PRIDE

Membership: Priestess, Slave, Sorcerer

Purpose: To serve their Queen in bringing death and destruction upon Earth

Affiliations: Martin Friend, Kinsey Gardner, Queen, Slam Sanders; countless others over the millennia

Enemies: Dorothy Betz, Mel Bogowitz, Roland Fargas, Ginny Jenkins, Shanna the She-Devil (Shanna O'Hara); countless others over the millennia

Base of Operations: Mobile on Earth
    allegedly active from the pre-Cataclymic era into modern times

First Appearance: Marvel Fanfare I#56 (April, 1991)

Powers/Abilities: The true nature of the Pride is unrevealed, but they were capable of possessing human beings with their spirits. They were master manipulators and allegedly caused war and destruction for eons through their influence. They possessed vast mystical powers and even while in spirit form could interact and manipulate events in the real world in various ways. They were only visible if they wished to be seen and could shapeshift if needed. A member of the Pride could trap someone with a mere touch in a jungle within the mind.

   The Sorcerer appeared to be the most powerful magic user among them. He was seen using a psychic blast to take control of others.

History:
(Marvel Fanfare I#59 (fb) - BTS) - For many eons the Pride walked the Earth serving their Queen. They were known by thousands of names in thousands of lands and while they were sometimes worshipped as Gods they were at other times hunted as demons. Along with their Queen they had been scourged, stoned, crucified and burned only to be reborn by possessing other beings that had been killed through their own manipulations.

   During their eternal lifetimes they witnessed the rise of Atlantis and the Great Cataclysm sinking it.

   Each time they died the Pride had to seek new bodies by manipulating in spirit form humans to kill others so they could take possession of the victims. At the same time, their Queen was automatically reborn in a human, who had to commit suicide in a ritual to allow the Queen to take full control over the body. The Pride went through this process many times over the centuries, and each time their Queen returned powerful enough to bring death and destruction upon the world.

   In the modern era the spirit of the Queen was reborn as part of Shanna O'Hara, who made the Queen's nature part of herself as Shanna the She-Devil.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 - BTS) - The Sorcerer picked new recruits for the Pride's cause and sent out invitations to comedy writer Martin Friend, TV network executive Kinsey Gardner, children cowboy star Slam Sanders and Shanna O'Hara, the vessel of their Queen, for a meeting on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Suite 1144 at the Beverly Palms Hotel.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - When everyone had arrived in Suite 1144 the Pride entered and the Sorcerer started talking business because the Pride knew each of their newest recruits were at a turning point in their lives and capable of committing murder. Shanna felt misjudged and was going to leave, but the Slave asked her to sit down again only to get tossed through the room by Shanna. The Sorcerer, however, stopped Shanna right in her tracks with a psychic beam from his eyes. He then offered the other three recruits to give them what they desired in return for each of them killing a person for them. Shanna broke free and tackled the Sorcerer only to get trapped in a psychic jungle after making physical contact with the Pride member. The Sorcerer hoped none of the others would make the same mistake as Shanna and offered them to continue with their operation.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - The Pride, Friend, Gardner and Sanders watched Shanna writhing on the ground while she was trapped in a psychic jungle. The Sorcerer reiterated that it would be in the best interest of Friend, Gardner and Sanders to serve the Pride, and the men all agreed to it. The Priestess accompanied Friend, who still seemed a bit hesitant to go through with murder. The Priestess assured Friend that his victim was weaker than him and personally chosen for him. Friend was just surprised that nobody was reacting to the lioness, who revealed that the Pride remained unnoticed as long as they wished to be.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 - BTS) - Shanna was found by a maid who called an ambulance, which brought Shanna to a hospital and called her psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Betz, whose card was in Shanna's wallet. When Shanna regained her senses she fled the hospital to stop the murders the Pride's newest recruits were going to commit. She first contacted Friend's agent Finegold to learn who he was mad enough at to murder. Finegold revealed that it was Friend's former protégé Ginny Jenkins, who had just sold a sitcom about a feminist clinic.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - The Priestess accompanied Friend to Ginny Jenkins and offered to write gags for her new series, but she declined his offer because she was trying to avoid one-liners. Friend pushed Jenkins out of her wheelchair in front of the Priestess and then proceeded to bash in her head with Jenkins' Emmy Award. Shanna arrived moments too late to save Jenkins, who lay in a puddle of blood and was clearly dead. Shanna attacked Friend ferociously.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 - BTS) - The Priestess took possession of Ginny Jenkins and healed her wound.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - Jenkins got to her knees and asked Shanna to let Friend go. Unable to comprehend what was going on, Shanna obliged and left after Jenkins thanked her and told her she needed to work on a script.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - The Slave was with Slam Sanders and urged him to kill sex magazine publisher Roland Fargas though he didn't care how Sanders did it as long as he killed Fargas.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58 - BTS) - A debate between Fargas and Sanders was scheduled.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - Posing as a man, the Slave invited Mrs. Hernandez to the debate, but her son quickly offered to go instead to get revenge on Fargas, whose sister had disgraced her family by posing nude for Fargas. The Slave returned to Sanders' limousine and was impressed how quickly the young man took the bait.

