TOLOMAQ
Real Name: Tolomaq
Identity/Class: Extradimensional entity
Occupation: Ravager
Group Membership: Great Beasts (Kariooq, Kolomaq, Ranaq, Somon, Tanaraq, Tundra)
Affiliations: Richard
Easton, Mauvais (Jean-Pierre Beaubier), Pestilence (F.R. Crozier)
Enemies: Alpha Flight
(Aurora/Jeanne-Marie, Box/Roger Bochs, Guardian/James MacDonald Hudson,
Madison Jeffries, Manikin/Whitman Knapp, Marrina, Northstar/Jean-Paul
Beaubier, Puck/Eugene Judd, Purple Girl/Kara Killgrave, Sasquatch/Walter
Langkowski, Shaman/Michael Twoyoungmen,
Snowbird/Narya,Talisman/Elisabeth Twoyoungmen, Vindicator/Heather
Hudson), the Inua, X-Men (Colossus/Peter Rasputin, Firestar/Angelica Jones,
Iceman/Bobby Drake, Marvel Girl/Rachel Grey, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner,
Rockslide/Santo Vaccaro, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James Howlett)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "The fire beast"
Base of Operations: Unrevealed,
formerly The
Shattered Lands
First Appearance: Alpha Flight I#24 (July, 1985)
Powers/Abilities: Tolomaq is a fire elemental, a
living embodiment of flame who can generate intense heat and flame. He
lacks a distinct corporeal form, but can still talk through unrevealed
ways.
Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Eyes: White
Hair: None
History:
(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - A million years ago Tolomaq and his
fellow Great Beasts rose "on a planet in a universe outside our own".
They pillaged and corrupted the land, taking it as their own even as
they fought amongst themselves. Over time, the Great Beasts would set
aside their hatred and join forces to conquer other realms.
(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - Discovering Earth was the nearest realm
in the mystic continuum, the Great Beasts staged three unsuccessful
invasion attempts. During the final confrontation, they were opposed by
the Ancient Gods of the North who beat them back and sealed the beasts
behind a mystical barrier.
(Alpha Flight I#1 & 24 (fb) - BTS) - Tolomaq's fellow Great Beasts
Tundra and Kolomaq had planned for this eventuality. They created a
magical vortex that spun the energies of the barrier back on its
creators. As a result, Nelvana, Hodiak and the other gods of the north
were imprisoned in a realm beyond human ken as well.
(Alpha Flight I#24) - After discovering their teammate Sasquatch was
actually the Great Beast known as Tanaraq, Alpha Flight traveled to the
Shattered Lands to rescue the soul of Walter Langkowksi. There, they
faced the Great Beasts's leader Somon the Artificer who greeted the
heroes by sending the mind controlled Tolomaq to fight them along with
Kariooq and Tundra. Tolomaq's hungry flames quickly surrounded Shaman,
Puck and Talisman who tried to flee him. Tolomaq chased them deeper into
the city where Somon resided, even helping out his fellow Great Beast
Kariooq when Shaman attacked him with ice shards. Alpha Flight was
fighting a losing battle losing until Snowbird, in her bear form, tore
into Somon who lost control over his fellow Beasts. Back in their right
minds, Tolomaq, Tundra and Kariooq renewed their age old feud and tore
into each other, leaving the Alphans to resume their mission and
ultimately leave the Shattered Lands with Langkowski's soul.
(Alpha
Flight I#38) - The spirit of Tolomaq and the other Great Beasts
were briefly summoned to Earth by Pestilence (F.R. Crozier) to
battle Alpha Flight on his behalf. While his fellow Beasts
engaged Alpha Flight, Tolomaq held back and formed a protective
fire ring around Pestilence who was controlling them.
Ultimately, Michael Twoyoungmen donned his daughter's mystical
talisman and forced the Beasts' spirit forms back to their
native realm.
(Alpha Flight I#55) -
Hoping to convince the new Sasquatch (Wanda Langkowski) to
join their cause, Somon the Artificer subconsciously
influenced Langkowski to sculpt an occult formation in the
Canadian wilderness the Great Beasts could use as a nexus
to return to Earth. Appearing near Alpha Flight, they
began to directly influence Wanda. When she rejected them
outright, Somon ordered Tolomaq and the others to attack
and kill Wanda and Alpha Flight. However, the heroes
ultimately proved victorious, sending the Fire Beast and
the others back to their native lands.
(Alpha Flight I#64) - Tolomaq and the other Great Beasts once again
used their mystical connection to Sasquatch to gain a foothold on
Earth. This time, they manifested through Wanda Langkowski just as
she was in an Ottawa probate court trying to get the Langkowski
family fortune back from Walter's wife Ronnie. During the fight,
Tolomaq held back while Tundra tried to sway Sasquatch to rejoin the
Great Beasts so they could conquer Earth. In the end, Langkowski
firmly chose to back Snowbird, Alpha Flight and the ancient gods of
the north. To prove his point, he used the massive Tundra to shove
Tolomaq and the others back into the dimensional gate, even as the
stunned judge returned to a demolished courtroom to deliver the
verdict.
