#flash comics

We now turn our attention to Flash #193: “Captain Cold Blows His Cool”. The issue was published in December 1969. It was written by John Broome, drawn by Ross Andru, and inked by Mike Esposito. It also has what is quite possibly the best Pre-Crisis Captain Cold cover. 

• Apparently this issue was the first Captain Cold issue comic book writer Geoff Johns ever read, and the cover in particular helped make him the Captain Cold fanboy we all know today. 
  
• The story itself begins with five elderly crooks escaping from prison. The guards go out to search for them, and ask a group of young surveyors if they’ve seen anything. They young men respond in the negative, and the guards drive off. 
• As soon as they’re gone, the “surveyors” reveal that they are the old crooks who escaped, having been de-aged by a mysterious sixth man. Said sixth man also gives them a mirror so that they can fully see the results of their transformation. 
• Old Criminal #2: “Looka me! I’m “Pretty Boy” Lloyd again!” Nice. 
  
• The old criminals ask their mysterious benefactor who he is, how he de-aged them, and why he helped them escape. He responds by ducking behind a tree, taking off his surveyor clothing, and very dramatically popping out as Captain Cold. 
• Captain Cold: “Get set for a big surprise–as I doff my surveyor-garb–and make a spectacular appearance as–CAPTAIN COLD! Fellow criminals, I’ve made you young again! I’ve given you back your youth–but you still retain your old skills–a fact that will be of supreme benefit to us all!” 
• Yes, Captain Cold has created a way to DE-AGE people! And no, he will never use it again after this issue. Nor will it ever be mentioned again, even though it seems like it could be really useful. 
• Old Criminal #3: “Captain Cold! Now things are clearin’ up—he can do anythin’ with that Cold-Gun of his!” Even things that have nothing to do with temperature or motion, apparently. 
• Pretty Boy Lloyd: “Yeah–he’s a real razzle-dazzler, Pop–uh–I mean Harry!” It is interesting that these old criminals seem as impressed as they are by the Captain. I almost would’ve expected them to disapprove him him needing “new-fangled gadgets” to commit crimes or something. 
• Captain Cold takes the old criminals to his hideout, which he has decked out with lots and lots of pictures of Laura Lamont, an old-time movie glamour queen in her seventies. She’s is Len’s newest stalkee-girlfriend, and, in addition to her age, she hasn’t been seen in years. 
• However, Len’s not concerned. He has the power to make his new bride-to-be young again, after all, so all he has to do is find her. And while he’s doing that, he’s going to send the old-time criminals to steal her wedding presents. 
• Because of a newspaper article she recently wrote, Len knows that Iris Allen knows where Laura Lamont lives. As a result, he disguises himself as a lawyer in the hopes of being able to convince Iris to help him find her. 
• Len on Iris: “A week ago an article appeared in Picture News written by Iris Allen–whom I used to be in love with before she went haywire and married that no-account police scientist Barry Allen! With me should could’ve lived like royalty-bah! Who can figure women out?” And this, Len, is why you still don’t have a girlfriend. 
• Also, Len’s disguise consists of a wig, some glasses, and a very fake-looking beard and mustache. 
• Captain Cold drives to the Allens’ house (which he knows the location of for…some reason) in a pink car that I’m pretty sure he stole, and introduces himself as Mr. Pendergast. He tells Iris that his client died and left a fortune to Miss Lamont…if she can be found, then asks Iris to tell him where Laura lives. 
• Iris refuses, but she does promise to contact Miss Lamont and tell her about the inheritance. Len gives her his card and walks away. 
• Iris tells Barry that she’s heading out to see Miss Lamont and tell her the good news. Barry, for his part, thinks that the lawyer looks familiar. His suspicions are raised further when he notices that the lawyer waited in his car for Iris to leave and then followed her to her destination. 
• He changes into the Flash and tries to follow them both, but since he doesn’t know where Miss Lamont lives, he loses them. 
• Then he gets knocked off his feet by a super-sonic blast emanating from a nearby building. He runs inside to see what’s going on and finds two of Cold’s crooks stealing an incredibly valuable painting. 
• “Young crooks? But they blew that safe like seasoned professionals!” 
• In addition to being unusually experienced, the crooks are also armed with high-tech weaponry. Since it’s apparently a sonic weapon, maybe Len got it from Piper? 
• However, well-armed or not, Flash manages to defeat and capture both crooks and take them to the police station. 
• The next day, at the police station, however, he finds that their fingerprints match those of Pop Handley and Fargo Jones, both of whom are pushing sixty. This confuses everyone, as nobody knows about Captain Cold and his magic inexplicable de-aging powers. 
• The police also tell Barry that there were a rash of other robberies that night, with a gold ring, a tiara, and a fur coat all being stolen. 
• Barry goes out to investigate as the Flash and heads to the site where the old crooks escaped. Once there, he finds a frozen stump and leaf and naturally comes to the conclusion that Captain Cold is involved. 
• Barry attempts to follow the residual radiation from Cold’s gun, but it’s been too long since he was there. “Captain Cold’s trail is too cold!”
• Barry proceeds to run around the city in hopes of picking up a new trail. He eventually finds it at the store the mink coat was stolen from. 
• Barry uses the trail to follo Cold to his hideout. Upon his arrival, Cold somehow manages to use his suit to project a proto-cold field to slow the Flash down long enough for him to “reach my absolute weapon!” 
• Said absolute weapon is “this special attachment to my Cold-Gun!….It lowers the blast-temperature of my gun to below absolute zero!” SCIENCE! 
• Amusingly, Len even seems aware of how much science is breaking in this issue. “I know that sounds impossible-but then, everything I do is impossible! I don’t know what will happen when I hit you with this–but it’s bound to be absolutely horrible-oh, absolutely!” Was this a pun on “absolute zero”? 
• As it turns out, the below absolute zero weapon “not only knocked Flash to pieces like a jigsaw puzzle–it embedded the pieces right into the wall!” Um…uh…SCIENCE! 
• Len puts a picture frame around the Flash’s pieces, checks himself out in the mirror (”I must look my best tonight–my very best!”) and then goes out to propose to the woman he’s never met. 
• “I’m as nervous a a cat! I’ve waited so many years for this moment! Sometimes it seems to me that I’ve been in love with lovely Laura Lamont all my life!…But what if she turns me down?—-Bah! She can’t turn me down-not with what I have to offer her!” Oh, Len….Interestingly, this is the first time that Len has considered the possibility that his stalkee-girlfriend might reject him. 
  
• Thus assured, he dramatically breaks into her cottage.
• Captain Cold: “Please be calm, my dear! You have nothing to fear! I am Captain Cold! Perhaps you’ve heard of me!” Len, if you didn’t want her to be freaking out, maybe you shouldn’t have broken into her house and dramatically proclaimed yourself as a well-known criminal. 
• Laura: “Oh, yes–I’ve heard of you! You’re an evildoer–a ruthless criminal!” 
• Captain Cold: “Nothing of the sort–I’ve gotten a bad press, that’s all! Deep down, my heart is filled with love-especially for you, darling! I want you to be my wife! But before you reply, listen! To begin with, as one of your wedding presents, I’m prepared to give you back your youth–your beauty of years ago!” Question: What would Len have done if she was okay with marrying him, but asked him not to make her young again? Would he have been on board with marrying a woman who’s probably at least forty years his senior? That might’ve made for a more interesting story than what we got, actually. 
• Back to the actual story, Laura thinks that he’s making fun of her. In response, he pulls out his cold gun, points it directly at her face, and shoots her with it! Way to calm her down, Len. 
• He tells her to go look in a mirror, and when she does, she sees that she’s young again. She asks him how he did this, and he replies that he’ll tell her after they’re married. Then he takes her back to his hideout. 
• Once they arrive (and she changes or he makes her change into a red dress for some reason), he presents her with the crown, the mink coat, and a bunch of other treasures and jewelry. He leaves her alone with all of the stuff while he goes to phone the justice of the peace, because this marriage is going forward even if they’ve known each other for less than two hours! This is why no one will date you, Len. 
• Instead of calling the Justice of the Peace, Len accidentally calls Mick instead. “By the Aurora Borealis–I know that voice! I absent-mindedly dialed Heat Wave’s number–instead of the Justice of the Peace!” 
• Cold invites Heat Wave over to his hideout so he can show him the defeated Flash (and also have him be the best man at his wedding to a woman who’s forty years older than him who he’s known for two hours).
• However, when Mick arrives and Cold shows him the defeated Flash, Mick totally freaks out for some reason (I guess because he won’t get to have his last fight with the Flash) and blasts the frozen Flash pieces with his heat gun. Somehow, this undoes whatever Cold’s below absolute zero gun did to the Flash, and Flash goes back to normal. 
• Captain Cold and Heat Wave get into a brief scuffle over who’ll get to kill the Flash the second time, and then Barry knocks them both out and takes them to the police. 
• The issue ends with Barry and Iris discussing the case. Iris says that Laura told her that she hadn’t wanted Cold to make her young again; aging had been too painful for her the first time. Therefore, she’s just going to put on a wig and makeup and pretend to be old until she actually is old again. This seems like a potentially interesting bit of characterization; it’s too bad Laura didn’t get very much focus in the rest of the issue.
•  After Iris tells Barry about what happened to Laura, Barry tells Iris that the reason Captain Cold called Heat Wave instead of the Justice of the Peace was because he managed to use telepathy to make sure that it would happen. So yeah, apparently Barry has telepathic powers that he never uses again. 
• In speaking of things that never appear again, what happened to the Cold Gun’s ability to make people young? Why did Cold never use that again, especially once he himself started getting older? 
• And what happened to the de-aged criminals? Did they stay young, or do the effects eventually fade off? 

I have so many questions about this issue. It’s an entertaining story overall, but there are just so many questions that never get answered and so many powers that never get brought up again. 

It’s also a pity Laura Lamont never appeared again. She and Ayesha, the Maharanee of Joadpur (from Flash #150) are easily the most interesting of Len’s non-Iris stalkee-girlfriends.

After a long hiatus, I have decided to return to my summary of Len Snart/Captain Cold’s tumultuous Silver Age love life. Today, we will be looking at the second story in Flash #166: “Tempting Target for the Temperature Twins”. As the title suggests, this story will also feature Captain Cold’s frenemy, Mick Rory/Heat Wave. The issue was published in December 1966, and the story we’re looking at was written by Gardner Fox, drawn by the inimitable Carmine Infantino, and inked by Joe Giella. 

• Although we won’t be looking at it in detail, the first story in issue #166 is called “The Last Stand of the Three-Time Losers” and features the Flash fighting some random crooks, all of whom have already been arrested, convicted, and sent to prison three times and will go to prison for life if they’re arrested again. It was drawn and inked by the same men who drew and inked the Captain Cold story, but it was written by John Broome.
• This story also raises a very pertinent question: if Central City follows a “three-strikes” crime policy as this story implies, how are the Rogues always managing to get out of prison on parole with no apparent difficulties? All of them have presumably been arrested and convicted way more than three times each. Does the law just not apply in the same way to people who take up costumed aliases for some bizarre reason? Do they just assume there’s no point since they always break out anyway? Or are the Rogues secretly a big enough tourist draw/advertising point that the city doesn’t want them to be put away permanently? This story’s premise raises way more questions than I think it intended to. 
• But enough about the legal system of Central City…it’s time for ten pages of never-ending temperature puns! 
• The story begins as it means to go on: “Once more those desperadoes of degrees come into Central City with a hot idea for chilling cold tricks! Yes, Captain Cold and Heat Wave are back at the old stand, dealing out frostbite and heat-prostration at one and the same time! But now they find their nemesis the Flash in cold storage–because of a red-hot injury–making him a tempting target for the temperature twins!” 
  
• Captain Cold: “Cool it, Heat Wave! You don’t have a chance of overcoming the Flash before I do!” 
• Heat Wave: “That’s a lot of hot air, Captain Cold! I’m putting a heat-hex on your cold calculations!” 
• Yes, the whole story is going to be like this. Brace yourself. 
• The story proper opens on Barry Allen, who STILL hasn’t decided to tell his wife (of almost one month) that he is the Flash. Before we can spend much time on his stupidity, however, he notices a factory that’s on fire and rushes to the rescue as the Flash. 
• However, in the process of saving the people trapped inside, he sprains his ankle (as a result of landing hard after the floor collapses under him). A doctor on the scene confirms the injury and tells the Flash that he’ll need to stay off his leg for a few days. 
• The Flash is given some crutches and heads for home, thinking about how this is going to be the end of his secret identity. (Seriously, this is what he’s worried about. He’s got an injury that is supposed to put him out of commission for a couple of days and might make him a target, and his biggest concern is his wife finding out his secret identity.)
  Also, it must be a slow news day, because a reporter on the scene thinks that a picture of the Flash on crutches is going to make for a great story.  (Okay, it’s probably really the whole story about him saving people from the fire, but still!) 
• Meanwhile, Captain Cold and Heat Wave are standing outside the “ultra-fashionable house of gems”.
• Heat Wave: “Fire away, Captain Cold! My blood’s burning for a little action!” 
• Captain Cold: “Cool it, Heat Wave! Ever since we first teamed up as the Temperature Twins, we’ve just about had it made!” 
• The two successively fire their “tricky temperature-triggers” at the wall, making it contract and expand repeatedly until it crumbles. 
• Heat Wave: “We make a terrific team of Thermologic Twins, CC!” 
• Captain Cold: “I hope that’s a compliment, HW!” 
• The “Frosty Felon” and the “Caloric Crook” step through the debris and make some truly menacing threats. 
• Heat Wave: “Don’t move, folks! There’s going to be a hot time in the old town tonight, so stay loose!” 
• Captain Cold: “I’ll keep you as cool as cucumbers!’ 
• Cold freezes most of the people in the store in place, leaving only the models who are wearing the jewels free. They’ve stolen most of the jewels when “their fingers freeze while their hearts catch fire.” The last of the jewelry models is, evidently, attractive to them both. 
• Cold: Heat Wave, did you just cause a mirage with that hot-rod of yours? Ooooh!” 
• Heat Wave: “She’s for real, Captain Cold! Miss Fashion Gem of Central City! Oooh! I want a date with her!” 
• Cold: “ Cool off, Heat Wave! If that choice morsel of frozen dessert goes out on a date with anyone–it’ll be me!” Smooth, Len. Smooth. 
• Heat Wave: “That’s a lot of hot air! She’s for me-” 
• Cold; “Why, you hothead! I’ll freeze you so cold you’ll think an iceberg is a bonfire!” 
• Heat Wave: “I’ll put you in cold storage!” Mick, honey…you’re getting yourself confused. Len makes the cold-based threats, not you.
  
• At this point, Heat Wave realizes that they shouldn’t be fighting, and they propose a friendly competition. Whichever man wins gets to date Miss Fashion Gem (no, she does not get an actual name in this issue). What does Miss Fashion Gem think about all this? Who cares! Not Captain Cold and Heat Wave! 
• “And so these partners in plundering pyrotechnics–those deadly desperadoes who deal in degrees of heat and cold (but are pushovers for a pretty face) stalk out into the street.” This may be the greatest bit of narration in any comic book ever. 
  
• Random Male Citizen: “It’s Captain Cold–and Heat Wave!” 
• Random Lady Citizen: “What gall–robbing in broad daylight! Somebody call the police!” 
• Heat Wave: “Nobody interferes with our game of hearts and flowers!” 
• Random Expository Citizen: “Encircled by tongues of heat–keeping us rooted to the spot!” 
• After preventing the bystanders from calling the police, Captain Cold and Heat Wave move on, looking for an appropriate challenge. Luckily for them, the Flash (still on the crutches) shows up at exactly this moment. Both Rogues are delighted. 
• Captain Cold: “Shivering spines! Here comes the answer to our problem—the Flash!” 
• Heat Wave: “Oh, torrid degree days! Whichever one of us puts our arch-nemesis out of action wins the prize!” 
• I’m not sure why an injured Flash is a more worthy challenge than those random people from before, but whatever. 
• Both of them promptly attack the injured Flash, but, after a few seconds of peril, Flash notices that the “alternate doses of heat and cold–are having shock-effect on my sprained ankle! Easing the pain–a little more of this and my ankle will be back in shape!” 
• Yes. Captain Cold and Heat Wave’s blasts are healing Flash’s sprained ankle. SCIENCE! 
• Flash: “Got to make them keep hitting me with these medicinal temperature treatments–so I’ll pretend to still be injured and run on my hands!” 
  
