Stalnoivolk, the Steel Wolf

Stalnoivolk, the Steel Wolf — even the name crackles with Cold War menace. This DC villain burst onto the scene in 1988, crafted by John Ostrander and J. J. Birch in the pages of Firestorm the Nuclear Man, and he arrived fully loaded with the era's geopolitical tension, a Soviet threat made flesh in the Copper Age tradition of big, dangerous antagonists from behind the Iron Curtain. His appearances are choice rather than numerous — seven catalog entries that include The Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad Special — and the company he keeps is formidable: Firestorm, Green Lantern, and a cast of shadowy figures like Major Zastrow and Ivan Illyich Gort orbit his stories. Rare, atmospheric, and steeped in that late-'80s DC flavor, Stalnoivolk is exactly the kind of find that reminds collectors why the Copper Age still has so much to reward a deep dig.