Real Name: Wildmoon (first name unrevealed)
PASTOR WILDMOON
Real Name: Wildmoon (first name unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Enhanced human
Occupation: Pastor, founder and leader of the First Church of the Magnetic Anomaly
Group Membership: First Church of the Magnetic
Anomaly;
former priest of unspecified Christian religion (probably Catholic
Church)
Affiliations: Unwitting host to a native of the Baloneyverse, led/oppressed the populace of Mount Pressure (Lemuel, cook and waitress of the Blue Moon Cafe, Cindy and her date, Myrtle and her husband, former reporter) under the religion Organism
Enemies: Cindy's date, Louise "Weezie" Mason, She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), unidentified former reporter, anyone in the Contaminant Bar and Grill
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: First Church of the Magnetic Anomaly, Mount Pressure, Vermont
First Appearance: Sensational She-Hulk#13 (March 1990)
Powers/Abilities: Pastor Wildmoon drew power from the extra-dimensional entity with which he had an unwitting symbiotic relationship. He could generate the Pressure, a severe an immobilizing headache, which he did within anyone who violated the laws of Organism; Wildmoon could sense such transgressions anywhere within the town. He usually followed up with the Holy Quash (which the townsfolk also called the Wrath), which meant the summoning of a large rock to fall from above and crush the victim, usually to death.
Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: 155 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
History:
(Sensational She-Hulk#13 (fb)) - Pastor Wildmoon was originally a conventional
clergyman in the town of Mount Pookie. He was disgusted by violence and impurity
which he felt were seducing the nation into an improper lifestyle. He spoke
out against and organized boycotts of publishers and television sponsors,
but was unsuccessful due to first amendment rights, among other things. This
all changed when the anomaly fell from the sky, blinding Wildmoon with the
blinding light of truth, and imbuing him with power.
Now able to enforce his beliefs, he opened the First Church of the Magnetic Anomaly and founded the religion of Organism, which prohibited the improper use of all organs of perception and promulgation.
(Sensational She-Hulk#13 (fb) - BTS) - Any who broke the rules, via improper speech, actions, etc. were punished by Wildmoon; the lucky ones only suffered the Boycott Treatment, consigned to living among the towns dregs, but many others became victims of the Pressure and even the Holy Quash. In short time, Wildmoon converted the entire town to Organism, even changing the name of the town from the suggestive Mount Pookie to the more appropriate Mount Pressure.
What Wildmoon failed to realize, was that the power did not come from the heavens, but from an extra-dimensional explorer. The anomaly was, in fact, a compaction receptacle, the first of many to arrive on earth, summoned by the mundane mystic Dr.Angst. This receptacle contained the failed pocket universe known as the Baloneyverse. One of the natives, an explorer, had adapted to survive on both the warm cuts of his realm and psychic energy. This explorer had taken residence within the form of Wildmoon, and was slowly increasing in power with each of Wildmoon's Pressure or Quash.
(Sensational
She-Hulk#13) - The She-Hulk and Louise "Weezie" Mason became temporarily
stranded in Mount Pressure after her flying car lost power when they flew
over the anomaly. They quickly learned of the oppression of the town and
confronted Wildmoon in his Church. He told them his origins, and when they
mocked him, he subjected them to the Pressure. However, this energy increased
the power of the entity within him, such that it burst forth from his form,
ripping him to shreds.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Bryan Hitch and Jim Sanders III.
This story served as a prelude to the Cosmic Squish Principle, involving Dr.Angst. I'm don't think any other members of the Baloneyverse possess the mental powers of the explorer that inhabited Wildmoon. The rest of them just like to run around and eat warm meats, such as the sausages floating around in their realm, or any living being that enters it.
The title of the story is Village of the Darned, a nod to the John Wyndham science fiction novel Village of the Damned via Wildmoon's censorship; however, apart from that name, nothing in the story resembles the events of the novel. - Loki
Profile by Snood. Expanded by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Pastor Wildmoon has no known connections to:
First Church of the Magnetic
Anomaly/Organism
Wildmoon's new religion, Organism, was run out of the First Church of the Magnetic Anomaly, and insisted on proper usage of all organs of perception and promulgation - eyes, ears, mouth and presumably nose too. Followers were commanded to look away from corruption, not listen to anything that might shake their faith, and not use any four-letter words, on pain of the Boycott Treatment, the Pressure or the Wrath. The faith's church contained an altar with a yin-yang symbol, behind which stood a statue of "Man Perfected," a Jesus-like figure blindfolded, gagged and with a carrot jammed in each year, representing respectively eyes shuttered to all but virtue, lips which uttered no indecency and ears deaf but to the silent truth.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
An explorer from the Baloneyverse who had adapted to survive on both the warm cuts of his realm and psychic energy, he took up residence within the form of Wildmoon, and was slowly increasing in power with each of Wildmoon's Pressure or Quash and devouring an unaware Wildmoon from within. When Wildmoon unleashed the Pressure on She-Hulk and Weezie, She-Hulk's resisting the attack caused Wildmoon to draw on more of the anomaly's power, finally tipping things over the edge; Wildmoon's form exploded from the inside, revealing the explorer within him. The explorer then summoned the Holy Quash (actually 6-8 of them) against She-Hulk. However, having overcome the Pressure, she was free to move, and rushed to his side, so that the Quashes landed on both of them. She-Hulk, being quite durable, survived the Quash. The explorer did not.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
Lemuel was an autoshop mechanic who ran a Texacon garage and bodyshop in Mount Pressure. He checked over She-Hulk's flying car after it crashed, and promised to recharge the battery and get it flying again. Unlike some of the town's residents, he appeared to be happy about Wildmoon's regime and a willing convert to Organism. When he accidentally caught his fingers while lowering the car's hood, his restraint in avoiding any profanity impressed the She-Hulk, but his vehement reaction to her mentioning this became the first clue that She-Hulk and Weezie had that all was not right in Mount Pressure.