   The Slave later accompanied Sanders to the debate. Shanna was attending the debate with her psychiatrist Betz, who couldn't see the Slave, but Shanna did and made her way backstage to confront the Slave, who tossed her around like a ragdoll while revealing that he needed to be at Fargas' side when he died. While they fought backstage, Fargas was shot by Hernandez. The Slave rushed to the corpse while Sanders criticized the murder.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - The Slave took possession of Fargas, who got back to his feet to continue the debate. Shanna realized that a member of the Pride had taken possession of him and that she had no other choice than to kill him again.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - Shanna jumped Fargas, who trapped her with a mere touch in the psychic jungle again where she was confronted by all the people and animals she had lost over the years. They urged her to kill the Pride.

   The Sorcerer was with Kinsey Gardner at his office when he belittled failing screenwriter Mel Bogowitz, who was fighting with alcoholism and depression. After several hours, he sent Bogowitz home and told the Sorcerer that he was sure Bogowitz wouldn't even make it out of the parking lot. The Sorcerer joined Bogowitz in his car and was present when the depressed writer ran his car into a nearby building to commit suicide. The Sorcerer took possession of his body and got out of the burning car uninjured.

   During a session of Shanna with her psychiatrist Dorothy Betz. the Pride appeared to Betz and asked her to leave Shanna alone so she could be reborn. They threatened to kill her if she kept interfering.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The Slave prepared the temple for the ritual at his host Roland Fargas' mansion.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - The Priestess invited as her host Ginny Jenkins' feminist friends to Fargas' mansion. They felt uncomfortable and didn't know what kind of research they were doing, but the Priestess told them that it was about the days when human sacrifice was commonplace.

   The Queen took control of Shanna, who had surrendered to her control, and went to the temple where the Pride was already waiting for her. The Sorcerer assured her that everything was ready for the ritual of her rebirth. He gave her a ceremonial dagger that had been used in one of his host Bogowitz's TV series. She remembered the ritual, which included her Priestess singing the song of arising while the Queen slit the throats of the sacrifices, the women brought to the temple by the Priestess. She was then going to drink the blood from their wounds before plunging the dagger into herself. The Priestess began to sing, but instead of killing the sacrifices, Shanna reclaimed control over her body and stabbed the Slave. With the ritual thwarted, the spirits of the Pride and the Queen seemingly perished as Shanna, exhausted from the whole ordeal, sank to the floor.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The Pride seemingly kept their word to their recruits and gave them what they wanted. Friend received the "literary gift" he sought by getting a free membership to the book of the month club. Sanders received the political notoriety when a bank he owned part of failed. Gardner's life finally got simpler when he was left paralyzed from the neck down after a skiing accident.

