King Mob is a fictional character

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...

, a revolutionary created by Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...

 for The Invisibles

The Invisibles

The Invisibles is a comic book series that was published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics from 1994 to 2000. It was created and scripted by Scottish writer Grant Morrison, and drawn by various artists throughout its publication....

.

Character development

The character's name is inspired by the Situationist group King Mob

King Mob

King Mob was a radical group endeavouring to contribute to worldwide proletarian social revolution, based in London during the 1970s.It was a cultural mutation of the Situationists and the anarchist group Motherfuckers. They sought to emphasize the cultural anarchy and disorder being ignored in...

, as well as Morrison himself (as a part of a sigil

Sigil

Sigil may refer to:*Sigil , a type of symbol used in magic*Sigil , a symbol that must be attached to a variable name in some programming languages*A seal...

 to improve his life.) He is also Gideon Stargrave

Gideon Stargrave

Gideon Stargrave is a comics character created by Grant Morrison in 1978 for the anthology comic Near Myths.The character is based on Jerry Cornelius, as well as J. G...

, one of Morrison's early creations. Some elements of his personality, especially his Gideon persona, are inspired by J. G. Ballard

J. G. Ballard

James Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction...

's "The Day of Forever

The Day of Forever

The Day of Forever, is a short-story collection by J. G. Ballard. It contains the following stories:*"The Day of Forever"*"Prisoner of the Coral Deep"*"Tomorrow is a Million Years"*"The Man on the 99th Floor"*"The Waiting Grounds"...

" and by Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....

's Jerry Cornelius

Jerry Cornelius

Jerry Cornelius is a fictional secret agent and adventurer created by science fiction / fantasy author Michael Moorcock. Cornelius is a hipster of ambiguous and occasionally polymorphous sexuality. Many of the same characters feature in each of several Cornelius books, though the individual books...

.

Fictional character biography

King Mob is a former horror writer named Gideon Starorzewski whose pen name was "Kirk Morrison". He is the leader of the cell of Invisibles at the beginning of the series, and adopted the name from an earlier Invisible active in the 1930s. He has a love-hate relationship with his "counter culture terrorist" persona, and is sometimes troubled by his capacity for violence.

He recruits a young Liverpudlian "Jack Frost" to the cell so they can go back in time and recruit the Marquis de Sade

Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...

 as well. Captured while saving Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny (comics)

Lord Fanny is a fictional character in the comic book series The Invisibles, a series published by DC Comics as a part of that company's Vertigo imprint. She is a shaman and a trans woman.-History:...

, King Mob is tortured by Sir Miles Delacourt, during which he has a vision or hallucination of an alien spaceship in Australia. King Mob psychically forces Delacourt to free him.

While sneaking into the Dulce installation, King Mob finds out that the "Lost Ones" are using "living information" from a parallel universe to sow chaos and discord in King Mob's own. After his friend and lover Ragged Robin

Ragged Robin (comics)

Ragged Robin is a fictional comic book character created by Grant Morrison for The Invisibles.-Character history:Born in 1988, she joined the Invisibles at the age of 20 in 2008, when Mason Lang found her in a mental asylum. In 2012, she returned to 1990 in a "timesuit", making her the first person...

 leaves his time for the future, King Mob makes some steps towards abandoning violence as a tactic by dropping his gun in a pond on the property of Mason Lang; however he also later blows up Lang's house.

After an extended sabbatical in Ladakh, King Mob returns once more to England, in time to intervene in Miles Delacourt's anointing of the Moonchild

Moonchild

Moonchild is a novel written by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by the protagonist Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians over an unborn child...

 and to rescue Jack Frost from operatives of "Division X", during which King Mob is gravely wounded, although he is saved by the widow of a man he had killed.

In 2012, King Mob runs Technoccult and plans to release a inhaler-game based on his life in the Invisibles. King Mob then kills the King-of-All-Tears as "The Archon" emerges from the time disturbance created when Ragged Robin departed for the future. Robin herself then emerges, and she and King Mob are reunited.

He is a practised chaos magic

Chaos magic

Chaos magic is a school of the modern magical tradition which emphasizes the pragmatic use of belief systems and the creation of new and unorthodox methods.-General principles:...

ian, psychic combatant, gunfighter, martial artist and time traveller.