Reality-80324 (Paradox's reality)

Reality-80324

Type: Alternate future (circa 2182 AD)

Environment: Earthlike

Usual means of access: Vibrational attunement; "time travel"; the Fault

Dominant Life Form: Terrans (baseline humanity) and genetically engineered sub-species ("Servant Species") - Jovians, Lunans, Martians, Mercurians, Neptunians, Pluvians (see comments), Saturnians, Venusians;
there was no mention of the planet Uranus having any colonies, but is is noted that Terra has "extended her dominion over her eight sister planets and their satellites in the star system Sol"

Significant Inhabitants: Bear, Catherine De Lys (nee Worth), Vincent De Lys, Eena, Agent Einhardt + 3 (ISA), Emperor of Terra (not seen), ISA security chief Esterhase, Fire, Harry, [Howe], Ice, Interplanetary Security Agency (ISA), ISA Strike Squad, Irma, Loraida Lang, Lara, Matin, Paradox, Parahumans, Paranormals, Razor, Robocops/Robopolice/authorized police drones, Roboreporters, Roborescue, Season's maitre d'hotel, Sebastian Seasons, Stanhope, Tor-Mel, Carl Yaz Tremsky, Yaz's unidentified wife, Zeeko, unidentified ISA guards, unidentified ISA scientist, unidentified ISA agents slain by rebels

Significant Locations: Betelgeuse asteroid;
    Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Pluto;
    Luna: Funeral Dome, Mare Imbrium Dome, Metalmine, Season's Pleasure Palace, Ptolemaeus Dome, Sin City, Space Terminal, First Subterranean Sector, Traffic Control Central
    Terra (Earth): Empire Arts Center, ISA Central, New Houston;
    Titan: ISA Command Post, Spaceport & Customs, X-Press Bar;
    Uranus and/or its moons may or may not have a colony or any technology, etc.
    Venus;

Other Significant Features: Asbestocase, Fireflite, Llango Tri-Color (drink), Martian Concerto, mindscreens, portable teleporters, Torch Song (Mercurian country music, by Loraida Lang),

First Appearance: Marvel Preview#24 (Winter, 1980)

History:
(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor>
By the middle of the 21st century, Terra (formerly known as Earth) had extended her dominion over her eight sister planets and their satellites in the star system Sol. Tremendous advances in the biological sciences led to the genetic engineering (gengineering) of humanform Terrans to allow them to survive under varying conditions prevalent on the different planets. To her colonies, Terra exported all her industry, crime, pollution, and poverty, leaving Terra herself an agricultural paradise in control of the Empire's food resources. Terra became a world of fertile fields and shining cities, the governmental, financial, and cultural hub of the Empire. It was inhabited by descendents of the original humanforms with whom all races of the Empire shared a common heritage, and the Terrans considered themselves the only "pure" race; Terran law clearly distinguished between the rights of "humans" and the gengineered "Servant Species"...including the Saturnians, Mercurians, Jovians, Pluvians, Martians, Neptunians, and the Lunans...
Luna was a godforsaken mining world, raped for its mineral wealth. Its terrain, considered unworthy of terraforming, was left harsh and forbidding. Its squat grey cities <were> enclosed within dirty double domes environmentally maintained by huge atmosphere banks. Transparent tubeways connected Luna's domes, and huge rampways led down their many levels to the ore mines that honeycombed the satellite. On those levels, the law was suspended. No Terran dared descend down into the depths. Crime and poverty raged side by side. The outmoded concept "survival of the fittest" remained the operative principle. Orbiting in Earth's shadow, Luna was the birthplace of one revolt against Terran authority after another, all subverted or savagely put down.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Earth was a pleasure park of a planet, verdant and alive, the agrarian hub of the Terran Empire in the year 2182. Here all the Empire's food was grown, and food was the club Earth held over the heads of her Colonies. They either produce for the greater glory of the Empire (and its Terranform rulers) or they starved. It had been a cozy relationship for the Empire, which not take kindly to efforts by the genetically engineered Servant Species to upset the status quo. When it heard rumors of rebellion, it came down...hard.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181> - Mercury, a planet so close to the sun that its ammoniac atmosphere fairly boils. Mercury was rich in strategic metals that Terra needed to maintain her sway over her growing Empire. To mine Mercury, man was modified (gene-spliced), and beings were bred whose internal temperatures were so low as to enable them to counteract Mercury's fierce heat. Even there, where Mercurians lived within hovering refrigerated cities, rebellion against the Terran Empire brewed.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Developed on Mercury and smuggled offworld, the drug Fireflite spread upward from Servant Species and became a thrill drug used by full Terrans.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - At an Addictum party at a Terran community on Luna, a Terran couple played chicken with Fireflite, and the male "went 'ferno" (combusted from the drug).

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - An ISA aide on Fireflite combusted during questioning.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Carl Yaz Tremsky trained Mark Esterhase at ISA Academy

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Yaz lost an eye (and the entire right half of his face; and right hand?) during a duel on Betelguese asteroid; having broken ISA law by dueling, he was left to rot, and he eventually received bionic replacements.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - ISA Chief Stanhope terminated Yaz as an operative when he refused orders to get him offworld so Stanhope could romance his wife.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Yaz's wife died.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - [Carl Yaz Tremsky] Yaz invented a priva-screen able to cancel out any eavesdropping device.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Mark Esterhase was mortally wounded while trying to stop Sebastian Seasons and his gang of spice smugglers on an asteroid. Left behind to die, bathed in radiation from the asteroid, Mark was rescued by ISA roborescue squad and brought to ISA Central on Terra. With radiation destroying his cells and all human cells as they were grafted into Mark, Stanhope supervised the decision to gengineer him into some radiation tolerant species, using both paranormal humans (with psychic powers) and parahuman (such as those living on the various colony worlds). The process was successful, with Esterhase believed to have died by his parents; he became ISA agent Paradox, adopting a slightly altered Terran form as a disguise.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The man who would become Fire received a bionic flame-thrower in his arm after the ISA sent him in alone into a nest of Jovian spice-smugglers.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - The women who would become known as Ice and Razor were changed/mutated by the ISA.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - After a long and distinguished career in the diplomatic service and nearly retirement age, Vincent DeLys, at the Terran Emperor's behest, accepted the mission to resolve long-standing differences between the full Terrans and gengineered Lunan colonials.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Via information achieved from Terrans via Fireflite blackmail (and allowing the Terrans to go 'ferno), Lunan scientists gengineered a Lunan woman to become Catherine Worth and seduce Vincent De Lys.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Catherine seduced "half of the diplomatic community" on Luna.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys soon after married Catherine Worth and seemed to gain new life.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys met Seasons at a party arranged by Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despondent over his son's seeming death, ISA chief Esterhase accepted Catherine's offer of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Catherine became a Fireflite user, and Lunan revolutionaries coerced Vincent (who was unaware that she was a Lunan -- who were unaffected by Fireflite -- and could be gengineered back as soon as her work was done) to cooperate with them. Ultimately, however, Vincent took Fireflite himself, ensuring his own death to prevent his being used further; he believed Catherine would do the same.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Refusing to succumb to threats to his or Catherine's health, Vincent DeLys departed the Terran embassy and fatally crashed his flyer through the main access tube leading to Mare Imbrium Dome; many perished from the loss of atmosphere.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Unaware of Paradox's true identity, chief Esterhase came to Terra, and Stanhope assigned agent Paradox to aid in the investigation of Vincent De Lys' death. Chief Esterhase was appalled by Paradox's flamboyant behavior. Arriving on Luna, Paradox adopted Lunan form and swiftly ditched Esterhase, meeting up with his old ally Yaz, revealing his nature and history, and obtaining a wristlaser weapon. As Paradox departed, a Mercurian prostitute informed Seasons that Paradox had visited Yaz.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Attending the funeral of Vincent De Lys (who was launched into space), Paradox observed and bonded with Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's pleasure palace, earning Seasons' personal attention after winning five times in a row and being invited to the lower levels to take the "The Game" (Fireflite challenge). While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine as well, and escaped with her while posing as a Lunan. She revealed the Fireflite antidote had to be renewed and directed Paradox to Seasons as her source.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Seasons' men fruitlessly worked over Yaz for information on Paradox; believing him incapacitated, they discussed a Lunan revolution involving using Fireflite to gain enough secret information to fight Terra.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Paradox headed to Season's after leaving Catherine, but found it closed.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox returned to Yaz's shop, and Yaz revealed who worked him over and what he heard; Yaz then died. A Robocop tried to detain Paradox, but he destroyed it before escaping in Lunan form. Heading to the Metalmines, Paradox took Lunan form to get close to Seasons and his men. After Paradox learned Seasons took orders from a woman, Paradox revealed his true identity to Seasons, and then adopted Seasons' form and ordered his pilot to take off. Paradox then took Mercurian form to survive the ship's exhaust, which killed Seasons; the conversion to Mercurian also burned the Fireflite out of his system;
After alerting the ISA to intercept the Fireflite ship and meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox confronted Catherine, playing chicken with the Fireflite antidote capsules and forcing her to reveal her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; they took her in to try her for treason after allowing her to take the antidote capsule.

(Marvel Preview#24) - While appreciating Paradox's skill, Chief Esterhase tried to fatally deprive Paradox of Fireflite due to his unpredictability and unwillingness to take orders; revealing his true identity (though Chief Esterhase was uncertain) and exposing Esterhase's addiction to Fireflite, Paradox prevented Esterhase from taking the antidote and left the room in Esterhase's form, allowing him to escape the ISA troops stationed there; Esterhase went 'ferno soon after.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Catherine DeLys was imprisoned in Terran prison.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Paradox gave his version of events at an ISA debriefing including Stanhope.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Two weeks later, on Terra, Paradox performed before a crowd including Chief Stanhope, who subsequently arranged an ISA ambush on Paradox as an unpredictable liability; after taking out the ISA agents, Paradox convinces Stanhope that the ISA was much better off with him than against him.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - After the ISA tried to kill Paradox, he gained sympathy for the Servant Species, as he was also hated for being different; he visited Catherine in prison and fell in love.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Terran guards, determined to prove there was a Lunan beneath Catherine's beautiful Terran body, skinned her alive.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Scientists (possibly Mercurian) within the rebellion developed portable teleporters. The rebels looked forward to testing them out.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - In the pasts six weeks prior to the main story, the ISA lost eleven agents.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - An informant arranged a meeting with an ISA agent on Mercury to discuss the rebellion.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Mercurian rebels tortured and killed the informant before the ISA agent's arrival.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) <Circa 2182 AD> - On Mercury, an ISA agent arrived to meet his informant, but found the informant recently killed. The agent was confronted by Mercurian rebels, who used a portable teleporter to transport him into the atmosphere, where he swiftly burned to death.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - On Titan, when rude Terran teens sought Paradox's autograph, he adopted Saturnian form to scare them off, then happily signed a young Saturnian girl's book. He used the same form to avoid robo-reporters and then to enter and stir up trouble at a bar, during which he encountered and teamed up with his ISA contacts (Fire, Ice, Razor - when Ice identified him as their contact) as the group took down a number of racist Terrans. Blocking his mind from Ice, Paradox led the group (ISA Strike Squad) into a trap at a rebel warehouse; the Saturnians' mindscreens allowed them to escape Ice's detection, and they slew her soon after their entry. After helping Fire and Razor escape in Jovian form, Paradox slew Fire and revealed his true allegiance to Razor; Paradox then defeated her in combat but assumed her form, causing others to believe Razor had slain him instead. Numerous Saturnian rebels voluntarily sacrificed themselves to lull the ISA into believing the rebellion had been smashed on Titan.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - The next phase, at an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, "Razor" used her laser vision to destroy the consoles controlling the Emperor's descent, causing him to fall into Saturn's deadly atmosphere. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him; on every colony world there was rejoicing. Paradox left Stanhope amongst the Empire's ruins, believing that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - Continuing to view Paradox as a loose cannon, the ISA (see comments) sent him through the Fault (a rip in the space-time continuum lying between the Shi'ar and Kree galaxies) to spy on Reality-616, in hopes that he would never return.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo and Val Mayerik.

