Posts Tagged ‘transgendered’

Danny The Street

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Contributed by Tom Peyer

Danny is a phenomenon unto himself. Neither man nor machine, fish nor fowl, flora nor fauna, he is in fact a sentient transvestite street – a short, two-lane avenue flanked by dozens of strange and eccentric shops and storefronts. Thanks to his mystical space-warping properties, Danny is quite the world traveler, having visited cities all over the globe – usually at night, when no one is looking, when he can surreptitiously shuffle city streets and make room for himself and become anything from a back road in Bangkok to an alleyway in Denver. Though no one knows precisely how Danny came to be, those poor and downtrodden souls to whom he has given shelter over the years love him dearly and trust him with their lives.

Through a series of unrevealed circumstances, Danny somehow ran afoul of Darren Jones, a self-proclaimed “normalcy agent” who sent a platoon of Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to eradicate Danny. Jones knew Danny’s habits; he also knew that, in between his continental jaunts, Danny invariably returned to the estate grounds of his only real friend, writer Sara Furness. It was there that the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. launched a surprise attack on Danny and his many inhabitants, among them the odd performers of the Danny the Street Perpetual Cabaret. Panicked, Danny took the battle to New York City; when the disturbance began to attract attention, the Doom Patrol came to investigate and found themselves defending Sara and the others from the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Men.

Art by Richard CaseThe ensuing struggle was fast and furious, but the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. made a fatal mistake when they tried to kill Sara. Enraged, Danny took himself and the Doom Patrol straight to Darren Jone’s house, where the performers of the Perpetual Cabaret exacted a strange and terrible vengeance on the man.

Since then, Danny has freely associated with the Doom Patrol and (over the protestations of Sara, who doesn’t much care for leader Niles Caulder) has volunteered to serve as the team’s mobile headquarters. With his powers at their disposal, they can travel anywhere on Earth – and beyond, for Danny knows many places that aren’t on any map.

Danny is kind, compassionate, and in his own way quite the poet. Though he has no voice, he communicates by forming his words out of anything from ambient manhole vapors to the letters of street signs. Morrison took inspiration for Danny the Street’s name from performer Danny La Rue.

Danny first appeared in Doom Patrol #35, volume 2. Danny recently resurfaced as a single brick in Doom Patrol #8 (current 2009 volume) and after being rescued by the team from “enforcers” from its home dimension, recreated itself as Danny the Bungalow (issue #9).

© and ® DC Comics. Used without permission.

Captain Power

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Contributed by Ronald Byrd

Years ago at a demonstration of radiation manipulation at Techtonics Research Laboratories, scientist Christina Carr suffered severe disfigurement in the same explosion that transformed her co-worker Dr. Otto Octavius into the super-powered Doctor Octopus (and which, according to the continuity of Spider-Man: Chapter One, was also a factor in Peter Parker’s transformation into Spider-Man). Carr blamed Octavius for the accident and attempted to sue, but once he became a super-villain this was a futile effort. Driven mad by the radiation that mutated her, Carr eventually learned that it had also given her the power to transform herself into a being of great power, a being which was, incidentally, male; the implications of this gender change as a part of Carr’s transformation are unclear.

As Captain Power, Carr insanely sought “vengeance” against those who had survived the accident, killing several of them under mysterious circumstances, eventually targeting Doctor Octopus himself. Held prisoner, Octopus leads Power to attack former Techtonics supervisor Dr. Ted Twaki, now head of the Tricorp Foundation (temporary workplace of Peter Parker).

Spider-Man arrives at the scene and manages to immobilize Power with an electrical shock which shorts out “his” mutagenic shape-changing power, reverting “him” to the disfigured form of Christina Carr. Taken into custody, Carr no doubt has plans to seek revenge on both Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, but she has not been seen since.

The same radiation which is slowly killing her gave Christina Carr the ability to transform into Captain Power, in which form she possesses super-powers that she evidently cannot use in her normal form. Captain Power has super-strength, a limited level of invulnerability, the ability to shoot intense flame from “his” eyes, and the power of flight.

Dr. Carr’s first appearance is in Spider-Man: Chapter One #1; as Power in Amazing Spider-Man #9, vol 2. Her character is confirmed lesbian in Amazing Spider-Man #10, vol 2.

© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.

