VENTRILOQUIST

Real Name: Arnold Wesker

Class: Human villain

Occupation: Crimelord

Group Affiliation: formerly Society, Black Lantern Corps

Known Relatives: unnamed parents (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Gotham City

First Appearance: Detective Comics #583 (February, 1988)

Powers: Ventriloquist was introverted and seemingly harmless, but when he spoke through his puppet Scarface he became a ruthless and cunning criminal strategist.

History: (Showcase '93 #8, 9, Batman/Scarface: A Psychodrama #1 (fb)) - Arnold Wesker was a mild-mannered man who abhorred violence, but one night he accidentally stabbed a man in a bar fight. The man died and Arnold was sentenced to life in prison at Blackgate. His cellmate Donnegan was a hardened criminal whose only joy in life was his ventriloquist dummy Woody. Woody had been carved from the remains of the Blackgate gallows tree, and legend had it that the gallows tree held the souls of all 313 men hung from it, and rumors started that the dummy, which seemed to have a mind of his own, would bring evil to anyone who touched it. Woody talked like a 1930s gangster, and was vulgar and short-tempered. Wesker was immediately fascinated by Woody, but Donnegan said he’d kill him if he played with the dummy. Wesker heard Woody talk to him, saying he was breaking out of Blackgate, and wanted to ditch Donnegan, who he thought was a loser. He urged Wesker to come with him, convincing Wesker to kill Donnegan, hanging him in the cell, and killing two Blackgarte prison guards before making his escape. Once out of prison Wesker wanted to put on a ventriloquist act with Woody, but he heard the dummy tell him they wore born to be crimebosses, and urged him to commit violent robberies. Wesker rose in the ranks of Gotham’s underworld, renaming the dummy Scarface, and becoming known as the Ventriloquist.

(Detective Comics #583, 584) - Ventriloquist still acted peacefully most of the time, but expressed the darker side of his personality through Scarface. It is through Scarface that Ventriloquist dealt with his henchmen and ran his criminal activities. Ventriloquist started a drug-ring distributing a highly dangerous drug named Fever to the population of Gotham, until Batman busted it up and had Ventriloquist arrested.

Ventriloquist was convicted and sent to Gotham Penitentiary, but he was allowed to keep Scarface with him. Despite his imprisonment, he continued to run what remained of his drug-ring. He arranged a five million dollar shipment of cocaine to Gotham crimeboss Rafe Santini, but was overheard by inmate Kadaver. Kadaver and the Penguin broke out of jail and attempted to steal the drug shipment, but attracted the attention of Batman. Thus one of Ventriloquist's greatest criminal ventures was left in ruins.

(Detective Comics I #642) - Ventriloquist retaliated against the Street Demonz, drug dealers stealing his territory, by blowing up one of their safe houses.

(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.

(Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #2, 4, 6) - Ventriloquist kept his cellmate Lunkhead up all night with Scarface's yammering, so the next day his bunkmate smashed Scarface, and put pieces of him in the chicken served that day. A harried Ventriloquist ran around the cafeteria picking up all of his dummy's pieces. Jane Doe, in the identity of Arkham guard Wrigley, helped free her fellow inmates. Lunkhead enjoyed the riot and beating up everyone in site. Ventriloquist didn't want anything to do with the chaos until he found Scarface, who'd been reassembled by Humpty Dumpty, and Scarface wanted revenge on Lunkhead. Doodlebug unleashed the Skarva, demons trapped under Arkham, and built a flame pit to open a gate to Hell. He needed sacrifices, and Ventriloquist used his power to volunteer Lunkhead, avenging Scarface. Aaron Cash tried to fight the Skarva, who turned Ventriloquist and other inmates into monstrous versions of themselves to fight him. The demons returned to hell with the help of Demon Etrigan and Great White, and Ventriloquist and the others were restored to normal.

(Batman: Gotham Knights #5) - The Key locked every door in Arkham, including those in the kitchen, and the inmates were in danger of starving. Ventriloquist and Killer Croc managed to find a few scraps of food that lasted them until Batman defeated the Key.

(Batman I #622, 624, 625) - Ventriloquist started seeing Elizabeth Lupo, sister of small-time criminal Angel Lupo. Elizabeth got pregnant, and Angel's girlfriend Margo Farr had her killed. Ventriloquist thought Angel was responsible, and gunned him down. He then let himself be taken into police custody by Batman.

(Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1) - The Society made plans for a worldwide prison break to free every incarcerated supervillain, and they sent Killer Croc to free Arkham Asylum's inmates. Ventriloquist was one of the released inmates, but most of them were captured and sent back to their cells by a group of superheroes called in by Oracle to deal with Arkham.

Comments: Created by Alan Grant, John Wagner & Norm Breyfogle.

Ventriloquist received profiles in Who's Who Update '88 #4 and Who's Who in the DC Universe #8.

Ventriloquist had a cameo in Catwoman II #60.

There was a pin-up of Ventriloquist in Batman: No-Man’s Land Gallery #1.

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