Sleez

Sleez in Action Comics v1 #592.

Sleez is a male comic book supervillain that features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Sleez was a male member of the race of New Gods and was a native of the planet Apokolips. He stated that he first came to awareness in the sweltering darkness of the lowest levels of his home planet where he lived, had thoughts and knew he had power. It was this power that attracted the attention of Darkseid with Sleez coming under his watchful eye. By this point, Darkseid was young and not yet master of Apokolips or his own dark power. Sleez became his servant, aide and even operated as a councilor in service to Darkseid. Together, they learnt much from one another and about the hidden face of humanity. Sleez was shown the pathways to realm where his power burnt bright and the two engaged in petty cruelties. However, in time, petty cruelties began to amuse Darkseid less and less causing Sleez to fall out of favor with his master. According to Sleez, he stated that he was deemed too disgusting for Apokolips and had been driven from his native world by Darkseid. This eventually culminated in Darkseid unleashing his Omega Beams on Sleez and banishing him from his world. He was, however, not destroyed but sent across time and space where he was reformed on the planet Earth. Thus, he was abandoned by Darkseid and left to rot on the primitive world at the edge of nowhere. It was said that he had been on Earth for more years than he could count and at some point he established himself in the sewers underneath Metropolis. (Action Comics v1 #592) At some point, he managed to somehow come into possession of an Apokolipitian Ash-Crawler that was a creature from the Firepits of Apokolips which served Sleez. Over the course of these years, he managed to sate his hunger by feeding on the essence of humans with many of these being left in Suicide Slum. (Action Comics v1 #593)

Whilst at Metropolis, Big Barda ended in a street filled with unsavory characters where she ended in a fight with a pimp who tried to make her his property. In the resultant fight, a thief stole Barda's Mega-Rod and escaped into the sewers whilst being pursued by the former Female Fury. Within the sewers, the thief was attacked by the Ash-Crawler who killed him where it brought its meal to Sleez who discovered the Mega-Rod. He determined that a native of Apokolips had arrived and was pleased with the opportunity to get his revenge. Within the sewer tunnels, Sleez shot at Barda with the Mega-Rod that she managed to dodge until he used the corpse of the thief to distract her allowing him to land a shot on her. She was rendered unconscious with Sleez satisfied that his scheme could continue his plan now that he had a hostage in one of Darkseid's elite guard. Afterwards, he used his power to place her under his mental control causing her to dance for his enjoyment. Over the next two days, he enjoyed the fact that he deemed one of those responsible for his exile would hasten his escape. Meanwhile, the feeding activities of Sleez had left numerous victims on the surface that were taken into the care of Doctor Kincaid. Their advanced age attracted his study and he attracted the attention of reporter Clark Kent of the Daily Planet. He decided to investigate as Superman and managed to track the radiation from the victims to the sewers. Superman eventually found Sleez's lair where he surprised the villain with a strike that caused Big Barda to be freed from her foes mental control. She then proceeded to take revenge against him for the indignities he had committed whilst she was enslaved to his will. Superman stopped her attack as he intended to find a cure for the victims of Sleez but Big Barda came to believe that the Man of Steel had fallen under the villains control leading to a fight between the two. In the resultant fight, Barda unleashed the full force of the Mega-Rod on Superman thus knocking him unconscious. At that point, the Ash-Crawler emerged and snatched the weapon from her hand whereupon Sleez activated a trap that sent the two heroes plummeting into a pit where they remained trapped. (Action Comics v1 #592)

The pair then fell under Sleez's mind control where he had them enact scenes together that he recorded and sold at Hob's Lane on the edge of Suicide Slum. Such videos were distributed by Sleez's human business associate Mr. Grossman and attracted the attention of Darkseid's agents. Darkseid himself passed one such video to Mister Miracle alerting Scott Free of the peril his wife was trapped in. Sleez intended to use the revenue he gained from these exploitations to fund an army for his needs. He also dispatched mind controlled humans to find and kill Mister Miracle if he approached Suicide Slum whilst he had another video shooting of Superman with Big Barda. During this moment, Superman attempted to resist the villain but he further his domination of him until he was distracted by Mister Miracle's arrival. Scott Free revealed how he escaped Sleez's minions and that he was immune to the villains mind control powers causing him to flee. Whilst in pursuit, Mister Miracle was attacked by Sleez's Ash-Crawler that was killed by Big Barda whilst Superman gave chase to Sleez. Superman cornered the villain who seemingly chose suicide by lighting a match that caused the volatile gases to ignite which apparently destroyed him. Afterwards, Superman as Clark Kent believed that Sleez's victims that were in the care of Dr. Kincaid likely died now that the villain was no longer keeping them alive. However, when he arrived at the ward he discovered that they were still alive leading Kent to wonder if Sleez was in fact still alive as the radiation that he emanated was still in their bodies and sustaining them. (Action Comics v1 #593) He later emerged at Project Cadmus where he used his powers to mentally enslave the directors of the facility where he forced them to make clones of themselves thus creating the second version of the Newsboy Legion. The chain of events attracted Superman to the Project where he battled Sleez with the villain using his powers to turn Dubbilex's powers into torture his enemies. The device used in the process backfired sending the painful psychic energies back against Sleez putting him on fire where he seemingly was killed. (Superman Annual v2 #2)

