JOSEPH "LICORICE" CALHOUN
Real Name: Joseph Calhoun
Identity/Class: Human mutant (World War II-era to present)
Occupation: Hospital patient;
formerly clarinet player at the Flamingo Club jazz club
Group Membership: None;
formerly "Sweet" Tommy Connors' Jazz Band
Affiliations: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Sue Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, She-Hulk/Jen Walters), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Nick Fury [although he was unaware of it], others)
Enemies: Mr. Cleveland (first name unrevealed) and his thugs
Known Relatives: Unidentified mother (presumably deceased)
Aliases: "Licorice" (see comments)
Base of Operations: New York City, USA
First Appearance: (Behind-the-scenes) Fantastic Four I#290 (May, 1986); ("dream-self") Fantastic Four I#291 (June, 1986); (fully seen) Fantastic Four I#292 (July, 1986)
Powers/Abilities: Formerly a professional clarinetist, "Licorice" Calhoun had a mutant brain capable of uncontrollably transforming reality to reflect his dreams.
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 154 lbs.
Eyes: Brown (see comments)
Hair: White (formerly black)
History:
(Fantastic Four I#291 (fb) - BTS) - Growing up, Joseph Calhoun's mother often told him
that his dreaming would one day get him into trouble. As he got older,
Calhoun began to realize that things he would dream would often come
true, soon learning that if he thought about something hard enough, he
could influence what he dreamed about.
After "Licorice" Calhoun obtained a job as a clarinet player with "Sweet" Tommy Connors' Jazz Band at the Flamingo Club, the Club's owner, Mr. Cleveland, learned of Calhoun's abilities and sought to use him for his own personal gain. In 1936, Calhoun was ordered to dream about Mr. Cleveland's horse winning the biggest pot ever won or risk having his fingers broken by Cleveland's goons. Terrified, Calhoun eventually fell asleep that night and had nightmares full of blood, fire and inhuman screams.The following day, "Licorice" awoke to learn that Cleveland's stables had burned down overnight, and Cleveland's horse had died in the fire. Blaming Calhoun for his prize horse's death, Mr. Cleveland sent his goons out to kill Calhoun.
(Fantastic Four I#292 (fb) - BTS) - After being deliberately run down by a car full of Mr. Cleveland's goons, Calhoun fell into an irreversible coma and was placed in the charity ward at Midtown General Hospital, where he remained comatose for decades. In the modern era, Calhoun's mind began to briefly emerge from its comatose state for only moments at a time. During the short periods his brain would emerge from its coma, Calhoun would uncontrollably and unknowingly transform the world around him to reflect his last memories of the world: 1936 New York.
(Fantastic Four I#290) - A day or so later, when She-Hulk, Human Torch and Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four (along with Nick Fury) returned from a battle against Annihilus, they found themselves in 1936 New York due to Calhoun's transformative dreaming.
(Fantastic Four I#291) - As reality altered and returned to normal along with the real Calhoun's dreams and state of mind, She-Hulk ran afoul of Calhoun's dream-self, who was running from Mr. Cleveland's thugs. Despite orders not to interact with the 1936 locals, She-Hulk could not allow Calhoun to die and rescued him, learning about his powers and trouble with Mr.Cleveland after the goons had fled.
(Fantastic Four I#292 (fb) - BTS) - Unbeknownst to She-Hulk or the other Fantastic Four members, when She-Hulk rescued Calhoun's dream-self and altered how the original events unfolded, she and the other Fantastic Four members were unknowingly drawn inside the real Calhoun's comatose mind, becoming comatose themselves while trapped within Calhoun's mind. Learning of Calhoun's reality warps, Mr. Fantastic had his unconscious teammates--along with the real Calhoun in Midtown General Hospital--moved to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base for care and observation.
(Fantastic Four I#292) - Calhoun's dream-self continued to accompany the three members of the Fantastic Four as they progressed through what they thought was a transformed reality. Within Calhoun's mind, Nick Fury flew to 1936 Germany, where he was captured by a Calhoun-created version of Adolf Hitler. Upon escaping, Fury shot Hitler dead, shocking himself, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman and Human Torch from their own comas. Confused, the four heroes were met by Mr. Fantastic, who introduced them to the real Calhoun, who had been in a coma for decades. Having learned of his allies' actions within Calhoun's mind due to a S.H.I.E.L.D. ESP Unit, Mr. Fantastic informed his friends of Calhoun's powers and how they had actually been trapped within Calhoun's mind.
Comments: Created by John Byrne and Al Gordon.
With Marvel's sliding time-scale, the year 1936 would be rendered topical. At current, "Licorice"Calhoun could have been comatose since 1936, but he must have been much younger when he went into a coma; either that, or he was unconsciously transforming present-day New York into 1936 New York based on stories told to him by older relatives. Perhaps, since reality changed to reflect Calhoun's dreams, Calhoun was simply dreaming that the earlier event in his life that caused him to fall into a coma had happened in 1936 rather than the pre-modern day?
Or maybe Calhoun really was an adult in 1936, and his mutant physiology might just have given him an unusually long life-span.--Ron Fredricks
Joseph "Licorice" Calhoun's eye-color was never definitely shown. There were several closeups of his dream-self's face and each time, the iris was shaded incompletely, suggesting that he had a dark eye-color, probably brown. This was, of course, just his dream-self, and it's very possible that he dreamed himself with a different eye-color. When we finally see Calhoun's true self, his eyes were closed because he was in a coma.
His height and weight were identified in Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 6:Fantastic Four.
In regards to his nick-name: In the world of jazz music, a "licorice stick" is slang for a clarinet, Colhoun's musical instrument of choice.
And about five years before this story (real time), another FF story featured Skip Collins, a man with similar reality-altering powers.--Ron Fredricks
New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Joseph "Licorice" Calhoun has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#292, p21, pan1 (main image - Joseph Calhoun at S.H.I.E.L.D. base)
Fantastic Four I#292, p21, pan2 (headshot - Joseph Calhoun)
Fantastic Four I#292, p22, pan1 (Joseph Calhoun)
Fantastic Four I#291, p16, pan2 (Joseph Calhoun ["dream-self"] fleeing from Mr. Cleveland's thugs)
Fantastic Four I#291, p19, pan1 (Joseph Calhoun ["dream-self"])
Fantastic Four I#291, p19, pan4 (Joseph Calhoun ["dream-self"] explains his power)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#290 (May, 1986) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Al Gordon (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Fantastic Four I#291 (June, 1986) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), P. Craig Russell (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Fantastic Four I#292 (July, 1986) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Al Gordon (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
First posted: 11/23/2013
Last updated: 12/10/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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