Paradox references himself as part of the Interplanetary Security Agency in Wolverine: Best There Is, despite having betrayed the ISA and Terran Empire in Bizarre Adventures #30. Possibilities:

Wolverine: Best There Is occurs after #30, and Paradox realigns with the ISA in the new society where Terrans and the Colonials have better relations.
Wolverine: Best There Is occurs b/t #24 and #30...he apparently returns to his own reality at some point, or #30 is an alternate reality version from the one in Wolverine: Best There Is
Paradox is falsely claiming still to be a member (like a disgraced FBI agent might claim to still be with the agency if he thinks it impress / intimidate those he is talking to - Paradox may not have realized the reality he is now in doesn't know what the ISA is), or he still thinks of himself as an ISA agent ("I didn't betray the agency, the other agents did! I'm the only one still living up to the ideals the agency was meant to stand for.")
--Loki
Someone never read Bizarre Adventures#30. ;)

Big thanks to MarvellousLuke for cleaning up the 30+ year old, yellowed, already size-reduced images...around 80 of them!

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

other alternate realities

BEAR

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - A big and strong mainstream Terran, he took his name from his tendency to squeeze his opponents in a bear hug strong enough to break their spines.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - On Titan, Paradox adopted Saturnian form and entered the X-Press Bar where Fire was bartending. When Paradox ordered a Llango-Tri Color, Fire said he couldn't serve one of the Servant Species, but apparently placed a drink in front of him anyway, leading a Terran nicknamed Bear to try to force the "Saturnian" to put down the drink: "You heard the man, Carrot-Top! Rules don't 'low servin good Earth firewater to no walkin' tomato plant!" As the "Saturnian" took a sip anyway, Bear said, "Hey! Don'tcha hear me? Put down that glass, geek! Paradox refused, saying "Nay, Terran, I thirst!" Another customer predicted that Bear was going to teach the vegetable a lesson, and Bear picked up the smaller "Saturnian," threatening to crack his spine...or his stem, but Paradox slammed his drink back into Bear's face, shattering it and causing Bear to drop to the ground, holding his eyes. A fight soon broke out, and Fire, Ice, and Razor blew their covers siding with Paradox.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Betelgeuse asteroid

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Carl Yaz Tremsky lost an eye (and the entire right half of his face; and right hand?) during a duel on Betelguese asteroid; having broken ISA law by dueling, he was left to rot, and he eventually received bionic replacements.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb) - BTS

Catherine De Lys (nee Worth)

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Catherine seduced "half of the diplomatic community" on Luna.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys soon after married Catherine Worth and seemed to gain new life.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys met Seasons at a party arranged by Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despondent over his son's seeming death, ISA chief Esterhase accepted Catherine's offer of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Other important ministers were willing to reveal sensitive information to the beautiful widow (Catherine DeLys) of their dead departed colleague (Vincent DeLys).

(Marvel Preview#24) - Attending the funeral of Vincent De Lys (who was launched into space), Paradox observed and bonded with Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's Pleasure Palace, earning Sebastian Seasons' personal attention after winning five times in a row and being invited to the lower levels to take the "The Game" (Fireflite challenge). While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine as well, and escaped with her while posing as a Lunan. She revealed the Fireflite antidote had to be renewed and directed Paradox to Seasons as her source.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Paradox headed to Season's after leaving Catherine, but found it closed.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox returned to Yaz's shop, and Yaz revealed who worked him over and what he heard; Yaz then died. A Robocop tried to detain Paradox, but he destroyed it before escaping in Lunan form. Heading to the Metalmines, Paradox took Lunan form to get close to Seasons and his men. After learning Seasons took orders from a woman, Paradox revealed his true identity to Seasons, and then adopted Seasons' form and ordered his pilot to take off. Paradox then took Mercurian form to survive the ship's exhaust, which killed Seasons; the conversion to Mercurian also burned the Fireflite out of his system.
After alerting the ISA to intercept the Fireflite ship and meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox confronted Catherine, playing chicken with the Fireflite antidote capsules and forcing her to reveal her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; they took her in to try her for treason after allowing her to take the antidote capsule.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Catherine DeLys was imprisoned in Terran prison.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Terran guards, determined to prove there was a Lunan beneath Catherine's beautiful Terran body, skinned her alive.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb), 24, Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)

Vincent De Lys

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despite having a chauffeur (the Lunan Tor-Mel), De Lys often piloted his own craft alone.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Catherine seduced "half of the diplomatic community" on Luna.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys soon after married Catherine Worth and seemed to gain new life.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys met Sebastian Seasons at a party arranged by Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Perhaps learning something of Catherine's duplicity, Vincent refused to succumb to threats to his or Catherine's health.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Tor-Mel offered a ride to Vincent as De Lys left the Terran Embassy. De Lys declined the ride, saying he would take himself out. Tor-Mel noted that De Lys was trembling, and he asked if De Lys was sick. Tor-Mel suggested he should pilot De Lys home, and/or to video his wife, Catherine De Lys, and tell her to expect her. De Lys replied, "Don't bother. She knows where I'm going. She sent me there."

Vincent hovered outside the main access tube to the Mare Imbrium Dome. After he ignored a traffic directive issued by one of the Robocops, another Robocop approached him and instructed De Lys to accompany him/it to Traffic Control Central. De Lys instead swerved and smashed the Robocop against the dome wall and took off into the access tube. The police drone's termination signal alerted Traffic Control Central, who dispatched a Robocop pursuit squad after him. De Lys soon perished from the effects of Fireflite, and crashed his ship through the access tube that caused an atmospheric and gravity breach; many perished from the loss of atmosphere.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In a protective spacesuit, Chief Esterhase (accompanied by a pair of agents) investigated the death of Vincent De Lys. Esterhase noted that the corpse was completely charred despite their being no atmosphere to support combustion. Further appreciating the blue tinge to the skeleton, as well as traces of pyrophenol-2 and gelginite in preliminary cell samples, Esterhase was convinced by the discovery of an asbestocase that the ambassador had been addicted to Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Chief Esterhase came to Terra and was assigned by Stanhope agent Paradox to investigate Vincent De Lys' death.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Attending the funeral of Vincent De Lys (who was launched into space), Paradox observed and bonded with Catherine.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb), 24

Eena & Zeeko

A pair of teenage Terran girls (Eena in the darker outfit, Zeeko in the lighter one)

On Titan, the Saturn-Central coordinating complex/aerodroma, Eeno and Zeeko recognized the arriving Paradox, while their parents, Harry and Irma, berated a Saturnian cargo handler for the loss of their luggage. Eena was disturbed by the thought that a "carrot-haired Saturnian" might get his autograph before them, and Zeeko got their parents' permission to get Paradox to sign their cele books. Zeeko ordered the "carrot-top" out of their way, and Eena shoved the Saturnian girl out of the way, insisting no orange off-worlder would talk to a Terran artist before them. The two girls rushed Paradox, arguing over whose he would sign first, but, having witnessed their behavior, Paradox took Saturnian form as he agreed. When he, fully transformed, asked "Who's first?" the girls ran away screaming for their mommy and daddy. Disbelieving and irritated, their father told them this was the last time he took them on any business trip off-Earth.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

agent Einhardt

Interplanetary Security Agency (ISA) agent. She accompanied three other agents in a meeting with Paradox in which they sent him on a mission to disrupt a rebellion amongst the colony worlds; they did not realize Paradox was secretly a mole loyal to the rebels.

Einhardt is the straight-haired blonde woman

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Emperor of Terra
(never pictured - AFAIK)

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - After a long and distinguished career in the diplomatic service and nearly retirement age, Vincent De Lys, at the Terran Emperor's behest, accepted the mission to resolve long-standing differences between the full Terrans and gengineered Lunan colonials.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - At an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, "Razor" (secretly Paradox in Razor's form) used her laser vision to destroy the consoles controlling the Emperor's descent, causing him to fall into Saturn's deadly atmosphere. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him; on every colony world there was rejoicing. Paradox left Stanhope amongst the Empire's ruins, believing that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

--Marvel Preview#24 (Bizarre Adventures#30

Esterhase
(spelled Esterhause in first usage, then Esterhase thereafter)

ISA Security Chief Esterhase was also the father of Mark Esterhase, aka Paradox.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Chief Esterhase interrogated an aide passing official secrets, promising him immunity if he revealed his contacts, but the terrified aide began to smoke and then combusted. This was the ISA's first exposure to the hellish effects of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Mark Esterhase was mortally wounded on an ISA mission; though Mark was believed to have died by his parents, he became ISA agent Paradox, adopting a slightly altered Terran form as a disguise.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despondent over his son's seeming death, ISA chief Esterhase possibly had an affair with Catherine De Lys. He eventually accepted Catherine's offer of Fireflite,

(Marvel Preview#24) - In a protective spacesuit, Chief Esterhase (accompanied by a pair of agents) investigated the death of the Terran ambassador to Luna, Vincent De Lys, who had crashed his ship through one of Luna's access tubes, killing many before the atmosphere could be stabilized. Esterhase noted that the corpse was completely charred despite their being no atmosphere to support combustion. Further appreciating the blue tinge to the skeleton, as traces of pyrophenol-2 and gelginite in preliminary cell samples, he was convinced by the discovery of an asbestocase that the ambassador had been addicted to Fireflite. He instructed his agents to book him the first shuttle to Terra.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Unaware of Paradox's true identity, chief Esterhase came to Terra for aid in investigating De Lys' death. When Stanhope brought him to a gravity dancer exhibit featuring Paradox, Esterhase was frustrated to have to watch "some bleeding fairy twist in zero gravity." He was surprised to learn Paradox was the agent that would be helping him. Chief Esterhase was appalled by Paradox's flamboyant behavior, but Paradox convinced Esterhase he needed his help. En route to Luna, he reviewed the history of Vincent De Lys and Fireflite, but was frustrated as he lamented that his son -- a real man -- hadn't live to perform such a mission, only to find that Paradox had become distracted by and was making out with a flight attendant. Arriving on Luna, Paradox adopted Lunan form and swiftly ditched Esterhase, meeting up with his old ally Yaz, revealing his nature and history, and obtaining a wristlaser weapon. As Paradox departed, a Mercurian prostitute informed Sebastian Seasons that Paradox had visited Yaz.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox took Fireflite in the process of an encounter with Catherine De Lys. After Seasons' men fatally beat Yaz, Paradox confronted Seasons, learning he took orders from a woman before slaying Seasons; the process Paradox purged his Fireflite addiction.
After alerting the ISA to intercept Seasons' ship carrying Fireflite and then meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox confronted Catherine, playing chicken with the Fireflite antidote capsules and forcing her to reveal her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; they took her in to try her for treason after allowing her to take the antidote capsule.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb), 24 (fb) - BTS, 24

Note: The nearly full body image is actually Paradox impersonating his father, but the form is identical, and it's the closest to a front on full body shot we have, as far as I could see.

