Environment: Earthlike
Usual means of access: Space travel
Dominant Life Forms: Robots, Loonies
(aka humans), various altered Terran animals
Significant Inhabitants: "Awful
Eight", Black Bunny Brigade, Chief Toysmith of Spacewheel, "Croaker" (Dyvyne's
assistant), Drakillars,
Lord Dyvyne, Dyvynicies Inc., Good Humor Men, Head
Robot, Lylla, Judson Jakes, Keystone Kops, Killer
Clowns/Psycho Circus, Blackjack O'Hare, Uncle Pyko, Robohorse,
Robomower, Rocket Raccoon, Simian Sentries,
Snail Gang, Stinker,
Wal Russ, Wild Worms,
various unidentified animals, humans,
and robots;
Significant Items:
Red Breath, Gideon's Bible/Halfworld Bible,
Wonder Toy Significant Locations: Admissions
Ward, Asylum, unidentified
cantina, Cuckoo's Nest, Galacian
Wall, humanoid spaceship, Mayhem
Mekanics, Spacewheel First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#271 (May 1982)
History:
(Rocket Raccoon#2 (fb) - BTS)
<From the log of the Starship Gideon> - The "counsel" decreed that certain forms
of insanity were were incurable, and a group of psychiatrists(?) were ordered to
transport their planet's most insane to a world of their own, where they would
be cared for by robots and kept amused by pets for the rest of their natural
lives. (Rocket Raccoon#3 (fb)) -
Psychiatrists from an unidentified starfaring human civilization (see
comments below) left their homes in search of a planet that they could use
to house their seemingly incurably insane patients away from the sane society
that loathed them (the patients) and made them outcasts from the rest.
(Rocket Raccoon#3 (fb)) - Five
years out, the psychiatrists found a world they found suitable for their needs,
and, with great rejoicing, they set their
hospice ships (at least five of them) down on it. They built a facility to
house their allegedly incurable patients whom they vowed to cure, building
robots to care for their needs while the animals the doctors brought served
their intended purpose as companions and entertainers for their patients.
Administering the settlement from their headquarters in Asylum, the
psychiatrists spent years studying the functions and dysfunctions of the human
mind, expanding their knowledge of same, and writing down all their observations
of their patients' mental problems in the logbook of the hospice ship Gideon.
(Incredible Hulk II#271 (fb) -
BTS) <According to Uncle Pyko> - The Loonies and humanity shared common ancestry
with the Firstcomers (see comments)...perhaps indicating the Firstcomers were
part of one of the races which has claimed to be ancestors of all humanoid races
throughout the universe, such as the
Xorri. (Rocket
Raccoon#3 (fb)) - Before they could find a cure, though, their research was
called into question, their funding was cut off and the doctors were ordered to
return to their homeworld. Having no choice but to obey, the doctors did so (Rocket
Raccoon#1 (fb) - BTS) - The shrinks built the impenetrable Galacian Wall around
the entire Keystone quadrant (Rocket
Raccoon#3 (fb)) - The wall was built to keep the doctors' patients (left behind
due to safety concerns) safe from outside harm from their home society, and to
keep the patients from inadvertently escaping into possible harm. Having no
choice but to obey their orders to return to their homeworld, the doctors left
their patients, uncured, in the care of the robots, and also left behind the
animals to continue on as companions and entertainers. (Annihilators#3/2 (fb)) - The
hospice ships founded the Halfworld asylum in the Keystone Quadrant to exploit
the region's remoteness; far away from anything, it was more secure. (Annihilators#3/2 (fb)) - The
largest asylum in known space. Halfworld was established as a Matrioshka Brain,
a bio-organic ecosystem of world spheres that maximize the power output of the
sun at its center. The Galacian Wall was merely its outer shell. Each level
housed patients living out therapeutic fantasies, conducted via virtual
immersion by the wardens, who were anthropomorphosized animals designed to be
friendly and reassuring to the patients, which was part of the therapy. At the
very heart of the Matrioshka structure were the highest security sections for
the incurably insane. Those levels had the greatest concentration of security
guards, who were made to look like clowns to enhance the cheerful, fun
atmosphere of the place, as they didn't want any of the dangerous inmates to get
upset. (Annihilators#3/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Rocket Raccoon was the security chief, with Blackjack O'Hare as his number two.
