The Toxic Crusaders.
Section 8:
Sixpack
Bueno Excellente
The Defenestrator
Dogwelder
Friendly Fire
Jean de Baton-Baton
Flemgem
Shakes
Mike W. Carr’s work on this is I think overlooked. Batman telling the Justice League to sod off and forming his own group - which had two other members who also told the JLA that they weren’t interested - was a creative masterstroke. It was a schism. Many of the villains were one-dimensional, but the concept was great.
I figure reasonable folks can disagree over whether the coolest adventurer in comics is the Phantom or Mandrake the Magician – the latter of whom invariably teams up with Lothar, the African prince who happens to be the world’s strongest man. But I ask you: who could serve as a fourth Defender Of The Earth?
FLASH! AaAaa!
He’llSaveEveryOneOfUs!
FLASH! He’s a MIRACLE! King of the IMPOSSIBLE! Savior of the UNIVERSE!
He’sForEveryOneOfUs! StandForEveryOneOfUs! Every man! Every woman! Every child!
Well, yeah. The DotE was King Features super-team. Unless you bring in time travel (so Prince Valiant could join), who else is there? Dennis the Menace? Beetle Bailey? Leroy Lockhorn? Popeye? (Wait – that might work.)
Dunno if you know this, but Mandrake and Flash Gordon and the Phantom – and, yes, Prince Valiant – are in the middle of a comic-book team-up with Jungle Jim. (And, yes, having Flash Gordon also means Dale Arden and Ming the Merciless, and so on.)
The Cavity Creeps. (“We! make! holes-in-teeth! We! make! holes-in-teeth!”)
Runners up were the X-Men, issues 100-200 give or take a few.
I didn’t! Thanks, I’ll go check out comicskingdom.com
EDIT: Oh, you said comic book, not strip. Have to find a comic shop that carries it, in that case.
It’s under the title “Kings Quest” – following up the “Kings Watch” series with Flash and Mandrake and Lothar and the Phantom a while back.