Post by Z451 on Feb 10, 2015 22:08:00 GMT
Bookworm
Little was disclosed of Bookworms origins or motivations over the course of the show, other than the fact that he had an apparent vendetta against Batman and Robin and committed crimes inspired by literary plots.
Like the Riddler, he left clues to lure the caped crusaders to the scene of his next crime -- the clues, of course, always inspired by books.
He also carried knockout gas in trick books, usually the boring type that "put people to sleep," like the Congressional Record.
By the end of the story, it was revealed that his ultimate objective was to steal a heavily guarded stockpile of valuable books.
Bookworm didn't make the jump from television to comic books for a couple of decades.
In 1989's Secret Origins Special #1, the character's name was referenced by the Riddler, along with a number of other villains created specifically for the 60s television series.
Riddler called him one of the villains "you never see anymore."
A very dark version of the character appeared in The Huntress series in a story arc that ran from late 1989 to early 1990.
This version of the Bookworm was named Alexander Wyvern.
A victim of child abuse, his mother would lock him in a closet while she worked on puzzles.
Wyvern once started a fire in the closet in a desperate attempt to get his mother to release him -- only to wind up badly burned and, after he got his mother's attention, badly beaten.
Psychologically damaged, the boy grew into a serial killer.
Though the violent character bore little resemblance to the literature-obsessed felon of the 1960s, this version did still leave Riddler-style clues for the police to hunt him down.
Bookworm ultimately met his demise when he set a deadly trap for the Huntress.
Huntress dressed as his mother, frightening him into running away and tripping his own contraption, killing him.
Other characters named Bookworm appeared in the comics Deathstroke the Terminator and Teen Titans in the 1990s.
In 2013, the original version of Bookworm returned to comic books, albeit outside the mainstream DC continuity, in the pages of Batman '66.
In this story, inspired by the 60s television series, Bookworm attempted to deduce Batman's true identity using a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings covering the Caped Crusader's crime-fighting career.
Links
Batman Wiki
Comic Vine
Copyright Owner
DC Comics
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