| |
| Thomas Blake, the Cat-Man. |
| © DC Comics |
 |
| CAT OF NINE TALES -- |
| Batman and Robin discuss Cat-Man's rather nebulous origins in these panels from Batman No. 372. Art by Dick Giordano. |
| © DC Comics |
* * *
Cat-Man is a way cool character, first introduced in 1963. He has such an interesting history
 |
| CATACLYSM |
| It's too bad that Cat-Man only tackles Batman, because he would be a great sparring partner for lesser powered heroes, and maybe even a formidable foe for the Green Lantern. Scene from Cat-Man's 1991 Who's who entry. |
| © DC Comics |
Cat-Man is really Thomas Blake, an ex-big game hunter, who found a statue of a cat wrapped in an orange cloth. Blake discovered a legend surrounding the statue. Apparently, the cloth it was wrapped in was imbued with magical powers and it bestowed its possessor with incredible luck and a cat's proverbial nine lives. Making the cloth into a cape and cowl, Blake became Cat-Man, a criminal who would escape death time and again, simply because he believed (wrongly so or not) that the cloth gave him the ability to do so.
Cat-Man would run into Batman several times, mostly because of Blake's obsession with cats. A lot of the time Batman would confuse Cat-Man's crimes with Catwoman's, because Blake would often perpetrate cat-themed crimes. Regardless, when written right, he's a wildly thrilling villain because he'd do the looniest things because he had absolutely no fear. That's why he's such a cool character.
But my stories let the reader wonder what would happen if Cat-Man expanded his operations outside of Gotham City and bothered a few other heroes ...
* * *
Mr. Miracle is scouting around New York City, when he comes across a fleet of police cars storming down the street. They wind up barricading a giant convention center, home of a security expo. The police say that every team in to find out what's going on.
|
| DEAD MAN TALKING -- |
| Kadaver is another odd Batman foe. He's obsessed with death and the wide variety of ways to bring it about. What would happen if he teamed up with a guy who didn't think he could die? Art by Norm (?) Breyfogle. |
| © DC Comics |
Little does he know though, the place is being robbed by Kadaver, a foe of Batman who is obsessed with death, and Cat-Man, a foe of Batman who thinks he can't die. They're busy stealing all the microchips, circuit boards and technology they can.
Kadaver has only one reason for joining up with Cat-Man. He wants to test Cat-Man's death defying abilities by trying to kill Blake. To begin, Kadaver sneaks up to Cat-Man and fires a pistol at Cat-Man's head. But just then, Cat-Man senses something and turns his head, narrowly avoiding a bullet through the skull.
Cat-Man says he sensed someone and he's sure they've been found out. So, he decides he'd better go check it out. On his way he picks up a "security gun", which fires a foam that hardens into cement. With his new weapon, he climbs up into the cat walks to hunt down his prey.
Cat-Man catches up with Miracle quickly, since Free is being careful and trying to avoid detection. But, Mr. Miracle's costume is hard to miss and Cat-Man leaps down and attacks. In the melee, Cat-Man manages to fire some of the cement foam of Miracle's hands and it glues them together.
Kadaver though, is still in the mood to test Cat-Man's powers and sneaks up on Free and Blake. He pulls out a taser gun, sets the level on dangerous, and fires. But, as Cat-man's incredible luck would have it, his and Miracle's battle knocks over a portable riot control device and it's full of water. The water spills out and goes all over the floor. Kadaver, not being a great shot, misses both Cat-Man and Mr. Miracle, and hits the puddle. The water in turn rolls toward Kadaver,
|
| CRAZY CAT -- |
| One of the coolest things about Cat-Man is how aloof he is. Because he doesn't think he'll ever get caught or die, he's always willing to do anything, like jumping off the side of a building. |
| © DC Comics |
Kadaver drops to the floor and goes unconscious, a victim of Cat-Man's incredible luck.
Cat-Man continues his brawl with Mr. Miracle, who's still fighting with his hands bound. The two crash through the expo center until they wind up fighting on a war-wagon, another riot control device.
Cat-Man hoping to get even more of an upper hand, turns the vehicle on and shifts it into drive. He then hops to the hood of the moving vehicle and goads on Miracle. As the wagon speeds along, Miracle somehow gets the upperhand. He throws his cemented up hands around Cat-Man, drags him to the hood and tries to choke him into submission.