• Cold: “Ha! Ha! What a sight!” 
• Heat Wave: “Flash–just before you pass out–tell us whether it’s due to my heat or his cold!” I love that Heat Wave apparently thinks that Flash would be totally on board with doing that. 
• Flash: “This breeze I’m causing while rotating on my hands is forming a buffer between me and that heat-and-cold—except for my ankle which needs it most!” Flash comics, everyone: where science goes to die! 
• Once his ankle is fully healed, Flash manages to get Captain Cold and Heat Wave to shoot each other, and both are knocked out. 
• Flash: “In a way, I’m grateful for this double-barreled attack! It safeguarded the secret of my double identity!” Thanks for trying to kill me, Captain Cold and Heat Wave! Now I can keep lying to my wife! 
• Barry drops the crooks off at police headquarters and then goes home to celebrate his one-month anniversary with his wife. 
• Iris: “Oh, Barry–Darling! Happy anniversary!” 
• Barry (thinking): “My identity secret is still safe–but for how long?  Only time will tell!” TELL YOUR WIFE, YOU IDIOT!!!!
• Total panel time for Miss Fashion Gem? Two panels. By the time the Flash shows up, Captain Cold and Heat Wave don’t even seem to remember that they’re presumably fighting over her at all! That definitely makes her the least relevant stalkee-girlfriend so far. 
• Also, if this story is to be believed, Heat Wave and Captain Cold could make a mint selling their technology to hospitals. Flash’s sprained ankle gets healed in what seems like less than a minute! 

Heat Wave and Captain Cold’s never-ending puns are a lot of fun, and they do a good job of carrying the issue. Watching Barry work around his injury is also interesting (even if the solution makes science weep). However, the issue is slightly undercut by Barry’s rather frustrating refusal to just TELL HIS WIFE HE’S THE FLASH ALREADY! (Worse, it’ll take eight more issues before he finally tells her the truth.) 

Pets:

• When Mark Mardon was a kid, his brother, Clyde, had a dog named Thunder. In most families, the dog would have belonged to both children, but Mark’s parents made it pretty clear that the dog only belonged to their golden child. 
• Mick Rory’s family owned three cows, two Clydesdale horses, a donkey, a mule, two dogs (Spot and Rover), four cats (Fluffy, Stripey, Mouser, and Mr. Tuxedo), nine sheep, six goats, six to ten pigs (at any given time) and many, many chickens, ducks, and turkeys. They also raised bees. 
• Digger didn’t have any pets growing up, but his family did raise a LOT of sheep. His legal father (Ian Harkness) also had a dog named Fang, who liked Digger about as much as Ian did. Digger speculates that Fang was at least part dingo. 
• Roscoe Dillon’s mother, Rosa, owned a Persian named Priscilla (an anniversary gift from her wealthy husband). Unfortunately for Rosa, Priscilla was even less fond of being hugged than Roscoe was. Roscoe, by contrast, got along splendidly with the cat. Both hated crowds, loud noises, and being touched. Roscoe remembers Priscilla fondly as his most understanding family member. 
• Neither Sam nor Evan had any pets as kids. Sam’s apartment didn’t allow pets; Miss McCulloch would’ve loved for her kids to be able to have pets but didn’t have enough room for them in the orphanage. 
• Hartley’s parents owned a number of thoroughbred horses, several show dogs and show cats, and a wall-sized aquarium full of exotic fish. Most of these were more for show than anything else; Hartley wasn’t supposed to touch any of them without explicit permission. On the one and only occasion a rat made it inside the Rathaway estate, he befriended it…only for his mother to promptly have it killed when she discovered it. Now, of course, Hartley is the proud owner of at least six rats. 
• James Jesse didn’t exactly have pets growing up…but since he got to spend time with lions, tigers, elephants, camels, bears, monkeys, and horses in the circus, he didn’t really care all that much. Putting your head in a lion’s mouth is cooler than having a puppy any day. 
• Leonard and Lisa Snart once made the mistake of bringing home a kitten from a neighbor. Lisa named it Gabriela and was thrilled with her new pet….but when Larry Snart came home and saw the kitten, he promptly drowned it in front of his children. A few years later, Larry brought home a pit bull puppy…and predictably abused it until it was the nightmarish guard dog he wanted. The dog didn’t have a proper name (Larry just called it “you mutt”), but the neighborhood nicknamed it the Hellhound. It lived for a few years before Larry tripped over it whilst drunk and killed it in a rage (although not before the dog did a number on him). This dog is also the reason that both Leonard and Lisa are scared of large dogs. 
• Barry Allen owned a cat named Fluffernutter and a dog named Streak the Wonder Dog (after Green Lantern Alan Scott’s dog).

School headcanons: 

• Mark and Clyde Mardon both ended up being placed into a Spanish I class in their Freshman year of high school (one of Clyde’s classes was cancelled abruptly shortly before the start of the school year, and Mark hadn’t been able to decide what electives he wanted to take). This was the only high school course Mark ever earned an A in, mainly because, unbeknownst to the school, both he and Clyde were bilingual and could speak Spanish better than their Spanish teacher. The only downside was that both of them spent a lot of time being bored out of their minds. 
• The one and only time Barry Allen got detention was due entirely to the fact that he got a tardy slip every day for three months. Once the school caught on to the fact that Barry never missed out on any work, they eventually stopped giving him tardy slips at all, instead simply accepting that Barry being late to everything was a fact of nature. 
• Wally West once got detention for using his super speed to leave the school grounds in order to get Indian food…from India. 
• Leonard Snart never once passed a course (he slept through or outright skipped almost every class), but he was never held back a year. This was because most of the faculty wrote him off as a lost cause by the time he was seven years old. This is why Len can barely read and write and knows almost nothing about literature or history. That being said, Len doesn’t have any particular animosity towards the school system. It did give him and his sister free food, after all. (This free food also resulted in Len having a nearly perfect attendance record before he dropped out. He might not have learned anything, but he wasn’t going to miss out on lunch.) 
• If Sam Scudder had gone to a better school, he probably would’ve been put in either a gifted program of some sort or have been skipped a few grades ahead; he is and always has been extremely intelligent. As it was, he went through all of school (until he dropped out) believing that he was just reasonably clever and kind of a nerd; he still doesn’t really realize how intelligent he actually is. 
• Roscoe was likewise very intelligent, although the fact that he was on the autism spectrum before it was widely recognized meant that he often got himself into trouble at school. When he had teachers who liked him and were understanding of his quirks, he did very well in school, but most of his teachers were demanding and critical. As a result, he didn’t always perform as well as he would have been able to under optimal conditions. Also not helping matters was the fact that his father would denigrate his son for any grade less than an A (no matter the context). He still did well enough to graduate high school with a strong GPA and be accepted into college, but it wasn’t until college that he ever felt comfortable in school. He graduated college (a year early, due to his desire to please his father) with a B.S. in engineering…only for his father to criticize him for not having a high enough college GPA, for not graduating at the top of his class, and for having changed his major from business school (which he had hated) to engineering. Shortly afterwards, Roscoe fell into a particularly bad manic episode, which in turn was a major influence in his decision to become the Top. 

One of the more annoying trends that has appeared in the Flash franchise since the Flashpoint reboot is something that I will call hybridization: the merging of two characters into one character that contains aspects of both. These hybrid characters are invariably characters who share a legacy identity, and the merges often anger the fans of both characters. 

Interestingly, the earliest notable example of hybridization that I can think of in the Flash books actually happened shortly before Flashpoint. In 2004, the original Captain Boomerang, George “Digger” Harkness, was killed in my least favorite event comic in DC history, Identity Crisis. In the same comic, it was revealed that he had a son, Owen Mercer, who became the new Captain Boomerang shortly after his father’s death. From 2004 to 2009, Owen bounced around the DC universe, being at various points a member of the Rogues, a member of the Suicide Squad, and a member of the Outsiders. He also spent a lot of time with Supergirl and the two struck up a weird friendship. However, Geoff Johns eventually decided that he wanted to bring back the original Captain Boomerang, and so, in 2009′s Blackest Night event comic, he turned Owen into an idiotic child murderer and had him killed off so that Digger could be resurrected as a much younger and more attractive man. In effect, when Digger returned to life, he seemed to absorb his son’s appearance, general age, and fashion sense, and Owen was effectively forgotten for a very long time. (In fact, Owen wouldn’t reappear until 2018, and when he did, he was effectively written as an entirely different character…and then apparently forgotten again.) That being said, as Digger basically maintained his own personality without absorbing any of Owen’s personality, this is not the worst example of hybridization in the Flash mythos. 

James Jesse, the original Trickster, and Axel Walker, the second Trickster, had a very odd dynamic pre-Flashpoint, mainly because Axel was the only legacy Rogue to take up the identity of a Rogue who was still alive. From 2002 to 2005, James was reformed, so Axel was effectively the main Trickster until James took up the Trickster identity again in Rogue War. In the course of that storyline, Geoff Johns retconned James’ character development so that his reformation was entirely due to the machinations of a brainwashed and crazy Roscoe, and then had Roscoe revert James back to his original, villainous state. Once he was no longer reformed, James promptly beat the crap out of Axel, too his gear back, and told the kid that if he ever caught Axel in the costume again, Axel would be in big trouble. James was thus the primary Trickster again from 2005 to 2008. Unfortunately, during this period, he only featured in really terrible comics, and, as a result, his characterization was derailed and driven straight off a cliff and into a bottomless pit. And then he died. Now that the original Trickster was dead, Axel took the identity once more. Despite being the only living Trickster from 2008 to 2011, Axel was still distinct from James until Flashpoint. However, once Flashpoint happened and the universe rebooted, James was seemingly erased from existence entirely. In the New 52, Axel was the only Trickster who had ever existed, and, as a result, his characterization started to be blended with James’. He got taller and older, he acted a bit more intelligently than he had before Flashpoint, and he started wearing James’ costumes. He stayed in this odd hybrid state until James returned in 2019. Axel got his original costume back and was firmly established as the younger, less experienced Trickster, while James was re-established as the original Trickster, who was older, more cunning, and more subtle than Axel. While James wasn’t quite the same character as he had been before Flashpoint, he and Axel had at least been differentiated from one another again.  Aaaand then Axel was reverted back to his hybrid Axel/James form as soon as Joshua Williamson left the book. Sigh.

Wally and Barry were also hybridized after Flashpoint. Since Wally had been erased from existence, and Barry had been de-aged, Barry started to take on a number of Wally’s traits. The fact that he was now a young, more inexperienced man made the comparisons to Wally pretty much inevitable, and the fact that some writers started giving him Wally’s cocky nature and sense of humor only made things worse. It was to the point that in team books, Barry effectively became Wally, but with Barry’s name, appearance, and job as a police scientist. Once Wally returned in 2016, Barry lost most of Wally’s traits, but his characterization still hasn’t fully returned to what it was before he was hybridized with his nephew. 

In outside media, hybidization of Barry and Wally had already been fairly common. The 1990s Flash show featured a Flash with Barry’s name, occupation, and general attitude, but Wally’s girlfriend and need to eat constantly, and the DCAU featured a Wally with Barry’s job as a police scientist. However, the New 52 caused the hybridization of Barry and Wally to be taken up to 11. The 2014 Flash TV show, the DC Animated Movie Universe, and the Flash of the DCEU all featured a Flash with the name, appearance, job, and love interests of Barry but with a demeanor that was more than a bit reminiscent of Wally…a problem that has yet to be fully solved. 

And then there’s Sam and Evan. Sam died during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986, and, after a brief vacancy, the mantle was taken by Evan McCulloch, who first appeared in 1989. Over the next twenty years, Evan solidified himself as the new Mirror Master, becoming more well-known and popular than his predecessor, and in 2011, he was not only the sole living Mirror Master but had been so for 22 years. But after Flashpoint, Evan was erased and Sam, after having been dead for 25 years, became the Mirror Master once more. This decision has always puzzled me. Barry, Axel, and Digger were the primary Flash, Trickster, and Captain Boomerang at the time Flashpoint happened. The other characters who had held the mantle were erased. So shouldn’t Evan have remained the Mirror Master? True, he wasn’t the first Mirror Master, but Axel wasn’t the first Trickster. Why didn’t they just erase Sam from existence in the way they did with James? Why bring back a character who had been dead for 25 years? It’s just such a weird choice.

Making the whole thing even more puzzling is the fact that when Sam was brought back, he was promptly hybridized with Evan anyway. While he didn’t pick up the Scottish accent, he did pick up the tooth gap, Evan’s almost supernatural talent with the Mirror Realm, and eventually Evan’s tendencies towards addiction and generally being a human disaster. He also lost his own incredible inventive talents, his showmanship, his cheeky smugness, and every other trait that made Pre-Crisis Sam so much fun. He’s so similar to Evan at this point that if they gave him the accent and called him Evan, he would actually be almost perfectly in-character! What was the point of bringing back Sam if they were just going to make him a less interesting Evan? ARRGH! 

So I went through every Pre-Crisis Flash comic that I own and categorized all 195 stories by the type of threat faced in them. I divided the threat types into seven categories: Supervillains, Aliens, Random Criminals, Evil Foreign Stereotypes, Supernatural Weirdness, Nature, and The Arc That Never Ends (The Trial of the Flash). Here were the results: 

Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt: Turtle Man 

The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier: Mazdan 

The Secret of the Empty Box: Random Criminals 

The Coldest Man on Earth: Captain Cold 

Around the World in 80 Minutes: Random Criminals

Master of the Elements: Albert Desmond 

Giants of the Time-World: Aliens 

The Man Who Changed the Earth: Albert Desmond 

Conqueror From 8 Million B.C.: Alien 

The Master of Mirrors: Mirror Master

Menace of the Super-Gorilla: Grodd

The Pied Piper of Peril: The Pied Piper 

Return of the Super-Gorilla: Grodd

The Amazing Race Against Time: Nature

The Speed of Doom: Aliens 

The Super-Gorilla’s Secret Identity: Grodd

Return of the Mirror-Master: Mirror Master

Secret of the Sunken Satellite: Aliens 

The Challenge of the Weather Wizard: Weather Wizard 

Meet Kid Flash: Nature (in the form of a lion and bear), plus one Random Criminal 

The Invasion of the Cloud Creatures: Aliens 

The Challenge of the Crimson Crows: Nature (a fire) 

The Mystery of Elongated Man: Random Criminals 

Danger on Wheels: Random Criminals 

Danger in the Air: Trickster 

The Man Who Claimed the Earth: Aliens 

The Big Freeze: Captain Cold 

King of the Beatniks: Random criminals 

The Day Flash Weighed 1,000 Pounds: Grodd

The Elongated Man’s Secret Weapon: Aliens 

The Man Who Stole Central City: Aliens

The Race to Thunder Hill: Random Criminals 

Here Comes Captain Boomerang: Captain Boomerang

The Madcap Inventors of Central City: Random Criminals

The Doomed Scarecrow: Random Criminals

The Midnight Peril: Random Criminals and Nature

The Mirror-Master’s Magic Bullet: Mirror Master 

The Elongated Man’s Undersea Trap: Aliens 

Land of Golden Giants: Nature (giants)

The Trickster Strikes Back: Trickster 

The Secret of the Stolen Blueprint: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

Beware the Atomic Grenade: The Top

The Face Behind the Mask: Random Criminals 

The Flash of Two Worlds: Shade, Fiddler, Thinker

Space-Boomerang Trap: Captain Boomerang AND Aliens 

Vengeance Via Television: Random Criminal 

The Conquerors of Time: Aliens

The Doom of the Mirror Flash: Mirror Master

Snare of the Headline Huntress: Random Criminals 

The Reign of the Super-Gorilla: Grodd

The Mystery of the Troubled Boy: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

The Case of the Real-Gone Flash: Abra Kadabra

The Origin of Flash’s Masked Identity: Random Criminals 

Double Danger on Earth: Captain Cold, Trickster, and Nature (Solar radiations) 

Who Doomed the Flash: Mirror Master

Kid Flash Meets the Elongated Man: Weather Wizard

 Captives of the Cosmic Ray: Aliens

The Heaviest Man Alive: Aliens

The Farewell Appearance of Daphne Dean: Random Criminals 

The Plight of the Puppet-Flash: Abra Kadabra

Secret of the Handicapped Boys: Nature

The Man Who Mastered Absolute Zero: Captain Cold

The Threat of the Absent-Minded Professor: Random Criminals 

The Secret of the Three Super-Weapons: Aliens 

The Mirror Master’s Invincible Bodyguards: Mirror Master

Barry Allen-You’re the Flash-And I Can Prove It: Random Criminal 

Vengeance of the Immortal Villain: Vandal Savage

The Pied Piper’s Double Doom: Pied Piper

Mystery of the Matinee Idol: Random Criminals

The Menace of the Reverse-Flash: Reverse-Flash

The Heat is on for Captain Cold: Captain Cold AND Heat Wave 

The Metal-Eater from the Stars: Alien 

The Mystery of Flash’s Third Identity: The Top 

Showdown in Time: Random Criminals 

Perilous Pursuit of the Trickster: The Trickster

Puzzle of the Phantom Plunderers: Aliens 

Trail of the False Green Lanterns: T.O. Morrow

Menace of the Man-Missile: Random Criminal

Lesson for a Star Athlete: Nature and Random Criminals 

The Weather Wizard Blows Up a Storm: Weather Wizard 

The Girl from the Super-Fast Dimension: Nature/Aliens 

The Mirror Master’s Master Stroke: Mirror Master

Fatal Fingers of the Flash: Nature

Our Enemy, the Flash: Reverse Flash and Albert Desmond 

The Day Flash Went Into Orbit: Captain Boomerang

The Doorway to the Unknown: Random Criminals

The Flash’s Sensational Risk: Aliens

Robberies by Magic: Abra Kadabra

Captain Cold’s Polar Perils: Captain Cold

The Touch-and-Steal Bandits: Random Criminals

Invaders from the Dark Dimension: Shade

The Trickster’s Toy Thefts: Trickster 

Case of the Explosive Vegetables: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

