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Ebenezer Scrooge

After the events of A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge dedicated his life to helping mankind. After an encounter with a mad businessman who had been corrupted by a Fiction Cairn, Scrooge met Alice and Frankenstein and they formed the first version of The Lost Legion. Scrooge could see ghosts and used this ability to solve crimes in 19th century London.

Many of their adventures took them through time with the help of the Crusader. The Sphinx was also a member and with the Scepter of Time's Shadow he could mend alternate timelines and keep the consistency of their reality. Scrooge eventually died of old age and was shocked to learn he had not done enough good in his life to overcome whatever curse had befallen him. He continued to fund the Legion with his wealth and knowledge as a ghost. During one of their adventures the Legion realized that they had weakened the timeline and created a surge in magical energy. The world was in danger, WWII fighter planes began bombing the city of London almost fifty years before the war started. In order to fight it, the members of the Legion from the future had to return to their own time. But the rest had to disappear so that the wizard Abraxas Ro could seal off the mystical realm of the Gods that threatened the Earth. They used their abilities to manipulate the past; Scrooge dictated the story of his life to Charles Dickens which Dickens believed was his own story.

During the battle between the Canadian Legion and the Proletarian, Snowfall discovered the spell had crumbled and some of the Lost Legion were back in action. They came together one last time to fight the evil Soviet super-man.

Zeus

Formerly a vigilante known as The Eagle, Jesus Molinero was born with conductor wires throughout his nervous system consisting primarily of copper and aluminum. These wires collect his bio-electric energy which he can discharge through his hands or a weapon. Jesus has always carried a sword to conduct the bio-electrical current. Born in Mexico he was raised in a Catholic Orphanage, no one noticed or reported his birth defect to the authorities so he was allowed to grow up without being hunted or feared. When he was eighteen he sought out the legendary Luchador hero Senior Ocho. Ocho had already taken the Black Flag under his tutelage and the two men had much in common, Ocho was no swordsman and eventually Jesus struck out on his own. After many years of fighting crime throughout Mexico, Argos and Bia came to recruit him. They told him of what the U.S. government had done; how they had killed children just like him, babies, simply for being born different. During one of their meetings MI:6 attacked and Jesus's cousin was killed. Although he joined them and believes in their cause, he does not see Homo Sapiens Demonus as different than humanity. To him it is all hatred and violence, he does not consider himself any different than the rest of humanity. The rest of the team knows how he feels but they believe eventually he will see the cruelty and hatred that humanity has for them and give himself 100% to the cause.

POWERS:

Jesus has the power to generate electrostatic charges and is able to discharge up to 100,000 volts through conductive metal or 50,000 volts through his hands. He is a skilled fencer with extaordinary swordsmanship skills, an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, and an excellent acrobat. Due to the wiring throughout his body, he is more resilient than most humans and also heals wounds slightly faster.

APPEARANCE:

Originally I had done a really nice brown, black and red mock-up that looked very cool. Then Photshop crashed and I lost it, which is why there was a delay getting this guy up. Now you have to settle for a crappy black and white mock-up of Zeus.
Underneath his shirt you can see the wiring over his chest in the pattern of an eagle.

Bia - Femme Fatale of the Master Race

Belinda Abel was a freelance assassin when she first met Argos. Although his speeches sounded nice, she was not interested in anything but profit. Bia had heard all kinds of justifications for all kinds of murder so there was nothing particularly new to what he had to say. Watching the attack on the British Parliament live on television and seeing people like herself killed by the authorities she felt incredibly guilty. She arrogantly believed had she been there, they might have succeeded. They had given her the name Bia after the goddess of force and power and when Argos showed up on her doorstep for help she gave them all she could. During the time that Mr. Helix was recovering Bia broke into Scotland Yard's holding facility and murdered Winged Beauty.

The work she did for various governments prior to joining The Master Race is part of the reason they have not come after them directly. She personally performed assassinations for many world governments and the 1%. If made public, would ruin many careers in Washington AND the corporate world. Her enemies are waiting for her to expose herself at which time they'll take her and her fellow mutants out permanently.

POWERS:

Along with super strength and durability, she also possesses a variety of other superhuman attributes, including (but possibly not limited to): super speed (50 mph tops), super agility, super reflexes, and super dexterity/coordination. Bia is also able to instantly replicate the physical movement of peak-level humans in her vicinity and perform these movements for up to six hours. Not only does this make her a deadly opponent, but she is also the perfect sparing partner and has made The Master Race a powerful team of combatants.

