Nightmask #1 (November 1986)

Let's go back! Back to the New Universe! We've visited this attempt by Marvel Comics in the 1980s to create a more "realistic" superhero universe in the past, starting with D.P. 7 #1 (November 1986). We also met some other figures of the NU over the years: the teenage psionic runways known as Psi-Force in Psi-Force #1 (November 1986), as well as Ken Connell, a man who found himself gifted with the godlike power of the Star Brand in Star Brand #1 (October 1986). As such, I thought I'd introduce you all to another prominent figure of the New Universe: Keith Remsen, the Nightmask.

Much like many of the other NU titles, Nightmask's book would have trouble retaining a regular creative team (Archie Goodwin, his creator, left the book after four issues, and it had several fill-ins), his series lasting only 12 issues. Despite this, Keith Remsen's dreamwalking alter-ego would retain a regular presence in the New Universe, thanks to getting supporting appearances and getting backup tales in other books set in the NU for much of its remaining run. 

Versions of Nightmask would continue to appear in Marvel titles in the years since. However, an Earth-616 (the world of Marvel's comic books) Keith Remsen would never be introduced. For example, the mainstream Marvel Universe's Nightmask is an artificial being created by Ex Nihilo introduced in Jonathan Hickman's Avengers run who took up the name Adam Blackveil. And in newuniversal, a re-imagining of the New Universe by Warren Ellis and Salvador Larocca done to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the line, the reimagined Nightmask was a Japanese-American girl named Izanami Randall. 

So, how did Keith Remsen's adventures start? Let's find out in Nightmask #1! 

The cover is an Al Milgrom and Bob Wiacek piece. I really like it. It depicts our man Keith facing off against an unseen threat with a hammer in a dream while a teenage girl in a wheelchair tries to wake him up. It really shows that the Nightmask is not your typical superhero. 

"The Awakening"
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciler: Tony Salmons
Inker: Bret Blevins
Colorist: Andy Yanchus
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Michael Higgins
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with Keith Remsen running. What is he running from? What is he running to? Nobody knows. He also happens to be naked. Evidently our man Keith is a bit of a closet streaker. Takes all types, I guess. 

Keith has seemingly ran for eternity, running on that hill, running on empty, running for his life, running to the hills... 

The running stops when he sees a light. He then hears the voice of his sister Theodora, aka Teddy, calling out to him. Despite his fears (and lack of pants), Keith leaps into the light.

“All I did was go out to get some pizza…”

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Waking up in a hospital, our Mr. Remsen is naturally rather confused. Where is he? Why is he in the hospital? And where his and Teddy's parents? It then comes back to him. We have to go back.

In particular, we have to go back to some time earlier, at Dulles International Airport. 

Keith's family (including his dad Adam and mother Lenore) are there to see him off. You see, he's going to spend his summer in Zurich, doing summer studies at the Kleinmann Institute. The Institute was where his parents met. They worked on dream research, drawing on the work of Horst Kleinmann himself, the namesake of the Institute. Unseen by anyone, someone dropped a bag nearby Keith's own luggage. Keith's family goes to gather his luggage, including the bag. He ends up getting a very bad feeling and runs for it.

That feeling ends up saving his life as the bag turned out to be a bomb. And not the kind of bomb that you see at the box office.

The explosion killed his parents, crippled Teddy, and left him comatose. The Remsen kids, having seemingly no other relatives, were left in the care and convalescence of Dr. Lucian Ballad, a friend of the family. He reveals that the authorities believe that a terrorist was responsible for the bomb. The White Event had gone off, causing Keith to wake from his coma. He's suffering from survivor's guilt, which is understandable considering what happened to him. 

Later, the Remsen kids are talking at a pool, where Teddy is apparently undergoing some form of hydrotherapy. The two discuss their situation, Teddy pointing out she feared she'd die too, and she also not only mourned the loss of her parents, but the loss of her ability to walk. Dr. Estrellita "Lita" Mercado walks in. Seeing Keith feeling a bit down, she has a little fun with him by tossing him into the pool, playfully chiding him for getting in the way of her "star pupil". 

