The Twelve Days of Who's Who! Part Four: from KGBeast to Mr. Freeze (1985-1989)
Man, I had a lot to say about today's characters. I also had leftover Christmas turkey, so see if you can trace the point where the tryptophan coma kicks in!
Disclaimer for scans.
I imagine that I wasn't the only person whose awareness of the KGBeast stemmed largely out of his appearances in Chuck Dixon's Detective Comics and Robin, where he was a muscle-bound one-note brute spoke like a Yakov Smirnoff routine, saying things like "You are being called Robin. And I am to be KILLING you." And those appearances were AFTER his costume got a redesign that didn't make him look so very... bondage-tacular as he did originally! So while I disliked his wasteful death in the pages of Batman: Face the Face (another for the cannon-fodder pile), I can be forgiven for never taking the Beast seriously.
But then I read Chris Sims' repeated not-entirely-ironic professions of love for the KGBeast, followed by his original tribute to the character for appearing in "the Eightiesest story ever written." That was intriguing enough to entice my finally buying a trade of Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast. First of all, apparently this mini-series was historic in that it was the first time anybody had created a graphic-novel ready epic within the pages of an ongoing story? Or something? If that has any credence, then it's certainly been forgotten by comics historians, and while B:TNotB was a best-seller in its day, it's fallen into obscurity and out of print. Another Cold War casualty, I suppose. But I was still apprehenisve about reading a Batman comic with graphic murders, Reagan-era action, Jim Aparo pencils being ruined by the inks Mike DeCarlo, and the writing of Jim Starlin, the man behind A Death in the Family and the abhorrent why-the-hell-is-this-a-classic "classic Batman: The Cult.
So of course, I thought that B:TNotB was excellent. Often ridiculous in the ways of the best-worst 80's action films but also genuinely thrilling. I cannot recall the last time I've read a Batman comic that was suspenseful*, where I was on the edge of my seat in several parts. The KGBeast himself wasn't a deep character, or any kind of character at all, really... but good lord, he was formidable. He wasn't just the kind of posturing formidable that we see in so many wannabe "ultimate villains" out there, he was genuinely giving Batman a run for his money. I dare say that he was the proto-Bane, the musclebound mastermind who was as cunning as he was powerful, only without Bane's depth of character. Honestly, from what we've seen of The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan's Bane seems more in keeping with the KGBeast's "Kill everybody" plans than anything Bane himself did in Knightfall.
But once there was a Bane, then there was no need for a badass KGBeast. So he became a hulking joke. And then a dead hulking joke. I'm not saying that the character himself necessarily deserved better, but he certainly deserved more credit for his original appearance. Regardless of how the Beast looked, Starlin made him pretty damn scary. That's impressive.
*Wait, I can: Scott Snyder's Batman: The Black Mirror. Ugh, I don't wanna have to review that story! It'd just be so much work! But there are too many people loving it without scrutiny, without noticing the incredible fail surrounding James Jr's characterization and actions! No, no, Hefner, stay focused, stick to the Who's Who posts. You ranting and tangental enough as it is. Bah.
Ah, Killer Moth: the patron saint of loser Bat-Villains. Or at least, those who are perceived as losers. I understand through some of your comments that Killer Moth used to be considered a major foe back in the Silver Age, one of the Big Names alongside Joker and Penguin. Hell, reading his origin, it seems like he might also be the very first "Like Batman, But Evil" character ever created! Regardless of his contrived nature, there's potential for an anti-Batman who protects the criminals, but boy oh boy, the Moth's name and costume ensured that he wouldn't last long in that role. The closest that moths ever came to being intimidating were in Silence of the Lambs, and even then, nobody dressed as one.
By the time Post-Crisis rolled around, we were in a new modern age where fans were very insecure about anything even remotely silly from comics, and sought to mock and tear-down those characters to prove how they were all serious business now. Killer Moth was arbitrarily renamed Drury Walker and explicitly written as a loser and Z-list villain. Since it was the 90's, he was naturally turned into a monstrous cannibalistic moth-monster, because that's EXTREME and crap. Regardless, his main claim to fame is being trounced by Barbara Gordon in her first outing as Batgirl, and while that's true to his Silver Age story, it takes away from Babs' abilities if Killer Moth isn't actually a threat in his own right.
