Monolith (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Monolith is a DC Comics
comic book
series whose title character
is a superhero
ic golem
. The Monolith is guided in his actions by Alice Cohen, a recovering drug addict whose grandmother was one of those responsible for the Monolith's creation in the 1930s.
and Jimmy Palmiotti
. Phil Winslade
was the penciller/inker for most issues with Tomm Coker
and Peter Snejberg acting as replacements for a total of four issues.
The stories take place in the present (of the publication dates), with flashbacks to the events surrounding The Monolith during the Depression Era
.
where all the other buildings have been torn down. One of the first things that Alice discovers is a walled off section in the basement from which a voice calls to her to read stories. Alice's first choice for this is her grandmother's diary.
Alice owes money to Prince, a violent drug dealer who is determined to find and make an example out of her. Using violent methods Prince finds out Alice's location from Tilt (a friend of Alice's) who races to warn Alice that Prince is coming for her. Not long after Tilt's warning Prince arrives and breaks into the house. In desperation Alice and Tilt break down the brick wall in the basement and release The Monolith. The resulting fight is short.
The depression era portions of these issues show how and why The Monolith was created. Alice's grandmother (also named Alice) is a factory worker who rooms with others trying to get through those tough times. Her closest friends are Rabbi Rava, Han, and Peter.
The events leading to The Monolith's creation begin when the textile factory that Alice works in is firebombed
by the Mafia
. Peter, who also works on the side in organized crime, confronts those responsible and is murdered. Deciding that Peter's death should not be in vain Alice and her friends create a golem using knowledge Rabbi Rava has learned. Peter's blood is one of the ingredients used in its creation and as a result his personality is the basis for The Monolith's. They send their creation to hunt down those responsible for Peter's murder.
After a time The Monolith begins to hunt down and kill all criminals with no distinction made for the degree of their crime. Seeing their creation is out of control Alice, Rabbi Rava, and Han seal The Monolith in a bootlegger
tunnel located beneath the house they live in.
While Alice is dealing with her first day at this job, The Monolith leaves the house to seek out a demon
that lies hidden beneath a church. This demon is named L'ono Nero and has remained in its place of hiding for decades. The Zavatinni family has been cursed all that time to guard and protect it. Giovanni Zavatinni (the current guardian) is seeking to rid himself of this curse and aides The Monolith in the fight against L'ono Nero.
In 1935 the Rocco Family is seeking revenge for the deaths of their fellow mobsters at the hands of The Monolith. Having learned the truth of its creation they seek out The Monolith's creators. Rabbi Rava is kidnapped, beaten and dropped off at the church that hides L'ono Nero. The mobsters tell the current guardian to give the Rabbi to L'ono Nero. The guardian doesn't do this but the Rabbi dies of his injuries anyway. Their brief conversation reveals that the Rocco Family has already killed Han. Alice is also taken to the church but is set free by the guardian
-American and Muslim American community of New York
. His first target is a home for recent Arab
Muslim
immigrants in Bedford-Stuyvesant that was built through the efforts of NYCAT and the Wayne Foundation. This event gets the attention of Batman
and he begins to investigate.
Both Batman and The Monolith track the Incinerator to his next target. In the resulting fight Batman is injured and The Monolith brings him back to the house. There Alice tells Batman the Monolith's origin. Batman's reaction is to tell Alice and The Monolith not to get in his way.
After a time Batman comes to the realization that he needs The Monolith to find The Incinerator. The two of them locate The Incinerator's next bomb in the New York Mosque
where he has tied an Imam
to the bomb
to make it harder to disarm. After dealing with the bomb both The Monolith and Batman
track The Incinerator to The World Trade Center site
. The Incinerator is planning to blow himself up but is stopped and arrested for his crimes.
It is at this point that The Monolith arrives to rescue his creators. During the fight the iron golem is covered in molten steel and frozen when the steel hardens. It is then thrown into the East River
by The Monolith. In 1987 the iron golem is found by scuba diving salvagers and sold.
In the present Tilt has just been diagnosed as being HIV
positive. Alice takes her to a dance club to take her mind off of this. In the middle of this club is a statue that is actually the iron golem still encased in its steel prison. When a gang fight starts in the club, blood is spilled on the iron golem, causing it to awaken. During its resulting rampage The Monolith arrives to protect Alice and Tilt.
ring headed by a group of corrupt police officers. The leader of this group turns out to be Orlando Ruiz (a man Alice has just started to date) who captures Alice. Ruiz injects Alice with heroin to keep her compliant and puts her on the slave block.
Knowing that Alice is in trouble Tilt and the Monolith track her to the warehouse where she and the other women are being held. They rescue Alice and bring her back to the house to recover.
The final pages of issue twelve show Alice, Tilt and the Monolith celebrating Christmas
. They engage in a snowball fight and then go back inside the house. The series ends with The Monolith remembering who he was in life and saying "My name was Peter."
