Comic Book / Day of the Dollmaker

"Some of us try hard to make the world a better place than it was when we found it. I know that's what I try to do. I know I won't always be successful. But that's life. I'm Supergirl. This is my life... And y'know what? I'm pretty happy with it. (For now, at least.)"

— Supergirl

Day of the Dollmaker is the final story of Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's Supergirl run. It was published in November-December, 2010, and ran in Supergirl (2005) #58-59.

Someone has been sending Daily Planet journalist Catherine Grant killer dolls which appear to be connected to the disappearances of several children. Believing this to be the work of Toyman, the villain whom she blames for her son's death, Cat tries to contact Superman. However, she cannot find the Man of Steel, so she blackmails Supergirl into helping her.

Supergirl is feeling seriously miffed at being forced to help someone who has spent months writing slander pieces about her; unfortunately, the fact that children are in danger means she cannot simply tell Catherine to get lost. However, when Supergirl accompanies Cat to interrogate Toyman regarding her gifts, one doll attempts to kill him.

Who is kidnapping the children of Metropolis and sending Catherine clues? Why does that person appear to hate Toyman, and yet uses similar tech? Can Supergirl and Cat Grant put their mutual enmity aside for long enough to solve the case?

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Tropes:

• Actually a Doombot: As interrogating Toyman, Supergirl warns him she will tear him apart in order to make sure he is not one of his perfect duplicate robots if he keeps balking at their questions.
  Supergirl: And how do we know you're even the real Winslow Schott? I've seen one of your robots before — no, two of them. One here in Gotham, the other on New Krypton. And that one had a part in my world's destruction. A small part, sure, but an important one. Your work is very well made. Impossible to tell apart from real, live human beings, even with my X-Ray vision. So please. Answer Ms. Grant's questions, or else another outburst like that will lead me to believe you're one of Schott's automatons... and I'll start probing to make sure you're real.
• Alliterative Name: Dollmaker calls his toyfied slaves "the Daring Dollmen".
• Alliterative Title: The story is named Day of the Dollmaker.
• Amicable Exes: When Kara asks Lana about her family, her friend replies that things between her and her ex-husband Pete are going awkward, but they will manage.
• Antagonist Title: The story is named after the child-kidnapping Big Bad.
• An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Supergirl is trying to find the child kidnapper at Christmas Eve. With no concrete leads, she combs Metropolis, beating and interrogating every criminal and super-villain she meets until she manages to find and beat down Dollmaker.
• And This Is for...: When Catherine decks Dollmaker, she dedicates the punch to her son Adam.
• Antagonist Title: The story is named after the villain Dollmaker.
• Arc Words: During Sterling Gates' run, Supergirl often capped an inner monologue -usually about the mess what she had just gotten into- with "I'm Supergirl. This is my life.". In the final double spread panel, she repeats that line with a twist: "I'm Supergirl. This is my life... And y'know what? I'm pretty happy with it."
• Bad Santa: Supergirl punches a composite Batman/Kryptonite Man, created by Dr. Sivana and dressed as Santa Claus.
• Big Bad: Dollmaker, a serial child kidnapper, abducts Catherine Grant to force her to become his "mother".
• Big Red Button: Dollmaker's remote control which sets off the bombs strapped to his hostages has a huge red button in the center.
• Blackmail: Catherine Grant reveals she knows Lana Lang is friends with Supergirl to force the red-haired woman to call Supergirl.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Cat Grant insists that she is not blackmailing Supergirl but merely asking for her help.
  Supergirl: Respected?! Says the woman who writes about how short my skirt is every other day, then blackmails my friends to get me to pull her fat out of the fire?![...]
  Catherine Grant: And I'm not blackmailing anyone. I merely asked Lana to ask her friend to help me.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Dollmaker draws a pair of scissors to defend himself from Supergirl, but Kara's eye blasts melt its improvised weapon out of his hand.