Rocket personally supervised the admission of thousands of patients. Security
was fundamental...in thirty years it had never breached. (Rocket
Raccoon#3 (fb)) <speculated by Uncle Pyko> - "Ages passed," and over the
following years (centuries?) the robots continued their task of taking care of
the patients and their descendants, who, if not born already insane, were born
into and affected by their parents' insane environment and acted insane as
normal behavior. Eventually gaining an artificial intelligence of their own
(perhaps caused by radiation from a nova affecting their inner workings), the
supremely logical robots began chaffing at the illogic of their charges, and
sought a way out. They found an answer by genetically manipulating the animals
and enhancing their intelligence, enabled them to speak human language, and gave
many animals prosthetics that mimicked human movement, including the ability to
walk upright and use their front paws/hoofs as hands. The robots then turned
over day-to-day care of the insane humans, now called Loonies, over to the
altered animals while the robots retreated to their claimed side of the planet,
which they turned into an all-metallic industrial plain. (Rocket
Raccoon#1 (fb) - BTS) - Ceaselessly laboring, the robots created artificial
limbs for the animals and making parts for toys used to keep the Loonies
entertained, they also began working on a gigantic humanoid-shaped starship. (Rocket
Raccoon#3 (fb) - BTS) - The robots studied how to shut down the Galacian Wall,
while also making vehicles and weapons. (Rocket
Raccoon#1-3 (fb) - largely inference from events and beings in current
stories rather than specifically seen history events) - Over the following
years (more centuries?) animal society evolved around caring for the Loonies,
with toy companies becoming the chief source of income for many animals, and
with the Chief Toysmiths of each company designing both toys for Loonies and far
more dangerous "toys" (aka weapons) for their bosses. Other animals became law
enforcers, called Rangers, with both the care of the Loonies and the keeping of
law and order among the other animals a chief concern to the animal Rangers.
(Incredible Hulk
II#271 (fb) - BTS) - The main housing facility of the patients became known as
the Cuckoo's Nest, the capital (for lack of a better word) of the non-robotic
(and thus still full of plants and other natural stuff) half of the planet, now
called Halfworld by its inhabitants. (Rocket
Raccoon#1 (fb) - BTS) - The doctors' headquarters became a shrine called the
Admissions Ward, home of a religion worshiping the ancient Shrinks, and tended
to by priests called the Good Humor Men, and which only the Loonies were
supposed to enter. (Incredible Hulk
II#271 (fb) - BTS / Rocket Raccoon#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Cuckoo's Nest shrine also
housed the
log book of the Gideon (which became known as Gideon's Bible or the
Halfworld Bible), left behind by the doctors (who came to be referred to as "Firstcomers"
and "Ancient Shrinks") when they left, and venerated by the Loonies despite the
fact that none could actually read it, let alone had the education to understand
what it said. (Incredible Hulk
II#271 (fb) - BTS) - The system Halfworld belonged to was named the Keystone
Quadrant by its inhabitants, though where the system is located (i.e. which
galaxy it’s in, which empire it’s nearest, etc.) in relation to the rest of the
universe at large has yet to be revealed. (Rocket Raccoon#1 (fb)) - Not
realizing their true origins, the animals felt the robots were unable to stop
themselves from making machines for which they had no use, so they gave them to
the animals, who used them with which to play and farm. (Rocket
Raccoon#3 (fb) - BTS) - Judson Jakes, chief Toysmith of Mayhem Mekaniks
(presumably originally named Inter-Stel Mechanics), assassinated the business'
husband and wife owners, seize their company, and wage war on his competitors;
Jakes also made himself guardian of the former owner's daughter, Lylla, who
nonetheless stood to inherit the company upon coming of age.
(Rocket Raccoon#1 (fb) - BTS) - From
the Spacewheel (allegedly
built by the presumably built by scientist tortoise Uncle Pyko, but perhaps
actually constructed by the robots, with Pyko's guidance),
in the center of the Keystone Quadrant, Jakes ruled Inter-Stel Mechanics, from
which Uncle Pyko apparently turned out automaton assassins such as the Killer
Clowns, as well as the alien Drakillars, and used Blackjack O'Hare and his Black
Bunny Brigade to do his dirty work. Jakes and Pyko apparently sought Gideon's
Bible to learn the origin of the Keystone Quadrant and its inhabitants. (Incredible Hulk II#271 - BTS) - Many years ago, under unrevealed
circumstances, tortoise toysmith Uncle Pyko probed the mind of a human
Keystone Kop, and unearthed deeply submerged memories of the connection
between the Firstcomers (aka the psychiatrists) and the Loonies (whom the
Kop belonged to). In the process, Uncle Pyko also learned the key
to deciphering the Gideon's Bible, which all believed held the secret for
ultimate power on Halfworld. Unhappily for him, the Kop did not survive
the probe.
