Metamorpho - Fosis and The Outlanders - Shaun Richens

I may have gone mad with this one - This is my homage to Michel Fiffe’s comic Copra - Which itself is a homage to 80’s Suicide Squad. This is meta as hell and either really fun or terrible - you decide, but either way thanks for reading.

I’ve taken Batman and The Outsiders and given it a Copra style makeover. So let us begin.

Our players for this page -

Dr Fosis is our Metamorpho analogue - shape-shifting, adventurer with a broken heart since the disappearance of his one true love Miss Diamond Deer. Fosis is muscular and athletic, bald and handsome. He looks perfectly human except for the alien Orb embedded in his chest. The orb is slowly killing Fosis but it is also the source of all his power.

Knockout is our Looker - the youngest member of the Outlanders - Knockout is a powerful psychic but has recently developed a taste for blood having been turned into a Vampire by the Outlander villain Duke Icho. Knockout wears the look of a superhero goth. One side of her raven black hair shaved to the skull. Fosis has promised to find Knockout a cure for her vampiric disease.

Brontide is our Black Lightning - The quiet heart of the Outlanders - Brontide rarely speaks outside of missions after the tragic events of his past he only wants to focus on the job at hand. Brontide is capable of reacting at lightning speeds. His mind and eyes can process information at such speeds, that time appears to have slowed down. Brontide FYI he can fly and has the strength of a hundred men. He is the true powerhouse of the Outlanders. Brontide wears a superman like costume, but in black and yellow, instead of a cape he wears a leather jacket. His face is covered by a streak of white face paint over his eyes.

D.E is our Katana - D.E is a member of the Japanese hero team The Shining Suns - she is currently working with The Outlanders at the request of Watchdog (Our version of Batman) She is skilled with all bladed weapons and carries an array of swords, daggers and knifes with her. She is not authorized to use lethal force.

Lady Mindflayer - The leader of the Cult of Psychics. She was raised as an assassin in Japan but at the age of twelve her psychic powers started to develop - she killed her handlers and went on the run, only to return ten years later, the leader of one of Japan's most evil and feared gangs. She now runs the Japanese underworld through sheer force of will.

PAGE TWENTY-TWO - 5 PANELS.

22.1

We open on FOSIS. Fosis had shape shifted his body into that of LADY MINDFLAYER the leader of the CULT OF PSYCHICS, to infiltrate the gang. His disguise has been discovered when KNOCKOUT’s psychic shield over Fosis failed when her vampiric blood lust took hold of her.

Fosis’s face slips half between his own and that of Lady Mindflayer as his mind is bombarded with psychic attacks from his captures. His face is scrunched up in pain.

Purple waves ripple out from around his head (A visual clue to the attack)

Fosis is locked to a chair - restraints around his arms, legs and neck. Lady Mindflayer and a squad of her psychic priests surround him.

FOSIS:

Argh!

LADY MINDFLAYER:

I will unlock the secrets you hide in your brain Dr Fosis. It doesn’t matter how much I have to pull your mind apart.

22.2

Cut to KNOCKOUT, BRONTIDE and D.E. They are in their laboratory hide out. Go full Kirby in the design of this place.

Knockout clutches at her temples in pain.

KNOCKOUT:

I’m so sorry. She, she has Fosis.

KNOCKOUT:

I couldn’t hold on.

22.3, 22.4, 22.5 A row of three smallish panels.

22.3

Close up on Fosis - he is trying to shift his head into a protective helmet - something like Magneto’s maybe - but the attacks on his mind are still too strong - one side of the mask has turned to a liquid and runs down his body.

22.4

Fosis attempts to stretch his neck so he can slide free from the resistant holding his head in place. Instead half of his neck and face have started to bubble as if boiling.

22.5

Fosis has forced his powers to much. His head slumps forwards, he is unconscious.

LADY MINDFLAYER: (OFF PANEL)

Your mind is mine now fool.

22.6

Cut back to the Outlanders Lab - Knockout wipes blood from her lips as she has finished replenishing her strength. D.E wraps a bandage around her hand, blood stains into it. Brontide stands waiting. He needs Knockout back at her A game.

KNOCKOUT:

Thanks D.E. The blood lust was setting in, I could barely see straight.

D.E:

We are a team now. We most looking out for one and other.

