Just Another Batman Blog

  Earlier I wrote about the Terrible Trio . This gang of three white collar criminal dudes hide behind animal motifs, The Great White Shark, the Vulture, and the Fox. Gotham also has another threesome criminal gang, all women, all arthropod aliases, all criminal.  Created in 1966 by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff, these three vamps debuted together for a Poison Ivy driven story. The Silken Spider, Tiger Moth, and Dragonfly made such a name for themselves criminally, that they became known as the World's Public Enemies, and went by the aliases Public Enemy Number 1, Number 2, and Number 3. They appear to be high stakes thieves in their original incarnation. Poison Ivy apparently is jealous for some reason and wants their fame.  Later, they are rebooted as members of the League of Assassins . I'm a fan of this idea, I don't think you can have enough agents for the League. Kevin Smith gives Tiger Moth a cameo in his unfinished Batman run.  This Tiger Moth incarnat...

  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...

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...

Originally a nemesis of the Green Arrow, Clock King was created in 1960 by Francis Herron and Lee Elias for World's Finest Comics #111. His real name is William Tockman, and is much like most of the themed villains of the 60s, obsessed with a singular gimmick instead of the ambitions that drive normal criminals.  Also, like many villains created in the same period, Clock King has gone through changes. Originally, he dressed like the costume below. Eventually his look was changed to the more realistic and grounded look above that fits better with a character obsessed with punctuality.   Not a very time honored look Tockman, or sometimes referred to by the alias Temple Fugate (latin for Time Flies), is very much like Mr. Freeze in that he commits crimes for money to help a sick sister. He uses an obsession over timing to plan and execute a bank heist. After that initial appearance, the Clock King becomes one of many joke villains, easily dispatched due mor...

Another new character appearing during Scott Snyder's Batman run, The Dollmaker is not to be confused with previous DC villains also using the same name. Created by Tony S Daniel and Ryan Winn for their run in Detective Comics, this Dollmaker first appeared in 2011 in Detective Comics vol 2, #1. Almost as soon as he debutes, Dollmaker disappears, in the shadow of another bigger villain. He helps the Joker  escape from Arkham. Joker has his face removed and reattached, aided by the Dollmaker. Once the Joker is out, Snyder's Death of the Family storyline begins. Despite Dollmaker's seemingly throwaway role to launch Death of the Family, he actually is a pretty interesting villain. In summary, he is a 2nd generation serial killer, obsessed with body parts in a very Frankenstein-like way. He wears his father's face, Wesley Mathis, a serial killer executed by Jim Gordon in self defense. Dollmaker has created a "family" of Frankenstein monsters which includ...