WARDEN COFFIN
Real Name: Johnston Coffin
Identity/Class: Unrevealed, possibly mutant
(see comments)
Occupation: Warden
Group Membership: House of Correction (Baxter, unidentified others)
Affiliations: Coffin's Special Children (Emma 0052 and others), the United States government
Enemies: Generation X (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Chamber/Jonothon Starsmore, Husk/Paige Guthrie, Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, M/Monet St. Croix, Skin/Angelo Espinosa), SHIELD, Johnathan Somers, many unidentified teenagers
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly House of Correction,
location unrevealed,
formerly a mansion in South
America
First Appearance: Generation X#63 (May, 2000)
Powers/Abilities: Coffin possessed a variety of
superhuman powers of unknown origin. He could levitate, possessed super
strength, speed, enhanced stamina and durability. Coffin claimed to be
"powered by hate" and could generate energy of an unknown type.
Height: 6'3" (by approximation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White
History:
(Generation X#64 (fb) ) - As early as 1965, Johnston Coffin had been contracted by the United States government to take care of unruly youths. He headed up an organization known as the House of Correction, where society's malcontents were forcibly imprisoned without trial, pending their reeducation. Coffin acted as the House's warden, visibly taking delight in cruelty and torture. He took to keeping a skull on his desk, possibly to intimidate people.
(Generation X#65 (fb) - BTS) - In 1971, Coffin's
righthand man Baxter killed a teenager Anderson. His dead mind and body
were then grafted on to a monstrous, 20 feet tall
robot body. Anderson became part of Coffin's "special children", former
prisoners who were forced to obey the warden's every whim.
(Generation X#66 (fb) - BTS) - Due to a change in
government, Coffin was forced to shut down his House of Correction in
1973. However, he couldn't part with his "Special Children" and decided
to hang on to a few of them.
(Generation X#64 (fb) - BTS) - In 1976, a CIA hitman tried to assassinate Coffin. However, the warden killed him instead. He had the agent stuffed and mounted on the wall in his office next to his other prizes. Coffin soon learned it was quite the conversation piece.
(Generation X#63 (fb) - BTS) - At an unrevealed moment in time, Coffin fell out of favor with the United States government. Now a wanted man, he moved to a mansion in South America.
(Generation X#63) - Coffin was eventually located by SHIELD who sent in an elite team to arrest him for crimes against humanity. The warden scoffed when he heard those charges, amused by the fact that he'd been paid for those actions by the same people that employed SHIELD. He then used his powers to make short work of the trained agents, easily and brutally murdering them. Moments after he had finished off the last agent, the phone on his desk rang. A high ranking US cabinet member offered him to start a new House of Correction, which he happily agreed to.
(Generation X#64 (fb) - BTS) - Coffin set up a new House of Correction somewhere in a desert. Following the recent string of violent incidents at high schools and shootings on college campuses, he quickly had plenty of prisoners that were all captured by his Cover and Intercept teams. Normally, they would erase all traces of their captives from any official records, making it seem like they'd never even existed. However, thanks to the Internet people became aware of the House's activities, including Paige Guthrie who decided Generation X needed to investigate the matter.
(Generation X#64) - Coffin met with Johnathan Somers, the latest addition to the House of Correction. He informed the terrified teen what the House was all about, also recounting the origin of the mounted man on his wall. Coffin told Somers that the House was America's salvation.
(Generation X#64 - BTS) - Generation X went to Johnathan's high school to search through his files. Thanks to Paige's computer skills, they were able to locate the House of Correction. However, they triggered an unseen alarm left behind by the team that took the boy away. Coffin was informed and sent a nearby Cover and Intercept team to deal with the snoops.
(Generation X#65) - Coffin met with his head of security Baxter to review the state of affairs at the House. Baxter reported that Somers was fitting in nicely, even though he kept wetting himself. He also learned that "the Plunkett girl" had died, possibly of dysentry. He then informed Baxter about the possible risk to security, meaning Generation X. Coffin ordered Baxter to prime his Special Children, though Baxter was a little apprehensive about having to interact with Anderson again. He was sure he remembered him from 1971. Some time later, Generation X attacked the House of Correction.
