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
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.

Fictional character biography

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 an assistant named Dala who lures Batman to his 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 who he takes towards the Monk's Castle. However he is caught in a net, hypnotised, and trapped in a pit by the Monk, who transforms into a wolf to summon others, but he 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.

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.

During the course of the story, Batman himself is transformed into a vampire by the Monk but is eventually cured by a serum administered by a priest/exorcist named Father Green. At the conclusion of the tale, Green departed with the captive Monk and Dala, hinting that he had been pursuing them for a very long time indeed.

Although later events have called this story into question, the Monk's continued existence in the post-Crisis version of the DC Universe was confirmed by the presence of a familiar red hood displayed as a trophy in the Batcave.

Batman and the Mad Monk

In the summer of 2006, DC began publishing a six-issue miniseries by writer/artist Matt Wagner called Batman and the Mad Monk. This is once again a revised update of the original Monk story.

In this version, the Monk is referred to as Niccolai and is the vampiric leader of a cult called The Brotherhood, based in an abandoned castle/manor house on the outskirts of Gotham City. His followers, among whom is the gothic Dala, feed upon the blood of captured victims. Only the most devoted acolytes are transformed into true creatures of the night however. Maintaining a link with the 1939 version, Julie Madison is once again turned into the Monk's pawn, as she is lured to the castle by Dala under the guise of the Monk being a self-help guru. At present, the current origin of the character has not been revealed for certain (though he could be wealthy Gotham son Richard Rallstone), as he was electrocuted and seemingly incinerated by a bolt of lightning and presumed dead during a fight with Batman. Dala is not a vampire, but she hopes to become one so she can serve as Niccolai's right hand.

In Other Media

• Dala, without the Monk, appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Shadow of the Bat!", where she is described as having been turned into a vampire due to a scientific accident. She is stopped by Batman and Jason Blood, but not before biting Batman and turning him into a vampire himself. She is voiced by Grey DeLisle.

See also

• List of Batman Family enemies