The Dummy isn’t handicapped – he’s handi-capable! Or possibly handi-killifying. I don’t care what anybody says: you have to admire a deformed midget who takes a look in the mirror and says “I think I can make this work for me,” and then doesn’t go into a life of circus work. The Dummy figured out that he was freaky and that people would naturally recoil from this, and so chose to use that to scare people when he got into gunfights.
Of course, the Dummy was also really intelligent to boot. That’s why when he started up his own crime ring, he pretended to be just a ventriloquist’s dummy, with the real boss hidden in the shadows. (As this was the Golden Age, it is entirely possible that the Dummy was the eventual inspiration for the Ventriloquist’s personal brand of insanity – although the Dummy doesn’t look anything like Scarface, of course.) This was brilliant because when hoods would go gunning for “the boss,” they’d ignore the dummy on the floor just lying there – except the dummy was The Dummy, and he would then shoot them in the back. That is planning.
Plus, the Dummy would invent super-weapons. Net guns, electric traps, fire machetes, that sort of thing. Okay, maybe these aren’t the most impressive things in an era where you have the Metal Men walking around, but again, for the Golden Age this was pretty wild stuff. They were impressed by robots who took off their pants back then, you know.
And the Dummy had a great nemesis: the original Vigilante. The original Vigilante is awesome because he’s a cowboy on a motorcycle who fights crime. He’s so cool that in Justice League Unlimited he was voiced by Nathan Fillion; that’s how cool he is. The Dummy never got a speaking role in JLU, but you know that if he did he probably would have been voiced by Alan Tudyk for nerd humour value.
Top comment: A top hat? Classy.
Suit? Classy.
Monocle? Classy.
TWO MONOCLES? Classiest motherfucker to ever stride across the earth. – chenry
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And a chart-topping Country and Music star, was Vigilante I. The Prairie Troubadour.
A stunt-biking, sharp-shooting, guitar-picking, song-crooning, genyuwine cowboy!
Vigilante I is the best.
–M
Ah, finally a supervillain that comes pre-equipped for one of George Lucas’ patented “if I say your name with a sneer, then it’s a comeback” lines.
…Is he wearing two monocles? There should be some sort of name for that.
There’s a graphic novel called “Batman: City of Crime” I recently read at a library. While it’s nothing much to speak of, plot-wise (“Batman tracks down a religious equivalent of Clayface, spurred on by the tragic death of a Paris Hilton analogue”), it features some of the most intelligent character writing for Gotham’s rogues in years and years, chief among them being Ventriloquist/Scarface.
What was so great about the angle of that Villain is the dumb, near-oblivious timidity of Arnold Wesker compared to his alter ego – like having Mister Hyde welded to Dr. Jekyll. This is also why the replacement crated by (ugh) Dini did not work at all – while it’s frightening to see a timid old man create a dark killer via a mental disease and a voice trick, it’s not very impressive to see the same thing translated through a dumb blonde.
PMMJ: Biolces?
Alan Tudyk? Nooo. They need Eddie Deezen for that role.
Good Lord! I’m not the ONLY one who owns a copy of 1941!
Zenrage: While I agree that Deezen would be a better VA, I personally couldn’t watch that without thinking ‘What did Mandark do to himself?’
@PMMJ Two monocles was the first thing I noticed also! Outstanding
Gotta admire a guy who passes on spectacles to wear two monocles instead.
For fun he probably calls the DCU version of Candy Bergen in the middle of the night and says, “I’m the only child he ever really loved,” then hangs up, laughing maniacally.
A top hat? Classy.
Suit? Classy.
Monocle? Classy.
TWO MONOCLES? Classiest motherfucker to ever stride across the earth.
Nathan Fillion as Vigilante, and the actresses who did Zoe and Inara were the voices of Vixen and Black Canary.
Basically, JLU was the rebound for the Fireflyers.
Doug M.
The Dummy is, indeed, awesome, and it wasn’t the main part of your essay, but:
In the interest of historical veracity — Metal Men = Silver Age.
That said, they’re quite possibly my favourite page in the undeniably flawed Wednesday Comics (I love Gaiman, but nothing’s really moved yet).
Specifically, for Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s art.
To die for.
According to the who’s who, this guy killed Vigilante’s sidekick. He’s Vigilante’s Joker!
…does that say Vigilante’s sidekick was a Chinese-American woman he called “Stuff?”
“Vigilante and Stuff?” Really?
“Midget” is an offensive term, innit?
Lister,
I was thinking of referencing Mandark, but I couldn’t think of a reference worthy of the character except for the laughter, but there’s really no way to type that laugh out without making it sound like any other laugh.
Besides, Eddie will always be the captain of the White Team from Midnight Madness to me.
According to the Dummy’s page, he was killed by the son of Vigilante and Stuff. Who were both dudes. Either very progressive or crappy writing.
Also, Adam Baldwin has done some assorted VA roles for the Dini/Timmverse shows.
@chenry: IDK, I’d have to see a The Monocle/The Dummy classy-off(?) to make up my mind.