The Hangman and Inferno

[arbre_rieur]

The Web and the Shield have already have been posted to Scans_Daily. Now here are the debut stories of the remaining two Red Circle characters.

I'm posting these two together since their two origins sort of form one long, single story together.

Dr. Robert Dickering, Union lieutenant in the Civil War, is captured by Confederates:









"--the Hangman!" So goes the story.





The next day, his hospital receives the sole survivor of a cruise ship explosion.







Sometime later, someone tries to assassinate the amnesiac at the hospital.





In his new fiery form, he steals a car and heads to the pier. He's not sure why at first, but he soon realizes that he knows there's another bomb on another cruise liner there.









Tags:
creator: j. michael straczynski, creator: tom derenick, creator: bill sienkiewicz, publisher: dc comics, char: hangman/robert dickering, char: inferno

Comments

[autumn_lily]

Dr. Dickering? Dude...*snerk*

[darkblade]

Thanks for making me realize that one...

[autumn_lily]

So, if he acts like a douche, does that make Dikering!Dickery? What a MOUTH-FULL...

[darkblade]

I'd suggest Dikeringy but thats not much easier to say.

[autumn_lily]

Dickeringy almost sounds like a brand or company name of some kind...

[bluejaybirdie]

He should have gone into urology...

[autumn_lily]

He could be assisted by Nurse Vag right?

[bluejaybirdie]

Only if her first name was Gina.

[darkblade]

OMG! Gotham Girls icon! I was starting to think I dreamnt that show.

[icon_uk]

I particularly like the debate with the good/evil figure.

[darkblade]

Interesting contrast. We have two science based Red Circle heroes and two magic based ones. I'm not sure if it is intentional but it is interesting all the same.

[kamino_neko]

3/4 of them are science based - Shield gets his powers from nanomachines, Web's got a (completely scientifically based) supersuit, and Inferno's powers...well, his origin STILL isn't completely clear, but everything about them we've seen so far has been sciencey. Hangman's the only one of the four with magic powers.

[arbre_rieur]

I'd say the verdict's still out on Inferno. The hint dropped in the Shield one-shot about Inferno's past makes magic at least a possibility, in my opinion.

[kamino_neko]

It's possible his origin is magical, and they're just going about it scientifically, but computer banks and vats of chemicals say 'science', not 'magic'. And if by 'hint dropped in the Shield one-shot', you mean the conversation between doctors Dickering and Higgins, they specifically deny a non-scientific origin.

[arbre_rieur]

I mean the conversation between Higgins and his handler about one of the latter's past assignments. He talked about working for a research project whose head mysteriously disappeared. In the flashback, we see that the person looked suspiciously similar to Inferno's fiery form. According to the handler, the head said the key to his success was that he could see the circle/wheel of life/karma wheel/morphogenic field/whatever. The guy could easily have just been being poetic, but I think the scene at least opens up magic as a possibility.

[kamino_neko]

I disagree - again, it comes back to Dickering and Higgins' conversation - 'bioenergy' and 'the Circle' are related conceptually, though it's not confirmed they are actually related, yet - and the former is explicitly denied to be a spiritual concept - 'we're well informed enough to know otherwise'.

[yaseen101]

Out of all the Red Circle character I would say that 'The Shield' is the best one so far. Followed by Inferno and Hangman.

[akodo_rokku]

I have a feeling The Web is going to shape up. I mean, they have to be making him this stupid on PURPOSE, so he can realize what a jackass he is and straighten up later.

[arbre_rieur]

I wouldn't call the Web stupid. A jackass, yes, but not stupid.

[akodo_rokku]

Well, stupidly arrogant, maybe. I mean anybody who stopped and thought about it could have seen how his Web Host program was going to go wrong, but John's too full of himself for that.

[arbre_rieur]

That's a good way to put it, yeah.

[yaseen101]

The problem with the Web is that he is the least unique of the Red Circle characters. The Shield has enough differences to set him apart from being Captain America 2.0, Hangman is different enough from being the Spectar and Inferno has a neat dynamic of his super powered side being completely different from his normal human side and the mysterious past angle adds a bit of intrigue to the character, in a sense I WANT to find out more about his character. When you compare to them, the Web comes across as being generic.

[arbre_rieur]

I feel the exact opposite. My favorite of the three features is the Shield, but I think the Web is undoubtedly the "most unique" of the bunch. The Shield's high concept -- superhero as government superweapon -- is fairly uncommon but far from unheard of. DC already has Captain Atom. Of the four, the Hangman feels the most redundant by far in a world that already has the Spectre, the Crimson Avenger, and apparently someone named El Diablo (who I don't know from Adam but who others have compared him to). He's a ghostly figure drawn to acts of wrongdoing in a universe that already has a bunch. Inferno... well, he's still so much of a mystery that it's hard to say how unique the character is.

In terms of uniqueness, none of them compare to the Web, though. There's the "hero for the common man" element, in that anyone can contact his website to request help, and that's where his cases come from. That opens up storytelling possibilities. Heck, there was an 80s TV show based entirely around that kind of premise. Then there are his 99 Web Hosts, agents who wear costumes identical to his and fight crime on his behalf across the world. That's unique. And there's the whole "crimefighting organization run like a business" element. Again, that's fairly unique. Oh, and the Internet schtick, too.

[kamino_neko]

El Diablo (who I don't know from Adam but who others have compared him to)

There have been 3 El Diablos - the two that relate to Hangman are the first and third, Lazarus Lane, and Chato Santana.

Lane and Santana are empowered (more like enslaved) by a being named Chutriel, a demonic spirit of vengeance, which forces them to avenge the fallen. He's empowered to kill the guilty, but unable to harm the innocent - a caveat that none of the others explicitly have, and which Spectre clearly doesn't, though he rarely does act against the innocent, he has. This is the current endpoint of a long line of retcons running through Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex, and Santana's miniseries. Lazarus was originally just a vigilante who had been raised from the dead.

[arbre_rieur]

Interesting. Definitely sounds like he fits the mold.

So how would you rank the four Red Circle characters in terms of uniqueness?

[kamino_neko]

Hmm...that's tough.

Of the ones we've seen in their current forms, yet:

Within the DCU... Inferno (who most closely maps to pre-Origins Wolverine with Human Torch's powers), Shield (Patriotic heroes lie thin on the ground in the DCU), Web (who has a similar MO to the current Question and a network similar to some future versions of Batman or Oracle), Hangman (spirits of vengeance are EVERYWHERE).

Within the greater world of superheroes in general, I'd say Web (although I think his type will get more common in the future), Shield/Inferno (rare types in the DCU, not so much elsewhere), Hangman (spirits of vengeance are pretty common in all companies).

[psychopathicus_rex]

Wow, Hangman is one beefy sumbitch, isn't he? Stubbly, too. A very effective secret identity, really - who'd confuse a relatively slim, well-groomed, well-dressed character like Dr. Dickering for a hulking, stubbly behemoth who looks like he butters his steaks? (Well, his face looks like that, anyway - his body is the standard weightlifter type, but there's a lot of weight on that face.)
And while I know it's thematically appropriate and all, when will people STOP PUTTING NOOSES AROUND 'HANGMAN' THEMED CHARACTERS' NECKS? It's the most impractical fashion statement imaginable - sure, it looks fairly awesome, but all a crook has to do is give a good yank on that thing, and Hangman will be gasping for breath. Anyway, it's been done about a million times. Why can't one of these characters wear a guillotine around their necks or something? At least it'd be original.

[buttler]

Needs more BOB PHANTOM.