Fireflite

Fireflite is an addictive drug that initially causes euphoria and hallucinations, but within 60 cycles (seconds?), it will cause the taker to "go Inferno -- or 'ferno." They initial become hot and give off smoke, then combust, leaving behind a charred corpse, with a bluish-tinge to the skeleton. However, the antidote was only temporary, and Fireflite addicts had to retake it regularly to survive.

Fireflite is stored in an Asbestoscase, presumably indicating they would burn through normal materials.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - The drug Fireflite was first synthesized from pyrophenol-2 and gelginite in the high-temperature laboratories on Mercury.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Smuggled offworld, the drug Fireflite soon spread upward from Servant Species and became a thrill drug used by full Terrans.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - At an Addictum party at a Terran community on Luna, a male and female guest played Chicken with Fireflite while the other guests bet large sums of money on the outcome. The women reached for the antidote capsule in time, while the male "went Inferno" (or, " 'ferno"; combusted from the drug).

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Lunans plotted a revolution involving using Fireflite intended to gain enough secret information to fight Terra.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Spice smuggler Sebastian Seasons took a side job supplying the Fireflite for the revolution.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys met Seasons at a party arranged by Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Catherine became a Fireflite user.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - During the interrogation of an aide who had been caught passing official secrets, the terrified aide began to smoke and then combusted. This was the ISA's first exposure to the hellish effects of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Lunan revolutionaries coerced Vincent (who was unaware that Catherine was a Lunan -- who were unaffected by Fireflite -- and could be gengineered back as soon as her work was done) to cooperate with them in order to keep Catherine alive.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Ultimately, however, Vincent took Fireflite himself, ensuring his own death to prevent his being used further; he incorrectly believed Catherine would do the same.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Refusing to succumb to threats to his or Catherine's health, Vincent DeLys departed the Terran embassy and, as he succumbed to the effects of Fireflite, fatally crashed his flyer through the main access tube leading to Mare Imbrium Dome; many perished from the loss of atmosphere.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In a protective spacesuit, Chief Esterhase investigated the death of Vincent De Lys, who had crashed his ship through one of Luna's access tubes, killing many before the atmosphere could be stabilized. Esterhase noted that the corpse was completely charred despite their being no atmosphere to support combustion. Further appreciating the blue tinge to the skeleton, as traces of pyrophenol-2 and gelginite in preliminary cell samples, he was convinced by the discovery of an asbestocase that the ambassador had been addicted to Fireflite. He instructed his agents to book him the first shuttle to Terra.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's Pleasure Palace, earning Seasons' personal attention after winning five times in a row and being invited to the lower levels to take the "The Game" (Fireflite challenge); entering the Privaseal-secured room, Paradox observed Catherine having also taken Fireflite and sitting trance-like by the antidote capsule. Reverting to his standard form, Paradox swallowed a Fireflite cube (an overdose) given to him by a Lunan attendant. While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine with another dose as well, and escaped with her while posing as a Lunan.
When Paradox grabbed Catherine's hands while she was revealing a version of her and Vincent's addictions, she revealed the Fireflite antidote had to be renewed and directed Paradox to Seasons as her source.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Realizing the threat to his operations, Seasons prepared to move his operations off-world. He shut down the casino and headed with his Lunan agents to the Metalmines, where no Terran would ever go to discover them.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Seasons' men fruitlessly worked over Yaz for information on Paradox; believing him incapacitated, they discussed a Lunan revolution involving using Fireflite to gain enough secret information to fight Terra.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Before dying, Yaz revealed to Paradox who worked him over and what he heard.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Heading to the Metalmines, Paradox adopted Seasons' form and ordered his pilot to take off in the Fireflite loaded ship. Paradox then took Mercurian form to survive the ship's exhaust, which killed Seasons; the conversion to Mercurian also burned the Fireflite out of his system.
After alerting the ISA to intercept the Fireflite ship and meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox confronted Catherine, playing chicken with the Fireflite antidote capsules and forcing her to reveal her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; they took her in to try her for treason after allowing her to take the antidote capsule.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Chief Esterhase tried to fatally deprive Paradox of Fireflite due to his unpredictability and unwillingness to take orders; revealing his true identity (though Chief Esterhase was uncertain) and exposing Esterhase's addiction to Fireflite, Paradox prevented Chief Esterhase from taking the antidote and left the room in Chief Esterhase's form, allowing him to escape the ISA troops stationed there; Esterhase went 'ferno soon after.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb), 24 (fb) - BTS, 24

Harry & Irma

A Terran couple, parents of Eena & Zeeko

On Titan, the Saturn-Central coordinating complex/aerodroma, Harry derided a Saturniancargo handler for the loss of their luggage, while their daughters recognized the arriving Paradox. As Zeeko asked permission to get Paradox to sign their cele books, fearing a Saturnian girl would get his autograph before them, Irma told them to go ahead while their father "berated this ignorant Saturnian cargo handler." Irma suggested Harry report the Saturnian, but Harry insisted he would have him sent to the spice mines. After Paradox sent the girls screaming for their mommy and daddy after taking a Saturnian form while they asked for his autograph, Harry told Irma to "shut those brats up." When his daughters told him what happened, a disbelieving and irritated Harry asked them if they were out of their minds, then told them this was the last time he took them on any business trip off-Earth.

Harry continually insulted the cargo handler, calling him "geek," telling him "I'll have your job, you walking vegetable..." Harry had some sort of cigarette/cigarette in his month during the whole/brief encounter.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Howe

Presumably a Terran, writer/historian Howe composed "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181," which was banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor

--Marvel Preview#24 - BTS (Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS

Interplanetary Security Agency (ISA)

As the name implies, the Interplanetary Security Agency is the organization dealing with security on Terra and the various colonized planets in the empire within Terra's solar system.

Membership: Agent Einhardt + 3 (ISA), ISA security chief Esterhase, Fire, Ice, ISA Strike Squad, Paradox, Razor, Robopolice, Roborescue, Stanhope, Carl Yaz Tremsky (deceased), unidentified guards, unidentified scientist, unidentified agents slain by rebels

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Carl Yaz Tremsky trained Mark Esterhase at ISA Academy

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - ISA Chief Stanhope terminated Yaz as an operative when he refused orders to get him offworld so Stanhope could romance Yaz's wife.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Mark Esterhase was mortally wounded while trying to stop Sebastian Seasons and his gang of spice smugglers on an asteroid. Left behind to die, bathed in radiation from the asteroid, Mark was rescued by ISA roborescue squad and brought to ISA Central on Terra. With radiation destroying his cells and all human cells as they were grafted into Mark, Stanhope supervised the decision by an ISA scientist to gengineer him into some radiation tolerant species, using both paranormal humans (with psychic powers) and parahuman (various "failures" that were not fit for any known worlds as yet, and presumably also the "successful" Servant Species living on the various colony worlds, as well). The process was successful, with Esterhase believed to have died by his parents; he became ISA agent Paradox, adopting a slightly altered Terran form as a disguise.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The man who would become Fire received a bionic flame-thrower in his arm after the ISA sent him in alone into a nest of Jovian spice-smugglers.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - The women who would become known as Ice and Razor were changed/mutated by the ISA.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despondent over his son's seeming death, ISA chief Esterhase accepted Catherine's offer of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In a protective spacesuit, Chief Esterhase investigated the death of the Terran ambassador to Luna, Vincent De Lys, who had crashed his ship through one of Luna's access tubes, killing many before the atmosphere could be stabilized. Esterhase's analysis of the findings convinced him that the ambassador had been addicted to Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Unaware of Paradox's true identity, chief Esterhase came to Terra and was assigned by Stanhope agent Paradox to investigate Ambassador De Lys' death. Arriving on Luna, Paradox adopted Lunan form and swiftly ditched Esterhase, meeting up with his old ally Yaz.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox returned to Yaz's shop, and the dying Yaz revealed Sebastian Seasons' men had worked him over and what he had heard.
After alerting the ISA to intercept the Fireflite ship and meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox duped Catherine into revealing her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; the ISA took her in to try her for treason.

(Marvel Preview#24) - While appreciating Paradox's skill, Chief Esterhase tried to kill Paradox due to his unpredictability and unwillingness to take orders; revealing his true identity (though Chief Esterhase was uncertain) and exposing Esterhase's addiction to Fireflite, Paradox prevented Esterhase from taking the antidote and left the room in Esterhase's form, allowing Paradox to escape the ISA troops stationed there; Esterhase went 'ferno soon after.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - A pair of female guards led "Catherine" to her prison cell.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Paradox gave his version of events at an ISA debriefing including Stanhope.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Terran ISA guards (apparently the same two who had led Catherine to her prison), determined to prove there was a Lunan beneath Catherine's beautiful Terran body, skinned her alive.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - In the pasts six weeks prior to the main story, the ISA lost eleven agents to the rebellion against the Terran Empire.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - An informant arranged a meeting with an ISA agent on Mercury to discuss the rebellion.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Mercurian rebels tortured and killed the informant before the ISA agent's arrival.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) <Circa 2182 AD> - On Mercury, an ISA agent arrived to meet his informant, but found the informant recently killed (his arm was seen hanging out of a refrigeration unit). The agent was confronted by Mercurian rebels, who used a portable teleporter to transport him into the atmosphere, where he swiftly burned to death.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - On Titan, Paradox teamed up with his contacts, the ISA Strike Squad (Fire, Ice, Razor - when Ice identified him as their contact). Blocking his mind from Ice, Paradox led the Strike Squad into a trap in which the entire squad perished; Paradox posed as Razor, causing others to believe she slew Paradox instead. Numerous Saturnian rebels voluntarily sacrificed themselves to lull the ISA into believing the rebellion had been smashed on Titan.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - The next phase, at an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, "Razor" fatally sabotaged the Emperor's flight. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him. Paradox left Stanhope amongst the Empire's ruins, believing that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - Continuing to view Paradox as a loose cannon, the ISA (see comments) sent him through the Fault (a rip in the space-time continuum lying between the Shi'ar and Kree galaxies) to spy on Reality-616, in hopes that he would never return.

--Marvel Preview#24 ((24 (fb) - BTS, 24 (fb), 24, Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS, 30, Wolverine: Best There Is#9

Comments: Paradox references himself as part of the Interplanetary Security Agency in Wolverine: Best There Is, despite having betrayed the ISA and Terran Empire in Bizarre Adventures #30. Possibilities:

Wolverine: Best There Is occurs after Bizarre Adventures#30, and Paradox realigns with the ISA in the new society where Terrans and the Colonials have better relations.
Wolverine: Best There Is occurs b/t #24 and #30...he apparently returns to his own reality at some point, or #30 is an alternate reality version from the one in Wolverine: Best There Is
Paradox is falsely claiming still to be a member (like a disgraced FBI agent might claim to still be with the agency if he thinks it impress / intimidate those he is talking to - Paradox may not have realized the reality he is now in doesn't know what the ISA is), or he still thinks of himself as an ISA agent ("I didn't betray the agency, the other agents did! I'm the only one still living up to the ideals the agency was meant to stand for.")
--Loki
Someone never read Bizarre Adventures#30. ;)

ISA Strike Squad

Membership: Fire, Ice, Razor; briefly led (and betrayed by) Paradox

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Fire joined an ISA Strike Squad including fellow ISA mutates Ice and Razor.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Fire, Ice, and Razor worked together for a sufficiently long time to become familiar and comfortable together.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - ISA Central informed their strike squad that a contact would come to lead them on Titan in investigating a rebellion amongst the servant species and suspicion that there was a mole in the ISA.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Fire worked as bartender at the X-Press Bar on Titan, and Ice and Razor posed as customers.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - The next phase, at an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, "Razor" fatally sabotaged the Emperor's flight. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him. Paradox left ISA Chief Stanhope amongst the Empire's ruins, believing that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

--Bizarre Adventures#30 (30 (fb) - BTS, 30

Jovians/Jupiter

Jovians are large and superhumanly strong to compensate for Jupiter's massive gravity. Their massive nostrils filter oxygen from among the noxious gases of Jupiter's atmosphere.

