Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Shock
Posts: 2978
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:27 pm
Location: Connecticut USA

Re: Jab’s Builds (The Joker! The Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon!)

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 10:38 pm
Shock wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 1:52 am I really like Barbara as Batgirl and I still think they made a mistake getting rid of Oracle. I thought Oracle and Stephanie/Batgirl had a really good thing going and it's a shame they threw it away.

The Batgirl of Burnside run was very hit or miss but it did kind of grow on me. Since Rebirth, it's been mostly a mess. The whole thing with Gordon Clean Energy smacks of a writer who has no idea how computers, technology or business works. And her relationship with Jason Bard was just bizarrely awful. It got so bad it was almost a relief when the book was cancelled.

I think Barbara partners really well with Nightwing but in a mutually supportive "best friends for life" kind of way rather than being in a relationship and she's been portrayed pretty well in Nightwing's book since hers got cancelled.
haha, yeah I made fun of the "Gordon Clean Energy" thing but it was HILARIOUS how tacked-on and "Ummm... yeah! That's a cause for young 'uns to associate with! Clean energy! That's good- yeah!" Except Barbara is into COMPUTERS and has no business credibility or experience at all... and then she just founds the company and never touches it again. Like it's there solely for political impact but they don't even say what it really DOES. Like, who the hell runs it while she's doing other stuff?
There was an infrequently mentioned background arc where she lost or had to give up control of the company and one of her friends was running it.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Queen Bee (Marcia Monroe)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

QUEEN BEE II (Marcia Monroe)
Created By:
Bob Haney & Win Mortimer
First Appearance: Brave and the Bold #64 (March 1966)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-Marcia Monroe was a spoiled, wealthy heiress who apparently enjoyed risking her life in "absurd and pointless situations", often requiring the police to save her. Soon, Batman was the one who saved her, and tried to teach her a lesson by spanking her in public, making headlines in all the newspapers. She then followed Batman around, trying to provide unrequested help whenever she good- naturally, she had fallen in love with him through this brutish act, Because 1960s Comics.

-Apparently the character quickly disappeared, then showed up later trying to frame Batman for stealing a gem- she had joined the crime syndicate known as CYCLOPS and had taken the name "Queen Bee" (shared with Zazzala, an alien bee lady who fought more powerful heroes). She tried to make all of Gotham's crooks fall under CYCLOPS's umbrella, but intervened when Eclipso tried to kill Batman. Unwilling to see the man she loved die, she saved his life, then revealed she'd been forced to join CYCLOPS in order to save her father's life. She gave Batman the real gem and stalled Eclipso. She has never reappeared. Very "1980s" way to deal with a silly "1960s" character... except that was also in the 1960s, I think. Comics are weird.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Zodiac Master

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

THE ZODIAC MASTER
Created By:
Dave Wood & Sheldon Moldoff
First Appearance: Detective Comics #323 (Jan. 1964)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (83)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+5)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 1 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Gimmicked Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [16]
"Scorpio- Bolas" Snare 6 (18) -- (19 points)
  • AE: "Thrown Astrological Symbols" Blast 6 (12)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Thrown Symbols +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Bola Snare +8 (+6 Ranged Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 16 / Defenses: 10 (83)

-A forgotten Silver Age villain, the Zodiac Master ran a scam where he "predicted" numerous disasters, all of which he can orchestrated in secret. He thus offered his services as a consultant to criminal figures, telling them the predicted outcomes of proposed crimes. Batman struggled to capture him, finally doing so when he found a discarded piece of paper with astrological information on it- Batman realized that the crime would take place on August 5th, and he found a museum show involving a golden bull (ie. Taurus) was taking place that day. The Zodiac Master never appeared again- he has the honor of being the final new villain introduced before Julius Schwartz took over Batman.

-A gimmick-user, the Zodiac Master used zodiac-themed gadgets, like a projectile shaped like a ram's head that could destroy an airplane's engine, or a bola shot from a scorpion-shaped projectile.
User avatar
Davies
Posts: 5080
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:37 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Jab’s Builds (The Joker! The Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon!)