. In issue #33 of that series, the Monolith and Alice guest starred in a story featuring the Monolith joining with Hawkman and Hawkgirl
to defeat Solomon Grundy
.
In 2006 in Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven, one of the One Year Later
titles, the Monolith is shown protecting the innocent in refugee camps that spring up around Blüdhaven
after that city's destruction in Infinite Crisis
.
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series whose title character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
is a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
ic golem
Golem
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing....
. The Monolith is guided in his actions by Alice Cohen, a recovering drug addict whose grandmother was one of those responsible for the Monolith's creation in the 1930s.
Publication history
The Monolith was published for a total of 12 issues before being cancelled due to poor sales. The issues were cover dated April 2004 to March 2005, and were all written by Justin GrayJustin Gray
Justin Gray is an American comic book writer published by DC Comics.-Biography:Gray has often collaborated with fellow writer Jimmy Palmiotti on series such as Hawkman, Jonah Hex, Power Girl, 21 Down, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters and The Resistance...
and Jimmy Palmiotti
Jimmy Palmiotti
James "Jimmy" Palmiotti is an American writer and inker of comic books, who also does writing for games, television and film.-Early life:Palmiotti is a graduate of the High School of Art and Design in New York City.-Career:...
. Phil Winslade
Phil Winslade
-Biography:Winslade was born in Surrey in 1965 and spent a lot of time indoors as a child because of a heart murmur. His main source of entertainment were Marvel like Howard the Duck and Deathlok. However, it wasn't until he attended Birmingham Polytechnic, to study art, that the idea of working in...
was the penciller/inker for most issues with Tomm Coker
Tomm Coker
Tomm Coker, also known as Thomas L. Coker, is an American comic book artist and film director/writer.-Career:Coker's career started in the early nineties drawing comic books for Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel Comics and DC Comics...
and Peter Snejberg acting as replacements for a total of four issues.
The stories take place in the present (of the publication dates), with flashbacks to the events surrounding The Monolith during the Depression Era
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
2004
- Alice Cohen: The granddaughter of the first Alice. She finds herself struggling with drug addiction while trying to control the Monolith.
- Tilt Shimura: Alice's best friend and roommate. An ex-prostitute, she is the less mature of the two. Nevertheless, she finds herself also responsible for the Monolith
- The Monolith: A golem created in the 1930's. The creature viciously hunts those who prey on the innocent. He is psychically linked to Brooklyn and able to sense where crimes will happen. It has a very childlike personality which makes it both innocent and dangerous.
1930s
- Alice: The grandmother to Alice Cohen. The Depression Era flashbacks are told from her point of view.
- Rabbi Rava: The individual who was in charge of the magic knowledge that was used to create The Monolith.
- Han: Chinese carpenter who participates in creating the Monolith.
- Peter: Bootlegger and love of Alice who's blood was used to help create the Monolith.
Issues #1-3: Introduction
In the present the reader is introduced to Alice Cohen as she receives her inheritance from her recently deceased grandmother. This inheritance consists of a lone house in an area of BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
where all the other buildings have been torn down. One of the first things that Alice discovers is a walled off section in the basement from which a voice calls to her to read stories. Alice's first choice for this is her grandmother's diary.
Alice owes money to Prince, a violent drug dealer who is determined to find and make an example out of her. Using violent methods Prince finds out Alice's location from Tilt (a friend of Alice's) who races to warn Alice that Prince is coming for her. Not long after Tilt's warning Prince arrives and breaks into the house. In desperation Alice and Tilt break down the brick wall in the basement and release The Monolith. The resulting fight is short.
The depression era portions of these issues show how and why The Monolith was created. Alice's grandmother (also named Alice) is a factory worker who rooms with others trying to get through those tough times. Her closest friends are Rabbi Rava, Han, and Peter.
The events leading to The Monolith's creation begin when the textile factory that Alice works in is firebombed
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
by the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. Peter, who also works on the side in organized crime, confronts those responsible and is murdered. Deciding that Peter's death should not be in vain Alice and her friends create a golem using knowledge Rabbi Rava has learned. Peter's blood is one of the ingredients used in its creation and as a result his personality is the basis for The Monolith's. They send their creation to hunt down those responsible for Peter's murder.
After a time The Monolith begins to hunt down and kill all criminals with no distinction made for the degree of their crime. Seeing their creation is out of control Alice, Rabbi Rava, and Han seal The Monolith in a bootlegger
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
tunnel located beneath the house they live in.
Issues #4-5: Battle with a demon
In the present the lawyer overseeing Alice's grandmother's will gets her a job working for NYCAT (the New York Citizen's Assistance Team). NYCAT is a non-profit organization that helps lower income people in the New York area.While Alice is dealing with her first day at this job, The Monolith leaves the house to seek out a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
that lies hidden beneath a church. This demon is named L'ono Nero and has remained in its place of hiding for decades. The Zavatinni family has been cursed all that time to guard and protect it. Giovanni Zavatinni (the current guardian) is seeking to rid himself of this curse and aides The Monolith in the fight against L'ono Nero.
