Aspen Matthews’ Path of Discovery of Her Powerful True Identity to a Universe As Diverse and Breathtaking As the Deepest Reaches of the Ocean

SOURCEBOOK

Written By: HANNIBAL TABU

Sample file

A B Direct Edition AspenStore.com by -Michael Turner Boxing Day Exclusive & Peter Steigerwald Limited Edition of 200 by -Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald

Editors: Andrea Shea, Vince Herenandez Design and Production: Mark Roslan The Black Co-Created by: Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald

FOR ASPEN: Founder: MICHAEL TURNER Co-Owner: PETER STEIGERWALD Co-Owner/President: FRANK MASTROMAURO Vice President/Editor in Chief: VINCE HERNANDEZ Vice President/Design & Production: MARK R OSLAN Editorial Assistant: JOSH REED, ANDREA SHEA Production Assistant: CHAZ RIGGS Office Manager: MEGAN MADRIGAL AspenStore.com: CHRIS RUPP

MICHAEL TURNER’S FATHOM™ SOURCEBOOK ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2015. DIGITAL COPY. Published by Aspen MLT, Inc., Office of Publication: 5855 Green Valley Circle. Suite. 111, Culver City, CA 90230. The Aspen MLT, Inc. logo® is a registered trademark of Aspen MLT, Inc. Michael Turner’s Fathom™ and its logo, are the trademarks of Aspen MLT, Inc. The entire contents of this book, all artwork, characters and their likenesses are ©2014 Aspen MLT, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any similarities between names, characters, persons, and/or institutions in this magazine with persons living or dead or institutions is unintended and is purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this book may be reprinted, reproduced or transmitted by any means or in any form without the express written consent of Aspen MLT, Inc.

VISIT US ON THE WEB AT FIND US ON FACEBOOK AT FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AT FOR MORE ASPEN COMICS GO TO WWW.ASPENCOMICS.COM FACEBOOK.COM/ASPENCOMICS TWITTER.COM/ASPENCOMICS WWW.ASPENSTORE.COM FOR THE COMICS RETAILER NEAREST YOU CALL: 1888-COMIC-BOOK - INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS REPRESENTATIVE: CHRISTINE MEYER [[email protected]] Welcome to the world of… MICHAEL TURNER'S FATHOM In 1998, superstar comic book artist Michael Turner revealed his highly-an- ticipated new creation, Fathom, the tale of two worlds: the one we know, and the one below. This thrilling series would debutut as the best selling comic book of that year, and the resultesult would become comic book history. Yet, within thishis sixteen-year journey of the book’s publication, Fathom has evolved from Aspen Matthews’ path of discovery of her powerful true identity to a universe as diverse and breathtaking as the deepest reaches of the ocean.

The Fathom: Sourcebook was created to fur- ther explore the mythos behind Turner’s most popular creation. For fans of the series and new readers alike, this handbook will provide ann in-depth look at your favorite characters, technol-ol- ogy, events and more within the Fathom Universe.verse. Prepare to dive back into the water…

Sample file CONTENTS 02 Aspen Matthews 09 Captain Matthews 10 Finn 11 Tyler Kincaid 12 Chance Calloway 14 Cannon Hawke 17 Akiko Nigata 18 Killian Bra'nache 23 Taras 24 Vana 25 Chris Calloway 26 Admiral Maylander 28 The Blue ASPEN MATTHEWS

Aspen Matthews Occupation: Former Olympic swimmer, marine biolo- gist, adventurer Identity: Expatriate citizen of the Blue, identity pub- licly know by humankind Height: 5’6” Weight: 125 pounds Sample file Hair: Black Eyes: Blue Known Relatives: Captain Matthews (adopted father), Rahger (biological father), Abesaloma (adopted father), Finn (half brother), Eliah (mother) Education: Ph.D in marine biology from the University of California at San Diego Aliases/Nicknames: None Skills/Abilities: Aspen is an Olympic-class swimmer and athlete, possessing the stamina and strength to swim hundreds of miles. She is an above-average hand-to-hand combatant, able to defeat an elite council security member in single combat. She possesses heightened strength, agility and stamina. Aspen also breathes underwater and possesses the power of hydrokinesis, the ability to control water, to a degree far greater than the average Blue due to her mixed heritage. She can form pockets of air while underwater and condense water from air. No matter how much time she spends in water, her skin never gets wrinkled. Aspen also shares the power of the Elite Blue, able to physically transform into water and reform herself at will. Place of Birth: The Blue city of Muria Marital Status: Single Personal History: Aspen Matthews was the second child of Abesaloma, a member of the ruling political body over the undersea humanoid species the Blue, and his wife Eliah. She lived an idyllic childhood alongside her older brother Finn until her true origins were revealed when she was eleven.

A member of the Black named Rahger had hypnotized, raped, and impregnated Aspen’s mother Eliah twelve years prior. This happened in secret, so no one suspected Eliah’s new daughter wasn’t the child of Abesaloma. The Black, precur- sors of the Blue and creatures of myth to their successors, had stayed hidden for many lifetimes. Aspen’s heritage remained a secret until the Blue began to debate military action against the surface world in 1974. Abesaloma hoped to inﬂuence the Blue’s leadership council toward diplomacy with human society. But the dissident Killian favored a more aggressive stance towards humanity, advocated by Counselor Zo, Abesaloma’s childhood friend.

