Max Hodge, the writer who transformed Bob Kane’s Mr. Zero into the “ice suit”-wearing Mr. Freeze for the 1960s Batman TV series, died Aug. 17. He was 91.
Hodge wrote for several TV shows in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, including Mission: Impossible, Ironside, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, The Waltons and CHiPs. He also was an associate producer and writer for The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.
But comic-book fans know him best as the writer of four episodes of William Dozier’s Batman series, including “Deep Freeze,” which introduced the supervillain Mr. Freeze. Previously, a freeze gun-toting character named Mr. Zero had made his debut in Batman #121 (February 1959). For the TV show, Hodge renamed him Mr. Freeze and placed him in the now-trademark “ice suit” that keeps his body temperature below freezing and allows him to survive. Mr. Freeze was played by George Sanders, Otto Preminger and Eli Wallach.
The retooled Mr. Freeze then made the jump back into comics, where he joined Batman’s regular rogues gallery.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:18 am
Actually, Mr. Zero premiered in Batman #121; follow the link:
http://www.goldenagebatman.com/cover52.html
Sad news; too many great creatives are being lost to time. It seems like everyday another is gone.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:29 am
Thanks. I fixed it.
August 21st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Glad they kept AHH-NOLD’s name off the list of actors who played him. Who was that voiced him in B:TAS? That’s the voice I’ll always remember.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Glad they kept AHH-NOLD’s name off the list of actors who played him. Who was that voiced him in B:TAS? That’s the voice I’ll always remember.
Comment by DaVeO — August 21, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
The actor was Michael Ansara, most notably known to sci-fi fans as Kang the Klingon from STAR TREK.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:37 pm
re:#3
Michael Ansara
he’s actually an old tv actor. he’s also 85!
August 21st, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Another example of things from other media being folded back into comics and made part of canon. And although they use Freeze a handful of times in the comics, it took Dini to re-make him again and mke him the tragic figure he is today.
As for Michael Ansara, it all depends on where you saw him first. To some, he’s Broken Arrow, and to others (like me) he’s the Blue Djinn, and the EX-husband of Barbara Eden. Which is a mistake he’s been spending the rest of life making up for, in my mind.
I mean come on, that’s like trading the Holy Grail for a Simpson Slurpee cup. Even if it was full, it’s a lamebrained move.
Barbara EDEN, fpete’ssake.
(Cue Webb Wilder’s “Every Day I Kick Myself”)
August 21st, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Ansara guest-starred in CHIPS, and I agree with Vinnie. Dumb move.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Amazingly, Mr. Freeze has gone from a one-trick pony to a really well-developed Bat-villain, and that’s thanks to the writers of Batman: TAS and Paul Dini.
“That’s MISTER Freeze to you.”
August 21st, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Fare Thee Well, Max Hodge! Thank you for your contribution to my addiction!
August 21st, 2007 at 6:04 pm
“Bob Kane’s Mr. Zero?” Is that like “Stan Lee’s Wolverine?”
September 1st, 2008 at 4:04 am
Max refused to watch the BATMAN movie starring AHH-NOLD.
Max was upset that his character could be taken by another writer, and yet no compensation was allowed. This was a sore point. Other authors were given credit, but before a certain date, TV writers were not.