According to Tom Scioli's blog, as I type this on Tuesday, August 28th, 2012, this would have been Jack Kirby's 95th Birthday. I barely knew who the King was before he died. I've spent a good chunk of my adult life digging up the King's work like some kind of Comix Archeologist. I've obsessively studied Kirby's work, watching his evolution as a writer and artist over the 5 Decades of his Bombastic Career. I could ramble here all day about Kirby (actually, I kinda want to... remember that scene in "The Eternals" where the lead Celestial displays the Circuit on his thumb that contains the formula for the extinction of the entire populace of planet Earth? Wasn't that the single most awesome thing ever? Or the "Glory Boat"? Or the "Pact"? Or... oh, I'm doing it, aren't I?), but I've got a ton of ground to cover. So let's go.
We here in TORCland continue to do our webcomic thing. SDF is up and running, with our heroes trying to hold their own against a trio of headhunters jacked up on Unstable Mutagen. I know, I know, it doesn't make any sense, just enjoy the wild violence, okay? Anyway, the latest page can be viewed at http://www.torcpress.com/sdf3-2.html.
The latest page of our dark comic, Pulp Horrorshow: DirTown, is also up and running. Before I start talking about it, head over to http://www.torcpress.com/ph2-9.html and check it out. Now. let's Ramble a Bit.
So... awhile back, I introduced a group called The Skull Mob, which consisted of just about every heroic character in the TORCverse. They showed up in Monster King a little and were referred to in some of my comics from last year. In Monster King I alluded to the Skull Mob declaring a Candy Colored War on the Forces of Evil. They eliminated some of the lesser threats (some managed to sneak away, like Dr. Dendull), and then set out to destroy Ortex. Some members of the Skull Mob didn't participate (the Clown's Butterfly Mob and aliceislost were not present, along with a few others).
Now, a good writer would have showed the Epic Confrontation between Ortex and the Skull Mob. Unfortunately, I'm not that guy. I knew the outcome of the Battle, and I couldn't bring myself to show it.
Y'see, the Good Guys Lost. Big Time.
Now, if you've got "Death Moth" or if you've been reading between the lines on a lot of my books, you already know all this. If you haven't caught on, sorry to spoil things. But like I said, it wasn't much of a surprise, because I skipped clean over the whole fight.
Anyway, if you refer to PH Issue 2 Page 9, you'll find 5 Severed Heads decorating the Wall of Jack DuPre's Office in Ortex Tower. These are the Heads, impaled on spikes ala Game of Thrones, of the Division Leaders of the Skull Mob. Some of these guys you might know, some you might not (actually, most of you don't. Who am I kidding? No one reads my comix...). Anyway, here's the Dead Folk from Left to Right:
Bad Jack- Leader of Skull Mob Division 3 (the Shadow Mob). Most notably seen in "SDF: Pulp". If you've read "Death Moth" #1, you might be confused how Bad Jack is running around in that book, while his head is decorating Jack DuPre's office. Welp, Bad Jack's got a brand new body, simple as that.
Cosmico Rex- Leader of Skull Mob Division 4 (the Colorful Mob). Most notably seen in "SDF: Pulp".
El Exclamation Point!- Leader of Skull Mob Division 2 (the Mask Mob). One of the most prominent characters in the TORCverse is dead. Yep. That's him. Dead as Disco. Not coming back. I really liked El Exclamation Point! Why did I kill him off? Off panel no less. I don't get it.
Gemini Aqualung- Okay, this guy's kinda obscure. He hasn't really been seen since the olden days of the Xerox comics. Also, he wasn't a Skull Mob Leader. His Division, uh, Division 8, the Pig Mob, was actually led by Johm Smythe. But Johm Smythe was a Nuclear Man, so when he died, he completely blew up. Aqualung's head was collected as a substitute.
Halloween M@n- Another moderately obscure character, we haven't really seen this guy since the original "SDF". The former sheriff of Mosquito Village and the Leader of Skull Mob Division 7, the Halloween Mob, also died during the Fight. I also liked this guy. It's too bad to see him gone.
There's some heads missing from the wall. Like I said, the Clown's Division, Division 1, the Butterfly Mob, wasn't in the fight. King Dark, the leader of Division 5, Eyenigma, is also missing. Of course, it's hard to collect the head of Living Darkness. (Also, he may not be...totally dead. Maybe) Akuma Boy, the leader of Division 6, the Anarchy Mob, is also missing for some reason. We'll get to that one sometime in the future.
Long story short, this page fully illustrates something I've been hinting at for a while. The Heroes are Dead and Ortex has Won Everything.
The two characters that appear on this page are also pretty important. In the Olden Days of the Xerox Comics, I used to have little cut away segments with these two guys. When I started doing my "For Real" comix, I wanted to Ortex (and the two men that run it) in the background. But now that Ortex is in the forefront, it was time to bring them back.
The douchebag in the white suit with the pony tail is Johny Styles. He actually popped up briefly in an issue of "The Clown and Tea Cup Show" #2, I think, as well as "Monster King" #5-6. Styles is the Executive Vice President of the Ortex Corporation. That basically makes him the second most powerful man on Earth. He may look like a pussy, but he's a total bad ass (again, check out MK 5-6 for how scary this guy can get). He's a half breed Human/Demon. He's also married to the Clown's old roommate/love interest, Voodoo Dolly. Which nearly killed the Clown.
The big, angry looking fellow with the widow's peak is Jack DuPre, also known as the Deathbringer. He is the BIG EVIL of the TORCverse. He's the Dr. Doom of the TCV, except in this case, he's actually won the whole damn game (Poor Doom. How has he never actually completely conquered the world?). DuPre is also a half breed Human/Demon, which is one of the reasons why DuPre and Styles get along so well. DuPre's Father is Cthug, who is the Lord of Hell. DuPre's goal is to unleash Cthug from Hell. To do that, he needs to open the Locke City Hellgate, which is really complicated. We'll cover more of that another time. The Deathbringer is the most powerful man on Earth, not just because he is the President and CEO of the Ortex Corporation, but also because he can destroy an entire city block with a wave of his arm.
It's time to stop pussyfooting around. It's time to start bringing the Bad Guys into play. It's time to start moving this story along. I plan on wrapping this thing up when I'm in my 50s or 60s after all.
I was gonna Rant about how I've decided to stop buying Marvel or DC comics, but it's totally Bed Time. Another Time.
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