PIECEMEAL
Real Name: Gilbert Benson
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Unwilling terrorist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: AIM, Alliance of Evil (Frenzy/Joanna
Cargill, Stinger/Wendy Sherman, Tower/Edward Pasternak), Harness (Erika
Benson), Moira MacTaggert's Islanders (Legion/David Haller, Moira
MacTaggert, Multiple Man/Jamie Madrox, Polaris/Lorna Dane, Syrin/Theresa
Rourke-Cassidy), New Warriors (Andrew Chord, Firestar/Angelica Jones,
Marvel Boy/Vance Astrovik, Namorita Prentiss, Night Trasher/Dwayne
Taylor, Nova/Richard Rider, Silhouette Chord, Speedball/Robert "Bobby"
Baldwin), X-Force (Cable/Nathan Summers, Cannonball/Sam Guthrie,
Boom-Boom/Tabitha Smith, "Domino"/Vanessa Carlyle, Feral/Maria
Callasantos, Shatterstar/Gaveedra Seven, Warpath/James Proudstar)
Enemies: None, though his mom sure counts
Known Relatives: Erika Benson (mother), younger
sister (name unrevealed)
Aliases: "Blobbo", "Tubbo" (nicknames used by
Harness)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly mobile
First Appearance: New Mutants Annual I#7 (August,
1991)
Powers/Abilities: Piecemeal was a mutant who could
sense and absorb a wide variety of exotic energies in his body by
"eating" them up. In essence, he was a living power cell with no known
means of discharging the energy he had collected. Ingesting energy was a
painful process he seemingly had little control over once it started.
His body grew more and more rotund and obese as he absorbed additional
energies. There was a definite upper limit to his powers, his body would
literally burst like a balloon. As a result of severe child abuse, the
emotionally fragile Gilbert was timid, frightened and lonely.
History:
(New Mutants Annual I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Erika Benson
mothered two children: a boy, Gilbert, and an unidentified girl. When he hit
puberty, Benson learned Gilbert was a mutant capable of absorbing energy.
Both mother and son were then recruited by AIM who needed Benson's
mutant powers to collect the energies of the reality warping mutant
Proteus that had dissipated around the world. To ensure Gilbert's
cooperation, Erika was given a combat armor she could control him with.
As Harness and Piecemeal, the Bensons were sent around the world by AIM.
To ensure they could work without any noteworthy resistance, it was
arranged for the mutant mercenaries known as the Alliance of Evil to
accompany them.
(New Mutants Annual I#7) - Piecemeal's senses eventually led Harness and the Alliance to the Saint Simons Academy in Vermont. Harness and her son remained in the Alliance's helicopter, parked on the grounds, while Tower, Stinger and Frenzy dealt with both the cops and the X-Terminators who had been enrolled at the academy. Harness then forced Piecemeal out, an energy noose tied around his neck. When Gilbert hesitated, he was lashed with an energy whip until he complied and absorbed Proteus' ambient energies. The process hurt considerably, but nobody cared. He was dragged back to the helicopter, ready to head for their next target.
(New Mutants Annual I#7 - BTS) - The Alliance's attack on the X-Terminators caught the attention of X-Force. They vowed to track down the villains.
(New Mutants Annual I#7) - Piecemeal led Harness
and the Alliance to the Niagra Falls. Following protocol, the Alliance
scared away civilians before Piecemeal was forced to "sniff out" the
location of the residual energies. When he concluded it was halfway down
the falls, a slightly annoyed Harness whipped up an energy tether for
him and tossed the child off the ledge until he was at the right
location. Piecemeal reluctantly absorbed all the energy present, gaining
so much additional mass he almost pulled Harness down. She recovered her
stance and brought the boy back up, unaware X-Force had arrived to take
down the Alliance. Unwilling to risk a fight, Harness grabbed Piecemeal
and jumped off the ledge with him. As they fell, she activated her
armor's teleportation mechanism to get to safety.
(New Warriors Annual I#1 - BTS) - Now without the Alliance to back them up, Piecemeal was still forced by Harness to continue their mission. He absorbed so much of Proteus' energies, he rapidly grew morbidly obese.
