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Ghost in the Apparatus of the Spirit in the Shell of the Machine was the first comic in the Tales To Behold subseries of the webcomic The Cosmic Beholder, and the third story in the series overall. Written and drawn by Paul Hoppe, it was released both in serialised webcomic form and in a limited print run.
It marked the first appearance by Jenny in the series. Although implied at the time to be Jenny Everywhere, this was later revealed to have been Jenny Nowhere posing as her (or potentially believing herself to be her).
Contents
Plot
While somewhere in space, Mysto the Space-Wizard is defending the Earth against a cosmic being known as Armagedda, on Earth, another supervillain — the eccentric Doctor Brain — has created an interdimensional portal. He opens it for the first time and, with the experiment proving a success, begins to chuck unwanted mail and paperwork into the interdimensional gateway, intent on later moving on to other annoying things in his life, such as “toxic waste, superheroes, and I.R.S. auditors”. However, unnoticed by the jubilant Doctor, a creature begins to emerge from the parallel dimension.
Meanwhile, the superhero Captain Evening is performing his usual late-night hoverbike patrol. Noticing strange noises coming from the warehouse Doctor Brain is using for the experiment, he intervenes to find Doctor Brain being attacked by the tentacled monstrosity. Doctor Brain mundanely asks for his help, cutting off Evening's moralising monologue. Realising he cannot defeat the monster directly, but could force it back to its own dimension by closing the gate, Evening tries to find the portal's energy source and destroy it with his Handblaster. However, the power source turns out to be a person — a girl, to be exact, who introduces herself as “Jenny”. He manages to disconnect the machine sucking up her power from the portal device itself, banishing the abomination and allowing Jenny to be released safely.
Back in space, Mysto convinces Armagedda that magic is more powerful than her cosmic abilities by using prestigitation to make his staff ‘vanish’ without an energy reading for Armagedda to pick up. Terrified at the thought of him vanishing her in the same way, she agrees to promise not to disintegrate the Earth or its people, and teleports out of sight.
Worldbuilding
Universes
- This story takes place all in one universe, later named as Reality Z-25 31-H. However, Doctor Brain opens a portal to a parallel dimension in which the Monstrosity originates.
Other
- Armagedda claims that Humanity's eradication is demanded by “the Cosmic Order”.
Continuity
- Doctor Brain harnesses the shifting powers of a human shifter to power a dimension-travel machines. This was previously shown as a possibility in COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse, where several incarnations of Jenny pulled their shifting energy together to power the Lotus Prime.
Behind the scenes
Read online
Tales To Behold is available online on the Cosmic Beholder blog.