The Twelve Days of Who's Who! Part Nine: From Anarky to Kadaver (1990-1993)
By 1990, I suspect that DC was tired of the increasingly-crappy printing quality they were giving to their Who's Who books, and probably wanted to step things up for the collector's market. This is pure speculation on my part, just going by the fact that the new editions of Who's Who were a much higher quality, with better coloring and slick, glossy paper. The biggest change for these profiles was that they came in looseleaf tear-away binding with holes so you could organize them in a three-ring binder any way you wanted: by character name, by heroes and villains, by all Batman/Superman/cosmic characters, etc.
While we had snazzy new updated Who's Who profiles, very little actually happened to most of the characters since they were last written about in previous entries. Aside from the art, the written entries (many by Mark Waid!) were largely identical. Bear in mind, this is just before Batman: The Animated Series, Knightfall, and other stuff which would have greatly affects the biographies of the Batman villains. If DC had waited another year or three, the many profiles would have had more to say rather than pretty much rehashing everything we know already.
Nonetheless, the new art makes the lack of new information plenty worthwhile. Many of these portraits and stellar and timeless, perfect for use in your average wiki entry as a definitive take on these rogues.
Man, I know that I should hate Anarky. The character is such a self-righteous prick, like every judgmental pseudo-anarchist trust-fund-baby you knew in college, which gives the fact that he's aping V For Vendetta and failing a meta twist that I doubt was intentional. As I understand it, Alan Grant's regularly been criticized by actual anarchists for his misunderstanding of their philosophy, but in fairness to Grant, everyone gets that wrong. Regardless of what The Dark Knight and Christopher Nolan would have you think, chaos and anarchy are different things. I understand that Grant modified Anarky's philosophies to something called Neo-Tech, which is apparently an offshoot of Objectivism and therefore, wow, that seems way off. Those of you more knowledgable about anarchism, Neo-Tech, and everything else that Grant used or tried to use are welcome to hash it out in the comments.
Still, Grant clearly loved the character enough to bring him back repeatedly, to insert him in the DCAU, and give him his own mini-series followed by a doomed-to-fail-from-the-outset ongoing series that was canceled at issue #8 with the revelation that his father is the Joker. That right there pretty much qualifies you for a lifetime Mary Sue gold card. And yet, I think it's the fact that none of these stories ever really seemed to catch on, that Grant himself apparently cares more than anyone else, makes Anarky strangely appealing to me. If he were popular, he'd be insufferable. As it is, there's such an earnest underdog quality that counterbalances any favoritism and Sueism, so I can never bring myself to dislike Lonnie.
I've heard he's been active (as active as someone in a coma can be) in the pages of Red Robin, which I understand is a pretty great series. From what little I've seen, I've really enjoyed what's been done with Anarky lately, and since Tim is my favorite Robin anyway, I'd like to read the whole series. I'm glad that he's still hanging around in some capacity, especially now that he's not being written by Grant. I like Grant, but just as with Ventriloquist, Anarky is a character who needs some breathing space from his creator.
I love Adams Hughes, especially from this period. Like Kyle Baker, he is an artist who gained a lot but lost a certain something when he started using computers instead of straight pen and ink. Hughes work on Justice League International proved that he was a worthy successor for the greatness that was Kevin Maguire, even if DC's crappy printing and coloring quality of the time couldn't support Hughes' art.
But much as I adore Hughes at this point, but I don't really like this piece. Aside from Dr. Joker and Very-Happy-To-Be-Here-Impostor-Hatter, everyone's kinda muddled and murky. Also, am I the only one who thinks that Clayface IV, AKA Lady Clay, looks wrong as a standard naked woman who happens to be clay-colored? I love how Breyfogle made it looks like she was melting all the time. There was a wet, visceral quality about her that's lost here. Also, Scarecrow looks like he should be a mascot for a fast food chain.
Notice that there's no mention of Dr. Jeremiah Arkham. Man, this entry must have been written just before Alan Grant and Breyfogle's introduction of Jere in Shadow of the Bat #1. As it is, this entry is largely identical to its original Who's Who counterpart.
