CARNIVALCARNIVAL
Membership: "Clyde," Gragnon, Horio, Rekxor,
Sebastian, other Skrulls posing as carnival workers and acts, including
Gorilla Girl, Pop-Eye, carnival animals, barkers and clowns
Purpose: To test, cull and collect new slaves
for the Skrulls
Aliases: The Skrull Slavers
Affiliations: Skrulls
Enemies: The
D'Bari alien race, Lucinda Guthrie (who was unaware of
their true motives), Mabel (a Carnival patron), New Mutants
(Boom-Boom/Tabitha Smith,
Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Rictor/Julio Richter, Sunspot/Bobby DaCosta,
Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair)
Base of Operations: Presumably mobile
throughout the universe; formerly Kentucky,
USA and other planets
First Appearance: New Mutants I#92 (August,
1990)
History: (Skrulls! (fb) - BTS) - The Carnival
was a slave ring that posed as a carnival, setting up on various worlds
and luring in its prey using entertainment.
(New Mutants I#92 (fb) - BTS) - After having obtained
slaves from other alien races such as the D'Bari, the Carnival set up
on Earth in rural Kentucky.
(New Mutants I#92 (fb)) - Following
the events of the demonic Inferno, the New Mutants visited Cannonball's
family in Kentucky, where they were taken to the Carnival on a free
night
by Cannonball's mother Lucinda. Almost immediately upon their arrival,
the New Mutants were surrounded by animals led by animal tamer
Sebastian, who promised Boom-Boom that she had nothing to fear from his
animals. While the other New Mutants quickly began enjoying themselves,
Wolfsbane remained suspicious, unaware that Sebastian had learned the
"animals" of the New Mutants' true identities as superhumans. As a
"clown" (actually the Skrull Horio) spoke with Sebastian about testing
and then culling the New Mutants, the heroic teens continued on their
way through the Carnival until Wolfsbane was attracted by a teddy bear
that seemed to be exuding a smell that lured Wolfsbane into a carnival
game. Affected by the bear, Wolfsbane announced that she couldn't live
without the teddy bear, prompting Sunspot to make an attempt at winning
the bear by knocking down milk bottles with a ball. When the ball
consistently fell short, Sunspot used his powers and still failed to
even throw the ball far enough to hit the bottles. An annoyed Sunspot
gave up, suspecting the game of being rigged, but Boom-Boom was
determined to knock down a bottle. Hurling the ball with a small
time-bomb behind it, Boom-Boom succeeded in knocking down the entire
stack of bottles and winning the bear for Wolfsbane. As the New Mutants
left the game, the clown visited the game barker, who admitted that the
New Mutants could be dangerous and showed the clown what Boom-Boom had
done to their Analysis Ball. The clown remarked that the New Mutants
had merely sealed their own fate and doubled their value. Soon after,
Wolfsbane became extremely weak and dizzy, forcing the New Mutants to
visit the Carnival's first aid station. The "nurse" at the station told
the New Mutants that Wolfsbane needed her rest, suggesting they leave
her behind to enjoy the Carnival but the New Mutants decided to take
shifts staying with Wolfsbane, who was given medicine by the nurse that
quickly knocked Wolfsbane unconscious. Rictor turned to confront the
nurse but was knocked out himself by the clown, who sprayed Rictor with
gas. When Rictor and Wolfsbane came to inside the Carnival's "Active
Homunculi" exhibit, they saw the clown, who revealed the Carnival as a
group of Skrull slavers and announced that the heroes were now the
slavers' property alongside other captive humans. Unaware of their
teammates' situation, the other New Mutants visited the Carnival's fun
house, where they were shown captive aliens, which they thought were
robots or illusions until Cannonball noticed the "Alive Homunculi"
exhibit. Noticing that the figures in the exhibit seemed scared,
Cannonball was about to leave when Rictor created vibrations from
within the exhibit, drawing Cannonball's attention. One of the aliens
that Boom-Boom had earlier thought was a robot then returned and
attempted to grab Boom-Boom a second time, revealing that he wasn't a
robot when Boom-Boom tried to remove his "mask." Fighting back,
Boom-Boom destroyed the Active Homunculi exhibit, freeing the shrunken
slaves and reuniting the shrunken Wolfsbane and Rictor with their
teammates. The other shrunken captives then erupted from the fun house,
surprising many of the Carnival patrons and forcing the Carnival to
shut down. Escaping, the New Mutants, along with Rictor and Wolfsbane,
who began returning to normal size, were confronted by Sebastian, Horio
the clown and Carnival animals. Announcing the Carnival's intention to
test, cull and collect new slaves for the Skrulls, Horio also admitted
that they could no longer return to the true Skrull forms before
covering the New Mutants in a net that sapped their energy. Sunspot
managed to destroy the net and fight back, punching both Sebastian and
the clown as more Carnival Skrulls arrived. The ensuing fight began
destroying the Carnival and when the police arrived, another Skrull,
Gragnon, asked what they should do and Horio ordered the Carnival to
retreat to travel somewhere they could capture quarry without a fight.
Despite another Skrull informed Gragnon that her brother Rekxor had
went missing during the scuffle, the booths and buildings of the
Carnival quickly merged and transformed into a spaceship, which
rocketed away, leaving Rekxor behind.
(New Mutants I#92) - Wolfsbane told the New Mutants'
then-leader Cable about their encounter with the Carnival, unaware
Rekxor, still in the form of a mouse, was watching them.
Comments: Created by Dwight Zimmerman, Bob Hall and Jeff Albrecht.
Another member of the Carnival that was not fully
identified was "The Man with 2..." but the rest of his Carnival marquee
was blocked from view.
"Clyde" was only identified by the nickname he was
called by Boom-Boom. Similarly, the Skrull posing as the animal tamer
was only referred to by his stage of name of Sebastian. Both of these
Skrulls' true names remain unrevealed.
