HARRY MILLS

Real Name: Harold "Harry Mills"

Identity/Class: Human mutant;
    U.S.A citizen

Occupation: Student

Group Membership: Xavier Institute student body

Affiliations: Beanpole (Mike Galbraith), Chlorites, Diascar race, Flasher (Kristin Koenig), Papillon (Sarah Allaire), Seden Karm (aka "John Chang"), Visionary (Meena Banerjee), Todd Watkins, Charles Xavier, X-Men (most notably Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pryde, Rogue/Anna Marie, Wolverine/James Howlett/Logan)

Enemies: Henry Peter Gyrich, Lash (James Wheaton), Sentinels;
    formerly Valerie Cooper, Diascar race (esp. Poratine & Taforne), Imperial Guard (Astra, Blackthorn, Flashfire, Magique, Manta, Nightside, N'rill'iree, Smasher/Vril Rokk), "Crush" Russell, Todd Watkins

Known Relatives: Unidentified mother

Aliases: "Bigfoot" and Fleabag (insults from Lash/James Wheaton); Bigfoot-in-Mouth (teasing nickname from Seden Karm)

Base of Operations: Last seen at the Xavier Institute, West Chester, New York;
    formerly Canton, Ohio

First Appearance:  X-Men: Watchers on the Walls (May, 2006)

Powers/Abilities: Harry is covered with long hair (he was described as looking like an angora gorilla) that was shed profusely and was rapidly replaced. It sheds so rapidly that it can plug up mechanical systems, especially those involving gears and fans.

    The hair protects him to a limited extent from electrical shock, but eventually the hair would catch fire. It presumably provides limited padding to protect him from other forms of physical attacks.

    When he bathes, he smells like a wet cat.

    Harry is intelligent, gregarious and whimsical.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Blond

History: 

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 1: Exordium (fb) - BTS) - After Harry's mutant powers surfaced, he stopped answering to "Harry" and insisted on being called "Harold," although everyone still called him that when he wasn't around.

    His profusely shedding hair repeatedly clogged up their plumbing, and his mother burned out a vacuum cleaner per month trying to pick up after him.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 1: Exordium (fb) - BTS) - Keeping his Chlorite nature (as an alien-exuding chlorine-releasing microbes that threatened to destroy all life on Earth) hidden and suppressed, Seden Karm (aka John Chang) traveled to Canton, Ohio, he was swiftly befriended by the hairy mutant Harry Mills.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 11: Exile (fb) - BTS) - John allowed Harry to ramble on as much as he wanted, let(?) Harry beat him at the video game Halo, always returned his Startling Metamorphosis CDs, and never folded the pages in his comics.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 1: Exordium (fb) - BTS) - When Charles Xavier came to meet Harry after detecting his mutant nature via Cerebro, he was surprised when Harry introduced him to John as another apparent mutant. Xavier -- assuming John's powers suppressed detection (just as he suppressed telepathy) -- recruited John as a student at the Xavier Institute as well.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 1: Exordium) - John and Harry, along with the rest of a group of newly recruited mutants, entered the Xavier Institute. Harry swiftly bypassed the mutants showcasing their powers, gathering instead with those who mutations largely made them look strange or served as handicaps. They met Meena Banerjee, Kristin Koenig, and Todd Watkins. When Kristin was embarrassed to explain her invisibility touch powers, Harry shared some embarrassing facets of his nature to make her more at ease. However, she was also annoyed when he questioned what would happen if she touched her outer clothing layers.

