Sideshow: Matterhorn (Patreon)

Big news guys! As a special New Year's Treat, I'm formally introducing the last two Sideshow characters I've had made this year. Sorry for dragging my feet, but I'm super excited to introduce the first new member of the Sideshow following their debut - Matterhorn the Magician!

ORIGIN

Not too long after the Sideshow debut and started touring across the globe did they pick up their first new member, a young adolescent named Michael Hornsby no older than Elio. Born and raised in a small suburban neighborhood in Colorado with a budding interest in stage magic, his uncle was a geologist who enjoyed finding and cracking open geodes with Michael whenever he visited. One during one visit amongst the collections of geodes he brought was a seemingly ordinary rock that was out of place amongst the batch, but Michael decided to crack it open for amusement when his uncle left the room. What happened next was a one-and-million chance as the rock that Michael had cracked open was in fact a philosopher’s stone, and when it cracked it bathed Michael alchemistic magical energies that cause him to develop vitiligo-like patches of periodic elements on his skin and a protruding horn from his head. During recovery in the emergency room it was discovered that Michael’s new horn allowed him to transmute matter into different elements and compounds so long as he knew their chemical make up.

With nowhere else to turn to and fearing for Michael’s safety, his uncle turned to his former airforce buddy Juniper Bailey. Having heard of her own condition and her current status amongst the superhero circus, Michael’s uncle thought he would be safe there and find some form of life for his condition. Originally, Michael didn’t want to go, not willing to give up his former life to live amongst sideshow freaks. But when the supervillain group known as the Matter Men, a quadrant of former Think Tank scientists who themselves had been transformed by a philosopher stone into living embodiments of matter, and came looking for Michael to harness the power he now had inside him, Michael’s uncle was ultimately caught in the crossfire and died before the Sideshow managed to drive back the team of villains. Guiltridden that his uncle had died because of him, Michael agreed to join the Sideshow if they taught him to better control his powers so he could bring to justice the Matter Men who murdered his uncle. Becoming the first new member of the Sideshow under the stage name “Matterhorn”, Michael now develops his powers and his skills as a magician within the Sideshow’s performances.

Powers/Abilities

Horn on Michael’s head allows him to transform matter into different periodic elements and compounds so long as he knows the chemical make up of the element/compound he is transforming it into.

Matterhorn was one of the most early ideas I had for Sideshow, stemming from an idea of classic sideshow deformities one might find in a circus, and the idea of a kid who had this large patruding horn coming out of the middle of his head was the grounding basic. From there, I came up with the idea of "Matterhorn" in that his horn was actually a means he could transmute matter into different elements and compounds, which to me seemed like something that could be used for a magic act in the circus. So I made Matterhorn the resident magic act of the Sideshow.

But coming up with his origin for his horn and powers was a struggle, let me tell you. It wasn't until I began brainstorming ideas for villains for the Sideshow that I decided to bring in an old villain team from my early ideas- the Matter Men. You'll meet them soon enough, but know that they are some of the most powerful villains I have planned for the NRGVerse, and it'll take a whole team of Superheroes to take them down (hence the Sideshow). So with Matterhorn's powers coming from a philosopher's stone, this means he's eventually going to evolve into one of the most powerful characters in my universe. So that will be driving most of his character development.

Anyway, let us know what you guys think of this new Sideshow character with a comment below!

Sideshow: The Greatest Superheroes on Earth © NRG Comics

Design by SirHocosPocusFocus

Art by Danilo Cassonato