BRONTIDE:

Speaking of. Can you get a link back to Fosis? What’s going on?

22.7

Close up on Knockout - her fingers to her temples as she focuses. Her eyes wide, pure white. - White lines ripple from her mind as she reaches out to Fosis.

KNOCKOUT:

Bronitde. It’s worse than I feared. We need to get to Fosis now.

KNOCKOUT:

He’s - he’s gone cold on me. Mindflayer must have broken him. 

Metamorpho - Egypt - Ray Wonsowski

Setting: Ancient Egypt, the Khufu Dynasty.

Set-up:  the demonic TRIGON (father of future Titan, Raven) has struck a bargain with the god APEP, "the serpent that never sleeps" for a thousand year reign of terror over the Nile delta. As Trigon's Raptor Daughters rise from the sands and take to the air, the heroes of Egypt witness the rise of a new champion...

Layout:
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Panel 1- an unnamed Hebrew SLAVE stands on the crest of a high dune, holding a near-spherical meteorite above his head with both hands. He is dirty, ragged, and emaciated, but proud, the sun shining as the stone pulses brightly in secondary colors.

SLAVE: BEHOLD, LORDS OF EGYPT! BEHOLD THE CHOSEN OF BOTH YAHWEH AND RA!

Panel 2- Looking up and off panel, expressions ranging from terror to awe, left to right, are BLACK ADAM, the Hawk-helmeted Prince KHUFU (who wields an ornamented short sword) and Princess SHA-IR-A (holding a spiked mace before her), and the wizard NABU, who wears the Helm of Fate, his hands radiating ankh-shaped aura of magicks unknown. In the sky behind them, harpy-like silhouettes circle in the air.

BLACK ADAM: Great gods, wizard, what horror is THAT?

NABU: To the slave, a Seraphim, the terrible angel of their One God. For us, it is the ever-changing left hand of the Sun...

Panel 3- From above, we witness a gigantic gelatinous tumor with human features, a motley of purple, orange, brown, green, and whitish gray. The faces are that of the SLAVE, part anguish from being so twisted and distended, part righteous anger as he swipes at the airborne Daughters of TRIGON with salubrious tentacles.

CAPTION (NABU): a Metamorphae.

...

Metamorpho – Ra Ra Apep Gone – MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1: METAMORPHO walks out onto a balcony, stretching as he wakes up to great the morning.

METAMORPHO (1): *Yawn!*

METAMORPHO (2): Oh, what a beautiful-

Panel 2: METAMORPHO’s face has switched to an annoyed ‘oh no, not this again’ look.

RA (1): (Off Panel) GREETINGS METAMORPHO!

RA (2): (Off Panel) IT PLEASES ME TO SEE THAT YOU ARE AWAKE!

METAMORPHO: …morning.

Panel 3: Panel is angled to show the sun off to the side. METAMORPHO isn’t looking it its direction. Hanging below the sun is the head of RA, styled as a 2D Egyptian hieroglyph.

RA (1): VIA THE GRAPEVINE, I RECEIVED WORD THAT FOLLOWERS OF APEP ARE TRYING TO AWAKEN HIM!

RA (2): THUS, I SEEK TO GET THE BAND TOGETHER TO STOP THEM!

RA (3): HENCE I SUMMON YOU TO JOIN WITH US!

Panel 4: METAMORPHO has turned to face the building in a bad attempt to be casual and begun walking back inside.

RA (1): WHERE IS IT YOU ARE GOING?

RA (2): RA COMMANDS YOU TO JOIN US!

RA (3): YOU OWE ME YOUR EXISTANCE!

RA (4): THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD THING!

Panel 5: METAMORPHO has walked back inside. The head of RA can be seen just trying to peek in through the door.

RA (1): COME BACK HERE!

RA (2): IT WILL BE FUN!

METAMORPHO: (Thought Balloon) This is why I’m a night owl.

(END PAGE)

Metamorpho - If Memory Serves - Grant McLaughlin

1 - A big, seemingly abandoned, warehouse.  There appears to be only one light on, which leaves something of a spotlight on the floor / in the panel.  Metamorpho stands in the spotlight, his back to the reader and his hands on his head in frustration / pain.

METAMORPHO: My head is filled with things that I don't understand.