(Incredible Hulk II#271) - A runaway robot mower approached a sleeping
Hulk (Bruce Banner, who, long story short, had been transported to Halfworld
by a dying Galaxy
Master), who could not be awakened by the two animals (Rocket Raccoon
and Wal Russ) who had found him. Rocket attempted to divert the robomower
from its path, but the robot couldn't be stopped. The sound from
the mower awoke the Hulk, who was angry his sleep was disturbed, and smashed
the robomower, but not before the 'mower got off an alarm and summoned
the Loonie police, the Keystone Quadrant Kops. Upon arriving, the
Kops promptly crashed into the victim, then futilely gave chase to the
two animals and the Hulk, who calmly left in the spaceship Rakk 'n' Ruin
while the Kops were getting themselves organized enough to begin their
investigation.
(Incredible Hulk II#271) - After
Rocket explained what he knew of Halfworld to the Hulk, he received a distress
call from the Cuckoo's Nest, as Lylla (Rocket's girlfriend and Wal Russ' niece) reported the Black
Bunny Brigade's assault. (Incredible Hulk II#271 - BTS) -
The Black Bunny Brigade overpowered those defending the Cuckoo's Nest, and they
took both Lylla and Gideon's Bible back to the Spacewheel. (Incredible Hulk
II#271 - BTS) - The Hulk agreed to aid Rocket and Wal Russ and they traveled to
the Cuckoo's Nest, where Stinker, one of the few conscious guards, reported the
abduction of Lylla and Gideon's Bible. Rocket correctly reasoned they had been
taken to the Spacewheel, and he led Wal Russ and the Hulk there aboard the
Rakk'N'Ruin. As their ship arrived, Jakes had Pyko send Killer Clowns to
intercept them; Wal Russ remained behind to pilot the ship. With the Hulk's
power, they made short work of the Clowns, and the Hulk smashed his way into
Spacewheel (with Pyko's servodroids rapidly repairing this damage upon their
entry). When Blackjack threatened Lylla to force Rocket's surrender, the Hulk
punched the ground, upsetting Blackjack with the Shockwave and allowing Rocket
to finish him off. As Rocket rushed to confront Jakes, the Hulk was distracted
and summoned by Pyko, who had read Gideon's Bible and determined the Hulk's
planet of origin and offered to send him back. As Rocket defeated Jakes'
Drakillar agent and forced Jakes' surrender, Pyko briefly explained how he had
determined that the Firstcomers were the ancestors of the Keystone Kops and the
Hulk (meaning they had come from Earth). Setting his devices to send the Hulk
home to prevent him from upsetting Halfworld's balance of power, Pyko returned
the Halfworld Bible to Rocket, claiming it to be incomprehensible even to him.