It's then when Miracle sees where the war-wagon is going. It's headed straight toward a door that's way to small for the war-wagon to fit through. He sizes up the matter further and sees that if he continues to hold Cat-Man down, the door frame will literally chop off his arms when the vehicle hits the obviously well
|
| CAT FIGHT -- |
| Cat-Man confronts his one and only foe, Batman, in this scene from Detective Comics No. 413. Art by Norm (?) Breyfogle. |
| © DC Comics |
So Miracle throws up his arms and lets Cat-Man go. Cat-Man then slides down the hood and, as the war-wagon slams into the wall, he kicks open the door (thanks to those easy open fire latches) and shoots safely through the door as the war-wagon makes like an accordian against the wall. Mr. Miracle in the meantime, smashes against the wall, shatters his "cuffs" and get's knocked out.
Outside, the Cat-Man easily eludes the police and watches, with a laugh as Kadaver and Mr. Miracle are brought out on stretchers. Once again, he's escaped the impossible.
* * *
My second story with Cat-Man leads in directly from the first --
 |
| The Cat-Man, a DC Comics villain, has the power of luck and daring on his side, making him one of my favorite charactes of all time. If only a writer and artist could see him for the potential he has. Art by John Simcoe. |
| © DC Comics |
He sets up his ring to monitor alarm systems in the city. If any go off at a high-tech company or weaponry designer the ring will notify him. Sure enough in a few days one goes off and Rayner goes into action. He darts off to see what he can do.
GL arrives at at computer company and sees a man dressed up in a garish yellow and orange costume.
The man is busy downloading all sorts of files, removing circuit boards, and basically looting the R & D labs of everything he can.
 |
| CATALOG -- |
| Cat-Man, shown here in a Who's Who entry by Art Adams, has since adopted a newer costume that doesn't have the 'CM' insignia. |
| © DC Comics |
Lantern is stunned. No one's ever done that before, just shrugged off the ring's power. Sure people have shattered his concentration or overpowered the energy, but none have ever just nonchalantly escaped, as if the ring were responding to their thoughts. Perhaps, Rayner wonders, that the old impurity has resurfaced and this mystery man's yellow costume is the first one it didn't work against.
Perplexed and having long since lost Cat-Man, Green Lantern turns in and waits for an alarm to go off. Sure enough the next night, Green Lantern is summoned again and encounters the Cat-Man. Once again, Cat-Man eludes Green Lantern. This time GL test the Cat-Man's strength, but he's a normal human. His energy readings are normal, too.
By this time, Lantern is in a panic. His ring isn't working right. This "cat-man" is seemingly unstoppable.
An alarm is tripped again the next night, and GL soars out ready with a new plan. Instead of attacking this "cat-man" directly, GL drops a wall on him. Somehow, the villain avoids the deadfall. Next, Lantern tries to wrap him in a cable, but Cat-Man just uses it to get away with.
Now, if Rayner was in a panic before, he's going bonkers now. He calls up to the JLA base and gets Martian Manhunter. Who is this guy, Lantern asks. How come I've never even heard of a guy this powerful? J'onn hasn't ever seen him either and promises to look into it.
So GL continues his hunt, vowing he'll down this guy. Another alarm goes off and Rayner heads out and he's in a real bad mood.
By this time Cat-Man is having quite a bit of fun with Green Lantern and he's eager for some more, so he waits around for GL.
Lantern shows up and begins assaulting Cat-Man with everything he's got, but still, nothing's working.
Then, out of the night, "Green Lantern. I think you better let me take care of this."
Cat-Man knows that voice. It's Batman. (Note: He's the guy I got in Free Rider!)
Cat-Man knows his gig is up, so he stops (pardon the puns) pussyfooting around and high-tails it out of there.
But Batman's too determined.
He drops on Cat-Man and in one punch, knocks him out.
"How'd you do that?!?!?" Green Lantern cries.
"It's simple," Batman says. "This is Cat-Man, an old friend of mine. If he believes he can do something, he can do it. Just like your ring lets you.
Your powers are too much alike. They're bot based on willpower and faith. He just believed in his power a lot more than he believed in yours."
"So are you saying he really doesn't have any powers?" Green Lantern asks.
"No, I've seen him do way too many things to believe he hasn't got any powers. I'm just saing he's got something ... Something you ought to be careful of."
* * *
Whew! That's my story. It would probably lead into further stories, namely why he was stealing so much technology and for whom. Most importantly, I love the nebulousness of Cat-Man's powers. As long as he's got luck, he keeps it. As long as he's not worried, he's unstoppable. As long as he's smart and sure of himself, he's Cat-Man.
To finish Comics on the Brain click here
To return to John's index click here
To return to my homepage click here
Get your own Free Home Page