(Alpha Flight I#71 (fb) - BTS) - On the eve of the return of the
immensely powerful sorceror Llan, Heather Hudson had a talk with
Alpha Flight's resident mystic Talisman. She was concerned about the
team's recent string of encounters with mystical and otherworldly
menaces like the Great Beasts, Pestilence, and the Dream Queen.
Talisman concluded that these events were a warning of a greater
threat: the world was about to enter a phase of darkness during
which evil gains the upper hand.
(Wolverine I#172) - When the Arctic Gods
banished the malevolent Mauvais to the Shattered Lands, Tolomaq
joined Somon, Tundra and Kariooq in welcoming the stunned
villain.
(Chaos War:
Alpha Flight I#1) - Fearing the rise of the Chaos King
(Amatsu-Mikaboshi) the Great Beasts
summoned Sasquatch to their realm to request his aid in combating
this threat. They even used their powers to resurrect his slain
teammates from Alpha Flight (Guardian, Marrina, Shaman &
Vindicator). The Beasts and Alpha returned to Earth to fight the
Chaos King and his demon armies, but ultimately the Beasts were
killed by the deity slayer.
(Amazing X-Men II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Tanaraq grew increasingly more
powerful after an incident in Canada led to the creation of hordes
of Wendigo (a murderer had ditched the corpse of his victim in a
meat processing plant, causing thousands of consumers to commit
cannibalism, triggering the Wendigo curse). Tanaraq used this
power to conquer the Spirit Realm, openly warring against Tolomaq
and the other Great Beasts.
(Amazing X-Men II#12) - Members of the X-Men and Alpha Flight
traveled to the Spirit Realm in an attempt to reverse the effects of
the curse. They learned of Tanaraq's conquest of the realm and tried
to aid the Great Beasts after Snowbird convinced the heroes the
world would be better off with all seven Beasts warring against one
another. The mortal heroes were unable to hold their own against
Tanaraq and his forces. They wound up chained next to the Great
Beasts, but were soon freed by the arriving Iceman. The Great Beasts
begged the mutants to free them as well so they could deal with
Tanaraq. Storm refused, instead striking a deal that led to the
Great Beasts empowering Storm, Iceman, Firestar and Rockslide. They
fought off Tanaraq's Wendigo while a furious Guardian wound up
killing Tanaraq. Without his power holding them back, Tolomaq and
the remaining Great Beasts were freed.
Comments: Created by John Byrne (writer,
pencils, inks)
You'd think that Byrne would get a bit more creative in the design of
the great fire beast than having him be a bunch of flying flames. Still,
it says what it does on the tin. Who says there's no truth in
advertising?
Tolomaq appeared as part of the Great Beasts entry in Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#3
It is worth noting that since the Wolverine Index came out we've had other confirmed Great Beasts, so there are definitely more than seven. Alpha Flight I#6 mentioned "there were seven Great Beasts involved in Last Battle", which could be interpreted to mean either that there were only seven Great Beasts OR that there were more, but only seven were involved in that final fight. In Alpha Flight I#23, one of the Inua says Tanaraq is "one of the Last Seven, of the Great Beasts" - if not for that comma, that would be a clear statement that there were more than seven, and that the ones we've always counted were simply the last to fall, but even with the comma the comment could be interpreted that way. Apparently Wolverine II#172 and Over the Edge#2 also contain comments or info supporting this. In Incredible Hercules#119, Snowbird took the "forbidden form of the deadliest of the Great Beasts of the North, Neooqtoq the Ravager," and in Marvel Heartbreakers we meet another two Great Beasts, Tiamaq and Herateq. And Kimara the Cloudstalker was identified as a Great Beast; there were only two reasons to argue against this claim afaik, the first being there were only seven GB (now disproved) and the second that since he appeared in a gaming module that he wasn't canon (countered by his being confirmed in 616 via handbook entries).
--Loki
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Tolomaq should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Amazing X-Men II#12, p3, pan1 (main image)
Alpha Flight I#24, p16, pan2 (attacks Alpha Flight)
Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#24 (July, 1985) - John Byrne (writer, pencils), Bob
Wiacek (inks), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight I#38 (September, 1986) - Bill Mantlo (writer), David Ross
(pencils), Gerry Talaoc (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#55 (February, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee
(pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#64 (November, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#71 (June, 1989) - James D. Hudnall (writer), John
Calimee (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Wolverine I#172 (March, 2002) - Frank Tieri (writer), Sean Chen
(pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Chaos War: Alpha Flight I#1 (January, 2011) - Jim McCann (writer),
Reilly Brown (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Joe Quesada (editor)
Amazing X-Men
II#11 (November, 2014) - Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
(writers), Carlos Barberi & Iban Coello (pencils & inks)
Mike Marts (editor)
Amazing X-Men II#12 (December, 2014) - Craig Kyle
& Christopher Yost (writers), Carlos Barberi & Iban Coello
(pencils & inks) Mike Marts (editor)
First Posted: 10/30/2018
Last Updated: 01/06/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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