Rahger chose that time to kidnap Eliah to create more Black-Blue hybrids, aiming to stall the extinction of the Black. Abesaloma and council security defense captain Cannon Hawke rescued Aspen’s mother, but the respite was short lived as Zo and Killian attacked on behalf of the Black, killing Eliah and Abesaloma in front of Finn and Aspen. Aspen’s great power manifested for the ﬁrst time in a massive explosion of hydroki- netic force, disabling the dissidents. Finn and Aspen ﬂed in a Blue ship, chased by Killian’s forces. But, the two siblings disap- peared after accidentally activating a Blue defense satellite and hitting an undersea wormhole called a hydroport. This combina- tion of events made Aspen and Finn’s ship disintegrate and the siblings disappear, along with a human cruise ship called the Paradise.

Aspen’s first conscious memory is of being discovered on the Paradise by a Navy captain named Matthews ten years later, in 1984. All memories of what had come before her sudden Sampleappearance file on the Paradise were lost to her. Captain Matthews ended up adopting Aspen, who shared his passion for the water. Aspen became an Olympic swimmer by age fifteen, but her athletic career was cut short when she set a new world record at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, only to have her win challenged by a French judge. Tests came back showing evidence of in- duced erythrocthemia, an illegal form of performance enhance- ment where athletes inject their own previously drawn blood to increase red blood cell counts. Unbeknownst to the humans, and even Aspen herself at the time, it was her hybrid Blue-Black physiology that skewed the test results. But as she was still ig- norant of her heritage, she had nothing with which to contest the Olympic committee’s findings. The Olympic committee barred Aspen from competing in not just 1988, but the 1992 and 1996 Olympics as well, essentially ending her career as a competitive swimmer.

After being ousted in Seoul, Aspen trained to get a scuba diving certificate, and during her dive thought she had a “vision” when Killian appeared to her for the first time since her parents’ death. Killian tried to hypnotize her, but was forced to flee when the diving instructor drew near – discovery by humans was not conducive to his plan. Aspen later dismissed this seemingly im- possible encounter as a hallucination.

Aspen shifted her focus to marine biology and oceanog- ASPEN raphy. Her studies led to advanced degrees from the University doctors could not explain, red blood cell density more than twice of California, San Diego and distinction in her field, including the human average, unusual bone flexibility, and lungs with an a posting on a joint US/Japanese undersea research platform unusual amount of alveoli, giving her five times the lung capacity called Deep Marine Discovery (DMD) in 1998. of an Olympic swimmer. She lay comatose for two days, during which time her medical files were confiscated by the Navy and Upon her arrival at the research platform, Aspen noted the shredded. presence of Cannon, a suave and certain presence Sampleserving as file a diplomat between the Japanese and the US, but didn’t re- When released from the hospital, Aspen returned to her member him from her childhood. DMD director Alexander Jarvis home in San Diego. Chance visited her soon after, trying to un- showed Aspen some of the reasons for the stringent security derstand what he saw. Aspen grilled Chance on the DMD’s de- protocols: a salvaged Blue transport around which the under- struction and he asked why she appeared to be partially made sea facility had been built, and a seemingly comatose Killian be- of water when he first found her. They spoke late into the night ing held captive. Killian had shown up at the DMD – willingly, and Chance fell asleep on Aspen’s couch. although the human scientists didn’t know it – three months before Aspen’s own arrival. Aspen recognized Killian from her In the morning, Aspen went out to get bagels, at which scuba “hallucination,” but before she could ask about him, the point Killian’s operatives kidnapped her. Aspen was taken to facility’s alarms indicated that a torpedo – fired by Navy test pilot Easter Island, where Killian had amassed a large force to take Chance Calloway – was headed towards the facility. hostile action against the surface world. Killian revealed Aspen’s heritage as a member of the Blue and recruited her for her raw Aspen watched helplessly as the torpedo hit the DMD’s power. Aspen agreed to help him in order to learn more about main reactor and chaos ensued. Killian waited until the DMD herself and her powers, but Killian subtly manipulated her into a was filled with water before bursting out of his containment more aggressive stance against the human species that raised tank and retrieving Aspen. However, he was intercepted and her. Killian’s lieutenant, Kyla, served as Aspen’s moderating influ- attacked by Finn, who had been looking after his sister from a ence and protector. distance. Aspen watched Finn fruitlessly battle Killian as more dissidents arrived. When human rescue vessels showed up Soon after, Killian led Kyla, Aspen, and a force of his sol- on the scene, the dissidents retreated, still not ready to reveal diers to Costa Rica to interrupt a Japanese special forces mis- themselves. Chance discovered Aspen floating in the water, her sion against an American fuel depot. Using her powers as Killian form half-aqueous, and helped get her back to safety. had taught her, Aspen killed one of the Japanese soldiers and was immediately shocked at the horror of it. Killian’s team ac- Aspen ended up at Oahu’s general hospital, where tests complished their mission – fanning flames of war between the showed signs of dehydration, a tumor-like structure in her brain tense nations of Japan and the US after the DMD destruction – without the Americans noticing anything. leaving them dead in the water just as Baha dipped back into his childlike fugue state. Aspen had to slap Baha to get him After several more missions, Killian tasked Aspen with us- back in order, and Baha saved them both with last minute fixes ing her unique powers to create heavy water in three nuclear fu- to the Spelunker. sion-powered molecular assembly machines. Aspen felt drained by completing this task on Easter Island, but immediately had to Aspen and Baha barely escaped the beast and surfaced travel to a captured Japanese offshore rig to repeat the process. for repairs. Two of Big Moe’s “pilot fish,” tractor trailer-sized While she was there, Aspen met another of Killian’s lieutenants, creatures that served as heralds for Big Moe and were respon- the stern and hulking dissident, Taras. sible for the Sea World attacks, chased Aspen and she had to kill them both in order to survive. She let Big Moe live, realizing Aspen, Taras, and Kyla traveled to the final installation, that Baha was not competent enough to be a threat. Aspen left where Killian prepared to launch an attack. Despite her compli- Baha to his own devices and decided to swim home. ance, