Zenith (comics) - Plot

Plot

Zenith, real name Robert McDowell, is the son of two members of Cloud 9, a super-team of the 1960s who had been created by the British military but rebelled and became hippies and psychedelic fashion icons. Zenith himself used his somewhat unreliable superhuman abilities not to fight evil but to promote his career as a pop singer. Shallow, spoilt, self-centred and initially cowardly, he was reluctantly dragged into the struggle against malevolent supernatural entities known as the Lloigor or "Many-Angled Ones".

The British superhuman project "Maximan" had been developed from technology brought by defecting Nazi scientists in World War II, and the Nazis had developed it from knowledge given to them by the Lloigor. The Nazis created "Masterman", but in fact the real purpose of the project was to create host bodies strong enough to house the Lloigor's spirits. Due to these circumstances, within this alternate history, Berlin was the target of the first nuclear weapon, not Hiroshima or Nagasaki, mainly because both the British and Nazi supermen were fighting in Berlin at the time.

The British superheroes came of age during the tumultuous 1960's, and promptly rebelled like many teens of that time. Ultimately, Zenith's parents were killed, other members of Cloud 9 disappeared, and the few remaining (having lost their powers,) retreated into civilian life: Peter St. John, (Mandala) becomes a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party, and Ruby Fox (Voltage) becomes a journalist and writer. Siadwell Rhys (Red Dragon) owns a pub in Wales - where he apparently spends much of his time drunk.

• In Phase I, Zenith reluctantly teams up with surviving members of Cloud 9 to defeat one of the Many-Angled Ones "Iok Sotot", although this proves fatal to Red Dragon, a Welsh member of the team. St John demonstrates his considerable mental powers by defeating Iok Sotot via a hypnotic suggestion implanted earlier in the story. Phase I shows that Cloud 9 only temporarily lost their powers and regained them under duress - or in St Johns case may have never lost them at all.

• Phase II details the efforts of a media tycoon modeled on Richard Branson to use Zenith and two female superhuman clones as breeding stock for a new group of superpowered humans that he will use for world domination. Zenith is generally successful on his own in Phase II, however he relies on (again) St John at times, and also a CIA agent who is killed early on. Phase II details more of the Zenith history, and introduces Chimera, a superhuman composed entirely of thought, who eventually transforms itself into a pyramid-shaped miniature universe.

• An interlude between Phase II & III introduces the concept of alternate universes, and that members of Cloud 9 who were previously thought to be dead were in fact establishing themselves in the alternate realities with other-dimensional heroes, and developing their powers and abilities.

• Phase III involves a multidimensional war against the Lloigor utilizing comic-book characters from other British comics from the '50s, '60s and '70s (using either the actual characters or analogs, depending on their legal status). The Lloigor are close to "ascending" and dominating the universe(s), waiting for the infinite alternate universes to align and form a universe-sized crystal - the "Omnihedron". The multi-universal heroes destroy several alternate Earths to introduce a flaw into the Omnihedron and prevent the alignment, but discover that they have been betrayed by Maximan - the destroyed worlds removed a flaw already present in the Omnihedron. Only at the last moment do they succeed by destroying the alternate Earth that the Lloigor are using to ascend. Due to the vast cross-dimensional body count incurred in this series a surviving superhero comments that it may have been "...a pyrrhic victory".

• The final series, Phase IV, brought the story full circle as the remaining members of Cloud 9 eventually transform into the very Lovecraftian horrors that Zenith battled in the first series. After destroying America in retaliation for a psychic attempt on their own lives they use the Sun as an incubator for their final metamorphosis into The Many Angled Ones, and (after casually destroying The Earth in passing) they ascend to the heavens attempting to gain control of the multiverse. St John has however (during part two - "The Eleventh Hour" episode,) trapped the Lloigor in the pocket universe created by Chimera, and the universe is assumed saved - although it is implied that St John has his own agenda for taking control - by this time he is already Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Zenith has since returned three times to the pages of 2000 AD: In zzzenith.com, a one-off featured in "Prog 2001" which takes place years after the end of the previous series. Zenith once again meets with St John, who is still in control of the country via a telepathically manipulated Tony Blair. Zenith is aware of this, and is not particularly bothered, however St John seems equally unconcerned that Zenith knows the truth. St John is still in possession of the Omnihedron pocket universe containing the Lloigor, however Marconi have been experimenting on it, and St John is worried about the results gained.

He also appeared in a story unconnected to the Zenith universe - A Night 2 Remember, a strip about the comic's 25th anniversary celebrations, which appeared in Prog 1280. His final appearance so far is on the cover to Prog 1500, although his image is small and hard to see.