Villains Being Awesome: Quite Possibly the Greatest Killer Croc Tale Ever

[lego_joker]

Later this month, I hope to post some sweet Joker-y goodness for the current theme. However, for now, we'll have to make do with the issues I have on hand. Like this one: Batman #471.

Waylon Jones has never really been the top Bat-villain in threat level or popularity, but like just about any other character, there are always a few diamonds in the rough to be found. The one I bring to you today is one that (I believe) served as the inspiration for the BTAS episode "Sideshow"... and is, IMO, far superior to said episode.

So, the setup: Croc escaped from Arkham several months ago, and has been living among the homeless people in the sewers ever since. Most of them seem pretty accepting of him... save for those who find themselves on the receiving end of his hallucinations about being back in Arkham.



We then learn that Croc has been helping them find living quarters in the sewers and stealing them food and furniture. One such heist netted them about forty thousand dollars' worth of stock from a store, attracting Batman's attention.





Eventually, the inevitable happens, and Batman and Croc's paths cross once again. A pretty brutal brawl ensues, but it's soon interrupted:



Now that's a Batman I like: willing to reason with his enemies like human begins when he realizes that the stakes are too high to play "I work alone and won't even trust my allies to take care of a problem".







And on the final page, all the other homeless people join in, singing a dirge for poor Waylon Jones. It's not shown whether Batman joins in, but I assume that he did - at least, internally.

I won't lie: the final couple pages always hit me in the feels, though I don't think I ever actually teared up over them. The very last page is one of my favorites, but due to scan limits, I couldn't include it here.

Many of my friends have called this the finest Croc story ever told, and I would have to agree. Norm Breyfogle's art knocks it out of the park like always, and Alan Grant's script feels a bit less cheesy than usual. Even more than that, however, it was one of the first stories - if not the very first - to suggest that Croc had some humanity beneath that scaly hide.

So, of course, it got undone by Croc's very next appearance, written by Doug Moench. But the spirit of Waylon Jones: protector of the downtrodden would live on in several more stories, which I hope to share with all of you in upcoming days.

Comments

[omgwtflolbbqbye]

Sideshow could have been a much better episode by being more evocative of this.

In that episode you never get the sense that Waylon is being anything other than selfish and insincere towards the carnival folks throughout the entire episode so there's no real sense of tragedy or inner turmoil even though the opportunities were there.

[benuben]

Kinda cliche but cute and touching. Wonder why DC didn't use the reboot to make Waylon look more human like again.

Speaking of which anyone read Killer Croc villain issue? Was it any good?

[drmcninja]

DC seems to be genuinely torn between writers who want him to be human and have emotions and feeling, and those who want him to be a nigh-unstoppable rage-consumed animal. Both work, but I really do miss the potential of scenes like this with the latter. When you have the chance to add depth to a character, why wouldn't you?

[dragontail]

One of my favourite Batman stories from my all-time favourite Bat-creative team (yeah, with hindsight I know Grant could get cheesy, but his work is Batman in my heart-of-hearts because it's when I first read the character).

For the longest time, I chose to believe Croc gave his life in this incident and Monech's Croc was someone else :)

Small point: great though it is, this story wasn't the inspiration for "Sideshow". That ep was actually a direct lift of Denny O'Neil's classic 1971 story "A View from the Grave", with Croc swapped in for that tale's villain (Kano Wiggins).

Doesn't change how wonderful it is, though.