“I leaned over the sink, closer to my reflection, and stare at myself hard,” wrote Nina LaCour. “I don't know what I see. I don’t even know what I want to see.”
We tend to associate mirrors with the mysteries of human identity, and Batman’s archenemy Mirror-Man exemplified that theme.
Mirror-Man — Floyd Ventris — became pretty well convinced that he’d penetrated the secret of Batman’s identity, and came close, more than once, to proving that the Masked Manhunter was Bruce Wayne.
Apparently as omen-prone as Wayne, Ventris was able to escape from prison using the fragment of a broken mirror to dazzle a guard.
“I broke a mirror, and it brought me luck!” he thinks. “I’ll do a lot of research on mirrors — because from now on I’m going to use them for crime!” (The Mysterious Mirror-Man, Detective 213, Nov. 1954).
Using a “two-way electronic mirror” to see through Batman’s cowl, the mirror-spectacled criminal only gets ridiculed by his gang when he announces his discovery.
Batman has defeated him with preemptive PR, having written a newspaper article as Bruce Wayne about ridiculous past occasions when people claimed he was Batman.
Mirror Man’s return in Batman 157 (Aug. 1963) began with a storytelling flourish from writer Bill Finger. Four of the characters — Batman, Batwoman, Vicki Vale and Ventris — were shown considering their images in reflective surfaces.
Mirror-Man’s mirror-themed crimes include the use of reflective billboards and a U.S. Army “solar mirror” and the theft of a giant telescopic mirror intended for installation at the Mt. Malador Observatory.
Twice, Ventris trapped Batman and Robin in mirrored rooms.
Mirror-Man’s impact was undoubtedly diluted by the fact that he was “reflected” in a contemporaneous Flash super villain. The Mirror Master, who also employed esoteric mirror tricks, debuted in Flash Comics 105 (Feb.-March 1959).
The first line of Wikipedia’s entry on Mirror Man is, of course: “Not to be confused with Mirror Master.”
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen Mirror Man in years. Perhaps he's reflecting on his crimes.
Peter Watson wrote:
ReplyDeleteA team up between Mirror-Man and Mirror Master against Batman and the Flash in Brave & Bold would have been amazing.
The villains also illustrated the differences in the approaches toward Batman and the Flash. Mirror Master was about pseudo-science. Mirror-Man was about obsession.
ReplyDeleteCharles W. Fouquette wrote:
ReplyDeleteThese were obviously before the days of villain crossovers. Mirror Master could have simply tried out Batman after failing so many times against the Flash. In villain logic, that makes sense.