Stephanie Harrington
Encyclopedia
Glitter is a fictional paranormal in the Marvel Comics
imprint New Universe
. She first appears in D.P.7
#1.
, Wisconsin
, in May 1956. She was raised in an Episcopalian family.
During her high school years, Stephanie was a cheerleader
, but she never went on to higher education after graduating high school in 1974. At some point, she met her husband, Chuck Harrington, and they married. She stayed at home as a housewife and he worked in a meat packing plant. In 1980 she gave birth to her first child, Benjamin. Two more children followed, Emily (in 1982) and Jill (in 1984). They had what was reportedly a fairly happy family. She's only even left Wisconsin twice in her life.
occurred in July 1986, but it was almost two weeks later, on August 2, 1986, that Stephanie first manifested paranormal abilities. She felt a wave of dizziness while watching over one of her daughters. Jill tried to comfort her, but became charged with energy and began running through the house. She later healed a minor bump the child suffered as a result.
Although at first Stephanie put the sparks she saw off to being dizzy, her other children and became hyperactive around her as well, and soon her husband noticed. He had her committed to the Clinic for Paranormal Research in the hopes of them finding a way to cure her condition. He threatened not to take her back unless she finished her treatment.
There she joined a therapy group and became friends with the members. One in particular, David Landers
, developed a crush on her, but if she noticed she gave no sign for a long time. When one of the group discovered that the Clinic had nefarious plans for them, she escaped with them.
At first she was reluctant to go back home, because of fear of her husband's reaction and because the clinic had sent out bounty hunters after them. Her need to see her children quickly outweighed those fears and she asked the others to take her into Sheboygan. David Landers and Jeff Walters
accompanied her into the city, where she learned her husband had taken her kids to his mother's. He also called the Clinic to inform them her wife was there, and the bounty hunters showed up again. The three barely escaped. Her feelings about the event also intensified her paranormality. Before, she only gave off sparks when using her abilities... after her husband's betrayal, she emitted sparks constantly, making her quite noticeable in anything other than direct light.
She had trouble with the way her ability kept her away from her children, and even went so far as to attempt an exorcism
to extinguish it, but when that failed she became more depressed, until she and David came up with a plan to split up the group temporarily. The two of them, along with Lenore Fenzl
, went to get her kids while Randy and the others searched for Scuzz
, who'd recently left the group.
The two picked up Stephanie's oldest son from school, and then went to her mother-in-law's to get the others. Unfortunately, Stephanie's husband happened to visit while they were there. In an attempt to stop him, Dave Landers got into a fight and severely injured the man. Stephanie was afraid to heal him with his bones unset, but went to the hospital later. While there, she was captured by bounty hunters from the Clinic. Her friends, not knowing what else to do when she went missing, returned the children to their grandmother.
The Clinic attempted to brainwash all of the captured members of DP7 with psychic reinforcement during dreams, but due to her powers, Stephanie kept breaking out of REM sleep. Frustrated, Clinic security chief Harlan Hackbarth decided to kill her so she wouldn't be a problem. Telepathic psychologist Dexter Charne tried to stop it by traumatizing Stephanie's mind until she fell into a coma, and it succeeded, but Hackbarth fell victim to the same fate as his mind was connected to hers.
She remained in the coma for several months, even after the rest of her group managed to turn out the sinister forces controlling the Clinic and turn it back closer towards its stated goal. David Landers visited her bedside regularly, reading her stories.
Dave finally, reluctantly, left with the rest of her group on what was planned as a short trip to go after one of their friends, although they never returned. Shortly after Dave left, Stephanie's husband came to visit her. He claimed to have reformed his ways, but actually he was worried because he had been having an affair with a woman who turned out to be HIV
positive. He hoped his wife's healing abilities might save him from AIDS
. His visit and the promise of them being a family again finally brought her out of a coma.
She left with Chuck and resumed what seemed like a happy family life, at least until Scuzz, a former member of her therapy group, showed up with his teenaged gang after the Clinic closed. Her husband, in an effort to please his wife, agreed to let them stay with them for a while.
who had begun a draft
of paranormals, learned about her by monitoring the dreams of David Landers. The CIA
had meanwhile recruited the female members of her therapy group and, when one of them was asked to help with a woman who was developing a mysterious skin malady, suggested Stephanie might be able to help. Both groups were very interested in the prospect of getting a woman who was super-strong and could heal battlefield injuries.
Major Zentner, who, before joining the army, had been one of the bounty hunters to chase Stephanie and her friends, ordered Landers to accompany him to try and recruit her.
