General STUART AMBLER General STUART AMBLER
Real Name: Stuart Ambler
Identity/Class: Alternate
Reality (Earth-73846) preserved human head;
British
citizen;
active from 1948-2006 A.D., at least...
Occupation: At least formerly the head of PASA (the Bureau of Parahuman and Supernatural Affairs)
Group Membership: PASA
Affiliations: Sgt. McKellan, Dr. Kate McCarthy, Ian
Thomas;
indirectly Romany Petrovna
Enemies: Nosferatu
organization, "Sunny Jim," numerous vampires;
formerly Romany Petrovna
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The
Bureau of Parahuman and Supernatural Affairs, London,
England
First Appearance: Half Dead (March, 2007)
Powers/Abilities: As a disembodied head, Ambler is dependent on preservative fluid and a protective tank, as well as presumably other technology to survive.
Unable to speak on his own, he was dependent on McKellan's telepathy to communicate with the outside world, but he apparently had other options in preparation.
While in human form, Ambler was an
experienced military leader, trained and presumably highly skilled in
military strategy, hand-to-hand combat, the use of firearms, and
strategy against vampires.
History:
(Half Dead Chapter 2 (fb) - BTS) - Born in 1948
A.D., Stuart Ambler joined the army straight out of school. He defended
England
(Half Dead Chapter 1 (fb) - BTS) - General Stuart Ambler led the forces of PASA (the Bureau of Parahuman and Supernatural Affairs).
(Half Dead Chapter 2 (fb) - BTS) - As a young boy, McKellan was in an orphanage when he was identified a dangerous psychic, one of the "Burning Children" taken into government custody. General Ambler became a father figure to McKellan.
(Half Dead Chapter 4 (fb) - BTS) - General
Ambler apparently recruited a number of vampires form eastern Europe to
work with the British military.
As part of the contract with PASA, the vampires,
including Fredrich, accepted drugs that prevented
their bites from transforming victims into new vampires.
However, the vampires eventually began eating
civilians, after which Ambler or others within PASA betrayed the
vampires.
(Half Dead Chapter 2 (fb) - BTS) <5 years
before the main story> - A big war -- later referred to as the
"Night of the Long Grass" -- occurred between PASA and the Nosferatu
organization, during which Ian Thomas was attacked by vampires and lost
his left arm. General Ambler saved McKellan's life, and the near-death
experience caused McKellan to establish a psychic link with Ambler.
The British government subsequently reached a
state of detente with the Nosferatus. Ian survived, but developed some
vampiric qualities and tendencies.
PASA gave the vampires blood as part of the peace
treaty, but they tainted it with something toxic and/or infectious to
the vampires.
(Half Dead Chapter 1 (fb) - BTS) - Ambler
established within PASA a zero
tolerance policy.against vampires.
(Half Dead Chapter 2 (fb) - BTS) <6 months
before the main story> - The Nosferatus developed a virus that
turned the victims it didn't outright kill into what the PASA called
Half Dead, possessing half the powers of real vampires and who turned
their victims into mindless ghouls. The Nosferatus started releasing
the virus in public places.
(Half Dead Chapter 1) - After the vampire "Sunny Jim" released a gas attack containing the Nosferatu strain virus within a car within the tube (subway) train station in Covent Garden, London, General Ambler led PASA forces to confront him and demand his surrender. When the vampire tried to flee, Ambler had "Onward Christian Soldiers" blasted through the overhead speakers, dropping him to his knees. After ordering the vampire to surrender, Ambler had the music silenced so he could hear himself speak, and then he told the vampire to give them the information they wanted and he might live to another sunset. Instead, the vampire drank holy water, terminating his existence.
Explaining the cause of death to Sgt. McKellan, Ambler kicked the skull
off of the crumbling skeleton of the vampire while noting, "So
much for Sunny Jim giving us any information."
He then advised his forces that they would be seeing many more of his
kind before the night was out, and when McKellan assured him that the
men were ready and aware of his zero tolerance policy, Ambler told him
to make him proud.
General Ambler subsequently communicated with Dr.
Kate
McCarthy, who told him that most of the vampires created (the
"Half Dead") at another station were sheer beasts, easily contained.
Trusting his troops, Ambler turned his back on vampires behind him, and
McKellan and others torched a vampire rushing after him while he voiced
his disapproval of McCarthy's idea of training the half dead who
retained some of their humanity.
