Killer Clown (Spider-Woman (Drew) foe)

KILLER CLOWN

Real Name: Casper Whimpley

Identity/Class: Human, technology user

Occupation: Accountant, serial killer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Lieutenant Jacobi, Scotty McDowell, Lindsey McCabe, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Roberta Whimpley

Known Relatives: Roberta Whimpley (wife)

Aliases: The Clown, Funny Man

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California

First Appearance: Spider-Woman I#22 (January, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: The Killer Clown has no superhuman powers, but he does use several clown-motif paraphernalia designed specifically for a variety of means. He uses a plastic spring-coiled snake as a garrote, an electric joy buzzer amped up to eight hundred volts for electrocuting his victims, an extending hand with a punching glove for defense and a spring-loaded box that can propel him to great heights and distances.

History: (Spider-Woman I#22)- Casper Whimpley wanted to be a circus clown when he was growing up, but his wife pushed him into taking a more stable job against his wishes. Verbally abused by her at home, he possibly ended up focusing his own inadequate feelings and hatred toward his wife into killing women. The police wound up calling him "Killer Clown" because of the clown-oriented evidence on his victims.

After the murders of three women, bounty hunter Scotty McDowell sent Spider-Woman to bring him in to the authorities. She caught the Killer Clown in the process of making a hitchhiker his fourth victim, but she allowed him to escape in order to get his victim to a hospital. However, as Spider-Woman left the hospital, the Killer Clown followed her to her home and returned later to kill her for meddling in his business. Spider-Woman, meanwhile, had snuck into the home of her best friend Lindsay McCabe. Breaking into the apartment himself, the Killer Clown suspected McCabe of being Spider-Woman and would have killed her had Spider-Woman not wandered in her secret identity as Jessica Drew.

Hearing later on the TV on how McCabe had survived and would be able to identify her killer, the Killer Clown had himself delivered and left in a box on the hospital grounds where she was being treated for her injuries. Propelled to McCabe’s room by the mechanisms in the box, he was met by Spider-Woman lying in wait for him to return. She pursued him back to the deserted circus grounds where he hid his clown paraphernalia. Despite him gaining the jump on her, she gained the upper hand, defeating him and dragging him off to the authorities.

Comments: Created by Michael Fleischer, Frank Springer and Mike Esposito.

The Killer Clown’s real name seems to be based on a description of his personality and a certain friendly ghost who also had a white face (and matching white body--??...if you say so Will--Snood.). His likeness also seems to have been loosely based on another certain psycho clown named John Wayne Gacy whose publicized killings occurred at the same time as the Killer Clown’s appearance.

"No, everyone loves a clown, but everyone hates a mime." Quote attributed to Sam Malone of the Classic NBC TV Series "Cheers." Personally, they both give me the creeps.

by Will U

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Killer Clown is not to be confused with:

Class Clown, Mr. Glass, foe of Speedball, @ Marvel Comics Presents#96
Clown, Eliot "Crafty" Franklin, of the Circus of Crime, @ Incredible Hulk I#3
Clown, of Earth-Amalgam, version of Elliott "Crafty" Franklin, @ Speed Demon#1
Clown, alias Violator, life-long foe of Spawn, Image Comics
The Clowns, demonic race, @ Dances With Demons#2
The Joker, Jack Napier, criminal psychopath played by Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson, DC Comics
Harmony Killdragon, martial arts expert, @ Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#32
Killer B, Anton Bigelow, Baltimore drug-dealer employed by the Wizard, @ Punisher War Journal#54
Killer Bots, Baintronics robots, @ Machine Man II#1
Killer Clowns, robotic assassins used by Judson Jakes, @ Incredible Hulk II#271
Killer Queen, of the Chess Set, @ Alpha Flight I#121
Killer Robots, of Doctor Doom, @ Fantastic Four I#83
Killer Shrike, Simon Maddicks, criminal mercenary and agent of Roxxon and the Brand Corporation, @ Rampaging Hulk I#1
Killer Volkswagen Beetle, remote-controlled car sent after Captain America by the Corporation, @ Captain America I#222
Killerwatt of Earth-MC2, member of the Revengers and the Savage Six, @ Spider-Girl#9
Greedy Killerwatt, mutate from Three Mile Island, @ Howard The Duck II#3
Killer Whale, alias of Orka, @ Sub-Mariner I#23
Killpower, British adventurer/assassin, @ Motormouth#1
Another "clown" or "killer" anything else.

Roberta Whimpley is not to be confused with:

Roberta, female robot receptionist of the Fantastic Four, @ Fantastic Four I#239
Roberto DeCosta, alias Sunspot, of the New Mutants, @ Marvel Graphic Novel #4

Lieutenant Jacobi is not to be confused with:

Lieutenant, name unknown, of the NYPD, @ Punisher IV#2
Lieutenant Belial, of Hydra’s DOA, @ Nightstalkers#2
Kyle Jacoby, Midtown High School gym teacher, @ Amazing Spiderman II#30
Marty Jacobi, club owner who once employed Dazzler, @ Uncanny X-Men#129

Roberta Whimpley

The wife of Casper Whimpley. Embarrassed over his desire to be a clown, she strong-armed him into taking a job as an accountant to support them, but she sometimes permitted him to live his dream at occasional rotary events and charity bazaars. She was unaware that he was running around after work dressed as a clown killing women. Her reaction to his likely impending imprisonment is unknown.

--Spider-Woman I#22

Lieutenant Jacobi

He was the Los Angeles plain-clothes detective assigned to the Killer Clown case. He knew from the colored scarf left behind on the attempted murder of Lindsay McCabe that she had been an intended victim of the Killer Clown. He took a statement from her roommate and close friend Jessica Drew that she would be able to identify the clown upon her recovery from her injuries.

(Spider-Woman I#25) - Jacobi accompanied the LAPD to raid the Gamesman's criminal organization and arrest its members.

--Spider-Woman I#22 (Spider-Woman I#22, 25

Images taken from:
Spider-Woman I#22, body-cover
action-Spider-Woman I#22, page 23 bottom left
real face-Spider-Woman I#22, page 18 middle panel left
Roberta Whimpley, Spider-Woman I#22, page 18 top right panel
Lieutenant Jacobi, Spider-Woman I#22, page 19 middle left panel

Appearances:
Spider-Woman I#22 (January, 1980) - Michael Fleisher (writer), Frank Springer (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)

First Posted: 04/10/2004
Last updated: 10/23/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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