The Wild Cards (9 Oct. 1985)

The Royal Flush Gang are hardly exceptional villains or comic book characters; five figures dressed like cards, the token female being the Queen.

For some strange reason, they manage to turn up at rather exceptional moments.

They were strictly a 1960s cardboard villain set; Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten.

I would first see them, ironically enough, in an issue of the short-lived title, The Joker, about everybody's favorite clown prince of crime. That was mid-1970s.

Then they would turn up in the Justice League of America, #202 or #203, as a new group, formed by a mysterious figure who was Ace.

At the end of the first issue, the King would learn Ace was really . . . a robot! More interesting was that when Ace removed his card mask, we saw him as a black man, who then removed THAT mask, revealing the metallic circuitry beneath.

The other alteration in this new group was that Ten now became a woman.

So with this CARDboard group of characters, we now get a mysterious robot, a second female and one who knows the robot's secret.

An intriguing overhaul, I must say.

Obviously intriguing enough, as this arrangement would, more or less, step into the Super Powers cartoon.

Ace formed the group, Ten was once again a female (she appeared to be latino. I thought at first she was black. In the comic book, she was white.) and Ace had a secret.

Well, Batman figured out Ace's secret.

Ten would step away from the group and try to help the heroes, deducing she was in too far over her head.

Rather interesting, tho predictable, way in which the villains were stopped as well.

For whatever reason, the story came from the comic book (in the third issue of the story, it was revealed that some other outdated villain called Hector Hammond was behind everything).

Of all comic book stories to do, this one would be done.

And rather well too. Won't spoil it by revealing what other characters turned up.

But it was very good.