LNH: Hungry, Hungry Sabertooths! #18: Hello to Halo

[Jeanne Morningstar]

HUNGRY, HUNGRY SABERTOOTHS!
#18 [probably?]: "Hello to Halo"
A silly even by this crossover's standards LNH tale by Jeanne Morningstar

====

"Oh, so I see Scott--I mean Psychovant decided to throw in one of his 
characters to mess up the story," said Jeanne Morningstar. "Well I can't 
let him get away with that! Unfortunately, I kind of blew up my Writer 
Character so he can't take care of that... but I can throw in one of my 
characters from another story! Now let's see... Victory couldn't show up 
normally, because 8fold's not the kind of universe that's compatible 
with LNH, but it just might be possible for her to project some of her 
divine power into the net.worlds in a Paper Tigers kind of way [in 
reference to the classic Dvandom saga--Footnote Girl]... But I'd have to 
run that by Tom and I want this out as quickly as possible. I'll have to 
use some character from one of my half-finished comics fanfic things. 
Hmmm, I could throw Indigo in here--she could fit into the Looniverse, 
she'd be kind of Constellationish--but figuring out what to do with her 
would take some thought and care and I'm not really aiming for that this 
chapter, lol. Red Ace is a giant robot pilot and his ties to actual 
Marvel canon are pretty tenuous so he'd fit in naturally but this story 
maybe has *too* many giant robots in it now. Or I could bring back 
Atomic Rabbit from JAC--at some point I probably will--but... hmm. Oh, 
I've got it. I'll use the Black Halo...."

====

WHO IS THE BLACK HALO?

Named after a Kamelot album (the Writer listens to a fair amount of 
power metal), the Black Halo would have been the main antagonist of the 
second story arc of Jeanne Morningstar's Jane Foster Thor based fanfic 
story if, like so many of their projects, hadn't stalled out after the 
first arc.

The Black Halo was one of the gods of a dead Earth. They are a death god 
(hey there's another constantly recurring idea) and their power is to 
channel the energies of the dead that are connected to them. At the 
height of their power, they wielded the abilities of almost all the gods 
and superhuman inhabitants of their Earth, whose essence they held 
inside them.

This Earth in, let's say, a multiversal catastrophe, a generic one, not 
any secret war in particular. They had made a deal with, uh, a demon, 
who had been impersonating a member of the multiversal bureaucracy, to 
win the war with the Earth--ruled by an alternate universe version of 
Asgard--that had been in the process of colliding with theirs, a war 
whose object was to control the reality altering device known as the 
World Changer (which was built around the other Asgard's Ring of the 
Nibelung, but never mind that). Both Earths were destroyed, and the 
Black Halo and their divine family (who were vaguely inspired by the 
Black Moon Clan from Sailor Moon)  were swept into another Earth along 
with the World Changer and the Valkyrie who had been set to protect it 
from them. (This was the way of bringing a certain character from a 
certain movie into the canon universe without giving her the 
complicated-even-by-superhero-comic-standards baggage of her canon 
counterpart.) In the new multiverse they became part of the Wyrd Zone, a 
part of the Asgard of the prime Earth which had been warped by the 
multiversal catastrophe.

(Obviously there's a certain amount of thematic overlap with Just 
Another Cascade here as this Writer is one of those who tend to revisit 
and refine plots and ideas periodically, but hey so do "real" comic 
writers.)

The Black Halo and their divine family were defeated by the Valkyrie and 
and main-Earth Asgard's heroes, they turned against the demon to fight 
them together, and the Black Halo was able to resurrect the gods from 
their Earth. They and their people stayed in the Wyrd Zone of Asgard, 
using the World Changer to make it more habitable, and they were 
instrumental in a rebellion against a corrupted Odin who wanted the 
power of the World Changer for himself and was actually [not saying in 
case I actually write this damn thing someday] in disguise.

Black Halo is a combination of a peak-Lee/Kirby late Silver Age comics 
villain and a Sailor Moon villain, exemplifying the influences this 
fanfic universe is based on. They are wildly overdramatic and prone to 
mood swings. They wear a black armored costume with elegant ornamental 
patterning in blue lines and a dramatic cape. They are dark skinned 
Latinx and wear dark blue lipstick and nail polish.

====

Imperilus stood over a pile of sabertooth tigers (and a dinosaur, for 
some reason) that he'd vanquished with his bare hands. He looked up and 
saw a figure floating in the air, radiating power.

"Hold, Imperilus!" said Black Halo. "I know not what power brought me 
here to this ridiculous world, but I shall vanquish you whatever it takes!"

"Eh?" said Imperilus. "Ah, man, it's one of those god types. I hate 'em. 
Got their divine heads stuck all the way up their holy rectums. Well 
I've been preparing all my life to kick the asses of gods and I am ready!!"

"You do not know the depth of my power, Imperilus!" A halo (naturally) 
of black light pulsed around Black Halo's hand. "I have seen worlds 
dying and a'borning! I have seen many petty conquerors and tyrants such 
as you rise and fall! And in the end, I have come for them all--for I am 
the god of Death!" What power exactly did they have here, they wondered?

Jeanne Morningstar wondered that too. "Well," they said, "I *could* make 
the Black Halo really OP by constructing a metaphysical link to, say, 
the dead universe from Legion of Occult Heroes #4, but I think I'll just 
say they have the powers of dead LNHers who have statues in the Hall of 
Lost Heroes [https://lnh.diamond-age.net/wiki/Hall_of_Lost_Heroes], in 
addition to the flight and energy-y powers they normally have. That 
should give Imperilus something to chew on."

Energy flowed into them from the nearby statues, with a sense of grief 
and exultation. They prepared to strike, with the power of... 
Flatulence? That seemed to be the standard kind of power in this 
universe. "But if a fart be the power I must wield to conquer evil, than 
I will fart away!" said the Black Halo, turning around and ripping an 
enormous divine-powered fart that knocked Imperilus off his feet...

Jeanne Morningstar rubbed their eyes. "I can't believe I wrote that 
sentence. I need sleep."

====

Notes:

I don't know. I'm sorry.

The fanfic in question is here https://archiveofourown.org/works/16897515

I had a lot of ambitious ideas for my version of the Marvel Universe 
that for various reasons didn't work out (this is a common thing for 
me); a lot of the influence from that went into Victory which in stories 
to come pick up on things from there thematically in the same way 
Kirby's New Gods did on his Thor, or Simonson's Orion did on his Thor. 
Still might want to come back and write some of this someday, tho, but I 
have way too many stories.

Black Halo: Jeanne Morningstar
Imperilus: Scott Eiler
Footnote Girl: Saxon Brenton
LOH: Paul Hardy
Flatulence Lad, who's come up a weird amount in this crossover: Gary St. 
Lawrenc