History:(Prowler I#3 (fb) - BTS) - The son of Bestman Electronics founder Gregory Bestman, John Bestman took over the company from his father.
JOHN
BESTMAN
Real Name: John Bestman
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Former
CEO of Bestman Electronics
Group Membership: Bestman Electronics (Hobie Brown, Eric Cross, many others)
Affiliations: His employees at Bestman Electronics
Enemies: Vulture (Adrian Toomes)
Known Relatives: Gregory Bestman (father,
deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: (mentioned) Prowler I#1
(November, 1994);
(fully seen) Prowler I#4 (February, 1995)
Powers/Abilities: John Bestman does not have
any inherent superhuman powers but he was a skilled CEO and
businessman, taking especially good care of his employees.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'10")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 160 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown (see comments)
Hair: Blonde
History:
(Prowler I#3 (fb) - BTS) - The son of Bestman Electronics founder
Gregory Bestman, John Bestman took over the company from his father.
(Prowler I#2 (fb) - BTS) - As CEO of Bestman
Electronics, John Bestman was known as always being decent to his
employees, supporting them with policies that paid for their night
school costs. Bestman was also known to help fix up the local community
and was always willing to entertain new and progressive ideas. After
inventor Hobie Brown was hired by Bestman Electronics, Hobie considered
John Bestman to be the most altruistic company head he had ever heard
of.
(Prowler I#1 - BTS) - The Nightcreeper, having previously
stolen gear from Bestman Electronics, returned to Bestman Electronics
to acquire more weapons and discovered the company president Greg
Pinder speaking
with a man calling himself Holden Tooks about combining their stock
shares in the company
together to oust CEO John Bestman and take over Bestman Electronics.
(Prowler I#2 - BTS) - Following the murder of Greg Pinder, John Bestman lost control of the company to "Holden Tooks," who arranged events to grant himself a 51% controlling interest in Bestman Electronics. After Bestman was ousted, several employees of Bestman Electronics were discussing the change in ownership and the murder of Pinder, and one of the Bestman employees noted that Bestman's ousting couldn't be good, as he was always very decent to the Bestman employees. Hobie Brown agreed with the employee, noting that it was Bestman's policies that paid for the costs of his night school education. When "Holden Tooks" later visited Bestman Electronics, he secretly took pleasure in turning the company inside out while John Bestman had no choice but to watch helplessly. Later that night, Hobie (in his guise as the vigilante Prowler) reluctantly met with the Nightcreeper to investigate the Bestman president's murder and Prowler suggested they start by trying to investigate the backgrounds of "Holden Tooks," John Bestman and the murdered Greg Pinder to see if their paths had crossed in the past.
(Prowler I#3 - BTS) - Looking over his new company, "Holden Tooks" (secretly the criminal Vulture) reveled in his revenge on the deceased Gregory Bestman, thinking to himself how the Bestman Electronics founder must be rolling in his grave after "Tooks" pushed John Bestman out of control of the company.
(Prowler I#4) - John Bestman
stormed into Bestman Electronics and demanded to know where "Holden
Tooks" was. Thinking Bestman's appearance there ought to be
interesting, Hobie Brown directed his laser bugging device towards
"Holden Tooks"' office in an effort to hear the conversation Bestman
was having with "Tooks." Inside the office, Bestman accused "Tooks" of
being involved in the murder of Greg Pinder and only temporarily
assuming control of Bestman Electronics via a short-lived stock
majority. Before he could berate "Tooks" further, Bestman was
interrupted by "Tooks," who suggested Bestman shut up and get used to
the idea of being out of the company. When an upset Bestman accused
"Tooks" of perverting the social goals of Bestman Electronics and
slashing the company's community help programs to boost profits,
"Tooks" calmly explained that he was doing exactly that, claiming he
had profit-driven shareholders to answer to. "Tooks" then reminded
Bestman how helpless he was to stop "Tooks" and insultingly claimed
Bestman was a "loser" just like his father before ordering Bestman to
get out of his office and his company. Bestman started to call "Tooks"
a lowlife but "Tooks" interrupted him, repeating his request for
Bestman to leave before he called security. A smiling "Tooks" then
watched as Bestman begrudgingly stalked out of the building, unaware
that Hobie Brown had heard the entire conversation with Bestman and
"Tooks" gloating about using Bestman Electronics devices to augment his
Vulture costume.
Shortly after dark, the
Prowler confronted "Tooks" at the Bestman Electronics laboratories,
revealing that he had learned "Tooks"' true identity as the Vulture and
announcing his plans to do what John Bestman could not: kick his butt
out of the building. When the injured Nightcreeper interrupted the
fight, buying Vulture time to escape, the Prowler got Nightcreeper out
of there and gave a tape of the Vulture admitting his crimes to the
Bestman Electronics security guards, ordering them to turn the tape
over to John Bestman. As he departed, the Prowler informed the guards
that the tape should be more than enough evidence to keep the Vulture
on the run and restore John Bestman's control of Bestman Electronics.
Comments: Created by Carl Potts and Bill Reinhold.
John Bestman is not mentioned by name in Prowler I#3 but the Vulture mentions Bestman's father and refers to John Bestman only as the company founder Bestman's son.
John Bestman's eyes appeared to be a light brown (ish) in the one closeup of his face but that closeup was also lit in a yellow-hued light so it's very possible his eyes were a different color and only appeared light brown due to the lighting.
While the Prowler mini-series mentions John's company as being called Bestman Electronics, the modern day Prowler OHotMU entry refers to the company as "Bestman Laboratories." I think this may be an error in the Prowler OHotMU brought on by the fact that the Prowler confronts Vulture in Prowler I#4 at a building with a sign that reads "Bestman Laboratories R&D." I believe the sign was actually stating which Bestman Electronics building (the R&D laboratories) it was rather than the actual name of the company. The modern day Vulture OHotMU entry seems to correct this, properly referring to the company as "Bestman Electronics."
This profile was completed 03/14/2024 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
John Bestman should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Prowler I#1 (November, 1994) - Carl Potts (writer), Bill Reinhold
(art), Mark Powers (editor)
Prowler I#2 (December, 1994) - Carl Potts (writer), Bill Reinhold
(art), Mark Powers (editor)
Prowler I#3 (January, 1995) - Carl Potts (writer), Bill Reinhold (art),
Mark Powers (editor)
Prowler I#4 (February, 1995) - Carl Potts (writer), Bill Reinhold
(art), Mark Powers (editor)
First posted: 09/30/2026
Last updated: 03/14/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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