Just Another Batman Blog

Comic book characters are usually created around themes. Sometimes these themes are seemingly childish and ridiculous, like clowns or Alice in Wonderland, until they are applied to realistic crime, and then they become true horrors. Maxie Zeus, I think, could qualify as having a villainous theme on par with the Joker , and the Mad Hatter.  There is so much potential with this character that hasn't been explored in Batman comics or other media. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #483 in 1979. Created by Danny O'Neil, Maxie Zeus seems to be based on the King Tut character from the Batman television show from the '60s. He is delusional, sporting an ancient Greek theme, and believing himself to be Zeus from mythology.  Originally, he was written as an ex high school history teacher who loses his family through tragedy and builds a criminal empire (sound familiar to any Breaking Bad fans?). This in itself would be interesting enough for Gotham City,...

There has been much written in the news lately about our police force. The stories of excessive force, militarization, and racial profiling, and seeming lack of meaningful discipline have exposed a dark side to the thin blue line. It turns out that the police are less like  Dragnet , and more like  The Shield . There is no villain that better embodies this idea of the two sided nature of lawmen than Two Face.  Created in 1942 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Harvey Dent/Two Face was inspired by Dr Jekyl/Mr Hyde and the pulp character Black Bat. Harvey (Kent) Dent is the city district attorney turned villain through an unfortunate assault. He enters the Gotham legal system as the Court's champion. Harvey Dent is the incorruptible attorney using RICO to clean up Gotham's streets. However, during a court case, he is scarred with acid while prosecuting organized crime boss Sal Maroni . This incident psychologically ruins Harvey Dent, ripping his personality in two. This dual pe...

Ra's Al Ghul [pronounced Raysh , Rash , Raz ,or Rays al Gool depending on who you ask] is a character developed and debuted in Dennis ONeal and Neal Adams' run on Batman in 1971. His name means The Gallu's Head in Arabic. A Gallu is one of seven demons from Babylonian mythology. He appears to be based on Hassan-i Sabbah, the Isma'ili Arab who founded an order of Nizari Ismailis in 1080 known today as the Hashishin, the first assassins. Most of the history of the order has been lost, or never existed in the first place, and what we do know about them was written and shared by their enemies. not your typical comics villain The Ra's Al Ghul character is very intriguing, as it allowed for Batman comics to expand from noir crime dramas into mysticism, and gothic horror. Batman moved from fighting crazy costumed criminals with gimmicks in one city, to confronting a worldwide centuries-old demonic order capable of mass genocide. And this may be the first time a c...

Remember when I constantly complain about goofy gimmicky comic book villains? The subject of this Batman Villains post is the worst (or best?) example of a crazy gimmicky character that really doesn't need to be crazy or gimmicky in order to work. Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot first appeared in Detective Comics #58 (1941) and is another one of the older Batman villains. Like many of these first villains created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the Penguin has evolved as a character. At first, the Penguin is portrayed as a Gotham outsider specializing in art theft.  He dresses in tails and uses a tricked out umbrella as a weapon. Over time, the Penguin changes into more of an organized crime boss character from an old Gotham family. He launders money through his night club, and, for a time, turns informant for Batman. During the watered-down 60's, his bird and umbrella themes would be accentuated to the point of comedy, and overshadow his potential to be a ruthless criminal entre...

There has been far more interest and emphasis put on Batman villains as gang leaders and organized criminals than as petty criminals and thieves with silly motives.  A need to make the villains believable and grounded in realistic crime grows from the Christopher Nolan films, and also the comic arcs written by Jeph Loeb, Grant Morrison, and of course Frank Miller. Two Face and the Penguin have been reimagined as mob bosses, and The Black Mask has become a better, more compelling villain because of this refocus.   The Black Mask was a villain recently resurrected from obscurity and pushed to the top tier of Batman adversaries. Filling the need for interesting gang leader/mafioso type characters, Black Mask bridges the gap between ordinary organized crime characters like the Falcones , and the more colorful deranged crazies like the Joker and Scarecrow . Roman Sionis first appeared in Batman #386 in 1985. Created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake, Roman Sionis appear...