And yet, regardless of these attempts to mock or update him, Killer Moth has proved strangely enduring as the #1 loser character. He's found his own niche, even if it's to be at his own expense. Hell, he was even a playable character in Lego Batman! Many of the other villains we're seeing here have fallen into obscurity, some almost entirely forgotten, but Killer Moth--not Charaxes, but Killer Moth--endures. Pretty awesome, when all's said and done.
That said, his leggings are still silly. And lavender? As if. No, no, no, stop that, Hefner! You're better than this! You pride yourself on seeing past a character's silly appearance and gimmicks! You don't ever need to resort to cheap snark and mockery, no matter WHO the character is! I mean, EVERY character has poten...
Oh hell.
Here's one I first learned about via Wizard Magazine, which used to have a feature called "Mort of the Month," wherein they'd pick a "bad" character to snark about at length. That's just one of the reasons that I came to resent Wizard for their mean-spiritedness and lack of imagination. ALL characters have potential in the hands of a good writer. Every one.
... But good lord, man. Bad enough that he gives Stilt-Man competition for least-threatening villain gimmick ever, but his name is Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown. KITE-MAN. Geez, like the surgeon in Tim Burton's Batman once lamented, "You see what I have to WORK with here...!" Can anybody find anything redeeming to say about Kite-Man? Any potential for greatness? Any good stories that featured him in action? Please, I'm desperate here.
Ra's has a posse. None of that "League of Shadows" bullcrap, they're assassins and they don't mince words! That said, man, that might be one of the worst Kyle Baker pieces I've ever seen. I know it's early work by him--and as I've said, I *love* his early work--but it's a far sight from his Joker piece, which was drawn only a year or two later!
That said, I miss when the League of Assassins was populated with actual characters rather than Ra's and Talia leading the Night of a Million Zillion Ninja. Plus, I'm intrigued by the idea of conflict between Ra's and Sensei, since it shows that Ra's isn't always is full command of his own organization but can still prove to be a formidable opponent in challenged. It elevates both Ra's and Sensei as villains, making them that much more intimidating when it comes time to face their respective heroic enemies.
Bill Sienkiewicz and the Mad Hatter are a match made in Wonderland, and why there hasn't been a whole graphic novel of the two is beyond me. I still have a soft spot for the Mad Hatter, although that affection is entirely based in his wonderfully romantic (or creepily date-rapey, depending on how you see it) counterpart on Batman: The Animated Series, as beautifully voiced by Roddy McDowall. Why comics writers are hellbent on ignoring that show's marvelous version is beyond me. That said, I adore Impostor Hatter, who is the comics' Hatter that I prefer. I wish that there could be some way to reconcile the two, and before you say anything, I refuse to acknowledge Grant Morrison's "Hatman" from Batman #900. He's the Mad Hatter, dammit.
Either way, has it occurred to anybody that the Mad Hatter in comics (neither of them) has EVER gotten an origin story? Fond as writers are of using the Hatter as a creepy mind-controlling crony who hires his services out to other villains, nobody's bothered to give him anything in the way of backstory or motivation other than, "He's craaaazy! Wooo!" And oh yes, in case you couldn't tell from the second paragraph in the "Powers and Weapons" section, the Hatter originated "The Box" from Batman Forever, only his is even MORE dangerous. Man, why doesn't anybody ever have Jervis use that anymore? Why always just the mind-control chips?
Oh right, because most comic writers don't bother to read older comics of the characters they write. Just as they miss the point about WHY the villains on B:TAS were so great and superior to their comics' counterparts. See also: the last profile in this post.
Henchgirl is probably the world's only Magpie fan, and had recently written an entire tribute to this poor, unloved character who is generally only known these days as the not-Harley from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell and as a corpse in Batman: Face the Face. For older fans, she's largely remembered for her first appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel, where she was the most dated and silly element of an otherwise-classic Superman origin. For me and Henchgirl, however, what really won us over was A Bird in the Hand... from Batman #401, her sole major appearance in modern continuity. It wasn't just the story, but also the note in the letters page by the awesome writer Barbara Randall (better known later as Barbara Kesel), wherein she talked about how excited she was to see what Magpie would do next! You can read it yourself, along with choice scenes of Magpie being delightful under Randall's pen, over at Henchgirl's link.