The Mightiest Punch of All Time: Reverse Flash and Albert Desmond

The Day Flash Ran Away With Himself: Random Criminals 

Gangster Masquerade: Random Criminals 

The Gauntlet of Super-Villains: Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, the Top, Pied Piper, Heat Wave, AND Grodd

The Super-Hero Who Betrayed the World: Aliens 

Who Stole the Flash’s Super-Speed?: Aliens

The Day Flash Aged 100 Years: The Top 

Battle Against the Breakaway Bandit: Alien 

The One-Man Justice League: Professor Ivo 

The Flash’s Final Fling: Random Criminals 

Big Blast in Rocket City: Random Criminals 

The Case of the Curious Costume: Random Criminals

The Mirror With 20-20 Vision: Mirror Master

Who Haunts the Corridor of Chills?: Alien 

The Flash Stakes His Life-On-You!: Random Criminal 

The Day Magic Exposed Flash’s Secret Identity: Abra Kadabra 

The Flash-Vandal of Central City: Pied Piper 

The Boy Who Lost Touch With the World: Random Criminals 

One Bridegroom Too Many: Reverse Flash (plus cameo by Albert Desmond) 

The Last Stand of the Three-Time Losers: Random Criminals 

Tempting Target for the Temperature Twins: Captain Cold AND Heat Wave

The Real Origin of the Flash: Random Criminals 

The Hypnotic Super-Speedster: Random Criminals 

One of Our Green Lanterns Is Missing: Random Criminals 

The See-Nothing Spells of Abra Kadabra: Abra Kadabra 

Here Lies the Flash-Dead and Unburied: Dr. Light

Grodd Puts the Squeeze on Flash: Grodd

The Machine-Made Robbery: Random Criminals 

Doomward Flight of the Flashes: Alien

Stupendous Triumph of the Six Super-Villains: Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Pied Piper, Captain Boomerang, AND Top

The Race to the End of the Universe: Abra Kadabra and Reverse Flash (plus Weather Wizard cameo) 

Death Stalks the Flash: Supernatural Weirdness 

Professor West-Lost, Strayed, or Stolen?: Random Criminals 

The Swell-Headed Superhero: Trickster

The Flying Samurai: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

The Attack of the Samuroids: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

The Thief Who Stole All the Money in Central City: Abra Kadabra

The Flash’s Super-Speed Phobia: Random Criminals 

The Flash’s Dead Ringer: Random Criminals

Executioner of Central City: Random Criminal 

Threat of the High-Rise Buildings: Aliens 

Time Times Three Equals-?: Reverse-Flash

The Most Colorful Villain of All: Mirror Master 

The Death-Touch of the Blue Ghost: Aliens 

Super-Speed Agent of the Flash: Nature and Random Criminals

Ten Years to Live-One Second to Die: Random Criminals 

How to Invade Earth-Without Really Trying: Aliens 

The Day the Flash Failed: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

Captain Cold Blows His Cool: Captain Cold and Heat Wave 

The Bride Casts Two Shadows: Supernatural Weirdness 

Fugitive From Blind Justice: Random Criminals 

I Open My Mouth–But I Can’t Scream: Supernatural Weirdness

Four-Star Superhero: Random Criminals 

To the Nth Degree: Nature 

No Sad Songs for a Scarlet Speedster: Random Criminals 

Call It-Magic: Supernatural Weirdness 

Flash?–Death Calling: Random Criminals 

Heart of America: Evil Foreign Stereotypes 

The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer: Random Criminals 

The Great Secret Identity Expose: Random Criminals 

The Mind Trap: Supernatural Weirdness 

The Flash of 1,000 Faces: Pied Piper 

The Million Dollar Deathtrap: Mirror Master and the Top

The Slowest Man on Earth: The Turtle 

The Heart That Attacked the World: Weather Wizard and Sinestro 

Green Lantern-Master Criminal of the 25th Century: Reverse-Flash 

The Rag Doll Runs Wild: Ragdoll and Thinker 

The Death-Rattle of the 12-Hour Man: Aliens 

The Fastest Man Dead: Random Criminals 

The Last Day of June is the Last Day of Central City: Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Trickster, Heat Wave, and the Top (posthumously) 

To Believe or Not to Believe: Weather Wizard, Trickster, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Mirror Master, and Mazdan 

Flashback to Danger: Weather Wizard, Trickster, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Mirror Master, and Mazdan 

Prisoner of the Past: Weather Wizard, Trickster, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Golden Glider, and Mazdan 

Heat Wave Plays it Cool: Heat Wave

The Case of the Missing Super-Speed: Random Criminal

Riddle of the Runaway Comic: Random Criminals 

The Last Dance: Reverse-Flash and Clive Yorkin 

The Color Schemes of the Rainbow Raider: Rainbow Raider 

Dr. Alchemy and Mr. Desmond: Albert and Alvin Desmond; Supernatural Weirdness 

The Day It Rained Flash: Albert and Alvin Desmond; Supernatural Weirdness

The Good–the Bad–and the Unexpected: Albert and Alvin Desmond; Supernatural Weirdness  

Mirror, Mirror, Off the Wall: Mirror Master 

Lisa Starts With L and That Stands For Lethal: Golden Glider and the Top; Supernatural Weirdness  

The Top is Alive and Well in Henry Allen: Golden Glider and the Top; Supernatural Weirdness 

Prey for the Piper: Pied Piper 

The Good–the Bad–And the Beautiful: Random Criminal 

Colonel Computron Strikes Back–With a Vengeance: Colonel Computron and Captain Boomerang

Captives of the Boom-Boom-Boomerang: Colonel Computron and Captain Boomerang

Dead Heat for a Scarlet Speedster: Heat Wave and Fake Heat Wave 

The Slayer and the Slain: Reverse-Flash 

Down With the Flash: Pied Piper and The Arc That Never Ends

How to Trash a Flash: Pied Piper and The Arc That Never Ends

Beware the Speed Demons: Pied Piper and The Arc That Never Ends (also Captain Boomerang’s voice) 

The Revenge of the Rogues: Pied Piper, Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, Trickster, Big Sir, and The Arc That Never Ends

Warday: Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, Trickster, Big Sir, and The Arc That Never Ends

Trial and Tribulation: Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, Trickster, Big Sir, and the Arc That Never Ends

Smash-Up: Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, Trickster, Big Sir, and the Arc That Never Ends

Betrayal: The Arc That Never Ends (This issue is 90% reprint) 

The Secret Face of the Flash: Abra Kadabra and the Arc That Never Ends 

Dead Man’s Bluff: Pied Piper and Abra Kadabra; The Arc That Never Ends 

And the Truth Shall Set Him Free: Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Rainbow Raider, Trickster, Weather Wizard, and Captain Boomerang; Abra Kadabra; the Arc That Never Ends 

Good-Bye, Flash: Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Rainbow Raider, Trickster, Weather Wizard, and Captain Boomerang; Abra Kadabra; the Arc That Never Ends 

And here are the totals: 

27 alien stories- 14% of the overall total 

51 Random criminal stories-26% of the overall total 

11 Nature Stories -6% of the total 

10 Supernatural Weirdness Stories-5% of the total 

7 Evil Foreign Stereotype Stories-4% of the total 

12 Stories in the Arc That Never Ends- 6% of the total 

95 Supervillain Stories-49% of the total 

Dr. Light: 1

T.O. Morrow: 1

Professor Ivo: 1 

Sinestro: 1

Vandal Savage: 1 

Ragdoll: 1 

Fiddler: 1

Clive Yorkin: 1 

Turtle: 2

Shade: 2 

Thinker: 2 

Colonel Computron: 2 

Rainbow Raider: 3 

Big Sir: 4

Alvin Desmond: 3

Golden Glider: 3 

Mazdan: 4 

Albert Desmond: 7; 8 if you count the cameo in Flash #165 (2 solo outings; 3 with Alvin; 2 with Eobard) 

Silver Age Grodd: 7 

Silver Age Kadabra: 7 (6 solo outings, 1 with Reverse Flash) 

Bronze Age Kadabra: 4

Total Kadabra: 11

Silver Age Reverse Flash: 6 (5 solo outings, 1 with Kadabra) 

Bronze Age Reverse Flash: 3 

Total Reverse Flash: 9 

Silver Age Weather Wizard: 4 

Bronze Age Weather Wizard: 11

Total Weather Wizard: 15 

Silver Age Heat Wave: 5 (2 with Rogues; 3 with just Capt. Cold) 

Bronze Age Heat Wave: 3 

Total Heat Wave: 8 

Silver Age Pied Piper: 5 (3 solo outings) 

Bronze Age Pied Piper: 10 

Total Pied Piper: 15 

Silver Age Top: 5 (3 solo outings) 

Bronze Age Top: 4 

Total Top: 9 

Silver Age Trickster: 6 (5 solo outings; 1 with Captain Cold) 

Bronze Age Trickster: 10 

Total Trickster: 16 

Silver Age Captain Boomerang: 5 (3 solo outings) 

Bronze Age Captain Boomerang: 9

Total Captain Boomerang: 14 

Silver Age Captain Cold: 10 (5 solo outings; 3 with Heat Wave; 2 with Rogues) 

Bronze Age Captain Cold: 10 

Total Captain Cold: 20 

Silver Age Mirror Master: 11 (9 solo outings; 2 with Rogues) 

Bronze Age Mirror Master: 11

Total Mirror Master: 22-11% of the total! 

There were actually considerably less alien stories-and more random criminal stories- than I was expecting. Also, of the comics that I own, Captain Cold and the Mirror Master are the two villains who appear the most. 

Obviously, this is not an exact count, as there are a number of Bronze Age Flash stories that I do not own (though I basically own the entire Silver Age run, since I have Showcase #4-Flash #199 in trade). 

I asked my criminology professor if I could do my final exam (a paper analyzing a movie or TV show through the lense of a particular theory of criminology) on the 2014 Flash episode “Family of Rogues”. Much to my surprise and pleasure, she said yes. So, if anyone’s interested, here is my almost 8-page college essay on Captain Cold and Golden Glider. 

The Flash, based on the comic book of the same name, is a live-action television program that follows the adventures of Barry Allen, a forensics scientist who gets struck by lightning and gains superhuman speed. It started airing in 2014, and, due to the fact that its protagonist is not only a superhero but also a member of the police, focuses extensively on crime of all stripes, from fairly realistic shootings and thefts to acts of superpowered terrorism to the main character’s own vigilante activities. However, of all the characters on the show, perhaps the most interesting from the perspective of criminology are Leonard and Lisa Snart (alias Captain Cold and the Golden Glider), a brother-sister pair of professional criminals who use fantastic weapons to carry out their crimes. While they appear in a number of different episodes in the show’s first two seasons, the one that provides us with the most information about why they act the way that they do is the third episode of the second season. Entitled “Family of Rogues”, this episode, more than perhaps any other in the series, examines why certain people choose to enter into crime. 

“Family of Rogues” contains four plotlines that interweave throughout the episode, none of which are directly connected to one another. Of these plotlines, three of the four feature no criminal behavior in the present day, and thus can be ignored for the purposes of this paper. All of the present crimes occur in the final and main plot, which focus on Captain Cold, his sister, the Golden Glider, and their father, Lewis Snart. The plot kicks off when the Golden Glider comes to the Flash and his allies (Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow), claiming that her brother has been kidnapped. They are skeptical of her claims, since both she and her brother are career criminals, and become even more skeptical when the Flash tracks down Captain Cold and finds him working alongside their father to steal some blueprints, seemingly of his own free will. Also not helping matters much is the fact that Golden Glider admitted that her brother disappeared whilst the two of them and their frequent partner, serial arsonist Mick Rory (alias Heat Wave) were in the middle of an attempted robbery when she was knocked out and he disappeared. However, when Golden Glider is informed that her brother is working with their father (another known career criminal), she becomes alarmed, insisting that her father is “a bad guy” whom her brother would never work with. When Flash and his partners display skepticism, she pulls her shirt down far enough to reveal a large scar near her collarbone, which she got when her father hit her with a bottle at the age of eight. Evidently, the elder Snart was abusive to both of his children. This is enough to convince the Flash that something might be wrong. He seeks out Cold a second time, with similarly unsuccessful results. Cold is unhelpful, providing little information as to why he’s working with his father and telling the Flash “not to save people who don’t want to be saved”. A few scenes later, Cold, his father, and his father’s lockpick are making plans to steal a well-guarded collection of diamonds when the lockpick, who has already mentioned that he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to break through the high-security lock, insults Captain Cold. Lewis, insistent that only he can speak harshly to his son, promptly murders the man by using a detonator to blow his head off, much to Captain Cold’s obvious horror. The next day, the man’s corpse is discovered by the Flash in his role as Barry Allen, forensic scientist. Since the dead man is a known associate of Lewis Snart, and he seems to have had his head blown off by a thermite bomb that was injected into his neck, Barry comes to the conclusion that Lewis Snart put a bomb in his own daughter’s neck in order to coerce his son into helping to steal the diamonds. While Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, Barry’s allies, work to remove the bomb from the Golden Glider’s neck, Barry again meets up with Captain Cold, tells him he knows how Lewis is keeping him in line, and poses as a criminal named “Sam”, who is an expert at cracking locks, so that he can accompany Cold and Lewis on the crime and prevent Lewis from stealing the diamonds or killing the Golden Glider. After disguising themselves as janitors and bluffing their way past security, Barry uses his super speed to remove the guards from the scene to prevent Lewis from murdering them, and then breaks the code on the lock to the vault. Once this is done, Lewis Snart promptly shoots him. While Barry is able to use his speed to catch the bullet, he plays dead in order to be able to change into the Flash. Captain Cold uses his specialized gun to freeze the laser grid, and Lewis Snart unlocks the vault and starts stealing the diamonds, only for the Flash to arrive on the scene. Lewis immediately orders Cold to kill the Flash, threatening to murder his sister if he doesn’t, but Flash and Cold manage to delay just long enough for the bomb to be removed from the Golden Glider’s neck. As soon as he hears that Lisa is safe, Captain Cold fires his gun straight into his father’s chest, killing him in revenge for the years of abuse his sister suffered at his hands. Notably, he offers no resistance when the Flash takes him to prison, and Barry later visits Cold in prison to tell him that he believes that there is still good in him. After all, if there wasn’t, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to protect his sister. 

The episode Family of Rogues, and, more specifically, the behavior of Leonard and Lisa Snart, is perhaps best looked at from the perspective of differential association theory. Differential association theory suggests that people who commit deviant acts are influenced to do so by primary groups and intimate social contacts, such as family members, neighbors, and close friends. It was proposed and developed by Edwin Sutherland in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and stresses the impact that other people have on an individual’s view of deviant behavior and the law. Individuals learn deviant behavior in the same way they learn non-deviant behavior: they watch it being modeled by their close friends and family members, and eventually come to imitate it. While people do not become delinquent solely by associating with a criminal, when an individual is exposed to a greater number of people who act as though obeying the law is unnecessary or irrelevant than to people who act as though the legal system is important and just, they are more likely to engage in deviant behavior. If an individual grows up around people who teach them that crime is natural or desirable in some way, such as by telling them that victims of assault “got what they deserved” or that people who leave their property unguarded deserve to have their property stolen, they may internalize these views and be more likely to engage in deviant behavior. The theory also states that a person’s ratio of favorable to unfavorable opinions about the law can change over time as a result of an individual’s changing circumstances. As a result, if a formerly deviant individual finds themselves surrounded by people whose views of the law are generally favorable, their own views on the law and deviant behavior are likely to change, and the individual will often become more law-abiding. (Holland, 2021) 

Throughout the episode, the main characters go out of their way to discuss the ways in which Leonard and Lisa Snart adopted the deviant tendencies they saw modeled in the behavior of their father. As a career criminal who was convicted of a number of violent crimes, there seems to be little doubt that Leonard and Lisa would have been exposed to deviant behavior, from both their father and his criminal associates, from a very young age. While both siblings seem to view their father as a monster, with Lisa pointedly describing him as “a bad guy” and Leonard displaying obvious distaste for his willingness to rely on violence and murder rather than on methodical planning, it also seems clear that their deviant behavior stems in large part from having no other real role models. Lisa claims that her brother “practically raised her”, and that, if he hadn’t been there, that she would’ve turned out even worse than she did, something that seems to acknowledge the role her father played in the siblings’ decisions to turn to crime at all, and Barry similarly notes in a conversation with Joe West that he believes that Leonard’s criminal behavior is in large part a direct result of growing up with Lewis Snart as a father. Even if both siblings hate their father for his abusive treatment of them, Lewis Snart still served as their most important role model during their formative years, and it seems probable that his deviant behavior, as well as the apparent lack of punishment he received for abusing them, played a huge role in shaping the way that they view crime. Ironically enough, it was through Lewis Snart’s example that his son was put in the position to murder him. By setting the example that it is normal to harm one’s family members to achieve your own goals, Lewis Snart sowed the seeds for his own demise. 

