Heckler

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Powers and Abilities

The Heckler appears to be extremely resistant to physical damage. He quickly recovers from extreme amounts of damage, such as falling great distances, crashing through buildings, or being swallowed whole by an enormous creature.

An above average athlete, the Heckler’s main strategy in combat is to evade his opponents. He will dance around them as he heckles them into expending their energy, waiting for his opportunity so he can then use trickery to take them out.

History

The manager and co-owner of ’Eats’, a diner in the less affluent end of Delta City, Stuart Mosely’s day involves dealing with :

• Hhis pretentious chef, Francois.
• His entrepreneurial partner Britt’s lack of interest in running the diner but determination to put their profits into other “promising” ventures.
• The inability to hire someone suitable to be a waitress for the place.

At night Stuart becomes The Heckler, fighting the criminal element of Delta City. He’s aided by Ledge, technically gifted if not too generally bright. Ledge provides The Heckler with all the information he needs, even setting up a Heckler Hotline for the city authorities.

The origin of the Heckler’s powers is unrevealed.

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El Gusano

Crime boss King Mambo was arrested. Boss Glitter, crime lord of the city, assigned El Gusano, who ran the South Side, to also take over King Mambo’s district. Following the clear signs El Gusano had left for him, the Heckler soon arrived outside his place. Spotting El Gusano’s car, he used the carphone to call El Gusano for further directions.

The enraged El Gusano soon appeared. He sent the Heckler flying for a good mile before he crashed down into some convenient buildings. El Gusano caught up to him, but the Heckler managed to dance around him, further goading him on, and getting El Gusano to follow him up a large carnival slide.

There, The Heckler manoeuvred him into falling down the slide without a mat, and through a few nearby buildings. This left the criminal him insensate for the police.

Generic Man

When Delta citizens, including some of the patrons of his diner, started becoming genericized, Stu realized the Generic Man had infected them through the water. Rushing to the reservoir, he found others had also come for his target. The vigilante Minx, plus Ratchet Jaw and Kriegler (both enforcers for Boss Glitter), arrived around the same time.

A four way fight ensued, as the Heckler ran circles around the others. But it ended when Minx shot and killed the Generic Man. The Heckler registered his disapproval of her violent methods, to her indifference.

The Cosmic Clown

Learning that Britt had bought a circus with some of the diner’s money, Stu had to go to help them set up. This coincided with the Cosmic Clown turning up.

A rogue robot from an order of intergalactic assassins who dressed like clowns, he took the clowns on the circus’ posters to be his former colleagues hunting him. He thus tried to get them before they could get him.

Stu managed to distract him long enough for the circus clown to escape, but when he donned his Heckler costume, the Cosmic Clown decided it looked distinctly clown-like and tried to kill him.

Fortunately, the Clown was easily fooled by the Heckler wearing a dress and acting alluringly. The Clown was apparently completely taken in by this. he thus became easy prey when the Heckler hit him with a large club, knocking the Clown’s head off.

The Clown’s head, realising the deception, used its extensible tongue, trying to throttle the Heckler. It was prevented when Bob, fanatical follower of the Quest-Vision television program. Bob believed the Clown to be the Time Jester from one of the show’s episodes. He managed to taser the pair, taking the head as a souvenir.

More encounters

Ledge convinced Stu to go on patrol one night, during which Bushwack’r, who had been hired by Boss Glitter to deal with him, set traps to kill the Heckler. Unfortunately, Bushwack’r proved to be very unlucky and/or incompetent. Every attempt backfired on him, leaving him badly crippled. The Heckler, completely unaware, abandoned the idea of nightly patrols.

Reluctantly going on a date, Stu’s night at the theatre was interrupted when C’est Hay and his gang tried to rob the place and put on a show. Sneaking out and changing into costume, the Heckler ran circles around the gang, dispatching them and having to face C’est Hay himself.

Initially having trouble, he learned that the villain was an animate scarecrow, and managed to manoeuvre him outside, into a downpour which quickly incapacitated C’est Hay.

Not quite Biblical

The Heckler had to leave C’est Hay for the police. He had to deal with the more immediate threat of the Flying Buttress, an enormous floating entity. The Buttress had been summoned by the Four Mopeds of the Apocalypse, the sidekicks of the Horsemen, which signalled the end of the world.

Recruited by the mystic Rabbi Zone, the Heckler was given a mystical flame. He was then disguised as a giant antacid so that the Buttress would swallow him. Navigating through the creature’s intestines, finding a recently abandoned village there, the Heckler managed to locate the Rose of the Eternal Flame.

Releasing the Zone energy ended the Buttress’ existence in his reality, and it disappeared. Leaving the Heckler to fall a long way down to Delta City. And then he learned that his diner has been closed down by the authorities.

Personality

When in costume, the Heckler is a cheerfully smart-mouthed daredevil. He throws himself into dangerous situations relying on his wits and virtual indestructibility to see him through.

He seems intent on dealing with the criminal elements that seem to suffocate life in Delta City, despite the derision he generally receives from pretty much everyone.

Out of costume, Stu is an overworked, harassed, and generally down-trodden manager, who always has to deal with some problem or other.

Quotes

[To El Gusano] “Hey, wormhole ! Last one to the pier’s a musclebound slug ! Carnivals can be such a blast ! The rides ! The games of chance ! Sure, goose-egg, you can play too ! Maybe you’ll get lucky ! Maybe you’ll win a face !”

[To El Gusano] “So, I guess this means I lose my bet with Cabbage Head. He said that was your face ! I said you’d just learned to balance sunglasses on your butt !”

Minx: “Hey, this worm was no choir boy, toots. He got what he deserved. And there ain’t no law says I can’t enjoy being the one to dish it out.”
Heckler: “Yeah, maybe. But y’know, kid… there’s still a few of us who think justice oughta be dispensed in the courts. Not out of the barrel of a gun.”

[To C’est Hay] “Yo ! Hay-head ! Is that really your singin’ voice or do ya keep a wounded dachshund in that potata sack ?”

By Gareth Lewis.

Source of Character: DC Universe.