Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

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Jabroniville
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The Calendar Man

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE CALENDAR MAN (Julian Gregory Day)
Created By:
Bill Finger & Sheldon Moldoff
First Appearance: Detective Comics #259 (Sept. 1958)
Role: Evil Inventor, Date-Obsessed Weirdo
Mental Problems: Obsession With Dates, Egotism, Murderous
PL 9 (115)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+8)
Insight 4 (+7)
Perception 3 (+6)
Stealth 2 (+4)
Technology 8 (+13)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 10 (Various Gear), Improved Initiative, Inventor, Ranged Attack 6

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Inventions +10 (+6-8 Damage or Affliction, DC 21-23/16-18)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +7

Complications:
Enemy (Batman)
Obsession (Dates)- Julian always commits crimes corresponding with dates on the calendar, such as holidays or even days of the week.

Total: Abilities: 66 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 15 (115)

-Hailing from the early Silver Age, the Calendar Man is a bit of a forgotten goof. His insane schtick was committing crimes that correspond with holidays, sometimes wearing a costume that fits that day. In his debut, he was depicted as a one-off Joke Villain, but has since become a dark, disturbed serial-killer type, like the Joker. He in fact took a twenty-one-year break, reappearing in 1979 with an ultrasonic sound weapon that nearly kills Batman. He was committing crimes based on days of the week, and tries to skip town on the "Western Sun Express" train on a Sunday, thinking the cops will expect him to try and steal an artifat of the Sun God, Ra... but Batman is one step ahead of him, arresting the villain.

-The Calendar Man shows up in 1985 as a pawn of the Monitor, trying to kill Jason "Robin" Todd on the first day of spring, but Robin himself captures the guy. He teams up with Catman & Killer Moth as part of "The Misfits" in an attempt to prove his songs are bette--- I mean, to prove that they are elite villains. He is broken out of Arkham by Bane in Knightfall but easily recaptured by Power Girl, then commits time-based crimes with other time-based villains in Team Titans.

-His most famous appearance was in Batman: The Long Halloween, in which the mysterious killer "Holiday" has been executing people associated with mafia families on various holidays- Julian Day would naturally be the main suspect, but he's been incarcerated the entire time. Here, he's depicted as this ingenious, sinister, unflappable guy, but he's completely dissed by Two-Face once he goes mad and breaks most of the good Rogues out of prison. In the follow-up story, he impersonates the dead Carmine Falcone to torture his children, but is found out when he tries to get Alberto to commit suicide (Alberto knows his father abhorred it), and Sofia, Carmine's daughter, beats him up. All of this, oddly, failed to make him popular, and he is mostly a one-off guy again, once grabbing high-tech gear for his costume.

-The Calendar Man is the kind of guy who tends to have a new gadget pretty much whenever- something like a "Sonic Gun" or what have you. He's a minor threat as soon as that's done, but is a pretty decent fighter.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Davies »

While The Last Halloween has its points as a story, the fact that Calendar Man shows up during what's supposed to be Batman's second year of activities illustrates a lot of what's wrong with it, and with Loeb's approach to the characters.
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Jeremiah Arkham

Post by Jabroniville »

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JEREMIAH ARKHAM
Created By:
Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle
First Appearance: Shadow of the Bat #1 (June 1992)
Role: Evil Prison Warden
Group Affiliations: None

-Jeremiah Arkham shows up in so many other villains' bios that I'm a bit shocked he debuted in the early '90s- most guys from then don't have that kind of impact or staying power. He is a sadistic prison warden of sorts, running Arkham Asylum, believing delusionally that his inmates can be "housed in society". Inheriting Arkham after his uncle went insane, Jeremiah rebuilt it to be much more high-tech. When Batman ends up there (faking insanity to be institutionalized so he can investigate inmate Victor Zsasz possibly killing people on the outside), Jeremiah believes Batman's insanity to be genuine, and despises him, being convinced that Batman only hurts the inmates' rehabilitation. Finally, Jeremiah traps Batman in a room with a ton of his rogues, just going fully rotten. During Knightfall, Jeremiah is rescued from the Joker by Batman, and released all the inmates during No Man's Land, figuring Arkham had too limited resources for their care- this set a number of crazy people on the city.