However, it isn’t just the siblings’ relationship with their father that reinforces their deviant behavior. While this is indeed a major factor, especially in the particular crimes that Leonard is shown commiting in this episode, their relationship with one another also seems to reinforce their criminal behavior. While the two siblings do genuinely love one another, the criminal behavior of each reinforces the criminal behavior of the other. Since they are far closer to one another than they are to anyone else, this means that both look primarily to another criminal when evaluating their deviant behavior. As a result, their already unfavorable opinions about the law are constantly being reinforced by the person to whom they have the strongest emotional ties, and they are both more likely to continue to pursue deviant behavior. For example, the two worked together during the attempted robbery where Leonard was kidnapped, and each sibling no doubt was supporting the other’s decision to go forward with the crime. Furthermore, with the exception of Flash and his team, the only characters the siblings are ever shown interacting with are criminals, such as their partner Mick Rory, who naturally would provide yet more reinforcement for their beliefs about deviant behavior. In other words, their social milieu is uniquely designed to not only accept but encourage criminal activity. 

It is also worth noting that both Snart siblings display less deviant behavior when they spend time with the broadly law-abiding Flash and his team. Lisa, who spends the entire episode in the company of Flash, Cisco Ramon, and Caitlin Snow, actually commits no deviant acts over the course of the episode itself, something that is a stark contrast to the way that she behaved when she was with her brother and Mick Rory. Far from seeking out further opportunities for deviance, she actually seems noticeably ashamed of her previous criminal activity (“How could I get any worse?”) and, even when under extreme stress, manages to remain remarkably polite and friendly towards Cisco and Caitlin. In other words, when she is surrounded by people who are generally law-abiding, her own propensity towards deviant behavior decreases substantially, and, by the end of the episode, she seems to have decided to abandon a life of crime entirely, as she never troubles the Flash or his allies again. Similarly, once Captain Cold becomes convinced that the Flash really does want to help him, he becomes increasingly less hostile and dangerous towards everyone except his father. Furthermore, after he kills his father, he willingly lets the Flash arrest him and take him to prison, whereas in previous episodes he had fought tooth and nail to avoid being captured. When faced with a law-abiding man who actually cares about the well-being of himself and his sister, Captain Cold becomes more willing to question the basis for his own deviant behavior. 

I would argue that differential association theory is the best way to explain the behavior of Leonard and Lisa Snart in this episode primarily because the episode focuses so heavily on the themes of family and relationships. Not only is the role Lewis Snart played in the lives of his children heavily emphasized, but the differences in the way the Snart siblings behave when they work with the largely law-abiding Team Flash and when they work together as criminals are palpable, and reflects the theory’s argument that people’s attitudes towards deviant behavior can change based upon the people with whom they interact. A number of research studies exist that support the idea that frequent association with deviant peers can affect an individual’s likelihood of engaging in delinquent behavior. Tittle, Burke, and Jackson tested their model of differential association with data from people aged 15 and older living in the United States and found that associating with criminals fostered motives for certain crimes, which in turn increased a willingness to consider offending at some future date (McCarthy, 1996), a 1996 study by Eliott and Menard concluded that associations with delinquent peers usually precede delinquent behavior, and a 1994 study by Smith and Brame concluded that delinquent peer associations increase the likelihood of an individual continuing to commit delinquent acts (Holland, 2021). Conversely, studies of the Danish halfway house Skejby, where prisoners and non-offenders live together in the hopes that the non-offenders will instill non-criminal norms in the prisoners, reveal that the recidivism rates for offenders who live here is 21.1% lower than that of prisoners who were sent to halfway houses that did not use this model (Minke, 2011). In other words, the presentation of criminal activity in the episode lines up quite well with the way that researchers have evaluated similar behavior in the real world. Furthermore, the fact that Leonard, who broadly seems to have a longer criminal record and more criminal associates than his sister, is more resistant to abandoning deviant behavior than his sister, something that would also make sense when one considers that his greater involvement in criminal behavior would provide him with more peers who would reinforce his deviant activities. 

However, differential association theory does have limitations, one of which is that it does not adequately explain crimes of passion (e.g., the husband or wife who murders their spouse after discovering them with a lover). Because crimes of passion are usually done in the heat of the moment, the lessons about crime that a person has learned from their associates are unlikely to be a major factor in their decision to commit the crime. Since these are usually acts of violence committed in moments of extreme anger, jealousy, and/or fear, they are not generally affected by one’s attitude towards crime as a whole.  I would argue that this does serve as a problem for this particular analysis; albeit not a major one. The last crime of the episode, Captain Cold’s murder of his father, is in effect a crime of passion. While he’s clearly hated his father for a long time, there’s nothing in the episode that suggests that he was actively plotting the man’s death from the start; the killing instead seems to be motivated predominantly by the fact that his father had threatened his beloved sister with imminent death only seconds before. Many people, even those with no particular criminal tendencies, would be at least tempted to kill someone who had threatened to murder their sister; therefore, his murder of his father really isn’t attributable to differential association theory. 

Overall, however, “Family of Rogues” serves as a surprisingly complex examination of the ways in which one’s family members can encourage people to engage in criminal behavior. While the crime presented in the episode is not wholly realistic-no real-world criminal has a gun that can freeze laser beams, after all-the interpersonal dynamics between the characters do have a basis in real-world research. For all their comic-book-inspired weirdness, Leonard and Lisa Snart are surprisingly complex characters and do a good job of demonstrating the basic tenets of the differential association theory. 

Citations

Holland, D. (2021). Differential Association Theory . Salem Press Encyclopedia . 

McCarthy, B. The attitudes and actions of others: Tutelage and Sutherland’s theory of differential association. British Journal of Criminology. 1996; 36(1):135. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014062

Minke, L. K. (2011). The Effects of Mixing Offenders with Non-Offenders: Findings from a Danish Quasi-Experiment. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology & Crime Prevention, 12(1), 80–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/14043858.2011.561624

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Roy G. Bivolo, alias the Rainbow Raider. Patient displays noticeable low self-esteem, but since he only arrived at Arkham Asylum a few days ago, I have not had time to give him a full psychological evaluation. Session One. Hello, Mr. Bivolo. How are you? 

Rainbow Raider: Confused. Why am I in an insane asylum? I am not insane. I am an artist! It isn’t my fault that no one appreciates my talents! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Bivolo, you were not sent to Arkham Asylum because of your mental state. You were sent here because Iron Heights Penitentiary is currently incapable of housing inmates, and, through a series of baffling bureaucratic and judicial decisions, all of Iron Heights’ costumed criminals were sent here. 

Rainbow Raider: Oh. (Pause) Well, that makes me feel better. I have had more than my fill of people discounting my artistic talents. 

Hugo Strange: So, Mr. Bivolo, why did you take to costumed crime? Your records suggest that your family was quite well-off, and you have a college degree in fine arts. 

Rainbow Raider: Why? Why? I’ll tell you why, Doctor! (Pause) As a boy, I was an artistic prodigy! I had the talent to be the next Michelangelo, the next Picasso, the next Frieda Kahlo! 

Hugo Strange: I’ve seen your work, Mr. Bivolo, and I would be inclined to agree with you. A few of your pieces were included in your files, and they belong in a museum. 

Rainbow Raider: (Upset) Don’t mock me, Doctor! (Pause) I know all too well that I will never be a true artist…for I was born under a curse! While the untalented multitudes have the ability to see the full range of color, I was born colorblind! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Bivolo, colorblindness is a very common condition. 

Rainbow Raider: I am not speaking of red-green colorblindness, Doctor. I am speaking of true color blindness; seeing the world entirely in greyscale! I was born with complete achromatopsia!

Hugo Strange: Is that why…

Rainbow Raider: Yes, Doctor, that is why I am wearing these sunglasses. In addition to my total inability to see the wonders of color, I am also extremely sensitive to light. (Pause) And legally blind. 

Hugo Strange: Do you mean to tell me that you created all of the art in your files while legally blind? 

Rainbow Raider: Yes. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Bivolo, if you are able to create such astonishing art whilst suffering from a severe eye condition, I cannot imagine why you believe that you will never be a true artist. Your work is incredible. 

Rainbow Raider: (Angry) Stop making fun of me! I know that I am a failure as an artist! You don’t have to mock me for it! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Bivolo, I am not making fun of you. I am praising your talent. 

Rainbow Raider: But…but you can’t think I’m talented! The art critics of Central City told me a long time ago that I would never be an artist, and certainly they couldn’t have been wrong! 

Hugo Strange: What on Earth could have prompted an art critic to say something like that? Granted, I am not an art expert, but even I can tell that you are immensely talented. 

Rainbow Raider: Doctor, I cannot distinguish between colors! How can I be a true artist if I can’t use color? 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Bivolo, there is such a thing as black-and-white art. 

Rainbow Raider: I know there is…but…but I certainly couldn’t produce any that was good enough. (Pause) Not only am I colorblind, but I’m so nearsighted I’m legally blind in general. And blind people…blind people can’t make good art. 

Hugo Strange: What? Who told you that? 

Rainbow Raider: Well, nobody’s  directly said it, but I can see it in the way that people react when they learn that I’ve got achromatopsia. When my classmates learned, they started making fun of me. When my teachers learned, they stopped pushing me. And when dealers learn about my condition, they usually refuse to look at my work out-of-hand. As long as I’m colorblind, I’ll never be good enough to be a real artist. (Pause) And it’s not fair! There are so many artists who don’t have half my talent who get money and fame, and I can’t even sell one painting because of my condition! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Bivolo, there are a number of blind artists. Keith Salmon, John Bramblitt, Ersef Armagan…even Claude Monet suffered from vision problems later in his artistic career. Your issue is not your condition. Your issue is your lack of confidence in yourself. You have allowed the prejudices and cruel comments of the people around you to convince you that you will never be a true artist unless you fit their preconceived ideas of what an artist should be. If you realize that your talent is not dependent on your ability to see normally, you will realize what I already do: the fact that you are an astonishingly talented artist. 

Rainbow Raider: You…you really think so? 

Hugo Strange: I do. (Pause) So again, why costumed crime? 

Rainbow Raider: I wanted to get revenge on all those hacks who became famous instead of me. (Pause) And on all those talentless people who got to enjoy the full beauty of priceless works of art when it was denied to me, a true artist! 

Hugo Strange: But I thought you believed that your achromatopsia meant that you could never be a true artist. 

Rainbow Raider: I did. I wanted revenge on them for the fact that they had been able to become famous only through my ill-fortune. They weren’t as talented as me, and yet, due to a cruel twist of fate, they became famous while I languished in obscurity! 

Hugo Strange: I…see. (Pause) You have quite an impressive array of powers, Mr. Bivolo. According to your files, the special goggles you wear allow you to perform all kinds of feats, including riding on rainbows and altering people’s emotions. 

Rainbow Raider: That’s right. They were a gift from my optometrist father before he passed away. 

Hugo Strange: If you have such power, Mr. Bivolo, why did you limit yourself to such relatively petty crimes? Why not use your powers to try to take over the world? (Pause) And why did you never try to sell any of the paintings you stole? Most of them are worth a fortune

Rainbow Raider: Because I don’t care about sordid things like power or money. I am driven by a higher and nobler motivation: art appreciation! 

Hugo Strange: And revenge? 

Rainbow Raider: And revenge. 

Hugo Strange: Interesting. (Pause) Mr. Bivolo, your files state that you are usually a solo operative. Do you ever interact with your city’s other costumed criminals? 

Rainbow Raider: Not often. Most of them are philistines who don’t have the least appreciation for art, and many of them are too violent for my tastes. No matter how angry I may be at the art world…I don’t want anyone to die. (Pause) Also, most of them think I’m a pathetic loser. It’s so unfair! I’m way more powerful than Heat Wave or Captain Boomerang! 

Hugo Strange: Is there anyone that you do get along with, Mr. Bivolo?

Rainbow Raider: Dr. Alchemy. The original, that is, not the redheaded gremlin. 

Hugo Strange: You are friends with Dr. Alchemy? The alter of the unfortunate Dr. Desmond? 

Rainbow Raider: Yes. He’s a little spooky, but he’s a true lover of culture, and we’ve had some really stirring conversations about both literary and artistic masterpieces. 

Hugo Strange: Are you friends with Dr. Desmond or Mr. Element?
Rainbow Raider: No. Just Dr. Alchemy. Dr. Desmond’s all right, but he’s a bit boring and unimaginative. And I’d be more than happy if Mr. Element never appeared again. He makes fun of me, just like everyone else. 

Hugo Strange: You are friends with Dr. Alchemy? 

Rainbow Raider: Yes. I already said that. 

Hugo Strange: He…doesn’t strike me as the sort to make friends. 

Rainbow Raider: He’s not. I’m his only friend. (Pause) Just like he’s-*sigh*- my only friend. 

Hugo Strange: What do you do with the rest of your time? (Pause) When you aren’t robbing museums, that is? 

Rainbow Raider: I draw. Or paint. Or sculpt. (Pause) Creativity is in my very blood, doctor. 

Hugo Strange: I would agree. And because of that, I think that it might be helpful to you if you used your art as a form of therapy.

Rainbow Raider: What do you mean, doctor? 

Hugo Strange: Art is, among other things, a way of expressing one’s feelings and emotions. If you want to be able to recover from your insecurities, anger, and self-doubt, one of the best ways for you to do it would be to put those feelings into your artwork itself. Once you do, you will not only be a healthier person but a better artist as well.

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Joey Monteleone, also known as Tar Pit. Patient displays noticeable feelings of insecurity and inferiority, and the psychological and intelligence tests we gave him upon his admittance to the Asylum indicate that he may have a mild intellectual disability. Session One. So, Joey, how are you feeling today? 

Tar Pit: I’m doin’ okay, Doc. (Pause) In fact, I’m kinda hoping I’ll be able to stay here awhile. I don’t much like Iron Heights. 

Hugo Strange: Given what I have heard about the way in which Warden Wolfe runs his penitentiary, I am not at all surprised that you have no particular fondness for Iron Heights. 

Tar Pit: You got it wrong, Doc. I don’t mind Warden Wolfe. I mean, I’m a tar monster. He can’t exactly hurt me. (Pause) What I don’t like about Iron Heights is the fact that it’s full of my big bro’s thugs. I spent years being pushed around and bossed around by Jack and his guys, and I’m so sick of it. You’d think that me being a giant flaming tar monster would finally get me some respect from him, but nope. He’s still just tryin’ to use me as a puppet for his gang. 

Hugo Strange: So you are not a part of your family’s drug empire, then? 

Tar Pit: Nope. I might’ve grown up in a penthouse, but a lot of my friends were from Skid Row, and they told me all about the way my big bro’s thugs tore their neighborhood apart. Between the dealin’ and the gang wars, they made livin’ on Morrow and Baker Street even more miserable than it already would’ve been. I didn’t want to have anythin’ to do with my family business after I learned about that. 

Hugo Strange: Your brother was already running the Monteleone drug empire when you were a child? 

Tar Pit: Doc, he’s been runnin’ the Monteleone drug empire since before I was born. My old man made Jack his partner in running the drug empire the second Jack turned eighteen, and I wasn’t born until he turned twenty-six.

Hugo Strange: That’s quite an age gap. 

Tar Pit: Yeah, it is. (Pause) Part of it is that we’re only half-brothers. Jack was the son of my old man’s first wife; I’m the son of his favorite mistress. Two years after I was born, Jack’s mom died in a car crash and the old man took my mom as his second wife. That’s when I moved into the penthouse with him and Jack. (Pause) Jack hated both of us. He was way closer to his mom than to our old man, and he said that the old man had gotten her killed so that he could move on to a younger woman. 

Hugo Strange: Do you believe that there was any truth to that allegation? 

Tar Pit: Could be. Our old man was a real piece of work. He had loads of people killed; I’d believe that he’d kill his wife. I mean, he basically killed his second wife. 

Hugo Strange: Your mother? 

Tar Pit: Uh-huh. By the time I was eight, both she and the old man had gotten hooked on the same cocaine that they were sellin’. (Pause)  Mom died of an overdose when I was fifteen, and the old man died of a heart attack three years later. 

