Beware The Zodiac Master 

Say his name! (Let's name the Zodiac Master)

Easy fix. 60's Zodiac Master is the teacher of the Rebirth e-boy version. Less magic, they upgraded the robotic suit jumpers to hardlight holograms. E-boy's not a believer (yet) and tries to get rich quick without the careful planning, which gives Mister Z no end of grief.

Even if the Zodiac Master doesn’t get away with his crimes, I hope he gets a constellation prize lol

Taking these no-names villains seriously and offering genuine critique and suggestions for modernization instead of just laughing at them is great. Wonderful content as always.

It astounds me how Batman no-sells rogues with formidable gimmicks just to boost more mundane ones: "Zodiac Master can conjure twelve different attacks that defy physics? What a hoser." vs. "Two-Face has weaponized his chronic indecision with a double-barrelled shotgun? Only I can save Gotham from this peril!"

I like the idea of him fighting a hero and then after they doge a bunch of his attacks he goes "Oh youre a Virgo." And then completely changes his fighting style to suit his predictions.

From a pure design perspective I don't envy anyone trying to make something cohesive out of a villain with 12 distinct visual motifs. There's a reason marvel made their zodiac themed villains a team with one sign each

I love the idea of a random rogue doing Horoscopes for villains to advise them in their crimes.

Give him powers based around the zodiacs themselves, like he gain the strength of a lion for Leo and he could make copies of himself for Gemini

Wow - I love that you did a deep dive to explain why the crab looked like a lobster. That's journalistic integrity - kudos!

You know, if I could summon the constellations I would ALSO believe in the zodiac and make it my whole thing.

Since you mentioned "Batman 66", there was an episode of the Adam West TV series called "the Zodiac Crimes" from 1967, where the Joker and the Penguin teamed up for a series of Zodiac themed crimes. It was the only three-part episode. (It was originally planned to be a second Adam West Batman movie, but the plan fell through, so they used the idea for the show.)

Witness the horrors of his... horoscopes

Sasha’s “Bale Batman” impersonation coming out of a sillier Batman era is always hilarious. It’s kind of like how Adam West’s Batman said lines from Miller’s Batman.

"Virgil Fish" is the worst I could come up with.

"Well, you just finished four years of intensive Zodiac studies. What's next?" "One more year. I'm not the Zodiac Bachelor, I'm the Zodiac MASTER!"

I got a name for The Zodiac Master, Sirius Sigil. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and Sigil could mean sign. I don't know but i think it's clever.

What I’d do: ZM is a genius at mundanely predicting things from situations. This is partly due to his interpretation of horoscopes, but mostly a good instinct for behavior. He is also an excellent engineer. As a minor tactician and gadgeteer for the mob, he fails because bosses don’t like bad news. He decides to take over all the crime by arranging a series of high profile incidents that he then predicts. He pretends to be a superhero, then secretly sells his predictions to certain superstitious bosses in the underworld. Of course, when his marks don’t bite, he tips off Batman then plays up their failure as due to their skepticism. The emblems on his outfit trigger traps previously set up in the environment. As a Rogue, he embodies the “with enough planning” aspect of Batman himself.

The obscure Batman villain trilogy continues... Surprised no one thought to got full Zodiac Killer with him, like, were they doing some self restraint lol

I actually really like the idea of him believing in astrology but also making things go certain ways. Its like he's trying to prove his beliefs using unethical ways

I’m a few minutes in and misunderstood the ship thing, I thought it was already out at sea. And thus the ”chase him off” became a hilariously blasé ”chase him off the plank to drown for being a weirdo.” And you’re going ”that’s Gotham for ya” and I still don’t realize I missed something until I see the panel of the harbor 😂😂

Zodiac Master's gimmick reminds me too much of a goofy version of Nephrite from Sailor Moon. He's all about the stars and constellations but he comes off cool while doing it.

You could turn Zodiac Master into an incredibly powerful villain just by changing his gimmick to "making possible futures a reality" instead of "predicting things you know will happen". He could still have a blog and scam criminals out of their money, but this time he would be turning their desired futures into reality by manipulating time and probability or even the stars

If we gathered all the zodiac villains together for a team up we could call them “The Wheel of Fortune.”

The whole "face mask over the Bat-cowl" thing extended into at least the late 70s. The Batman Family Reunion podcast has pointed that out in a few episodes.