That night, Keith has a dream about the hospital. In the dream, the hospital is abandoned and has seemingly been that way for years. There's dust and cobwebs everywhere. Despite that, Keith hears sobbing. He follows the noise and finds a man entangled by tentacles.

Keith tries to free the man, but for every one he manages to rip away, more appear. He notices they're coming from below the hospital. The man reveals that the source of the tentacles is a being known only as "The Gnome". Keith spots something heading towards them.

The man says he has to die for the Gnome, to protect his "treasures", like the others before him. Keith refuses to accept that. He's seen enough death. He couldn't save his parents or his sister's mobility, but he's sure going to save this man.

The man insists that he can't be saved, but Keith manages to free him, much to his surprise. The man realizes that he knows our man. And Keith's clothes change.

“Aw, man! I was hoping for an Armani suit.”

Keith realizes he's wearing the outfit he had on when the bombing happened. And the man is the responsible party. But before he can confront the bomber, another being makes himself known. But before anything else happens, he wakes up. 

He remembers hearing Teddy calling to him. His head is pounding...and the moon-shaped scar on his head is glowing. Teddy tells him that she had a similar dream herself. She realizes that she and Keith shared the dream somehow. For her, it was like she was in a trance, like she was in a place between awake and asleep. The Remsens hear a commotion in the hall.

It was the man in the room next to them. Like the Remsen kids, he was also injured in the bombing. And he just had a heart attack.

The next day, the two discuss this dream with Dr. Ballad. Ballad theorizes that Keith's dream may have been subconsciously influenced by the other victim having a heart attack, and also his desire to get justice for the death of his and Teddy's parents. Keith wonders if this has anything to do with his and Teddy's parents' work. They were trying to find ways to use technology to peer into people's dreams, and the kids would help out here and there. 

Teddy gives Dr. Ballad a bit of artwork she doodled. Lita arrives with a photograph of the other bombing victim, a blown-up passport photo. Ballad puts the drawing and the photo together.

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They're an exact match. That night, Lucien tries out a little experiment. Lita dreams of being on a cruise ship, dancing with the man of her dreams. Keith is in her dream, just quietly watching her dance. Teddy helps wake him up, joking that she may have saved him from an angry Lita...until she wakes up. Keith hopes she remembers she volunteered for this. Dr. Ballad is amazed by the readings he's getting from his instruments. It turns out that somehow, Keith has gained the power to enter people's dreams.

As the group drive...somewhere, Dr. Ballad points out that Keith's new power is dangerous. His instruments showed that when Keith enters people's dreams, it's not just his mind that syncs up with the dream, his body does, too. If a dream ends violently, or a dreamer dies, it could potentially kill Keith, too.

Teddy is terrified by this, but Keith is able to reassure her by pointing out that she's his anchor, his link to the waking world. If something happens, she can pull him back. Keith refuses to give up. If the man is the bomber, then this could be the only shot they have of proving it. Yeah, Keith. Because the courts will accept that evidence. 

Besides, Ballad points out that Keith's presence just may have caused the man to have a heart attack. But before they can talk further, Keith slips into a dream...even though no one around him is asleep. Our man finds himself in a cemetery. A door opens in a mausoleum, and Keith enters it. He passes by what looks like the interior of the hospital, now covered with bones and skeletons. And he's not alone.

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Ladies, gentlemen, whatever you choose to identify as, say hello...to the Gnome. The bomber begs the Gnome for mercy. He did his job, he left the bomb. But the Gnome was at fault for tampering with the bomb's timer. The Gnome admits that he was short-sighted there, but despite the Remsen family seemingly being out of the way, his treasure is still in danger. The Gnome spots Keith, and attacks. But Keith tries to strike back.

