Crazy Quilt

History
Crazy-Quilt is a noted painter who leads a double-life as a crimelord. He gives the plans for his crimes to various henchmen through clues left in his paintings. His criminal empire crashes to a halt when one of his henchmen double-crosses him and sets him up to be arrested. An attempt during the melee on Quilt's life went awry and damaged his eyesight. With his underlings holding a surgeon at gunpoint, he volunteers for an experimental procedure that restores his vision. Quilt underwent surgery but awoke to find himself afflicted with a unique form of color blindness, one that permitted him to see only bright colors. He can see, but his vision is blindingly vivid and disorienting. It drives him insane, and he takes on the guise of Crazy-Quilt. The doctor was gunned down and the painter adopted a multi-hued costume and a helmet equipped with multi-colored spotlights. As Crazy-Quilt, he faced the Boy Commandos four times.

He is stopped continually by the Boy Commandos, and sent back to prison.

Eventually escaping, Crazy Quilt prepared to move his operations to Gotham City.

With a neon sign on Gotham's Broadway as his backdrop, Crazy-Quilt announced to the crowds below that he had returned. Panic did not ensue. The confusion that Quilt had intended to allow his gang access to the area night spots did not come to pass. In fact, standing amidst the bright lights, no one noticed him at all. That would change.

The madman's gang was well aware of their boss' eccentricities, exemplified by his lair, a "Color Dome" that was equipped with a Color Organ ("From my fingers, I release fabulous symphonies of color!"). Still, his latest plot seemed to have no profit element at all: Crazy-Quilt announced his intention to steal color from Gotham City. At a seaside party, he and his men bleached the color from the bright flags at the event. The local TV network's demonstration of color television also found itself the victim of sabotage. The vandalism continued when three priceless paintings at the Gotham Museum were left blank. And, when Robin interfered, he found his red, green, and yellow costume rendered virtually white.

Observing that his uniform had shrunk, the Boy Wonder tumbled onto his scheme and, after escaping a sun-lamp death-trap, captured Crazy-Quilt. The villain's early misdemeanors had been a ruse to convince people that the paintings had been destroyed. Robin realized that, if his costume had shrunk, it had to have been affected by a dye, not bleach. Investigation proved that the paintings had actually been coated with a water-soluble dye that was easily removed.

In late 1962, an underworld fence named Paul Dekker stole Crazy-Quilt's identity for his own but, in the absence of a helmet, he wore a simple hood. Dekker used his relatively harmless crimes to establish his reputation as a lunatic while secretly recovering innocuous items in which he'd hidden stolen valuables. The Blackhawks exposed his plot in short order.

Meanwhile, the original Crazy-Quilt was released from prison a few year later. He returned in Batman # 316, but the paroled Quilt was now losing his eyesight altogether. Determined to prevent such a fate, Crazy-Quilt raided the Gotham branch of S.T.A.R. Labs to capture an experimental laser gun and held off Batman and Robin by disorienting them with his color helmet. Once again, Quilt's gang seized an optical specialist, this time providing him with the stolen laser intensifier to perform the delicate surgery.

Meanwhile, the Dynamic Duo ran a gauntlet of hypnotic and downright lethal light weapons to reach the room where Quilt was recovering. Leaping into the fray to defend himself, the villain found his own helmet spotlights reflected back at him by an instrument tray in Robin's hands. In self defense, Robin had reflected the madman's light beams back into his newly restored eyes. Crazy-Quilt maniacally fired his guns until the bullets were exhausted and he was taken into custody. With his eyes still sensitive from the surgery, Crazy-Quilt had achieved exactly what he hoped to avoid. The reflected light had left him blind. Unintentionally, Quilt had been permanently blinded by Robin.

Obsessing over his young adversary, he becomes one of the few bat-villains to hate Robin more than his mentor. This extends to Graysons' successors in the role. By Batman #368 in 1983, Quilt had found yet another surgeon that would take his case. Small holes were drilled into his skull and electrodes were linked and fused between his brain's optic nerves and his color helmet. The helmet now enabled Quilt to see through the headgear's lenses!

