The Shroud seemed like another Marvel Batman knock off to me when he first appeared, but he has managed to carve out his own identity. I always enjoy the concept of a hero embedding himself with villains and biding their time for the perfect time to strike. I've lost track of him recently, The last time I remember reading about him he was a little off his rocker in the pages of Daredevil.
The Shroud and Nightwing team with Darkwing Duck and Midnight. Is there a team like this already? If not, how about The Inkspots?
ReplyDelete+ Harvey comic’s Little Dot and warner bros. sister Dot !
ReplyDeleteSo, he's now a recurring character in Hornhead's mag, huh? That's what I call doubly ironic. Because, when he first debuted in "Super-Villain Team-Up," my initial opinion was similar to yours.
ReplyDelete"Oh, brother! This guy's just a rip-off cross between Batman and Daredevil."
But, when he co-starred with Spidey against Dansen Macabre, he became the first Marvel superhero to display mastery of the substance called Darkforce. Making him unique...till the debut of Cloak roughly a year later.
The second thing that makes your announcement ironic is that, when Rex Smith guest-starred as Matt Murdock (opposite Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in NBC's "The Trial of the Incredible Hulk"), his Daredevil costume made him look more like the Shroud without a cape!
Nuff said. :-)
I'll say that Dr. Light either wants to get to Dagger in order to absorb her bioluminescent powers. Or, perhaps, he's trying to see if Cloak will make a suitable ally of convenience against Eclipso.
ReplyDeleteYou want to talk Batman konck-offs, look at the Knight Watchman.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ross could do a cover where Batman takes on all his poseurs (a la STF #359).
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ross could do a cover where Batman takes on his poseurs similar to what Superman did in STF #359.
ReplyDeleteSince both Batgirl and Blade have had their movies shelved, maybe you could give them a nice Halloween-themed STF cover as a consolation prize? ;-) Maybe a '90s version with Alicia Silverstone and Wesley Snipes (and Gary Oldman as Dracula?).
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wikipedia his creator Steve Englehart, thinking then that as a Marvel writer he would never get a chance to write Batman (although, of course, he then moved over to DC not lobg after this and did exactly that... ;) ) did base The Shroud largely on Batman... but the additional source from whom he took elements -- to avoid making just a direct copy, and gwtting into legal trouble -- was meant to be The Shadow.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually he might have been only Marvel's second character to use this osource of power, because although he made his debut first he didn't gain this ability until a few monthst later on and during that intervening period the Russian heroine 'Darkstar' made her own debut in 'Champions'... Doesn't she use it as well, although perhaps in a different way?
I'll second Kevin's Silverston/Snipes suggestion.
ReplyDelete@Cary and Simreeve: if you wanna get really technical, the very first Marvel character to use Darkforce was the two-shot Nova foe called Blacklight!
ReplyDelete@Anon848: That guy (an even more minor-league super-villain than Albert Michaels) called himself "Blackout." And, actually, he debuted circa 1979. Darkstar premiered in CHAMPIONS (vol. 1/#7) in 1976.
ReplyDeleteSo, the no-prize goes to Simreeve. :-)