Batman and Robin! I've been a fan for decades. I have some affection for their arch-enemies. too.
I was six years old in 1966, when the Batman TV series introduced me to characters that would dominate my personal pop culture world forever after. Outside of rock 'n' roll music--especially the Beatles, the Ramones, the Flashcubes, and the Monkees--nothing else has rivaled my fannish interest in this dark knight from Gotham City. I like a lot of things, and I like 'em a lot. If you ask me what I like besides music, the first thing I'm gonna say is BATMAN!!
In adventure fiction, heroes are only as good as their bad guys. My introductions to the various nefarious members of Batman's fabled gallery of rogues obviously began with the TV show, and spread out to other resources thereafter. Comic books became my primary passion in Batworld, but the comics came a tiny bit later for me.
Let's start with the Bat villains introduced to me via their televised scuffles with the Dynamic Duo, played by actors Adam West and Burt Ward. These weren't just my introductions to Gotham's Most Wanted; in each case, the nogoodnik's TV debut was also his or her first-ever appearance outside of the comics themselves. In the '40s, when Batman and Robin starred in two low-budget movie serials and guest-starred on their pal Superman's radio show, none of their four-color foes made the transition to other media. The serials created new villains, Dr. Daka and the Wizard. If one didn't read Batman's comics or newspaper strips, one would not have met the comics' Batman villains before 1966.
The TV series used most of the major Bat-villains, and quite a few of the minor ones. On TV, I met the Joker (the most famous villain in comics history), Catwoman, the Riddler, the Penguin, Mr. Freeeze (based on the comics' Mr. Zero, who changed his name when TV notoriety prompted his revival in the comics), and lesser-known baddies like False Face and Eivol Ekdal. (The show also created a number of new Bat-villains, from the Bookworm to King Tut to Zelda the Great, but they're outside the focus of today's piece.)
Batmania. I was hooked, and that new obsession made me want to investigate all things Batman. This led me to the comics, and it led to a few other Batman things, too.
I don't recall the chronology, so let's start with those other things. The runaway success of the TV show sparked a merchandising bonanza. Said bonanza included Batman coloring books, and I believe those coloring books provided my first exposures to the Bouncer and Blockbuster. Some other tie-in (or tie-ins), possibly related to a bakery snack producer like Hostess or Milbrook, introduced me to Calendar Man and the Fox, the Shark, and the Vulture, aka the Terrible Trio.
Somewhere in this time frame, an ad for Batman # 180 gave me my first Batman comic book villain: Death-Man! I didn't get to read or even see the comic book itself until a few years later, but I tell ya, the image stuck with me.
Brrrr!
My first Batman comic book was Batman # 184 in 1966 (though I probably got Signet's1966 Batman paperback first). Batman # 184 didn't feature a named Batman bad guy, so other than the Joker's appearance in the Signet book, my first actual comic-book Batman villain was likely the Eraser, titular star of "The Eraser Who Tried To Rub Out Batman!" in 1966's Batman # 188. That...was not a good place to start with Batman's rogues gallery. This may have been the single worst Batman comic book story of the Silver Age. It did sport a great cover, though.
Man, that cover nearly absolves the story's sins. Nearly.
From there, it was all comics. I think an 80-Page Giant reprint gave me the Silver Age Clayface, and another 80-pager devoted to the most important women in Batman's life gave me noted bad girl Poison Ivy and less-noted bad boy Killer Moth (the latter in an excerpt from Batgirl's debut). Batman # 200 introduced me to the Scarecrow; the issue featured a number of other Batman villains in supporting or cameo roles, including some I'd never seen before: Cluemaster, Getaway Genius, and Johnny Witts. I think I read a late '60s issue of Detective Comics spotlighting the evil of Dr. Tzin-Tzin. In the '70s, reprints brought me the Cavalier and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I don't remember when/where/how I first encountered the one-off '60s villain the Monarch of Menace.
That covers most of the classic Batman villains, with two big exceptions: Two-Face and Professor Hugo Strange.
Two-Face only appeared twice in the '40s, once in the '50s (and once in the newspaper strip); other than, I think, some reference in a '60s issue of World's Finest Comics, ol' two-faced Harvey Dent had been consigned to the dustbin of Bat-history. Two-Face returned with a vengeance in 1971's Batman # 234. The story was "Half An Evil," written by Denny O'Neil, illustrated by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.
This eleven-year-old thought it was awesome.
But I'm pretty sure I already knew at least a little bit about Two-Face before seeing this issue. It's not likely that I had the 1971 hardcover collection Batman From The '30s To The '70s before I owned my copy of Batman # 234, so I have no real clue where I would have heard about Two-Face. It's a MYSTERY! Light the Bat-Signal! Call in the World's Greatest Detective!
As for the diabolical Doctor...er, Professor Strange, he was Batman's first recurring villain, their first two Golden Age skirmishes occurring before the introduction of Robin. Strange's second appearance was in 1940's Batman # 1, which I read in the 1975 Famous First Edition tabloid-sized reprint.
More new villains would be introduced in the '70s and beyond, most notably Ra's al Ghul and, I guess, Bane (who has never interested me). Oh, and Rupert Thorne, the corrupt Gotham crime lord at the heart of writer Steve Englehart's late '70s run on Detective Comics, which remains my all-time favorite Batman arc. Englehart also revived Hugo Strange and the (then) more obscure '40s antagonist Deadshot. Neither Strange nor Deadshot is obscure anymore.
And that's how I got to know Batman's epic gallery of rogues. It started for me with the BAM! POW! BIFF! of a colorful TV show that captivated me as a kid. It continued through a return to the pulp-inspired roots of a Dark Knight. It still thrives today. Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot. Justice awaits.
The Batman strikes.
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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