What I do, is to get access to MeTV Web-Site and it's on Every Saturday/Sunday AM and they will tell you when the show will come on. It's may take awhile to get there but that's my only option - or shell out $70 for the complete 120 episodes of Batman on Amazon.com. Or, $45 on ebay.

BATMAN DVD eBay

It's pretty entertaining and quite different back then and that's the beauty of it.

If you ever get a chance to watch it - you will be pleasantly surprised how well he handled it and I felt he was unjustly criticized for it. It was sad that he never, ever got a chance to prove himself after that two-part show. 

#23, Mr. Zsasz, Victor Zsasz





First appearance: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1





You Tube explaining him




I want to be frank here and I don't know anything about him and I've have to place him in this countdown solely on my research in the Internet and talking to my friends at the Local Comic Book store that I go to.


From Wikipedia

He is a serial killer[1] who usually kills with a knife and carves a tally mark somewhere on himself for every victim.


From Me

He is one of those killers that kills people for the pure joy of it and it's personal with a knife in hand. Many of my friends told me that this killer is a killing machine and one of those men that borders on the extreme and one of the greatest serial killer in Gotham City and he wants nothing until he kills Batman - his ultimate objective.

I'm going to borrow that comic book someday and get a general feel of this psychotic killer that really takes it to the next level and the next level to heights that purely on a scale that very few killers ever make.

For what I was told by my friends that he is one of those dangerous killers that stives for unpredictability - in other words he kills without warning and that's alone will put anyone on the edge to new heights. He creates his own fear very different than Scarecrow and that alone is a very tricky proposition to follow.

He is also very cunning in stalking his prey and having said that he is one of those villains that really makes you very nervous when you are walking into his domain if you realize that he is in it.

That's extreme in my book.

Anyway, this is one of those villains that I'm planning on following up on in the upcoming weeks ahead and learn more about Victor Zsasz and his ways of terrorizing the good citizens of Gotham City.


The Murderous Mr. Zsasz




Number 22 on Wednesday the latest

Zsasz is a killer. An unadulterated killer. No morals. No gimmicks. No ulterior reasons. Just likes to kill. People are nothing but "zombies" (as he calls them) just waiting for death. About the only thing that he might have a bias for is killing women. And that maybe something exclusive to Alan Grant's The Last Arkham more so than to the character. As I haven't seen it being a big facet of his killing in any other story I've read. Though a lot of the newer stuff, I have not read outside of Detective #815, 816, which I read online. In this it was a bit more personal to Batman as it was someone close to him, that became a fixation for Zsasz. And it's good enough for me to want to own to read again.

I think that Zsasz being the most basic element of evil, allows him to adapt as an antagonist in almost any story. As I mentioned, he doesn't really have a gimmick or ulterior motive. His pure instinct is to kill and he discriminates naught. It's like the line in Alien, where Ash is describing the creature ...



Perfectly describes the relentless drive of Zsasz to kill all "zombies". He might prattle on about how it is fate or whatever for him to do so. But outside of that it is not a moral higher ground he feels he's on. He's not really unhinged in that his killing is totally discriminate like Joker. All life must be snuffed; especially Batman. And it really feels like his fixation with Batman more than any other "zombie" is just a selling point to attach to Batman's rogue gallery. Of what I have read of Zsasz he really doesn't have anything more against Batman than he does any police officer or anyone else that tries to halt his killing sprees. Which is kind of refreshing. And giving him no bounds within the DC universe to be an antagonist. Since he just wants to kill. The only thing that might connect him on a realistic plane with Batman is because they are both not meta-humans. Zsasz may not prove as big of a threat to a meta-human. Though the aforementioned Detective #815, 816 has him really cutting a path through the opposition with almost super human frenzy.

As to The Last Arkham I think Breyfogle did really great with the art in this story. Like the scan you posted, he really nailed the fear in the hostages as Batman tried to get to them before Zsasz killed them all. The tension is really well brought to the reader through Grant's words and Breyfogle's illustrations. He's a real fear to almost anyone. Not some crazy clown, or crocodile-man or walking mud monster, but a killer with no remorse or conscious. The type of killers that are really created in reality. And that are much more unsettling when dwelling on it too long. It's why (at least in the early movies) Michael Myers or Hannibal Lecter are more scary than Freddy Kruger to me.

The character 'Zsasz' has come up before on this board:

classiccomics.org/post/163111/thread

#22 Black Mask, Roman Sionis





First Appearance: Batman 386




You Tube Containing his Origin




I watched one episode of him in the Batman, Brave and the Bold Cartoon Show and did not came away anything important about it and that's the only time that I was able to watch him. He wasn't all that bad, but did not really do much for me at that time. I don't have a favorite story and I also sadly going to treat him just like our last Villain Mr. Zsasz and frankly I know from listening to my friends at the Comic Book Store that he is a dangerous villain and a killer of his own right and someone at the store that he said he's like a DC Comics answer to the Red Skull. I find this observation highly unlikely - but the resemblance should be noted for.





I wished that I could share more but honestly he had some history with the Wayne's Family of what I was told and I just wanted to share the Wiki Link for more information.


Black Mask Wikipedia


I had to include him in this countdown and I just wanted to cover all the bases and make sure that I did not left him out and my dear friends at the store that I go to helped me a lot in this countdown and they recommended that the Black Mask should be ranked in the low 20's (Of which I did at #22) and they thought I did a good job with it.

I need to brush up my Batman Heritage in the Bronze Age of Comics and that one AGE that I'm very weak on and I got one more left to go that needs some brush up on and he alone is worthy of Number 21.

This is the best that I can do with the Black Mask.


Number 21 is next.


I should have it ready by late Thursday Night and/or early Friday Morning.