The Secret Secret Origin of a Batman Villain

This here blog, Oh, the Things I Do, has written quite a few very nice pieces over the past few days about various books I've written—some Gotham Adventures issues as well as some of the Batgirls I co-wrote with Kelley Puckett. (Much as I would love to claim otherwise, Kelley very much did the lion's share of the writing on those. And Damion Scott's artwork continues to blow my mind with its awesomeness.)

One of the issues she wrote several times about was Gotham Adventures #49—the first appearance of criminal mastermind Kim.

(That's not Kim. That's Killer Croc.)

((The big green dude, I mean. The other guy's the Batman.))

Back when I was writing this series, there were only a fraction of the places reviewing comics that there are today, so it's nice to see something you did still resonates. I was pleased that she was pleased by the Batman's detective work. I always liked this sequence—my pal/partner-in-bat-crime/hero Tim Levins, as usual, took what I thought at the time was a neat idea and absolutely hit it out of the park.

I loved what she had to say about Kim:

I like Kim as a character. He feels like a great throwback to those classical Batman stories where villains were villains for the fun of it and had elaborate schemes set up on around a gag or motiff for no reason other than the “why not?” of it. But, unlike a lot of times when these homages happen, the bizarreness and just curious nature of the crime isn’t lost on the context.
I also like that this comic sets up some interactions we’ll have with Kim in later issues. It’s a fun addition to the canon I kind of wish had been added into the fold of the main universe.
But… meh. I’m sure Kim would’ve turned into a far more sociopathic killer with like… a tragic artist background. Like he was a good traditional artist, but the art schools he applied to were all too invested into the modern movements. And he starts committing murders that represent splash paintings overlayed on the city map.

[Emphasis added.]

I had to laugh when I read that. Because what I think maybe a half dozen people know is that Kim is actually Kelley. As in, Kelley Puckett.

I mean, no, not really. Not literally. But for some reason—I don't remember why—I got the idea to turn Kelley into a supervillain. And one thing led to another, as these things do, and next thing I know, he's [spoilers!] using Killer Croc as a pawn for his crime spree before ultimately fighting (and losing to) the Batman.

I'm not sure how much most of the readers liked Kim—although, clearly, he connected with at least one extraordinarily astute critic—but he sure made me laugh. And my editor let me bring him back a few more times, so that was nice.

Would Kim have eventually turned dark? I really don't see that happening...or at least, I hadn't. Now I kinda love the idea of him trying to out-dark the Joker or Two-Face or Mr. Zsasz or something. I usually see Kelley at SDCC. Maybe I'll see what I can't goad him into doing.

(Oh...and it just occurs to me now...I'm not sure I ever actually told Kelley about any of this. Huh.)