Some years ago, I stumbled across a little known Batman villain named Mr. Camera. I'm a big fan of weird theme villains. And so for years, bringing back Mr. Camera has been a big plan of mine.
Here's a how he originally appeared:
He wears a camera on his head and he's got the creepiest eyes in the history of Batman villains. So, as soon as Eric and I landed our Batman book, petitioning for this characters return was my number one priority. I really wanted to pull this character out of limbo and show what a great Batman villain he could be. Luckily, my editor on this book trusts me (for some reason) and I wrote the script for issue 14 of Batman: the Brave and the Bold last August.
Now, one of the things I like to do is have action figures handy of characters I am writing. It just helps me visualize things. But Mr. Camera had not appeared anywhere for almost 60 years. One 6 page comic that he was barely even in. That was it.
So I made my own Mr. Camera figure. As seen here:
And here:
The character in my head gave every appearance of being harmless and goofy. But if you live in a world where theme villains run the streets every day, what better way to be underestimated than to appear a simple theme villain. Furthermore, in the time since Mr. Camera debuted, Camera's have become a much more dominant part of our lives. So imagining a more sinister motivation and a more dangerous approach to the villain was easy.
Subsequently, this was what we created:
Keep in mind, we work months in advance. This book was finished quite some time ago. And in that time, I have eagerly awaited being responsible for the first ever appearance of Mr. Camera in almost 60 years.
Then Mr. Camera appeared as a background villain in the cartoon my comic is based on. The character is in limbo for 59 years and then, only a couple of weeks before my book comes out... I guess the positive thing to take from this is that Eric and I are coming from a very similar position as the developers of the show.
Here's an image from Mr. Camera' s recent television appearance.
Ah well. I'm glad they kept his crazy eyes.
Here's a how he originally appeared:
He wears a camera on his head and he's got the creepiest eyes in the history of Batman villains. So, as soon as Eric and I landed our Batman book, petitioning for this characters return was my number one priority. I really wanted to pull this character out of limbo and show what a great Batman villain he could be. Luckily, my editor on this book trusts me (for some reason) and I wrote the script for issue 14 of Batman: the Brave and the Bold last August.
Now, one of the things I like to do is have action figures handy of characters I am writing. It just helps me visualize things. But Mr. Camera had not appeared anywhere for almost 60 years. One 6 page comic that he was barely even in. That was it.
So I made my own Mr. Camera figure. As seen here:
And here:
The character in my head gave every appearance of being harmless and goofy. But if you live in a world where theme villains run the streets every day, what better way to be underestimated than to appear a simple theme villain. Furthermore, in the time since Mr. Camera debuted, Camera's have become a much more dominant part of our lives. So imagining a more sinister motivation and a more dangerous approach to the villain was easy.
Subsequently, this was what we created:
Keep in mind, we work months in advance. This book was finished quite some time ago. And in that time, I have eagerly awaited being responsible for the first ever appearance of Mr. Camera in almost 60 years.
Then Mr. Camera appeared as a background villain in the cartoon my comic is based on. The character is in limbo for 59 years and then, only a couple of weeks before my book comes out... I guess the positive thing to take from this is that Eric and I are coming from a very similar position as the developers of the show.
Here's an image from Mr. Camera' s recent television appearance.
Ah well. I'm glad they kept his crazy eyes.
Dear Landry Walker:
ReplyDeleteI also love those wacky villains from yesteryear, and I am very happy that you had chose Mr. Camera to reintroduce him to Batman´s universe.
Only today I have discovered your site, but I want to tell you that I enjoyed BTBATB # 14, and I think you did a great work making Mr. Camera a Stalker Without a Crush.
Sadly, now the comic book has been cancelled, but I want to thank you for all the fun you brought to my life with this little story.
Awesome, I really like Mr Camera, Lucky for you he was brought back in 2020 in Harley Qunn villain of the year
ReplyDeleteWhat did you use to make him what peices and what figure did you use to make him
ReplyDelete