Dr. Mandrill - Scientist of the Master Race

The only current member other than Mr. Helix to not take a name from Greek mythology, perhaps because unlike the others his appearance is clearly NOT human. William Mandrake was born to parents who were very successful physicists. Highly intelligent and hard working, they were also careless and exposed themselves to unhealthy levels of radiation. When their child was born they knew immediately that something was wrong. The child was born ape-like with white skin, even though his parents were black. From birth his powers were activated as a survival measure; his father shunned him in fear while his mother pampered and spoiled him. Eventually his father's fear overcame his mother's obsession and he took the child far out into the wilderness of northern Greenland where their lab was located. Luckily for William he was found by a female police officer and taken to her home. As he grew he moved from woman to woman, using his powers on them. It was clear what he was turning into, but no female could resist him. He had to be weary of men, for their fears would often drive them to hurt him. When he reached puberty though things changed for him. The women who nurtured him were now lusting after him. It was a strange change for a boy who had come to see women as mother figures. Luckily for him, it was easy to learn how to deal with their sexual passions.

After the attack on the British Parliament, Mandrake, now calling himself Dr. Mandrill after receiving multiple doctorates through online education, decided to find Mr. Helix and the other members of The Master Race. They were astonished when he managed to do just that and they immediately welcomed him into the group. He was the one that warned them that non-physical powers from one of their species could not affect another member of their species; their powers only worked against humans. Dr. Mandrill is in charge or recruitment and information gathering and has managed to keep the new version of The Master Race off the radar. Mr. Helix had told him he is the future of their race and the two men have agreed to begin a breeding program once a suitable female can be found. They have attempted to create Homo Sapiens Demonus children with human females but the results have been. . . horrifyingly bad.

POWERS:

Dr. Mandrill has superhuman strength, speed, agility, dexterity, flexibility, reflexes, coordination, balance, and endurance comparable to that of a great ape. He is a skilled acrobatic hand-to-hand combatant. Mandrake can also release pheromones that allow him a certain degree of control over women who find themselves helplessly attracted to him. They will often ignore common sense and put their own lives at risk to protect him. But Mandrake must be cautious in using these pheromones, for on men they create a fearful "alpha male" response. Some men will quickly obey him, but others can turn irrational and dangerous, unable to cope with the fear they experience. In some cases men have tried to kill him as an abomination and he has barely escaped more than one angry mob.

Lastly the doctor is highly intelligent, cunning and skillful with a keen mind.

Mr. Helix

No one is quite sure WHY Mr. Helix hates the human race. Once a vibrant activist and scholar, Mr. Helix left university six weeks from getting his doctorate in education and social studies. The sixties counter culture he was a part of had told him of other gifted people like himself, those with extraordinary and dangerous abilities. Friends and associates from that era claim he was fascinated with Hitler and the science of eugenics and social engineering. Unlike other racists however, Mr. Helix did not have any others of his kind around to identify with. So he went searching for them.

Although there were others he met in his travels it was not until he met Argos that he found the perfect disciple. Argos was angry and powerful and a natural leader. Helix was able to transform him into the perfect soldier; the leader of the Master Race that was to come. They would issues their Seven Entitlements and through acts of terror, those entitlements would become a reality. But Mr. Helix made one fatal mistake, he underestimate the fear and hatred mankind would exhibit. Winged Beauty, a handsome Greek boy from a wealthy family, was not convinced by Mr. Helix or Argos and betrayed them to MI:6 who were prepared for their attack on the British Parliament. Red Riding Hood, his first female student and a beautiful, deadly telepath and telekinetic, was killed in a hail of gunfire as was The Ape while protecting her. Chill was corner by military men with flame throwers and incinerated. Argos managed to cover Mr. Helix until they made it back to the street but a sniper managed to hit Helix multiple times in the back. Argos dragged him into a nearby vehicle and took him to the home of Bia, another Demonus whom he had been trying to recruit.

With the help of a kidnapped medical staff they managed to save Mr. Helix's life. But his spine could not be repaired, nor could the damage to his brain. Mr. Helix was, for all intents and purposes, a vegetable. He could no longer walk or move his limbs. But his power increased ten-fold, making him even more dangerous than he was before.

POWERS: Mr. Helix has two major mental abilities. Mr. Helix possesses the psionic ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of other sentient life forms. He can affect a large group of individuals at one time, and can exert varying levels of empathic control over them, ranging from subtle manipulations that others are generally unaware of to a complete negation of emotion that reduces others to a "cold" state in which he can command them with little effort. After surviving his attack on the British Parliament, he developed a secondary ability, that of minor telepathy. Although not able to control minds, he is able to hear other people's thoughts. He can also scan the memory of other people and send thoughts directly into other people's minds. By combining these two abilities, he can say just the right words to convince anyone of anything he wants them to believe.

APPEARANCE: Once a very dapper British gentleman, after the injuries he appears almost invalid. He must be cared for and attended to although this is done by a group of human nurses whom he has bent to his will. His will is strong and he is dedicated to his cause, especially now that humans have destroyed his body.

Argos: Leader of the Master Race

Argos was one of three mutant children born as a new species classified as Homo Sapiens Demonus. Argos spent most of his childhood locked away in a government research facility. His younger brother died early due to the harsh experiments they were subjected to. The older brother died later during the escape from the facility orchestrated by Mr. Helix. Their real names were never revealed.

