Mr. Roulette!
Nov. 2nd, 2010 01:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
1954--a mere couple years before what is officially recognized as the start of the Silver Age--saw the last appearance of Two-Face until his return at the start of the Bronze Age. In that 1954 tale, the great Dick Sprang depicts Harvey tying Batman and Robin to a giant coin of death. A classic Two-Face deathtrap, right?
Well, thanks to Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed, I just discovered another comic that Sprang drew another comic a year:

As you can imagine, he's pretty much an all-purpose gambling themed villain, in the classic Sprang style of elaborate deathtraps in oversized objects (as seen in these scans which I found on The Comic Treadmill):

Of course, Mr. Roulette is an utterly forgotten character, possibly because--as I'd speculate, this being my fanblog and whatnot--they realized they already had a Batman villain with a gambling-style motif, even if said villain was happily retired. Either way, this story was forgotten, while the opening page gimmick was recycled for the climactic finale of Two-Face's grand return to villainy.
As for Mr. Roulette, he's lost to time until some writer resurrects him. But really, if one were to reuse any character from Batman #75, I think anybody would sooner opt for the villain who was act

A mobster's brain in a gorilla's body. Sorry, Mr. Roulette, but that's comics gold, people.
Well, thanks to Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed, I just discovered another comic that Sprang drew another comic a year:

As you can imagine, he's pretty much an all-purpose gambling themed villain, in the classic Sprang style of elaborate deathtraps in oversized objects (as seen in these scans which I found on The Comic Treadmill):

Of course, Mr. Roulette is an utterly forgotten character, possibly because--as I'd speculate, this being my fanblog and whatnot--they realized they already had a Batman villain with a gambling-style motif, even if said villain was happily retired. Either way, this story was forgotten, while the opening page gimmick was recycled for the climactic finale of Two-Face's grand return to villainy.
As for Mr. Roulette, he's lost to time until some writer resurrects him. But really, if one were to reuse any character from Batman #75, I think anybody would sooner opt for the villain who was act

A mobster's brain in a gorilla's body. Sorry, Mr. Roulette, but that's comics gold, people.