Cloud

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

cloudContributed by Ronald Byrd

A sentient nebula, destined to evolve into a star within the next thousand millennia, Cloud came to Earth as a condensed human-sized nucleus to seek superhuman aid when the stars in its region of space began to mysteriously disappear. Arriving upon Earth, Cloud attempted to rescue two teenage lovers, Carol Faber and Danny Milligan, from an automobile accident, but a telepathic link was inadvertently forged between the two humans and Cloud, who became an amnesiac teenage girl identical to Faber. Brainwashed by the Secret Empire, Cloud clashed with the super-team known as the Defenders, eventually rebelling against her masters and joining the team.

When she fell in love with the female Moondragon, Cloud was tormented by these “inappropriate” feelings until her subconscious enabled her to change into male form (identical to Milligan); however, her/his love was not enough to prevent Moondragon from falling prey to the evil influence of the Dragon of the Moon, and Cloud, still troubled by this new ability and unsure of what it meant regarding her/his true nature, later turned her/his attention to another fellow Defender, Iceman. Eventually regaining her/his memories and, with the help of the Defenders, returning to the vanished stars, Cloud returned to her/his original state as a nebula; appearing briefly in Solo Avengers to help the recovering Moondragon, Cloud evidently prefers her female manifestation, since she uses it to interact with humans on this occasion. Presumably Cloud continues to exist somewhere in the further regions of space, doing whatever it is that nebulas do.

In addition to being able to assume both male and female identities, while in mortal form Cloud could change into a gaseous cloud-like state, in which condition she could engulf opponents, discharge lightning, communicate telepathically, and fly. As a nebula and future star, Cloud possesses vast cosmic power whose limits are unclear.

© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.

Lord Fanny

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Art by Phil Jimenez

Art by Phil Jimenez

Adelinda Morales and her husband Eugenio, and her mother, Dona Isola de Rios had moved to Rio de Janeiro from their native Mexico. Isola was the most feared bruja (witch) in the slums of Rio. Her power had been passed down to her from her mother just as she had passed hers on to Adelinda.

Isola was shocked when Adelinda gave birth to a boy, and demanded she become pregnant again in the hopes of having a girl to initiate as a bruja. The second pregnancy abruptly ended with a miscarriage, and forcing Isola to improvise. She’s convinced the answer is to raise Hilde as a girl. Adelinda seems agreeable but Eugenio voices his objection: “You can’t turn my boy into a sissy!” Isola shuts him up with a threat. Of course the first part of her plan is contingent on Hilde’s willingness to be raised as a girl. She tempts him with a frilly dress, and he accepts.

A drunk during Mardi Gras stabbed Adelina to death. Hilde was only seven and Isola and Aunt Marta (a woman who had slept with Hilde’s father) raised her. They taught Hilde magical plants and sorcerous arts, and told her stories of the gods and spirits that ruled the land in Pre-Columbian times.

Isola decided it was time to return to Mexico and the City of the Gods, Teotihuacan, when Hilde reached puberty and started to show an interest in boys. The time has come to initiate Hilde into brujeria. Hilde drinks hallucinogenic tea to start her vision quest, and to find her totem. Isola cuts Hilde’s thigh to simulate menstruation in order to attract the spirits. Reality becomes meaningless to Hilde in her altered state. A large butterfly alights on her forehead, becoming her totem.

The next step is an encounter with Tezcatlipoca, the Smoking Mirror, father of all witches. He comes to her in the form of a gaunt, headless figure with two wooden doors for his chest within which he keeps his heart. Hilde’s test is to snatch his heart in order to be granted a wish. Hilde succeeds and asks for both safe passage and return to Mictlan, the Dead Lands, to learn the secrets of magic from the Skeleton God.

In Mictlan Hilde earns the knowledge of magic. The Lord of the Dead insists she stay with him. Hilde objects, saying that Tezcatlipoca had promised her safe passage. Hilde offers to tell a joke in exchange for her freedom. She leaves the God’s throne room and enters the Garden of Life and Death. By gashing her tongue with sacred thorns Hilde learns the secret language of shamans. Finally, the goddess Izpapalotl commands her to leave or be killed. Hilde returns to her body and finds her grandmother and Aunt Marta waiting for her. As they’re driving away from the temple, Isola says she has a special gift for Hilde. It’s her first lipstick.

