Calendar Man | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Detective Comics #259 (September 1958) |
Created by | Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Julian Gregory Day |
Team affiliations | The Misfits |
Notable aliases | Calendar Killer |
Abilities | Genius-level intellect Obsession with quirks of calendar Successful inventor Skilled hand-to-hand combatant Expert manipulator Ages and rejuvenates according to season |
Calendar Man (real name Julian Gregory Day) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, as an enemy of Batman. Calendar Man is known for committing crimes that correspond with holidays and significant dates. He often wears costumes to correlate with the date of the designated crime.
Calendar Man first appeared in Detective Comics #259 (Sept. 1958) and was created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff.
Calendar Man is fascinated by dates and calendars. His crimes always have a relationship to the date that they are committed. The theme may be related to what day of the week it is or to a holiday or to a special anniversary on that date; he will plan his crime around that day. He often wears different costumes which correspond to the significance of the date, though he does have a main costume which has various numbers (meant to represent days on a calendar) sprouting from the shoulders.
He next appears in Batman #312 (June 1979), in which his crimes are based on the days of the week, and his costumes reflect the Norse and Roman gods they were named for, e.g. Saturn. Calendar Man fires a ultrasonic sound weapon at Batman, nearly killing him. While Batman recuperates, Calendar Man commits crimes on Friday and Saturday. He plans to leave Gotham City on a train called the Western Sun Express on Sunday, knowing that the police would be waiting for him to attempt to steal an artifact of the Egyptian God of the Sun, Ra. Batman captures him at the train station before he boards.
This issue also marked the first appearance of his most commonly known "calendar cape" costume. His next appearance in Batman #384-385 (June–July 1985) and Detective Comics #551 (June 1985), sees the Calendar Man at the onset of the Crisis being used as a pawn of the Monitor in an attempt to find an assassin to eliminate Batman. In this instance, the Calendar Man's theme is holidays, and he attempts to use the young Jason Todd, as Robin, as the Batman's Achilles' heel, with the promise of his demise on the first day of Spring. Ultimately, however, Robin himself captures the villain.