Enemies: Dr. Zero, Lenard, Nickels, Lorri Nimyeur, Dirk Ravenscore, Sharkey, Shreck, Skigger, Wikka

Known Relatives: Michael sr (father, deceased?), Mary (mother)

Aliases: Knight of St. George

Base of Operations: mobile; formerly St. Anthony's, Brooklyn, NY;
formerly the Abby of the Order of St. George, Meteora, Greece;
Earth-Shadowline

First Appearance: Power Line#1 (May, 1988)

Powers/Abilities: Michael Devlin wore two different sets of armor, each of which granted him the ability to summon and unleash energy for concussive or destructive effect. If this energy is summoned and not released, it causes a backlash which can injure him. The armor also enables him to sense the presence of Shadows. His ability to use these energies is at least partially dependent on his concentration and his belief in himself and his cause. Doubt not only weakens his resolve, but also diminishes his ability to channel his power.

The armor also has a failsafe used as a final defense against the Shadow being known as Dr. Zero: If Zero unleashes his vacuum effect against one wearing the armor, a powerful energy backlash is turned back on him. This effect has proven to harm both Zero and the wearer of the armor, sometimes fatally.

The armor and its energies also have some degree of addictive qualities, such that after extended wear, it becomes increasingly difficult, and actually excruciatingly painful, to remove. The armor also affords some protection from attack, purely by physically shielding the wearer, and it is apparently limited to the parts of the body actually covered: the head, shoulders, chest, and back.

In addition, Devlin was trained in military forms of armed and unarmed combat, and he was trained and ordained as a Catholic Priest.

History: Michael Devlin is a normal human, born in Cappadonia, PA.

(St. George#3 (fb) - As a young boy, Michael worked a paper route.

(St. George#3 (fb) - Michael enjoyed a day of horseback riding with his parents. His father, the sheriff of Cappadonia, always kept an eye out for him.

(St. George#7 (fb) / 1(fb)) - As an adult, Michael became a priest.  He did some missionary work in various parts of the world. During an effort to help rebuild a town in Nicaragua, Devlin encountered trouble from both the Sandinistas and the Contras. He was captured and interrogated by the Sandinistas, and was rescued by the Merchants, posing as a branch of the CIA. As they flew him away, he fell from a helicopter and was forced to take up arms and kill the enemy soldiers before they could kill him.

(St. George#1 (fb) - BTS) - Father Devlin took a job at St. Anthony's Church, in Brooklyn, New York

(Power Line#1) - While working in a soup kitchen, Father Devlin offered assistance to the group that would become Power Line--Lenore Castle, Victor Guillermos, and Ripley Weaver, but they turned down his offer.

(St. George#8 (fb)) - Father Abbot used his Registry to determine that Michael Devlin would be the next Knight of the Order of St. George.

(St. George#1 (fb)) - Tony Figaro, a youth Devlin had been trying to help guide along the right path, was suddenly abducted by an octopoid Shadow, right in front of Devlin's face, and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it.

(St. George#1) - His frustrations with his role in the priesthood growing--for a number of reasons, it didn't take much prodding for brother Barnabbas, to convince him to learn more about the Order of St. George. Devlin took a leave of absence from the Priesthood, hoping to make a real difference in this new Order. During Devlin's period of training as a Knight of the Order, he overheard Abbot and Barnabbas discussing him and deciding that he was not adequate for the role. Unwilling to give up a chance to be able to act as he needed to, Devlin stole the Knight armor and fled from the Abby--exactly as Abbot and Barnabbas had planned.

(St. George#2) - Devlin rescued Tony Figaro from his captors, who were employees of Dirk Ravenscore. On his way back to the USA, Devlin was attacked by Shreck, Ravenscore's assassin. After several seemingly futile attempts, Devlin managed to tear off Shreck's legs and throw him from a moving train--making Shreck very annoyed with him and turning their struggle into a personal one. 
Devlin later tried to bring himself in tune with the energies of the armor by traveling to Germany's Black Forest. He was nearly overwhelmed by images from the past of the Order, after which he began to question his abandoning of the Priesthood.

(St. George#3) - Returning to the US, Devlin hitchhiked back to Cappadonia. He was driven by Patty Richardson, whom he quickly befriended. Back in his hometown, he visited his mother, and found Cappadonia extremely rundown. He investigated the involvement of Vaciliton Works, and found its boss, Dale Vacilton, under the sway of a Shadow named Lorri Nimyeur, who was pushing him to speed up the decline of the failing town. Devlin fought Nimyeur and her agents, Lenard and Skigger, and slew her and destroyed her base in that town.

(St. George#4, 5) - Devlin and Patty took to the road again, and they stopped off the small town of Miller Creek after hitting a man in their car. They found the town to be under the sway of an evil Shadow known as Wikka, who demanded human sacrifice. Devlin destroyed Wikka, freeing the town from his oppression. Devlin was burnt during the struggle, after having to wade through Wikka's flames, which made his metal armor quite hot.

