Eldritch Abomination/Comic Books: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Ogdru_Jahad_5596.gif|frame|[[Hellboy (comics)|Ogdru Jahad]]]]
* {{spoiler|The Moose}} from ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]''
▲* {{spoiler|The Moose}} from ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'' lopks like this trope, and its initial appearance literally screams this {{spoiler|as it tears through Johnny's [[Torture Cellar]], killing everyone, and apparently destroys reality upon reaching the surface}}. Despite this, however, [[Subverted Trope|it's later revealed by the Devil]] that its origins is closer to that of [[The Heartless]]; it's an accumulated distillation of negative psychic residues created by humans behaving generally badly.
* The ''[[Justice League of America]]'' sometimes faces these.
** Starro, the very first foe they dealt with, slowly moved in this direction over the years, being a literal [[Starfish
** The [[Silver Age]] [[Homage]] ''[[Justice League New Frontier]]'' had "The Centre", an ancient and unstoppable monstrosity. It also happens to be a [[Genius Loci|giant island]]. [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs|Of
** The ultimate would be the Anti-Monitor, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''. An [[Energy Being]] composed of pure anti-matter on the inside, covered by a giant armored shell that serves as an energy collector to gather positive matter from the universes he wiped out. At his strongest point (when he traveled to the beginning of time), a coalition of heroes from many universes and time periods didn't even scratch his armor. He was eventually killed by being magically poisoned, being attacked with the power of a star, attacked by two parallel universe Kryptonians, hit by Darkseid's full power, and finally thrown into a star, but that didn't stick. It took a duel with all the Guardians of the Universe and a galaxy-wiping explosion to take him out a second time.
*** It only took all this because, since this was a [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]]/[[The Bronze Age of Comic Books|Bronze Age]] story, it ''had'' to be visually entertaining. Since then, he's been [[Retcon|Retconed]] to be at Galactus-tier levels. And now thanks to ''[[Blackest Night]]'', {{spoiler|he's baaaaack...}}
** Mandrakk, on the other hand, is a gigantic vampiric Monitor that feeds on reality itself. To quote Zillo Valla: "[[The Authority|Carriers]], Destroyers, Tankers, and Explorers...''vast'' in scale from your perspective, these machines are mere Monitor ''nanotechnology!'' The '''eyes''' of Mandrakk." Or, to quote Mandrakk himself: "'''[[Omnicidal Maniac|Let me feed and feed until nothing remains but Mandrakk! Bloated and alone beneath a skyful of murdered stars!]]'''" To stop him, the Question and Captain Marvel (of [[Alternate Universe|Earth-5]]) have to bring forth the Supermen of the Multiverse, an entire ''army'' of alternate universe Supermen, and Nix Uotan has to summon [[Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew]], the Angels of the Pax Dei, the Forever People of the 5th World, and finally, the Green Lantern Corps has to ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|
*** What makes it [[Tear Jerker|even worse]] is that the subtext that implies that Mandrakk is the [[Crisis on Infinite Earths|original Monitor]] or his reincarnation, who has been corrupted and made into all of creation's greatest threat. This
▲** Mandrakk, on the other hand, is a gigantic vampiric Monitor that feeds on reality itself. To quote Zillo Valla: "[[The Authority|Carriers]], Destroyers, Tankers, and Explorers...''vast'' in scale from your perspective, these machines are mere Monitor ''nanotechnology!'' The '''eyes''' of Mandrakk." Or, to quote Mandrakk himself: "'''[[Omnicidal Maniac|Let me feed and feed until nothing remains but Mandrakk! Bloated and alone beneath a skyful of murdered stars!]]'''" To stop him, the Question and Captain Marvel (of [[Alternate Universe|Earth-5]]) have to bring forth the Supermen of the Multiverse, an entire ''army'' of alternate universe Supermen, and Nix Uotan has to summon [[Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew]], the Angels of the Pax Dei, the Forever People of the 5th World, and finally, the Green Lantern Corps has to ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|stake it with a giant energy stake]]''. This, of course, all takes up about the space of three or four pages, but it is an awesome sight to behold.