They arrived on the day Chuck finally decided to throw Scuzz's group out. Stephanie had gone with them to the bus station. This time, instead of turning her in, Chuck sneaked out to try and warn Stephanie the army was after her, but was followed. Zentner was prepared to use various forms of persuasion (including the threat of drafting her husband) to recruit Stephanie, but Landers decked the Major and told Stephanie to run. She and her husband fled, but on their way to pick up their children they encountered Lenore Fenzl, who approached with an offer to join the CIA.
Stephanie accepted the offer, and soon came to enjoy training to work for the CIA. They'd kept their promises to her and she was allowed to stay with her family. Through them, she discovered her husband's secret. An agent followed Chuck to a hospital where he checked on his condition. She confronted him and he confessed, although in her anger she roughed him up a little.
Stephanie didn't leave him at that point, and went on her first mission to stop a biological weapon in the jungles of Brazil
. The weapon was a huge paranormal blob that ate all flesh in its path. The team didn't manage to destroy it, and barely got out with their lives. Stephanie's best friend on the group, Lenore, didn't make it out. When she returned, she learned Chuck had left and taken the children.
three days later, reclaimed her children and stopped Chuck from killing himself, finally deciding to leave him. She was also ready to quit the CIA, but accepted a mission with them to put former head of the Clinic and now presidential candidate Philip Nolan Voigt
under surveillance in New York City
.
Voigt almost immediately learned of the surveillance and used his mental powers to subvert the group to his own aims. He even forced them to attack Dave Landers and Randy O'Brien when they came to investigate him and turned out to be immune to his persuasion, and then threatened that if the two men tried to interfere he'd order them to kill themselves.
The group moved in together despite this awkward situation (and, with the help of a bearer of the Star Brand
, were later able to terminate Voigt's influence over them all), and the CIA program employing them was cancelled when Voigt made it clear he was aware of it. One of their handlers sent a paranormal assassin to kill the members of the team, and Stephanie was injured. Her son shot the killer when he tried to attack the rest of the group, and because of this they were able to defeat him.
With no job to hold her in the city, Stephanie considered moving back to Sheboygan. As a Christmas present, David Landers rented a car and offered to drive her. He saw it as his one chance to tell her how he felt. He chickened out though at the last minute and left her in Sheboygan without saying anything beyond that she should write him sometime. He returned to Sheboygan and began dating Merriam, another of their friends who was attracted to him.
Sheboygan didn't work out very well for Stephanie, as she couldn't get a job and her children were bullied at school because of her paranormality. She returned to New York. Merriam felt threatened by his old flame and, fearing she came to take David from her, and asked her to leave. When David learned she'd gone, he tracked her down to a cheap hotel and finally confessed how he'd always felt. She kissed him and they agreed to try a relationship.
Because of this energy, Stephanie can engage in physical activity for long periods of time without tiring, lift approximately one ton, run approximately 40 miles (64.4 km) an hour, and has a reaction time about twice as fast as the average human.
The energy also greatly accelerates her own healing process and those of others. It can heal small cuts almost instantly. It can't, however, cure anything the body itself can't cure, as it's merely an acceleration of the natural process. With some diseases, her ability might in fact speed up the progression as the disease could be affected by the same energy.
Her body produces this energy in the form of sparkles that she continuously emits, although the sparkling intensifies when she's actively using her abilities. Anybody near to the sparks can be affected by the same energy and can get the same benefits (although to a lesser degree). Although in normal hand to hand combat the damage she could cause would outweigh the benefit her opponent got from the sparks, certain styles such as wrestling be counterproductive. Stephanie Harrington is the only person immune to Lenore Fenzl's Fatigue promoting emanations.
As part of her CIA training, she has some skill in Jeet Kune Do
.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
imprint New Universe
New Universe
The New Universe is a comic book imprint from Marvel Comics that was published in its original incarnation from 1986 to 1989. It was created by Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Eliot R. Brown, John Morelli, Mark Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco and edited by Michael Higgins.In 1986, in honor of Marvel Comics'...
. She first appears in D.P.7
DP7 (comics)
D.P. 7 was a 32-issue comic book series published by Marvel Comics as a part their New Universe imprint. It ran from 1986 to 1989. Along with Justice and Psi-Force, it was one of the few New Universe titles to last for 32 issues....
#1.
Pre-White Event
Stephanie Ann Harrington was born Stephanie Lindquist in SheboyganSheboygan, Wisconsin
-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, in May 1956. She was raised in an Episcopalian family.
During her high school years, Stephanie was a cheerleader
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, but she never went on to higher education after graduating high school in 1974. At some point, she met her husband, Chuck Harrington, and they married. She stayed at home as a housewife and he worked in a meat packing plant. In 1980 she gave birth to her first child, Benjamin. Two more children followed, Emily (in 1982) and Jill (in 1984). They had what was reportedly a fairly happy family. She's only even left Wisconsin twice in her life.