Jupiter itself was not shown on panel. See comments
Jovians weren't seen either, technically, but Paradox took Jovian form, which is close enough to show their characteristics. Paradox adopted two different forms, but I think the differences can be chalked up to bald vs. a full head of hair, and some artistic variance/license.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The man who would become Fire received a bionic flame-thrower in his arm after the ISA sent him in alone into a nest of Jovian spice-smugglers.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS) - Paradox adopted Jovian form to rip open a pathway through a solid wall to seemingly help the rebels Fire and Razor escape Saturnian pursuers after leading them into a trap.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS) - As "Razor," Paradox caused the Terran Emperor's ship to plunge into Saturn's deadly atmosphere; on every colony world there was rejoicing. As the rebels openly assaulted their oppressors, the streets of every colony world and moon ran wet with myriad hues of blood. Nonetheless, there was hope that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#9 - BTS) - While in Reality-616, Paradox and Monark Starstalker's stolen ship was assaulted by General Kosrouschah and his agents, including a Pheragot, P'tah, and one of the Scatter. In (presumably) Jovian form, Paradox survived being pulled into open space, stomped on a number of the Scatter, and cut the P'Tah in half and then blasted a whole through the head of Kosrouschah with his wristlaser.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#10 - BTS) - Still in Reality-616, Contagion (Windsor) ambushed Paradox, Monark, & Wolverine, shattering their engine block and hurling all three from the car as it stopped suddenly. They fell into a pit, and Paradox adopted (presumably) Jovian form to grab the wall to slow his descent. In that form, Paradox hurled Wolverine at Contagion, then rushed Contagion himself, but Contagion's super-strong adaptations quickly dropped both assailants.

--(referenced) Marvel Preview#24; (Paradox in Jovian form) Bizarre Adventures#30

Comments: As a gas giant, Jupiter doesn't really have a surface (maybe a core...), so the Jovians may well have dwelled upon on of Jupiter's many moons, or perhaps on an artificial satellite within the planet's atmosphere (much like the way Saturn's colony was based on Titan). The black-and-white pictures are Paradox taking a form specifically identified as Jovian. The color (faintly colored as they are) pictures are also Paradox, and their size and strength make them seem most likely to be Jovians, though I'm not positive they are identified as such. Given Paradox's additional forms seen in Wolverine: The Best There Is, he may well be able to take other forms beyond those of the Servant Species, and this could be some other race/form altogether.
As first revealed in a text page on Marvel Presents#3, Earth's Jupiter colony of Reality-691 consisted of floating cities in huge plastiglass bubbles suspended in the Jovian atmosphere. Jupiter proved too difficult to colonize; from these floating cities, the scientists of Jupiter could study Jupiter itself and the other gas giant planets, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.--Wolfram Bane

Loraida Lang

Loraida was apparently a Mercurian who wrote country music, "a gal who'd make any miner's blood boil..."

She wrote (or at least performed) "Torch Song"

    ...It's a long hot night, no relief in sight,
    and I sit here and stare at the sun...
    I whisper his name, but know it's a shame,
    that my cold-blooded man doesn't come.
    'cause he's out there toiling, his blood it is boiling,
    mining lava rocks for Earth by the ton.

--Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS

Comment: I'd guess her name was inspired by country singer Loretta Lynn...or not...

It is unrevealed whether Loraida Lang was Mercurian, Terran, or other. I prefer to think she is Mercurian

Lara

A Lunan, Lara served at the Terran Embassy. When Catherine De Lys was returned to the embassy by Paradox, Catherine told Lara (who waited inside the embassy) that they would be in her husband's study, and to let no one disturb them. Lara replied, "Yes, madame."

--Marvel Preview#24

Llango-Tri-Color

A (presumably alcohol or similar product) drink ordered at Titan's X-Press Bar by Paradox while posing as a Saturnian. The presence of one of the "Servant Species," coupled with his refusal to accept instructions from the Terran patrons to get out, led to a bar fight...which exposed Fire, Ice, and Razor's true natures, after which Paradox revealed his own identity and joined forces with them temporarily. After the battle, Fire (who had been acting as bartender prior to the conflict) asked Paradox if he still wanted that Llango-Tri Color.

While the drink IS partially shown, it is in a pretty gray "black and white" magazine. Only a small portion of the drink is shown, and it appears clear/colorless in one image and more gray in another. Maybe it switches back and forth (and back and forth) between three colors. Regardless, it was (at least in this instance) served in a glass. If they ever publish these issues in color.

You can see a splashing version of the drink in the sub-profile for Bear

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Luna/Lunans

Lunans are short, squat, and heavily muscled, primarily bred for work on Luna's mines. They are apparently immune to Fireflite.

Significant Natives: Lara, Tor-Mel, "Catherine Worth/De Lys"

Other residents of Luna: Vincent De Lys, Sebastian Seasons, Carl Yaz Tremsky, Mercurian prostitute, Mercurian woman, many unidentified (some seen in the same image as the Mercurian woman)

Significant Locations: Funeral Dome, Mare Imbrium Dome, Metalmine, Season's Pleasure Palace, Ptolemaeus Dome, Sin City, Space Terminal, First Subterranean Sector, Traffic Control Central

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181> - By the middle of the 21st century, Terra (formerly known as Earth) had extended her dominion over the other planets and satellites in the star system Sol, starting with Luna (Earth's moon). Terrans were gengineered (genetically engineered) to allow them to survive under conditions prevalent on Luna.
Luna became a godforsaken mining world, raped for its mineral wealth. Its terrain, considered unworthy of terraforming, was left harsh and forbidding. Its squat grey cities <were> enclosed within dirty double domes environmentally maintained by huge atmosphere banks. Transparent tubeways connected Luna's domes, and huge rampways led down their many levels to the ore mines that honeycombed the satellite. On those levels, the law was suspended. No Terran dared descend down into the depths. Crime and poverty raged side by side. The outmoded concept "survival of the fittest" remained the operative principle. Orbiting in Earth's shadow, Luna was the birthplace of one revolt against Terran authority after another, all subverted or savagely put down.

Among the notable domes is Ptolemaeus Dome (presumably either located in, or near, or otherwise named after Ptolemaeus crater), which contained the (or a) Space Terminal.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - At an Addictum party at a Terran community on Luna Terran couple played chicken with the drug Fireflite, and the male "went 'ferno" (combusted from the drug).

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Diplomat Vincent DeLys, at the Terran Emperor's behest, accepted the mission to resolve long-standing differences between the full Terrans and gengineered Lunan colonials.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Catherine Worth seduced "half of the diplomatic community" on Luna.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys soon after married Catherine Worth (who became Catherine De Lys) and seemed to gain new life.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent De Lys met Sebastian Seasons at a party arranged by Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Catherine De Lys became a Fireflite user, and Lunan revolutionaries coerced Vincent (who was unaware she was a Lunan -- who were unaffected by Fireflite -- and could be gengineered back as soon as her work was done) to cooperate with them; ultimately, however, he took Fireflite himself, ensuring his own death to prevent his being used further; he believed Catherine would do the same.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys departed the Terran embassy and fatally crashed his flyer through the main access tube leading to the Mare Imbrium Dome; many perished from the loss of atmosphere.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despondent over his son (Mark Esterhase, aka Paradox)'s seeming death, ISA chief Esterhase accepted Catherine's offer of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24) - ISA Chief Stanhope assigned Paradox to Chief Esterhase to investigate Vincent De Lys' death. Arriving on Luna, Paradox adopted Lunan form and swiftly ditched Esterhase, meeting up with his old ally Yaz, who gave him a wristlaser weapon. As Paradox departed, a Mercurian prostitute informed Seasons that Paradox had visited Yaz.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Attending the funeral of Vincent De Lys (who was launched into space), Paradox observed and bonded with Catherine.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's pleasure palace, earned Seasons' personal attention, and was invited to the lower levels to take the "The Game" (Fireflite challenge). While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine as well, and escaped with her while posing as a Lunan. She revealed the Fireflite antidote had to be renewed and directed Paradox to Seasons as her source.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Paradox headed to Season's after leaving Catherine, but found it closed.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox returned to Yaz's shop, and, before dying, Yaz revealed who worked him over and what he heard. A Robocop tried to detain Paradox, but he destroyed it before escaping in Lunan form. Heading to the Metalmines, Paradox took Lunan form to get close to Seasons and his men. After Paradox learned Seasons took orders from a woman, he revealed his true identity to Seasons, and then adopted Seasons' form and ordered his pilot to take off. Paradox took Mercurian form to survive the ship's exhaust, which killed Seasons; the conversion to Mercurian also burned the Fireflite out of his system;
After alerting the ISA to intercept the Fireflite ship and meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox confronted Catherine, playing chicken with the Fireflite antidote capsules and forcing her to reveal her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; they took her in to try her for treason after allowing her to take the antidote capsule.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Catherine DeLys was imprisoned in Terran prison.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Terran guards, determined to prove there was a Lunan beneath Catherine's beautiful Terran body, skinned her alive.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb) - BTS, 24 (fb), 24, Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb), 30 - BTS

Luna's
First Subterranean Sector

Traveling down the rampway from Ptolemaeus Dome's Upper Levels would bring one to the grey environment of the First Subterranean Sector. There were still Terrans on this level -- civil servants, merchants, mechanics, etc. --but their ranks thinned out as the twists and turns of the rampway led ever downward.

--Marvel Preview#24

Luna's
Funeral Dome

Reached by tubeway across the frozen Lunar plain, the Funeral Dome was the place from which (at least) distinguished Terrans who perished on Luna had their remains launched into space via a special tube that exited the dome's surface without disrupting the dome's atmosphere.

Paradox met Catherine De Lys there while attending the funeral of Vincent De Lys.

--Marvel Preview#24

Luna's
Mare Imbrium Dome

Though not pictured, this presumable represents another domed city, one located within the Mare Imbrium, one of the largest craters (aka seas) on Earth's moon. Suffering the fatal toxicity of Fireflite, Terran Ambassador Vincent De Lys hovered outside of the main access tube to the Mare Imbrium Dome before entering it. Going 'ferno, De Lys crashed through the access tube, causing an atmospheric and gravity breach with numerous fatalities.

--(mentioned) Marvel Preview#24

Luna's
Metalmines

The working class district of the Fifth Subterranean Sector (below Ptolemaeus Dome). Kids played on narrow stone streets in front of grim housing hewn from the crust of Luna itself. Mining was the main use of Luna to the Terrans.

