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'Bret Leather' is a fictional character. He is a creation of writer Warren Ellis and illustrator John Cassaday. He appears in two issues of the comic book series Planetary.
He is an amalgam of The Green Hornet, The Spider, and The Shadow or simply "Batman with guns."

Contents

Fictional biography

Family

Appearances

Fictional biography

Leather was born at midnight, January 1, 1900, making him a "century baby." Other 20th- "Century Babies" include Jenny Sparks, Elijah Snow, Dr. Axel Brass, and Lord Blackstock. All century babies have special abilities, and Bret Leather is no exception. He has the ability to disintegrate himself into spiders and reconstitute himself at will. He also may have an understanding of ethics which transcends that of mortal ken. All century babies represent an aspect of their century. Sparks is the "Spirit of the 20th Century." Snow is the "Ghost of the 20th Century." Brass is the "Mind of the 20th Century". Leather, then, is the "Justice of the 20th Century". It is also safe to speculate he experiences the same retarded aging Jenny Sparks enjoyed, however his use of a mask and his premature death leave this unclear. Operating under the alias "The Spider," Leather terrorized the criminals of 1930s and 40s Chicago with an antihero's justice. He uses the "turbo-guns" Brass mentions in earlier issues of ''Planetary'' in one panel to blow an assassin's guts out from behind him, when a disabling blow would surely suffice. Leather also has the ability to throw or transmit his voice around enclosed spaces and speaks with a hissing voice. ("Serious business in Chicago" comes out "SSSeriousss businessss in Chicago.")
In Wildstorm continuity, Leather is now deceased. He, along with Kevin Sack (a Great White Hunter and father of Lord Blackstock), Jim (a Operator No. 5 analogue), Edison (a Tom Swift analogue, not known to be connected to Thomas Edison), Hark (a Fu Manchu analogue), and The Aviator (a G-8 analogue), comprised Doc Brass' group of Pulp heroes. All the members of Brass' group except for Brass himself died in combat against analogues representing Superman, Batman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman, the popular comic book heroes.

Family

He is the son of John Leather, the Dead Ranger, a character who is similar to the Lone Ranger.
Bret's adopted son is William Leather, one of The Four, who is the product of a liaison between Bret's wife and a loan shark, so he never inherited his father's powers, as Jakita Wagner did from her father Lord Blackstock.

Appearances

★ ''Planetary'' #1 shows the final fight in which he died.

★ ''Planetary'' #5 fills in some of Brass' adventures, including those with the team he assembled. In particular we see Leather helping fight "Demonites" in Paris in 1939.