The Clinic
The White EventWhite Event
The White Event was a fictional occurrence which played a key role in Marvel Comics' New Universe line.-New Universe:The White Event was the name given to a mysterious blinding flash of light which bathed the Earth on July 22, 1986, at 4:22am EST...
occurred in July 1986, but it was almost two weeks later, on August 2, 1986, that Stephanie first manifested paranormal abilities. She felt a wave of dizziness while watching over one of her daughters. Jill tried to comfort her, but became charged with energy and began running through the house. She later healed a minor bump the child suffered as a result.
Although at first Stephanie put the sparks she saw off to being dizzy, her other children and became hyperactive around her as well, and soon her husband noticed. He had her committed to the Clinic for Paranormal Research in the hopes of them finding a way to cure her condition. He threatened not to take her back unless she finished her treatment.
There she joined a therapy group and became friends with the members. One in particular, David Landers
Mastodon (New Universe)
Mastodon is a fictional paranormal in the Marvel Comics imprint New Universe. He first appears in D.P.7 #1.-Early life and the Clinic:Dave Landers was born on September 21, 1952 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin...
, developed a crush on her, but if she noticed she gave no sign for a long time. When one of the group discovered that the Clinic had nefarious plans for them, she escaped with them.
At first she was reluctant to go back home, because of fear of her husband's reaction and because the clinic had sent out bounty hunters after them. Her need to see her children quickly outweighed those fears and she asked the others to take her into Sheboygan. David Landers and Jeff Walters
Blur (New Universe)
Blur is a fictional paranormal in the Marvel Comics imprint New Universe. He first appears in D.P.7 #1.-Early life and the Clinic:...
accompanied her into the city, where she learned her husband had taken her kids to his mother's. He also called the Clinic to inform them her wife was there, and the bounty hunters showed up again. The three barely escaped. Her feelings about the event also intensified her paranormality. Before, she only gave off sparks when using her abilities... after her husband's betrayal, she emitted sparks constantly, making her quite noticeable in anything other than direct light.
She had trouble with the way her ability kept her away from her children, and even went so far as to attempt an exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
to extinguish it, but when that failed she became more depressed, until she and David came up with a plan to split up the group temporarily. The two of them, along with Lenore Fenzl
Twilight (New Universe)
Twilight is a fictional paranormal in the Marvel Comics imprint New Universe. She first appears in D.P.7 #1.-Early life and the Clinic:...
, went to get her kids while Randy and the others searched for Scuzz
Scuzz (comics)
Dennis "Scuzz" Cuzinski is a fictional paranormal in the Marvel Comics imprint New Universe. He first appears in D.P.7 #1.-Pre-White Event:...
, who'd recently left the group.
The two picked up Stephanie's oldest son from school, and then went to her mother-in-law's to get the others. Unfortunately, Stephanie's husband happened to visit while they were there. In an attempt to stop him, Dave Landers got into a fight and severely injured the man. Stephanie was afraid to heal him with his bones unset, but went to the hospital later. While there, she was captured by bounty hunters from the Clinic. Her friends, not knowing what else to do when she went missing, returned the children to their grandmother.
The Clinic attempted to brainwash all of the captured members of DP7 with psychic reinforcement during dreams, but due to her powers, Stephanie kept breaking out of REM sleep. Frustrated, Clinic security chief Harlan Hackbarth decided to kill her so she wouldn't be a problem. Telepathic psychologist Dexter Charne tried to stop it by traumatizing Stephanie's mind until she fell into a coma, and it succeeded, but Hackbarth fell victim to the same fate as his mind was connected to hers.
She remained in the coma for several months, even after the rest of her group managed to turn out the sinister forces controlling the Clinic and turn it back closer towards its stated goal. David Landers visited her bedside regularly, reading her stories.
Dave finally, reluctantly, left with the rest of her group on what was planned as a short trip to go after one of their friends, although they never returned. Shortly after Dave left, Stephanie's husband came to visit her. He claimed to have reformed his ways, but actually he was worried because he had been having an affair with a woman who turned out to be 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. He hoped his wife's healing abilities might save him from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. His visit and the promise of them being a family again finally brought her out of a coma.
She left with Chuck and resumed what seemed like a happy family life, at least until Scuzz, a former member of her therapy group, showed up with his teenaged gang after the Clinic closed. Her husband, in an effort to please his wife, agreed to let them stay with them for a while.
CIA Agent
Meanwhile, different groups had learned about Stephanie's ability. The US ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
who had begun a draft
The Draft (comics)
The Draft was a comic book in Marvel's New Universe imprint, detailing the aftermath of the reintroduction of the draft following the destruction of Pittsburgh. The Draft was put into effect on January 28, 1988, and its unstated purpose was to establish a fighting force of soldiers with paranormal...
of paranormals, learned about her by monitoring the dreams of David Landers. The CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
had meanwhile recruited the female members of her therapy group and, when one of them was asked to help with a woman who was developing a mysterious skin malady, suggested Stephanie might be able to help. Both groups were very interested in the prospect of getting a woman who was super-strong and could heal battlefield injuries.