Post by Davies »

Ah, so this is the guy who told Cornelius van Lunt to form the Zodiac.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
User avatar
catsi563
Posts: 4126
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:29 pm
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Contact:

Re: Jab’s Builds (The Joker! The Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon!)

Post by catsi563 »

A zodiac themed group can be fun on a couple levels you either do what Champions Did and make them a full on word beating team capable of going toe to toe with the avengers/champions/JLA

or go low level like Dark Champions TAS did when they made the astrolloger with his zodiac themed plans and weapons. I took that version and added in an entire group of mooks in zodiac sign armor
Dr. Silverback has wryly observed that this is like trying to teach lolcats about Shakespeare

Showdown at the Litterbox

Catsi stories
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Ten-Eyed Man

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

THE TEN-EYED MAN (Philip Reardon)
Created By:
Frank Robbins, Irv Novick & Dick Giordano
First Appearance: Batman #226 (1970)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 8 (74)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+5)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 1 (+4)

Advantages:
Equipment 6 (Flare- Burst Visual Dazzle 8), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Sees Through His Fingertips" Senses 1 (Radius Sight) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Flaregun +8 Area (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Revenge)- Reardon was a watchman in a warehouse when some criminals invaded. He was injured and mistook Batman for his assailants, and the two fought until a fire caused an explosion. Reardon was left permanently disfigured and blinded.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 10 (74)

-Among the most beautifully-asinine characters in comic book history, the Ten-Eyed Man is so horrendous that he was specifically killed off alongside the Bug-Eyed Bandit during the Crisis on Infinite Earths simply because George Perez "couldn't stand being in a company that would print him". Marv Wolfman claims he had him at the top of his "to kill" list as well. He's THAT BAD. His origin may be the stupidest part- he was a Vietnam War vet who was blinded in a warehouse explosion (he was a guard there, but Batman mistook him for a thief) and an underworld doctor reconnected his retinas to his FINGERS, allowing him to "see" out of his fingertips. Batman, also blinded in the explosion, had worked on technological means to restore his sight, but the newly-rechristened Ten-Eyed Man scored the advantage by breaking them. Batman won mostly by luck, but the villain escaped.

-The Ten-Eyed Man soon returned, luring Batman to Vietnam so he could have "home field advantage". Batman was to be blinded by a flare, but he anticipated the move and guarded his sight, then defeated Reardon. In prison, his hands were locked in a box since "escape would be child's play for him" with eyes on his fingertips... for some reason (seriously, they apparently never elaborate upon that point). He faced Man-Bat in 1975, being hired to capture him- he was also suffering "tissue rejection" from his original surgeries, so wanted Man-Bat's sonar. However, a flare bomb meant to blind the creature went off in Reardon's face, and he fell to his apparent death. By the 1980s, he had returned, but only as a minor guy. And then, in 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, the final issue of the maxi-series, he is killed by one of the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons in a single panel- a one-off death COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE, with only his name mentioned and his death shown- a total throwaway done simply because the creative team thought he was one of the most idiotic characters ever. Mark Gruenwald shared this disdain for stupid villains, using the Scourge of the Underworld to do the same kind of "spring cleaning" over at Marvel.

-The Ten-Eyed Man cannot see through his eyes, but is instead afforded 360-degree vision via his fingertips, which... is really stupid, but his whole schtick is to blind his opponents with pre-set flares and the like, which would give him an advantage. He's an utter jobber, though.
User avatar
KorokoMystia
Posts: 1402
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon! Killer Moth! Ten-Eyed Man!

Post by KorokoMystia »

Ten-Eyed Man is such a hillariously stupid goof that I kinda love it despite how utterly dumb his gimmick is (he can't even grab stuff without hurting his eyes and blinding himself!) I do think it might be possible to reimagine him into the modern era, though. One idea I had would be having him be a mercenary who, instead of having his eyes on his fingers, would have special gloves that have little cameras on them that let him see through them (turn that goggled visor he wears into an acutal working display), give him better gear like various guns, traps, and grenades, maybe eye-shaped camera drones.
User avatar
Davies
Posts: 5080
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:37 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Jab’s Builds (Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon! Killer Moth! Ten-Eyed Man!