I could see a recurring role for someone like Zodiac Master as a kind of double agent. Have him be this crime fortune teller type, but it's really all just a kind of con / protection racket. He keeps his ear to the ground, has contacts that can feed him intel, and have him explore elements of the classic line "criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot". And the double agent idea is that he ALSO has GCPD contacts that he can drop info to when someone balks at his scam. But the cops are a little crooked, so they can also be paid to LET some crimes go through. They're getting it on both ends, boosting their busts to look good for the precinct but also getting that extra cash. And could even have it take a serious turn when some extra superstitious crime boss buys in TOO HARD to his con and starts demanding more and more answers from Zodiac Master, and trying to get promises he knows he can't make. Maybe in an off hand remark about "untrustworthy people" sets off the crime boss to execute a bunch of his own people and suddenly Zodiac is an accessory to murder and was NOT down for that kind of thing. And it'd be interesting to have this kind of wacky character that is definitely a scumbag, but capable of having a sit down talk with a hero, no fighting. The hero can't just take his word for anything, he's just as likely to be trying to scam the hero as narc on someone who didn't pay his fee. But he'd have access to information few others would.

DC really should hire you as an editor they way you reworked that 'Bird's of Prey' story was perfect.

Yet another Batman villain who works best doing there own business. Zodiac Master can "predict" for gangs with a fee and if the gang is insistent or too scared to pull off there plans, then his partner The Eraser can erase all evidence left behind for another fee.

I love that Sasha does a deep dive into the historical accuracy of the symbols used by a villain combining magic and technology in the goofiest way possible. This would make the Zodiac Master's day. Or month, I guess.

I always felt that zodiac master kind of seemed like a knockoff polka dot man both with semi similar gimmicks and abilities the whole different things on their costume that they pull off and they do things.

His classic version suit reminds me a lot of Polka Dot Man, and you're on the spot for the tattoo man territory... I guess his powers are not functionally unique nor thematically unique? It's all gonna be left to the writing team to make something useful out of him, I do love his concept and costume... I'm a sucker for the campy silver and golden age

Zodiac Master, Planet Master and Calender Man all in a Team up, though Signal Man in too, call it the Observatory Gang.

Zodiac Masters true identity: Cal Anders

I like the idea of his not being able to perfectly accurately predict things. I would actually leverage it into something similar to he got his powers from a genie or a demon or a devil. So he absolutely can see things that are going to happen in the future, but they are a little dream life, and he hast to use deduction to determine what's actually going to happen. So he has the possibility of misinterpreting. Then, there could be a bigger baddy who gave him the powers, then we could encounter later

Zodiac Master's name? James Nicholas Irvin. But he generally goes by his nickname and initials (Jim N. I.) Or, perhaps Erick Janus, but that seems more like a Two-Face alternate identity.......

Ahhh this is wild. I played a Masks: A New Generation character with the same theme, but as a college aged hero. Makes sense the idea had been done before but Id never heard of him. "Zodiac Master" is a bit wordier than "The Horoscope" but I like it. I always love seeing these more obscure characters and lore from Sasha's whims.

I love that you talk about the lesser known villains of Batman's Rogues Gallery. I know that he is supposed to be a joke villain from the silver age, but I kinda like the version of Zodiac Master where he has magic powers and can turn his tattoos into weapons. I think that version of him could work.

There was an episode of the '66 Batman show where the Joker went on a spree of crimes themed after the Zodiac, and I now realize they could've adapted the Zodiac Master for that episode instead of using Joker.

I feel like Zodiac Master would work best as part of a team, so maybe have him be part of Professor Pyg's Circus of Strange? He could be the strategist for the team along with Pyg, and maybe some other Gotham weirdos that think they can make a name for themselves by joining a bigger-name villain like Pyg.

On the Birds of Prey appearance: - Honestly doesn't surprise me, this is the same book where they figured it would be fine if they added that Barb had a crush on Killer Moth from her first appearance. (Granted it's also during an era where DC was trying to force her and Dick back together even though they had an already great couple in him and Starfire so that also doesn't help). Granted, it ALSO doesn't help that so much of today's "humor" feels like it's only worth in making fun of stuff and just generally being mean spirited to anything even REMOTELY considered "cringe."