Witnessing one of the Half Dead
biting a woman, Ambler ordered McKellan to douse them both in flames,
knowing that she would become a brainless and super-strong ghoul if she
survived the attack. As the burning woman screamed for help, Ambler
told her that there was only one help he could give her, and he shot
her through the chest, killing her.
Acknowledging that this was a nasty job, he voiced that he was definitely drinking himself to sleep that night. The arriving Dr. McCarthy confirmed that she would be doing that as well, after which Ambler led her to Romany Petrovna, one of the few Half Dead who retained her intelligence and original personality. When Romany eventually became irate at her captors, Ambler had a private shoot her with a tranquilizer dart and instructed that she be put on phase three narcotics until further notice and a homeopathic distillation of holy water IV. After ordering McKellan to take Romany away and ordering a shift change for the field agents, Ambler asked McCarthy if he could buy her a drink, but she declined noting that she was going with Romany to the Black Ops Hospital.
Ambler then went out to his vehicle and was initially disappointed to find his chauffeur seemingly sleeping until realizing that the man was dead seconds before a vampire ambushed him from behind and bit into the back of his neck. He remarked, "What a bloody stupid way to die..."
(Half Dead Chapter 2 (fb) - BTS) - Rather than
just drink his blood, the vampires treated to eat Ambler alive.
Eventually, he was recovered and brought to the Black Ops Hospital, and
he received homeopathic holy water IV. However, his
exposure to vampire toxin was far too great for that too help.
(Half Dead Chapter 2) - Operating on Ambler,
Dr. McCarthy noted that the vampire toxin had invaded everywhere but
his head, thanks to the extraordinary amount of white matter in his
brain. Communicating telepathically with McKellan, Ambler noted that he
wanted an EFBA (Emergency Full Body Amputation). In order to allow the
Nosferatu organization to believe that they had succeeded in killing
Ambler, a funeral was still planned.
(Half Dead Chapter 2 - BTS) - Ambler's obituary noted him to have died of a hereditary heart condition. The funeral was closed casket. McKellan related to Ian Thomas that the General wanted him to come back to use his experience in surviving the vampires. Ian refused, but after he survived an attack by Nosferatus, Dr. McCarthy, his ex-wife, told him that General Ambler wanted to meet with him immediately.
(Half Dead Chapter 3) - Along with McKellan and McCarthy, Ambler met with Ian Thomas, noting that the Nosferatus had broken the peace accord with the English government and telling him that he wanted him to come back to PASA to train Romany. Thomas accepted the role.
(Half Dead Chapter 4) - McKellan apologized to
Ambler for not seeing that the Nosferatu were going to attack him,
Ambler told him that he was only psychic and not God Almighty and that
while he did not relish being a human paperweight, they should not
focus on the negative. Ambler asked McKellan if he knew where the
Nosferatu were going to strike next, and McKellan indicated that he was
going to see a movie, where he met with the Nosferatu Fredrich and used
his psychic powers to read his thoughts before causing his head to
explode.
(Half Dead Chapter 5 - BTS) - While McKellan had been set up and sent PASA's troops to Buckingham Palace, Ian Thomas and Romany Petrovna led a group of vampiric former PASA agents to stop the vampires at the real target, the Globe Theater.
(Half Dead Chapter 5) - General Ambler expressed his extreme disappointment to McKellan, noting that without Thomas' quick thinking, England would have had a major PR fiasco on its hands. He criticized McKellan's temper in prematurely killing the informant. He advised McKellan that if he as his successor could not lead his troops in a sane and calm manner, he would would just have to come up with an alternative.
McKellan replied, "No disrespect intended, General Ambler, but I fail to see what you can do in your condition. I'm your only communication to the outside world, after all."
Ambler replied, "Wait
and see. You are dismissed, McKellan."
Comments: Created by Barb Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper under the creator-owned Dabel Brothers imprint.
Courtesy of Loki,
here's a link
with some background on the creation of this story and the split between
Marvel and the Dabel Brothers.
"Onward
Christian Soldiers" is my dad's favorite hymn.
This profile was
completed 03/01/2026, but
its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th
anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
General Stuart Ambler should be distinguished
from:
First posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 03/01/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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