Calendar Man
Though a lot of philosophers and theologians might not say so, let's say, for the sake of argument, you have free will. No matter your circumstances, you can choose who you will be and the life you will live.
A Date with Destiny
That is...unless you name your kid Julian Gregory Day. All that free will stuff goes right out the window. You're basically setting their life story in stone at that moment - that they're going to be a supervillain by the name of Calendar Man.
If you didn't know, Julius Caesar actually was a subject-matter expert in calendars. In addition to overthrowing the Roman Republic, he also had some ideas for how the calendar could be a little more accurate. In between killing a bunch of people and being killed by a bunch of people, Caesar designed a calendar based on the idea that the year was actually three hundred sixty-five and a quarter days long, to help to correct for the current Roman calendar's drift against the solar year. He wasn't exactly right. The real year is 365.24219 days long and the small correction was implemented about 1600 years later by Pope Gregory XIII to make the Gregorian calendar we all use today.
You probably didn't know all that calendar trivia. You know who did know it, though? Julian Gregory Day. Maybe feeling that he was born with a purpose, being named after not one but two calendars, he decided on his moniker, The Calendar Man, and went to work.
Now, Julian truly, deeply loves his job. He barely even seems like he's in it for the money. Case in point, his first time out, he makes an announcement in the paper to Batman that he's going to commit five robberies: one for each season. That left Batman and Robin puzzled, but they had no time to ponder it. The Calendar Man was hitting his first robbery: the flower show.
Yeah, remember when I said he didn't care about the money? He hit the door at the Gotham Flower Show. It couldn't have been more than a few hundred, tops, but the Calendar Man dressed like a flower, and he and his hired thugs got in a slug match with Batman before escaping.
The following day, the only thing that said "summer" to Batman was the televised Gotham bathing suit competition. Luckily, Bruce Wayne was supposed to judge it. Bruce was right, because that bathing suit competition got hot. And I'm not...being gross. Calendar Man showed up in a sun suit. A suit with the heat of the sun. Not sure what powered it or how, but the pool started evaporating. Nothing could stand in Julian's way, and he escaped with the prize money.
Next up: autumn. And what screams autumn more than dressing up like a leaf and taking a wind machine downtown to blow it at the guys driving an armored truck because of course they're going to get out of the armored truck and cover their faces because of the wind despite the fact that they could have stayed in the truck behind a literal wind shield. Calendar Man got away again because Batman assumed he would be stealing the golden football trophy from Gotham College.
When it comes to winter, you think of ice. I'm not sure if this slang was a thing in the 50s, but Gotham also, apparently, had a giant diamond on exhibit. No joke, a diamond the size of a Volkswagen. Now, really. Who is looking at a map and says, oh! The giant diamond exhibit has to go through Gotham. The city with a guy who tells riddles and steals stuff, the guy who dresses up like a penguin and steals stuff, the woman who dresses up like a cat who steals stuff, and the clown who murders people and steals stuff. That diamond is catnip to supercriminals. It's a wonder it lasted so long.
Luckily, Batman and Robin are masters...of arts and crafts. Batman temporarily replaced the diamond with a papier-mâché replica that he and Robin must have stayed up all night working on and also, how would anyone fall for that?
Calendar Man, ever the showman, was dressed up like snowman. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I hope you love your job and put as much time and attention into the things you do as the Calendar Man loves dressing up in season-specific costumes and committing themed robberies. If you're looking for a super-villain, this guy is just a true professional who excels at his craft. He got away, too, because he had a freeze ray he does not patent for some reason and also a rocket sled.
Like everything, though, Calendar Man's reign of...terror? Light unease? Whatever it was, it had to come to an end. And, really, it might actually be what he wanted. You see, what supervillain gets away on their first time out? You gotta dance the dance. Get caught, go to Arkham, break out, return more powerful than ever with higher stakes. So, Calendar Man did get caught because of the riddle he posed to Batman in the early pages: Five seasons.
Seize the Day
Calendar Man, AKA Julian Day's power was also, apparently, cultural appropriation, because he toured the country as Maharajah the Indian magician, in town for five nights only.
Julian Day...was not Indian. Due to a coloring error he's portrayed as...very white. But Batman didn't just go around shutting down problematic magic shows.
It's because:
1. Julian was in town for five nights only and
2. According to Batman, in India there are five seasons, spring, summer, fall, winter, and monsoon season.
Now, from what I can gleam from a quick search, this is mostly correct. It appears that things are a little more specific and people consider there to be six seasons in India. I don't know.
Regardless, Batman actually didn't have anything on Julian Day, a performer he showed up and accused...then started beating. But, after Batman unironically hit him with a calendar, Day confessed. Gotta dance that supervillain dance.
Rebrand
And dance he did. Julian's stay in Arkham was longer than most. Fifteen years later, he broke out in the 1970s with a pretty solid rebrand.
Remember, you have to go bigger and better. He was still Calendar Man, but this time he was committing seven crimes, all in the theme of a day of the week.
Monday? Moon costume robbing the planetarium.
Tuesday, Tiu, the ancient Germanic god of war.
Wednesday and Thursday? Odin and Thor of course. I was bummed out he didn't dress as Freya and ride in her chariot pulled by cats. He just robbed a wedding dressed as an alien to honor her for some reason. Saturday he came dressed as Saturn. Not the planet. The semi-equivalent to the Greek god Cronus. Batman was out with damage to his inner ear, but by Sunday he was back.
Or...so Batman thought. Batman and the cops surmised Julian was going for the staff of Ra or something that was on display, but Calendar Man instead took the Western Sun express out of town. Sunday is a day of rest, after all. Batman got the jump on him, but Julian, of course, had an exploding tornado pocket calendar. As you do.
When Batman emerged from the torrent of dates, Calendar Man was in Costume and ready to battle.
Batman, again, got the best of him. I mean, Julian's power was a calendar theme. How much of a chance did he stand against Batman's training? Calendar Man ended up back in Arkham.
Re-Rebrand
Now, this is already a long post, but Calendar Man is probably most famously known for his role in Batman: The Long Halloween, another can't miss Batman canon book. I'm a huge Batman nerd if you can't tell.
Calendar Man stepped up his game and become more of an artsy, auteur supercriminal. Has some depth. He solves the crime immediately in that book and taunts Batman for the whole story like some sort of Hannibal Lecter character. No costumes. Just psychological warfare with Batman from his cell.
Really, Calendar Man...knows how to keep up and change with the times. He started as campy. Went really intense and dangerous, and now he's known as a creepy genius. All without even taking life. When it comes to classic supervillainy, I have to say, no one does it better than Calendar Man.
Want more of the worst comic book villains of all time?
Disclaimer: Calendar Man and every other character mentioned in this post are owned by DC Comics. "Best of the Worst" (the blog and podcast) and Nextpod are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any publisher or media company.
Concerned that this infringes on your copyrights or trademarks? Please contact us using the following form: https://www.nextpod.com/contact