Zodiac Master has a LOT of potential, i’m thinking he could be sort of like mysterious in far from home. he faces batman in his early years, and he parades around as a psychic hero stopping “natural” disasters and other events, batman of course doesn’t believe it and discovers him to be Leo Gemini, a con artist who has been active in Gotham underground for a while, he’s trying to build up his reputation to be trusted by gothamites so he can get away with his future crimes. then of course batman tracks him down and stops him

Rip Benn from comicstorian..jus like Sasha both he and comicexplained got me interested in comics...You will be missed benny😢

How I'd reinvent Zodiac Master: Make him have two personalities. One is the villainous Zodiac Master who's someone who uses energy constructs of some kind (magic or hard light projections, take your pic) to commit various crimes. Meanwhile, the second personality is someone who has what he thinks are divine visions from the stars about crimes when it's him not fully being aware that these are the villainous plans of his alternate personality. He tries to warn people about what's coming, unaware he's the man commiting the crimes at all.

Funny enough I’ve been writing a fanfic with Zodiac Master as a major supporting character

There was a villain called Doctor Zodiac in "Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" (1939), and the actor who played him was Cesar Romero, who would some day be The Joker!

The original zodiac master seemed fun. Not sure about the gadgets out of thin air bit, m but the consultant to other villians and occasionally pulling off heists of his own could be fun. Knew when you said he'd been updated that it would be either psycho or treat him like a joke. Who knew they'd do both? Think I'd go with 'Leo Archer' for his real name.

I always love your Batman and Robin voices! You have really put the spotlight on 1960s weirdness in a great way

Ahhh! Sliver Age Batman's villains some of the most goofy colorful characters ever created, still one using astrology as weapon is an interesting concept.

You could do it where he publicly predicts all these things to happen and then he makes them happen, and then he gets a cult following of people believing in his every word. Could do it where it’s a con scheme like the original where his followers pay him for good fortune or it could be a more in the background kinda thing that slowly builds up

What if his power worked like horoscopes, where he really can predict the future, but the more vague he is, the higher the odds he'll be right? So if he says Batman is going to have a bad day, 100% that's right. If he says Batman will fall, odds are good that he will actually fall, but there's also a decent chance he catches himself with a grappling hook and doesn't actually get hurt. But if he gets down to saying Batman will fall while chasing Penguin and break his leg, there's maybe 20% chance that'll happen.

Obviously Batman’s mask disguise is bigger on the inside.

Zodiac Master’s real name: Mercury Rhett Trogade

I could see Zodiac Master being brought in as an assistant to a magical villain who needs an expert on astrology to calculate when a certain ritual needs to take place. I wonder if Zodiac Man would feel shocked or vindicated to finally have proof positive that astrology is real in the DC universe, or if he would just say, "Yeah, I already knew that," and go on with his life?

It's so silly but so much fun that's what I love about the Silver Age. I share a birthmonth with Damian Wayne.

I'd like to see a bit where a fight with him gets derailed by an argument over whether or not Ophiuchus counts as part of the zodiac after he throws snakes at his foe. Or maybe a hero could annoy him into making a mistake by purposefully mixing up the Western and Chinese zodiacs. Ooh, and there should absolutely be a quip about Libra and the "scales of justice" after he's defeated!

ZM could be brought back in a very interesting way, but you'd need someone already versed in, or willing to thoroughly research, the zodiac. Ultimately, it's a completely fleshed out and already existing magic system that, if presented well, could be used in very interesting ways as a powerset. Also, he should have a lady sidekick named "Fortune Cookie". (Fortuna Cokey)

That Birds Of Prey issue got the canon signs of Barbara Gordon (Libra) & Black Canary (Aires) correct. Helena Bertinelli's is less clear, but Aquarius is used in a BTATB tie-in comic. (Helena Wayne is a Virgo. I've heard some argue the two should share the same birthday.)

RIP Zodiac master, you would’ve loved Homestuck.

They should give his real name as Walt Merchant, as an homage to the iconic Latin American astrologist Walter Mercado.

You are definitely right about downplaying his powers in the Batgirl Comic. He was was actually summoning the monsters of the zodiac to fight for him.

I think it would be cool if he had a gang where each member was themed after one of the Zodiac. He could have a set of identical twins for Gemini, an atlantean who can breathe underwater for Pisces, maybe someone genetically modified (ala Manbat) as Leo and or Taurus. You could get pretty endlessly creative with it. The conman angle could come up with Zodiac master using his gang to bring forth his terrible predictions while he acts like a simple fortune teller not directly connected.

What if part of Zodiac Master's act was that he was actually an information broker of sorts, and acquired a lot of information through mundane means, but played it up through a mystical angle to make himself seem more impressive?

