DAMIAN LINDERS
Real Name: Damian Linders
Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Earth-73479) human mutate (possibly a cyborg; "Wet")
Occupation: Maintenance worker
Group Membership: The Wets
Affiliations: Prometheus;
apparently Christine;
formerly Karl Linders
Enemies: Karl Linders
Known Relatives: Karl Linders ("tube-brother")
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The swamps beyond an unidentified city in North America
First Appearance: Savage Tales I#2/2 (October, 1973)
Powers/Abilities: Like other Wets, Damian has unspecified mutations that allow him to
survive in the fetid swamps outside the city and to service the
machines that run the cities.
However, what exactly those
mutations involve beyond being able to breathe air that is poisonous to
normal humans.
He appeared to have some sort of
mechanical panel on his chest, perhaps indicating he was a cyborg,
which presumably enhanced his functions in some fashion.
Any other mutations are unrevealed.
He is experienced and skilled experience with a sword, which he carried with him at all times.
History: (Savage Tales I#2/2 (fb)) - At some point in the future, a plague struck North America -- it first started on farms, where it destroyed all growing things and mutated the remains into twisted, monstrous plants. It took only one season for the famine to begin, and only another month for three million to die. The outside world soon became a fetid swampland. Only the cities, with their hydroponic gardens, were able to survive. Because of over-population, the social order began to collapse, and a new leader arose -- "The Guardian"; it was he who established a new order where a lottery system whereby humans were surgically adapted for life in the fetid swamps outside the city. These beings, known as "Wets," lived in the swamplands and were to service the machines that ran the cities.
The Guardian additionally established an "honor system" where anyone who challenged another was forced into a duel with that person, with the survivor being transformed into a Wet and exiled from the city.
The two classes -- the priviliged city-dwellers, and the
lower-class Wets -- grew to despise each other.
At some point, the Wets rebelled to some degree,
forming a tribune whereby any city-man found in the swamplands was
tried for the crimes of creating the plague and the Wets (and
presumably routinely executed).
(Savage Tales I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Damian and Karl Linders were tube-brothers. Damian and apparently his father became Wets.
Damian's father apparently became chieftain of
the Wets, or perhaps Damian was adopted by the existing chieftain of
the Wets.
(Savage Tales I#2) - At Damian's request, the elder Prometheus -- who was 19-years-old when the plague first struck -- related the history of the plagues, the formation of the cities, and the origins of the Wets.
(Savage Tales I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Damian and Karl Linders were tube-brothers. Damian and apparently his father became Wets.
Damian's father apparently became chieftain of the Wets, or perhaps Damian was adopted by the existing chieftain of the Wets.
(Savage Tales I#2) - At
Damian's request, the elder Prometheus -- who was 19-years-old when the
plague first struck -- related the history of the plagues, the
formation of the cities, and the origins of the Wets.
Damian asked Prometheus why he had become a Wet rather than his brother, and Prometheus told Damian that it was to make him strong.
(Savage Tales I#2 - BTS) -
Jostled and subsequently challenged by a man on the transit strip, Karl
Linders was forced to duel that man.
Victorious, Karl refused to become a wet and
instead fought his way free with his chosen chamber-mate, Christine,
stealing a ship that subsequently crashed in the swamp.
The two were recovered by Wets who gave them atmospheric helmets but took them to the tribune for trial.
(Savage Tales I#2) - Damian later reluctantly attended a tribune -- as was his duty as the son of the chieftain -- where he found his brother, Karl, and his chosen chamber-mate on trial for the city people's crimes. Karl asked Damian for help, and when Damian's request for guidance from Prometheus was met with , "You must do...what you must do."
Damian resolved to save his brother's life.
Apologizing to the other Wets who were his friends, Damian fought them
back with his sword, stabbing and possibly slaying at least two of them as he directed Karl and
Christine to flee. Damian followed after fighting his way out.
After days of flight into the swamps, Damian
allowed Karl and Christine to rest, but as he tried to encourage the exhausted and despairing Karl
that at least they were alive, Karl told Damian to take his "filthy Wet
hands" off of him and Karl clarified that he had fled to avoid becoming
a Wet.
After Karl denounced Damian as a "nothing but a
half-human...a foul-smelling mutant...inhuman scum," Damian told Karl
to put up his sword.
Although Karl tried to plead with
him as his brother, Damian slew Karl, telling him they were brothers no
more.
Frustrated with Karl's repeated solution to run away, Christine told Damian that she had never been alone before.
Damian put his arm around her, although he was unsure of what to say to bridge the gulf of their identifies/natures.
Unable to return to the lives they knew, both were left to face an uncertain future together...
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow.
This story -- much like the Femizons in Savage Tales I#1 -- was a tale of futuristic barbarism.
It was never established in what year this story took place -- Prometheus mentioned that the plague took place when he was nineteen, and judging from his aged appearance, I'd say this story story occurs perhaps fifty years later.
A little back-history: According to the editorial by Roy Thomas in Savage Tales I#2, this story -- "Dark Tomorrow" -- was originally done in 1970, and was planned to be published in Savage Tales I#2 at that time; however, Savage Tales went on a two-and-a-half year hiatus after the first issue, so this story didn't appear until publication of the magazine resumed in 1973 ("Back by Popular Demand!").
