It takes the governments of the world a few days to realize it, because it’s in the Mongolian province of Khovd, which is some of the emptiest land in the world (Khovd has less than a third of the population density of Canada, which is pretty damn empty). Nobody really looks there, because why would you? Nothing comes out of Khovd except yaks and watermelons. It’s one of the most pleasantly boring places in the world.
Which is why it comes as such as a surprise when some minor government functionary, looking over the feed from a spy satellite that crosses over the area once every three weeks, sees the body.
It is male, and over seven miles high, or would be if it were standing straight. But this giant isn’t standing up straight; it’s lying on its back, sprawled out, very, very dead. There’s a giant hole in its chest, bigger than a strip mine, looking like something in between a stab wound and a burn-hole. This giant was murdered, and somehow fell to Earth without anybody noticing (or, for that matter, causing a giant life-destroying earthquake of the sort when something that is big and heavy and seven miles long falls and hits the ground).
The first time Dr. Strange – or any competent mystic – sees the giant, though? They know it’s Cytorrak. As in “the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak,” one of the go-to defensive spells for any competent mystic. There really aren’t a lot of giant bearded men wearing purple spiky body armour, you see. (Yes, the dead giant wears purple spiky body armour.)
And that causes a general panic among the mystics and mages of Earth, because Cytorrak wasn’t just big – he was ridiculously powerful, not surprising since he constantly granted his own power to lesser mages on a favour-trading basis. Anything that could kill him can probably squash them like a bug. A particularly unimpressive bug, too.
And what’s even more worrisome is that the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak still work. Something else is giving away that magical power now, and nobody has any idea who’s doing it. Is it the Vishanti? The Seraphim? Another of the major grantors of magical power such as Ikonn, Watoomb or Satannish? Or is it somebody else altogether? What motive would they have for both murdering Cytorrak and then supplying power to his magical-lessees? (Assuming they’re the same guy.)
And how do you dispose of a body that’s seven miles high, anyway? Never mind that there’s going to be a major territorial clash the moment every nearby government figures out that the seven-mile-high man is essentially a giant mineral deposit that just appeared out of nowhere – China will start insisting that Mongolia somehow influenced the giant to fall backward rather than forwards (into Chinese lands), and then the Americans will get involved about the time they realize that this guy wasn’t human or even from this dimension and thus potentially contains chemical compounds heretofore undiscovered.
So Strange will have his hands full – not least because, for reasons that will become clear, nobody can know he’s going to take care of the problem. And that’s before you consider the fact that Cytorrak was traditionally invoked for spells of strength used either to hold stuff up or keep stuff (or demons) sealed in. And that’s before you remember that Cytorrak’s death probably affects the Juggernaut in some way (probably some way that isn’t good for bystanders).
So, you know. This is something to keep a Sorcerer Supreme busy.
Top comment: I disagree with Lance about the new export. It’ll be aphrodisiacal supplies.
“Godwang! Getcher godwang right here! Fresh off the god!” –equinox216
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Oh come on, we all know Cytorrak just faked his death for tax reasons.
I know established pro SF/F writers who can’t come up with a premise this good. You really should be trying to do this. I would actually read Dr. Strange if you were writing it like this, and I don’t even like the character.
I don’t know anyone at Marvel, but I wish I did.
He’s a clone! He’s an evil twin! He’s from the future! :-p
Cause we all know you can’t just kill off Cytorrak. He’s too central to the plot.
Hey, there’s nothing boring about Khovd’s history. People used to get their hearts ripped out there, and the Ja Lama – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dambijantsan – hung out there for a while.
On the other hand, I was there a few years ago and it was … well, I didn’t even notice the exceptional watermelons.
Mongolia’s new chief export: MAGIC BOOGERS.
Of course when the body is seven miles tall you dont call gil grissom. Thats obviously a job for horatio caine! “No Alex, find thing this killer… Will be a tall order.” YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I wish you wrote for the big two…..
Bah, how did “finding” become “find thing”? Stoopid fingers…
If the old issues of Thor taught me anything, it’s that when you find a big mystical natural resource just lying around where nobody thought to look, you’re first question should be, “Who’s been here before me?”
