Keeper of Infinite Earths - Villains of the Pulp Age
Created by Matt Parmenter
Thespian
Alter Ego: Abraham Bartholomew
Occupation: Actor
Known Relatives: Mia Bartholomew (Deceased Wife)
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: New York, NY
Background/History:
Famous stage actors, the couple traveled regularly around the US and Europe
performing plays like the Barber of Seville and Julius Caesar. Abraham was often
quoted saying that Mia was the love of his life and the one thing that kept him
sane. During a run in NY, the eccentric and wealthy Braddock Barstow became
enamored with the lovely Mia. He invited her to a party and she was flattered,
saying that she was sure her husband would love to go. Barstow was infuriated
that she was married and set about a plan to remove Abraham from the picture. To
enact his evil plan, he purchased the theater and replaced the staff with thugs.
A message was sent requiring Abraham to check the lighting, so the hirelings
could beat him up and burn the theater with him in it. It almost worked, but he
regained consciousness in time to escape the blaze with relatively minor
injuries. The thugs had let slip that they were working for Barstow and Abraham
headed off to confront him. Thinking that sufficient time had passed, Barstow
had Mia meet him at the burning theater and told her she had no choice other
than to accept his love, since her husband was dead. She bolted from Barstow’s
grasp and, as a cruel fate would have it, raced into the theater at the same
time as Abraham made it out. Abraham came around the front and saw Barstow, but
not in time to see Mia. Thinking the murderer had come to gloat, he ran at him
blinded with rage as the building collapsed. Barstow took the first punch to his
chin, but bettered it by telling Abraham that if he couldn’t have Mia, no one
would and he pointed to the theater. Abraham turned and saw his wife’s coat on
the ground where it fell when she had struggled with Barstow. Realizing with
horror that his wife had went in the theater, he tried to get her out as Barstow
left laughing. With a nearly superhuman effort, Abraham got to his beloved and
got her to the hospital, but it was too late. The love of his life was dead and
with her departure, so too did his sanity go as well. When he returned to his
hotel, he found a forged suicide note saying that he had burned down the theater
and taken his own life. No one had got a clear look at him at the hospital and
he had entered the hotel through the back entrance unnoticed, so he decided that
Abraham Bartholomew was dead. Weeks later, two of the thugs that had worked
Abraham over received a message to meet Barstow at a barber shop late at night.
When they entered, the door locked behind them and the room filled with gas. The
next thing they knew, they were strapped to the barber stools and a crying,
singing clown slit their throats. The only thing witnesses reported was seeing a
clown leaving the scene of the crime. Shortly thereafter, a man in a toga
appeared at the hospital where Mia had died and stabbed the doctor to death. The
strange murders came to the attention of Crimson Death and he discovered the
link between the hospital and the thugs having been in Barstow’s employ.
Crimson Death followed Barstow to the opera which was doing Wagner’s Ring.
During the performance, the lightning effect went awry and caught fire. Hearing
the usher scream that the doors were jammed, he raced to the exit and broke the
doors open, leaving Barstow unattended. Returning to his quarry, he sees Thor
running away from the direction that the lightning bolt styled javelin sticking
in Barstow’s chest must have come from and disappearing into the blaze before
he could get off a shot. When the fire was brought under control, there was no
evidence of the killer’s body. The Thespian would come into conflict with the
Pulp Age heroes on numerous occasions over the years whether he was seeking
revenge on anyone he deemed responsible for Mia’s death or some theater
related crime spree.
Personality/Motivations:
Driven insane by the loss of his wife, the Thespian seeks vengeance on a world
that he blames for his misery with a dramatic, but deadly, flair.