Hugo Strange: That must have been a very traumatic experience for you, Joey. 

Tar Pit: Mom’s death was. I could’ve cared less about the old man kicking the bucket. Like I said, he was a real piece of work. (Pause) After they were both dead and buried, Jack tried to get me involved in the drug empire as one of his goons. I said no way was I gonna help make him rich, and so he gave me a couple thousand dollars and a crappy apartment and left me all alone. I’d dropped outta high school when my mom died, so I spent a couple ‘a’ months doing odd jobs before some of my pals talked me into helpin’ ‘em rob a convenience store. I got arrested and sent to Iron Heights, an’ while I was there, I learned about my awesome metahuman power. 

Hugo Strange: Which was? 

Tar Pit: Oh, I can astrally project my mind into stuff an’ make it come to life. (Pause) Used my powers to go on all sortsa joyrides. It was sweet! 

Hugo Strange: And then your mind became stuck in a vat of tar? 

Tar Pit: Yep. 

Hugo Strange: I assume that becoming a tar creature was incredibly distressing for you. 

Tar Pit: Distressing? Are you kidding, dude? Bein’ a giant flaming tar monster is awesome! 

Hugo Strange: (Taken aback) It is? 

Tar Pit: Yeah! I can chuck balls of fire at people and I’m super strong and can’t be hurt! It’s the best! 

Hugo Strange: And you aren’t concerned about the fact that your touch burns almost everything that you touch? 

Tar Pit: Well, that part’s kind of a bummer…but I get to fight the Flash and be on TV! I’m famous, and people don’t think of me as the Candy Man’s kid brother no more! That totally makes up for not bein’ able to touch stuff! (Pause) Besides, it ain’t like I need to eat anymore. 

Hugo Strange: Don’t you have any concerns about how being trapped in the form of a giant flaming tar monster will affect your social relationships? 

Tar Pit: Not really. I still got friends. (Pause) Well, a friend, anyhow. Axel an’ I are tight, man. 

Hugo Strange: Axel? Is in Axel Walker, the second Trickster? 

Tar Pit: That’s the one! He’s an awesome little dude, and  loads of fun to have around. (Pause) Even if he does look like he still hasn’t hit puberty. 

Hugo Strange: What about romance? Are you not concerned that your appearance will affect your chances of getting a date? 

Tar Pit: Naw. (Pause) To be honest, I ain’t really all that interesting in datin’. I seen what love does to people. My mom loved my old man, an’ it ruined her life. (Pause) Besides, who needs girls? Bein’ a giant flaming tar monster is so much better than having dates! Anybody can have a date, but only I can be a tar monster! 

Hugo Strange: And you aren’t at all worried about the fact that becoming a tar monster means that you may never be able to live a normal life? 

Tar Pit: I never had a normal life to begin with, Doc. And between my life before I became Tar Pit and my life after, I’ll take bein’ a giant tar creature everyone besides Jack’s too scared to mess with over bein’ some thug with a gun any day of the week. 

Hugo Strange: So you see your tar form as a defense against being hurt? 

(Pause) 

Tar Pit: I guess so, yeah. (Pause) But even without the protection it gives me, bein’ a tar monster is totally rad! I love bein’ a tar monster! 

Hugo Strange: Well, I suppose that, since the transformation is likely permanent, it’s just as well that you enjoy your new form. (Pause) So, given your impressive strength and power as a tar creature, why do you limit yourself to petty thievery rather than to anything more impressive? 

Tar Pit: Well, I ain’t exactly a criminal mastermind or nothin’. Might as well stick to the stuff I know I’m good at. (Pause) That, an’ if I stick to the small time, I’m less likely to attract the attention of big bro and his goon squad. Bad enough I gotta deal with ‘em in prison. I don’t wanna have to deal with ‘em on the street, too. 

Hugo Strange: But with your powers, are you not more powerful than your brother? While I certainly don’t recommend murder, if you hate him as much as you say you do, why have you not used your powers to force him to leave you alone? 

Tar Pit: Jack’s too smart for that. Not only is he a millionaire with a ton of bodyguards, but he’s got a million backup plans for everything that could go wrong. There’s no way I could get close enough to off him. (Pause) And even if I did, his role’d just get filled by another one of our creep relatives, and I’d be back to square one, but with somebody who’d be even more likely to try an’ have me killed. 

Hugo Strange: So, in spite of all your power, you still fear your older brother? 

Tar Pit: Everybody in the underworld fears the Candy Man, Doc. When Blacksmith’s Network collapsed, he became the most powerful guy in the Twin Cities. Only a moron with a death wish would cross him. (Pause) The only time anyone’s gotten away with it was when Captain Cold and the Top decided to team up against him. And you know how powerful they are. 

Hugo Strange: Captain Cold and the Top? 

Tar Pit: Yeah. You see, a couple years back, my big bro took this guy who called himself Chillblaine onto his payroll as a bodyguard, and, as it turned out, this Chillblaine dude had attacked the Golden Glider and put her into a coma. So Captain Cold and the Top turned up at my bro’s place and demanded that Jack hand the guy over if he didn’t want to have his place destroyed. And Jack actually gave them what they wanted. Needless to say, that was the last anybody heard of that Chillblaine guy. (Pause) The only thing stupider than crossing the Candy Man is attacking the lady who’s not only Captain Cold’s baby sister but also the girlfriend of a freaky telekinetic lunatic. I ain’t exactly a genius, but that Chillblaine dude was too stupid to live. 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) Have you or your brother had any other interactions with Captain Cold and his so-called “Rogues”? 

Tar Pit: Well, Axel’s a Rogue, and I hang out with him plenty…but beyond that, I don’t spend too much time with ‘em. Captain Cold says that I make Heat Wave’s pyromania worse and that he doesn’t want me destroying his hideouts. (Pause) And Jack and the Rogues mostly hate each other. Captain Cold doesn’t want Jack sellin’ any drugs on his turf, and Jack can’t stand that his control of the underworld is being challenged by the son of some low-level hired gun.

Hugo Strange: What do you mean? 

Tar Pit: I mean that Captain Cold’s old man was one of the cops who was on our old man’s payroll back in the day. He was a real small-time player, and the idea that his trailer trash son is challenging the Monteleone crime family makes Jack’s blood boil. (Pause) It also don’t help much that he’s the one who’s supplying the Scottish Mirror Master with cocaine. Captain Cold doesn’t want his guys doin’ drugs. 

Hugo Strange: So there is no love lost between your brother and the Rogues. 

Tar Pit: Pretty much, yeah. Me? I just stay out of it. I got a good thing goin’ here, and I don’t wanna mess it up by gettin’ caught in the middle of a gang war between Jack and the Rogues.

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Owen Mercer, also known as Captain Boomerang, Jr. As that name perhaps implies, he is the son of George Harkness, the original Captain Boomerang. The patient has had a tumultuous home life and obviously has severe abandonment issues, but I have not yet had the time to give him a complete psychological assessment, since he only recently arrived here from Belle Reve Pentientiary.  Session One. How are you today, Owen? 

Owen: I guess I’m doing all right. How are you, Doc? 

Hugo Strange: I am doing very well. Thank you, Owen. (Pause) Young man, your files say that you first met your biological father about a year ago. Is that correct? 

Owen: That’s right, sir. Before that, I’d never met either one of my biological parents. 

Hugo Strange: And what did you think when you learned that your biological father was a costumed criminal? 

Owen: That’s kind of a funny story, actually. I would’ve thought that I would be upset to learn that my dad is a costumed criminal who wears a weird boomerang-print stewardess outfit and calls himself “Captain Boomerang”, but when I actually did learn who he was when I met him, I wasn’t disappointed at all. (Pause) I guess I’m just glad to finally have a dad. 

Hugo Strange: Given your history of being bounced from foster home to foster home, that’s perfectly understandable. (Pause) How did your father react to meeting you for the first time? 

Owen: He was surprised at first, but after that, he seemed really pleased. He told me that he was glad that he was getting to meet the kid he’d given up for adoption and that he’d always kind of wondered what had happened to me. 

Hugo Strange: To be perfectly candid, Owen, if I had not heard your father speak so fondly of you during my interview with him, I would not have believed him capable of concern even for his own son. Why do you think he displays so much concern for you when he so consistently fails to show even basic human decency to anyone else? 

Owen: I’m not really sure. (Pause) Maybe it’s because I remind him of my mother, whoever she was. When we first met, he said that I had her face, and that he was glad that I’d gotten my looks from her side of the family instead of his. 

Hugo Strange: So you don’t know the identity of your biological mother? 

Owen: No, I don’t. 

Hugo Strange: Doesn’t your father know who she was? Why hasn’t he told you? 

Owen: Because he…um…actually doesn’t know. Apparently his memories of his time with her are really fuzzy. All he does remember is that she was, quote, “a beautiful sheila”, and that she was the first person who ever made him feel like he could be “something other than a bogan”. 

Hugo Strange: Well, given your father’s extensive history of alcoholism, it is not terribly surprising that many of his memories would be hazy. (Pause) Perhaps the reason he does not remember the identity of your mother is because he was drunk when you were conceived .

Owen: I…I actually don’t think that’s it. (Pause) Don’t get me wrong, Dad does have a lot of gaps in his memory that are from him drinking, but this is a solid ten-month period of his life that he only vaguely remembers. Even he couldn’t have gotten that drunk. 

Hugo Strange: I concede that it is unlikely that even Mr. Harkness could have been blackout drunk for ten straight months. (Pause) Perhaps some sort of head trauma? 

Owen: Could be. Dad has had four concussions. (Pause) Which also might explain his story behind why he doesn’t remember much about his time with my mother. 

Hugo Strange: What does your father blame for his memory loss? 

Owen: Time travel. 

Hugo Strange: A few months ago, I would have said that the idea of time travel was patently absurd. (Pause) But after having conducted therapy sessions with a talking gorilla, a man who is over two hundred years old, a man who claims to be someone else’s astral twin, a ghost that has taken over and reanimated a corpse, and two different men who claim to be time travelers from different eras, I am afraid that I will not be able to simply dismiss that claim out of hand, no matter how much I might want to do so. Does your father have any idea as to what time period he may have been sent to? 

Owen: He says he’s pretty sure that it was sometime in the future, since he has a vague recollection of people with flying cars and weird jumpsuits, but he doesn’t know much of anything beyond that. (Pause) What’s really weird is that he says he’s time traveled two other times since then. The first time, he was sent to the 17th century and had to team up with the Flash to fight pirates, and the second time he went to the future, where he and the other Rogues helped the Flash to fight Abra Kadabra. He thinks that maybe it was just the shock of the initial round of time traveling that caused him to lose his memory. 

Hugo Strange: That…could be, I suppose. (Pause; hoping to stop talking about time travel) But regardless of why he does not remember your mother’s identity, you believe that his fondness for her is part of why he treats you so well? 

Owen: Yeah. (Pause) That, and I think he likes having someone to teach how to throw boomerangs. 

Hugo Strange: And do you enjoy learning how to throw boomerangs, Owen? 

Owen: I do. It’s a lot of fun, and Dad says I’m a natural. It probably helps that I played a lot of baseball as a kid. (Pause) Of course, my throwing arm’s still got nothing on his. You should see the stunts he can pull off! 

Hugo Strange: Yes, your father’s files go into extensive detail about his skills as a marksman. For all of his many, many failings and character flaws, it is undeniable that your father is highly skilled in his art. 

Owen: To be honest…it’s kind of cool to be the son of the most skilled boomerang thrower in the world. Cooler than being the foster kid who’ll never be adopted, anyhow. (Pause) It wasn’t even that people thought I was going to be a troublemaker or anything. I was just shy, so I got overlooked until I was too old to be cute. Nobody wants to adopt a teenager. 

Hugo Strange: How many foster homes have you been in, Owen? 

Owen: Fourteen, I think. The longest I stayed with any of them was two years. As soon as I would get settled in somewhere, something would happen and I would end up getting sent somewhere else. All of my foster parents were nice, but since I was never with any of them for very long, it wasn’t the same as being raised by actual parents. 

Hugo Strange: That must have been difficult for you, Owen.  

Owen: Like I said, it wasn’t really that bad. I never went hungry and nobody ever hit me or anything like that. I was just that every time I started getting attached to anyone, I would get uprooted again. 

Hugo Strange: Is that why you were so eager to spend time with your biological father even after finding out that he was Captain Boomerang? 

Owen: Probably, yeah. (Pause) I know he’s not really a good person, but…he’s my father. I finally have a father, and I…I don’t want to give that up. 

Hugo Strange: Even if it means putting on a costume, taking up the Captain Boomerang mantle, and becoming a criminal? 

Owen: But I didn’t become a criminal! When I became Captain Boomerang, Jr., I did it to take my dad’s place on the Suicide Squad. He’s getting too old to keep surviving the missions Mrs. Waller gives Task Force X, so I offered to take his place in the field. Mrs. Waller refused at first, since I’m not nearly as experienced as my dad, but then I told her that I was a metahuman. 

Hugo Strange: Given your metahuman power dampener, I assumed as much. What are your abilities? 

Owen: I can throw things at super-speed, mainly. And if I really push myself, I can sprint at super-speed for a few seconds, too. 

Hugo Strange: And because of this power, Mrs. Waller agreed to let you take your father’s place? 

Owen: Yes. (Pause) It’s why Dad was sent here instead of to Belle Reve when Iron Heights was destroyed.

Hugo Strange: Are you telling me that you, a nineteen-year-old boy, willingly signed up to join a black ops team full of hardened killers for the sake of Digger Harkness? 

Owen: I had to. He’s my dad. (Pause) Mrs. Waller sent me here to get psychologically cleared for going on missions. As soon as you do, I’ll be leaving. 

Hugo Strange: Owen, I’m afraid that I will not be able to clear you.

Owen: What do you mean? 

Hugo Strange: I mean that Task Force X is no place for a nineteen-year-old, especially one as lonely and vulnerable as you are. You are, thankfully, not your father; you are not as hard and cold as he is. The missions you’d be sent on as a part of Task Force X would destroy you psychologically. I cannot in good conscience clear you for service with them. 

Owen: But you have to! If you don’t, they’ll take my dad instead. I just found him! I…I don’t want to lose him! 

Hugo Strange: I understand your concern, Owen, but the fact of the matter is that, while your father may be getting older, he is still far more likely to survive a mission with Task Force X than you are. You lack the ruthlessness and cunning that he has in spades, and, as a result, your chances of making it out alive are slim. (Pause) However, I promise you that I will do my level best to protect your father from Mrs. Waller. While we may be allied on the issue of costumed vigilantes, I disagree with many of her policies, and Task Force X is one of them. 

Owen: Well, if you aren’t going to clear me for Task Force X, what are you going to do with me? 

Hugo Strange: (flips through Owen’s files) I am going to send Mrs. Waller a letter stating that you are not fit for service, and then I am going to release you from Arkham Asylum. Since your files corroborate your claim that you are not a criminal, there is no reason for me to keep you here. (Pause) That being said, I would recommend that you seek out some form of outpatient counseling. You are clearly a lonely young man in terrible need of stability and companionship. 

Owen: And you’re gonna keep my dad off the Suicide Squad, right? 

Hugo Strange: As I said, Owen, I will do everything in my power to keep your father from coming to harm. 

Owen: Thanks, Doc! Thanks so much! 

Hugo Strange: It was nothing, Owen. (Pause) Before I end this session, I would like to make one more suggestion. 

Owen: What’s that? 

Hugo Strange: Before you leave Gotham, look up a Dr. Leslie Thompkins. She knows a lot about helping young men who grew up without their fathers, and I believe that meeting with her would be of great help to you.

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Amunet Black, also known as Blacksmith. Patient suffers from Antisocial Personality Disorder. Session One. How are you, Ms. Black? 

Blacksmith: I’ve been better. For fifteen years, I was one of the most influential businesspeople in the Twin Cities, legitimate or otherwise. I made millions of dollars and came within a hair’s breadth of taking complete control of the entire city. (Pause) And now I’m an inmate of an insane asylum. Which is odd, since I am most certainly not insane. 

Hugo Strange: You are not here because of your mental health, Ms. Black. You are here because Iron Heights Penitentiary is currently incapable of housing inmates, and, through a series of idiotic bureaucratic and judicial decisions, it was decided that all of its costumed criminals should be sent to Arkham until such time as Iron Heights is rebuilt.

Blacksmith: Hmmph. If I were still in power in the Twin Cities, that never would have happened. The Twin Cities can call me a supervillain all they like. I was the one who kept order in both cities. It was because of me that the trains ran on time. And it was my organization of the criminal underworld that kept Keystone economically afloat after the collapse of the automobile industry. 

Hugo Strange: Are you referring to your involvement in the underground black market known as the Network? 

Blacksmith: Of course. But as important as the Network was, it composed only a fraction of the investments I had in the Twin Cities. I owned stock in almost all of the Twin Cities’ important businesses, and I had connections in the police department and city hall as well. I was a very powerful woman, Dr. Strange.