   Shanna wasn't sure if the Queen had died because she still felt the wildness in her soul. Betz replied that maybe the Queen took credit for something that was always part of Shanna herself from the beginning.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Carmine Infantino & Bret Blevins.

    According to the story the spirit of the Pride's Queen resided inside Shanna O'Hara all her life and was part of the reason why she became Shanna the She-Devil.

    The events of this story took place not long after Ina and Biri died at the hands of Raga-Shah in Savage Tales I#9 (March, 1975), Ragah-Sha's death in Rampaging Hulk I#9 (June, 1978) and before her appearance in Ka-Zar the Savage#1 (April, 1981).

    The story behind the story according to editor Al Milgrom from his Editori-Al feature between Marvel Fanfare I#57-59: Gerber originally wrote the first three parts of the story in 1978. After being contacted by Milgrom, Gerber wrote the last part without any recollection of what the original plan for the story going forward was. The art for the first part was finished years ago. In the second part of the story, Bret Blevins was credited as A. Novice because he was embarrassed by his early work. The story was assigned to Blevins years earlier, but he only finished it a short time before it actually saw print. Finishing the third part apparently became like pulling teeth because Blevins had a hard time finishing it. This was apparently also the reason why Gerber chose Tony DeZuniga as replacement for the fourth part of the story in case Blevins was unable to finish it in time.

    Could the Pride be connected to the Tiger God, who empowers the line of White Tigers?

    Or maybe they were connected to Bast or Sekhmet, who are far older than some people might think. Maybe they were members of the Children of Bast, who could've been active even before the Great Cataclysm.

    They are far too ancient to be connected in any way to the Cat People behind Tigra (Greer Nelson)'s powers.

    This profile was completed 2/16/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Pride has no known connections to:

Mel Bogowitz has no known connection to:

Roland Fargas has no known connection to:

Martin Friend has no known connection to:

Kinsey Gardner has no known connection to:

Ginny Jenkins has no known connection to:

Slam Sanders has no known connection to:

Priestess has no known connection to:

Slave has no known connection to:

Sorcerer has no known connection to:

Mel Bogowitz

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Mel Bogowitz wrote a short-lived series named Me and the Barbarian.

   Bogowitz's career went into a downward spiral. His peers mocked him and nicknamed him "Mel Bogus" because the characters he wrote were often unrelatable to the average viewer. He became depressed and started drinking heavily.

   Recovering from his alcoholism, Bogowitz started writing again.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - Bogowitz had a meeting with TV network executive Kinsey Gardner, who ripped his newest script for a series about a detox center to shreds because the lead character wasn't likable. He pointed out that this was the reason why he was mocked by others in the industry and why they believed Gardner was an idiot for still wanting to work with Bogowitz. Gardner wanted to go over the script again with Bogowitz, who asked for a drink to get through the whole procedure.

   An hour later, after downing three scotches, Bogowitz left Gardner's office and, with tears in his eyes, crashed his car into the wall of a nearby building. The Pride's Sorcerer took possession of Bogowitz's corpse after the accident and climbed out of the burning car unscathed.

   Possessed by the Sorcerer, he joined the rest of the Pride at Fargas' mansion and provided a ceremonial dagger from Bogowitz's short-lived series Me and the Barbarian to his Queen, who had gained control over Shanna. When Shanna regained control and stabbed the Slave, the spirit of the Sorcerer left Bogowitz's body.

--Marvel Fanfare I#59 ([Marvel Fanfare I#59 (fb)], 59

Note: Considering Bogowitz had died in #59 it is unrevealed whether his body remained alive or not after the Pride spirit left his body.

