DR. SEAN GARRISON
Real Name: Dr. Sean Garrison
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Therapist, guidance counsellor, writer, television show host
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Blob (Fred J. Dukes), Diamondback (Rachel Leighton), Wither (Kevin Ford), X-Men (Cyclops/Scott Summers, Emma Frost);
formerly Gail Collins
Enemies: Purity
Known Relatives: Laurie Collins (Wallflower, daughter)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Offices of Dr. Sean Garrison, New York City, New York
First Appearance: New Mutants II#4 (October, 2003)
Powers/Abilities: Garrison can manipulate and command others by subverting their will through pheromone manipulation. Once people are close enough to inhale his pheromones, they become extremely susceptible to his verbal suggestions. Garrison can use his powers without being detected by telepaths. Keeping the mutant nature of his charisma a secret, Garrison acquired tremendous wealth and fame as a therapist, writer and talk show host who advocated mutant rights. Though seemingly benevolent in public, Garrison mostly uses his powers for his own benefit. He influenced a woman to love him, but when she became pregnant with their daughter Laurie, his hold over her was broken (see comments).
Height: 6'2" (by approximation)
Weight: 190 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Green (sometimes brown or blue)
Hair: Blond
History:
(New Mutants II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Garrison has a PhD in Sociology.
(New X-Men II#14 (fb) - BTS) - Garrison set himself up as a guidance counselor, quickly earning a good reputation. Among his clientele were a number of super powered people, including the Blob (Fred J. Dukes).
(New Mutants II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Garrison wrote the book "Three Phases to Success" which stayed on the bestseller list for two years.
(New Mutants II#4 (fb) - BTS / New Mutants II#11 (fb)) - Garrison hosted his own cable television show, known for its exclusive scoops. During the interviews, he used his pheromone control to make his guests open up to him.
(New Mutants II#11 (fb)) - One night at a restaurant, Garrison spotted Gail Collins and felt an instant attraction. He influenced her with his powers, making Gail fall in "love" with him. The two remained together for an unrevealed amount of time until Collins became pregnant which broke the mental control he had over her. Now in control of herself, Collins left while Garrison was sleeping, both unaware she was expecting.
(New Mutants II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Garrison used his media presence to become a champion for mutant rights, though he kept his own mutant nature a secret.
(New Mutants II#4) - Garrison was invited by the University of Chicago as a guest speaker during their graduation ceremony. However his presence didn't go unnoticed as a group of Purity supporters who decided to protest during his commencement address. Unperturbed, Garrison went on to call their behavior simple jealousy and that people like that would always find a reason to be envious, even if everyone had mutant powers. This calmed the crowd and the ceremony continued.
(New X-Men II#14 (fb)) - At an unrevealed point Garrison met and posed for a photograph with Diamondback.
(New X-Men II#8 - BTS) - Xavier Institute co-headmistress Emma Frost realized student Kevin Ford was in need of a professional therapist. She contacted Garrison who was willing to become Ford's personal guidance counsellor.
(New X-Men II#9) - Frost introduced Kevin Ford to Garrison and left the two to get to know each other. As Garrison and Ford sat down he asked the student why he was here. Ford revealed he possessed a death touch and that he'd accidentally killed his father for which he might go to jail. Unshocked, Garrison calmly said he could work with that.
(New X-Men II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Garrison had several sessions with Kevin Ford in which he'd talked about his ongoing rivalry with Josh Foley (Elixir) and a girl named Laurie, unaware that was his own daughter.
(New X-Men II#10) - During another session, Garrison noted that Ford's "death touch" could be used for good. If he learned to better control the rate of decay, he might some day be able to cure diseases like cancer. Their discussion then shifted to Ford's ongoing rivalry with Elixir, with Garrison wondering if him dating Laurie was the real reason they weren't getting along. When Ford told him more about Laurie and her pheromone powers, the intrigued Garrison asked to tell him more about the girl. Once he learned that her last name was Collins, it became obvious to Sean that she had to be related to Gail Collins. Hoping it would cause a break up between Elixir and Laurie, he influenced Ford to tell Cyclops and Emma Frost that Foley had had an affair with Rahne Sinclair.
