FREEX
FREEX
Membership: AJ, Anything, Boomboy, Cayman, Plug, Pressure, Sweetface
Purpose: Survival; discovery of the truth about themselves
Affiliations: Academy of the New Elite, Contrary, Firearm (Alec Swan),
Night Man, Old Man, Prime, Captain Jacob Rome,
Ruby, Rush, Someday Champions;
Prometheus (created wetware
that mutated them);
Entity from the Moon (distant
antagonist
Enemies: Aladdin, Bloodhounds, Contrary, Fire People, Guardian of the Cave, J. D. Hunt, Lost Angel, Mangle, Master of the Hunt, Monsters of the Fire People, Night Patrol, NuWare Wolves, Rafferty, Rune, Savior of the Fire People, Wrath
Base of Operations: Mobile across
California, especially San Francisco;
last seen in the subterranean world of the
Fire People (Earth-Ultraverse)
Aliases: The Someday Champions
First Appearance: Freex#1 (July, 1993)
History:
(Freex#18(fb) - BTS) - An official of the Fire People known as the "Keeper of
the Powers" watched as the children of his race were born more and more
monstrous. Based on the prophecy of the Someday Champions and the legend of a
group of humans encountered back in ancient Egypt, the Keeper of the Powers
decided that humanity might be better able to save the Fire People. To this end,
the Keeper took the Wetware (nanotechnology developed in the distant past by
Prometheus to empower the Someday Champions) and gave it to a secret society on
Earth (presumably Aladdin).
(Freex#5 (fb) - BTS) - <approximately 16 years before the modern era> A nurse stole the Wetware/nanotech and injected a number (dozens, by one account) of infants in a hospital with it. Several of these beings would become the Freex, with the potential to fulfill the prophecy of the Someday Champions. The government went after this nurse, but found her to have vanished without a trace. The nurse became known only as Wetware Mary.
(Freex#2 (fb) - BTS) - Michael (Plug) discovered evidence of others like him. He sent a series of messages to those others he could find to gather them together.
(Freex#8 (fb) - BTS) - Lewis received a call from Michael, telling him there were others like him. Lewis imagined that he could form a new family.
BTS - Lewis (Anything) joined up with Ray (Boom Boy) wandering aimlessly in the streets, terrifying all around him. Lewis convinced Ray to join with him and he looked out for Ray, who was unused to interacting with anyone. Ray saw Lewis as the hero from his favorite book, and called him Huck.
(Ultraverse Presents#0/6) - Lewis and Ray received a message which they followed to locate and recruit Valerie (Pressure), pulling her away from a confrontation in a laundromat.
(Freex#1) - Lewis, Ray, and Valerie fought off some cops while stealing some supplies. They found Angela (Sweetface) outside of their room and were then confronted by Michael, who had been the one to summon them all together.
(Freex#2) - Valerie blew the computerized form of Michael to pieces and the others fled. Valerie got picked up by Rush, whom she soon befriended. Eventually the others returned, and they found Michael had re-formed and he explained that there was a connection between them. They were then discovered by the police and fled.
(Freex#3) - While still fleeing, Sweetface resisted an attempt to be seduced by the Lost Angel. Rush convinced Valerie to join him in blowing up a Biotex laboratory, which resulted in the Master of the Hunt and the Bloodhounds being sent after them. The rest of the Freex found Val and Rush and helped them escape, after which there was a brief skirmish which led to Rush leaving Val with the Freex.
(Prime I#8/2) - Unable to sleep, the Freex discussed what they saw when they closed their eyes. For Angela, Lewis, Michael, and Val, it was how when they're powers surfaced their lives were changed; for Ray, when he closed his eyes, he saw little colored dots.
(Freex#4) - The Master of the Hunt and his Bloodhounds found and attacked the Freex again. Michael fought off an assault by the Lost Angel, but wound up a prisoner of the Master; the others escaped and were taken in by the modern day hippie Ruby. The Master tracked down the Freex and shot Ruby.
(Freex#5) - The Master sacrificed several of
his Bloodhounds in the process of overpowering the Freex and was
about to finish them off when Michael drove a car into Ruby's
house, causing a fire which engulfed the Master. He even managed
to drag himself out of the flames, but then one of his
Bloodhounds tackled him and began slashing at him as payback for
his betrayal. The Freex fled into the night.
(Flood Relief#1) - The Freex listened to a report of the flooding in Des Moines, Iowa. Ray noted that the overflowing Mississippi river was what Huckleberry Finn had floated on, but the rest of them felt sympathy for the victims.
(Break-Thru#1) - Energies released by the Entity from the Moon began to affect Valerie, causing her to want to try to reach the moon.
(Freex#6) - The Freex were manipulated into an alliance with Mangle, having no idea about his true nature. Valerie fought off an assault by the Lost Angel, and then she began to again feel the effects of the energies being released from the Entity on the Moon. After Val recovered, Mangle led them on an assault on J. D. Hunt's estate. While the Freex took down Hunt's robot guards, Mangle attempted to assault Hunt's son, Guy, until he was stopped by the Night Man. The Freex mistakenly fought the Night Man, and then fled again with Mangle, continuing the pursuit of Guy.