-Later, Jeremiah became the new Black Mask, committing crimes before being captured by Batman. However, he I guess just gets to run the asylum again later, and goes increasingly more unhinged as his uncle's spirit appears to be interacting with him. However, this is all a plot by the original Black Mask (who is sleeping with Alyce, the new assistant director of the joint), and Jeremiah & Batman team up to stop him. Eventually, Jeremiah goes completely insane, no longer recollecting his time as Black Mask, and he is imprisoned in his own asylum, with Alyce being freed to oversee him. Eventually, Jeremiah starts sleeping with Alyce himself, defeating Zsasz when the serial killer comes to kill him. This all comes off like 4-5 different writers with completely different ideas of just how crazy, controlled, or reasoned this character is. Like, the whole "Asylum Director Is Actually Insane Himself" thing is classic storytelling, never mind that it's perfect for the Bat-verse, but nobody here can make up their minds.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Skavenger »

Calendar Man is one of those neat gimmick villains ruined by the idea that everything needs to be dark, serious, and without any humor. A guy who can reach deep into any culture's calendar and perform a crime based on it is a brilliant idea, especially since Google now lists everything from "National Hug Your Cat Day" to "Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day" to "World Nutella Day." He took a darker turn after Knightfall, his capture by Power Girl lead to him being sent to Blackgate, then the earthquake freed him and he just wandered around until the police took him back in again.

However, at Arkham a doctor decided a "radical therapy" for the date-obsessed Julian, and had him thrown into a room with zero ambient light and no way to tell time "to remove him from his mania." The light would be turned on for random intervals (or so it seemed), nobody would tell him the date, and he wasn't released until March 2000, well after the new millennium (sigh) had begun. He winds up paroled, and upon arrival at his new apartment is confronted, threatened, and assaulted by Batman saying "releasing you was a mistake, I'll be watching you all the time" which...way to undo any possible therapy he had, Batman.

Whereupon he dresses up in...admittedly, a pretty badass costume, picks five days based on ancient calendars, and proceeds to do stuff like shoot an EMP at a passenger plane so it crashes into Gotham, takes out traffic lights at the biggest intersection causing massive pile-ups, and almost EMPs the nuclear power plant powering Gotham City before Batman stops him.

His list of charges he's found guilty of: "Twelve counts of kidnapping, three of armed robbery, extortion, acts of terrorism, attempted murder, assault, destruction of public property, mayhem, theft of government property, racketeering, vehicular homicide, two hundred and ten counts of homicide, grand theft auto, discharge of a radioactive weapon within city limits, arson, criminal trespass..." and then it fades out.

And...it just wasn't worth it. Ignoring that acts of terrorism are federal, not state, it's just...why? Why take someone with such a fun gimmick and turn them into just another mass murderer?

Also, his costume update:

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I mean, that was linked to the fact he was using an Egyptian calendar for one of his "crime days" but c'mon, someone who could have a different themed costume for every crime spree he went on? How could you NOT love that?
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Ken »

Skavenger wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:43 am but c'mon, someone who could have a different themed costume for every crime spree he went on? How could you NOT love that?
Well, if I was the artist who had to design and draw all of those costumes....
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Ares »

Skavenger wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:43 am Calendar Man is one of those neat gimmick villains ruined by the idea that everything needs to be dark, serious, and without any humor. A guy who can reach deep into any culture's calendar and perform a crime based on it is a brilliant idea, especially since Google now lists everything from "National Hug Your Cat Day" to "Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day" to "World Nutella Day." He took a darker turn after Knightfall, his capture by Power Girl lead to him being sent to Blackgate, then the earthquake freed him and he just wandered around until the police took him back in again.

