CODY PACE

Real Name: Cody Aaron Pace

Identity/Class: Human (mystically-enhanced)

Occupation: Would-be universal saviour; formerly bonded security courier

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Ivory Darc, Darleen/Darlene Desmond, Judy-Ann, Ort, Gaelen Piecekeeper, Jabot Wafloon
     (formerly) Ambrose-7

Enemies: Ambrose-7, Guards of the Grotto, Kilobots, Meugot Lawless, Malevelos, Owkons, Slivigoth, Triad

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Master Cody"

Base of Operations: Hoboken, New Jersey

First Appearance: Hero#1 (May, 1990)

Powers/Abilities: Cody Pace was a generaly fit man of his age, with alleged black belt martial arts training. He possessed Devilthorn, a mystical battlepike previously used by Malevelos. Devilthorn had the power to strike down even the most immortal of beings and with the use of spells could emit bolts of energy and open portals to other dimensions. During his time between his first and final deaths, Cody could not die. When he did, he would just resurrect on another world, fully healthy again.

(Hero#1) - After he broke a third date in less than a month with Darleen so that he could go out with Judy-Ann (whose father was a stock broker), Cody Pace found himself on the receiving end of Darleen's wrath. After she finished throwing dishes at him, she broke up with him and left his home. Late for work in Manhattan, Cody sped to his job in his corvette (which was three payments late), but was pulled over by a New Jersey state trooper for speeding. He arrived at his assignment where he met two Middle Eastern men (actually terrorists, unknown to him) at the Petroleum Mediation League, who gave him a secured briefcase (which he had to handcuff to his arm) and directed him to hand-deliver it to Al Hassan Fabib of the United Nations. He arrived at the UN, only to immediately set off metal detectors. Security scanned the case, revealing a bomb inside it. With no other option, and for the security of the diplomats, Cody was taken to a vault to await the bomb squad. There, the bomb exploded.

Cody awoke upon a world called Peregrine Magi, where he found himself clad in strange clothing and holding a staff-like weapon. He met a young man named Ort. No sooner than this happened than a group of ogre-ish beings charge the two, apparently upset with something Ort had done previously. Believing he was dreaming or hallucinating, Cody embraced the fight, utilizing his black belt martial arts and the weapon he carried to chase the creatures off. Ort told Cody that the weapon was a battlepike called Devilthorn. As they made their way to sanctuary, a group of gods in another reality watched the proceedings, upset that their "chosen one" was not what they hoped for. Cody and Ort arrived at a building that served as a bar and gambling den. Cody overreacted when the greeter, a multi-legged blue creature, emerged, and instinctively cut the creature's head off. The greeter, undetered, picked his head up and led the two to their table. As the two drank, Ivory Darc arrived, demanding "blood rites" (revenge for the death of one of her own clan, the Velt) against the Owkons, large ape-like beings, several of whom were in the bar. Though Ort wanted to help the out-numbered Darc, Cody seemed uninterested. Ort purposely tripped one of the Owkons into his table, leading to it confronting Cody. Still believing he was dreaming, Cody allowed the Owkon to take the first shot, and the Owkon stabbed Cody in the side of his gut with a sword. Shocked and realizing he may not have been dreaming, Cody began to fight back. As the three fought the Owkons, they realized there was no chance of winning, and opted to flee. Running to the alley behind the bar, they stalled as Ort began feeling sick. As the Owkons advanced upon them, Ort transformed into a giant dragon-like being, leaving Cody and Darc trapped.

(Hero#2) - Ort, in his dragon-like form, proved to still be Cody's ally, and struck down a number of the Owkons. The three then continued to flee, with Ort eventually regaining his human form. Cody tried to tend to his wound before Ivory Darc placed a glowing powder on it, instantly healing it. The three were soon joined by traveling gourmet Jabot Wafloon. As Cody slept in exhaustion, the three "random" travelers he had joined discussed how little Cody had come along in his journey. The next day, the group began their journey to confront the Slivigoth, a trio of powerful wizards Cody hoped could send him home. A key to the Slivigoth's lair was held by the evil Meugot Lawless, and the group traveled to his keep to gain it. To take the key, they set lose many of Meugot's captives. As chaos ensued within his keep, Meugot watched from above in a flying ship. Cody and Darc (whose husband and children were being held by Meugot) stormed the ship, but were outnumbered, and retreated when Darc realized Lawless had brought her family aboard the ship with him. Realizing they had to take Meugot down before he made it back inside the keep, Ivory severed the flying barge from the creatures that carried it. The ship crashed into the ground, injuring Meugot and killing Ivory's family. Disgusted by the cannibalistic Meugot, Cody ran the injured creature through, killing him. When Cody was told the explanation for who Ivory's family were and why she sacrificed them ("for the greater good"), he ranted against such "abstract garbage." In the other reality, the gods lamented the path their "hero" was taking.

