Merv the Griffin
Merv the Griffin, also known as simply Griffin, was a bipedal, anthropomorphic demon griffin from the Sixth Realm. He was summoned to Reality Z-25 31-H by Doctor Brain and magically compelled to seek out and destroy Captain Evening. After being freed from his magical binding by the Captain and Jenny Nowhere (then posing as Jenny Everywhere), Merv remained in this new universe in order to get his revenge on Doctor Brain and the Wicked Witch, and ended up joining Captain Evening's superhero team.
Description
Physical appearance
Merv the Griffin was a muscular winged humanoid, taller than the average human man. He had clawed hands and a griffin-head whose beak was not clearly delineated from the rest of the face. (COMIC: Tales To Behold)
Personality
Merv was a creature of honour, who would dedicate himself to getting reparation if he felt that he had been wrong. He was not above showing emotion, however, as evidenced by his shameless cryng and other displays of despair when he thought that he would remain trapped in Reality Z-25 31-H forever due to his inability to find and defeat Captain Evening. (COMIC: Tales To Behold)
Biography
Summoned to Reality Z-25 31-H
Merv the Griffin was summoned from the Sixth Realm to Reality Z-25 31-H by the young witch Jesse Brain on behalf of her father, the supervillain Doctor Brain. He was magically bound to this realm until he could find Captain Evening (a superhero and Doctor Brain's archnemesis) and arrange for his death. However, the malevolent Doctor failed to tell Merv who or what “Captain Evening” was or how he might be found. Thus, Merv wandered the world for weeks, despairing of ever fulfilling his magical obligation and returning home.
While flying around in a despairing haze, he eventually crashed into a belltower that turned out to be that of Captain Evening's own stately home. The Captain, being too honourable for his own good, confessed that he was Merv's quarry. However, the shifter Jenny Nowhere (then posing as the heroic Jenny Everywhere) saved the Captain by briefly switching him out with his counterpart in a parallel universe populated by zombies. Merv struck the zombie Captain Evening, and confirmed that he was dead afterwards; even though the zombie had been dead all along, this counted as far as fulfilling his magical obligation went.
Despite now being free to go, Merv decided to stick around with Jenny and Captain Evening so as to fight Doctor Brain with them, and thereby get his revenge on the villain and his progeny. (COMIC: For Whom The Toll Bells)
Living among the Odds
Merv soon settled in Captain Evening's home. When Professor Madison and Rodney Rabbit came to stay there as guests, Merv was the one to offer them cookies. He later participated in the growing team of superheroes' expedition to investigate a transdimensional portal whose opening Madison had detected using a new invention of hers, although it turned out to be nothing to do with Doctor Brain. Merv subsequently participated, with obvious glee, in the impromptu “family game night” of putting Armstrong Fatbuckle, the Living Skeleton, back together after his bones had been disjointed by Red Vicious. (COMIC: Enter–the Legion of Light!) This completed the formation of the initial roster of Captain Evening's improvised superheroic team, “the Odds”. (COMIC: Redistribution)
When Jenkins and Professor Madison broke into Floor 239 of the headquarters of the Bureau of Singularity (who watched over Reality Z-25 31-H, among other universes) at the Nexus of Realities, Merv was visible on one of the monitors. (COMIC: Singularity War) Within a few weeks of the group's formation, the Odds were summoned by the New York Chief of Police, who was desperate to solve the mystery of the “reverse robberies” which had been popping up all across the city. The Odds agreed to help and discovered that the culprit was Armagedda, who was hiding out in the sewers and had plans to bring down human civilisations. The Captain ordered an ill-advised charge on Armagedda and a henchmen; he, Merv and Armstrong were easily captured, but Armstrong managed to distract Armagedda while the still-free Jenny worked out a way to exploit Armagedda's weakness to magic. After Armstrong tricked her into taking human form and going on a date with him, he brought her back to the sewers where Merv punched the still-human to the ground; before Armagedda could get her bearings and return to her true size and powers, Jenny shifted her to another universe using the Magic Sword of the Legion of Light). (COMIC: Redistribution)
Trip to England
Merv accompanied the other Odds to England when they were called by Chief Inspector Dennis of the Yard to help deal with the matter of a city which was being taken over by Insect People. It turned out that the Insect People were not taking it over militarily, just showing up all over the city and behaving in unpleasant but not violent or illegal ways. As the only Odd who could currently fly, he carried Armstrong and Jenny up the giant anthill to enter the Insects' hive; he offered his assistance to the Captain, who'd been forced to leave his Skycycle behind, but the superhero was too proud to accept it.
In the end, a fight still broke out after the Odds entered the Insect People's giant anthill to speak with their their leader, when they refused to abide by the labyrinthine waiting line the Insect People insisted they go through, during which Merv fought very successfully. They managed to gain entry into the office of the Insect Peoples' leader Insecto and convince him to abandon his plan to get the humans to vacate the city by annoying them relentlessly. After this anticlimactic resolution, Merv suggested they stay in England a while longer, (COMIC: Battle of Britain) having felt a strange magical signature.
