CURTIS EDWARDS

Real Name: Curtis M. Edwards

Identity/Class: Human magic-user (Post-World War I era)

Occupation: Photographer, ethnologist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: A Clown demon, Iktomi

Enemies: Ghost Dancer (Nathaniel Great Owl)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, New York, circa 1925

First Appearance: Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2 (January, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: While possessed by the Clown, Edwards could cast illusions. He used his illusion powers to romanticize the slaughter of Native Americans by the white man.

History:
(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Photographer Curtis Edwards traveled the country, photographing the Native American reservations, and using them to tell stories that romanticized them as noble savages.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Curtis Edwards sought to force an entry into the hidden realms to become the next incarnation of the spirit demon known as the Manitou.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2 (fb)) - Curtis Edwards underwent the ritual of the sacred Sioux Sun Dance: over four days he fasted and purified himself within a sweat lodge, dancing until the brink of collapse; on the third day, he pierced himself through the muscles of his chest with a bone skewer, and suspended himself by thongs from the branches of a cottonwood tree (or some approximation thereof). As he cried out in agony, he saw visions, heard voices, and gained knowledge. He hung suspended until the skewers were torn free by his body weight.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2 (fb)) - Iktomi the trickster granted one of the Clown demons the power of change, and he took over the form of Edwards, submerging its true self in a human personality to avoid detection.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Clown demon continued Edwards mission, traveling to Native American reservations and romanticizing the Native American people, as well as romanticizing the slaughter of the Native Americans by the white man.

 

 

 

(Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1/2) <December 21, 1925> - Following the trail of the whispers of one seeking to be Manitou, Ghost Dancer traveled to Edwards residence. Edwards/Clown created illusions to drive him off, but Ghost Dancer dispelled them. Ghost Dancer recognized and summoned forth the Clown demon and then took it away to force it to atone.

    After Ghost Dancer departed, Edwards laughed, commenting that with the last vestiges of his former self removed, he was human and thus beyond the Ghost Dancer's retribution. However, from the shadows someone spoke, "I'd guess that whoever told you that was playing a trick of his own!" And Edwards vanished in darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Simon Jowett and Charlie Adlard.

    Curtis Edwards was inspired by Edward S. Curtis (as specifically footnoted in the story): http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:

images: (without ads)
Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1, second story, p2 (full body)
            p8, panel 2 (face)

Appearances:
Marvel Frontier Comics Special#1 (January, 1994)- by Simon Jowett (script), Charlie Adlard (art), Michael Bennent (editor)

Last updated: 08/11/06

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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