• Bookends: In the first issue of Sterling Gates' run, Cat Grant wrote an article titled: "Why the World Doesn't Need a Supergirl". In the final issue, Cat writes a kind of recantation: "The Day I Needed Supergirl".
• Bound and Gagged: After kidnapping Catherine Grant, Dollmaker's toys put a gag on her mouth and tie her to a chair.
• Bullfight Boss: Supergirl dodges Baroness Blitzkrieg's charge, letting the villainess crash into a row of Christmas trees.
• Bullying a Dragon: Catherine Grant continues to berate and belittle Supergirl the whole time, apparently unbothered by the fact that she's taunting someone who can obliterate her in a blink.
• Captain Obvious: When Toyman's interrogatory ends with the villain seriously injured and one of the killer dolls destroyed, we get this exchange:
  Catherine Grant: Well... That could've gone better.
  Supergirl: [raising one eyebrow] You think?!
• Chekhov's Gun: In the beginning of Who Is Superwoman?, someone sends Cat Grant a Supergirl doll. Twenty issues later, Cat realizes it was a clue to find a child kidnapper.
• Consulting a Convicted Killer: Supergirl and Catherine Grant visit Toyman in his cell to ask him who might be sending Cat dolls looking like missing children.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Adam Grant was killed in Superman (Volume 2) #84.
  • Toyman revealed Adam's murder was committed by a defective robot-double in Action Comics #865.
  • Catherine Grant wrote her expose on Supergirl in Supergirl (Volume 5) #34.
• Cue the Sun: Supergirl's last image in Sterling Gates' run has her flying happily across the sky, as a kindly sun shimmers on her.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Most of villains interrogated by Supergirl are defeated within one panel. Dollmaker himself is no threat, being forced to resort to holding hostages when his murder toys are swiftly crushed.
• Deadly Dodging: Supergirl defeats Baroness Blitzkrieg's charging tactics by stepping aside and tripping her into a row of trees.
• Death Glare:
  • A security guard is ogling to Cat Grant's butt. Then Supergirl leans over and glares. The man starts and slams his back into a wall.
  • Minutes later she's interrogating villain Toyman about several missing children, but he claims that he has done nothing wrong and tries to balk at answering her questions. Kara glares at him◊ and a second later she slams him into the wall and urges him to cooperate as her eyes glow red◊.
• Easily Forgiven: Supergirl appears to forgive Catherine Grant for her one-year-long, xenophobic, slut-shaming, defamatory anti-Supergirl campaign after Cat writes a public non-apology which can be summed up as "I don't take anything back, but maybe I might give Supergirl another chance in consideration of her youth and inexperience".
• Entitled Bastard: Daily Planet sleazy journalist Catherine Grant launched a smear campaign against Supergirl with the intention of driving her out of Metropolis. Over one year, Cat called Supergirl a reckless, out-of-control teenager, accused her from spearheading a Kryptonian Alien Invasion and complained about her out-of-fashion dress and the length of her skirt. However, as soon she runs into trouble, Cat blackmails Kara into helping her because she cannot find Superman. And still Cat keeps insulting her as Supergirl is helping her out.
  Supergirl: "The hero the world doesn't need," Cat wrote about me. Some days, though, it sure feels like it does. Though, if there weren't three kids missing, I'm not sure I'd help her. You can't say those kinds of things about a person then expect them to just fly up and give you a hand.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Dollmaker is a delusional psychopath, a child kidnapper and a murderer. Yet still, despite hating his father with a passion, he does not hold a grudge against his mother (even though she treated him worse than his father ever did: the worst thing Toyman did to his son was to stop paying attention to him. On contrast, Dollmaker's mother took him away because of petty reasons, and later abandoned him).
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • When Supergirl comes to Cat's aid, Dollmaker cannot understand why Supergirl is saving someone whom she hates.