Using Professor Madison's device, Merv was able to pinpoint its location to under an ancient monolith, which he lifted. Underneath, they found the remains of Sir Dennis of Inde, the Blue Knight, an Arthurian knight made immortal by his magical armour, who had been trapped under the boulder for centuries, magically kept alive. In thanks for their freeing him, the Blue Knight quickly pledged his services to the Odds, bowing to Captain Evening as his new “liege”. After they discovered that, over the centuries, the Blue Knight had degenerated into an incorporeal spirit animating a hollow armour, Merlin appeared out of nowhere and transferred the Blue Knight's spirit into the body of his last descendant. (COMIC: Encore)
Return to New York
Jenny, announcing that she had recovered her powers completely, shifted the entire Odds team, now including the Blue Knight, back to the Fortress of Evening in an instant, with them appearing in Professor Madison and Rodney Rabbit's bedroom. Madison began running tests on the Blue Knight while the other heroes freshened up in the Fortress's shower room. They soon had to leap back into action as Rodney informed them, based on what he was seeing on live television, that the ceremony where Captain Perfect was to be given the Keys to the City by Mayor Wilson was under attack by a giant robot called “Ultimatron”. The Odds rushed to the scene, but only succeeded in distracting Perfect, who was knocked out by the robot. They tried to defeat Ultimatron, but had little luck, with Centennia soon arriving and dispatching it herself.
After it transpired that the entire attack had been staged by Captain Perfect as a publicity stunt, he was punched into the distance by Centennia. Impressed, Captain Evening asked Centennia if she would consider joining “the Odds”, and she seemed to agree. To celebrate their victory and Centennia's joining, Captain Evening organised a party at the Fortress, inviting “all his hero friends” — including the Odds, the Terrific Two, Glow Girl, Mysto the Space-Wizard, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood and Terry Tornado. Among other things, the Captain grilled some steak on the roof, with Merv asking that his be cooked “very rare”. (COMIC: Meanwhile, On Earth)
Soon thereafter, Merv and the rest of the other Odds were lured to a warehouse under the belief that it was Armagedda's lair. It was actually a trap set up by Evil Cloak, who had gathered all of the Odds' past foes and revealed herself as the same person as the “Jenny Everywhere” the Odds had been fighting with, who was actually an incarnation of Jenny Nowhere. Nowhere ordered the villains to attack the Odds, with Merv being attacked by a fellow demon, Red Vicious, who mocked him for being weak to fire. Realising that they, and the other fighting pairs, were ill-matched, Captain Evening soon told Merv to attack Captain Perfect while the Blue Knight took on Red Vicious. However, even then, Red Vicious tossed the Blue Knight at Merv. The battle went no further as, after Nowhere was abruptly killed by Gazoom, a demonic entity she'd summoned using Doctor Brain's Portal, the heroes and villains agreed to call it a tie and cease fighting. Back at the Fortress, Merv agreed to take a vacation from superhero work to go on a road trip with the Blue Knight and Armstrong, who wanted to show the other two the sights of 21st-century Earth. (COMIC: Meanwhile, In Queens)
Fighting the Cosmic Solution
However, this plan was delayed for one last battle after an actual robot known as the Cosmic Solution began attacking New York City (having actually been sent by the Cosmic Order to carry out the destruction of humanity following Armagedda's failure). Though Robot Madison summoned as many heroes as she could, meaning a small team including Mysto the Space-Wizard, Terry Tornado, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood and the Human Tree got there first, Captain Evening soon answered the call, leading most of the Odds into battle on his Skycycle.
As soon as he arrived, he ordered Centennia, Merv, the Human Tree, and anyone else noted for physical strength to try and keep the robot contained while he worked out a longer-term solution with Robot Madison. With Hank Richards's surprise contribution, they managed to work out a scheme to distract the robot and drain power from him. It went off according to plan, although this had little bearing on how the threat was ultimately resolved, but as it wrestled itself free of the pile-on of heroes just before Evening connected it to Richards's device, the Solution punched Merv to the ground. He was only seen starting to get up, also helping the Captain up, just as the Solution finally left Earth after being called off by a different agent of the Cosmic Order. (COMIC: Journey Out Of Misery)
A vacation
The Odds (now joined by the real Jenny Everywhere) were offered a vacation by the mysterious Mr Montibar, and flew to the equally-mysterious, magical Kokotomo Island, where dreams could magically come true for a limited period of time. In Merv the Griffin's case, this allowed them to briefly spend time recreationally fighting zombies. (COMIC: Tales To Behold Halloween Cameo Caper 2014) He was also seen simply flying through the air above the beach. (COMIC: 2014 KAMeo Kaper) He eventually returned home on the same plane with the other Odds, save for Jenny and Centennia, who decided to stick around on Kokotomo. (COMIC: Tales To Behold Halloween Cameo Caper 2014)
The Odds, now reduced to the Captain, Armstrong, Merv and the Blue Knight, finally went on the low-key road-trip in the American countryside that Armstrong had initially suggested, trying to forget their troubles and simply enjoy life, camping out in the countryside at night. Eventually, however, during one particular pit-stop near a creek, they ran into trouble as a duo of corrupt, drug-trafficking policemen knocked out Armstrong, Merv and the Knight with tranquiliser darts and took them prisoners, afraid that the heroes would meddle in their trafficking.