With the Bible, Rocket and Lylla rejoined Wal Russ on the Rakk'N'Ruin and
departed Spacewheel, heading back to return the tome to the Cuckoo's Nest. (Rocket
Raccoon#1 (fb) - BTS) - Under unexplained circumstances, Jakes apparently
relinquished control of the Spacewheel to his chief rival in the toy industry,
Lord Dyvyne and his Dyvynities Inc. Jakes renamed Inter-Stel Mechanics as
"Mayhem Mekaniks" and established a new base in a factory on the crater-ridden
border between animal and robot zones. (Rocket Raccoon#1) - After borrowing the Gideon's Bible from the
Loonies in an attempt to decipher it, Rocket and his companions, Wal and
Lylla were interrupted by the Keystone Quadrant Kops, whose
investigation of the Snail Gang was interrupted by a call from toy mogul
Lord Dyvyne over the assassination of his chief toysmith, which sent the
Kops off to find Rocket so he could take the call. Rocket returned
the Bible to its caretakers, the Good Humor Men, whose leader assured Rocket
that the language of the ancient Shrinks was unfathomable, then invited
Rocket to watch the ancient rites, which Rocket did for a few moments before
getting back to Dyvyne's call. As Rocket headed to investigate Mayhem
Mekaniks, Dyvyne ordered Blackjack O'Hare to kidnap Lylla so he could possess
her inheritance. (Rocket Raccoon#2) - Later that night, the Loonies held the Great
Masquerade, where each Loonie could become what they truly believed they
were for a night, as part of the "therapy" left for them by the ancient
Shrinks. Wal Russ monitored for the presence of non-Loonie lifeforms using
the parade as cover, but by the time he detected two incoming attackers, Rocket
was too far away to hear his warning, and was attacked by a Drakillar and a Killer
Clown (courtesy of Dyvyne and Jakes, respectively) during the parade portion of
the celebration; Rocket ultimately destroyed both. Meanwhile, O'Hare decided to
keep Lylla for himself, notifying Dyvyne of his intent to marry her and make
himself top toysmith in the Keystone Quadrant. In response, Dyvyne unleashed the
misty Red Breath creature (created by Lord Dyvyne's late toysmith) to seek out
and erase his enemies. Jakes interrupted Pyko's review of the Halfworld Bible,
and the two argued regarding there differing motivations; when Jakes noted his
plans to "clean house" (by eliminating anyone in his way), Pyko (perhaps seeking
to distract Jakes so he could return to the Halfworld Bible), showed him his
Vacusleds, which could clean up anything or anyone. (Rocket Raccoon#3) - After faking their deaths to throw off a
posse composed of Judson Jake's Killer Clowns and Lord Dyvyne's chimpanzee
samurais, O'Hare brought Rocket, Wal Russ, and Lylla to a cantina on the
robot side of Halfworld, where O'Hare claimed that every deal for the toys
sold to the Loonies was negotiated. There, Rocket, Lylla, and Wal
discovered Uncle Pyko waiting for them, wishing to talk. While Pyko
revealed the true history of the Shrinks as detailed in the Gideon's Bible,
O'Hare slipped off and recruited seven other animals to kidnap Lylla and
the Bible so he could turn them over to Lord Dyvyne (his most recent employer)
and return to Dyvyne's good graces. Rocket and the others defeated
O'Hare and his so-called "Awful Eight" and escaped. Pyko took them
to the Assembly Line, run by the Head Robot, and explained to Rocket that
the Bible also held the notes the ancient Shrinks had taken about the forms
of insanity the Loonies suffered from, and that the best way to end the
toy war between Jakes and Dyvyne was to cure the Loonies using the notes
in the Bible. Rocket reluctantly fed the Bible to the Head Robot,
which digested the data within the Bible and soon turned out a therapeutic
toy designed to cure the Loonies.
(Rocket Raccoon#4) - Days later, the four animals, along with
a Robohorse, set up a traveling carney show to give all the Loonies of
Halfworld a Wonder Toy (the therapeutic toy from last issue's end) in an
attempt to cure the Loonies of their insanity, and thus end the toy war
between toy moguls Jakes and Dyvyne by depriving them of their customer
base. After every Loonie got a toy, the four commented on the
silence that now hung over the Cuckoo's Nest, before coming under attack
by the combined forces of Dyvyne and Jakes. Rocket, Wal, Lylla, and
Pyko fought the two armies, but even with the aid of a semi-repentant O'Hare
they were outgunned by their enemies, until the Robohorse returned with
reinforcements -- the other robots and the now-cured Loonies -- who quickly
turned the tide of battle and finished off the Clowns, and took the chimpanzee
samurais prisoner. Afterwards the humans asked the animals and robots
to help them rebuild their world; while some animals and robots accepted,
others chose to follow Rocket onto the humanoid spaceship into outer space
and seek their destiny there after the Robots shut down the Galacian Wall.
(Annihilators#3/2 (fb)) -
Star-Thief (Barry Bauman) was admitted to Halfworld; his physical body having
been killed on Earth years ago, his mind had survived, jumping from one new host
to the next. Inside his latest host body, he was brought to Halfworld and placed
in the tightest security. Bauman resisted all therapy, possessing inmates and
guards alike, causing riots and disruption. He repeatedly tried to escape, and
he even managed to take control of the beloved head of psychology, Dr. Dyvyne.
Rocket and Blackjack fought to stop the escape, to avoid the risk of his madness
infecting the entire galaxy.
