Today, ahead of his DC Extended Universe debut in Suicide Squad, see the triumphant (well, sort of) return of Calendar Man to the DC Universe after he had disappeared for over twenty years following his comic book debut in 1958! See how much the power of a garish costume can help (a sort of reverse situation of Deadshot’s similar revamp).
This is “I Remember Well,” a brand-new feature spotlighting instances in which writers pull out long-forgotten plots or attributes of comic book characters. I have a similar bit called “I’ve Been Here Before” when writers pull out their own old plots/characters, but this is when different writers do it. I also have a bit called “Provide Some Answers,” when writers resolve long-forgotten plots, but this is when writers don’t resolve anything, they just bring back something that hadn’t been used in a long time.
As I pointed out just last week, during the Golden Age, it seemed like Bill Finger would often try to make new characters that he introduced into the series recurring characters, even when they’re as bizarre as Ally Babble, the dude who can’t shut up. However, it seemed like some sort of flip was switched at some point in the 1950s (the only reason I can think why is perhaps it was directed by his editor, Jack Schiff, who really took a hold of the Batman books during the 1950s) where suddenly, Finger was just creating these outlandish one-off villains who would pop up all of the time and then never show up again (during Finger’s time on the books, at least).
One of these one-off villains was the Calendar Man, who debuted in 1958’s Detective Comics #259 (by Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris), who sends a challenge in the newspapers that he will outsmart Batman while committing crimes based on the four seasons, plus a mysterious FIFTH season!
For someone as clever as Bill Finger and for artists as good as Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris, the Calendar Man’s outfits and his crimes were fairly mundane, really. A sun-themed costume for Summer and then a Windy one for Autumn, and yet the jerky citizens of Gotham City are still way too willing to be, like, “Ah, stupid Batman, he’s met his match. The CALENDAR MAN is the guy who is finally going to take Batman down. Yep, I am a typical Gotham City citizen. I am a moron”…
After the Calendar Man gets away in a snowman outfit, Batman figures out what the fifth season is (and I guarantee you that this is something that Bill Finger once wrote down in his famous “Gimmick book” and figured he would somehow work it into a story) MONSOON season, leading Batman to think that the villain has to have some connection to India and an Indian-named magician was in town for just five days and so Batman stops the bad guy and I certainly hope shoves it in the face of the doubting Gotham City citizens. “Hey, lady! It’s Batman! How do you like THEM apples?”
I have written a number of times over the years that in the late 1960s (following the mid-1960s additions of people like Roy Thomas, Steve Skeates and Denny O’Neil), the “Second generation” of comic book writers took over the comic book industry and these were the writers who grew up AS comic book fans and so these are the sorts of writers who would go out of their way to make references to old comic books that they found interesting. One of this generation of writers was the brilliant writer, Len Wein, who had an excellent run on Batman in the late 1970s.
Well, in 1979’s Batman #312, working with artists Walter Simonson and Dick Giordano, Wein brought Calendar Man back, and this time, his crimes were based on the days of the week!
And yes, as I noted on Twitter the other day while first working on this piece, this involved Walter Simonson drawing the Calendar Man dressed up for Thursday by wielding Thor’s hammer!
While this is particularly funny for us all knowing that four years later, Simonson would take over writing and drawing Thor for a legendary run on the series, at the time, it was likely an intentionally humorous reference, as well, as Simonson had done a year-long stint on Thor as the artist back in 1977-78.
Anyhow, Batman figures out that the Calendar Man is taking Sunday off and catches him as he is trying to skip town. As Batman chases after him, the Calendar Man debuts his iconic (and extremely garish) “standard” costume…
In a past edition of I Remember Well, I explained how Deadshot was ALSO revived after a twenty-year absence following his first appearance, and in that case, Marshall Rogers’ gorgeous design of a new costume for Deadshot later got the character saved from limbo as other artists liked to draw the costume and when John Ostrander was putting the Suicide Squad together while looking through issues of Who’s Who, he was also struck by the design and so he added Deadshot to the team and the rest is history.
Well, the same basic thing happened here, in the sense that this new costume was SO outlandish that people couldn’t help but want to draw it and so the Calendar Man stuck around long enough for Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale to revamp him a LOT during The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, and it is their version that is adapted into the Suicide Squad, but still, he very likely wouldn’t have even GOTTEN to that point had he not been revived by Wein, Simonson and Giordano.
I’m sure you folks have other ideas for examples for this column, so send them my way at [email protected]! I’d love to get a month’s worth of them up!
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