(Hero#3) - Cody and his allies arrived at the lair of Slivigoth and placed the key in the outer wall, which seemed to be partially made of ground flesh. Entering, Ivory Darc killed the three guards and found themselves facing the actual lair - a small rectangular box the size of a garage. Just before Cody could make the mistake of touching the "box"'s outer layer, which would have killed him, Gaelen Piecekeeper arrived. Gaelen was another of the "random" strangers set to meet Pace, but was late arriving. Gaelen used one of his soul-arrows, striking the wall of the lair and ripping open an entrance. They entered to find a massive hall and were met by the Slivigoth, three large beings in religious attire. Though Darc urged Cody to use Devilthorn to kill them, the Slivigoth explained that if they had wanted to harm them, they would have already, preying on Cody's desire to return home. As the group feasted, the gods watched, again lamenting their "hero"'s lack of nobility and heroism. The group was offered sleeping quarters, though Cody was placed away from the others. Jabot, who had an eye that could detach to travel on its own, sent the eye to spy around the lair, but it was discovered and squashed by one of the Slivigoth. The Slivigoths placed a sleeping Cody outside of the lair, where he awoke to dozens of crustacean creatures covering his body. His friends pulled him to safety back into the lair, and an incensed Pace finally decided to strike against the Slivigoth. Before they could attack the sleeping giants, the Slivigoth's guards, the Guards of the Grotto emerged and attacked. One of the Slivigoth confronted Cody and had his hand severed for doing so. Cody and Darc realized these weren't the true bodies of the Slivigoth and Pace guessed the orb hanging above the Slivigoth's thrones held their true selves. Throwing Devilthorn into the orb, which shatterd, Cody watched as the Slivigoth shrieked and all three crumbled into dust. While the allies celebrated, one surviving Guard of the Grotto struck Cody through the back with a spear, killing him. As Cody's body faded away, his allies discussed how - after being upset for his first death - much more upset he'd be this time. They then teleported out of the lair.

(Hero#4) - Cody awoke on the sidewalk of a futuristic Earth-like world and accidentally caused a traffic collision in his confusion. When a little girl was struck by a car, Cody realized she was a robot, as were all those around him. A police officer, realizing Cody was organic, ordered his arrest, but Cody fled. His allies arrived out of nowhere and ran the attacking mob off. Darc explained to Cody that a group called the Triad had enslaved humanity on this world and replaced them with mechanical replicas. Upset that they knew more than they would tell him, Cody threatened to leave, but one of the gods arrived and showed Codyvisions of Golgotha, home of the demon Malevelos. Malevelos worshipped death and sought Devilthorn, the one item that could rip open the gateway for the embodiment of Death to enter the worlds of the living. He also learned that the only true doorway back to his home was on Golgotha. Ambrose-7, one of the few automatons on the world that had human brain patterns transferred into him during an early Triad experiment, arrived and offered his help to overthrow the tyrants. While the rest left to aid Ambrose-7, Cody refused to go and was not among them when they were captured by the Triad. Despite hesitating, Cody eventually saved the group at the last minute from execution and freed them. Gaelen used another of his soul-arrows - which contained actual remnants of his soul - to destroy the Triad. Now without his soul to contain his urges, Gaelen fired yet another arrow at the defeated Triad, causing an explosion that reduced Gaelen to a smoking skeleton. Ambrose-7 had the others step into a teleporter, but soon revealed his true intentions - placing them in status to hand over to Malevelos, who had promised to turn him fully human.

(Hero#5) - As Ambrose-7 prepared for Malevelos, Jabot's barge drones (little reptilian creatures that usually carried him around in a mini-barge) attacked the robot. Ambrose-7 grabbed Devilthorn to defend himself, but the power contained in the weapon caused him to explode. Using Ambrose-7's computer to blueprints of their whereabouts, the group traveled into the underground caverns below. There, they found the enslaved humans, who were guarded by more of Malevelos' creatures, including the dragon-sorcerer who occasionally switched bodies with Ort. Realizing his counterpart was there, the sorcerer switched bodies and tried to lure the others to their death by pretending to be the human Ort, but Ort attacked and slew the sorcerer, forever trapping the boy within the dragon body. Enraged at how fate treated the boy, Cody struck the crystal that held the humans in stasis, freeing them. Cody entered a portal to Golgotha, finally confident, but the portal was closed by Malevelos before the others could travel through it. One of the gods arrived to tell the others that from there on, Cody Pace was on his own.

(Hero#6) - Cody found himself before Malevelos, who monologued about his designs to release Death upon the universe. He offered to send Cody back to Earth in exchange for Devilthorn. Cody, believing his allies would arrive shortly, tried to stall the demon, but Malevelos sent previous fallen "heroes" against Cody. Cody used Devilthorn to blast a hole in the wall of Malevelos' castle and fled, all the while his allies and the gods watched from afar. In the desert, Cody found what appeared to be Darleen Desmond, his ex-girlfriend, who explained to him that she arrived on this world after being hit by a car. She soon revealed herself as another Malevelos sevants. Darc appeared in a vision and gave Cody the words to a spell that would unleash Devilthorn's powers, which destroyed the Darleen creature. Tired of being led around again, Cody returned to the castle, intent on handing Devilthorn over to the demon. As Malevelos agreed to spare Earth, the others pleaded in astral form for Cody to kill him, or billions would die. Cody admonished them for lying to him so often and placed Devilthorn on an altar. As Malevelos began to open portals across worlds, Cody saw Earth as well as other worlds. He also witnessed the embodiment of Death emerge from its own portal and enter one where bear-like beings lived, slaughtering them. Darc pleaded with Cody, explaining to him that his life was neccessary for the spell to work and that now that he had relinquished Devilthorn, only his death would stop it. As Cody watched in horror as Death entered realm after realm and massacred their inhabitants wholesale, he realized he no other choice. He rushed the altar and grabbed Devilthorn, impaling himself with the blade. Malevelos was defeated and as the portals began to close, Death pulled Cody's dead body into its dimension, "home" at last.

On Earth, Cody's landlady, believing he had long skipped out on his apartment without paying rent, hired men to redecorate it for the next tenant, calling Cody a coward for doing so.

Comments: Created by David Michelinie, Steve Purcell and Whilce Portacio.

His ex is called Darleen in #1, but Darlene in #6. Go figure.

I'll get to the rest of the characters eventually, but wanted to at least get Cody himself some exposure for now.

Profile by Madison Carter.