Desadia (Gabriel the Devil-Hunter ally)

DESADIA

Real Name: Desadia

Identity/Class: Human, unclassified ESP

Occupation: Assistant to Gabriel

Affiliations: Gabriel the Devil-Hunter (former partner); Andrea Gabriel (linked to her spirit); Charlotte Christopher, Dr. Craig Miller (business associates)

Enemies: Vermiphage (possible captor); Belial, Catherine, Mr. Chesterton, Satan (or a demon using his name), We of the Darkness and Slime, and other unnamed demons

Known Relatives: Gabriel (sort of her husband)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: currently unknown; formerly an office in the thirteenth floor of the Empire State Building, New York City

First Appearance: Haunt of Horror#2 (July, 1974)

Powers: Desadia has limited powers of precognition and clairvoyance, but they are somewhat sporadic and unpredictable. She usually just seems to know things, but there are others things "she does not wish to know."
She was formerly possessed by Andrea Gabriel. Desadia possessed all of Andrea's memories, but none of her own. After Andrea left her, she had no memories at all.

History: Desadia's origins are unknown. She has no memories of her past before meeting Gabriel.

(Monsters Unleashed#11(fb))-Gabriel's wife, Andrea, was possessed by the demon known as Catherine, who forced her to take her own life. Gabriel entered the priesthood, but was also possessed by Catherine. He cast her out, but lost his own right eye in the struggle. He quit the priesthood.
As Gabriel left the cathedral, Desadia stepped from the shadows to greet him for the first time, speaking the words and using the voice of his dead wife, Andrea.

Desadia became Gabriel's partner in his career as an exorcist.

(HoH#2)-Desadia notified Gabriel imminent visit of Father Lazar, regarding the possession of Father Artemis.

(HoH#3)-Desadia accompanied Gabriel to exorcise the demons We of the Darkness and Slime from Veronica Miller. She knew that Daimon would fail, but comforted Veronica's father, Dr. Miller, while Gabriel did his work. Gabriel exorcised the demons, who then possessed Dr. Miller, and covered Desadia in a smothering web of slime. Dr. Miller had anticipated that the demons would take him next, so he had taken poison. As he died, so did the demons trapped within him, and Desadia was freed from their trap.

(HoH#4/5)-Gabriel and Desadia traveled to London for an exorcism. This time Desadia knew that she would fail Gabriel, but that she would be needed nonetheless. While en route, the demon took control of Desadia, but Gabriel was able to drive it out by shocking her with a hard slap across the face. They eventually tracked Chesterton to Stonehenge, from which he was leading a black mass. When Gabriel confronted the demon, it had possessed Chesterton. It then claimed to be Satan, slew the rest of the Satanists, and mocked their worship. Gabriel tried to have Desadia kiss the possessed Chesterton, so her love would drive it out, but she couldn't bring her to do it because the demon had transformed his face into a hideous demonic form. Gabriel instead used the power of his love to force the demon out (he didn't have to kiss the demon, though...whew).

(HoH#5)-Desadia found Gabriel completely drunk in a bar after he had been missing for several weeks. He had been tortured by dreams and had sunken deep into despair. Desadia pulled Gabriel out of the bottle and got him back to work, and they soon exorcised the unnamed demon possessing the infant Jenny Christopher.

(MonstUnl#11)-<January 16, 1975>-Desadia sensed the possession of the corpse of Esteban Ramirez by the demon Belial, and brought Gabriel to stop it. After Gabriel exorcised Belial, Andrea Gabriel's death certificate spontaneously combusted (mmm...symbolic), and Gabriel finally accepted Desadia as his wife.

(Fantastic Four#222)-Desadia contacted Gabriel to inform him of Nicholas Scratch's possession of Franklin Richards, the son or Reed and Sure Richards.

(Marvel Comics Presents#106/4)-Desadia found Gabriel severely weaknened and demoralized from his endless torment by demons. She convinced him to try to stop the demon possessing Bill Bohannon. In the course of the struggle, Desadia was knocked unconscious by the demon. Andrea's spirit left Desadia to join with Gabriel to bolster his spirit, allowing him to defeat the demon (who was actually Catherine, the demon who had possessed and killed Andrea). Upon recovery, Desadia, no longer possessed/inhabited by Andrea, now found herself without any memories. Gabriel realized it was now his turn to be strong for the both of them.

Gabriel didn't do so well at being strong, and Desadia was somehow eventually lost to him, stolen by the forces of evil. (revealed in Hellstorm#2)

(Hs9)-Gabriel's faith, now virtually non-existent, took another crushing blow after falling for the crusade of Rev. Joshua Crow. He got drunk again and was soon haunted by the spirit of Desadia, who pushed him to commit suicide. Gabriel actually had the gun in his mouth and was considering it, when Desadia told him that "Vermiphage is still laughing." Realizing that this was no hallucination, he shattered his bottle of liquor, and vowed to save Desadia. (the real Desadia under control of demonic forces? demons possessing as Desadia? drunken hallucinations? Any or all of the above?)

Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Billy Graham.

You can get more relevant info in the profile on Gabriel.

Len Kaminski left the Hellstorm series before he could elaborate on Vermiphage, but the story made it appear that Vermiphage was the demon who had taken Desadia. If you see Len, tell him to please elaborate (or better yet, to do a folow-up story).

I don't know how they came up with the name Desadia, but it seems close to the De Sade, the Marquis from whom was derived the word sadism (taking sexual pleasure from the pain of others, or at least enjoying the pain of others) ...or I'm just WAY, WAY off. It seems like a good creepy horror name, but if that was her true nature, they kept it behind the scenes.

I'm not certain, but I'm guessing that the Empire State Building has no thirteenth floor. I'd guess that would just add to Gabriel's mystery.

I was going to make some comment about Gabriel and Andrea calling themselves Spouse Voodoo...but I didn't

Clarifications:

Andrea Gabriel was Gabriels' wife. She was possessed by the demon Catherine and forced to kill herself. After Gabriel defeated Catherine, Andrea's spirit came to somehow inhabit the body of a woman known only as Desadia. As Desadia, it was a long time before Gabriel finally accepted her as his wife again. Andrea left Desadia's form to strengthen Gabriel and help him again defeat Catherine when she was possessing Bill Bohannon, a candidate for president. Her form came to reside in Gabriel for a period of time, strengthening his spirit which had atrophied over time
--Monsters Unleashed#11 (11(fb), MCP#106/4. (most of Desadia's appearances would also be appearances for Andrea).
--Her photo says, "Gabriel, I have seen you and you have closed my eyes to all else. Love, Andrea"

Last updated: 12/19/01

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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