#the defiler

[pulpsandcomics2]

The Pale Orc

[dinthoqaf]

A Revolution?! For what?

Little Jimothy Spearcog sits in front of the Radio, legs crossed and feet meeting in the middle in some odd Gob-a pose that only small children seemed capable of doing ninety percent of the time as his parents sat at the table, talking about the Revolution's occurrence here in Undermine. These were things he didn't care about, as he listened to the Radio play his favorite story; "Johnas and the Electric Eel". It was coming up on his favorite part of where Johnas had been cast from the Steambarge just after Thousand Needles had been flooded from the canyon wall breaking, letting the ocean in. Johnas had been cast into the torrential depths, fighting to swim in whatever direction he thought was up only to get hit, beaten, and battered by debris from the race track now turning it all into a dirty metal grinder. A crack of thunder goes over the radio, adding to the effects as fake rain hits over water and metal alike. Jimothy leaned in, engrossed in the story he'd heard well over a dozen times at this point, needing to hear it just one more time before his Pa hollered at him from the table with a cigar in hand and some broken device he'd been working on while they talked of the Revolution. Jimothy calls back "In a second! They're getting to the good part!" Johnas swam hard, his lungs fit to burst from the lack of air he was getting and the need to breathe in deep under the crushing pressure. Light, light was there, just out of reach and he'd swim hard for it. Except... Johnas was swimming into the depths and the light he saw wasn't of the sun or even the moon. This was red and only growing larger. Jimothy's face grows confused. This wasn't the story he'd heard so many times before. The storyteller was telling it wrong! But, that didn't stop him from scooting in closer, he needed to hear more and as he did, the shouting of his father saying 'Time was money!' came to dilute and fade away, ignored perhaps, as Jimothy got within arms reach of the radio from his new spot on the floor. The sea glowed red, basking Johnas in warbling tones of crimson light. Johnas froze, realizing he'd been swimming down all the deeper, not getting any closer to the surface in the slightest. Surely, the bottom was in sight, wasn't it? No, only this red glow and an utter blackness beyond that somehow made the comfort of his burning lungs fade. Fear came as the origin of the light came dangling on a strand and Johnas had come right to it. Massive elongated teeth as something primal and ungoldly had lured him in. A monster from the abyss. "Johnas!" Jimothy suddenly found himself screaming, jumping up from the floor to grab the radio in suspense. "Ya gotta swim away Jo--..." His shouts trail off as he realizes something. Usually, his dad would have thrown something at him already to make him get his hands off the radio before it got broken. No shouts came and it'd cause Jimothy to look about. His parents sat at the table, slumped over as if they had fallen asleep in their seats like he'd seen them do so many nights before with booze, food, cards, or even their work from time to time. But this, this was off. "Ma? Pops?" Jimothy asks as fear begins to sink into the pit of his stomach soon radiates back into his spine and then crawls up towards his shoulders and the back of his neck as hairs stand on end. His heart screamed to stay away, and his pace quickened, but he found his feet taking him closer despite the fear building. "Momma, Dad?" Jimothy closes the distance, halfway there now, a quarter and his hand reaches out towards his dad's back and shoulder. "D-dad?"

