Black and White Bandit

The Black and White Bandit is a villain in and was created by Dave Gibbons. He is something of a parody of the "schtick" villains that would appear in the 1950's and 1960's in Batman (such as Two-Face, who, during that time, always committed crimes involving the number two). As with many schtick villains (who also had schtick named henchmen), he had a pet Dalmatian named Domino.

Fictional character biography

The Bandit was once Roscoe Chiara (a play on the shading technique chiaroscuro), an artist who was commissioned to paint Winsor Munsell, an art lover and head of a chemical corporation. His company had created new pigments for painting, and Chiara was asked to use these to paint Munsell. However, Chiara did not know that the paints were untested, and began to have headaches. The final night of painting, Chiara fell asleep, and awoke to a colorless sunrise. Roscoe Chiara had become color-blind as a result of the pigments.

In revenge, he began a campaign against Munsell, stealing various pieces of art from his collection and museam. Batman, however, soon interfered, and after two encounters, defeated the Black and White Bandit with only a false advertisement and a punch to the nose. He is presumably reformed or still in jail.

Powers, abilities, and equipment

The Bandit has a knack for disguise, first as a blind man and then as a nun. He also has a zebra for escaping various situations.

Chiaro has access to chlorine gas and gas masks. The first time he encountered Batman, he sprayed him with black ink, easily making his getaway.