Thursday, August 18, 2011

Jeannette of The Secret Six


One of the coolest titles currently on the market is DC's The Secret Six. A team of rag tag mercenaries who take on the jobs that no one else will. Like taking down power mad dictators and evil armies. The team consists of Bane (yes, Bane who broke Batman's spine back in the day); Ragdoll, Deadshot, Catman, Scandal and Jeannette. Jeannette has one of the more intriguing origins of any current character in comics today.

Jeannette was born centuries ago into a tenuous lineage of Hungarian nobility. Noble but poor, her family sold its belongings so that it could send her at the age of nine to the Castle Csejtein order for her to serve Countess Bathory and learn the ways of the court. What no one outside the castle realized was that Countess Bathory was perhaps the most horrific female serial killer of all time. Jeannette was forced to watch as the Countess and her four assistant horribly tortured, mutilated and killed young girl after young girl. The horror was so great Jeannette lost the ability to speak. She was told that she was the favoritate and would therefore being saved for last.


Eventually, the Countess and her assistants were tried and punished. Jeannette managed to have herself remain the Countess' servant to care for the dark lady while she spent the rest of her days locked away in a room, bringing meals and removing the waste. But the truth of it was Jeannette sprinkled tiny quantities of broken glass into every meal.


Jeannette's RevengeThe process took years, but soon Countess Bathory could not experience even a day without pain. Medical attention was denied her, and she went mad from the endless torture Jeannette inflicted upon her.


Jeannette died by the blade of an executioner's axe for reasons unrevealed. She paid off the executioner with her mother's necklace, the only piece of jewelry she had left. This was to ensure the executioner would make it quick, but he did not. The first three swings of his axe missed their mark, cracking and breaking her body without killing her. The horrible trauma of this caused her to lose touch with herself and who she had been. She found and became the banshee.

Origin provided by Comics Vine

Jeannette: It seems to me, that we were, all of us, never meant to live a life decided by the fears and habits of others. If we know our destination is hell, then our job is not to think of sin and salvation. It's to shine as bright as we may. With skin like salmon. So people will look up each moonlit night...and remember we were here.

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