List of The Invisibles characters

The Invisibles is a comic book created by Grant Morrison for the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. This page is a list of all characters in the series. Please see The Invisibles for the main article.

The Invisibles

The Invisibles are a band of freedom fighters at war with the oppressive Outer Church. Many members are psychic or possess some kind of supernatural ability.

Main cast

Jack Frost

Jack Frost is the alias of Dane McGowan, a rebellious teenager from Liverpool, England. Early in his childhood, Dane McGowan affects the cold, violently rebellious persona of "Jack Frost" in order to cope with his shattered home life. After trying to burn down his school, Dane is sent to Harmony House, a reeducation^{[disambiguation needed ]} facility for young boys run by the Outer Church, the villains of the series. The Invisibles free Dane from Harmony House and arrange for him to be mentored by Tom O'Bedlam, an experienced Invisible. Under Tom O’Bedlam’s guidance, Dane realizes that the "Jack Frost" persona is restricting his growth, a realization that allows a softer, more compassionate Dane to emerge. Dane is contacted by Barbelith, a mysterious sentient satellite featured in the series, during this time, though his memories of contact are repressed until he is ready to access them.

After being injured on a mission, Dane abandons his teammates and wanders through London, eventually returning home to Liverpool. While on the run, his hidden memories are triggered and he learns that he is the messiah. At first he rejects this responsibility, but he soon finds that he cannot ignore the empathy he now feels for the rest of the world. Later on, he remembers that during his first contact with Barbelith he was forced to endure the collective suffering of humanity throughout time. This memory spurs him to return to the Invisibles so that he may set things right. While Dane rejects their violent methods and their dualistic perception of the world, which he finds just as flawed as that of the Outer Church, he stays with them because they are his friends. Over the course of their adventures together, he is revealed the truth behind time, the creation of the universe, and his place in it. When he is ready, Dane starts his own Invisibles cell and, in 2012, oversees the end of the physical world as foreseen.

Dane is a powerful psychic and has many other undefined supernatural abilities.

King Mob

Main article: King Mob (comics)

Once a horror writer named Gideon Starorzewski, King Mob is the leader of the cell of the Invisibles. He is the agent who recruited Jack Frost, and he's the lover of Ragged Robin.

Ragged Robin

Main article: Ragged Robin (comics)

Ragged Robin is the Invisibles' psychic operative, sent back from the future to bring the science of time travel to the Invisibles. She later becomes the group's leader when they (randomly) reassign their elemental roles.

Boy

"Boy" is Lucille Butler, an officer of the New York Police Department. Her brother Martin, also a police officer, was working for The Conspiracy, a fact known to a third brother, a gang member named "Eezy D", but not to Lucille. In a battle against the Outer Church, Eezy D is killed and Martin is taken prisoner. Lucille's life is saved by her partner, although he cautions her that the Invisibles will be looking for her. Hoping they will help her rescue her brother Martin, Lucille allows herself to be recruited by the Invisibles, who give her the code name "Boy". Boy becomes somewhat of a mentor to Jack Frost, and their relationship eventually develops into a romantic one. Boy later steals an artifact known as the "Hand of Glory" and goes searching for the secret prison camp in which she believes Martin to be detained. Boy is abducted by the Outer Church and informed that her identities as "Boy" and "Lucille Butler", among others, were entirely fabricated, and that she was secretly an operative sent to retrieve the Hand of Glory for the "Lost Ones", who plan to use its power to destroy the sun. At the command of her new masters, Boy is about to kill King Mob when it is revealed that the ostensible agents of the Outer Church are in fact members of Invisibles Cell #23, who have been deprogramming Boy to defuse a previous hypnotic suggestion from the real Outer Church. When she realizes that there is no way to save Martin, and there never had been, Boy quits the Invisibles forever, and she starts a new life in New York, where she later has a child.^[1]

Lord Fanny

Main article: Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny is a transwoman sorceress who was recruited into the Invisibles by John-a-Dream. She is shown to be quite powerful, destroying Mr. Quimper and banishing the demon Orlando.