However, at Arkham a doctor decided a "radical therapy" for the date-obsessed Julian, and had him thrown into a room with zero ambient light and no way to tell time "to remove him from his mania." The light would be turned on for random intervals (or so it seemed), nobody would tell him the date, and he wasn't released until March 2000, well after the new millennium (sigh) had begun. He winds up paroled, and upon arrival at his new apartment is confronted, threatened, and assaulted by Batman saying "releasing you was a mistake, I'll be watching you all the time" which...way to undo any possible therapy he had, Batman.

Whereupon he dresses up in...admittedly, a pretty badass costume, picks five days based on ancient calendars, and proceeds to do stuff like shoot an EMP at a passenger plane so it crashes into Gotham, takes out traffic lights at the biggest intersection causing massive pile-ups, and almost EMPs the nuclear power plant powering Gotham City before Batman stops him.

His list of charges he's found guilty of: "Twelve counts of kidnapping, three of armed robbery, extortion, acts of terrorism, attempted murder, assault, destruction of public property, mayhem, theft of government property, racketeering, vehicular homicide, two hundred and ten counts of homicide, grand theft auto, discharge of a radioactive weapon within city limits, arson, criminal trespass..." and then it fades out.

And...it just wasn't worth it. Ignoring that acts of terrorism are federal, not state, it's just...why? Why take someone with such a fun gimmick and turn them into just another mass murderer?
This is a problem with modern comics in general. The idea of comic book villains actually being dangerous and killing people is nothing new. That's been around since the Golden Age. However, there's been this weird idea starting since around the 90s that EVERY villain needed massive body counts and EVERY villain needed to be dark and edgy. Even Kite Man was now someone dealing with some form of insanity.

I'm not saying that darker comics can't exist. I may despite books like The Boys, but I won't deny the author their right to make them. But if you've got books meant to be traditional superheroes like Marvel and DC are supposed to be, then for the most part, those books are meant to be optimistic, inspiring morality plays where good people stop bad people from doing bad things. Sure, villains can ATTEMPT to kill a lot of people, but one justification for these villains not being executed themselves was that they rarely managed to actually kill anyone because the heroes would STOP THEM before most innocent people died. Having even ONE person die by a villains hands used to be seen as a great tragedy and something heroes would beat them up over. Now it's become that thing where one person is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic.

It also just kills the notion of "fun" villains. Villains whose crimes usually don't directly involve hurting other people and are more about theft. I think partially it's because we've got a lot of writers today who don't see theft as a big deal. "Eat the rich" and all that nonsense. You wonder how they'd feel if they were the ones impacted by such thefts.

The point being, you should be able to have "Fun" villains who are more about committing crimes based on a theme, who aren't out to hurt people directly, and who do it largely for the challenge and fun. Guys like the Riddler, Kite Man and Calendar Man are perfect villains to decompress after a story where the Joker almost kills a lot of people (almost because Batman, you know, STOPPED HIM before he killed anyone).

It's one reason why I loved the Freedom City villain Doc Holiday, who was basically Calendar Man with the serial numbers filed off. Just fun villains where the heroes get to fight them without worrying about massive collateral damage or huge body counts. Guys who are still doing a bad thing, but the stakes are much lower and you can have an adventure be . . . well, an adventure.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Ares »

Skavenger wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:43 am
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I thought for a second Anarky had gotten a costume re-design.
"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."
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Jabroniville
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The Squid

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE SQUID (Lawrence Loman)
Created By:
Gerry Conway & Don Newton
First Appearance: Detective Comics #497 (Dec. 1980)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-The Squid is a short, fat, cartoonish Chinese mob boss who tries to take advantage of the power vacuum when Rupert Thorne & Tony Falco are gone. He teams up with Killer Croc, also gaining a giant squid named "Gertrude" that he keeps in a huge aquarium in his hideout- naturally feeding his rivals to it. He even drops BATMAN in the tank, but the hero escapes. Killer Croc disses the Squid thereafter, saying "this outfit smells of loser". The Squid furiously threatens Croc, who warns him off, later executing him with a sniper rifle as a result (given his natural M.O. is to tear people apart, I'm wondering why he restrained himself). The character apparently survived, appearing a bit later but soon vanishes. He shows up again in 52 as an ally of Intergang when they move in to Gotham.