    Xavier then addressed the assembled students, gently chiding the larger group for excluding those with less impressive abilities. At the subsequent brunch, Harry and his newest acquaintances found the other mutants more interested in and inclusive of them.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 11: Exile (fb) - BTS) - Wolverine became angry with Harry when he repeatedly interrupted his World War II lecture in Mutant History.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 7: Ex Cathedra (fb) - BTS) - Harry told Meena that he believed John's foster parents had abused him for being a mutant.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 7: Ex Cathedra (fb) - BTS) - Harry listened alongside his fellow students to a press conference led by National Security Council (NSC) Val Cooper, the US secretary of defense, the UN secretary-general, and Poratine of the alien Diascar discussing the Chlorite threat and their plans to test all non-human mutates in hopes of exposing the aliens as quickly as possible.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 7: Ex Cathedra) - Harry voiced his concern to his friends that the Diascar were actually just trying to take over Earth. He reminded John that these events would affect him as much as himself, or Sarah, leading Sarah to argue that none of the aliens looked like her, especially not having wings. Agreeing Sarah may not be at risk, Harry reminded them that he could be hiding anything under all his hair. When John noted that they would be fine as long as they passed the tests, Harry argued that the government would likely place trackers within any identification bracelets they (the aliens or the government) would place on confirmed human mutants. Meena and Sarah argued that only non-human mutants were being investigated, but Harry countered that such a thing was a means to get the rest of humanity off its guard.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 11: Exile) - Harry was surprised and somewhat terrified to learn John was a Chlorite, but he initially tried to play it off, making jokes about a tabloid headline, "My Roommate Was an Alien Spy!" When Meena defended John, Harry admitted they had spent time together and John had been nice, but he never felt that he really knew John. When Todd argued that John wasn't human; Harry then asked if they (the group of mutants) were human.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 11: Exile (fb) - BTS) - Harry accompanied Meena in visiting Professor Xavier for "moral support" when she insisted Xavier get John a lawyer.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 11: Exile (fb) - BTS) - Xavier told John how Harry and Meena were still trying to help him despite learning his true nature, which confused John slightly as he had been trained to believe all humans would want his kind destroyed.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 16: Excelsior) - Harry, Meena, and Rogue attended a mutant-registration protest rally in Manhattan, New York. Jean Grey, the Imperial Guard's Smasher, and a trio of Sentinels brought in mutants (including a corrosive glob-firing mutant) at the rally. Presumably already registered, Meena, Harry, and Roguwere allowed to depart,e  but protesters interfering with the mutant captures -- including the charismatic protest leader -- were arrested as well.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular) - When Meena had frightening visions of Sentinels attacking the Xavier Institute, the other students appreciated that this was likely due to the presence of "John Chang."
    As James "Lash" Wheaton prepared to call the government to inform them of the hidden Chlorite in hopes of ensuring the government would spare him from Sentinel assault, Harry launched a paper clip from a rubber band to distract him and then argued whimsically about the cost of long distance phone calls at that hour on his data plan. 
    Wheaton angrily ensnared Harry with electric tendrils, and while Harry was initially protected from the electrical shock by his thick hair, the hair soon began to burn, causing him pain. Meena broke some of these tendrils with a heavy book, and Kristin helped Harry pull free from the others. When Wheaton threatened them further, Harry pulled Meena and Kris with him behind Todd Watkins' durable form, but ultimately Sarah convinced Wheaton to call off the attack and talk it out with her over dinner. Harry whimsically considered if that was what it took to get her to try to seduce him, he would have tried to call the government himself. 

    However, after Wheaton left, Harry noted that Wheaton would likely try to call again, and Meena argued that they needed to get John off of grounds and into another hiding place. Harry convinced Sarah and Kris to help (the former in some part only to prevent Wheaton from pressuring her into doing things she didn't want to do).
    Harry further suggested they might be able to find others who could help them via the internet; when Todd teased that Harry wouldn't know about anything on the internet that wasn't porn, Harry teased back that if Todd didn't keep quiet, he'd stop letting him look over his shoulder. Overhearing the students, Rogue agreed to help them.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 19: Extracurricular - BTS) - However, this plan frightened Todd sufficiently that he instead contacted the government and revealed the existence of "John" as a Chlorite hidden on Xavier Institute grounds. Henry Gyrich informed Poratine, leading her to coordinate a Diascar-Sentinel-Imperial Guard assault on the Xavier Institute, which Gyrich hoped would eliminate Xavier's organization for good. 

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 20: Extraction (fb)) - After Harry agreed he could hack the Danger Room's computer systems to program the room to show them practicing in a pattern in dynamic simulations, Meena convinced him to thereafter use his gift of gab to distract Hank McCoy with science questions.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 20: Extraction) - Kristin -- along with Sarah, Meena, Mike, and Harry -- followed Rogue to the Danger Room. After the group had practiced sufficiently to allow Harry to program the room to show them practicing in a pattern in dynamic simulations they -- minus Harry, who distracted Hank McCoy -- continued on to John's cell.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 20: Extraction - BTS) - The group made it outside the mansion, but as they prepared to take John to a secret location, they were confronted by the senior X-Men, as Wolverine had sensed Kristin's invisibility field having been off somewhat. Ultimately, however, all of X-Men ultimately agreed to protect John and seek a peaceful resolution with the Chlorites.Almost immediately thereafter, Sentinel, Diascar, and the Imperial Guard arrived to collect "John."

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 21: Extermination (fb) - BTS) - Frustrated with the Sentinels' repeated questions about reclassifying specific beings as threats, Gyrich told them to reassess all status assignments as the situation warranted, unwittingly neutralizing much of the controls the Diascar had programmed into the Sentinels. 

