Please introduce the following Bat-villains from Jiro Kuwata’s late-sixties Baman manga, partially collected in Pantheon’s Bat-Manga, into current DCU Continuity…
Lord Death Man
A master villain with a skull mask that cannot be removed who goes around in a skeleton costume he accessorizes with a cape and kicky boots, L.D.M.’s shtick is that he can die and return to life at will. Not a bad superpower really, as it allows him to be executed for his crimes repeatedly, or commit suicide to escape capture, and then crawl free from his grave later.
Also, his name is Lord Death Man.
Go-Go The Magician
He’s basically just Gotham City, Japan’s answer to the Weather Wizard, wielding a wand-shaped scientific invention that allows him to control the temperature and moisture in the air. That may not seem like much to recommend him as a Bat-villain, but it’s worth noting that Go-Go totally killed Batman.
Because Bat-Manga collects several partial stories, the Go-Go passage ends with Batman trapped in an airless ice cube, clutching his throat as he suffocates. Maybe he escaped in the next part of the story, but if so, it’s not included, leaving us to assume that Go-Go killed The Dark Knight.
As rogues gallery resumes go, it’s hard to top that.
Faceless
Faceless is an insane criminal who had his hair and eyebrows burned off in a scientific experiment that horribly deformed his face. Now he runs around like a maniac, laughing “Woo ha ha ha ha!!” and committing crimes against faces.
He pulverizes a valuable jewel because he hates “the way the faces reflect on this thing!,” he smashes a clock against the ground screaming, “Agh! Even clock faces must die!!” and he tries to vandalize the giant, Mount Rushmore-like stone face of Batman, which is carved into Mount Gotham.
Karmak
Karmak was a simple circus gorilla that a scientist used in an experiment to give himself gorilla-strength. It worked, but in the process Karmak received the scientist’s human intelligence.
Karmak immediately became an anti-human terrorist, seeking to destroy the human race one bombed-movie theater or savage beating at a time.
While human-hating gorillas with human intelligence may be a dime a dozen in comics, Karmak separates himself by wearing a full supervillain disguise, including a featureless facemask, body stocking, cape, gloves and pointy little boots that must be extremely uncomfortable to wear if you have thumbs on your feet.
Anyway, think about it, huh? Certainly having Batman fight some of these guys for a change would be a lot cooler than seeing Batman fight Ra’s al Ghul or Killer Croc for 140th time, right?
Sincerely,
Caleb
P.S. Is Batman really dead? If so, can I have his Whirly-Bat?
December 1st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Can I get dibs on the Bat-Shark Repellent?
December 1st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
My favorite part was when Batman got exposed to the same chemicals or magic clay or whatever as Clayface and then TURNS HIMSELF INTO A GIANT BATARANG and throws himself at Clayface, who I believe had turned into a dinosaur.
I’m pretty sure Batman RIP would have been 10 times cooler if he did that instead of the Batman of Zurr en Arrh shtick.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Lord Death Man and Go-Go seem like they could be updated into something pretty cool. Go-Go’s name should probably go-go, but otherwise I could see those happening.
Faceless just sounds stupid, and how does Karmak ultimately differ from Gorilla Grodd? I’d leave those two collecting dust.
Anyhow, if Morrison ever writes Batman again I’m sure he’ll try to find a way to work all of the Bat-Manga villains in… That was his schtick for the run that just ended. Try to work in every character that ever appeared in a Bat book, no matter how good or bad idea it might be. I still can’t believe that Bat-Mite was revived. Ick.
Oh, and there’s NOTHING wrong Bats battling Ra’s Al-Ghul for the 140th, or even the 140,000th, time. Best Bat-villain ever IMO.
Lastly, if you’ve got Mike Marts’ ear why not just ask him to bring back Bruce, kill Jason Todd for good, and let’s all act like RIP (and really pretty much all of Morrison’s run) never happened? Maybe then I’ll put the Bat-books on my pull list again.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
Heh. Erm, I’ve been posting over here:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/120802-Blog-Batman-Editor.html
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
Lord Death Man! Ha! You can make that the disguise for Devil after he bored with Dr.Hurt!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
I agree with Shaun.
If Bruce is Batman. Damian is removed and proved to not be his son, Jason goes back to being dead, and we pretend that R.I.P. never happened, I’ll start buying Batman books again.
I own thousands of comics and more Batman than anything else. But I’ve stopped buying him in the last few years when they kept trying to “change” him.
I WANT to read one shot stories where Bats fights bad guys, wins, comes home, and then broods while Alfred talks to him.
Or even better, all of the above, and then goes and acts like a pimp as Bruce Wayne.
Best Batman I’ve ever read was “The Ring, The Arrow, and The Bat.” They understood how Bats was supposed to be.
They didn’t have to delve into his childhood, talk about his feelings, have him fall in love, blah blah blah.
Just Batman, kicking butt.
Bring Back Bruce!
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
So, if “Batman” is not on your pull list, then you’ve not actually read the stories that you are complaining about?
–J.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
“Lord Death Man” is the Japanese version of “Death Man” from Batman 180 (http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=20018&zoom=4) who obviously discovered capes and kicky boots as a fashion accessory. As Geoff Johns can tell you, it pays to read your old comics, kids!
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
And Faceless was modeled after the Fantastic Dr. No Face in Detective 319
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Is there any chance ‘Lord Death Man’ already WAS a canon character, in BKV’s story with ‘The Skeleton’?? (The Skeleton was a cool villain idea that was never resolved…)
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Alright you win Lord Death Man, Go Go The Magician & Faceless are all character I am sad to not have read stories about. Maybe some sad when they should be happy, complicated when things seemed simple, & triumphant when we see it’s so very painful.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Yet another set of reasons why I must add Bat-Manga to my Christmas list immediately.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
And Karmak is none other than the “Living Beast Bomb” from Detective Comics #339 (http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=19176&zoom=4)
It looks like Kuwata’s “original” villains were nothing more than cribs from one-shot 60′s Batman characters.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I think the Bat-villains from Jiro Kuwata’s late-sixties Baman manga are really great. It is a good idea to create those villains because this makes the story much more varied. I’m not really familiar with this topic but I think it is a cool idea and I really like them.
Gokitalo, I have to add it to my christmas list, too
I really like the drawing of the character “Faceless”!
September 17th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Caleb, you must be absolutely swimming in happiness today.
August 9th, 2011 at 3:43 am
There is obviously a bunch to realize about this. I believe you made certain good points in features also.
September 2nd, 2011 at 9:51 am
I love Dear Batman Editor