They missed the Captain, however, who had gotten knocked out as part of an unrelated accident while away from the group; teaming up with a young, naïve and surprisingly athletic Sheriff, who knew nothing of her subordinates' corruption, he found the drug-dealers' lair and helped his friends break out, after which they easily overpowered the villains — while their leader Druggo had previously claimed to have superpowers, the Blue Knight quickly realised that he was simply delusional and knocked him out in a single punch. The Odds then went for a midnight swim in the creek with the Sheriff, who needed some time to relax and rethink things. As he advised her on how to deal with this betrayal, the Captain realised that he needed to take his own advice to her to ultimately “just keep going”, and decreed that the Odds should return to New York as there was “work to be done”. (COMIC: Road Trip Of No Return) Upon returning to New York, the Odds joined with numerous other heroes to offer their help to Professor Madison in her work rebuilding after the damage dealt to the city by the Solution. (PROSE: Epilogue to Destruction)
Against the Shadow Queen
When the Shadow Queen attacked New York City, the Odds — including Merv, the Captain, Armstrong Fatbuckle and the Blue Knight — responded almost immediately. Despite their speed, they did not fare well in their first battle against the Queen's shadow-warriors, who were intangible when they tried to punch them, but very much capable of dealing damage to flesh-and-blood opponents. Only the setting of the sun brought an end to the fight, forcing the Queen to retreat lest her shadows dissolve into the darkness of the night. However, the Captain managed to hurl a tracking device at her.
In the middle of the night, the Odds followed the tracking device to the Queen's house, where they distracted her by cutting off her electricity. In the confusion, they stole her Shadow-Ray and, getting Professor Madison to walk them through it over video-phone, reprogrammed it to create shadow-beings loyal to them rather than the Queen. When they attacked the Queen and her shadows openly, it was with the help of the Shadow Odds, living versions of their own shadows (including a Shadow-Merv whom the Blue Knight found particularly scary). They handily beat the Queen's warriors, with Merv and the Shadow-Merv teaming up to prevent the Queen from escaping aboard her Flying Platform. After she surrendered and was taken into custody, the Captain was interviewed by Amanda Allen, explaining how they'd beaten the Queen. At Armstrong's suggestion, the Odds then took possession of the Queen's Flying Platform, which they used to chase down remaining evil shadows, returning them to normal using the Reverse-Shadow-Ray. (COMIC: Chasing Shadows)
Foiling Hexia
When the supervillain and witch Hexia took over the Channel 6 studios midway through a special edition of Hero Hour, Captain Evening, who was the programme's special guest, was incapacitated and kept trapped by Hexia with the other hostages. After they were alerted to the situation by the Commissioner, it fell to Merv, Armstrong Fatbuckle and the Blue Knight to rescue him and the others, forced to plan on their own without the Captain's strategic guidance. While Armstrong and the Knight snuck in, Merv bided his time until the other two revealed themselves, then came crashing in through a window, taking out two of Hexia's goons in one fell swoop.
After Hexia tried to flee to the roof and hopped onboard a getaway helicopter, Merv tried to give chase, but initially proved too slow, especially when forced to carry Armstrong in one arm. However, Jung-La intervened and briefly knocked Hexia out of the vehicle. Though she used a vanishing spell to teleport back into the cockpit, this slowed her down sufficiently for Mervin to grab onto the railing of the helicopter. He and Armstrong climbed inside and, despite Hexia shooting Armstrong's skull off, quickly showed themselves to be more (and weirder) than she could deal with in her already-tired state, such that she gave herself up.
The clean-up, during which the Captain complimented the other three Odds for their resourcefulness in his absence, and offered Jung-La the chance to join the team, was cut short when the Commissioner called the Odds' attention to the New Protectors' latest broadcast, which announced that they had essentially declared martial law on New York, and furthermore, that independent superheroes would now be considered criminals. (COMIC: Season of the Witch)
The Kate Five debacle
Like the others (save Armstrong), Merv was lounging on the roof, preparing to play a game of strip poker with his friends, when British metahuman Kate Five arrived at the Fortress. Kate, who was under the control of her evil symbiote at the time, dispatched Armstrong before going up to the roof and persuading the Odds to play a drinking game instead, using a bottle of alcohol that she'd secretly drugged. With all the other teammembers unconscious, it fell to Centennia to defeat Kate Five with the help of Armstrong's disembodied arm. After she did so and all the other Odds were awoken, Jung-La and Merv took it upon themselves to hunt for the symbiote itself, which had been dismissed from Kate's body by Centennia and had subsequently fled. They were unsuccessful in locating it, however, and it ambushed Kate and possessed her again just after she left the Odds' company intent on returning home to make amends. (COMIC: Symbiote Surprise)
| Recurring elements of The Cosmic Beholder | ||||||||||
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