Alas, up until her crass and off-panel murder, Magpie never appeared in a major story again. Well, except for Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, a story that is loved for reasons I simply don't understand. Henchgirl and I recently got into a disagreement with a friend of mine who loves and defends AA:LH, and she beautifully nailed why that story--for all its merits--is a lousy Arkham story. Between that and her only-slightly-abashed adoration of Magpie, is it any wonder that I'm gonna marry the hell out of her?
SKREE! What was up with the crush that 70's writers had on Man-Bat? SKREE! Seriously, there was an entire saga devoted to the character, followed by his own backup stories and two issues of a solo series, drawn by no less than Steve Frickin' Ditko! SKREE! I suppose I can understand the appeal of a Jekyll-and-Hyde-by-way-of-werewolf character, like Batman's own counterpart to the Lizard from Spider-Man, but I've never been able to take character seriously. SKREE! As a monster, he works for a story or two, but as a hero/antihero, he looks silly and has an annoying tendency to go SKREE before and after everything he says. SKREE! As you can imagine, that might get tedious rather quickly.
"He is currently in the minimum security wing of Arkham Asylum." Ouch. Shows you how much they think of Maxie. Y'know what? I'm just gonna say it: I love Maxie Zeus and I don't care who knows it. Granted, the extent of my love pretty much surrounds his appearance in TAS (including a delightful issue of Batman: Gotham Adventures) and the fact that he ran headfirst into a tree in Knightfall, but I think that's enough. Besides, he reminds me of John Hurt's take on Caligula in I, Claudius, so that's also a bonus. Also randomly: hell yes, Trevor Von Eeden in the 80's. That's good stuff.
Man, you know what I love? Villains who show up with absolutely no motivation other than greed and/or power, who never get anything resembling a history, personality, not even a name! Wait, did I say love? I meant loathe. I keep confusing the two. Considering that Mirage had only, what, one appearance at this point, and it pretty perfectly matched the events in the bio? Yeah, this blank nobody didn't deserve getting drawn by the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz.
But as always, that's not to say the character didn't have potential. Shortly after this profile, he made a decent appearance in Kim Yale and John Ostrander's Manhunter series, wherein sabotaged discos with mirages to rob the patrons blind. He also got a name, "Kerry Astin," although this was changed to simply "Mike" when Alan Grant gave him the origin treatment in a two-part Legends of the Dark Knight story, his only major appearance to date.
Unfortunately, any potential that story showed was wasted in the pages of 52, when he was beaten to death by Bruno Mannheim. Based on how that scene was written and what characters were in attendance, I'm guessing that was Grant Morrison's doing. I mean, who else would write a scene that includes Mirage and Kite-Man as if they were considered Gotham criminals of note? By the way, Kite-Man wasn't killed. That's right, frickin' Kite-Man is actually faring better than Mirage at this point. Sadness.
Poor Mr. Freeze. Such a boring character until Batman: The Animated Series turned him into a brilliant one whose tragedy rivaled Two-Face's for sheer power. And yet, most comic writers seem hellbent on still writing THIS Mr. Freeze instead: an evil, grinning sadist who is much closer in spirit to Arnold's take in Batman Ampersand Robin than Dini's. Hell, even DINI'S Mr. Freeze in the regular DC Comics is more of an evil maniac than the show's version! I guess the problem is that TAS' Victor doesn't really have a motivation to commit crimes that aren't revenge-based, so current writers either have him out to steal diamonds (yes, the movie motivation is still canon) or to just make people suffer as he suffered, which neither of which has ever made him as interesting as he was in B:TAS and the tie-in comics.
Lately, though, it seems like nostalgia for this particular Mr. Freeze is making people want to take it one step further (or rather backwards). It makes sense, considering that before B:TAS, Mr. Freeze's greatest claim to fame was getting an action figure in the Super Powers line based around this look, which probably explains why we've recently gotten this very retro-looking new Mr. Freeze figure. Furthermore, his first appearance in the DCnU looks an awful lot like this Mr. Freeze.
I fear that Mr. Freeze is going to be yet another victim of the wrong-headed nostalgia running rampant in comics today, since the last thing Victor needs is a return to this pre-TAS character. There's a reason why this version of Freeze was once ingloriously killed off by the Joker, who dubbed him "a second-rate Captain Cold." And remember, that was BEFORE Geoff Johns made Captain Cold a formidable character. Know that I resisted calling him a cool character just then. That wouldn't have been very ice of me.