Together the two men began searching for and recruiting others like them. During that time Mr. Helix taught "Argos" how to use guns, explosives and other weapons of terror. They prolifically released political propaganda in the streets, calling themselves "The Master Race", believing themselves to be the next species to inherit the Earth. They released a statement to the media during the Bill Clinton scandal demanding their "7 Entitlements". They believed humanity should immediately turn over Land, Food, Materials, Information, to train, house, raise and feed each and every mutant. They also demanded certain legal rights: The Right of Access to All Homo Sapiens Demonus, giving them the right to take children away from their parents; the Right to Justice, to punish their own kind but also to punish those who commit crimes against their kind, and the Right to Vengeance, to punish those who kill their kind. Most of the "Entitlements" were created by Mr. Helix but it was loyal Argos who put them into action.

They recruited primarily in Europe with four original members; Mr. Chill, The Ape, The Winged Beauty and Red Riding Hood. Mr Helix led them on an attack against the British Parliament but they failed, Winged Beauty had betrayed them to the authorities. Mr. Chill, Red and the Ape were killed. Mr. Helix was shot multiple times in the back, including a bullet in his brain. Winged Beauty was arrested and taken into custody but Argos managed to save Mr. Helix and the two men went into hiding.

Now the Master Race has resurfaced, more determined, more focused and more dangerous than ever before.

POWERS:

Argos was born with a third eye in the center of his forehead that is connected directly to his brain. This eye, when open, is incredibly versatile. The danger of Homo Sapiens Demonus is their adaptability. Unlike Alphas who exhibit one specific set of abilities due to outside causes, these mutants are born with a complex set of powers that give them multiple, yet connected, abilities. Argos can see through people like an x-ray machine or peer through walls as if they were glass. The third eye can also release a devastating disintegration beam, one so powerful it can even hurt him. He cannot control when the eye will open or when the disintegration beam will fire, it simply reacts to his emotional and psychological cues in a subconscious manner.

APPEARANCE: Although born a black man, Argos has no sense of racial identity beyond the Master Race. He wears very military style wear and has scars on his face from the first "explosion" of energy from his third eye. Although born American, he has lived in Britain since his escape and is on the most wanted lists of seven European countries for terrorism.

---------------------

As with all creations, the original mock-up art is done by me, with art from the internet that I do not own or claim ownership to. This mock-up is an example of what I envision before it goes to the artist for final design work.

One Port in a Storm. . .

I've been sending invites out to writers inviting them to join a publishing venture similar to what Image did many years ago, a single label for writers get work under.

Like Image, everything will be creator owned and the rights split between the creative teams. The publisher will only be compensated for the cost of printing, everything else is for the creators. Right now, writers have to shop books to different publishers. As an example of what I want to avoid, let's use Warren Ellis, one of the best writers in the business. He currently has books out from SEVEN different publishers. Ignoring the corporate work for hire, this is way too many. Imagine if you could have gotten all his books directly from him under one imprint?

We won't be making anything off the writer's work, nor we will be paying anyone. Everything will be a back-end split between the creative team. If we get big enough to be spending our days on books we might have to charge a small fee, but we're not looking to make money. Where is the profit in going with a publisher who charges a fee that takes up most of your profit?

Here's how it will work:

- We'll invite or take on a writer. The bigger the name of the writer, the easier it is to find an art team. We'll put a team together.
I know what you artists are thinking, no page rate? There are very, very, few companies paying a page rate today and even a few who say they'll pay but never do. If you are going to put in the time and invest in a book you may or may not see any money from, wouldn't you feel safer working with a well known writer whose work you like?

- The books for the first couple years should be single issue one-shots. We all know fans are reluctant to make long term commitments to new books but everybody loves an exciting new idea. The creators keep all the rights based on what they agree on between each other.

What a better way to show diversity of the medium than by creating diverse comics?

- The books will be released digitally through Graphicly. We're looking into signing up with some of the other digital content providers now, but this takes time. We're making arrangements with Liber and a smaller distributor in the U.S. about getting the books out. We'll be doing mostly print on demand. If I have to, I'll call all the comic stores myself and sell them the books the old fashioned way, with hustle and style.

What writers need to keep in mind is they are in charge of this industry. The pencillers build it, but the writers make the blueprints from which two major licensing corporations build their empire. Smaller publishers desperately need you, while acting like they don't. It's time to stop going door to door with our stories and open a store front where people always know where to find them.

Once we have enough writers on board, we can discuss how to tackle the DIAMOND issue. But they no longer need to be a primary concern, there are thousands of other venues opening up. Let's make it happen.

Anyone with questions can contact me or the EIC Anthony Hary. Anthony is the nicest guy in comics. I know some people have taken issue with my outspoken views and politics in the past so if you find me disagreeable, don't ignore the opportunity because of it, Anthony will be more than happy to discuss things with you as well.

Legion Unleashed #1

SPOILER ALERT!