Despite this event, he had in fact survived where he managed to kidnap numerous other humans from adults to children. The Apokolipitian managed to hide underneath the newly Intergang Happyland park that was developed by Toyman. The villains were unaware that Sleez was beneath the park and he pleased at the number of victims that would arrive at Happyland that were ripe for victimization and exploitation. Such an arrangement was ideal for him as he believed that the criminals would not go to the authorities allowing him to operate unimpeded. All the captured humans were held in cages beneath Happyland with Jimmy Olsen along with Lucy Lane becoming Sleez's captives. Sleez then overtly took control of Happyland and turned the park against the people. This attracted the attention of Superman who battled the giant robotic attractions though the Kryptonian destroyed them before confronting Sleez himself. Sleez dispatched his Queen Ash-Crawler to distract the Man of Steel whilst he affected his escape and he stole Intergang boss Killgrave's escape ship. However, Toyman knew of the ship and had rigged it to explode which he detonated as he wanted revenge for the children that Sleez had tormented with his schemes. (Adventures of Superman v1 #475) It was for a time believed that Toyman had killed him but had by sheer force of will managed to survive. Sleez had in fact survived and remained in hiding until eventually returning to Suicide Slum. Jimmy Olsen at the time was seeking the mystery about Lightray's death and entered into a desolate building where he heard a voice calling to him. He encountered Sleez who was the source of the tip about Lightray and was ready to tell Olsen about the means of finally destroying Darkseid. However, at that point, the mysterious New God killer arrived where he ripped off the roof of the building and destroyed Sleez before Olsen could determine the identity of the individual. (Countdown v1 #46)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Sleez was a native of Apokolips who remained trapped on Earth where he preyed on the desires and dark emotions of people in the West. At some point, he made his way to China where he began to feed on the people there leading to a confrontation with the Justice League of China. He was defeated by the New Super-Man Kong Kenan and apprehended by the Ministry of Self-Reliance's Lantern Corps of China. (New Super-Man v1 #20)

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Sleez was a dwarf sized creature with a sickly light green skin and grotesque features. (Action Comics v1 #592)

During his early existence, he was both a servant and close confidante to Darkseid where he stated that they had learnt much from one another. The pair delighted in petty cruelties that they inflicted on others until Darkseid grew tired of such practices. It was this that led to Sleez falling out of favor with his master and his eventual banishment. Despite this being the case, it was said that he had learnt much at Darkseid's hand. (Action Comics v1 #592) Sleez enjoyed mentally dominating the minds of others to engage in acts for his perversion and enjoyment. It was stated that he fed on human misery and the destruction of the human spirit. In fact, he felt that the conquests of those of strong moral fiber that resisted him were more desirable. As he fed on emotions, the corruption of pure and noble souls were veritable banquets for him to feast on. (Action Comics v1 #593) He stated that even Darkseid was unable to hinder or harness his depravity. (Adventures of Superman v1 #475) The one thing he stated he craved thousands upon thousands of innocents. It was this greed that turned against him as taking too many victims caused him to be discovered. If he controlled himself more, he admitted that he would have been able to operate longer. (Adventures of Superman v1 #475)

