GIANGIAN
Real Name: Gian (surname unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Earth-148611) human, advanced technology-user;
presumably Swiss citizen of Italian heritage (see comments)
Occupation: Dream researcher, surgeon
Group Membership: Kleinmann Dream Institute
Affiliations: Gnome (Horst Kleinmann), Mistress Midnight (Vivienne), Udo
Enemies: Nightmask (Keith Remsen) Adam Remsen, Lenore Remsen, Theodora "Teddy" Remsen
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Kleinmann Dream Institute, Zurich, Switzerland, Earth-148611
First Appearance: (Almost certainly behind-the-scenes) Nightmask#1 (November, 1986);
(confirmed, seen, and identified) Nightmask#2 (December, 1986)
Powers/Abilities: Gian is a doctor, specializing in micro-neurosurgery, but also in the treatment of physical and neurological injuries, such as were incurred by Dr. Kleinmann.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately )History:
(Nightmask#2) - An employee of Horst Kleinmann working out of the Kleinmann Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, Gian assisted with medical care and treatment.
He worked closely with Udo, who was involved in maintenance of the technology.
(Nightmask#1 (fb) - BTS) <July 22-24,
1986> - During a dreamscape encounter with Nightmask and the assassin Kleinmann had hired to kill the Remsens with a bomb, Kleinmann
managed to escape the dying bomber's dreams, though his equipment
was destroyed in the strain of recovering him. 
(Nightmask#2 (fb) - BTS) - Kleinmann was badly injured, leaving him scarred and bedridden.
(Nightmask#1 - BTS) - Kleinmann's agents -- very likely Udo & Gian -- predicted that when he recovered and learned of this that he would insist they rebuild.
(Nightmask#2) <August 17, 1986> - As Kleinmann questioned the recovery process of their equipment, Gian interjected that it was not the machines that needed the most help, but rather Kleinmann himself: Reminding Kleinmann that he was not a young man, he noted that even with all of their skill and resources, it would be months before he was ready.
Kleinmann interrupted, insisting it would be weeks, and that like his
wealthy and powerful clients paid him, he paid Gian. Nonetheless, Kleinmann
ordered that until he was ready, he had an agent who could act in his stead.
Acknowledging her abilities, Gian argued that she was too unstable,
but Kleinmann
noted that she was in their debt and that she was right
for the task.
(Nightmask#2 (fb) - BTS) - Kleinmann sent Gian and Udo to enlist Mistress Midnight (Vivienne)'s aid. They traveled to the Riviera.
(Nightmask#2) - The two located Mistress Midnight as she fed on a victim. Recognizing them, she was amused that Kleinmann had sent the most trusted of his staff as errand boys. She advised that Gian relax, as she was intrigued and that it would not even be necessary to blackmail her.
(Nightmask#4 (fb) - BTS) - Via Udo's technology (including an exoskeleton) and Gian's surgery, combined with Kleinmann's own will, Kleinmann was back on his feet in weeks. They estimated that standard medical care would have taken months or perhaps even years to accomplish this.
(Nightmask#4 (fb) - BTS) - Lucian Ballad's sources noted the vast expenditures to restore the equipment in Kleinmann's lab, although he could not uncover information on Kleinmann himself.
(Nightmask#4) - While acknowledging the "miracles" that his agents had accomplished, Kleinmann expressed frustration with his limited control and lack of dexterity (shattering delicate objects that he grasped).
While apart from Kleinmann, Gian asked Udo if it bothered him that they served a madman. Udo noted that he had worked for two different governments and many private sector projects, and none of them had paid as well as Kleinmann. Udo continued that, more importantly, none had allowed him to carry his experiments in bio-technology so far as at the Kleinmann Institute. He suggested that the same was true of Gian's micro-surgery, and that he should consider that true madness consisted of small-minded restrictions and limits of vision that impeded achievement.
Gian countered that men had died upon Kleinmann's orders and whims, and that while Udo was a technician and cool by nature, he (Gian) was a surgeon and had sworn an oath to preserve life. However, Udo argued that countless lives would be preserved through their discoveries and that, in the end, that is what the world would remember: The benefits, not that there were occasional sacrifices along the way. Although not disagreeing with this, Gian noted that for Kleinmann there was no end, as he had moved his resentment from the parents to their son and that while Mistress Midnight was not truly an assassin, like the bomber, in her own way, she was more dangerous.
