Trencher (comics)
Encyclopedia
Trencher is an American comic book
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...

 series, that was created, written and drawn by Keith Giffen
Keith Giffen
Keith Ian Giffen is an American comic book illustrator and writer.-Biography:Giffen was born in Queens, New York City....

 and released by Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

 in 1993
1993 in comics
-January:* Doom Patrol #63: " The Empire of Chairs," Grant Morrison's final issue as Doom Patrol writer.-February:* Action Comics, with issue #686, suspends publication following "The Death of Superman."...

. It totaled only four issues before its end.

Plot

The story follows a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

-like anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...

 named Gideon, as he endeavors to complete his mission of exterminating soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

s that had been "wrongfully reincarnated". Due to the large superhuman population this often brought him in conflict with super powered beings both important (Supreme
Supreme
Supreme may mean or refer to:* Supreme , a comic book superhero* Supreme , a term used in cookery* Supreme, Louisiana, a census-designated place in the United States* Supreme , a hip-hop producer* Supreme Records, a record label...

 and Shadowhawk
Shadowhawk
ShadowHawk is a fictional comic book vigilante anti-hero created by Jim Valentino.He was first introduced in the Malibu Sun free promotional magazine in May of 1992...

) to the minor ('The Nasal Python, who has the ability to use his nose hairs as fully functioning appendages, and The Hurler, who can utilize pinpoint projectile vomit as a weapon.)

It's Gideon's job to hunt down these beings, with the assistance of a voice in his head named Phoebe, who is his dispatcher, giving him information on his targets, his surroundings, and who also serves as character foil for the otherwise isolated character. He moves from one name on the list to the next, usually receiving heavy damage to his body, frequently resulting in what should be fatal injuries (such as having his head blown from his body).

An unknown organization has designed many of these "trencher" units, who seemingly are resurrected and re-outfitted corpses (similar to deadmen in Gungrave
Gungrave
is a PlayStation 2 third-person shooter video game developed by Red Entertainment and published by Sega. The game debuted on July 17, 2002 in Japan, September 16, 2002 in North America and November 29, 2002 in the United Kingdom...

) who are sent on separate missions.

Gideon is frequently involved in situations that largely make little sense within their own context, but continue author Keith Giffen
Keith Giffen
Keith Ian Giffen is an American comic book illustrator and writer.-Biography:Giffen was born in Queens, New York City....

's well known satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

. From hunting down four separate Elvis possessed bodies who are each a variation on the beings who replaced Superman after his death in the DC universe, to engaging in major a smack down with Image hero Supreme
Supreme (comics)
Supreme is a fictional superhero created by Rob Liefeld and first published by Image Comics, then Maximum Press, and later by Awesome Entertainment...

, Gideon endures constant abuse throughout the series until it abruptly ends at issue four, although his story picks up immediately in "Images of ShadowHawk 1-3" and a One shot battle against a monkey named Blitz that features no dialogue from the characters, and again references Death of Superman storyline, with several of the panels in the fight being direct send ups of the Doomsday fight, along with a note from "the editors" pointing out how apologetic they are for letting an otherwise intelligent character get pulled into such a mindless slugfest. The book ends with the two characters reduced to disembodied heads and spitting at each other, as they can't (or won't) stop trying to one-up the other.

Collected editions

Boom! Studios
Boom! Studios
BOOM! Studios is an American comic book company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. The "BOOM!" in BOOM! Studios is always capitalized by the company.-History:BOOM! was founded June 22, 2005 with Zombie Tales #1....

 released a trade paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...

reprinting the four issues.
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