But after reading this story -- with its dangling, unresolved "conclusion" -- I was left with the impression that maybe this was originally intended to be a continuing feature in the magazine. Did Damian and Christine go off to start a family together? Did Damian go on to overthrow the status quo established by "The Guardian"? Who knows if Conway and Morrow were planning to go anywhere with this?
This eleven-page story began featuring Karl and Christine, and it seemed as if they would be the central characters -- Damian wasn't even introduced until the fifth page.
Certain aspects of this story -- a couple on the run from a futuristic city, headed for the primitive outside world -- reminded me a little of the book (and later a movie and a Marvel comic) "Logan's Run".
Profile by John Kaminski. Expanded by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Damian and Karl Linders have no known connections to:
Prometheus has no known connections to:
"The Guardian" has no known connections to:
(Savage Tales I#2 (fb) - BTS) -
After a plague ravaged Earth's plants, walled cities with hydroponic
gardens survived, but overpopulation led the Guardian to create a
lottery system whereby humans were surgically adapted for life in the
fetid swamps outside the city. These beings, known as "Wets," lived in the swamplands and were to service the machines that ran the cities.
Additionally, an "honor system" was established where anyone who challenged another was forced into a duel with that person, with the survivor being transformed into a Wet and exiled from the city.
At some point, the Wets rebelled to some degree,
forming a tribune whereby any city-man found in the swamplands was
tried for the crimes of creating the plague and the Wets (and
presumably routinely executed).
(Savage Tales I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Damian and Karl Linders were tube-brothers. Damian and apparently his father became Wets.
Damian's father apparently became chieftain of the Wets, or perhaps Damian was adopted by the existing chieftain of the Wets.
--Savage Tales I#2/2
One of the tribal elders of the Wets, Prometheus was old enough to remember the days before the great plague He acted as a mentor/advisor to Damian Linders.
One day, as Prometheus was telling Damian his tales of the Old Days, he and Damian were called upon to attend a special Council of the Wets because two humans -- one of whom was Damian's own "tube-brother," Karl -- had been captured and placed on trial for the crimes of humanity. But Karl eventually swayed Damian to betray his fellow Wets and take his side.
When the other Wets wondered why Damian had turned on them, Prometheus realized that is was the only way, and that Damian needed to take the "soul journey" -- it would make him a man and give him the courage later to do what he had to do...
--Savage Tales I#2/2
|
Karl's troubles began one day when he was jostled by a man on the city's transit strip. Honor-bound to duel with the man in a swordfight, Karl slew his opponent and was proclaimed the victor, but the city's traditional laws demanded that he be altered into a Wet and exiled to the swamps, a thought which disgusted Karl. Unwilling to be subjected to such a fate, Karl fled with Christine, at which point Karl was looked upon by the other citizens as a dishonorable coward. After Karl killed two other men along the way, he and Christine left the sheltering confines of the city by stealing a rocket shuttle to fly to the outside world. The gyros of the aircraft were damaged, and it crashed in the swamps, where the unconscious Karl and Christine were captured by the Wets and fitted with respirator helmets. The two were then put on trial by the Wets for the crimes committed by humanity. Reunited with Damian during the trial, Karl turned him to their favor, convincing Damian to help them escape. But after days of the trio's running, Karl stumbled and fell. When Damian went to help him up, Karl angrily revealed his true feelings for his "tube-brother," telling him to take his hands off him, and calling Damian "a half-man...a foul-smelling mutant...inhuman scum!" At that point, Damian killed Karl, running him through with his sword. With her chamber-mate now dead, Christine was left with Damian. --Savage Tales I#2/2 |
An unidentified city where the last remnants of civilization lived, it was ruled by "The Guardian," who set up a strict code of chivalry that all citizens had to abide by. When over-population threatened the city, "The Guardian" decreed that some citizens would be chosen by lottery to become Wets, then they were exiled to the swamps, where they would service the machines that ran the city.
--Savage Tales I#2/2
images:
Savage Tales I#2, story pg. 2, panel 2 (Christine);
Savage Tales I#2, p44, pan4 (Damian and Christine)
Savage Tales I#2, p42, pan3 (head shot)
Savage Tales I#2, p39, pan3 (operation showing creation of a Wet)
Savage Tales I#2, p41, pan7 (Damian and Prometheus attending trial of Karl and Christine at the Council of Wets)
Savage Tales I#2, p38, pan4 (Prometheus)
Savage Tales I#2, p37, pan3 (Karl Linders & Christine)
Savage Tales I#2, p39, pan1 ("The Guardian" addressing the citizens of the City)
Appearances:
Savage Tales I#2 (October, 1973) - Gerry Conway (writer), Gray Morrow (artist), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Tales Annual#1 (Summer 1975) - reprint
First Posted: 10/28/2006
Last Updated: 04/07/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All
other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff,
you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Karl was the "tube-brother" of Damian, and Christine was Karl's chosen chamber-mate. Both had been city-dwellers.