Shaggy Man (comics)

Shaggy Man
The Shaggy Man (background) on the cover of Justice League of America #45 (June 1966). Art by Mike Sekowsky.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Original: Justice League of America #45 (June 1966)
Created by	Gardner Fox (scripts) Mike Sekowsky (pencils)
In-story information
Abilities	Superhuman strength; stamina; healing factor

Shaggy Man is the name of several fictional characters that appear in comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky.

Publication history

The Shaggy Man debuted in Justice League of America #45 (June 1966) and returned in Justice League of America #104 (Feb. 1973). Another two versions appeared a one-shot story in Justice League of America #186 (Jan. 1981). The original Shaggy Man reappeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #9-10 (Dec. 1985-Jan. 1986).

Another version, implied to be one of the versions from Justice League of America #186 (Jan. 1981) returned in JLA #24 - 26 (Dec. 1998 - Feb. 1999) and was updated and rechristened "The General". The General reappeared in the "World War III" storyline JLA #36 - 41 (Dec. 1999 - May 2000). Another Shaggy Man was eventually created and debuted in Justice League of America Wedding Special (Nov. 2007), the first chapter of a storyline that continued in Justice League of America #13-15 (Nov. 2007 - Jan. 2008).

Writer Mike Conroy noted that the Shaggy Man was "A mountainous cross between Frankenstein's monster and the Sasquatch".^[1]

Fictional character biographies

First Shaggy Man

Shaggy Man is a creation of Dr. Andrew Zagarian, a scientist who invented "plastalloy", a synthetic human tissue substitute that can be used for organ transplants. Dr. Zagarian built the Shaggy Man by splicing his material with salamander genetic material, and accidentally created an artificial lifeform that can rapidly heal from any damage done to it. The Shaggy Man is essentially mindless, and attacks anything that moves. The Justice League is called in to deal with the menace, but is unable to stop the creature. The Flash finally came up with the idea of having Dr. Zagarian create a second Shaggy Man to fight the first. The JLA seals the two monsters inside a deep pit, where they can battle each other for all eternity.

A Shaggy Man is freed by Hector Hammond and transported to the JLA satellite.^[2] This time he is defeated by Green Lantern, who uses his power ring to shrink the monster to miniature size and imprison him.

Despite being freed again, Shaggy Man was blown up by Speedy during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.^[3]

A Shaggy Man's inert body is eventually recovered by General Wade Eiling and his Ultramarine Corps, despite having been blow up by Speedy, in a possible continuity error.^[4] General Eiling (who has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour) transplants his mind into the Shaggy Man's body, shaves off the body's hair, and calls himself the General. Although Batman attempted to defeat the General by attacking him psychologically, suggesting that the Shaggy Man's core personality was clouding his judgement, the General was defeated in their first encounter by being beamed into the solar system's asteroid belt; because of the Shaggy Man's complete invulnerability, General Eiling remained alive in space, exiled to a six-mile long asteroid. He later returned, to fight with Superman, Orion, and the Martian Manhunter, and was banished to the Phantom Zone, though he somehow managed to escape from this imprisonment as well.

Second Shaggy Man

Besides the history above, the second Shaggy Man broke free and rampaged through Russia. This time he was captured, lured onto a rocketship by Batman and fired into space.^[5] Seeing as it was unable to die, this Shaggy Man is still out in space somewhere.

It would appear that the second Shaggy Man's body had been recovered by Simon Stagg as he used the same science that Wade Eiling used to transfer his mind into the first Shaggy Man to do the same thing to his henchman Java.^[6]

Third Shaggy Man

In the Justice League of America Wedding Special, a new version of the Shaggy Man is seen as a member of the Injustice League. This one was created by Lex Luthor to strengthen up the Injustice League. He is later seen beating the imprisoned Geo-Force.^[7] It was among the Injustice League members that were arrested by Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad. His current status is unknown as he wasn't seen in Salvation Run.

Fourth Shaggy Man

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), a Shaggy Man appeared as a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains. This version was created by Professor Ivo and had fought the Justice League of America at a mansion (that was supposedly one of the hideouts of the Secret Society of Super Villains) during their infiltration.^[8]

Powers and abilities

The Shaggy Man is indestructible. He has survived a small tactical nuclear explosion, reincorporating himself almost instantly. If his head were severed, it would still regenerate very quickly, the only symptoms being disorientation and short memory loss. He does not need to eat, sleep or breathe, and can easily withstand the rigors of space. The Shaggy Man's size, dense muscle mass and accelerated metabolism grant him immense strength and endurance. The limits of these abilities are unknown.

Other versions

• The 1980s series Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew presented the parallel Earth of "Earth-C-Minus," a world populated by funny animal superheroes that paralleled the mainstream DC Universe. Earth-C-Minus featured the Shaggy Dawg, a monstrous sheepdog with vast strength.^[9]

In other media

Television

• While the Shaggy Man has no direct appearances in the DC Animated Universe series, the Justice League Unlimited episode "Patriot Act" is clearly inspired by the second version of the character. In the episode, General Wade Eiling uses an unstable 'super soldier serum' developed by the Nazis during World War II. The resulting transformation is similar in concept, and particularly appearance, to that of the Shaggy Man's body when Eiling inhabited it in the JLA run of the 1990s and 2000s. He seems to possess similar powers, particularly the Shaggy Man's indestructibility.

• Shaggy Man appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Legends of the Dark Mite!". As Batman's self-appointed "biggest fan," Bat-Mite pits Batman against Shaggy Man as one of the recommended super villains that he wishes to see engage Batman in battle. In "Long Arm of the Law!", Batman and Plastic Man silently fight a tribe of Shaggy Men when it came to rescuing a group of boyscouts that the Shaggy Men captured.

References

External links

• Shaggy Man I's bio
• Shaggy Man II's bio
• Shaggy Man I at DC Comics Wiki
• Shaggy Man II at DC Comics Wiki
• Shaggy Man III at DC Comics Wiki
• Shaggy Man at Comic Vine