DAEDALUS DARQUILL

Real Name: presumably Daedalus Darquill

Identity/Class: Extra-Dimensional (New Universe) human paranormal

Occupation: Drug lord

Group Membership: Director(?) of Conquest Dynamics

Affiliations: Damon Conquest (employee);
Hounds, Max, Danielle Stone, Tattoo, and numerous others within the "Far Place" (agents); Rebecca Chambers (pawn);
Lorenzo (servant)

Enemies: Justice (John Tensen); the forces of the Land of Spring

Known Relatives: Damon Conquest (possible son, see comments)

Aliases: Dad

Base of Operations: Baja, California, USA, Earth-New Universe;
The Land of Winter in the "Far Place"

First Appearance: Justice#1 (New Universe) (November, 1986)

Abilities: Daedalus Darquill possessed the ability to manipulate perceptions of reality. He could also affect the memories, and even the sense of self of others. In fact, he created an illusionary realm, the "Far Place," within his own mind, into which others could be pulled. People could act independently in this realm, but they quickly became plugged into whatever role he had in mind for them.
Darquill's illusion powers enabled him to appear to take on a number of superhuman powers, including shape-changing, growth, superhuman strength and resistance, to the ability to reform after disintegration, and immunity to Justice's "sword" blast.
These illusions, and the realm he created, remained intact while he was sleeping, and apparently vanished only with his death.

 

 

History: Daedalus "Dad" Darquill was the head of a large drug operation, based out of Baja, California.

BTS - <July 22, 1986> - The White Event occurred, exposing people across the planet to the energies of the Starbrand. As a result, numerous people began to develop paranormal abilities.

BTS - Darquill developed paranormal abilities and created the illusionary world of the Far Place. Within that realm, Damon Conquest served as Darquill's unholy son. He also served as his liaison to the real world.
It is unclear whether all of the people within the Far Place were real people pulled into the illusion, or whether some of them were purely illusions of his own creation. Nonetheless, Darquill set himself up as the magical demon-leader of the Land of Winter, who sought to conquer King Therion and the forces of the Land of Spring.

(Justice#15 (fb)) - Darquill targeted Department of Justice agent John Tensen with his hallucination power, intending to transform him into one of his "Hounds." Damon Conquest forced Tensen, at gunpoint, to enter the Far Place. Tensen managed to partially deflect Darquill's mental attack with his shield, so that rather than become one of Darquill's slaves, he instead became part of his imaginary dreamworld. As a result, he came to believe that he was a native of the Far Place--a Justice Warrior named Tensen.

(Justice#1(fb)-BTS) - Darquill sent agents to slay Tensen, but instead he was returned to reality.

(Justice#1) - <August 6-7, 1986> - After learning the location of Tensen, aka Justice, Darquill contacted Damon, notifying him of his location, and instructing him to send operatives after him.
Justice took down the Factory, a New York based drug operation under Darquill's indirect control. Darquill instructed Conquest to "Unleash the Hounds."--perhaps he's related to Montgomery Burns?

(Justice#2) - <8/8/86> - Darquill had Conquest send a group of Hounds after Justice, and another group after King Therion in the Land of Spring. Both groups failed. Darquill informed Conquest that Justice knew where he was and was coming after him.

(Justice#3) - <8/12/86> - Darquill informed Conquest that he had sent Tattoo after Justice, resulting in serious injuries to Justice and the death of one of Justice's allies, but that Justice had survived. Conquest planned to allow Justice to recover and then eliminate him personally when he arrived.

(Justice#4) - <10/3/86> - Justice arrived in LA and confronted Conquest. Conquest appeared to destroy Justice, but he was really shunted back into the Far Place. Conquest called Darquill to announce his success, but Justice returned and overpowered Conquest, forcing him to flee. Justice picked up the phone and told Darquill he was next.

(Justice#5) - <11/1-5/86> - Justice and his ally Rebecca Chambers traveled to Darquill's estate, to which Conquest had retreated. Justice found his powers useless against Darquill, but then caught Conquest off guard and took him hostage, forcing his temporary surrender. However, their agent Tattoo then grabbed Chambers, and the four vanished into the Far Place with her, leaving Justice alone in reality. Within the imaginary realm, they planned to manipulate Chambers' mind, turning her over to...the Dark Side...or maybe it should be the Far Side?...

