DC Histories: The Ventriloquist and Scarface

Here at DC Histories, we try to make sense of the continuity that perplexes, befuddles, and intimidates. We discuss what worked and what didn’t. This week, we’re talking about the Ventriloquist and his most famous accomplice, Scarface.

The Ventriloquist has held a special place in the Batman canon since his debut in 1988. One of many gangster types that has faced off against the Dark Knight over the years, the Ventriloquist and Scarface are easily the most visually distinctive of that bunch. The Ventriloquist, whose real name was Arnold Wesker, was a middle-aged, balding man who spoke quietly, if at all. Scarface was a vicious, 1920s gangster stereotype in the form of a ventriloquist’s dummy. While it was Arnold who controlled Scarface and threw his voice for the puppet, both claimed that it was Scarface who was really in charge. Unfortunately, Arnold wasn’t a perfect ventriloquist, so all of Scarface’s “B”s came out like “G”s.

While not physically imposing, the effect of Arnold and Scarface’s banter was usually enough to cause disquiet among the people he was talking to. It was also helpful that Scarface’s bodyguard was a mountain of a man named Frederick Rhino or simply Rhino for short. He was quick to tell new members of the gang that the duo wasn’t a joke. It also helped that Scarface wouldn’t hesitate to shoot someone in order to prove himself.

Seeing as how Arnold was an out-of-shape, bespectacled man and Scarface was a puppet, they had little defense against Batman when he came to bust up their operation. Scarface was usually involved in the drug trade, something that Batman found particularly abhorrent.

Rhino would give Batman a run for his money physically, but even he fell to the Dark Knight relatively quickly.

When Arnold was away from his puppet, he was demure. He claimed that Scarface was his own person and that Arnold was forced to do whatever Scarface wanted when they were together. Even when talking to a psychiatrist, Arnold claimed that Scarface was an independent thinker, someone who even Arnold was afraid to be around.

For all his claims that he didn’t like Scarface or want to be around him, Arnold never failed to seek out his dummy. Even when Scarface was crushed, shot, torn, bashed, and seemingly destroyed, Arnold seemed to always find a way to get reunited with his friend. Sometimes, Scarface looked a bit worse for wear, but as long as his jaw moved, he would be the mouthpiece for Arnold’s most psychotic desires.

In 1994, Scarface and Arnold’s origins were finally told. Arnold was sent to Blackgate prison for stabbing and killing someone during a bar room brawl. Instead of being assigned a single cell, he was forced to share one. Donnegan, a man who had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, was his cell mate. Having already lived in prison for years, Donnegan had used that time to create a small dummy for himself he’d named Woody. When Arnold first laid eyes on the doll, he became enraptured.

When Donnegan found Arnold awkwardly playing with Woody, he beat him senseless.

Woody wasn’t just a doll to Donnegan. Woody had been crafted by Donnegan himself from the remnants of an old piece of gallows wood. Men had been hung from the very same wood that now made up this doll’s head. There was an undercurrent of the supernatural to this beginning which suggested that Scarface might actually be possessed by the souls of those hanged criminals. Donnegan told all his plans to Woody, including the plan that he was going to break out of prison soon. Late one night, after Donnegan went to sleep, Arnold thought he heard Woody talking to him. Arnold attacked Woody’s creator in his sleep and killed him. Then, Arnold carried out Donnegan’s plan to escape Blackgate. He was successful.

By the end of the night, three men were dead and Arnold had rechristened his new friend “Scarface.”

This origin story was beautiful drawn by Teddy Kristiansen who brought a moody, dark look to a character that could easily be written off as silly. Never had Scarface or the Ventriloquist looked so unnerving.

Even without Scarface, Arnold was a menace. After Bane broke nearly every one of Batman’s foes out of Arkham Asylum, Arnold teamed up with the dumb powerhouse, Amygdala. Needing an outlet for his aggressive thoughts, he immediately began hunting down Scarface. However, the thought of being alone scared him, so he took off one of his socks, placed it on his hand, and became talking to a new personality named “Socko.”

Socko didn’t last long after Arnold was reunited with Scarface. Socko and Scarface rubbed each other the wrong way and they ended up shooting each other. Arnold was later found by the police laying on the blood soaked floor of a hotel room with bullet holes in each of his hands.

Aside from Scarface and Socko, Arnold had one other puppet he famously used during his criminal career. After Gotham City was wracked by a giant Earthquake, a figure appeared on television named Quakemaster. He claimed to be behind the city’s devastation and said that if he wasn’t paid a ransom, he’d do it again. Robin tracked the criminal down and found that it was all a hoax. “Quakemaster” was just another puppet who Arnold claimed was controlling him.

Arnold and Scarface met their untimely end shortly after Infinite Crisis and the One Year Later jump in time. While the two were having a nice dinner, someone hunted them down and shot them both. As Scarface laid in pieces on the floor, Arnold reached out and grabbed the puppet’s hand with his final breath.

Tally Man, a hit man working for a rival gang, was behind the murder. He was eventually brought to justice for his many crimes, but Arnold was still dead. But the Ventriloquist lived on.

The following year, Scarface returned. During a gathering of the various gangs still operating in Gotham City, Scarface appeared before the collected group. There was someone new controlling him. A mysterious blonde woman now worked his mouth. She was simply called the Ventriloquist.

There is some slight honor among thieves in Gotham. You just don’t take another crook’s gimmick. So, when Harley Quinn stumbled upon this new Ventriloquist, she took offence at her swiping the Scarface bit. However, the Ventriloquist let it be known that using Scarface wasn’t a con. She felt as close to Scarface as Arnold did before her.

Eventually, it came out that this new Ventriloquist’s name was Peyton Riley. She was a former wife of a small-time gangster named Johnny Sabatino and the daughter of an Irish mobster named Sean Riley. Johnny worked for Scarface during the low point of his career. When Peyton’s relationship with her husband went south, he attempted to kill her. He shot her in the face and left her for dead. After somehow not bleeding to death, Peyton came across the freshly dead body of Arnold Wesker and Scarface. Her damaged brain reached out to Scarface and she took the role of the second Ventriloquist for herself.

The New 52 appears to have done away with Peyton, at least for now. Shortly after Batman’s new adventures began, Arnold Wesker appeared. No one mentioned the fact that he was supposed to be dead. It seems like he’s never died now. In his New 52 debut, Arnold was jacked up on a mix of Bane’s venom and Scarecrow’s fear gas. He used a police officer’s dead body as a new dummy.

It was a strange and unappealing take on Arnold. Subtly flew out the window for this new look and the gangster motif was jettisoned in favor of blood and gore. Arnold was quickly defeated by Damian Wayne and Dick Grayson. He hasn’t appeared since.

In Batgirl #20, it seems as though we’re getting a new Ventriloquist. The preview for this issue indicates that her name is Shauna Belzer. Does she have some sort of connection to Arnold? Does she have her own version of Scarface?

Whatever the truth is, we’ll have to find out for ourselves. Even in this latest appearance, it seems like the gangster side of the Ventriloquist remains a part of the pre-Flashpoint DCU. Here’s hoping that it’s picked up again sometime in the future. It gave the previous Ventriloquists a bit of class that is sorely missing from these New 52 versions. Fingers crossed.

 

---

Jeff Reid finds dolls like Scarface really creepy. It seems that the film Child’s Play is to blame for that. Jeff blames pop culture for more of his fears on Twitter.