A twitch? A Small sleeping jerk at the name calling comes and in sync with it, the radio suddenly screams out as the narrator for Johnas calls out in pain and agony, scaring the poor goblin child to death, making him spin before the radio itself turns dark, lacking power. "I just got those batteries too..." Jimothy laughs, turning back to go to the radio to try to turn it on and off a few times. Maybe it was some kind of electrical disturbance? Either way, it was dead, and it wasn't going to come back on no matter how many times Jimothy hit it or tried to turn it off and on again. "J-j-j-mothy." His dads voice, but it was off, it was wrong and then in a split second, just like that, the fear came racing back into his veins, flooding his body to the point his knees began to quake. His hands on the radio would have been visibly shaking too if they hadn't had something to hold onto. His green knuckles and fingertips going white from the pressure he'd squeeze at it. "It's time for bed J-j-j-mo-THY." This was his mom, usually so soft-spoken, well, for a Goblin mother of ten anyway. The next three seconds would feel like a lifetime as Jimothy turned, feeling like something was wrong, something was off. No, he didn't feel it, he knew it. Knew something was wrong with his parents, knew something was wrong with the radio. Come to think of it, no sounds came from outside either. No goblin hot rods, no trikes, no gunshots, screaming, shouting, or anything. It was just him and them. In a brief moment, Jimothy bolted, running to the one safe spot every kid had. Nothing could penetrate it, nothing would dare. It was his bed, hiding under the covers. His feet beat on the floor and he'd get to the steps to hear an ungoldly shriek that sounded like a mixture of his parents, metal stressing, and static from his now-dead radio. The table flipped and he'd hear them coming for him. He'd leap up the last few stairs, hearing one of them hitting the floor as they'd lunged for him, barely missing.

Pap pap pap pap! His feet carried him to the point he wasn't even sure he was touching the ground anymore.

"JIMOTHY!"

His bedroom threshold was crossed as he slammed the door shut, locking it before pushing his toy chest in front of it.

BAM! BAMBAM! BAM!

He could hear them outside, noises incomprehensible, as they were trying to get through his door. He'd leap across the room, scrambling under the covers just as another slam broke the lock and the bodies tumbled in. A starry night lamp cast shadows across his hole-y sheet and he'd see them. Except, this wasn't them, one moment the shadows looked like his mom and dad, and then the next they were wrong, abominations of their self. Jimothy curled up into a ball, putting a hand over his mouth to stifle the tears and his body began to shake so hard he could swear the whole bed shook. Chittering noises came from above as the shadows reached across his sheet, slowly going higher to where he gripped it in the hopes it'd somehow save him.

His eyes go wider as crooked gnarled, disease-ridden digits with metal wires and oil curl around the lip of the sheet one digit at a time. There was no jerk of the covers, instead, his ankles were grabbed with force and would jerk to wrench him free! Jimothy screams and falls on the floor. He could hear the mechanical parrots outside as the fake sun lamp began to rise towards the Caverns roof, indicating it was 'daytime' in Undermine. His body was drenched in sweat and Jim shook his head. It was just a nightmare, a terrible nightmare. Jimothy sighed, it was all a dream and he'd laugh. He must have scared himself so much that he'd fallen out of the bed. He'd stand and move to the standing tub at the end of the room and begin to turn on the faucet and get a shower going, stopping to laugh at himself every couple of moments as the waters washed his concerns away. "Jimothy, babe! Ya gonna be late!" A voice calls, prompting him to jump out and dry off before putting on his work clothes and running downstairs to kiss his wife and his triplet children atop their heads as they ate their breakfasts. He grabs some toast and pins it between his teeth before he stops in his tracks. His heart begins to race.

There was a new radio in the living room. The radio from his dream, the one that mimicked the same build he'd had as a kid to boot. He felt his throat tighten as he took the bread out of his mouth. "Sweety... wh-where did that come from?" He asks, pointing his food towards it.

"Oh, it's part'a some kind of Goblin Emergency thing they're doing after that revolution. Some folks came by and dropped it off today, free, can ya believe it! How could I say no?" She continues to go on as she keeps churning out the food for their kids while cleaning behind them. "Somethin' about wanting to make sure that if anything bad happens again, tryin' ta make sure we can get'ta shelter. I d'unno, maybe ya can look at it when ya get home..."

Everything she said was well and good, but there Jimothy was, thirty years later, feeling just like he had in his youth and in that nightmare again, and for a moment, maybe just a fleeting moment, a sound came from its speakers. It was the same voice that had told him of Johnas and the Electric Eel that night, all those years ago. Jimothy jerks and drops his food, runs over, putting his ears up to it. Had it been in his head? He turned around fast, no one else was reacting, but his wife was looking at him half mad and worried both.

