CASE
CASE
Real Name: Possibly Case (possibly first name or
surname, vs. nickname)
Identity/Class: Alternate
Reality (Earth-89815) human mutate?
Occupation: Professional criminal, Cyberspace
"cowboy";
former middleman for suppliers dealing in illegal
genetic materials
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Armitage (possibly Willis
Corto), Julius Deane, the Finn, Link Man, Molly (aka Cat Mother),
Panther Moderns (notably Larry), McCoy Pauley (aka the Dixie Flatline)
and some construct of his consciousness, Ratz, Wage;
formerly Linda Lee, unidentified former employers;
Wintermute apparently sought an alliance
Enemies: Sense/Net
Broadcasting Corporation;
unidentified former employers
Known Relatives: Unidentified mother
Aliases: "Cowboy," Cutter
Base of Operations: BAMA (Boston-Atlanta
Metropolitan Axis), aka the Sprawl;
formerly Night City, Chiba, Japan;
First Appearance: Neuromancer
novel (1984)
(Marvel) Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel
(1989)
Powers/Abilities:
Case was a master cyberspace navigator, using
dermatrodes
to project his mind into cyberspace, with his fingers triggering
multiple programs while his consciousness skirted code traps, glided
through patterns and slithered across rich fields of data.
His
employers provided him with the exotic software to crack industrial
banks and corporate libraries, and Case penetrated the systems and
snatched information.
He could access the most secure systems, often deceiving the systems into believing that they were functioning properly.
He has used specialized technology
to project his mind into a willing human body who was also possessing
certain forms of technology.
He smoked cigarettes, which would
limit his endurance and pulmonary function as well as giving him a
characteristic odor. He also drank alcohol heavily, which would impair
his reasoning, coordination and reaction at the time of use and damage
his liver. And he did a number of unspecified drugs, which helped keep
him awake but likely caused many other problems.
History:
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel
(fb) - BTS) - Case was trained in cyberspace navigation and the business
of its use by McCoy Pauley.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb) - BTS) - A master cyberspace navigator, Case was one of the best "cowboys" in the Sprawl (aka BAMA (the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis)), working for the wealthiest thieves, until he -- at the age of 22 -- made the mistake of stealing something from his employers and was caught.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb)) - He expected to be killed, but instead he was injected with a Russian mycotoxin that flamed through his nervous system micron by micron and burnt out his cyberspace abilities. He hallucinated for 30 hours.
Although a pariah at his old hang-outs,
he heard that the Japanese were the best at neurosurgery.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb) - BTS) - Case traveled to Chiba, Japan, hoping his vandalized talent could be regenerated.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb)) - Case spent two months of consultations, examinations and pain, and the surgeons took his money and then expressed their regrets.
Having spent the last of his money, Case became part of Night City's criminal ecology.
In time, he carved out a reputation, especially useful as a middleman for suppliers like Wage dealing in proscribed genetic materials; Wage advised Case that while they were partners, if Case ever screwed with him, he was cold meat.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb) - BTS) - Case dated Linda Lee, who became a drug addict.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb) - BTS) - Case frequented the Chatsubo, a bar for professional expatriates, where you could drink for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb) - BTS) - Wage came to Chatsubo with a pair of "joyboy" enforcers, asking Ratz if he had seen "the cowboy." Telling Wage he had not seen Case, Ratz suggested Wage check out the clinic tanks, as maybe someone had cut Case up for spare parts.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel) - When the now 24-year-old Case next returned to Chatsubo, Ratz told him about Wage asking about him. Linda Lee then approached Case, also warning him that her friend Mona, who was dating one of Wage's boys, had mentioned that Wage wanted to put a hole in Case's face. Case countered that he did not owe Wage that much and if Wage killed him, he would be out of the money anyway. Linda suggested that perhaps Wage just wanted to make an example of him; regardless, she told Case to watch his back.
Concerned about Wage's threat, Case met with import-export dealer Julius Deane - who had been kept in relative youth for 135 years by alterations to his DNA -- who claimed to be unaware of such a threat but who also confirmed that if he did know, he might not be in a position to tell Case; however, he did tell Case that if it proved to be an unfounded rumor that he should come back in a week, and he would have a deal for him on something out of Singapore.
Feeling that some razorgirl assassin was pursuing him, Case purchased a
weapon called cobra, a staff that contained segments of tightly wound
coilspring to slice and dice; although not sure how to use it, it made
him feel better.
Fleeing from his pursuer, Case dove through a window but was saved by landing on soggy cardboard alley junk. After returning to his "home" (a storage unit not that much bigger than a coffin) and trying and failing to sell some of his limited resources to get money for Wage, Case took some drugs and headed back to Chatsubo. There Wage greeted him alongside his agents, ultimately stating that he had no big problem with Case and suggested that someone was trying to set him up. Case concluded that it had been Linda, tricking him into leading her right to his stash; however, as she had only gotten some RAM, enough to buy a ticket home, he considered her welcome to it.
