During the JOKER: LAST LAUGH "Fifth Week" crossover I co-write with Chuck Dixon, quite a few established DC villains were dusted off and updated during the process of "Jokerizing" them for our bit of mayhem. The following are five DC baddies, some new, others given a slight makeover, and all courtesy of my good friend (and artist of the forthcoming BATGIRL: YEAR ONE) Marcos Martin!
Frag came into being for one simple reason: The SUPERMAN creators killed Shrapnel, our first choice.
Since a majority of the JOKER: LAST LAUGH action centered around the Slab, DC's metahuman prison, I intended to use Shrapnel, an old Doom Patrol villain who was the centerpiece of my very first DC story ("Home for the Holidays" from DCU HOLIDAY BASH III). But nostalgia aside, Shrappy fell victim to Doomsday during the Super-centric OUR WORLDS AT WAR crossover. Having written much of J:LL already, we were faced with the dilemma of quickly creating another villain. And since a few of the "gags" involved said character having similar powers to the late great Shrapnel, we opted to concoct a new meta-criminal with an explosive personality…literally. Where Shrappy was heavy metal, Fraggy was more organic…and subsequently, thanks to Marcos, even more creepy.
With the new characters I was just given
a brief description of what they were supposed to be, so I had
total freedom with the design. Frag has a strong influence from
one of Mike Mignola's monsters in a back-up story he did years
ago for Ted McKeever's METROPOL. He's supposed to be rotten
and decomposing from the waist down, and then progressively getting
better on up (that should be reflected with the color, too). I
added the impaling pipe so he'd be forced to have his head always
tilted to one side, which I think makes him funnier.
You'd be surprised how Chuck and I chose various villains to populate LAST LAUGH. Largely, most were chosen because their respective super-powers advanced the plot. So, thus armed with our WHO'S WHO volumes…
Spellbinder provided the air of unreality necessary to facilitate a mass supervillain escape and keep Batman and Nightwing unbalanced (not to mention allowing Bat-Mite to enter "Continuity" if only for a panel or two).
I've appreciated Killer Frost since first reading FIRESTORM years ago. Naturally, she's our segue to explain how the Clown Prince of Crime "Jokerized" the Slab's female inmates, courtesy of…
…Mr. 104, a necessary evil because matter-transmuting rogues like Dr. Alchemy were busy making life miserable for the Flash in Iron Heights.
Marcos says…
I thought of redesigning the characters that already existed just
because I wasn't aware that they were going to be wearing prison
garments. I had the feeling that some of the characters' uniforms
were a little bit outdated. I just tried to give them a slicker,
cooler look (always have a WALLPAPER magazine handy).
Joker's number one toady plays a pivotal role in LAST LAUGH. Eagle-eyed readers of JOKER: LAST LAUGH SECRET FILES & ORIGINS #1 might be able to figure out just how Ranky's powers and cravings impact the finale. We wanted a racist, hateful little Joker. Marcos gave us the perfect Clown Prince-in-Waiting anxious for Joker's suicide run to come to a cataclysmic conclusion.
Rancor was supposed to be a regular human being and I just loosely based him on the great actor Peter Lorré. I think he'd have been perfect for the part.
[Art by Marcos Martin.
Batman, Nightwing, The Joker, Shrapnel, Frag, Spellbinder, Firestorm,
Killer Frost, Mr. 104, The Slab, and Rancor ™ and ©
DC Comics. All rights reserved.]