Disclaimer for scans.
I imagine that I wasn't the only person whose awareness of the KGBeast stemmed largely out of his appearances in Chuck Dixon's Detective Comics and Robin, where he was a muscle-bound one-note brute spoke like a Yakov Smirnoff routine, saying things like "You are being called Robin. And I am to be KILLING you." And those appearances were AFTER his costume got a redesign that didn't make him look so very... bondage-tacular as he did originally! So while I disliked his wasteful death in the pages of Batman: Face the Face (another for the cannon-fodder pile), I can be forgiven for never taking the Beast seriously.
But then I read Chris Sims' repeated not-entirely-ironic professions of love for the KGBeast, followed by his original tribute to the character for appearing in "the Eightiesest story ever written." That was intriguing enough to entice my finally buying a trade of Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast. First of all, apparently this mini-series was historic in that it was the first time anybody had created a graphic-novel ready epic within the pages of an ongoing story? Or something? If that has any credence, then it's certainly been forgotten by comics historians, and while B:TNotB was a best-seller in its day, it's fallen into obscurity and out of print. Another Cold War casualty, I suppose. But I was still apprehenisve about reading a Batman comic with graphic murders, Reagan-era action, Jim Aparo pencils being ruined by the inks Mike DeCarlo, and the writing of Jim Starlin, the man behind A Death in the Family and the abhorrent why-the-hell-is-this-a-classic "classic Batman: The Cult.
So of course, I thought that B:TNotB was excellent. Often ridiculous in the ways of the best-worst 80's action films but also genuinely thrilling. I cannot recall the last time I've read a Batman comic that was suspenseful*, where I was on the edge of my seat in several parts. The KGBeast himself wasn't a deep character, or any kind of character at all, really... but good lord, he was formidable. He wasn't just the kind of posturing formidable that we see in so many wannabe "ultimate villains" out there, he was genuinely giving Batman a run for his money. I dare say that he was the proto-Bane, the musclebound mastermind who was as cunning as he was powerful, only without Bane's depth of character. Honestly, from what we've seen of The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan's Bane seems more in keeping with the KGBeast's "Kill everybody" plans than anything Bane himself did in Knightfall.
But once there was a Bane, then there was no need for a badass KGBeast. So he became a hulking joke. And then a dead hulking joke. I'm not saying that the character himself necessarily deserved better, but he certainly deserved more credit for his original appearance. Regardless of how the Beast looked, Starlin made him pretty damn scary. That's impressive.
*Wait, I can: Scott Snyder's Batman: The Black Mirror. Ugh, I don't wanna have to review that story! It'd just be so much work! But there are too many people loving it without scrutiny, without noticing the incredible fail surrounding James Jr's characterization and actions! No, no, Hefner, stay focused, stick to the Who's Who posts. You ranting and tangental enough as it is. Bah.
Ah, Killer Moth: the patron saint of loser Bat-Villains. Or at least, those who are perceived as losers. I understand through some of your comments that Killer Moth used to be considered a major foe back in the Silver Age, one of the Big Names alongside Joker and Penguin. Hell, reading his origin, it seems like he might also be the very first "Like Batman, But Evil" character ever created! Regardless of his contrived nature, there's potential for an anti-Batman who protects the criminals, but boy oh boy, the Moth's name and costume ensured that he wouldn't last long in that role. The closest that moths ever came to being intimidating were in Silence of the Lambs, and even then, nobody dressed as one.
By the time Post-Crisis rolled around, we were in a new modern age where fans were very insecure about anything even remotely silly from comics, and sought to mock and tear-down those characters to prove how they were all serious business now. Killer Moth was arbitrarily renamed Drury Walker and explicitly written as a loser and Z-list villain. Since it was the 90's, he was naturally turned into a monstrous cannibalistic moth-monster, because that's EXTREME and crap. Regardless, his main claim to fame is being trounced by Barbara Gordon in her first outing as Batgirl, and while that's true to his Silver Age story, it takes away from Babs' abilities if Killer Moth isn't actually a threat in his own right.