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 21: Extermination) - Inside the mansion, Harry was eager to join the fight; though physically he was no match for the Sentinels, he hoped he could potentially hack into and reprogram them. Xavier reminded Harry that he would be against military-grade encryption and Diascar programming, and it might actually be better to stay out of harm's way so as not distract the others....and to pray. 

    While most of the Sentinels began to fall before the combined forces of the mutants, Imperial Guardsmen, and troops, one disengaged the top portion of its head and its left forearm assembly, and was joined by at least one if not two other left hands. These loose components made it into the Xavier Institute mansion and down to the sub-basement in which Xavier and the mutants with powers less useful in a flight were based. Feeling guilty over having made the call, Todd projected thoughts of his actions to Xavier, who had everyone relocate to the Danger Room and then wheel Todd in front of the door so he could act as a shield. As Todd's wheelchair eventually melted and collapsed, he was overwhelmed by the assaults.

    The Danger Room defenses took down most of the attacking Sentinel components, but ultimately the Sentinel head fragment remained active after disabling the room's defenses. After the Sentinel neutralized Xavier's shotgun, Harry leapt atop the head fragment, blinding it with another student's jacket, taunting it ("Hey Mr. No-Body! Weren't you supposed to be looking for a Chlorite? He's not even hear, you nitwit! Why don't you try using yourself for a change?") and shaking himself back and forth until enough of his hair was shed and pulled into the turbines to clog them. Harry leapt free before the Sentinel head lost control and smashed face-first into a wall. When it tried to use its lasers, it severed some wires that caused a small explosion, finally incapacitating it.
    Giggling hysterically, more from terror than humor, Harry noted that, like his mom had always said, his hair could clog up anything.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 22: Deus ex Meena (fb) - BTS) - Taforne's forces captured "John Chang" and Meena in the woods behind the Xavier mansion. They transported them both to Poratine's command ship for quarantine.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 22: Deus ex Meena) - After Poratine revealed John and Meena's capture, Kristin, Papillon, Beanpole, and Harry, at least, stepped forward and announced they had also helped John and should be arrested, too. Beast then explained how Meena could locate a reality where Chlorites were the dominant lifeform, after which they could access that reality and send the Chlorites there to live in peace.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 23: Exeunt Omnes (fb) - BTS) - As planned (presumably with Seden's coaching), Meena located Reality-62342, which fit their goals. Rogue absorbed Meena and Nightcrawler's powers and transported to Earth-62342 while being scanned by the Shi'ar stargate generator. A portal to that world was then opened.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 23: Exeunt Omnes (fb) - BTS) - Seden Karm (the real name of the the friend they had known as John Chang) said his goodbyes to Harry, Kris, Mike, and Sarah, at least. Those students were the toast of the Xavier Institute for their roles in saving the day from the Sentinels and their courage in daring to look for a peaceful solution. As a mark of their newfound status, they had finally been endowed with codenames of their own:
Meena was now the Visionary (which made her blush; and which made Harry quip that she needed a partner called the Scarlet Witchinary); Kris was dubbed Flasher; Harry remained Harry, as that pretty said it all. Seden noted that he thought they would have called him Bigfoot-in-Mouth...and they all had a good laugh at the first joke they recalled "John" telling.

(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 23: Exeunt Omnes - BTS) - Seden Karm, Dr. McCoy, and the Diascar confirmed Earth-62342 as the world they had sought, and John adopted the mission to locate the rest of the Chlorites in the galaxy and convince them relocate to Earth-62342.

Comments: Created by Christopher L. Bennett.

    The status of Harry and the rest of the mutants introduced in this series post M-Day is unrevealed.

    No images of Harry exist. There is not a single picture in the whole story.

    Each of the chapters in Watchers on the Walls had an "X" or "Ex" title. An exordium is an introduction; ex silentio means not only "from silence," but also "for lack of contrary evidence"; exigency means "emergency"; ex cathedra means "by virtue of office or authority"; an exclosure is an area fenced off to prevent intrusion; exequies are funeral rites; exitus acta probat means "the outcome justifies the deed"; an excursus is a digression or sidebar; and exeunt omnes is a stage direction that means "they all exit."
    "Deus ex Meena" is obviously a play on "Deus ex Machina," originally used to describe mechanical devices used to simulate godly powers in Greek tragedies and later used to mean simply a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly abruptly resolved by the intervention of some event, character, etc. 

    Great story. You can buy it on Amazon, etc. for a few dollars. I would love to see it adapted to the comics and get some visuals on all of the cool characters introduced in this book.

    A few unidentified mutants in the same class as Harry's included one who could levitate, another who could weave electricity between his or her fingers, and another who could chameleon-blend with the wallpaper.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Harry should be distinguished from: