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!