Friday 9 December 2016

Doom of the Red Redemption

Doctor Doom: Disciple of the Red Redemption. Thee Kvlt of Doom. The Secret Origins of the Red Redemptionists. Disciples of the Metal Face of Doom. Darth Eroneous. The Book ov Khörne. Skullthrone. Thee Power Kösmik. Disciples of Doom.

Doom of the Red Redemption | [ZHU] 2016



Johnny Douglas | Spiderman incidental music | 1981  
In the secret temples of the cult, initiates were introduced to the vile and bloody ways of the mighty God Khorne.
Origin of Doctor Doom - Jack Kirby / Stan Lee - 1962
Only then did he see the black robes and iron masks that hung upon the chamber walls. The iron mask was unnaturally hot and seared his face as he put it on. The black robes soaked the blood from his armour...

Origin of Doctor Doom-  John Byrne May 1985

The skin was ritually flayed from the face and torso of each initiate. Glowing hot iron face masks and cuirasses formed a now and tougher skin. At last they were permitted to wear the black robes of Khorne.

The Red Redemption | Lone Sloane Delirius | Philippe Druillet







Origin of Doctor Doom | 1981

Citadel Journal - Autumn 1985

...During the initiation ceremony, Darkhoth reads a special passage from the book which so assaults the mind of the initiate that his personality is forever shattered. 



Darkhoth assesses the suitability of the initiate for cult membership by his reaction. If the initiate reacts with extreme violence, this is judged to be good, and he is prepared for flaying and encasement in glowing iron.




Of course, this resulted in all of the Disciples of the Red Redemption suffering from total and irrevocable madness, but that really didn't bother them too much.

All text taken from The Second Citadel Journal - Autumn 1985 (c) Citadel Miniatures / Games Workshop.




5 comments:

  1. Mind blown. I knew thanks to you the links of teh red redemptionists with Druillet and Laserbeam but I ha dyet to make the link with Dr Doom.
    Thispiece of backstory about the red redemptionists is probably my favourite of the whole background. It echoes a novel (several actually) from Lovecraft where the narraor finds a hidden temple burried in teh sands. It's exactly like the beginning o fthe red redemptionists story. The fact the knights of the cleansing flame come from that same point is also priceless. Still give me goose flesh.

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    1. hey assless. Yeah, forgot to mention Laserburn this time around. The complete history of the Red Redemption yet to be compiled.

      We probably have Voltaire and Dumas to thank way back for the cosmogenesis of the mytheme. Robert "Psycho" Blochs robotic Iron Mask must fall in somewhere along the road to Doom. The retelling of the Origin of Doom in Fantastic Four #278 just two months before the release of the Disciples of the Red Redemption is just too close for coincidence.

      Also should mention Victor Von Dooms progeny, Darth Vader. How much greater and so much more powerful, would the burning mask scene in Revenge of the Sith have been if rather than muttering soap-opera dialogue after donning the Iron Mask, Vader had embraced the dark side / worship of Khörne and echoed Victors transformation lines, or even "I shall be redeemed... through blood!" - bzzt. vwooom Dah dah dah dum de dah dum de dah.. lol!

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  2. When ever I read your work, Zhu (and read the comments), I feel the thrill that some conspiracy theorists must experience when they read the Warren report next to an open copy of the Zohar. OH MY GOD... IT'S ALL CONNECTED. HOW COULD NOT HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE?!?

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    1. LOL! It's all aliens! Yeah there is something of the conspiracy theory about these things.

      I was re-reading Laserburn, mostly due to Whiskey Priests thoughts on Confrontation and Assless's mention above, and Bryan name-checks a couple of Marvel comicbooks - Deathlok, Killraven and Howard Chaykins Cody Starkiller who appeared in Star Reach - which also has a comic book adaptation of Elric, among other stories. I've yet to follow up these leads and read them, so there may well be Warhammerisms to be uncovered there.

      Also, if IIRC, there are some early (perhaps Reaper, or some zine contributions for D&D, can't quite remember) items like a magical hammer that allows flight (like Marvels Thor - who was also used for the Asgard Miniautres logo for a while) and a magical shield that can be thrown as a weapon (like Captain America). There's really quite a lot of Marvel-influenced stuff going on in the early days, as well as the more obvious Tolkien/Moorcock stuff.

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  3. Another briliant piece of speculative analysis - and full marks for the MF Doom clips too.

    Also the Doom of the Red Redemption banner is illo is cracking!

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