Cynosure (comics)

Last updated October 29, 2019

Cynosure is a fictional pan-dimensional city that exists within the First Comics multiverse.^[1]^[2]^[3] It is described as floating in a "bubble" in the "pan-dimensional vortex". Because of its unique situation, Cynosure is an important center of multi-versal commerce and much of the city's government is geared toward maintaining favorable trading conditions.

First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable. Along with competitors like Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics, First took early advantage of the growing direct market, attracting a number of writers and artists from DC and Marvel to produce creator-owned titles, which, as they were not subject to the Comics Code, were free to feature more mature content.

Different zones of the city operate under different physical laws because of the proximity of other dimensions. Guns and other technology work in some parts of the city and not others. Similarly, magic is operable some places and not others. Swords generally work everywhere. Different dimensions variously move in and out of phase with Cynosure, regularly in some instances and randomly in others. Occasionally dimensions will seemingly exist entirely within the confines of Cynosure, as for example the so-called "snowball dimensions" which roam throughout the city, or at "Infinity Lanes", a bowling alley in which each lane is a separate dimension.

Perhaps the most noted resident of Cynosure is John Gaunt, also known as Grimjack. His fate is uniquely tied to that of the city, as he is doomed to be reincarnated for as long as the city exists. This doom came about when Gaunt voluntarily walked out of Heaven to save the life of a friend who, if he were to die, would have been condemned forever to Hell. It is through Grimjack's experiences during two of his incarnations (Gaunt and James Twilley) that much of what is known about Cynosure was revealed.

Grimjack is the main character of a comic book originally published by the American company First Comics. John Ostrander and Timothy Truman are credited as co-creators of the character, although Ostrander had been developing Grimjack with artist Lenin Delsol before Truman's arrival on the project according to Ostrander's own text piece in Grimjack #75. In that same essay, the writer also revealed having initially conceived the character to be the star of a series of prose stories, set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago.

Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being starts a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. It is also called rebirth or transmigration, and is a part of the Saṃsāra doctrine of cyclic existence. In short, Saṃsāra is the cycle of death and rebirth.

Origin

According to the enigmatic being known as Dys, Cynosure was built as the result of a struggle between two primordial cosmic beings. As they fought and slew each other, their energies co-mingled, creating Dys, who in turn created the multiverse from his thoughts and imaginings. At the center of the multiverse, Dys created beings of "chaos in service to order" which came to be called "demons." Under Dys's instructions, the demons built the city of Cynosure and Dys diffused his essence into it. Dys designed the city so that, as the various dimensions came into phase with it, the city would leach some of that dimension's energy back into Dys. When all the energy was collected, Dys would split back into the two primordial beings and creation would begin anew. According to "FutureJack", a man claiming to be Grimjack reincarnated, the demons subverted the city's design so that the "Dark God" would re-form first and destroy the "Bright God", altering all of reality. A demon and Dys itself confirmed much of FutureJack's story but it is still unknown whether it's true.

History

While much of Cynosure's history remains unrecorded, a number of notable events are known. These include the Demon Wars, The Dancer's Rebellions and the Trade Wars.

Demon Wars

About 25 years city time before the premiere of the Grimjack comic book series, Hell moved into phase with Cynosure. Demons poured over the borders of Hell into the city, quickly overrunning it. The only safe places were those areas of the city with low concentrations of "mana" (magical energy) into which the demons could not venture. These came to be known as the Havens. Also safe were the "hidden dimensions", whose access points were concealed. Because of the Havens, the war quickly became stalemated. Finally, the city was able, through the use of floating forts equipped with "reality generators", to force Hell out of phase with Cynosure and seal the access points permanently.

Dancer's First Rebellion

The Dancer was the greatest fighter ever to come out of the Arena, Cynosure's gladiatorial games. Following the Demon Wars, he forged the denizens of the Pit, a slum area of the city, into an army and led them against the ruling class of Cynosure. He failed and was thought dead, only to return years later and act to instigate the Trade Wars.

Trade Wars

Several years after his failed rebellion, Dancer re-emerged as part of a conspiracy with the leader of a powerful interdimensional conglomerate to take over the city government. His machinations led to the assassinations of half of the ruling council and open warfare between the conglomerates and, with his threat to lower the dimensional barriers maintaining the integrity of Cynosure, he almost forced Cynosure to surrender. Gaunt's intervention stopped the dimensional breach and Dancer was again thwarted.