--Marvel Preview#24

Luna's
Ptolemaeus Dome

One of a number of atmospheric domes on the Lunan surface, providing conditions to enable its inhabitants to survive, it presumably either located in, or near, or otherwise named after Ptolemaeus crater, which in turn is named for Claudius Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman writer, mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer.

Its Upper Levels were lit by the clean glow of the stars as well as fiber-filament illumination from the Dome itself

It contained the (or a) Space Terminal, and had rampways leading down to the various lower levels.

--Marvel Preview#24

Luna's
Sin City

The ninth and final Subterranean Sector below Ptolemaeus Dome, it is a mining town thriving on the labor of Lunans whose work carried them every deeper in Luna's core where they tore their livelihood from the hellish mineral mines of the long-dead moon.

The illicit attractions of Sin City are as perverse as they are plentiful, and to them throng the scum of the Empire, to buy and sell anything...at any price. The only Terrans there are those who have forgotten what it is to be human...such as Carl Yaz Tremsky.

Other (presumed) residents include an unidentified Mercurian prostitute (the woman on the right of this panel is another Mercurian, and may be prostitute, too, but we don't know for sure. I'm not sure what the woman on the far left is...kind of looks like a hybrid Martian-Mercurian; and to her right is a Venusian; not sure about the long-haired guy with the star tattoos or the person in the atmospheric suit; the guy just behind Paradox (who has taken Martian form, with the black sleeveless shirt and choker) might be Venusian, too...

--Marvel Preview#24

Luna's
Traffic Control Central
(unpictured)

They apparently supervise all flights with Luna's domed cities and various access tubes.

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - Terran ambassador Vincent De Lys, who knew he was going to die shortly from the drug Fireflite, hovered outside the main access tube to the Mare Imbrium Dome. After he ignored a traffic directive issued by one of the Robocops, another Robocop approached him and instructed De Lys to accompany him/it to Traffic Control Central. De Lys instead swerved and smashed the Robocop against the dome wall and took off into the access tube. The police drone's termination signal alerted Traffic Control Central, who dispatched a Robocop pursuit squad after him. De Lys soon perished from the effects of Fireflite, and crashed his ship through the access tube that caused an atmospheric and gravity breach. The drones instantly changed directives (either via their programming or a new order from Traffic Control Central) to evacuate humans to save them, but there was not significant time for them to respond.

By 15 rotations (not sure how long that would be, but lunar or earthly rotations seems too long...I'd have thought minutes to hours), hospital and repair crews were at work on the scene of what the media were already calling the worst traffic disaster in Lunan history. The Interplanetary Security Agency investigated and discovered evidence of De Lys having used Fireflite.

--Marvel Preview#24

Martians/Mars

Mars itself was not shown on panel

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor> - Martians wore water-circulating all-concealing robes to protect them against their world's dust storms.

--Marvel Preview#24 - BTS

Martians were never pictured and/or identified in the issues I've seen/read. They could have been among the beings that were never shown/identified...

Matin
(Not pictured, as far as I know)

A musical composer. His "Martian Concerto" played in an anti-gravity lift as Paradox was lowered down to Season's Pleasure Palace.

--Marvel Preview#24

One would speculate that his was the equivalent of "Elevator music."

Mercurians

Known members: None identified. Unidentified prostitute. unidentified other Mercurian woman. It is unrevealed whether Loraida Lang was Mercurian, Terran, or other. I prefer to think she is Mercurian...

Significant Locations: Hovering refrigerated cities (see image to the right)

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181> - Mercurians glow white-hot and wear heat suits to keep their temperatures up in the thousands of degrees centigrade (see comments).

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Mercury featured its own style of country music, including "Torch Song" by Loraida Lang, "a gal who'd make any miner's blood boil..."

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Developed on Mercury and smuggled offworld, the drug Fireflite spread upward from Servant Species and became a thrill drug used by full Terrans.

(Marvel Preview#24) - At least one unique Mercurian woman was present in Luna's Sin City when Paradox visited.

(Marvel Preview#24) - On Luna, as Paradox departed from a visit with his old ally Yaz, a Mercurian prostitute informed Seasons that Paradox had visited Yaz.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox duped Sebastian Seasons' pilot into taking off with Paradox and Seasons both in the ship's exhaust path. Paradox adopted Mercurian form to survive the ship's exhaust, which killed Seasons; the conversion to Mercurian also burned the Fireflite out of Paradox's system.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - An informant arranged a meeting with an ISA agent on Mercury to discuss the rebellion.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Mercurian rebels tortured and killed the informant before the ISA agent's arrival.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#10) - Paradox assaulted Contagion in Mercurian form, but Contagion drained his heat and then incapacitated him with infection-laden saliva.

--(form shown/identified) Marvel Preview#24, (true Mercurians) Bizarre Adventures#30 (Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS, Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS, 30 (fb), 30

Comments: Hot or Cold?

Marvel Preview#24 include this excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181:
"Mercurians, who glow white-hot and wear heat suits to keep their temperatures up in the thousands of degrees centigrade
HOWEVER, Bizarre Adventures#30 includes this excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181:
"Mercury, a planet so close to the sun that its ammoniac atmosphere fairly boils. Mercury was rich in strategic metals that Terra needed to maintain her sway over her growing Empire. To mine Mercury, man was modified (gene-spliced), and beings were bred whose internal temperatures were so low as to enable them to counteract Mercury's fierce heat. Even there, where Mercurians lived within hovering refrigerated cities, rebellion against the Terran Empire brewed."
So, there's a breakdown somewhere...are they super-hot to adapt to the environment, or are they super-cold to counteract it? Given that both in Marvel Preview#24 and Wolverine: The Best There Is#8 & 10 specifically show and reference Paradox achieving a super-heated state in Mercurian form, that much must be true. The question is whether (1) They're cold at rest and can achieve a super-heated sate; (2) There are two sub-species (one super-heated, one super-cooled); or (3) The excerpt is in error. I vote for option #1.
Real world science actually can tell you that while Mercury indeed is very hot during the day(800 Fahrenheit or so) the planet cannot sustain the heat since it has no atmosphere; the temperature at night can plummet all the way down to -280 Fahrenheit. Think of Earthly desert atmosphere but multiplied to a hundred or so :)
So I suppose Mercurians could be able to regulate their body temperature according to the time of the day to survive, this way both of the said statements would be true, only that time of day was not noted in the excerpt..
--Janne "hobrev" Juntunen

Neptunians/Neptune

Neptune itself was not shown on panel

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor - BTS> - Terrans laughingly said the less known about the Neptunians, the better.

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - Carl Yaz Tremsky asked Paradox if he could turn into a Neptunian, but when Paradox said he could, Yaz told him, "Never mind! Some things are better left alone!"

--Marvel Preview#24 - BTS

Neptunians were never pictured and/or identified in the issues as far as I could tell. It's possible some of the unidentified beings seen in a few panels were Neptunians.

Neptune, as a gas giant planet, doesn't necessarily have a surface, and it would seem likely that the natives dwelled on one or more of its satellites/moons. See also the comments for Jupiter/Jovians.

Parahumans

Parahumans, though described as "beyond human," were generally considered the failures of "the relatively foolproof science of genetic engineering." Some of these products survived and were kept under study at ISA Central. ISA scientists hoped that worlds would be discovered in the future which would be suitable for habitation by these creatures.

However, it would also seem that Parahuman also refers to the Servant Species

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Paradox was given parahuman and paranormal genetic material and abilities. The former enabling him to exist as other than human for long periods of time, and the latter granting him the mental ability to make transformations from one species to the next.

--Marvel Preview#24

Paranormals

Genegineered humans whose mental powers have been enhanced, granting them abilities such as psychics and ESPers (ESP referring to Extra Sensory Perception; these two terms presumably are intended to reference clairvoyance, precognition, and other psychic abilities), teleporters, etc.

--Marvel Preview#24

Pluvians/Pluto

Pluto itself was not shown on panel

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor> - Pluvians are blue-skinned and swathed in fur.

Pluvians were never pictured and/or identified in the issues I've seen/read.

--Marvel Preview#24 - BTS

Comments: Pluvians would be natives of Pluto. I don't think it is confirmed that Paradox's society considered Pluto a planet; since they colonized Earth's moon (and Titan), they may have considered the dwarf planet useful for whatever reason. It is not clear in Paradox's Reality-80324 whether Pluto was demoted from it's long-standing planet status, as it was on the real world, in 2006. Google it for more information.
Nonetheless, it is noted that Terra "extended her dominion over her eight sister planets and their satellites in the star system Sol." Nine planets in the solar system would seem to indicate that Pluto did indeed count.

Portable Teleporters

Worn over a wrist, these could teleport a target to a selected designation, even against the target's will. One was used to teleport a person out of a refrigerated city and into the Mercurian atmosphere. The teleporter's maximum volume and range is unrevealed. A Mercurian reference of "these portable 'porters ever since our brainboys whipped them up!" would seem to indicate there were at least a few of these, if not many.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Scientists (possibly Mercurian) within the rebellion developed portable teleporters. The rebels looked forward to testing them out.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Robopolice

Aka Robocops...Authorized Police Drones. They were presumably stationed on Terra and each of the planets and satellites in the Terran Empire.

While their specific abilities are undefined, they carried some sort of hand pistol and communicated over a distance via a hand-held communicator. A blast from Paradox's wrist-blaster was sufficient to shatter a Robocop's neck.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Embassy Robopolice caught an aide passing official secrets. From the fiery demise of this agent, the ISA learned of the existence of Fireflite.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox returned to his friend Yaz's shop in Sin City to find Yaz dying; Yaz revealed who worked him over and what he heard; Yaz then died. A Robocop tried to detain Paradox, but he destroyed it before escaping in Lunan form.

--Marvel Preview#24

There's a cool image on the cover of Marvel Preview#24 (see the main image above), which appears to be intended to show Robocops and has them pictured in metallic steel color...but the characters don't look anything like the Robocops shown in the actual comic. That was the case with just about anyone shown on the original two covers.

Roboreporters

(Marvel Preview#24) - As the Empire-famous Terran anti-gravity artist Paradox arrived on Luna, he was swarmed by Roboreporters who sought interviews, holovids, and information on whether he would perform on Luna. ISA Security Chief Esterhase was furious as Paradox responded to their queries, fearing he would blow his cover. Paradox allowed the gathering to swarm around him, causing Esterhase to lose sight of him, and enabling him to swiftly shift into Lunan form and escape to investigate on his own.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS) - On Titan, upon being alerted that Paradox had arrived, Roboreporters from various holovid stations converged on Customs. They were disappointed, as Paradox escaped their detection by having taken Saturnian form prior to their arrival.

--Marvel Preview#24 (Bizarre Adventures#30

Roborescue units

--Marvel Preview#24

Saturnians/Saturn

Saturnians seemed to have floral/plant-like qualities, as they were frequently referred to as carrot-top, (walking) vegetables, and (walking tomato) plants. When Bear questioned Paradox (posing as a Saturnian) if he even had a spine, Paradox confirmed that he did, but "our roots run green with sap."