-The Squid is a generic Mob Boss, but has a pet squid.
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Ares
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Re: The Squid

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:10 pm The Squid furiously threatens Croc, who warns him off, later executing him with a sniper rifle as a result (given his natural M.O. is to tear people apart, I'm wondering why he restrained himself).
This was early in Croc's career when he was more of a mob boss himself, before he became more bestial and savage.

Also, early on the Squid spoke with an Elmer Fudd style lisp.
"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."
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King Snake

Post by Jabroniville »

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KING SNAKE (Sir Edmund Dorrance)
Created By:
Chuck Dixon & Tom Lyle
First Appearance: Robin #2 (Feb. 1991)
Role: Robin Foe, Would-Be Crimelord
Group Affiliations: The Royal Artillery, The Ghost Dragons, Kobra
PL 8 (120)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12)
Athletics 5 (+8)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 8 (+11)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Perception 7 (+11)
Stealth 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Wealth), Close Attack 1, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Ranged Attack 3, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
Senses 2 (Accurate Hearing) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- When he loses his heroin empire, King Snake attempts to rule Kobra.
Enemy (Robin)- Robin cost King Snake an empire, and he always longed for revenge.
Disabled (Blind)

Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 2 / Defenses: 9 (120)

-A guy I've never heard of, King Snake is a very early Robin villain, debuting early on as a British noble turned mercenary who was blinded by gunfire in South America. He bailed on the place, leaving behind a pregnant woman he thought dead- she and her son were imprisoned for his crimes, and that kid grew up to be the super-villain Bane. He set himself up in Hong Kong as a major name in the heroin trade, taking the name King Snake because they eat other snakes, and learning to use the martial arts so he didn't need his sight. However, he was a British patriot, and felt disgusted that Hong Kong was going to fall back into Chinese hands- he tried ot set off a plague in Hong Kong, but was foiled by Robin, Lady Shiva, and a former government agent whose family Snake had killed. The agent died in the battle, while Shiva, who was only there because she heard King Snake was the greatest male martial artist in the world, just sat back and watched him fight Robin. Robin knocked him out of a building, and refused Shiva's order to let Snake die- he left, assuming Snake had died anyhow. Shiva found him alive, but saw he had a broken back, and left.

-King Snake returned later on, with a metal-reinforced spine, wresting control of the Gotham Triads. Obsessed with revenge against Robin, he eventually lost power in the gang war, with his "Ghost Dragons" gang turning on him. They sent assassins after him, and so he joined Kobra's terrorist cult, taking it over and using a Lazarus Pit to regain his eyesight. He fought Robin once more, but his eyesight being restored actually threw him off, as he'd been accustomed to not using it- he ended up being blinded a second time (by some poison being used in a Kobra initiation ceremony). He was buried alive in the base as it collapsed, and was eventually tracked down by Bane- he intended to kill King Snake, but had found him malnourished and alone in the ruins, and was instead conflicted, helping him recover. Finally, after teaming up with Bane against Batman & Robin, he was killed, falling into a crevice. His last appearance was as a reanimated Black Lantern. Overall, it's kind of funny- a random baddie crimelord invented just for the Robin book only shows up a couple more times, but he gets paired to the "Bane" legend and that's how he dies?

-Much is made of King Snake's reputation at first, but it's very, very, VERY quickly turned to "All Talk", as Robin manages to defeat him solo, even by pushing him out a window. They were going for a big "Blind Master" thing with him, but he didn't amount to much, and was always defeated. So I went with a solid PL 8 Martial Artist/Crimelord build.
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Lucius Fox

Post by Jabroniville »

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He doesn't have a mustache? All the adaptation versions have a mustache.