And yet, regardless of these attempts to mock or update him, Killer Moth has proved strangely enduring as the #1 loser character. He's found his own niche, even if it's to be at his own expense. Hell, he was even a playable character in Lego Batman! Many of the other villains we're seeing here have fallen into obscurity, some almost entirely forgotten, but Killer Moth--not Charaxes, but Killer Moth--endures. Pretty awesome, when all's said and done.
That said, his leggings are still silly. And lavender? As if. No, no, no, stop that, Hefner! You're better than this! You pride yourself on seeing past a character's silly appearance and gimmicks! You don't ever need to resort to cheap snark and mockery, no matter WHO the character is! I mean, EVERY character has poten...
Oh hell.
Here's one I first learned about via Wizard Magazine, which used to have a feature called "Mort of the Month," wherein they'd pick a "bad" character to snark about at length. That's just one of the reasons that I came to resent Wizard for their mean-spiritedness and lack of imagination. ALL characters have potential in the hands of a good writer. Every one.
... But good lord, man. Bad enough that he gives Stilt-Man competition for least-threatening villain gimmick ever, but his name is Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown. KITE-MAN. Geez, like the surgeon in Tim Burton's Batman once lamented, "You see what I have to WORK with here...!" Can anybody find anything redeeming to say about Kite-Man? Any potential for greatness? Any good stories that featured him in action? Please, I'm desperate here.
Ra's has a posse. None of that "League of Shadows" bullcrap, they're assassins and they don't mince words! That said, man, that might be one of the worst Kyle Baker pieces I've ever seen. I know it's early work by him--and as I've said, I *love* his early work--but it's a far sight from his Joker piece, which was drawn only a year or two later!
That said, I miss when the League of Assassins was populated with actual characters rather than Ra's and Talia leading the Night of a Million Zillion Ninja. Plus, I'm intrigued by the idea of conflict between Ra's and Sensei, since it shows that Ra's isn't always is full command of his own organization but can still prove to be a formidable opponent in challenged. It elevates both Ra's and Sensei as villains, making them that much more intimidating when it comes time to face their respective heroic enemies.
Bill Sienkiewicz and the Mad Hatter are a match made in Wonderland, and why there hasn't been a whole graphic novel of the two is beyond me. I still have a soft spot for the Mad Hatter, although that affection is entirely based in his wonderfully romantic (or creepily date-rapey, depending on how you see it) counterpart on Batman: The Animated Series, as beautifully voiced by Roddy McDowall. Why comics writers are hellbent on ignoring that show's marvelous version is beyond me. That said, I adore Impostor Hatter, who is the comics' Hatter that I prefer. I wish that there could be some way to reconcile the two, and before you say anything, I refuse to acknowledge Grant Morrison's "Hatman" from Batman #900. He's the Mad Hatter, dammit.
Either way, has it occurred to anybody that the Mad Hatter in comics (neither of them) has EVER gotten an origin story? Fond as writers are of using the Hatter as a creepy mind-controlling crony who hires his services out to other villains, nobody's bothered to give him anything in the way of backstory or motivation other than, "He's craaaazy! Wooo!" And oh yes, in case you couldn't tell from the second paragraph in the "Powers and Weapons" section, the Hatter originated "The Box" from Batman Forever, only his is even MORE dangerous. Man, why doesn't anybody ever have Jervis use that anymore? Why always just the mind-control chips?
Oh right, because most comic writers don't bother to read older comics of the characters they write. Just as they miss the point about WHY the villains on B:TAS were so great and superior to their comics' counterparts. See also: the last profile in this post.
Henchgirl is probably the world's only Magpie fan, and had recently written an entire tribute to this poor, unloved character who is generally only known these days as the not-Harley from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell and as a corpse in Batman: Face the Face. For older fans, she's largely remembered for her first appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel, where she was the most dated and silly element of an otherwise-classic Superman origin. For me and Henchgirl, however, what really won us over was A Bird in the Hand... from Batman #401, her sole major appearance in modern continuity. It wasn't just the story, but also the note in the letters page by the awesome writer Barbara Randall (better known later as Barbara Kesel), wherein she talked about how excited she was to see what Magpie would do next! You can read it yourself, along with choice scenes of Magpie being delightful under Randall's pen, over at Henchgirl's link.
