PODPOD
Real Name: Pod
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial
(unidentified world) sentient fauna (Biped; see
comments)
Occupation: Potential steed
Group Membership: The bipeds at
Tila's ranch
Affiliations: Latch, Tila, three other unidentified bipeds
Enemies:
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Tila's Ranch, the Trilands,
unidentified planet, unidentified star system, unidentified galaxy
First Appearance: Eden's
Trail#2 (2003)
Powers/Abilities: Pod is a Biped, a race of two legged reptilian creatures, walking upright and lacking any sort of upper/forelimb.
Like other Bipeds, Pod has a long, thin neck and a relatively short tail, rapidly tapering from a thick base to a thin tip.
A membrane at the oral labial
commissure apparent limited and/or allowed wide opening of the jaws,
and there were no teeth present.
Each foot had a pair of cranial
(forward-facing) toes with sharp claws as well as a single caudal toe,
presumably allowing them to grip objecting.
Bipeds are typically used as steeds, but Pod is relatively old and slow, and he can't carry a person at any significant speed for any significant duration before fatiguing.
Although reputedly less
intelligent than the other Bipeds, Pod was the only one seen to speak,
and he could carry on a full conversation.
Pod is an omnivore, but prefers meat
and potatoes.
He has allergies to some types of
grass, at least.
History:
(Eden's Trail#2 (fb) - BTS) - Tila obtained her
ranch, with the previous owner having been the town's sheriff. Jail
cells were present in its lower level.
(Eden's Trail#1 - BTS / Eden's
Trail#2 - BTS) - After Tila's bar, Tila's Eden (which she had worked
day and night to build up for seven years), had been blown-up by the
immortal Latch in the process of stopping a group of bandits robbing
the bar, Tila locked up Latch in a cell in her home/ranch. 
(Eden's Trail#2) - After Tila
had headed up for the night, Latch bent one of the bars in his window,
but only at great pain to himself.
Unaware that Tila was listening
from a balcony/whatever just above his cell, Latch then called to the
biped lying outside the window, "Hey,
you!", waking him up.
The biped asked if Latch was talking to
him, and when Latch confirmed, he told Latch that his name was "Pod,
not 'You.'"
Apologizing, Latch suggested that they
get out of there, but Pod asked why they would leave.
Latch suggested they go to a land
with lush green grass (as opposed to this more barren land), and Pod
asked what kind of grass, as he had allergies.
Latch assured Pod that it was
hypo-allergenic grass and that he would hand-feed him insects of all
kinds, but Pod was upset that Latch would make him eat insects, asking
what he had ever done to him.
Pod continued that he was a meat
and potatoes type person, and he begged that he would do anything as
long as Latch did not make him go to such an awful place. Latch told
Pod that he could stay here, but asked him to pull out the bars from
his window so he could go...and to do it quickly before Tila found out.
(Eden's Trail#2 - BTS) - Pod
presumably refused or was otherwise unable to pull out the bars.
(Eden's Trail#2 - BTS) - Latch
later carved a key and put a sedative -- a special ingredient he kept
in his kit -- in the food Tila had given.
(Eden's Trail#2 (fb) - BTS) - Overloading the fuses that electrically-charged the bars, Latch escaped his cell, sedated the rest of the bipeds in the ranch and fled atop Pod.
(Eden's Trail#2 - BTS) - Finding every fuse in the fusebox to be blown and the other bipeds snoring in their pen, Tila realized what had happened.
(Eden's Trail#2) - Tila pursued
Latch and Pod, but Pod soon stopped running, exclaiming that he was too
old for this. After Tila caught up to them, Latch realized that he had
sedated the wrong bipeds, and Tila confirmed that Pod was the oldest
and slowest, but she assured Pod that she meant no offense.
Tila further asked Latch why he had taken Pod, as he was immortal and superhumanly strong and durable, and he could have carried his supplies and fled on foot. Latch did not answer the question.
(Eden's Trail#2 (fb) - BTS) - Tila, Latch and Pod returned to the ranch.
(Eden's Trail#2) - The next
morning, Tila confirmed to Pod that she and Latch would be heading out
that afternoon. She assured Pod that she would be back as this was her
home and that she could never leave it and or her bipeds for long. She
further explained that she just needed to make
some money so she could rebuild her bar.
Tila asked Pod if that was OK with
him, and he replied, "No," but she told him that it was going to have
to be. Pod lamented that he knew she was not coming back and that she
was leaving him because he was old and slow.
Tila tried to reassure Pod, but
Latch told her that Pod was too dense and that she would never get
through to him, leading Pod to reply to Latch, "I
don't like you, you know." Nonetheless, he told "Miss Tila"
that Latch was right, "Pod's always
been a little slower than the average Biped." However, when
Latch added, "And that's saying a lot,"
Pod was offended again, asking what he meant by that.
Changing the subject, Tila asked Latch if he had looked over the map she had given him and then said, "Causeifyertoostupidtounnderstanitjustsaywhat," leading him to reply, "What?" and earning Tila a high five from Pod.
After discussing the trip and perils,
Tila and Latch prepared to depart.
(Eden's
Trail#4)
- Pod and the other bipeds ate and drank the food and
(presumably) alcohol in Tila's house and slept on her floor and
couches.
Comments: Created by Steve Uy.
There's some
controversy about this book. Apparently Steve Uy did the art, but only
scripted the first (or earlier) issues, and then Chuck Austen was
presumably given a progressively larger role in writing as it went on.
As long as the link works, you can check out some
related discussion on that here
(although the writer referring to the lead character as Eden rather
than Tila doesn't inspire confidence in me about the article's writer's
knowledge of the series...but perhaps the controversy was the focus).
Regardless, the series and characters have not been
seen or referenced again as far as I know.
Eden's Trail
takes place on another planet of unrevealed name and location. It has
no characters or events that tie it into the Marvel Multiverse, but
there's also nothing that would exclude it from taking place in
Reality-616. Maybe it was long ago and far away...maybe it took place
around the time it was printed, but just in some remote part of space
not yet otherwise shown in Reality-616...or maybe it is tied into the
modern/heroic age, but still in some remote part of the
galaxy/universe. Or maybe it's in some distant future or perhaps some
alien realm not even in an Earth universe.
I hadn't read the series in
like 22 years, but I remembered Pod as an interesting character. Sadly
I don't know if we'll ever see him again.
Per the Marvel Database: This series is printed in the horizontal Marvelscope. The only other comics in this format were New X-Men 2001 #1, Uncanny X-Men 2001 #1, and X-Treme X-Men 2001 #1.
This profile was
completed 12/13/2025, but
its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th
anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Pod should be distinguished from:
First posted: 09/27/2026
Last updated: 03/31/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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