Manteau (Character) - Comic Vine

Manteau last edited by Thor_Ul on 02/09/22 08:46AM View full history

Background

In her youth, she was going for a PhD in telephony and the 60's almost passed her by until the Joy Festival of 1967. The people she met there helped her make sense of research her professors called 'crazy,' and she managed to track down a Dial.

Due to nearly losing herself in several identities, most notably The Prime Mover, Roxie started to wear the Manteau identity to help retain her own.

Major Story Arcs

Ex Nihilo

She rescues Neson Jent from Vernon Boyne and they escape to her house. She explains that a number of candidates for the inventor of the telephone apparently came into contact with somebody called O, who traded ideas with the inventors. After helping Nelson with memories of Boy Chimney, she strikes up a partnership with him to stop Ex Nihilo. Using skills she developed as a telephone engineer, she managed to track X.N., who was attacking a man named Mr. King. When Nelson becomes Baroness Resin while using the H Dial, she chastises him for calling the device bust and alluded to the fact that she's been a 'giant metal spring' (King Coil), a 'super-disco dancer,' and a 'boomerang.' Although they confronted the Squid, they were too late to stop the arrival of the Abyss. XN took Manteau and her Dial and tortured her for information on how to use it.

Nelson and the Squid saved her from Vernon and Nelson found the secret of her identity. As the Squid stayed behind to cover their escape, they returned to her house where she could fix his Dial and she revealed her history before they saw XN trying to get the attention of the Abyss again as a form that Manteau recognized, Hairbringer. She was going to flip with Nelson to decide who would dial up a hero to fight them, but he took the Dial while she was searching for a coin and ended up dialing Cock-a-Hoop. As he confront XN and the Abyss, she went to see if the Squid could offer any help and he told her that they could confuse the nithlings to make them feed upon the Abyss. As the Abyss perished, Manteau recognized the strange being with the Dial that emerged from the Abyss. They agreed to continue to work together as Nelson needed her to fix the dial.

When Nelson dialed up Chief Mighty Arrow, a rather blatant stereotyping of Native Americans, Roxie refused to let him leave the house except in cases when lives were in danger. She showed him the Refusenik Dossier, a list of identities that she refused to use even while covered up as Manteau. She is letting Nelson Jent live at her house and is providing him with money as they take turns using their remaining Dial. During their discussions, she also reveals that she became an id known as The Prime Mover, a very powerful heroine that she couldn't bring herself to cover up. However, it had damaging reprecussions when she returned to her true self. When an actual threat presented itself, Nelson abruptly returned to his true self and Roxie got the next dial though she told him that she'd found another Dial.

In search of the second Dial, Roxie and Nelson traversed the globe, fighting minor threats and tracking down information. They found a church that worshipped the Dials, and Roxie masqueraded as an emmissary for them to get information from one of the priests of the strange religion. Going to the ocean, the pair switched until they found a suitable id to descend to the sunken ruins to retrieve the Dial, and Roxie finally landed on the Planktonian. She struggled with the identity but had enough control to head to the ruins, where she failed to find a Dial, but found a piece of cloth that suggested that Canadians had gotten to it first.

The pair traveled to Canada and Roxie stayed in the hotel, communicating with Nelson as Flame War over a comm. link. When the Centipede appeared to steal Nelson's Dial, she used the distraction he provided to tase him, and then use the Dial to become Minotaura after which she trapped the assassin in a labyrinth. She escaped with Nelson and materials that she had managed to grab from their room. As soon as they were out of danger, she quickly dialed back to herself as it was getting hard for her to maintain herself while in the guise of Minotaura. She managed to figure out that the Government Payroll Center was being used for something else, and communicated with Nelson as he managed to infiltrate the building where he found the other Dial.

After Nelson manages to escape, with the assistance of Mason Jones, Roxie moves to meet him at their rendezous point. She attempted to dial up a hero on Mason's Dial, but it didn't work, which they discovered was due to the fact that 7-4-3-3 was used to activate, turning the user into a sidekick. Nelson volunteered to use it force and they set out putting a stop to a series of small crimes and after retiring for the night but before dialing back into their normal selves, Nelson kissed Roxie.

Ids From the H Dial

Hairbringer

Roxie dialed up this identity in the past and found that it was legitimately powerful.

Powers: When used by X.N., Hairbringer could control and expand her hair.

The Prime Mover

A very powerful identity that Roxie nearly lost herself in. Roxie tells Nelson Jent about when she became The Prime Mover, she did not put on her Manteau disguise because she couldn't bring herself to cover up the id. It greatly troubled her later and reinforced her belieft that she must wear her mask and cape.