Schott was so reformed, the International Inventors' Exposition was holding a special exhibition of his toys at the Metropolis Coliseum.
Unfortunately, Superman showed up and destroyed all of Schott's toys--or, at least, that's how it appeared:
(Hint: It am not Superman...)And I guess Schott wasn't all that reformed, because that little setback was enough to send him around the bend:
Now, Schott had always been a little crazy--but now he's Arkham-crazy, if you take my meaning.The "new" Toyman, Jack Nimball, had just recently been paroled, so Schott decides to pay him a nocturnal visit.
But first, a very unlucky doorman:
GAAAAHHKKK!!Then, Schott leaves a cuckoo clock for Nimball. (Is a cuckoo clock really a toy? Discuss.) An EVIL cuckoo clock!!
EEEYAAHHHHH!!!!!You would think that Nimball, who went toe-to-toe with Superman a few times, would have the wherewithal to at least, I don't know, get out of the way, or move, or something.
But apparently not. And just two years after Nimball was introduced as the new Toyman, his "miserable godforsaken life" is ended...so Toyman is dead, long live the Toyman!!
Except now, instead of being merely a kooky thief, he's a Gotham-style murderer. Look, kids, comics!!
Marty Pasko, Curt Swan and Bob Oksmer take Toyman down a terrible pathway in Superman #305 (1976).
At least he didn't kill a kid. That would be the 90's version.
ReplyDeleteThat toy cuckoo stilting toward Nimball is probably the single creepiest image to ever appear in a Superman story.
ReplyDeleteSo somebody wanted "his" Toyman back, made the good one evil again and killed off the replacement. Kind of like the Rhino over at Marvel recently.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, "the characters I grew up with should be the only one" is a tradition. This is why I don't want to work for a major publisher. My stories and ideas last only long enough for the next writer to "fix" it.
Mark--yes, that was uber-creepy...something one would expect from one of Batman's villains, or one of the horror mags.
ReplyDeleteShadow--I'm not so sure. Back in those days, Julius Schwartz held a pretty tight reign over what the writers did, co-plotting (and often re-writing) most of the materials he edited. It's not like today, where some writers seem to have carte blanche. I doubt he would have just given in to a whim of Pasko's, especially as he presided over the introduction of the new Toyman just 2 years earlier. I think it's more likely that either Schwartz himself decided the new Toyman was lame, or gave into fan demands for the return of the old one. But I can't claim to actually know...
(As to the new Rhino, I'm fairly certain he was invented just to be a goad for the old one, and not meant as a permanent change, just a plot device.)