| rdfs:comment | - The Monk, whose true identity was Niccolai Tepes, was a vampire who fought Batman.
- The Monk first appeared in Detective Comics #31 in 1939. He is one of the earliest significant villains of the series, his battle with Batman being one of the Dark Knight's first multi-part adventures. The Monk is a vampire who wears a red, monk-like outfit, with a hood that bears a skull and crossbones. He has an assistant named [Dala who lures Batman to his lair using Bruce Wayne's fiancee, Julie Madison, as bait. The Monk places Julie in a hypnotic trance. After rescuing Julie, Batman kills the Monk and Dala by shooting them with silver bullets as they lay in their coffins.
- While he still lived on Gallifrey, Mortimus attended the Time Lord Academy with the Doctor and became a part of the Deca. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) He became an initiate of one of the colleges of scholars in the Capitol, trusted with keeping secrets. (PROSE: No Future) He worked for the Celestial Intervention Agency. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel) During this period, the Monk was responsible for the Legions' imprisonment. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus) The Master recalled that the Monk "crossed and double-crossed" the CIA. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel)
- First published in 1796, The Monk is considered a classic of Gothic Fiction and one of the most influential novels of the genre, though some also consider it to be something of an Affectionate Parody as well. It was published almost thirty years after The Castle of Otranto, which is considered to be the first Gothic novel. The author, Matthew Gregory Lewis, was a nineteen-year-old English diplomat who penned the novel in a mere ten weeks. The book became an instant success, scandalizing and entrancing the reading public. None of his other works were nearly so successful as this first effort. Indeed, the work was so strongly identified as Lewis's greatest success that he was, and is, referred to as "Monk" Lewis.
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| abstract | - First published in 1796, The Monk is considered a classic of Gothic Fiction and one of the most influential novels of the genre, though some also consider it to be something of an Affectionate Parody as well. It was published almost thirty years after The Castle of Otranto, which is considered to be the first Gothic novel. The author, Matthew Gregory Lewis, was a nineteen-year-old English diplomat who penned the novel in a mere ten weeks. The book became an instant success, scandalizing and entrancing the reading public. None of his other works were nearly so successful as this first effort. Indeed, the work was so strongly identified as Lewis's greatest success that he was, and is, referred to as "Monk" Lewis. Madrid, Spain, in the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Mere minutes after the cathedral doors open, the pews are packed with people who have come to hear the famous monk Ambrosio give his sermon. Ambrosio is young, handsome, and considered incorruptible because he has never broken a rule of his order. But Ambrosio, for all his holiness, is a proud man. In the crowd waiting to hear Ambrosio are a young girl, Antonia, and her Maiden Aunt, Leonella, who meet a pair of young and gallant men, Don Lorenzo and Don Christoval. Antonia and Lorenzo fall in Love At First Sight and Lorenzo vows to marry her. After his sermon, Ambrosio meets a young student of his named Rosario, but it seems to him that Rosario is out of sorts today. Indeed, Rosario tells him a sad story of his sister Matilda who loved a man who spurned her, and she died. When Ambrosio is sympathetic to Matilda's tragedy, Rosario reveals that he is actually Matilda and Ambrosio is her beloved. Ambrosio tells her to leave the monastery at once, but her determination to kill herself if she has to leave makes him waver. Slowly but surely, Matilda convinces Ambrosio that she should be allowed to stay, even though she's a woman. That it would not be a problem for them to love each other. That it would not be a sin to break their vows of chastity. But this is only the beginning of Ambrosio's descent into sin, and soon all of their paths will collide tragically. It Got Worse is an understatement. An e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.
- While he still lived on Gallifrey, Mortimus attended the Time Lord Academy with the Doctor and became a part of the Deca. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties) He became an initiate of one of the colleges of scholars in the Capitol, trusted with keeping secrets. (PROSE: No Future) He worked for the Celestial Intervention Agency. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel) During this period, the Monk was responsible for the Legions' imprisonment. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus) The Master recalled that the Monk "crossed and double-crossed" the CIA. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel) Mortimus became an agent provocateur for the High Council. It was during this employment that the Monk first found his interest in intervening in history. Mortimus eventually became aware of other worlds where everything he believed in was meaningless, so he turned to politics, attempting to "create a purpose out of nothing". Finding politics to be full of betrayal, he retreated into hedonism, out of a desire for harmless fun. Through "some sort of controversy", the High Council betrayed Mortimus, and he began to meddle with history as a hobby. (PROSE: No Future)
- The Monk, whose true identity was Niccolai Tepes, was a vampire who fought Batman.
- The Monk first appeared in Detective Comics #31 in 1939. He is one of the earliest significant villains of the series, his battle with Batman being one of the Dark Knight's first multi-part adventures. The Monk is a vampire who wears a red, monk-like outfit, with a hood that bears a skull and crossbones. He has an assistant named [Dala who lures Batman to his lair using Bruce Wayne's fiancee, Julie Madison, as bait. The Monk places Julie in a hypnotic trance. After rescuing Julie, Batman kills the Monk and Dala by shooting them with silver bullets as they lay in their coffins. The Monk would return several decades later when writer Gerry Conway revived him in 1982's Detective Comics #515. The Monk's appearance is preceded by Dala's return in Detective Comics #511, during which she romances Dick Grayson (a.k.a. Robin) as part of her master's plan. Conway's story is ostensibly an update of the original tale, establishing an Earth-One counterpart of the Monk during the days of DC Comics' Multiverse. It departs from the original, however, by establishing the Monk's true identity and origin. In Conway's version, the Monk is a post-Civil War plantation owner in New Orleans named Louis DuBois. He and his sister Dala are attacked by their vengeful ex-slaves and subjected to a voodoo ritual which transforms them into the undead. During the course of the story, Batman himself is transformed into a vampire by the Monk but is eventually cured by a serum administered by a priest/exorcist named Father Green. At the conclusion of the tale, Green departed with the captive Monk and Dala, hinting that he had been pursuing them for a very long time indeed. Although later events have called this story into question, the Monk's continued existence in the post-Crisis version of the DC Universe was confirmed by the presence of a familiar red hood displayed as a trophy in the Batcave.
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