VEFFIR VOON IYAXReality-93060
VEFFIR VOON IYAX
Reality-93060
Real Name: Veffir Voon Iyax
Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Reality-93060/"Ultraverse") extradimensional (Godwheel) alien race (Hessshites)
Occupation: Predator, warrior;
possibly former ruler (or perhaps second-in-line to rule);
possibly acted as a deity to some of Earth's people (see comments)
Group Membership: House of Veffir; leader of the Predatori
Affiliations: House of Veffir, Pah Gorah (possible former lover), Predatori, Ambrove Uhok;
apparently worshipped "Mother Mud" (presumably some sort of Earth deity akin to his world's Gaea)
Enemies: Ahmad, Princess Die, Atuu Itme, Mel, Shelley Rogers, Sludge (Frank Hoag), Veffir Voon Eeyax, Yusuf;
the people he devoured (at least 20 were seen)
Known Relatives: Veffir Voon Eeyax (brother);
as heir to the House of Veffir (he presumably had at
least a mother or father from whom he inherited that title)
Aliases: He of cold blood and boundless appetites
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly the sewers under Central Park, Manhattan, New York;
he may or may not have been active in the bayous of
the Southern USA (Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, etc.) and or Egypt's
Nile and/or Mesopotamia at various times in his past (see comments)
formerly the Kingdom of Hesssh, the Godwheel, Reality-93060
First Appearance: Sludge#4 (January, 1994)
Powers/Abilities: A semi-humanoid-crocodilian,
Veffir Voon Iyax had superhuman strength (perhaps lifting 1-2 tons,
although he didn't have much of chance to demonstrate strength; he was
no match in strength against Sludge, who could lift perhaps 25-50 tons).
He was significantly larger and more powerful than other Hessshites.
His skin was covered with thick
green scales, with spike-like plates running along the back of his
neck, his back, and the top of his tail. His thorax and abdomen were
more smooth without prominent scales. He presumably had some degree of
superhuman durability, although, again, he could not withstand Sludge's
powerful assaults.
He had sharp-teeth in his elongated snout and sharp claws on each of his digits.
He had a long (perhaps 10-12 feet), strong tail, which he could use to strike or impale other beings.
Like other Hesssh, Iyax was
presumably poikilothermic, with his body temperature and metabolism
significantly affected by the ambient temperature.
Although savage in appearance, he
was highly intelligent. As the leader of the Predatori movement, he
enjoyed savagely feeding on other beings -- he enjoyed devouring live
humans, at least -- and eschewed society and civilization, including
the wearing of clothing
they wore clothes, but he did not.
He tended to hiss "hesssh" while speaking.
Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 6'8"; he was significantly shorter than Sludge, although Sludge was estimated to be 8' tall)
Weight: Unrevealed; perhaps 350 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
Skin/scales: Light gray-green
History:
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - Although neither Veffir Voon Iyax nor the rest of the Hessshites knew it, they lived on the Alderson disc (a.k.a. the
Godwheel) in an area of the galaxy of Reality-93060 (aka the Ultraverse) where the stars are much more closely
clustered.
(Sludge#4 (fb) - BTS) <Approximately 2000 BC (see comments)> - The Hessshites (and/or perhaps Veffir Voon Iyax) were worshipped on Earth.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - Iyax was elected heir to the House of Veffir.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - There was some rivalry between Iyax and his brother, Veffir Voon Eeyax.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - In his realm, Iyax was the subject of a proverb: "No entity meets Veffir Voon Iyax more than once."
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - Iyax
led the Predatori movement, telling the other Hessshites that they had
lost touch with "Mother Mud" and that -- as civilization had dulled
their senses and numbed their instincts -- they needed to return to
predation.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - Although she loved Iyax, Pah Gorah lacked the courage to follow where he led, "to cast aside all trappings of civilization‑‑ and burst the very bounds of the world!"
(Sludge#4 (fb) - BTS) - Iyax apparently traveled to Earth via dimensional "breach on the heels of some rivermen."
(Sludge#4 (fb) - BTS) - In
a sewer near Manhattan's Central Park, Iyax made a base in
an alcove and began devouring humans he encountered, keeping their
remains in his base.
