DAMIAN LINDERS

Real Name: Damian Linders

Identity/Class: Extratemporal (Earth-73479) human cyborg/mutate

Occupation: Maintenance worker

Group Membership: The Wets

Affiliations: Prometheus

Enemies: None

Known RelativesKarl Linders ("tube-brother")

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The swamps beyond an unidentified city in North America

First Appearance: Savage Tales I#2/2 (October, 1973)

Powers/Abilities: Unrevealed, but Damian (like the rest of the Wets) had been surgically altered to survive in the polluted swamplands of the outside world. Additionally, Damian had some type of mechanical implant on his chest (function unknown), which presumably enhanced his body. Damian was armed with a sword.

History: (Savage Tales I#2/2 (fb)) - At some point in the future, a plague struck North America -- it first started on farms, where it destroyed all growing things and mutated the remains into twisted, monstrous plants. It took only one season for the famine to begin, and only another month for three million to die. The outside world soon became a fetid swampland. Only the cities, with their hydroponic gardens, were able to survive. Because of over-population, the social order began to collapse, and a new leader arose -- "The Guardian"; it was he who established a new order and a system of honor and chivalry; it was also he who ordered the creation of the Wets, dividing the survivors into two classes -- the priviliged city-dwellers, and the lower-class Wets, who were exiled to the swamps to maintain the city's machinery.

(Savage Tales I#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Damian Linders was born and was later chosen to become a Wet, and subsequently exiled to the swamps.

(Savage Tales I#2/2) - One day, as Damian met with Prometheus and listened to his tales of the "Old Days" (the days before the plague), the two were summoned by the Council of Wets to attend the trial of two runaway city-dwellers whom they had captured -- as per the Wets' customs, any city-man found on their lands was charged with the crimes of humanity. It was then that Damian saw the defendants to be his own brother, Karl, and Karl's chamber-mate, Christine. Karl begged Damian to help him. His loyalty torn between his brother and his people, Damian reached a decision and drew his sword, then slew two of his fellow Wets as he encouraged Karl and Christine to run, and the trio fled into the bog.

  After days of running, Karl stumbled. As Damian went to help him, Karl angrily revealed to him his true feelings -- how he ran because the thought of being transformed into a Wet disgusted him, just as Damian disgusted him. Enraged by this turn of events, Damian ran Karl through with his sword, leaving Damian with Christine, both unable to return to the lives they knew, both left to face an uncertain future together...

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow.

This story -- much like the Femizons in Savage Tales I#1 -- was a tale of futuristic barbarism.

It was never established in what year this story took place -- Prometheus mentioned that the plague took place when he was nineteen, and judging from his aged appearance, I'd say this story story occurs perhaps fifty years later.

A little back-history: According to the editorial by Roy Thomas in Savage Tales I#2, this story -- "Dark Tomorrow" -- was originally done in 1970, and was planned to be published in Savage Tales I#2 at that time; however, Savage Tales went on a two-and-a-half year hiatus after the first issue, so this story didn't appear until publication of the magazine resumed in 1973 ("Back by Popular Demand!").

But after reading this story -- with its dangling, unresolved "conclusion" -- I was left with the impression that maybe this was originally intended to be a continuing feature in the magazine. Did Damian and Christine go off to start a family together? Did Damian go on to overthrow the status quo established by "The Guardian"? Who knows if Conway and Morrow were planning to go anywhere with this?

This eleven-page story began featuring Karl and Christine, and it seemed as if they would be the central characters -- Damian wasn't even introduced until the fifth page.

Certain aspects of this story -- a couple on the run from a futuristic city, headed for the primitive outside world -- reminded me a little of the book (and later a movie and a Marvel comic) "Logan's Run".

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Damian and Karl Linders have no known connections to:

Prometheus has no known connections to:

"The Guardian" has no known connections to:


The Wets

The once-human Wets had been surgically altered and exiled from the city to live in the swamps.

The Wets led a primitive existance and dwelled in dark, ill-lit caverns. They were the lower-class workers who serviced the machines that ran the city for the priviledged city-dwellers.

--Savage Tales I#2/2











Prometheus

One of the tribal elders of the Wets, Prometheus was old enough to remember the days before the great plague He acted as a mentor/advisor to Damian Linders.

One day, as Prometheus was telling Damian his tales of the Old Days, he and Damian were called upon to attend a special Council of the Wets because two humans -- one of whom was Damian's own "tube-brother," Karl -- had been captured and placed on trial for the crimes of humanity. But Karl eventually swayed Damian to betray his fellow Wets and take his side.

When the other Wets wondered why Damian had turned on them, Prometheus realized that is was the only way, and that Damian needed to take the "soul journey" -- it would make him a man and give him the courage later to do what he had to do...

--Savage Tales I#2/2

 

 




Karl Linders & Christine

Karl was the "tube-brother" of Damian, and Christine was Karl's chosen chamber-mate. Both had been city-dwellers.

Karl's troubles began one day when he was jostled by a man on the city's transit strip. Honor-bound to duel with the man in a swordfight, Karl slew his opponent and was proclaimed the victor, but the city's traditional laws demanded that he be altered into a Wet and exiled to the swamps, a thought which disgusted Karl. Unwilling to be subjected to such a fate, Karl fled with Christine, at which point Karl was looked upon by the other citizens as a dishonorable coward. After Karl killed two other men along the way, he and Christine left the sheltering confines of the city by stealing a rocket shuttle to fly to the outside world.

The gyros of the aircraft were damaged, and it crashed in the swamps, where the unconscious Karl and Christine were captured by the Wets and fitted with respirator helmets. The two were then put on trial by the Wets for the crimes committed by humanity. Reunited with Damian during the trial, Karl turned him to their favor, convincing Damian to help them escape.

But after days of the trio's running, Karl stumbled and fell. When Damian went to help him up, Karl angrily revealed his true feelings for his "tube-brother," telling him to take his hands off him, and calling Damian "a half-man...a foul-smelling mutant...inhuman scum!" At that point, Damian killed Karl, running him through with his sword. With her chamber-mate now dead, Christine was left with Damian.

--Savage Tales I#2/2





City

An unidentified city where the last remnants of civilization lived, it was ruled by "The Guardian," who set up a strict code of chivalry that all citizens had to abide by. When over-population threatened the city, "The Guardian" decreed that some citizens would be chosen by lottery to become Wets, then they were exiled to the swamps, where they would service the machines that ran the city.

--Savage Tales I#2/2










images:
Savage Tales I#2, p44, pan4 (Damian and Christine)
Savage Tales I#2, p42, pan3 (head shot)
Savage Tales I#2, p39, pan3 (operation showing creation of a Wet)
Savage Tales I#2, p41, pan7 (Damian and Prometheus attending trial of Karl and Christine at the Council of Wets)
Savage Tales I#2, p38, pan4 (Prometheus)
Savage Tales I#2, p37, pan3 (Karl Linders & Christine)
Savage Tales I#2, p39, pan1 ("The Guardian" addressing the citizens of the City)


Appearances:
Savage Tales I#2 (October, 1973) - Gerry Conway (writer), Gray Morrow (artist), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Tales Annual#1 (Summer 1975) - reprint


First Posted: 10/28/2006
Last Updated: 02/20/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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