Just Another Batman Blog

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...

As we all know, themes are what makes comics heroes and villains. Just in Batman comics alone there are plenty. Bats, cats, clowns, plants, birds, etc. Many posts ago I wrote about Mr Freeze and his ice theme. Of course there is a villain with an opposite theme: Fire. The fire theme, like most other Batman themes, also plays on a very real fear. The fear of fire seems to be ancient, primal. Fires can be devastating, uncontrollable, deadly. This villain harnesses this unpredictability, weaponizes it, and uses it to terrorize. Garfield Lynns was created in 1952 by France Gerron and Dick Sprang and first appeared in Detective Comics #184. A special effects designer for films, this character began as a simple crook who used his effects background to mask his crimes. Firefly was rebooted, however, in the late 80's as a special effects designer turned pyromaniac and serial arsonist. This Garfield Lynns builds himself a jetpack suit with wings and a flamethrower. He has turned u...

Marv Wolfman and George Perez created Slade Wilson, Deathstroke the Terminator, 4 years before the James Cameron's film the Terminator. Originally an antagonist for the Teen Titans, Deathstroke has grown into a credible threat to Batman, the Green Arrow, and others. As a mercenary and assassin, Deathstroke's motivation is always tied to someone else's bank account. He operates in a similar fashion as Killer Moth was probably meant to function. Deathstroke's motivations revolve around money, but he also forms grudges against Dick Grayson (Robin/Nightwing), Green Arrow, and Batman. All three of these heroes frequently get the better of him. Originally, Deathstroke came off as pretty creepy, and kind of lame. A middle-aged mercenary who teams up with a teenage girl (Terra) to infiltrate and destroy a team of teenage superheroes (Teen Titans) seems as cringey as it is pathetic. Certainly a dude that stoops to fighting underage heroes cant possibly be a serious threa...

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...

Phil Cho's commission Another in a list of stupid villains that could be cool and scary under the right writers, Killer Moth was created in 1951. Bill Finger, Dick Sprang, and Lew Schwartz created the character for Batman #63. Introduced as a common criminal already in prison, Killer Moth has no original identity. He sees Batman as a vigilante resource for the police, and upon release, decides to set himself up as an "anti-Batman", a resource for criminals. He becomes a grifter, and creates for himself the identity of Cameron Van Cleer, a wealthy businessman and philantropist. As an alter ego to his alter ego, he also becomes Killer Moth, a henchman for hire with a moth motif, complete with workable wings and a spiderman webslinger-esque cacoon gun. Now, the premise of a Batman for criminals, a gun for hire that anyone can call with a beeper, is a pretty cool idea. Later on, other mercenary/hitman characters get created, but Killer Moth had the idea first. However, ...

The 12 issue miniseries Hush was published in the regular  Batman monthly title in 2003. It was amazing, and really got me hooked on Batman stories. The title character Hush, created for this particular story is one of those retconned characters that don't feel forced and helped to give Batman's infamous backstory a bit more foundation. Tommy Elliot, first appearing in Batman #609, was created by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee as one of Bruce Wayne's childhood friends from the same social status. Elliot is a sociopath, murdering both parents for the family fortune, jealous of Bruce Wayne for losing his parents first, and devoting a life to plotting revenge, for some reason. Eventually he returns to Gotham, partners with the Riddler and puts together a scheme involving many Batman villains with the goal of taking down Batman/Bruce Wayne. This makes the 12 issue Hush storyline great, as it incorporates a large portion of the Batman villains gallery, mixes it with a who-dunnit my...

Comics, like most western media, has had a diversity problem. With origins in the late 30s and early 40s, born of pulp fiction magazines, comics character creation relied heavily on stereotypes. Asian characters were treated particularly badly. We still have trouble today creating Asian characters who are not martial artists, or wise old Eastern mystics (also kung fu masters somehow). However, a martial arts based character, depending on the martial art, probably should be Asian. Richard Dragon was one of those characters, with his own title, in the early 70s. In 1975, Lady Shiva made her first apearance in Richard Dragon #5, created by Dennis ONeil, and Ric Estrada. Like most stereotypical Asian characters, Lady Shiva is a master martial artist, an assassin, has a mentor/teacher named O'Sensei, and has a daughter with a dude named King Snake, and has aliases that include names like the Paper Monkey, and the Jade Canary. Over time, the Lady Shiva character has been refined a...