Roland Fargas

(Marvel Fanfare I#58 (fb) - BTS) - Roland Fargas was a sex magazine publisher. At some point a girl named Hernandez posed nude for him, which angered her family.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58 - BTS) - The Pride asked Slam Sanders to kill Fargas for their cause. Sanders had the idea to debate Fargas and bait the brother of the Hernandez girl to kill Fargas in his place. The debate became big enough news to make it into the Los Angeles Times. The Slave, posing as a human, visited the Hernandez home, and the girl's brother took the bait.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - Shanna attended the debate between Fargas and Sanders with her psychiatrist Dorothy Betz. During the debate, the Hernandez boy pulled his gun and shot Fargas in the chest. Seconds later Fargas, now possessed by the Pride's Slave, was back on his feet to continue the debate. Shanna realized what had happened and planned to kill Fargas again.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - Shanna attacked the possessed Fargas, but when he grabbed her by her wrist she became trapped in the psychic jungle again.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The possessed Fargas set up a temple at his mansion.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - "Fargas" was present when the Queen, now in control of Shanna, arrived at the temple. During the ritual, he was stabbed by Shanna, and the Slave's spirit left his body.

--Marvel Fanfare I#58 ([Marvel Fanfare I#58 (fb)], [58], 58-59, [59], 59

Note: Considering Fargas had died in #58 it is unknown whether his body remained alive or not after the Pride spirit left his body.

Martin Friend

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 (fb) - BTS) - Martin Friend was a failing, Jewish sitcom writer, who relied heavily on stealing ideas from other writers. Due to this, he eventually stopped getting hired because he was incapable of any original ideas.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 (fb) - BTS) - Friend envied every writer that got a new series on the air because he never could. It was pretty obvious to his agent Mr. Finegold how much he envied someone by how highly he praised/criticized someone's style. When he called someone's style "self-indulgent," he wanted his/her job.

   For some time, Ginny Jenkins' worked for Friend as his story editor on "The Love Trawler" series, but she eventually became more successful than him when she sold her own half-hour sitcom about a feminist clinic to a network.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 (fb) - BTS) - One day he was invited to a meeting on a Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Suite 1144 at the Beverly Palms Hotel.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - Friend, Gardner and Sanders arrived at the suite. When Shanna knocked on the door, Friend answered it and introduced her to the others by mocking them before the Pride entered to make an offer to all four. In return for murdering a person, Friend and the others would receive what they most desired from the Pride. Friend was offered the ability to tap into his own hidden resources so he would no longer be forced to rely on others' ideas to gain fame. When Shanna declined the Pride's offer ,she was knocked out in front of Friend and the others.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - Friend agreed to serve the Pride after what had happened to Shanna and was accompanied by the Priestess to his target, whom she revealed was considerably weaker than him. Friend was surprised that nobody was noticing her walk alongside him, but learned from her that the Pride were only noticed when they wished to be. Friend was sweating like crazy the whole time because he was scared.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 - BTS) - Shanna met with Friend's agent Mr. Finegold, who revealed to her how to tell if Friend wanted to kill someone to get their job. He was sure Ginny Jenkins was at the top of Friend's list at the moment.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - Friend, with the Priestess standing invisible nearby, had a meeting with his old protégé Ginny Jenkins. They talked about her new series and how she wanted to avoid one-liners. Friend was sure she would retort to pie fights and gags by week thirteen, but she didn't plan to capitulate like that. Jenkins invited Friend to lunch and asked him to roll her to the commissary, but he pushed her out of her wheelchair instead and then picked up Jenkins' Emmy Award to smash in her head, killing her in the process. Shanna arrived moments too late and Friend, who was mad the Pride wasn't protecting him from her, tried to hit her over the head with the Emmy Award as well. Shanna ripped it from his hand and started beating him up until Jenkins, miraculously still alive, told her to let him go. Friend was as surprised as Shanna and ran away.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The Pride seemingly granted Friend his literary gift when he received free membership in the book of the month club.

