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SkullFace Comicbook OutlineIssue #1
SkullFace awakens in a strange and beautiful landscape with no memory of who he was before or how he came to be in this place. He finds ten knives strewn on the ground about him and a crumpled note instructing him to not remove the ragged skull mask wrapped around his head. A dreamy alien desert stretches to the horizon in all directions.
He begins an aimless trek to find some definition of who he is. As he wanders he has several haunting encounters and erratic flashbacks of the life of an angry teenaged boy named Frank (himself?).
He encounters a surreal oracle that professes to hold answers to his nagging questions but must first do battle with a nightmarish monster. On the cusp of revelation SkullFace finally sees something familiar.
Issue #2
SkullFace hears a strange and terrible story of his childhood from his old friend Pooka.
As a young boy SkullFace (Frank Aquinas) had been abducted and tortured by the sadistic psychiatrist Dr. Sullivan Cain. In Cain's seaside cabin Frank had been locked in a closet tortured and starved in ritual fashion. But what EXACTLY happened to Frank (and why) is still unclear.
How that ordeal effects him now is still shrouded in mystery but it becomes clear that SkullFace's current situation was spawned directly from that terrible childhood ordeal.
SkullFace and Pooka continue to travel through the surreal landscape to "a friendly place" as Pooka puts it. On their journey they have a brief encounter that helps SkullFace to better understand the nature of this strange world that they are in (Ego Torture and the Hate Mule).
The world that they are in is the modern spirit world, specifically a place called the Sheol. Once a Hebrew underworld it is now a barren and contested no-man's-land. The creatures that they encounter here are spirit beings, ghosts and ancient gods that have dwindled in power. With an absence of spirituality in the world they have dwindled to ragged spirits, backstreet bogeymen and closet monsters.
Issue #3
Pooka brings SkullFace to a cave to rest in safety. In the cave SkullFace "awakens" as Frank Aquinas. He recalls his experiences as SkullFace in the spirit world as nothing more than a series of hazy dreams that he's been having lately.
It is ten years to the day after his ordeal at the hands of Dr. Cain. He is an angry 19-year-old boy with only one real friend in the world another punk-Goth teen named Pooka. Since his childhood trauma Frank's life has been a labyrinth of depression made worse by one bad psychotherapeutic treatment after another. Frank catches a glimpse of another teen named Glashtyn.
Frank gets news that Dr. Cain has died in prison. This comes as a shock to Frank who always hoped to confront Cain and learn the truth behind his childhood ordeal. Pooka tells Frank that Cain is not dead and has escaped into the spirit world.
In a fit of rage Frank and Pooka steal a car and go in search of answers. On the road Frank recalls an important revelation about his friend Pooka. Since he was a child Pooka has been Frank's imaginary friend.
SkullFace awakens in the cave facing Pooka with fresh insight.
Issue #4
Pooka takes SkullFace down a twisting path into a misty valley; a place where the living world touches the spirit world in a more substantial way.
On their descent into the valley they encounter the guardian at the valley gates and his servants. SkullFace has a second opportunity to test the strange telekinetic power that he has over his knives. Pooka does some fast-talking to get them out of what might have been an ugly encounter. During the discussion the guardian mentions that "The man under the bridge" will be looking for SkullFace.
In the valley Pooka leads SkullFace to a cabin; it is Cain's cabin on the beach. SkullFace becomes Frank; the stolen car is parked on the beach behind them. Pooka (as a teenaged boy) urges Frank to enter the cabin.
Issue #5
Frank and Pooka stand before the cabin. Pooka explains to Frank that all of his answers lie within. Frank doesn't believe that any of his experiences in the spirit world actually happened.
Frank enters the cabin, opens the closet where he was once mercilessly tortured and finds... nothing... just an empty closet. Pooka vanishes for a time leaving Frank to reflect on his life. Out of everything that has happened Frank cannot imagine what is and what isn't real.
As the sun goes down Frank sees something behind the closet wall. Breaking down the wall he finds the entrance to "The Vault." He can name it but doesn't have any substantial memory of it. Frank is still haunted by the question "what did Cain do to me in the closet?"
The Vault is a series of rooms that resemble a hospital basement. There he finds the SkullFace mask and encounters several nightmarish monsters that chase him around and finally fling him into darkness. He slams into the ground as he first awoke in the spirit world.
