The Secret Origin of... MR. ZSASZ

Though there were other comics series with similar names before and after, the longest-running Secret Origins comic book was published by DC Comics from April 1986 to August 1990.  It included 50 regular issues, three annuals, and one special edition.  This series of blog posts focuses on the stories that would have, should have, or otherwise follow the spirit of that series.      

The Secret Origin of... MR. ZSASZ

Mr. Zsasz is a Batman villain introduced in "The Last Arkham," the first four-issue story arc of the series Batman: Shadow of the Bat, with issue #1 cover dated June 1992.  The story was written by Alan Grant and the art was by Norm Breyfogle.  He is described as "Serial killer with a difference.  He has no pattern.  He kills anybody.  47 known victims."  Zsasz is contained in a metal tube inside a cage, with only a small rectangular window for him to speak through.  In the second issue, we see his face revealed, and Zsasz's modus operandi is revealed as well: every time he takes a life, he scars his own body with the same knife, making tally marks in groups of five.

The origin of Mr. Zsasz was one of three stories in the bimonthly The Batman Chronicles #3, cover dated December 1995.  "The First Cut is the Deepest: The Secret Origin of Mr. Zsasz" was written by Alan Grant with penciller Jennifer and inker Wayne Faucher.  At the time of this story, Zsasz's file notes he has 143 victims.  The Penguin features tangentially in Zsasz's origin, a detail that is repeated in "A Cut Above," a story in Detective Comics (Vol. 2) #18, cover dated May 2013.

Given its length at 10 pages, "The First Cut is the Deepest: The Secret Origin of Mr. Zsasz" would have fit nicely into the Secret Origins anthology series.  Perhaps if the timing of the creation of the character and the cancelation of Secret Origins had aligned differently, the story would have been included in a second Batman villains-themed Special.           



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