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Establishment (comic book)
Encyclopedia
The Establishment is a super hero group that was operated by the British government within the Wildstorm Universe
. The comic of the same name was published by WildStorm Productions
and ran from 2001
- 2002
. It was created by Ian Edginton
and Charlie Adlard
, who were also sole creative team throughout its entire 13 issue run.
The series focused on the exploits of the current incarnation of the group while defending Britain and the world from various threats including Daemonite
attacks, invasion from little green Venusians, plagues of zombies, and an attempt at recreating the universe.
While the majority of the series was self-contained with little contact with the rest of the Wildstorm Universe
several minor characters, concepts and hanging plot threads were incorporated into its run. In addition to this it was heavily influenced by British Pop Culture and incorporated various cameos and nods to the various TV series and novels that inspired it.
The team returned during the "World's End
" storyline in The Authority #3 and have made sporadic appearances in the title since.
Wildstorm Universe
The Wildstorm Universe is a fictional shared universe where the comic books published by Wildstorm take place. It represents an alternate history of the real world where ideas such as interstellar travel and superhuman abilities are commonplace...
. The comic of the same name was published by WildStorm Productions
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
and ran from 2001
2001 in comics
-Year overall:* Marvel Comics withdraws from the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system for its publications.- January :* January 23: Fred Ray, Superman's primary cover artist of the 1940s, passes away at age 80.- September :...
- 2002
2002 in comics
-March:* Adventures of Superman #600: super-sized anniversary issue by Joe Casey, Mike Wieringo, and Jose Marzan, Jr. -April:* Batman #600: "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive," part one, 64-page giant, written by Ed Brubaker.-January:...
. It was created by Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer.He is one of the few British comic talents to follow the reverse trajectory to the one usually taken: becoming successful in American comics before returning to work for 2000 AD.-Biography:...
and Charlie Adlard
Charlie Adlard
Charles "Charlie" Adlard is a British comic book artist and penciller.He is best known for providing art on The Walking Dead and Savage.-Biography:...
, who were also sole creative team throughout its entire 13 issue run.
The series focused on the exploits of the current incarnation of the group while defending Britain and the world from various threats including Daemonite
Daemonite
The Daemonites are a fictional alien race in the . They were created by Jim Lee and first appeared in WildC.A.T.s. #1 .-Biology:Daemonites are reptilian aliens from the planet Daemon, who are capable of possessing host bodies...
attacks, invasion from little green Venusians, plagues of zombies, and an attempt at recreating the universe.
While the majority of the series was self-contained with little contact with the rest of the Wildstorm Universe
Wildstorm Universe
The Wildstorm Universe is a fictional shared universe where the comic books published by Wildstorm take place. It represents an alternate history of the real world where ideas such as interstellar travel and superhuman abilities are commonplace...
several minor characters, concepts and hanging plot threads were incorporated into its run. In addition to this it was heavily influenced by British Pop Culture and incorporated various cameos and nods to the various TV series and novels that inspired it.
Publication history
The title ran from November 2001 to November 2002.The team returned during the "World's End
World's End (comics)
"World's End" is a 2008-2009 comic book crossover storyline published by Wildstorm and taking place in the Wildstorm Universe. The event takes place in the issues of all of Wildstorm's Wildstorm Universe ongoing series.-Publication history:...
" storyline in The Authority #3 and have made sporadic appearances in the title since.
Team members
- Jon Drake: Not much is known about Jon Drake or his past. He is apparently been a member of The Establishment for many years prior to the start of the series, and serves as its current leader. Drake also has an alternate superpowered form known as The Templar by saying the word Abraxas (a nod to MiraclemanMiraclemanMarvelman, also known as Miracleman for trademark reasons in his American reprints and story continuation, is a fictional comic book superhero created in 1954 by writer-artist Mick Anglo for publisher L. Miller & Son. Originally intended as a United Kingdom home-grown substitute for the American...
, who in turn was based on Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel (DC Comics)Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
). The Templar was a British hero who was rumored to have died in China during the 1960s. Information regarding this form is sketchy, but it seems that something happened that has driven The Templar insane. In his Jon Drake form he displayed no powers and seems completely human. The full extant of his powers in The Templar form are unknown, but he has displayed high-level super strength. Jon Drake seems to be based on the character of the same name from the television show Danger ManDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
and its possible sequel, the seminal work The PrisonerThe PrisonerThe Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
.
