So, I was thinking, given the character just popped up in the new Daredevil TV series on Disney+, that I should cover White Tiger her. I mean, I sorta did before, but it was a different White Tiger. Marvel’s had a lot of those guys for some reason.
But then, as I was working my way through the extra-long Detective Comics #1027, I found a guy who was perfect for this feature: the Silver Ghost!
See, Detective Comics #1027 is an anniversary issue celebrating the 1000th appearance of Batman in that series. The issue, as such, was an anthology issue made up of short stories by various creative teams. Most were just basic Batman stories, often by creators who worked on the character recently, but all of them exploring the different aspects of the character, such as his relationship with various sidekicks or enemies, but then there was the Silver Ghost.
Now, I should probably point out that this otherwise nameless character is not the first Silver Ghost DC has published. There was a minor Freedom Fighters enemy by that name who could transform people or inanimate objects into silver, hence the name.
Now, a gender-swapped version of that character appeared on the CW’s The Flash, only this one had power over machinery, and that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, so I think I am mostly glad I stopped watching the show by that point.
No, the Silver Ghost I want to discuss was, according to the narration, an Earth-2 character living in Gotham City in 1937. Real name? He doesn’t say it. He grew up in Gotham, and one night heard his father say something about how someone had to do something about the bad people of the city. His working class dad might have been drunk, but the kid who would be the Silver Ghost took it to heart and grew up to become…a private eye!
But it turns out Gotham was teeming with private eyes, especially the hard-boiled type. Our hero, tired of being “Detective #26” (the title of the story and a sly reference to Detective Comics #27, Batman’s first appearance), he gets the idea to become a Mystery Man, a masked man in a hat with a couple handguns and whatnot. He built his arsenal, got a used car (he wasn’t a billionaire), and went off on his first case involving a chemical syndicate and some bizarre murders.
He then arrived in time to see the Bat-Man burst through a ceiling and save the day, in much the same way he does in Detective Comics #27.
From there, the Silver Ghost decided someone beat him to becoming Gotham’s protector, so he tossed out his costume and quit.
And that’s his entire story.
Hey, I was amused. Maybe next time I’ll cover the White Tiger. You know, a different one.
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