Defoe (comics)
Encyclopedia
Titus Defoe is a comics character
in an eponym
ous story published in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD. He was created by writer Pat Mills
and artist Leigh Gallagher and first appeared in Prog 1540.
Defoe is a zombie
hunter in an alternative 17th Century London
overrun by plagues of zombies after a comet struck England in 1666. Defoe and his companions keep the undead plagues at bay using weapons devised by the likes of Sir Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke
.
Previous members -
Titus Defoe fought as a Roundhead
for the Parliamentary forces, seeing action at the battle of Naseby
, where his friend Jack received horrific face wounds. A committed Leveller
, Defoe and his friends were betrayed by Cromwell's Republic after the war and executed or exiled. Disillusioned by Cromwell's actions, Defoe retired from military life and worked a sedan chair around the streets of London
with Jack until he had saved enough money to buy a cottage in Colchester
with his young wife, where they soon had several children. This idyll was shattered in 1666 when a meteor passed over the Southeast of the country, starting the Great Fire
and raising the dead from the ashes. The great and good of society had begun receiving visits in their dreams from beings who claimed to be angels for some years before the disaster, and had been forewarned of the imminent catastrophe. The poor were not so lucky, and were left to their fate. Defoe's wife and children were among them, and lost their lives to the zombie hordes. Defoe joined the employ of the lately restored King as a zombie hunter, dedicated to ending the undead scourge and bringing order back to the streets of London.
in concert with fellow zombie hunter Jack Ketch, former hangman, where the trio were saved by the timely arrival of a flying machine.
The machine was manned by Isaac Newton
and Robert Hooke
who, along with Boyle
and other Natural Philosophers
of the Invisible College
, were spearheading the fight against the zombies with new weapons and new technologies - part of the ongoing angelically inspired Renaissance. Defoe informed Newton of his encounter with Jack O' Bite, which seemed to suggest that some marshalling intelligence was controlling the undead hordes. This intelligence was soon revealed; the severed head of Oliver Cromwell
. Cromwell's head led an attack on the King, but was eventually frustrated by Defoe and Newton, who drove back the zombie hordes. A gloating Jack O' Bite revealed to Titus that it was he who was responsible for the death of his wife and child, but the swirl of battle forced the two apart before an enraged Defoe could slay his former friend, Jack promising future retribution.
Defoe slew Cromwell for a second time, thus laying to rest at least some of the ghosts of his past, and Newton decreed Defoe England's new Zombie Hunter General.
, a dung collector and former bare-kuckle fighter who had tasked his two young apprentices to loot the tunnels below the ruins of any forgotten valuables. The boys woke the sleeping evil in the tunnels and released a horde of fire zombies, who slew both the boys and Bendigo.
Fear-the-Lord Jones, meanwhile, had tracked La Voisin to Ipswich
and learnt her true identity, only to be confronted and shot by her. Embarking on a frantic ride back to London, a mortally wounded Fear staggered to Whitehall
to find his brother If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Wouldst-Be-Damned Jones, an agent in the British Secret Service. Managing to impart his information before he died, Damned swore to avenge his brother and track down La Voisin.
Unaware of Fear's fate, Defoe was meanwhile making inquiries among the linkboys and mudlark
s as to 'Mister Quick', their nickname for a mysterious masked figure who stole away young boys that later turned up dead, as hosts to zombie eggs implanted by the self-styled 'Queen of the zombies', La Voisin, the second in command of Mene Tekel. Managing to narrow down Mister Quick's last known attack to a particular coffee house, Defoe realised that one of the patrons who were there that night had to be Mene Tekel himself - the six members of the King's own Cabal
, Damned, and his spymaster Provost.
Later, in the process of closing down an illegal zombie pit fight, he encountered an enigmatic foreign diplomat, Countess Madalena von Konigsberg, or 'Prussian Blue', who seemed to have some measure of control over the undead. She managed to get away, but Defoe was not slow to realise that this was almost certainly La Voisin herself. This was confirmed when he met Damned for the first time shortly afterward, who informed him of Fear's information, namely that La Voisin was operating out of Ipswich with the aid of ten highly intelligent super-zombies, the Diabolonians. The two swore to track down the fiends responsible for Fear's death together.
