The Early Years: The Slayers, Part 2 ― Menta As Anything

So here we are this week with the second and final post involving Thunderbolt and his sidekicks, as we present the final four members of the Slayers. These are the nominally more important ones, insofar as when the team got adapted for the Marvel Mania storyboard in college, they’re the four who didn’t get killed off pretty quickly; in fact, one of them eventually switched sides and joined the good guys. Read on to find out who!

So in this group we have:

• Menta: The team telepath, i.e., the Mentalist. Shocker, I know.
• The Ghost: An insubstantial character (and apparent literal ghost) whose main power, aside from being able to infiltrate anywhere and act as a spy, was temporarily possessing other characters to use them as meat puppets.* The Ghost doesn’t really fit into any of the archetypes I mentioned last week, but I suppose if I had to pick one, he would be another Mentalist, although he would of course gain whatever powers his current meat puppet possessed.
• Portal: The team transportation system, who opens teleportation portals.
• Dancer: A Martial Artist who mostly kicks and slashes her opponents into submission. She eventually ended up with cybernetic legs (a la The Winter Soldier’s arm), which I guess would kind of make her overlap with Power Armor a little bit.

Anyone want to guess which of that group switches sides to become a hero? Anyone?

Well okay I’ll tell you. Shockingly enough, given his powers and his description as a being who “hates the living”, Ghost is the one who switches sides**. Here’s his first appearance:

Title: SEVERAL-SECRETS < 42 lines>
In REPLY to: THE-LONG-QUEST
Date: 12-01-1989 at 18:21:32 ( 9)
From: the marvel bullpen

Senator Jake Cranston looked blearily into the mirror, noting the rivulet of blood that trickled down his chin, carrying bits of shaving cream like tiny icebergs. He groaned and splashed water onto his face, washing away the blood and foam. He was up early this morning, because he needed to review the documents which CHESS had given to him. Cranston was the chairman of the committee which oversaw CHESS’s funding; it was a relatively minor committee, but you had to start small.

(The Ghost drifted above a split-level house in suburban Washington. :: That’s the house, :: said a voice in his mind; it was Menta. :: He’s in the bathroom. You know what to do. ::)

Cranston dabbed at the cut with a piece of toilet paper. If he had been able to see invisible objects, he would have noticed the Ghost enter his bathroom. If he had been telepathic, he would detected the Ghost’s thoughts. But Cranston was none of these things; he was just a human. All he noticed was a tingling sensation as the insubstantial form merged with his own. Then, he felt nothing. The razor fell into the sink with a clatter.

Senator Cranston grinned insanely. “I have a body,” he sang softly.

And here he is some months later, when he’s apparently become much more well-adjusted and is actively helping Our Heroes (plus standard-issue Marvel character Doctor Strange) fight the cosmic-level threat Malefarr. This was after Malefarr had conquered the world and covered it in darkness for six months or so, which apparently gave The Ghost time to think things over.

Title: MALEFARR-STRIKES-BACK < 50 lines>
In REPLY to: THE-HUNT
Date: 04-22-1990 at 11:13:40 ( 11)
From: malefarr

“Fools!” shouted Malefarr. “Do you think it is that easy?” He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Exenetor’s clothing was suddenly transformed to solid steel. Malefarr scrambled away before Tarl could break free.

Forecast, her control of the weather restored, began summoning storm clouds. Bludgeon, who was circling the area, flew by her and said, “Aw, c’mon. It hasn’t been sunny in a month!”

“Suffer,” laughed Forecast.

Malefarr raised his arms and called out in an arcane language. Thick vapors poured out of his body, instantly obscuring the immediate vicinity. “Not this time,” muttered Strange as he began a counterspell.

“Where is he, dammit?” yelled Tailspin. He called up a strong wind that blew the vapors away as quickly as they formed.

“I see him,” growled Reaper. He raised his hand and fired three claws into the mist. They heard a grunt. “Got him!” declared Mark.

“Nice shooting, Tex,” yelled Bludgeon as he whizzed by.

“Flamelord!” called Tailspin. “Bake the bastard!”

“Way ahead of you,” answered Lance as he sprayed a gout of fire over the area covered by the fog. Then Strange completed his counterspell and the mist vanished. Amazingly, despite the pounding he had just taken, Malefarr was still on his feet.

“What does it take to drop this guy?” asked the Ghost incredulously. “A nuclear bomb?”

Malefarr clapped his hands together, and there was an explosion of force that radiated out from his body in a shockwave. The ground shook and buckled and the air itself seemed to quiver. The base of the Statue began to crumble. The heroes fared almost as badly. Strange barely threw up a shield in time to protect himself and those near him, but the force of Malefarr’s spell shattered it and threw them back a dozen yards. Bludgeon’s kinetic shield blocked the brunt of the damage, but what got through was enough to knock him out of the
sky, his head ringing. Tailspin transformed to his air form, but found that it didn’t fully protect him; he stayed in the air, but he was badly shaken. The others were forced back various distances and threatened with unconsciousness.

Only the Ghost was unaffected. He flew forward through the wave as everyone else was pushed away. “Okay, you grisly bastard,” he shouted, “let’s see how tough you really are!” The Ghost felt a severe chill as he entered Malefarr’s body and snaked through the sorceror’s memories. Then he felt a burning fire that forced him out of Malefarr’s mind and sent him reeling through the air. “Okay, that’s pretty tough,” he muttered.

“Finish him off!” shouted Reaper from where he lay. “Hit him with everything you’ve got!”

Lightning began flashing in the darkening sky above them as Forecast called forth the elements. Then the pale shape of the Ghost flew down among them. “No!” he shouted. “No! Don’t kill him!”

“Why the hell not?” demanded Bludgeon.

“I saw it in his memories! If you kill him, that’ll just set his spirit free to take over another body! Then the whole thing will start over again!”

The Statue of Liberty creaked and tilted.

“Shit!” swore Bludgeon. “What do we do now?”

Then Exenetor stepped forward and held up his sword. He smiled coldly. “This time, we eat HIS soul***.”

Needless to say, Our Heroes then come up with an extremely convoluted plan to weaken Malefarr and pin him down long enough for Exenetor to stab him with his sword and drain his soul to prevent him from coming back again, which they actually manage to pull off. And the only reason they know they even have to do it is because of the now-heroic Ghost.

Just don’t ask me how an insubstantial being is able to shout. 🤔

* If this makes you think of Malice from the Marauders, well, you’re not wrong.
** After I graduated, the Marvel Mania storyboard kept going for a few years, during which time Menta—who by then was the only remaining member of the Slayers other than Ghost—performed some Jedi Mind Tricks on my old character Bludgeon to get him to marry her, as part of some long-range scheme she had concocted to infiltrate the hero group. This eventually backfired somehow, because comic books, and the persona Menta created for this purpose became her actual personality, so I guess technically she switched sides too.
*** Exenetor was armed with a sword that was very like Stormbringer. You do not want to get killed by Stormbringer.