CULT OF ENTROPY

Membership: The Leader (unidentified), Cynthia and four other unidentified members (three of them became the Principle of Entropy)

Purpose: To bring about entropy by destroying the universe

Aliases: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Howard the Duck, Beverly Switzler

Base of Operations: The Dome of Eradication on the west bank of the Ashtabula River near Ashtabula, Ohio on Earth-78423

First Appearance: Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip (August 5th, 1977)

History:
(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip September 5th - 10th, 1977 (fb) - BTS) - The cult consisted of several young adults from a nearby college that viewed themselves as outsiders due to their appeearance or nerdiness. When they were approached by the Leader to join his cause, they readily consented as it gave them purpose and belonging. They also believed in his message that energy was being wasted by humanity, that over time it would no longer exist and that it was their sacred duty to destroy the world to spare humanity from suffering a cold and painful death without energy.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip August 5th - 15th, 1977) - Using his Anti-Energy device, the Leader empowered his followers with the ability to drain all forms of energy and set them to task in Cleveland. One member of the Cult of Entropy met up with a speeding police car that was dispatched to the restaurant "Happiness is a Warm Hamburger" to end a brawl between Howard the Duck and the Kidney Lady. Standing in the middle of the road, with the police car about to hit him, the cultist pointed his withered finger and caused the car to suddenly halt in place without any power. The startled police officer exited the car and, in a panic, attempted to shoot his gun but the weapon ceased to function with the bullet simply falling to the ground.

   A little time later, another member of the Cult of Entropy appeared on Howard and Beverly's street mumbling "we are born...we expend our energies...We die...as it does for men, so it does for worlds and cigars," and pointed his finger at a nearby Howard the Duck and extinguished his lit cigar and altered his matches, making them unable to produce flame. All through the night, vehicles and other powered devices began to systematically stop and become non-functional. During a live TV news broadcast, one cultist appeared and reduced the news anchor to a deathlike unconscious state by absorbing his life energy. The TV station then went off the air as the cultist negated and absorbed the building's power.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip August 20th, 1977 (fb) - BTS) - After one of the Cultists told the Leader about his encounter with Howard, a cigar smoking duck, the intrigued leader sent them back to Cleveland to kidnap him so he could be questioned.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip August 19th - September 24th, 1977) - Three cultists abducted Beverly Switzler as she was leaving her apartment and then captured Howard the Duck while he was trying to take a shower. They doused Howard's body with ketchup and placed him in a large bag as ordered by the Leader as some sort of symbolism representing that existence like ketchup is primarily anticipation. Howard was then brought aboard the cult's flying barge on the Cayuga River and paraded before their leader. The Leader explained his motives, stating that the universe was running down, constantly expending energy and in time, none would be left for man to use. When that happened humankind would die a cold and painful death, but he meant to avert that catastrophe by destroying the world. The Leader, puzzled by who or what Howard was, questioned him as to his nature. Howard explained he was from another world and universe and became trapped on Earth when the Cosmic Axis temporarily malfunctioned. The unexpected revelation that other universes existed and that the Cult couldn't destroy a billion, billion worlds, left the cult in a quandary, unsure if their mission was in vain. The Leader believed the answer was simply to absorb more energy, enough to rend the fabric of reality and sent three of his followers to drain the power from a nearby nuclear power plant. Cynthia, a member of the Cult of Entropy, while looking for the Leader, caught an escaping Howard and Beverly and accused the "Duck" of harming the Leader. Angered she used her Anti-Energy powers to age Howard into an elderly version of himself and threatened to do the same to Beverly if they did not explain where the Cult's leader was. Returning to the cell Cynthia saw the Leader's mutated, oily face for the first time and he felt embarrassed and apologized for not revealing it to her before. Cynthia then explained to the Leader that the radiation from the nuclear power plant and the Anti-Energy did not mix and three of the Cult members were mutated by the plant's radiation, creating a single giant gestalt being. Busting through the wall and ceiling of the cell, the being returned to their leader, claiming to now be the Principle of Entropy, and grabbed him. The entity set out towards Cleveland while leaking deadly radiation.

(Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip September 25th - 30th, 1977) - Feeling remorse for her actions because she did not want people to suffer physical harm, Cynthia used the Anti-Energy device at the risk of her own life and reverted Howard's aged body to its original state by transferring her own life force. She then fell into a deathlike state. Howard and Beverly then took the device, boarded the Leader's flying barge and flew above the rampaging Principle of Entropy. Together they dropped the device on top of the giant's head and the resulting impact caused the device to explode, disintegrating the Principle of Entropy, the Leader and the Anti-Energy device, saving Cleveland from destruction. With the destruction of the Anti-Energy device, all the absorbed power returned to its respective receptacles where it was drained from and restored Cleveland's power.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan.