(Annihilators#3/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Before he departed, Rocket redesigned a number of systems, including having the
clown-class security drones made from bioreactive dendronic wood from Planet X
(home of Groot) because it was best suited to Halfworld's living eco-security
system. (Annihilators#3/2 (fb))
- Believing it to be his duty as security chief, Rocket handed his badge over to
Blackjack, then made the other wardens use the immersion therapy to wipe his
mind so he could never remember his life or his friends there, so he would never
be tempted to return. As Rocket left, he took with him were half-memories of
adventures he had participated in.
(Annihilators#3/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Judson Jakes became Blackjack's new number two security chief.
(Annihilators#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - Lylla
married Blackjack O'Hare.
(Annihilators#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - More
recently, Jakes was possessed by Star-Thief and ran amok. Blackjack and the
others managed to stop Jakes but not before he could jettison some of the
clown-class security drones. Via Star-Thief's manipulations, the Clowns were
intended to lure Rocket Raccoon back to Halfworld.
(Annihilators#1/2 - BTS) - A Killer Clown was sent to Rocket Raccoon while he
was working in the postal division of the Alpha Centauri offices of Timely Inc.
Customer Services Division. Rocket learned of its arrival while being
reprimanded by his superior for receiving a personal delivery, and upon opening
it was attacked the the Clown. It recovered from a series of assaults as Rocket
briefly pinned it to the wall with a staple gun, stunned it with a mop handle,
bound it in bubble wrap and parcel tape, and kicked it into the incinerator.
Finally, Rocket threw a water cooler at the Clown, knocking it through a
window/causing a hull breach into the vacuum of space, and then sent it hurtling
through space with the exhaust from a fire extinguisher. It's right arm broke
off just below the elbow in the final assault, and was left behind in the office
as the room was sealed and the atmospheric breech contained.
(Annihilators#2/2 - BTS) - Groot informed Rocket that Killer Clown had been
manufactured on Halfworld, which Rocket had failed to realize due to the
previous memory blocks; Rocket had even forgotten Halfworld existed until he
heard the name. Groot further correctly posited that whoever sent the Clown had
realized they wouldn't be able to slip much past Timely Inc's security systems,
perhaps one Clown, which they knew Rocket would be able to deal with, but that
it would bring him to Planet X, to which they could more easily deploy a
full-scale hit squad.
(Annihilators#2/2) - Two days later, via jump drive, they arrived at the
Keystone quadrant, where they found the Galacian wall had been reinforced from a
force field into a full-scale barrier. As they approached, a gate opened for
them, and when they found the dock area deserted, Rocket used his communicator
to announce his presence. (Annihilators#3/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Upon learning it was Rocket in the approaching ship,
Blackjack O'Hare figured Rocket
must have remembered and thus presumably have been possessed by Star Thief...and
was coming back to organize a mass escape.
(Annihilators#2/2) - Blackjack O'Hare
said, "Oh Rocket, you should never have come back...because now we'll have to
kill you," at which point he launched 24 fusion warheads at Rocket and Groot's
ship. (Annihilators#3/2) - Blackjack
lamented having to have killed Rocket, but Rocket, via his
Timely Inc. Shipment Processing
and Analysis Device, Rocket had himself and Groot immediately transported to
Halfworld in a package brought in by Clowns and announced by Wal-Rus. Blackjack
realized what the package was just as Rocket and Groot burst forth; they made
short work of the Clowns, and then Rocket held Blackjack and Wal-Rus at gunpoint
and asked what they had to say for themselves. However, Rocket was then
distracted by suddenly remembering his two old associates, an Lylla blasted him
from behind, apologizing afterwards and noting it was for his own good. She
injected Rocket with a cortical stimulator to gently awaken his dormant memories
via (to reduce the shock of recalling the harsh truth) a happy aspect of his
past, couched in the comforting and reassuring terms of a children's tale.
Strapped to a table, Rocket recalled his memories of his adventures, culminating
in defeating his enemies, and lead Blackjack, Wal-Rus, and Lylla to escape
Halfworld; Blackjack apologized for having to restrain him, but noted they had
to be sure what they were dealing with. Blackjack identified their location as
the Halfworld Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Blackjack and Lylla explained
the reasons for the fairy tale memories, and Lylla revealed she had long since
married Blackjack. They then strapped Rocket in the immersion couch, and began
the full upload restoration of his memories.
