Saturday, July 5, 2014

The Vile Menagerie: PRIMAID



Alter Ego: Primaid
Occupation: Alien Invader
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: The Hyperclan, White Martians
Base of Operations: Still Zone, formerly Z'Onn Z'Orr
First Appearance: JLA #1 (January, 1997)
Height: Variable, appeared approx. 5'9"
Build: Variable, appeared mildly athletic
Weight: Variable, appeared approx.130 lbs.
Eyes: Variable, appeared red
Hair: Variable, appeared white
Skin: Variable, appeared alternately white and Caucasian

History:
On the lawn of the White House, Primaid arrived with a team of self-proclaimed alien heroes dubbed "The Hyperclan" who told a tale of having been wandering outer space for untold time in search of a world to save, having failed their own. The team took part in seemingly beneficial acts toward the Earth, but these were temporary fixes to cover for their secretly using mind control to slowly turn the world against its super-heroes. When members of the JLA flew to the Hyperclan's primary headquarters in the Antarctic to investigate, Superman himself was unable to stop Primaid as she rammed into him, rocketing him into the ground. The Man of Steel swiftly recovered to deliver a reciprocal punch, but was subsequently subdued by Protex.

Primaid took part in the torture of Superman, which appeared to involve controlled pulses of kryptonite radiation. She was also set to execute the other captive members of the JLA via The Flower of Wrath, until A-Mortal disappeared looking for the Batman, soon followed by the other members of the Hyperclan. The Dark Knight had determined her team were in fact White Martians, and began exploiting their vulnerability to flame. Superman was promptly on the loose, and Martian Manhunter prevented the triggering of the Flower. Primaid declared J'Onn J'Onzz a traitor and furiously lashed out at him. J'Onzz was flat on his back when Wonder Woman took the fight to Primaid, tying her with the Lasso of Truth and suffocating her in the vacuum of the upper atmosphere. Primaid was later brainwashed by J'Onzz into believing herself to be human and assumed a false life for a time.



Primaid was eventually awakened from this facade and secretly rejoined her fellow White Martians in another plot to take over the Earth. This one involved altering the atmosphere to prevent the production of fire and enhancing the Martians' psychic powers by eating the brains of human latent telepaths. J'Onn J'Onzz was abducted to avoid his interference, and Primaid became one of his torturers. The Whites and Martian Manhunter went through various turnabouts in effecting and countering these plans, with Primaid at one point being felled by a varied density hand through the chest. Ultimately, Primaid was sent back into other-dimensional exile, this time to the Phantom Zone, along with her fellow White Martians.

Powers:
Primaid likely possesses the full complement of abilities associated with White Martians, although her full scope has not been demonstrated to date. She is a well trained White Martian warrior, versed in innumerable fighting techniques that employed her superhuman powers. Her shape-shifting is swift, fluid, and offensively effective. Primaid displayed extraordinary speed of flight, bridging a gap of 200 miles instantaneously after being detected by telescopic vision and battering Superman before he could defend himself. Primaid projected an undefined yellow-orange energy from her fists that painfully stunned and grounded the Man of Steel on impact. She clearly enjoys superhuman strength in the upper spectrum, having battered Superman and the Martian Manhunter in combat while holding her own against Wonder Woman. She can become invisible, and through unknown means created "chilled air" clouds, possibly involving the freezing breath seen in use by the Manhunter from Mars.

Weaknesses:
Primaid has a catastrophic vulnerability to fire, causing immediate loss of her abilities, swift passing of consciousness, and eventually death if exposure is prolonged.

Quote:"I feel more confident of victory with every clocktick."

Created by: Grant Morrison & Howard Porter



2 comments:

Anj said...

What??

When was the 'brain-eating' storyline? And in what book? And should I hunt it down?

Diabolu Frank said...

Terror Incognita..

August-November 2001. JLA #55-58/tpb collection. Sure.

Couldn't resist parallel formatting. The arc had some issues in that it went through two artists and it felt like either Waid's story wasn't fully conveyed or he was distracted by his imminent, largely permanent departure from DC Comics. It's a solid story if problematic with elements that could have made it a Martian Manhunter epic, but ultimately did not make it there.