--Marvel Fanfare I#56 (Marvel Fanfare I#56-57, [59]

Kinsey Gardner

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 (fb) - BTS) - Kinsey Gardner was a programming director at a TV station, who saved the network by banning reality from TV and raising the ratings until the network was number one on three nights a week. One day he was invited to a meeting on a Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Suite 1144 at the Beverly Palms Hotel.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - Friend, Gardner and Sanders arrived at the suite. When Shanna arrived she was introduced to Gardner by Friend, who mocked him as "the man without a mind" in programming. Gardner retorted that he actually saved a whole TV network unlike Gardner, who couldn't even find a job anymore because he was only capable to steal other people's ideas. The Pride entered to make an offer to all four. In return for murdering a person Gardner and the others would receive what they most desired from the Pride. They offered Gardner to augment his instinct for the mass taste with his personal magnetism to make his private life easier. When Shanna declined the Pride's offer she was knocked out in front of Gardner and the others.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - Gardner agreed to serve the Pride after what had happened to Shanna.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - With the Sorcerer at his side Gardner invited screenwriter Mel Bogowitz into his office and belittled his writing skills until Bogowitz, a recovering alcoholic, asked for a drink. They worked for an hour on improving the script before Gardner sent Bogowitz home to continue working on the script. Gardner told the Sorcerer to go after Bogowitz fast because the writer was a drunk depressive. The Sorcerer was shocked that Gardner how cold Gardner acted, but then left to catch up with Bogowitz, who, shortly after, committed suicide by running his car into a nearby building.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The Pride seemingly granted Gardner his wish for a simpler personal life when he got paralyzed from the neck down in a skiing accident.

--Marvel Fanfare I#56 (Marvel Fanfare I#56-57, 59, [59]

Ginny Jenkins

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 (fb) - BTS) - For unrevealed reasons Ginny Jenkins was a paraplegic bound to a wheelchair. She started out as a story editor to sitcom writer Martin Friend on "The Love Trawler" series.

   At some point Jenkins sold her own half-hour sitcom about a feminist clinic to a network.

   At some point Jenkins won an Emmy Award.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - Jenkins had a meeting with her old teacher Martin Friend and they argued about the direction of Jenkins' new sitcom. She was trying to avoid one-liners while Friend was sure she would end up using gags and pie fights by episode thirteen. She had no interest to give Friend a job as part of the writing team, but still invited him to lunch. She asked him to push her over to her commissary, but he instead dropped her out of her wheelchair and smashed in her head with her Emmy Award to kill her. When Shanna arrived Jenkins lay in a puddle of blood and was clearly dead.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 - BTS) - Jenkins' corpse was taken over and healed by the Pride's Priestess.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - The possessed Jenkins asked Shanna to let Friend go. Shanna was surprised that she was still alive.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - "Jenkins" lured a group of women to Roland Fargas' mansion. She claimed they were there to do research, but they ended up dressed up as potential sacrifices for the ritual to let the Pride's Queen take full control over Shanna's body. "Jenkins" began to sing the "Song of Arising" during the ritual, but the Priestess' spirit left Jenkins' body when Shanna thwarted the ritual by stabbing the Slave instead of the human sacrifices.

--Marvel Fanfare I#57 (Marvel Fanfare I#57, 59

Note: Considering Jenkins had died in #57 it is unrevealed whether her body remained alive or not after the Pride spirit left her body.

Slam Sanders

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 (fb) - BTS) - Slam Sanders was a former actor, who was the star of children's Westerns. His work made him famous and a millionaire.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57 (fb) - BTS) - Sanders lived on a lavish home in the San Joaquin Valley north of Los Angeles.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 (fb) - BTS) - He was invited to a meeting on a Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Suite 1144 at the Beverly Palms Hotel.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - Friend, Gardner and Sanders arrived at the suite. When Shanna arrived, she was introduced to Sanders by Friend, who mocked him by saying that he once claimed to be an actor who now denied that he was a millionaire. 

