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DUST

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human mutate, citizen of the United States 

Occupation: Director of Camp Silence;
                      formerly scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Outriders (Chunk, Mama & Stomper), the New Wave (Jared, Portia and unidentified others);
                     formerly Cerberus, O.Z. Chase

Enemies: Beast (Hank McCoy), Carter Blaire, Cerberus, Dazzler (Alison Blaire), O.Z. Chase, Barbara London, Arthur Allan Smith

Known Relatives: Silence (wife, deceased)

Aliases: Briefly possessed and impersonated Carter Blaire, Stomper and numerous others 

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
                                  formerly an abandoned theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma;
                                  formerly a hotel in Denver, Colorado
                                  formerly Camp Silence, Colorado
                               

First Appearance: (Seen) Dazzler I#38 (July, 1985); (named) Dazzler I#40 (November, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Born without superhuman abilities, Dust developed a drug that could awaken paranormal, psychic powers in ordinary humans. Dust had a variety of mental abilities, including telekinesis. The psi-drug was lethal however, forcing him to transfer his consciousness to other bodies he could mentally coerce to cooperate. But the clash of wills that would occur as soon as he'd taken over would cause his host's body to rapidly decay. Whenever he switched bodies, the previous host's form would quickly melt away and crumble into dust. A brilliant scientist and an obvious patriot, Dust's main concern was the safety of the United States and making sure the US maintained the upper hand in the superpowered arms development race. Dust considered the offspring of his original subjects the children he and Silence had been denied.

Height: 6'2" (by approximation)
Weight: 90 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

History:

(Dazzler I#41 (fb) ) - In the early 1960s (see comments), the couple who would become known as Dust and Silence worked for the government to develop a way to give soldiers superpowers through paranormal means. In the end, they developed a psi-drug they first tested on themselves. They immediately developed psionic powers, but learned that the drug had lethal side-effects forcing Dust to take over other bodies on a regular basis. This still didn't deter them from continuing to experiment with lower dosages on a test group consisting of vagrants, runaways, addicts and criminals. While the drug worked and they gained impressive powers, the drug still proved lethal in most cases, causing Washington to cancel the experiment and put out a warrant for the couple's arrest. Furious at being thwarted so close to developing a way to counteract the side-effects with ultraviolet energies, they went into hiding, taking all their research with them. Over the years, they survived in hiding, living as fugitives and mastering their powers. They also discovered that the drug they'd developed had a pass along effect, it survived dormant in the offspring of many original subjects.

(Dazzler I#41 (fb) - BTS) - In order to get their hands on the descendants of the original test group, Dust and Silence started a reform school they called Camp Silence. Using her telepathic powers, Silence attracted many of them to the school where the drug testing soon resumed. However, none of the ultraviolet frequencies proved able to counter the drug's lethal effects. The duo realized that awakening their dormant powers would kill their subjects.

(Dazzler I#41 - BTS) - Dust and Silence were surprised to learn that the Dazzler's lightshow was able to succesfully counteract their drug's lethal side-effects when a number of their students/subjects (including Jared and the Outriders) attended one of her performances and returned to Camp Silence with their powers activated. Dust and Silence decided to capture Dazzler and force her to use her light to not only activate the remaining subjects, but also cure the couple of their debilitating condition.

(Dazzler I#42 (fb) - BTS) - Feeling they were in need of a secondary base of operations, Dust and Silence acquired an abanonded theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

(Dazzler I#41 - BTS) - To ensure Dazzler's cooperation, Dust and Silence sought out her parents Carter Blaire and Barbara London and had them captured.

(Dazzler I#38 - BTS) - Dust took over the body of a U.S Bail Bonds employee and contacted bounty hunter O.Z. Chase.

(Dazzler I#38) - Dust met with O.Z. Chase and pretended one of his clients had asked him to bring in Dazzler, offering a sizeable advance bonus and a box of his favorite cigars as incentive. Chase happily accepted the contract.

(Dazzler I#39 - BTS) - Hoping to collect on the contract Dust put out on Dazzler, O.Z. Chase went to see Dazzler's agent mister Erskine who, begrudgingly, gave him a list of underground bars and clubs that still hired mutant performers. Using Erskine's information, Chase finally caught up with Dazzler in Arizona. After apprehending her, they started the trek to Colorado in his truck.

(Dazzler I#40 - BTS) - On the way to Colorado, Dazzler was abducted by the Beyonder who had become enamored with her from afar. The one from beyond left O.Z. Chase without any memory of the events. Dust eventually grew dissatisfied with not hearing anything from Chase, that's why he sent the three enhanced students that had attended the Dazzler concert, now known as the Outriders, to meet up with Chase and take Blaire. To coordinate the operation, Dust travelled across several states.

(Dazzler I#40) - Dust, having just taken over the body of a young trucker, was contacted by Silence. He gave her a brief update about the situation, assuring her Dazzler would be in their possession soon.