This is a breakdown of the first issue, sort of like a COMMENTARY track. You can buy the book here: http://graphicly.com/raven-entertainment-studio/legion-unleashed/1

Page 1-6

The Black Flag and Snowfall have been on the trail of the Yenaldlooshi for a while. It was killing and impersonating Native Canadians across Mid-Western Canada. It would kill the male first and then torture and kill everyone close to victim before burying the bodies and moving on to another reservation. It's killing spree stretched back hundreds of years, to the days before the White Man appeared.

Page 9-11

The official "Canadian Legion" is a four member group put together by the RCMP to specifically handle previously unclassified crimes or super-powered criminals. Inspector Melissa Maple is the only qualified RCMP officer on the team, although The Horse had worked previously with the Quebec government.

Page 14 +

The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada had agreed to give a joint speak before a special delegation of UN officials. The Yenaldlooshi chooses President Ronald Rush as his next target. Either he will take the form of the most powerful man on the planet, or he will fail and his long, hideous life will be over. . .

In the end the Yenaldlooshi is not dead. His soul is in fact trapped within the mask Snowfall wears. . . .

Morgan Snowfall

Peter and Elizabeth Snowfall were aggressive civil rights activists during the 1960’s. They realized when Elizabeth became pregnant that a town like Laurel, Mississippi was not going to change any time soon. So they packed up the few belongings they had and drove their old truck as far away from Mississippi as they could get. Peter was able to secure citizenship for himself and his wife before their child was born and they settled into a community housing community just east of Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan. There were no more than a six hundred people in their community, most of them members of the Blackfoot Tribe of Native Peoples. They named their son “Morgan” after a charming actor who appeared on a Canadian childrens show called Sesame Street. They truly believed that this new life would spare their son the difficulties they experienced growing up in the South.

The trouble began for Morgan when he started Residential School at age 7. Many of the Native People did not think he was entitled to attend their school and wanted him sent elsewhere. They also resented the favoritism he received by some of the Catholic Priests and Nuns who considered him “less of a heathen” because of his Christian parents. Luckily the government soon shut down the Residential School and open a public school, although it was over 16 kilometres away.

During the long walks to public school the harassment changed from verbal insults to more physical abuse. They called him names which hurt the young boy as much as any racist term his parents endured in the South. They called him “mudwater”, “crow’s son” and the most offensive “white man’s dog”. After Morgan turned sixteen it became even worse. A group of five boys belonging to the Cree Tribe of Native Americans began hunting Morgan on his walks through the forest to and from school. Although he was never hurt too bad, nobody would intervene and eventually it escalated. At this point Morgan began helping an old Algonquin man named Charlie Chogan. Charlie was mostly blind but he began sharing stories of Native culture with Morgan whenever they were together. Charlie realized that only drastic action would change the direction of Morgan’s life and so the night before his 18th birthday Charlie spiked his meal with magical mushrooms. Charlie lived near the school in a small log cabin and when Morgan stepped out of the cabin that day, with the drugs pumping through his system, the forest seemed to open up for him.

The Cree boys were waiting that night and had dug a tiger pit and placed a deadly rattlesnake in it. As Morgan wandered through the woods in a drug haze, they snuck up on him and pushed him into the hole. Morgan merely sat in the tiger pit, watching the snake. Almost subconsciously he began to move back and forth and the snake imitated his movements. Charlie was worried for the boy and went looking for him, when they found Morgan in the morning, he was happier than he had ever been and Charlie knew that the boy was gifted with a natural affinity for magic. Morgan was able to learn many Earth Magic spells quite easily and by the time he graduated high school he was already considered a gifted Magi. Morgan then travelled to Africa where he eventually met the Goddess of the Earth herself, Gaia. Gaia was impressed that a human was able to learn the magic of two continents and gave him one of her oldest gifts, an African Mask that would amplify his abilities.

During the years of study and travel Morgan Snowfall met many other magicians and heroes. He discovered that magic had once existed on the Earth but another magician of African descent, Abraxas Ro, had sealed the magic off from the Earth. Now after a hundred years the magical energy had returned and Snowfall was one of the first to harness it. He studied for many years in Egypt with the world’s oldest magician and hero, The Sphinx. He also encountered The Black Flag, a younger hero from Canada and they became good friends. Gaia had hoped that with the return of magic humans could prepare themselves for the inevitable return of the Gods who existed in a realm that was also sealed off from the Earth in the year 1900. Gaia had chosen a number of humans to serve as the warriors and protectors of the planet, so that the Gods would no longer influence the destiny of mankind as they once did. Snowfall was in fact her second chosen hero and the first magician, the other was a young boy named Mowgli who lived in the jungles of India in the 19th century. He would eventually fight along Snowfall later on in life under the name The Jungle King. Whereas Snowfall could harness the weather and the plant life of Earth, the Jungle King was a physical warrior with an affinity for animals and a gift for combat. At the turn of the 21st century Gaia chose her two more warriors to defend Africa and Australia; Boss Tiger and Catman. However Gaia still has a special place in her heart for Mowgli and Snowfall.