** Another Abomination is the [[Mind Screw|baffling]] entity known as the Overmonitor or Overvoid. It's a sentient void, inside which ''the entire DC Multiverse'' exists. It created the Monitors, and it's heavily implied that both the Monitor and Anti-Monitor mentioned previously were born from a probe it sent to investigate:
▲*** What makes it [[Tear Jerker|even worse]] is that the subtext that implies that Mandrakk is the [[Crisis on Infinite Earths|original Monitor]] or his reincarnation, who has been corrupted and made into all of creation's greatest threat. This, of course, [[Humanoid Abomination|means that the original Monitor belongs here.]]
** [[Darkseid]] also becomes this during ''[[Final Crisis]]
▲** Another Abomination is the [[Mind Screw|baffling]] entity known as the Overmonitor or Overvoid. It's a sentient void, inside which ''the entire DC Multiverse'' exists. It created the Monitors, and it's heavily implied that both the Monitor and Anti-Monitor were born from a probe it sent to investigate: meaning it's responsible for two eldritch abominations already. And, even [[Mind Screw|weirder]], it's described as being the embodiment of the very concept of the narrative.
*** This of course has implications for the rest of the New Gods...
▲** [[Darkseid]] also becomes this during [[Final Crisis]]; after his reincarnation into Dan Turpin, his presence actually starts to decay time and space. Mandrakk is using Darkseid's attack to hide his own plans (but is stopped before getting too far). How does Darkseid [[Reality Warper|break reality]] (one parallel universe actually is destroyed by this)? He sits on his throne, waiting for reality to die ''merely because he exists''. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Awe. Some.]]
** Imperiex could also be considered one, given that it was the power of the Big Bang
** Finally, there's the King of Tears
▲** Imperiex could also be considered one, given that it was the power of the Big Bang given form who sought to reboot the universe due to an impurity in the fabric of existence that it detected. {{spoiler|Ironically enough, that flaw was Imperiex itself.}} It proved to be enough of a threat to force Mongul II and fucking '''''[[Complete Monster|Dark]][[A God Am I|seid]]''''' to ally with Superman and the rest of the resistance force. One of his most immense displays of power was reducing Doomsday to a skeleton in one shot. He was finally [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|destroyed by a sun-drenched Superman]] after an enormous battle, though not before killing off a good portion of both the resistance force and Earth.
▲** Finally, there's the King of Tears, an extradimensional god who, after Johnny Sorrow is [[Hoist by His Own Petard|sucked into said dimension by a malfunctioning subspace gun]], pieces him back together and contorts his face to the point where it is so hideous that [[Brown Note|anything that sees it (barring special circumstances) dies of shock]], and makes him his servant, with his primary goal being to pull the strings required to allow the King to break into our world. The King himself manifests as a hideous crimson blob covered in tentacles and eyes, while Johnny's face is usually obscured by blinding light. The one time it is fully seen, however, [[Humanoid Abomination|it's a disgusting mass of tentacles and insectoid limbs]]. While Johnny has managed to get the King out on several occasions, he [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|never stays long]], primarily because something as inimical to reality as the King tends to attract the JSA.
* [[Grant Morrison]] especially enjoys these.
**
** Mageddon, the [[Big Bad]] of
** Hexus, the Living Corporation, from ''Marvel Boy'', is a sort of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Cosmically Corrupt Executive]].
** The Archons of The Outer Church in ''[[The Invisibles]]'' are typical Eldritch Abominations -- slimy, chitinous, and decidedly non-human. In an interesting inversion of Lovecraft's themes, the Archons aren't entities of entropic chaos, but absolute order. When the universe reorients itself in their presence, it's not because it's breaking down, but because it's coming more in line with the Archons' specifications.
** ''Zenith'' in ''[[2000 AD]]'' features a number of five-dimensional beings, the Lloigor, who owe more than just their names to [[H.P. Lovecraft]] (and turn out to be {{spoiler|former superheroes}} [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]).
** Their run on ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' was practically full of these:
*** Orqwith, [[Eldritch Location|a city that doesn't exist]] and sends out Scissormen to literally cut people out of reality as we know it.
*** Red Jack, a floating head that is just a mask who lives in a pocket dimension mansion and claims to be both God and Jack the Ripper.
*** The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Extinction and Oblivion, who lives inside a painting that can 'eat' reality and is gigantic and skinless.