(New X-Men II#12) - Worried about the advice Garrison was handing out, Emma Frost and Scott Summers went to see Garrison to discuss the student-teacher affair. However, Garrison immediately started to subtly manipulate them, influencing their moods so they acted overly nice and instead of asking any hard questions ended up praising him for his work. They even offered Garrison the position of Xavier Institute guidance counselor. He politely refused the position because he was too busy, but did offer to counsel individual students. Frost and Summers promised to send Garrison copies of all their student files so he could decide who needed his help the most.
(New X-Men II#12 - BTS) - After reviewing Laurie Collins' file, Sean was convinced she was indeed his daughter.
(New X-Men II#12) - Holding a picture of Laurie, he called Emma Frost and told her he'd decided to accept her original offer to become the school's new guidance counselor at the start of the new year, sinisterly claiming he had some big plans.
(New X-Men II#14) - Garrison had a counseling session with Fred J. Dukes, who was feeling lost and aimless since the Brotherhood of Mutants had reformed without even asking him to join. Even though Dukes didn't want to be the villainous Blob anymore, Garrison used his pheromone powers to convince him to "stay true to himself", which led to the Blob attacking the Xavier Institute not too long after that.
Comments: Created by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir (writers), Keron Grant (pencils), Rob Stull, Rich Perotta (inkers).
The fact Laurie's mom was immune to Garrison's pheromone control once she got pregnant is an offshoot of the established fact mutant siblings aren't affected by each other's powers (like Havok and Cyclops, for instance).
DeFilippis and Weir used Garrison in interesting ways. We never see him use his abilities, but his influence becomes obvious by the way others around him act. The way he was able to make the usually cold Emma and aloof Scott act like his best friends is a good example, or how he forced the repentant Fred Dukes to attack the X-Men again. Sadly, Garrison became yet another dangler when 2005 rolled around and House of M and Decimation happened. Craig Kyle and Chris Yost took over New X-Men after that and with less than 30 students left, there wasn't much need for a guidance counselor. Who knows what might have happened if Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir had stayed on. Garrison most likely would have become the school's counselor, which is something I'd have liked to see. He might have tried to take over the Institute from the inside out through careful manipulation, perhaps mentoring Wither in the same way Selene would eventually do during Necrosha. And what to think of his plans for Wallflower. Would he have groomed her to take his revenge on Gail Collins or perhaps turn her into a super villain? We can but speculate. Laurie died during the Purifiers attack on the school and chances are M-Day depowered Garrison too.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sean Garrison has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
New X-Men II#12, p15, pan4 (main image)
New Mutants II#11, p2, pan3,4 (influencing Gail Collins)
New X-Men II#9, p13, pan4,5 (in session with Kevin Ford)
New X-Men II#12, p23, pan3,4 (making big plans)
Appearances:
New Mutants II#4 (October, 2003) - Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir (writers), Keron Grant (pencils), Rob Stull, Rich Perotta (inkers), C.B. Cebulski (editor)
New Mutants II#11 (June, 2004) - Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir (writers), Carlo Barberi (pencils), Wayne Faucher, Juan Vlasco (inkers), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men II#9 (March, 2005) - Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir (writers), Carlo Pagulayan (pencils), Norm Raymond (inks), Dave Sharpe (editor)
New X-Men II#10 (April, 2005) - Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir (writers), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Stephanie Moore, Sean Ryan, Mike Marts (editors)
New X-Men II#12 (June, 2005) - Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir (writers), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Sean Ryan, Nick Lowe, Mike Marts (editors)
New X-Men II#14 (July, 2005) - Nunzio DeFilippis (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
First Posted: 08/09/2016
Last updated: 08/09/2016
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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