Real
Name: Not revealed
ACE DIAMOND
Real
Name: Not revealed
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Crooked card sharp
Affiliations: None known
Enemies: Night Raven, his fellow gamblers
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The City (probably Chicago or New York)
First Appearance: Hulk Comic#5 (April 4th, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Skilled at cheating at cards.
History:
(HC#5) Ace Diamond is an expert card sharp. He is playing a game at
Fat Freddie's
Pool Hall with three other men, and has just taken them for three thousand
dollars following his sixteenth win of the evening. Figuring that any more
was pushing his luck, Ace attempts to gather up his winnings, only to have
one of the other players grab his arm. Sure enough, cards fly from his sleeve.
As Ace's three opponents start beating him up, a man playing pool over on
the other side of the darkened room expresses the opinion that the odds are
unfair. One of the three points a gun at him and tells him to mind his own
business; the pool player's response is to send one of the ball's flying,
striking the gunman squarely on the head and knocking him out. He then moves
forward to take on the other two players, revealing himself clearly to be
the vigilante Night Raven. Night Raven finishes off the other two crooks,
only to find Ace has grabbed the money off the poker table and is now holding
a gun on his rescuer. He slips out the room, and locks it behind him, leaving
Night Raven stuck inside to face the wrath of the now re-awakened and armed
trio.
(HC#6)
Several nights later Ace is holed up in a dingy hotel, with a growing itch
to find another game. There is a knock at his door, and a note is slipped
under it, inviting him to attend a big poker game at room 715, the Hotel
Central, eight o'clock. Arriving prompt and on time, Ace is feeling that
is luck will be with him that night and he will win big. But when he walks
into room 715, he is greeted by the sight of his three opponents from the
pool hall, seated and dead at a poker table, with the Night Raven's mark
burned into each of their foreheads. The vigilante shuts the door behind
the terrified Ace, and offers him one chance; they'll play a game of poker
and if Ace wins, he can go free and take the money. But if he loses...
Sweating, Ace is massively relieved to see that he has been dealt three kings, and bets the lot on his initial hand. But Night Raven has three aces (all marked with his symbol), and wins the game. Angry at losing (and probably believing, rightly, that Night Raven must have rigged the hands), Ace grabs for his gun. Night Raven wrenches his gun away with his left hand, and brands the luckless gambler on the forehead with his right. The vigilante leaves Ace's body in its seat, with his trademark note on the table in front of him.
Comments: Created by Steve Parkhouse and David Lloyd.
Night Raven apparently went to the trouble of getting a deck of cards made up with his symbol in the centre of the ace's. He obviously knows exactly where all four of his intended targets are, as he has notes hand delivered to them, but he doesn't just go get them; nope, he has to draw them out in an elaborate and theatrical manner. I guess he gets his kicks from it, and he clearly has way too much time on his hands.
Speaking of the notes that draw the players to the Hotel Central. Ace is staying in a fleapit, in spite of having three grand in cash on him. I take this to mean he's hiding out for a bit because he's unsure of who might have survived the fight in the pool hall and could be looking for him. Then, just as he is thinking to himself that he needs to find a new game, someone conveniently slips an anonymous invite to one under his door. And he doesn't smell a rat?!? I reckon Ace must be the kind of guy who, if he were to receive an anonymous note saying "Come to the deep well around midnight. Come alone, tell no one where you are going, and bring rope." would not only turn up, but he'd take along a few heavy rocks to make it easier for the writer to weigh his corpse down.
Ace's three opponents are never named. They are just three guys who like playing poker. In the case of the two clean shaven ones, we also see them at the horse races, so they look to be serious gamblers. Since one of them at least carries a gun and is quick to threaten an innocent bystander with it, they probably have other criminal tendencies too. Night Raven, having escaped the pool hall, lures them to room 715 thirty minutes (in the case of the guy with the moustache) and fifteen minutes (for the other two) before Ace is due to show up. By the time Ace gets to the room, all three are sitting open mouthed, open-eyed and with a brand on their foreheads (and so it's probably reasonably safe to assume they are dead). -- Hulk Comic#5, (6 |
Fat Freddie is the owner of the pool hall being used as a gambling venue by the poker players. He seems a decent enough sort, since he sees fit to warn his only other customer, the pool playing Night Raven, that he should scram as soon as violence looks likely to break out. During the ensuing fight his main concern is the damage to his pool tables, and when Ace pulls his gun on Night Raven, Freddie is forced to hand over his keys to the gambler, allowing Ace to lock Night Raven in with his angry fellow gamblers. -- Hulk Comic#5 |
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ace Diamond has no known connection to:
Fat Freddie has no known connection to:
by Loki
Last updated: 03/03/03
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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