Profile by AvatarWarlord

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Cult of Entropy has no known connections to:

• Jude the Entropic Man - foe of Man-Thing, created by Cosmic Cube--Marvel Two-In-One I#42
• Entropy - a cosmic being representing destruction and offspring of Eternity--Captain Marvel VI#2
• Entropy Globe - a device used by the Cold People that kept the Master alive for over four centuries--Fantastic Four I#146
• Cult of Entropy - a group led by Jude the Entropic Man that worshipped destruction of the universe and sought to bring it about--Giant-Size Man-Thing#1
• Tetrarchs of Entropy - self-proclaimed overseers of universal entropy--Avengers I#329
• or any other characters with a similar name

Cynthia has no known connections to:

• Cynthia - a TV reporter--Daredevil: Father#4
• Cynthia - of Odhams Earth--Pow!#50/3
• Cynthia - one of Sat-Yr-9's troops--Excalibur I#56
• Cynthia - life partner of Percy Boraine--Marvel Comics Presents I#17/2
• Cynthia Chong - one of Raga's "sisters"--Iron Man I#52
• Cynthia Crystal - member of the Smalltown Sluggers little league baseball team--The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man I#1
• or any other "Cynthia" characters

Cynthia

Cynthia was a young adult from a nearby college who believed in the concept of entropy and that the universe was slowly being depleted of energy and would one day end. Being a social outcast and seeking a sense of belonging she was recruited by the Leader and became one of his followers in the Cult of Entropy.

She helped capture Beverly and Howard and took them to the Dome of Eradication where the Leader ordered her and a fellow cultist to take the prisoners upstairs to the dungeon. There Cynthia revealed to Howard why she and the others joined the Leader.

Cynthia later, while looking for the leader to report on their attempt to absorb the power from a nearby nuclear plant, caught an escaping Howard and Beverly and accused the "Duck" of harming the Leader. Angered she used her Anti-Energy powers to age him into an elderly version of himself and threatened to do the same to Beverly if they did not explain where the leader was. Beverly returned with Cynthia to the cell where Cynthia for the first time saw the Leader's mutated oily face and he felt embarrassed and apologized for not revealing it to her before. Cynthia then explained to the Leader that the radiation from the nuclear power plant and the Anti-Energy did not mix and three of the Cult members were mutated by the plant's radiation, creating a single giant being. Busting through the wall and ceiling of the cell, it returned to their leader claiming to now be the Principle of Entropy and grabbed him and they set out towards Cleveland while leaking deadly radiation. Feeling remorse for her actions because she did not want people to suffer physical harm, Cynthia used the Anti-Energy device at the risk of her own life and reversed Howard's aged body by transferring her energy to him. Shen then fell into a deathlike state.

--Howard the Duck Newspaper Strip September 5th - 10th, 18th - 27th, 1977

Principle of Entropy

The Leader, puzzled by who or what Howard was, questioned him as to his nature. Howard explained he was from another world and universe and became trapped on Earth when the Cosmic Axis temporarily malfunctioned. The unexpected revelation that other universes existed and that they can't destroy a billion, billion worlds left the cult in a quandary and unsure if their sacred mission was in vain. The Leader believed the answer was simply to absorb more energy, enough to rend the fabric of reality, and sent three of his followers to drain the power from a nearby nuclear power plant. While trying to absorb the power, the nuclear energy could not be properly mixed with the Anti-Energy and resulted in the three to mutate into one giant being. Calling itself the Principle of Entropy, they (it) returned to their master and busted through the wall and ceiling of the Dome of Eradication, grabbed him and set out towards Cleveland while leaking deadly radiation. With the help from Cynthia, a now fully recovered younger Howard and Beverly then took the Anti-Energy device and boarded one of the Cult's flying barges and flew above the rampaging Principle of Entropy. Together they dropped the device on top of the giant's head and the resulting impact caused the device to explode, disintegrating the Principle of Entropy, the leader and the Anti-Energy device saving Cleveland from its radioactive rampage. With the destruction of the Anti-Energy device, all the absorbed power returned to its respective receptacles where it was drained from and restored Cleveland's power.