Alas, up until her crass and off-panel murder, Magpie never appeared in a major story again. Well, except for Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, a story that is loved for reasons I simply don't understand. Henchgirl and I recently got into a disagreement with a friend of mine who loves and defends AA:LH, and she beautifully nailed why that story--for all its merits--is a lousy Arkham story. Between that and her only-slightly-abashed adoration of Magpie, is it any wonder that I'm gonna marry the hell out of her?
SKREE! What was up with the crush that 70's writers had on Man-Bat? SKREE! Seriously, there was an entire saga devoted to the character, followed by his own backup stories and two issues of a solo series, drawn by no less than Steve Frickin' Ditko! SKREE! I suppose I can understand the appeal of a Jekyll-and-Hyde-by-way-of-werewolf character, like Batman's own counterpart to the Lizard from Spider-Man, but I've never been able to take character seriously. SKREE! As a monster, he works for a story or two, but as a hero/antihero, he looks silly and has an annoying tendency to go SKREE before and after everything he says. SKREE! As you can imagine, that might get tedious rather quickly.
"He is currently in the minimum security wing of Arkham Asylum." Ouch. Shows you how much they think of Maxie. Y'know what? I'm just gonna say it: I love Maxie Zeus and I don't care who knows it. Granted, the extent of my love pretty much surrounds his appearance in TAS (including a delightful issue of Batman: Gotham Adventures) and the fact that he ran headfirst into a tree in Knightfall, but I think that's enough. Besides, he reminds me of John Hurt's take on Caligula in I, Claudius, so that's also a bonus. Also randomly: hell yes, Trevor Von Eeden in the 80's. That's good stuff.
Man, you know what I love? Villains who show up with absolutely no motivation other than greed and/or power, who never get anything resembling a history, personality, not even a name! Wait, did I say love? I meant loathe. I keep confusing the two. Considering that Mirage had only, what, one appearance at this point, and it pretty perfectly matched the events in the bio? Yeah, this blank nobody didn't deserve getting drawn by the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz.
But as always, that's not to say the character didn't have potential. Shortly after this profile, he made a decent appearance in Kim Yale and John Ostrander's Manhunter series, wherein sabotaged discos with mirages to rob the patrons blind. He also got a name, "Kerry Astin," although this was changed to simply "Mike" when Alan Grant gave him the origin treatment in a two-part Legends of the Dark Knight story, his only major appearance to date.
Unfortunately, any potential that story showed was wasted in the pages of 52, when he was beaten to death by Bruno Mannheim. Based on how that scene was written and what characters were in attendance, I'm guessing that was Grant Morrison's doing. I mean, who else would write a scene that includes Mirage and Kite-Man as if they were considered Gotham criminals of note? By the way, Kite-Man wasn't killed. That's right, frickin' Kite-Man is actually faring better than Mirage at this point. Sadness.
Poor Mr. Freeze. Such a boring character until Batman: The Animated Series turned him into a brilliant one whose tragedy rivaled Two-Face's for sheer power. And yet, most comic writers seem hellbent on still writing THIS Mr. Freeze instead: an evil, grinning sadist who is much closer in spirit to Arnold's take in Batman Ampersand Robin than Dini's. Hell, even DINI'S Mr. Freeze in the regular DC Comics is more of an evil maniac than the show's version! I guess the problem is that TAS' Victor doesn't really have a motivation to commit crimes that aren't revenge-based, so current writers either have him out to steal diamonds (yes, the movie motivation is still canon) or to just make people suffer as he suffered, which neither of which has ever made him as interesting as he was in B:TAS and the tie-in comics.
Lately, though, it seems like nostalgia for this particular Mr. Freeze is making people want to take it one step further (or rather backwards). It makes sense, considering that before B:TAS, Mr. Freeze's greatest claim to fame was getting an action figure in the Super Powers line based around this look, which probably explains why we've recently gotten this very retro-looking new Mr. Freeze figure. Furthermore, his first appearance in the DCnU looks an awful lot like this Mr. Freeze.
I fear that Mr. Freeze is going to be yet another victim of the wrong-headed nostalgia running rampant in comics today, since the last thing Victor needs is a return to this pre-TAS character. There's a reason why this version of Freeze was once ingloriously killed off by the Joker, who dubbed him "a second-rate Captain Cold." And remember, that was BEFORE Geoff Johns made Captain Cold a formidable character. Know that I resisted calling him a cool character just then. That wouldn't have been very ice of me.