Crimesmith
The Crimesmith is the name of two minor fictional villains in the DC Universe.
Fictional character biographies
Crimesmith I
| The Crimesmith I | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | World's Finest Comics #68 (January-February 1954) |
| Created by | Sheldon Moldoff (art) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Rand Garrow |
| Abilities | None |
The first Crimesmith made only one starring appearance, in World's Finest Comics #68 (January-February 1954), in the story "The Secret Weapons of the Crimesmith!" Rand Garrow is a small-time crook sent to prison by Batman. He uses his time in jail to learn how to construct elaborate machines. After his release, he begins calling himself the Crimesmith, and sells his machines to other criminals to use in crimes.
At first stymied by the Crimesmith's inventions, Batman gets a break in the case after catching Patch Parson using one of the Crimesmith's machines. When Crimesmith plans to secretly broadcast images from old monster films and cause a panic in Gotham City, Batman traces the signal back to the criminal's lair and captures him.
Crimesmith I is seen in a flashback in Batman #101 (August 1956), but does not play a significant role in the story.
Crimesmith II
| The Crimesmith II | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Batman #443 (January 1990) |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Dr. Jeffrey Fraser (see article for details) |
| Abilities | None |
The second Crimesmith was created by Marv Wolfman, appearing in a two-part story in Batman #443 and #444 (January and February 1990). This one was Dr. Jeffrey Fraser, a brilliant scientist and media personality who had recently met Bruce Wayne. This Crimesmith gave detailed plans for robberies to gangs of crooks with the understanding that they would give him a big percentage of the loot, and he would continue to direct them to other big scores in the future. His detailed plans always included maps showing the exact locations of each security camera and instructions on how to subvert them. He used tiny incendiary devices implanted in his underlings to kill them if he thought they were disobeying orders and/or starting to leak information about him to anyone (such as Batman).
In the end, Fraser died as his headquarters was going up in flames, while his "beautiful female assistant" escaped in a fast car before Batman could catch her. It was implied that while Fraser might be a brilliant scientist, the real criminal mastermind who made things happen was his assistant -- or that perhaps "Crimesmith" was a codename for both of them as a team.