Post by Davies »

The idea of turning the genuine phenomenon of synesthesia (experiencing sensory phenomena through the use of a different sense) into a superpower is interesting, but not well-executed here.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Mirror Man

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

MIRROR MAN (Floyd Ventris)
Created By:
Bill Finger & Sheldon Moldoff
First Appearance: Detective Comics #213 (Nov. 1954)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (80)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+7)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+3)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 1 (+4)
Technology 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment (Mirrored Glasses- X-Ray Vision), Evasion, Ranged Attack 3

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 10 (80)

-A forgotten goof, the Mirror Man has a similar schtick to Flash's foe the Mirror Master, and got his start because he was a crook who wanted to commit flashy crimes that would catapalt him to fame. His main intent was to discover the secret identity of Batman himself. Once using a pocket mirror to reflect light into the eyes of a prison guard, thus escaping jail, he determined this was "like an omen" and took his name. He didn't wear a costume, but his bald head and square mirrored glasses were his visual "motif". Swiping an invention that "x-rays anything covered by cloth", he made repeated attempts at scanning Batman's mask with it, hoping to see the man beneath. His crimes apparently got more and more risky and bizarre in his obsession to reveal Batman's identity to the world- for example, he robbed a solar mirror worth millions just to use it to melt a skating rink, thus robbing it's box office in the chaos. All to lure in Batman, who was disoriented by funhouse mirrors (of course there was a carnival next door), but Robin saved his identity and the villain was defeated.

-Later, Mirror Man ran Batman off the road by reflecting the Batmobile's headlights into his eyes, then had his men restrain Batman and his device WORKED, revealing Bruce Wayne's face! But Batman got away (or they let him go) and preempted the discovery by doing some Gotham Gazette interview where he explains the instances where he "was mistaken for Batman". Mirror Man's goons laugh at him when he says Batman is Wayne, and so he tries to prove it- he lures Batman out AGAIN by stealing a fancy pure-silver mirror, and does his trick in front of all Gotham's news media. Naturally, Batman had anticipated this, and wore a "mirrored material" beneath his cowl to distort his features. Still sure he's right, Mirror Man is easily defeated and imprisoned, now swearing to prove it to the world.

-Mirror Man does not return for ten more years (apparently his original stories are canon to Earth-One as well as Earth-Two), he escaped prison and began committing mirror-based crimes again, all in hopes of proving that Batman is Wayne to everyone. He had one of his reunited old gang members shadow Wayne himself while committing these crimes, but the wily hero usually slipped away. Then, hilariously, Vicki Vale AND Batman get wise to Mirror Man's next crime, and so both set up Bruce Wayne impersonators (remember, Vale suspected Bruce was Batman, too) to speak at a museum conference- the distraction of TWO WAYNES lets Mirror Man slip away, but he's soon caught. He boasts that the two Wayne actors prove that he was correct, and tells the media so, so Batman calls the "real" Bruce up- Mirror Man desperately paws at Bruce's face to find makeup, but there was none. Thus, the villain is publicly discredited, unaware that the "Bruce" was really Alfred, somehow just wearing a heavily padded costume.

-Mirror Man is not encountered again, but is referred to a few more times- he's part of a prison break set up by Ra's al-Ghul, but refuses to fight Batman and goes on the run. Later, another villain (Tony Finch) injures him and steals his gear. Overall, I think the story descriptions here are hilarious, and a classic case of the old "The trick is to outwit your foes" style of writing, which you could do in the days before "Bruce is Batgod" meant that Batman could never look foolish or be outwitted by some low-grade villain like this. A version of the character named "Lloyd Ventrix" is actually in the Batman: The Animated Series episode See No Evil, wearing a mirrored costume that renders him invisible. This allows the baseline crook to easily kick the ass of Batman himself, all in attempts to steal away with his daughter (who thinks he's an invisible "friend" who comes to visit her).

-Mirror Man is just a regular goon, but with some basic smarts (he can reverse-engineer stuff that's already been invented) and cleverness, plus x-ray specs.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Jab’s Builds (Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon! Killer Moth! Ten-Eyed Man!