- Mister Pharmacist: Real name, Stephen Chandra. A brilliant and gifted mind from early on, Stephen Chandra excelled in just about every academic endeavour he attempted. He aced his A-levels while a mere child and entered college about ten years later. In 1992 he had deduced the "snowflake" shape of the multiverse and had begun to create a biological version of the computer created by Axel Brass within his own brain. Unfortunately the effects of the experiment caused him neurological damage and left him at death's door a mere three years later. It was then that the sentient universe known as "Aleph" contacted him. A deal was struck in which Chandra's body would be repaired and improved upon and in return Aleph would reside in his brain, experiencing life through Chandra. His fingers all end in syringes, which have been shown to have a variety of effects including diagnostic and healing abilities. He can also create small singularitiesGravitational singularityA gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system...
and emit enormous amounts of energy, but usually does not use these powers because of the massive damage they inflict on his surroundings and danger they pose to his teammates. Mister Pharmacist seems to be based on the Tom BakerTom BakerThomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
incarnation of the DoctorDoctor (Doctor Who)The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
, the protagonist of the British SF series Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
- Equus: Real name, Raphe Equus. Equus is the result of 400 years of selective breeding, an attempt to create gifted individuals that was started by Dr. John DeeJohn Dee (mathematician)John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....
and the man known as "Mother" during the creation of the first incarnation of Establishment. His powers are unknown, but based upon certain events within in the series it is fair to say that he probably has some levels of super strength, endurance, and intelligence. Equus is loosely based on John SteedJohn SteedJohn Steed is a fictional character and the central protagonist on the popular British series The Avengers and The New Avengers, played by Patrick Macnee and Ralph Fiennes in the movie....
from the television show The AvengersThe Avengers (TV series)The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
.
- Scarlet: Real name, Scarlet Fantastic. Twenty years ago Scarlet washed ashore on an isolated British beach with no memory of who she was or where she came from, and speaking SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
. Initially the villagers believed her to be a selkieSelkieSelkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....
, but the local priest took her in when he recognized the language she was speaking and nursed her back to health. When she was in college, she worked as a stripper to pay for her tuition. She was hired to dance at a birthday party, where she fell in love with Equus. Eventually she was brought into The Establishment and married him, but her origins still remain a mystery. Her powers seem to include superhuman strength, endurance, limited superhuman speed and a genius-level IQ. Scarlet is loosely based on the character Emma PeelEmma PeelEmma Peel was a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.-Casting:...
from The Avengers and the long-running super-strong comic strip character GarthGarth (comic strip)Garth was a comic strip in the British newspaper Daily Mirror from July 24, 1943, to March 22, 1997. The strip belonged to the action-adventure genre and recounted the exploits of the title character, an immensely strong hero who battled various villains throughout the world and many different...
from the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper, whose origin also involved being washed ashore with no memory of his past.
- George Bulman: Not much is known about Bulman. He is shown to be a bit of a drunk and generally just an average person. His life prior to the series is not disclosed, nor is it really known how he got involved in the incident involving pygmies that resulted in him sharing his body with Truelove, though it seems that Jenny SparksJenny SparksJenny Sparks, also known as "The Spirit of the 20th century", is a fictional character in the Wildstorm comic book universe created by Warren Ellis during his 1997 revamp of the dwindling Stormwatch series...
had a part in it. He has displayed no powers outside of his ability to channel the deceased Truelove. He appears to be a nod to Jeffrey Randall of Randall and Hopkirk.
- Christopher Truelove: A gay cop who, through a bizarre incident involving pygmies living in the sewers of London, died and ended up with his soul sharing a body with the man responsible for his death, George Bulman. While dead he could enter into a realm known as "The Dead Space" which acted as a passage for deceased souls on their way to their final resting place. He could also manifest himself in our world as an incorporeal ghost. He appears to be a nod to Marty Hopkirk of Randall and Hopkirk.
- The Golden: Real names, Alex, Stuart and Will. Three children who were the sole survivors of a plane crash in the Himalayas. They were found by a race of sentient, furry humanoids who then took the trio to a chamber and placed them before "The Great Metavac" who then imbued them with their superpowers. These powers seem to include flight and energy projection from their eyes. The Golden seem to be loosely based on the children from the book The Midwich CuckoosThe Midwich CuckoosThe Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by English author John Wyndham, published in 1957. It has been filmed twice as Village of the Damned in 1960 and 1995.-Plot summary:...
and the characters Craig Sterling, Sharon Macready and Richard Barrett from the 1960s ITC television show The ChampionsThe ChampionsThe Champions is a British espionage/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure series consisting of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company...
(played by Alex Bastedo, Stuart Damon and William Gaunt) – a trio of secret agents who were granted superhuman mental and physical abilities by a lost civilisation in Tibet, following a plane crash.
- The Baron: Deceased. Real name, Ian Hotspur. Almost no information exists regarding Ian. He was killed in action during the first issue during a battle with a horde of DaemoniteDaemoniteThe Daemonites are a fictional alien race in the . They were created by Jim Lee and first appeared in WildC.A.T.s. #1 .-Biology:Daemonites are reptilian aliens from the planet Daemon, who are capable of possessing host bodies...
s. His powers, history, and more are all unknown, but he was able to summon a protective armour made out of hard light including two batons of the same material.
