previous portal guardian previous portal guardian
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Apparently human;
possible mutant, mutate, technology user, and/or magic user (or maybe something really weird and unusual that we've never heard of);
pre-modern era (possibly the early modern era, and perhaps as early as the 1930s, although that is speculation based on to whom he was an homage; see comments)
Occupation: Unrevealed;
presumably a former adventurer/vigilante
Group Membership: None known
Affiliations: Cloak (Tyrone Johnson)
Enemies: Byan'hantandu, Gromitz and other Grunds serving the Byan'hantandu, Jophurg
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Old goomer" (from one of the Grund)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (December, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: The old man has no superhuman powers. He is relatively small and elderly, and he possibly drinks a lot of alcohol, but he may retain some fighting and other skills from his vigilante career.
In the past, the old man possessed
an opera cape (allegedly another form of the cloak worn by Cloak/Tyrone
Johnson), and he served as portal guardian to the Darkforce Dimension.
Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'9"; presumably taller in youth)
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 160 lbs.; presumably heavier in youth)
Eyes: Apparently brown
Hair: White (bald on top); likely darker and less bald in younger days.
History:
(The Mutant
Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS) - The unidentified "old man" was the
guardian to the portal to the Darkforce dimension (see comments) for an
undisclosed (but "long time") prior to Cloak assuming the role. He
allegedly utilized /wore the same fabric in Cloak's cloak, but when he wore
it, it was more in the form of an opera cape, of sorts.
(The Mutant Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS) - Jophurg brought the old man before the
Byan'hantandu, who swiftly realized that this was the
previous portal guardian rather than the current one.
(The Mutant Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - Another Darbian (apparently Jophurg) ambushed
Cloak and attempted to access the portal to the Darkforce dimension to
reclaim the artifact. Although Cloak refused to open the portal, the
Darbian
activated the Bhontar(s) and transported them both to the Byan'hantandu ship.
(The Mutant Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#2) - After Cloak's arrival, his Bhontar was placed
next to the old man's Bhontar. The old man then explained that their
captors' records must be way out of date for them to have grabbed him,
but they must have realized their mistake, which is why they had gone
after Cloak.
The old man then continued that
Cloak had something their captors wanted, and that they were going to
use their giant spaceship to destroy Earth whether they got it or not.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - After Cloak revealed the circumstance of his arrival, which the old man had surmised, the old man revealed how the "lil' yella twerps" (Grunds) and "big dumb 'uns" (Darbians) were underlings serving the big bosses (Byan'hantandu), who used the Book in an effort to make the universe safer; he noted that in their case, the Book was a tad out of date. Cloak asked why they would have mistaken "you for me," and the old man explained that he was "the doorman to the Dark Dimension (see comments) before you got the job, young fella."
Noting that he had been pretty good at the job,
the old man admitted he did have a long time to practice. He further
commented that the fabric was holding up pretty well, although when he
had used it, it was more like an opera cape.
(The Mutant Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#3 - BTS) - The Byan'hantandu
instructed one of the Grunds that they didn't need the old man anymore.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - The Grund instructed Jophurg to send the old man back to where they got him; with a "Yuh!" Jophurg complied, pushing a lever and sending the old man home in a "Bhontar."
As the old man's Bhontar headed for a portal, Cloak yelled, "Wait, he can answer all my questions. What IS the Dark Dimension?! What about the Predator..." to no avail. The old man said, "S'Long Sonny" and was whisked back to a mountainous region on Earth.
And that's all that's ever been said about that...Comments: Created by Terry Austin and Dan Lawlis.
Cloak accesses the
Darkforce dimension, allowing him to manipulate the Darkforce, which is
also utilized by the likes of Blackout (Marcus Daniels), the various
Darkstar incarnations, the Shroud, and many others. Stories often
reference him accessing the Dark Dimension, which is the realm usually
ruled by Dormammu. The Predator dwells within a pocket realm within the
Darkforce dimension.
A comment from when I first included the "old man" as a sub-profile in the B'yan'hantandu back in 11/2/2001: As pointed out by Greg O (and it now seems so painfully obviously I can't believe it never occurred to me), the Old Man was almost certainly intended as an homage to the pulp hero the Shadow (Lamont Cranston).
So, he wasn't really called the old
man, it's just a description of him. He was only called "the old
goomer" by one of the Grund. However, since he was an homage to the
Shadow, perhaps he was known as Contour, Gloom,
Penumbra, or Umbra ; Silhouette and Shade are already in use for Shadow
homage characters. Umbra is a member of the Darbian race. I really like
Penumbra, but it doesn't seem like a name the slang speaking "old man"
would have used...then again, he might have been well educated and just
got more laid back over time (and/or he was drunk). Contour is kind of
a cool name, but while the exact definition (denotation) is
appropriate, the feel of the word or common interpretation
(connotation) doesn't fit as well. However, Gloom...now that's
something that fits...and maybe the Grund was trying to call him by his
name and just misspoke, or the Book was wrong...ah, who knows...dorcas
farkas.
There are no youthful and/or costumed images of the "old man."
Per Wikipedia: "Sweet Betsy from Pike" is an American ballad about the trials of a pioneer named Betsy and her lover Ike who migrate from Pike County to California. This Gold Rush-era song, with lyrics written by John A. Stone before 1858, was collected and published in Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag. It was recorded by Burl Ives on February 11, 1941 for his debut album Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger. The melody is of English extraction and is also that of the ballad "Villikins and his Dinah". Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The "Old Man" should be distinguished from:
old man - True People, advised Hulk in Reality-616--Incredible Hulk III#87
Besides the Old Man, there have been a few
other homages to the pulp hero, the Shadow, Lamont Cranston
images: (without ads)
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2, pg. 17, panel 2 (walking in snow);
panel 5 (hatless head);
#3, pg. 2, panel 7 (or bottom right corner; face close-up);
pg. 3, panel 1 (full, within Bhontar)
Appearances:
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (December, 1988) - Terry Austin (writer), Dan
Lawlis (pencils), P. Craig Russell (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (January, 1989) - Terry Austin (writer), Mike
Vosburg (pencils), Scott Williams (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
First posted: 06/21/2019
Last updated: 06/21/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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