Back in London, Defoe and Damned made their move at a party held in Nonsuch House
- attended, among others, by La Voisin, Robert Hooke, Samuel Pepys
, and the members of the King's Cabal, one of whom was almost certainly Mene Tekel him(or her)self - William Bedloe
, Colonel Thomas Blood
, Aphra Behn
, Doctor Richard Busby
, Thomas Dangerfield
and Bevil Skelton
. Unbenownst to any of them, however, the Spiriter - lately risen from the dead - had also returned to London in the meantime, and proceeded to release the hordes of undead kept caged at Wapping
, awaiting exportation to the colonies and plantations as cheap manual labour.
While Robert Hooke demonstrated to the guests at the party his 'clockpunks', clockwork automatons with zombie brain matter, Damned and Defoe made their move against La Voisin. She outwitted them both and used her sorcery to take command of the clockpunks before fleeing. Defoe chased La Voisin back through a ballroom become a slaughterhouse, as clockpunks ran rampant, murdering guests with impunity. He succeeded in chasing her down and beheading her, earning vengeance for Fear. When Damned and Aphra Benn managed to escape the burning building, they revealed to Titus the shocking truth - not only was Colonel Blood Mene Tekel, but this was only one of several faces that he had worn in his time - his true identity was Johann Faust.
and Isaac Newton's Mint
, their intent surely to disrupt the alchemical production of gold that kept Britannia the world's principal power, forcing the Brethren to the defence. Ezreel Tonge died in the assault, and only an intervention by the Tower's Ravenmaster and druid
Morvran helped repel an attack by airborne zombies. With the hordes temporarily rebuffed, Defoe was free to attend to the matter of the imminent public execution of the Tower's most dangerous prisoner - Terra Moto, a misshapen monstrosity believed to be an angel trapped halfway when trying to shape shift into a human.
While the Brethren entertained Thomas Brandon, the executioner (son of Richard Brandon
), Morvran slipped away, only to be surprised by a large, pale fish-like monstrosity known as The Pale Rider, who barbarically slew the druid. With Morvran dead and his protective powers no longer in force around the Tower, it was rendered open to angelic interference. On consultation with John Milton, Defoe and Damned realised that The Pale Rider was himself an angel, a seraph
of the first sphere, who had come to prevent Terra Motot revealing the secrets of the angels. They raced to prevent the execution, having realised that Brandon was himself the Seraph. Revealed for what he was, the Seraph discarded Brandon's form and called the undead still waiting outside to his aid. Solomon Eagle died at their hands as the crowd that had gathered to watch the execution fled to safety, leaving Defoe to stand against the Seraph. After a fight in which Terra Moto died, Ketch managed to behead the angel, but the undead were too great a force. As the zombies broke into the Martin Tower and pillaged the Crown Jewels
, the survivors fled into the White Tower
to make their final stand, as an aggrieved Faust looked on and plotted from afar...
with around twenty panels redrawn.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in an eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous story published in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD. He was created by writer Pat Mills
Pat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....
and artist Leigh Gallagher and first appeared in Prog 1540.
Defoe is a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
hunter in an alternative 17th Century London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
overrun by plagues of zombies after a comet struck England in 1666. Defoe and his companions keep the undead plagues at bay using weapons devised by the likes of Sir Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
.
The King's Men
- Titus Defoe - Zombie Hunter General
- Fear-The-Lord Jones - An earnest young reporter who befriended Defoe.
- Sir Isaac Newton
- Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
- If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Wouldst-Be-Damned Jones - Brother of Fear-The-Lord, and a British espionage agent.
- Sir Joseph Williamson - 'Provost', Damned's spymasterSpymasterA spymaster is a ring leader of a spy ring, run by a secret service.-Historical spymasters:*Dai Li *Francis Walsingham *James Jesus Angleton *Joseph Peters...
and head of the Secret Service - Gabriel Grubb - Isaac Newton's dogsbody and former chief warden of BedlamBethlem Royal HospitalThe Bethlem Royal Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in London, United Kingdom and part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Although no longer based at its original location, it is recognised as the world's first and oldest institution to specialise in mental illnesses....
- Aphra BehnAphra BehnAphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
- Poet, writer, British espionage agent and sometime lover of Damned Jones - The Vizards - A group of young men and women with aethericAether (classical element)According to ancient and medieval science aether , also spelled æther or ether, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.-Mythological origins:...
powers of flight and strength, their identities a secret - but believed to include Judge Jeffreys and Nell Gwynn. Mortal enemies of the Diabolonians
The Dirty Dozenne
The band of 12 zombie slayers led by Defoe:- Martha Hopkins - Witchfinder, widow of Matthew HopkinsMatthew HopkinsMatthew Hopkins was an English witchhunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament...
and second in command of the Brethren - Mister Bodie - AetherAether (classical element)According to ancient and medieval science aether , also spelled æther or ether, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.-Mythological origins:...
marine, veteran of MedwayRaid on the MedwayThe Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...
and LowestoftBattle of LowestoftThe naval Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size commanded by James Stuart, Duke of York forty...
and former pressganger - Jack KetchJack KetchJohn Ketch was an infamous English executioner employed by King Charles II. An immigrant of Irish extraction, he became famous through the way he performed his duties during the tumults of the 1680s, when he was often mentioned in broadsheet accounts that circulated throughout the Kingdom of...
- The infamous hangman - Tomazine Scarlet - 'The Sea Wolf'. Irish Pirate, lover of Charles VaneCharles VaneCharles Vane was an English pirate who preyed upon English and French shipping. His pirate career lasted from 1716 - 1719. His flagship was a brigantine named the Ranger....
, spared the gallows after pleading her bellyPleading the bellyPleading the belly was a process available at English common law, which permitted women pregnant with late stage fetuses to receive a reprieve of their death sentences until delivery... - Mungo Gallowgrass - Anatomist and necrophiliaNecrophiliaNecrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses,It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from the ancient Greek words: νεκρός and φιλία...
c - The Bishop - The Reverend Theophilus Forrest, former Bishop of the Cells at Newgate PrisonNewgate PrisonNewgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
- Nathaniel Strange - A Winged HussarHussarHussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
, formerly a road knight - The Butcher - Josiah Creely, the 'Butcher of Soho'
- Frenchy - Henri Sanson, Monsieur the Connoisseur, a French cannibal
Previous members -
- The Spiriter - Silas Scrimgeour, child-catcher - see The Undead
- The Tomb Rat - Ezreel Tonge, ranterRanterThe Ranters were an alleged sect in the time of the English Commonwealth who were regarded as heretical by the established Church of that period...
, lives in a tomb and frequently speaks in tonguesGlossolaliaGlossolalia or speaking in tongues is the fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables, often as part of religious practice. The significance of glossolalia has varied with time and place, with some considering it a part of a sacred language...
. Eaten by a zombie crocodile during the battle for the Tower. - Solomon Eagle - A phlogistonPhlogiston theoryThe phlogiston theory , first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an obsolete scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called "phlogiston", which was contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion...
weapon specialist and New Model ArmyNew Model ArmyThe New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
veteran. Killed during the battle for the Tower.
The Undead
- Mene Tekel, or Mister Quick - The power behind the undead hordes
- La Voisin - Countess Madalena Von Konigsberg, also known as 'Prussian Blue'. Mene Tekel's second in command, a powerful sorceress, and self-styled 'Queen of the zombies'
- Oliver CromwellOliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
- Returned from the dead and leagued with the zombies in order to revenge himself on the RestorationEnglish RestorationThe Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms... - Baroque - La Voisin's part-clockwork bodyguard, veteran of the Battle of MagdeburgSack of MagdeburgThe Sack of Magdeburg refers to the siege and subsequent plundering of the largely Protestant city of Magdeburg by the forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League during the Thirty Years' War...