(New Warriors Annual I#1) - On their latest stop, appearing outside a Roxxon oil refinery in Anchorage, Alaska, Harness' teleport unit gave out. Venting her frustrations over AIM supplying her with shoddy technology, she treated Piecemeal even rougher than usual when he showed reluctance at absorbing the energy present. Benson ensnare the rotund preteen in her energy leash and reiterated the deal they'd made: he would deal with the pain, while she made all the money. To emphasize her point, Benson popped out a massive skewer from her armor's left wrist and poked the terrified Gilbert with it until he agreed to "eat". There turned out to be a major amount of Proteus energy in Anchorage, which made Gilbert noticeably larger as he cried out in pain. Delighted to see he "ate every last bit of food on his plate", Harness then went looking for a plane that could carry them to their next location: Tokyo, Japan. On top of the Kodansha Building, Piecemeal absorbed the final pieces of Proteus. Harness then announced they'd finished with the "appetizers" and that the time had come to go for the main course in Edinburgh, Scotland.
(New Warriors Annual I#1 - BTS) - At the same time, the New Warriors and X-Force had realized AIM was trying to recreate Proteus. Before heading to Edinburgh, Cable decided to inform Moira MacTaggert on Muir Island that someone was trying to bring her son back to life.
(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#15) - Harness and Piecemeal made
their way to Edinburgh. Hiding in a rented van, they searched the
primary concentration of Proteus' energies. By that point, Gilbert had become
so infused with Proteus' energy it flowed into him automatically, causing
him to grow even larger. They were interrupted by some local police
officers who ordered Piecemeal to surrender, in response she laughed and
mowed them down with the armaments in her armor. Gilbert was stunned and
shocked to see his mother kill in cold blood, but she didn't care.
Harness then used her scanners to determine that the final, largest
amount of energy could be found near the castle overlooking the city (which had been the site of Proteus'
original destruction).
(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#15 - BTS) - Harness and Piecemeal were spotted in the city by the Weird Happenings Organization. Brigadier Alysande Stuart put in a call to Muir Island to inform Moira MacTaggert who was just meeting with X-Force and the New Warriors. The heroes immediately realized the superbeings Stuart described were Piecemeal and Harness and took off to stop the Bensons.
(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#15) - While Cable led most of the three teams against Harness, Moira MacTaggert, Legion, Marvel Boy, Multiple Man and Speedball desperately tried to help and contain Piecemeal who was in considerable pain an inconsolable. Just as the heroes had defeated Harness, stunned to find a woman inside the armor, they were alerted to Piecemeal's distress. Erika called out to her son, demanding he kept it all inside, shocking all those who realized Harness was in fact the boy's mother. Piecemeal was unable to obey his mother, his form collapsed and merged with the energies of Proteus that still contained the essence of Kevin MacTaggert. The two personalities incorporated a new energy form and announced themselves to the world before warping reality with explosive results.
(X-Factor Annual I#6 - BTS) - The newly resurrected Proteus created a new world for himself in the ruins of Edinburgh. He trapped X-Force, the New Warriors and Moira's islanders in this abstract, green tinted world that Kevin had created to soothe the traumatized Gilbert's mind. Kevin planned to have his newly created world replace the old one so him and Gilbert could both be at peace. However, intervention by the newly arrived X-Factor made Proteus realize there was no place for them in this imperfect existence. Proteus returned the world to normal as he vanished, leaving only Gilbert's torn up shirt and a single shoe as a reminder he ever existed.
Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Guang Yap (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks)
Sad, so sad.Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Piecemeal should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
New Mutants annual I#7, p8, pan3 (main image)
New Warriors Annual I#1, p11, pan3 (getting bloated)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#15, p32, pan2 (about to blow)
Appearances:
New Mutants Annual I#7 (August, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Guang
Yap (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Bob Harras & Suzanne Gaffney
(editors)
New Warriors Annual I#1 (August, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark
Bagley (pencils), Jeff Albrecht (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#15 (August, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza
(writer), Tom Raney (pencils), Joe Rubinstein & Art Nichols (inks),
Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor Annual I#6 (August, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Terry Shoemaker
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Last updated: 06/29/15
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