"We don't have any conclusive evidence, but Alan and I can't help but feel that Anarky's philosophy grated on somebody's nerves; somebody got a look at it and didn't like it [...] So I've generally gotten the impression that Anarky was nixed because of its philosophy. Especially in this age of post 9/11, Anarky would be a challenge to established authority. He's very anti-establishment, that's why he's named Anarky!"
-Norm Breyfogle
ANARKY (Lonnie Machin, aka Moneyspider)
Created By: Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle
First Appearance: Detective Comics #608 (Nov. 1989)
Role: First Year College Student Who Thinks He Knows Everything, Political Villain, Villain Who Thinks He's Right
Group Affiliations: None
PL 9 (140)
STRENGTH 1
STAMINA 2
AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12
DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 4
PRESENCE 4
Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11)
Athletics 10 (+12)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Activist) 9 (+12)
Insight 3 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Investigation 6 (+10)
Perception 4 (+4)
Persuasion 4 (+8)
Stealth 3 (+8)
Technology 7 (+10)
Technology +6 (+16) -- Flaws: Limited to Computers
Vehicles 2 (+7)
Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Roll, Equipment 8 (Anarchist Stuff), Evasion, Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 6, Ultimate Activist Skill, Uncanny Dodge
Equipment:
"Mortar Bombs" Blast 7 (Area- 30ft. Burst) (21)
"Shocker Cane" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (6)
"Cane Shot" Strength-Damage +2 (Reach) (3)
"Flare-Guns" Dazzle Visuals 8 (Area- 30ft. Burst) (24)
"Swing-Line" Movement 1 (Swinging) (2)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Cane +12 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Mortar Bombs +7 Area (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Flare-Guns +8 Area (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Shocker Cane +12 (+6 Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +13
Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +2 (+3 D.Roll), Fortitude +5, Will +7
Complications:
Motivation (Anti-State Activism)- Lonnie believes that governments and corporations have degraded much of the world, and fights against things like militarism, economic inequality and corruption. He's also an environmentalist, debuting attacking a company for pollution within Gotham.
Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 66--32 / Advantages: 20 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 16 (140)
-Anarky is a very weird sort of character- he combines the "Villain Who Thinks He's Right" thing with youthful rebellion, and various creators have tried REALLY HARD to make him a thing, but it's never quite taken for various reasons. He's sort of a kid version of the villains of
Avatar: The Legend of Korra's 1st & 3rd seasons, but done worse. A child prodigy wearing a garish yellow & red costume with a golden mask (artist Norm Breyfogle was told to emulate both V from
V For Vendetta and the Black Spy from
Spy vs. Spy, giving us the musketeer-looking masked character), Anarky states radical philosophies and desires to bring down all government institutions. Of course, in REAL LIFE, anarchy always turning into military warlords taking control, making "I'm an Anarchist" the most classic "19-Year Old in Their First Year of College" thing in the world. Like a solid IDEA, but just utterly stupid and ineffectual in real life- power vacuums always invite such things. That writer Alan Grant based him off of his own interest in anti-statist writing just made the guy come off like a total doofus whenever I read about him, however- nothing cries "cringy" like someone attempting to push their own politics through their writing. That said, Grant himself had moved on in his politics, so the character's stuff was more ABOUT that than a real screed in favor of it, apparently.
-Anarky, being young, kind of exemplifies the philosophy, however, going off against real-world bad things like political corruption, economic inequality, and militarism. He uses destructive terrorism against a local Gotham polluter, giving us a "Villain With Good Intentions" bit, and Batman unmasks him, revealing an unusually-bright twelve-year old. Grant had wanted Anarky to come off like the popular Chopper in
Judge Dredd, and was thinking this could potentially be the new Robin (Jason Todd had recently died). The character proved popular enough to show up after his debut (where he was supposed to be a one-off), and this led to an
Anarky Limited Series in 1997, based around the "Neo-Tech" philosophy, related to Objectivism (which is now an open joke on the internet).
-The high sales and critical reception of that then led to an ONGOING (Breyfogle begged Grant to do it, as he was struggling to find work at the time)... but the 1999
Anarky solo book failed on both of those measures, killing off the character. It lasted a mere eight issues, Grant himself disavowed it, and the character vanished. As Grant's "baby", nobody else had an interest in the guy, and artist Breyfogle claims it's related to censorship (lol, like a 5th-tier Batman antagonist can't find a solo book because of CENSORSHIP? Really?), but he was chosen at random to be the signature villain of the 2013
Beware the Batman show (which made an effort to use only "lesser known" Bat-characters instead of popular ones... naturally, the show died a very, very quick death). Fabian Nicieza also chose Anarky to be the main villain of the 2008
Red Robin series until the book's cancellation. Here, Lonnie was kidnapped by Ulysses "The General" Armstrong, who had replaced him as "Anarky". Lonnie himself was connected to a computer and interacted with the world that way, calling himself "Moneyspider"- this was mostly so Nicieza could write an immature villainous Anarky while still respecting the original character. However, this appearance met with dissatisfaction, judging by Wikipedia's classical "Some believed that--"-style wording, including by Grant himself. Christopher Yost, who took over the book, didn't use either character, but Nicieza found himself back on it, once more making them major factors. Then the "New 52" happened and killed the whole deal.
-Initially, Anarky used low-tech stuff like flare guns, swing lines and throwing stars- he was more ingenious and clever than a powerhouse, making do with the body of a twelve-year old in a world of adults. He was also a master hacker, able to give himself finances by stealing it from others' bank records. The
Anarky solo book led to him first getting a "Biofeedback Device" to let him learn things faster than was normal, then "fusing" the hemispheres of his brain, giving him a kind of super-intelligence- he creates an onboard computer and invents a Boom Tube-like device. Wikipedia naturally details the sniping between fans and creators as to whether or not this "overpowered" Anarky and helped ruin the series by making it now too surreal and wrecking suspension of disbelief.