mengert-helene-21371-uppermengert-helene-21371-faceobHELENE MENGERT

Real Name: Helene Mengert

Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Reality-21371) extraterrestrial (planet Erebus);
    active in the 900th Century A.D.

Occupation: Student

Group Membership: Welkin State University student body, Welkin State University gymnastics team

Affiliations: Bart Cooper, Coach Hogan, Cassandra "Cassie" Starkweather (roommate, friend)

Enemies: Martin Inglehart was considered distasteful, but not a true enemy;
    inadvertently Cassie Starkweather and the janitor who spilled his mop bucket on the bleacher control

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Welkin State University, Plainsville, United States of Empyrean, planet Erebus

   

   

First Appearance: Route 666#1 (July, 2002)

   

   

mengert-helene-21371-reclinemengert-helene-21371-bleacherPowers/Abilities: Helene was skilled at gymnastics and presumably whatever field in which she majored in college.

    She was loyal to her best friend, Cassie, and sought to help her find a boyfriend.

    She was mischievous enough to continual disregard a policy from her coach that repeatedly got her in trouble.

   

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'5")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 110 lbs.)
Eyes: Amber
Hair: Black
   

History:

(Route 666 (fb) - BTS) - Helene Mengert was roommates, best friends and gymnastic teammates with Cassie Starkweather at Welkin State University. Coach Hogan had warned her repeatedly that she was not to wear nail polish at practice or competitions.

(Route 666 (fb) - BTS) - Fellow gymnastic student Bart Cooper asked Helene if Cassie's ankle was better after a fall a Regionals. He further asked if she thought taking a girl to Grumpy's was cool, or if it would seem like a date at Chubby Burger.

   

mengert-helene-21371-ghost-post(Route 666) - While Cassie painted her (Helene's) toenails, Helene teased her about being asked out by Martin Inglehart, whom they both knew as "Martin-Fartin-Inglehart'n." After Cassie had gotten sufficiently upset, Helene revealed that it was actually their gymnastic teammate Bart Cooper who had asked about her. Cassie was intrigued.

    The next day, at practice, Coach Hogan was annoyed at Helene's pattern of disobedience and instructed her that she had five minutes to "get that junk off your toes" or she was off the team. Hogan continued that she felt that Helene was just doing this to get her goat, and she asked if Helene was ever going to outgrow this little ritual, and Helene quietly replied, "Probably not, coach."
   

    Soon after, as Helene asked Bart to talk to him in private underneath the bleachers, Cassie watched them and was distracted. Helene told Bart that he would have a good chance if he asked Cassie out, but Bart asked if she would tell her more over a pizza at Grumpy's. Helene told Bart that she was going to pretend he didn't say that, as Cassie was her best friend and that she really thought the two of them would..

    Further discussion was interrupted when Cassie fell off the balance beam, surprising the janitor, who accidentally knocked his mop bucket over on the bleacher remote control device, causing it to short after after causing the bleachers to retract. While Bart jumped out safely, Helene slipped on her spilled bottle of nail polish remover, and she was trapped with and crushed by the retracting bleachers. Despite Helene's agonized cries, no one could stop the process.
    mengert-helene-21371-ghost-face

    An ambulance was called, and the EMTs taking her away assured Coach Hogan that they would get her there as fast as they could. Coach Hogan assured the devastated Cassie, who blamed herself, that it was an accident and that Helene would pull through. Having seen Helene's contorted frame, Cassie questioned this, but Coach Hogan told her to go home and that she would follow the ambulance to the hospital and call once she knew something.
   

(Route 666 - BTS) - Unable to face their dorm room, Cassie went to her parents' house.

(Route 666) - Assessing that Helene had less than five minutes to live, the apparently demonic/monstrous EMTs decided to wait in an alley "for it." Soon after, they noted her death, and one of them prepared to call for a pickup.

    Observing their stopping in the alley, Coach Hogan pounded on the back of the ambulance, asking why they weren't taking her to the hospital as quickly as possible. Deciding to go "two for one," the EMTs assumed monstrous form, flung open the door, pulled her in, and shut it again.
   