One of the plot points I liked in The Initiative was that ever since M-Day, any extra-normal activity outside of the U.S. was a big deal, in the geo-political sense. As Gyrich put it, “After M-Day, the grand majority of remaining capes got their powers the honest way, from UFO crashes and lab accidents. Something that the U.S. has had a tidy monopoly on since the fifties.” So… now Mongolia has watermelons fertilized with the flesh of a dead war god?
Oh, yeah, that’s going to set alarms off.
Doctor Strange trying to prevent World War 3? A World War 3 with magic bullets and Kevlar+3? I can dig it.
I disagree with Lance about the new export. It’ll be aphrodisiacal supplies.
“Godwang! Getcher godwang right here! Fresh off the god!”
Or whatever that would sound like in Mongolia.
Don’t forget Cytorrak had peers. He was part of some weirdo group who had avatars just like Juggernaut. Only I guess suckier and with only one major appearance in an Avengers storyline.
Gyrich actually said, “Before M-Day, mutants were the great equalizer, spread out across the globe. Then one day, poof, like magic, nearly every homo superior on earth lost their mutant abilities. Now all that’s left are the “happy accidents”: people who got their super-powers the old-fashioned way . . . cosmic rays, magic canes, radioactive spider bites. The way God intended.”
I just think it has different, funnier connotations if you split the difference between “old fashioned way” (which is kind of meta) and “the way God intended” (which is just straight up hilarious).
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two seperate, yet equally important groups. The police, who HOLY FUCKING SHIT IS THAT A GIANT?!!??!
Okay. This is why I hate Magic. Can’t Strange just teleport the body to the dimension of Infinite Corpses? And the reason can’t be “no, because Cyttorak is too big” because later, when he “really needs to”, Dr Strange will teleport a city to space.
Juggernaut got his powers the way HIS God intended.
And if you wanted to add a little regional fun.. Mongolia wouldn’t be totally empty, not in a mystic sense. A gigantic weight of magic-charged godmeat being dropped onto the land would do something. Wake something up. Piss someone off. People show up and try to start harvesting, maybe Gengis Khan climbs out of the afterlife and sees this as an opportunity for a new empire. Or something. He was a war god, after all.
And why did it fall into Mongolia, as opposed to, say, Australia? Just luck? Or did the killer do what most killers do-try to hide the body?
“– Can’t Strange just teleport the body to the dimension of Infinite Corpses? And the reason can’t be “no, because Cyttorak is too big” because later, when he “really needs to”, Dr Strange will teleport a city to space. –”
Well, it’s how the story is written. If the city Stephen wants to teleport later has a massive mystical power source to keep the lights on, and Stephen taps it to teleport it away, that’s different from him just waving his hands and vanishing a 7 mile long corpse by just grabbing his balls and being absolutely awesome.
Likewise, I think getting rid of the corpse is just the first and most minor problem at hand. Strange shouldn’t spend three comic books dealing exclusively with a dead body. And, I mean, eventually he will succeed. It’s not much of a comic book if its just a story of Dr. Strange stumbling upon big problems, throwing up his hands, and announcing, “Shit I can’t handle this. Someone call Silver Surfer or Reed Richards or Professor X to handle this mess.” It’s nice when he needs more than just a single spell and a wave of his hand, but I wouldn’t be under the delusion that every story has to end with Stephen giving his right arm and his left nut to half-ass fail.
He has Mystical Testicles, or “mysticles”. That is the secret of his power.
Eh, we’ll probably find out that Cyttorak let himself get killed on purpose giving his power to some other thing and hoping someone benevolent can put all the pieces together before unspeakable horrors are unleashed.
Honestly though, I imagine hordes of people believing the giant is a space man…from space, and then setting up GreenPeace chains around the guy to prevent people from mining him. Cuz y’know, that’d be grave desecration. Course, after a while the smell might push ’em off.
And then, after a while you’ll have Giant Cavern tourism (take your picture in the sternum of the world’s largest body!).
