PERSEPHONE

Real Name: unrevealed, possibly Persephone

Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial, possible mutate

Occupation: Warrior

Affiliations: Spinsterhood; ally of Ganymede; former pawn of Jakar; loose alliance with Jack of Hearts

Enemies: Tyrant

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Persephone clone

Base of Operations: The Spinsterhood shrine on an unnamed moon of Jupiter

First Appearance: Cosmic Powers Unlimited#3 (November, 1995)

Powers: Persephone is a master combatant, specializing in the use of a bo-like staff. She can use the staff to fly, fire powerful energy blasts, and as a striking weapon. She can apparently survive in a vacuum, and likely possesses some degree of superhuman strength (enhanced human to Class 10), durability, and speed.

History: Persephone is a member of the Spinsterhood, an order dedicated to arts of combat which arose billions of years ago to fight off the being known as Tyrant.

(CPU#3(fb)-BTS) - Persephone entered the Spinsterhood as a cadet alongside Ganymede, and the two soon developed a fierce rivalry. Persephone attained a higher rank or level of skill, earning the triple stripes which adorn her face.

(Silver Surfer III#81(fb)-BTS) - Tyrant was defeated by Galactus in the distant past. The order of the Spinsterhood dispersed themselves throughout the universe, entering suspended animation within stasis chambers in seeming space debris--waiting for the return of Tyrant.

BTS - The stasis chambers of the Spinsterhood were destroyed, killing the warriors within them. Only one survived--Ganymede.

(CPU#3(fb)-BTS) - The extra-dimensional creature Jakar located the remains of Persephone and engineered a clone or reincarnation of her. He then sent her to locate Ganymede and recruit her into helping to steal a Globe of Power from Tyrant, under the plan of using it to help them vanquish Tyrant.

(CPU#3) - Persephone found Ganymede on a small moon of Jupiter and was furious to find her in the arms of a man, Jack of Hearts. Persephone accused Ganymede of abandoning her sacred vow of celibacy and her mission against Tyrant, and the two briefly struggled against each other until Jakar arrived and broke it up. Jakar duped the two Spinsters and Jack into stealing the Globe, but then sent them back to the Jovian moon, keeping the Globe for his own purposes.
Persephone convinced Ganymede to break off her relationship with Jack, and to return to training to bring down Tyrant.

(CPU#3/2) - Tyrant apparently met his end (in Silver Surfer#109), but Ganymede and Persephone continued to search for him throughout the Universe, chasing clues falsely planted by Jakar (who was actually sending them to track down the final pieces of his new Globe). The two Spinsters followed that trail into the frigid wastelands of the Jubat system where they slew a pair of alien creatures that attacked them.

Comments: Created by Michael Gallagher and Sandu Florea.

I had thought Persephone might have been taken from one of the moon's of Jupiter, many of which are named after characters from Greek/Roman mythology, as is the case with Ganymede. This page on Jupiter and its moons says otherwise.
As detailed by our own caliban:
Persephone is also the name of an asteroid in the main belt, nearJupiter but not orbiting it. Info follows:
399 Persephone
  This main belt asteroid is approx 52 km in diameter and was discoveredby M Wolf at Heidelberg in  1895. This first determination of the spin period was made from 6 nights ofobservations (by Col Bembrick) over a time span of 6 weeks, representing 58 rotations of the asteroid.The large amplitude of the light  curve  approx 0.4 magnitudes  implies a considerable irregularity in theshape of this asteroid..

Jack of Hearts and the Silver Surfer defeated Jakar and destroyed his Globe, which would seem to have likely ended the wild goose chase he had been sending the two Spinsters on. I don't think either Persephone or Ganymede has been seen since. Wonder what they're up to. Hmm...if we could get Kurt Busiek to write a Jack of Hearts limited series...

There were some slight indications that Ganymede and Persephone may have become more than just allies, but this was left up for debate.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:
Persephone, daughter of Demeter, wife of Pluto, @ Avengers Annual#23

Last updated: 08/24/02

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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