Hugo Strange: Your record makes that much obvious, Ms. Black. (Pause) So why risk all that power in a gamble to conquer the city as a costumed supervillain? 

Blacksmith: I was already running the city in all but name. Why not try to make it official? (Pause) I certainly would’ve done a better job than the idiots who are currently in charge. 

Hugo Strange: So you were motivated by a desire for fame and yet more power. 

Blacksmith: Yes. I was the most intelligent, most decisive, and most effective player in the Twin Cities. I deserved to be acknowledged as such, and the Twin Cities would have become a far more profitable business venture if I had been placed at their helm. I am more than competent enough to rule. 

Hugo Strange: What about democracy and the will of the people? 

Blacksmith: Mere words. (Pause) Most people are like sheep, Dr. Strange. They want comfort and certainty and the knowledge that they are being guided by someone more intelligent and powerful than they are. Talk all you want about freedom. That isn’t what people really want. Give them security, and they’ll sacrifice their freedoms in a heartbeat. 

Hugo Strange: But the people of the Twin Cities did not do that, did they? Both Central City and Keystone City joined forces to drive you out of power and have you punished for your attempt to take over their cities without their consent. 

Blacksmith: The common people are fools. They don’t realize what they really want. If it hadn’t been for the interference of the Flash, they would have come to terms with my rule eventually. 

Hugo Strange: Why? Because you would have terrified them into submission? 

Blacksmith: If need be. I was born to rule, Dr. Strange. If that means that I have to use force to maintain my power, so be it. 

Hugo Strange: Well, that certainly explains the number of assassinations that you’re associated with, Ms. Black. (Pause) You are a killer and a tyrant, and it is for the good of the Twin Cities that your efforts to take control of them failed. 

Blacksmith: What of Napoleon and Caesar and Alexander the Great? Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun? They were murders and tyrants, and yet they changed the course of history. Why should I be any different? 

Hugo Strange: You are not different from them, Ms. Black. Just like them, your empire influenced history, and just like theirs, it fell, never to be rebuilt. Tyrants may change the course of history, but in the end, there is always someone who replaces them. 

Blacksmith: Who? Who will replace me? The Flashes? Those high-minded fools refuse to use their power to influence politics at all! The Candyman? Handsome Jack Giacomo? Both of them are too petty; more focused on infighting than on building an underworld whose profits can buoy the Twin Cities. Without me, the underworld will fall into chaos, and Keystone’s industry will fall with it. 

Hugo Strange: I was under the impression that Mr. Snart was the current ruler of Keystone’s underworld, Ms. Black. 

Blacksmith: Captain Cold? (Pause) Don’t make me laugh, doctor. For all his power, he’s a soft touch, and everyone who matters knows it. Oh, he thinks he’s a big name, and he can certainly spook the low-level thugs, but in the end, the only people who care about him and his quaint little code are the pathetic crew of misfits he’s gathered around him. (Pause) It’s a pity, really. Under better direction, some of the Rogues could be a true force to be reckoned with. They have enough power to conquer the globe! And yet they squander their potential playing cops and robbers with the Flash and following the orders of a stupid hick who can barely read! 

Hugo Strange: I take it you aren’t especially fond of Mr. Snart? 

Blacksmith: I am indifferent to him. As long as he and his collection of strays stay out of my way, I have much more important things to worry about. 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) I understand that you are a metahuman, Ms. Black. 

Blacksmith: That is correct. I possess the power to fuse metal with flesh…a power that has become all the more important to me now that my economic and political power have been stripped away. 

Hugo Strange: Losing so much of your life must have been difficult, Ms. Black. 

Blacksmith: It was…but the humiliation I endured has only made me more determined to reclaim my control over the Twin Cities. One day, I will take back everything the Flash took from me and more. 

Hugo Strange: I doubt that, Ms. Black. 

Blacksmith: Oh, really? Thanks to your efforts to remove costumed heroes from the scene, who do you think will be around to stop me once I escape to reclaim my former glory? 

Hugo Strange: The people, Ms. Black. No matter how powerful a tyrant you are, eventually, the good people of the Twin Cities will unite to take their power back. The Twin Cities do not belong to you, or Mr. Snart, or the resident costumed vigilantes, Ms. Black. They belong to the people, and they always will. 

Blacksmith: You underestimate my power, Dr. Strange. 

Hugo Strange: No, Ms. Black. I have dealt with many a power-hungry criminal before, and I assure you of this: you are never as powerful as you think you are.

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Axel Walker, also known as the Trickster. (Pause) And yes, there are two Tricksters as well. This is the younger one, who spells his name with an “x”. Patient suffers from Conduct Disorder. Session One. Hello, Axel.

Trixster: Yo, Doc, what am I doing in the nuthouse? I’m not crazy. 

Hugo Strange: To be honest, I am afraid that I am not sure what you are doing here, either. Regardless of your mental health, this is an institution for adults, and you are a minor. (Pause) If it transpires that your presence here is entirely because you are a costumed criminal, 

Trixster: (Indignant) I’m not a little kid, Doc! I’m almost sixteen! That’s old enough to be tried as an adult. 

Hugo Strange: But were you tried as an adult? 

Trixster: (Reluctantly) No. (Pause) They considered it, ‘cause of the costume, but eventually they decided that I was too small for it to be safe for me to be sent to adult prison. (Pause) Being 5’2” sucks. If I don’t hit my growth spurt soon, I’m gonna lose my mind. It’s so hard to pick up babes when most of ‘em are taller than you are. 

Hugo Strange: You sound almost disappointed that you weren’t tried as an adult. 

Trixster: ‘Cause I was disappointed! You got any idea how hard it is to get street cred as a supervillain when the courts try you as a kid? 

Hugo Strange: Axel, an adult penal facility would be incredibly dangerous for a boy of your age and size. If the courts had tried you as an adult, I dread to think of what might have happened to you. 

Trixster: (Annoyed) I can take care of myself, Doc! I’d be fine! 

Hugo Strange: Against several grown men with a foot or more of height and a hundred pounds on you? I am highly skeptical of that claim, Axel — especially since your file makes it quite clear that you have no metahuman powers. 

Trixster: Who says anyone would be stupid enough to attack me anyhow? Nobody’s gonna mess with Captain Cold. 

Hugo Strange: I fail to see what Mr. Snart’s reputation has to do with your likelihood of being attacked in an adult penal facility, Axel. 

Trixster: ‘Cause I’m a Rogue! Duh! 

Hugo Strange: (Skeptical) You are a Rogue? 

Trixster: You bet I am! 

Hugo Strange: Are you implying that the Rogues, a group of incredibly powerful costumed criminals, all of whom are at least ten years your senior, allowed a powerless juvenile delinquent into their group? 

Trixster: I’m not powerless! I got loads of tricks up my sleeves! Itching powder, weaponized slinkies, exploding bubble gum, the joybuzzers, my t-bombs, the Airwalkers….

Hugo Strange: You have Airwalker shoes? I was under the impression that Mr. Jesse or Reynard or Giuseppi-or whatever his last name actually is-was the sole costumed criminal to use that particular technology. 

Trixster: Well, you thought wrong! (Pause) About a year ago, I broke into one of the Trickster’s warehouses and stole a bunch of his old gear…including a pair of sweet air walking sneakers. I combined parts from some of the stuff to make my T-bombs, souped up the rest of the stuff so it made bigger explosions, and rigged the shoes so that they shot out these awesome jets of fire when I used ‘em. Then I went out to become the new and improved Trixster! 

Hugo Strange: And what did the original Trickster think of that? 

Trixster: Oh, he was ticked. It wasn’t so much that I stole his stuff-apparently he was actually kind of impressed by that part. It was more that I’d taken over his name and his gimmicks without him giving the say-so. (Pause) Not that I care what he thinks or anything. 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) If the original Trickster resents you so much, how did you ever manage to join the Rogues? 

Trixster: I just kept following them, showing up at their hideouts and heists, and bothering them until they agreed to let me join. 

Hugo Strange: Weren’t you at all worried that they might lose their tempers and become violent? After all, this is a group of career criminals we’re talking about. 

Trixster: (Laughs) Worried? Are you crazy? I don’t worry about anything. (Pause) And besides, the Rogues don’t hurt kids. It’s one of Captain Cold’s stupid rules. 

Hugo Strange: Yes, the other Rogues have spoken extensively on the code of behavior that he expects them to hold to. (Pause) So, because of that code of conduct, you managed to annoy your way into the group? 

Trixster: Well, that, and I think the Captain’s actually got a soft spot for me. He won’t admit it, but I can tell. 

Hugo Strange: I suppose that makes sense. Mr. Snart obviously has a habit of adopting strays. A juvenile delinquent foolish enough to try to break into the world of costumed crime would be just the sort of thing to invoke his bizarre protective instincts. 

Trixster: Yeah, the Captain likes to pretend he’s tough, but his bark’s worse than his bite. The Rogues would rule the Twin Cities’ underworld easy if he weren’t such a soft touch. The old geezer’s got a conscience, and everybody knows it. (Pause) Me? I was born without one. Pretty neat, huh? 

Hugo Strange: Yes, I can definitely see why Mr. Snart has an affinity for you. 

Trixster: Whaddaya mean? 

Hugo Strange: I mean that the two of you are more alike than you seem to realize. 

Trixster: Don’t be ridiculous, Doc! I’m nothin’ like that boring, stuffy old man. 

Hugo Strange: Think about it, Axel. Both of you are from broken homes. Both of you have extremely troubled relationships with your fathers. Both of you dropped out of high school, ran away from home, and became involved in crime. Both of you sought out criminal cohorts who behave more like a twisted family than a traditional gang. Both of you hide your insecurities behind larger-than-life personas. And, most importantly, both of you pretend to be colder and more ruthless than you really are in order to protect yourselves. Mr. Snart pretends to be practical, emotionless, and ruthlessly pragmatic; you pretend to be a remorseless, hardened troublemaker. By doing so, you hope to become so tough that nothing will ever hurt you again. (Pause) No wonder Mr. Snart allowed you to join the Rogues. To a great extent, you are what he was probably like at your age. (Brief pause) Although admittedly, Mr. Snart was probably never as much of a try-hard as you seem to be. While you clearly have severe behavioral problems, the way in which you boasted about having no conscience spoke more of an attempt to make yourself seem more impressive than of true psychopathy. 

Trixster: (Angry) You don’t know what you’re talking about, old man! 

Hugo Strange: On the contrary, Axel, I know exactly what I am talking about. You are simply too afraid to admit it to yourself. 

Trixster: I told you, I’m not afraid of anything! (Pause) And I am not like Captain Cold! 

Hugo Strange: Axel, denying your problems and insecurities will only cause them to become worse. In order to achieve healing, you must acknowledge that you need help. 

Trixster: I don’t need help! I’m famous, I’ve got all the street cred I could ever want….

Hugo Strange: And you are a child desperately in need of a father figure. 

Trixster: (Upset) I’ve got father figures, egghead! They’re called the Rogues! 

Hugo Strange: So you admit that you sought out the Rogues to replace your broken family.

(Long pause)

Trixster: (Petulant) You think you’re real smart, don’t you? 

Hugo Strange: My intelligence is not what is at stake here, Axel. I am perfectly comfortable with who I am, and have no need of proving it to a troubled fifteen-year-old. I am simply trying to get you to realize that you need help. (Pause) You are still a boy, Axel. You have more than enough time to turn your life around; time to find real respect and acceptance. You can have a future as something other than a Rogue. 

Trixster: (Muttering) Fat chance. 

Hugo Strange: Axel, you are obviously quite intelligent and resourceful. If you direct your talent and energy to the right pathways, I am certain that you will be able to create a bright future for yourself. 

Trixster: Oh, yeah? If I’m so great, why did my old man walk out on me and mom? Why’d he pay all that money to hire those fancy lawyers so he wouldn’t have to pay child support? Why did nobody care when I started skipping school? If I’m so awesome, why did the police and the Flash only start worrying about me when I put on a costume and started throwing bombs around, huh? Why does a criminal whose life I forced myself into care more about me than my dad? (Pause) All I ever wanted was a little respect from him! And if I can’t have that, I’ll take anything I can get! 

Hugo Strange: Axel, if you want respect-real respect, not the illusory power of “street cred”-you must learn to respect both others and yourself. Attacking others and making your self-worth reliant on your ability to appear tough will only make you miserable. That is what Mr. Snart does, and you know what he is like. He is a deeply unhappy man. If you really wish to not be like him, you must learn to give yourself and others the love and respect your father never gave you. 

Trixster: (Trying to sound tough) I don’t need your advice, old man. I’m finally one of the Rogues, and that gives me everything I need.  I got money, I got power, and I got fame. 

Hugo Strange: But will you have happiness? Most of the Rogues are miserable, Axel. Mr. Dillon has attempted suicide multiple times. Mr. Harkness and Mr. McCulloch spend all of their time chasing their next high. Mr. Scudder is addicted to nicotine and is living in a fantasy world of simplistic heroes and villains in order to escape the pain of real life. Mr. Mardon has tied his identity so utterly to his Weather Wand that he almost cannot exist without it. Miss Snart has tied her happiness to Mr. Dillon, and is miserable whenever he is. Mr. Rathaway gives and gives and gives in the futile hope that he can earn love. Not one of them is truly happy. What makes you think that you will be different?

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Frances Kane, also known as Magenta. Patient suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, a condition which was induced by a particularly unscrupulous therapist, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Session One. So, Miss Kane, how are you feeling? 

Magenta: I heard that Wally West was here, Dr. Strange. Is that true? 

Hugo Strange: Unfortunately, Mr. West has recently escaped from our custody. That being said, we are doing everything in our power to bring him back here so that he can receive the treatment that he needs. (Pause) Why do you ask, Miss Kane? 

Magenta: I’m not Frances, Doctor. I’m Magenta. 

Hugo Strange: My apologies. So, Magenta, what prompted your question about Mr. West? 

Magenta: Because when he gets back here, I’m going to kill him. 

Hugo Strange: Kill him? Why? 

Magenta: Because he ruined my life! 

Hugo Strange: How so? 

Magenta: He wanted to have a girlfriend who was a superhero like he was, so when my powers started to manifest themselves, he forced me into the superhero business. He knew that I didn’t want to fight crime or become famous, but he pushed me into it anyway…and once my powers started to affect my mind and I tried to pull out, he abandoned me! He knew I needed help, but he didn’t care!  

Hugo Strange: You and Mr. West were romantically linked? 

Magenta: Unfortunately, yes. Not that he was much of a boyfriend. You wouldn’t know it to look at him now, but he had quite the wandering eye back in the day. 

Hugo Strange: Did he cheat on you while you were dating, Miss Kane? 

Magenta: Not exactly. But I could always tell that he didn’t think I was good enough for him. Not when there were all those other superheroines around, like Starfire and Raven and Wonder Girl. 

Hugo Strange: I can certainly understand how that might be unsettling. (Pause) Miss Magenta, your files state that your powers first manifested when you were in the car with your father and your brother. Tragically, this led to the car spinning out of control, and your father and brother were both killed in the crash. Shortly afterwards, your mother declared that you were demon-possessed and disowned you. You mentioned that the use of your powers negatively affects your mental health. Perhaps that is because your mind associates the use of your powers with the trauma you suffered when they first manifested themselves. What do you think? 

Magenta: (Defensively) I think that I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve spent years talking about my problems to therapists, and it never helps. 

Hugo Strange: And what do you think will help, Miss Magenta? 

Magenta: Killing Wally. If it wasn’t for him, Frances wouldn’t be such a wreck, and I wouldn’t even exist. Before Kid Flash and his superhero pals sent me to see a therapist, Frances didn’t have a second personality. But they didn’t run a background check on the therapist, and he used my trauma to create a second personality. He wanted to create a superpowered hitwoman, and he almost succeeded. And that would never have happened if Wally hadn’t pushed me so hard to use my powers. Once you become a metahuman, all people want to do is use you for your powers, and he should have known that! He’s a metahuman himself! 

Hugo Strange: I take it that you resent your powers, then? Perfectly understandable, given how much havoc they’ve wreaked upon your life. 

Magenta: Of course I resent them! All I ever wanted was to be a normal Blue Valley teenager…but once my powers manifested, I became a freak! My father and brother died, my mother disowned me-and the boy I’d had a crush on since grade school started dating me only because he thought I was going to become famous like him! (Pause) I didn’t want to be famous! I just wanted to be normal Frances Kane! But thanks to Wally and that blasted Dr. Polaris, I’ll never be anything more than a superpowered lunatic! 

Hugo Strange: Dr. Polaris? The alter of the unfortunate Dr. Neal Emerson? What does he have to do with this? 

