BEWARE THE GREY GHOST!

Before The Batman haunted the streets of Gotham, striking fear into the hearts of criminals, there was The Grey Ghost! In fact, without the exploits of crime fighter and adventurer Simon Trent, there would be no Batman, for he is Batman's true hero and inspiration! 

Just like the rest of the world, I discovered The Grey Ghost via his appearance in the Batman: The Animated Series episode Beware The Grey Ghost, and I was immediately enamored. Not only was it the cool name, great image, and interesting back story, but also the fact that he was voiced by Adam West-- the Batman from reruns I was addicted to as a grade schooler. I immediately embraced and felt connected to the character as the personal hero and inspiration for Batman, one of MY personal heroes.

Completed in July 2013, Mr. Trent utilizes some of the same parts as my Batman, primarily a GI Joe 25th Anniversary Crimson Guard for the upper body and Cobra web belt. It's established on the animated series that Batman took much of his gadgets and the Batcave design from The Grey Ghost, so that's how I'm explaining it... the rest of the figure consists of a Buzzer head with Indiana Jones fedora, Star Wars cape, and Tunnel Rat legs. While it seems at odds with The Batman's personal stance on guns, The Grey Ghost carries a pistol raided from my accessories stash, mainly because he has one in the posters for the Grey Ghost TV show...

Though essentially the same character, in the Gotham's Most Wanted universe, Grey Ghost functions quite differently. Instead of being a TV actor who inadvertently joins The Batman on an adventure, Simon Trent is actually one of the first costumed vigilantes in Gotham. Instead of appearing on TV, Bruce Wayne mainly reads the exploits of The Grey Ghost through newspaper headlines and sensational, breathless stories on the radio... though rumor has it he's become so popular, he might get a serial based on his adventures...

FROM THE ARCHIVE OF THE BATCAVE:

COMING UP: WINTER IS COMING FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA

THE COOL, CRUEL CAPTAIN COLD

What is it about villains with cold-based superpowers/super-gadgets? The tragic Victor Fries will always be my #1, so I guess that makes Leonard Snart here #2... Though I'm sure I saw him in a variety of media as a kid, my first solid recollections occurred as a teenager, seeing him as a guest baddie on the Batman/Superman Hour, etc. He's kinda over-the-top, but he at least seems like more fun than glum, "Let's Kill Humanity" Mr. Freeze.

Completed in July 2013, Captain Cold is primarily a 25th Anniversary Arctic Snake-Eyes, with some fur from a Snow Serpent and a head from a Han Solo in Hoth gear figure. The goggles and pistol were pulled from my accessories bin. I was never a huge fan of the yellow/gold and all that additional fur on Cold's costume, so I tried to ground the design more in reality by giving him some heavy leather gloves. As a nod to his roots, though, I did want to include fur on the shoulder and parka. My hope is that he's instantly recognizable.

MEANWHILE, AT THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CENTRAL CITY... 

"Hurry! Before HE shows up!"

"That's all?! We need to make this worth the trouble!"

"Wait-- I thought I heard something..."

"Alright, Cold-- FREEZE! Get it?"

"Geez. Rough room. Only one guy, Lenny? Business is bad. My fault. Now you see me--"

"Now you don't! Howdy! Right behind!"

"Alright, Snart. Back to jail."

Captain Cold is one of the newest in my series of villains, particularly the Legion of Doom... Now that I've got most of the team started, I kinda feel compelled to complete it. Mr. Snart is not alone, however... he's part of a larger nightmare, which continues with the second series of Gotham's Most Wanted, debuting at CustomCon 35!

SOMEWHERE IN GOTHAM...

"Snart-- we are not leaving without the component. You are merely hired help, not the brains of this operation."

"FREEZE! We need to get out of here! The Bat will be here any time!"

COMING UP: A RETURN TO THE PULPS

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?

When I was little, my mom used to tell me stories about when she was a little girl and how she was terrified by re-broadcasts of The Shadow on the radio-- "That laugh and the voice," she would say. "WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN? THE SHADOW KNOWS!"

The way she described him, I thought he was a ghost or a monster, not the ground-breaking pulp character I discovered later through comics and the 1990s Alec Baldwin tour-de-farce "film." At the time, I loved it, and it introduced me to characters from 50-60 years earlier that inspired a lot of what I obsessed over-- Batman, and, oh, you know, comic books in general. As laughably cheesy as it is, this piece probably wouldn't even exist without it.

Completed in June 2013, this project has been in the planning stages for a decade. Works in progress go back to when I was using GI Joe A Real American Hero parts, and it all started with one piece: the head. Lamont Cranston (or Kent Allard, depending on which continuity you're going with) here consists primarily of a Marvel Universe Professor X figure with an Overkill GI Joe head and Indiana Jones fedora. The pistols and cape are just repainted accessories from my Fodder Graveyard.

The Shadow is the newest addition to my series of pulp characters (both vintage and modern) started with The Batman, The Rocketeer, The Phantom, and Indiana Jones. I'm hoping to expand with childhood favorites like The Green Hornet & Kato, some members of the BPRD, and maybe even The Shadow's friend & ally Doc Savage, The Man of Bronze... and what good are pulp heroes without villains?

My take on The Shadow is, much like The Batman of Gotham, The Shadow is a dark hero that uses intimidation, fear, mind games, hypnosis, and clouds of hallucinogenic gas in his war on New York's criminal underworld. A gangland horror story of mythic proportions, mobsters, small-timers, and psychos have come to know and fear THE SHADOW! Though considered a vigilante by law enforcement and the U.S. government, he's also proven himself as a hero and true patriot, so he's being courted-- rather than pursued...

"Your mind is clouded... AND BELONGS TO ME!"

COMING UP: THE COOL, CRUEL CAPTAIN COLD...

I WILL RECORD ALL KNOWLEDGE AND DESTROY ALL CREATION

Can a digital villain ever truly be stopped or captured? Further complicating things, if a computer is the perpetrator of a crime, is it truly guilty? Can a computer be good OR evil?

Brainiac has always been one of my all-time favorite Superman villains, though I first encountered the more Terminator-looking incarnation from the Super Powers toy line in the mid-80s. An evil robot who's smarter than Superman? Sign me up!

Later I read about Brainiac's other incarnations and learned to appreciate the green skinned living computer, which is the first version I wanted to tackle. 

Completed in June 2013, Brainiac was actually the first of the Man of Steel set finished. He's almost all GI Joe movie parts, with a BAT arm and greebles grafted on. 

Credit where credit is due, Heroes Assembled Customs' Brainiac was a huge inspiration. Love its mechanical arm and quasi-Giger vibe!:

http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigure.php?FID=49323

Just like Lex Luthor, this Brainiac was inspired by the Man of Steel film. Loved the movie, and I can't wait to see how they integrate these two legendary Superman villains into this new canon. With Brainiac, I hope they go dark and bio-organic, like HR Giger or the Engineers from Prometheus and make him a truly terrifying, unstoppable threat.

COMING UP: WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?