Post by Ares »

Barbara Gordon is in kind of weird place for me, since I love the character, acknowledge that her contribution as Oracle was a great step forward for her, and that both Stephanie and Cassandra have both had admirable runs as Batgirl . . . but to me, Barbara Gordon will always be the iconic Batgirl. It's honestly a role that I think fits Barbara well, and as good a job as Steph and Cassie did during their time, Barbara will always be Batgirl to me.

Granted, not all versions of Batgirl are created equal, or at least don't fit Barbara Gordon. Barbara started out as someone in her early-to-mid 20s, was clever, competent and had her act together, and was one of the first instances of someone who adopted the Bat mantle that Bruce didn't immediately try to make retire. Some of the more recent Batgirl runs (including that God awful motorcycle leathers outfit) might have worked better if it was Stephanie as Batgirl rather than Barbara.

I think if I were to try and "fix" Barbara and the Batgirl concept, I'd have to retcon a few things.

For one thing, I'd lay the seeds of Oracle early in Barbara's career. Have an instance a year or so into her Batgirl career where her father (and I'd make Jim Gordon her actual bio-dad) is sick and she needs to stay by his bed side. Batman or Robin contacts her for help, but she can't leave her dad. So instead she goes to her computer and using her exceptional skills as a hacker she's able to aid them in different ways, get them information, etc. It's something she has a lot of talent at, and Batman compliments her on it.

Then, when "The Killing Joke" happens, it does so more or less as written,but Barbara was never paralyzed. When the Joker shot her, it did do a lot of damage to her and damaged her spine without severing the nerves. She was wheelchair bound for a bit while she healed and had to undergo surgery and physical therapy to regain her health, and then had to work out hard to recover her former athleticism. However, Bruce Wayne covered all of her medical bills and got her the best care imaginable, which helped her recovery. I'd potentially make this the moment where Bruce makes it clear to Gordon without outright saying it that "I'm Batman and I feel responsible for her, so I'm going to help her". It becomes kind of a thing where Gordon never outright acknowledges that Bruce is Batman (so he has some flavor of plausible deniability), but it's understood that Gordon does know, and that Bruce doing this for Barbara only cemented their friendship that much more firmly.

During that she was recovering, Barbara spent time indulging in her passion for computer programming, hacking and the like. She had so much time and energy to burn that she sharpened those skills to a fine point, started building unofficial back doors into various data-bases around the world, read up on everything she could, etc. By the time she's in her physical therapy stage she's one of the most accomplished hackers on the planet. So to help superheroes while she's recovering, she creates the identity of Oracle and is able to help them from her position at a computer. She works with Black Canary especially and a rotating cast of other heroines to create the unofficial "Birds of Prey" team.

But to keep her identity as Batgirl under wraps, Barbara decides to turn turn the Batgirl identity into a way to train a future generation of crime fighters. In essence, she finds young women with the potential to be a crimefighter, trains them, and has them go out on missions as Batgirl until they "graduate" from the role, at which point they're allowed to create their own identities. So both Steph and Cassie would have have started out as "Batgirls", but eventually Steph would have graduated to "Spoiler" while Cassie would have gained her own identity.

Barbara would eventually be able to go out as Batgirl again, but would split her time evenly between being Batgirl and Oracle since the latter is so useful to the heroic community and it's something she can do while at her job as a librarian (which I'd have her still keep).

I'd also go with the idea of Ted Kord and Barbara being a romantic item, and keep Nightwing and Starfire as their own couple.


Regarding Killer Moth, he's interesting because I actually first encountered him in the Batman NES game, where he was actually kind of badass. And honestly, it always feels weird to me that certain supervillains are considered "jokes" by the others. Technically Killer Moth hasn't failed any worse than the Joker has against Batman. It's a similar issue I have with Arcade. So most supervillains, regardless of their actual threat, shouldn't really be considered jokes unless they're intentionally created to be that way. Heck, even Kite Man works as a villain in his own way. So yeah, Killer Moth should be fine as an opponent. Honestly, if he were a kind of villainous hybrid of Blue Beetle and Hawkman, having functional flight wings and a lot of gadgets with a goal towards interfering with heroes and coming up with anti-hero tactics, he could be a fun villain. Heck, he might work better as a Blue Beetle villain, especially if Ted and Barbara are dating.