(Night Man#3) - With Val still dazed from the
energies being released by the Entity, the Freex followed
Mangle's lead in pursuit of JD Hunt. However, Michael began to
suspect Mangle had ulterior motives, and so he contacted the
Night Man and told him their destination. Upon finding Hunt, they
were attacked by his NuWare Wolves. Night Man arrived and fought
the Freex loyal to Mangle and stopped the villain from assaulting
Guy Hunt.
The Freex fled during the final confrontation.
(Break-Thru#2) - As the ultras on the Moon joined their minds and energies against the Entity, the minds of all ultras, including the Freex were joined with the group effort. Afterwards, the energies ceased, and the Freex regained their senses, though they refused an offer for further aid from the Night Man.
(Wrath#4) - Aladdin told Wrath that the Freex were a danger to society and sent him to bring them in. Wrath ambushed and defeated Ray and Angela, but was then confronted by Lewis and Val.
(Wrath#5) - The combined power of the Freex defeated Wrath, and they then left him bound in his own manacles to prevent him from coming after them again.
(Freex#7) - The Freex stole some clothes, which led to some more in-fighting. This in turn drew the attention of the cops, sending them on the run once again. They were also attacked by the Night Patrol, from whom they narrowly escaped. Lewis was drawn into the realm of the Lost Angel.
(Freex#8) - The rest of the Freex managed to follow Lewis and save him from the Lost Angel, after which they were confronted by the Old Man.
(Freex#9) - The Old Man easily defeated the Freex and told them that they needed a leader to train them. He then led them to escape another attack by the Night Patrol. The Freex were of mixed feelings about trusting the Old Man, so he left them, promising that they'd see him again. After he was gone, they realized that Ray was missing (abducted by Contrary and taken aboard her ship).
(Freex#10, 11) - The Freex tracked down Ray at Contrary's Academy for the New Elite, though Michael's brain was nearly fried by Contrary's security systems, and the whole group was captured by Contrary who sought to force them all to join her. The Freex broke free, but as they battled Contary's young wards in the Academy, Ray announced that he had decided to stay with Contrary to gain an education. Cayman, one of the Academy, decided to join the Freex.
BTS - The Freex were again joined by the Old Man.
(Prime I#13/2) - Prime traveled to the midwest in an effort to confront the monsters of the Fire People that had crawled up from their underground city. The Freex were also investigating this--under the direction of the Old Man--and they ran into Prime while searching the China Lake Naval base.
(GS Freex#1) - After the standard fight of mistaken identities/motives, Prime joined the Freex and the Old Man in an investigation of the tunnels of the Fire People. In the depths of the realm of the Fire People, they found a number of statues with the appearance of the a number of unidentified superhumans, but also of what appeared to be the Freex themselves.
(Freex#12//Ultraforce I#1/2) - The Freex, Old Man, and Prime were attacked by several of the Monsters of the Fire People, but Michael located a group of headpieces that the Freex put on, allowing them to control the Monsters. Prime returned to the surface as the rest of the Freex continued their journey, encountering the Guardian of the Cave.
(Freex#13) - An image of Prometheus appeared and proclaimed the Freex to be the Someday Champions he had sought to create. However, upon realizing that they were surface dwellers, he sent the Guardian after them again. They used their headgear to stop the Guardian, but unwittingly awakened the Savior of the Fire People. Returning to the surface, they were once again targeted by the Night Patrol
(Freex#14) - Contrary helped the Freex defeat the Night Patrol, but Ray, who had come along with the rest of the Academy, recognized that Contrary had been the one to give the Night Patrol the enhanced weaponry in the first place. Ray rejoined the Freex and accompanied them back down to the realm of the Fire People, where they found the Savior breaking out of his containment. Ray forced the door to the Savior shut again, and he then elected to stay behind to hold the door in case the Savior threatened to break out again.
(Firearm I#15) - Rafferty told Firearm that he was going to kill one of the Freex, then beat him senseless and sabotaged his gun. The dazed Firearm stumbled after him and instead collapsed amidst the Freex.
(Freex#15) - Arriving in San Francisco back on the surface, the Freex and the Old Man joined forces with Firearm in an effort to stop Rafferty, the killer of Ultras. The Freex fought the Night Patrol again, but Michael saw Rafferty aiming at Cayman and leapt in his arrow's path, taking the arrow in his own chest, and dying.
(Firearm#15/2) - Firearm refused to allow the Freex to join him in going after Rafferty.
(Freex#16) - The Freex attended the funeral for Michael, along with the Academy members, Contrary, the Night Man, and Ruby. After fending off another assault by the Lost Angel, the Old Man goaded the Freex into a fight. They defeated him, proving that they were now ready to stand on their own. They decided to head back down the tunnels and visit Ray, but were pulled through a time warp. At the same time, Angela realized that Michael's mind may have survived in cyberspace.