When Lord Fanny turned 18 she joined The Invisibles, a group of radical anarchists whose goals were to save humanity from being enslaved to the extra dimensional Archons and snap the world out of its mass hallucination commonly referred to as
reality.

Lord Fanny created by Grant Morrison. Fanny is an example of the shamanic traditions that were valid and accepted expressions of some Native peoples throughout the Americas which were seen as evil and satanic by European and white American conquerors. Native men and women who had same sex attractions were seen as powerful and special. They often assumed clothing and gender roles of their opposite sex, and were often highly sought after as spouses. While Fanny may have been raised as a female, I believe the character is a little too complicated to label simply as transgendered and could also be considered gay, though no contemporary label will be totally accurate since modern notions of accepted sexual identities are too constrictive.

Lord Fanny first appears and is outed in The Invisibles #2, vol 1.

© and ® DC/ Vertigo Comics. Used without permission.

Catira Katirus

Thursday, November 12th, 2009
Art by Terry Pallot

Art by Terry Pallot

Catira and Katirus are actually the same being, with the ability to shift between a male and female form. Catira is the female identity and Katirus is the male. They survive by absorbing the life energy of unsuspecting prey, whom they seduce with their powerful pheromones. They also lure victims to feed their “ancestor”, a cloud-like, space-dwelling lifeform that feeds off of the energy from a starship and its crew.

The Orsorians sent out a false distress signal, claiming that their engines were damaged, attracting the attention of the starship Voyager. Catira responded to the Voyager’s hail, assuming that a man would be in command. All of the men on the bridge were stunned, both by Catira’s beauty and by the fact that she was practically nude. Both Catira and Katirus wear no actual clothing, and simply have a glittering, translucent veil that barely covers their private parts. Once she discovered that Captain Janeway is a woman, she said that she had to defer to her “brother”. She slipped off-screen, and moments later Katirus appeared. Janeway was just as impressed by Katirus’ appearance, although Commander Chakotay was suspicious as well as a bit jealous of him. Janeway agreed to send Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres to repair their engines, and invited the Orsorians to Voyager. Katirus accepted the invitation, but said that Catira would be unable to attend, although she would be with him “in spirit”.

At the reception about Voyager, all of the women were strongly drawn to and charmed by Katirus, except for former Borg, Seven of Nine. She seemed immune to his charms. Katirus continued his seduction of Janeway, and asked her to give him a private tour of Voyager. At some point during this tour, he managed to ambush Seven of Nine and put her into a coma with an energy discharge, without Janeway’s knowledge. When Chakotay tried to alert Janeway to this Seven’s assualt, she did not respond. Chakotay and an armed security team burst into Janeway’s quarters to find her and Katirus making out in her bedroom. Chakotay instructed Katirus to leave Voyager, since there was now an emergency that required the Captain’s attention. Once Katirus left, Chakotay observed that the Captain seemed very disoriented and lightheaded, and she wasn’t acting like herself.

Katirus returned to his ship, and went down to the engine room where B’Elanna was working. In order to prevent her from discovering that there was no real damage to the engines, he pulled her into a passionate kiss, infecting her with his pheromones, and leaving his confused and open to suggestion as well. He tricked her into returning to Voyager without her tricorder and its data.

This also left B’Elanna with a headache, so she went to sickbay for treatment. When the doctor examined her, he found the same energy residue in her that he found in Seven of Nine. The doctor alerts Janeway to this, suggesting that B’Elanna and Seven may have been attacked by the same person. However, B’Elanna reports that she was not attacked and was not “bothered” by anyone on the Orsorian ship. Janeway decides to beam over to give this news to Katirus in person. Chakotay tries to stop her, but is unable to.

Chakotay tries to contact Janeway, but she isn’t answering her commbadge, and the Orsorian ship is not answering hails. Certain that the captain is in danger, Chakotay sends security chief Tuvok over to the Orsorian ship to investigate. Once he arrives, he is ambushed by Catira, who uses her super-pheromones to seduce him as well. She has her robot guards take him to her quarters, where she continues to seduce him. Tuvok’s Vulcan discipline helps him to resist, but Catira overwhelms him, and literally rips his clothes off. As she forces herself on him, she begins to drain his energy through their intimate contact. Once Catira is done with Tuvok, Katirus re-emerges and goes back to his own quarters to seduce and drain Janeway. Then Katirus summons the Ancestor, to come and feed off the Voyager and its crew! Voyager manages to to delay the energy drain by firing phasers into the cloud, but are unable to escape, especially while Janeway and Tuvok are still prisoner. However, Ensign Kim detects an ID signal being sent from the Orsorian ship to the Ancestor, that he can duplicate. Once the Doctor reports that Seven of Nine has regained consciousness, Chakotay devises a plan to defeat the Orsorians, using the two crewmembers who are immune to their pheromones: Seven of Nine, and the holographic Doctor!

