Crimes of the Brotherhood

The Employee-Empowered, Paradigm-Shifted, Individual-Ownership, Downsized, Streamlined, Reinvigorated Crimes of the Brotherhood of Net.Villains, or just Crimes of the Brotherhood, was a crossover that ran from April to September 1995, devised by Jeff McCoskey. It concerned Mister Homage's effort to revitalize the Brotherhood of Net.Villains with innovative business strategies and disrupt the net.villain industry! ("Disruption" wasn't a term people used as much back then, but the principle was the same.) The net.villains were set to draw up their own plots and make a profit, clashing with various net.heroes along the way.

Associated Issues

• Prologue: System Corruptors #21 (by Jeff McCoskey): Mr. Homage brings in a business consultant to usher in the EMPLOYEE-EMPOWERED, PARADIGM-SHIFTED, INDIVIDUAL-OWNERSHIP, DOWNSIZED, STREAMLINED, REENVIGORATED CRIMES of the BROTHERHOOD of NET.VILLAINS!
• Generation Y #9-10 (by Martin Phipps): Professor Perhap and Rumor Monger use Bizarre Boy's own powers against him!
• Swordmaster and the Load Island Renegades #20 (by Matt Rossi): Repetitive Lad traps Swordmaster in a suspiciously familiar plot!
• Decibel Dude & Vigilante Guy #42 (by Peter Milan): RobGoblin and X-Intruder vs. Vigilante Guy and the Sidekick Squad!
• Insanity Unlimited #1 (by Drizzt): EraserHead goes on a rampage! No hero can stand in its way— but maybe a villain can...
• Spite Grrrl #4-5 (by Mike Friedman): Polybag Person goes on a valuable comic crime spree, snagging the most unique collectable of all: Rob Liefeld!
• LNH Triple Play #7 (by !McCoskey): Who'd win, Hooded Ho`'od Win or Hooded Ho`'ood Win II?
• Writer's Block Woman (and Mouse) #18-19 (by Jaelle): Rumor Monger and Hiatus conquer the stock market!
• The Adventures of Easily-Discovered Man #26-27 (by Rob Rogers): Color Error Man goes Bond villain!
• Unlikely Aliens #17-18 (by Scott Johnson): Plotchopper and Demented Designer plot the most terrible anime dub of all, and the only people who can stop them are the Unlikely Aliens and... Manga Man?
• Continuity Champ and the Drizzt's Defenders #18-22 (by Drizzt): "Fall From Space"! To prove himself, Continuity Champ shuts off his powers for 24 hours – just in time for a mysterious menace to send the entire Brotherhood of Net.Villains against him! But will Mister Homage's love for profit be the fall of the BoNV?
• System Corrupters #22b (by Martin): The heroes have routed their corporate wrongdoing! The Brotherhood is in disarray! But will a villain-turned-hero turn villain again, and lead them once more in pursuit of dark glory?

Legacy

The Crimes of the Brotherhood crossover as a whole was not well-received at the time because of delays and an anticlimactic ending, but was important in fleshing out a lot of the Looniverse's underappreciated net.villains. Manga Man's role in the Unlikely Aliens issues was a major influence on Drew Perron's characterization of him in Just Imagine Saxon Brenton's RACCies! and its sequels.

According to Frost and Teenfactor #4, Polybag Person met Jennifer Frost shortly before his clash with Trux and Spite Grrrl and recruited her to the Brotherhood. (Tom Russell Elsewhirled the original Teenfactor series, so it's not clear if this is still canon.)