piracy

Illegal act of violence, detention, or plunder committed for private ends by the crew of a private ship (usually) against another ship on the high seas. Air piracy (i.e., the hijacking of an aircraft) is a more recent phenomenon. Piracy has occurred in all stages of history: the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans engaged in it, as did the Vikings, Moors, and other Europeans. It also occurred among Asian peoples. During the wars between England and Spain in the late 16th century, treasure-laden Spanish galleons proceeding from Mexico into the Caribbean were a natural target for pirates. In the 16th–18th centuries pirates from North Africa's Barbary Coast threatened commerce in the Mediterranean. The increased size of merchant vessels, improved naval patrolling, and recognition by governments of piracy as an international offense led to its decline in the late 19th century. In the late 20th century incidents of piracy occurred with increasing frequency in the seas of East and Southeast Asia. Seealso Blackbeard; Francis Drake; Jean Laffite; Henry Morgan.

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The Psycho-Pirate is the name of two DC Comics supervillains, dating back to the Golden Age of Comics.

Fictional character biography

Charles Halstead

Charles Halstead is a minor character who first appears in All-Star Comics #23, created by Gardner Fox and Joe Gallagher. He was originally a linotyper for the Daily Courier, later he becomes a criminal mastermind under the name Psycho-Pirate. He plans crimes based on emotions. The Justice Society of America captures and puts him in jail. He continues to research the mysticism of emotions until his death sometime in the 1960s.

Roger Hayden

Roger Hayden, first appeared as the second Psycho-Pirate in Showcase #56, created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson.

Roger Hayden is a jailed gangster (later retconned into a young twenty-year-old who was sentenced to a year in prison for attacking his emotionally abusive psychiatrist father) who is a cellmate to Halstead. Halstead's dying wish to have a legacy prompts him to tell Hayden of a secret which he has divined in his jail years, the existence of the Medusa Masks. These golden masks bestow upon the wearer the power to project emotions onto others. Hayden finds these masks, merges them into a single faceplate and uses its powers to become a supervillain. It becomes increasingly apparent that he is addicted to absorbing others' emotions, though it causes him pain, possibly brought by the combination of all masks into one. He is eventually imprisoned after a battle with Doctor Fate and Hourman.

Hayden returns to prominence when he insidiously begins influencing prominent Gotham City citizens Bruce Wayne and Alan Scott, the former a wealthy businessman and now commissioner of Gotham's police force, the latter the President of television station WXYZ. Initially, Scott is the most affected as he, in his Green Lantern persona, begins exercising his frustrations upon humanity for the failures of his private life, such as the impending bankruptcy of his station. After creating a disturbance at Gotham International Airport, he is subdued by his Justice Society comrades, who assists both Scott and teammate Flash who has also been under Hayden's control. The Society has to next battle a civil war within their membership instigated by Wayne, still under Hayden's control and determined to rid Gotham of all superheroes.

Hayden later joins the Secret Society of Super Villains, having been recruited by the Ultra-Humanite to defeat Hayden's old foe Hourman. While he is successful thanks to a device Ultra devises that amplifies and projects Hayden's face and hence his control, ultimately both the Justice Society and the Justice League defeat Hayden and his teammates after their betrayal of fellow Secret Society members. The villains are deposited into an interdimensional rift known as limbo for lack of a better term.

From there, Ultra gains mental contact with his younger self from the 1940s, and the two Ultras are able to pull the Secret Society, including Hayden, back to that era where they confront and are defeated by the All-Star Squadron and the time lost Infinity Inc.

Crisis and madness

In the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, the Monitor recruits Hayden but he is abducted by the Anti-Monitor. In exchange for an entire world to play with, Psycho-Pirate becomes an accomplice to the Anti-Monitor, manipulating a captive Barry Allen. After the resolution of the Crisis, Psycho-Pirate is one of the few to have full memories of the event. Driven mad by these memories, the Psycho-Pirate is shown in last few panels of Crisis in a straitjacket.

Hayden appears in the 1987 Outsiders special. He impersonates the villain Baron Bedlam in order to gain power in the fictional Eastern European country of Markovia. Since the Outsiders hero Geo-Force is a Markovian prince, his team becomes involved, assisted by another superhero team Infinity Inc.. Despite Geo-Force's knowledge of his childhood castle, Hayden quickly subdues him and the other heroes involved. The story is continued in a similar Infinity Inc. special.