Seven and the Doctor beam over to the Orsorian ship to rescue Tuvok and the Captain. Katirus’ biochemical attack is no longer able to affect Seven, since her body has now adapted to it. Then the Doctor injects Catira with antigens from Seven of Nine’s body, which attack their pheromones. The injection has a shocking effect, and the bodies of Katirus and Catira merge and distort into a disgusting, twisted lump of flesh.

With the away team back on board, Kim activates the ID signal, confusing the Ancestor into releasing Voyager. Voyager takes off as fast as they can, and the Ancestor begins loosing energy. It goes after the nearest available energy source: the Orsorian ship. However, the Orsorian ship does not have enough energy on its own to sustain the Ancestor, and the Ancestor collapses in on itself, taking the Orsorians with it.

In his analysis, the Doctor suspects that the “ancestor” probably spawned an entire race of Orsorians, but considers it highly unlikely that any of them are still alive. He believes that Catira/Katirus killed off all the others in order to secure their position in the food chain with the Ancestor.

Catira/Katirus is seen in Star Trek Voyager #14 and 15.

© and ® Paramount Pictures. Used without permission.

Grace

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

graceStefano  Raffaele’s Fragile is set in a post apocalyptic world in which 95% of the world’s population have been turned into zombies due to a mutated virus. The remaining humans have formed various safe havens. Alan Olden is a young man who lives in one of these walled communes, but everything changes when he dies from a work accident and flees the town after the zombie process begins. While on the run from living humans and the vigilante zombie Disinfestors he finds and falls in love with the undead Lynn, whose existence will soon end as decomposition ramps up.

The pair are in the desert when they’re ambushed by a small band of Disinfestors. It looks like their end is near when a large SUV appears from nowhere and barrels through the Disinfestors. The pair jump in the vehicle and find a tall, thin blonde woman, who introduces herself as Grace, behind the wheel. Grace cautions them to hold on to the paintings stowed in the back as they make their reckless escape. She confides the paintings are originals, having taken them from museums in order to preserve them.

It takes only a couple minutes into their rescue to notice that Grace is alive. Grace admits she started to follow the pair after they left the small town where Alan found Lynn, but doesn’t confide why she would help zombies. The next morning Alan starts to have a chat with Grace only to be surprised that there’s stubble on her face. It dawns on Alan that he used to know Grace when they were younger. Only then Grace was Thomas, the neighbor boy next door who’d fallen in love with Alan and then disappeared after being humiliated. During a tense encounter with other zombies, Grace admits that she is still in love with Alan, and the tension mounts between the trio as both Grace and Lynn vie for Alan’s attention. Grace can’t understand why Alan is attracted to an undead zombie woman when she’s alive and beautiful and at the same time she never questions why she’s still drawn to a zombie Alan.

They make it to the town of Alberville where a small enclave of zombie scientists work on developing new strains of the virus to keep the undead alive longer (I’m not making this up!). Once inside the facility it becomes apparent to the top scientist that Grace carries a serum in her blood to reverse the zombie process.No reason or theory is ever given as to why or how this is possible. For some unknown reason, Grace radios Alan’s friend Marcus, who meets them in Alberville, and is somewhat shocked to learn that Grace was a boy, but he also admires her beauty.  Lynn and the top zombie scientist are taken hostage by a group of zombies to be used as a bargaining chip against her Army father who’s trying to keep New York City from being overrun by the undead. It becomes a chase via a commandeered transport plane to New York to rescue Lynn, partly facilitated by Grace as a means to show her love for Alan, though he continues to reject her. The plot’s logic dramatically recedes after they arrive amidst a zombie onslaught, though Grace is equally adept at gunning down zombies as the rest of them. Lynn and the scientist are rescued and he agrees to work with the human scientists to synthesize a serum from Grace’s blood. She may be humanity’s salvation, but Alan’s final choice to remain with Lynn as they both face termination is stinging, forcing her to find solace in Marcus’ arms.

