Renegade psychiatrist and/or mad scientist (depending on the era and medium), Professor Hugo Strange is one of the most misunderstood and underutilized villains in all of comics. "Officially created" by Bob Kane with Bill Finger for Detective Comics (1937) #36, Strange was nearly the first recurring super-villain to plague the life of Batman, debuting just after Doctor Death and the Monk (aka the Mad Monk). A master of psychology and psychological warfare, Strange holds the distinction of being the first super-villain to correctly deduce the secret identity of Batman as millionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne and has driven the Dark Knight to the very edge of insanity on more than one occasion, most recently during the "Night of the Monster Men" crossover.
But Hugo Strange didn't restrict his malicious machinations to just the Caped Crusader. Deathstroke (2016) scribe, Christopher Priest brilliantly used Strange during the instant classic "Deathstroke: Arkham" story arc to push Slade Wilson to the brink of lunacy in an effort to "fix" him by executing a maddeningly sadistic gaslighting campaign that has to be seen/read to be truly appreciated. It can honestly be stated that given Slade's fate after "The Terminus Agenda," Deathstroke was never the same after Strange was through with him. Posted below is a scan from Professor Hugo Strange's 1986 Who's Who entry from issue #18 (XVIII) featuring art by Denys Cowen and Art Nichols.
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| Art by Denys Cowan and Art Nichols |