Other notable characters
- Charlie Arrows: During the 1960's Arrows served within the British military and was stationed in the South Pacific. He spent several months doing manual labor, preparing fortifications and buildings for an experiment headed up by the British Rocket Group. The experiment failed and wiped out nearly everyone present, and most of the survivors died shortly after due to various cancers. For some reason Arrows survived and came out of the mishap with a limited form of precognition. He used this to help him as a career criminal throughout the 70's and 80's. Eventually he too was diagnosed with cancer and returned to his old home just as it was being overrun by a horde of DaemoniteDaemoniteThe Daemonites are a fictional alien race in the . They were created by Jim Lee and first appeared in WildC.A.T.s. #1 .-Biology:Daemonites are reptilian aliens from the planet Daemon, who are capable of possessing host bodies...
s. During this incident he died due to the cancer, but was brought back through the combined efforts of Truelove and Mister Pharmacist, who also removed the cancer from his brain. With the cancer gone his powers underwent a radical change and he suddenly found himself capable of changing the form of any matter he came into contact with (for example, he turned an opponent into several rolls of toilet paper, and transformed matter from a table into a physical body for Truelove). Not long after he went in search of missing granddaughter, which led him into the clutches of Dr. Orwell, who used his newfound powers in an attempt to rewrite reality. His powers were originally a result of a quantum singularity that was formed in his head after being exposed to the fallout of the British Rocket Groups experiment. His body attempted to reject this singularity by forming a cancer around it, the combination seemed to grant him the limited ability to see into the near future. After the Pharmacist removed the cancer his powers were greatly increased to the point where he could transform any matter he came into contact with.
- Mother: Brother of Orwell, the human later known as 'Mother' and his brother were the children of a time traveller (based on the protagonist in H.G. Wells' The Time MachineThe Time MachineThe Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction...
) and a woman from the future. The two children were inspired by their father's tales and built their own time machine. They travelled to the end of time and witnessed the robotic intelligence that evolved from SpartanSpartan (comics)Spartan is a fictional character in the American comic Wildstorm universe and one of the central characters and current leader of Jim Lee's superhero team WildC.A.T.s.-Yohn Kohl:...
and Mister MajesticMister MajesticMister Majestic is a fictional character, a Wildstorm Productions superhero created by H.K. Proger and Jim Lee. He first appears in a backup story within WildC.A.T.s #11. One of the most powerful heroes in the WildStorm universe, he bears a strong, deliberate resemblance to DC Comics's...
creating a new universe after the death of the current one. Orwell became inspired, believing that if he could reprogram Spartan he could control the form of the new universe and become its God. His brother tried to stop him, but Orwell tried to kill him. The resulting struggle crashed their timeship and 'Mother' landed in 16th century England, where Mother was found by Dr. John Dee, who thought he was a fallen angel (the timecrash had put parts of Mother outside of time: his right leg and his left upper torso, arm and side of his face were invisible and intangible). Mother and Dee gathered metahumans and founded the first Establishment. They also started genetic experiments which would result in Equus 400 years later. Mother planned on using these warriors against Orwell when he would reappear. Mother was immortal (a side-effect of him being partly outside of time) and had an artificial left hand constructed with hidden weaponry inside it.
- Dr. Orwell: Brother of 'Mother', Orwell and his brother were the children of a time traveller (based on the protagonist in H.G. Wells' The Time MachineThe Time MachineThe Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction...
) and a woman from the future. The two children were inspired by their father's tales and built their own time machine. They travelled to the end of time and witnessed the robotic intelligence that evolved from SpartanSpartan (comics)Spartan is a fictional character in the American comic Wildstorm universe and one of the central characters and current leader of Jim Lee's superhero team WildC.A.T.s.-Yohn Kohl:...
and Mister MajesticMister MajesticMister Majestic is a fictional character, a Wildstorm Productions superhero created by H.K. Proger and Jim Lee. He first appears in a backup story within WildC.A.T.s #11. One of the most powerful heroes in the WildStorm universe, he bears a strong, deliberate resemblance to DC Comics's...
creating a new universe after the death of the current one. Orwell became inspired, believing that if he could reprogram Spartan he could control the form of the new universe and become its God. His brother tried to stop him, but Orwell tried to kill him. The resulting struggle crashed their timeship and Orwell landed in TunguskaTunguska eventThe Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m...
, Siberia in 1908. Unlike his brother, Orwell was unharmed. During the 20th century he gathered resources and influence so he could return to the future to reprogram Spartan. The Establishment and Charlie Arrows unwittingly foiled his first attempt, but Orwell recruited Arrows later to help him.
External links
- Edginton Speaks For 'The Establishment', September 4, 2001, Comic Book ResourcesComic Book ResourcesComic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...