Grace identifies herself as both transgender and a woman (“I’m not a man! I’m a woman! I’ve always been a woman!”) and wears very sexy feminine clothes and shoes. Some of her dialog reveals that two medical professionals that helped in her transition had become zombified, so it remains unclear at what point the character was in transitioning.

Fragile was originally serialized Metal Hurlant, #4, 7-8, 10-14 before being collected as a tpb. This trade is available used at Amazon.

© and ® Humanoids Publishing. Used without permission.

The Russian

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

russianContributed by Ronald Byrd

Strong enough to squeeze a man to death without even realizing it and tough enough to devastate a commando unit single-handed. The Russian first came to attention in Afghanistan, where he spent most of the 1980s; following this, he has a long line of assignments from various governments and organized crime families worldwide (as well as the Las Vegas Police Department). The Russian has seen action in Lebanon, Iraq, Rwanda, East Timor, Chechnya, the Balkans, Belfast, and was last seen in Grand Nixon Island in the South Pacific. Despite his violent career, the Russian is an interminably good-natured sort and sees no contradiction in being a great admirer of American super-heroes, noting that he is a founding member of the “Daredevil Man Without Fear Fan Club of Smolensk.”

The Russian finally meets his match when crime boss Ma Gnucci hires him to kill the vigilante known as the Punisher. The Russian severely beats the Punisher until his opponent incapacitates him with hot pizza in the face and smothers him to death with an obese neighbor (a method of execution rather atypical for him). The Punisher then decapitates the Russian and brings his head with him when he finally confronts the Gnuccis for a deadly showdown.

However, a secret paramilitary agency, hoping to use the Russian’s skills, retrieves his head and has it reattached to his body, which is now strengthened with metals and plastics and augmented by a super-hard alloy coating on his skeleton. His internal organs are modified, giving him, among other changes, the lungs of a gorilla and a second heart to better withstand pain and stress (with a third heart added later). Hormone-laden chemicals are necessary to insure that his body accepts the modifications, a rather obvious side effect of which is the development of two truly enormous breasts. The Russian also notices a “strange cranky feeling, once a month,” suggesting that the hormones have changed his body in other gender-related ways, but whether or not it has indeed undergone an entire sex-change is as yet unclear. Undaunted by the change (he even takes to wearing women’s clothing), the relentlessly enthusiastic Russian agrees to work for the agency’s head, the military sadist Kreigkopf, in exchange for being allowed one attempt to gain vengeance on the Punisher. His effort fails when the Punisher throws him off the Empire State Building, but the damage that the Punisher does to him is repaired, and he will certainly clash with the killer vigilante again.

Originally the Russian was, although apparently not superhuman, incredibly strong and tough, even able to ignore a knife wound to the lower abdomen; he was, however, sensitive to heat. Following his transformation, he now possesses superhuman strength, augmented resistance to injury (including a titanium jaw), heightened olfactory senses, and probably other abilities. He is durable enough to withstand a ninety-story fall from the Empire State Building into the New York subway system (and a subsequent high-velocity impact with a train), albeit to require significant repairs later. The Russian has used a wide range of firearms in his previous work but prefers hand-to-hand combat.

The Russian first appeared in Punisher #8, vol 5 and the transgendered aspects are revealed in Punisher #1, vol #6. The indicia to Punisher volume #5, issue #8 says volume #3, but there were four Punisher series prior to this one. Likewise, the
indicia to Punisher volume #6 states volume #4.

© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.

Dumas

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

dumas1Contributed by Ronald Byrd

Born in the American South early in the twentieth century, Stephen Lee’s mutant ability manifested itself in childhood when his facial features collapsed into a putty-like form. In adulthood he learned to reshape his face into that of anyone else but was unable to reconstruct what his own adult face should have been. Taking the name Dumas after the author of “The Man in the Iron Mask,” he became a deadly US intelligence agent in the Far East and later a freelance assassin in Japan, developing a reputation as an operative who would never back off from an assignment once he had accepted it.