(Freex#17) - The Freex arrived in ancient
Egypt, where they encountered an early group of Someday Champions
(recipients of the nanotech/wetware power created by Prometheus)
as well as Rune (in the guise of the Priest of Amon-Ra). After
staying for over a month, the Freex helped drive off Rune when he
attacked Analla (one of the Someday Champions). 
The Freex then returned through the time
portal back towards Los Angeles. However, upon returning they had
gained a new member, AJ, whom they all remembered as if he'd been
with them all along (in place of Michael).
(GodWheel#0-3) - Val and Cayman were teleported away to Vahdala, the Godwheel, where they encountered a number of other superhumans.
(Freex#18) - Contrary convinced AJ, Angela, and
Lewis to lead her into the realm of the Fire People, with the
agenda of usurping more of the advanced technology she would find
there. They rejoined Ray, who explained what he had learned about
their origins from books he had found, including hints that Contrary was Wetware
Mary. The Freex saved Contrary
from the Monsters of the Fire People that had found her. As Val
and Cayman returned to Earth, Contrary tried to forge an alliance
with the Freex, but AJ recognized that she had ulterior motives
and resisted her. Contrary tried to seduce AJ, and he attacked
her, but she incapacitated him with a disruptor weapon and then
took him away to her citadel for further care.
The rest of the Freex (including Val and
Cayman) found themselves trapped in the realm of the Fire People,
and they heard the Savior stirring in his containment chamber.
COMMENTS: Created by Gerard Jones and Ben Herrera.
The group took their name after Ray misspelled the word "Freaks" to describe them. They didn't actually go by their code names most of the time, but it was Ray who wanted them to have them.
A thoroughly enjoyable series. The group pretty much met its end with Black September (BS for short).
All individual members will EVENTUALLY get their own profiles. Until then,
the top image is (clockwise from top): Sweetface/Angela, Anything/Lewis, Pressure/Val, Plug/Michael, Ray/Boom Boy.
the bottom image is (left to right): Anything, Sweetface, Cayman, AJ, Pressure.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
Anything has no known connection to:
Boomboy has no known connection to:
Cayman has no known connection to:
Plug has no known connection to:
Sweetface has no known connection to:
Images:
Prototype#0 and presumably other August 1994 comics: Freex All-New Direction ad - main
Appearances:
Freex#1-3 (July-September, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Ben Herrera (pencils), Mike Christian (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#4
(October, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), David Williams (pencils), Mike
Christian (inks), Hank Kanalz & Steve Gerber (editors)
Freex#5 (November, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Ben Herrera (pencils), Larry Welch (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#6 (December, 1993) - Gerard Jones & Steve Englehart
(writers), Ben Herrera (pencils), Reuben Rodriguez & Mike Christian
(inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Night Man#3 (December, 1993) - Steve Englehart & Gerard Jones
(writers), Gene Ha (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Chris Ulm (editor)
Break-Thru#1 (December, 1993) – Gerard Jones, Mike W. Barr, Steve
Englehart, Steve Gerber, James D. Hudnall, Tom Mason, George Pérez
& James Robinson & Len Strazewski (writers), Gerard Jones
(script), George Pérez (pencils), John Lowe (inks), Chris Ulm &
Hank Kanalz (editors)
Break-Thru#2 (January, 1994) – Gerard Jones (script), Gerard Jones,
Mike W. Barr, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, James D. Hudnall, Tom
Mason, George Pérez, James Robinson & Len Strazewski (plot), George
Pérez (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Hank Kanalz & Chris Ulm (editors)
Prime I#8 (January, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Walter Simonson (artist), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Flood Relief (January, 1994) - D. Danko, Hank Kanalz, T. Mason (writers), Aaron
Lopresti, R. Pace (pencilers); J. Lowe (inker), Chris Ulm (editor)
Freex#7-8 (January-February, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Ben Herrera (pencils), Mike Christian (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#9 (March, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Martin Egeland (pencils), Tim Roddick (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Wrath#4 (April, 1994) - David Ammerman & Mike W. Barr (writers),
David Ammerman (pencils), Rodney Gates (inks), Dan Danko (editor)
Freex#10-11 (April-May, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Ben Herrera (pencils), Mike Christian (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#12 (June, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Prime I#13 (July, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jonathan Holdredge (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Giant-Size Freex#1 (July, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Ultraforce I#1 (August, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), George Perez
(pencils), Al Vey (inks), Chris Ulm & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Freex#13-14 (September-October, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott
Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Firearm I#15 (December, 1994) - James Robinson (writer), Mike Edsey (pencils), Mike Christian (inks)
Freex#15 (January, 1995) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdrege & Reed (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#16 (January, 1995) - Gerard Jones (writer), Klebs de Moura e.
Silva (pencils), Rick Magyar, Reuben Rodriguez & Mike Christian
(inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#17 (February, 1995) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Phil Crain (editor)
Godwheel#0-3 (January-February, 1995)
Freex#18 (March, 1995) - Gerard Jones (writer), Steve Ellis (pencils), Robert Hunter (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
First Posted: 09/26/2003
Last Updated: 06/02/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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