2 - Metamorpho turns to face the reader.  He's morphed to look like Geo-Force (but obviously with Metamorpho's usual strange colour scheme).  His hands are extended at his side, as if pleading.

METAMORPHO: People who don't exist.  Places you can't find on any map.  Pasts that have never happened.

3 - Metamorpho morphs to look like Owlman.  He has walked to the side of the spotlight, looking out into the darkness, a hand pointing to his head to emphasize his point.

METAMORPHO: I know this is right.  But it doesn't match up with anything else.

4 - Metamorpho morphs to look like Creeper.  He crouches down on the ground and wraps his arms around his legs (maybe a few times), a manic look on his face.

METAMORPHO: It's like everything changed and I was left behind.  My memories made fiction.

5 - Metamorpho morphs into Halo.  He dissipates some gases to create something of a light show in the spotlight.  He's lying on his side, looking pained.

METAMORPHO: Sometimes, when I squint, I can see some of the pieces.  But they're all in the wrong place.  If there at all.

6 - Metamorpho morphs to look like Black Lightning.  He sits up and points towards the reader.

METAMORPHO: Except for you.  You're all that's left.

VOICE (off-panel): I'm sorry...

7 - Switch angle / pull back to show that Katana is in the warehouse with Metamorpho.  She is tied to a chair and unable to move.  She looks frustrated.  Metamorpho has morphed to look like her and looks kind of crazed.

KATANA: But who the hell are you?

METAMORPHO: I feel like an Outsider, but I know that isn't the whole story.

Metamorpho: The Element Man Walks Into A Bar... - P. A. Nolte

1/ A bartender cleaning a glass.  He responds to a question from off-panel with not even a hint of interest.

Metamorpho (OP): What do you do with a dead chemist?

Bartender: Barium.

2/ Still cleaning.

Metamorpho (OP): You hear the one about the guy reading a book on helium?

Bartender: He couldn't put it down.

3/ Still cleaning.

Metamorpho (OP): Hmph.  Well, you know what they say.  If you're not part of the solution--

Bartender: You're part of the precipitate.

4/ Still cleaning.

Metamorpho (OP): That one too, huh?  But do you know why you can't trust atoms?

Bartender: They make up everything.

5/ Will that glass ever get clean?

Metamorpho (OP): Grr.  This is harder than I thought.  All the good jokes--

Bartender: Argon.  Heard it.

6/ Nope.  It's still being cleaned.

Metamorpho (OP): Fine!

Metamorpho (OP): What do you call a benzene ring with iron atoms instead of carbon?

Bartender: A ferrous wheel.  Next.

7/ Metamorpho sitting at the bar.  He's got a number of bottles and glasses strewn in front of him, but is indiscernible from his usual jovial self.  The bartender, from behind, still hasn't finished cleaning that damn glass.  It may never be clean.

Metamorpho: This would be a lot more fun if I could get drunk.

Bartender: I assure you, it would not.

Why Metamorpho?

Is it starting to show that I kind of like the weirdo characters?  Especially when it comes to DC.  More than another Batman or Superman yarn, I want a good Vibe story.  Or Blue Devil.  Or, in the case of this week's prompt, Metamorpho: The Element Man!

Created by Bob Haney (Metal Men, Doom Patrol) for the January 1965 issue of The Brave and The Bold, Rex Mason's particular brand of big, dumb fun earned him a 17-issue solo series based on his adventures.  Altered beyond repair by the Orb of Ra, Mason took naturally to superheroics, using his newfound ability to turn into any element or compound known to man to fight crime, because that's just what you do when ancient Egyptian artifacts destroy and rebuild you.  He also fell in love with Sapphire Stagg, the daughter of Simon Stagg, his employer, and the man responsible for his condition.

As a founding member of The Outsiders, a former Justice Leaguer, Doom Patroller, and Outsider again (although at first that was actually a small part of him that broke off and achieved sentience of its own before being reabsorbed into Rex later), Rex is thoroughly entrenched in the DCU at large.  And, though he may be a bit of a freak, he's got a lot of heart, and he might be immortal.  So at least he's got that going for him.

PS: Sorry to spoil a minor plot thread towards the end of Judd Winick's Outsiders run.  You should read it anyway just for Grace.  Totally worth it.