Early in his adult life Dumas’s power developed to the point that he could reshape his entire body and, feeling that he could never find a woman to love, he assumed female form himself to become Olivia Vancroft, a socialite of the late 1930swhom he came to regard as a separate individual with “her own life, her own soul,” leading him to wonder “who is real and who is the mask.” Many of his missions were carried out, as far as the rest of the world knew, on behalf of the interests of the beautiful and reclusive Vancroft, whose appearance he did not allow to age over the decades; in fact, as Vancroft “she” went through the motions of formally hiring Dumas through other parties. In both personalities, Dumas was fascinated by masks; as Dumas he pursued a passion for kabuki masks, and Olivia Vancroft owned a large collection of those worn by super-heroes and super-villains.

When Vancroft decided to acquire the mask of Mark Shaw, a.k.a. Manhunter, Dumas clashed with the heroic mercenary a few times before Manhunter learned his secret and was finally forced to kill him in battle. After his death, Dumas’s body was used to develop a serum to duplicate his powers, and a Japanese gangster took on the identity until he too was defeated by Manhunter.

Dumas had the ability to reshape his face and body into that of any person he can visualize; however, he was unable to disguise his heartbeat ratio or voiceprint, and his facial features ran like putty if he did not maintain concentration on a given appearance. Dumas was a master at hand-to-hand combat and the martial arts; he also used a variety of weapons, including guns, knives, and throwing darts, which he wielded with precision. His costume was insulated to protect him from electrical shock.

Dumas’ birth name is Stephen Powell Lee. Olivia Vancroft was first seen in Manhunter #1 and as Dumas in #2. Dumas’ operated out of Tokyo while Vancroft was located at Cliff House in southwest Wisconsin. Dumas’ bifurcated sexuality was revealed in Manhunter #4. It remains unclear if Dumas’ orientation is bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, straight, or possibly even “all of the above”.

© and ® DC Comics. Used without permission.

Mantra

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Art by Mike Gustovich

Contributed by Ronald Byrd

Lukasz is a mystic knight, born 1500 years ago, who serves the ancient sorcerer Archimage, although his entrance into Archimage’s service forced him to leave behind his beloved wife, Marinna. One of the cadre of twelve agents that Archimage has used over the centuries to oppose his evil brother Boneyard, Lukasz, like his comrades, is capable of being reincarnatedinto a pre-existing body immediately after death, the body’s soul being dispatched to unspecific astral regions. In modern times, after one hundred previous incarnations his latest host body is the beautiful Eden Blake, newly hired agent of the government project Aladdin and single mother of Gus and Evie. In this new incarnation, Lukasz, known as Mantra, has unfamiliar sorcerous powers as part of Archimage’s ultimate plan and must adjust to existence as a woman, including relationships with ex-husband Gus, Sr., and lover Brent. Lukasz retains his male persona and finds Eden’s body to be quite attractive, and when Eden’s persona briefly resurfaces in her body while Lukasz temporarily inhabits an artificial body, the two fall in love. However, soon both are inhabiting the Mantra body, and Lukasz’s continued love for Eden takes narcissism to a new level. Eventually Lukasz is again left alone in Mantra’s body, and when Gus Blake is possessed by demonic powers and imprisons Lukasz’s soul within another dimension, her powers are bestowed upon babysitter Lauren Sherwood, who retains them even after her predecessor is restored to normal. Leaving Lauren as the new Mantra, Lukasz, by now fully accepting the identity of Eden Blake, moves from Los Angeles to San Francisco with Evie to be near Gus, who is in Aladdin custody. No other information on the Blakes’ fate is known.

Mantra had magical abilities that she could utilize for a variety of effects, including mystic blasts and flight. She could revitalize her energy via the chant “change…growth…power.” She also wielded the mystic Sword of Fangs and wore a cloak that served as a portal to a pocket dimension which contained various artifacts and people collected by Archimage over the centuries.

Mantra’s transgendered nature is revealed in Mantra #1. As a reincarnated soul, Lukasz had many roles and occupations; the most notable being a warrior and government agent.

© by ® Malibu Comics (owned by Marvel Comics). Used without permission.

Dr Occult & Rose Psychic

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Dr. Occult is one of DC Comics oldest characters. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, he first appeared as trenchcoated private investigator in New Fun Comics #6 in 1935 and appeared in his own strip until 1938, and was forgotten about until Roy Thomas resurrected him in 1985 in the pages of All Star Squadron.