Issue #6
Pooka takes SkullFace to the ancient ruined city Murias; the dwelling place of his people: "The Fay" of whom Pooka is their leader. Pooka explains that Cain is hiding in a place known as Near-Mictlan; a region of the spirit world occupied by hostile spirits. But before he can go there is more that he needs to understand.
On the way they have a brief encounter with the dark angel Abbadon; SkullFace does battle with her pet "The Manticore" quickly defeating him. She has been following SkullFace since his arrival in the spirit world. She has a tense conversation with Pooka and leaves SkullFace with more questions than answers.
Pooka introduces SkullFace to the Fay SkullFace catches the eye of a beautiful Fay named Leannan. Pooka announces to all the Fay that they are going to help SkullFace find Cain. This meets with some resistance. A group led by Glashtyn object leading to a confrontation that results in SkullFace slaying Glashtyn; much to Pooka's satisfaction.
SkullFace catches a hint of Pooka's larger agenda.
Issue #7
Frank as a young boy is playing near a pond on a farm with a young border collie. His mom calls to him from the farmhouse telling him not to go too far as supper will be ready soon. Frank chases a toad toward a patch of woods. A dark path descends into the trees. This is where he was abducted.
Suddenly Pooka is there. This is not exactly a memory. It is a "paradise" that SkullFace has created. His "reward" for slaying the Scythian and the Manticore. SkullFace learns more about the mechanics of the spirit world and his role in it. "The spirit world has worlds within worlds."
Pooka tells SkullFace (Frank) about
Pooka takes SkullFace to Merrymeet; the Fay's inner paradise of decadence and debauchery. SkullFace meets Leannan again; she is the first one to refer to him as a "Death God."
SkullFace flees Merrymeet and goes to be alone in a crumbling tower in Murias. Here he meets Abbadon alone. They have a conversation that brings into question Pooka's agenda. Abbadon returns to SkullFace the fruit from the tree that he'd cast aside at Pooka's behest.
Issue #8
Pooka holds court over the Fay. He is cunning in his leadership. He unveils his plan to assist SkullFace in finding Cain "The Great Enemy" who hides in Near-Mictlan.
Court is interrupted by a strange messenger: Zuzang a powerful living gate in the service of the demigod Nedu "the man under the bridge." Zuzang resembles a living man-shaped "hole" to another place.
Zuzang summons SkullFace and Pooka to an audience with his master. Pooka instructs five other Fay (including Leannan) to accompany them.
The group is taken to a bridge that crosses into the mystic realm of Near-Mictlan. Nedu appears and threatening Pooka says that he will take SkullFace across the bridge so that a higher pantheon of gods may attend him.
Pooka antagonizes the situation until a fight breaks out between the Fay and Nedu's servants.
Nedu himself fights SkullFace in what appears to be a one-sided fight in Nedu's favor. Just as it seems the battle is lost Pooka says a "magic word" to SkullFace. The word causes a small part of Frank's memory to be restored.
As a boy in Cain's closet Frank was subjected to a harsh form of education that involved physical and psychic torture to impress upon him a series of "magic techniques" or "spells." The purpose to which remains a mystery. Under Nedu's club SkullFace remembers only one of these spells. But it is enough to defeat Nedu.
SkullFace has a small taste of the potential power that he carries within him when he creates a whirlwind of knives that dices Nedu to pieces. After the battle SkullFace falls unconscious.
Issues #9 to #16 (Approximately)
SkullFace's tale continues...
SkullFace's journey from here takes him into the realm of Near-Mictlan where he meets his most bizarre and powerful opponents to date. He also must take a short sojourn back into the world of the living to deal with a few lingering issues.
Pooka continues to lead SkullFace on a fruitless quest to find Cain. Abbadon continues to keep a presence in SkullFace's progress. SkullFace's suspicions against Pooka continue to mount until he comes to the unavoidable conclusion that Pooka has a hidden agenda that does NOT represent SkullFace's best interests.
An inevitable showdown between SkullFace and Pooka brings about a final revelation about the true nature of the relationship between the two and ultimately Cain's hidden agenda for Frank is revealed.
At the end of the first story arc, SkullFace has come to realize a great deal of the power that he wields. Additionally has finally come to understand the reason why he had been abducted and tortured as a child.
A new Death God has risen.
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