main imageSHADOW CITY

Type: Extradimensional (Negative Zone) virtual world

Environment: Earth-like

Usual means of access: Magical displacement or virtual reality technology

Dominant Life Form: Negative Zone humanoids

Significant Inhabitants: Dr. Edwina Dantes, Dini (police officer), Lockdown (Jomo Kimanye), Commissioner O'Neil, Rosetta Stone (Nefer Neith Sinue), the Twisted Sisters (Coil, Gyre, Helix, Ringlet/Ringtoss)

First Appearance: Fantastic Four III#17 (May, 1999)

 

History: 

(Fantastic Four III#18 (fb) - BTS) - After some sort of catastrophe drove inhabitants of an unidentified Negative Zone planet into an underground safe haven, they placed their bodies into suspended animation and their minds into the virtual Shadow City construct, where they would live out fictional lives until such a time where their planet's surface would be safe to return to.

(Fantastic Four III#17 (fb)) - Having been accidentally transported to the Negative Zone planet by Mr. Fantastic's Fold Space Transceptor, the Fantastic Four were attacked by robots who maintained the Negative Zone planet's populace. Perceived as threats, the Fantastic Four's minds were placed into new criminal identities within the virtual Shadow City environment.

(Fantastic Four II#17 (fb) - BTS) - Upon hearing of a new criminal group in Shadow City, Rosetta Stone gave the Fantastic Four the name of the Tetrad ("Grim Ben," "Matchstick Johnny," "Richard Reed," and "Stormy Sue") and made up dossiers on each member of the group.

(Fantastic Four III#17) - When the Tetrad made their move, Lockdown and Rosetta Stone drove their Night Cruiser to the Tetrad's location, where Lockdown incapacitated "Richard Reed" with an ultra-frequency Screamer device. "Matchstick Johnny" then came flying at Lockdown and Rosetta Stone, prompting Lockdown to use a fire extinguisher against Johnny before knocking him out. "Grim Ben" was next on the attack but Lockdown incapacitated him as well by hitting certain nerve clusters to induce paralysis then punching him out. Lockdown and Rosetta Stone then had the police arrest the members of the Tetrad and when the police were unnecessarily rough with "Richard Reed," Lockdown warned the police that no one deserved that sort of treatment and that the next time it happened, they would have to answer to Lockdown. When Rosetta Stone expressed concern over "Reed," he kissed her, purloining a hairpin in the process in hopes of using it pick his handcuffs. Lockdown quickly noticed "Reed's" plan and retrieved the hairpin, warning Rosetta Stone to be ever-vigilant, as criminals were a "deceitful, cowardly lot." The Tetrad was then transported towards Bedlam Purgatorium, home of the criminally insane. Once onboard the transport, Reed revealed that the guards had neglected to lock two of his manacles, leaving two fingers free to stretch and unlock the Twisted Sister Gyre's mechanical cuffs. Along the way to Bedlam Purgatorium, "Stormy Sue" posed as a damsel-in-distress, distracting the prison transport long enough for the other members of the Tetrad to escape. After leading the Tetrad to Frank's, a no-rules nightclub, Gyre introduced the Tetrad to the other Twisted Sisters and they began to play their next move. Agreeing to help the Twisted Sisters in a series of robberies, Reed began having conflicting thoughts about his identity and, upon thinking back, remembered being attacked by robots and having his consciousness displaced via virtual reality. Recalling his true identity, Reed played along with the others as the Tetrad joined the Twisted Sisters in a robbery. Lockdown once again arrived to stop them and Reed used a fire extinguisher to prevent "Matchstick Johnny" from killing Lockdown, allowing Lockdown the time to recapture the criminals. Reed then allowed himself to be captured with the others thinking he had turned traitor.

(Fantastic Four III#18) - Lockdown and Rosetta Stone watched from afar as the Tetrad and the Twisted Sisters were delivered to Bedlam Purgatorium for punishment and rehabilitation for their crimes. After meeting with Bedlam Purgatorium superintendent Edwina Dantes, the Tetrad were separated, prompting "Matchstick Johnny" to lose his temper and begin smoldering. Knowing that Johnny was not truly a criminal and wishing to prevent him from harming innocents, Reed kicked a fire extinguisher lose, causing it to spray "Matchstick Johnny" and prevent him from igniting while Reed secretly purloined a piece of currency off one of the guards. While Johnny was recaptured and the Tetrad were placed in their cells, Lockdown and Rosetta Stone (in their civilian identities as Jomo Kimanye and Nefer Neith Sinue) noticed that the crime board was silent, giving them time to enjoy a fundraiser thrown by Sinue. From his cell, Reed inflated his body as large as he was able and used wind from his inflated body to vibrate the earlier-stolen currency to generate a resonance pulse that disrupted many of the guards and busted him free of his cell. Knowing that he had to play along with the virtual environment lest his captors prevent the Fantastic Four's escape, Reed freed his Tetrad friends as well as the Twisted Sisters. Jomo Kimanye's beeper soon went off at Nefer Sinue's fundraiser, informing him of the Tetrad breakout, and he gathered Sinue to suit up as Lockdown and Rosetta Stone. As the breakout continued at Bedlam, the Twisted Sisters used their powers to transform "Stormy Sue" into a new Twisted Sister: Torque but they instead inadvertently unlocked Sue's mind, restoring her memories of being Invisible Woman. Reuniting with his wife, as well as "Grim Ben" and "Matchstick Johnny" (whose memories were slowly beginning to return as well), Reed prepared for Lockdown's inevitable arrival at Bedlam. Once Lockdown had arrived and Reed squared off with Lockdown as a diversion, Sue dug deep within herself and visualized her true form as Invisible Woman. Wrapping her invisible force field around her form, she recalled the Mannequin alien's recent transformation of her body. Once Sue had restored her original form, as well as that of her Fantastic Four allies, Reed and the other Fantastic Four were awakened from the virtual Shadow City construct. Invisible Woman then explained that she had also located miles and miles of rooms containing Negative Zone inhabitants were also linked into Shadow City. The maintenance robots soon returned upon seeing the Fantastic Four outside of Shadow City but the Fantastic Four used the Fold Space Transceptor to leave the Negative Zone. Monitoring the Fantastic Four from inside Shadow City, Lockdown announced to Rosetta Stone that, while the Fantastic Four might be heroes in the normal dimension, they were a threat to Shadow City and warned that there was no escape from Lockdown.