  • Similarly, Catherine Grant thinks Supergirl will never let her live down that she screamed for her help. Nonetheless, Kara does not give another thought to Catherine again. Simply put, Catherine is a sleazy journalist who cannot figure out Supergirl is not a grudge-holder like her; she only wanted Cat to stop harassing her.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: When Supergirl fires her heat vision at Dollmaker, the villain ducks and mocks her aim. A second later he realizes she wasn't aiming at him, but at the ropes tying Cat up.
  Dollmaker: Ha! You missed me!
  Cat: She wasn't aiming for you, you little bastard.
• Flashback: The final issue features a short flashback showing a young Dollmaker living with his parents until his mother takes him away.
• Forgot to Gag Him: Dollmaker is about to go out of his lair when it occurs to him that he should gag Catherine Grant again. Though, he realizes his mistake one second too late to prevent her from screaming for help.
  Dollmaker: Wait—! I should make sure she can't scream for—
  Catherine Grant: SUPERGIRL!
• Freudian Excuse: When Kara expresses frustration at dealing with Catherine Grant, Lana explains Cat became obnoxious, short-tempered, jealous and vindictive when her son Adam was murdered.
  Lana Lang: ''You've got to understand, Kara, Cat's been to hell and back with Toyman. You didn't know Cat before her son was killed. She was a different woman back then. Heck, we all were. [...] Her son Adam was killed rescuing a group of children who were kidnapped by one of Toyman's malfunctioning robots. The robot cut his throat. Cat changed after that. She didn't grieve. Instead, she turned hard. She moved to L.A. and started writing for tabloids, tearing down anyone she could. The more teen stars and starlets she saw parading around town, the angrier and angrier her writing became. [...] Clark thinks Cat became angry that those teens were still alive to make messes of their lives... and her son wasn't.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lois goes to visit her sister Lucy in her containment cell to cut ties with her and call Lucy out on becoming a killing machine to impress a man that did not even care for them when they were kids, dismissing Lucy's "I wanted daddy to love me" excuses.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Supergirl's eyes glow red◊ as she menacingly tells Toyman he will answer their questions... or else.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Subverted. Catherine Grant coerces Supergirl into playing "bad cop" to her good cop when she interrogates Toyman. However, Cat is more like a "bad cop" to Supergirl's "badder cop".
• Grave-Marking Scene: On Christmas Eve, Cat Grant visits her son Adam's grave. She brushes snow off the tombstone and wishes Adam happy Christmas.
• Just Between You and Me: After abducting Catherine Grant, Dollmaker reveals his grand plan is... to force her to become his new mother.
• Just Following Orders: When Lois calls Lucy out on taking part in a genocide, her little sister argues she was just following orders. Lois immediately dismisses it as a bad excuse to obscure Lucy's real motive.
• Kubrick Stare: Cat Grant does this when she interrogates Toyman.
• Laser Cutter: Supergirl uses her heat vision as a very precise knife to cut the ropes tying Cat to a chair.
• Leave Me Alone!: Although Catherine Grant blackmails Supergirl into helping her solve a case of missing kids, she cannot stop herself from constantly belittling the young hero. Eventually, Kara becomes fed up with her bullying, declares she will work on the case on her own, and tells Cat off.
  Catherine Grant: But — But WAIT! I need—
  Supergirl: You need to leave me alone, is what you NEED to do.
• Mook Horror Show: Dollmaker is visibly terrified when Supergirl crashes into his lair, trashes his army of murderous toys and approaches him slowly and calmly, her glowing eyes blasting every weapon he tries to keep her away with.
• Mythology Gag: As looking for the three missing kids, Supergirl beats Baroness Blitzkrieg, Doctor Sivana and another version of the Composite Superman/Batman, Puzzler, Shrapnel and the Gang. Most of them are villains who had never been faced by Supergirl; though, the Gang harassed Earth-One Kara Zor-El in the pages of Supergirl (1982).
• Neck Lift: Supergirl grabs roughly Toyman's neck◊ during an interrogation when she thinks he's lying.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Supergirl blasts one killer doll away from Cat Grant, but by doing so she accidentally destroys some evidence to find the child-kidnapper. Dollmaker's killer doll mocks her by it before coming apart.
