There’s great anticipation for James Gunn’s take on the DC ‘Suicide Squad’ project. While it is still unclear if Gunn’s movie will be a sequel or a total reboot and relaunch of 'Suicide Squad', we do know a few things about the cast and the villains that will be used.
Among the more obscure members who have been confirmed thus far for the new Suicide Squad are the Batman foes Polka Dot Man, who will be played by American actor David Dastmalchian (‘Ant-Man’) and the Ratcatcher, who will be played by newbie Portuguese actress Daniela Melchior.
Detective Comics #300 (February 1962) – First appearance of Polka-Dot Man
Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff are the creative team behind the Silver Age Batman book that introduces the Polka Dot man. Abner Krill aka Mister Polka Dot, as he’s also known, is straight out of the Silver Age. In fact he’s a villain who would have fit in well on the old Adam West ‘Batman’ TV show. His gimmick: a Polka Dot suit with removable dots that can become various tools and allow him to commit Polka Dot themed crimes. In the original comics, he also traveled on a flying polka dot or in a floating bubble [?]. Detective Comics #300 is the first appearance of the Bizarre Mister Polka Dot. With 50 copies, and climbing, on the CGC census, this was an obscure Tec key until the movie announcement. Overstreet Vol. 47, for example, has an 9.0 VF/NM value of this comic at $207.00 back in 2017-2018 and doesn’t even mention that it’s the first Polka Dot Man. Today, an 8.5 can sell for between $170.00 to $270.00 dollars. That’s been the most actively sold grade of this book, but until we get a trailer to see what they do with the character, it’s only slowly gaining attention. The last sale of an 8.5 was for exactly $186.00 on 04/28/2019 in a Heritage Auction.
Detective Comics #585 (April 1988) – First appearance of Ratcatcher
Tec #585 has a script by John Wagner and is illustrated by Jerry Bingham. With 16 total copies on the CGC census (and only 9 until February 2019, with the number of slabs practically doubling since then…), this book is currently selling for far above its Overstreet suggested price on eBay. What should be a $5.00 book in raw near-mint condition, currently sells for between $10-25.00. The CGC story is also telling: the single recorded CGC sale of a 9.8 sold on 05/25/2018 on eBay (before the news broke) for $70.00. Who is Ratcatcher? In the comics he was a Sanitation Worker called Otis Flannegan who trained his pet rats to attack people. Yes, you read that right. An A-list villain this is not.
So, given the stature of these characters should you run out and buy their first appearances? Well, did I mention that both Polka Dot Man and Ratcatcher are currently dead in the DC comics continuity? Yeah, that’s how popular they were.
Do you already own multiple copies of any of the above books? Now’s a good time to start selling. Better yet, if you have the patience, wait for the Gunn helmed ‘Suicide Squad’ film trailer to drop and then sell. It may take a while however, the ‘Suicide Squad’ movie is still in pre-production and only scheduled for an August 6, 2021 release at the earliest.