Comments: He's not explicitly named in the story, but his garage has a sign with "emuel's" visible on it. It's certainly possible he's not the owner and thus it's not his name, but given his age and attitude that seems unlikely. Similarly, the first letter is obscured from the reader's view, but there's really no realistic alphabetical alternative option I can think of that would fit the known letters, so it seems a safe bet that the initial is an L.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
The Blue Moon Cafe was a diner in Mount Pressure, where She-Hulk and Weezie went to eat while waiting for Lemuel to recharge their car's battery. While they were there, the grill blew up, setting the unfortunate cook alight. Luckily for him, the quick-thinking visitors to town saved his life; at Weezie's suggestion, She-Hulk tackled the cook and carried him through the diner's front window to extinguish the flames engulfing him in the snow lying outside. His incredible control of his language despite being on fire, avoiding any profanity, was something She-Hulk noted as being suspicious.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
Cindy and her unnamed date were teenagers living in Mount Pressure. While in the town square together, Cindy's date suggested they sneak off to the stables to spoon, but despite the innocuous language, the illicit intent of his proposal was enough to bring down the Pressure on him. As Cindy fled in tears, her date openly pleaded for clemency, promising to be wholesome and uplifting from now on, but his calls for mercy went unheeded. His plight was witnessed by She-Hulk and Weezie, who noted that other townsfolk present seemed to be concerned but not surprised at the boy screaming in pain. Seconds later a bystander noted the Wrath's arrival; spotting a flying rock race towards Cindy's date, turning in the sky as it targeted him, She-Hulk realized the boy was paralyzed by pain and unable to get out the way. She raced forward to save him, but couldn't reach him in time, and witnessed his grisly fate.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
Myrtle and her husband were elderly Mount Pressure residents, and the grandparents of Cindy's unfortunate date. They watched his demise in horror and stood grieving by his remains, though Myrtle's husband stated that he had always known the boy's improper mouth usage would be the death of him, while Myrtle, tears running down her face, vocalized her grief in the reserved manner demanded by Organism.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
A newsman in Mount Pressure, the unidentified reporter made the mistake of writing that he believed Organism might not be the one and only true faith, underestimating the hold Wildmoon and the anomaly had on the townsfolk. Though spared the Pressure (presumably since he'd not actually breached any of Organism's tenets about improper organ usage), his transgression earned him the lesser punishment of the Boycott Treatment, shunned by the majority of the town and forced to live on the bad side of town, run down and derelict. There he frequented the Contaminant Bar and Grill with all the town's other outcasts, permitted some latitude from Organism's rules (they could drink, smoke and share some level of physical intimacy without being subjected to the Pressure or the Wrath), though still prohibited from vocalizing profanity.
She-Hulk and Weezie checked out the lowlife bar, suspecting that such a locale would be their best bet for finding someone able to tell them what was really happening in Mount Pressure, and encountered the reporter. After initially rebuffing their enquiries, he eventually acquiesced and informed them about Organism and Wildmoon.
--Sensational She-Hulk#13
images: (without ads)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p17, pan4-8 (main, with Wildmoon's
backstory)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p16, pan6 (Wildmoon headshot)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p19, pan9-10 (Wildmoon pops)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p16, pan3 (Man Perfected statue in First Church
of the Magnetic Anomaly)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p21, pan2 (explorer)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p9, pan7 (Lemuel)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p10, pan3 (waitress)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p11, pan6 (cook)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p12, pan3 (Cindy and her date)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p13, pan5 (Myrtle and her husband)
Sensational She-Hulk#13, p14, pan4 (reporter)
Appearances:
Sensational She-Hulk#13 (March 1990) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bryan
Hitch (pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted: 12/06/2001 (?)
Last updated: 03/21/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Myrtle and her husband