    The Pride entered to make an offer to all four: In return for murdering a person, Sanders and each of the others would receive what they most desired from the Pride. They offered Sanders to elevate his image in the public eye to make him a political presence. When Shanna declined the Pride's offer, she was knocked out in front of Gardner and the others.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - Sanders agreed to serve the Pride after what had happened to Shanna.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - Sanders told the Slave that he couldn't just shoot a man in broad daylight or at night. He also wasn't sure why he should kill adult magazine publisher Roland Fargas at all. The Slave didn't reveal the actual reason and just told Sanders that it would be good politics. Sanders tried to come up with a plan to kill Fargas without actually doing it.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58 - BTS) - Sanders' assistants found Julio Hernandez, a young man with a long police record, whose family had been disgraced when his sister posed nude for Fargas.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - Sanders accompanied the Slave to the home of Mrs. Hernandez and her son. The Slave, posing as a human, invited Mrs. Hernandez to a debate between Sanders and Fargas to represent her community, but she was more interested in Sanders sending her money. Her son Julio quickly took the invitation to get revenge on Fargas. The Slave returned to Sanders' limousine, and Sanders gloated about how easy it was to bait the boy. The Slave didn't care much for Sanders' gutless tactic to let someone else kill his target.

   At the debate, Sanders entered the stage with the Slave at his side, but only Shanna could see the Slave, and she went backstage to confront him. During the debate between Sanders and Fargas, the latter was shot by Julio Hernandez, who was sitting in the audience next to his mother. Sanders claimed that this was an outrage because even Fargas had the right to speak, but Fargas, now under the Slave's control, was already back on his feet again to continue the debate.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - Sanders and Fargas were going to continue their debate when Shanna jumped on to the stage to attack Fargas only to collapse as soon as he touched her arm.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The Pride seemingly granted Sanders the political notoriety he craved when a bank he owned part of failed.

--Marvel Fanfare I#56 (Marvel Fanfare I#56-59, [59]

Priestess

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 (fb) - BTS) - For many eons the Pride walked the Earth serving the Queen. They were known by many names in many lands and while they were worshipped as Gods by some they were hunted as demons by others. In the end they endured, taking over new bodies with their spirits to continue the cycle and bring death and destruction upon the world.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - When all recruits had arrived the Pride entered the room to introduce themselves. The Priestess was surprised none of them seemed surprised and then let the Sorcerer explain everything and take care of the unwilling Shanna.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - After the three men agreed to work for the Pride, the Priestess accompanied Martin Friend. She sensed Friend's hesitancy and promised him that his victim was far weaker than him. He didn't understand why nobody was staring at them until she explained that the Pride could only be seen if they wished to.

   The Priestess accompanied Friend to a meeting with his target Ginny Jenkins, a former story editor of Friend that had become very successful. The Priestess watched Friend murder Jenkins by hitting her over the head with Jenkins' Emmy Award. Shanna arrived moments too late to save her, but while Shanna attacked Friend, the Priestess took control over Jenkins' corpse and asked Shanna to let Friend go. Shanna was rather surprised that Jenkins was still alive. The Priestess, now in Jenkins' body, told Shanna that she still had to work on a script and thanked her for saving her from Friend.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - The complete Pride, in their new bodies, appeared during a session with Shanna to her psychiatrist Dorothy Betz. They warned her to leave Shanna alone so their Priestess could be reborn, and they threatened to kill Betz if she didn't.

   The Priestess, controlling Jenkins' body, took six female associates of Jenkins to Roland Fargas' mansion. She claimed they were there to do some research, but only a short time later they women were chained up next to an altar as the supposed sacrifices for the ritual of the Queen's rebirth. The Priestess began to sing the song of arising, but when Shanna stabbed the Slave, the ritual was thwarted and the spirit of the Priestess was forced out of Jenkins' body.

