In 1987, fashion magazine editor Ruby Fox tries to get work done in her London office. But the ex-model finds herself haunted by her superhuman past.
That is how Grant Morrison began episode 3 of his breakthrough comic series Zenith, which was released in the comics anthology magazine 2000 AD (publication date: September 5, 1987) and can be found in the Zenith: Phase One collected edition. I have also written essays here in Superhero Studies about the prologue, episode 1, and episode 2 of Zenith.
Gone Haywire
In her former life, Fox was “Voltage”: a member of “Cloud 9,” which, as we learned in episode 1, was “the group of British superhumans who were as much a part of the swinging ‘60’s as the Beatles or Twiggy…” Fox described herself and her teammates as “victims of an experimental drug which had given us extraordinary abilities.”
Fox lost her electrical powers years ago, but in this story suddenly begins experiencing their associated symptoms once again:
At half past five, my vision goes haywire, my head starts to pound and the world breaks into jigsaw pieces. I haven’t had a migraine like this since… since 1971…
Fox heads home to her apartment, pops some pills, and dips into a novel, but is unable to find relief:
My head feels like a haunted house. Ghostly voices on the airwaves… doors… endlessly creaking… doors… The door!
A Ghostly Visit
Fox’s front door is suddenly knocked off its hinges, revealing that she is being stalked by more than mere memories. Looming in her doorway is Masterman, the Nazi super-soldier who, in an occult ritual in the last episode, was possessed by “Iok Sotot, Eater of Souls”: one of the Lovecraftian extradimensional entities known as “the Many-Angled Ones.”
“Boo,” the “ghost” says grimly.
As she is menaced by Masterman, Fox desperately reaches into the electrical supply through a nearby outlet and manages to switch her electricity powers back on, electroshocking the evil monster (thus, the story title “Shock Treatment”). Enraged, Masterman lashes out, but Fox manages to escape by taking a leap of faith out her window which reactivates her power of flight. She soars into the sky, leaving Mastermind behind in her now burning apartment.
Fox finds that her migraine disappeared with the reappearance of her powers. But, even as memorabilia from her past goes up in smoke, we see that she is still haunted by her history, because Masterman himself survived the fire.
In the next episode of Zenith, (which I will cover in my next post) Fox seeks help from the world’s only other active superhuman: Zenith himself.