(Annihilators#4/2 (fb)) - Needing the
wardens alive but pacified, Star-Thief zapped Rocket, Groot, Blackjack, and Wal-Russ,
and the Clowns brought them into an enviroputic bio-scape, an immersion
environment, which kept the wardens entranced.
(Annihilators#4/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Star-Thief had enthralled
all of Halfworld and begun herding all of the inmates into the giant ark ship
Halfworld's robots built, planning to use the ship as a body to escape the
asylum, with the inmates as a living, bio-organic control system and/or a crew.
(Annihilators#4/2 (fb)) - As the
Clowns wheeled Groot away, he split off a cutting of himself, made a break, and
slipped into the bio-scape holding Rocket. Using his natural dendronic powers,
Groot spoke through the bio-scape's trees.
(Annihilators#4/2) - Groot revived
and rescued Rocket (who had been dreaming of a relaxing time with Lylla and Wal-Russ
by a stream), and they found Star-Thief herding the inmates into the ship, with
only 10-15 minutes before Star-Thief would be ready to launch. Fearing
Star-Thief's madness spreading across the galaxy, Raccoon led Groot back into
the bio-scape, from which Groot extricated Blackjack as he rose a toast to the
Black Bunny Brigade. When Blackjack noted they needed to reach the control
center, which Bauman would have guarded, Groot germinated the Clown's living
wood and sent them to assault the ship and distract Star-Thief. As Star-Thief
forcibly retook control of the Clowns and ordered the ship's repair, Blackjack
and Rocket broke into the control center, and destroyed the guards present
there. Blackjack accessed, and they reviewed Bauman's files while Blackjack
noted that since Star-Thief was hooked into the asylum's Matrioshka brain
structure to be in control, if they cold disrupt Bauman's attention, the
asylum's systems might have a chance to reboot automatically and sedate him
again. As Star-Thief announced the completion of ship's repairs and that they
were prepared to depart, Rocket dropped in, posing as Mr. Binkey, the dog
Bauman had loved while possessing Tom Vocson, his first human host before
becoming Star-Thief. Confused and wondering if Mr. Binkey was real, Bauman
became sufficiently distracted and thus vulnerable, and Black activated
the asylum's psychic dampeners. Star-Thief was pulled back into his own
immersion environment (where Barry Bauman was a healthy child with his parents
and Mr. Binkey), while Wal-Russ, Lylla, and the other wardens were awakened from
within their bio-scapes. Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (penciler), Jim Novak (inks).
This profile is mostly a catch-all
for the many Halfworld denzines that didn't fit in with the other animal
characters getting their own profiles (Rocket Raccoon, Lylla, Wal Russ,
Uncle Pyko, Blackjack O'Hare, Judson Jakes, Lord Dyvyne, maybe Psycho-Circus),
or who had enough history in common that they didn't need truly need separate
profiles for them (Robots and Loonies). The Wild Worms and Drakillars
have their own profile already.
I've seen mentioned on some websites
discussing the Rocket Raccoon stories that Mantlo wrote, that he had been
strongly influenced (or was doing an homage of sorts) to a Beetles song,
("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", I think is the song being referenced
by them), given much of the fun lunacy that Halfworld has. My guess
is that Mantlo was simply drinking from the same creative well, figuratively
speaking, that whoever wrote "Lucy" drank from, and nothing more (no rocking-horse
people or girls with kaleidoscope eyes homages on Halfworld that I saw,
anyway). Halfworld simply had the same feel as the world in "Lucy",
is all. (And before anyone brings it up, yes I am aware the Beetles'
song was supposed to "really" be about a LSD trip, and no, I'm not accusing
these creators of using it or anything like that. You can get weird
imagery like rocking-horse people without using ANY drugs, trust me.
Imagination and a different world view is all you need. to do it with.)
What happened to the Halfworlders who left the planet
has never been revealed, beyond the fact that Rocket Raccoon was somehow
separated from the others and has yet to be reunited with them. My
guess/preference is that they first went to the world the ancient psychiatrist
came from, and then saw how many threats were out there (Kree invaders,
Skrull invaders, other alien invaders, ect.), then decided to return to
Halfworld and make it their home base to explore the rest of the universe
from.
What link Bill Mantlo intended between Halfworld,
the Sword
in the Star timeline, and Earth (which was mentioned as having a link
to the same people who founded Halfworld in the Hulk issue), will unhappily
never be revealed by him, due to a brain injury he suffered several years
ago (some details and occasional updates here).