LUCIUS FOX
Created By:
Len Wein & John Calnan
First Appearance: Batman #307 (Jan. 1979)
Role: Hero's Helper
Group Affiliations: Wayne Enterprises

-Lucius Fox is the kind of character Mark Gruenwald often came up with- a guy that "explains" an aspect of the universe that hadn't been thought of before. In this case, he is the guy who runs Wayne Enterprises, because CLEARLY Bruce Wayne would be too busy to actually do so, given all the superheroing stuff he has to do. In most adaptations of the Batman story, he is either extremely minor or not there at all- even in Batman: The Animated Series he was so minor I couldn't tell you a single thing he did. The major exception to this is in the Nolan trilogy, where they got major name Morgan Freeman to play him, and he's instead integral to both WE and Batman, as one of the few people to know Bruce & Batman are one and the same.

-In the comics, Lucius remained a minor name- he was a guy known for a "Midas Touch", being able to rescue dying companies. Like a few older characters, he's had children introduced at different points in his life- Tiffany debuted the issue after he did, but Tam didn't show up until Red Robin was a thing, for example. At points, Lucius is one of those "in the know" that Bruce is Batman. Prior to the "New 52", Lucius had a delinquent son named Timothy, but nowadays he has a son named Luke, who is the current Batwing.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Skavenger »

I love Lucius, because sure, you can show Batman sharpening batarangs down in his cave all day with a lathe or an angled grinder, but once you go "oh, yeah, and he built a submarine, plane, and several cars down in this cave with the help of his butler" you start to wonder if maybe they didn't get Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne mixed up in the writer's room. Having someone who manages the tech and business side, acting as a form of Q as well as either a close friend of Bruce's or (in the movies, at least) a close friend of Bruce's father, helps reiterate the main thing I think fans of "dark, gritty, alone Batman" forget is that it's a character who lost his family to crime, so he built himself a better family to fight crime.

Also, Lucius' son Luke was originally meant to become the next Batman if 5G had gone through, but once that got torn apart and frankensteined into "Future Slate" they've decided that Tim Fox is back in the DC universe continuity, and he's now the next Batman.
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The Golden Age Joker

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE JOKER (Jack Napier, among others)- Golden Age
Created By:
Jerry Robinson, Bob Kane & Bill Finger
First Appearance: Batman #1 (Spring 1940)
Role: Batman's Arch-Foe, Crazy Villain, The Embodiment of Chaotic Evil
Mental Problems: Anger Issues, Finds Humor in Everything, Hatred, Obsessive-Compulsive, Tourette's Syndrome (laughter), Complete Lack of Morals, Obsession with Breaking Batman & Gordon, Bipolar Disorder (hell, just read a list of Wikipedia's mental disorders and throw darts at the screen. He's probably got whatever you hit)
PL 9 (142)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+7)
Athletics 6 (+8)
Close Combat (Improvised Weapons) 2 (+10)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Criminal) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+7)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 7 (+10)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Sleight of Hand 5 (+10)
Stealth 4 (+8)
Technology 5 (+8)
Vehicles 3 (+8)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Equipment 11 (Joker Gear), Fascinate (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Grab Finesse, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Improvised Weapons), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Startle, Taunt

Powers:
"Crazy" Immunity 1 (Joker Gas) [1]

Equipment:
Any Assortment
"Gun" Blast 5 (10)
"Joker Gas" Affliction 9 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud, Progressive +2) Linked to Weaken Stamina 4 (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud, Progressive +2) (50)
"Acid Flower" Damage 4 (Feats: Reach 2) (Extras: Secondary Effect) Linked to Weaken Toughness 2 (Feats: Reach 2) (14)
"Razor-Sharp Playing Cards" Blast 4 (Diminished Range -1) (7)

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Improvised Weapon +10 (+4-5 Damage, DC 19-20)
Gun +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Joker Gas +9 Area (+9 Affliction & +4 Weaken, DC 19 & 14)
Acid Flower +10 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Greed, Fun, Chaos)
Obsession (Laughter & Jokes)
Enemy/Rivalry/Obsession (Batman)

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 62--31 / Advantages: 31 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 17 (142)

-The Joker casts such a wide shadow over the Batman franchise that it's hard to imagine things without him- there's been almost as many Jokers as their have been Batmen, and he's probably the single most famous supervillain in all of comics, and one of the ten most recognized villains in the world. I mean, THAT'S a pedigree. He fits in quite perfectly with Batman as a contrast- the grim, dark-colored hero opposed by a brightly-colored, laughing clown. Initially a mere conniving crook, he's become more and more insane with each passing decade, often going so far off the deep end that it's a negative for the character, in my opinion.

