#59 - Jane Doe
First Appearance: Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #1 (Jul 2003)
" Jane is a cipher, she's incomplete, her life is empty, so she covets the lives of others. She takes their lives so she can have their lives." ~Jane Doe
A brilliant creation from the longtime Spider-Man writer Dan Slott, Jane Doe is the quintessential serial killer: she observes her subjects, kills them, and then takes their lives over. I've always found the process creepy on a more existential level, and it certainly is a horrifying fate to consider. She can completely replace you and no one notices... it may seem absurd, but I wouldn't doubt. I mean, how well can you ever know somebody? Jane Doe is utter anonymity, but within that anonymity is an intriguing and frightening concept: it's impossible to ever truly know even those you love the most. What are they thinking? Can you ever trust anyone?
Jane Doe has had a short but relatively high profile career, getting involved quickly with other villains in the Battle with the Cowl, and having run-ins with most of the Batman family. She's the sort of hardcore villain I like, because her grim and violent modus operandi really lends itself to the detective aspect of Bat-family members. It requires that deductive mind to put clues together and figure out who is really the bad guy, because with Jane Doe, the last person you'd expect is always Jane Doe.
Greatest Jane Doe Story Ever Told: The Manhunter back-up series in Batman: Streets of Gotham - Throughout most of the Batman: Streets of Gotham series, underrated and excellent superhero Kate Spencer moves to Gotham City from California, where she takes over as the newest Gotham DA (honestly, I'm not sure they've even had one since Harvey Dent started trying on both sides of the bench). Jane Doe becomes her archnemesis in the storyline in a taut, suspenseful feature that truly was a high point in the Batman titles of the time. I wish they'd have more great backup features like this; sure, the extra pages increased the price by a buck, but getting characters like Jane Doe more screentime was worth it.