Hashmark: You Too

There are reasons we create monsters in fiction. Stephen King once said "Monsters are real. [. . .] They live inside us, and sometimes they win". This echoes an idea in sociology, which I couldn't find a reference for, which claims that society creates monsters as analogies to the crazy, animalistic behavior humanity is capable of. Ghosts, and goblins, fairies and witches, demons, ghouls are all symbols for psychopathic activities that real people commit. Serial murder, rape, cannibalism, kidnapping are all traits of the fictional monsters we've created. There are no real monsters, spoiler alert. As King said, it's only us.

Victor Zsasz was created in 1992 by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle in Shadow of the Bat #1. He is portrayed as a serial killer, a sociopath who considers what he does to others as merciful, freeing them from their earthly misery. Zsasz keeps track of the souls he frees by marking his body with tally marks. This tally mark idea is echoed by the television show Into the Badlands.

Zsasz is one of the few real life criminal villains in comicbooks. He is a serial killer. No silly gimmicks, or themes, or other motives for Victor Zsasz. He could be sitting in a real world prison right now, or sitting on a couch in a house in your neighborhood. Zsasz is not terrifying because of his size, or beastly features, or scary looking costume. He terrifies because of his zealous belief that what he does is good. He is so sure of himself, that he is willing and able to murder, repeatedly. He embodies our fear of mental instability, without hiding it behind a beastly analogy. For all of the monsters we create for fiction, sometimes the truly scariest are not created at all.

Victor Zsasz has had cameo appearances in several major storylines since 1992, including Knightfall, No Man's Land, War Games, Infinite Crisis, Cacophony, Death of the Family, Forever Evil, and the War of Jokes and Riddles. His character appears in the television show Gotham as a mob hitman, which echoes his appearance in the film Batman Begins. He also appears in the Rocksteady Arkham games.