The Best One-Panel Monster Ever

When I was a young lad, infatuated with monsters and D&D and superheroes and all such things, I got Justice League of America #111, featuring a one-panel appearance by a monster that immediately imprinted itself upon my consciousness. Since then, one of the measures of a monster for me has been how it compares to the fearsome octosaur:

© 1974 DC Comics; art by Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano, script by Len Wein.

Keep in mind that a cephalopod dinosaur with frog feet would be awesome enough, but this one is Kryptonian, which means that on Earth, it would have all of Superman's powers, increased proportionately to its size. Such a monster would be as great a threat to the galaxy as the Sun-Eater.

Fortunately, octosaurs are extinct; the one pictured here was a hallucination created by the Scarecrow (which worked on Superman because he was weakened by red sun rays collected by the Mirror Master).

But the potential is there, and I latched onto it but good.

Posted by Greg at April 18, 2008 3:24 PM