M'nagalah
M'nagalah, the "great god cancer," is an entity that, when summoned, manifests as a growth on one of its summoners. It quickly grows to engulf its host, as well as anything else it can absorb, with the aim of attaining its full size before the stars are right.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
M'nagalah was an ancient shapeless entity that took the form of a large mass of flesh. He had resided in a far off place that was not of the human world that served as his prison. According to the creature, he had decreed the birth of the world and had seen the coming of mankind. In humans, he bestowed upon them the capacity for mindless violence. However, he claimed that he had been equally generous and had touched the minds of the greatest scribes in humanity including Lovecraft, Pierce and Poe. (Swamp Thing v1 #8)
Deceased Elliana was one of the Leshy, a Russian fairy folk. She was seduced by a young Pyotr Konstantin, who used her to steal The Eye of the World, a gem that was hiding her people from human eyes, killing her father, The King of the Leshy, along the way. Her city was destroyed and almost all of her people wiped out. In the 1990s, after the last of her people had died, she decided to get her revenge on the humans by summoning M'Nagalah, a cancer god. She eventually repented, weakening the god and dying in the process.
By 1648, knowledge of the entity was contained in the Book of Ending that was held by the King of the mystical people of the Kingdom of the Leshy situated in Ukraine. The Cossack Pyotr Konstantin had seduced the King's daughter Elliana in order to gain possession of the Eye of the World that as held by her father. He later entered the kingdom and killed the King where he took the relic and abandoned Elliana after the betrayal. With the King dead, the Kingdom was helpless before humans that assaulted with Elliana escaping with the Book of Ending that she took from her dead fathers throne. Contact with the Book caused as aspect of M'nagalah to emerge within Elliana's hand that took on a diseased appearance and formed a mouth as well as eyes. (Trenchcoat Brigade v1 #3)
Years later, at the mining town of Perdition in Pennsylvania the coal mines had run empty thus robbing the settlement of work. In this time, a man by the name of Abraham Monroe sought to save his town and consulted the occult. Through a spell book, he evoked the essence of M'nagalah within the mines thus bringing the creature into the Earthly plane when he consumed Monroe's body to create his own. From that time onwards, the creature preyed on the town's inhabitants and prevented anyone from leaving the settlement. M'nagalah intended to grow by consuming the flesh and minds of others to develop into his full form in time when the stars had aligned to create a celestial circuit that would allow him to control all of creation. In January 1974, Abraham's son the elderly Ezekiel Monroe managed to flee Perdition but was mortally wounded by a bear before he could be saved by the plant elemental known as Swamp Thing. Alec Holland took the dead body back to his town where the people initially attacked him for his monstrous appearance and in the belief that he had killed Ezekiel. It was only Ezekiel's son Jason Monroe that stopped the towns people who then seemingly welcomed Swamp Thing and tended to him. Jason's son was seemingly then captured with Swamp Thing seeking to save the boy when the people went to the tracks that led to Tunnel 13. This proved to be a trap as Jason was a slave to M'nagalah's will and had lured the Swamp Thing into the caves for the creature. M'nagalah had intended to take control of the swamp elementals body and sought to absorb his mass in order to acquire enough raw power to complete his goal of dominating all of mankind. Swamp Thing resisted M'nagalah's power leading to a section of the mine to collapse on the large mass of the creature seemingly trapping the entity underneath the debris. Though seemingly defeated, it was shown that a growth had begun to form on the body of Jason Monroe after Swamp Thing had departed Perdition. (Swamp Thing v1 #8)
