Pendragon Comics - The Pendragons

The Pendragons

Issue # 38

Brought together in defense of Avalon and the British Isles, the Pendragons are the officially-sanctioned heroes of Great Britain. Originally led by the Black Knight, the group is composed of the remnants of the old Knights of Pendragon group, as well as several other heroes. Willing to die for their beliefs, the Pendragons stand united as England's best defense against threats of a superhuman nature.

Special "Silver Anniversary" Pendragons logo created by Kell Carpenter, inspired by the logo created by Des Davies!

Written by Barry Reese

What Has Come Before: Mad Jim Jaspers, a reality-altering villain, has seized control over the Pendragons' universe. Altering history to suit his insane plans, Jaspers has inserted himself into the group's history and now serves as their liaison to the British government. He has wiped Joey Chapman -- Union Jack -- from existence and has reorganized the team's lineup for his own purposes. The current lineup: Adam Crown, Big Ben, Captain Britain, Breeze, Miraclewoman, Rathoon and Shamrock.

Rathoon held up a large skewer, breathing out a plume of fire to cook the meat. It dripped fat and grease, offering up a delicious scent. "It's been a smashing evening, hasn't it?"

The elder dragon's companion chuckled deeply. Fin Fang Foom was an alien, though in appearance he looked like a distant cousin to Rathoon. Their scale colors were different but they looked good together... "Indeed. It almost makes me forget how much I hate these scurrying mammals."

Rathoon held his tongue at that. The two dragons had come here to get away from it all and the vacation had been everything they'd hoped... the sunsets, the waves crashing to shore... it was all terribly romantic. But then Fin had to go and mention his racist leanings again... "They'll like you if you give them half a reason to. They're remarkably chummy, really."

"We are like gods to them!" Fin Fang Foom replied, accepting a morsel of meat that Rathoon offered him. He gulped it down greedily. "They should be fawning over us, not liking us. You are too soft sometimes, my friend."

"Hmm." Rathoon picked at his own feed daintily. "Perhaps it's just a cultural difference. My people had clashes with humanity at first, but eventually we saw the nobility that's inherent in them and found common ground."

"Bah. You figured out that they breed like rabbits and were going to overrun this world, so you made peace with them."

The great dragon rose then, spreading his wings wide. He was a magnificent beast, with scales the glistened in the moonlight. His slitted eyes shone with sudden passion.

Fin Fang Foom let out a dramatic sigh and set down his food. "Now what? Did I hurt your feelings again?"

Rathoon's voice sounded faraway and his mind's eye was replaying things that did not -- could not -- have happened. "This chappie that Jackie's married... He's not the one she loves."

"Who can keep it all straight?" Fin replied with a wave of his claw. "They don't love like we do. Their love is far more fickle."

"No," Rathoon murmured. "No, it's not like that. I remember her being with another. Joey Chapman. The Union Jack. But he's dead."

Rathoon cast a withering glance at his lover. "Yes. He was. Something is not right here... I've felt it in my bones for days. The air, the sky, the very ground beneath our feet -- it all feels tainted and dark. Like some foul presence has infected the world."

Fin Fang Foom stood beside him, sensing the seriousness in Rathoon's demeanor. "The Red Lord?"

Both dragons whirled about, staring up into the beautiful form of Miraclewoman. Winter Moran was one of the newest Pendragons, having joined in the wake of Spitfire's marriage and departure. She was gifted with the grace and power of a living goddess... though her interior was still that of young woman who had only recently lost her husband of many years. "Winter," Rathoon began, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for help. I tried to speak to Patrick about all this but he wasn't much help at all. And then I thought of you... You're so sensitive to magical things. I was hoping you'd felt it, too. Something's not right with the world."

"I quite agree," the dragon replied, smiling toothily. "And I have a good idea on how to resolve the whole affair."

Winter blinked in surprise. Though she'd trusted the dragon to have a promising plan or two, she never expected him to move so quickly. "You're amazing."

Rathoon leaned close to her, bringing his huge green eyes in line with hers. "Thank you. Shall we go and save the day?" he asked, holding out a claw to her.

Jim Jaspers did not reply immediately, instead taking on a pensive expression. He was seated across from the British Intelligence agent, a cup of warm tea set within easy reach. The two men could not have been more different, with the agent wearing a dark suit and bearing a somber look to him. Jim, on the other hand, was bedecked in a bowler and checkered suit, looking like he'd just wandered off the set of some old and campy film. "I wonder if we aren't all losing the plot, my lad... I mean, the Prime Minister has done a valiant job so far. He's a good bloke, if I do say so myself."

