tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg2-fullishTANSTEELEtansteele-demogog-eopia-dg2-face

Real Name: Tansteele

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Eopian), unrevealed star system, Albedo Crux Cluster (see comments)

Occupation: Former ruler of the Technarchy

Group Membership: Formerly Demogog Senate of the Technarchy of Eopia

Affiliations: Formerly Mys-Tech (notably Collapsar, Gudrun Tyburn and her artificial replicant);
    formerly Comcorder, Demogog Montano, and the Technarchy forces of Eopia

Enemies: Clementine, Death's Head/Minion, the Egaliterns (notably Trusivor), Killpower (Julius Mullarkey), Colonel Tigon Liger, Motormouth (Harley Davis);
    indirectly, the rest of Dark Guard (Albion/Peter Hunter, Stacy Arnheim, Ultra-Marine/Kith Nasca), Superconductor, the Time Guardian

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Mongrel (from Liger and Death's Head)

Base of Operations: Helios Plateau, within the sub-ground bunkers of the Technarchy legion encampment, planet Eopia Eopia's star system and galaxy are unrevealed

First Appearance: (Behind-the-scenes) Dark Guard#1 (October, 1993);
    (Seen and identified) Dark Guard#2 (November, 1993)tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg2-beltbest

Powers/Abilities: Tansteele did not demonstrate any superhuman abilities. 

    He wore metal armor (and/or decoration) over his chest and shoulders, his legs (especially the knees down), and the anterior portion of his abdomen; this presumably afforded him some degree of protection from injury. It may have granted him some additional strength or energy powers, or perhaps the whole thing was decorative and lightweight.

    He commanded the military forces of the Technarchy as well as a small compliment on his airship. He could apparently pilot his own ship and remotely launch missiles.

    He was an experienced military commander, although he did not appear to be willing and/or able to combat a normal-powered foe like Liger; he at least thought he knew how to operate a blaster weapon, although he did not apparently carry any personal

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6')
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 200 lbs.); weight of armor unrevealed due to unrevealed construction
Eyes: Unrevealed (possibly brown or black; see comments)
Hair: White/silver/gray/light blue...
Distinguishing features: Like other Eopians (and like Collapsar), Tansteele has prominent ridges/creases running around his forehead and extending down the bridge of his nose

History:
(Dark Guard I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Demogog Tansteele was chair-man prime of the Technarchy's Demogog Senate on the planet Eopia.. Under his directorship, the Technarchy devoted its efforts to the art of war for 30 years,

(Dark Guard I#1 (fb) - BTS / Dark Guard I#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Technarchy opposed the Egaliterns, led by Trusivor, with conflicts escalating to the point that each force was capable of incinerating one another and the world on which they lived. 

(Dark Guard I#1 (fb) - BTS / Dark Guard I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Representing the Techno-Wizards of Earth's Mys-Tech, Gudrun Tyburn used an artificial replicant of herself to establish a presence on Eopia, escalating the war between Egaliterns and Technarchy in effort to cause the planet's destruction via thermo-nuclear war.tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg3-post

(Dark Guard I#1 (fb) - BTS / Dark Guard I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Mys-Tech Collapsar was sent to manipulate the Technarchy's Demogog Tansteele to this end, although Tansteele and the Technarchy were advised that Collapsar had been sent to aid their cause.
    Mys-Tech agents Permafrost and Sunder were sent to similarly manipulate Trusivor and the Egaliterns.

(Dark Guard I#3 (fb) - BTS) - As part of some "secret defense program," Sunder implanted three hundred empathic receptors deep in the planet's continental crust. These would absorb the death scream of Eopia as it perished in nuclear conflagration. Mys-Tech could then synthesize a raw, emotive force of pure death-agony to pay off Mys-Tech's debt to the Hell-lord Mephisto.

(Dark Guard I#1 - BTS / (Dark Guard I#2 (fb) - BTS) - ) - The Time Guardian gathered the Dark Guard -- Albion, Stacy Arnheim, Death's Head, Killpower, Colonel Tigon Liger, Motormouth, Ultra Marine -- to oppose Mys-Tech's becoming a universal threat and -- per the Time Guardian's Superconductor assistant -- to slay Collapsar. tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg3-rightshould

(Dark Guard I#1 - BTS) - The Dark Guard were sent to to Eopia where they were engaged by hostile forces in Technarchy territory.

(Dark Guard I#2) - As his Comcorder delivered a vague message about broken transmissions from the legion encampment, Tansteele instructed the Comcorder to run the transmission through vox-amp, noting that as they were only minutes away, the transmission must be important if they could not wait. After the Comcorder subsequently reported that the message noted that their forces were under attack from seven individuals who had appeared  minutes ago, Tansteele ordered the helm to put turbines to full yield to get them to the conflict immediastely. As he began to rant out this being an Egaliterns first-strike and ordered everyone to war stations, Collapsar offered to to go and investigate, but Tansteele assured him they had it in hand.

    Tansteele then instructed the Comcorder to get a link with one of the "spy-sats" and get them a look at the attackers, which showed the Dark Guard members fighting against the Technarchy.
(Dark Guard I#2) - As the Dark Guard fought the Technarchy forces, Collapsar countered that Tansteele's forces were getting cut to ribbons, and then further advised that Tansteele should allow him to aid their cause, as he had been sent to do, and to open the hatch to allow him to deal with the Dark Guard. Tansteele complied.

(Dark Guard I#2 - BTS) - As Technarchy reinforcements arrived, Death's Head, Killpower, and Tigon Liger rushed for the portal back to the Time Guardian's realm. However, Collapsar abruptly appeared and in rapid succession punched out all of them, incapacitating the two them. Collapsar captured Killpower and Liger and departed, while Death's Head was knocked back to the rest of the Dark Guard. 

