Just Another Batman Blog

  The first Batman villain based on a philosophy, Anarky was created in 1989 by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. Grant created the character around the ideas of anti-statism and populism, but eventually his philosophy turns more toward rationalism, atheism, and free market capitalism.  Lonnie Machem is a child prodigy, based on Chopper from Judge Dredd, V from V for Vendetta, and Spy vs Spy. Heavily influenced by radical philosophies, he calls himself Anarky and begins a violent vigilante campaign against the "corrupt system" in Gotham. Naturally, Batman stops him, and realizes Anarky is only 12 years old.  The character could be interesting, he appears to be built as an anti-hero from the start. Grant had admitted he created the character hoping he'd become the next Robin. That obviously did not happen, and instead, he becomes symbolic of misguided leftist terrorism, much like Poison Ivy .  There have been several attempts to make this character stick. He had his prim...

  This is one of the newest Batman villains to be introduced. James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez created Punchline seemingly as a replacement for Harley Quinn following her upgrade to anti-hero status. Punchline's first appearance is in Batman #89, February 2020 as part of the Joker War storyline.  Punchline could have been just another Harley Quinn clone. Harley Quinn, after all, has become enormously popular, even before the Margot Robbie portrayal made her a household name and a cosplay staple. Aside from the Joker connection, their stories diverge greatly.  Alexis Kaye (no clunky name allusion this time) develops a crush on the Joker all by herself, and seeks him out. This reminds me of Charles Manson fandom among young people, even up to his death in prison, including  this story of Star from Missouri  from 2013. Unlike Harley Quinn, the Joker doesn't need to manipulate Alexis Kaye's emotions to twist her into a psychopath. She already is one, and the Joke...

This villain could be seen as a deep cut. Unless you're a Batman fanboy junkie. Created in 1966, by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, the Cluemaster, Arthur Brown, is really nothing more than a Riddler rip-off. In his debut in Detective Comics #351 , Arthur Brown is a former game show host who decides to commit crimes and leave clues to help the police for some reason. This is not technically the same modis operandi as the Riddler, as the clues are not in the form of riddles, but this is basically semantics. The Cluemaster's goal is to uncover the identity of Batman and Robin, somehow.  Obviously, he is caught and thrown in Blackgate Prison. There are a few other appearances where he joins various super villain teams, to no success. But in Detective Comics #647 Brown is released from Blackgate. This time around he performs heists without leaving clues behind. However, someone else does, which ruins the new crimes and narrowly puts him back in prison.  This run...