Who can forget all those classic Tobias Whale stories?
Like the time he was challenged by a rival boss, and he and Black Lightning continued their feud, but it turned out that the rival boss, the Dolphin, was actually his son! Dramatic! Turns out his son only found out about his father being a crime boss relatively late and never got over it. Of course, years later this would lead to the Dolphin trying to kill Tobias Whale, and in turn being murdered by his mother, Whale’s wife Vanessa.
Or the time he sent the Terrible Trio to fight Nightwing for some reason.
Or like the time he sent Killer Frost after Black Lightning. Killer Frost and Black Lightning had a wicked awesome fight, but Killer Frost was all conflicted about fighting with her lover, so she refused to fight him. This pissed off Tobias Whale, so he sent Deathstroke to kill Killer Frost and she died in Black Lightning’s arms.
Or the time he traded the nonexistent “Black Lightning Papers” to federal agents in exchange for his freedom, but the Penguin, pissed that Whale was getting off, told the feds about another murder for which Whale was responsible. So Whale ended up in the same prison as Black Lightning in an ironic twist, and then the prison started advancing towards a riot as Whale and Black Lightning played their deadly game, then Deadshot got himself sent to prison so he could give Black Lightning a hand because he felt he owed Black Lightning a favour, and then Tobias Whale sent for Deathstroke, and then all hell broke loose.
Yes, Tobias Whale has been in so many great stories. But that’s what you expect from such an original character!
Kingpin would get around a 90, so that’s your explanation.
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Man, the poor Cyclotronic Man doesn’t even get a Who’s Who entry.
I was about to say, he orders around Deathstroke, that’s kind of badass. But then I remembered, what is Deathstroke famous for? Screwing a teenaged girl and stalking Batman’s sidekicks and apparently being invincible enough to get away with it no matter what happens. So, now, suddenly, I have a lot less respect for Deathstroke as a character and that just reflects back on poor Tobias….
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I think somebody is missing the joke…
Also — 21%? Generous.
“Thar he blows! Humping like a whale! It is Toby’s…”
Sorry, no, I just can’t finish that sentence.
Wait, who, or what, is this ‘Kingpin’ thing everyone keeps talking about?
Those vertical stripes really have a slimming effect. On his head!
He looks like if the StayPuff Mashmellow Man put on a purple three piece suit.
If the Staypuff Marshmellow man in a purple three piece suit was on this list, he’d at least get 60%. 😉
Wasn’t he in a pretty decent JLU episode featuring Question, Huntress, Green Arrow, and Black Canary?
Dude, I didn’t even have to scroll past his shoulders before my mind was screaming Kingpin ripoff.
I think you’re being extremely generous with 21%. This guy should be in single digits.
Andrew: If you mean Double Date, the villain in that story was called Steven Mandragora. Though it certainly seems like he was based off this character.
Wasn’t he involved in that Gotham Underground series? Something to do with the Crime Bible and the Penguin?
According to ‘pedia, “Steven Mandragora” is a renamed Tobias Whale that showed up in JLU. And his little egg-shaped son from that episode showed up as an adult in Batman Beyond.
THE MORE YOU KNOW
See, that’s a downright shame, because Steven Mandragora was awesome. And then he fought the Green Arrow, Black Canary, and the Huntress bare-chested.
The only person I can think of in Batman Beyond that fits the look of Whale/Mandragora is Bonk from Return of the Joker. Is that who the son is supposed to be?
Oh, nevermind. Wikipeida says he was in Mind Games. Bonk still kind of looks like him though.
Lurker: He did appear in Gotham Underground, though his wiki says nothing about the Crime Bible.
Intergang is Crimebibley, so there’s the connection.
Man, remember that time Black Lightning had to fight a hundred yakuza because no one was reading his book?
NCallahan: The first thing I see on your post is “Huntress bare-chested” and I think ‘What? Where?’ Then I read all of it and became disappointed.
Doesn’t Whale predate all of the good Kingpin stories, and doesn’t that immunize him somewhat against charges that he’s imitating the Kingpin?
Greg Morrow: That all depends on when the first “good” Kingpin story is. Whale, according to his wiki, first appeared in “Feb-Mar 1976”. The Kingpin’s first appearance is July 1967. So, unless Kingpin went nine years without a good story, which I doubt.
But… c’mon, man, he’s an albino! Surely that counts for something?
Ok so he’s an Albino but why doesn’t he have red eyes???
Maybe he’s a partial albino? (Yes, it’s technically possible.)
Red eyes isn’t a mandatory requirement to qualify as albino.
Or maybe the colorist snuck a bottle of Jack into work and just passed out in his chair.
Only albinos made up by Dan “I spent my research budget on an 11″x18″ poster of The Last Supper and internet porn!” Brown have red eyes. Other human albinos’ eyes are blue (or, in rare cases, violet).
Does the 21 percent stem from Gail Simone writing him as the main villain in “Double Date,” thereby making him as retro-lame as Catman?
“unless Kingpin went nine years without a good story”
Is it really so hard to believe of any era of comics? I mean I’d grant that it’d be easier to believe it if it was, saying, 1989 to like 1999, but still, it’s not like we haven’t seen decades of turds.
I’m assuming he scored extra points for being made of mashed potato.
Some human albinos, rarely, have very pale pink eyes (which are actually translucent, and the pink is the blood vessels in the eye, visible as a result). No actual red eyes, though they are generally a bit more susceptible to ‘red eye’ in photography than most, which may have exacerbated the myth.
The 100/1000 has always been pretty lame. I think they only ever really fought Black Lightning and Rose/Thorn. Against anybody real, they’d be through in an afternoon.
By the way, I *LOVED* your DC-ized summaries of Marvel stories. Took me a while to figure the joke out, then had to go back and mentally replace everyone.
I prefer your evaluation of Deathstroke as equivalent to Bullseye to DC’s current evaluation of Deathstroke as equivalent to God.