THOR!

As gifted men and women begin appearing around the world, Canada becomes the first country to form a team of super-humans dedicated to protecting the lives and freedoms of all humanity. But heroes cannot exist without villains and as the heroes gather together, great evil also begins to rise; not only from ancient realms but inside the hearts of men and women. It will take a Canadian Legion to keep the whole world Strong and Free. From far and wide, these heroes stand on guard for thee.

Dr. Sterling Steele, D.D.S.

It began with a giant gorilla. In 1930 a team of researchers discovered a hidden island in the South Pacific. The United States government was looking for locations to build military bases in the area in the event of a war with China or Japan. Instead their research team discovered a Gigantopithecus Rex, the last of his kind. Standing 25 feet tall, the gorilla was massive with above average intelligence. It took 18 months for the army and the scientists to subdue and transport the creature to the United States. Just as they arrived at Pier 54 the beast flew into a rage, bursting from its restraints and rampaging across New York City, finally making its way to the top of the Empire State Building.

Deep in the heart of Africa the Action Dentist, Dr. Sterling Steele was helping the native tribes while searching for an ancient mine. Steele was gifted in many different areas; a classical pianist, an electrician and inventor, a trained nurse, philosopher and master of combat, but his main specialty was in dentistry. Many villains found themselves on the receiving end of the Doc's right hook, only to find upon regaining consciousness that their missing teeth had been replaced with fillings. Both Sterling's grandfather and his brother, his great uncle, Wolf and Death Larsen, exhibited very similar abilities as Steele during their years as sailors and pirates on the seas. Wolf Larsen's daughter, May, married Clark Steele who had a great intellect buy no unusual abilities.

During his youth the Doc had been exposed to an alien alloy by his father, an inventor himself. This reacted badly with the organic supplements Steele had been taking and together activated unknown genes within him. They caused his skin to take on the look and feel of organic metal. This earned Sterling the nickname "The Platinum Pugilist" among the criminals of New York City.

Returning to his office on the 88th floor of the Empire State Building, Steele was shocked to find a giant Gorilla had taken up residence just outside his window. Numerous attempts were made to dislodge the beast, from aerial attacks by legendary pilots such as Skyman, to artillery shells shot into the air nearby. Eventually Steele discovered the truth; the gorilla was quiet old and had a very specialized diet. Although the scientists had brought food from the island for the massive monster, they had not brought the bamboo birch it chewed on following its meals. They believed this birch was simply a habit or treat but the bamboo contained special painkillers that the giant gorilla needed to dull the pain it felt from its broken old teeth after every meal. Steele not only managed to subdue the beast, but he removed its massive cavities and managed to synthesize a cheaper, more affordable pain medicine for the old creature.

Sterling continued to have adventures up until the war, where he seemed to vanish somewhere in the Soviet Union. No one believes he is dead, but what did happen to him has been one of the world's greatest mysteries.

KING SPIDER Juan Saldana

Years ago when I was creating the cast of the Canadian Legion and the rest of the universe, many characters didn't make the cut, like Catman. Another was KING SPIDER.
Juan Saldana(whose name I just stole from an article on ethic diversity, thanks Zoe Saldana!)
http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N31/gallez.html

I wanted a character who had the power set of Spider-Man, without actually being a Spider-Man knock-off.

Juan was a simple family man in Guadalajara, Mexico. The son of farmers, Juan worked various jobs at the airport to support his wife and two children. But the neighborhood they lived in was far from safe, the people living there were not aware of the toxic chemicals being buried underneath their feet. Eventually Juan loses his entire family to different forms of cancer and tumors and he begins to investigate the strange waste trucks that drive through town every night. While investigating their lab, Juan is exposed to an artificially created strain of E.coli that had been modified with certain genes of the spider 'Nephila clavipes'. Juan grew very sick, his vision was shattered, making it impossible for him to see correctly. Strong spider-like silk began to secrete itself from his hands. His brother Michael, an engineer with MIT, after hearing about the death's of his family, flies the dying Juan to California where he is able to help his brother. Michael creates a helmet that realigns his brain functions, allowing him to see normally for hours at a time and gives him enhanced perception skills while wearing the helmet. With the ability to spin webbing and climb walls and with enhanced speed and skill, Juan takes to the streets, first to stop crime and later to gain revenge on the company responsible for the death of his family. And he only has two years to do it, the exposure to chemicals and radiation that killed his family has given him a life threatening brain tumor.

Jim Morrison

At four years old, Jim witnessed an accident on the highway. A truckload of Indians had flipped and Native Americans lay scattered across the road, bleeding. One of them had been crushed and was dead. the man's son stood over him, weeping, just a boy the same age as Jim. Jim believed he saw the spirits of the Indians as represented by a Black Shadow Man that day. The year was 1947.