(Contest of Champions II#3 (fb) - BTS) - A temporal disruption, accidentally caused by the Scarlet Witch, resulted in Lockdown and Rosetta Stone (as well as their Night Cruiser vehicle) being transported out of Shadow City and into normal reality.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca and Art Thibert.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Shadow City has no known connections to

Dr. Edwinam DantesDr. Edwina Dantes

Dr. Edwina Dantes was the chief superintendent of Bedlam Purgatorium. When the Tetrad were sent to Bedlam, Dr. Dantes introduced herself and explained to the inmates that while she hoped to establish a positive relationship with them, Bedlam was a prison before anything else. Once the Tetrad were in the cells, Dr. Dantes found that the Tetrad seemed to have given up trying to escape. Later, Dr. Dantes and the other guards at Bedlam, were taken out by the escaping "Grim Ben."

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Fantastic Four III#18

DiniDini

Dini was a police officer in Shadow City and friend of Lockdown. After Lockdown took out the Tetrad (actually the Fantastic Four), Dini helped the other police in apprehending the supposed criminals, commenting to Lockdown that the police had recently captured one of the criminal Twisted Sisters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Fantastic Four III#17

Commissioner O'NeilCommissioner O'Neil

Commissioner O'Neil was the police commissioner of Shadow City and attended a fundraiser thrown by Nefer Neith Sinue (secretly the heroic Rosetta Stone). During the fundraiser, Jomo Kimanye's beeper went off just as O'Neil's did for a police matter. Learning of a breakout at Bedlam Purgatorium, Commissioner O'Neil surrounded the building with the police special assault squad.

 

 

--Fantastic Four III#18

Rosetta StoneRosetta Stone

Nefer Neith Sinue was one of the richest women in all of Shadow City and also the crime-fighting partner of Lockdown as Rosetta Stone, tasked with coming up with a colorful name and dossier for any criminal that showed up in Shadow City. When the Tetrad entered Shadow City, Rosetta Stone accompanied Lockdown as Lockdown took the supposed criminals down, not realizing that the Tetrad were actually the heroic Fantastic Four. Rosetta Stone then accompanied Lockdown to Bedlam Purgatorium to assure the Tetrad made it into their cells. Once the Tetrad had been secured, Rosetta Stone, as Nefer Sinue, held a charity fundraiser at her family home that was attended by many of Shadow City's finest, including her "executive assistant" Jomo Kimanye (secretly Lockdown himself). The fundraiser was interrupted when Lockdown received word of the Tetrad's breakout at Bedlam. Nefer then suited up as Rosetta Stone and accompanied Lockdown to his face-off against "Richard Reed" of the Tetrad until Reed was teleported away by the Fold Space Transceptor with help from the Invisible Woman. Monitoring the now-free Fantastic Four from inside Shadow City, Rosetta Stone reminded Lockdown how resourceful Reed really was and Lockdown vowed that the Fantastic Four could not escape Lockdown. Rosetta Stone was later accidentally transported, along with Lockdown, out of Shadow City by the Scarlet Witch, where they killed a Brood alien with the Night Cruiser upon arrival. Teaming with Iron Man and Psylocke, Rosetta Stone and Lockdown helped Earth's heroes take down the Brood, who had manipulated the heroes into a "contest of champions" in order to both take down their enemies and find suitable Brood host bodies.

 

--Fantastic Four III#17 (#18, Contest of Champions II#3-5,

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four III#17, p2-3, pan1 (Shadow City at night, main image)
Fantastic Four III#18, p1, splash page (Bedlam Purgatorium in Shadow City, supplemental image)
Fantastic Four III#18, p3, splash page (Dr. Edwina Dantes)
Fantastic Four III#17, p7, pan1 (Dini)
Fantastic Four III#18, p12, pan2 (Commissioner O'Neil)
Fantastic Four III#18, p3, splash page (Rosetta Stone)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four III#17 (May, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (pencils), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#18 (June, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (pencils), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Contest of Champions II#3 (October, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Oscar Jiminez (pencils), Eduardo Alpuente (inks), Ruben Diaz (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last Updated: 03/12/14

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