 Grant developed Anarky as a <unk> — a character who relies on inventions and gadgets to compensate for a lack of superpowers — and as a child prodigy . In early incarnations he was portrayed as highly intelligent , but inexperienced . Lacking in many skills , he survived largely by his ingenuity . In accordance with this , he would occasionally quote the maxim , " the essence of anarchy is surprise " . By 1991 a profile of the character , following the introduction of Anarky 's skills as a hacker in the " Rite of Passage " storyline of Detective Comics <unk> , described that " Lonnie 's inventive genius is equaled only by his computer wizardry . " 