- Jack O'Bite - Once Titus' best friend, now a Lieutenant of the zombie hordes
- The Diabolonians - Twelve highly intelligent 'super zombies', mortal enemies of the Vizards.
- The Spiriter - Silas Scrimgeour, formerly of the Brethren of the Night, killed by the Diabolonians and resurrected by La Voisin.
Plot
During the Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
Titus Defoe fought as a Roundhead
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
for the Parliamentary forces, seeing action at the battle of Naseby
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On 14 June 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.-The Campaign:...
, where his friend Jack received horrific face wounds. A committed Leveller
Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...
, Defoe and his friends were betrayed by Cromwell's Republic after the war and executed or exiled. Disillusioned by Cromwell's actions, Defoe retired from military life and worked a sedan chair around the streets of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with Jack until he had saved enough money to buy a cottage in Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
with his young wife, where they soon had several children. This idyll was shattered in 1666 when a meteor passed over the Southeast of the country, starting the Great Fire
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
and raising the dead from the ashes. The great and good of society had begun receiving visits in their dreams from beings who claimed to be angels for some years before the disaster, and had been forewarned of the imminent catastrophe. The poor were not so lucky, and were left to their fate. Defoe's wife and children were among them, and lost their lives to the zombie hordes. Defoe joined the employ of the lately restored King as a zombie hunter, dedicated to ending the undead scourge and bringing order back to the streets of London.
1666
Called to what seemed a routine zombie outbreak, Defoe first re-encountered his former friend Jack, now Jack O' Bite, an undead ghoul and zombie lieutenant. Shadowed, somewhat to his chagrin, by intrepid young reporter Fear-the-Lord Jones, Defoe repelled a zombie outbreak at the ruin of St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
in concert with fellow zombie hunter Jack Ketch, former hangman, where the trio were saved by the timely arrival of a flying machine.
The machine was manned by Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
and Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
who, along with Boyle
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...
and other Natural Philosophers
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of the Invisible College
Invisible College
The Invisible College has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London, consisting of a number of natural philosophers around Robert Boyle...
, were spearheading the fight against the zombies with new weapons and new technologies - part of the ongoing angelically inspired Renaissance. Defoe informed Newton of his encounter with Jack O' Bite, which seemed to suggest that some marshalling intelligence was controlling the undead hordes. This intelligence was soon revealed; the severed head of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
. Cromwell's head led an attack on the King, but was eventually frustrated by Defoe and Newton, who drove back the zombie hordes. A gloating Jack O' Bite revealed to Titus that it was he who was responsible for the death of his wife and child, but the swirl of battle forced the two apart before an enraged Defoe could slay his former friend, Jack promising future retribution.
Defoe slew Cromwell for a second time, thus laying to rest at least some of the ghosts of his past, and Newton decreed Defoe England's new Zombie Hunter General.
Brethren of the Night
Now head of an elite team of specialist zombie hunters known as the Dirty Dozenne, or Brethren of the Night, Defoe was leading a pro-active campaign of eradication of zombie nests as part of the ongoing reclamation of those parts of London destroyed by the 1666 comet. It was at the ruins of the former Royal Exchange that they encountered Gonoph BendigoWilliam Thompson (boxer)
William Abednego Thompson was an English bare-knuckle boxer.-Early life:Born in Sneinton, Nottingham in 1811, Thompson was one of a set of triplets named Abednego, Shadrach and Meshak, after the young men in the Book of Daniel who emerged from the fiery furnace of Babylon...
, a dung collector and former bare-kuckle fighter who had tasked his two young apprentices to loot the tunnels below the ruins of any forgotten valuables. The boys woke the sleeping evil in the tunnels and released a horde of fire zombies, who slew both the boys and Bendigo.
Fear-the-Lord Jones, meanwhile, had tracked La Voisin to Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
and learnt her true identity, only to be confronted and shot by her. Embarking on a frantic ride back to London, a mortally wounded Fear staggered to Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
to find his brother If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Wouldst-Be-Damned Jones, an agent in the British Secret Service. Managing to impart his information before he died, Damned swore to avenge his brother and track down La Voisin.
