#26 - Ventriloquist (Peyton Reiley)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #827 (Mar 2007)
"Yer here fer one reason and one reason only, ya dumb broad and that's to keep yer hand up my backside and not speak unless spoken to--ya get me?" ~Scarface
Ventriloquist COULD have been a great villain; nay, he should have been. However, despite Bat-writers trying to shove him down our throats year after year, readers weren't swayed by his timid demeanor and weak ploys. So, after allow James Robinson to kill him off, DC handed the puppet off to Paul Dini, who went back to the basics and recreated the Ventriloquist from scratch.
Enter Peyton Riley.
In her brief tenure at DC (which ended with the New 52), Peyton became everything Wesker never was. She truly represented a battered and damaged person who became consumed by alternate identity. I really loved how she operated with Scarface; with Wesker, it never really felt like Scarface was in charge so much as Wesker was just an idiot. However, with Riley, the addiction and need for a controlling force to take charge of her life is so well-crafted, that this doll has become a sort-of magic totem to express her rage, her self-hatred and her vitriol towards everyone around her. Here's probably one of the hottest DC characters, and she's been given just the right amount of crazy to maker her sympathetic, endearing and also even more attractive.
But, again, it's all about a Peyton's loss of control; even when she's in control of Scarface who's in control of her, she's really not. Peyton's psychosis is unique in that she found Scarface next to the body of Wesker and believed the puppet spoke to her. As opposed to Wesker who originally crafted and created the persona and appearance of Scarface, Peyton has been consumed by the previous iteration of the puppet, and in a way by Wesker himself. It's like having a specter lurking on your shoulder, almost another entire person determining her fate.
Peyton was just the perfect combination of a lot of things intersecting in just the right way, and in my book she's easily one of the best recreations of a character I've ever seen.
Greatest Peyton Riley Story Ever Told:Detective Comics #850 - The short-lived but dark, hilarious and sadly sweet whirlwind romance of Ventriloquist and Hush. Honestly, this issue has to be one of the most amazing, overlooked gems in all of Batman's history. When Peyton and Hush fall for each other, Hush's mother threatens to withhold all of her fortune from Hush in her will. So, of course, the lovers conspire and help murder anyone who would get in the way. By the end of the story, however, Hush has dumped Riley for being too clingy. It's kind of the most bizarre, twisted, amazing love story you'll ever find, all in that typically Batman way of doing things.
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RandomName basically describes it. It's a list of the top 100 Batman villains. (Note: This isn't MY list. So, if you don't agree with it, don't freak out and rant in the comments)