But honestly, I’m just waiting for the culmination to be the evil person setting up 2 drinks for Dr. Strange to choose from, and then Dr. Strange impaling the guy in the eye.
doom did it. he always does.
So, Doom killed a god, didn’t use the corpse, and moved the body to Mongolia, just to mess with Richards?
Sounds about right.
Dr. Strange + inland “Towing Jehovah”? I’m so there.
Anyone else think that a series like this would be the perfect place to revamp Mephisto into a major threat? Seriously, he’s the friggin devil; he should have everyother cosmic/supernatural threat dead to rights. I think he would definitely be able to pull something like this.
“So, Doom killed a god, didn’t use the corpse, and moved the body to Mongolia, just to mess with Richards?”
Cytorrak probably sniped a very rare My Little Pony auction Doom had been watching on eBay.
Yeah, but there are so many other extra dimensional cosmic nefarious forces, plus the long list of hell-themed Marvel villains that even “The Devil!” isn’t in the top tier of malevolent movers and shakers. I mean, what makes Mephisto any more dangerous than Loki or Dormammu or Galactus or Thanos?
Hell, Galactus and Thanos would be at the top of my shit list on “People I’d want to know the wereabouts of when Cyttorak bit it.” Especially if it turns out that Cyttorak’s corpse isn’t brimming with cosmic power. I could see Galactus turn on various Gods as an alternate power source if he was getting frustrated with attempts at world eating being constantly thwarted. The giant burn/stab wound could easily have been one of his planet-eating ship’s tentacles. And Thanos would love the opportunity to axe a god in the name of Lady Death. He might not mind taking over the portfolio of limitless strength either, if it meant picking up converts to his cause.
Zifnab: I can’t see it being Thanos. Thanos’ goal since the Infinity Gauntlet story in the early ’90s was that he wanted to be with Death. Well, when Drax aced him in Annihilation he got his wish. Now comics being comics he’ll be back given time, but until he is this doesn’t ring true to me. I suppose you could say “Well a Thanos clone did it.”, but you don’t need the Sorcerer Supreme for that job. Just call Squirrel Girl.
Hey, if just call Squirrel Girl was on the table, every major crossover since disassembled would be one issue.
And more than half of that issue would be Squirrel Girl and the rest of the GLA playing poker.
A whodunit with a seven mile long corpse and a sorcerer as Philip Marlowe? This the kind of weirdly awesome stuff I love about comics.
An interesting question is why the corpse is left on land in the first place. It’s far more likely that Cytorrak would have ended up in the ocean (just like in Towing Jehovah) if something/someone just randomly dumped his corpse after killing him. So why did the killer leave Cytorrak in Khovd to (eventually) be found?
Bret: I would certainly rather read that then the bullshit that was Dissembled, House of M, Civil War, World War Hulk and Secret Invasion.
Though Slott says that the reason SG didn’t stop World War Hulk was because she was busy with Galactus.
Hey MGK. Think we can get a team-up issue with the GLI? The whole team is criminaly under used.
I mean Doorman is an undead spirit reanimated using the Darkforce dimension to be the Angel of Death. That up Stange’s alley, though might have more of an impact with the “No one can access the Astral Plane” idea instead.
He’s not dead. Rule #2 of dead bodies in superhero comics. Cyttorak is in hiding or has displaced his consciousness into another form or etc.
NCallahan: “So… now Mongolia has watermelons fertilized with the flesh of a dead war god?”
That just made this story idea that much better: a new Genghis Khan arises, powered by all kinds of bits of dead god, and ready to beat down all the “Inheritors of Genghis Khan” out there, like Jimmy Woo and the Mandarin. With armour made of spun godly pubic hair, weapons of godly toenail, and a battle standard crafted from a chunk of his heart.
It’s certainly possible that he was summoned and killed on the spot. Then, being a 7 mile long dude, he wasn’t moved because he was freak’n heavy.
If you ever DO write this story, make Cytorrak’s murderer wear the Crimson Gem in a ring, like some kind of mystical super pimp.
Also, have Dr. Strange hang out with a mystical super pimp.
How do we know there was only a single killer?
Only one stab wound.
