FAR
PLACEFAR
PLACE
Type: Imaginary Realm associated with the New Universe
Environment: Seemingly magical, but otherwise essentially Earth-like
Usual means of access: Daedalus Darquill
Dominant Life Form: Humanoids, Hounds
Inhabitants: Black Justice, Damon Conquest, Daedalus Darquill, Endolana
(queen), Hounds, Justice Warriors, Kabor, Malakite, Max, Night Warriors, Qatar, Tattoo, Tensen, Therion (king), Webstral;
Rebecca Chambers, Keith Remsen (Nightmask)
First Appearance: Justice#1 (New Universe) (November, 1986)
Characteristics: The Far Place
does not exist. It is an illusionary/imaginary realm created by
the mind of the paranormal Daedalus Darquill. Those caught up in
Darquill's imagination completely believed themselves to be
extra-dimensional beings. The illusion was strong enough that it
was virtually impossible to determine real beings warped by
Darquill from completely imaginary beings.
Within the illusion of the Far Place, the world existed as a
fantasy realm of swords and sorcery, populated as well by
advanced scientific equipment and weaponry. The realm was
conveniently divided into good (the Land of Spring, ruled by
Therion) and evil (the Land of Winter, aka the Winterland, ruled
by Darquill).
History:
The Far Place was created by the imagination of Daedalus Darquill
shortly after he gained his powers from the White Event.
(Justice#15 (fb)) - Darquill targeted Department of Justice agent John Tensen with his hallucination power, intending to transform him into one of his "Hounds." 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)) - Tensen and Queen Endolana were having a secret affair. While off for a private rendezvous, they were ambushed by assassins from the Land of Winter. For some reason, when one of the assassins blasted Tensen, he was somehow "transported" to Earth.
(Justice#2) - While imprisoned by the NYPD,
Tensen, aka Justice, was attacked by a group of Hounds. Only one
of the Hounds survived the battle with Tensen, and that one was
painfully killed by Damon Conquest as punishment.
Meanwhile, back in the Far Place, Therion, Endolana, Webstral,
and a squad of Justice Warriors narrowly survived an ambush by
the Hounds. They sorely missed the power of the greatest
warrior--Tensen.
(Justice#3) - Darquill's agent, Tattoo, attacked Justice in Oklahoma.
(Justice#4) - While battling Damon Conquest in Los Angeles, California, Tensen was blasted and seemed to return to the Far Place. He found Webstral and was briefly reunited with Endolana. However, Therion walked in on Tensen and Endolana, locked in a passionate embrace. Therion demanded Tensen's death, and the loyal Justice Warrior submitted to him. However, he began to flip back and forth between illusion (Far Place) and reality (Earth). As Tensen fought off Conquest, he simultaneously, unintentionally knocked out Therion. After the battle, the switching between "realms" ceased.
(Justice#5) - Justice battled Tattoo, Darquill, Conquest, and a small group of Hounds. He did quite well against their combined power until Tattoo took his ally and lover, Rebecca Chambers, hostage. They pulled her through a portal into the Far Place, leaving Justice behind on Earth.
(Justice#7) - Rebecca Chambers was rapidly
brainwashed by Darquill, and she trained in the Far Place, where
she ambushed a slew a whole cadre of Justice Warriors.
Meanwhile, Therion had sunk into a deep depression, drinking
himself into a stupor as the Land of Spring fell apart around
him. Webstral tried to convince him of the danger, but Therion
would hear nothing of it.
(Justice#8) - Rebecca resisted the advances of Damon Conquest, while Darquill continued to have her prepared to assassinate her former lover, Tensen. Darquill sent Tattoo to Earth to make some arrangements to conspire against Justice.
(Justice#10) - Conquest sent Black Justice to Earth to corrupt Tensen, by forcing him to kill in anger. The energies of Tensen's corruption were sent to Conquest, who fed on them, and in turn granted power to War Chief Malakite and his Night Warriors. Malakite massed an attack on the Land of Spring.
BTS - Malakite and his Night Warriors crushed the disheartened Justice Warriors and overran the Land of Spring. Therion was slain; Endolana was brought to the Winterland to serve as a love slave for Conquest. The children of the Land of Spring were taken to serve in retraining camps within the Winterland.
(Justice#11) - Justice slew some Hounds who ambushed him. Webstral appeared on Earth, revealing to Justice (greatly weakened by his own corruption) that the Land of Spring had fallen--primarily due to energies taken from Tensen himself. Webstral sacrificed his own life, transferring the last of his energies into Tensen, enabling him to restore his strength and power.
(Justice#13) - Tensen was attacked by Max, an agent of Conquest. After learning his weakness, Tensen slew Max.
(Justice#15) - Malakite announced the complete
routing of the Land of Spring, and he requested permission to
seek out and slay Tensen. Darquill refused, instead sending
Rebecca after him. Meanwhile, Tensen met with Keith Remsen,
Nightmask, to investigate dreams he was having of his true, past
life. Tensen stopped Rebecca, but she was killed in the process.
Malakite then led a group of Hounds to attack, but Tensen leapt
by them, through their portal, and into the Winterland. Tensen
slew Conquest, but was overpowered by Darquill himself. However,
Tensen was saved by Nightmask who pulled him back to reality and
brought him to the sleeping form of Darquill on Earth. Nightmask
explained the truth to Tensen, who then killed Darquill, ending
the illusion of the Far Place. Tensen returned to his normal
form, and his memories slowly filtered back to him.
Tensen apparently suffered permanent damage from the intensity of Darquill's manipulations, such that even after the death of Darquill, he would hallucinate along the lines of the Far Place if he were exposed to any mind-altering drugs.
Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin and Geof Isherwood.
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 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.
The events taking place in the Far Place strike me as being
closer to pure hallucination, although there may have been
touches of real people and events in there, too. The fact that
the people of the Land of Spring were shown when neither Darquill
nor Justice, nor any other person known to exist on Earth was
present makes me think that a lot of the people in the Far Side
were other "real" people pulled into Darquill's
illusion.
moot point. Dorcas Farcas.
Changing writers syndrome. This series was all over the place, with writers hanging around for an issue or two, remaking the characters and changing their personalities and motivations, and then moving on.
The Far Place had a few parallels to Camelot, with Therion as a wimpy Arthur, Endolana as Guinevere, Webstral as Merlin, and Tensen/Justice as Lancelot--including the affair with the queen.
Clarifications:
No known connection to:
Fargate, an interdimensional portal developed by
the Sugar Man, @ X-Man Annual 1996
The Far Side, the wonderful world of twisted humor created by
Gary Larsen--Peter David even made a joke about the two worlds in
Justice#15
Damon
Conquest-the real or figurative son
of Darquill, presumably a paranormal or a normal person given the
illusion of powers by Darquill.
--Justice#1
Black
Justice (Klane)-presumably
a paranormal or a normal person given the illusion of powers by
Darquill.
--Justice#10
Daedalus
Darquill-the creator of the Far
Place, which existed in his own imagination.
--Justice#1
Either a normal person caught up in Darquill's
illusion, or complete illusion altogether. She was then queen of
the Land of Spring, and the wife of Therion, but she had an
affair with Tensen, their greatest Justice Warrior. After their
castle was overrun by the forces of the Land of Winter, Endolana
was captured and taken to be Damon Conquest's love slave.
She was called Shandra in Justice#1, and also referred to as Endolina in later issues
--Justice#1 (2, 4, 7, 11(fb) 15
Most likely people given the illusion of power
by Darquill. Many of these may have been enemies whom he mentally
enslaved. They acted as both servants and warriors.
One of the Hounds, Talim, was named in Justice#7.
They appeared to be a legion of semi-human
warriors. They varied (depending on the artists) from grotesque
humanoids to goblin-like to a wolf-man sort of appearance. They
had great strength and were savage, if undisciplined, warriors.
In addition, because they lacked "auras" (souls?), they
were immune to Justice's sword and shield.
--Justice#2 (5, 7, 8, 11, 15
They were most likely either complete illusion
or people given the illusion of power by Darquill. They served as
the warriors of the Land of Spring, formerly under the leadership
of Tensen. they were slaughtered to the man by the Night Warriors
of the Winterland.
They are pictured at the top, and had lesser variants of
Justice's shield, sword, and fighting abilities.
--Justice#2 (7, 11(fb,d)
Either a normal person caught up in Darquill's
illusion, or complete illusion altogether. He was a servant of
Damon Conquest within the Land of Winter.
--Justice#10
Presumably a paranormal or a normal person
given the illusion of powers by Darquill. He served as War Chief
of Darquill in the Land of Winter. He led an army of "Night
Warriors" that opposed the Justice Warriors. He and his
warriors appeared to gain power from Conquest. After defeating
the forces of the Land of Spring, he requested the right to go to
Earth to finish the last of the Justice Warriors--Tensen.
Darquill denied him this initially, but after Rebecca Chamber
failed, Darquill sent Malakite. However, Justice vaulted over
Malakite and his warriors and used their portal to access the
Winterland. Darquill was killed by Justice soon after, so
Malakite would either have returned to his normal form, or
vanished completely were he only illusion.
--Justice#10 (11, 15
Max-presumably
a paranormal or a normal person given the illusion of powers by
Darquill. He'll get his own entry.
--Justice#13
Most likely either complete illusion or people
given the illusion of power by Darquill. They were part of the
Land of Winter and served as an army under War Chief Malakite in
opposition of the Justice Warriors. They appeared to gain power
from Conquest.
--Justice#10-BTS, 11 (15
Either a normal person caught up in Darquill's
illusion, or complete illusion altogether. He was a servant of
Damon Conquest within the Land of Winter. His young served as
meals for Conquest.
He plays by rule we can't begin to understand--no "U"
after a "Q"!!! That's just crazy!
--Justice#10
Tattoo-presumably a paranormal
or a normal person given the illusion of powers by Darquill.
--Justice#3
Tensen -John Tensen, aka
Justice. He was a real person pulled into Darquill's world. He'll
get his own profile.
--Justice#1
Either a normal person caught up in Darquill's
illusion, or complete illusion altogether. He was the king of the
Land of Spring and the husband of Endolana. He was completely
demoralized after finding Endolana with Tensen. After that he
drank himself into a stupor, and failed to keep his troops
motivated and directed. When the forces of the Land of Winter
overran his castle, he met a painful end, and his head was placed
on a pike.
--Justice#2 (4, 7, 11 (fb,d)
Either a normal person caught up in Darquill's
illusion, or complete illusion altogether.
Webstral was a (sometimes) powerful wizard, who served as an
advisor to king Therion and mentor to Tensen. However, he
deliberately allowed Therion to discover Tensen and Endolana
together because he thought it would be interesting. Ultimately,
he was the last survivor of the forces of the Land of Spring, and
he sacrificed his own life energies in traveling to Earth and
transferring the last of his power into Tensen.
--Justice#2 (4, 7, 11)
images:
Other appearances:
Justice#2-5 (November, 1986 - March, 1987)
Justice#7-8 (May-June, 1987)
Justice#10-11 (August-September, 1987)
Justice#13 (November, 1987)
Justice#15 (January, 1988)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Last Updated: 12/22/02
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