With the exception of maybe Spider-Man, no superhero in the history of comics has a more colorful collection of foes than Batman. In his nearly 90-year history, the Caped Crusader has matched wits with such scoundrels as The Scarecrow, The Riddler, and The Joker. Many of these so-called “super criminals” have gone on to become pop culture icons beyond the pages of Batman comics. Scarecrow appeared in a Scooby-Doo movie without the Dark Knight. The Riddler has several real-life amusement park rides all over the world. The Joker has won two Oscars. It’s safe to say that the Gotham rogues’ gallery has produced some real heavy hitters over the years. But not every villain can be a two-time Oscar winner. Some are forgotten and relegated to sight gags. Such is the case of The Eraser, a one-time rival of the World’s Greatest Detective.
The Eraser was the chosen alias of Lenny Fiasco, a former college classmate of Bruce Wayne/Batman who was known for making mistakes. While thoroughly unremarkable as a student, those who remember Lenny picture him with an eraser in his hand. Lenny fell in love with classmate Celia Smith and planned to take her to the school’s carnival. Alas! Celia chooses to go with Bruce Wayne instead, leaving Lenny a broken man. Thus, he becomes The Eraser, a master criminal with an actual eraser helmet that can erase evidence from a crime scene. He takes out ads in “The Secret Underground,” a newspaper aimed at Gotham’s criminals. For a twenty percent commission (before taxes), he removes all clues.
Faced with this dastardly evil-doer, Batman does the only thing he can: he disguises himself as an organ grinder and hires The Eraser for a mock robbery. Unfortunately for the Caped Crusader, The Eraser remembers what his shaving cream smells like from their college days and instantly sees through Bruce’s disguise. (I, as the kids say, ship them.) Lenny tells Bruce that his date with Celia led to the creation of The Eraser; Bruce doesn’t even remember her name. Infuriated, The Eraser knocks out Batman and the crime-fighter wakes up in a recreation of the ice carnival. Robin shows up in time to distract The Eraser, Batman beats up the crook, and Lenny ends up in jail. Batman sends The Eraser a giant eraser to his cell. Eraser remarks, “I get the message: It’s better to be a rubber than a robber.”
Everything I just wrote is ridiculous. The Eraser made his debut in Batman #188 in 1966 (that’s the story you read above), the year in which the Adam West Batman show first aired on television. That gives you an idea of what the Bat-climate was like at the time. Camp was king, and Eraser was its loyal subject. Though I personally enjoy a goofy supervillain more than most things in life, it’s easy to see why The Eraser didn’t catch on. A pencil-themed villain is a hard sell, especially when he’s motivated by a college ice carnival.
But the truth of the matter is that most Batman villains are ridiculous at first. Mr. Freeze, who has an ice gun and is named “Mr. Freeze,” didn’t receive his now-famous tragedy until the 1990s. For most of the 1960s, Joker was a goofball prankster. Batman himself is a rich dude in a Halloween costume who drives in a car that looks like him. These are silly concepts. It’s the job of the writer to find the soul within these ludicrous figures. Every supervillain, no matter how outwardly wacky they may seem. has the potential to be truly formidable.
Take away the stuff about Celia/the ice carnival, and there’s something about The Eraser I think could work. Even his silly design seems less silly when you stare at it long enough. In essence, he’s a man from Bruce’s past who’s an expert at cleaning up crime scenes. If your hero is The World’s Greatest Detective, an adversary whose job it is to destroy evidence would be a great obstacle indeed. This is a criminal who gets hired by other criminals. He may know their secrets and may have his own agenda. The Eraser disposes of clues and leaves behind false ones. If he wanted to, he could effortlessly frame anyone. Hidden behind that expressionless helmet, we never know what he’s thinking. We just know he’s damn good at what he does.
Outside of that initial appearance and a few gag cameos (including one in “The Lego Batman Movie”), The Eraser has mostly been ignored. In no reality does he replace The Joker as Batman’s #1 baddie, but he could be a worthy member of the rogues’ gallery. Like how “Batman: The Animated Series” elevated Mr. Freeze and even The Mad Hatter to major threats, I believe the same can be done for The Eraser. With the right writer, he could be the right balance between comic book cheese and genuine menace. For now, The Eraser has been rubbed out.