Yeah, but the guy’s 7 miles tall. Maybe it was a pack of 20 guys with a giant spear….
It wasn’t murder, it was suicide.
Cytorrak killed himself in order to incarnate into a new (temporarily mortalish) body. That wound is from where the new Him escaped.
Why?
He’s hiding from someone. Or something.
And wants to start WWIII in Mongolia, but that’s just why he incarnated on land instead of at the bottom of the ocean. It’s mainly all about the hiding.
Oh, and thank you, Strange, for tracking him down and calling him by his name and generally putting a big giant neon sign over his seedy motel saying “Cytorrak Here (PS: He’s Not Really Dead)”. I sure hope you’re up for handling whatever’s about to knock at the door.
Cytorrak wasn’t.
@FifthSurprise: The enemy’s gate is down. Or given the subject matter, the enema’s gate is dowOH DEAR LORD NO
Suddenly this mystery requires Dr. Strange to travel /inside/ the body making it a very strange version of The Fantastic Voyage.
Y’know… part of me thinks it’d be hilarious if it was some sort of parasite that had killed Cytorrak from the inside out. Cytorrak was just in that area because y’know… where else can you sit down and enjoy Earth without disturbing a lot of people. Cytorrak can’t go and catch Phillies games.
See people, THIS is what happens when you fuck with Rex the Motherfucking Wonder Dog.
And the hole in Cytorrak’s chest is where Rex leaped out after the deity tried to vanquish his eternal enemy by swallowing him like a Little Debbie Snack Cake. It obviously failed…
There was an amazing collaborate scenario on RPG.net based on a city built around the body of a Tarresque… the Tarresque kept regenerating and people kept mining it and getting messed up
anyway i want to read this. i love mystical/symbolic stuff
I really want this to cross over with the Juggernaut, whatever he should be doing at the time.
Also, Ender’s Game for Great Victory!
Oh man. He was killed by a crazy chest burster Alien. That would be the shizzle because now you’ve got find a 7 mile tall Predator to fix the mess.
It’s Juggernaut, people. If anyone (and I mean _anyone_) in the Marvel Universe would ever wake up in the morning and think, “You know what would be cool? Murdering a omnipotent ruler of an alternate dimension, usurping all of his power, then _leaving his corpse where everybody can find it_!”, it would be the “Unstoppable Juggernaut”.
Why would it be the Juggernaut? I’m old-school. I remember Juggy’s first non-mutant affiliated appearance in the Marvel Universe. He was banished to the Crimson Cosmos (his “meddling brother” made a machine) learned enough magic to fend off Dr. Strange and played Rochambeau with Nightmare. Then he came up with the brilliant plan to CHALLENGE ETERNITY! TO A FIGHT! FOR CONTROL OF ALL THAT IS! Personally, I like this Juggernaut a lot more than the “Huggernaut/Daddy abused me{sniff}!”, version that popped up in Austen’s run.
Change the body’s positioning a little (feet in Korea {for continuity}, his torso and one arm in China, the other arm in Russia and his head in Mongolia). Dr. Strange arrives, recognizes the corpse, measures the trajectory that a falling body would take if it were struck by an obscene amount of force, and thinks something like this…
“Nightmare. Eternity. Cytorrak. The Hulk. Captain Britain. Thor. Cytorrak. The Hulk. D’spayre. The Trions. Cytorrak. The Hulk. The Octessence… The Hulk. And now, Cytorrak is dead. Someone’s gotten a little smarter, or more desperate for power.”
Cytorrak’s new avatar killed him because she’s just that nasty. That’s right, it’s the introduction of the Juggernaut Bitch.
Oh I see. This is what I get for taking the high road. I’ll remember this.
Do I detect an influence of J.G. Ballard’s short story, “The Drowned Giant” here?
[…] has no obligation to do so. When he writes about Dracula he mentions Blade, and when writing about the death of Cytorrak [picture shown above] he makes sure to hint that there’s a chance not all is well with the […]
You know the next plot beyond this is the MU equivalent of Towing Jehovah where Cytorrak’s body has to be disposed of:)