Who's This? A villain Vigilante stole from Batman.
The facts: Marv Wolfman, Michael Fleisher and Irv Novick created this electrically-powered vigilante for Batman #331 (January 1981) and he would tangle with the Bat three times before following Wolfman to Vigilante's New York where he is eventually killed by the hero (in Vigilante #27, March 1986). Though Wolfman created a second Electrocutioner in 1991, it didn't go anywhere. The original's brother took on the mantle under Chuck Dixon's direction in '92 and has been around ever since.
How you could have heard of him: A criminally insane version (well maybe he always was) of the Electrocutioner appeared in the Gotham TV show (if it's him, it may point to Jack being his canonical first name), but the boss in Batman: Arkham Origins is his brother Lester.
Example story: Vigilante #9 (August 1984) "In the Grip of the Electrocutioner!" by Marv Wolfman, Ross Andru, Dan Adkins and Rick Magyar
Continuing on from the previous issue, Vigilante is caught in a house fire started by the Electrocutioner, but though he saves himself (with severe burns, not that he complains for long, he has... recuperative powers? shows you how little I know about this character), he fails to save the Electrocutioner's victim. Vig spends the night following clues, trying to find out who said victim was working so it could lead him back to the Electrocutioner, falls asleep on a rooftop stake-out, in the rain, and it's ironically lightning than wakes him up just in time to see...
Cut to the apartment of Remington Kord (no relation, I'm sure), the presumptive next victim, since like the Electrocutioner's other targets, he escaped justice on a technicality. That's what Electrocutioner is - a human electric chair and your executioner when the justice system fails to do the job. Or as Vigilante puts it, "a fun-house mirror distortion of what I had become".
I can see why Batman would try to stop this guy, but it must rankle with Vigilante. I guess he's not killing the RIGHT people. I had always pegged the Electrocutioner as straight-up villain, an assassin like Bolt or Deadshot, but he could almost be the star of this series (if he had a better costume at least). For example, though he's judged Kord unworthy to live, he doesn't kill his wife, even after she tries to knock him out with a vase.
See? She's gonna be fine. There isn't even much of an electricity effect, just little sparks to indicate she's passing out. Vigilante has once again shown up too late to save the Electrocutioner's target, but if he's been warned not to interfere, so the Electrocutioner decides he's got to go. Does he need to recharge after a kill? Because he goes hand-to-hand against the Vig.
Or can a kick transmit the electricity. I guess it could, but seems to me a grappling attack would be more useful. And when Vigilante makes contact, it doesn't shock him. The way the gloves are drawn, it looks like only the hands can do that. Though the underside of the boots COULD have circuits in the top and bottom panels, it rather looks in the center of the page like they're rubber-soled for grounding purposes. Seems to me, the Electrocutioner had his hands free and could have grabbed Chase's legs there. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Anyway, we then have the bad killer ask the good killer to team up with him. The Vigilante answers with nun chucks.
Non-conductive nun-chucks! Got him in the ribs, and the Electrocutioner can't stand the pain. Tries to run, gets a kick in the back. It's over--no, wait, it's not!
Adrian Chase hadn't counted on the guy's excellent martial arts skills. Good to know he doesn't entirely depend on his electric gloves. He DID fight Batman a NUMBER of times. And here he actually beats Vigilante with an electrified fire escape. Deus ex machina: The cops rush in right then, startling the Electrocutioner and giving Vig a moment to recover and escape. The cop gets Bzzzt-ed (a mild one), and away he goes, free to kill again.
I learned a lot. This is NOT the character I thought he was. I don't mean he's DEEPER than I thought. He was just an IDEA, a concept made real, a TYPE. He didn't have a name, a secret identity, any kind of life beyond being a faux-Judge Dredd that other vigilantes think is going too far. Not that this issue really justifies Vigilante's feeling about it, but that's a discussion for another day.
Who's Next? The Last Son of... Trom?
Comments