GRAVEYARD SHIFT

HISTORY

The Graveyard Shift is the name of two groups of super-powered villains assembled by the spectral thief, the Gentleman Ghost. For each group, the Gentleman Ghost specifically selected individuals who fit a supernatural horror or monster theme. The crime sprees the Graveyard Shift commit also tend to follow some kind of supernatural or horror pattern. The first group was made up mostly of outcasts who the Gentlemen Ghost was able to coerce into the team. The second group is made up of more naturally villainous individuals who joined the group for the thrill and money.

The first team was made up of the following individuals:

The team first appeared in New York City, committing a series of robberies. The brazen acts attracted the attention of local hero team Justice Inc., who were initially unable to put a halt to the Graveyard Shift's crime spree. Eventually the heroes realized that by marking off the sites of the nightly crimes on a map of Manhattan it followed the pattern of the children's game, Hangman. Following the pattern they were able to guess the approximate location of the next night's robbery and were able to prevent it, though the villains escaped. During a confrontation with Night Flick the heroes convinced the vampire to turn on the Gentleman Ghost. Night Flick led them to the Graveyard Shift's base in an abandoned Haunted House in the Coney Island amusement park where everyone but the Gentleman Ghost was captured. As a reward for his help the heroes let Night FLick go free (he would eventually reform and join Justice Inc as a hero). Korpse was dismantled and Apparition and Hunchback were given lenient sentences since all of the stolen items were recovered. It was thought that this was the last anyone would see of the Graveyard Shift, but the Gentleman Ghost had other ideas.

Two years later, in Superior City, another series of strange crimes were being committed. The local hero team, the Enforcers of Justice, were short-handed at the time and had called in help from their allies, including Justice Inc. A suspicious Metalmorph called in his teammate Night Flick, who recognized the MO as that of his old team. Surmising that the Gentleman Ghost had assembled a new Graveyard Shift, the heroes began trying to decipher the pattern to the crimes. Eventually they figured out that each crime was related to some superstition about Bad Luck, and with a Friday the 13th quickly approaching they had to act fast. Staking out several possible targets the heroes spotted one of the villains and were able to secretly tail him back to the Graveyard Shift's base of operations, an abandoned church. The ensuing fight was fierce, but the heroes were victorious, capturing all abut the Gentleman Ghost (who fled the scene early, abandoning his team) and the vampire Bloodsucker.

This new Graveyard Shift were incarcerated in nearby Mercy Island Penitentiary, where they were recruited into the villain Carnage's super-villain army, part of the villain's master plan. They were defeated along with most of the rest of the army and sent back to prison. Before they could be re-imprisoned in another location, however, they were freed by their teammate, Bloodsucker. The group was not free long however. As part of a plot to incite a Gang War in Superior City, the new villain Dr. Fright (and his mysterious backers) captured the Graveyard Shift and hypnotized them and several other kidnapped villains into doing their bidding. The Enforcers of Justice intervened and captured Dr. Fright and the hypnotized villains. Though they had been unwilling accomplices in the Gang War, the villains were still escaped prisoners and as of this writing have been re-incarcerated.

LADY LICH

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Erica Corman was a brilliant scientist who was researching immortality. Her first experiments resulted in the death, and then reanimation, of her fellow scientist and husband Brian, Graveyard Shift member Krypt. Her later experiments resulted in her own transformation into an immortal being and granted her control over various forms of bio-electric energy. Now calling herself Lady Lich, Erica and her husband, eager to flaunt their new abilities, gladly accepted the Gentleman Ghost's invitation to join his new Graveyard Shift.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Thanks to her experiments, Lady Lich now has the ability to manipulate bio-electricity (the electricity inherent to living organisms). As a result, her own nervous system has been enhanced, granting her exceptional dexterity and superhuman reaction time. She can also build up a massive electrical charge within her body and release it as a powerful bolt of bio-electric lightning. A useful side-effect of her enhanced bio-electric aura is the ability to build a static charge around herself, enough to let her adhere to a surface, which lets her climb along walls and ceilings as long as she is not too weighted down.

Lady Lich's control also extends to other living organisms. By manipulating the bio-electric charge of another person's nervous system she can cause them great pain, paralyze them, or even assume total control over their voluntary nervous system, allowing her to control them like a puppet. As a result of her experiments, Erica is also effectively immortal. She no longer ages, has superhuman resistance to shock and injury, and her recuperative abilities are dozens of times faster than a normal human. Her enhanced nervous system is vulnerable to electricity, though. Even at low voltages it affects her far more than it would an average person.The experiments that gave Lady Lich her abilities also drained the color from her skin and hair, and her eyes now glow with a blue electric aura.