(Sludge#4) - In a sewer near Manhattan's Central Park, Iyax grabbed the youth/teen(?) Ahmad (who had been doing a job for a guy named Gordy in hopes of getting into the Kingbeez) as he and his younger brother Yusuf fled after encountering Sludge.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Ahmad screamed as Iyax devoured him, and blood sprayed onto Yusuf who fled.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - The
following morning, a policeman found Yusuf, still shocked and covered
in blood, hiding in a bush in Central Park. Yusuf told the policeman
that gators...monsters... got Ahmad. 
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Learning of
this from her source at the 81st precinct, New York/Daily Globe
reporter Shelley Rogers convinced her editor, Drew, to let her
investigate.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - A sewer district spokesman dismissed Yusuf's claim as fantasy.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Sludge found Ahmad's torn and bloody hoodie sweatshirt floating in the sewer.
(Sludge#4) - Under 74th street near Central Park west, Sewer worker Mel happened upon Iyax.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Mel's co-worker Eddie heard his screams and saw a flash of white, like a tail whipping about. He reported his findings to the police.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Sludge read the New York Globe newspaper report about the man-eating creature in the sewers.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - At the 81st
precinct, Shelley Rogers questioned chief of police Stan Reese about
the reports, but he had no further information and derided the Globe's
reports and her questions about a man-eating creature in the sewers.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Sludge found Mel's hardhat, bloody and with a bite out of it.
(Sludge#4 - BTS) - Unable to get anyone to work with her after her conflict with Reese, Shelley entered the sewers under 74th street near Central Park west to get the story and pictures by herself.
As she got midway across the park, she happened across Iyax in his base. When she exclaimed, "Oh my God," he clarified that he was hardly a god but rather just a superior form of life, and that his kind hadn't been worshipped in forty centuries or so.
(Sludge#4) - Trying
to stay calm and recording the conversation, Shelley asked if he meant
the Egyptians, who had a crocodile god, to which Iyax replied,
"Crocodile, alligator, man, Nile, Bayou, Mesopotamia. I am all...and
none. I come from everywhere and nowhere. I am...that I am. Isn't that
how your God put it? Perhaps, he, too, stole into this world through a breach on the heels of some rivermen.
Or perhaps not.
Anything else?"
When she asked if he had a name,
he identified himself as "Veffir Voon Iyax. He of cold blood and
boundless appetites." As he hissed and approached her, Iyax was
struck in the head by a small rock, distracting him a second as Sludge
burst through the wall. 
Despite Sludge urging her to stop
starting at them and to depart, Shelley stayed to take pictures as the
two creatures fought; Iyax suggested that Sludge should rip her eyes
out, which is what he would do. Sludge grabbed Iyax by the throat and
began choking him, but Iyax skewered Sludge through the chest with his
tail. As Sludge dropped, Iyax noted him to be pathetic, slow, clumsy,
and now dead.
Noting that no other outcome was really possible, Iyax told Shelley how, in his world, he was the subject of a proverb "No entity meets Veffir Voon Iyax more than once." When Shelley asked what that meant, Iyax noted, "Oh, come girl...you can't be that thick!"
However, Sludge then emerged under Iyax, lifting him high into the air and then smashing him into the wall with rock-shattering force. When the bloody Iyax noted, "Pierced through the heart...and still...you live?" Sludge noted his regret that he didn't die before smashing Iyax in the head, apparently crushing his skull. Sludge told Iyax's corpse that he had missed his heart, as he thought it moved around some (if he even had internal organs).
Crushing Shelley's camera to keep himself out of the newspaper, Sludge carried away Iyax's body.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb)) - Sludge dropped Veffir Voon Iyax's dead body out of the sewer drainage pipe.
Hitting the water below and surrounded by beer
cans, waste paper, etc., Iyax's body started to sink and float out to
sea. His tail was soon caught on a ship's propeller, shredding his body
somewhat and then carrying him further out to sea. Eventually a shark
grabbed his mostly skeletal tail and dragged his mostly skeletal
remains along the ocean floor.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to recover Iyax, Hessshite religious leader Ambrove Uhok attuned a dimensional breach to Iyax's psychic signature.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb)) - When a
turbulence-inducing portal opened in front of the shark, it swam away,
while Iyax's remains floated through the portal. Transported to
Godwheel, Iyax's remains were claimed by a pair of Hessshites, who
pulled them to the shore.