In 1935 the Rocco Family is seeking revenge for the deaths of their fellow mobsters at the hands of The Monolith. Having learned the truth of its creation they seek out The Monolith's creators. Rabbi Rava is kidnapped, beaten and dropped off at the church that hides L'ono Nero. The mobsters tell the current guardian to give the Rabbi to L'ono Nero. The guardian doesn't do this but the Rabbi dies of his injuries anyway. Their brief conversation reveals that the Rocco Family has already killed Han. Alice is also taken to the church but is set free by the guardian
Issues #6-8: Batman
An arsonist calling himself the Incinerator begins to target the ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
-American and Muslim American community of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. His first target is a home for recent Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
immigrants in Bedford-Stuyvesant that was built through the efforts of NYCAT and the Wayne Foundation. This event gets the attention of Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
and he begins to investigate.
Both Batman and The Monolith track the Incinerator to his next target. In the resulting fight Batman is injured and The Monolith brings him back to the house. There Alice tells Batman the Monolith's origin. Batman's reaction is to tell Alice and The Monolith not to get in his way.
After a time Batman comes to the realization that he needs The Monolith to find The Incinerator. The two of them locate The Incinerator's next bomb in the New York Mosque
Islamic Cultural Center of New York
The Islamic Cultural Center of New York is a mosque and Islamic cultural center in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is located at 1711 Third Avenue, between East 96th and 97th Streets. The Islamic Cultural Center was the first mosque built in New York City...
where he has tied an Imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
to the bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
to make it harder to disarm. After dealing with the bomb both The Monolith and Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
track The Incinerator to The World Trade Center site
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
. The Incinerator is planning to blow himself up but is stopped and arrested for his crimes.
Issues #9-10: Iron golem
In 1934 mobsters kidnap Alice and Rabbi Rava. The Rabbi is forced to create a golem made of iron for these mobsters after they threaten to kill Alice if he doesn't. Rabbi Rava performs the ceremony but purposely misspeaks the words. The golem awakens anyway, but is nearly mindless and kills the mobsters.It is at this point that The Monolith arrives to rescue his creators. During the fight the iron golem is covered in molten steel and frozen when the steel hardens. It is then thrown into the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
by The Monolith. In 1987 the iron golem is found by scuba diving salvagers and sold.
In the present Tilt has just been diagnosed as being HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
positive. Alice takes her to a dance club to take her mind off of this. In the middle of this club is a statue that is actually the iron golem still encased in its steel prison. When a gang fight starts in the club, blood is spilled on the iron golem, causing it to awaken. During its resulting rampage The Monolith arrives to protect Alice and Tilt.
Issues #11-12: The end
Alice gets a call from a woman NYCAT helped into a woman's shelter saying that the shelter isn't a shelter. This call leads Alice to a modern slaveSlavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
ring headed by a group of corrupt police officers. The leader of this group turns out to be Orlando Ruiz (a man Alice has just started to date) who captures Alice. Ruiz injects Alice with heroin to keep her compliant and puts her on the slave block.
Knowing that Alice is in trouble Tilt and the Monolith track her to the warehouse where she and the other women are being held. They rescue Alice and bring her back to the house to recover.
The final pages of issue twelve show Alice, Tilt and the Monolith celebrating Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. They engage in a snowball fight and then go back inside the house. The series ends with The Monolith remembering who he was in life and saying "My name was Peter."
Other appearances
While The Monolith was still being published, Gray and Palmiotti were also writing HawkmanHawkman
Hawkman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1, published by All-American Publications in 1940....
. In issue #33 of that series, the Monolith and Alice guest starred in a story featuring the Monolith joining with Hawkman and Hawkgirl
Hawkgirl
Hawkgirl is the name of several female fictional superhero characters, all owned by DC Comics and existing in that company's universe. The character is one of the first costumed female superheroes...
to defeat Solomon Grundy
Solomon Grundy (comics)
Solomon Grundy is a fictional character, a zombie supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. Named after the 19th century children's nursery rhyme, Grundy was introduced as an enemy of the Golden Age Green Lantern , but has since become a prominent enemy for a number of superheroes, such as Batman and...
.
In 2006 in Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven, one of the One Year Later
One Year Later
"One Year Later" was a 2006 storyline event running through the DC Universe. As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Comics Universe following the events of the Infinite Crisis event, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many...
titles, the Monolith is shown protecting the innocent in refugee camps that spring up around Blüdhaven
Blüdhaven
Blüdhaven is a fictional city in the . Created by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel in 1996, it was originally intended to serve as a backdrop for the Nightwing comics series.-Fictional geography:...
after that city's destruction in Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
.