Phase III: Prologue "Message in a Bottle"
We open on Alternative 666. For those of you who hadn't realised, this appears
to be the D.C. Thomson universe (Beano and Dandy, etc) Since 2000 A.D. was
an IPC comic at the time (rival publisher) and some of the characters we
see were still in use, all the names have been changed to protect the innocent
(or avoid a lawsuit if you prefer). Of course, another way of looking at
it is the Lloigor proceed to trash IPC's competition, only to have the heroic
types from IPC arrive to save them...
The first two characters we see are possessed by the Lloigor. They are:
  Miss Wonderstarr -
Starr of Wonderland. It took me a while
to find out who she was - first Ray Girvan told me that according to
the Yahoo Comic books and Movie Tie-ins group, Starr of Wonderland "appears
as a comic strip in the Diana For Girls Annual 1970." Then Dennis Ray sent
me images and information, allowing me to confirm this and do an entry for
her.
We see in Part 9: "Adventure Playground" that she used to run "Miss Wonderstarr's
Magic Kingdom" before she was possessed. We see in flashback that she probably
killed Prince Mamba. She dies in the next episode, #10 "All The Fun of The
Fair" when Lux rips her head off her shoulders.
Bryan Johnson mentions that "I'm positive that Steve Yeowell's drawings of
this character were based on Sousie Soiux of The Banshees fame." Steve Whitaker,
who knows both Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell, confirms this. |
  This guy is
another victim of Lloigor possession. One of the distinctive features about
him is his winged ankles - I think he is Jack
Flash. He kills several of the other heroes, including Steel Claw and
Spring-Heeled Jock. He is finally killed when Tiger Tom and Tammy blow up
his dimension. |
  Jimmy
Quick - this is the Beano's Billy Whizz,
who still appears in that comic to this day. Jimmy dies escaping through
the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, where he was seen to arrive at the end of Phase
2. Severely burned, he delivers the distress call from his world, but passes
away in Mantra's arms.
Steve Whitaker notes the less cartoony appearance of Jimmy Quick was based
on singer Jimmy Somerville. |
  Tiger
Tom and Tammy - better known as Billy
the Cat and Katie. Another pair of characters
from the Beano (and Buster). Tammy spends the entire story ill, and then
offers to be the one who stays behind and activates the bomb that destroys
Alternative 666. Tiger Tom stays behind too, because she "has always been
his favourite cousin." They are about to kiss when the Lloigor burst in on
them.
As Ray Girvan points out "although Tiger Tom and Tammy are largely based
on Billy the Cat and Katie, Tiger Tom's striped costume also alludes to Tiger
Tim (1920s onward) and Tammy's name to "Tammy", the IPC girls' comic." Tiger
Tim, I should point out, is not a superhero character, and so not listed
on this site, but you can see where he has turned up in a superhero title
by
clicking
here, and going about a quarter of the way down the page. |
  He's not named,
but this is General Jumbo. While we don't see
him properly until part 5 "Letter from the Underworld", he is in this prologue
- we see him dead, face down in the sea with his trousers round his ankles.
Quite what Grant felt he did to deserve so ignominious a death I don't know.
His toys are see to be scattered around, mostly destroyed, although the possessed
Mr Why is playing with some of them. |
 His
corpse is seen on the beach next to where General Jumbo is seen floating
in the sea. We see him more clearly in part 5, when Prince Mamba's
account is played. I'm not sure who he is meant to be; Dennis Ray suggests
Argo, and the costume certainly matches reasonably
well, but that doesn't quite fit with everyone else on this world being a
DC Thomson character. Anyone out there got a
clue? |
  Took me a moment
to recognise this one, but it's Captain Hornet
from the Hornet comic. This is the only time we see him, his Hornet-Hoverer
a smashed wreck. |
  Identified
as Mr. Why, this Lloigor possessed hero is one of the main villains
on Earth 666. He is finally killed when the dimension is destroyed. When
we first see him, he is playing with the deceased General Jumbo's toys, and
later he identifies himself to Zenith as Iok
Sotot in a new body.
He seems to be based on the Amazing Mr. X, although
the physical resemblance is limited. |
Chapter 1: "Nadir"
Apart from Zenith, the only superhero to show up in this segment is:
  Acid Robot
Archie - this is simply the original Robot
Archie, now an acid freak. He survives this Phase, but appears to die
in Phase IV, when Voltage overloads him and his head explodes. However this
is later shown to be merely the version of him inside
Chimera. We last saw him in the one-off episode
in the 2001 issue, escaping on a bus after sexually assaulting Britney Spears! |
Back to 2000A.D.
Back to UK Superheroes Main Page.
Home.
All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective
holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is
intended and copyrights remain at source.