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Despite the snazzy new suit, Keith is not a fighter. He's not an athlete. And he's still recovering from a coma. It affects his physical performance in the dream, as the Gnome is able to easily out-muscle the Nightmask. Thankfully, Teddy is able to pull him back to the real world. He wakes up in Ballad's lab. Dr. Frey, the surgeon of the bomber bursts in, demanding to know why Ballad took the file on him. Ballad states he took it because he thought something in it will help with Keith and Teddy's therapy. Frey doesn't believe it, thinking Ballad took it because he believes Ballad views himself as the head of the hospital and can do whatever he wants. It doesn't matter, because no amount of therapy can help a man who not only won't wake up, but whose heart metaphorically explode at any moment.

Later that day, Keith is thinking about the bomber and the Gnome. Teddy gets him out of his head by showing him a book on mythology that Lita gave her. She shows him a page from it on gnomes. The gnome in the comic is described as a Germanic myth. In reality, that's sort of right. The word "gnome" actually comes from the Renaissance Latin word "gnomos", which is derived from a Greek word meaning "earth-dweller". The modern gnome did come from German miner myths about spirits that could move through the Earth.

This gets Keith's brain working. Kleinmann is a Germanic name, and since gnomes come from Germanic myth...maybe there's a connection. 

This gives Keith an idea.

Ballad meets with a woman who is presumably the hospital's accountant. She warns him that whatever inheritance the Remsens have, it can't pay for their hospital bills and lab time forever. Ballad agrees and says he'll work on helping them get a life outside the hospital. Lita arrives to tell him that Keith has vanished. Where has he gone? Well, he made his way to a quiet area of the hospital to enter some dreams.

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He sees the Gnome tell the bomber to go to a fountain, encouraging to drink the water in it. The water will give him life. Keith points out it's a trick. The bomber will die. And that's a shame, because he wants the bomber to tell the word that Kleinmann paid him to kill him and his parents. Nightmask confronts the Gnome, revealing that he knows everything. Kleinmann's name is German for "Small Man", and in that one cemetery dream, there were lots of German names. And gnomes are generally described as small creatures that protect treasure.

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Kleinmann had a treasure to protect, and he feared that the Remsens were after it. He believed they wanted Keith to play James Bond, to spy on him and steal his secrets of his dream research. The bomber then falls into the water, claiming he is finally beyond the Gnome. Only the pool is now an abyss, and the dream world starts to fall apart, the mind of the dying man fading. Kleinmann wonders why Keith doesn't abandon him to the abyss, but Keith wants his parents' killer punished. Kleinmann begs Keith to get them out of the dream, use his own machines as Kleinmann himself has. But Keith has no such gadgetry. He has Teddy. She pulls him out of the dream, and Keith and Kleinmann end up separated.

He wakes up to see a relieved Teddy, Lita, and Ballad. Ballad points out the Keith has a gift, and he should consider how best to use it. The story ends with a castle in Zurich, a pair of voices pointing out that Kleinmann will recover, and that they will rebuild.

I liked this issue. It did everything I feel a first issue should do: It introduced us to Keith Remsen, gave us his origins, showed what he can do, set up a storyline or two, and showed off his supporting cast. I do have one question about Keith's power, though: Teddy. How did she become an anchor to him? Why does he need her to help get out of dreams? Did she get a power from the White Event that complimented his? Is it because of their familial bond as siblings? I don't think it's ever explained. 

As for the art, I remember reading somewhere that Tony Salmons was picked for the art as his style was reminiscent of Steve Ditko's. Personally, I...don't quite see it. It may just be me.

Fun fact, the Gnome storyline would not be completed in the book's original run. Archie Goodwin left the title after four issues, which left the Gnome storyline abandoned. The book never held on to a stable creative team afterwards, contributing to its short run. Sadly, Goodwin himself would never return to resolve this storyline before his death in 1998. However, it would be resolved in 2006. As part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the New Universe that would lead up to Ellis and Larocca's newuniversal, Marvel published a series of stories called Untold Tales of the New Universe that told, well, new stories set in the original NU. One of those tales focused on Nightmask, and it told the tale of how he finally defeated the Gnome once and for all.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Nightmask: New Universe.