"Put the helmet on backward," the doctor explained, "and you will literally have eyes in the back of your head. But the lenses are also projectors, capable of emitting the same blindingly intense light they ever did. And, as promised, I have equipped them with the additional feature of high-resolution laser beams able to burn right through a bank vault door." For his efforts, Doctor Kinski was the first person to be killed by Crazy-Quilt's laser beam. Before embarking on a crime spree, the madman was first determined to have revenge on the person who blinded him -- Robin. Unknown to Quilt, there was a new Boy Wonder, and Jason Todd had only had the role officially for twenty-four hours. Quilt ambushed the teenager, handing him a severe beating and placing a post-hypnotic suggestion to come to the villain's lair -- where he would be killed. Thinking to enact his revenge upon Grayson, Crazy-Quilt had mistakenly taken out his aggression on Todd, who was new to the role at the time. Unaware of the hypnosis, Batman forbid Jason from going out again. The Boy Wonder had no choice but to defy Batman -- but he did leave a note about his destination. Trailing Robin, Batman watched as Jason blinded Quilt's lenses by reflecting his color beams off of a makeshift rotating fan and separated the helmet from his optic nerves, smashing the device to pieces. Again, it is Robin who is pivotal to stopping Crazy Quilt's plans.

Crazy-Quilt was one of dozens of criminals freed from Blackgate prison by Ra's al Ghul in 1986. Despite being provided with a replica of his helmet and costume, Quilt displayed the same gratitude that he'd shown to his doctors. Along with Mirage and Mr. Freeze, He walked off into the night rather than fight someone else's battles.

After Quilt was recaptured, he ended up confined to Arkham Asylum for a time in Batman: Shadow Of The Bat # 3-4). He was imprisoned at Louisiana's Belle Reve prison in 1995 when Neron offered him the opportunity to grant his fondest wish -- in exchange for his soul in UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED # 1. Quilt eventually turned down the chance to regain his vision and he wound up back in Arkham, escaping on the eve of "No Man's Land".

Crazy-Quilt appears in the Belle Reve riot in Justice League #34, lugging around the eviscerated body of the prison warden. The prisoners, along with much of humanity, were being affected by outside forces.

He also has a role in one of the many reincarnations of the Secret Society of Super Villains. In the JLA-80 Page Giant #1 (1998), dozens of villains form in response to the JLA's new moonbase and extended team efforts. During the meeting, Quilt has his outfit insulted by the Monocle. The meeting turns out to be a JLA trap and all the villains are captured.

Powers and Abilities
All of Crazy Quilt's abilities are derived from his helmet/visor.

Crazy-Quilt's helmet that allows him to hypnotize his victims using flashing lights of various colors. It can also project lethal laser beams, blinding lights, and functions as artificial eyes since his own eyes no longer function; the lenses feed their input signal straight into his brain.

Crazy Quilt possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Behind the scenes
Apparently the new Secret Society of Super-Villains, led by Alexander Luthor, has in its roster a new version of Crazy Quilt, a female one with the characteristic costume and vision-helmet of the previous villain. She made a brief cameo in a background image in Villains United #2. In Outsiders #50, she is captured by the Suicide Squad. In the Secret Six series, she is one of the villains who accepts the offer of a bounty on the heads of the Secret Six from mysterious crime boss, Junior. She is shot by the Six, and stabbed in the stomach by Scandal. It's uncertain whether she survived.

Comic Book Appearances

 * Boy Commandos # 15
 * Boy Commandos #18
 * Boy Commandos #22
 * Boy Commandos #33
 * Batman #255
 * Batman #316
 * Batman #368
 * Batman #400
 * Detective Comics # 535
 * Batman: Shadow Of The Bat
 * Batman: Shadow Of The Bat
 * Batman: Shadow Of The Bat
 * Underworld Unleashed # 1
 * Star Spangled Comics # 123
 * The Creeper # 7
 * Justice League #34
 * JLA-80 Page Giant #1