(Generation X#66) - Coffin remained in his office,
guiding the fight against the mutant teens through the facility's
speaker system. When Generation X had finished with the guards, Coffin
sent in his three Special Children, explaining what they were before the
cybernetic slaves opened fire. Jubilee sent Skin to locate Coffin,
figuring Angelo wouldn't be of too much use against the giant killer
cyborgs anyway. When Skin found the warden in his office, he was
surprised to find Coffin possessed superpowers himself. Johnston mocked
the elastic Gen X'er, claiming he didn't even know there was such a
thing as a Mexican mutant. As he drove Angelo into a corner, telling him
he'd kill them all except for maybe the girls, he was surprised by the
arrival of Banshee. Sean wasted no time and unleashed his wail on him.
Coffin was sent flying out of the House of Correction and seemingly
disappeared (see comments).
Comments: Created by Brian Wood (writer), Steve Pugh (pencils), Sandu Florea (inks).
It's never been revealed just who or what Coffin was. He might have been a mutant, though creator Brian Wood had Banshee specifically point out that even the government he worked for had no idea what the warden was. Well, except for creepy, of course. He hasn't been seen since his first story arc and it's not even clear what happened to him after Banshee yelled real loud at him. For all we know, he might still be running another House of Correction somewhere. He certainly still has the government's blessing.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Warden Coffin should not be confused with
Coffin had several previous incarnations of the House of Correction throughout the decades. When he was forced to close one in 1973, he couldn't bring himself to let all of his "children" go. He held on to at least three of them, all beatniks, hippies and anti-authority figures, and had them grafted onto 20 feet tall cybernetic robot forms. Their will broken, they were outfitted with massive weapons arrays and forced to watch as their bodies obeyed the warden's every order. Coffin enjoyed the irony of using these peace loving teens as the ultimate instruments of his authority. The Special Children survived into the modern era, serving Coffin at his most recent House of Correction. One of them killed a mutant prisoner who tried to escape. Coffin later used them when his guards proved unable to defeat Generation X. The mutant teens at first didn't want to hurt the human part of the machines, but were forced to in the end. Coffin's special children all welcomed death.
Generation X#64 (Generation X#64, 66
Teenager Johnathan Somers caught the attention of the House of Correction when he taped himself discussing some risque topics. He was taken into custody by the local police only to be collected by the House of Correction team after 4 days. They brought him to the facility where he saw how several teens were being imprisoned and tortured, he even witnessed one of Coffin's special children kill a mutant who had tried to escape. Somers briefly met Coffin in his office where he was stunned to see the stuffed and mounted remains of an FBI agent on the wall. Coffin told him why he was there before ordering his reeducation started. His training was supervised by Coffin's assistant Baxter who was happy to report Johnathan was taking to his conditioning, even if he did keep wetting himself. In the end, Johnathan and the other kids imprisoned in the House of Correction were freed by Generation X and reunited with their parents.
Generation X#63 (Generation X#63-66
images: (without ads)
Generation X#66, p1, pan1 (main image)
Generation X#64, p21, pan4 (closeup)
Generation X#64, p5, pan3 (House of Correction)
Generation X#63, p7, pan3 (attacking SHIELD)
Generation X#66, p18, pan3 (wants to hurt Skin)
Generation X#66, p12, pans1-3 (House of Correction special children)
Generation X#64, p7, pan1 (Johnathan Somers)
Appearances:
Generation X#63 (May,
2000) - Brian
Wood (writer),
Steve Pugh
(pencils),
Sandu Florea
(inks), Jason
Leibig
(editor)
Generation X#64 (June,
2000) - Brian
Wood (writer),
Steve Pugh
(pencils),
Sandu Florea
(inks), Jason
Leibig
(editor)
Generation X#65 (July,
2000) - Brian
Wood (writer),
Steve Pugh
(pencils),
Sandu Florea
(inks), Jason
Leibig
(editor)
Generation
X#66
(August, 2000)
- Brian Wood
(writer),
Steve Pugh
(pencils), Bob
Wiacek (inks),
Jason Leibig
(editor)
Last updated: 07/18/15
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