Abner Krill/ Mr Polka dot/ Polka dot man appreciation thread 2024

[Polka dot man]

I can't believe there isn't one of these dotted around the forums already!

It's been a banner year for Abner, he's received 4 separate references so far without being killed or brutalised in any of them. Sure it's not exactly the spotlight a villain like Kite-man or Joker may receive, sure they're all from the same game but it's better than the spot of bother the dashing duke of dots usually finds himself in

[exile001]

I can't believe there isn't one of these dotted around the forums already!

I can't believe you missed the opportunity to say "polka doted around the forums." Lol.

Seriously, though, even walking back his original premise of "each dot is basically lined with magic science and can do anything needed," there's a lot that can be done with someone like that. Personally, I'd go with something like a mad inventor for villains, but till wears the costume because he's a weirdo.

It's better than being another Condiment King like joke.

[Polka dot man]

I can't believe you missed the opportunity to say "polka doted around the forums." Lol.

Seriously, though, even walking back his original premise of "each dot is basically lined with magic science and can do anything needed," there's a lot that can be done with someone like that. Personally, I'd go with something like a mad inventor for villains, but till wears the costume because he's a weirdo.

It's better than being another Condiment King like joke.

That's a fun idea, I totally agree even if he wasn't a frontlines villain he's the sorta guy to keep wearing the suit. I will say before going further I have far too much to say about this character. I am on the spectrum and have read and/or watched every story with him in it that I am aware of across any medium and while that doesn't make my opinion any more valid than anyone else's on the subject I bring it up just to say I understand I have thought of this more than anyone really should so I do not blame you if you don't read the large ramble bellow. Thank you for your reply either way

I feel there are so many ways you could take his character, I personally just desperately hope they don't pull a Zur-en-ahhr style edgy revamp, I'd start seeing spots if a story just made him just another nebulously "mentally ill" mass murderer, I've always thought the fact that almost any of his core rouges could decide to blow up an orphanage and not have it be out of character is no fun. I personally think based of the little we know of comic Abner I think the best trajectory for his character would be either:

A: Give him one last hurrah, take his deteriorating mental state from The GCPD book he was in and play with a story about why he does what he does as Batman goes after him on his last crime spree where he actually uses his insane tech to a competent degree for a last showcase of the really cool things he could do if he utilised his powerset right. Then this story should have once he's caught Bruce can actually get him the resources he'd need to leave his villain life behind. It's something his various cameos have shown him wanting to do but his implied poverty leading him back to a life of crime. I suggest this because while a core aspect of Batman is supposed to be how he believes in rehabilitation for all his villains this is never shown because you can never actually rehabilitate any of the villains people care about because you need them to sell comics, I always thought using the z listers for this would be a good idea to allow these sort of complicated stories about mental health and the road to recovery that you can't with characters with a baked in status quo an element I wouldn't mind them taking from the movie here would be how he's explicitly given a very serious, hard to digest form of mental illness that he isn't vilified for, a more modern introspective story on how mental illness can cause but not excuse his crimes and having Bruce actually be able be a productive member of society would be a unique story for an established rouge that could be hefty, powerful and combat certain misconceptions about the character.

B: If he's gotta stick around let him stay as the eternal symbol of the silver age, a criminal in Gotham but out of time and still doing the more classic style crimes where he robs themed establishments or plans on giving everyone in town pink eye. His dots have always, in most any continuity, had the potential to be insanely powerful but he seemingly whenever he's in control he just wants to use them for petty theft embarrassing his foes. You could have him as an occasionally reoccurring menace who uses his actually quite impressive arsenal to force our modern Batman into almost Adam West style conflicts. Allowing him to have a completely unique role in the rouges gallery and you could do interesting commentary on how comics have changed in these stories and/or use Abner to represent and tell stories about how clinging to the past can hamper someone from moving forward in their life. In this situation maybe giving him to Tim might be a smart call as while there is an obvious link to Bruce with clinging to the past Tim has that plus he could more likely run with the inherit zaniness of this idea (though I still think a serious Batman story could be made of this premise)

C:Finally your idea. This'd be the most plausible as it keeps him firmly as a supporting player and means you can play more with the character's gimmick being inherently funny without needing to dive into why someone would choose to theme themselves as he does. (though you could in this scenario if you wanted to give him more depth) In this situation he could be a pretty evergreen character plus, obviously, he'd delve into the realm of characters like Killer Moth or the Eraser who exist to help the not so noble in Gotham which is a fun dynamic. I will say in this situation it could be interesting to play with the one time they've (kinda) done this before. While I've not played Suicide Squad: Kill the justice league I am aware of all the references to the artist formerly known as Mr Polka dot in it. One of them is that he develops one of the weapons usable by the squad with the description for it mentioning that he chose to base how it works off a board game Krill likes because it makes it "feel nice." An idea to make him stand out could be leaning into the mad part of him being a mad inventor and have his gismos be designed more around being fun than being useful making it so if you're someone like Abner you're really going to just be able probably just steal a leopard with it but if a villain with more creativity (when it comes to planning, in terms of creativity with making gadgets no-one is topping the guy who made the growing dot that splits into multiple tiny human hands) they can actually be super effective.

Or who knows, there are a million amazing ideas someone more creative than me could come up with, all I know is Abner is always an endearingly pathetic man with talents equally baffling in how seemingly dumb and surprisingly effective they are and as long as those traits are kept in mind whatever's done with the character will always have my support.

[signalman112]

Batman: The Brave and The Bold.

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[Polka dot man]

Batman: The Brave and The Bold.

PolkaDotB&B.jpg

That is very much him, fun show

[Polka dot man]

Sorry for the double post but I just realised something. Polka dot man's Iconic Sunspot dot from his Debut's cover is red, so at all times he is carrying a miniature red sun. Abner clearly solos Superman :P