Unaware of Fear's fate, Defoe was meanwhile making inquiries among the linkboys and mudlark
Mudlark
A Mudlark is someone who scavenges in river mud for items of value, especially in London during the late 18th and 19th centuries.Mudlarks would search in the muddy shores of the River Thames during low tide, scavenging for anything that could be resold and sometimes, when occasion offered,...
s as to 'Mister Quick', their nickname for a mysterious masked figure who stole away young boys that later turned up dead, as hosts to zombie eggs implanted by the self-styled 'Queen of the zombies', La Voisin, the second in command of Mene Tekel. Managing to narrow down Mister Quick's last known attack to a particular coffee house, Defoe realised that one of the patrons who were there that night had to be Mene Tekel himself - the six members of the King's own Cabal
Cabal Ministry
The Cabal Ministry refers to a group of high councillers of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to circa 1674.The term "Cabal" has a double meaning in this context. It refers to the fact that, for perhaps the first time in English history, effective power in a royal council...
, Damned, and his spymaster Provost.
Later, in the process of closing down an illegal zombie pit fight, he encountered an enigmatic foreign diplomat, Countess Madalena von Konigsberg, or 'Prussian Blue', who seemed to have some measure of control over the undead. She managed to get away, but Defoe was not slow to realise that this was almost certainly La Voisin herself. This was confirmed when he met Damned for the first time shortly afterward, who informed him of Fear's information, namely that La Voisin was operating out of Ipswich with the aid of ten highly intelligent super-zombies, the Diabolonians. The two swore to track down the fiends responsible for Fear's death together.
Queen of the Zombies
Defoe and the Brethren of the Night tracked La Vosion to Ipswich and encountered the Diabolonians in their coffins, slaying all ten super-zombies - but not without the loss of one of their own number, the Spiriter, whose heart was torn from his chest. La Voison fled unharmed, but the Brethren were able to track her back to London and thus learn her true identity, Defoe realising that she was indeed the same woman he had met some months earlier.Back in London, Defoe and Damned made their move at a party held in Nonsuch House
Nonsuch House
The four-story Nonsuch House on London Bridge, completed in 1579, is the earliest documented prefabricated building. It was originally constructed in the Netherlands, taken apart and shipped to London in pieces in 1578, where it was reassembled. Each timber was marked so that it could be...
- attended, among others, by La Voisin, Robert Hooke, Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, and the members of the King's Cabal, one of whom was almost certainly Mene Tekel him(or her)self - William Bedloe
William Bedloe
William Bedloe was an English fraudster and informer, born at Chepstow.He appears to have been well educated; he was certainly clever, and after moving to London in 1670 he became acquainted with some Jesuits and was occasionally employed by them...
, Colonel Thomas Blood
Thomas Blood
Colonel Thomas Blood was an Irish colonel best known for attempting to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671...
, Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
, Doctor Richard Busby
Richard Busby
The Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years.-Life:...
, Thomas Dangerfield
Thomas Dangerfield
Thomas Dangerfield was an English conspirator.Dangerfield was born about 1650 at Waltham Abbey, Essex, the son of a farmer...
and Bevil Skelton
Bevil Skelton
Bevil Skelton was a British foreign envoy and diplomat.Probably descended from the Skeltons of Armthwaite Castle, Cumberland, Bevil Skelton began his career as a colonel in the British Army, eventually rising to the position of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal English Regiment in France from 1672...
. Unbenownst to any of them, however, the Spiriter - lately risen from the dead - had also returned to London in the meantime, and proceeded to release the hordes of undead kept caged at Wapping
Wapping
Wapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...
, awaiting exportation to the colonies and plantations as cheap manual labour.