Like Anarky, Black Mask is a character who seemed to be more beloved by his own creator than by anyone else. I know Black Mask has gained noteriety in the past few years, and you can bet I'll be complaining about that in the last post, but as I've written about in the past, I'm rather fond of Doug Moench's original take on Black Mask. I've said pretty much everything I needed to say about Roman in that post, but I think it's important to refresh our memories before the last post. Ugh, not looking forward to that finale.
Maybe it's just because comic coloring at this point had become less garish and more based on darker, muted tones, but good lord, that is a lot of yellow and orange. Yikes. Well, I guess you can't take the hunter's fashion sense out of the supervillain, can you?
So fun fact: this piece was originally meant to be drawn by Todd McFarlane, but he had to drop out due to the birth of his child, so Brian Stelfreeze stepped up at the last minute and delivered this piece. For that, I'm very grateful, because ugh, McFarlane. Whatever his strengths are, drawing Catwoman would almost certainly not play up to them. Stelfreeze can be really hit or miss, since his work occasionally looks too angular and ugly, but I think he was really on with this piece.
What I find most interesting is how the suit isn't perfectly form-fitting, and that her legs are a touch baggy. Not sure what that means, but I find it an usual enough touch to make me take notice. Also, notice how she still has the gray costume and Grace Jones hair from Batman: Year One. Several years later and they still weren't sure what the hell to do with her.
Deadshot in his prime, having recently achieved full-blown awesomeness by John Ostrander in the pages of Suicide Squad. While I'm glad that Gail Simone gave Floyd a newfound following, Ostrander's is still the very best, and I can only hope that a new generation will discover and appreciate the work of this wonderful writer who turned Deadshot--someone whose entire claim to fame should have begun and ended in one comic from the 70's--into an amazing and complex villain.
"I am vengeance. I am the night. I... AM... ON A CHAIR." Also, I love that Gulacy couldn't have been bothered to draw another Hugo portrait, so they just copied the first image and changed the cape to purple. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW. Furthermore, I'm amused at how Gulacy went out of his way to keep Hugo's eyes hidden behind his glasses, so that the angle makes Hugo looks like he's either wearing goggles, or that the lens has fused to his face.
Needless to say, I love Hugo Strange. While this bio is dominated by Prey, I find it interesting to see Mark Waid reconcile the Hugo of Prey with the Hugo of Pre-Crisis, so that the Monster Men, Fear Dust, plus all of Strange Apparitions and beyond presumably was still in continuity as far as Waid was concerned. Man, if only! Instead, his history is a muddled mess for reasons which I still haven't gotten up the nerve to post about. It's too bad. I loved thinking of Hugo as the one villain to have a linear storyline where everything fits.
Bolland. Joker. Next?
Ahhhh, and here, I imagine, is the first instance of "Wait, who?" for many of you. His original story with the Corrosive Man was one of the very best of the early Alan Grant run with Norm Breyfogle, back when Grant's Judge Dredd partner John Wagner was co-scripting. Corrosive Man, by the way, doesn't get an entry here, and I wish they'd doubled up his and Kadaver's profiles since they're so closely tied together, and there's all that blank space just being wasted. As you can see from the tiny corner image, the way Breyfogle drew the Corrosive Man was truly horrific, which made up for the fact that he's kind of a Dr. Phosphorus rip with a Clayface III death-touch.
As for Kadaver, I love him so. I'd love to see him give up crime to become a late-night horror host on Gotham public access. That's assuming that he's even still alive. I know he survived being shot by Penguin, and made one last appearance a few years later in Grant's Shadow of the Bat, but I haven't read that story yet. Anybody who's read The Human Flea, please let me know what you thought, especially concerning Kadaver. He intrigues me.
Also, I dunno about anyone else, but he reminds me an awful lot of character actor Colm Feore. Google that name, you'll recognize him.
Something else I noticed about Kadaver when reading his first story: I was amazed by the similarities between Kadaver with his fat dumb Otis-level henchman here, and the Scarecrow with his fat dumb Otis-level henchman in the first Batman/Judge Dredd. Either Grant and Wagner were recycling themselves, or they originally wanted Kadaver to team up with Judge Death, a pairing which makes WAY more sense than Crane.