"No one's denying his sincerity, but the fact remains that we live in an increasingly dangerous world. The Black Mass Barrier has left in a total quandry about what direction our nation should take. Should we abandon the ways of science and technology and embrace the ancient means of power that are now available to us? Our enemies are certainly leaning in that direction... Doom's got his Death's Head soldiers ready to roll, each of them enhanced by his sorcery. And the Red Lord's already taken part of the Kingdom away from us and is massing to take more! And then there's --"

"Please, please. No more. It upsets my delicate constitution." Jim leaned back, enjoying his little game. It was fun to push and prod this world of his, letting things take shape around him. He gave it all a bit of free reign -- after all, if everything were perfectly laid out, what fun would that be? This latest turn of events both excited and frightened him. He never saw it coming... "We agree that the barbarians are massing at the gates, as it were. But what to do? Surely not what you're suggesting -- I mean, we're both good servants of the Crown, aren't we? This is treasonous talk...."

"I'm speaking of removing someone who is becoming a liability and replacing him with someone with the fortitude to lead us through difficult times. You give the word and I'll have a W.H.O. agent on the task so fast that your head's gonna be bloody spinning."

Jim took a sip of tea, smiling a bit. The gap in his teeth only added to the overall impression of lunacy that surrounded him. Somehow, he still managed to cast a spell over his audience. "My biggest concern, I'm afraid, deals with you...."

"Usually the people who help put someone on the throne want... favors. Concessions." Jim's eyes twinkled. "Would you want that?"

The agent leaned back in his chair and looked a bit cocky. Too cocky for my tastes, Jim thought. I don't like it. Not a bit. Almost immediately, the man's demeanor changed. He leaned forward and looked about nervously. His voice was altered, too... more simpering now, full of obvious respect and fear for Jim. Much better. "I only want what's best for England. You control the Pendragons and have tremendous public support. You could push through our reforms. The time has come for tighter restraints on certain things. An increased military presence to crack down on the magical life forms that are altering our society...."

"Martial law," Jim whispered and his head was filled with images of another world, another time and place. Though the people around him had long since forgotten Jim's first reign of terror*, there were lingering after-effects. Some people, like the agent before him, sensed the truth. That once upon a time England had become a stockade against the rising tide of metahumans. That great... liberties... had been taken with personal freedoms. "Yes. I think I rather fancy having more control."

(*This storyline was collected in a 2002 trade paperback, containing the works of Alan Moore & Alan Davis)

Jim held up a hand to silence his co-conspirator. His smile had grown cold and dangerous. "Let me handle the PM. I don't mind getting my own hands sullied."

Breeze James stepped into the nightclub, trying to ignore the stares that she received. She wore her Pendragons costume, a flashy red and yellow number that clung to her like a second skin. But that wasn't the main reason she attracted the stares -- it was the fact that she was still living. That set her apart from most of the beings in the place....

The Boneyard was London's hottest undead nightclub and its denizens swayed unsteadily on the dancefloors. Here and there strange puddles of body fluids made the floor slick and Breeze tried to hold in her vomit as the smell of decay hit her nostrils. "Excuse me," she whispered, moving past a mostly skinless being whose eyes shone wetly beneath worm-eaten meat.

In one of the darkened corners of the club she found her teammates -- Betsy Braddock (Captain Britain) and Molly Fitzgerald (Shamrock). They were talking to a man whose body seemed to consist solely of bones... and a mushy green substance that coated them. The green "skin" was full of fat white worms that moved in and out, burrowing deep and then coming up for air.

Captain Britain, looking woefully out of place, smiled up at her. Betsy was ever the picture of British high society but here... amongst the dead... it seemed wrong. "Hello, Breeze. This is the man we came to meet -- He goes by the name Ghoul."

Breeze nodded, afraid to open her mouth to speak. The rising tide of vomit had reached her throat now. She suddenly wished she'd stayed outside with Big Ben, but Betsy had summoned her in. Why couldn't she have asked for Patrick, instead?

Because that wouldn't have gone well at all and we both know it, Betsy mentally replied.

The undead fellow with them smiled at her... and his eyes goggled about to take in her form. A long scarf was tied about his neck and it was wet with his juices. Aside from the scarf, he wore only tattered slacks and a dirty brown coat. "Hey, babe. Bet you're just dying to get back outside, eh? Get it? Dying. We're all dead. Ah, forget it...."