"Jimothy, what's with ya? Come on, get'cha some new toast and I'll clean this up. Ya gonna be late!" She ushers over, shoving more bread into his mouth as her hands cup his butt and begin to push him out the door in a quick turn, he looks to see the Radio facing his exit and the display lights up as the door is shut behind him...

"Excuse me sir, I'm with Sanctum Entertainment and we just wanna check off if your family has received their Emergency Broadcast Radio System yet today...?" Jimothy nods, shell-shocked, not even paying attention to the person talking to him as he looks around. Carts, dozens of them, were all over the place, going door to door passing out these radios...

[yoursghouly]

hot take: valak is mother

nun of you can convince me otherwise

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #38: REDEMPTION

November, 1988

The West Coast Avengers

In their greatest battle ever --

-- against THE DEFILER!

Really? Their greatest battle ever?

Is that what we’re going with?

Also, hi, Mockingbird. Hi, Iron Man.

You back on the team? Is the Redemption you two making up with the Avengers?

No.

This is a fill-in issue, set nebulously Sometime. Sometime before Iron Man quit because of Armor Wars. Sometime after Hank rejoined the team as Dr Pym. But also Sometime when Moon Knight wasn’t on the team. Which is an impossible time but maybe Moony had an errand to tend to.

The issue was written by Dan Chichester and Margaret Clark instead of Englehart.

When Englehart is forced from the book, the official reason is that he was getting behind on deadlines. Having a fill-in issue does sort of support that. Although Englehart himself claims that new EIC DeFalco didn’t like him and gave the book to John Byrne as a favoritism thing.

But this is not the time to get into that. Not when we have the West Coast Avengers’ Greatest Battle Ever.

This issue isn’t totally without context. It opens with the West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Wonder Man, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Mantis) grimly flying in a Quinjet. Maybe on a quest to help Mantis get her memory back. Maybe on their way back from their part in Evolutionary War.

And Wonder Man, looking exceptionally mulleted today muses about the downbeat mood the team is under since they split up.

Wonder Man: “Boy, things are sure different than they used to be. It doesn’t seem that long ago when we were a real team. Teamwork was the only way we could have beaten the Defiler... the only way that boy Mike could have gained -- REDEMPTION.”

FILL-IN ISSUE!

Mike (that guy in the black vest is Mike) THWAMs that ABSOLUTELY GIANT ARM with a trash can lid and tries to run to safety with Susan (red shirt girl). They need to tell someone what “he’s up to!” Maybe some Avengers. Some Avengers have been flying around the area.

But Mike trips on a pipe and smashes his head on a dumpster. And he’s so woozy that the ABSOLUTELY GIANT MAN catches up.

Defiler: “Now, little ones -- you both owe me -- and it’s about time I collect!”

He grabs and hoists both of them by their necks.

But luckily there really were some random (West Coast) Avengers in the area, just as rumored.

Tigra and Wonder man show up in the random alley and say “ordinary creeps like you we eat for breakfast!” so tell him to let the guy and girl go.

So the Defiler throws the kids aside and beats one motherfucker with another motherfucker.

But after smashing the two Avengers, the Defiler feels drained. While the Avengers are still stunned, he grabs Mike and Susan and drags them off toward a Corruption of Innocence feat. the Defiler billboard.

The billboard becomes a swirling green portal and the Defiler yeets Susan and then Mike into it.

While Susan flies in clean, Mike gets snagged on one of the billboard lights. When Tigra and Wonder Man recover and rejoin with Dr Pym, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Mockingbird, they spot a chain poking out of the billboard.

Iron Man and Wonder Man yank Mike out of the billboard.

Although, we get a little return to Wonder Man being a dick to Iron Man specifically when Iron Man can’t pull Mike free by himself.

Wonder Man: “Fancy suit not up to the job, Iron Man? Let me give you a real man’s hand!”