While only mentioned as a "disaster," the reason that
the Carnival Skrulls were trapped in their Carnival forms was
presumably the detonation of the Hyperwave Bomb.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Carnival has no known connections to
The Analysis Ball was a Skrull device that tested the
abilities of those throwing it. Judging its user's strength, the
Analysis Ball would stop at a certain point when thrown, only going
further if more strength was used. Hidden inside a baseball, the
Analysis Ball was used at one of the Carnival's game, where it was to
be thrown at a set of milk bottles. While trying to win a stuffed teddy
bear for Wolfsbane, Sunspot hurled the Ball, only to have it stop short
of the bottles each of the three times, even when Sunspot used his
powers on the third throw. Determined to win Wolfsbane the bear,
Boom-Boom then tried the game, hurling both the Analysis Ball and one
of her time-bombs simultaneously. The time-bomb boosted the Analysis
Ball, causing it to actually hit one of the milk bottles just as the
time-bomb exploded, knocking all of the milk bottles over. Once the New
Mutants had left, the Skrull posing as the game barker warned Carnival
leader Horio that the New Mutants could prove dangerous, pointing out
that Boom-Boom had destroyed the Analysis Ball.
--New Mutants I#92 (fb)
"Clyde" was a member of the Carnival who attempted to
grab Boom-Boom when the New Mutants were enjoying the Carnival's fun
house. When he first failed to grab her, Boom-Boom merely thought
"Clyde" was a fun house robot, but when he tried again and succeeded in
grabbing Boom-Boom, she attempted to remove what she thought was a
mask, only to learn that it was "Clyde"'s true face. Instinctively
fighting back, Boom-Boom unleashed a time-bomb that knocked "Clyde" out
and shattered the fun house's Active Homunculi exhibit, freeing its
shrunken captives.
--New Mutants I#92 (fb)
Gragnon was one of the many Skrulls working for the Carnival. During the Carnival's battle against the New Mutants, Gragnon reported the police's arrival and Sebastian asked Gragnon what they should do.
--New Mutants I#92 (fb)
Horio was the leader of the Carnival's Skrulls and
was stuck in the form of a clown. When the New Mutants arrived at the
Carnival, Horio was informed of their superhuman nature by Sebastian.
Following the New Mutants as their powers were tested, Horio next met
with a Skrull posing a game barker, whose Analysis Ball was destroyed
by Boom-Boom's powers. Feeling as if the New Mutants' value had
doubled, Horio continued following the New Mutants until Wolfsbane was
rendered unconscious by a Skrull posing as the first aid nurse. Before
Rictor could fight back, Horio hit him with a dose of gas, knocking him
out as well. Horio then revealed his nature as a Skrull slaver to
Wolfsbane and Rictor before departing. When the other New Mutants
managed to free Rictor, Wolfsbane and numerous other shrunken Carnival
captives, Horio led the rest of the Carnival in attacking the New
Mutants, hitting the group with a net that sapped their energy. Sunspot
managed to free his teammates, punching Horio and Sebastian in the
process. When the police arrived, Horio ordered the Carnival to retreat
elsewhere, where they could capture quarry without a fight.
--New Mutants I#92 (fb)
Mabel was a Carnival patron who had no idea of the Carnival's true nature as Skrull slavers. When the New Mutants freed the Carnival's shrunken captives and the tiny-sized humans ran for safety, the swarm of tiny humans surprised Mabel, whose husband warned her to look out.
--New Mutants I#92 (fb)
Rekxor was a Skrull Carnival member trapped in the
form of a white mouse and brother to a female Skrull trapped in the
form of an elephant. During the Carnival's battle against the New
Mutants, Rekxor was hurled into the air and lost in the scuffle.
Despite not having Rekxor with them, the Carnival ultimately retreated,
transforming the Carnival itself into a spaceship and left, leaving
Rekxor behind. Some time later, Rekxor, still on Earth, witnessed
Wolfsbane telling New Mutants leader Cable of the New Mutants'
encounter with the Carnival.
--New Mutants I#92
Trapped in the form of an animal tamer, the Skrull posing as Sebastian tricked the New Mutants upon their arrival at the Carnival by pretending to be friendly, only to report their superhuman nature to Carnival leader Horio when the New Mutants left to enjoy the Carnival. Later, when the New Mutants freed some of the Carnival's shrunken captives, Sebastian and Horio, as well as the Skrulls posing as Sebastian's animals, confronted the New Mutants and Sebastian was knocked aside by Sunspot. As the fight continued, the police arrived and Sebastian questioned his Skrull ally Gragnon what they should do, prompting Horio to order the Carnival to retreat.
--New Mutants I#92 (fb)
images: (without ads)
New Mutants I#92, p15, pan5 (Carnival, main image)
New Mutants I#92, p19, pan1 (Carnival battling New Mutants)
New Mutants I#92, p8, pan6 (Analysis Ball)
New Mutants I#92, p14, pan4 ("Clyde")
New Mutants I#92, p19, pan2 (Gragnon)
New Mutants I#92, p10, pan3 (Horio)
New Mutants I#92, p15, pan1 (Mabel)
New Mutants I#92, p5, pan5 (Rekxor)
New Mutants I#92, p5, pan2 (Sebastian)
Appearances:
New Mutants I#92 (August, 1990) - Dwight Zimmerman (writer), Bob Hall
(pencils), Jeff Albrecht (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Skrulls! (2008) - John Rhett Thomas (writer, editor), Ronald Byrd,
Michael Hoskin, Gabriel Shechter, Stuart Vandal, Jeph York (writers),
Jack Kirby (Skrull Slavers entry art)
Last updated: 11/20/16.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Rekxor