Returning to his home, Case was confronted by Molly (the woman who had been pursuing him before), who told him that she was not trying to kill him but rather collect him. Revealing her razor-tipped fingers, Molly told Case that the man she worked for wanted him with his brains still intact, and if he went easily, he would not be hurt.
Case complied, and Molly brought him to Armitage, who told him of his desire to restore Case's cyber-abilities to complete the Screaming Fist run, burning out the Russian computer nexus at Kiernsk.
(Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel (fb) - BTS) - Agreeing, Case had the procedure performed on a Sunday.
(Neuromancer:
The Graphic
Novel) - Briefly awakening the next Wednesday, Case slept again until
the following Saturday, when Molly treated him to a massage and some
lovin'.
Case subsequently met with Julius Deane, who explained that the
Screaming Fist run involved military having known about the Russian
defenses and willingly sacrificing the special forces just to confirm,
and that only one man had survived. 
Case subsequently encountered Linda, who begged him to save her, but he was unable to stop her from being killed by agents of Deane.
Case and Molly and Armitage next traveled to Case's former home, the Sprawl, during which time Armitage revealed that Case's pancreas was now biochemically incapable of getting off on amphetamine or cocaine (not sure what the pancreas has to do with that, but anyway...) and that he had had mycotoxin sacs bonded to various arteries that were slowly dissolving; if Case did the job right, Armitage would have him injected with an enzyme that would dissolve the bonds without opening the sacs.
Using Armitage's high-tech equipment, Case projected his mind into Cyberspace. After five hours of data-gathering, Case used equipment customized by Molly's associate "the Finn" to project his mind into Molly's body and explore the city. Later, when Molly met with Larry of the terrorist Panther Moderns, Armitage told Case that they were going to liberate a construct of deceased McCoy Pauley (aka the Dixie Flatline, who had taught Case the ropes when he was getting started) from the Sense/Net Broadcasting Corporation and that Case had seven days to "crack their ice."
Over the next six days, Case -- using more equipment from the Finn -- repeatedly navigated the matrix, preparing for a way in.
Subsequently aided by Link Man (who called in a terrorist threat of a hallucinogen called blue ice in the Sense/Net ventilation system to provide a distraction) and the Panther Moderns (who infected Sense/Net's systems with a program that took over the viewscreen of all of their computers), Molly fought her way past security guards in the building, although she injured her leg in the process. Meanwhile, Case made his way into their computer systems and neutralized five separate alarm systems and deactivated three separate locks (while making the systems think that all was still operational), allowing Molly to recover and depart with the hardware containing McCoy's construct.
As they departed, a holo-projection from one of the Panther Moderns relayed that Armitage's employer was Wintermute. They subsequently learned that Wintermute was the recognition code for an artificial intelligence corporation called Tessier-Ashpool. Questioning this, as artificial intelligences were not allowed autonomy, Case later picked up a ringing payphone, whose caller introduced itself as Wintermute and wanted to talk to him. Case dropped the phone and walked away.
See comments for possible continuation of Case's story.
Comments: Created
by William Gibson.
Adapted to Marvel Comics by Tom DeHaven and Bruce
Jensen under the Epic Imprint...
Definitely a story that it takes at least a couple reads to appreciate. I had to review the story and detail it in the profile to get the whole story.
The cover of the Neuromancer graphic novel called it "Volume 1,"
presumably indicating that it was meant to be the first in the series,
which would be fitting, as only a portion of the novel was covered in
this graphic novel. I have not read the novel, but our friend
Wikipedia has a summary of it. From the summary, it does not seem to me
that the graphic novel strictly followed the original novel, so the
novel is probably another reality, which means that we don't know for
sure that what happened in the novel happened to Case-89815.
However, in the novel, after the events of the
graphic novel (if you want more detail, buy the novel!):
Case and Molly discovered that Armitage was actually Colonel Willis Corto, the only survivor of the Screaming Fist mission, who had snapped after learning that the US government was aware that the mission would likely fail but went ahead regardless. Disappearing, Corto was contacted by Wintermute, which manipulated him into creating the Armitage persona.
Wintermute proved to be one half of a super-AI planned by the Tessier-Ashpool family, programmed to merge with its other half, Neuromancer, but restrictions prevented it from doing this on its own. Case, Molly and their associates assisted Wintermute in uniting with Neuromancer, and the combined being sought out similar life forms in the Alpha Centauri system.
There were hints that Neuromancer copied Case's consciousness, which existed in cyberspace along with replicas of Linda Lee and Pauley.
This story was written in the
latter part of the 20th Century, and it was intended to take place in
the future, somewhere in the 21st Century. I don't think the date of
this future was specified, but I would think it was meant to be at
least 30-50 years in the future. Some of the story reminds of various
Earth-8410 stories, which were the future of 2020 A.D. (which was 36
years in the future when it first appeared in 1984, and is now in the
past).
But, it was an early forerunner of Cyberpunk type
stories.
This profile was
completed 02/08/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended
for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Case should be distinguished from:
First posted: 09/10/2026
Last updated: 02/08/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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