Mike is covered in yellow-orange chunky goo but he seems okay aside from that. He insists that they need to save Susan because he got her into this.

And what’s this?

Hard core music. 

HEAVY METAL -scare chord-

That’s what the redemption in the title is about. Mike needs redemption. For getting Susan into hard core music.

Lol. Roflmao.

In fairness, his favorite band happened to be hiding a dark secret. And Mike introduced Susan to the Defiler and got them both jobs as roadies for him.

Their friends started going missing and they didn’t realize why until they caught the Defiler yeeting someone into a portal. And that’s what happened today and why they were fleeing.

Hawkeye asks Dr Pym his science opinion and based on nothing, Hank spells out a theory where the Defiler is yeeting people into another dimension in exchange for energy but that the people are probably still alive. FOR NOW.

He’s right but its based on zero backing evidence.

Mike says there’s another concert this very night so they gotta save his thousands of fans.

The (West Coast) Avengers agree to go fight the guy. It’s what they do. But they tell Mike that obviously they’re not going to bring a civilian into it just because he feels bad about getting his girlfriend into the wrong genre of music.

They leave him but he determines to follow anyway.

The West Coast Avengers hit the concert and find that the Defiler is ready for them. An energy barrier stops them from getting too close. And that wily hard core rocker starts sucking the audience into dimensional portals.

Blue grass would never do this.

Since they can’t get through the energy dome, the West Coast Avengers do something I do honestly wish people would try more often when big domes come up in stories.

They just go under it.

They dig into the ground and pop up behind the stage.

Iron Man even gets back at Wonder Man because the Silver Centurion armor is better at tunneling than Wonder Man is.

I have no idea why they’re on this dick waving contest.

Anyway, dig a tunnel. Sneak into the concert. Yeah, and then Wonder Man decks the Defiler. Just fucking punches him across the entire venue.

Meanwhile, the West Coast Avengers take out the screens turned dimensional portals.

Iron Man, rescuing some audience members: “Let me help steer you kids straight -- you can’t let yourselves get sucked into just anything, you know!”

You’re such a nerd, Tony.

But not as big a nerd as Hank Pym.

Scraggin’ flies?

Y’know what? I’m not going to criticize. I adore too much Hank keeping a tiny baseball glove in his pocket in case he needs to make it big to catch something.

I love his magical pockets containing literally whatever.

Since Mockingbird can’t effectively fight the Defiler or knock down dimensional portals, she’s directing people to the exit. So she’s the one that spots Mike trying to sneak into the concert to be part of things.

She tells him to fuck off so he doesn’t get in the way but Iron Man shows up and tells Mike to fuck right back in because he’s essential to saving the day.

Up in the stadium seating, Tigra mocks the Defiler as a slow, clumsy, easy target and yeah she does manage to agile her way out of taking follow up hits. But when Wonder Man flies in to trade blows, the Defiler socks him and boasts that he’s visited other dimensions and drained the energy of their innocents. Its made him strong, donchaknow.

Over at Dr Pym, Iron Man, Mike, and Mockingbird, Dr Pym has a plan. BASED ON SCIENCE.

Since Mike went through one of these dimensional thingers, he might have energy clinging to him. And if that’s the case, he can be used as a key to open up the way for the West Coast Avengers.

And since Mike needs REDEMPTION for listening to heavy metal, he agrees to help.

Dr Pym gets a small piece of rope from his pocket which he embiggens into a bigger piece of rope so Iron Man can anchor the group. And then Mike, Mockingbird, and Dr Pym jump on in.

You’d think they’d take some of their bigger guns to go into an unknown dimension that eats people. But Wonder Man and Tigra are fighting the Defiler, Iron Man is anchoring the others so they don’t get stuck. And Hawkeye is contributing nothing.

Team Pym, Mockingbird and Mike find themselves drawn to an unearthly glow in the distance. Hank speculates that its the Defiler’s main battery and that its drawing energy out of them even at this distance AND drawing them closer.