(Justice#7) - <12/19-25/86> - Within the Far Place, Darquill observed Chambers' progress, as she slew a group of Justice Warriors

(Justice#8) - <12/27/86> - Within the Far Place, Darquill prepared to finish Chambers' training and then sent Tattoo back to reality for a double mission. First, to recruit lawyer Danielle Stone to their side and use her against Justice, and second, to slay a woman and to make her appear to be Chambers, framing Justice for her death.

(Justice#10) - <2/17/1987> - Within the Far Place, Darquill was quite pleased as Conquest supervised the preparation for the slaughter of the Land of Spring. This assault would be powered by energy siphoned from the corruption of Justice, caused by the use of his "sword" in anger, against their agent, Black Justice.

(Justice#11(fb)-BTS) - Conquests led Darquill's forces to conquer the Land of Spring.

(Justice#15) - Within the Far Place, Darquill congratulated Conquest and Malakite on the defeat of the Land of Spring. He then sent Rebecca Chambers to assassinate Justice. Meanwhile, Justice had begun to fight off Darquill's mental reprogramming, and had gone to Nightmask for assistance in learning the truth. Through Justice, Nightmask accessed the Far Place and was then captured by Darquill's forces. Darquill blasted Nightmask, seemingly destroying him, but actually just sending him back to reality.
When Rebecca Chambers failed to kill Justice, Darquill sent Malakite and some Night Warriors to finish the job. However, he vaulted past them into a portal into the Far Place, where he slew Conquest. Darquill then attacked Justice, assuming his monstrous form and overpowering him. Darquill blasted Justice into smithereens, but he, too, was returned to reality. Both Justice and Nightmask reappeared in Baja, California, where Nightmask showed Justice the sleeping form of Darquill and revealed that the who Far Place was in his mind. Justice blasted Darquill, killing him, and terminating the existence of the Far Place.

Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin and Geof Isherwood.

It is unclear whether there is/was any direct relationship between Conquest and Darquill. Darquill went by the alias "Dad," so it was not just Conquest who used that name. Damon Conquest hardly seems like a likely real name, but no other was ever given. In the Far Place, Conquest seemed to be the son of the "extra-dimensional" ruler Dad, but on Earth, in reality (you know what I mean), he may have only been a respected and trusted second-in-command.

If you read Prime Eternal's primer on the New Universe, you'll see that in the first year, a lot of the writers and creative teams missed the point entirely. The team(s) behind Justice were the biggest offenders, as they used a large group of alternate dimension characters. This was all revealed/ret-conned to have been a warping of reality by Daedalus Darquill. This occurred in Justice#15, by Peter David, who brought Justice into line with the NU's stated properties and premises.
Anything which took place in the first 15 issues should thus be taken with a grain of salt. Tensen (and apparently the writers, as well) was under the influence of Darquill, and so anything he saw or did was affected by this. It was never clearly established what exactly took place, but I would ASSume that the events on Earth were real events, although the characters within them may have been altered by the hallucinations, or may have been hallucinations altogether. Any of the beings he fought against may have been paranormals, or they could be normal people, made to appear differently and to possess powers by Darquill.

Conquest discusses the White Event as having happened "Yesterday" in Justice#1. It is credited with having affected Darquill and Conquest's powers and having resulted in Justice's transfer back to reality. This story was written before the Far Place was revealed/retconned to be an illusionary world, and Justice, Conquest, and Darquill revealed/retconned to be paranormals, rather than extradimensional beings. So the later dates, estimated during a New Universe timeline listed in the NU titles a year or so later, and listed in this profile, are likely much more accurate.

There was also a lot of "Changing Writer's Syndrome" going on during the Far Place issues of Justice, making it even more inconsistent and hard to follow. Goodwin, Englehart, Isherwood (all within the first six issues), then Gerry Conway, and then finally clarified (and terminated) by Mark Gruenwald and Peter David.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to

images:

Other appearances:
Justice#2-5 (November, 1986 - March, 1987)
Justice#7-8 (May-June, 1987)
Justice#10-11 (August-September, 1987)
Justice#15 (January, 1988)

Last updated: 09/29/02

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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