Before The Joker, The Riddler or Catwoman came along, Batmans creators decided that he needed an archenemy, a master fiend with whom to match wits. This new rogue would be a masterpiece of demented villainy, a Moriarty to The Dark Knights Sherlock Holmes. This character was Professor Hugo Strange. In his earliest appearances, Strange appeared as a slightly misshapen, hairy-handed villain with coke-bottle glasses and a chinstrap beard. His goals ranged from basic robbery to genuine attempts at world domination. Batman battled Strange over the course of 1940 (during which time Strange, not Scarecrow, became the first villain to employ a type of fear toxin). This nutty professor was also behind the creation of the Monster Men, normal Human beings whom Strange had devolved into huge, mindless brutes. During a fateful final conflict, Strange was believed to be dead and did not appear again in any Batman comic for 37 years. Eventually, Batman master scribe Steve Engelhart revived the classic villain in a series now known as Strange Apparitions (a must-own for any Batman fan) and set about rebuilding Strange as one of The Batmans premier rogues. It was during Engelharts run that Strange first learned Batmans secret identity, making him one of the few villains who knows the truth about the Dark Knight... Despite being murdered by Rupert Thorne (and haunting the corrupt Gotham City Councilman for several years as a Banquo-esque spirit), Hugo Strange eventually made his triumphant return in the 80s at the hands of Jerry Conway and Don Newton. In these 80's stories, he employed Mandroids to replace Alfred and Robin, successfully drove Rupert Thorne mad and, in a particularly awesome Doug Moench one-off, he even bankrupted Bruce Wayne, bought out Wayne Enterprises and stole the Batcave (yes, he stole the effing Batcave!). Post Crisis, Strange continued to be busy, as Doug Moench (him again) & Paul Gulacy reintroduced him to the timeline as an insane psychiatrist with a fixation on the Batman, as well as a girlfriend who was...um, a shop window mannequin. In the modern comics, Strange has re-spawned every few years with a brand new plan (and slightly different facial hair) and is still massively popular with fans. In the 2000s, Matt Wagner created a pitch-perfect homage to the Golden Age Monster Men story in his excellent Dark Moon Rising series and Devin Grayson revisited the character in a great four parter called Transference. In addition, Doug Moench visited the character once again (during which the aforementioned weathervane incident occurred). Hugo worked for Black Mask (alongside Dr. Death) in the Dick Grayson era of Batman and was responsible for bringing back (yet another) 70s ONeil creation, The Reaper in order to plague our hero still further. Despite a triumphant turn as a central villain in the video game Arkham City, Hugo hasnt been seen around much in the comics lately. However, it is only a matter of time before he strikes again. He was most recently seen in an issue of Catwoman earlier on in the New 52.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
Before The Joker, The Riddler or Catwoman came along, Batmans creators decided that he needed an archenemy, a master fiend with whom to match wits. This new rogue would be a masterpiece of demented villainy, a Moriarty to The Dark Knights Sherlock Holmes. This character was Professor Hugo Strange. In his earliest appearances, Strange appeared as a slightly misshapen, hairy-handed villain with coke-bottle glasses and a chinstrap beard. His goals ranged from basic robbery to genuine attempts at world domination. Batman battled Strange over the course of 1940 (during which time Strange, not Scarecrow, became the first villain to employ a type of fear toxin). This nutty professor was also behind the creation of the Monster Men, normal Human beings whom Strange had devolved into huge, mindless brutes. During a fateful final conflict, Strange was believed to be dead and did not appear again in any Batman comic for 37 years. Eventually, Batman master scribe Steve Engelhart revived the classic villain in a series now known as Strange Apparitions (a must-own for any Batman fan) and set about rebuilding Strange as one of The Batmans premier rogues. It was during Engelharts run that Strange first learned Batmans secret identity, making him one of the few villains who knows the truth about the Dark Knight... Despite being murdered by Rupert Thorne (and haunting the corrupt Gotham City Councilman for several years as a Banquo-esque spirit), Hugo Strange eventually made his triumphant return in the 80s at the hands of Jerry Conway and Don Newton. In these 80's stories, he employed Mandroids to replace Alfred and Robin, successfully drove Rupert Thorne mad and, in a particularly awesome Doug Moench one-off, he even bankrupted Bruce Wayne, bought out Wayne Enterprises and stole the Batcave (yes, he stole the effing Batcave!). Post Crisis, Strange continued to be busy, as Doug Moench (him again) & Paul Gulacy reintroduced him to the timeline as an insane psychiatrist with a fixation on the Batman, as well as a girlfriend who was...um, a shop window mannequin. In the modern comics, Strange has re-spawned every few years with a brand new plan (and slightly different facial hair) and is still massively popular with fans. In the 2000s, Matt Wagner created a pitch-perfect homage to the Golden Age Monster Men story in his excellent Dark Moon Rising series and Devin Grayson revisited the character in a great four parter called Transference. In addition, Doug Moench visited the character once again (during which the aforementioned weathervane incident occurred). Hugo worked for Black Mask (alongside Dr. Death) in the Dick Grayson era of Batman and was responsible for bringing back (yet another) 70s ONeil creation, The Reaper in order to plague our hero still further. Despite a triumphant turn as a central villain in the video game Arkham City, Hugo hasnt been seen around much in the comics lately. However, it is only a matter of time before he strikes again. He was most recently seen in an issue of Catwoman earlier on in the New 52.