horne-leo-everyman-fullLEO HORNE
(please note that these stories are from an Epic story, part of a more mature line, and they may not be appropriate for everyone)

horne-leo-everyman-upperReal Name: Leo Horne

Identity/Class: Human;
    active circa 1991 (and presumably at least 30 years before that; see comments)

Occupation: Farmer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Harry Dwyer

Enemies: Emily Play and her coven, "Red Wenders"

Known Relatives: Kate (wife, last name presumably Horne, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Presumably a prison;
    formerly a farm outside Springfield, in an unidentified state in the United States of America

First Appearance: The Everyman (November, 1991)

Powers/Abilities: Leo had no superhuman abilties.

    He was an abusive husband and apparently a poor farmer.

    He was superstitious, blamed others for his problems and was willing to be complicit with sexual assault

    He owned and was experienced in using a rifle

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6')
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 200 lbs.)
Eyes: Dark (apparently brown)
Hair: Brown (he was only seen wearing a hat, so it is unrevealed whether he had male pattern baldness)

History:
(The Everyman (fb) - BTS) - Leo Horne resented and abused his wife, Kate, blaming her for not to deliver a son for him, at least so he would have some help at the farm. Although she resented Leo for his abusive behavior and neglect for their crops and cattle, she did not leave him.

(The Everyman (fb) - BTS) - Rather than working, Leo often went to the Double B bar and drank liquor.

(The Everyman (fb) - BTS) - After cattle began dying and crops failing, a lot of locals, including Leo Horne and Harry Dwyer, blamed a local coven for causing this.

(The Everyman (fb) - BTS) - Having observed Emily Play, a member of the local coven, skinnydipping in the springs, Harry brought Leo to spy on her though a window in her cabin in the woods, planning to put a scare on her.

horne-leo-everyman-emily(The Everyman) - Observing as the sheriff, Ozzie, who was secretly dating Emily, left her cabin, Leo and Harry followed Emily down to the spring, where she removed her robe, dove deep and retrieved a chest from a grotto. When Emily surfaced, Harry tried to rape her, and when she fought back, Leo readily joined in to restrain her. After she scratched the left side of Leo's face, Harry held her under water to take some of the fight out of her. After she stopped struggling, Leo told Harry to let her up, but she was already dead.

(The Everyman - BTS) - Harry presumably followed on his plans for Emily anyway.

(The Everyman - BTS) - Buried alongside the chest she had brought up, Emily was somehow restored to life in a new body that was a hermaphrodite.

(The Everyman) - After a cow kicked over a pail of milk, Leo smacked Kate across the face for costing them money to buy milk. When he blamed her for not giving him a son, she replied that not having his child was the rightest thing she could ever do. He warned her that he could step on her neck and that would be the last crack he ever heard coming from her, and she told him to kill her, just like his neglect killed their cattle and crops.

    They were interrupted by the revival of the masculine-appearing Emily, who claimed to be looking for work, as "he" had debts to pay. Leo said he could not pay but could offer meals and a cot, and Emily accepted. After he called her Red, she adopted that name and told him that Harry Dwyer had told her that he might be able to get some work at Leo's place.

    Giving Red a pair of overalls, Leo took him to work that morning, telling Kate he expected food on the table when they got back. After lunch, Leo headed out for the feed store, telling Red to finish laying the hay in the north field and instructing Kate to mend the fences that she had been putting off for some time.

(The Everyman - BTS) - After Kate related that Leo was more likely going to the liquor store, Red informed her that he had nothing kind to say about Leo and wanted her to be rid of him. Kate invited Red upstairs but was shocked to see Red's hermaphrodite nature.

(The Everyman) - Leo then returned and caught them before anything could go any further, calling Kate a whore before getting his rifle and killing her. horne-leo-everyman-crying

    With Leo shocked by his own actions and repeating, "She never loved me," Red took the gun, told him that she was Emily Play, back from the dead to right a wrong. Leo begged, telling Red that Harry had killed her and that he had only wanted to scare her. Firing the rifle next to Leo's head, Red scared Leo to tears and advised him that he had chosen to live in Hell.

    As the police arrived to take Leo away, she shouted that a man had no other choice than to do what he had done. Seeing Harry, who had been drawn to the commotion, Leo told him that Emily Play was there and was going to get her for what he had done.

(The Everyman - BTS) - Sheriff Ozzie had Red taken in to get "his" statement.

    Harry tried to ambush Red, but Red ultimately killed him instead.

Comments: Created by Michael D. Allred & Bernie E. Mireault as part of the creator-owned Epic imprint.

    Not much in the way of likeable qualities for Leo...

    According to ye olde Interwebbe, there are 34 cities named Springfield across 25 states in the USA, as well as 36 Springfield townships.

    As a creator owned character from Epic, it is unlikely that this story was intended to be part of Reality-616, but there's also nothing to exclude it...the events involved a small number of people in a localized rural area.. There's no reason it could not have taken place in 1991, which due to Marvel's sliding timescale in is over 20 years and counting before the Fantastic Four's space flight.

    This profile was completed 05/04/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 24th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Leo Horne should be distinguished from:


images: (without ads)
The Everyman, story pg. 8, panel 1 (restraining Emily);
       pg. 20, panel 3 (upper, finger pointing);
       pg. 25, panel 1 (holding smoking rifle);
          panel 6 (crying)
Appearances:
The Everyman (November, 1991) - Michael D. Allred & Bernie E. Mireault

First posted: 09/11/2026
Last updated: 05/04/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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