Character Guide: Heroes

History: One day, while feeling particularly lazy, the Japanese Beetle began looking for an better way to slack off. Using technology stolen from Doc Ness's Doomsday Device, he and his roomate constructed robot duplicates of themselves and put them to work patrolling the city. They then went to Bora Bora for a quick vacation. While they were away, however, the Japanese Beetle-bots malfunctioned and began transforming Skyline City into an egalitarian utopia. Shocked to discover what the city had become on their return, the Japanese Beetle and the Cartoonist deactivated the robots for daring to raise the bar. The robots have since been junked, though parts of them keep turning up from time to time.

Distinctive Features: Though the Japanese Beetle-bots have angular features, permanent smiles and harsh electronic voices, they still managed to fool every man, woman and child in Skyline City into thinking that they were the real deal. Now that's impressive.

Powers/Equipment: The Japanese Beetle-bots were equipped with replicas of the Japanese Beetle's own ray gun and jet pack. They had no powers of their own, however.

Important Appearances: 05/31/99 06/07/99 06/14/99

History: Max Witter found his job as dean of Thorton-Mellon University to be oddly unsatisfying. To distract himself from the boredom of his humdrum life, he channeled his energies into perfecting the ultimate hairstyle. One day, he discovered that the unholy soup of shampoos, conditioners and hairsprays he had used over the years had tempered his hair to a steel-like hardness. Resolving to use this newfound power for the forces of good, he adopted the costumed identity of Max Factor and started fighting for truth, justice, and an end to split ends in our time. He has crossed paths with the Japanese Beetle in both of his identities, and once teamed with the Beetle to end the Sperm Pirates' reign of terror. He recently escaped several months of imprisonment at the hands of the Frenchman.

Distinguishing Features: Max Factor has the greatest hair in the world.

Powers/Equipment: Max Factor's hair can deflect bullets and knives with ease. He also employs a number of ingenious devices in his fight against crime, such as an acidic hairspray that can eat through metal and miniature containers of VO5 hot oil.

Important appearances: 01/11/99 01/18/99 01/25/99 02/01/99 05/03/99 05/17/99 06/21/99 10/04/99 09/25/00