Major Zentner, who, before joining the army, had been one of the bounty hunters to chase Stephanie and her friends, ordered Landers to accompany him to try and recruit her.
They arrived on the day Chuck finally decided to throw Scuzz's group out. Stephanie had gone with them to the bus station. This time, instead of turning her in, Chuck sneaked out to try and warn Stephanie the army was after her, but was followed. Zentner was prepared to use various forms of persuasion (including the threat of drafting her husband) to recruit Stephanie, but Landers decked the Major and told Stephanie to run. She and her husband fled, but on their way to pick up their children they encountered Lenore Fenzl, who approached with an offer to join the CIA.
Stephanie accepted the offer, and soon came to enjoy training to work for the CIA. They'd kept their promises to her and she was allowed to stay with her family. Through them, she discovered her husband's secret. An agent followed Chuck to a hospital where he checked on his condition. She confronted him and he confessed, although in her anger she roughed him up a little.
Stephanie didn't leave him at that point, and went on her first mission to stop a biological weapon in the jungles of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. The weapon was a huge paranormal blob that ate all flesh in its path. The team didn't manage to destroy it, and barely got out with their lives. Stephanie's best friend on the group, Lenore, didn't make it out. When she returned, she learned Chuck had left and taken the children.
New York
She tracked Chuck down in North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
three days later, reclaimed her children and stopped Chuck from killing himself, finally deciding to leave him. She was also ready to quit the CIA, but accepted a mission with them to put former head of the Clinic and now presidential candidate Philip Nolan Voigt
Philip Nolan Voigt
Philip Nolan Voigt is a fictional character from Marvel Comics New Universe, first appearing in D.P. 7 #1 in 1986.- Fictional character biography :...
under surveillance in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Voigt almost immediately learned of the surveillance and used his mental powers to subvert the group to his own aims. He even forced them to attack Dave Landers and Randy O'Brien when they came to investigate him and turned out to be immune to his persuasion, and then threatened that if the two men tried to interfere he'd order them to kill themselves.
The group moved in together despite this awkward situation (and, with the help of a bearer of the Star Brand
Star Brand
The Star Brand is the name of a number of similar fictional comic book objects of power all of which exist in the multiverse created by the shared universes of Marvel Comics...
, were later able to terminate Voigt's influence over them all), and the CIA program employing them was cancelled when Voigt made it clear he was aware of it. One of their handlers sent a paranormal assassin to kill the members of the team, and Stephanie was injured. Her son shot the killer when he tried to attack the rest of the group, and because of this they were able to defeat him.
With no job to hold her in the city, Stephanie considered moving back to Sheboygan. As a Christmas present, David Landers rented a car and offered to drive her. He saw it as his one chance to tell her how he felt. He chickened out though at the last minute and left her in Sheboygan without saying anything beyond that she should write him sometime. He returned to Sheboygan and began dating Merriam, another of their friends who was attracted to him.
Sheboygan didn't work out very well for Stephanie, as she couldn't get a job and her children were bullied at school because of her paranormality. She returned to New York. Merriam felt threatened by his old flame and, fearing she came to take David from her, and asked her to leave. When David learned she'd gone, he tracked her down to a cheap hotel and finally confessed how he'd always felt. She kissed him and they agreed to try a relationship.
Powers and abilities
Stephanie Harrington's body produces an unidentified energy, which greatly increases her strength, endurance, agility and reflexes.Because of this energy, Stephanie can engage in physical activity for long periods of time without tiring, lift approximately one ton, run approximately 40 miles (64.4 km) an hour, and has a reaction time about twice as fast as the average human.
The energy also greatly accelerates her own healing process and those of others. It can heal small cuts almost instantly. It can't, however, cure anything the body itself can't cure, as it's merely an acceleration of the natural process. With some diseases, her ability might in fact speed up the progression as the disease could be affected by the same energy.
Her body produces this energy in the form of sparkles that she continuously emits, although the sparkling intensifies when she's actively using her abilities. Anybody near to the sparks can be affected by the same energy and can get the same benefits (although to a lesser degree). Although in normal hand to hand combat the damage she could cause would outweigh the benefit her opponent got from the sparks, certain styles such as wrestling be counterproductive. Stephanie Harrington is the only person immune to Lenore Fenzl's Fatigue promoting emanations.
As part of her CIA training, she has some skill in Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do is a hybrid martial arts system and life philosophy founded by martial artist Bruce Lee with direct, non classical and straightforward movements. Due to the way his style works they believe in minimal movement with maximum effect and extreme speed. The system works on the use of...
.