*** The Decreator, some kind of anti-god that appears as simply a gigantic eye in the sky.
*** The Avatar that lives under the Pentagon appears to be this, although we didn't get to see too much of its full extent, but stopping it required [[Flex Mentallo]], who can [[Reality Warper|warp reality]] by flexing his muscles, to force the Pentagon into a circle, which caused an immense amount of strain, and then [[Summon Bigger Fish|summon of The Candlemaker, a far worse Eldritch Abomination]].
** [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Mother Dirt]], from ''[[The Filth]]''. Supposedly, it's the [[Big Good]] of the series.
* The DCU ''[[52]]'' miniseries introduced the Four Horsemen of Apokolips: ancient, primal entities that hail from Apokolips and predate the New Gods. They are limited only by their inability to physically manifest in the universe without assistance. In their debut, using flawed bodies that could only channel a fraction of their true power, they devastated [[Qurac|Kahndaq]], murdered Black Adam's new family, and nearly killed Black Adam himself. Thankfully, they are now [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]... {{spoiler|inside [[Mad Scientist|Veronica Cale]].}}
** Furthermore, 52 featured {{spoiler|the evolution of the villain Mr. Mind, who became a cosmically huge insect abomination. He's responsible for the differences between the 52 realities of the DC multiverse, having [[Clock Roaches|literally eaten key moments in time]] from all but one of them.}}
** The 5th Dimensional Imps, of which [[Superman]] villain Mr. Mxyzptlk is the most famous, have become an example of this. They can more or less wear the laws of physics like a funny paper hat, and while they tend to appear as cartoonish characters, those aren't their ''true'' forms. Luckily, most of them aren't interested enough in meddling with our universe, and those that do are permitted only to cause mischief. Of course, sometimes hiccups occur, like the time Mxyzptlk made the well-intentioned mistake of [[
** One of [[Alan Moore]]'s early works
** In one issue, [[Superman]] teleports to the Edge of the Universe. Way out there, space becomes white, and after that, there is a
*** This Source Wall lies on the edge of the known universe, in the Promethean Galaxy. Beyond the wall lies what is known as The Source, a cosmic essence or being that is the "source" of all that exists. The wall is theoretically passable. However, all those who try have been inevitably trapped in it. Over time, it has been made up of the bodies of would-be conquerors and curiosity seekers from all across the universe.
** ''JLA: Another Nail'' has the Limbo Cell, a primordial creature that eats existence.
* Though
** The same series has the Jin-En-Mok and the Silk Man, surviours of the destruction of what's described as "an earlier, cruder Creation" and so very horrible in their own, special ways.
* One played a major role in [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Cyborg's]] origin in the comics. While visiting his parents at S.T.A.R. Labs, Victor's mother Elinor accidentally activated the experimental dimensional portal device his parents were working on at the time. The... ''thing'' that came through it immediately devoured his mother and mutilated Victor before his father Silas forced it back into its own dimension, {{spoiler|but not before the creature gave him a terminal case of radiation sickness}}. Silas barely managed to save his son using cyborg prosthetics of his own design, but Victor resented him for turning him into a "cyborg freak" for years, believing that his father wanted to experiment on him, {{spoiler|until Silas revealed that he was dying thanks to the radiation. This led to Cyborg getting over his bitterness towards his father, and they spent one last day together as father and son before Silas died}}.
* The recent{{when}} run on the ''[[Green Lantern]]'' comics has seen various alien entities that are incarnations of the various colors of the emotional spectrum, which has led to some fan speculating that these beasts may be like infant Chaos Gods from ''[[Warhammer
** The Orange entity (Avarice) was confirmed by [[Word of God]] to be the voice within the Orange Lantern Battery that converts its wielder into Agent Orange
** Atrocitus initially assumed [[The Spectre]], the agent of God's Wrath, was the Rage entity. The Spectre denied this, claiming that he has ''met'' the Rage entity and warning Atrocitus (who as one of the Five Inversions is ''himself'' a [[Humanoid Abomination]], even without his red power ring) that seeking it out would only lead to his destruction. The actual entity, Butcher, appears as a bull.
