While playing Thor on Thursday (and carefully avoiding any similarity to the Marvel version), the would-be "God of Thunder" left Batman reeling with an ultrasonic blast from his electronically-lined helmet. The crime season had come full circle.Ĭalling the Dark Knight's attention crimson monocle, the Calendar Man shouted that "Odin sacrificed an EYE to gain knowledge - but I sacrificed MINE to gain POWER!!" A laser from the eye-piece blasted Batman from his Whirly-Bat and the rogue ultimately made his escape. Still wearing his magician's tuxedo, the Calendar Man was taken into custody on March 21-the first day of Spring. Noting that an entertainer with the stage name of Maharajah the Magician was in town for a five-day engagement at the Bijou Theater, the Caped Crusader correctly gambled that this might be his target. Having racked up four consecutive failures, Batman was determined to thwart the robbery intended for the mysterious "fifth season," which he deduced must be India's Monsoon Season. And completing the cycle, the Calendar Man became a snowman to steal "ice" from a diamond show for his March 20 winter showing. "Autumn" blew in on the 19th courtesy of a wind machine that helped him pull off an armored truck robbery. "Summer" proved more amenable and he escaped with the proceeds from a March 18 beauty pageant while dressed in a flaming asbestos suit. The Calendar Man's debut was tainted a bit by Batman and Robin's interference but he had invited them, after all. Spring arrived early that year in the form of a man in a flower suit-petals bursting from his collar, leaves functioning as a cape-at Gotham's International Garden Show on the 17th. The March 17 edition of the Gotham Gazette noted that an "anonymous letter promises four successful robberies in four days - each day to correspond to a season of the year - plus one extra for a 'fifth season.'" The confident Calendar Man placed an ad in the newspaper challenging Batman to stop him. The Calendar Man never did anything in a small way. After helping himself to "stamps which had been hand-cancelled by the astronauts during one of the lunar visits," the man with the round, cratered headgear and spacesuit made his exit. The Calendar Man committed his first crime on a Monday morning in March, when the Gotham City Planetarium was invaded by a man from the moon, complete with a spherical lunar craft whose magnetic field sent the guards hovering helplessly in the air. "His cycle even has eight wheels to emulate Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir." And on Wednesday, "named for Woden - or Odin - the Norse god of wisdom," the rogue was clad as a Viking when he faced The Batman outside the Metropolitan Museum."Calendar Man is playing this farce to the hilt," he observed. Tuesday, "named for Tiw, the ancient god of war," found Calendar Man in centurian-like garb for his theft of military treasures. Monday, for instance, was named after the moon, hence the lunar costume and theft. In 1965 a reprint of Calendar Man's debut was printed in Batman # 176.īatman # 312 had found the Calendar Man committing crimes tied to the days of the week. The costume reappeared on the covers of Batman # 384 and Detective Comics # 551, and the red and white suit appeared in Calendar Man's entry in WHO'S WHO '85 # 4 and was the costume Calendar Man wore during the Crisis On Infinite Earths. Its cape, for instance, was a collection of calendar pages. This outfit was a red and white number that played up the calendar motif and wasn't keyed to any particular season or date. He often wears different costumes which correspond to the significance of the date, though he does have a main costume which has various numbers (meant to represent days on a calendar) sprouting from the shoulders. The theme may be related to what day of the week it is or to a holiday or to a special anniversary on that date he will plan his crime around that day. His crimes always have a relationship to the date that they are committed. He even had his own above-ground version of the Batcave, a veritable shrine to the timetable-calendar carpeting, a giant calendar rolodex, massive calendars hanging on the wall, ancient stone timepieces and calendar floor tiles. He developed weapons (utilizing wind machines, lasers, sonic weaponry and customized motorcycles) and matching wits with Batman. In Batman 80-Page Giant # 3, Chuck Dixon took the 1582 revision known as the Gregorian Calendar into account by identifying the villain as Julian Gregory Day. WHO'S WHO # 4 and Batman # 384 simultaneously confirmed the rogue's real name as Julian Day. Calendar Man is fascinated by dates and calendars.
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