Adapting tv Bat villains into the comics - who would be your choice?

[Bobthegoon89]

I was stunned and delighted when I bought a not too old copy of Batman Confidential and saw that some DC people had actually incorporated the character of King Tut into the Batman comic universe. Yes that King Tut. The character invented for the Batman series who to me while being the most memorable, is surely the esscence of the "camp" in tv Batman villainy lol

Obviously he was a little different from his tv counterpart - which is to say a LOT. Still a cool and wacky idea I'd never imagine seeing.

So why don't they give it a try with the other characters who were strictly invented for the tv show? Might be interesting and certainly creative to see. Not all of them would work of course (can you really imagine Shame galloping around Arkham Asylum? Maybe Jonah Hex.....?).  Also Louie the Lilac is too male orientated Poison Ivy.

I used to dislike the newer villains who would pop up on the show than the more familar and classic Bat villains but having seen a few recently on tv their not quite as bad to watch as I thought. Always liked Ma Parker! lol Just a nuts idea for a villain character (ever seen that rocket powered escape wheelchair she used? lol). Some were even originally IN the comics such as False Face (just 1 issue!) and even the storyline and characters from the episode "Zelda the Great"!

So who do you think should get the honour if it happens again? And how would YOU reinvent them to fit the gritty post Miller Bat universe...?

[thecolorsblend]

Hm. Lord Fog has potential. You could make him a sort of a British mash up of the Manson family and David Koresh. Not in terms of being murderous and bloody and stuff but the same basic concept kinda sorta. Sort of an Illuminati/Trilateral Commission reject, this is a dude bent on controlling somebody so he brainwashes the youth into doing his bidding... except he's a Limey. It's not like I have a fully developed concept here; I'm just throwing shyt out there.

I like the idea of Shame in the comics. Make him sort of a cowboy equivalent of Maxie Zeus. It could work.

[phantom stranger]

I always enjoyed Vincent Price's Egghead. If you go easy on the egg schtick and make him a brilliant crime boss, I could see him fitting in quite well with the current Batman storylines.

[Silver Nemesis]

The TV show featured a fair number of villains from the comics: Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, Mad Hatter, Clock King, Mr. Freeze, False Face and the Puzzler. And in turn, some of the original villains created for the TV show later went on to appear in the comics. But it's a murky area from a legal standpoint.

The TV show exists in a strange place where DC, which is part of Warner Bros., owns Batman and Robin and the Commissioner and the characters invented in the comic, but the show itself is now owned by Fox. So who owns the characters invented for the show? It's a thorny issue, and it's generally kept the show's new villains far from the comics.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19148

In some cases, writers have circumvented the legal issue by having thinly-veiled imitations of the TV show villains presented under different names.

Egghead, King Tut, Bookworm and Marsha Queen of Diamonds were all mentioned by the Riddler in 'When is a Door' (Secret Origins Special #1, 1989).

In 'Secret of the Sphinx Sinister' (Detective Comics #508, November 1981) an Egyptologist named Gregory Griffin goes crazy and becomes convinced he's the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafre. He fixates on Selina Kyle, believing her to be the reincarnation of Queen Kara. Batman then has to rescue the kidnapped Selina from the mad Pharaoh's clutches.

This is the same plot as the TV show episodes 'King Tut's Coup' and 'Batman's Waterloo', in which Egyptology professor William Omaha McElroy is bonked on the head and slips into his King Tut persona. He then kidnaps a woman named Lisa Carson (played, coincidentally, by Catwoman actress Lee Meriwether) in the belief that she is Cleopatra reincarnate. So the comic villain Pharaoh is clearly just King Tut with a slightly different name.

The creative minds behind the DC:AU considered having King Tut make an appearance. Here's a sketch they produced to show what he might look like.

Tut was officially introduced into the modern comics in 'New Dawn' (Batman Confidential #26-28, April-June 2009), later reissued in TPB format as Batman: King Tut's Tomb. This was actually one of my favourite Batman comics of the last decade, and easily the best Riddler story for a long time. The plot is the same as the one I outlined from the TV show: an Egyptologist (now named Victor Goodman in honour of Victor Buono, the actor who played him the 60s TV series) receives a bump on the head and becomes convinced he's King Tut. He then becomes obsessed with a woman (renamed Leigh Carson for legal reasons) he believes to be his queen. Naturally, Batman has to save the day.

I always enjoyed stories about Egypt, mummies and ancient curses, and I love the idea that somewhere in Gotham there's an ordinary-looking building designed to resemble an Egyptian tomb on the inside. It's always fun to watch Batman dodge Indiana Jones-style traps and explore exotic locations. So I hope we'll be seeing more of King Tut in future comics.

Regarding Egghead – in think he's one of the most ridiculous and hilarious Batman villains ever invented. If they do reintroduce him in the comics, I hope they preserve his absurd characteristics and don't try to turn him into a dark psycho killer or make him more realistic. I like him just the way he is.

He did appear briefly in The Last Arkham (1992) as one of the inmates that tries unsuccessfully to lynch Batman.

He also appeared in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series and was the main villain in the tie-in comic 'Egg Hunt! or: The Evil of Egghead!' (Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16, June2010).

Almost every major villain from the Adam West show appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, including the Archer, Louie the Lilac, Black Widow, Bookworm, Chandell, Siren, Shame and Ma Parker.

Believe it or not, Ma Parker has also been reimagined in the mainstream comics. In 'Just Another Kid on Crime Alley' (Batman #409, July 1987) the Dark Knight went up against Ma Gunn, an outwardly sweet old lady who was actually a cigar-chomping gang leader. She ran a school for wayward boys, which was in reality a recruiting ground for her posse. There's not much to say about her really, other than that she was more or less identical to Ma Parker from the TV show.

