Just Another Batman Blog

  Blockbuster is not a very compelling character on his own. A lot of this character and his themes are better used on other characters. However, I did bring him up in my first post ever , and just never got around to writing about him. So, here it is, the Blockbuster post.  Created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, Blockbuster's first appearance is in Detective Comics # 345, in 1965. One of many scientist Batman villains, Mark Desmond is a chemist who develops a serum to boost his physical attributes. Predictably, the experiment goes horribly wrong, and Mark Desmond turns himself into a giant, rage filled monster with limited intelligence. His Blockbuster persona is manipulated by his brother, Roland Desmond. The two brothers go on a crime spree, and are eventually stopped by Batman and Robin.  After this initial appearance, Blockbuster returns a few times, butts heads with Solomon Grundy , is manipulated by the Outsider, and then turns anti-hero and rescues trapped ...

  Another in a short list of compelling female Batman villains, Natalia Knight, Nocturna, was created in 1983 by Doug Moench, Don Newton, and Gene Colan for Detective Comics #529. I am surprised I hadn't heard about this character more, or why she hasn't been used more frequently, as she ticks off a lot of boxes character-wise.  An orphan, like our hero, Batman, Natalia Knight is adopted by a Gotham mobster. She attempts to turn away from her criminal family and becomes an astronomer, working at Wayne Enterprises. Another in a long line of science-based Batman villains, Natalia is a victim of a lab accident (obviously), which essentially turns her into an albino. After this, she rejoins her adoptive brother Anton Knight and his inherited crime family. The two of them start a career of breaking and entering, and burglary. So, to recap, Nocturna is a female thief, and gangster, a scientist, and an accidental monster, and creature of the night. On the surface, she appears to be a...

This is another one of Scott Snyder's new villain creations. First seen in Batman vol 2 #43, during the Iron Man-esque Jim Gordon Batman arc, Mr. Bloom is equal parts technology villain and supernatural monster. Mr. Bloom introduces "seeds" that unlock superpower abilities but with deadly consequences, which he gifts to unsuspecting citizens. Physiologically, Mr Bloom can manipulate his size and shape, can manipulate fire, ice, and mechanics. His MO seems to be to "sow seeds" of chaos. Sometime after the events of Scott Snyder's Zero Year, scientist Daryl Gutierrez developed a project using nanotech to create superpower abilities in normal humans. The unpredictability of the nanotech reactions, and the public reaction to mysterious new superpowered people forced Dr. Gutierrez to scrap the project. However, the nanotech seeds resurfaced years later, in the possession of the mysterious Mr. Bloom. Mr. Bloom's longterm plans aren't very clear, other...

As an obvious reversal to our hero, the Batman, Frank Robbins and Neal Adams created an actual bat man for Detective Comics #400 (1970). Kirk Langstrom is a scientist, another in a long line of unregulated, crazy, comicbook scientists. Dr. Langstrom studies chiropterology (the study of bats) and specifically their ability to use sonar. He tries to develop a way deaf people can utilize bat sonar, and creates a serum. Naturally, he tests the serum on himself, and things go sideways. Kirk Langstrom turns himself into a human sized bat monster, The Man-Bat. At first, this character is a frenzied wild animal, and Batman has to save the day by finding an antidote. Sometimes, Dr Langstrom is a Jekyl/Hyde character, unable to keep himself from turning into his evil alter-ego. Other times, he's a naive and victimized scientist and inventor that other villains use to build armies of man-bats, or sow public chaos (or both). Sometimes his wife Francine is involved and becomes She-bat. T...

Pulp fiction seems to have a villain motivation problem. Back when I wrote the first post for this blog, about the Joker , I included a quote from Ben Bova. He states, "in the real world there are no villains. No one actually sets out to do evil [. . .] There are no villains cackling and rubbing their hands in glee as they contemplate their evil deeds". Villainy, in pulp fiction, is just bad guys doing bad things for no other reason, presumably, than to be bad. Snidley Whiplash hasn't any reasons for tying women to traintracks, normal people don't do that. But, normal people do hatch plans like Iago to psychologically control others through gaslighting, manipulation, rumors, and drama. Real people do cheat and steal to amass wealth. There is no believability or realism to Snidley Whiplash's villainy, but sociopaths and white collar criminals do exist.   These characters, the Terrible Trio, are far more like Snidley Whiplash. Created in 1958 by Dave Wood a...

I have been reading through Tom King's recent Batman run. Like Snyder before him, King has been overhauling stale, silly aspects to Batman canon and recreating them into twisted horror shows. The recently completed War of Jokes and Riddles (spoilers ahead, I guess) revolved around a pretty innocuous character and his origins, and it was done in a way that you don't immediately see coming. King takes perhaps one of the stupidest Batman villains, The Kite Man, and turns him into a tragic victim of both the Joker and the Riddler . Before this reboot, however, Kite Man started out in Batman #133 (1960), created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang. His real name is Charles Brown, an homage to Charlie Brown of the Peanuts, created by Charles Schultz, who had repeat issues with an infamous kite eating tree. Right out of the gate, Kiteman was fated to be a joke.  He had 7 or 8 appearances since 1960, none of them truly memorable. Two of them ended in his death. His appearances ...

I began playing Arkham Asylum again after reading a bit about the new Batman Arkham Origins game set to be released in October. Although the Joker is clearly the main antagonist (as he ought to be in a Batman game), I had forgotten how many other villains had substantial importance to the plot. Some of the supporting villains in this game were reimagined, saved from the borderline ridiculous reputations created in earlier incarnations. Poison Ivy is one of these characters. Almost doomed from the start, Poison Ivy was created in 1966 by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff and debuted in Batman #181. She is a reaction to the growing feminism and environmentalism of the time and fit right into the "campy villains with a theme" trend of the 50's and 60's. Connected with plants and ecology, Poison Ivy becomes a vengeful Mother Nature type of character, extracting revenge on people for abuses to the environment. JT Krul was instrumental in developing the character...

Many Batman villains are highly intelligent with severely warped psychosis.  Mr. Freeze is a good example of a highly intelligent scientist bent to extreme measures, making him turn to crime to fund his obsession. Created in 1959 by David Wood and Sheldon Moldoff, Mr. Zero is a prime example of the thematic camp villains committing crimes based on their theme. Mr. Zero's name was changed on the Batman television show to Mr. Freeze, which was then changed in the comics to match. Mr. Freeze has a few origin stories, all of them resulting in his body chemistry changing, requiring his need to wear a supersuit that keeps his temperature below zero. Originally, Mr. Zero was researching cryo-technology, weaponizing it. His freeze weapon backfired and turned him into a sub-zero freak. Paul Dini re-imagined the character as a brilliant scientist whose wife Nora became terminally ill. Dr. Viktor Fries cryogenically freezes his wife until he can find a cure.  An accident during...

Another installment of my Batman Villains series... I find this particular rogues gallery far more interesting than any other in comics. Today's villain is the Mad Hatter. Usually dismissed as a lesser, goofier foe, Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter, was introduced in Batman #49 in 1948, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. His origin suggests he is some sort of scientist, but does not use a Dr. title in front of his name, unlike other villains in Gotham with scientific backgrounds.  He has an obsession with hats, and, more importantly, with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . This is the first of many villains to turn up in Gotham with Wonderland themes. This one-time appearance would be his last until 1987.   There is also a period during the campy 50's and 60's where a different Mad Hatter appears, created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff. This hatter does not appear to have a Wonderland theme, and over emphasizes his obsession for hats. Like all campy villa...