I really want to see him as the con man returning. Maybe blackmailing criminals. Playing a dangerous game helping those who pay for his prophecies and when gangs doubt his ability he tips the police or batman off. Really what I want is 'criminals are superstitious' to be backed up somewhere. Like some of them are but in the comics world there is magic and tech that may as well be. It might be nice to have him appear a few times as a minor bother but give more credibility to the line.

If I had to bring back Zodiac Master as a powered character, what makes sense to me is he has sort of a power advantage over people if he knows their sign. Maybe prediction but not TOO specific. Like...he knows vaguely you're going to have a challenging day so he's like "it's a good day to take them on" or he knows things are going to go your way and he's like "Let's not take any risks". Of course since it's vague sometimes the prediction comes out true, but not the way he expected it, and that's how he is caught. Maybe he's got a gimmick that works well against a Sign but not against the others as long as he knows for sure, based on those personality assumptions people do. It could be ambiguous whether he really has the prediction powers or where they came from. Maybe he doesn't but he believes he has. IDK maybe someone who knows more about Zodiac stuff could come up with something better.

I like the Rebirth concept of Zodiac Master. He would be better as a Zantanna or Constantine villain. People are obsessed with their signs (never reality) that he could use it to corrupt in some way. Give his powers an astrology based origin. "Dark ritual while the planets were aligned just right." It could be a way of mocking human obsession and how people rely on signs as an excuse for bad behavior.

Gotta love how DC gives op gadgets to villains without any explanation for how they got them. Ex: Eraser’s finger print remover, killer moth’s flight suit, the trickster’s shoes that defy gravity, or in the Justice League show where TOY MAN has a ray that sends things to the future.

Make him a crime boss. Give him a henchman for each sign with themed powers that he gave them. They turn on him he takes the powers back. Thus he is the master of the zodiac gang. The zodiac master if you will

I got this guy from a the Lego Batman minifigure packs and I used him as my main magic user whenever I played legos. He’s got a whole species now

Sheldon Moldoff is one of my favorite silver age artists. His art makes the stories even better.

I love your contents and F-tier villains. As I also draw and stuffs, I think the redesign would be fitting to include magic and book of astrology written on his skin, like the Doom Patrol stuff.

Zodiac master figured out the Kryptonian ability that let Superman throw the S symbol from his costume at Zod in Superman 2

Your Batman “ voice “ & Robin imitation had me crying Sasha lol can’t wait til you do Monarch of Menace

The villain could be brought to modern times and could become very dark

Honestly I think Zodiac Master would work well as a sides joke storyline opposition of calendar man considering that the zodiac is often utilized as a form of a calendar system, And not just playing with the normal zodiac too let's throw in some of the alternate zodiacs like the Chinese zodiac, I think it would be very interesting to play with that field I mean granted I use a very Greek sounding name but we could throw in some alternate concepts. And I don't mean just turn them into the zodiac killer we already have way too much real world references in the comic book world besides that's the retake on calendar man.

I love how much you give to these one-off weirdos, as much as you do to the Jokers and the Clayfaces.

2:35 I love how he just ran up to the plane to yell at it.

Well, If we are going to keep him in Batman's rouges gallery, why not play into the fact that the writers are determined to make everything Batman related messed up and grim dark by making Zodiac master messed up and grim dark by having him be a serial killer who only kills people who's zodiac sign is up at the moment?????

Honestly, hustling superstitious criminals for a cut of their profits is a pretty good scam.

Mr camera also could be really cool with an update. Like, he takes photos of his crimes, what if his crimes were significantly more violent than museum or bank robbery. That the reason he commits these crimes is to get “perfect images” or something. Some sort of twisted artistry. Wouldn’t take too much to make him creepy . Make the camera a slightly older model, make sure you can’t see his face, just the reflective lens of the camera.

They might steer clear of the Zodiac Master considering the Zodiac Killer. It is probably one of those things they just never wanted to really bring into modern media especially, post "The Dark Knight Rises" tragedy.

As I recall the Champions (Marvel) faced a one-off Zodiac themed villain. The man made a deal with Mephisto for his soul in exchange for Zodiac powers for 1 year. In the midst of whupping the Champions he turns in to each of the 12 symbols. Just as he's about to kill them all Mephisto pops up and gets the man's soul and goes back to hell.