Given the number of similarities between many of Halfworld's denizens (all
animals people are clearly descended from Earth animals, the Loonies dress
up as characters from American pop culture, etc.), there has to be a major
link between the two planets somehow. Most likely is that Earth humans
were seeded onto other worlds by an outside agency (or the outside agency
seeded Earth along with the other worlds), and that is the source of much
of the commonality. Or else several Earth humans and animals were
kidnapped by aliens and stranded on the planet the ancient psychiatrists
came from (who said that such things didn't/couldn't have happened before
the sliding timescale activated in the modern MU?), with some time-travel
involved in the mix. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like an answer
will be revealed anytime soon. :( I'm not sure what exact mental condition(s) the Loonies
were suffering from, beyond loss of contact with reality, and being the
stereotype of the happy-go-lucky harmless crazy person. Possibly
the planet the Loonies originally came from managed to eliminate the truly
violent crazies from their population, leaving them just the more harmless
crazies to fear.
It's unclear just how many centuries passed since
the Shrinks first came to Halfworld and the current day. I'm guessing
not very many (like, maybe, 2-3 centuries at most), since at least one
of the Loonies still remembered how to read the Shrink's native language
(the Kop Uncle Pyko inadvertently killed), which apparently all living
Loonies can't, given how impossible it was for Rocket to read the Halfworld
Bible on his own (otherwise, why wouldn't the Loonies just tell him and
the other animals how to read it if they knew how?). Another mystery
that likely won't get solved anytime soon.
One thing I noticed with the altered animals is that
there seems to be no birds or marine animals among the altered, just land
mammals and reptiles. Possibly the altered dolphins, whales, and
various fish species, if they exist, live primarily in the oceans and lakes,
where none of the Rocket Raccoon series took place. Where the altered
birds live, if they exist, I'm not sure. Maybe they're primarily
forest/mountain dwellers, and have no use for either the Loonies or the
robots, or the other animals at all.
The simian sentries tended to scream "Chim-Chim-Chireeee!",
presumably intended as an homage to Dick Van Dyke's song from Mary Poppins. One thing I noticed during the recent Planet Hulk/World
War Hulk storylines. the design for Warbound member Arch-E 5912 is
very similar to that of the Halfworld robots. Perhaps a ship from
the Shrink's homeworld (NOT Halfworld, since it doesn't have but the one
interstellar craft capable of FTL travel) managed to get trapped in that
wormhole the Sakaarian Shadow Priests had been creating for the last several
years, and that's where Arch-E's from originally. Or not. . . . .
Profile by Elf
with a gun Clarifications:
Halfworld and its various places (Admissions Ward,
Cuckoo's Nest, the cantina, ect.)
have no known connections to
but otherwise have no know connections to
formerly the ancient shrinks
As the Loonies prepared for the Great Masquerade, Pyko,
hidden beneath a sheet, sneaked into their shrine, stole the Halfworld Bible,
and replaced it with a fake. During a later performance of their ancient rites,
the leader of the Good Humor Men asked, as part of the ritual, for the ancient
book to speak to them, only to be horrified when the book opened like a
jack-in-the-box and revealed a jester's head inside the book. Desperate to
recover the Bible before the Loonies sank into lethal despondency, Lylla armed
herself only seconds before being ambushed and abducted by O'Hare.
Jakes' forces, including a giant nutcracker, the Killer
Clowns (aka the Psycho-Circus), and other cyborgs/robots assaulted Rocket, Wal
Russ, and the Rakk'N'Ruin. As Jakes' forces fell, he nonetheless revealed his
goal of becoming chief toysmith and charging the Loonies for the toys, despite
it being the animals' intended duty to entertain the Loonies for free; of seeing
Dyvyne dead; and of marrying Lylla to make her fortune his. Pyko interrupted the
struggle and pointed out the pointlessness of it all, as well as revealing
Dyvyne's announcement that he held Lylla and intended to make both her and
Mayhem Mekaniks his.