According to Sleez, he stated that he had been driven from his native world because he was deemed too disgusting by Darkseid for even the darkest corners of Apokolips. He felt that he had been abandoned by Darkseid and left to rot on Earth. It did not surprise him that none knew of him on Apokolips as he felt that his fall had been so complete and without hope of redemption. As such, he sought vengeance against the people of Apokolips. For years, he lived on Earth and believed he was patient as he sought his revenge. (Action Comics v1 #592) In fact, through sheer force of will he had cheated death as he desired to take his revenge on Darkseid. (Countdown v1 #46) In battle, he was not above the use of trickery such as dangling the corpse of the thief that stole the Mega-Rod to distract Big Barda allowing him to hit her with its energy blast. (Action Comics v1 #592) This use of distraction was used by him to affect his escapes such as sending his Queen Ash-Crawler to fight Superman. (Adventures of Superman v1 #475)

When among humans, he disguised his features under heavy clothing such as a trench coat and large hat where he operated under the name of Mr. Smith. (Action Comics v1 #593)

Powers and abilities

As an Apokolipitian, Sleez gained his own unique ability namely that of an empath allowing him to feed on the emotions of others. In particularly, he fed on the base emotions that were the dark, hidden depravity buried at the core of every human soul. With his psychic powers, he drew them out and ignited them further with the greater the depth of the depravity making more food for him to consume. (Action Comics v1 #593) Sleez used his psychic powers to entrance and corrupt his victims to goad them into more darker and depraved acts with him feeding on these emotions but excessive amounts of agony his body could not possess which meant he could be overwhelmed by such power. (Superman Annual v2 #2) Upon his self-awareness, he became aware of his power and learnt to channel it over time. He could dominate the mind of event New Gods that became subservient to his commands though those of great will could mildly resist him. (Action Comics v1 #592) Similarly, he could take control of Kryptonians such as Superman and even used them as his enforcers. The ability to resist Sleez's power was similar to those under hypnosis in that the person could not be compelled to do something that they would not normally do thus making those of strong moral fiber mildly resist his commands. Certain Apokolipitians were trained to resist mind control in its entirety from anyone except Darkseid with this meaning that they were immune to Sleez's power. Furthermore, he could not dominate the minds of heroes such as Superman if they were conscious and resisting him. (Action Comics v1 #593) If Sleez's attention was distracted, the mentally domination he had over another could be broken allowing them to regain their full senses. (Action Comics v1 #592) This power of his was able to keep human beings alive for many years allowing them to survive over the average national lifespan. Such individuals were in advanced ages where they became old, diseased and riddled with sores as well as parasites. This left a traces of radiation within his victims that was unlike any seen and could be tracked by a person with super-vision. (Action Comics v1 #592)

As an inhabitant of Apokolips, he was aware of the workings of New God technology such as the Mega-Rod and trained in its use. (Action Comics v1 #592) He often made use of minds enslaved to his will as his servants and used them to attack his enemies. At Suicide Slum, he made use of various humans and sent them to eliminate his enemies such as Mister Miracle. On another occasion, he used Superman as his enforcer to ensure that his human business partner complied with their deal. At some point, he came into possession of an Ash-Crawler that was a creature of Apokolips that had the strength of ten men. (Action Comics v1 #593) This creature was responsible searched for prey and brought its spoils back to its master Sleez. (Action Comics v1 #592) It reacted against any threats to its master and attacked such foes. (Action Comics v1 #593) Though he lost his Ash-Crawler, he had another that was a Queen Ash-Crawler. (Adventures of Superman v1 #475)

Notes

• Sleez was created by John Byrne where he made his first appearance in Action Comics v1 #592 (September, 1987).

In other media

Television

Slug in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a character resembling Sleez featured in the episode "Enter the Outsiders!" where he was voiced by actor Alexander Polinsky. This version was known as Slug and showed no ties to Apokolips or Sleez's backstory but instead was a large deformed obese creature that lived in Gotham City's sewers. He was shown to hate the surface society stating that it was a decayed civilization that needed to be destroyed. Slug took in the homeless and runaways who believed that only he cared for them with among those that fell under his sway being the Outsiders Black Lightning, Katana and Metamorpho. He dispatched them to the surface to attack a shopping mall but they were confronted by Batman and Wildcat who pursued them into the sewers. This allowed the heroes to confront Slug who had the Outsiders defeat them whereupon he intended to feed them to his mutant turtles. However, Wildcat goaded Slug into a fight between the two with the villain accidently falling into the mutated sewer water. He emerged as a much larger mutated creature with numerous tentacles sprouting from his body that could spit acid where he was angry with the Outsiders for aiding his enemies. This caused all the heroes to fight together where they managed to defeat Slug.

Appearances

• Action Comics v1:
• Superman Annual v2:
• Adventures of Superman v1:
• Countdown v1:

External Links

• Wikipedia Entry

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