Flashback Friday: Gray Ghost

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Gray Ghost!

As most people know, Batman is inspired by earlier pulp heroes such as the Shadow and Zorro. In fact, "inspired" is putting it charitably, considering several of Batman's earliest stories were plagiarized Shadow stories. But the comics and other adaptations like to pay homage to this in various ways, with the main one becoming that the Waynes went to see a Zorro film on the day they died (which Zorro movie it was changes based on when the story takes place, but it's usually The Mark of Zorro).

Batman: The Animated Series, however, provided its own twist on this idea. In the episode "Beware the Gray Ghost" (1992), we learn of an old tv show that Bruce loved to watch as a kid. The Gray Ghost is very inspired by the Shadow, and Batman was, in turn, inspired by the Gray Ghost. In fact, Batman's Batcave is an exact replica of the Gray Ghost's base of operations. The episode involves the Simon Trent, the actor who played the Gray Ghost (voiced by Adam West), dressing as the Gray Ghost and teaming with Batman to help solve a series of bombings based on an episode of the series.

The first time the Grey Ghost was mentioned in comics was Batman: Gotham Adventures #3 (June 1998), when Scarecrow's fear formula made it seem like Batman was dressed as the character.

The Batman Adventures #14 (May 2004) featured Simon Trent as the Gray Ghost and the creation of a Gray Ghost movie.

But both of those are extensions of the DCAU. The first time the Gray Ghost was seen outside of that world was, surprisingly, the Grant Morrison Vertigo title, Joe the Barbarian #1 (January 2010). This series is about a boy who hallucinates a fantasy adventure involving his toys thanks to low blood sugar, and Gray Ghost - along with Batman - is one of the characters who appears.

When he finally appeared in mainstream DC comics, it was in a much different form.  In Batgirl #15 (November 2010), the Grey Ghost appears as Clancy Johnson, Batgirl's self-proclaimed guardian angel. Incidentally, he's also the Mad Bomber (the villain of "Beware the Gray Ghost"). Clancy based his secret identity on the Grey Ghost tv show, which also now exists in DC Comics.

And then Simon Trent appeared as a theatre teacher in Gotham Academy, which I've previously discussed.

What I find most interesting about all of these appearances is that they keep the Gray Ghost a fictional entity. Writers could've easily made him a real hero, perhaps one active in the 30s. But they didn't. In some ways I prefer that.

The only (potential) example I can find otherwise is Batman Beyond 2.0 #40 (November 2014). I can't tell if this is Simon Trent taking up the mantle again or someone inspired by the Gray Ghost franchise. Either way, this series takes place on Earth-12, which is essentially the DCAU world in comics form.