RECEPTOR
Earth-148611
Real Name: Tracey Speck
Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-148611) human Paranormal
Occupation: Psychiatric nurse
Group Membership: The Clinic for Paranormal
Research (Craig LaGraves, Tanis Newhouse, Jane Semple, Orville Upham,
Phillip Nolan Voigt, Juris Ziegler);
formerly
Therapy Group A (Bloodhound/Edward Zentner, Regulator/Harlan Hackbarth,
Reinforcer/Dexter Charne, Shrapnel/Leland Sharp, Vice Versa/Geraldine
Rumlow)
Affiliations: Bloodhound, CIA, Regulator (Harlan Hackbarth), Reinforcer (Dexter Charne), Shrapnel, Vice Versa, Philip Nolan Voigt
Enemies: Therapy Group C (Charlotte Beck, Lenore Fenzl, Stephanie Harrington, Dave Landers, Randy O'Brien, Scuzz/Dennis Cuzinski, Jeff Walters)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The Clinic for Paranormal Research, Wisconsin, USA
First Appearance: D.P.7 I#1 (November, 1986)
Powers/Abilities: Tracey possessed the
paranormal telecognitive ability to look inside other people's minds.
While inside their minds, she could draw out certain information (she
called this "telescanning"), such as looking through the person's eyes
to ascertain their whereabouts. Some paranormals could resist her
attempts, such as the "static" she experienced in Randy O'Brien's mind
while his Anti-Body was present or the superior mental defenses
surrounding Philip Nolan Voigt's mind.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 140 lbs.)
Eyes: Light brown
Hair: Blonde
History:
(D.P.7 I#19/The Clinic profile) - Some time shortly after gaining the
paranormal ability to see inside other people's minds due to the White
Event,
a transformative blast of energy created by the Starbrand,
Tracey Speck became a patient at the Clinic for Paranormal Research in
Wisconsin run under the auspices of Philip Nolan Voigt, himself a
powerful paranormal. Tracey joined the Clinic's first therapy group,
Therapy
Group A. The other members were Harlan Hackbarth, Dexter Charne, Leland
Sharp, Geraldine Rumlow and Edward Zentner. Charne, Hackbarth and
Speck's complimentary paranormal powers made them ideal to help the
Clinic control subsequent paranormals while Sharp, Rumlow and Zentner
became the first paranormals Voight sent to his allies in the CIA for
recruitment. Tracey, Hackbarth and Charne became Voigt's chief
lieutenants at the Clinic and Tracey was sometimes dubbed "Receptor."
(D.P.7 I#1) - As the seven members of the
Clinic's Therapy Group C met together for the first time, Voigt,
Receptor, Reinforcer and Regulator secretly monitored them. Speck
informed Voigt that she was having difficulty reading the mind of the
new patient "Randy O'Connell," unaware that Randy's so-called Anti-Body
was generating static that interfered with her power. Voigt suggested that Therapy Group C would be ideal candidates for indoctrination into the CIA but
Charne observed that he would have to drop some of their current
indoctrination subjects before he could start using his powers on
someone new and Voigt told Speck to help Charne determine how to adjust
the schedule.
Three weeks later, Speck,
Charne and Hackbarth were monitoring the members of Therapy Group C as
they went to sleep but they themselves were spied on by Randy O'Brien's
Anti-Body, who alerted Randy to the Clinic's nefarious intentions
towards them. Speck realized the Anti-Body was loose when the static
level in Randy's brain suddenly went down. Randy roused the other
members of Therapy Group C and they fled the Clinic.
(D.P.7 I#2) - Voigt learned of Therapy Group C's
escape and found Charne and Speck treating Harlan for the injuries he
sustained against Dave Landers. Voigt ordered Speck to use her powers
to find the escapees' location by looking through their eyes for a
recognizable landmark but also mentioned that he wouldn't use his own staff against them, instead bringing in CIA headhunters.
