pittplague-periphery"PITT PLAGUE"

Real Name: Unrevealed, likely inapplicable

Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Earth-148611; the "New Universe") terrestrial fauna mutate

Occupation: Unemployed, but sought destruction and death

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None known

Enemies: Colonel MacIntrye Browning, Starchild (offspring/manifestation of Ken Connell), unidentified doctor, pilot and soldiers; humanity and perhaps all living organisms

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Creature," "life form, "Pitt creature," "Super-Spinach" (latter from Col. Browning)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly the Pitt (the 50 mile crater including the former city of Pittsburgh), notably its periphery, but extending approximately 100 miles in at least one direction, Pennsylvania, USA, Earth-148611

First Appearance: The Star Brand#15 (September , 1988)

pittplague-surroundcopterPowers/Abilities: The "Pitt creature" was an immense plant life form that existed around the entire surface of the Pitt (see comments) and then extending out peripherally various distances (at one point reaching about 100 miles) as well as reaching heights of at least several dozens if not hundreds of feet.

    Although moving deliberately, seeking to destroy other life forms as well as property, it did not appear to be actually sentient.

    The Pitt creature radiated a sensation of pain. Perhaps it caused a feeling of pain in others or perhaps it was actually in agony. Perhaps it somehow embodied the death agonies of all those who died in the formation of the Pitt and/or the resultant atmospheric effects.

    Vines ranged from inches to feet in diameter, and they were strong enough to grab a flying helicopter (almost certainly taking heavy damage from the blades, but ultimately stopping the blades and continuing its assault. Large vines could shatter masonry and break apart buildings.

    The Pitt creature was vulnerable to military grade defoliant, which caused it to shriek in agony (with the shrieks paining those nearby) , but it subsequently moved to destroy the cause of its pain.

    Composed of plant material, vines could be torn to pieces by machine gun fire, but other vines could rapidly replace those that had been destroyed.

    The vines were vulnerable to damage and destruction from the energies of the Star Brand.

Height: Unrevealed (calculation of its dimensions based on what little we know included in comments)
Weight: Unrevealed (incalculable, given lack of knowledge of its density and total volume)
Eyes: None
Hair: None
Surface color: Green

History:
pittplague-2soldiers(The Star Brand#15 (fb) - BTS) - The energies generated by the vaporization of massive amounts of matter by the energies of the Star Brand that created the Pitt also mutated some of the plant life immediately surrounding the Pitt...or perhaps the plant life developed within the resultant "Pitt Juice" that formed from the vaporized matter and energies (that was greatly expanded in volume but diluted by the water of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers that poured into it) and then escaped as volcanic pressure broke through the bottom fused surface of the Pitt.

(The Star Brand#15) - A pair of soldiers in "Sector 58" encountered a biped mutate. As it approached them, they prepared to blow it up with some sort of shoulder-cannon-weapon. However, the ground shook, preventing proper aiming, and then a number of plant tendrils erupted through the ground, presumably killing both men.

     Their (presumably death) screams were transmitted back to the nearby military base, which was under the direction of Colonel Browning, who ordered that no one was to enter or leave the base and that outside communication was strictly prohibited.

    Sensing something alive and in pain, the Starchild traveled to and investigated the Pitt. He flew through the cloud cover and into the pit, approaching the "Pitt-juice" and noting that the material had been originally unique on Earth and perhaps in the universe, but that for months it had been diluted by waters flowing into the crater, which made it difficult for the Starchild to isolate the source of the life-energy he detected. Feeling the energy to be all around him, the Starchild risked going below the surface of the Pitt-Juice, appreciating that even his own power may not be able to resist the forces that lurked below.

    Using enhanced perceptions to observe his surroundings, the Starchild appreciated that everything that had been pulled into the Pitt -- from the corpses of people and animals to automobiles and various other objects -- had been perfectly preserved within the Pitt-Juice. Finally, at the bottom of the Pitt, the Starchild observed fissures in the fused edges of the Pitt wall (caused by the volcanic pressure building beneath it) through which emerged the plant tendrils.

    Just above the surface of the edge, a doctor aboard the helicopter carrying Colonel MacIntrye Browning noted that everything within 3' of the Pitt was alive, a single gigantic life form. The doctor further added that the organism was spreading at an average of about a mile a day...in some place not at all, but in other places, it was spreading like wildfire. pittplague-town

    Col. Browning had the pilot take them down for a low pass to see what their fancy new defoliant could do against this "super-spinach." As the defoliant engulfed the tendrils, the creature emitted a shriek so loud it pained those in the helicopter, and it stretched it vines toward the helicopter.

    On Browning's order, the helicopter deployed its guns, blasting the vines apart. However, they swiftly found that for every hole they blew in the tendrils in their path, new ones swiftly grew up, and the helicopter was soon surrounded and pulled down to the ground.