KRYPT

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Brian Corman was a scientist assisting his wife, Erica (see Lady Lich above) in her experiments with immortality. As a result of one of these experiments, Brian was killed. Erica continued her research and was able to restore her late husband to a semblance of life. By infusing his corpse with artificial neuroelectric energy Erica was able to reanimate Brian's body and also restore his mind. His body, however, is no longer able to produce the necessary bio-electric energy to survive on its own and Brian, or Krypt as he now calls himself, must regularly siphon the energy from living beings. His wife's abilities allow her to provide him with most of the energy he needs, but Brian must occasionally draw the energy from other sentient organisms or his body and mind begin to decay.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Though it appears as a desiccated corpse, Krypt's body is superhumanly strong and resistant to injury. As the body is dead it no longer ages in the conventional sense, though Krypt requires a regular external dose of bio-electric energy or his body's cells will start to decay. His mind is most vulnerable and is the first to suffer. When Brian is running low on bio-electric energy the first signs are a loss of cognitive abilities and motor skills. When he has sufficient energy, Brian is a genius chemist and engineer who has been able to create a small arsenal of hi-tech equipment. As a result of his "condition" Krypt's bio-electric aura has some unusual properties, it breaks down the molecular bonds in normal matter. As a result, organic matter that comes in contact with Krypt starts to decay and inorganic material has a tendency to disintegrate. Anything short of solid steel will disintegrate at his very touch.

BLOODSUCKER

HISTORY

Nicholas Ward is a vampire, possibly several centuries old. He is a member of the bloodline of the House of Ashe (see Vampires for a description of bloodlines). He maintains a secret identity as a Goth singer, and his voice is his most powerful asset. Bloodsucker joined the Graveyard Shift after being persuaded by the Gentleman Ghost.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Bloodsucker possesses the powers and weaknesses one expects with a vampire, plus a few tricks all his own. He is superhumanly fast, strong, and resistant; and can heal any injury, even a fatal one, quickly. He is able to move along any surface with ease, allowing him to climb walls and ceilings, and he can also fly and transform into mist. Unlike most vampires, Bloodsucker has transformed his voice into a supernatural weapon. With it he can project a wave of sound powerful enough to shatter stone, or he can pitch it to affect a victim's mind. His voice can cause all who hear it to suffer intense pain, pure terror, or he can completely paralyze their mind, preventing them from performing even the simplest actions. Like traditional vampires, Bloodsucker must drink the blood of another to survive. He is also weakened during the day, usually choosing to sleep then and emerge at night, when his abilities are at their peak. Bloodsucker possesses many other weaknesses associated with vampires. A wooden stake through the heart can kill him (though this is only temporary, if it is removed his healing abilities would restore him). Similarly he is vulnerable to sunlight, silver, and garlic; all of which can cause him lethal damage (though if removed from the presence of the offending substance he would eventually heal the damage). Bloodsucker does not age, and the only true way to kill him is to expose him to sunlight long enough for it to consume his entire body.

ECTO

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Ecto was a scientist who tapped into the ethereal dimensions. As a result of his experiments his body has become infused with ectoplasmic energy from the ether. Rejected by the scientific community, he joined the Graveyard Shift to earn money to continue his research.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Ecto's body is infused with the strange extra-dimensional material called ectoplasm, which is usually associated with paranormal activity like ghosts. Ecto Can bring forth the ectoplasm and shape it to his will, forming whatever his mind can conceive, like a slimy version of a Green Lantern ring. Since the ectoplasm also suffuses his body, his own form is subject to his whim. He can stretch and reshape every part of his body according to his every whim.

EPITAPH

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Marcus Saracen was the only undertaker in a small southern town. When he became ill and fell into a deep coma, the local doctors believed him dead. With no other undertakers available, Marcus was buried (alive) without any form of embalming. Awakening inside a coffin six feet under, Marcus went insane. Desperate to escape his coffin, Marcus' powers surfaced, rather violently. Obsessed with death Marcus went on a killing spree before being arrested. His tendency to make a proclamation about his intended victim led the press to name him Epitaph. The Gentleman Ghost freed Epitaph from an asylum for the criminally insane to join the new Graveyard Shift. Epitaph is possibly the most dangerous, and definitely the most unpredictable, member of the team.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Epitaph is a quantum telekinetic. He can manipulate matter at the subatomic level, allowing him to rearrange atomic and molecular structures. He has been known to create objects out of thin air, transform existing matter into new shapes and forms, and transmute matter from one kind to another. Luckily, or unluckily, Epitaph's knowledge of material chemistry is limited to the embalming and forensic skills he used as an undertaker. Likewise his obsession with death tends to cause him to use his powers to bury people or entrap them in coffins or tombs (he once transformed ArcAngel's power armor into a sarcophagus, trapping the hero within). He has been observed to use his powers to move through solid objects, usually by temporarily changing the molecular structure of whatever he is moving through. He has also used this ability to trap a victim within a solid object, usually with fatal results. Epitaph can also use his telekinesis on a macro scale, moving large objects with his mind. He usually uses this for travel, hovering a few feet off the floor and floating around.

HAUNT

HISTORY

Haunt was a moderately skilled thief who gained his powers when exposed to unknown radiation while robbing a research lab. He used his newfound powers to become very rich through thefts, blackmail, and industrial espionage. He was in semi-retirement, and becoming very bored, when Gentleman Ghost approached him to join the new Graveyard Shift. Haunt agreed for the thrill, not the money, though since his capture the authorities have been seizing his sizable assets. He hopes to escape soon and rebuild his fortune.

POWERS & WEAPONS

A better name for Haunt might be poltergeist. The lab accident gave him the ability to turn invisible and immaterial, hence the ghost theme to his criminal identity, but it also gave him powerful telekinetic abilities which allow him to fly and lift several tons. His invisibility and phasing let him bypass most conventional security systems, and his telekinesis lets him carry off far more loot from a crime that a normal person would be able to.

Warp Zone | DC Heroes | Villains | Graveyard Shift