Eighteen years later while living in Venice Beach, Miami, Jim was tripping on psychedelics when he encountered a woman from the Porposi, a race of amphibious mammals descended from the early dolphins. The encounter was his first glimpse at the multiverse and he wrote about the experience in a song entitled "Moonlight Drive".

Jim went on to form the highly successful band The Doors with a group of friends. It only took the band a few years to rise to superstar status, with Jim playing every part of the role of unpredictable rock star. While attending a party in New York he was introduced to a strange man named Archie. Archie gave him a book entitled The Fiction of Reality by Abraxas Ro. The book spoke about magic and the ability to bring fictional characters to life, as well as hide secrets and disappear into your own myths and stories. Jim was fascinated by the book; he had believed he'd created a fictional character, the Lizard King, an image he now wished to shed.

During a 1969 concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to use the mystical lessons of the book. He incited the crowd, taunting them to riot, weakening their will with anger and outbursts of violence. He had written the words "PENIS" on a piece of paper and at the right moment, he pretended to expose himself by removing the word from his pocket and flashing it to the crowd in the place where his genitals would be. The band finished the concert and boarded a plane for a vacation in Jamaica. Little did Morrison know that his spell worked better than he could have expected. Word began to spread that he had exposed himself at the concert, the story grew and grew until reaching the Dade County Police Department who filed an arrest warrant for indecent exposure. The controversy continued and Jim grew tired of it all. The band made music and did a few shows but everyone could feel that something had changed. Eventually Jim ended up in Paris, where everything would change. He recorded Orange County Suite with a few friends, feeling as if it was a goodbye song to his friends and family.

At the Rock & Roll Circus Nightclub in Paris Jim encountered the black shadow man, a mystical hero with strange abilities. He told Jim of the nature of magic and what the future held for him. Faced with the prospect of his own death, Jim Morrison chose to leave his life behind. One of the drug dealers in the club who was found dead in the bathroom was mystically changed to appear as a duplicate of Jim. They carried this man back to the Paris apartment Jim shared with Pamela Courson and as she slept, they placed the duplicate in the bathtub and Jim gave Pam a final kiss goodbye. The Crusader told Jim about Abraxas Ro, how the Mage had sealed magic away from the world until for 100 years at that in the 21st century, the spell would crumble and the world would change. Jim became the first of the New Scholars, men and women who studied the books of the past to find out the true nature of the universe. The doors of perception needed to be cleaned so that man could finally glimpse the infinite.

K-West

Without a doubt, K-West, (pronounced "quest") is the most popular painter of all time. Elton John said recently "I ran into Kanye in Honolulu last January. He’s a stone-cold genius. He’s like Ernie Barnes meets Salvador Dali."

A graduate of the American Academy of Art in Chicago, K-West followed in the footsteps of fellow AAA graduate Gil Elvgren and painted pin-up girls of African descent. The paintings were selling well but it was the portraits of rap stars that put him in the public eye. His TUPAC LAZARUS painting, as well as his self-portrait as a white man entitled WHITE ME, both sold for over $250,000 dollars, making him one of the most successful living painters of all time. His first brush with notoriety was during a fashion show in France. When a French reporter referred to him as "The Black Andy Warhol", Kanye shoved the reporter to the ground and said "Fuck Warhol." To follow up his distaste for Warhol's work, he created a piece called "Eight Biggies", featuring dead rapper Christoper Wallace, a silk screen printing that was merchandised on almost every product imaginable. It recently sold at auction for $25 million dollars. K-West has painted the walls of his mansion himself, with religious paintings that often depict him as Jesus or other popular Christian figures, including a reproduction of the Sistine Chapel on the roof of his living room, with God and Adam depicted as African Americans. His most recent controversy arose when he interrupted singer Taylor Swift at an awards show in order to promote his latest painting "Beyonce", a nude portrait of the famous singer.

Michael?

Canadian Legion Graphic Novel (FEB11 0725) $14.95 126 pgs

The World of the Legion

One of the things I wanted to do with the Legion was create a world that is much like our own, but different. Not just with superpowers, magic, and strange science, but also in the way pop culture developed. So I will begin with the King of Pop himself:

Michael Jackson



During a press tour for the release of OFF THE WALL, Michael ended up meeting a female singer named Tina Turner. Although she was 20 years older than Michael, he was fascinated with her. As their romance began to blossom over the next two months, Michael began to work on his THRILLER album. Unknown to Michael, Tina's former husband Ike was on the set, armed and looking for a confrontation. Even though Michael and Tina had met after her divorce to Ike, Ike still believed it was Michael Jackson's fault. While taking a break from filming on the set of the Thriller video, Ike cornered Michael in his trailer with a snub nosed revolver. While berating him verbally, Ike picked up a wooden stick in the trailer and began beating Michael with it. At that moment, Michael remembered his whippings from his father, Joe. He remembered all the abuse from his brothers over the years, the teasing and taunting. Something in him snapped and Michael roared like a lion, charging Ike and taking him down. Their fistfight spilled unto the lot of the Thriller video, with Michael and Ike wrestling each other back and throwing punches. There were only two lighting technicians that were present to what happened next and their story has always remained 'unofficial'. Ike went down behind a fake tree with Michael standing over him. They told police that Michael had lifted a tombstone prop and struck Ike repeatedly with it. Police arrived but defended Michael's actions as self-defense when they found the handgun.

