Ding Dong Daddy

Creation

Ding Dong Daddy was co-created by Bob Haney and George Kashdan.

History

Ding Dong Daddy first appeared in Teen Titans # 3 when the Teen Titans were sent to investigate a large number of high school dropouts happening in a small town known as Harrison.

They learned that a former hot rod racer known as Ding Dong Daddy had opened a custom hot rod and bike shop and was offering these teens lucrative jobs working on hot rods and paid them well so that they could support their families.  What the teenagers didn’t know was that Daddy would then sell these cars as weapons or get away cars to criminals for large sums of money. The Titans went undercover as dropout students and revealed his nefarious scheme and Daddy was later caught and arrested.

Ding Dong Daddy made a retroactive flashback appearance in Teen Titans:Year One #5 when he stole the Arrowcar from Speedy (Roy Harper) and Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) while they were on a date.  This event was proclaimed to have happened just prior to their mission in Harrison.

The Ding Dong Daddy has not been seen since; although he remains one of the Titans’ most popular enemies due to his outlandish 1950’s style lingo and usage of customized hot rods.

Other Media

The Ding Dong Daddy is one of only three (the others being Mad Mod and Andre Le Blanc) villains from the original Teen Titans series that made the transition to the animated screen.  He was voiced by David Johansen and made cameo appearances in the “Homecoming Part 2” and “Titans Together” episodes as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil.  Like his comic book counterpart, he frequently utilized 1950’s lingo in his speech; referring to the Titans as “squares” and “swingers”.

He also played a much larger role in the “Revved Up” episode.  In this episode, after stealing a titanium briefcase from Robin, he then wagered the contents of it to whoever won a race against him.  This prompted a winner-take-all competition against the Teen Titans, Red X, Gizmo, Dr. Light, Control Freak, Adonis, Kitten and Fang, the Puppet King, Johnny Rancid, Mumbo Jumbo, and Mad Mod.

His souped up hot rod was customized with grenades, liquid nitrogen sprayers to caused the road to ice up, a flight neutralizer, and even front-mounted snapping jaws.  He was also assisted with a pit crew of “gremlins” who rode in a gigantic mobile station that acted as a pit stop that was capable of fully repairing his hot rod as well as sabotaging his competitors.

Trivia

The character of Ding Dong Daddy was based on an actual person, the late Ed “Big Daddy” Roth who was a legendary hot rod enthusiast and also the creator of the Rat Fink character.  His airbrush creations became wildly popular in the 1960s and he was credited with putting the “monster” in hot rods.  In fact, the “gremlins” in the “Revved Up” episode were a direct homage to many of his creations.