Known members: None identified; a mother and daughter pair who referred to each other as "Maman" and "Girl-Chick," respectively; and the rebels seen in the picture to the right

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Titan functioned as a way-station, a processing house for minerals ripped from Saturn's surface (see comments) by generations of gengineered Saturnians.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor> - Saturnians were tall and reedy, with strange finlike crests on their appendages.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - On Titan, when Paradox landed, a young Saturian female noticed his presence and asked her mother figure/"maman" if she could request his autograph; her "mamon" gave her permission as long as she did so politely. However, a pair of rude Terran girls interfered; Zeeko ordered the "carrot-top" out of their way, and Eena shoved the Saturnian girl out of the way, insisting no orange off-worlder would talk to a Terran artist before them. The two girls rushed Paradox, arguing over whose he would sign first, but, having witnessed their behavior, Paradox took Saturnian form as he agreed. When he, fully transformed, asked "Who's first?" the girls ran away screaming for their mommy and daddy.
Returning to his Paradox form, Paradox encouraged the Saturnian girl to keep it their secret, and the young girl agreed.

Paradox used the same form to avoid robo-reporters and then to enter and stir up trouble at a bar, during which he encountered and teamed up with his ISA contacts (Fire, Ice, Razor - when Ice identifies him as their contact) as the group took down a number of racist Terrans.

Blocking his mind from Ice, Paradox led the group (ISA Strike Squad) into a trap at a rebel warehouse; the Saturnians' mindscreens allowed them to escape Ice's detection, and they slew Ice soon after their entry. After helping Fire and Razor escape in Jovian form, Paradox slew Fire and revealed his true allegiance to Razor; Paradox then defeated Razor in combat but assumed her form, causing others to believe she had slain him instead. Numerous Saturnian rebels voluntarily sacrificed themselves to lull the ISA into believing the rebellion had been smashed on Titan.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - The next phase, at an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, "Razor" used her laser vision to destroy the consoles controlling the Emperor's descent, causing him to fall into Saturn's deadly atmosphere. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him; on every colony world there was rejoicing. As the rebels openly assaulted their oppressors, the streets of every colony world and moon ran wet with myriad hues of blood. Paradox left Stanhope amongst the Empire's ruins, believing that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

--(possibly) Marvel Preview#24 (if any of the unidentified aliens shown were Saturnians); (confirmed/full) Bizarre Adventures#30 (Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS, Bizarre Adventures#30

Comments: In Marvel Preview#24, commenting about potentially being spied on, Paradox commented: "The walls have more ears than a Saturnian spicestalk." I'd imagine this refers to ears of spice that grow like corn, but maybe the spicestalks have actual ears for hearing...who knows?

Based on the comments of Eeno and Zeeko, Saturnians are orange. They are typically insulted by others in vegetable turns, "carrot-top," "vegetable," "walking vegetable," "plant," etc.

Saturn, as a gas giant planet, doesn't necessarily have a surface, and it would seem likely that the natives dwelled on Titan and/or other satellites/moons. See also the comments for Jupiter/Jovians.

Sebastian Seasons

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - ISA agent Mark Esterhase was mortally wounded while trying to stop Sebastian Seasons and his gang of spice smugglers on a radioactive asteroid. When one of his agents asked if he should fry the agent, Season remarked that the agent was just a kid...and that they could leave him and let the radioactive rock boil his blood. Mark was rescued by ISA roborescue squad and brought to ISA Central on Terra, where he was mutated into Paradox.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Vincent DeLys met Seasons on Luna at a party arranged by Catherine De Lys.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Seasons agreed to run Fireflite on the side for Catherine, little caring about the Lunans' plans to use it for their revolution, and solely interested in the profit this would net him.

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - Seasons was instructed to watch out for a Terran dancer (Paradox) working with the ISA.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's Pleasure Palace, earning Seasons' personal attention after winning huge wagers five times in a row. Seasons approached the "Venusian," offering him a game with more dramatic possibilities and played for higher stakes. Noting that he knew every gambler in the Empire, Seasons wondered how he had never encountered the "Venusian" before; the "Venusian" claimed that they had met, but that his luck was not as good then as it was now (implying Seasons just didn't remember him). Apparently skeptical, Seasons nonetheless invited the "Venusian" through a privaseal built by Yaz Tremsky, who they both acknowledged as an unparalleled professional. Seasons took the "Venusian" through a drug-riddled orgy, admitting to be breaking the Empire's laws, but agreeing with the comment made by the "Venusian," about no thrill with lower stakes. When the "Venusian" showed interest in a singular chamber, Seasons informed him it was "The Game," a life-or-death challenge. The "Venusian" accepted, and Seasons informed him that his winnings would be converted to a single shot through the game, and instructed the "Venusian" to pass through the privaseal and be seated, where all rules would be explained.
The Game turned out to be the Fireflite challenge (which Seasons had sabotaged with an "overdose"). While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine as well. Meanwhile, Seasons instructed a pair of Lunan servants that "The Game" was over and that they should go inside and see to the remains before the other players came to. Paradox escaped with Catherine while posing as a Lunan.

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - Discovering the remains of Catherine's chauffeur, Seasons and the Lunans rushed back outside.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Seasons ordered his men to stop the ship in which Catherine and Paradox, in the form of Catherine's chauffeur, were escaping. They fired and missed, and Paradox escaped. Seasons ordered his agents to hold their fire once the pair was out of range, as it was pointless and they didn't want to alarm the rest of their guests. Wondering whether there was a connection between Paradox and the "Venusian" who had survived two lethal threats, Seasons resolved that, regardless, he'd have to move his entire operation off-world before their antagonist discovered he had doomed himself (by Fireflite addiction).

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - Catherine subsequently revealed to Paradox the Fireflite antidote had to be renewed and directed Paradox to Seasons as her source.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Seasons and/or his men entered Yaz Tremsky's lab. Seasons (or a representative) claimed to be a friend of Paradox's and wanted to know what he had sold Paradox. Seasons' Lunan agents fruitlessly worked over Yaz (with his own weaponry) for information on Paradox; believing him incapacitated, they discussed a Lunan revolution involving using Fireflite to gain enough secret information to fight Terra. They further noted Seasons as the Fireflite supplier.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Paradox headed to Season's after leaving Catherine, but found it closed.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Paradox returned to Yaz's shop, and Yaz revealed who worked him over and what he heard; Yaz then died. A Robocop tried to detain Paradox, but he destroyed it before escaping in Lunan form. Heading to the Metalmines (which Paradox reasoned was the logical place to smuggle Fireflite on- or off-world and safe from Terran eyes, as no Terran would go there), Paradox ambushed a Lunan, stole his spacesuit, and took Lunan form to get close to Seasons and his men. As Paradox approached in Lunan form, a true Lunan thanked Seasons for his aid in their revolution, but Season instructed him to keep his gratitude and just make sure he received his 5 million credits when he dumped the Fireflite off-world. Paradox/"Lunan" asked Seasons if he was collecting for what he had done to old Yaz, and Seasons and his allies realized the "Lunan" was Paradox; though they were surprised he hadn't been consumed by the Fireflite, they followed Seasons orders to blast him. As an anti-gravity dancer, Paradox was unhampered by the low-inertia Lunar gravity of the launch pad, and he dropped his attackers. Paradox then chased Seasons onto the launch pad by Seasons' ship and took Seasons form to taunt him.
After Paradox learned Seasons took orders from a woman, Paradox revealed his true identity to Seasons, and then adopted Seasons' form and ordered his pilot to take off. Paradox then took Mercurian form to survive the ship's exhaust, which killed Seasons; the conversion to Mercurian also burned the Fireflite out of Paradox's system.

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - After alerting the ISA to intercept the Fireflite ship and meet him at the Terran embassy, Paradox confronted Catherine, leading her to reveal her origins, which chief Esterhase and his people recorded; they took her in to try her for treason after allowing her to take the antidote capsule.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb), 24

SEASON's PLEASURE PALACE

    An internationally renowned pleasure palace owned by Sebastian Seasons and based on Luna's dark side. The maitre d'hotel was Terran, a sign of fabulous wealth on a world where servants were generally Lunans. Below the main level dining rooms, for a price one could be transported via a hidden antigrav lift (during which one hears music such as Matin's "Martian Concerto") down into a world of wealth and wonderment.
    The hidden casino did not discriminate, which is why it remained hidden from the eyes of those more orthodox Terrans, who preached purity of the human race. Here gengineered representatives of every colony in the solar system gathered to try their luck at the gaming tables. The only thing the participants shared in common was the thrill they found in gambling, and the credits to back up their bets. Among the games identified in the casino were magneball (a sci-fi variation of roulette) and versions of Craps and slot machines.
    Further hidden beyond a privaseal, was a den of iniquity in which Terrans and all types of colonials (any who could afford it) engaged in intoxicated orgies, drinking and smoking various products in various states of undress and intermingling however they felt.
    Beyond even this chamber, in yet another privaseal was a dark room in which, for an astronomical fee (Paradox's price was all of his winnings, which would seem to have been well into the billions), consumers could play, "The Game," a chance to play against your own nerve, where the stakes were life or death. The Game was the Fireflite challenge, taking the drug and then holding out in taking the antidote until the last possible instant before the drug would cause the taker to be consumed in flames.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's pleasure palace, earning Seasons' personal attention after winning huge wagers five times in a row, betting repeatedly on Red 27 at the magneball table. Seasons approached the "Venusian," offering him a game with more dramatic possibilities and played for higher stakes. Noting that he knew every gambler in the Empire, Seasons wondered how he had never encountered the "Venusian" before; the "Venusian" claimed that they had met, but that his luck was not as good then as it was now (implying Seasons just didn't remember him).

Apparently skeptical, Seasons nonetheless invited the "Venusian" through a privaseal built by Yaz Tremsky, who they both acknowledged as an unparalleled professional. Seasons took the "Venusian" through a drug-riddled orgy, admitting to be breaking the Empire's laws, but agreeing with the comment made by the "Venusian," about no thrill with lower stakes. When the "Venusian" showed interest in a singular chamber, Seasons informed him it was "The Game," a life-or-death challenge. When the "Venusian" agreed, Seasons informed him that his winnings would be converted to a single shot through the game, and instructed the "Venusian" to pass through the privaseal and be seated, where all rules would be explained.
The Game turned out to be the Fireflite challenge (which Seasons had sabotaged with an "overdose"). While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine De Lys as well. Meanwhile, Seasons instructed a pair of Lunan servants that "The Game" was over and that they should go inside and see to the remains before the other players came to. Paradox escaped with Catherine while posing as a Lunan.

(Marvel Preview#24 - BTS) - Discovering the remains of Catherine's chauffeur, Seasons and the Lunans rushed back outside.

--Marvel Preview#24

Comments: Despite the possessive for Seasons being Seasons', the establishment was clearly called Season's repeatedly. So, presumably it was more a play on the name...or something...

Some smudging was required for these images, as their was nudity in both the casino and the "den," and I try to keep this site relatively kid friendly.