Speck waited at Voigt's side in his office, telling him what she could
glean from seeing through their eyes, noting that it would be easier
once the sun rose. Speck noted that every time she glanced a look at
Voigt's mind, he seemed to be looking back to her (she was unaware
Voigt was duplicating her powers). Speck contacted the headhunters -
three paranormals codenamed Bloodhound, Shrapnel and Vice Versa - and
let them know their plane had been spotted by Therapy Group C's Scuzz but that he didn't
suspect the headhunters were following the group. The headhunters ultimately
failed in their assignment.
(Kickers, Inc. I#5) - Miss Speck met with Hackbarth and Voigt over the impending arrival of Kickers, Inc., a team of football players who moonlighted as private adventurers
that had recently met with the escaped patients. Voigt demanded to know
why Speck didn't already know about Kickers, Inc.'s meeting but Speck
had been helping Charne reinforce new patients and she could only be
inside one mind at a time. Voigt resolved to use the Kickers as pawns
in an attempt to recapture the escapees.
(D.P.7 I#7) - As CIA agents continued their
pursuit of the escapees, one reported in to Tracey for the whereabouts
of Randy O'Brien and Dave Landers. Although Tracey didn't like looking
inside O'Brien's head, she checked and found he was in a hospital while
Landers was in a pay phone making a call.
(D.P.7 I#8) - The CIA informed Speck they had
captured Charlotte Beck and asked if anyone was pursuing them. As
Tracey checked, Charne groused that the CIA couldn't "tie their
shoelaces" without them but Tracey quieted Charne.
(D.P.7 I#9 - BTS) - Tracey appeared as a dream
figure inside the mind of Randy O'Brien as Charne used his powers to
manipulate the minds of O'Brien, Beck, Scuzz, Walters, Fenzl and
Harrington, hoping to indoctrinate them into pliant subjects for the
Clinic. Tracey's job was to monitor the minds of Charne's victims.
(D.P.7 I#10) - Charne, Speck and Hackbarth
continued to monitor the six sleeping returnees. Speck noted that
Harlan seemed to enjoy using his powers to render people helpless.
Voigt entered to update the trio about the fruitless attempts to locate
the still-missing Landers. Voigt asked Tracey to use her powers to aid
the CIA again which caused Tracey to explode in anger, noting she had
been working harder than any of them, pulling double shifts using her
powers both to guide the CIA in the field and to monitor their
patients. When Speck stated she could only do so much, Voigt replied he
would do the job himself. Unknown to Tracey, Harlan was manipulating
her and Charne by regulating their adrenaline and fatigue poisons so
they could work longer. Hackbarth offered Charne and Speck a break
while he monitored the six patients solo. Having finally had enough of
the Clinic, Tracey confronted Voigt in his office, announcing her
intention to leave the Clinic. Voigt already knew this (thanks to
copying her power) and agreed to grant her severance pay. Tracey
assumed Charne or Hackbarth had told him about her plans. Leaving
Voigt's office, Tracey decided there was no reason not to try and read
his mind but, as she entered his mind, she beheld an enormous void and
began to feel psychically "adrift." Voigt then appeared to her as an
astral figure and guided her mind back to her body. Voigt turned Tracey
over to Charne, who spent four hours rewriting her memories so that the
entire episode in Voigt's office would be thought of as a dream.
(D.P.7 I#11) - Stephanie Harrington suddenly
awoke one evening and attempted to awaken Lenore Fenzl, surprising
Speck and Charne. Hackbarth quickly arrived in time to force Harrington
back into sedation. Hackbarth mocked Speck and Charne, claiming he
couldn't leave them alone "for a minute without a foul-up." Later,
Stephanie again resisted the team's efforts at forcing her into sleep.
This infuriated Hackbarth, who declared he would kill her and expected
Charne and Speck to back up whatever story he told. As Hackbarth
assaulted Stephanie's nervous system, Charne interfered and used his
power to inflict trauma on Stephanie's brain but because Hackbarth was
already locked into her nervous system, he was likewise affected and
knocked unconscious. Charne regretted what he had done to Hackbarth but
Speck opined that Voigt would understand he had used his powers to save
their patient.
