(Batman / Scarface: A Psychodrama #1) - As part of Jeremiah Arkham’s therapy the Ventriloquist was convinced to throw his puppet Scarface into the sea, removing the physical manifestation of his split-personality. Ventriloquist said he felt like a murderer, and hated himself for betraying Scarface, but Arkham assured him he’d no longer have evil urges, and would soon be out of Arkham Asylum. When Ventriloquist was released he contacted his former henchman Rhino to help him restart his show-biz ambitions with his new ventriloquism act. He carved a dummy named Lola, and had his first performance at Gotham’s Ventriloquism Club. Penguin attended his show, delighted to see his old rival had become a nobody, but Ventriloquist mocked him during his act, infuriating him. Rhino told Ventriloquist he was happy to be working with him again, but missed their criminal days, saying they used to get real respect. That night Ventriloquist dreamed of Scarface, who demanded he kill Lola for betraying him. Ventriloquist said he had no power over him, but Scarface unleashed the damned souls of Blackgate’s condemned men to convince him otherwise. Ventriloquist woke up and grabbed a knife, prepared to stab Lola, but was brought to his senses by Rhino, who heard him thrashing in his sleep. Scarface was found by two fishermen, one of whom slipped on a rock, breaking his neck. Scarface drifted to a beach where he was found by a boy named Arthur. Arthur brought Scarface to show-and-tell, and tried his hand at ventriloquism, but when the school bully started mocking him Scarface promised him he’d kill him. During a school evacuation the bully was trampled to death, and Arthur threw the dummy in the trash. A boy named Joe found him, and his father, Ernest, a seasoned criminal, recognized the dummy. He hoped to sell it to Penguin, but after threatened with being shot, gave Scarface to Penguin as a gift. Penguin threw the dummy on the stage during Ventriloquist’s next act, hoping he’d have a nervous breakdown. Rhino convinced him that it was fate that reunited him with Scarface, and Ventriloquist decided to return to a life on crime. Ventriloquist sincerely apologized to his dummy who told him their partnership was sealed in Hell and would last until death parted them.  Rhino had recorded the audience during Ventriloquist’s acts, just like when he was starting his criminal career, and recorded Penguin working out his next heist, sending expendable men to the Vargas Building as a decoy for Batman while Penguin would join his men hitting the diamond district. Ventriloquist called the GCPD, and while Batman rounded up the men at the Vargas Building Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD foiled the heist in the diamond district and arrested Penguin. Meanwhile Ventriloquist and Rhino burst into Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge, shot a bunch of his men, and stole the money he kept in his vault. Ventriloquist tied an anchor to Lola and threw her off a pier as Scarface told him they’d be the kings of Gotham again.

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