  Dollmaker: And here Ms. Grant thought you would be the one to get her out of this tree, and you've just melted some key evidence. How sad.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Dollmaker is a pudgy runt. Without his army of killer dolls or bomb-strapped hostages he cannot protect himself and is knocked out in one single punch by Cat Grant.
• Noodle Incident: After decking Dollmaker, Cat mentions she has needed to learn how to knock someone out in a single punch due to some men she has dated.
• Not Me This Time: When Catherine Grant finds out someone has been kidnapping children and sending her killer dolls right after of each kidnapping, she believes it must Toyman's work. When she and Supergirl go and interrogate Toyman, though, the man has no idea of what Catherine is talking about: he would never hurt kids, he has no interest in taunting her, and he has been locked up in Arkham for over one year.
• Obligatory Earpiece Touch: Supergirl touches her earpiece as she is speaking to Lana. It must be noted her earpiece is orange and bulky, probably so no reader can miss it.
• Offscreen Inertia: Bizarrogirl reveals Superwoman has been confined in a S.T.A.R. Labs containment cell while Dr. Light filters the alien DNA -which became grafted into her cells during her battle with Supergirl in Who Is Super Woman- out of her body. One scene shows Lucy is still shackled to her cell, and Dr. Light is still stripping alien DNA out of Lucy. Superwoman lampshades it's taking a lot of time.
• Parental Abandonment: Dollmaker's mother disappeared after leaving her son on a street corner for unknown reasons.
• Parental Neglect: According to Dollmaker, his father Toyman eventually stopped paying attention to his own son in favor of doting on other little children.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Dollmaker makes no further appearances after being taken out and arrested.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When one of Cat's dolls recognizes Toyman's voice pattern, its mechanical eyes turn red. Then it grins maniacally and stabs Winslow's chest with its scissors.
• Replacement Goldfish: Defied. Dollmaker kidnaps Catherine Grant, figuring out she can be his new mom, and he can replace her murdered son. However, Cat is utterly disgusted with the idea of someone replacing her little Adam, and it does not help that Dollmaker boasts that he will surely be a better child than Adam.
  Catherine Grant: How could you possibly think you could ever replace my child?! I don't know what kind of psychopath you are, but you're not half the man my son would be if he were alive today!
• Rule of Three: Dollmaker kidnaps three children before Cat Grant realizes that a child kidnapper is sending her clues.
• Save the Villain: When one of Dollmaker's killer dolls stabs Toyman, Supergirl swiftly slaps the murder toy away and cauterizes Toyman's wound with heat vision.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Cat Grant blackmails Supergirl into working with her to find a child-kidnapper... and spends the whole time belittling her. Eventually, Kara snaps and decides to leave the older woman and work on the case on her own.
  Supergirl: That's it. I'm gone.
• Secondary Color Nemesis: Dollmaker wears a green shirt, purple bow tie and belt and violet overalls.
• Self-Made Orphan: Dollmaker programs his toys to recognize Toyman's voice pattern and attack him with intent to kill.
• Series Fauxnale: Knowing he was being kicked out of the book, Sterling Gates used this storyline to tie up most of his run's last ongoing subplots. By the end, Kara is an experienced super-hero who has greatly matured since her career's beginnings, has defeated most of her enemies and is presently happy with her life. You would be forgiven to think it was Post-Crisis Supergirl's final story, but her book went on for eight issues more.
• Shear Menace: One of Dollmaker's dolls uses a pair of scissors to stab Toyman. It almost succeeds in killing him.
• Shooting Superman: Dollmaker brandishes one crowbar to keep Supergirl at bay. Then a pair of scissors. A blast of heat vision takes care of both weapons quickly. To his credit, he seems to know that resistance is useless but is desperate enough to try anyway.