As the Loonies arrived at the sacred building Asylum and
continued their Masquerade Ball there, Blackjack, his brigade, and Lylla entered
seconds before Wal Russ and Rocket arrived there via the Rakk'N'Ruin. The Red
Breath arrived to
kill Rocket and Blackjack, and erased anything else that got in its way, including several
Loonies. Wal Russ freed Lylla, and the two fought the Bunny Brigade until a
squad of Killer Clowns arrived on Vacusled, sucking up all of the other Black
Bunnies besides Blackjack. Wal Russ and Lylla pointed out who Blackjack was now
enemies of both Jakes and Dyvyne, like Rocket, and that they should join forces. Blackjack
detoured the Killer Clowns on vacusleds into the path of the Red Breath, which
was sucked up by the Vacusleds even as it erased both sleds and riders. With the
Red Breath eliminated, the erased Loonies
rematerialized, seemingly none the worse for their experiences. Rocket and
Blackjack reluctantly agreed to an alliance against the two toy moguls.
Realizing it could only be a matter of time, Rocket took
drastic action, turning the very bio-organic nature of Halfworld against Bauman:
The wardens were biological components of the living prison; Halfworld was the
lock, and Rocket turned the wardens into the key. Only the wardens' collective
unique cellular patterns could combine to open the inner levels of the asylum.
Unless all were present and willing, Halfworld's lock could never be turned, and
Bauman could never escape. To guarantee this, Rocket decided to throw away the
key, leaving Halfworld forever.
Fired for endangering the other workers and the amount of
paperwork his boss would have to fill out, Rocket decided to visit his old
friend Groot, alleged monarch of Planet X, after being reminded that the Clown's
wood was a bioreactive dendronic material found only on Planet X. He took with
him a Timely Inc. Shipment Processing and Analysis Device.
A group of Killer Clowns then appeared and confronted the
Undergrowth Resistance (allies of Groot), threatening to burn down the entire
forest if they did not surrender Rocket, but Rocket and Groot led the
Undergrowth Resistance to fight back, destroying the Clowns; Rocket put out the
fire the Clowns and the struggle had started.
Rocket and Groot then piloted the Clowns' ambulance ship to
Halfworld, and en route Groot informed the memory-damaged Rocket that Halfworld
was an insane asylum.
Upon recovering, a confused Rocket wondered if the bits of
his life he did remember weren't real, and Lylla responded, "Of course they're
real, silly! Just not real in the same way. See?" Not really understanding what
had really happened, Rocket accepted Blackjack's suspicions and then realized
that he had been lured back there, presumably by Star-Thief so he could open the
lock. Superceding Blackjack's authority, Rocket ordered Wal-Rus to check on
Star-Thief and insisted on interviewing Jakes himself. Upon being revived, Jakes
was mortified to see Rocket had come back, denying Rocket's assurances that
things were still OK and Rocket's questions about what thoughts Jakes had
gleaned from Bauman from their mental contact. Jakes insisted that if Rocket was
there then Star-Thief was as good as escaped already. Blackjack reminded Jakes
that Bauman would have to provide the unique genetic combination and that they
had extra security watching Bauman, who was locked up tight. Just then, the
massive combination tumblers began turning and the immersion systems crashed.
Jakes screamed that Halfworld was going to open wide and Star-Thief was coming,
and then Jakes' head suddenly exploded. As the tumblers continued to turn and
mass panic ensued, Rocket instructed Lylla to sedate the patients and instructed
Groot and Blackjack to accompany him to the high security core. There things
seemed normal, with the Clown on guard, and Wal-Rus showed Rocket a video
showing Star-Thief's host as deeply immersed. Rocket insisted on seeing the host
himself, and they found a skeleton there indicating the host had been long-dead.
As the tumblers turned again, Star-Thief's image appeared before Rocket and his
allies, and he revealed he had control of the Clowns, and that his madness had
escaped into the bio-facility's nervous system; he WAS the Halfworld asylum now,
and he could unlock himself.
Rocket wished Blackjack and Lylla to be as happy as Bauman
and Mr. Binkey and declined Blackjack's offer to return as co-chief of security,
opting instead to continue his efforts to save the universe, whether it wanted
it or not.
Perhaps
the Firstcomers were part of one of the races which has claimed to be ancestors
of all humanoid races throughout the universe, such as the
Xorri.
The animal people of Halfworld have no known connection to
The Halfworld (Gideon) Bible is named after
but otherwise has no connection to
The Keystone Quadrant Kops are an homage to
but otherwise have no connection with
The Loonies have no known connection to:
The robots of Halfworld may or may not have a connection
to