--Marvel Fanfare I#56 (Marvel Fanfare I#56-57, 59

Slave

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 (fb) - BTS) - For many eons the Pride walked the Earth serving the Queen. They were known by many names in many lands and while they were worshipped as Gods by some they were hunted as demons by others. In the end they endured, taking over new bodies with their spirits to continue the cycle and bring death and destruction upon the world.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - When all recruits had arrived the Pride entered the room to introduce themselves. The Slave was impressed by the Sorcerer's picks, but when Shanna was not willing to go along he ordered her to sit down again only to be tossed against the couch. The Sorcerer dealt with her instead.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - The Pride and their recruits watched Shanna writhing on the ground. The Slave stayed by while all three men agreed to work for the Pride.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - The Slave was with Slam Sanders and urged him to kill sex magazine publisher Roland Fargas though he didn't care how Sanders did it as long as he killed Fargas.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58 - BTS) - A debate between Fargas and Sanders was scheduled.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - Posing as a man the Slave invited Mrs. Hernandez to the debate, but her son quickly offered to go instead to get revenge on Fargas, whose sister had disgraced her family by posing nude for Fargas. The Slave returned to Sanders' limousine and was impressed how quickly the young man took the bait.

   The Slave later accompanied Sanders to the debate. Shanna was attending the debate with her psychiatrist Betz, who couldn't see the Slave, but Shanna did and made her way backstage to confront the Slave, who tossed her around like a ragdoll while revealing that he needed to be at Fargas' side when he died. While they fought backstage Fargas was shot by Hernandez. The Slave rushed to the corpse while Sanders criticized the murder.

(Marvel Fanfare I#58) - The Slave took possession of Fargas, who got back to his feet to continue the debate. Shanna realized that a member of the Pride had taken possession of him and she had no other choice than to kill him again.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - Shanna jumped Fargas, who trapped her with a mere touch in the psychic jungle again where she was confronted by all the people and animals she had lost over the years. They urged her to kill the Pride.

   The Sorcerer was with Kinsey Gardner at his office when he belittled failing screenwriter Mel Bogowitz, who was fighting with alcoholism and depression. After several hours he sent Bogowitz home and told the Sorcerer that he was sure Bogowitz wouldn't even make it out of the parking lot. The Sorcerer joined Bogowitz in his car and was present when the depressed writer ran his car into a nearby building to commit suicide. The Sorcerer took possession of his body and got out of the burning car uninjured.

   The complete Pride, in their new bodies, appeared during a session with Shanna to her psychiatrist Dorothy Betz. They warned her to leave Shanna alone to she could be reborn and threatened to kill Betz if she didn't.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 - BTS) - The Slave prepared the temple for the ritual of rebirth for the Queen at his host Roland Fargas' mansion.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - Shanna stabbed the Slave to thwart the ritual and force his spirit out of Fargas' body.

--Marvel Fanfare I#56 (Marvel Fanfare I#56-59

Sorcerer

(Marvel Fanfare I#59 (fb) - BTS) - For many eons the Pride walked the Earth serving the Queen. They were known by many names in many lands and while they were worshipped as Gods by some they were hunted as demons by others. In the end they endured, taking over new bodies with their spirits to continue the cycle and bring death and destruction upon the world.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56 - BTS) - The Sorcerer picked new recruits for the Pride to do their bidding. He invited comedy writer Martin Friend, TV network executive Kinsey Gardner, children cowboy star Slam Sanders and Shanna O'Hara, the vessel of the Pride's Queen, to a meeting in Suite 1144 at the Beverly Palms Hotel on Wednesday at 8:00 in the evening.

