MIKE MULLINS

Real Name: Mike Mullins

Identity/Class: Human (Pre-modern era)

Occupation: Unemployed entertainer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: "Gorilla from Outer Space"

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The best ventriloquist in show business" (as called by himself)

Base of Operations: New York City

First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#36/3 (December, 1962)

Powers/Abilities: Mullins was a professional ventriloquist who was skilled at "throwing" his voice; he typically used a dummy in his act.

Height: Unrevealed (5' 10"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (170 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black

History:
(Tales of Suspense I#36/3 (fb) - BTS) - An extraterrestrial (who resembled a terrestrial gorilla) was on a routine pleasure flight from his home planet. He landed his spaceship on Earth to make some minor repairs, then decided to explore the primitive planet before he departed. But the police (who thought him to be an escaped circus animal) captured him with a net and gave him to the custody of a zoo, where he was locked in a cage and put on display.

(Tales of Suspense I#36/3) - Ventriloquist Mike Mullins was looking for work in the entertainment industry, but no one was interested in hiring him.

   Despite being turned down by every booking agent in the city, Mullins was still determined to make a fortune using his vocal talents. While he was sitting on a park bench and looking through a newspaper, he skipped past the HELP-WANTED ads because he "...wasn't gonna work for a living, like some crumb-bum." Then Mullins spotted a news article about a captured gorilla that was taken to the zoo, which gave him an idea for a prank that could earn him some publicity.

   Mullins walked to the zoo and saw a large crowd of spectators gathered around the gorilla's cage, so he put his scheme into action. By "throwing" his voice, Mullins made it appear that the gorilla could talk; furthermore, he had the gorilla "say" that it was actually a visitor from outer space!

   But Mullins' prank began to go astray -- when the zoo official heard the gorilla "speak," he profusely apologized and unlocked the cage to set the "civilized" creature free. The gorilla then walked over to Mullins, grabbed him by the arm, and forcibly led him into the surrounding woodlands. Despite Mullins' pleas for help, no one came to his aid -- he now realized that his act was too good, because everyone was convinced that the gorilla was a friendly visitor from space!

   When they got further into the forest, Mullins was shocked when the gorilla actually spoke to him by itself and showed him its spaceship -- the startled ventriloquist thereby learned that the "gorilla" really was a visitor from space! The alien explained that he had been unable to speak any Earth languages when he first landed, but with his superior intelligence, it was easy for him to learn English after he heard Mullins speak for him!

   The alien then pulled Mullins inside the spaceship, because he wanted to reward the ventriloquist for his help by taking Mullins to his home planet as his guest -- the voyage would take a few months, but at least he'd have the company of his new human friend during the long journey!

   As the spaceship blasted-off, Mike Mullins had indeed proved himself to be the greatest ventriloquist on Earth...much to his regret.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

It seemed rather coincidental that Mullins just happened to come up with a prank that mirrored the "gorilla's" actual experience -- maybe the two of them shared a minor telepathic bond?

Perhaps that extraterrestrial gorilla had some connection to the Superius Rexians.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.




CLARIFICATIONS:
Mike Mullins has no known connection to:

The "gorilla from outer space" has no known connection to:

zoo official

He was the unidentified administrator of the public zoo. Earlier, the police brought him a gorilla they had captured in the city park -- the police believed the creature to be an escaped circus animal. The zoo official had the gorilla locked in a cage and put on display.

Later, the gorilla seemingly began to speak and claimed it was actually a visitor from outer space, so the zoo official profusely apologized and released the apparently civilized creature from its cage. He was unaware that its voice was being provided by ventriloquist Mike Mullins, who had "thrown" his own voice and made it appear that the gorilla could "talk."

--Tales of Suspense I#36/3

Having the appearance of a terrestrial gorilla, he was actually a highly intelligent visitor from the planet Vega.

While on a routine pleasure flight in his spaceship, he landed on Earth to make some minor repairs, then he decided to explore the primitive planet. But because of his appearance, he was thought to be an escaped circus animal and captured by the police. He was turned over to the city zoo, locked in a cage, and put on display. Unable to speak any Earth languages, he couldn't tell humans the truth about his plight.

He was unwittingly helped by ventriloquist Mike Mullins, who pulled a prank by using his talent to "throw" his voice, and thereby made the "gorilla" appear to speak --when hearing Mullins "speak" for him, the alien's superior intelligence easily enabled him to learn the English language.

But after he heard the "gorilla" talking (actually Mullins' ventriloquism), the zoo official was convinced that it was civilized, so he unlocked the cage and freed it. The alien then walked over to Mullins and took him to his spaceship.

To show his appreciation to his new human friend, the extraterrestrial pulled Mullins aboard his spaceship and took him to Vega as his guest.

(Comment: The splash-page of this story [see Main Image] depicted him in a helmet and space-suit, but he was "au naturel" throughout the story -- maybe he just wore the suit while traveling in space, as extra protection from interstellar radiation.)

--Tales of Suspense I#36/3

"gorilla's" spaceship

An interstellar spacecraft, it was used for a routine pleasure flight by the gorilla-like pilot from the planet Vega.

The pilot landed on Earth to make some minor repairs to it, then he went to explore the planet before he departed. But the pilot was captured and locked in a zoo cage.

Later, the pilot was released from the cage with the unwitting assistance of ventriloquist Mike Mullins. To show his appreciation, the pilot "rewarded" Mullins by dragging him aboard the spaceship, then took him on a trip to Vega as his guest.

--Tales of Suspense I#36/3

images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Mike Mullins; extraterrestrial gorilla (background))
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p3, pan3 (Headshot - Mike Mullins)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p2, pan4 (Mike Mullins gets an idea after reading newspaper article about captured gorilla)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p4, pan6 (Mike Mullins gets led away by released gorilla)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p4, pan3 (zoo official; Mike Mullins (background))
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p4, pan4 (zoo official releases gorilla from cage; Mike Mullins (background))
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p3, pan1 (gorilla in cage, voice provided by Mike Mullins' ventriloquism)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p5, pan4 (gorilla speaking with his own voice)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p5, pan3 (gorilla leads Mike Mullins to his spaceship)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p5, pan5 (gorilla pulls Mike Mullins into his spaceship)
Tales of Suspense I#36/3, p5, pan6 (gorilla's spaceship leaves Earth; Mike Mullins thought-balloon)

Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#36/3 (December, 1962) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Steve Ditko (pencils/inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters)

First posted: 09/24/2022
Last updated: 09/24/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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