Michael Jackson released the best selling album of all time, surrounded by controversy and with an older woman on his arm who was a bestselling singer in her own right. Suddenly the quiet, shy boy named Michael had a street reputation as a badboy, which sent the sales of an already spectacular album into the stratosphere.
Famed Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings was quoted as saying "His balls grew three sizes that day."

Michael and Tina eventually married and although scandal surrounded them on occasion, including his 1992 affair with Lisa Marie Presley, they remain happily married to this day. Jackson officially retired after his 2009 THIS IS IT tour, on which he suffered a mild heart attack. Many critics said it was due to the extra weight he had gained over the years, but Michael said afterwards "Somehow I believe it could have been much worse, I am lucky to be alive."

Cat-Man is done!

So if you read the blog a few months ago about designing new characters, you'll finally get to see the finished version!

The Original Crusader

Archie "Art" Masters was an astronomer and physicist working with Albert Einstein in the late 1930's. Art helped set up a home and research lab for Einstein when he fled Germany and went to the United States. Although shy and withdrawn, Art had a way with people. His father had owned a general store in Tennessee where he grew up and he had a charm that reflected his upbringing. After working with Einstein for many years, Art became a part of the Alsos Mission. He worked alongside baseball player Moe Berg in identifying and recruiting members of the German science community.

German scientist Werner Heisenberg was giving a speech in Switzerland that Berg was asked to attend. If Berg believed the Germans were close perfecting the atomic bomb, Berg was given orders to shoot Heisenberg. The Germans knew that Berg, Masters and others were trying to recruit physicists in Italy and decided to send the Americans a message. They did not want to go after a famous baseball player, but a nervous little scientist no one had ever heard of was fair game. They kidnapped Archie and took him to a remote Swiss farm. In the basement was a prototype particle accelerator, created by a Swiss scientist. In order to determine whether it worked and was safe to transport, the Nazi's figured they would fire the beam at Archie and if Switzerland wasn't reduced to a smoldering crater, they would return later and retrieve the particle accelerator.

Archie was electromagnetically charged then blasted with a highly focused beam of protons and gravitons. Each particle would server the bonds of the molecules in his body, essentially cutting him into the smallest pieces possible. The process took hours as Archie sat in the beam's path, slowly being deconstructed. At least that was the theory, but what actually happened is Archie found his body being phased through multiple dimensions at the same time. Every version of Archie on every alternate Earth that could possibly exist at any moment all found themselves in the path of the particle beam. Archie was able to live five variations of his life and death all at once. When the Nazi's returned, they found what resembled a tornado strike on the farm. Archie was fazing in and out of a strange "Fifth Dimension" and was unable to control the sudden power bursting from him. After tearing the Nazis apart he knew he had to distance himself from the rest of the world and headed for the Swiss Alps.

Archie spent the war years hiding in the mountains, working on understanding and controlling his new abilities. With his strange multi-dimensional Quantum Precognition, he found himself unable to sympathize or identify with the war. After all, when you can see all the possible outcomes, all leading to death and destruction, what difference would it make?

Art had always been curious about the supernatural and unexplained, it was part of the reason he became a scientist. His powers allowed him to search out mystical sources, places where life and death energy bent the laws of physics. Although this was a century of weak mystical energy, Art was still fascinated by the mysteries it offered. It never even occurred to him to return to his original life. Now calling himself the Crusader and wearing a pentacle on his chest, Art Masters became a ghost. Although science had given him amazing abilities it was in the realm of the mysterious that he made his home.

POWERS

The Crusader is capable of flight, superhuman strength, invulnerability to bullets, and electromagnetic pulse generation. He is also able to see numerous alternative variations of his life, allowing him to see and experience the consequences of his actions.

Dorian Gray - Immortal Villain

Dorian Gray could be described as the world's first "Omega" class villain. Dorian was born on November 30th, 1800. A gifted magician from an early age, Dorian was able to master a unique avenue of mysticism called "Chaos Magic". The difference between this form of magic compared to others at the time was a reliance on sigils and symbols as well as a lack of dependence on religious symbology or "the Gods". Dorian did not sell his soul so much as transfer and lock his soul into a totem object, the portrait of himself.

