It's really too bad that he was made in unleashed and hasn't been made since. I'll admit I don't know a great deal about the character, but from what I do know he could have some interesting powers that would be better developed in special power/trait format. Other than that, he is a pretty fun package. Would it have killed them to give him a click of 17 defense or three damage, though? He has potential to be a back-up attacker, but his growth seems to have been stinted a bit as his experience level grew.

THEME: As of right now, he might be your only chance to play an Opal City team that will be halfway decent. Team him up with V Elongated Man, HT Veteran Solomon Grundy, and CJ V Starman and you have a team just shy of 300 points that if anything would be different than anything on the battlefield. It's not exactly comic accurate, but it's all we have as of now.

Other players' comments/reviews

un213 LE Richard Swift
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 4
Points: 50
Keywords: Central City, Injustice Society, Mystical

7 8 15 2

7 8 14 1

7 8 14 1

6 7 13 1

6 7 13 1

6 7 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: There is a lot to like about the LE Shade. At just one more point than the experienced version, he still has the utility of the experienced Shade but offers up a good alternative. He loses the willpower and mid-dial outwit, but now has front loaded phasing and three clicks of front loaded perplex. He still has the mid-to-late telekinesis, and the end dial regen, so the rest of his dial still has about the same effectiveness as his other versions. What's nice is that if you successfully regenerate, you will likely get your perplex back. Late in the game this could be extremely helpful.

CONS: Though I really like the front loaded perplex, I can't help but miss the little bit of stealth and the willpower. This is just me eating my cake and wanting it too, but he seems to have lost some of his other versions' draws. A good opponent will usually target some annoying perplex when possible, and doesn't have a single thing to protect himself. The best that he can muster is putting up a smoke cloud (with a tiny four range) and adding +1 to his defense. It really won't help him that much, but it's worth a shot.

THEME: A lot of the members of the Injustice Society can use the kind of support that Richard brings to the team. I think his best use will be found there. I stand by what I said about the Central City keyword earlier as well. This dial configuration isn't going to bring a lot of new things to mystical teams, but it's a good alternative team to use him on if that is more your playstyle.

Other players' comments/reviews

jl007 R Icicle
Team: Injustice League
Range: 6
Points: 72
Keywords: Injustice Society

8 9 17 2

8 8 16 2

7 8 16 2

7 8 15 1

6 7 15 1

6 7 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Copcicles: Icicle can use Barrier. When three or more barrier terrain markers placed by Icicle using Barrier are adjacent to a target opposing character with zero or one action token, given that target an action token.

Not a Nice Guy: Icicle can use Mastermind.

PROS: Icicle is all about momentum and defense. He does have the ability to take pot-shots at opponents whose defensive powers have been outwitted or who have smaller/no defensive powers, but his main purpose is not as an attacker. His "Copcicles" power is perhaps one of the coolest in the game (No pun intended). Not only does he get to put up an already useful barrier to help hold opponents back or to allow your characters to get into position, but that barrier also has another more sinister purpose. If you can get three out of the four barrier tokens adjacent to an opponent, you essentially get to incapacitate them with no attack roll. If you position them JUUUUUST right, you can even do it to two opponents in one turn. In a lower point game, this could absolutely wreck an opponent's strategy. If they get within his six range he can attempt a normal incap with double targets to also slow up to two people down at once. I just can't say enough about how useful his board control powers are and how much this little unassuming piece will do for your team.

CONS: I would have gladly paid a few more points if his first click would have had a three damage. I like characters in this point range to be able to bust higher grade defensive powers on at least one click. It could be argued that incapacitating them to take push damage can do that too, but what happens when you get outwitted and lose those abilities? I like that he has mastermind, but chances are you have someone on your team that is worth more to your victory to keep alive. The plasticity will also help to tie-up opponents and you might even get to use your barrier special power after they fail to break-away to force a push, but with such a low defense at this point and the fact that he only has a few clicks of life left at this point, an experienced player is just going to take the 72 points instead of wasting an action. Also, at this point I am thoroughly convinced that the IL on dials doesn't stand for Injustice League. it actually stands for "Infinite Loser" as it bloats his dial out and has kept him from seeing the kind of play that he should have been seeing had he been 20 points less.

THEME: Well, he only has one keyword so your options are pretty much obvious. So, all things being equal, I'll share with you a few of my favorite non-keyword teams to play him on. He works beautifully as Mr. Snow Miser from A Year without a Santa Clause. If something so quirky and off the wall isn't in your wheelhouse, you could always just play an all ice/winter/frost team using such characters as any of the number of Ice figures, Killer Frost, Iceman, or Frost Giants. Don't say anything to your opponent all game. Just stare at them and repeat the phrase "Winter is coming."

Other players' comments/reviews


aa029 U Per Degaton
Team: Hypertime
Range: 6
Points: 90
Keywords: Future, Injustice Society, Past, Time Stealers

9 10 17 2

9 9 19 2

8 9 17 2

8 9 16 2

8 8 17 2

7 8 19 2

7 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

I Will Watch You Die: Per Degaton can use Psychic Blast. Once during your turn, Per Degaton can use Incapacitate as a free action if he has no action tokens.

Time Stealer: Per Degaton can use Outwit and Probability Control.