"You were telling us how you got here," Molly prompted. The red-haired Irish hero seemed so at ease in the place that Breeze had to admire her strength.

Ghoul nodded, reaching over to light another fag. He puffed away on it, leaving thick green marks on the end of the filter. "Yeah. So like I was saying, me and my buddies were plugging away with this dude named Lord Pumpkin -- he's got a pumpkin for head. No shit. Anyway, then the 'fabric of reality' or some such opens up and swallows me and the Pump. So next thing I know I'm falling from about a thousand feet up or something... and I end up in Birmingham. But we ain't talkin' Alabama here. I'm in Jolly Olde England, wot wot."

"Yeah. Y'know, your old buddy Dane was on my world for a time. He's a bit of a prick."

"Who knows? Maybe he's running a disco or something. He has a real taste for trance music."

Breeze frowned, wondering if this... thing... wasn't just pulling their collective leg. "Betsy... Why are we here again? I don't see how this is going to help anything...."

Captain Britain tried to hide her annoyance, but failed. She didn't like being questioned while in the middle of a mission. "Ghoul's been giving off a weird mystical resonance ever since he arrived. Wynter thinks that since he's not from our world that there's a good chance he could pass through the Barrier. He could give us contact with people on the other side."

"That's assuming I want to do that." All three women looked at Ghoul, who merely shrugged. The motion sent one of his worms falling to the table, where it wiggled about. "No offense, ladies... But I've been here for only a few months and I gotta tell ya -- This whole place is freakier than a dead man's party."

"What do you mean?" Betsy asked. "The magic can't be that unusual to you... You have some of it on your own world."

"It's not just that," the undead hero said, leaning forward. "This whole world... It changes from day to day."

Breeze felt a chill go down her spine and she looked away. At the sight of two members of the undead clawing at each faces in a kiss (a bite?), she felt her stomach drop again.

"Go on," Betsy asked and Breeze hated her for it. Let it go, Breeze wanted to scream.

"Like the other day... I was watching the tv and on comes a documentary about you -- Captain Britain. And you know what? It was wrong. It said that you'd been Cap Britain for years... but when I first got here, I read about a guy being in the suit. You came along later."

Betsy looked up at Breeze and saw cold fear in the other woman's eyes. "I don't think so. I've had... visions... about things like this. Like at the wedding."

"There's nothing wrong with the world," Breeze repeated, clenching her hands into fists. "Except for the fact that we're in a nightclub that caters to walking corpses."

Ghoul exhaled a long train of smoke. "Takes all kinds, babe. Besides... In the same show that talked about the blond guy who used to be Captain Britain, it mentioned all these Brit heroes who'd sacrificed their lives for England...."

"Shut up!" Breeze screamed. She drove a fist at superhuman speed into Ghoul's forehead, splitting it wide open. Worms and decaying flesh went everywhere. "I'm not dead!"

Shamrock grabbed her friend about the shoulders and pulled her away from Ghoul. "Breeze! Stop it! What's gotten into you?"

Ghoul, his face healing before their very eyes, turned to look at Captain Britain. She was standing now, a look of absolute fury on her face. "Come again?"

Betsy looked into the faces of her teammates and her expression softened when she gazed into Breeze's frightened eyes. "I've felt it off and on ever since he seized control. But everytime I'm near him, he reasserts his illusions... but Ghoul's not affected. He's different. He's not of this universe. And he's prompted back into my own mind...."

"Talk some sense, please, Betsy." Molly looked increasingly frustrated and Breeze had begun to shake uncontrollably.

"Jim Jaspers. He's a monster." She reached out to touch Molly's arm and the images she shared were enough to make Shamrock's mouth drop open in shock and horror. Concentration camps. Public executions. Armed guards patrolling the streets of London. It had happened before. It was happening again.

"You," Ghoul answered with a lopsided grin. "Are a proud member of the living dead. Welcome to the club."

The two dragons stared about themselves in despair, while Miraclewoman could only turn away in horror.

The place was madness personified. Trees hung upside down in the air and the sky was rent wide, with blood-rain falling about them. The great pool of water that held the spirit of the Lady of the Lake was yellowish-gold and stank of urine.

"What could have done this?" Winter asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Something very dark... and very powerful," Rathoon replied. "But it's definitely not the Red Lord. There's no stink of the Bane here."