(D.P.7 I#12) - Speck and Charne united their
powers to look inside Stephanie's mind but found it a disjointed mess
due to the trauma Charne had inflicted. They tried to help her but
Stephanie resisted them and destroyed her own astral body, driving them
from her mind. Voigt then met with them and asked them to use their
powers on the recently recaptured Dave Landers, hoping they could learn
why Landers eluded them for so long. Speck and Charne again linked
their powers and tried to enter Landers' mind but because Landers had
been given a mental block to protect the existence of the ESPeople, the
mental block caused psychic backlash that knocked them both unconscious.
(D.P.7 I#13) - Speck and Charne awoke and learned
Randy O'Brien and Dave Landers had confronted and fought with Voigt,
ending with Voigt abandoning the Clinic, his fate unknown. Charne and
Speck went to a staff meeting in Voigt's office as they attempted to
determine the Clinic's future until and unless Voigt returned. Charne
promoted himself to be interim director of the Clinic but the majority
of staff voted for Craig LaGraves, with Speck one of the few to
withhold voting for LaGraves. Speck consoled Charne on his defeat but
he remained determined to assume control of the Clinic using his powers.
After Charne gave LaGraves a
stroke and used his powers to make Dr. Semple appear culpable, Speck
saw on the monitors that Semple had been meeting with O'Brien and
Landers, the two people in the Clinic whose minds were now opaque to
her. Charne told Speck to leave the office before O'Brien and Landers
arrived but Speck insisted they were "in this together," giving Charne
a kiss. Landers broke down the control room door and angrily confronted
Charne. Charne pulled out a handgun and started shooting at Landers but
Landers was aided by O'Brien's multiple Anti-Bodies. Firing at the
Anti-Bodies, Charne's bullets went directly through one of the
creatures and struck Speck in the throat. Speck subsequently died from
blood loss.
(D.P.7 I#21 (fb) - BTS) - Fearing that an
investigation into Charne and Speck's deaths would unmask the Clinic's
true purpose, the new director Tanis Newhouse had their bodies buried
in the woods bordering the Clinic's property.
(D.P.7 I#21 - BTS) - Charne and Speck's coffins were
disinterred by former Clinic staffer Abner Heath and his journalist
friend Jensen. Jensen's subsequent discovery that the Clinic was home
to paranormals and exposure of the coffins to local law enforcement
ultimately caused the Clinic to be permanently closed.
Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Paul Ryan and Romeo Tanghal.
Technically, she [Earth-15731's Tracey Speck] isn't referred to by name at all in Exiles I#72.
Since Earth-15731 diverged from Earth-148611, it
seems extremely likely that she is named Tracey Speck on Earth-15731
since that is her name on Earth-148611. --Proto-Man
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Receptor should not be confused with:
- any other "Receptor" characters, or anyone else in particular
Tracey Speck of Earth-15731
In the reality of Earth-15731, events diverged
immediately after Therapy Group C left the Clinic. The group was
delayed by an encounter with Earth-58163's Proteus, allowing Harlan
Hackbarth to lead Dexter Charne, Tracey and armed Clinic staff in an
attempt to
retrieve the group on the Clinic's grounds when the reality-hopping
Exiles suddenly appeared. The team of heroes quickly teleported away
with all the members of Therapy Group C.
--Exiles I#72
images: (without ads)
D.P. 7 I#10, page 13, panel 6 (Receptor, full body)
D.P. 7 I#10, page 13, panel 5 (Receptor, face)
D.P. 7 I#10, page 13, panel 7 (Receptor using powers)
Exiles I#72, page 11, panel 1 (Tracy Speck of Earth-15731)
Appearances:
D.P.7
I#1-2 (November-December, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan
(penciler), Romeo Tanghal (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Kickers, Inc. I#5 (March, 1987) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Mark Gruenwald
(writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Sam de la Rosa (inker), Michael Hggins
(editor)
D.P.7 I#7 (May, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Romeo Tanghal (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
D.P.7 I#8 (June, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler),
Al Williamson (inker), Danny Bulandi (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
D.P.7 I#9 (July, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
D.P.7 I#10 (August, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
D.P.7 I#11 (September, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
D.P.7 I#12-13 (October-November, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul
Ryan (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
D.P.7 I#21 (July, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Howard Mackie (editor)
First posted: 06/09/2025
Last updated:
06/09/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let
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