Appearance Spotlight: Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn is the patron saint of canon immigrants, so it's only fitting she has more appearances on this site than any other character. I talked about her origins in the Batman: The Animated Series Super Post, and then I showed you her New 52 update in 52 Shakeup, and now, just in time for DC Rebirth, she has another appearance change, once again to bring her in line with other media.

In Harley Quinn #26 (March 2016), she gets a makeover:

That "cinematic" line is because this look is based on her outfit from the upcoming Suicide Squad film (August 2016):

It's not a 1:1 match, but it is quite close. For instance, her comics jacket says "Owned" on the back, above a picture of the Joker, while in the movie it says, "Property of the Joker".

Character Spotlight: King Tut

Ah, Batman '66. It seems that now that the rights have all been sorted out, comic book creators are falling over themselves to introduce the tv-first villains into the comics. First we had Bookworm, then Egghead, and now, thanks to a tip from user shadzane, we have...King Tut!

Of course, we already had a King Tut, and arguably a better one, so you may consider this a 52 Shake-Up. I first wrote about that King Tut in my Batman '66 Super Post, where I said:

King Tut 

King Tut first appeared in Batman (episode: "The Curse of Tut", 1966).  In the show, he was a professor of Egyptology named Omaha McElroy, who believed himself to be a reincarnation of King Tut after receiving a blow to the head during a student riot.

He was mentioned by the Riddler in Secret Origins Special #1 (June 1989), but he made his first actual appearance in comics in Batman Confidential #26 (April 2009).  This time he was Victor Goodman, a criminal Egyptologist who murders the wealthy and leaves behind Egyptian-themed riddles.  His real name is an homage to Victor Buono, the actor who portrayed King Tut in the tv show.  

This King Tut is completely different.

This King Tut, aka Regis Tuttle, first appeared in Bizarro #1 (June 2016) as a used car salesman from Smallville who's using Egyptian magic to get people to buy cars. He made a couple other appearances in that series, but nowhere else. Even though he's not Omaha McElroy, who'd be a perfect fit, I wouldn't mind seeing him move to Gotham Academy as the driver's ed teacher or something.

Character Spotlight: Egghead

Long-time readers of this blog may remember that I've egg-xamined Egghead before, in the Batman (1966) Super Post. Here's what I said about him:

Egghead

Egghead first appeared in the Batman episode "An Egg Grows in Gotham" (1966) .  His only comics appearance to date was a cameo in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #3-4 (August-September 1992), although a few years before that, he was mentioned by the Riddler in Secret Origins Special #1 (June 1989).

But that was a long time ago, 2011 to be egg-xact. And the times are a-changin'! Just like with Bookworm and Grey Ghost, Gotham Academy seems to be the repository for great characters that don't have a use anywhere else. And that's exactly where Egghead shows up, in Gotham Academy #15 (February 2016). I don't know what he teaches, but his real name is apparently Edgar Heed.

Egg-cellent!

Character Spotlight: Erik Selvig

I'm excited about this one because it's one of those characters that seem like they'd probably make the jump, but you're not surprised if they don't.

Erik Selvig first appeared in Thor (2011) as an astrophysicist that's part of Jane Foster's team, in addition to being a colleague of Bruce Banner's (and in a deleted scene, Hank Pym's as well). For a character that originated in the films, he became fairly important, playing a role in The Avengers and Thor: The Dark World, and appearing in Avengers: Age of Ultron as well.

Despite that, he didn't appear in comics at all until last month when he showed up in Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1 (February 2016), as one of the employees of Pleasant Hill, a SHIELD-run supervillain rehabilitation facility.

I don't know what role he'll have in the rest of the story or in the future, but I'm glad to see him!

Costume Spotlight: Mr. Freeze

Oh, Mr. Freeze. Where would you be without adaptations? Languishing in Golden Age obscurity, I'd wager. As we learned in the Super Post Potpourri all the way back in December 2011, he was called Mr. Zero until Batman (1966) changed it, and then he got his real name and backstory (and wife) from Batman: The Animated Series (1992). That's pretty much his whole character, except for his costume.

He got his costume from an action figure.

In Detective Comics #566 (July 1986), we see Mr. Freeze with the following design:

This design appeared earlier in the year in Kenner's third wave of the Super Powers Collection:

For comparison, here's what he looked like in his previous full appearance (July 1984):

The suit was being used at least until 1991, when it appeared in Who's Who in the DC Universe #12 (September 1991).

Costume Spotlight: Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is a lesser known New God who first appeared in New Gods #7 (January 1972). He's a great hunter, one of Darkseid's Elite, and actually Darkseid's uncle. Since he was a hunter, he had a bit of a Robin Hood look when he first appeared:

In the 80s, DC released their first major action figure line (well, after Mego) through Kenner, called Super Powers Collection. After the first series was released in 1984 with the most popular characters, ie. ones that had appeared on Super Friends, the second series launched in 1985 with more obscure characters, including several New Gods, such as Darkseid, Desaad, and Kalibak. Steppenwolf was a mail-away figure, and he had quite a different look (Kenner also redesigned Mantis and the Parademons, among others):

This costume would later appear in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #22 (October 1985). As you can see, they even use a similar positioning of the character as on the action figure card.

In New Gods volume 3, or at least in issue #22 (November 1990), pictured here, Steppenwolf's clothing was a mixture of the two looks: the shape of the green outfit with the coloring of the Super Powers outfit.

However, by Damage #8 (October 1994), he was back to the Super Powers look.

Superman: The Animated Series chose to use his original look, as seen in "Apokalips Now!" (February 1998):

But as late as February 2007 in the comics (Flash: Fastest Man Alive #9), he was wearing a version of the Super Powers appearance.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in the New 52.

Character Spotlight: Guillotine

There's not much to say about this one, as she's brand new. I've mentioned in previous posts that Marvel currently has a series called Contest of Champions, which ties into a video game of the same name, even though the series is in continuity and the game is not. Despite that, the company behind the video game has a lot of input into the series.

While the video game mainly uses well-known Marvel characters, the series tends to go for a more international flavor, using such characters as the South Korean White Fox, a British version of the the Punisher named Outlaw, the Greek Ares, and more. To that end, the company created a French character named Guillotine, who is the latest in a long line of vigilantes armed with a bloodthirsty, sentient sword named Le Fleur du Mal.

She appears in Contest of Champions #1 (October 2015).

Despite her very 90s backstory, I like her look and hope she appears outside of Contest of Champions in the future.