by Bevan Thomas

The next installment in the Name Game, where I take the name of some DC or Marvel comics character, and construct a totally new entity from it (for either Universe-D or Universe-M, respectively), with the final result illustrated by some talented artist I know.

Today, we have Abin Sur, who you probably know as the Green Lantern who gave Hal Jordan his ring. Be prepared to encounter someone totally different.

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Abin Sur

Real Name: Possibly Abin Sur

Aliases: The Patient One, Keeper of the Bronze Keys, Maxwell Lord, Kara Kent, Rex the Wonder Dog

Occupation: Professor of occult philosophy, tempter, duke of Hell

Group Affiliations: Black Academy faculty, the Legion of Pride

image by Ksenia Kozhevnikova

It is said in the moment before time, there was a war, a war in Heaven, and a third of the Host were cast out and fell into the darkness. One of these was Abin Sur.

Each fallen angel had join the rebellion because of a sin, and Abin Sur’s was pride. He felt he deserved to rule over the others. And because of his pride, he was cast out and become part of the court of Beelzebub, prince of pride and lord of the flies. As one of Beelzebub’s mightiest dukes, Abin Sur has worked hard to corrupt mortals with pride, dragging their souls to Hell. It was he who helped bring the Sun Emperor to Earth that first time and lead to the fall of Atlantis, and the Immortal Man is an adversary of the Keeper of the Bronze Keys.

However, despite Abin Sur’s conflicts with the Immortal Man and bouts with such angels as Shayera and Thaal, Abin Sur’s greatest hatred is for a fellow duke of Hell, the being known as Tomar-Re or “Blue Devil.” A member of the Legion of Wrath, Tomar-Re enjoys taking the form of a giant blue dragon, destroying armies with huge bursts of lightening and ruining whatever subtle game his rival has been playing. They call Abin Sur the “Patient One,” but patience only goes so far.

The Keeper of the Bronze Keys has always been fascinated by sorcery and other forbidden knowledge and has long enjoying corrupting mortals by mentoring them in black magic. Though original he was more of a private tutor, eventually Abin Sur was put on the faculty of the Black Academy, a university located somewhere in the Carpathian mountains that teaches an excellent program in sorcery of all sorts; the only thing required is that the pupil offer up his soul in return.

At the Black Academy, Abin Sur specialized in teaching alchemy, necromancy, and comparative literature, and he eventually being the tutor of a promising young man who the world would later know as Dr. Occult. The demon was quite impressed by the focused young man, and after he left, Abin Sur decided to keep an eye on him, both out of general interest and because when Dr. Occult dies, Abin Sur will be able to feast on his soul.

Abin Sur is a generally genial individual, with particular affection for Dr. Occult and though Abin Sur keeps busy with various things, including more Black Academy classes, other souls to claim, evil deeds to do, he always checks in on his favourite pupil to see what he’s been up to recently. The demon is no particular hurry to see Dr. Occult. After all, Abin Sur is thousands of years old, so what’s a few more decades? Confident that Dr. Occult will never succeed in his quest for immortality, Abin Sur is always interested in the good doctor’s latest scheme, and will even suggest texts or avenues that the alchemist could pursue. He always seems very eager to help Dr. Occult in whatever activity he’s currently working on, though the alchemist is generally not comfortable with assistance.

Powers

Though a mighty demon, Abin Sur prefers to be subtle. Perhaps his most commonly used powers are the ability to locate anyone who’s soul he owns, and manifest to that person in a way that no one else can see him. Abin Sur might whisper into the Doctor’s brain or appear beside him while everyone else just sees bare floor. Sometimes Dr. Occult isn’t sure if the demon is there, or if he is being delusional, and his occasional arguments with a being no one else can see have caused various members of Shade to doubt his sanity. For some reason, Abin Sur seems intimidated by the Joker, and will never manifest to Dr. Occult while that individual is there. It is one of the reasons why Dr. Occult frequently seeks-out his boss’ company.

Abin Sur is also a highly accomplished shapeshifter. His favourite form is affable and bombastic show business agent Maxwell Lord, though he will also frequently appear as a large black dog (“Rex the Wonder Dog”), and owl, or a cute little girl named Kara Kent who she assures is “no relation to Mr. Clark Kent.”

He knows a lot about sorcery and other forbidden knowledge, and if he doesn’t know something, he generally knows where to go for information.