WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: DC Comics' Killer Croc

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb. And this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing in no mythical creatures, ideas and monsters

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<v Speaker 2>in time. Batman's rogues gallery boasts an unbelievable variety of supervillains,

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<v Speaker 2>from chaotic clown criminals and calendar officionados to amorphous clay

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<v Speaker 2>monsters and cryogenically frozen mad scientists. But in terms of

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<v Speaker 2>more monstrous foes, a few names rise to the top. There's,

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<v Speaker 2>of course the Man Bat hybrid man Bat. But I

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<v Speaker 2>thought we might discuss another famous foe of the caped crusader,

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<v Speaker 2>Waylon Jones aka Killer Croc. Now, if you grew up

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<v Speaker 2>on the nineties bat Man animated series like I did,

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<v Speaker 2>you'll probably remember this guy as a pale, gray, scaly

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<v Speaker 2>humanoid with big shoulders, sharp teeth, and a skeletal face.

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<v Speaker 2>He's at home in the waters, especially river and sewer waters,

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<v Speaker 2>and he possesses great strength for grappling Batman. This character

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<v Speaker 2>was created back in nineteen eighty three for the Batman

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<v Speaker 2>comic by Jerry Conway, Don Newton and gene colan. His

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<v Speaker 2>original appearance was greener and scalier, and over the years,

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<v Speaker 2>designs for Killer Crock have only grown more monstrous. In

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<v Speaker 2>the nineteen eighty three comic debut, he's roughly the size

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<v Speaker 2>of a large man, but in the two thousand and

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<v Speaker 2>nine video game Arkham Asylum, he's an absolute ogre that

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<v Speaker 2>basically fills an entire prison cell by himself. The original

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<v Speaker 2>explanation given for Killer Croc's appearance is a skin condition,

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<v Speaker 2>probably meant to be something from the ichthiosis family of

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<v Speaker 2>genetic skin conditions that can produce a scale like quality

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<v Speaker 2>of the skin. Now, I'm not sure how tasteful this

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<v Speaker 2>ultimately is, and besides, it's hardly an excuse for other

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<v Speaker 2>aspects of Killer Croc's appearance and character. Plus, to be clear,

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<v Speaker 2>killer Croc has dinosaur feet and other dinosaur like qualities

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<v Speaker 2>in his later appearances. As such, these later incarnations of

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<v Speaker 2>Killer Croc are often explained as a severe form of atavism,

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<v Speaker 2>a real life recurrence of a genetic trait typical of

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<v Speaker 2>an ancestral form. The topic is explored in the excellent

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<v Speaker 2>book DC Anatomy of a Metahuman by SD Perry and

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<v Speaker 2>Matthew K. Manning with illustrations by Mean Dole. As the

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<v Speaker 2>authors point out, a vestigial tail or an extra nipple

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<v Speaker 2>in human beings is not too uncommon an example of this,

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<v Speaker 2>but if the affected gene is old enough, a pre

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<v Speaker 2>mammalian trait may be expressed in a human being. Some

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<v Speaker 2>of our genetic pre mammalian traits can be seen in

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<v Speaker 2>our embryotic development. We see temporary examples of this in

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<v Speaker 2>the dental playcodes of developing human fetuses, which, according to

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<v Speaker 2>Petrokova at All in the two thousand and six paper

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<v Speaker 2>for the Journal of Experimental Zoology, resemble early tooth primordia

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<v Speaker 2>in reptiles. The human fetus also temporarily develops a tail.

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<v Speaker 2>In a twenty nineteen Howard University study identified ancient reptilian

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<v Speaker 2>limb muscles in human embryos during the early weeks of gestation.

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<v Speaker 2>More startling, however, is a case reported by Walia at

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<v Speaker 2>All in a twenty ten edition of the Texas Hart

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<v Speaker 2>Institute Journal. When a fifty nine year old man sought

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<v Speaker 2>medical attention concerning chest pains, doctors discovered some surprising myocardial architecture.

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<v Speaker 2>Quote Remarkably, the morphology resembled that of the reptilian heart,

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<v Speaker 2>that is, it featured direct communications to the ventricle cavity

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<v Speaker 2>and had the sinusodal characteristics of non compacted myocardium. The

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<v Speaker 2>authors note that this was the second known case of

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<v Speaker 2>such a heart in human beings. While the medical curiosity

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<v Speaker 2>certainly there was certainly nothing monstrous about this, the fictional

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<v Speaker 2>case of Killer Croc would seem to involve a fantastic

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<v Speaker 2>exaggeration of reptilian ativism in a human being, and multiple

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<v Speaker 2>cases of it at bat, impacting various bodily systems and

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<v Speaker 2>features a kind of ridiculous atavism jackpot if you will now. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 2>crocodilian morphology factors into various mythological creatures for various cultures

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<v Speaker 2>and time periods around the world where crocodiles live or

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<v Speaker 2>where stories of crocodiles would drift to. Traditions in Egypt, Zambia,

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<v Speaker 2>and Indonesia involve humans that transform into crocodiles to harm others,

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<v Speaker 2>akin to the werewolfs of western lore. So it's likely

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<v Speaker 2>here that we find the closest thing to Killer Croc

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<v Speaker 2>outside of comic books, rather than in our own human

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<v Speaker 2>medical History. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact each week. As always, you can email us at

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<v Speaker 2>contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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