(Dazzler I#40 - BTS) - Beyonder eventually returned Dazzler to the exact spot he'd taken her from. Catching up with Chase, she found he was under attack from Dust's Outriders. With a little aid from Chase and the Beyonder, Dazzler was able to defeat Chunk and Mama. Stomper escaped, leaving Dazzler to wonder just who was out to get her while she escaped Chase once again.

(Dazzler I#41) - Stomper eventually returned to Camp Silence where he reported back to Dust. So displeased with what he'd learned, Dust took over Stomper's body, who let out a terrifying death scream before the end. He then went to see his wife in this new form, comforting her as he promised that they'd soon be cleansed of what was destroying them, as well as awakening the new wave of subjects they'd gathered around them. Dust and Silence rejoiced in the notion of soon being able to present the government with a humans only fighting force powerful enough to face both the mutant threat and other superbeings. The couple vowed that this time, they'd be the ones controlling both the subjects, the drug and Dazzler who'd make this all possible.

(Dazzler I#41 - BTS) - Anticipating the end game was nigh, Dust took judge Carter Blaire to a Denver hotel and contacted Chase. The two reaffirmed the contract and agreed to meet him there. Dust took over the judge's body as soon as Chase, who had continued to pursue Blaire, brought Dazzler to him.

(Dazzler I#41) - As Carter, Dust met Dazzler in the lobby who was obviously thrilled to see who she thought was her father. Dust played along as best he could, having his aide Jared drive them to a nearby, abandoned state park. There, he revealed his true identity which infuriated Dazzler to no end. Before she could act against Dust, Jared jumped her but Alison fought him off and fired a light blast at him which only increased his already activated mental abilities. Cheering his subject on from the side, Dust watched as Jared tried to crush Dazzler with an enormous piece of rock he'd lifted telekinetically. Dazzler saved herself by blasting the stone into debris even as Jared quickly expended his newfound powers and collapsed. Dazzler then faced Dust who had just then started to burn through Carter Blaire's body. Even as he was disintegrating Blaire's form, Dust tried to persuade Dazzler to use her light to save both him and her dad. A teary eyed Alison however decided to vent all her excess light energies, denying Dust the chance to cure himself. Though she was drained, Dust still decided to take over her mutant form in order to make good on his promise to cure Silence and the students. She was saved by O.Z. Chase (who had discovered Stomper's remains in Blaire's hotel room and figured something was wrong). Chase shot "Carter", in his dying moments he told Dazzler they were still holding her mother at Camp Silence. Furious, Dazzler took Dust's car and rushed to save Barbara, telling O.Z. not to follow her.

(Dazzler I#42 (fb) - BTS) - Left for dead, Dust was still able to jump inside the body of his unconscious aide Jared. This move was sensed by Silence who used her powers to bring the rapidly decaying youth back to the school where he took over the body of a guard. At the same time, Silence managed to get Dazzler to cooperate with their plans by threatening to harm her mother, who had also been injected with the lethal power enhancement drug. If she wanted to save her mother, Dazzler would have to use her light.

(Dazzler I#42) - Posing as an ordinary security guard, Dust went along with Silence moving their operation to an abandoned theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, when Silence died during a rescue attempt by Beast and O.Z. Chase, he made his presence known and threatened to either snap Barbara's neck or take over her body. Furious, Dazzler attacked him anyway. Their fight was ended when one of the enhanced students, Arthur Allan Smith, shot Dazzler in the back, killing her (in reality, Smith shot Dust, but used his powers to make everybody believe Dazzler had died so she could return to live anonymously).





Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin (writer), Paul Chadwick (pencils), Jackson Guice (inks)

Dazzler I#41 specifically stated Dust and Silence started their experiments "nearly 25 years ago", even before the Vietnam war broke out. The date is topical of course, considering the sliding timescale. But it's not unworkable to actually have them start out in 1961ish... After all, Dust was able to survive into the modern era by taking different hosts and Silence's powers allowed her to stave off any form of decay altogether.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dust should not be confused with

images: (without ads)
Dazzler I#41, p4, pan3 (main image)
Dazzler I#41, p3, pan3 (trying ultraviolet to save his life)
Dazzler I#38, p23, pan7 (hires OZ Chase)
Dazzler I#41, p5, pan1-3 (taking over Stomper)
Dazzler I#41, p21, pan1-3 (trying to take over Dazzler)
Dazzler I#42, p22, pans 3-4 (final form)

Appearances:
Dazzler I#38 (July, 1985) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Paul Chadwick (pencils), Jackson Guice (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Dazzler I#39 (September, 1985) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Paul Chadwick (pencils), Jackson Guice (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Dazzler I#40 (November, 1985) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Paul Chadwick (pencils), Jackson Guice (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Dazzler I#41 (January, 1986) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Paul Chadwick (pencils), Jackson Guice (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
Dazzler I#42 (March, 1986) - Archie Goodwin (writer), Paul Chadwick (pencils), Jackson Guice (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)

Last updated: 03/15/15

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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