** Avara, the blue entity of hope, looks basically like a huge eagle... with three faces and beaks.
** Proselyte, the indigo entity of compassion, is just a massive octopus. Presumably, he just wants to hug you.
** {{spoiler|Nekron, the Guardian of the Black Lantern Corps}}, whose plan is revealed to be {{spoiler|killing The Entity, the being of White Light that gave birth to all life, and, as a result, kill everything in a instant.}} The moment he dealt the first blow, we know he meant business. And [[Time Abyss|he was created by the darkness preceding the universe.]] {{spoiler|Nekron}} is such an [[Eldritch Abomination]] that he can't even exist as a physical entity. He needs a tether for that, which comes in the form of the [[I Love the Dead|necrophilic]] [[The Antichrist|herald of death]], William Hand. {{spoiler|This only works when he's dead, however.}}
* ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]'' is pretty much built on this. Especially the genderless Ogdru Jahad
** The Ogdru Jahad's most powerful servants are the Ogdru Hem
** Additional Ogdru Hem show up in ''[[BPRD]]''--Katha-Hem, who ravages the central United States, and the unnamed creature in the Salton Sea, breathing the upgraded form of [[The Virus|the Frogman Plague]] into the atmosphere.
* In the [[Marvel Universe]], there are various 'Elder Gods' that count. The most notable of these are Chthon and Set.
** Dormammu and Shuma-Gorath aren't 'Elder Gods', but far, far more powerful and ancient multiversal threats. The most powerful known regular demon lords are supposed to be as insects to them (and so would Chthon and Set).
** Zom
** Galactus. [[Time Abyss|Older than the universe itself]] and incomprehensible by mortals. It's [[Canon]] that his hat-wearing humanoid form is simply an image our puny minds superimposes over a reality we cannot truly comprehend; for instance, Beta-Ray Bill's species sees him as a big starfish.
*** His purpose is to keep [[Omnicidal Maniac|Abraxas]] from [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum|killing everything everywhere in every parallel universe]].
*** Somehow subverted (or [[Hand Wave|hand waved]]?) in [[Marvel Zombies]], where the zombified superheroes manage to physically devour Galactus' body. The easiest explanation is probably that, in such a universe, Galactus was just some sort of very powerful alien, filled with cosmic powers yet still made of an organic, physical body. [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|Although this could simply be how you and the Marvel Zombies interpret Galactus getting eaten.]]
**
** In the recent ''Realm Of Kings'' one-shot, Quasar visited an [[Alternate Universe]] which was apparently sold to Dark Gods. Not only does everybody in this world carry an [[Eldritch Abomination]] inside one's body, but the
{{quote|'''Quasar:''' I'm Protector Of The Universe. But how am I supposed to protect it from {{spoiler|another universe? Planets, stars, whole galaxies that want to crush us all.}} I asked what's the worst that could happen. This is my answer.}}
*** ''[[The Thanos Imperative]]'' event is about
*** And best of all: you know Shuma-Gorath, mentioned above? [[Word of God]] states he's a Many-Angled One,
** From the ''[[Incredible Hercules]]'' event ''Chaos War'' - Amatsu-Mikaboshi, '''[[Omnicidal Maniac|CHAOS KING]]'''. Like Galactus, he comes from a Universe that was before the current [[Marvel Universe]] -- or rather, he '''was''' that universe. He's Anti-Eternity, [[Evil Twin]] of Eternity, [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Universe itself, and an ultimate force of destruction that will not rest until the Universe is destroyed and nothing aside from him remains. And he can squish All-Father level gods like they were flies.
*** Go to the [[Eldritch Abomination/Mythology and Religion|Mythology and Religion]] page and read about Amatsu-Mikaboshi. That's the same guy.
*** The Chaos King's army is composed of deceased gods he murdered and recreated as his puppets. But one of them is Glory, a gigantic monstrosity composed of thousands of alien pantheons it assimilated into itself. Its nature is so alien and bizarre that even [[The Mighty Thor]] was scared beyond words during their encounter. It's an [[Eldritch Abomination]] even to gods. It's also one of the few beings that joined the Chaos King willingly, because [[For the Evulz|it enjoys all the destruction he causes]].
