Just a Small Little Thing: Mad Hatter's Robot Rabbit

I've been waiting to do this one so long, you guys.

Years ago, I created a list of things I wanted to include on the website if only I could find proof of them. Most of the list has since appeared, a couple turned out to be misinformation, and one - this one - just kept hanging around, taunting me.

Mad Hatter's Robot Rabbit.

What am I talking about? you're probably asking. And that's exactly the problem. I've never been able to confirm it for three reasons, and the first is that it wasn't a big detail to begin with. It wasn't a fan favorite character like Harley Quinn or a cool design like the various Batmobiles or a tie-in to a current show like Aqualad. No one had any reason to talk about it. In fact, it wasn't even on tv! It was an accessory to an action figure.

The next problem was that it was a small detail of the issue it appeared in. Just background decoration, really, no relation to the plot at all. So, again, no one had any reason to talk about. And people may not have even seen it, because the scene was poorly lit.

And the third problem was that I knew it was in Secret Six #1, but I had a hard time figuring out WHICH Secret Six #1. But find it I did, and now I get to share it with you, and cross it off my list!

Edited to Add: It was Secret Six volume 2 #1, published in May 2006.

Character Spotlight: Veronica Vreeland

I've been doing this for however many years and I still get surprised.

Veronica Vreeland was a character created for Batman: The Animated Series. Seemingly a stand-in for Vicki Vale, she was a Gotham socialite who ran in the same circles as Bruce Wayne and often got caught up in supervillain schemes. She first appeared in the episode "Birds of a Feather" (February 1993), where she struck up a relationship with the Penguin to use him as entertainment for her rich friends. This plan, as if you have any doubts, did not go as she planned.

Twenty-five years later, Ms. Vreeland made her comics debut in DC's Beach Blanket Bad Guys Summer Special #1 (July 2018). The special was a series of villain-centric short stories that all took place during the summer - an odd choice, to be sure, but not necessarily a bad one.

Veronica appeared in a Penguin story, although it was uniquely set in the past when Penguin was still a teenager. The story positioned Veronica as a debutante who Oswald Cobblepot has had a crush on for a long time. Oswald spots the closest thing he has to a friend leaving her house one day and kills him because he thought they had slept together, but at the funeral, Veronica tells him the guy was trying to convince her to go out with Oswald (which is not an idea she was into). The story finishes with "The End - For Now", so maybe we'll be seeing her again soon.

Thanks to Thomas Parks for telling me about this one!

Character Spotlight: Volcana

Sometimes canon immigrants only make cameo appearances and that's unfortunate, but it still counts! Volcana is one of these cases.

Volcana is a villain created for Superman: The Animated Series. She debuted in the episode "Where There's Smoke" (September 1998) as basically a grown up version of Charlie from Firestarter. She learned she had pyrokinetic powers as a teenager and her parents sent her to a school that turned out to be a front for a secret government organization that wanted to use people with powers. She escaped, but had to live on the streets and eventually turned to crime.

Superman used a lot of original villains during its run. Batman: The Animated Series did too, I suppose, but Superman stands out to me more for some reason. Maybe it's because many of them could have been replaced by already existing villains - why isn't Luminus Dr. Light, for instance? - or maybe it's because they weren't as memorable. Whatever the case, they never became popular and have rarely if ever been used outside of that show.

So it shocked me to learn that Volcana made a brief appearance in Superman 80-Page Giant #1 (2010). Interestingly, they reversed the colors of her dress and jacket.

Thanks to Thomas Parks for telling me about this one!

Character Spotlight: Downpour and Shifter

This is an exciting one, but also a strange one.

I have an unabashed love for the Super Friends original superheroes: Apache Chief, Samurai, Black Vulcan, the Wonder Twins, and El Dorado. I think they have great designs and that they could shine if they just had the chance.

In fact, I know they could shine when given the chance because I've seen them do just that. Once was in Young Justice, but before that, they got a spotlight episode on Justice League Unlimited. At least, a version of them did.

In the episode "Ultimatum" (December 2004), the Justice League meets a team of superhero created by Project Cadmus to be loyal to the United States. Their names are Wind Dragon, Juice, Longshadow, Downpour, and Shifter.

As you can see from the above links, all the Super Friends characters have made their way into the comics, one way or another, including the Wonder Twins. So it shocked me to learn that in Superman/Wonder Woman #26 (February 2016), Downpour and Shifter ALSO got introduced into the comics universe!

In this series, they're the children of Vandal Savage for some reason, and they don't use their powers (although they can fly and have eyebeams). They're also not called "Downpour" and "Shifter", but they're clearly meant to be the same characters.

In Superman #49 (February 2016), we briefly see them again. During the issue, all of Vandal Savage's children get powers awakened, and these two are no different. they join the battle with the rest of their siblings and we see they do, in fact, have water and animal shapeshifting powers.

Thanks to Thomas Parks for telling me about this one!