The Demon's Head
This evening, a story has begun to form in my mind, a tale of Ra's al Ghul, Vandal Savage, and the "infernal machine" of the 1584-1585 Siege of Antwerp by forces of the Spanish Crown. All week, I've been thinking about Ra's al Ghul; his daughter Talia; and his dread foe, the Detective, known to the rest of the world as the Batman. I've watched all the Ra's al Ghul episodes of Batman: The Animated Series: "Off Balance," "The Demon's Quest, Parts I and II," "Avatar," and "Showdown," and the Superman: The Animated Series episode "The Demon Reborn," and read most of the Ra's stories in my collection of comics, making a point of skipping Batman: Death and the Maidens. Of the comics stories, I'd have to say my favorite is the not-exactly-in-continuity story Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity, which paired the titular heroes against their opposites: Ra's al Ghul, Bizarro, and Artemis of the lost tribe of Amazons. (Wonder Woman's name is Diana, the Roman name for the Greek goddess Artemis; it's an obvious bit of symmetry, but one I've enjoyed just the same, throughout Artemis's in-continuity appearances.)

Despite my hostility to the character of Nyssa Raatko, al Ghul's estranged daughter and adversary, I do like the idea of exploring, beyond his darling Talia, the children the Demon's Head has surely sired in his six or seven centuries of life. I'd like to introduce his 19th century son, Arkady Duvall from "Showdown," into the appropriate time period of the DCU. (Harley Quinn and Livewire leapt from the small screen to the four-color world; so, there is precedent.) In contrast to the conflicted Talia, her loyalties always divided between her father and her beloved Detective, and the perfidious Nyssa, I'd like to feature a completely devoted and obedient daughter, Ivana al Ghul (named, of course, after Ms. Milicevic). Because she's the good daughter, of course she must die before her time, almost certainly at the hands of or due to the machinations of the remorseless Savage. (Am I indulging in the Women in Refridgerator's syndrome? No, I don't think so, because Ivana must be female and must die for her to properly parallel Talia; what happens to Ivana is meant to partially explain Ra's's indulgent behavior toward Talia.)

Anyway, the theoretical miniseries Ra's al Ghul/Vandal Savage: The Infernal Machine is very much in it's infancy. All I know right now is that since I don't want to use time travel to forge a connection to the main superheroes of the 20th/21st century DC Universe, I'll work in either or both Jason Blood and the Immortal Man for the requisite heroics. Hmmm, I don't object to time travel per se, so maybe I'll include Walker Gabriel, the second and less villainous Chronos.