Hayden shows up again in Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man, imprisoned in Arkham Asylum. He ends up releasing characters destroyed during the Crisis back into the world. Many of these characters come to realize they are just characters in a comic book. After an intervention by Animal Man, Hayden, seemingly happy, fades away into nothingness (due to the strain from releasing all the forgotten characters), removing him from reality); heading to comic book Limbo. James Highwater, one of the Asylum staff, is left to wear the Medusa Mask and keep the forgotten worlds contained. The other staff members come to accept Highwater as a patient, not realizing anything is wrong.

Psycho-Pirate does not appear again until 1995, when he becomes part of the crossover event, Underworld Unleashed. Like many other villains, Psycho-Pirate sells his soul to the demon Neron in exchange for more power. The process results in a costume change as well. Hayden now wears a black leather jacket. His mask morphs into an eyepatch. Now sane and making no mention of the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and the existence of the multiverse, Psycho-Pirate goes on to fight the knife wielding mercenary incarnation of Doctor Fate, for now just called Fate, several times before being arrested and sent to jail.

After his appearance in Fate, Psycho-Pirate makes two brief appearances during the Joker's Last Laugh crossover event. He is first seen locked up in the maximum security prison called the "Slab". He is once again insane and rambling of the existence of the multiverse. He also has his original costume. All but one eye is covered. It is noted how his eyebrows and have have been shaved off so as to reduce his ability to express emotion. The Joker iniates a breakout and infection of the inmates; they now follow his orders and commit dangerous pranks. Hayden is seen shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre.

Infinite Crisis

Psycho-Pirate reappears in the initial story arc of JSA Classified (issues #1-#4, 2005). This arc deals with the origin of Power Girl and her search for a definitive answer to where she came from. While attempting to figure out her origins, she encounters several unusual hallucinations which are revealed to be the work of the Psycho-Pirate, manifesting the power to create tangible illusions. Among the hallucinations he utilizes to torture Power Girl are the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, Garn Daanuth (brother to her once-supposed grandfather Arion), members of the Titans from the Titans of Tomorrow storyarc, Nightwing and Flamebird from the bottle city of Kandor, various Legion members and others.

Finally, in the final issue of the storyarc, Psycho-Pirate reveals that he and Power Girl are refugees from Earth-Two. Along with other individuals (such as Donna Troy, her evil alter ego Dark Angel, and several others), they were missed in the restructuring of the Multiverse into a Universe. Hence, Power Girl's original origin is her one true origin.

It is eventually revealed that the whole purpose of Psycho-Pirate's scheme is to weaken Power Girl mentally so that she could be captured as part of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s plot involving characters originally from different universes. Psycho-Pirate flees and vows to make Power Girl his love slave once Luthor is finished with her.

When Nightwing, Superboy, and Wonder Girl attack Luthor's base, they free all the captive heroes, including Power Girl and Black Adam, who then confronted the Psycho-Pirate. Psycho-Pirate tries to instill feelings of fear in Black Adam, but he resists, saying "No more silly faces," and then proceeds to gouge out the Psycho-Pirate's eyes and pushes the Medusa Mask through his head, killing him. When Power Girl asks if that was necessary, Adam replies, "Absolutely".

One Year Later

Psycho-Pirate is mentioned in Justice League of America #1 as selling emotional states, such as "happy" and "ecstatic," much like a drug dealer. Among his reported clients are Signalman and Silver Ghost. Psycho-Pirate's Medusa Mask is also featured in the 2008 Raven miniseries. In the story's conclusion, Raven destroyed the mask, but it's power still affected scientists who studied its schematics on a computer.

Golden Age

• In The Golden Age 1993 mini-series, Psycho-Pirate appears wearing Hayden's costume. It is unclear if this is Hayden or if the writer and artist took creative licence in depicting Halstead.

Powers and abilities

Charles Halstead has no super human powers, he is however a brilliant criminal mind with an excellent grasp of human psychology and emotions.

With the Medusa Mask, Roger Hayden is able to project emotions into people. Often, it seems to intensify emotions a person already feels, no matter how small. Hayden later shows the power to manifest DC multiverse characters that had been destroyed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. This power expands to any multiverse character, including the still living. Psycho-Pirate has also shown some sort of regeneration of body control as he is able to reform after being crushed by Power Girl, and also disguises himself as a Legion flight ring. It appears he has also returned from the destruction of his head at the hands of Black Adam.

During his 90s revamp, Psycho-Pirate was an 'emotional vampire,' able to drain emotions from people.

In other media

In Justice League Unlimited, Psycho-Pirate makes a cameo appearance as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. He has no lines and takes no significant action in any episode. He is also notably lacking the Medusa Mask.

Notes

External links

• Fanpage about the Psycho-Pirate (both Halstead and Hayden)