Idk why but I can totally see a "Long Halloween"-esque really dark Batman story revolving around the Zodiac Master and maybe committing crimes/murders based on the astrological signs. I'm not saying it needs to happen, but it is possible to make it work

Give zodiac the ability of extreme luck, never have him commit any murder or slavery, have him undermine his own powers of luck, have him team up with one of the vigilantes reluctantly and go all out with the zodiac stuff, maybe get rid of his body and just have him be a energy being that temporarily takes a physical form.

I like Zachary Signs as a name for Mr. Z.

i hope your Gunn refernce comes true. I can see Zodiac Master in a Scuiside Squad 3.

Zodiac Master also shows up very briefly in the Lego Batman Movie, meaning that yes, there is a real physical official Lego minifigure of Zodiac Master in his original costume.

Since he is pretty much using the same gimmick as Polka Dot Man - things on his suit coming to life - maybe the latter got annoyed with him and put paid to it. So that's why he only appeared once. Batman should have pointed out to him that since the Zodiac was first mapped thousands of years ago, the constellations have shifted position in relation to the earth, and thus it's not in the same order it was. The first one is now Opiuchi. The serpent holder or the Doctor. And this would have been enough to break his spirit.

I think making him a scammer is a bit weak, so if it was up to me her would be a true believer who is enacting someone else's predictions. I think this would move up the crazy if he is compelled to crime because the stars told him to.

Great Video BTW Sasha TY.

Since I've spent the last couple of days spenfing a good few hours watching your video's, instead of my usual occasion check in i figured its best to subscribe

In the thrillingly titled "Case No. 2" from Captain America Comics #1 Cap & Bucky meet some famous fortune tellers who are actually a cover for a ring of Axis saboteurs. The psychic predicts some terrible accident involving the military and then the saboteurs make it happen. This gives the impression that this was all some sort of preordained accident rather than sabotage. But Cap & Bucky expose the saboteurs and save the day of course.

He was running away but somehow it looks that he's doing ballet dancing on 2:12 LOL

He strikes me as a character who works better as a Maatermind style character. Predict 'disasters' to befall businesses, and saying they can change their stars with money. If they refuse, he sends a group of goons to rob the place.

thank you casually comics plz becareful and stay safe everyone♡!!

Have Rebirth Zodiac Master being blackmailed to work for the Calculator. Now there's a gimmicky villain managed to update.

Love the Rebirth version but hate the disrespect. But this begs the question, do some of these villains fit better with batman adjacent characters? Whenever you cover the more obscure silver age Batman villains, I can't help but see these characters being a better fit for characters such as Green Arrow, The Birds of Prey, Zatanna, Huntress, JSA characters such as Green Lantern - Alan Scott or The Sandman, etc.

Zodiac Master should consider a color palette swap for his suit, Midnight Blue and Black with more star patterns than just the constellations would make his aesthetic a bit more intimating.

I would suggest 2 upgrades: - keep the 2 versions of Zodiac Master divided and focus on the mystic aspect of them - let them become part of Zatanna's rogue's gallery I would keep the original Zodiac Master as this fortune teller con man that actually believes in astronomy but commits crimes in order to be sure the prophecies come true while the Rebirth version is an actual metahuman or some kind of avatar for the horoscope signs and he can channel them or their powers through his tattoos. While for the Zatanna bit i would say that a Zodiac Master more focused on the mystical side could work as a villain for a magic superhero and Zatanna seems the most fit to go against both of the Zodiac Masters for 2 reasons: - both Zatanna and the original Zodiac Master are performers but while Zatanna's magic is real Zodiac Master (for the most part) scams his audience - Zatanna has a deep connection with Batman so it makes sense that if a magic Batman villain has to be "moved" to someone else this HAS to be Zatanna P.S. i really don't understand this need from writers to ALWAYS treat these lesser villains as jokes. The Birds of Prey/Barbara Gordon's rogue's gallery is basically non existent and you decide to introduce a new villain just to make him a joke? Batman can have a joke villain like Killer Moth cause he has an enormous rogue's gallery and the same thing can be said for Spider-man (the Walrus), Flash (Rainbow Raider) ecc. not characters that have almost nothing when it comes to villains. About the Black Canary comment...gal, in order to win your battles you have to scream...the ideas for a comeback are endless

Wait... pulled signs from his custom that transform into mechanical gadgets somehow? Zodiac Master, we have Polka-dot Man at home! 😂😂

The original version could have just been Polka-Dot Man in a new themed costume. Same pull symbols off suit that turns into weapons shtick. Or maybe they were cell-mates? And names that come to mind are Zack O'Diack or Zody Yack.