Servant Species
(aka Colonials)

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor>
By the middle of the 21st century, Terra (formerly known as Earth) had extended her dominion over her eight sister planets and their satellites in the star system Sol. Tremendous advances in the biological sciences led to the genetic engineering (gengineering) of humanform Terrans to allow them to survive under varying conditions prevalent on the different planets. To her colonies, Terra exported all her industry, crime, pollution, and poverty, leaving Terra herself an agricultural paradise in control of the Empire's food resources. Terra became a world of fertile fields and shining cities, the governmental, financial, and cultural hub of the Empire. It was inhabited by descendents of the original humanforms with whom all races of the Empire shared a common heritage, and the Terrans considered themselves the only "pure" race; Terran law clearly distinguished between the rights of "humans" and the gengineered "Servant Species"...including the Saturnians, Mercurians, Jovians, Pluvians, Martians, Neptunians, and the Lunans...
though not specifically referenced above, Venusians were also seen/identified. Pluvians and Uranians were neither seen nor identified, but the reference above to Terra's having dominion over "her eight sister planets" (and their satellites) would seem to indicate that they colonized every planet in the solar system; they reference also extending dominion over the planets' satellites...while the Lunans were distinct from baseline Terrans, it seemed as if the Saturnians were present both on the planet's surface (see comments) and on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. I'd imagine the same is true of the other gas giant planets: Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - A number of members of the Servant Species were kept for research in ISA Central on Terra, and their DNA was spliced into Mark Esterhase, allowing him to take the form of the various species, which afforded him radiation resistance (see comments).

(Marvel Preview#24) - Chafing under Terran rule, Lunan rebels instituted a plot against the Empire involving the use of Fireflite to manipulate ISA members and other Terran officials. The plot was uncovered and halted by Paradox.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - After his lover, Catherine De Lys, was tortured and slain by ISA guards for being a Lunan in human form, Paradox came to identify with the "Servant Species" and joined the rebellion against the Terran Empire.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Mercurian rebels slew an ISA agent and his informant who sought to investigate the rebellion.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Tthe ISA lost ten other agents to the rebellion against the Terran Empire.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Paradox, pretending to still be loyal to the Terran Empire, led the ISA Strike Squad into a Saturnian ambush. Many Saturnians sacrificed themselves so that, after the other Squad members perished, Paradox could fake his own death and pose as Razor.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb) - BTS, 24, Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS, 30

Comments: In the main image in this sub-profile, six tanks/tubes are shown, and I think we can safely there to be, at least, three others: The first is clearly a Lunan; the fourth looks like a Mercurian with the elongated nasal deal; Venusians have pointed ears and a unique nasal structure - I'd think either the 3rd or more likely the 5th is Venusians; Saturnians are notable in lacking a nose...I don't think any of these guys fits that description - maybe the 6th;
None of them appear to be Jovian, and it's fairly questionable whether any of them are Saturnians. So, there's at least two previously unseen Servant Species here; and since they made a big deal about no one knowing what Neptunians looked like, I'd think that none of these were Neptunian. Martian and Pluvian seem most likely, as Uranians weren't even confirmed to actually exist. My gut tells me the second guy would be a Martian, but his small size might also indicate he's Pluvian. That might make the third guy Pluvian or Uranian (or another species colonizing a moon with a separate species on the planet, just like Lunans vs. Terrans). Again, the sixth guy could be Martian, Neptunian, Pluvian, Uranian, or another moon species...

Stanhope

Stanhope was the Interstellar Security Agency (ISA) Chief of Operations. He was nicknamed "Fat Man" by Paradox.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - ISA Chief Stanhope terminated Yaz as an operative when he refused orders to get him offworld so Stanhope could romance his wife.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - At ISA Central on Terra, Stanhope supervised the decision to gengineer ISA agent Mark Esterhase into some radiation tolerant species, using both paranormal humans (with psychic powers) and parahuman (including those living on the various colony worlds) to survive radiation poisoning. The process was successful, with Mark believed to have died by his parents; Mark became ISA agent Paradox, adopting a slightly altered Terran form as a disguise.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Stanhope brought chief Esterhase (Paradox's father, unbeknownst to chief Esterhase) to Terra to partner him with Paradox to investigate Vincent De Lys' death. With Stanhope having two tickets two tickets to Paradox's zero gravity ballet show at the Empire Arts Center and with Stanhope's wife being off-Earth, Stanhope brought Esterhase to the show (much to Esterhase's displeasure) before introducing him to Paradox. When Paradox laid a friendly kiss on Stanhope's cheek, Chief Esterhase was appalled by Paradox's flamboyant behavior. Nonetheless, Paradox and Chief Esterhase departed for Luna.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Having solved De Lys' death, exposed and facilitated the arrest or death of those involved, and having killed Chief Esterhase when he tried to kill him, Paradox gave his version of events at an ISA debriefing including Stanhope

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS) - Paradox was exposed as the mole within the ISA and seemingly slain by ISA agent Razor. In reality, Paradox slew and impersonated Razer.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - At an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, "Razor" used her laser vision to destroy the consoles controlling the Emperor's descent, causing him to fall into Saturn's deadly atmosphere. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him; on every colony world there was rejoicing. Stanhope ordered the ISA agents present to kill Paradox, but Paradox quickly took out the first four with his wrist laser; after which Saturnian and other "Servant Species" races assaulted the ISA agents, allowing Paradox to depart. Paradox left Stanhope amongst the Empire's ruins, believing that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb) - BTS, 24, Bizarre Adventures#30

Terrans/Terra

Known Members: Bear, Vincent De Lys, Agent Einhardt + 3 (ISA), Emperor of Terra (not seen), ISA security chief Esterhase, Fire, Howe, Ice, Interplanetary Security Agency (ISA), Paradox, Razor, Sebastian Seasons, Season's maitre d'hotel, Stanhope, Carl Yaz Tremsky, Eena & Zeeko (Terran teenagers) + Harry & Irma (parents)
It is unrevealed whether Loraida Lang was Mercurian, Terran, or other. I prefer to think she is Mercurian...not sure about Matin, either?

Significant Locations: Empire Arts Center, ISA Central, New Houston

History text is restricted to events concerning Terra/baseline Terrans as a whole, as the full history to include all Terrans is essentially a regurgitation of the text in the main entry.
(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181 -- Banned by the Order of the Imperial Censor>
By the middle of the 21st century, Terra (formerly known as Earth) had extended her dominion over her eight sister planets and their satellites in the star system Sol. Tremendous advances in the biological sciences led to the genetic engineering (gengineering) of humanform Terrans to allow them to survive under varying conditions prevalent on the different planets. To her colonies, Terra exported all her industry, crime, pollution, and poverty, leaving Terra herself an agricultural paradise in control of the Empire's food resources. Terra became a world of fertile fields and shining cities, the governmental, financial, and cultural hub of the Empire. It was inhabited by descendents of the original humanforms with whom all races of the Empire shared a common heritage, and the Terrans considered themselves the only "pure" race; Terran law clearly distinguished between the rights of "humans" and the gengineered "Servant Species"...including the Saturnians, Mercurians, Jovians, Pluvians, Martians, Neptunians, and the Lunans...
In Luna's deepest levels, such as the ore mines, the law was suspended. No Terran dared descend down into the depths. Orbiting in Earth's shadow, Luna was the birthplace of one revolt against Terran authority after another, all subverted or savagely put down.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The Servant Species were denied the pleasures of Earth.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - <excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181> - Mercurians lived within hovering refrigerated cities, and rebellion against the Terran Empire brewed.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb)) - Developed on Mercury and smuggled offworld, the drug Fireflite spread upward from Servant Species and became a thrill drug used by full Terrans.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - Terran guards, determined to prove there was a Lunan beneath Catherine's beautiful Terran body, skinned her alive.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb)) - In the pasts six weeks prior to the main story, the ISA lost eleven agents.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - An informant arranged a meeting with an ISA agent on Mercury to discuss the rebellion.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Mercurian rebels tortured and killed the informant before the ISA agent's arrival.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - At an ISA command post on Titan, as the Emperor approached, Paradox, posing as Razor, used her laser vision to destroy the consoles controlling the Emperor's descent, causing him to fall into Saturn's deadly atmosphere. "Razor" then revealed herself as Paradox and took out ISA forces that tried to stop him; on every colony world there was rejoicing. As the rebels openly assaulted their oppressors, the streets of every colony world and moon ran wet with myriad hues of blood. Nonetheless, there was hope that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb), Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb), Marvel Preview#24 (fb), Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb), Marvel Preview#24, Bizarre Adventures#30

Terra's
Empire Arts Center

A mammoth center for the performing arts, it sometimes featured Paradox and other gravity dancers (also spelled danseurs). Through intricate spiralings, their weightless bodies redefined the scope of human movement.

(Marvel Preview#24) - The center was filled to capacity as Paradox and a group of female gravity dancers performed. The crowd included ISA agent Esterhase and Chief Stanhope. Despite the skill and beauty if the women, scantily clad only in loose bands of diaphanous synthetics (and beams of light), it was the patternings in space of Paradox that quickened the pulse of the center and "home-holovoid" audience.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Two weeks later, on Terra, Paradox performed before a crowd including Chief Stanhope and a group of ISA officers who planned to terminate Paradox after the show; they failed.

--Marvel Preview#24

Terra's
New Houston

A floating, domed city, it serves (served?) as the diplomatic capital of the Terran Empire.

Paradox's home was within a shimmering tower of glass atop a luxury high-rise. Within it, he could perform his anti-gravity dances hundreds of meters above the building itself, and then plummet into a pool when finished, if desired.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Accompanied by Agent Einhardt and three other ISA officials, Stanhope enlisted Paradox to investigate a colonial rebellion, sending him to Titan to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Titan
(seen in the Saturn main image)

Significant Locations: ISA Command Post, Spaceport & Customs, X-Press Bar

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - Saturn's largest moon, it also served as served as the Saturn-central coordinating complex of the Terran Empire. Additionally, Titan functioned as a way-station, a processing house for minerals ripped from Saturn's surface (see comments for Saturn) by generations of gengineered Saturnians.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The Servant Species found several areas of Titan, such as the X-Press Bar, off-limits to them; only baseline Terrans were permitted access.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Stanhope sent Paradox to Titan to investigate a colonial rebellion and to locate a mole within the ISA to make things safe for the Emperor prior to his annual colonial tour. Unbeknownst to the ISA, Paradox was himself the mole.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Paradox joined up with the ISA Strike Squad in Titan's X-Press Bar.

Paradox led the Strike Squad into a trap at a rebel warehouse; in the ensuing conflict, the Strike Squad was slain, while Paradox faked his own death and impersonated Squad member Razor.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - As Razor, Paradox caused the Emperor's ship to fall into Saturn's deadly atmosphere; on every colony world there was rejoicing. As the rebels openly assaulted their oppressors, the streets of every colony world and moon ran wet with myriad hues of blood. Nonetheless, there was hope that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Titan's
ISA command post

From here, the Emperor's approach was carefully and confidentially monitored. Posing as Razor, Paradox destroyed the consoles and computers programming; and "before the horrified eyes of the Terrans assembled below the vast monitor screens towering over every terrace on Titan," the Imperial Flagship bearing the Emperor faltered "from its course and fell into the radioactive inferno that is the the heart of Saturn." Stanhope ordered the ISA agents present to kill Paradox, but Paradox quickly took out the first four with his wrist laser; after which Saturnian and other "Servant Species" races assaulted the ISA agents, allowing Paradox to depart.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Titan's
spaceport

The site from and to which spaceships departed and arrived, respectively. The point from which the ships (and Saturn) could be viewed was also referred to as "the aerodrome."

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Titan's
customs

Part of the spaceport, here those arriving on Titan had to check in and declare any merchandise, etc.

--Bizarre Adventures#30

Titan's
X-Press Bar

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The ISA Strike Squad consisting of Fire, Ice, and Razor stationed themselves at (presumably) Titan's X-Press Bar in hopes of learning the identity of a mole within the ISA. Fire worked as bartender, and Ice and Razor posed as customers.