PROS: Many people will shy away from a 90 point character who's damage never goes above 2 or whose attack is only above nine on his opening click. These people just don't understand how great this figure truly is. I don't know how many games I've lost because of him on the opponent's team. Right off the bat he has the Hypertime team ability. This could potentially keep him from being based by an opponent all game if the dice are in your favor which will force an opponent to ranged attack him. Keep him in hindering terrain and his high defense could make this combo super irritating to opponents. If an opponent does base you, he is a phasing flyer keeping him mobile and making opponents try it again. His scattered super senses could keep him from taking damage as well. I fully suggest pushing him off of the first click, though. You will never see the frustration from an opponent quite as much as when they are being outwitted and can't take out the outwitter due to an impressively large defense value in combination with probability control. He continues to stay impressive in the latter half of his dial as he gains penetrating/psychic blast with a possibility of free action incapacitate. Regeneration will also get him back in the game as well. He is a character that is fully worth the investment.

CONS: I'm really having a hard time with this one. I guess the biggest one on his dial is the fact that he gets looked over by a lot of the inexperienced players when they see that 90 point price tag staring back at them. If they only knew what he was capable of, he would have seen more play. From a design standpoint, I wish he had more board manipulation powers than he does. Don't get me wrong. He has a lot, but I just feel that somebody who time travels should be able to do a little more. Maybe it's just me.

THEME: I would forego the future and past keywords alltogether and get right to the meatier named keywords that he possesses. Team him up with Icicle in a larger Injustice Society build and watch the two of them work together to make your opponent's blood-pressure rise due to the sheer annoyance of what they bring. As I said in part one of the JSA Villains article, one of my favorite teams to play is the Time Stealers. That is my number one choice for Per Degaton when I use him and it's no wonder I love this piece so much as he is one of the MVP's of the team when I play it. I play it with the Arkham Ultra-Humanite, Arkham Despero, Crisis Supernova (standing in for Booster Gold's Dad who stole the Supernova suit), and Mr. Mind (Who was mind controlling Booster's Dad). Mr. Mind can even use his perplex to make Per Degaton a decent back-up attacker out of Per Degaton. It's super fun, and I highly recommend you try it.

Other players' comments/reviews

For the purposes of this specific article, I will be omitting the "Keys to the Kingdom" and "Who needs Keywords" sections since the focus of this edition of Deep Dish themes is on a group of characters instead of one or two specific figures. Those two parts of the normal Deep Dish Themes just won't work correctly or make sense with the additional characters.

Therefore, I will just reiterate how much I love these characters and how much I would love to see updated versions of all of them. Even though they are more modern than the others, Icicle and Per Degaton could use some updates now that they are starting to step outside the box more with special powers and dial designs. They are still good, but I'd like to see what more they can do. Campaigns for characters have had great success in the past. Go to the "Dear Wizkids" section of HCRealms today and help me in trying to bring some Golden Age back into the Modern light!

That wraps it up for Part 2 of the Deep Dish Themes: JSA Villains. Thank you once again to Theanalogkid for the great suggestion and to all of you for the feedback and the nominations that you have submitted for my "Player's Request" series of articles. It has really been fun doing these and I don't have any plans on stopping anytime soon. It's been so successful that I might even continue to do the article like this regularly! Join me in two weeks for the next edition of my Player's Request series when I tackle Baron Impossible's request: Captain Mar-Vell!

Nice article! Gotta love the vet shade and gentleman ghost!

This article has me hoping for some remakes... but I fear 10 different SM/BM/WW's instead

Great articel.

Vandal Savage and Per Degaton are probably both in my top 10 figures of all time. They're just a blast to play. Once I even managed to heal Vandal from his second to last click to his first click in one turn (with Automatic Regeneration, of course). With the new Leadership I don't even always automatically push him to his second click.

The Time Stealers have some of the most misunderstood figures of all time on the team (especially for new players), but man are they fun to play! I definitely love any article to do with the Justice Society, so keep up the good work!

Great article again! You did a great job!

Thanks everybody...and Happy fourth of July for my American friends!

The Shade is one of my favorite characters and really stole the book from Starman.

I would love to see a truely bad ### shade. Hell his Blackest Night story was awesome.

These guys are still a viable team. I would love to see remakes, but frankly these less than ideal dials do a good job of representing these chumps. I had one of my opponants push a character to death rather than go down to Icicle. It made Icicle's day.

Per Degaton is an excellent figure.

Per Deg is Great, Icicle is pretty good and my friend used Shade very well against me a few times. The rest need help or lots of help ( Vandal getting a defended defense value, etc).

Veteran Shade used to see a lot of play on my teams back in the day.

Also, did they ditch the "Spirit" keyword that Gentleman Ghost had for a bit?

Nice work, and a good treatment (well, as good as Wizkids' dials will allow) for this interesting bunch of villains.

He was the only character to have that keyword. A while back they cleaned up a lot of the characters that had wrong keywords or characters that had generic keywords that they were no longer going to pursue. The axed "Spirit" and just gave him mystical instead. They also cleaned up a lot of the universe characters who had keywords that their infinity challenge and x-plosion counterparts didn't.

You'll also notice that Marina no longer has "Beast" keyword either.