(St. George#6) - Devlin and Patty hired John Skinwalker to fly them to Venezuela (?)to investigate the fate of Kara Janisery, the last Knight of St. George. Skinwalker was having problems with a loan shark named...Sharkey, and Devlin ended up having to save them from Sharkey's hit man, Nickels.

(St. George#7) - Stopping in Nicaragua, Devlin and his new allies met up with Tomas and some of his other acquaintances from his last trip there. Devlin figured out that the Contras were terrorizing Tomas' village and holding their children hostage to force their silence. Devlin fought off the Contras and freed the children. However, they were eventually forced to flee from the Sandinistas who soon arrived.

(Critical Mass#1) - Devlin, Patty, and Nighthunter fueled up for the remainder of their flight to Venezuela. Devlin had been wearing the armor continuously for some time now, and was beginning to act like a man possessed.

(Critical Mass#2) - Arriving in Venezuela, they began to search for evidence of Kara Janisery. They met up with Barnabbas- as well as the Power Line group who were also meeting with him--who revealed that Kara had been killed in battle with Dr. Zero. Further disillusioned with his new path, Michael forced himself--at great pain--to remove his armor.
 

(Critical Mass#3/2) - While drowning their sorrows at a Venezuelan bar, Devlin found to his dismay that their destination had been discovered by Shreck, who confronted them and then chased them into the jungle. Devlin actually managed to fight off Shreck, but when Patty fell into a pit, he had to remove his armor to squeeze down enough to reach her. Shreck then ambushed him and  knocked him out, and then drug him deep into the jungle, where he crucified him on a large tree.

(Critical Mass#4) - Devlin hung painfully from that tree.

(Critical Mass#5) - As Dr. Zero had forbidden Shreck to kill Devlin, the mercenary left him to die by other means, still staked to that tree. Summoning his courage, Devlin pulled his hands off the spikes and then tracked and ambushed Shreck. The two fought back and forth, each gaining the advantage and then losing it, until Shreck found himself in a piranha infested waterhole. Even after all of this, Devlin tried to save Shreck, but when he gripped the mercenary's arm, he felt him tighten in preparation for tearing his arm off. Devlin let him go and watched as the piranha feasted, until Shreck sank beneath the waters.
Devlin then told Barnabbas that he quit, and he headed back to the US.

(Critical Mass#6, 6/2) - Dr. Zero, mad with anguish after the death of his lover, Sheila Willis, at the hands of Henry Clerk. Attacked the Abby of St. George as retribution for their centuries of plotting against and hindering his plots. Devlin was trying to work out a new life with Patty, but the Order convinced him to work with him for one last mission--involving fighting off Dr. Zero and then stopping the genocidal plot of Clerk.
Devlin reluctantly agreed, but his resolve strengthened as Zero scattered the Priests of the Order who tried to stop him. Devlin didn't even wait until his new armor had cooled after Abbot forged it, but put it on and confronted the old Dragon. Fighting fiercely, yet with strategy in mind, Devlin escalated the conflict with Zero until he used his vacuum power, knowing the resultant backlash might kill them both. Devlin recovered first and managed to convince Zero to stop the fight long enough for him to explain about Clerk's plot. Zero agreed to join forces with him.

(Critical Mass#7 // 7/2 // 7/3) - While Zero, the Power Line, Gordon Castle, and Dirk Ravenscore stopped Clerk and his plot for worldwide nuclear devastation, Devlin and Nighthunter (along with Zero's ally Gregor Gerasimov) helped to save the people of the town. When Zero and Clerk continued to fight as the nuclear plant prepared to meltdown, Devlin knocked them both out and pulled them to the safety of a helicopter.
Despite his previous plans, Devlin realized that he had, at last, realized his true calling, and vowed to stay true to his mission as possibly the last Knight of St. George.
 

Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin, D.G. Chichester, Margaret Clark, and Klaus Janson.

St. George#8 was mostly flashbacks to early Knights, and only briefly mentioned Michael Devlin.

Devlin's hometown, Cappadonia, is an obvious homage to Cappadochia, the city from which the original St. George is purported to have come.

Associate pastors at St. Anthony's include Rev. Frederic Krueger and Rev. Jay Voorhees, names obviously derived from Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, the stars of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" movies.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

• Devlunn, a child @ 1348 who harnessed the power of half of the Resurrection Stone, @ Avengers I#209
• Robocop, to whom--as pointed out by Will U--he has more than a passing resemblance, and who Marvel briefly had a cartoon of in their short-lived Marvel Showcase series.
   

images:

Other appearances:
St. George#1-8 (June, 1988 - August, 1989)
Critical Mass#1-7 (January-July, 1990)

First Posted: 01/16/2003
Last updated: 01/18/2003

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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