A piece of M'nagalah clung to Jason, who visited his cousin, Dr. Heathcliff Monroe, thinking it was some sort of skin disease. M'nagalah promised Heathcliff power if he were to assist in bringing his 'relatives' to Earth. (Challengers of the Unknown v1 #82) When the Challengers of the Unknown member Prof Haley was infected with M'nagalah, the other Challengers brought him to Perdition to see Dr. Munroe, who intended to use them to fulfill M'nagalah's goals. The Challengers, with the help of the Swamp Thing, defeated M'nagalah. (Challengers of the Unknown v1 #83) For three hundred years, the aspect of M'Nagalah in Elliana continued to gain an influence over her despite her resistance to him. After the death of the last of her people, she became convinced to turn to the demon and agreed to release him on the condition that he avenge her kind. Near the modern day, the demonic entity had her begin the ritual to summon him with the aid of a captive Pyotr Konstantin who agreed to open the gateway for the Cancer God in exchange for his own survival. M'Nagalah was opposed by the intervention of the Trenchcoat Brigade who sought to stop the demon and Pyotr Konstantin was killed by a time displaced older version of himself. Upon his death, Elliana realised that she had been used by the Cancer God and turned against him with her breaking the spell thus defeating M'Nagalah. (Trenchcoat Brigade v1 #4)
Years passed, and M'nagalah continued to live and slowly regain his power. He became aware of an ideological war brewing between factions of chaos and order; faith and reason. M'nagalah somehow freed himself from Tunnel 13 and took up residence in the sewer systems beneath the city of Ivy Town. As Lord of Cancer, he began spreading his infection across the town's inhabitants in preparation for a battle with an alien race known as the Waiting. This brought him into contact with Ryan Choi, a twenty-six year old physics professor who had only recently assumed the mantle of the Atom. M'nagalah was in awe of Ryan's ability to alter his atomic size and tried to absorb him into his being. (The All-New Atom v1 #3) The Atom resisted M'nagalah's thrall, but there was another who did not - Giganta. Infected by M'nagalah's cancer, Giganta fought with the Atom and temporarily caused him great discomfort by swallowing him. After this battle, M'nagalah rose from his subterranean domain and manifested himself in Ivy Town. (The All-New Atom v1 #4)
It and its legions are foretold to participate (on the side of evil) in the great magical battle to occur at the end of the modern age.
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, M'nagalah was a shapeless creature that took the form of a large mass of flesh with eyes and numerous tendrils to serve as extensions of his being. He described himself as being M'nagalah the Eternal. (Swamp Thing v1 #8) He was noted for being the corrupter as well as the devourer of both flesh and spirit. (Trenchcoat Brigade v1 #4)
He took credit for instilling mindless violence in mankind but also said that he was generous and claimed responsibility for touching the minds of great writers in the world. (Swamp Thing v1 #8) Where gods required devotion and offerings, M'Nagalah simply took what he had wanted from the mortal world. (Trenchcoat Brigade v1 #4)
The Cancer God was noted for being the bane of all worlds where he did not only represent cancer but also guilt. (Trenchcoat Brigade v1 #4)
Powers and abilities
It was said that the entity had resided in a far off distant place that was not of the world and that this served as a prison preventing him from coming to Earth. The only way for him to depart this realm was to be summoned into the mortal world through the use of a spell. Upon being evoked, he took the form of a growth on the limbs of the spell caster before he consumed the body to become a large mass of flesh. He was stated to be a creature that hungered for flesh to add to his own that allowed him to grow in power. M'nagalah was able to form fleshy tendrils that he could extend as limbs from his body that had great reach allowing him to grab onto prey and prevent the inhabitants of an entire town from escaping him. (Swamp Thing v1 #8)
The demon could only be summoned through a gate where he was born at a place and time through the vessel of the summoners flesh. Those that were captured by M'Nagalah's tendrils did not scream as the Cancer God took them where he dissolved the boundaries of their flesh where he absorbed the order of their flesh into the chaos of his own. (Trenchcoat Brigade v1 #4)
Notes
- M'nagalah was created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson where he made his first appearance in Swamp Thing v1 #8 (February, 1974).
- M'nagalah was very strongly inspired by the creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos. At least one Mythos author has included M'nagalah as a Mythos entity, and it is mentioned in the Revelations of Glaaki.
Appearances
- Swamp Thing v1: (1974)
- Trenchcoat Brigade v1:
- All-New Atom v1:
- Secret Six:
External Link
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