• Static Stun Gun: Catherine Grant uses a taser which she carries in her purse to disable one of Dollmaker's dollified slaves.
• Strapped to a Bomb: When Supergirl has cornered Dollmaker, the villain warns he has strapped bombs to the chest of the kidnapped children.
  Supergirl: Why should I let you do anything?
  Dollmaker: B-because if you don't, I'll kill those little kids! My doll-friends!
  Supergirl: Excuse me?
  Dollmaker: I've got-got bombs strapped to their chests! One flick of this button, and—
• Strapped to an Operating Table: A flashback panel shows one little girl gagged and chained to a table while Dollmaker turns her into a living doll.
• Tears of Joy: Cat Grant sobs while telling one of the kidnapped kids she is taking him to his mom now.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Catherine Grant forces Supergirl to work with her to find several missing children even though Kara cannot stand her. Cat herself dislikes Kara and never misses the opportunity to belittle Kara for her alleged recklessness, destructiveness and bad fashion sense during the investigation. Eventually, Kara becomes fed up with her abuse and leaves.
  Supergirl: That detective wants to speak to us, but since this is your mess and I want to get back to Metropolis, I'll leave you to deal with it. Far as I'm concerned, this partnership is over.
• There Was a Door: In the final issue, Supergirl flies through the wall of the lair of Dollmaker to rescue Cat Grant.
• Trauma Button: When Supergirl complains that Catherine is being even more unpleasant than usual, Lana explains Cat's son was kidnapped and killed by a Toyman robot. Hence, someone impersonating Toyman and kidnapping children is reopening all her old wounds.
• Trespassing to Talk: When Catherine goes back to home, she finds someone has stolen her keys and trespassed into her apartment, leaving the door ajar deliberately so she knows there is an intruder in her home. Cat pulls a taser out of her purse and tries to confront the trespasser, who introduces himself as Dollmaker and claims he has business with her.
• The Unapologetic: Not even after Supergirl saves her life, Catherine Grant is sorry about her smear campaign (which entirely stemmed from petty reasons: Kara accidentally got her eye bruised as saving her life). She keeps claiming she reported facts, and the only thing resembling an apology that Supergirl gets is a "I was not wrong, but maybe Supergirl might deserve another chance after all" recantation.
• Unknown Rival: Catherine Grant, who still blames Toyman for her son's murder, believes he has been sending her dolls to taunt her. However, when she confronts him, Toyman reiterates he doesn't have or want business with her at all.
• Villainous Face Hold: Dollmaker puts his forefinger on Catherine Grant's chin and pushes slightly so his captive looks straight in his eyes as he is talking.
• Villains Want Mercy: Subverted. Dollmaker stammers that Supergirl has to let him go, making Kara believe he is another cowardly villain who resorts to grovel when he cannot win. Then Dollmaker clarifies he is threatening to kill his hostages.
  Dollmaker: Y-you can't stop me! You have to let me go!
  Supergirl: Figures. Like all villains, once you're left standing alone, you're begging and cowardly. You tortured three little kids. Why should I let you do anything?
• What Does She See in Him?: Kara is quite shocked to learn that Catherine Grant -whom she cannot stand on the grounds of being an obnoxious, unapologetic, entitled bully- was a mother since it implies someone willingly dated and had sex with her.
  Supergirl: A kid? Someone agreed to mate with that woman?
• Wicked Toymaker: Anton Schott alias "Dollmaker", the son of Toyman, is also a skilled -and creepy- toymaker, although he specializes in deadly robot dolls.
• Wolverine Claws: Dollmaker's toyfied slaves are armed with bladed gloves (to be precise, scissors' blades have been attached to the gauntlet's fingers).
• Would Hurt a Child: Dollmaker has no issue with taking children away from their parents and hurting them by turning them into his doll soldiers.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: When Cat Grant accuses Toyman of kidnapping children, the latter protests he would never hurt children. It is adults who he cannot stand.
  Toyman: No, I wouldn't hurt children. I love them, they're my friends! Adults are the ones I hate.

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