Dancer's Second Rebellion

Shortly thereafter, Dancer managed to ally himself with the denizens of Hell, whom he had allowed back into Cynosure through "demon gates" created from the slaughtered remains of several of his trusted lieutenants. Before the demons could fully encroach upon the city, Gaunt and his allies found and destroyed the demon gates, but several high-ranking government officials had already been possessed by demons. While some of those demons were later destroyed, with Grimjack's reincarnation as James Twilley two centuries into the future, the end result of these possessions is unknown.

Government

During Grimjack's incarnation as Gaunt, the city was ruled by a Council of Ministers led by Lord William Honesworth. Following the events of the Trade Wars, the Council was replaced by a coalition government consisting of representatives of the various powerful conglomerates. Besides the ruling coalition, several factions and forces played prominent roles in city affairs. By Twilley's time, corporate hold on power had solidified to the point of the individual having few to no rights unless incorporated. Individuals and families would routinely incorporate.

The TDP

The Trans-Dimensional Police were the law-enforcement division of city government. One known branch of the TDP was the "Shadow Cops," who operated clandestinely, but they were destroyed in the events leading up to the Trade Wars. By the time of Grimjack's incarnation as Twilley, law enforcement had been privatized. Twilley earned part of his living as a "private cop".

Cadre

Following the Demon Wars, an elite force called Cadre was created. Its simple mandate was to protect the city. As such agencies often do, Cadre grew out of its initial mandate and its members (particularly its leader, Mayfair) became fanatically devoted to acting in accordance with their personal perception of the best interest of the city. Mayfair was one of those demon-possessed during Dancer's second rebellion but was destroyed shortly thereafter.

The Lord Protector

The Lord Protector of Cynosure is an artificial being constructed from cells and energies representing all of the various dimensions. As a result, The Lord Protector is charged with vast reality warping powers to be used in the preservation of the city. During Gaunt's time, the Lord Protector was Phaeton. He was killed and possessed during Dancer's second rebellion and Gaunt and his allies created a new Lord Protector from a cloned being infused with the essence of a sorceress called Sphinx. It is unknown if there continues to be a Lord Protector in Twilley's time. Lord Cumulus also spent much time on Cynosure and was idolized by the citizens. After his untimely death, many others including Phaeton tried to replace him.

Culture

Because of Cynosure's pandimensional nature, any manner of diversion is available there, from activities as mundane as bowling to the most exotic and perverse sexual entertainment imaginable. In John Gaunt's youth, the most popular spectator sport was the gladatorial combat of the Arena. After the Arena was outlawed, a sport called Hardball filled some of the void left by its absence.

Bowling class of sports in which a player rolls a bowling ball towards a target

Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls or throws a bowling ball toward pins or another target. In the U.S. and Canada, the term bowling usually refers to ten-pin bowling; in the U.K. and Commonwealth Countries, however, the term bowling could also refer to lawn bowls.

Another popular activity is the use of tourbots. Small highly mobile robots into which one's consciousness may be projected, tourbots are a safe and economical way to see parts of Cynosure which would otherwise be too dangerous to frequent. Tourbots are not universally loved and in some establishments (including Munden's Bar) they are destroyed on sight. By James Twilley's time, the tourbot industry and cloning technology had merged into the zuvembie industry.

Munden's Bar is a fictional bar featured in the First Comics title Grimjack. It is also the title of the back-up feature that ran in the Grimjack title for most of the first 69 issues and also received two annuals of its own, each mixing new stories and reprints. Munden's Bar is the operation area of John Gaunt and is located in the Pit, a slum area of Cynosure, a pan-dimensional city to which all dimensions connect.

A zuvembie is a creature used by Robert E. Howard in his short story "Pigeons from Hell," published in Weird Tales in 1938. In the 1970s Marvel Comics used the term in place of "zombie", which had been banned by the Comics Code Authority.

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References

↑ Starslayer # 10. Illinois: First Comics. 1983.
↑ GrimJack # 1. Illinois: First Comics. 1984.
↑ The Legend of GrimJack, Volume One. San Diego, California: IDW Publishing. 2005. p. 7. ISBN 193238251-8.

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[1] Starslayer # 10. Illinois: First Comics. 1983.

[2] GrimJack # 1. Illinois: First Comics. 1984.

[3] The Legend of GrimJack, Volume One. San Diego, California: IDW Publishing. 2005. p. 7. ISBN 193238251-8.