While Robert Hooke demonstrated to the guests at the party his 'clockpunks', clockwork automatons with zombie brain matter, Damned and Defoe made their move against La Voisin. She outwitted them both and used her sorcery to take command of the clockpunks before fleeing. Defoe chased La Voisin back through a ballroom become a slaughterhouse, as clockpunks ran rampant, murdering guests with impunity. He succeeded in chasing her down and beheading her, earning vengeance for Fear. When Damned and Aphra Benn managed to escape the burning building, they revealed to Titus the shocking truth - not only was Colonel Blood Mene Tekel, but this was only one of several faces that he had worn in his time - his true identity was Johann Faust.
A Murder of Angels
Led by the zombie Spiriter, the undead from Wapping besieged the TowerTower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
and Isaac Newton's Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
, their intent surely to disrupt the alchemical production of gold that kept Britannia the world's principal power, forcing the Brethren to the defence. Ezreel Tonge died in the assault, and only an intervention by the Tower's Ravenmaster and druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
Morvran helped repel an attack by airborne zombies. With the hordes temporarily rebuffed, Defoe was free to attend to the matter of the imminent public execution of the Tower's most dangerous prisoner - Terra Moto, a misshapen monstrosity believed to be an angel trapped halfway when trying to shape shift into a human.
While the Brethren entertained Thomas Brandon, the executioner (son of Richard Brandon
Richard Brandon
Richard Brandon was a 17th century English hangman who inherited his role from his father Gregory Brandon and was sometimes known as "Young Gregory"...
), Morvran slipped away, only to be surprised by a large, pale fish-like monstrosity known as The Pale Rider, who barbarically slew the druid. With Morvran dead and his protective powers no longer in force around the Tower, it was rendered open to angelic interference. On consultation with John Milton, Defoe and Damned realised that The Pale Rider was himself an angel, a seraph
Seraph
A seraph is a type of celestial being in Judaism and Christianity...
of the first sphere, who had come to prevent Terra Motot revealing the secrets of the angels. They raced to prevent the execution, having realised that Brandon was himself the Seraph. Revealed for what he was, the Seraph discarded Brandon's form and called the undead still waiting outside to his aid. Solomon Eagle died at their hands as the crowd that had gathered to watch the execution fled to safety, leaving Defoe to stand against the Seraph. After a fight in which Terra Moto died, Ketch managed to behead the angel, but the undead were too great a force. As the zombies broke into the Martin Tower and pillaged the Crown Jewels
Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
The collective term Crown Jewels denotes the regalia and vestments worn by the sovereign of the United Kingdom during the coronation ceremony and at other state functions...
, the survivors fled into the White Tower
White Tower (Tower of London)
The White Tower is a central tower, the old keep, at the Tower of London.-History:The castle which later became known as the Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror in 1066. It began as a timber fortification enclosed by a palisade. In the next decade work began on the White Tower, the...
to make their final stand, as an aggrieved Faust looked on and plotted from afar...
Appearances
Defoe has so far appeared in four serials (all written by Pat Mills with art by Leigh Gallagher), the first two of which have been collected into a trade paperbackTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
with around twenty panels redrawn.
- Defoe: 1666 (ISBN 1906735107) collects:
- "1666" (in 2000 AD #1540-1549, 2007)
- "Brethren of the Night" (#1589-1598, 2008)
- Queen of the Zombies (ISBN 1907992472) collects:
- "Queen of the Zombies" (#1640-1649, 2009)
- "A Murder of Angels" (#1700-1709, 2010)
Historical characters referenced in Defoe
Besides the principal (mostly fictional) characters, Defoe is littered with references to a vast number of notable historical figures. Some feature prominently as characters in their own right, others warrant only a passing mention. They include the following:- 1666
- Charles IICharles II of EnglandCharles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
, John Ketch, Richard BusbyRichard BusbyThe Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years.-Life:...
, Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, Leonardo Da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, Christopher WrenChristopher WrenSir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
, Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
, La Voisin, John MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, Francis BaconFrancis BaconFrancis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
, John DeeJohn DeeJohn Dee was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.John Dee may also refer to:* John Dee , Basketball coach...
, Heinrich Cornelius AgrippaHeinrich Cornelius AgrippaHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.-Life:Agrippa was born in Cologne in 1486...
, ParacelsusParacelsusParacelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....
, Nicolas Flamel, Robert BoyleRobert BoyleRobert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...
, Oliver CromwellOliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, Charles ICharles I of EnglandCharles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, Christiaan Huygens, Robert LockierRobert LockyerRobert Lockyer was an English soldier in Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. A Leveller, he was the only soldier executed for his involvement in the Bishopsgate mutiny....
, Hernán CortésHernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
.
- Charles II
- Brethren of the Night
- Matthew HopkinsMatthew HopkinsMatthew Hopkins was an English witchhunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament...
, William ThompsonWilliam Thompson (boxer)William Abednego Thompson was an English bare-knuckle boxer.-Early life:Born in Sneinton, Nottingham in 1811, Thompson was one of a set of triplets named Abednego, Shadrach and Meshak, after the young men in the Book of Daniel who emerged from the fiery furnace of Babylon...
, Ben CauntBen CauntBen Caunt was a 19th century English bare-knuckle boxer who became the "heavyweight" boxing champion known as the "Torkard Giant" and "Big Ben".-Early life:...
, NeroNeroNero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, AugustusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, TiberiusTiberiusTiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
, Aphra BehnAphra BehnAphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
, John EvelynJohn EvelynJohn Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, John GadburyJohn GadburyJohn Gadbury was an English astrologer, and a prolific writer of almanacs and on other related topics. Initially a follower or disciple, and a defender in the 1650s, of William Lilly, he eventually turned against Lilly and denounced him in 1675 as fraudulent.His 1652 Philastrogus Knavery...
, Judge Jeffreys, Thomas RainsboroughThomas RainsboroughThomas Rainsborough , or Rainborough or Raineborough or Rainborowe or Rainbow or Rainborow, was a prominent figure in the English Civil War, and was the leading spokesman of the Levellers in the Putney Debates.-Life:He was the son of William Rainsborough, a captain and Vice-Admiral in the Royal...
, Bevil SkeltonBevil SkeltonBevil Skelton was a British foreign envoy and diplomat.Probably descended from the Skeltons of Armthwaite Castle, Cumberland, Bevil Skelton began his career as a colonel in the British Army, eventually rising to the position of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal English Regiment in France from 1672...
, Thomas BloodThomas BloodColonel Thomas Blood was an Irish colonel best known for attempting to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671...
, Thomas DangerfieldThomas DangerfieldThomas Dangerfield was an English conspirator.Dangerfield was born about 1650 at Waltham Abbey, Essex, the son of a farmer...
, William BedloeWilliam BedloeWilliam Bedloe was an English fraudster and informer, born at Chepstow.He appears to have been well educated; he was certainly clever, and after moving to London in 1670 he became acquainted with some Jesuits and was occasionally employed by them...
, John BunyanJohn BunyanJohn Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...
.
- Matthew Hopkins
- Queen of the Zombies
- Ferdinand VerbiestFerdinand VerbiestFather Ferdinand Verbiest was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in Flanders, later part of the modern state of Belgium. He is known as Nan Huairen in Chinese...
, Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, Christopher MarloweChristopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
, Johann Faust.
- Ferdinand Verbiest
- A Murder of Angels
- Nell GwynNell GwynEleanor "Nell" Gwyn was a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England. Called "pretty, witty Nell" by Samuel Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England and has come to be considered a folk heroine, with a story echoing the rags-to-royalty tale of...
, Richard BrandonRichard BrandonRichard Brandon was a 17th century English hangman who inherited his role from his father Gregory Brandon and was sometimes known as "Young Gregory"...
, Dom PerignonDom Pérignon (person)Dom Pierre Pérignon, O.S.B., was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still and red...
, Talbot Edwards.
- Nell Gwyn
External links
- Leigh Gallagher's blog
- Pat Mills on Defoe, 2000 AD Review, August 21, 2009
- Q&A with Defoe's Leigh Gallagher, 2000 AD Review, October 18, 2009
- Trade Review – Defoe, Vol. 1: 1666 by Pat Mills and Leigh Gallagher, Hypergeek, August 25, 2009