EBON SEEKER
Real Name: (Ebon Seeker): Xanth; (Firefrost): Shareen
Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (race of origin unrevealed)/Extra-temporal (distant future) mutates
Occupation: currently unknown; former explorers
Affiliations: Fantastic Four (allies); members of unnamed extra-terrestrial race; mutated by extra-dimension energy creatures
Enemies: Fantastic Four (former enemies of Ebon Seeker)
Known Relatives: each other (life mates)
Aliases: (Ebon Seeker): The Cosmic Shade, The Dark Dreadnought, Neg-Star
Base of Operations: a Black Hole; formerly an unknown portion of the universe; formerly an unnamed planet
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#229 (April, 1981)
Powers: The Ebon Seeker had some
properties akin to a black hole. His very presence had a
disruptive effect on space around him, causing "reverse
video" effects or making it difficult to breathe. He
absorbed all force, impact, and matter with which he came into
contact, with minimal harm to himself. However, at the same time,
he bled off his own energy into the environment around him. This
caused him to become progressively smaller, but at the same time,
the streamers of "strange matter" released from him
could be used to ensnare and siphon the power from his attackers.
Eventually, when his power ran out, he would somehow destroy the
planet around him, regaining his full power in the process. He
could travel through the vacuum of space unaided, and was
continually searching for life. He was unaffected by age,
fatigue, disease, etc. He spoke telepathically.
Firefrost could travel through space unaided, and presumably was
effectively immortal, as well. She was made of living light, but
her powers were not clearly displayed. She spoke telepathically.
Height: (Firesfrost) 5' 6"
Weight: (Firefrost) immaterial
History: (FF#230(fb))-(Shareen tells
it better, but it's way long.): 
Billions and billions of years from now, there was a
planet whose dominant lifeform had reached an evolutionary,
cultural, scientific, and philosophical dead-end. Two natives,
Xanth and Shareen, were chose to explore space for other forms of
life, to interact with and enrich their stagnant race. They
searched for "forty solar years" before finally finding
evidence of life: a derelict ship floating towards a black hole.
Xanth was desperate not to lose the one thing they had finally
found, and so he flew their ship into the black hole after it.
Their ships and their bodies were instantly disintegrated, but their minds lived on as they were pulled into the black hole. Inside the hole, their vaporized life-energies were met by swirling energy-beings of black light, who sought to commune with them. The life-force that had been Shareen listened to their voices, and she was reborn as a creature of living light, knowing a peace beyond peace. The life force that had been Xanth could not listen or comprehend, and was driven made. He took on only the darker aspects of the black hole, which consumed him body, mind, and soul. Xanth fled the dark light, and escaped out of the "opposite end" of the black hole, forsaking his lover Shareen.
Xanth emerged into
the universe, distant from the point in space from which he had
entered it, and in the dim past, an unknown time period prior to
the modern era. Maddened, he moved on with but one thought
stirring his dark soul--to complete his mission at any cost--to
find life. But he had become life unto a black hole himself and,
upon contact with that first planet, his energy was pulled
outward--to begin destroying the planet even as the planet
destroyed him. Upon the cataclysm of his death, he destroyed his
first world...and then was reborn in the released energies of
destruction...to continue seeking new life...to repeat the tragic
process endlessly. In addition, the black hole began to somehow
expand, attempting to reclaim its escaped matter, and threatening
to bring about a premature end to the Universe.
Shareen, now Firefrost, pursued her lover, the Ebon Seeker,
endlessly, attempting in vain to restore his sanity and put an
end to the destruction.
(Fantastic Four I#229-230) - Reed
Richards used a signal-pulser to send and receive a roving signal
in order to help NASA locate a missing communications satellite.
The Ebon Seeker detected this signal and followed it to Earth. As
he approached, there was a temporary wave of distortion across
the planet. He landed in Manhattan, where his leaking energies
damaged and injured the materials and people around him. The
Fantastic Four attempted to stop him, but their powers failed to
harm him in the least. Mr. Fantastic used the signal-pulser to
lead him out into the sea to get him away from the city, but the
pulser was ultimately destroyed by Xanth's tendrils. The Ebon
Seeker spoke out, accusing them of using the signal-pulser as a
trap to draw him to Earth so it could kill him, then he blasted
them into submission.
Shareen came to Earth and told the Fantastic Four of her and
Xanth's origin. The Ebon Seeker was approaching the end of his
life cycle, and would soon destroy Earth, and be reborn again.
Reed instead managed to transport a few blocks of Manhattan into
the Negative Zone, bringing the Ebon Seeker with them. There the
energy siphoning process was reversed, and Xanth was restored to
his full size, no longer bleeding off his life. Xanth could not
understand why his enemies had helped him, but in that moment of
clarity, Shareen was finally able to connect with him. She
convinced him that if he returned to the black hole with her,
that he could accept the light energy and become a creature of
light like her. Xanth took Shareen's hand, and they returned to
the black hole, using a conduit in the Negative Zone.
Oh, and don't worry, Reed got the block of Manhattan back to
Earth...but that's another story.
Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz.
The Voyager ship was a hot topic back then. Reed Richards reasoned that it was the ship which Xanth and Shareen had found on the edge of the black hole in the distant future. It was also the topic of the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Clarifications: Shareen, Firefrost, has
no known connection to:
Shareen, an agent of the
chinese government who sought the Golden Dragon, @ Deadly Hands
of Kung-Fu#12
The Ebon Seeker has no known connection to:
The Black Hole, Morton Kribee,
of Dr. Angst's Band of the Bland, @ Marvel Treasury Edition#12
Xanth and Shareen's race
The Energy beings within the black hole.
images: (without ads)
Other appearances:
Fantastic Four I#230 (May, 1981) - Doug Moench (writer), Bill Sienkiewicz (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Last updated: 08/02/02
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All 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