(Dark Guard I#2 - BTS) - The Time Guardian's Superconductor assistant detailed the situation on Eopia and Mys-Tech's involvement, including the role of Tansteele.tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg3-upper

(Dark Guard I#2) - In Eopia's Helios Plateau, within the sub-ground bunkers of the Technarchy legion encampment, Tansteele remained silent as Collapsar tortured the restrained Killpower and Liger.

(Dark Guard I#2 - BTS) - While the other free members of the group were sent to try to reason with Trusivor and the Egaliterns, Death's Head and Motormouth were sent to the Helios Plateau to rescue Killpower and Liger.

tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg3-zapped(Dark Guard I#3) - After Liger insulted Tansteele in response to a question of who they were and who sent them, Collapsar punched Liger in the face, insisting that no one was to insult the person of Demogog Tansteele. However, Death's Head and Motormouth then arrived, the former assaulting Collapsar.

(Dark Guard I#3 - BTS) - As Motormouth freed the captives, Tansteele fled with Liger's gun, Clementine.

(Dark Guard I#3) - As Liger caught up to him, Tansteele futilely called to his guards for aid. Reaching Clementine first, Tansteele picked up the weapon and threatened to kill Liger with his weapon. However, Liger verbally instructed Clementine to enter self-defense mode, and the weapon unleashed an energy blasts that incapacitated Tansteele.

(Dark Guard I#3 - BTS) - Following the attack on the Technarchy legion encampment on Helios Plateau, the Technarchy considered this an act of war, and they formally declared war on the Egaliterns. Tyburn informed the rest of the Dark Guard that the Egaliterns relataliation would be automatic, and Eopia was finished.

(Dark Guard I#4 - BTS) - After Liger and Death's Head ruptured Collapsar's containment shell, Collapsar's energies exploded outwardly, leveling Helios Plateau. Egaliterns assumed to have been an accidental detonation of one of their own missiles.

(Dark Guard I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Death's Head, Liger, Motormouth, and Killpower assumed Tansteele to have perished in Collapsar's explosion.

(Dark Guard I#4 - BTS) - Correctly determining that Tyburn was actually a bio-mimetic construct produced in their golem labs, Dark Angel destroyed the Tyburn construct.

    Dark Guard convinced the Egaliterns and the Technarchy to begin peace negotiations

(Dark Guard I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Escaping death, Tansteele commandeered a gunship and refused to acknowledged the Technarchy's hails.

(Dark Guard I#4 - BTS) - Technarchy forces informed Dark Guard of Tansteele's actions, and they prepared to shoot him out of the sky. tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg4-punched

(Dark Guard I#4 (fb) - BTS) - From his ship, Tansteele launched two cruise missiles aimed at the Egaliterns city. As Tansteele had all the override protocols, those present at Helios base were unable to abort the launches.

(Dark Guard I#4) - Wishing to bring in Tansteele alive, Liger had Clementine fire an electromagnetic pulse to target his ship's drive systems. After Tansteele's ship dropped back to the ground, he shouted "Damnation!" after hearing the damage report...and then Killpower punched him out, noting that he had been a very naughty demogog. As Killpower carried Tansteele off-ship, Liger notified Death's Head that he would not be able to crack the abort systems in time.

(Dark Guard I#4 - BTS) - Ultra Marine and Albion redirected the missiles toward space, and they detonated harmlessly upon reaching their operation ceiling.

(Dark Guard I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Tansteele was presumably imprisoned, while Demogog Montano became the new Technarchy leader.

(Dark Guard I#4 - BTS) - Montano and Trusivor met and optimistically prepared to negotiate peace on Eopia, after which Dark Guard departed, returning to the Time Guardian's base in No Space.

Comments: Created by Dan Abnett, Carlos Pacheco, and Oscar Jimenez under the Marvel UK imprint.

Per Merriam-Webster, demogogue has two definitions:

Current usage: A leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

However, when used by the ancient Greeks, it was a positive term, referring to a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times

    Albedo, derived from the Latin word meaning whiteness, is the ratio of the radiation (radiant energy or luminous energy) reflected by a surface to that incident on it. I'm not sure  that the Albedo Crux Cluster is a  known existing anatomical structure, and I would assume this was just a sci-fi use of a scientific term.

    According to space.com a cluster of stars is a galaxy if it is held together by dark matter...there's more information on that, but it's beyond my Freshman astronomy I took back in 1988. Feel free to Google it for yourself, or to provide a layman's explanation for everyone else.
    Other sources just note a cluster to be smaller than a galaxy, independent of the habitability of any stars in the cluster.

tansteele-demogog-eopia-dg2-eye    One panel shows his eyes at all clearly, and there is a very light and very dark portion of the irides...perhaps they are dark with a reflection? Dark brown or black?; or possibly shadows on light blue or even white irides; or perhaps he truly had a colored pattern to his irides). They look darker without the light/white in one image that shows them a bit...so, I'm going with light reflection on dark irides...

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Tansteele should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
Dark Guard#2, pg. 1, panel 2 (fullish, behind Comcorder);
            panel 4 (face);
        pg. 10, panel 3 (oblique; shows belt more fully);
    #3, pg. 14, panel 5 (posterior view);
        pg. 17, panel 3 (showing right shoulder; star ornamentation);
        pg. 18, panel 1 (upper, mostly straight frontal);
            panel 3 (shocked by Clementine);
    #4, pg. 17, panel 5 (punched out by Killpower)

Appearances:
Dark Guard#1-4 (October, 1993 - January, 1994) - Dan Abnett (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Oscar Jimenez (inks), Stuart Bartlett (editor)

First posted: 09/05/2022
Last updated: 09/14/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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