Others

• Mr. Six – An agent of the Invisibles formerly named "Brian Malcolm". He was Jack Frost's history teacher when Frost was still "Dane McGowan". While attempting to deprogram Jack Flint, Six is shot by George Harper but survives. Later, he guides Jack Frost into the diseased other universe.
• Jolly Roger – A member of the all-lesbian cell of the Invisibles known as the "Poison Pussies". She discovers a hidden station in Dulce, New Mexico run by the United States government with the assistance of "ultraterrestrials" called "Lost Ones". The station contains the remains of her deceased lover, but also the secret vaccine for the AIDS virus. Mind controlled (to an extent) by Mr. Quimper, Roger convinces the Invisibles to storm the station. She is later murdered by Miles Delacourt.
• Jim Crow – A houngan and musician, Jim Crow is first encountered by the Invisibles investigating a new variety of crack cocaine that turns its users into mindless undead. Crow later learns that the leaders of the pharmaceutical company behind the drug are using it to experience the brutal acts of the zombies vicariously. Crow later kills them all with this assistance of a scorpion-shaped loa called "Baron Zaraguin". He later goes on to further missions with the Invisibles.
• Mason Lang – Billionaire sympathizer with the Invisibles' cause, Mason Lang received information in a dream (or alien abduction) about the possibilities of storing information on molecules of water, a science which becomes his life's work. He tricks the United States government into retaining his services to help them understand a prototype time machine. He also sells software and technology to the government, in which he installs back door access, which eventually puts the entire military-industrial complex under his control. In 2012, the proliferation of "smart drinks" makes it seem as if Lang eventually succeeded with his water molecule project. It is stated in the third volume that he died sometime before 2012, although it is never specifically revealed how.
• Takashi Satoh – A time-scientist who works for Mason Lang on his time machine group. He is murdered in 2012, when the Archons breach the laboratory.
• Helga – A computer expert who creates a language program for the Invisibles to use against the Outer Church. She has a brief affair with King Mob, and eventually shaves her head and body and wears a black overcoat and sunglasses to appear identical to him. Her real name is Olga Tannen.
• Elfayed – A Middle-Eastern high master in the Invisible College. He takes charge of Jack Frost's training later in the series after Jack accepts his fate.
• Reynard
• Jack Flint – An agent of "Division X". Flint is captured by the Outer Church, and his numerous identities are stripped away until "Jack Flint" remains, speaking in tongues and alien phonemes. He later discovers that his body was merely a device used to experience the Invisibles, and at the Moonchild ceremony, he permits himself to be killed by the demon Orlando.
• George Harper – A member of "Division X" and detective partner of Mister Six.
• Oscar – A slightly overweight Invisible with poor manners who initially acts as Boy's patrol partner. He is involved in her deprogramming procedure, and occasionally appears to work alongside Division X.
• Coyote – An Invisible who is involved in Boy's deprogramming procedure.
• Christine Sherman
• Purves
• Shanjeet – An Indian woman who travels with King Mob during the first few issues of volume III while he is in disguise. It is unclear whether they are romantically involved.
• King Mob I – An anarchist revolutionary, Ronald Tolliver, from circa 1924 who is part of Edith Manning's entourage. He is killed during the Spanish Civil War in 1937.
• Queen Mab – A psychic woman, Beryl Wyndham, from circa 1924 who is also part of Edith Manning's enteurage. She is romantically involved with King Mob I. She is later murdered by Sir Miles in 1965.
• Edith Manning – A confidante of King Mob, Edith Manning is a "flapper" of the Roaring Twenties who helps the Invisibles obtain an artifact called the "Hand of Glory". She also helps King Mob activate it by anointing it with their bodily fluids during a sex act. She remains an active member of the Invisibles until her natural death at the age of 99.
• Tom O'Bedlam – A semi-mad derelict Invisible who helps Jack Frost realize his powers. Tom commits suicide by leaping off a skyscraper in order to awaken Jack. It is later revealed that Tom is really Edith Manning's cousin, Freddie.
• Billy Chang – A Chinese mystic who is part of Edith Manning's entourage. He is an expert when it comes to relics, and understands a great deal about the Hand of Glory.
• Papa Skat – An Invisible from circa 1924. He first appears as an adversary to Edith, but it is later revealed that he was merely testing her.
• The Marquis de Sade – An aristocrat, revolutionary and author of philosophy-laden, sadomasochistic novels from the 18th century, De Sade is brought forward in time by the Invisibles to create a "pocket utopia". He is depicted as being crippled, short, and morbidly overweight.
• Percy Shelley – A Romantic poet, atheist, radical, and vegetarian seen having a discussion with Lord Byron in Venice, Italy in 1819. Shelley explains that he intends for his writings to act as a map that will help guide the world to a day when all "men and women will be equal and free from tyranny, free of God and fear."
• Lord Byron – A Romantic poet, atheist, radical, and "club-footed sodomite" seen having a discussion with Percy Shelley in Venice, Italy in 1819. Although a member of the Invisible College like Shelley, Byron is much more pessimistic about the likelihood of creating a utopian society, believing that "men are like sheep and will obey anyone who kicks their arses hard enough."

The Outer Church

The Outer Church exists in the "unhealthy" universe, where conformity and hierarchy consume individuality and free will. The demon-like Archons of the Outer Church wish to enslave humanity and rob them of everything that cannot be measured, weighed and counted. The Outer Church's representatives on Earth are politicians, policemen, royalty and other representatives of control and order. They run the secret conspiracies that attempt to keep all of humanity docile and malleable.