I've got to post this scene, as it demonstrates how Batman is not only willing to hit a guy with glasses, but he'll happily slug an old lady with glasses too.

I'm sure I've seen villains similar to Shame in the comics, but I can't recall the precise issues offhand.

Personally, I'd like to see Bookworm incorporated into the comics. If all the clues are presented in the form of literary quotations, then the reader should have as much chance of solving the case as Batman.

[Bobthegoon89]

The TV show featured a fair number of villains from the comics: Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, Mad Hatter, Clock King, Mr. Freeze, False Face and the Puzzler. And in turn, some of the original villains created for the TV show later went on to appear in the comics. But it's a murky area from a legal standpoint.

The TV show exists in a strange place where DC, which is part of Warner Bros., owns Batman and Robin and the Commissioner and the characters invented in the comic, but the show itself is now owned by Fox. So who owns the characters invented for the show? It's a thorny issue, and it's generally kept the show's new villains far from the comics.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19148

In some cases, writers have circumvented the legal issue by having thinly-veiled imitations of the TV show villains presented under different names.

Egghead, King Tut, Bookworm and Marsha Queen of Diamonds were all mentioned by the Riddler in 'When is a Door' (Secret Origins Special #1, 1989).

In 'Secret of the Sphinx Sinister' (Detective Comics #508, November 1981) an Egyptologist named Gregory Griffin goes crazy and becomes convinced he's the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafre. He fixates on Selina Kyle, believing her to be the reincarnation of Queen Kara. Batman then has to rescue the kidnapped Selina from the mad Pharaoh's clutches.

This is the same plot as the TV show episodes 'King Tut's Coup' and 'Batman's Waterloo', in which Egyptology professor William Omaha McElroy is bonked on the head and slips into his King Tut persona. He then kidnaps a woman named Lisa Carson (played, coincidentally, by Catwoman actress Lee Meriwether) in the belief that she is Cleopatra reincarnate. So the comic villain Pharaoh is clearly just King Tut with a slightly different name.

The creative minds behind the DC:AU considered having King Tut make an appearance. Here's a sketch they produced to show what he might look like.

Tut was officially introduced into the modern comics in 'New Dawn' (Batman Confidential #26-28, April-June 2009), later reissued in TPB format as Batman: King Tut's Tomb. This was actually one of my favourite Batman comics of the last decade, and easily the best Riddler story for a long time. The plot is the same as the one I outlined from the TV show: an Egyptologist (now named Victor Goodman in honour of Victor Buono, the actor who played him the 60s TV series) receives a bump on the head and becomes convinced he's King Tut. He then becomes obsessed with a woman (renamed Leigh Carson for legal reasons) he believes to be his queen. Naturally, Batman has to save the day.

I always enjoyed stories about Egypt, mummies and ancient curses, and I love the idea that somewhere in Gotham there's an ordinary-looking building designed to resemble an Egyptian tomb on the inside. It's always fun to watch Batman dodge Indiana Jones-style traps and explore exotic locations. So I hope we'll be seeing more of King Tut in future comics.

Regarding Egghead – in think he's one of the most ridiculous and hilarious Batman villains ever invented. If they do reintroduce him in the comics, I hope they preserve his absurd characteristics and don't try to turn him into a dark psycho killer or make him more realistic. I like him just the way he is.

He did appear briefly in The Last Arkham (1992) as one of the inmates that tries unsuccessfully to lynch Batman.

He also appeared in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series and was the main villain in the tie-in comic 'Egg Hunt! or: The Evil of Egghead!' (Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16, June2010).

Almost every major villain from the Adam West show appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, including the Archer, Louie the Lilac, Black Widow, Bookworm, Chandell, Siren, Shame and Ma Parker.

Believe it or not, Ma Parker has also been reimagined in the mainstream comics. In 'Just Another Kid on Crime Alley' (Batman #409, July 1987) the Dark Knight went up against Ma Gunn, an outwardly sweet old lady who was actually a cigar-chomping gang leader. She ran a school for wayward boys, which was in reality a recruiting ground for her posse. There's not much to say about her really, other than that she was more or less identical to Ma Parker from the TV show.

I've got to post this scene, as it demonstrates how Batman is not only willing to hit a guy with glasses, but he'll happily slug an old lady with glasses too.

I'm sure I've seen villains similar to Shame in the comics, but I can't recall the precise issues offhand.

Personally, I'd like to see Bookworm incorporated into the comics. If all the clues are presented in the form of literary quotations, then the reader should have as much chance of solving the case as Batman.

Oh this glorious stuff! I had no idea several others HAD transitioned in different ways. That Egghead cover made my day! Hey it's Vincent Price! To me that was why Egghead was a superb (and nuts) character. To have him involved in Batman was I think a great gift.

I just caught the Marsha Queen of Diamonds character on British television. She actually used a weapon called "Love Dust". This clearly inspired Poison Ivy in certain ways in the later Batman movies. I always thought Maxie Zeus was basically a version of King Tut. Isn't he a guy who thinks he's Zeus??? Same thing really isn't it?

I'm trying to buy "Batman's Inescapable Doom Trap" which as I said inspired "Zelda the Great". This is one of my favourite tv stories although I believe not many like it. But it shows Batman's detective side, has many great action scenes and despite being written by Lorenzo Semple Jr actually had a fun adventure tone and less mocking feel. To me anyway lol The character of Eidol Ekdol (who is the real villain in the tv story) was featured in the comic. Great funny little character and I'd love to see his comic counterpart. He had some funny over the top exclamatory lines in the show:

"Because we need Batman to show us how to escape from the doom trap you FOOLS!!!"
"It is a DOOM TRAP Boy Wonder!" lol