    That evening as Cassie slept, Helene's spirit appeared, hovering over her bed and calling her name. Cassie saw and heard Helene telling her that they had gotten Coach Hogan and that they were after her, too. She asked Cassie to please help her, but Cassie, who had long experienced contacts with ghosts that had led to her undergoing investigations, attempted to deny this. As Helene continued to appeal to Cassie for help, a portal opened, and a pair of ghost-demon creatures emerged. The creatures were surprised that Cassie could hear them, but as Helene continued to plead for help, they grabbed her and -- ignoring Cassie's demands that they let her go -- pulled her back through their portal, which shut behind them.
   

   
mengert-helene-21371-ghost-pulled(Route 666 - BTS) - Cassie was eventually checked into the Melchior Sanitarium where she was roomed with a seemingly catatonic woman named Silvie. At night, Silvie cried out, and the same two ghost-demon creatures emerged through a portal into their room. They told Cassie that Helene blamed her for her current state, claiming that Helene told them to prove her involvement by sharing "Martin-Fartin'-Inglehart'n." Cassie fled from the creatures, who pursued, telling her that their boss was willing to swap their spirits, which could only happen if Cassie attempted suicide again. Denying that Helene would want that, Cassie dove through one of the creatures, agonizing it while giving Cassie a glimpse into their realm. Cassie's grandfather's spirit then arrived to assist her...
   

Comments: Created by Tony Bedard and Karl Moline under the CrossGen imprint.

    Some background on CrossGen (courtesy of Loki). As he noted, I would have assumed the story was taking place on modern day Earth.

    Further information on Route 666 courtesy of Wikipedia:

Route 666 takes place on the fictional planet of Erebus in a country called the United States of Empyrean, which mimics the innocent feel and the actual mindset, lifestyles and technology of the USA in the 1950s. A feud with the People's Republic of Rodina, presumably a combination of Russia and China, mirrors the Cold War between capitalism and communism (Rodina is Russian for "motherland").

Plot summary

The lead character, Cassie Heloise Starkweather, had been able to see dead people from childhood but repressed the ability. As a college student, Cassie had inadvertently caused the death of her college roommate and teammate, Helene, through carelessness. Helene's ghost appears to her and tells her that spirits from another world, agents of "The Adversary," possess the bodies of people in this world and kidnap the souls of those who die violently, which is a food source to them. Two of these dark spirits overhear this conversation and drag her friend away. Cassie can see past the disguises and to her these agents appear as B-movie monsters or creatures of local legend. To others, they appear human. People find it difficult to accept the existence of a world of soul-stealing monsters and refuse to believe her.

Riddled with guilt and declared unstable by a Doctor Melchior, Cassie is dispatched to Melchior Asylum where she learns that half the staff is made up of these soul-stealers. Cassie escapes while killing a few of these agents. These deaths and murders the agents themselves commit are all attributed to Cassie, making her appear to be a serial killer.

She has problems finding allies. One person who does believe her is a serial killer known as the "Railsplitter".

As Cassie flees from local, state and federal law enforcement authorities, she brings misfortune to the small county of Gossmer. Cisco, the local sheriff, recognizes her as the accused murderer reported on the news. Cassie steals his squad car; Cisco wants to give chase in his son's truck, but his son Miguel insists he is the only one who can drive it. While in pursuit, her car loses control and they all crash, leading to Miguel's death.

Cisco becomes her most supportive "compadre," and he even shelters her. She also encounters a circus, finds her hometown infested with agents, moves through the bayou country of the Deep South, into the midwestern heartland, and is taken to the capital city of Rodina.

Completion of the story arc was interrupted by the bankruptcy of the comic's publisher, CrossGen.

    This profile was completed 09/20/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event to represent Route 666's stories and characters.
    I honestly had never read any of the CrossGen series before this, so if there are appearances or context missing, let me know, and we can add it.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Helene Mengertshould be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
Route 666#1, story pg. 2, panel 3 (face profile);
          panel 4 (seated profile);
       pg. 4, panel 2 (gymnastic, upper);
       pg. 10 (wrapped upper in bleachers);
       pg. 15, panel 2 (ghost, post, oblique);
       pg. 16, panel 2 (ghost, face);
       pg. 19, panel 3 (ghost getting pulled away)
Appearances:
Route 666#1 (July, 2002) - Tony Bedard (writer), Karl Moline (penciler), John Dell (inker), Barbara Kesel (editor)

First posted: 09/30/2026
Last updated: 09/20/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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