(Bizarre Adventures#30 (fb) - BTS) - The ISA Strike Squad was instructed to meet an unidentified contact.

(Bizarre Adventures#30) - Paradox adopted Saturnian form and entered the bar where Fire was bartending. When Paradox ordered a Llango-Tri Color, Fire said, "I can't serve you, vegetable. Rules."...but Fire apparently placed a drink in front of him anyway, leading a Terran nicknamed Bear to try to force the "Saturnian" to put down the drink. After Paradox shattered his drink in Bear's face, another Terran grabbed Paradox and brandished a knife. Fire told the Terran no fighting in his bar, and when the Terran continued forward and asked the barkeep if he was some kind of alien-lover, Fire said, "no." and ignited jets of flame from the perforations in his hand, frying the abusive Terran's face. His true nature exposed, Fire stood by Paradox, clarifying that he just didn't like the odds. He asked if there were any other takers, and a group of Terrans advanced, vowing to kill both the "Saturnian" and anyone who took sides with the "vegetable."

Ice sensed the "Saturnian" might be their contact, and Razor joined the conflict. When Ice complained about telempathically feeling Razor's assault upon their opponents, Fire encourage Ice to screen it out, as it was the only way she would survive. Razor told Fire the "Saturnian" was their contact, and Fire questioned an alien leading an ISA strike squad, but, as Paradox mowed through his opponents, Fire noted that "Well, maybe he will, at that."

After their victory, Paradox thanked his assistants, and Fire was confused by Ice's statements about Paradox being both an alien and not. Paradox revealed his nature as a metamorph and confirmed him to be their operations leader, Paradox. Fire asked Paradox if he still wanted that Llango-Tri Color.

Note: In the interior image, Fire can be glimpsed in profile behind the bar; Ice and Razor are in the bottom right corner; and Paradox is in the lower left, disguised in Saturnian form.

--Bizarre Adventures#30 (30 (fb) - BTS, 30

Tor-Mel

The Lunan Tor-Mel was chauffeur to Vincent De Lys, the Terran ambassador to Luna.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Despite having chauffeur, De Lys often piloted his own craft alone.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Tor-Mel offered a ride to De Lys as De Lys left the Terran Embassy; unbeknownst to Tor-Mel, De Lys had taken the drug Fireflite. De Lys declined the ride, saying he would take himself out. Tor-Mel noted that De Lys was trembling, and he asked if De Lys was sick. Tor-Mel suggested he should pilot De Lys home, and/or to video his wife, Catherine De Lys, and tell her to expect her. De Lys replied, "Don't bother. She knows where I'm going. She sent me there."

Vincent then took off, soon perished from the effects of Fireflite, and crashed his ship through an access tunnel that caused an atmospheric and gravity breach. It is unrevealed whether Tor-Mel perished in that disaster.

Catherine De Lys was later seen with a chauffeur, but he had lighter hair and looked a bit different. I don't think that was Tor-Mel.

I'd speculate that Tor-Mel might have been named for Mel Tormé.

--Marvel Preview#24

Uranians/Uranus

Uranus itself was not shown on panel

There was no mention of the planet Uranus having any colonies, but is is noted that Terra has "extended her dominion over her eight sister planets and their satellites in the star system Sol"

(Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS (assuming Uranus' moons, at least, were colonial)) - As "Razor," Paradox caused the Terran Emperor's ship to plunge into Saturn's deadly atmosphere; on every colony world there was rejoicing. As the rebels openly assaulted their oppressors, the streets of every colony world and moon ran wet with myriad hues of blood. Nonetheless, there was hope that the Terrans and Colonials would ultimately be forced to regard each other as equals and develop a new society.

If colonized: Uranus, as a gas giant planet, doesn't necessarily have a surface, and it would seem likely that the natives dwelled on one or more of its satellites/moons. See also the comments for Jupiter/Jovians.

--[presumably Marvel Preview#24]

Venusians/Venus

Venus itself was not shown on panel

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) <Excerpt from Howe's "A Concise History of the Terran Empire" Edition of 2181> - By the middle of the 21st century, Terra (formerly known as Earth) had extended her dominion over Venus and the other planets and satellites in the star system Sol. Terrans were genetically engineered (gengineered) to allow them to survive under conditions prevalent on Venus.

(Marvel Preview#24) - A Venusian was present when Paradox visited Luna's Sin City.

(Marvel Preview#24) - In Venusian form, Paradox attended Season's Pleasure Palace, earning Sebastian Seasons' personal attention after winning five times in a row and being invited to the lower levels to take the "The Game" (Fireflite challenge). While Paradox was afflicted by Fireflite, Seasons' Lunan agents ambushed him, but he defeated them (killing one), and took the antidote, saving Catherine De Lys as well, and escaped with her while posing as a Lunan. She revealed the Fireflite antidote had to be renewed and directed Paradox to Seasons as her source.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb) - BTS, Bizarre Adventures#30 - BTS

Carl Yaz Tremsky

Yaz was a genius weaponsmith; among his inventions are Paradox's wristlaser and priva-screens able to cancel out any eavesdropping device within 50 meters. His priva-screens and priva-seals were in use by Paradox on Terra, as well as at Season's on Luna.
His artificial arm had some sort of laser or blow-torch attachment he used in work.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Carl Yaz Tremsky trained Mark Esterhase at ISA Academy

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Yaz told Mark "Live and let live, Boyo -- but drop 'em half a cycle before they drop you."

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - ISA Chief Stanhope terminated Yaz as an operative when he refused orders to get him offworld so Stanhope could romance his wife.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Yaz's wife died.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Yaz invented a priva-screen able to cancel out any eavesdropping device within 50 meters.

(Marvel Preview#24 (fb) - BTS) - Yaz set up a shop as weaponsmith in Luna's Sin City.

(Marvel Preview#24) - Arriving on Luna to investigate the death of Vincent De Lys, the Terran ambassador to Luna, Paradox adopted Lunan form and swiftly ditched ISA agent Esterhase, meeting up with his old ally Yaz. Initially irate by a Lunan talking to him on a first name basis, Yaz was surprised when he returned to his original form: "Mark, you scurvy son of a space dog!" After accompanying Yaz behind a priva-screen, Paradox revealed his shape-changing abilities. Impressed with Paradox's morphing ability, Yaz asked Paradox if he could turn into a Neptunian; but when Paradox said he could, Yaz told him, "Never mind! Some things are better left alone!" Paradox then shared his origins, and when Yaz asked if his dad knew about him, Paradox told him his father thought he was dead. Paradox then requested a weapon to help him on his current mission, and Yaz provided him with "one of yer old favorites," a wristlaser weapon, which Paradox tested to his satisfaction. When Paradox adopted Yaz's original appearance, Yaz covered his face, not wanting to be reminded of what he was. Yaz further warned Paradox that he would see how the ISA was when he needed them most.
As Paradox departed, a Mercurian prostitute informed Sebastian Seasons that Paradox had visited Yaz.

--Marvel Preview#24 (24 (fb) - BTS, 24

Note: Carl Yaz Tremsky was almost certainly an homage to Carl Yastrzemski, Hall of Fame baseball player for the Boston Red Sox: http://www.yaz8.com/
The image showing Yaz's pre-cyborg face was actually Paradox mimicking his form; you could generally tell by the outfit and telltale choker.

images: (without ads)
Marvel Preview#24, cover (main image)
        intro page (with narrative) Luna image;
        pg. 1 (Vincent De Lys-full & Tor-Mel- body);
        pg. 2, panel 1 (Tor-Mel-face);
        pg. 3, panel 3 (asbestoscase);
        pg. 6, panel 1 (Empire Arts Center);
        pg. 8, panel 3 (Stanhope, kissed by Paradox);
            panel 4 (ISA security chief Esterhase face);
        pg. 9, panel 5 (Vincent De Lys, face);
            panel 8 (Catherine De Lys, face);
        pg. 10, panel 5-7 (Fireflite combustion);
        pg. 11, panel 2 (Mercury);
            panel 3 (Fireflite synthesized);
        pg. 13 (Lunan space-terminal);
        pg. 15, panel 1 (Ptolemaeus Dome's upper level);
            panel 2 (First Subterranean Sector);
            panel 3 (Metalmine);
            panel 4 (Sin City);
        pg. 16, panel 1 (Sin City residents);
            panel 4 (Yaz-face-cyborg);
        pg. 18, panel 1 (Roborescue)
            panel 2 (ISA Central);
            panel 3 (ISA Central, Mark Esterhase studied);
            panel 4 (ISA Central, Servant Species);
            panel 5 (ISA Central, paranormals);
        pg. 19, panel 1 (ISA Central, parahumans);
            panel 2 (ISA Central scientist);
            panel 4 (full body, from behind; and workshop)
        pg. 20, panel 3 (Yaz, original face);
        pg. 21 (funeral dome);
        pg. 22, panel 6 (Catherine De Lys, upper body);
        pg. 24, panel 1 (Season's; entrance);
            panel 3 (Season's Terran Maitre d'hotel);
            panel 6 (casino)
        pg. 26, panel 4 (Sebastian Seasons, full - and Season's orgy/drugden - I was going to include this, but there's too much nudity and decadence for a generally kid friendly site...);
        pg. 27, panel 5 (game)
        pg. 28, panel 4 (Paradox taking Firefite);
        pg. 35, panel 3 (Lara);
            panel 4 (Catherine De Lys, full body);
        pg. 37, panel 1 (Robopolice; profile);
        pg. 38, panel 3 (Robopolice, front; and assaulted by Paradox);
        pg. 40, panel 7 (Sebastian Seasons, face);
        pg. 41, panel 8 (Paradox as Mercurian);
        pg. 47, panel 2 (Catherine De Lys, original/Lunan form)
        pg. 50, panel 4 (Paradox posing as ISA security chief Esterhase);
        pg. 53, panel 2 (Stanhope, full);
            panel 4 (Stanhope, face);
Bizarre Adventures#30, story page 1, panel 1 (in environmental suits)
        page 3, panel 1 (portable teleporter, close-up)
            panel 6 (out of environmental suits; one wearing a portable teleporter);
        page 4 (New Houston);
        page 6, panel 1 & 2 (agent Einhart and 3 other ISA agents; distant and close-up, respectively);
        page 8, panel 4 (ISA agents recently slain by colonial rebellion);
        page 10, panel 5 (Saturn & Titan);
        page 11, panel 2 (Saturnian girl and "Maman");
            panel 4 (Eena & Zeeko full);
        page 12, panel 1 (Harry & Irma face);
            panel 4 (Paradox in Saturnian form)
            panel 5 (Eena & Zeeko face);
            panel 6 (Harry & Irman, mostly body);
            panel 8 (Saturnian girl, face);
        page 13, panel 4 & 5 (X-Press Bar, interior and Exterior)
        page 14, panel 3 & 4 (Bear, face & body);
        page 20, panel 3 (Saturnian rebels);
        pg. 23, panel 3-4 (Paradox in Jovian form)
        pg. 25, panel 2 (ISA guards with Catherine De Lys);
        pg. 27, panel 1 (ISA command)

Appearances:
Marvel Preview#24 (Winter, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Val Mayerik (artist), Lynn Grame (editor)
Bizarre Adventures#30 (February, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Mike Vosberg (penciler), Joe Jusko (inker), Dennis O'Neil (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last Updated: 05/18/14

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!
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