MIKADO

Real Name: Dr. Spaulding

Class: Human

Occupation: Vigilante, doctor, former army medic

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Hub City

First Appearance: Question I #8 (September, 1987)

Powers: Mikado was a skilled doctor armed with a tranquilizer gun, as well as more conventional weapons like an ax.

History:  (Question I #8) - Spaulding was a conscientious objector who served as a medic in Vietnam, and was wounded twice in the line of duty. He graduated med school and served his time in Hub City, pulling 18-hour days and doing the best he could to bring relief to the unfortunate dwellers of the cesspool of a city. He wanted to maintain a balance to make up for all the casual cruelty he saw in the city, but came to hate humanity, and decided he would have to create a balance of his own. Spaulding was a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, and he donned the Lord High Executioner mask and took the identity of Mikado. He was aware of many wrongdoers because of the victims that passed through his hospital, and tracked down the villains, giving them fitting deaths while reciting the line from the Mikado "My object all sublime .. . I shall achieve in time - to let the punishment fit the crime." He scalded to death a man who'd scalded his child, and hacked the flesh off the bones of a man who was starving his children. The Question got interested in his year-long serial killing spree, and uncovered his identity. He confronted Spaulding in his apartment, not intending to turn him in, but wishing to understand his motivations. Mikado said his work had to continue, and after hitting Question with a tranq dart said as much as he regretted it he would have to dispose of his rival vigilante. Question made a case for the balance he was creating by his heroics in Hub City, and Mikado decided to spare his life, but took his own, overdosing on a chemical injection.

Comments: Created by Dennis O'Neil & Dennys Cowan.