(Detective Comics 041, 1940)
A common or garden-variety masked counterfeiter, the Masked Man operated out of an all-boys’ school, leading to him being the first solo foe of an undercover Dick “Robin” Grayson. Mostly. Batman shows up at the end for a punch or two.
(Batman Comics 004, 1940)
What makes them a super-villain? I’ve already stated multiple times that pirates get a free pass. Old-timey cosplay pirates get double marks.
What is interesting about them? Blackbeard is actually a frustrated former actor turned gang boss, and if you don’t think that I don’t want more of that in comics you don’t know me very well. Bring back Blackbeard and make him a method actor.
(Batman Comics 003, 1940)
The Ugliest Man in the World, AKA Larry Larrimore, was originally Carlson, a college student who was accidentally injected with a weird fluid during a frat hazing gone wrong. His face mutated and deformed, he lost his friends, fiancé and frat and vowed revenge. Years later, having developed a version of the uglification drug which also rendered its victims’ minds pliant he embarked on a campaign of revenge against both those who had deformed and rejected him and society itself, using his Ugly Mob to destroy beautiful people and works of art alike before being stopped by Batman and gunned down by the cops.
Neadless to say I think this dude should be brought back. Rejected outsider is great villain fodder and as much as I love this guy smashing Greek marbles at the head of his Ugly Mob a more nuanced take on the relative value of attractive and unattractive people in our society would be aces too.
(Batman Comics 003, 1940)
The Ugliest Man in the World, AKA Larry Larrimore, was originally Carlson, a college student who was accidentally injected with a weird fluid during a frat hazing gone wrong. His face mutated and deformed, he lost his friends, fiancé and frat and vowed revenge. Years later, having developed a version of the uglification drug which also rendered its victims’ minds pliant he embarked on a campaign of revenge against both those who had deformed and rejected him and society itself, using his Ugly Mob to destroy beautiful people and works of art alike before being stopped by Batman and gunned down by the cops.
Neadless to say I think this dude should be brought back. Rejected outsider is great villain fodder and as much as I love this guy smashing Greek marbles at the head of his Ugly Mob a more nuanced take on the relative value of attractive and unattractive people in our society would be aces too.
(Batman Comics 003, 1940)
What makes them a super-villain? The Puppet Master controls the minds of men via drug-assisted mental compulsion. He even mind-grabs Batman for a while – surely a villainous feat.
What makes them interesting? Aside from the brief end-run on Batman’s mind, the most interesting thing about this guy is I think he’s supposed to be a Cossack? His goons are certainly Cossacks. Have we lost a whole set of cultural signifiers about Cossacks or is this like the day in high school I went to a dentist appointment and missed learning how to cross-multiply and you all know this stuff?
(Batman Comics 002, 1940)
Batman’s first Jekyll/ Hyde style villain is Adam Lamb, a meek museum curator who gets bonked on the head while reading a murder mystery and thereafter heads out at night to cause mayhem as crimelord the Wolf. Batman eventually figures out that his crimes are following the sequence of those in the book and the Wolf’s career ends with a second, fatal head bonking.
(New York World’s Fair Comics 002, 1940)
Dr Vreekill had a steel-melting ray and a dream (engage in the surprisingly common crime activity of extorting the attractions of the New York World’s Fair as a prelude to world domination) until Batman and Robin stuck their big noses into his business.