(Marvel Fanfare I#56) - When all recruits had arrived the Pride entered the room to introduce themselves. The Sorcerer revealed that all of them were chosen because they were capable of murder. He offered them whatever they wanted in return for committing a murder for the Pride. Shanna was not willing to let this go any further and attacked the Slave, but the Sorcerer quickly hit her with a hypnotic blast and ordered her to return to her seat. Shanna resisted though and tackled the Sorcerer only to be hit by a blast of light and get trapped inside the jungle of the mind as soon as she touched him. She fought the Sorcerer inside this jungle, but remained trapped even after he returned to the real world. Back in reality the Sorcerer explained that mere physical contact with him led to Shanna's current predicament. The Sorcerer hoped none of the men would be as foolish as her and offered to continue with their dealings.

(Marvel Fanfare I#57) - As the Pride and their newest recruits watched Shanna writhing on the ground, the Sorcerer once again asked the men not to make the same mistake as Shanna and just serve the Pride. He promised not only a great reward to each man, but also that each of them would have one of the Pride as their ally and protector while they committed the murder. The three men agreed to the Pride's terms.

(Marvel Fanfare I#59) - The Sorcerer accompanied Kinsey Gardner to his office and watched him belittle screenwriter Mel Bogowitz until the recovering alcoholic decided to drink again. Upon leaving Gardner suggested to the Sorcerer to go after Bogowitz quickly because the man was depressive and drunk and would probably not even make it out of the parking lot with his car. The Sorcerer was surprised at Gardner complete lack of conscience and hurried after Bogowitz. He joined Bogowitz in his car and witnessed him run his car into a nearby building. The Sorcerer quickly took control over his dead body and left the burning car unscathed.

   The complete Pride, in their new bodies, appeared during a session with Shanna to her psychiatrist Dorothy Betz. They warned her to leave Shanna alone to she could be reborn and threatened to kill Betz if she didn't.

   The Sorcerer, in Bogowitz's body, was at Fargas' mansion when the Queen, now in complete control over Shanna, arrived. The Sorcerer made sure that the Queen remembered who she was before bowing to her and letting her know that everything was ready for the ritual of rebirth. He handed her a ceremonial dagger from one of Bogowitz's short-lived series, but she thwarted the ritual by stabbing the Slave. The Sorcerer's spirit was forced out of Bogowitz's body.

--Marvel Fanfare I#56 (Marvel Fanfare I#56-57, 59

Note: It should have been the white-haired Sorcerer in Marvel Fanfare I#59 possessing Bogowitz, but the Priestess or at least a male-looking version of her was shown instead. This was obviously a bit of an art screwup.

images: (without ads)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p12, pan2 (main)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p12, pan5 (head shots)
Marvel Fanfare I#59, p13, pan4 (possessing Jenkins, Bogowitz and Fargas)
Marvel Fanfare I#59, p9, pan1 (Mel Bogowitz)
Marvel Fanfare I#59, p9, pan2 (Mel Bogowitz, head shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#58, p16, pan6 (Roland Fargas)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p14, pan5 (Martin Friend, head shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#57, p15, pan5 (Martin Friend, body shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p14, pan6 (Kinsey Gardner, head shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#59, p9, pan1 (Kinsey Garnder, body shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#57, p14, pan4 (Ginny Jenkins)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p14, pan7 (Slam Sanders, head shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p11, pan2 (Slam Sanders, body shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#57, p3, pan4 (Priestess, body shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#57, p3, pan5 (Priestess, head shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#58, p9, pan4 (Slave, body shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#58, p13, pan2 (Slave, posing as human)
Marvel Fanfare I#56, p15, pan5 (Sorcerer, body shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#57, p2, pan2 (Sorcerer, head shot)
Marvel Fanfare I#59, p9, pan1 (Sorcerer, art screwup)

Appearances:
Marvel Fanfare I#56 (April, 1991) - Steve Gerber (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Bret Blevins (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#57 (June, 1991) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bret Blevins (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#58 (August, 1991) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bret Blevins (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#59 (October, 1991) - Steve Gerber (writer), Tony DeZuniga (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)

First Posted: 09/08/2021
Last updated: 09/06/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Groups