Calling Card: Difference between revisions

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A [['''Calling Card]]''' is a piece of evidence or item deliberately left at the scene of a crime to serve as perpetrator's "signature". Sometimes it's a literal playing card or gamepiece left near the scene of the crime, or perhaps the victims are arranged in strange poses.

This has become a [[Dead Horse Trope]] in [[Comic Books]], where it was once a staple. A hero may also have a [['''Calling Card]]''', especially one who typically disappears after stopping the criminals rather than hanging around to discuss things with the police.

* The titular thief of ''[[Lupin III]]'' often inverts this by sending calling cards ''before'' he pulls off his heists. It seems rather foolish, but often his targets' attempts to increase or alter their security end up playing right into one of his [[Batman Gambit|Batman Gambits]]s and allow him to accomplish the theft.

* From [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] through [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books]], most of [[Batman]]'s [[Rogues Gallery]] left [[Calling Card|Calling Cards]], either explicitly ([[The Joker]]'s playing cards and the Riddler's conundrums), or in the form of Signature Crimes: Two-Face's crime sprees always revolved around the number two, for instance. This was often [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]]; even in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]], the Riddler's compulsion was flat-out stated to be his downfall. In the current comics, however, it's a [[Dead Horse Trope]].

** The serial killer from ''[[The Long Halloween]]'' would kill on a holiday and leave behind some knickknack related to the date--thedate—the press dubs them The Holiday Killer. And in the sequel ''[[Dark Victory]]'', the next serial killer leaves behind incomplete Hangman games.

* ''[[Mickey Mouse]]'': The Phantom Blot's calling card is an ink blot. He'll usually leave a message with it, but sometimes not -- onenot—one time Mickey finds himself framed by the Blot, and then notices there is an actual ink blot on his jacket.

* The suspense novel ''The Caper of the Golden Bulls'' is about a retired thief coerced into a new caper; he laments that he can't get the aid of another master thief known as the "Ace of Diamonds." The Ace had a bizarrely elaborate signature: the ace of diamonds playing card, with a gryphon's head drawn on it, and then a stiletto driven through the card. It's eventually revealed that the gryphon's head referred to the thief being a lovely young woman named Grace -- "gr" from "gryphon" plus "ace" -- so—so she was ''telling the authorities her name'' every time she pulled a theft. And she turned out to be [[Contrived Coincidence|the hero's girlfriend]], so the Ace of Diamonds ''was'' available to help.

* One of the early killers ''[[Dexter]]'' goes after makes the victime's bodies themselves his signature--asignature—a frozen, chopped-up, bloodless body. The killer also {{spoiler|left increasingly personalized clues for Dexter himself}}.

* Parodied in ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' with the "Identity Killer", whose calling card is that he leaves documents pertaining to his identity -- suchidentity—such as his driver's license, his passport and, on one occasion, himself -- athimself—at the scene of the crime. The [[Police Are Useless|police still are baffled as to who he could be]].

* ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'' allows the characters to modify their [[Karma Meter|Karma Meters]]s to allow different breaking points in pursuit of the Vigil; to make up for it, though, they need to take certain "Triggers" that risk being activated in times of stress. One of them is "Calling Card"; you ''have'' to leave a sign at the scene of a kill. Needless to say, this Trigger carries over well if the hunter becomes a [[Slasher Movies|Slasher]].

* The beginning of ''[[Condemned]]'' has you investigate a murder by "The Matchmaker", whose [[Calling Card]] involves seating the corpses of his victims at a table along with a disfigured mannequin.