During the run of the strip, set in an unnamed American city, Dr. Occult assisted Detective Ellsworth with cases involving the paranormal. The Doctor’s butler, Jenkins sometimes helped out. Jenkins was then replaced by love interest Rose Psychic. She also possessed mystical abilities. Dr. Occult went up against vampires, ghosts, zombies, and evil scientists whose methods were supernatural, or appeared to be as such.

A group of mystics, simply called The Seven, became part of Dr. Occult’s backstory during the strip’s run as well. At one point this group gave a costume to Occult, and he became the Golden Age’s first costumed hero. For whatever reason, the costume idea was abandoned and he returned to wearing a shirt, tie, trench coat and hat. Part of Occult’s and Rose’s history is retconned by Roy Thomas in his effort to update the characters. In the revision, The Seven raise Occult and Rose during their childhood.

The characters were next used by Neil Gaiman in his Books of Magic mini series of 1991. Dr. Occult, Phantom Stranger, John Constantine, and Mr. E act as guides who introduce a twelve year old Tim Hunter to the world of magic. In issue three, Dr. Occult and Tim journey to the land of Faerie, and it’s at this point that we first see Occult and Rose (also called Rose Spiritus) switch places with one another. Rose explains to a startled Tim that she and Occult are aspects of anima and animus, and that certain things become easier for the anima. For many LGBT people there are masculine and feminine sides to their personalities, or they may choose to emphasize one aspect over another. In this respect I think Occult and Rose speak to the experience of being queer. Rose proves to be a capable guide for Tim, leading him through the Faerie market where one of its unsavory denizens tries to take advantage of Tim, and then through a sea of blood. Rose exchanges places with Dr. Occult when they stumble upon Maugys, a giant charged with guarding the cave entrance leading to the resting place of the king sleeping beneath the hill. Watching over the sleeping king is the minstrel Thomas who eyes Dr. Occult and recounts the memory of having been intimate with Rose “beneath the stars on a bed of cut bracken.” Occult replies that he doubts it happened, shortly after which he and Tim leave through a blackened tunnel, and become separated. Upon exiting, Tim sees Dr. Occult standing near an unassuming cottage, and runs to his side. In reality, it’s the witch Baba Yega disguised as Occult, and she quickly snatches Tim for her soup pot. It takes a resolute and threatening Rose to intimidate Baba Yega to release Tim. They continue on their journey till encountering Queen Titania, who requests their presence at her palace. There, Titania tricks Tim into accepting a gift, a custom which does not allow for refusal and must be returned in kind or Tim will be forced to serve Titania. The Queen’s gift is a key that unlocks a door to other realms, which Dr. Occult guides him. Upon returning to Faerie, Occult aids Tim in eluding Titania’s servitude, and they return to the real world.

Stories written after the Books of Magic mini series continued the idea of Dr. Occult and Rose being one. The Return of the Justice Society mini series, which I have not yet pulled from my collection, states that Occult was killed by a magical being and Rose joined their spirits in order to save him.

The Who’s Who entry lists several mystical abilities in addition to the Doctor’s keen, analytical mind. Included in the list are: using the astral plane to rapidly move between locations on Earth; transporting a second person in like manner; rendering himself invisible by shifting his body to an astral form; a form of hypnosis or mind control; create illusions; and telekinesis. According to the entry, Rose has the same abilities except illusion casting and telekinesis.

Occult also carried a small, magical device resembling an encircled cross. It offered protection from some forms of natural energy, and would repel or even exorcise supernatural creatures. It credits him with inventing a “Cerebro” like device to pinpoint evil thoughts. Rounding out his arsenal of magical devices is a sword with unknown magical powers, and a belt with various buttons. Pressing one allowed him to fly. Push another button and people turned to stone. These were gifts from The Seven. None of these devices were evident or alluded to in the Books of Magic.

Dr. Occult first appeared in More Fun Comics # 6. Rose Psychic’s first appearance is in More Fun Comics #19. Neil Gaiman presented them in such a manner that may be thought of as transgendered in Books of Magic #3. The name Richard Occult is an alias. The characters are afffiliated with Sentinels of Magic, The Seven, All Star Squadron.

This bio is based in part on the character’s Toonopedia entry, and the 1985 Who’s Who entry.

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. © and ® DC Comics. Used without permission.