Magenta: Dr. Polaris was the one who caused my powers to manifest. Because the two of us have such similar abilities, he was able to activate my latent powers. He was hoping that he would be able to use my powers to escape from the magnetic dimension that the Green Lantern had sent him to. Of course, he eventually managed to escape without me, but the damage had already been done. (Pause) You know what people call me behind my back? “Magenta, the magnetic witch”! His actions caused me to become a female version of him…split personality and all. If I ever find him…he’ll wish he had stayed in that magnetic dimension! 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) Are there any ways in which your powers differ from those of Dr. Emerson? 

Magenta: I don’t know enough about Dr. Polaris to say for sure. Even though he helped to ruin my life, the two of us have never actually met in the flesh. (Pause) That being said, given what I’ve heard about his abilities, I would guess that he’s slightly more powerful than I am. I don’t think that I could alter the Earth’s magnetic fields enough to threaten the destruction of the planet in the way that he did. 

Hugo Strange: Interesting. (Pause) Given what you’ve told me, I think it would be reasonable to conclude that the conflict between costumed vigilantes and costumed criminals has wreaked considerable havoc on your life. While it’s possible that your metahuman powers would have emerged regardless, they likely would not have impacted your life so negatively had you not been used as a pawn by so-called superheroes and metahuman criminals alike. 

Magenta: You can say that again, doctor. The little games the costumed crowd plays…they’ve ruined my life! If I could come up with a way to put an end to it all, I’d do it gladly. 

Hugo Strange: In that case, Miss Magenta, you will be no doubt pleased to hear that I am part of an organized federal effort to rid the world of costumed vigilantes. 

Magenta: That sounds wonderful, Dr. Strange. Where do I sign up? 

Hugo Strange: You don’t. Not yet, at any rate. While I fully sympathize with your desire to prevent the reckless actions of vigilantes from further endangering society, I am afraid that I cannot condone your murderous intentions. My goal is to help these individuals, vigilantes and costumed criminals alike, become productive members of society, not to kill them. (Pause) What is more, you are still dealing with unresolved trauma from the loss of your family. Before you move forward in your life, you must come to terms with your past. I know that it will be difficult, Miss Magenta, but rest assured that I will help you do it. 

Magenta: Well, if you really mean it…Frances could probably use the help. 

Hugo Strange: In that case, may I speak with her? 

Magenta: Sure. 

(Pause) 

Hugo Strange: Miss Kane? 

Frances: (In a voice similar to, but distinct from, Magenta’s) I’m here, Dr. Strange. 

Hugo Strange: It’s nice to meet you, Miss Kane. How are you feeling? 

Frances: I’m okay. I’m just glad I managed to get myself checked into a mental hospital before I hurt anyone this time. 

Hugo Strange: And I am glad that you recognize your need for therapy, Miss Kane. It’s vanishingly uncommon in the costumed crowd. 

Frances: (laughs weakly) Well, most of them probably don’t have as many issues as I do. 

Hugo Strange: You would be surprised, Miss Kane. (Pause) Your willingness to seek therapy is especially commendable given the abuse you suffered at the hands of a disgrace to the psychiatric profession. 

Frances: Thank you, Dr. Strange. (Pause) If you…if you manage to recapture Wally, make sure that you don’t let me near him. I don’t want to risk Magenta hurting him. He’s really a sweet guy. 

Hugo Strange: That’s not what Magenta seems to think. 

Frances: Magenta is…she’s angry and looking for someone to blame, and, after our bad break-up, Wally was a convenient scapegoat. (Pause) Don’t get me wrong, Wally was a real jerk when he was twenty, but he wasn’t single-handedly responsible for the bad things that happened to me. And what’s more, he’s changed and matured and become a better guy. He and I made up a long time ago. We’ve been friends for almost three years now, and he’s done everything he can to make up for the way he treated me back then. If it wasn’t for him, my mental state would be much worse right now. 

Hugo Strange: So you possesses no ill will towards Mr. West? 

Frances: Not at all. (Pause) So you will keep him safe from Magenta? 

Hugo Strange: Of course I will. The health and well-being of my patients is my top priority. 

Frances: Good. (Pause) To be honest, I think Wally could really use the help. His parents were almost as awful to him as my mother was to me. When we were kids, we used to commiserate about our awful home lives, and even though he eventually got taken in by his Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry, I’m not sure he ever really got over it. Or that anyone ever does without help. 

Hugo Strange: Trust me, Miss Kane. I will do everything in my power to ensure that both you and Mr. West recover from your illnesses. 

Frances: I’m glad to hear that, Dr. Strange. After all the craziness of my life, I’d like nothing more than to finally be able to live a normal life. (Pause) I just hope that Wally will eventually feel the same way. He’s become a great guy, so I hope that you can help him realize that he doesn’t have to be a superhero to be special.

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Richard Swift, also known as the Shade. Patient displays signs of depression. Session One. Hello, Mr. Swift. 

The Shade: Good morrow to you, Dr. Strange. (Pause) Would you care for some tea? 

Hugo Strange: Tea? (Tea set suddenly lands on Hugo Strange’s desk with a “clink!” sound) 

The Shade: Yes, tea. I’ve found that a nice cup of tea makes almost any situation more pleasant…even being locked in a sanatorium in spite of being sound of mind and able of body. 

Hugo Strange: Yes, I would like to apologize for that. When Iron Heights Penitentiary was partially destroyed, a bewildering series of bureaucratic decisions led to all of the costumed criminals being transferred here, regardless of whether or not they were actually mentally ill. I had no control over it. 

The Shade: I understand completely, Dr. Strange. Having been subject to the whims of your American bureaucracy for many decades now, I know all too well how it can twist and turn. (Pause) Tea?

Dr. Strange: It is against Asylum policy for me to take gifts from the patients, I’m afraid. 

The Shade: On my honor as a gentleman, it is not poisoned.

Dr. Strange: That’s not it. The policy is in place to avoid any conflicts of interest, not to avoid poison. (Pause) Although knowing some of my patients, the fact that it helps me to avoid potential toxins is an added bonus. 

The Shade: A pity. The tea really is quite good. (Pause) Oh, well. More for me, I suppose. (Sound of the Shade pouring tea into teacup) So, Dr. Strange, what can I do for you? 

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, you mentioned having been subjected to American bureaucracy for many decades. That strikes me as a slightly odd turn of phrase for a man who cannot possibly be more than thirty years old. 

The Shade: I am afraid you are mistaken, Dr. Strange. While I admit that I have aged remarkably well, the fact of the matter is that I am over two hundred years old. 

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, that is patently absurd. 

The Shade: In a world with aliens, men who can run faster than any horseless carriage, women with sonic screams, and children who can transform themselves into green animals, is an exceptionally long-lived man really that improbable? 

Dr. Strange: I suppose not. (Pause) So, Mr. Swift, are you a metahuman? 

The Shade: I must admit to never having taken a shine to that term. It sounds so…pedestrian. (Pause) But I suppose that that is neither here nor there. Yes, I am a metahuman.

Dr. Strange: And what are your powers? 

The Shade: Aside from being immortal, I am at present the most skilled wielder of the power of an extradimensional world known as the Darklands. In practical terms, that means that I can animate and manipulate shadows. 

Dr. Strange: If you are such a powerful metahuman, Mr. Swift, why aren’t you wearing a metahuman power dampener? 

The Shade: (chuckles) I’m immune to them, Dr. Strange. 

Dr. Strange: (Alarmed) Then why haven’t you already escaped? 

The Shade: Ennui, I suppose. When you have lived as long as I have, doctor, it does become hard to come upon new experiences. And, as unpleasant as it may be, being incarcerated in a sanatorium is at least a novel experience for me. 

Dr. Strange: A…sanitorium? Exactly how old are you, Mr. Swift? 

The Shade: Let’s see…I acquired my powers and became immortal in 1838, at the age of twenty-five. That means I would have been born in 1813. 

Dr. Strange: 1813? Do you mean to tell me that you were a contemporary of Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens? 

The Shade: Indeed. In point of fact, I was good friends with Mr. Dickens before his unfortunate passing. 

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, if you’re really as old as you say you are, you’ve lived through the Industrial Revolution, the American Civil War, the height of the British Empire, World War I, World War II, the Cold War….

The Shade: The Crimean War, the Boer War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Russian Revolution, the Suffragist Movement, the birth of psychology itself….yes, Dr. Strange, I have lived a tumultuous life.

Dr. Strange: How have you not become overwhelmed by it all? 

The Shade: Once everyone you ever knew has died, you tend to become a bit detached from the world…and I’ve lost everyone I ever knew twice over. My mother and father and brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews are all long dead. The first woman I ever loved died centuries ago, and the second and the third and the fourth died as well. Eventually, I stopped caring so much, and that made things much easier. When you are no longer worried about specific individuals, you start to realize just how cyclic and repetitive history is. (Pause) I think the only reason history repeats is because almost no one lives long enough to see the pattern firsthand. 

Dr. Strange: (Flipping through the Shade’s files) Mr. Swift, it is not healthy to live life detached from humanity. 

The Shade: If I were still human, I might agree. But I stopped being human nearly two centuries ago. 

Dr. Strange: What do you mean, Mr. Swift? 

The Shade: When I gained my metahuman powers, I was transformed. I did not become an enhanced human like the esteemed Mr. Garrick. I became something else…something both more and less than human. I may look human, but I do not believe I am human anymore. Humans don’t have ink running in their veins in place of blood. 

Dr. Strange: In speaking of Mr. Garrick…your records claim that you started fighting the original Flash in the 1940s. Is that correct? 

The Shade: Yes, it is. I had immigrated to the United States from my native England thirty years before, and I had already grown bored of the new country. For someone who had already traveled the world, there was only so much to see even in a country as large as this one. And then the Mystery Men exploded onto the scene. Metahumans had existed before that, of course, but never had there been so many in the same place at once. Suddenly, there was a costumed crimefighter on every block..and a dozen costumed criminals to fight every one of them. It was life on a level I had never before imagined, and so I decided I had to join in. Since Mr. Garrick’s speed seemed like it would pose the biggest challenge to me, I moved to Keystone City-this was long before it became a wasteland after the departure of the automotive industry-and joined into the pageantry. It was the most fun I’d had in years. Why, if the Mystery Men hadn’t appeared of their own accord, I would have had to create them. 

Dr. Strange: So you used the rise of these costumed vigilantes as a way to alleviate your own boredom? 

The Shade: Yes, I did. Of course, my cohorts had no idea I was merely playing a part. The Thinker and the Fiddler and the Ragdoll and dear Rose and Thorn…they all believed that I was one of them; another mad genius out to make themselves wealthy and powerful at the expense of the world. If I had told them that I was already wealthy from my long life and many travels, it would have ruined the grand charade. 

Dr. Strange: And what did you do after Mr. Garrick went into retirement? 

The Shade: I moved to Opal City. I was planning to try my hand at fighting Starman-the original one, Ted Knight-but the Mist made it very clear that he wasn’t going to let anyone else play in his city, so instead I simply settled down in Opal for a few decades. I was starting to get a bit bored with the whole supervillain game anyhow. (Pause) When young Barry Allen came onto the scene and pulled Mr. Garrick out of retirement, I decided to return to the game for old time’s sake, and I moved back to Keystone City. But in my black void that passes for my heart of hearts, Opal City is my true home. As long as Mr. Garrick lives, I will stay in Keystone, but when he is gone, I will return home. 

Dr. Strange: So you play at being a supervillain…because of nostalgia? 

The Shade: I suppose I do. It is a reminder of happier times; of a time before the Mystery Men stopped being such a mystery. (Pause) But such is the nature of life.

Dr. Strange: Do you…do you have any friends, Mr. Swift? 

The Shade: Mr. Dickens and Mr. Oscar Wilde come to mind. 

Dr. Strange: Let me clarify, Mr. Swift. Do you have any living friends? 

The Shade: I do: Mr. Garrick, Mr. Isaac Bowin, and Mr. Clifford DeVoe. (Pause) And the charming Mrs. Joan Garrick, of course. 

Dr. Strange: Let me clarify again. Do you have any living friends who aren’t over a hundred years old? 

The Shade: It seems rather unfair of you to keep moving the goalposts in this manner, Dr. Strange, but very well. I do indeed have friends who are under one hundred years of age. Young Mr. Barry Allen is a worthy successor to Mr. Garrick, and the stunning Mrs. Iris Allen is a delightful spitfire. Similarly, the very young Mr. West is likewise a worthy carrier of the Flash mantle, and his lovely wife, Mrs. Linda Park-West, is an intelligent, driven woman. 

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, do you have any living friends who aren’t in some way related to your apparent glory days as an enemy of the original Flash?

The Shade: (Frustrated) Yes. During my days in Opal City, I befriended the O’Dare family, and I keep tabs on them even now. Young Hope O’Dare shows particular promise. 

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, you haven’t left the Twin Cities for almost two decades now. Have you spoken to any of these O’Dares at all in that time? 

The Shade: Well…no….

Dr. Strange: Why not, Mr. Swift? 

The Shade: (Awkwardly, taken off-guard) Well, I have been rather busy. 

Dr. Strange: Busy doing what?

The Shade: Well…I….

Dr. Strange: You’ve been fighting the Flashes and escaping prisons, haven’t you, Mr. Swift? 

The Shade: Well, yes, but…

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, you’ve stopped living. 

The Shade: If I wanted psychoanalysis, Dr. Strange, I would have scheduled an appointment with Mr. Sigmund Freud while he was still living. 

Dr. Strange: Mr. Swift, when you moved to Opal City and were prevented from battling Starman, you started living for the first time in years. You spent well over a decade living an imaginary life as the Shade, a villain of the Flash; the Mist forced you to become Richard Swift again. And when you did, what happened? 

The Shade: Dr. Strange, I must protest. This is-

Dr. Strange: (Interrupting) You found a home. You found friends. You found new things you enjoyed…and that frightened you. Having already lived for over a century, you’d seen all your friends and loved ones die…and you couldn’t bear to have it happen again. So, when Mr. Garrick resurfaced, you hid yourself back in your imaginary life. As long as you could playact as the Flash’s villain, you wouldn’t have to acknowledge how afraid you were of losing your new friends and loved ones…including Mr. Garrick. As long as Mr. Garrick is the Flash, he’s not a man. He’s a symbol, a legend…and that means he can’t die. (Pause) Immortal though you may be, Mr. Swift, you’re terrified of death. 

The Shade: (A little too forcefully) Don’t be absurd, Dr. Strange. I accepted that I would outlive everyone I ever met long ago. What you call fear, I call acceptance of the inevitable. 

Dr. Strange: Oh, really? (Pause) Well, in that case, you won’t care if I have my guards execute Mr. Garrick. 

The Shade: Considering Mr. Garrick is not here, that is a rather empty threat, Dr. Strange. 

Dr. Strange: That’s where you are mistaken, Mr. Swift. Thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Amanda Waller, costumed vigilantes are no longer tolerated, and Mr. Garrick and Mr. Allen were both transported to this facility a few days ago, pending their trials. (Pause) We’re still trying to track down Mr. West, but even he cannot run forever. 

The Shade: And how do I know that you are telling the truth? 

Dr. Strange: See for yourself, Mr. Swift. (Turns on a screen) This is footage of Mr. Garrick from a few days ago. 

Jay Garrick: I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Dr. Strange, but I can tell you this: you won’t get away with it! Justice will prevail! 

Dr. Strange: As you can see, we do indeed have Mr. Garrick housed here. But if you have really accepted death as you say, you won’t care if I kill him. After all, we are running rather low on space here at Arkham, and the population is likely only going to grow as the government rounds up all these costumed vigilantes. (Pulls out walkie-talkie) Guards, take Mr. Garrick to the infirmary and euthanize him.

The Shade: NO! No, you cannot kill him! I will not let you!

Dr. Strange: Why do you care? You will soon outlive him anyway? (Noise of shadow powers expanding and filling the room) 

The Shade: (Icily) If you do not rescind that order at once, I will unleash the full power of the Darklands upon you. 

Dr. Strange: (Calmly) No need. The command was fake. (Pause) Mr. Garrick is indeed being treated here, but I do not euthanize my patients, especially not ones who are as noble, if misguided, as Mr. Garrick. This was simply…a test. 

The Shade: (Coldy furious) A test? 

Dr. Strange: Yes, to see how afraid of death you really were. And I was right. You are afraid of death. Or rather, you’re afraid of being left alone again. If you weren’t, you would not have reacted so strongly to my supposed threat on Mr. Garrick’s life. 

The Shade: (Cold) Very well, Dr. Strange. Perhaps you are right. (Pause) But I warn you, Dr. Strange, you are trifling with forces far beyond your understanding. (Shadow noises get more intense)  I would advise you not to give me such a test again. 

Dr. Strange: (Finally a bit nervous) I don’t think that will be necessary, Mr. Swift. 

The Shade: (Suddenly calm) Good. (Pours another cup of tea) Same time tomorrow, then? Excellent. I’ll bring the tea.

