MAD JIM JASPERS (EARTH-238)

Real Name:  Sir James Jaspers 

Identity/Class:  Extradimensional (Earth-238) human mutant

Occupation: Bank robber, destroyer of realities, (former) Member of Parliament

Group Membership: Leader of the Crazy Gang, (former) member of unspecified political party

Affiliations: Designer of the Fury. 

Enemies: Captain Britain of Earth-616, Captain U.K., Jackdaw, Lord Mandragon,
the police of Earth-238, the superheroes of Earth-238.

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: Crooked Man, Lord Jim

Base of Operations: The Crazy Gang's Flying Teapot, Earth-238

First Appearance: Marvel Superheroes#377 (September, 1981)  

Powers/Abilities: Able to change reality with a thought -- virtually limitless ability. It took the destruction of his entire dimension to kill him. Genius in areas of robotics and genetics (designed the Fury) and possibly other fields. Carried a variety of explosive and gas filled teapots prior to revealing full extent of his abilities. 

History: (BTS) - Sir James Jaspers, respected member of Parliament, launched a campaign to ban superheroes with a stirring speech on television.

(Marvel Superheroes#388 (fb)) - He continued to lead a campaign against superheroes under the slogan "If they were honest they wouldn't wear masks." Under his influence superheroes were outlawed and marked for extermination. Jaspers designed the Fury, a machine whose only purpose was to destroy superpowered individuals. Within two years it had killed every superhero on the planet, leaving only Jaspers, whom it was programmed to ignore, alone.

(BTS) - Having succeeded in his initial goal, Jaspers left Parliament and became Mad Jim Jaspers, a crook and bank robber who lead the "Alice in Wonderland" themed Crazy Gang.

(Marvel Superheroes#377) - Captain Britain and Jackdaw were sent from Otherworld to Earth-238 by Merlyn. They landed in the middle of a bank robbery being carried out by the Crazy Gang. Jaspers introduced himself to the hero, and after the fight had moved into the street outside, he hit the Captain with an exploding tea-pot. Hearing police sirens, he ordered the gang to flee, covering their escape back to the Flying Teapot with a smokescreen tea-pot.

(Marvel Superheroes#386) - Some time later, Earth-238 was exposed to "the Push" by Saturnyne's operatives, bringing the backwards world a much needed evolutionary boost. However as the heroes celebrated their successful mission, Mad Jim Jaspers, forgotten by all concerned, opened the floodgates on his twisted mind, unleashing a reality warp that washed across his world like a tidal wave, leaving a nightmare in its wake.

(Marvel Superheroes#387) - Saturnyne and her men had fled Earth-238 in the face of the Jasper's Warp, and Jackdaw had been killed by the Fury. Captain Britain, his arm broken by the cybiote, was startled when the fight was interrupted by the arrival of Mad Jim Jaspers in his Flying Teapot, who offered him a lift and the answers to the weirdness that had engulfed everything.

(Marvel Superheroes#388) - Once the hero was on board, Jaspers explained how he caused the death of all the heroes on his Earth. He explained that his mutant mind could bend reality, and that it was getting stronger all the time, before subjecting his guest to horrifying visions of all the people he had seen die while on this world. Captain Britain fled in terror and fell out of the Teapot into the Heroes Graveyard.

(Daredevils#6 - BTS) - Reality in the Twisted World continued to break down, with the madness rapidly spreading to other worlds in its continuum. Fearing that the entire universe in which Earth-238 resided may be contaminated, and that the blight might spread even to other universes, Lord Mandragon, the new Omniversal Majestrix, destroyed Earth-238's entire continuum.

Comments: Created by David Thorpe and Alan Davis, with major input from Alan Moore.

Jaspers doesn't actually appear after Marvel Superheroes#388, but since Daredevils#6 marks the end of his reality, his Jaspers Warp and presumably him, I felt it should be included in his history.

The Jaspers of Earth-616 was a member of the Conservative Party, but there is nothing to suggest that this was also the case for the one on Earth-238. Indeed, the only political party we know exists in that reality was the British National Party, and there are no indications whether that had been Jaspers' Party or not.

In the Crazy Gang, Jaspers filled the role of the Mad Hatter, as seen by his constant changes of head gear throughout MS#388.
Useless trivia du jour: "Mad as a Hatter" comes from the insanity caused by the use of mercury in hats in the past. Hatters obviously had a higher dose of the liquid metal and thus were the most frequent victims--Snood.

Jim Jaspers seems to be based on the British comedian Terry Thomas.
--Per Degaton

Profile by Loki

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mad Jim Jaspers of Earth-238 should be differentiated from Mad Jim Jaspers of Earth-616, his counterpart on that world. Both have been referred to as the Crooked Man. They have no known connections to

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Other appearances:
Marvel Superheroes#386 (1982) - Dave Thorpe (writer), Alan Davis (artist), Bernie Jaye (editor)
Marvel Superheroes#387-388 (1982) - Alan Davis (#387) & Alan Moore (writer), Alan Davis (artist), Bernie Jaye (editor)
Daredevils#6 (June, 1983) - Alan Moore (writer), Alan Davis (artist), Bernie Jaye (editor)

Last updated: 12/10/02

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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