* One [[Donald Duck]] issue revealed that a giant octopus called Ar-Finn sleeps beneath the depths in a sunken city (Cthulhu and R'lyeh, anyone?). Our reality (or at least Donald's) exists only because Ar-Finn dreams about it. If he wakes up, the world will start to adapt to his image, with the architecture becoming more and more alien and the people more octopoid in appearance. It was awfully cynical for a Disney story, especially the ending, where Donald is horrified to find out that [[
* In ''[[Watchmen]]'', {{spoiler|Ozymandias creates a genetically modified monstrosity designed to look like one of these.}} [[Freud Was Right|It looks like the Sarlacc if Sigmund Freud was in charge of Star Wars.]]
* ''[[Hack Slash]]'' has the Neflords, giant masses of tentacles (that [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|double as wing wongs]] [[Made of Explodium|that can make things explode]]) which possibly lived in the void that existed before God created the universe. Being unable to create life themselves, the Neflords [[Mars Needs Women|need virgins taken from Earth]] to impregnate to create minions. Also, their [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy|main servant]] was [[Elvis Presley|Elvis]]. Yes, really.
** Later villain Mary Shelley Lovecraft, a metafictional entity who seeks to tear down the walls between "ideaspace" and reality. Intentionally or not, her mere presence in a reality causes stories to blur together:
* [[The Authority]] once faced "the closest thing to [[God]] this Solar System has ever seen". It was so big that Carrier, a city-sized spaceship, could travel its circulatory system like a bacteria travels ours, and old enough that his parasites evolved into an entire civilization. This monster was responsible for Earth's creation and lived on it for some time. When he came back, he wasn't pleased to find out that his planet had new tenants.
** ''The Lost Year'' miniseries also dealt with the Authority ending up in a universe without superpowered beings and trying to figure out why their powers were wonky. As the Doctor put it, they'd ended up in a universe where Lovecraft was right -- the earth was in thrall to a cosmic parasite that lurked in the back of everyone's minds. And the Authority's presence just [[Oh Crap|woke it up]]. The feeding of said parasite caused a lot of problems for its victims, with many people suffering headaches, nausea, irritation, exhaustion, and general misery, with occasional people committing horrible acts or even suicide because of the thing's presence. Did we mention this world was exactly like ours? [[Paranoia Fuel|Commence paranoia now...]]
* Caged Demonwolf from ''[[Empowered]]'' is an extradimensional [[Energy Being]] so powerful that, before his [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealing]], not even the A-list supers could stand up to him.
* Some of these were responsible for Ramjet's [[Lovecraftian Superpower
* The unfinished miniseries ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street
** Judging by what we see of them in ''Freddy's Dead'', they probably qualify even without this series explaining it.
* In ''[[Ghostopolis]]'', any living person who ends up in the titular city has the potential to become this.
* ''[[The Umbrella Academy]]'' has this by way of the team's [[Dead Little
* M'Gubgub from ''[[Nth Man: The
{{quote|"This is but the merest pseudopod of my being! A single follicle protruding from a minor pore! I exist simultaneously in countless forms, stretching out beyond your planetary system into the cold barren emptiness between the stars."}}
* The titular memory-eating parasites from [[Vertigo Comics]]' ''Mnemovore'', [[Through the Eyes of Madness|maybe]].
* Many antagonists (especially [[Bigger Bad
* Back in the 1980s,
* The super-organism in ''[[Bio Apocalypse]]'' has a habit of spawning these and might even qualify as one itself.
* While we don't know much about them yet, The Hunters Three of the
* The
* [[Atomic Robo]] had to fight an extradimensional [[Eldritch Abomination]] once - or four times, more accurately. Not because it kept coming back, but because it existed simultaneously across several points in space-time.
* The ''[[Darkwing Duck (comics)|Darkwing Duck]]'' comic recently had an arc called [[Shout-Out|"The Call of Duckthulu"]]. [[Captain Obvious|No points for guessing what it was about]].
* From ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' comes the omniscient supercomputer FATE, which is worshiped as a living goddess by the fascist dictator Adam Susan. At first glance, it simply appears that Susan is insane and thinks the computer is alive, but then you think... what if it is?
* "Them" from ''[[El Eternauta]]'' easily come off as this; the best description we are given is that they are the "cosmic hatred".
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