Dr Pym, Mockingbird, and Mike find that all the captured fans and also hi Susan were trapped in some kind of goo. Which Hank calls an energy parasite. Because he’s just jumping to correct conclusions today.

Mockingbird starts slapping goo to free the folks and Hank PULLS OUT A GIANT-SIZED CHAINSAW!

I know that he can grow things as big as he likes but, like, isn’t that too big to handle? If you slip, you’re gonna cut an innocent person in half, Hank.

But apparently everything goes great.

Since everyone is too drained to walk back to the portal before it closes, Hank grows A GIANT SKATEBOARD FOR THEM ALL TO RIDE ON.

Sometimes comics, even fill-in comics, are great, actually.

Iron Man almost hears Hank’s call on the other side of the portal and yanks the giant rope to pull everyone to safety.

With all his batteries loose, the Defiler starts feeling weak.

He tries to stop Iron Man from hauling people free but Wonder Man and Tigra start kicking the shit out of him.

When the skateboard full of people is pulled loose, the portal starts going nuts. Trying to suck in anyone it can.

And the Defiler decides ‘Welp, time to mosey onto a new dimension’ but Mike gets his REDEMPTION for his evil, sinful decision to bring heavy metal into his sweet innocent girlfriend’s life by tackling the Defiler so he gets sucked into his own portal.

The Defiler: “I can’t go back... dead world... nothing to feed... to drain...”

I’m sure we’ll neverrrrrr see him again.

No, seriously. Villains from fill-ins don’t reappear as often. And this is the Defiler’s first and onliest appearance.

I won’t say he couldn’t be used again in an interesting way but there’s not a lot to him.

After everything settles down, Wonder Man muses that the people rescued from the Defiler were lucky.

Mockingbird: “Luck had nothing to do with it... that kid risked a lot to help us.”

Hawkeye: “Good for all of us there are some things you just can’t corrupt.”

I mean. Yeah, I guess?? He did risk a lot, going into the billboard dimension. And also he tackled a guy.

But playing this up as a big REDEMPTION for Mike? I dunno. His big failing was getting invested in a band that was secretly eating its fans. And his big redemption was tackling a dude.

It’s not landing for me. The redemption angle.

Mike isn’t much of a character and I don’t feel like his offense was offensive enough to warrant big, bold all-caps REDEMPTION as a title.

And him helping the Avengers out by having been half in a portal means his redemption is kinda passive. Sure, he wouldn’t take no for an answer and follow them to the concert when they told him to buzz off. But the help he gave the West Coast Avengers is that they used him to open a portal. Also, he tackled the guy.

Story was fine. Pretty goofy and pretty inoffensive for a fill-in. I like seeing Hank Pym and his deus ex pockets again. Weird that Moon Knight got dropped entirely out of the story and the story didn’t have a lot for Mockingbird to do.

But apparently it was a moment when the West Coast Avengers worked well as a team and Wonder Man thought they would last forever.

Its a tragic note that in the here and now the team has had a divorce because Hawkeye and Mockingbird can’t have a civil conversation about cowboy manslaughter.

Although, I want to note here. If Hank Pym is on the team as Dr Pym, that means that Mockingbird already did the manslaughter and is hiding it from everyone at this point where the team was working well together.

So it kind of undermines Wonder Man sighing about how those were the days.

Anyway, the plot finally catches up to the West Coast Avengers and the Quinjet starts crashing into the next issue.

It happens.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because soon the Englehart era will end. Will we miss him? Maybe. What’s to come has its own problems. But either way: like, reblog, comment? I like feedback. It makes me happy.

[frostahesmegabite]

A Presence Lurking

[ I want to apologize, I may be a bit slow on this DWC due to having been diagnosed with Pneumonia, but I'm going to do my best to keep up with it despite it. ]

Day 3 - Shine/Shadow - DWC

How in the hell did this happen?!