Man, I didn't intend to begin and end this part with Grant/Breyfogle creations! Maybe it's a sign that I need to finally collect that entire run and read it through, as well as the early Shadow of the Bat stuff. Grant's work is rarely what I'd call stellar, but it's proving more interesting, remarkable, and entertaining than I used to believe. If you folks have some favorite Alan Grant stories, let me know if the comments!
While we had snazzy new updated Who's Who profiles, very little actually happened to most of the characters since they were last written about in previous entries. Aside from the art, the written entries (many by Mark Waid!) were largely identical. Bear in mind, this is just before Batman: The Animated Series, Knightfall, and other stuff which would have greatly affects the biographies of the Batman villains. If DC had waited another year or three, the many profiles would have had more to say rather than pretty much rehashing everything we know already.
Nonetheless, the new art makes the lack of new information plenty worthwhile. Many of these portraits and stellar and timeless, perfect for use in your average wiki entry as a definitive take on these rogues.
Man, I know that I should hate Anarky. The character is such a self-righteous prick, like every judgmental pseudo-anarchist trust-fund-baby you knew in college, which gives the fact that he's aping V For Vendetta and failing a meta twist that I doubt was intentional. As I understand it, Alan Grant's regularly been criticized by actual anarchists for his misunderstanding of their philosophy, but in fairness to Grant, everyone gets that wrong. Regardless of what The Dark Knight and Christopher Nolan would have you think, chaos and anarchy are different things. I understand that Grant modified Anarky's philosophies to something called Neo-Tech, which is apparently an offshoot of Objectivism and therefore, wow, that seems way off. Those of you more knowledgable about anarchism, Neo-Tech, and everything else that Grant used or tried to use are welcome to hash it out in the comments.
Still, Grant clearly loved the character enough to bring him back repeatedly, to insert him in the DCAU, and give him his own mini-series followed by a doomed-to-fail-from-the-outset ongoing series that was canceled at issue #8 with the revelation that his father is the Joker. That right there pretty much qualifies you for a lifetime Mary Sue gold card. And yet, I think it's the fact that none of these stories ever really seemed to catch on, that Grant himself apparently cares more than anyone else, makes Anarky strangely appealing to me. If he were popular, he'd be insufferable. As it is, there's such an earnest underdog quality that counterbalances any favoritism and Sueism, so I can never bring myself to dislike Lonnie.
I've heard he's been active (as active as someone in a coma can be) in the pages of Red Robin, which I understand is a pretty great series. From what little I've seen, I've really enjoyed what's been done with Anarky lately, and since Tim is my favorite Robin anyway, I'd like to read the whole series. I'm glad that he's still hanging around in some capacity, especially now that he's not being written by Grant. I like Grant, but just as with Ventriloquist, Anarky is a character who needs some breathing space from his creator.
I love Adams Hughes, especially from this period. Like Kyle Baker, he is an artist who gained a lot but lost a certain something when he started using computers instead of straight pen and ink. Hughes work on Justice League International proved that he was a worthy successor for the greatness that was Kevin Maguire, even if DC's crappy printing and coloring quality of the time couldn't support Hughes' art.
But much as I adore Hughes at this point, but I don't really like this piece. Aside from Dr. Joker and Very-Happy-To-Be-Here-Impostor-Hatter, everyone's kinda muddled and murky. Also, am I the only one who thinks that Clayface IV, AKA Lady Clay, looks wrong as a standard naked woman who happens to be clay-colored? I love how Breyfogle made it looks like she was melting all the time. There was a wet, visceral quality about her that's lost here. Also, Scarecrow looks like he should be a mascot for a fast food chain.
Notice that there's no mention of Dr. Jeremiah Arkham. Man, this entry must have been written just before Alan Grant and Breyfogle's introduction of Jere in Shadow of the Bat #1. As it is, this entry is largely identical to its original Who's Who counterpart.
Like Anarky, Black Mask is a character who seemed to be more beloved by his own creator than by anyone else. I know Black Mask has gained noteriety in the past few years, and you can bet I'll be complaining about that in the last post, but as I've written about in the past, I'm rather fond of Doug Moench's original take on Black Mask. I've said pretty much everything I needed to say about Roman in that post, but I think it's important to refresh our memories before the last post. Ugh, not looking forward to that finale.
