The next time you can only afford to be a “ghost” on Halloween, don’t just throw a sheet over your head and call it good.
Cut a mask out of it, dye the whole thing red, and go terrorize trick-or-treaters as the Monk—the first villain to ever challenge Batman to a game of “My Costume is Better Than Yours.”
After Batman debuted in 1939’s Detective Comics #27, he faced villains Alfred Stryker (#27), Frenchy Blake (#28), and Dr. Death (#29-30), who was his first supervillain.
But the Monk took things to clerical extremes when he made his entrance in Detective Comics #31, dressed in a vivid crimson that would make any comic book colorist see red spots for the next twenty issues.
A supernatural creature, the Monk is essentially a version of Count Dracula—he is able to shapeshift into a wolf, boasts the power of hypnosis, and sleeps in a coffin. He refers to himself as a werewolf in the story, while Batman calls him a vampire.
He also has an enhanced gorilla bodyguard with super-strength, which Bram Stoker would probably have kicked himself for not including in Dracula.
The Monk first encounters Batman after hypnotizing the Dark Knight’s fiancée, Julie, in an apparent attempt to make her one of his followers.
Of course, Batman isn’t about to let some freaky hypnotist ruin his wedding date, and promptly opens a can of batarang-whoop-ass.
The Monk escapes, but returns in issue #32 to face Batman at his Hungarian castle in the mountains of Cathala. This time, he’s assisted by his vampire acolyte, Dala, and a pack of killer werewolves.
But Batman doesn’t waste time dealing out batarang-induced migraines this time and instead goes full John Wick on both the Monk and Dala.
After escaping the werewolves, he happens to find a silver statue in the castle, melts it down for bullets using nothing but a candle, magically pulls out a .45 caliber, and unceremoniously blasts the hell out of them as they sleep peacefully in their coffins.
After getting blown away by the Batman, the Monk didn’t feel like reappearing until Detective Comics #515 in 1982. Here, he was reimagined as a cruel former plantation owner called Louis Dubois, with a sister, Dala, who’s just as sensitive as he is.
They’re both attacked by ex-slaves with a penchant for voodoo rituals, which transforms them into vampires.
The crimson member of the unholy clergy went into hiding for another few decades until his re-reimagining in the limited series Batman and the Mad Monk (2006-07).
In this version, the Mad Monk is named Niccolai and leads a cult called The Brotherhood. The group captures Gotham’s citizens to feed on their blood, with the most devoted of the cult being deemed worthy to become true vampires.
Instead of a vampire, Dala is portrayed as one of the Monk’s followers, hoping to become undead by her loyalty to him and indulging in the cult’s penchant for blood-smoothies.
One can only speculate why the Monk never became a more popular character.
Sure, Batman villains such as Mister Camera, Captain Stingaree, or Kite Man never quite made the leap to the mainstream either, despite their chilling names which strike fear into the very hearts of readers.
The Mad Monk, however, has the costume, the supernatural powers, the followers, the gorilla bodyguard, and the Bond-villain plan that is doomed to fail, yet he’s never appeared in any other media outside of the comic books.
Maybe he just doesn’t want to get shot in the face again.