-The Golden Age Joker appeared the year after Batman did, and was based off of Conrad Veidt's horrific grin in The Man Who Laughs, a movie from twelve years earlier. All three associated creators of the character have a slightly different story as to how the Joker was formed (Bob Kane naturally denies all credit to Robinson), but all say that Finger drew the first picture, and Robinson drew a joker playing card. Robinson has said it was a deliberate attempt to create a "Professor Moriarty" character.

-The Joker debuts in Batman #1, sporting a horrible grin, and is already killing people with "Joker Venom" that leaves their faces trapped in the same rictus. He engages in a crime spree, targeting jewels, but is stabbed in the heart- this was meant to be the end of him (Finger wanted him to die because recurring villains might make Batman "appear inept", which has actually been kind of a recurring problem in recent years), but then-editor Whitney Ellsworth saw more worth in him, and insisted on a hastily-drawn panel where they're like "Wow! He's actually still alive!". The character was so successful he appeared in nine of Batman's first 12 issues. The character was still a mass-killer of some talent- he killed dozens of people and even derailed a train at one point, but editors soon softened his edges, turning him into more of a prankster and common thief than a sinister serial killer. Within a couple of years, the character was kind of a goof- he kidnaps Robin for ransom, and Batman pays him by check, knowing he can't cash it without being arrested. Stuff like that.

-The Golden Age Joker is a PL 8-9 threat- no real challenge for Batman & Robin on his own, but still an intelligent, devious foe.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Ares »

Wow. King Snake gets retconned as Bane's father? That's insane because King Snake looks YOUNGER than Bane, even without the Lazarus Pit treatment. It just seems like such an odd decision for a relatively minor character, who still could have served a purpose as a fun martial arts crimeboss.

Lucius Fox I like as a character, though moreso as the guy running Wayne Enterprises, a confidant, secondary father figure and someone who helps Bruce develop his technology rather than the person who builds Bruce's tech for him.

One of my favorite takes on the character was in The Batman animated series, where Lucius was a friend of Bruce's parents and the one left in charge after they died. It was clear that both Alfred and Lucius were good friends and did their best to help raise Bruce to be the man he became. There was a very touching moment where Lucius and Alfred are talking and Alfred brings out a picture of a time the two of them took Bruce to an air show. They're all looking up at the sky, watching the jets do stunts, and all of them are smiling. Lucius just remarks with a small smile on his face, "I think that was the first time all three of us forgot, just for a little while", clearly referencing the memory of Thomas and Martha's deaths.

The Batman also made it clear that while Lucius and Wayne enterprises often made scientific breakthroughs, it was Bruce who would adapt that technology for his own uses, combine them in unique ways or develop entirely new technologies. For instance, for his re-match fight with Bane they showed Bruce and Alfred build the Bat-Mech he piloted completely from scratch. Similarly, when Bruce needed to upgrade the Batmobile, while he took plans for a new engine Wayne-Tech had developed, Bruce customized it for the Batmobile himself. Bruce IS a scientific genius and gadgeteer all on his own, and I'd put his intelligence as being on par with people like Tony Stark. Still, having Lucius around certainly makes Bruce's job easier, as Lucius can focus on developing the technological break throughs and Bruce only has to figure out how to best apply them to his work.
"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)

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Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (The Riddler! Man-Bat! Capt. Stingaree! Calendar Man!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Ares wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 5:28 pm Wow. King Snake gets retconned as Bane's father? That's insane because King Snake looks YOUNGER than Bane, even without the Lazarus Pit treatment. It just seems like such an odd decision for a relatively minor character, who still could have served a purpose as a fun martial arts crimeboss.
Yeah, I really don't get it. especially since he's such a low-tier villain.
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