Maybe it's just because comic coloring at this point had become less garish and more based on darker, muted tones, but good lord, that is a lot of yellow and orange. Yikes. Well, I guess you can't take the hunter's fashion sense out of the supervillain, can you?
So fun fact: this piece was originally meant to be drawn by Todd McFarlane, but he had to drop out due to the birth of his child, so Brian Stelfreeze stepped up at the last minute and delivered this piece. For that, I'm very grateful, because ugh, McFarlane. Whatever his strengths are, drawing Catwoman would almost certainly not play up to them. Stelfreeze can be really hit or miss, since his work occasionally looks too angular and ugly, but I think he was really on with this piece.
What I find most interesting is how the suit isn't perfectly form-fitting, and that her legs are a touch baggy. Not sure what that means, but I find it an usual enough touch to make me take notice. Also, notice how she still has the gray costume and Grace Jones hair from Batman: Year One. Several years later and they still weren't sure what the hell to do with her.
Deadshot in his prime, having recently achieved full-blown awesomeness by John Ostrander in the pages of Suicide Squad. While I'm glad that Gail Simone gave Floyd a newfound following, Ostrander's is still the very best, and I can only hope that a new generation will discover and appreciate the work of this wonderful writer who turned Deadshot--someone whose entire claim to fame should have begun and ended in one comic from the 70's--into an amazing and complex villain.
"I am vengeance. I am the night. I... AM... ON A CHAIR." Also, I love that Gulacy couldn't have been bothered to draw another Hugo portrait, so they just copied the first image and changed the cape to purple. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW. Furthermore, I'm amused at how Gulacy went out of his way to keep Hugo's eyes hidden behind his glasses, so that the angle makes Hugo looks like he's either wearing goggles, or that the lens has fused to his face.
Needless to say, I love Hugo Strange. While this bio is dominated by Prey, I find it interesting to see Mark Waid reconcile the Hugo of Prey with the Hugo of Pre-Crisis, so that the Monster Men, Fear Dust, plus all of Strange Apparitions and beyond presumably was still in continuity as far as Waid was concerned. Man, if only! Instead, his history is a muddled mess for reasons which I still haven't gotten up the nerve to post about. It's too bad. I loved thinking of Hugo as the one villain to have a linear storyline where everything fits.
Bolland. Joker. Next?
Ahhhh, and here, I imagine, is the first instance of "Wait, who?" for many of you. His original story with the Corrosive Man was one of the very best of the early Alan Grant run with Norm Breyfogle, back when Grant's Judge Dredd partner John Wagner was co-scripting. Corrosive Man, by the way, doesn't get an entry here, and I wish they'd doubled up his and Kadaver's profiles since they're so closely tied together, and there's all that blank space just being wasted. As you can see from the tiny corner image, the way Breyfogle drew the Corrosive Man was truly horrific, which made up for the fact that he's kind of a Dr. Phosphorus rip with a Clayface III death-touch.
As for Kadaver, I love him so. I'd love to see him give up crime to become a late-night horror host on Gotham public access. That's assuming that he's even still alive. I know he survived being shot by Penguin, and made one last appearance a few years later in Grant's Shadow of the Bat, but I haven't read that story yet. Anybody who's read The Human Flea, please let me know what you thought, especially concerning Kadaver. He intrigues me.
Also, I dunno about anyone else, but he reminds me an awful lot of character actor Colm Feore. Google that name, you'll recognize him.
Something else I noticed about Kadaver when reading his first story: I was amazed by the similarities between Kadaver with his fat dumb Otis-level henchman here, and the Scarecrow with his fat dumb Otis-level henchman in the first Batman/Judge Dredd. Either Grant and Wagner were recycling themselves, or they originally wanted Kadaver to team up with Judge Death, a pairing which makes WAY more sense than Crane.
Man, I didn't intend to begin and end this part with Grant/Breyfogle creations! Maybe it's a sign that I need to finally collect that entire run and read it through, as well as the early Shadow of the Bat stuff. Grant's work is rarely what I'd call stellar, but it's proving more interesting, remarkable, and entertaining than I used to believe. If you folks have some favorite Alan Grant stories, let me know if the comments!