• King Archon/Abbadon/Rex Mundi – The ruler of the Archons. It is the plan of Sir Miles and other human servitors of the Outer Church to bring him to our world through the coronation of the Moonchild, thereby allowing the Archons to take direct and total control over all life on earth.
• King-of-All-Tears – This Archon is a vaguely humanoid figure standing over seven feet tall and wearing flowing dark-green robes. His face is reminiscent of a black, fanged and horned equine-like skull with a long vertebrae-like protuberance on the top of his head. Two curved white horns jut up from his shoulders. His fingers appear as either a cluster of tentacles or long talons. When preparing for battle, he emits a howl "summoning his weapons—his cloak of inks, his neuroworm larvae and nanofactories." He is the direct master of Ms. Dwyer, who summons him to the House of Fun during Miles Delecourt's interrogation of King Mob and Lord Fanny. The King-of-All-Tears later tries to prevent Ragged Robin from traveling back in time from 2012. King Mob eventually destroys him using a pop gun.
• King-in-Chains – This Archon is a vaguely humanoid figure standing over seven feet tall and wearing a tattered dark-purple robe with chains trailing out from underneath it. His nobbed, featureless black head has a vertical slit down the center that emits a white light. He has long, slender, filth-covered talon-like fingers. He is the direct master of Mr. Gelt, headmaster of Harmony House, who is killed by King Mob during his rescue of Dwane McGowan.
• Sir Miles Delacourt – A master of conspiracies, Miles Delacourt is a director of the Secret Intelligence Service, a high ranking Freemason, and the controlling force behind the plot to install an agent of the Outer Church as Monarch of the United Kingdom. Delacourt was the subject of a series of Project MKULTRA-like experiments with LSD, which prompted him to write a book titled The Invisibles. After the failure of the Outer Church's plot to use Jack Frost as a host for the King-Archon, Delacourt commits suicide.
• Mister Quimper – The owner of a strip club whose employees claim to have been coerced into performing in porn movies with aliens. He is psychically devastated by Ragged Robin, and has to be taken to the Outer Church by Colonel Friday to be restored. The Invisibles successfully execute a mission to get Ragged Robin close enough to Quimper to remove his Outer Church programming and find out who or what he really is: a quantity of "living information" given flesh and viciously abused at the hands of the same perpetrators who once gang-raped Lord Fanny. Quimper is returned to his original form as a "spirit" of information by this revelation, and he disappears.
• Colonel Friday – Chief of the hidden station at Dulce, New Mexico in which the vaccine for the AIDS virus is kept. Friday also wields the "Scorpio" machine, which can implant horrible fears in the human mind.
• Orlando – A demon assassin. He encounters Lord Fanny once in Mictlan and twice on Earth. The latter encounters both end in his banishment back to Mictlan. Orlando enjoys wearing the skin of the people he murders.
• Ms. Dwyer – A servant of the Archons, first introduced as an administrator at Harmony House. She later takes charge of Sir Miles' attempts to interrogate King Mob. Ms. Dwyer's body is host to a great deal of Archon technology, including 4D armor and nanites in her blood.
• Mr. Gelt – An associate of Ms. Dwyer's, first introduced as an administrator at Harmony House.
• Brodie – An assassin hired by Sir Miles to seduce Lord Fanny for the purpose of learning information about King Mob. Lord Fanny stabs him to death.
• The Moonchild – A grotesque, 200 year old creature, kept behind magic mirror. The Moonchild intended to be used as a host for Rex Mundi, the ruler of The Outer Church.
• Queen Elizabeth II

Division X

Division X are a small band of police officers who investigate bizarre and inexplicable crimes and phenomena. Although out of commission when The Invisibles starts, they are brought back together at the end of volume one and soon find themselves on the trail of The Outer Church. Division X itself is based on the TV show Department S, and each of the officers resembles a famous TV detective character, as seen below. An explanation for this is given in volume 3.

• Patrick Crowley (based on George Cowley from The Professionals)
• Jack Flint (based on Jack Regan from The Sweeney)
• George Harper (based on George Carter from The Sweeney – he is seen shooting someone who looks just like Ray Doyle from The Professionals although this person's identity is unknown)
• Jon Six (based on Jason King from Department S and Jason King – his name may also be based on that of Number Six, the protagonist of the television series The Prisoner)

Allegiances Unknown

There are several characters in The Invisibles who take no side in the struggle between the Invisibles and the Outer Church.

• Barbelith – An artificial satellite constructed by aliens, and hidden on the dark side of the moon. It functions as a psychic "placenta" for humanity, getting in touch with all humans who attain "higher consciousness" and gently guiding them through the transition. It is also stated that "we" created Barbelith to save us from ourselves. Upon being discovered by astronauts, Barbelith explodes.
• The Blind Chessman – An "aspect" of Harlequinade, the Blind Chessman acts as a sort of spirit of self-knowledge. He appears before Ragged Robin as she is returning from the mission to retrieve the Marquis de Sade from his native century. He guides her into a psychic Rennes-le-Château, and afterwards into the head of John the Baptist. He later guides Jack Frost through similar visions, after which he experiences a shamanistic trance in which he gets at truths of existence deeper than our everyday reality.
• The Harlequinade/The King In Yellow – A group of three harlequins who occasionally guide the Invisibles. They exist as part of the Invisible College in a different dimension.
• John-A-Dreams – A former Invisible, John-a-Dreams vanished in Philadelphia. He is replaced in King Mob's cell by Jack Frost. The Invisibles encounter him again at the Moonchild ceremony, acting as an agent of the Outer Church. It is never clear what ultimately becomes of him.

External links

• Grant Morrison's homepage.
• The Bomb – analysis and explication of the Invisibles.

References

1. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "The Invisibles", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 92–97, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015