And while I just said that most villains are fine . . . yeah, Ten-Eyed Man sucks. He's like a lamer Daredevil. In fact, if anything I'd make him a parody of Daredevil, all of the angst and everything, possibly to the point where even Batman tells him that he's being a touch melodramatic. Make it to where his senses other than his sight have all been increased, that he has a kind of radar sense by being able to "feel" things around him because his sense of touch is so acute, maybe even give him a whole ninja backstory or something with the League of Assassins. Actually, making him an obvious Daredevil parody and having him fight Nightwing could be a lot of fun.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
Skavenger
Posts: 335
Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2021 5:56 pm
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA

Re: Jab’s Builds (Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon! Killer Moth! Ten-Eyed Man!

Post by Skavenger »

Ares wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:29 am Barbara Gordon is in kind of weird place for me, since I love the character, acknowledge that her contribution as Oracle was a great step forward for her, and that both Stephanie and Cassandra have both had admirable runs as Batgirl . . . but to me, Barbara Gordon will always be the iconic Batgirl. It's honestly a role that I think fits Barbara well, and as good a job as Steph and Cassie did during their time, Barbara will always be Batgirl to me.
I'm curious if you feel the same way about the name "Robin," which is a role that one outgrew, one's content to always be, but has had a rotating cast filling the spot.

To me, Barbara was a great Batgirl, but there's no shame in her outgrowing the "girl" title and becoming an adult hero of her own who isn't in the shadow of Batman.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Crazy Quilt

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image

CRAZY QUILT II (Paul Dekker)
Created By:
Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Blackhawks #180 (xxxxx)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 8 (91), PL 10 (91) Dazzler
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+5)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 1 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Hypnotic Helmet" (Flaws: Removable) [24]
Senses 3 (Electrical Vision- Accurate) (3)

"Hypnosis" Mind Control 8 (Extras: Area- Visual Perception) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (24) -- (26)
  • AE: "Laser Beams" Blast 8 (16)
  • AE: "Blinding Lights" Dazzle Visuals 10 (Extras: Area- Visual Perception) (Flaws: Touch Range) (20)
-- (29 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Laser Beams +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Hypnosis +8 Area (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Blinding Lights +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Disabled (Blind)- Crazy Quilt was left blinded after being double-crossed by criminal associates.
Enemy (Robin)- Crazy Quilt was re-blinded by Dick Grayson, and thus hates Robin more than Batman. Not realizing that Jason Todd is a different Robin, he focuses his efforts on killing him for a while.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 10 (91)

-The Golden Age Crazy Quilt was an enemy of the Boy Commandos, but soon disappeared. A 1963 Blackhawk comic featured a fence named Paul Dekker using the same name as an alias, and later writers have taken to calling the Earth-One version of Crazy Quilt by that name as a result. Like the Golden Age version, this Crazy Quilt is a man who was double-crossed by his criminal associates, and was left blinded. He was given an eye transplant, but is only able to see bright colors. Post-Crisis, the character appears fighting Batman & Robin- he is beaten when Robin redirects his laser beams back at the villain, permanently blinding him again. Robin didn't expect that result, but nonetheless made a powerful new enemy.

-Obsessing over Robin, Crazy Quilt thus targetted Jason Todd, not realizing he was a different person from the original Robin. Todd is nearly beaten to death by the villain, but manages to defeat him. He later fights Todd again after knocking Batman unconscious (!!). He later appears at various Arkham Breakouts, often as a background villain. He appears in a few cameos in late '90s and 2000s comics as a background "WTF?" villain, but eventually dies after injecting a serum that promises to make him an enhanced human. As it was created by the Joker, this was obviously a bad idea- he decays and rots from the inside out and is ripped apart by a crowd of fellow infected.

-A female Crazy Quilt later appears as part of Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Society, but only as a backgrounder in various Secret Six books.

-Crazy Quilt is your everyday Gimmick-Using Doofus, but his Hypnotic Helmet is actually rather potent- he's a PL 8 fighter, but the Dazzle on it is PL 10, making him a pretty tough challenge even for Batman, who has only a human-tier Fortitude Save.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Jab’s Builds (Ventriloquist! Barbara Gordon! Killer Moth! Ten-Eyed Man!