A half-dozen other male and female Hessshites stood a little way back on shore, weeping and wailing. Uhok led this mourning ritual; alongside him, Pah Gorah was consumed with grief.
After Uhok confirmed Iyax's fate, he instructed the others to prepare a
funeral procession to bear their fallen tribesman to the city.
"Moving
solemnly down a grassy slope toward the city, is the funeral procession, led by
Ambrove Uhok. Immediately behind him were two Hessshite women carrying torches. Behind
them, four men carry a makeshift bier—more like a stretcher, really; woven out
of reeds and vines from the swamp—on which rested Iyax’s body. Bringing up the
rear are the rest of the Hessshites from the swamp, also carrying torches. Spread out below them, surrounded by
swamp foliage on an immense, eerie scale, is the Kingdom of Hesssh. "
("Slave of Souls" script (fb) - BTS) - Looking through a tower window were Veffir Voon Eeyax, Iyax's brother, and his consort, Atuu Itme, neither of whom were particularly unhappy about the funeral procession.
Eeyax noted that he needed the support of the populace, including Iyax's Predatori followers, to claim his legacy, and that the Predatori would demand retribution for his death, which Eeyax could exact.
("Slave of Souls" script (fb)) - That night, in a torchlit square in the center
of Hesssh,
At Eeyax's cue, Uhok performed a divination on Iyax's ribs, revealing an image of Sludge as Iyax's killer. Eeyax vowed to cross over to the realm where Iyax died and deliver to them Iyax's killer so they could drink of his blood.
After Itme convinced the others that Eeyax was too valuable to risk his life thusly, Eeyax traveled to the Mountains of Muut to engage a Muutar stalker (Princess Die).
("Slave of Souls" script - BTS) - Confronting and naming Sludge as the "slayer of Veffir Voon Iyax," Princess Die successfully defeated Sludge and transported him back to the Godwheel; however, Eeyax betrayed Die, having his agents capture her and slaughter her camp; she was brought to be slaughtered alongside Sludge. An imprisoned Die goaded Eeyax that he wasn't half the reptile his brother was, but Eeyax noted that their rivalry ended with Iyax's death.
A
Hesshite magistrate sentenced Sludge to death for Iyax's
"assassination" (Die was sentenced to death for plunder and slaughter),
but Pah Gorah led a group of Predatori who demanded the execution be
carried out according to their ways, which involved their devouring
Sludge alive. This distraction allowed Sludge to get free and to free
Die as well, and they overpowered Eeyax and Itme, who fell to their
death.
Pah Gorah and the Predatori then attacked the ship carrying Sludge and
Die, who destroyed the Predatori ship and then crashed into the Swamp
of Souls
Ultimately, Uhok and Pah Gorah thanked Sludge, noting that with the last of the Veffirs dead, and
in the aftermath of the day's mass casualties, the people may at last come
together to heal one another.
I'm not sure what was up with why Uhok made the breach to summon Iyax back when he did. Perhaps as Iyax had been the heir, it is possible that his father died, and it was time for his to ascend to a ruling position. Very sadly, Steve Gerber is no longer with us, so I can't ask him anything about it.
Sludge glimpsed this alternate reality involving Iyax:
Earth-95130 Circa 1945, the singer Edna was backed by Frank Hoag and his 7th Avenue Sextet (Bloodstorm/saxophone, Lord Pumpkin/clarinet, Pistol/drums, Veffir Voon Iyax/trumpet, Whale’s zombie/trombone, Miss Chiiu/grand piano, Edna/singer), a swing band playing at Manhattan Hi-Tone clubs. Sludge: Swamp of Souls (written in 1995; unpublished)
You can find the unpublished script to Swamp of Souls here.
This profile was completed 10/23/2020, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Veffir Voon Iyax should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Sludge#4 (January, 1994) - Aaron Lopresti (plot and pencils), Steve Gerber (script), Gary Martin (inker), Chris Ulm (editor)
"Swamp of Souls" unpublished script (November, 1995) - Steve Gerber (writer)
First posted: 09/12/2021
Last updated: 11/26/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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