    A hundred miles from the crater (according to one of the town's residents), immense vines rapidly spread toward the town. The Starchild then sent a portion of its essence to the town, appreciating that this was the life form he had detected, he realized that the reason he had been unable to isolate its position was because it was everywhere, all around the fused walls of the Pitt: Millions of cubic yards of living matter, all the same creature!

    The Starchild further considered that though the life form moved and seemed to do so deliberately, he could sense no intelligence in this thing...only pain...and destruction.

    As the life form's immense vines began to rend the homes in the town, the Starchild resolved that he must to something to prevent the life form's spread until he could understand it better.

    Correctly theorizing that, as the creature had been created when his father (Ken Connell) unleashed the power of the Star Brand, perhaps the same power could control it, the Starchild used that power to force the plant creature to withdraw toward the Pitt.

    This effect was timely, forcing the massive vines back from the downed helicopter before it could be crushed. Although the pilot had perished, Col. Browning and doctor then exited the helicopter and fled, although Browning observed the energies of the Starchild and resolved that he was going to get to know the being on a first name basis.pittplague-starchildkill

    As the Starchild forced the plant creature back to the edge of the Pitt, the creature, apparently not wanting to withdraw completely, began to resist the pressure generated by the Star Brand energies. Nonetheless wishing to prevent the creature from causing further damage or loss of life, the Starchild decided that he must compel it to withdraw back within its original perimeter. Exercising the full extent of his power, the Starchild attempted to force the creature to contain itself to the Pitt itself.

    However, for reasons unexplained, the Pitt creature began to die, shriveling away faster than the Starchild was able to absorb its life pattern. All around the circumference of the Pitt, every tendril of the organism was blackened and dried.

(The Star Brand#15 - BTS) - The Starchild was perplexed. He could not believe that his actions had slain the life form, but he also could not conceive of any other reasons for its death. He concluded that his carelessness may have contributed to the destruction of a creature unique to Earth, and he resolved that he must not allow such a thing to occur again.

Comments: Created by John Byrne, Chris Ivy and Tom Morgan.

    In Star Brand#13, a moving plant existing about a mile from the edge of the Pitt assaulted the jeep carrying Maddie Felix and Roger and Jane Price. The Starchild slew the plant seconds before tearing free from Maddie's body, unwittingly killing her. The Starchild made no connection between the this immense plant creature and the first living thing with which it had interacted beyond its mother. '

    The term "Pitt Plague" was only used on the cover of Star Brand#15, but it is a more unique name than "Pitt creature" (as there were multiple otherwise unidentified plant and animal creatures derived from the Pitt) and a little more serious than "super-spinach."

    We don't know how long it took the "Pitt Plague" to develop. Star Brand#13 had a date of February 29, 1988 (with the Pitt having formed on December 22, 1987). I didn't see dates in Star Brand#14 or #15, but I recall references to at least a month having passed between issues (Star Brand was bi-monthly at this point, and time was moving forward in real time, not some compressed comic book time like Marvel Time), so anyway, the "Pitt Plague" may have taken 4 or months to grow to the point at which it was discovered in Star Brand#15

    Size, according to mathematics teacher Loki:

Spherical cap - Wikipedia

Based on the sphere of vaporization being 25 miles in all directions from the point Ken Connell discharged the Star Brand, which was 10 miles above the surface) the diameter of the Pitt at its surface would be 45.8 miles.

So using a = 22.9 miles and h =15, the surface area of the Pitt would be 2354 square miles.

For the plant when it is at 3' around the circumference of the Pitt, ASSuming it is uniform for the moment and not including any area within the Pitt: We've got the area of a circle radius 22.9 miles 3 feet minus the area of a circle 22.9 miles - i.e. cutting the interior circle (the Pitt itself) out of the bigger circle to find the area of the ring of plants. 

So 2,279,165.77992 square feet if my calculations are right, or 0.0817 square miles. Figuring out volume from that would require knowing how high the plants were, if they were lying on the ground like a layer. And growing at a mile a day, those numbers will go up really fast.

Thanks! It was growing almost not at all at some points, but then it reached a town a hundred miles away at one point, so I don't think we can know much more about the plant creature.
I do also recall that the Pitt's dimensions changed over time, with the center rising up some, etc. There's a feature somewhere covering that...maybe either a latter issue of Star Brand or DP7#27-28
--Snood

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The "Pitt Plague" should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
The Star Brand#15, pg. 3, panel 3 (erupting from ground and attacking soldiers);
       pg. 9, panel 3 (growing from periphery of Pitt);
       pg. 12, panel 1 (vines surrounding helicopter);
       pg. 14, panel 1 (vines reaching for town);
       pg. 19, panel 1-3 (Starchild attempting to contain plant);
Appearances:
The Star Brand#15 (September , 1988) - John Byrne (writer & penciler), Chris Ivy & Tom Morgan (inkers), David Wohl (assistant editor), Howard Mackie (editor)

First posted: 01/19/2025
Last updated: 01/19/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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