Villains try to prove themselves by facing the Bats...

[ebailey140]

...and not all of them are quite on the level of the Joker and Two-Face.

"He said his name is what?"





The Gotham press, however, assumes they all are as dangerous as the Joker...



Makes you wonder how they report this guy...






So, some good things can come from facing dangerous menaces such as this, if you're Dick Grayson.

Maybe it's Bruce, himself, that tries to enhance the reps of his less impressive foes...



But, there are some images that even Bruce can't help...



And, any look at the less impressive members of the Batman Rogues Gallery isn't complete without this one...



Yet, demonstrating that just fighting Batman can make your rep, someone actually thought Crazy Quilt was a legacy worth taking over.



Scans from Batgirl #12, Batgirl: Year One, and Justice League of America (2009) #21.

Comments

[sinisterlink]

How do you kill somebody with polka dots?

[cainofdreaming]

By making people wear them?

It's only effective against people with very low self-esteem, though.

[whitesycamore]

Do not malign polka-dots - I look wicked hot in a polka dot dress!*

*May not be true.

[shadowvalkyrie]

Maybe he strangles them with polka-dotted scarves? Or maybe it's actually a new super-virulent streak of measles?

Yeah, I got nothing.

[sherkahn]

Oh there are many many delicious ways to add someone else to the long pattern of dots.

- chemically dipped patches (like nicotine)
- large, aggressive spore clusters
- high pressure airbrush with squid ink mixed with various poisons of marine life
- and the tried but true shot gun shells.

[sunaya]

*blink* This seems suspiciously well thought out...

[deepspaceartist]

I thought it meant he just killed anybody wearing polka dots.

[jcbaggee]

Next year there'll be a story where Mr. Polk-A-Dot has a complete break down, and we have a scene of him sitting in an apartment, entirely nude, painting brightly colored polka dots on bullets.

[miramira]

I'm more curious what Wonder Woman thinks it might be a euphemism for.

[icon_uk]

She probably has her doubts about what a "Killer Croc" involves, what a "Firefly" is and thinks that "The Eraser" is something to do with rubbers.

[thokstar]

Make them fall in colorful holes and slice them with colorful flying discs.

Alternatively, super contagious and deadly measles and small pox.

[icon_uk]

Sigh... I was enjoying this right up until the moment that Mr Polka Dot was suddenly classed as a "killer", what's wrong with simply being a career criminal, NOT EVERYONE HAS TO BE A SODDING MURDEROUS PSYCHOPATH!

And don't knock Crazy Quilt, he was one of the first Gotham villains who didn't give a shit about Batman, but has the whole obsessive hatred thing for Robin(s)

They also made Condiment King a "bigger threat", but sort of a loser, when we discovered that during his incarceration at Arkham he got a job in the kitchens, and Poison Ivy started giving him hints and tips about toxic plants and rare spices the like. He developed, amongst other things, a sort of pepper spray/curry powder spray derivative which makes pepper spray look like a soothe saline eye-bath.

Oh, and please, BlimpMaster? He's not even Gotham's first blimp-themed villain. That would be the guy from this issue Colonel Blimp. (Not to be confused with the original Colonel Blimp)

[ebailey140]

Well, since Bruce first claimed to have gotten stuck in traffic before admitting what delayed him, I took that as trying to stop Diana's teasing. That said, back in the Silver Age, Mr. Polka Dot was throwing buzzsaw arrows at Batman. So, he was always willing to kill people while committing a crime, but just sucked at it.

[icon_uk]

I dunno, in the mind of the average Gotham criminal trying to kill Batman in the course of your crime spree isn't really attempted murder, it's more just something you have a go for the hell of it, no one really expects it to work.

[runespoor]

I would pay good money for a random issue of Detective Comics back among the crooks and police of Gotham where a small-time crook uses that exact sentence. Ideally written by Brubaker.

[althechi]

Predating even Colonel Blimp is Dr. Carl Kruger, all the way from 'Tec #33 (in a story largely overshadowed by the first ever telling of Batman's origin.)

[sigmund_droid]

Actually on that topic, does Batman actually have a villain that abhors killing?

[ebailey140]

Not many villains seem to, actually. Even the Flash Rogues are killers. They just draw the line at killing Flashes, women, and children.

Catwoman, though, never killed anybody until she stopped being a villain.

[janegray]

The Rogues don't actually draw the line at killing women, they were OOC in the issue where they said that. Off the top of my head, they casually killed a female assassin in Rogues' Revenge.

Which is perfectly fair. I hate the mentality that, somehow, killing a female civilian is more immoral than killing a male civilian, and that you should hold back against somebody who is trying to murder you just because they happen to have a uterus.