Post by Ares »

Skavenger wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:45 am
Ares wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:29 am Barbara Gordon is in kind of weird place for me, since I love the character, acknowledge that her contribution as Oracle was a great step forward for her, and that both Stephanie and Cassandra have both had admirable runs as Batgirl . . . but to me, Barbara Gordon will always be the iconic Batgirl. It's honestly a role that I think fits Barbara well, and as good a job as Steph and Cassie did during their time, Barbara will always be Batgirl to me.
I'm curious if you feel the same way about the name "Robin," which is a role that one outgrew, one's content to always be, but has had a rotating cast filling the spot.

To me, Barbara was a great Batgirl, but there's no shame in her outgrowing the "girl" title and becoming an adult hero of her own who isn't in the shadow of Batman.
Later on in my post I actually mention how I'd have Barbara turn the Batgirl identity into something she still owns and uses, but which she can also "loan" to other young crimefighters Robin style so that they can grow into their own identities.

To me, the idea of Robin being a mantle passed on worked because Dick had evolved into Nightwing and Jason Todd had stepped up as Robin while Barbara maintained her Batgirl identity. She had semi-retired around that time, but it wasn't until 1988 when both Jason was killed and Barbara was crippled, as this sort of one-two punch to the Batman mythos to make things more like The Dark Knight Returns that had come out two years prior. It felt like "Robin" had been established as something that could be passed on while Batgirl had really been Barbara's thing.

Basically, Barbara had been Batgirl during Dick Grayson's Silver and Bronze Age Robin career, when he became Nightwing, when Jason took over and right up until Jason's death, the same year as her crippling. And while a new Robin showed up a year after Jason died, it wouldn't be until over 10 years after The Killing Joke that Huntress would create the new Batgirl identity, which then got passed to Cassie shortly after, and then Steph a little while later, after her brief stint as Robin. All of that time kind of solidified Barbara as the definitive Batgirl to me, and while I liked her role as Oracle, having someone else as Batgirl never quite feels as right as Barbara wearing the mask.

Honestly, I felt like Tim Drake could have easily been Robin for as long as Dick Grayson was Robin before ever needing to gain a new identity. Tim worked much better as the partner for a detective by being able to contribute to the detective process more meaningfully, even if Dick is himself a gifted detective in his own right. Tim was just really solid in the role, both as a solo hero, as Batman's partner and as a member of Young Justice (because the Titans should have remained Nightwing's team). But Morrison wanted to introduce Damian, they writers decided to bring Jason back (I will never understand that), so things got weird.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Crazy Quilt

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 4:09 am Image
Image
Anyone else getting tired of Silver Age supervillains being turned into edge lords?

"Look, I'm blind, so I sewed my eyes shut! Look, I've got a bag of eyes I probably tore from the heads of my victims! LOOK HOW SERIOUS I AM!"

Which is the kind of thing that makes me take him even less seriously.

Crazy Quilt was kind of fun as a unique gadget villain. After he was rendered blind he actually had a cybernetics expert wire his helmet so that the lenses fed directly into his optic nerves, allowing him to see out of the cameras built into said lenses. The helmet could also do the hypnotism bit and fire lethal laser blasts that Quilt used to kill its inventor, naturally. I mean, that is literal "give sight to the blind" technology, makes you wonder why the guy wasn't trying to sell this technology to legitimate medical firms instead of working for supervillains, but hey! Comics.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Golden Age Monk

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

THE MONK (Real Name Unknown)- Golden Age
Created By:
Gardner Fox & Bob Kane
First Appearance: Detective Comics #31 (1939)
Role: Jobber Villain, Vampire
Group Affiliations: None

-An old-school Golden Age villain, the Monk is actually a VAMPIRE, and the second super-villain ever faced by the hero! The first ever two-parter in the hero's history featured him, too. He and his henchwoman, Dala, try to create an army of werewolf women in Hungary, and try transforming Julie Madison, fiancee of Bruce Wayne. This draws in Batman, who faces the vampire- the Monk is killed by a lightning bolt, and Dala falls on her own dagger, dying.
Post Reply