Enemies: Lila Cheney, New Mutants (Cannonball, Cypher, Magik, Mirage, Wolfsbane)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile through the galaxy, especially Alderaan and New York City, U.S.A. on Earth, later Limbo

First Appearance: New Mutants I#55 (September, 1987)

Powers/Abilities: Raek was a humanoid alien and stood about 5'7" tall with black hair and thick eyebrows, blue eyes and pinkish skin. He had wings hidden underneath his clothing that were strong enough to carry him aloft, but also had jet boots that enhanced his flying speed and agility. He seemed to have normal human abilities, but his augmented air speed was close to natural winged flight. He was armed with a hand blaster, which seemed to fire concussive blasts, and was reasonably proficient in its use. He was greedy and viciously pursued his criminal goals of stealing wealth, including the Jewels of Ikerno. He spoke his own Zyndarian language as well as English.

History:

(New Mutants I#55 (fb) - BTS) - Lila Cheney was a member of Raek's gang of intergalactic thieves but left to pursue nobler ambitions.

(New Mutants I#55 (fb) - BTS) - On an alien planet, an unspecified race sent the extremely valuable Jewels of Ikerno to their sun as a sacrifice to their alien gods. Raek found out about this and sought out Lila Cheney, presumably for her interstellar teleportation abilities, to help in stealing this prize. Finding her on Earth, Raek tricked his way into the party for Cheney's new album, along with his four fellow thieves.

(New Mutants I#55) - At Lila Cheney's new album launch, Raek sought Cheney's aid in stealing the Jewels of Ikerno, but was firmly rejected by her. Raek and his four other gang members then glared at Cannonball as he danced with Cheney. Wolfsbane was suspicious of the five and asked Cypher to listen in to their conversation. Cypher could only make out most of what they said and determined that they must be aliens; the two mutants then left.

   Raek grew bitter toward Cannonball and sought to take him away from Cheney so that she would agree to his criminal plan. This involved tripping him up before handing him an overdose of barbiturates. Ill from the high dosage, Cannonball left the dance hall closely followed by Raek's gang. The mutant hero collapsed but was carried aloft by Raek and Gyrk, who flew up assisted by jets in their boots. However, Cannonball recovered enough to break free and blasted away. Raek and his gang gave chase in the night sky, firing at him with their guns. Cannonball was severely impaired by the drugs and smashed through a chimney, Raek admiring his destructive capabilities but was still intent on killing him. Cannonball crashed onto a garbage barge and fought Raek hand-to-hand. The other New Mutants, who were also attending the party and saw Cannonball's blast trail, were teleported over to the barge by Magik and quickly leapt to their teammate's defense. Raek was soon overcome with help from Mirage. Cheney then teleported in and asked Mirage to show what Raek desired most - the Jewels of Ikerno. Raek raged at Cannonball, saying that stronger drugs should've been used to disable him. Although Magik suggested killing them, Cheney propose sending the gang to Limbo. Magik then promptly dispatched Raek and his gang there.

Comments: Created by Created by Louise Simonson (writer), Bret Blevins (penciler) & Terry Austin (inker).

Although his outfit is orange, brown and yellow on the cover (main image), Raek is clothed in blue and white in the story inside.

It may be that that Raek and his gang were eventually mutated into demons when in Limbo.

Alderaan, where Gyrk and Cheney once danced, was also the name of the planet where Princess Leia Organa was raised in the Star Wars mythos, but this was destroyed in Episode IV by the Death Star a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Interestingly, Marvel also had the rights to Star Wars, publishing a comic featuring ongoing stories. Is there a connection? Alderaan is also the disused name for two pairs of stars: Canis Minoris and Geminorum.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Raek has no known connections to:

• any other "Raek" characters

• any other "Gyrk" characters

• any other "Jewels" or "Ikerno" items

Gyrk

Gyrk seemed to have a strong history with Lila Cheney, having danced with her on Alderaan when she was a member of the gang of intergalactic thieves, of which he was still a member. He accompanied Raek to Earth to encourage Lila Cheney to assist them in stealing the Jewels of Ikerno. He helped Raek kidnap Cannonball, but chided Raek when the hero escaped as they were flying away. Along with his fellow gang members, Gyrk was quite prepared to kidnap and even kill to achieve the thieves' objective, but when he tried to shoot the defenceless Cannonball in the back, he was attacked and pinned down by Wolfsbane. Very shortly after, he was teleported to Limbo by Magik with the other four gang members. Gyrk had wings and similar abilities to Raek. He was also armed with a blaster and jet boots that augmented his flying abilities.

--New Mutants I#55

Jewels of Ikerno

The Jewels of Ikerno were a priceless treasure that was to be catapulted into an alien sun as a sacrifice to alien gods (unspecified). Raek strongly desired the Jewels and sought Lila Cheney's aid to steal them. However, they were set to be destroyed in 24 hours from Raek's proposal to Cheney and Raek, who was unable to get to them in time.

--New Mutants I#55

images: (without ads)
New Mutants I#55, cover (attacking)

Appearances:
New Mutants I#55 (September, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Bret Blevins (pencils) & Terry Austin (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)

Last updated: 03/19/07

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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