Friday, July 9, 2010

You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression Friday!

Detective Comics #259 gives us our first appearance of Calendar Man. Calendar Man, as you might imagine, isn't exactly the most fearsome foe Batman ever faced. I'm pretty sure Kite Man has cleaned his clock more than once.

I think part of the problem is in choice of wardrobe:


Wow. Just.... wow. You've got to respect a guy willing to wear a unitard with daisies on it, but still.

Calendar Man focused on the seasons in his first appearance. That was spring. Because he's all blooming and such.

As summer, he was a bit more dignified:




But just when you think he might be salvageable, here comes autumn:


You'd think it couldn't get any worse.

Yeah, you'd think.

And here is the winter ensemble:




To his credit, the fire and the ice gimmicks were later incorporated into two core members of the Flash's Rogues Gallery: Captain Cold and Heatwave, who were smart enough not to incorporate daises or a carrot nose into their costumes.

Even out of costume, Calendar Man was lame. Beware the Instant-Unwrapping Turban!


Oh, no! Not the Instant-Unwrapping Turban! Anything but the Instant-Unwrapping Turban!

I'm really not sure what sort of weapon that was supposed to be. I mean, it looks like it would just collapse into a pile of cloth bandages. It's not exactly a cobra. I realize it didn't take a lot to stymie the Golden Age Batman, but even that is pretty anemic.

And yes, Jeph Loeb once tried valiantly to salvage the character by having him be the one to unravel a serial killer's motives in Batman: The Long Halloween. But for the most part, he's been relegated to comic relief for the past 50 years.

I blame the daisies.

See you Monday!

10 comments:

Britt Reid said...

"Even out of costume, Calendar Man was lame. Beware the Instant-Unwrapping Turban!"

Actually, the turban was part of his (lame and inaccurate) costume for the "fifth season" he mentioned...India's monsoon season!

Unca Jeffy said...

It could have been "Instant-Unpetaling Daisies" you know.

Sea-of-Green said...

Calendar Man looked a lot better (and somehow less silly) when he was drawn by Marshall Rogers. :-)

Britt Reid said...

"Calendar Man looked a lot better (and somehow less silly) when he was drawn by Marshall Rogers. :-) "
True...
http://www.toplessrobot.com/calendar-man.jpg
"Bad taste in clothing is the least of your crimes, mister!"

Walt Simonson did an issue with CM as well. (Batman #312)

Anonymous said...

Rogues like Calender Man - and Killer Moth - are really lame-o D-listers. It would kind of be cool if they were given the cool makeover that Timm and Dini gave Clock King on Batman: The Animated Series.

Dave

Adam Barnett said...

Dave, I *LOVE* cool make-overs of D-Listers! Cat-Man and Deadshot are two of my faves, and they didn't exactly start out as paragons of cool!

Herb Trimpe's Hulk said...

Why have I never heard of Calendar Man before? I always felt there was something missing from my life, and now I know exactly what it was.

Michael Jones said...

In the latest B&B toon, BatMite turns CalendarMan into Calendar King and he was much cooler. (Still lame, but cooler.)

Al Ewing said...

I not-so-secretly love Calendar Man, Clock King, Kite Man and all the other d-listers, and frankly I'd hate to see them become all dark and gloomy and gritty. Calendar Man as a Hannibal-type serial-killer-in-a-glass-cell just felt like a massive mis-step to me.

What makes much more sense (to me at least) is Morrison's current 'popcrime' approach, in which the ostentatiousness of C-Man and his fellow oddballs is part of the point. Who's the real lame-o here, Mr Zsasz? Serial murder? Snore-ial murder, more like. Dress up as Autumn or Wednesday and steal a giant typewriter made of diamonds the way the big boys do - then we'll talk.

Anonymous said...

I think Calendar Girl was the TAS version of Calendar Man