That mentality manages to be both misandrist (a man's life is worth less than a woman's life) and misogynist (women are frail little flowers who are always helpless and need to be protected and can't possibly be a serious threat).

[icon_uk]

You're talking about a bunch of convicted killers and career criminals. I think some outdated attitudes towards "chivalry" are amongst the LEAST of their problems.

I'd say the Rogue's don't mind endangering cops or heroes (Bpth costumed and ordinary folks taking into their head to oppose them), they're fair game and they know they are fair game when they put the costume/uniform on or take a stand. The Rogues try not to endanger civilians needlessly, as what would be the point or cleverness in that, plus it riles up the heroes past the point where they can be reasoned with.

[janegray]

The problem is not the Rogues', the problem is the writer's.

Usually the Rogues are the antagonists, but in that issue they are the protagonists. When an antagonist is presented as the protagonist, t's common to show them in a better light than usual by showing their good (or at least better-ish) side (for example, Deadshot is 100% evil when the heroes fight him in their own books, but in Secret Six he gets a bunch of Pet The Dog moments).

So that means that the writer thinks that the "killing men is fine, killing women is not because they are like children" mentality is right and valid, as he chose to have the Rogues say that to show them in a good light.

It's especially dumb because it's OOC to boot.

[icon_uk]

I'd say the Rogues are regularly shown as the protagonists in the Flash, probably moreso than any other villains (aside from the Secret Six, the Thunderbolts and some of the Marvel X-foes).

[icon_uk]

Catwoman was always definite about that (Until Black Mask, and that was a special case)

The Riddler never used to be much of a killer (the occasional funky deathtrap to one side), though his personality varies quite a bit depending on the era and writer.

[filkertom]

I was thinking that. That wonderful Secret Origins story -- by Gaiman, I think -- where he lamented what had happened to the Good Old Days. "The Joker's killing people, for God's sake."

[icon_uk]

It was indeed Gaiman, though given that the Joker has been killing people since Batman #1, and the references to "Egghead" and "Marsha, Queen of Diamonds", I sort of like to think that story as being about the 60's TV Riddler (Clearly at the lower ebb of his hypermania) who has accidentally wandering into the modern DCU and just thinking "What the HELL?"

[kusonaga]

So, who was it that was laughing? Proxy?

[ebailey140]

Yeah, that was the scene here she took the Proxy name.

[thatnickguy]

Yeah, anyone reporting on the Condiment King would be in a pickle. I sure wouldn't relish the idea.

[filkertom]

Glad you mustard the courage for that one -- I Tabasco in your reflected glory. Everyone else, ketchup with us.

[icon_uk]

There ought to be a 'slaw against it.

[pallas_athena]

Don't get saucy.

[whitesycamore]

I soy what you did there!

[pallas_athena]

These puns are the worcester!

[whitesycamore]

Wow, you really had to vin-AY-ger that one into the conversation!

I am so, so sorry.

[icon_uk]

As my mother says, if you cant say something condimentary, then don't say anything at all.

You should be....

[whitesycamore]

Well, you sure gave *me* a dressing down. :P

[teamrodent]

Olive this thread so much.

[star_of_airdrie]

other than diabling people with the terrible stains - or if you are sensitive to such things as tabasco or mustard and giving you a histamine reaction, what are his powers?

Of course facing the Condiment King allowed Dick to mustard up the courage to kiss Babs (wait, that's been used, dammit, sorry.,..)

[icon_uk]

The upgraded version who returned years later was basically a one person walking chemical weapon.

Consider the chemical properties of certain spices, he can do things to your mucous membranes that would have troops of SAS and Marines pleading for mercy (or possibly some nice soothing yoghurt). The Scoville Scale isn't just there for chilli cookouts.

[auggie18]

Kinda feel like Bruce is making up the Polka Dot Man murdering people in order to justify his being late in order to stop him. Stopping a murderer is a better excuse than stopping and obsessive compulsive collector.

[janegray]

Robin does have a point. The Penguin, The Riddler, The Ventriloquist, The Scarecrow... You wouldn't think any of these guys could be a legitimate threat.

[icon_uk]

Yup, that's one of the things that I've always liked about the "classic" villains.

[katzedecimal]

The Polka-Dot Door, the Polka-Dot Door
Let's peek through the Polka-Dot Door
For songs and stories and so much more...........



(for anyone who gets this joke, I'm sorry that I've just brutalized your childhood ^_^;;)

[slippy]

Oh well now my inner 6-year-old is terrified.

[silverzeo]

And of course, Blue Devil saves people and he gets the same treatment as these guys...