Hugo Strange:  From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Grodd, also known as Gorilla Grodd. Patient suffers from Antisocial Personality Disorder and delusions of grandeur. Or at least, that would be my diagnosis were he human. But he is not human. He is a Gorilla beringei graueri,  or Eastern Lowland Gorilla. (Pause) Yes. He’s a gorilla. I am conducting a therapy session with a hyper-intelligent gorilla which speaks perfect English. 

Gorilla Grodd: And I am listening to the idiotic ramblings of a self-important Homo sapien. Your point, human? 

Hugo Strange: Fair enough, Mr. Grodd. (Pause) At any rate, since I do not know if a hyper-intelligent gorilla can properly be diagnosed with human psychological conditions, I may as well leave the precise psychological analysis behind and begin the session. Session One. So, Mr. Grodd, how are you feeling? 

Gorilla Grodd: Emperor Grodd to you, human. 

Hugo Strange: (Slightly nervous) Very well. I shall address you by your preferred title. (Pause) Where exactly do you come from, Emperor Grodd? 

Gorilla Grodd: I hail from a secret city of hyper-advanced gorillas. It is located in the heart of Africa, and it is hidden from prying human eyes by a forcefield more advanced than anything your primitive culture has yet created. (Pause) You humans have given it the remarkably uncreative name of Gorilla City. 

Hugo Strange: What do you call your city? 

Gorilla Grodd: We call our city by a name from our native language, one that is unpronounceable to you humans. (Pause) However, the closest English translation would probably be the City of Knowledge and Transcendence. 

Hugo Strange: How large is the population of this city? 

Gorilla Grodd: Do you honestly imagine me to be so foolish as to give away information that could potentially be used against me in battle, human? 

Hugo Strange: My apologies. I didn’t intend to intrude on the security of your city. (Pause) How did you and your compatriots gain your vast knowledge and intelligence? 

Gorilla Grodd: They were gifts to our ancestors from the stars above. Centuries ago, a meteor landed near the site where the City of Knowledge and Transcendence was founded, and its radiation mutated our ancestors, who had previously been ordinary gorillas, into beings of great knowledge and mental powers. With this knowledge and power, they created a city far more advanced than you primitive humans could ever dream of creating. It is a city of prosperity, learning, and culture, but it will soon be more. Much, much more. 

Hugo Strange: What will it be, Emperor Grodd? 

Gorilla Grodd: It will be a hub of a vast empire under my command…as soon as I depose that weak-willed, peace-loving fool Solovar, that is. 

Hugo Strange: Solovar? Who is Solovar? 

Gorilla Grodd: The current ruler of the City of Knowledge and Transcendence. He and his sycophantic council waste our race’s vast potential, choosing to hide behind our forcefield barrier and parlay with an inferior species rather than use our mental powers, vast intelligence, formidable technology, superior strength, and far more appealing facial features to conquer this world in our own name! 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) What sort of mental powers do you and your species possess, Emperor Grodd? 

Gorilla Grodd: All of us are telepathic and telekinetic. However, the false king Solovar and I also possess a more formidable power: the Force of Mind. With this power, we can bend the minds of others to our whims or launch powerful psychic attacks against our foes. Solovar is too weak to use his Force of Mind powers to their truest extent, but I have no such restraint. 

Hugo Strange: And how do these powers compare to those of Mr. Dillon?  

Gorilla Grodd: (Furious) You dare to compare my superior mental powers to those of a primitive human? 

Hugo Strange: (Quickly) I did not mean to imply that his powers were in any way as impressive as yours, Emperor Grodd. I simply wished to understand how your powers are so much more effective and dangerous than his are. 

Gorilla Grodd: (Mostly mollified) I am glad to see you recognize the inferiority of your barbaric species, human. (Pause) In addition to being limited by his primitive human brain, the Top’s powers are predominantly telekinetic in nature. While he does have the power to induce vertigo, and a very limited ability to alter behavior, he is not telepathic and cannot fully overwhelm the will of others in the way my Force of Mind so easily can. Nor can he launch proper psychic attacks. His vertigo ability is disorienting, but it pales in comparison to the psychic attack of an inhabitant of the City of Knowledge and Transcendence. (Pause) That being said, his powers are rather impressive for a member of your species. Perhaps that is why you humans seem to find his behavior so odd. His primitive human mind simply cannot properly cope with the powers it has been given. 

Hugo Strange: A very interesting theory, Emperor Grodd. (Pause) So, when you aren’t trying to dethrone Solovar or conquer the world, what do you do? 

Gorilla Grodd: Even by the standards of my species, I am a very talented scientist. Prior to my first attempt to overthrow Solovar’s weak, isolationist reign, I invented many of the City of Knowledge and Transcendence’s most useful devices and completely revolutionized our transportation system as well. (Pause) By the standards of your species, I am a scientific genius without peer. Even Alexander Luthor has not a fraction of my intelligence. 

Hugo Strange: You’ve met Lex Luthor? The multi-billionaire head of Lexcorp? 

Gorilla Grodd: Unfortunately, I have had to lower myself to working with him on more than one occasion. (Pause) Politics makes for strange, disgustingly hairless bedfellows. 

Hugo Strange: Have you ever met anyone that you did consider your intellectual equal, Emperor Grodd? 

Gorilla Grodd: Two, actually. For all of his weakness, I must admit that Solovar is brilliant. Loathe as I am to admit it, there is a reason that he has managed to thwart my attempts to permanently overthrow him. 

Hugo Strange: And who is the other? 

Gorilla Grodd: The other? That would be the Brainiac, the hyper-advanced android of the planet Colu. He is an intergalactic knowledge collector. 

Hugo Strange: You’re quite well-connected, Emperor Grodd. 

Gorilla Grodd: Are you really surprised that I would associate with another ruler, human? After all, I am Grodd the conqueror! This world will fall to me, for it is mine by right! 

Hugo Strange: And once you do take over the planet? 

Gorilla Grodd: All shall kneel before Grodd! (Pause) And then I will transform all of you disgusting humans into better-smelling and much more aesthetically pleasing apes! 

Hugo Strange: Your master plan of conquest involves transforming the entire human race into gorillas? 

Gorilla Grodd: (Threateningly) Would you rather my gorilla army and I devoured all of your primitive brains instead?

Hugo Strange: (Nervous) O-of course not, Emperor Grodd.

Gorilla Grodd: That is what I thought you would say. (Pause) Of course, I will probably eat a few human brains regardless. Your brains aren’t of much use for actual thinking, but they do make a surprisingly tasteful delicacy. 

Hugo Strange: (Horrified) You’re a cannibal? 

Gorilla Grodd: Of course not! 

Hugo Strange: (Confused) But you just said that you’ve eaten brains! 

Gorilla Grodd: I did. But that does not make me a cannibal. A cannibal eats members of their own species. Humans are not my species, so I am not a cannibal. I am an anthropophagus. 

Hugo Strange: But you admit to eating people. 

Gorilla Grodd: Yes. And because of that, I would suggest that you not make any attempt to prevent me from escaping from this primitive penal facility. My Force of Mind powers will override any attempt you make regardless, but if you do as I say, I will refrain from eating your brains right now. 

Hugo Strange: You…you’re free to go. Arkham Asylum doesn’t have the necessary treatments for a member of your advanced species anyhow. 

Gorilla Grodd: Thank you for your hospitality, human.

Hugo Strange:  From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Lashawna Baez, alias Peek-a-Boo. Patient suffers from Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Session One. Hello, Miss Baez. How are you doing? 

Peek-a-Boo: Why do you care? I’m a Rogue, remember? Just lock me up and throw away the key. That’s what Keystone did. 

Hugo Strange: I wasn’t aware you were a member of the Rogues, Miss Baez. Your file suggests that you always work alone. 

Peek-a-Boo: Not a Rogue as in the Rogues. A Rogue as in a costumed criminal. 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) I understand that you’re a metahuman, Miss Baez. Would you care to elaborate on that? 

Peek-a-Boo: I can teleport. Unfortunately, every time I do it, it causes a localized explosion. I was hoping to be able to overcome it, and maybe even use it in my career as a doctor, but a year after I entered medical school, dad’s kidneys started to fail. My mom had died of lung cancer when I was six, and I don’t have siblings, so I had to take care of him by myself. After awhile, it became too much for me to balance my classes with taking care of Dad. Dad wanted me to stay in school, because he had been so proud of me for being the first member of our family to go to college, but I couldn’t just leave him alone at home. What if he got really sick when I wasn’t home? So I dropped out. I tried everything to get him a new kidney, but we were poor and black, so we kept getting pushed back on the list. After a couple years, it was pretty clear that dad was never getting his kidney, so I made the really stupid decision to take the kidney by force. I knew that it was wrong, but I convinced myself that I’d been wronged first, and that that justified what I was about to do. The Flash-Wally West, not Barry Allen-stopped me. I’m pretty sure he thought I’d get community service or something, seeing as I didn’t have any previous criminal record, but because I was a metahuman, I got sent to Iron Heights instead. 

Hugo Strange: If that’s the case, Miss Baez, why is your record so extensive? Your files list several thefts prior to your arrest for the attempted kidney theft. 

Peek-a-Boo: That…that was Warden Wolfe. When the Flash learned that I’d been sent to Iron Heights, he tried to get me out, but as soon as I was put into Iron Heights’ system, Wolfe had my records altered so that he could justify keeping me in Iron Heights with the other “metahuman freaks”. Wally’s been trying to prove what he’s done ever since, but it hasn’t done any good. Nobody in power cares about what happens to a metahuman criminal-especially not a poor, black one. I’m just another superpowered thug now. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Desmond mentioned that metahuman inmates are kept in a separate wing of the prison called the Pipeline. Were you housed there, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: Up until I got moved here, yeah. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Desmond alleged that prisoners in the Pipeline are regularly beaten. Is that accurate, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: W-will this interview get back to Warden Wolfe? 

Hugo Strange: I’m going to take that as confirmation that Mr. Desmond’s allegations are true. 

Peek-a-Boo: Don’t say anything, Dr. Strange! If Warden Wolfe finds out that we complained, things’ll get even worse for us when we get sent back to Iron Heights! 

Hugo Strange: Miss Baez, I promise you that I have no intention of ever allowing you to be sent back into the clutches of this Warden Wolfe. What he has done to you in unconscionable. 

Peek-a-Boo: You…you believe me? 

Hugo Strange: Of course I believe you, Miss Baez. For one thing, your records from your time as a medical student were not particularly compatible with the idea of you having multiple previous arrests. And for another, the fact that you managed to escape Iron Heights in order to see your dying father, but did not use your powers to escape in order to free yourself or to commit more crimes also would not make much sense for a habitual offender. For these reasons, I was already skeptical of your criminal record. Hearing your explanation simply reinforced what I suspected from the start. (Pause) And, having interviewed numerous costumed criminals, Miss Baez, I can say with confidence that you do not strike me as the type who is likely to become a habitual offender. You have more than paid your debt to society for your attempted theft of the kidney, and I will do everything in my power to see that you are released from Arkham Aslyum as soon as possible. 

Peek-a-Boo: (Surprised) Really? You will? 

Hugo Strange: I will, Miss Baez. 

Peek-a-Boo: Thank you, Dr. Strange. I…I don’t know how much luck you’ll have, but I appreciate the thought anyway. 

Hugo Strange: You are quite welcome, my dear. (Pause) While you’re here, would you mind answering a few more questions for me? 

Peek-a-Boo: I guess not. What do you want to know? 

Hugo Strange: First, I am curious as to how Roscoe Dillon, one of the most powerful metahumans in the Central/Keystone area, has avoided being locked up in the Pipeline. Mr. Desmond claims that it is because of his known mental illness, but if Warden Wolfe was willing to fudge records to keep you in the Pipeline, I would think he would be even more willing to fudge records in order to keep control over someone who threatened to blow up half the world, while in the grip of a manic episode or otherwise. 

Peek-a-Boo: Actually, the Top hasn’t avoided the Pipeline entirely. 

Hugo Strange: He hasn’t? 

Peek-a-Boo: No. You see, after I had been in Iron Heights for a couple of weeks, Warden Wolfe heard that someone was going to interview me. In the hopes of convincing me not to talk to them, he ordered the Pipeline guards to put me in the cell with “the lunatic”, and they shoved me into a filthy padded cell with a large, muscular man. He had these really unsettling glowing green eyes, and I thought for sure that he would attack me, but he didn’t. Instead, he just looked at me curiously and went back to muttering to himself. Over the next couple of days, his hygiene started deteriorating rapidly…and by the end of the week, he tried to hang himself with his straitjacket. I’m still not really sure how he got it off, but somehow he did, and if I hadn’t called for the guards, he would’ve died. Luckily, one of the guards was Correctional Officer Morrison, who always treated us well. He never participated in the beatings, and he always tried to make sure that we were healthy. When he took the Top to the infirmary and found out about his Bipolar Disorder, he was furious and told Warden Wolfe that if he didn’t move him out of the Pipeline immediately, he would quit. He said that he wasn’t going to be responsible for someone committing suicide. Warden Wolfe got mad, but because Officer Morrison is really good at his job, he had to agree to let the Top go. Officer Morrison tried to help me, too, but because I didn’t have any previously diagnosed mental illnesses, he wasn’t able to get me moved out of the Pipeline. 

Hugo Strange: That sounds as though it would have been incredibly traumatic. 

Peek-a-Boo: It was. I had nightmares about him trying to hang himself for months afterwards. (Pause) And it didn’t exactly help that Warden Wolfe had some of the other guards give me the worst beating of my life a few days afterwards. Apparently, since he hadn’t been able to scare me into agreeing not to be interviewed, he decided to physically prevent me from being able to be interviewed to make sure that I stayed put. 

Hugo Strange: That is despicable. I understand that a warden sometimes needs to be strict in order to maintain order in a prison, but that does not excuse the abuse of prisoners, especially not first-time offenders and the mentally ill. Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to see Warden Wolfe removed from power. 

Peek-a-Boo: Good luck with that. He’s got ties to the D.A. and the mayor’s office. The Flashes, Iris West, Linda Park, and a couple civil rights lawyers have been trying to remove him from power for over two years now, and still haven’t gotten anywhere. It’s hopeless. 

Hugo Strange: (Concerned) Miss Baez, have you had trouble with sleeping or eating recently? 

Peek-a-Boo: Yes. I haven’t slept properly since I was sent to Iron Heights, and I haven’t had much of an appetite since I watched the Top try to kill himself. 

Hugo Strange: Have you had any panic attacks in the last six months, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: Except for the nightmares, which mostly stopped a few weeks after that really awful beating, no. My anxiety’s been through the roof since my father first got sick, though. All I can think about some days is about the bad things that could happen to me or to people I care about. 

Hugo Strange: I see. And have you experienced feelings of persistent sadness, worthlessness, or hopelessness? 

Peek-a-Boo: Now that you mention it…yes. I…I haven’t felt happy since my father got sick, and once he passed away….some days I almost wish that I had died, too. (Pause) Sometimes I think that maybe the Top had the right idea when he tried to kill himself. Once a metahuman is convicted of a crime, their life is over. 

Hugo Strange: (Alarmed) Are you planning to kill yourself, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: No. I don’t think I could actually go through with something like that. (Pause) It’s just…I don’t see how things will ever get better for me. I know you want to help me, and I really appreciate it, but Warden Wolfe is too powerful. You’ll never be able to get me out of his grasp, and he’ll certainly never let me go. 

Hugo Strange: Miss Baez, I will forge the necessary paperwork needed to have you committed to Arkham Asylum before I will send you back to that sadist. Your Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder have been severely worsened by your stay in Iron Heights, and if you are sent back there, I dread to think what might happened. It was only through your quick thinking and a stroke of good luck that Mr. Dillon was saved from his attempted suicide. Who would save you? 

Peek-a-Boo: I…I really appreciate your concern for me, Dr. Strange. But I don’t want you to get into trouble for me. I’m not worth it. It’s my own fault that I ended up in Iron Heights. 

Hugo Strange: While I don’t disagree that your decision to steal a kidney was reckless and foolhardy, it was also the action of a desparate young woman who wanted to save her father’s life. You would never have become a habitual criminal, and the fact that you were sent to Iron Heights solely because of your metahuman powers was a miscarriage of justice…to say nothing of the abuse you were given once you arrive there. You are not a hardened criminal by any stretch of the imagination, and you do not belong in Iron Heights. 

Peek-a-Boo: That’s what Wally said, too, but even with all his power, he couldn’t get me away from Warden Wolfe. What makes you think you can?
Hugo Strange: Unlike the misguided Mr. West, I am not a vigilante. As such, I have an extensive amount of experience of working within the law, and that experience will allow me to beat Warden Wolfe at his own game. Miss Baez, I swear to you that I will keep you safe and help you recover from your illness. All you need do is trust me. 

Peek-a-Boo: All right, Dr. Strange. I…I trust you.