"Look," Miraclewoman said, pointing to the center of the lake. A figure was rising up out of the water, but it was not the Lady of the Lake. It was a man... one who seemed strangely familiar, and yet unknown, to all of them. He wore a costume patterned after Betsy Braddock's... but his demeanor was one of pure desperation.

"You have to tell them -- He's hidden me away. He's afraid of me," the figure said, his voice sounded distant and distorted.

Rathoon moved forward. "You... You are Betsy's brother. I've seen you in photographs."

"I'm Brian Braddock," the man confirmed. "And Jim Jaspers is the greatest threat you'll ever face. He's got the attention span of a gnat, though -- that's your only hope. He can't keep me blocked and erase all your memories and make his new plans... He lacks the will."

"Jim Jaspers... But he's our leader," Miraclewoman whispered. "The Jim I know would never--"

"You don't know him!" Brian exclaimed. His form was growing harder to discern now. "Tell Betsy. Tell her I'm in the realm where Shevaun goes to--"

Rathoon watched as the man's form shrank to nothingness, his words fading along with him. "Jaspers. Could it really be?"

Captain Britain -- Betsy Braddock -- flew into view. She landed in front of the dragons, staring out into the water where she'd seen her brother for the briefest of seconds. "Big Ben, Breeze and Shamrock are here, too. We've got to make plans."

"What sort of plans?" Miraclewoman asked. "If that man... your brother... is right and Jim's powerful enough to do all this, how can we stop him?"

Betsy held up her right fist and her psi-blade flared to life around it, looking sharp and deadly. "We kill him. Or die trying."

He crouched low, hiding in the dark lights of the city. It was well past midnight, but London was alive and moving still. Beasts that would have been considered creatures of myth now flew overhead, attracting little more than polite disinterest from those below... The English were always quick to adapt, to overcome. And they had certainly borne the weight of the Black Mass Barrier well enough.

Sensing that his prey was on the move, he jumped from one rooftop to the next, never losing sight of her completely. She was thin and attractive, though that mattered little to him. He was not one to be swayed by a pretty face... not with so much at stake.

For her part, Chanda never even noticed him. She clutched the books to her chest, the ones she'd bought with her meager savings. The Indian man at the Last Tome had been nice enough -- even flirtatious, but she wasn't in a state of mind to appreciate his efforts. She had to find shelter before the rains came again. She needed peace and quiet to read and study--

A hand, furred and powerful, grabbed her from the darkness and pulled her into an alley. She thrashed in the thing's grip, but to no avail. Her heart pounded in her chest and she found herself too afraid to use the water powers the Lady of the Lake had gifted her with. She wondered if Mad Jim had discovered her secret and sent this foul thing after her.

She stared up at it as it threw her to the ground. It was squat, with white fur that covered its entire form. Beady red eyes shone with hunger and its clawed hands dug into her shoulders and face. It's mouth, dripping saliva, opened wide to reveal many teeth... all of which descended towards her throat.

Just before it reached her skin, a loud sound rang out in the night. Chanda shut her eyes tight, fearing that it was all over... that she'd failed in the one task she'd been given. But then warm blood splattered onto her face and the weight of the thing was heavy upon her...

Chanda opened her eyes to see the beast's face next to hers but its eyes... its eyes were lacking something. Life, she realized. It's dead....

Strong hands pulled the beast from her, revealed a figure clad in dark clothing. "Who are you?" she asked breathlessly, staring at the uniform he wore. It looked like the one worn by a man she'd known only briefly... before the madness of Jim Jaspers had wiped him away.

Next Issue: "Tempus Fugit" continues. The Pendragons have uncovered the truth... but some amongst them aren't ready to turn on Mad Jim. Plus: Doom's forces go to war with the Red Lord; Jim Jaspers stands on the throne of ultimate power; the new Union Jack continues to take extreme action; and things go from bad to worse as the truth about Chanda is revealed....

I was hoping that the current storyline would revive interest in the series and it appears it has, at least for some of you. Here's some letters about issue 36, starting with one from Gary Halpin:

I *really* enjoyed it. I could actually tell that you were beginning to lose interest looking back, but this was amazing. I love the new line-up, and the casual way Jack died.

I know he'll be back, but I actually think you should leave him dead because his death is so unexpected.

Joey's dead, I'm sorry to say. Now does that mean that there will no longer be a Union Jack...? See the final scene of this issue and the upcoming Union Jack series.