Willoughby Kipling

Willoughby Kipling is a fictional character in the DC Comics and Vertigo Comics universe, created by Grant Morrison and appearing mostly in "Doom Patrol", helping the team against various threats, such as the Cult of the Unwritten Book and the Candlemaker. He is a member of the mystic Knights Templar, practises a bizarre form of black magic and is a self-proclaimed expert on the occult.

Later, Kipling's voice-over appears in "JLA Classified" #15 (February 2006). He and several other magic-users use their knowledge to assist Oracle and the JLA defeat a mystic threat.

Origin

It is understoodFact|date=April 2008 that Kipling was created by Morrison because he was not permitted to use the occult character John Constantine in his run as writer on Doom Patrol.

Morrison is believedFact|date=April 2008 to have based Kipling on Richard E. Grant's character Withnail, in the film "Withnail and I". Like Withnail, Kipling dresses in a long trenchcoat, with slicked back black hair, consumes vast amounts of cigarettes and abuses alcohol.

Appearances

*"Doom Patrol" (vol. 2) #31-33, 47, 55, 56, 58-62
*"JLA Classified" #15 (voice-over only)