Once he reached puberty and determined the extent of his magical ability, he used his gifts to track down his deceased parents and claim their forgotten estate. He had no love or kindness toward their memory, in fact he resented the fact they had died and left him an orphan on the streets. Yet no matter how much of their fortune he squandered his wealth would continue to grow. As he indulged in every sin and vice available to him, he soon met Oscar Wilde who began writing a fictional account of his life. When Dorian learned of the "Great Binding" spell that would allow a person to hide within a work of fiction, he decided to use Wilde to bind him to his book. Like Alice Liddell, Frankenstein, Ebenezer Scrooge and Mowgli the Jungle King, Dorian was able to have his life captured in a book. The longer the book stayed in print and in the public conscience, the harder it would become for anyone to remember of prove that those people actually existed in the world. Although the spell has faded with the coming of the 21st century, Dorian is still immortal. Any wound he suffers appears on his portrait; every sin he commits is reflected in the paintings features.

John Henry Part 3

As the men worked deep into the mountain, digging and laying track, Crodes released the Steam Hammer Robot from the rails. It began slamming into the sides of the tunnel, threatening to bring it down around the men. Quick thinking John Henry and the Foreman were able to get most of the men out but the entrance collapsed on them, leaving John, the Foreman and the Steam Hammer Robot trapped. John had no choice but to confront the rampaging machine and destroy it, a two hour battle that shook the mountain itself. In order to clear the entrance that was blocked with rock, John had to dig with a pick and shovel for 36 hours. He finally managed to get himself and the Foreman out, but the work, the battle and John's age and size were finally catching up with him and his heart was feeling the strain.

Due to the accident the contract was awarded to C&O and Jim Crodes was asked to pack up his scrap metal and move on. John finished the rail line but died quietly in his sleep one night. The men who he had worked with over the years began to spread his story far and wide, particularly among the South where black men were still growing accustomed to freedom. In the end Jim Crodes was forced to find work where it was available, eventually forced to work as a shaker for a small construction firm. He died years later after a blow to the head when the hammer man he worked with missed the nail.

John Henry had a son who went on to have adventures of his own, one of the first black superheroes of the Western Frontier, the Black Rider.

John Henry Part 2

A hammer man always had a partner. The man who held the spike or drill when breaking large rocks was called a turner, shaker or "melon-head", because they were often the least intelligent men on the work crew. They were also called that because often the man swinging the hammer would miss and strike these poor workers in the head, bruising it like a melon. One of the reasons the men respected John Henry, besides his great strength, was the fact he had never struck a "melon-head" with his massive hammer. It was the rest of the crew who despised Jim Crodes when he arrived. John Henry was too good a man to sink to his level and simply returned the man's cruel barbs with kindness and respect, which of course only infuriated him further. His first night there he tried to make them men afraid of John Henry by pointing out the danger to the 'melon-heads' from John Henry's hammer.
"I see you brought your own hammer," Jim Crodes said. "But other than crushing a poor melon-head, what else can all those muscles do?" John Henry simply smiled at finished his meal of bread and beans. This continued, night after night, as John Henry worked to prove he was better than the Steam Hammer Robot. But even John was not without his limits and he began to tire, both of the pestering and the exertion. One evening Jim Crodes had stood behind John Henry as he worked, bragging about his intellect and taunting John constantly. Other men on the crew tried to shut Mr. Crodes up but John would shake his head no and the men would honor his request.

"You think you are so high and mighty with all those muscles, don't you boy?" Jim said. "But you are just a stereotype, another ignorant nigger who can't do nothin' but jump, swing and run, with no real brains in your head at all. Just another no-good cotton-picking nigger swinging a shovel and a pick or a hammer."

Well John Henry had finally had enough. Being called a nigger from white men was one thing, but to stand next to another black man like himself and hear those words was too much for his giant patience. John lifted his hammer high over his head and towered over Jim Crodes. The men gathered round expecting John to crush Mr. Crodes once and for all. Crodes threw up his hands, covering his head and kneeling on the ground, whimpering. John brought the hammer down on a tree stump next to the tracks beside Jim and it exploded into a shower of wooden chips. When the debris had cleared and Crodes stood up, all the men laughed when they saw the urine pouring down Jim Crodes leg. John merely smiled and walked away, but Jim swore that he would get revenge for being embarrassed, especially when the men nicknamed him Jimmy the Pisser.

It took a long time but eventually John and the Steam Hammer Robot arrived at the foot of the Appalachians in Virginia where the real challenge awaited him. The rail line had to twist north and follow the Appalachians north into Canada, beginning at the foot of a massive mountain known as Big Bend. John had outperformed the Steam Hammer by almost 20%, but getting through the rock, even with the help of a crew, was going to be a huge task.

Jim Crodes spent the early years of his life working on research for an "Iron Man Project". He was a laborer under Thomas Edison's "Steam Man" experiments on the prairies and had studied the works of scientist Frank Reade extensively. It was the stolen notes from Edison's "HADALY" research that got him the job with Chemical X Solutions in the first place. Edison had found a process, which Crodes perfected, of electrically imprinting instructions onto an artificial device that would then direct an attached machine to follow those instructions. It would take three years and a thousand men to complete the passage through the mountain, but only two years for the Steam Powered Robot. But by this point Crodes did not want to defeat John Henry, he wanted the big man dead and buried.