Monk (comics)

The Monk
Section of cover of Batman and the Mad Monk art by Matt Wagner
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #31 (September 1939)
Created by	Gardner Fox Bob Kane
In-story information
Alter ego	Niccolai Tepes
Team affiliations	The Brotherhood
Notable aliases	Louis DuBois, The Mad Monk
Abilities	Vampirism, hypnosis, longevity, ability to transform into a wolf, bat, or other creature of the night

The Monk is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He appeared as one of Batman's earliest foes.

The Monk first appeared in Detective Comics #31 in 1939. He is one of the earliest significant villains of the series, his battle with Batman being one of the Dark Knight's first multi-part adventures. The Monk is a vampire who wears a red, monk-like outfit, with a hood that bears a skull and crossbones. The Monk hypnotises Bruce Wayne's fiancee, Julie Madison, into trying to kill a man. Batman stops her and next day as Bruce Wayne takes her to a Doctor, who has also been hypnotised and tells them to go on a cruise. Batman uses the Batgyro to get to the ship Julie is on and meets the Monk, who is after Julie. The Monk tries to use his hypnotic powers on Batman, but Batman uses a Batarang to escape his trance. The Monk lures Batman to his base in Paris, and Batman defeats a giant ape set on him. However, the Monk succeeds in catching Batman in a net and tries to lower it into a den of snakes, but using the Batarang for the first time, Batman knocks the lever up, breaks a glass chandelier, and uses the glass to cut through the net. He has a female assistant named Dala, who lures Batman to the Monk's lair using Julie Madison as bait.

The Monk places Julie in a hypnotic trance again, but Batman again rescues her. After rescuing Julie after following her to Transylvania, Batman meets Dala, whom he takes towards the Monk's Castle. Nonetheless, he is caught in a net, hypnotised, and trapped in a pit by the Monk, who transforms into a wolf to summon others, but Batman escapes, using gas to knock out the wolves, then using a rope attached to a batarang to climb out. He kills the Monk and Dala by shooting them with silver bullets made from candlesticks as they lie in their coffins. This use of silver bullets was attributed to writer error.

The Monk returned several decades later, when writer Gerry Conway revived him in 1982's Detective Comics #515. The Monk's appearance is preceded by Dala's return in Detective Comics #511, during which she romances Dick Grayson (a.k.a. Robin) as part of her master's plan.

Conway's story is ostensibly an update of the original tale, establishing an Earth-One counterpart of the Monk during the days of DC Comics' Multiverse. It departs from the original, however, by establishing the Monk's true identity and origin. In Conway's version, the Monk is a post-Civil War plantation owner in New Orleans named Louis DuBois. He and his sister Dala are attacked by their vengeful ex-slaves and subjected to a voodoo ritual which transforms them into the undead.