ZYRAK MORTIS

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human mutate (Italian? - see comments)

Occupation: Rower;
    former servant

Group Membership: None 

Affiliations: Darkhold (construct), Pia, his dog

Enemies: Agatha Harkness

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Old Fellow" (nickname called by Darkhold)

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: (fully seen, identified only as "Old Fellow") Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#1 (July, 2024);
    (identified) Strange

Powers/Abilities: The man who became Zyrak Mortis has no superhuman powers but is a skilled rower and not above using his fists if forced into a fight. He often wielded a long boat oar.

    While merged with his dog into a demonic form, Zyrak Mortis breathed fiery breath though he was not seen expelled flames just a fiery light and lots of billowing smoke. His transformed body was large in size, likely with strength and durability to match his size, and his body was covered in bony, antler-like protrusions. He also had a demon-like tail.

Height: (pre-transformation) unrevealed (approximately 5'7"); (post-transformation) unrevealed (approximately 8'0")
Weight: (pre-transformation) unrevealed (approximately 142 lbs.); (post-transformation) unrevealed (approximately 350 lbs.)
Eyes: (pre-transformation) brown; (post-transformation) glowing yellow
Hair: (pre-transformation) gray; (post-transformation) brown

History:
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#1 / 2) - When the childlike humanoid Darkhold construct escaped Agatha Harkness during a train ride and fell in the river, an older man and his dog happened to be rowing past. Darkhold swam his way over to the man's boat and, upon seeing the old man, Darkhold commented that he would never do. Casting a spell from his knowledge of the Darkhold tome, the Darkhold construct transformed the man into a large demonic servant, merging him with his dog, and ordered him to take them somewhere they could have fun. Putting his row into the water, the demon, now known as Zyrak Mortis, muttered "Yesssss, Master." and began rowing. The duo soon approached the coastline of Madripoor, at which point Darkhold announced that it looked perfect.

(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#3) - Following Darkhold's capture of the vampire Strange Academy student Pia, Zyrak Mortis met Darkhold and Pia at a Madripoor fighting arena, where Darkhold had arranged several mystic and demonic creatures for them to fight for Pia's own survival. Agatha Harkness soon interrupted the fight to recapture Darkhold and she fired a mystic blast that both Darkhold and Zyrak Mortis narrowly dodged. She then cast a spell to remove the magic from Zyrak Mortis, hitting him and restoring him and his dog to their normal forms, while a portion of the spell hit Darkhold, seemingly depowering him. Darkhold ran for cover, followed first by a revenge-seeking Pia and second by the human Zyrak Mortis. Pia instead chose to protect Darkhold and ordered the human Zyrak Mortis, his dog and Darkhold to get behind her as Agatha continued her attack. When Agatha generated several illusory counterparts of herself, the human Zyrak Mortis fought back against Agatha, engaging one of her illusions with his fists while his dog sniffed out the true Agatha and bit her hand.

Comments: Created by Daniel Jose Older and Eric Gapstur.

    Is it me or is the name "Zyrak Mortis" a vague reference to 1980-1990s Saved by the Bell TV series character, "Zack Morris," played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar? Too much of a stretch?

    The nationality of the man transformed into Zyrak Mortis was not clear. When Darkhold escaped the train, most people on the train appeared to be speaking Italian and the old man who became Zyrak Mortis exclaimed "Boh!" when Darkhold swam towards his rowboat, suggesting that he too was Italian. He also seemed to be speaking Italian following his restoration to human form. However, Darkhold orders the transformed Zyrak Mortis to take them somewhere fun and literally the next panel shows them rowing up to Madripoor, which, if I understand my Marvel geography, is nowhere near Italy. So either Zyrak Mortis is Italian and he actually had rowed them from Italy to Madripoor in the span of a single evening (magic!) or Zyrak Mortis was already rowing near Madripoor when Darkhold found him, with the staff on the train speaking Italian because perhaps the train had left from Italy or something.

    It was never shown what became of the human who was Zyrak Mortis following the battle against Agatha Harkness. The Strange Academy students showed up to turn the tide against her and Darkhold opted to go with them. Zyrak Mortis was not seen during the Strange Academy's continued battle with Agatha (after his dog bit Agatha) and he was not seen with Darkhold after he teleported away with the Strange Academy students. I imagine the old man was left behind and found his own way home or possibly even hightailed it out of there when the Strange Academy students showed up.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Zyrak Mortis should be distinguished from:

• Doghead (Francisco Fuentes / Chupi Chulito) - Spirits of Vengeance, man merged with his dog--Ghost Rider III#89
• Mortis (Lois London) - Dazzler's half-sister, mutant with a deadly touch--Dazzler I#21
  
• or any other "Zyrak" or "Mortis" characters
  

Appearances:
Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#1 (July, 2024) - "How to Save a Life" story - Daniel Jose Older (writer), Eric Gapstur (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#3 (September, 2024) - Daniel Jose Older (writer), Luigi Zagaria, Eric Gapstur (art), Nick Lowe (editor)

First posted: 10/23/2024
Last updated: 10/25/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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