WANTED: Earth-Two's Most Dangerous Super-Villains

The Talker

Personal information

Name: Unknown
Occupation: Professional Criminal
First Appearance (Golden Age): Detective Comics #76 (June 1943)

Character History

Nothing is known of the criminal who becomes known as The Talker until his appear in the outskirts of New York in the summer of 1943.  Appearing at the warden's office of the state prison, he used remarkable skills of mimicry and ventriloquism to imitate the warden and send a guard off to escort prisoner Slugger Watts to visit his mother.  Once in the city, the Talker clubbed the guard with a wrench and instructed Slugger to assemble a gang which the Talker would lead by Slugger's proxy.  Meanwhile, D.A. Larry Jordan has arrived at the warden's office and both he and the warden are puzzled and how Slugger escaped.  Jordan resolves to find out as Air Wave.

Slugger and the Talker's first scam is to pose as police officers.  Using his mimicry, the Talker fakes the voice of a small town police chief and instructs his men in the next room to hand over evidence from a recent robbery to "Captain Gorman" who is really Slugger in disguise.  The plan goes off without a hitch until Air Wave arrives and thrashes Slugger and his men.  When the police arrive, Air Wave expects to hand over the gang but instead is perceived to be attacking police and when the officers approach, the Talker mimics Air Wave and confesses to be a criminal. The police then take Air Wave into custody.

Once in jail, Air Wave plots his next move. Using his magnetic skate, he slips the keys to his cell off an officer and makes an escape.  Tuning his antennae into sounds of Slugger's keys, he learns that the gang is planning a robbery at a local tire warehouse.  The value of rubber is markedly increased by the war effort and the gang expects to make thousands,  The Talker uses his ventriloquism to start a fight between the two guards, distracting them until the gang can take over and began the theft.  As the Talker waits outside, Air Wave uses his own trick against him, projecting his voice to tell Slugger to leave for a given address.   Air Wave then rounds up the Talker and heads there himself, a place right near the police station.  Investigating, the police find Slugger's gang and very shortly, the Air Wave arrives with the Talker and the criminals are all taken in custody.

The later activities of the Talker are not recorded.

talker inks resize

Powers and Abilities

The Talker is a talent mimic and ventriloquist.  The nature of his acumen (lots of practice or inherent abilities) is not clear.  He is able to achieve near exact mimicry with only a few minutes exposure to his subject and can project from a considerable distance.  He is also a skilled criminal strategist and organizer as well as a convincing con artist.

Weaknesses and Limitations

The Talker was a portly, middle-aged man of limited physical acumen and could be taken easily in a physical confrontation

Multiversity Villains

Multiversity

No version of The Talker has been verified to exist in any timeline but Earth-Two.



 

Appearances

Issue

Comment

Reprinted in

Detective Comics #76

1st appearance ,  vs. Air Wave