Swami Ymar wore a metallic suit of green armour covered in spinning discs and carried a buzz-saw gun to commit crimes throughout Gotham City. The Spinner was initially successful but was ultimately apprehended once and for all by Batman and Robin. He was a thief who uses spinning objects to confound the Dynamic Duo. Spinner uses spinning impregnated glass to blind them, a giant spinner top to impede them, and uses a gun that fires spinning buzz saws as a weapon.
History[]
In early 1960, Batman and Robin encounter a new costumed villain, the Spinner, whose metal uniform is overlaid with spinning discs, and who utilizes a spinning buzz-saw gun, tops, and giant fans in his arsenal of tricks. The heroes are dazzled by the reflected light of the sun from the Spinner's colored-glass fan and thus are unable to stop the gang's escape, but a slang word used by the Spinner common among Joliet Prison inmates gives Batman a clue to his identity.
In the meantime, Kathy Kane is checking out a Swami Ymar, who runs a racket finding lost valuables for wealthy people. He proves unable to see that Kathy's brooch is in her jewel box, but can see that another woman's diamond ring is on the powder box in her bureau. Kathy judges him master of a racket in which a henchman steals things and hides them, then, for a fee, the Swami pretends to find them. The Spinner has another encounter with Batman during a payroll robbery, but fends off the heroes with a giant top. He drops a glove, which proves to have peanut oil and salt on it. From this, and the Joliet Prison clue, Batman deduces that Peanuts Gilson, an ex-con, must be the Spinner, though he doesn't seem bright enough for the role. At the Swami's studio, a reporter nudges the Swami into revealing the Spinner's hideout, at a windmill outside of Gotham. Batwoman, outside the Swami's window, gets the news even before the reporter phones police headquarters, and thus precedes Batman and Robin by a few seconds--and gets caught by the Spinner and tied to a giant fan. Batman disables the fan controls with a pitchfork, and he and Robin easily defeat the gang. The Spinner, unmasked, proves to be Gilson. But when a freed Batwoman accuses him of other crimes, Gilson exclaims that he is not really the Spinner, who gave him this costume and asked him to stand in for him while he is out. Suspecting a trap--correctly--Batman gets all of them out of the windmill before a booby trap blows the structure to bits. Batman, Robin and Batwoman return to the Swami's studio and captures the real Spinner--Swami Ymar. Ymar admits to using the slang and dropping the gimmicked glove as false clues, and was planning to have Gilson, in the Spinner costume, die in the blast, so that Ymar would be clear to retire safely with his loot from the robberies and the reward for The Spinner's capture. Batman leads him away, telling him the only one caught in the Spinner's web was the Spinner himself.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Spinner's oddly armored costume protected him from most harm, able to deflect bullets and rendering anyone unable to effectively deal blows to him. While not at all a good fighter, the Spinner in reality possessed above-average strength and size. His weapons included a buzz saw gun, which could prove deadly in the right hands, and giant spinning tops and mechanical fans.
In other media[]
Batman: The Brave and the Bold[]
The Spinner (Right) on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, along with the Cluemaster and Catman.
The Spinner makes an animated appearance on the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "A Bat Divided!", playing billiards against Cluemaster, Tiger Shark, and Catman at a seedy bar for third-rate costumed villains. Their game was viewed by the other villains as boring. Suddenly, the bar was crashed by three atomic counterparts of Batman, led by Firestorm. This resulted in a barroom brawl, and the Spinner attacked the most aggressive of the doppelganger Batmen. Undeterred by the armour of spinning discs that prevented most blows, the atomic Batman seized the Spinner and hurled Ymar over the bar counter, where he crashed directly into the wall. The Batman was far from finished, however. He punched the Spinner upside his face, then lashed out at the villain's stomach, causing him to double over in a heap. When Firestorm joined the fight, the Spinner charged him, only to have a bolt of raw atomic energy unleashed at him, shattering his metal costume. Ymar screamed and fled the bar in terror.
The Spinner later reappeared in the episode "The Criss Cross Conspiracy". He successfully pulled off a heist on a Gotham bank, but as he was attempting to escape with his loot he was thwarted by Batman, Batgirl, and Nightwing. While Batman and Batgirl fended off his giant tops, Ymar was stopped dead in his tracks by a swift kick from Nightwing.
Notes/Trivia[]
The Spinner's green costume and buzz saw gun bears some resemblance to the second Slasher, a costumed vigilante who went on blood sprees that terrorized Gotham's homeless population nearly thirty years later. He claimed to kill those who deserved it in an attempt to restore Gotham City's reputation. Batman took time to defeat the Slasher before leaving a slightly safer Gotham City for Russia to combat the NKVDemon. (Detective Comics #445 [March, 1990]).