Megahes hid amongst the crowd, watching out of concern and worry, just like all those around him, but for a very different reason. Before the crowd was a group of security forces and investigators trying to keep the crowd back from trampling a scene of the disaster that had killed numerous individuals, body count still being pulled in, and harmed several others. Questions were already forming between the people in the crowd, conjecture and rumor about what they saw or heard. Half of it, quite reasonable considering the scene itself. The ground incinerated and burnt in a ten yard blast that ran outwards from the center. There was no crater present, this wasn’t from an explosive device or bomb, definitely not. No, this was magical in nature and for the largest part it left the landscape intact. What it made though, was what was worrisome. The scene looked as if it was frozen in time. Tendrils clambering out of the soil to grab hold of objects and people alike. Some of them caught in the act of crushing barrels, wrapping around beams and crates. Others were far worse. Caught in the act of ripping people in half, gore frozen in mid-spray like a terribly timed photo. Some people were crushed, others sent running for cover in an effort to survive. Megahes doubted they even knew what happened to them next. All of it looked as if it were sculpted straight out of the Light Shards of a Naaru. Only, instead of jagged curves and points as was their usual construction, these were smooth as glass, but still bright yellow and the shine they composed was that of a peaceful mindset… it was a shame the peace was encompassing such a horrific nature. The people, it didn’t matter their size or the gear it looked like they wore. They too were frozen and enveloped in the same golden Naaru like crystal as were their innards, those who had the unfortunate end where the freezing scene didn’t happen fast enough. Didn’t I tell you we were bound together? Megahes’ lips pull up in a snarl as he turns from the scene, mumbling under his breath as he intended on putting some distance between him and this place before he was pointed out. “Get out of my head you crazed fuck.” Oh come now. Is that any way to talk to the very God who is helping you get in touch with the real you? One would think you’d appreciate the destruction I just helped you create. That is what you do for a living anyways, isn’t it?

Mega hammered on his temple with the palm of his hand, trying to beat the voice out of his head.

He knew what happened. Saw it happen, he was there. He was the cause of it. He’d been walking down the street getting ready to go to meet some individuals to acquire some standard materials, leathers and the like. Only, he’d never made it. Out of nowhere he felt a surge of energy break free from the deepest recesses of his body and before he knew what was happening. He was being elevated via tendrilled strands to stand above all others as different shadow manifestations became real. Thick tendrils ripped through the people and various objects surrounding him. He had no more control over this as he did over the day turning to night. Only, that wasn’t entirely true. He’d cry out, the voice he heard terrifying in the sense that it wasn’t his. His fear may have been what helped him grab hold of the powers he’d been taught by his Paladin cohort and the priests who aided him. He didn’t need to reach far or deep, he knew these powers and he’d tap into the latent energies of the Lightforged shards that decorated his body. He scrambled to unlock their power, far more than he’d let anyone see him use to this point. A corona of Light exploded out from him, incinerating everything around him, scorching earth and shadow alike, encapsulating innocent people and deadly tendril alike. Nothing was spared as it identified everything around the source as a potential contaminant or vessel for contamination. Nothing was spared… Which brought on the question. “How did I not get seen and how did I get out?” Did you honestly think I’d let such an interesting toy such as yourself get taken from me yet?

Mega freezes, looking around him in a blur, trying to see where he was. The Defiler. He was here! “You son of a bitch!” A couple who was on the way to the scene to see what was going on, stopped, staring at him as if he were some crazy street walker. Megahes just blew a raspberry at them and swiped his hand in their direction to usher them onwards and that’s when his blood went cold. There, across the way, stood the Defiler in his full height and form. No longer meeting eye to eye as a child, but as a full man, uncorrupted. Their eyes met despite the distance, electricity exploding between the two until someone else blocked their path and then… like that, he was gone. [ @daily-writing-challenge

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Ramsay Campbell's Y'Golonac by Caleb Cleveland

[yoursghouly]

dni: demon nuns, interact (please)

[return-of-the-unicorns]