Warning: The following contains spoilers for the story "Urban Legends" in The Doomed and the Damned #1 by Saladin Ahmed, Leonardo Manco, Mike Spicer, and Marshall Dillon, on sale now.
Mr. Slowdeath. Mr. Slowdeath. Mr. Slowdeath. With these words, Batman finds out first hand that not all myths can so easily be blown off as urban legends. In the story aptly named, "Urban Legends" in The Doomed and the Damned #1, Batman battles a creature that appears in the mirror in an all-boys orphanage. After two boys both fall fatally ill under mysterious circumstances, Batman goes to investigate the orphanage, named after his mother, to find the source of the sickness. There, Cesar tells Batman that his brother has fallen ill and has only twenty-four hours to live all because he said "Mr. Slowdeath" in the mirror three times in a row.
The myth of "Mr. Slowdeath" is based on the real urban legend of "Bloody Mary," who also appears when her name is spoken several times while standing in front of a mirror. Depending on who tells the story, Bloody Mary is either a ghost or phantom and is sometimes benign while other times evil. The original ritual that evolved into the "Bloody Mary" myth involved young women walking up a flight of stairs backward while holding a candle and a hand mirror. When the young woman stared into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to see the face of who their future husband would be. But there was a chance, though, that they would see a skull or the face of Death itself instead.
The fact that this myth still haunts sleepovers today attests to the power and popularity of urban legends. Historians believe that "Bloody Mary" refers to either Mary Tudor (Mary I of England), who died in 1558; Elizabeth Bathory who died in 1614; or Mary Worth, a witch who died during the Salem Witch Trials sometime between 1692-1693. There are also six movies and four short horror films to date with some variation of "Bloody Mary" in the title, including the movie Urban Legend: Bloody Mary, directed by Mary Lambert and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. Even the hugely popular TV show Supernatural has an episode titled "Bloody Mary" in the first season. Urban legends have become a part of the fabric of society with each region of the world having their own versions.
As Batman investigates the source of the Gotham City legend of "Mr. Slowdeath," he learns that some myths are based in fact. When Batman says the name into the mirror three times, nothing happens. But when Cesar tells him a child must say it, a portal suddenly appears and a hideous creature emerges. Batman, being Batman, quickly deduces that the creature is an "interdimensional anomaly... A manifestation of negative energy. A dark force looking to feed." Using a set of brass knuckles made out of Nth metal (who doesn't have a set of those?), Batman defeats the creature and sends it back to its home dimension.
Showing that he doesn't always need a lot of prep time to take on the enemy, Batman sets the standard for having the right tool for the right job. Batman also proves that urban legends usually have at least one foot in science and that there's always a rational explanation for things. Even if those "things" are from another dimension.