As Gian and Udo entered Kleinmann's private laboratory, he greeted them, noting that they had been forced from their warm beds quite early but that satellite relay conditions were perfect and they would be able to see the fruits of their labors during Vivienne's visit there. At Udo's and Gian's queries, Kleinmann confirmed her implant allowed them to track her a continent away and that her brain showed no evidence of rejecting the micro-circuitry. Gian and Kleinmann discussed that the hyperactivity they were reading was normal for her as she was in her midnight phase, stalking prey.
After Kleinmann confirmed that she
had contacted Keith, Gian noted that her
readings mirrored the peaks of when she first came to the
Institute. 
(Nightmask#4 - BTS) - As Vivienne and Keith prepared to kiss, Teddy, having sensed Vivienne's threat, interrupted. Sympathizing with the young Teddy's concerns over her brother, Vivienne's Mistress Midnight persona began to fade, and she gave Teddy a kiss on the forehead before departing.
(Nightmask#4) - Gian noted the changes in Vivenne's readings, and Kleinmann appreciated that her dream lust was beginning to fade.
(Nightmask#4 - BTS) - Keith returned to make sure Vivienne at least got a cab home, and she leapt forward and kissed him.
However, Nightmask ultimately overwhelmed Vivienne on the psychic plane when he dropped his defenses, feeding her not only his dreams and memories, but the dreams and memories of all those whose dreams he had visited. She withdrew and fled.
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1 (fb) - BTS) - Vivienne's cybernetic implants transmitted Teddy's psychic signature to Kleinmann's laboratory.
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1 (fb) - BTS) - The next time Teddy went to sleep, Kleinmann's machines plunged her psyche into Kleinmann's artificial dream from which he prevented her awakening.
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1 - BTS) - At the Ballad Dream Clinic in Georgetown, Virginia (see comments), Keith entered Teddy's dreams and confronted the Gnome as Nightmask.
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1) - The struggle required Gian and Udo (see comments) to hold Kleinmann down while Gian delivered an "adrenalin shot"
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1 - BTS) - After Nightmask opened the chest containing Teddy's essence, Teddy awakened in the real world, and she pulled Keith back to the real word. At the same time, Nightmask changed the direction of the portal through which the Gnome tried to escape, sending and dispersing Kleinmann's mind into humanity's collective unconsciousness.
(Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1) - Gian and Udo observed as Kleinmann's body awakened, and he began endlessly ranting of fairy tales, myth legends, etc.
Disturbed, Gian and Udo fled the room.
Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin and Ernie Colon.
My understanding is that the three major languages of Switzerland are
French, German, and Italian. Gian has an Italian name and spoke with an
Italian accent; Udo was the same with German; Kleinmann has a German
name, but didn't have an accent until the Untold Tale.
According to Wikipedia, people speaking these languages are also known
as Romands, Swissgermans/Deutschschweiger, and Svizzeri Italiani/Swiss
Italians.,
Nightmask was one of the New Universe series that didn't fit
the mold, with advanced technology, pre-White Event psychic abilities, etc.
See the New Universe primer.
The next issue blurb for Nightmask#4 was titled "Kingdom of the Gnome." However, a new writer, Cary Bates wrote the next issue, and the Gnome was not seen again until nearly 20 years later in Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1, which was written to fill in the story between #4 and #5. It even had Udo and Gian in it...although the two characters were reversed in terms of names...the bald guy was now Udo and Gian had hair and a mustache in contrast to Nightmask#2 and #4 where the opposite was true.
Per my understanding, the Ballad Clinic of Dream Research was in Washington, D.C., while Adam Remsen's research laboratory was within the University of Maryland. In Untold Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1, the Ballad Dream Clinic was noted as being in Georgetown, Virginia. Perhaps Lucian Ballad had multiple clinics in that region (and beyond)?
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Gian should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Nightmask#1 (November, 1986) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Tony Salmons (penciler), Bret Blevins (inker), Michael Higgins (editor)
Nightmask#2 (December, 1986) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Ernie Colon (artist), Michael Higgins (editor)
Nightmask#4 (February, 1987) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Ron Wagner (penciler), Tony DeZuniga (inker), Michael Higgins (editor)
Untold
Tales of the New Universe: Nightmask#1 (May, 2006) - Fred Van Lente
(writer), Arnold Pander (penciler), Kris Justice (inker), Nathan Cosby (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)
First posted: 10/22/2022
Last updated: 10/22/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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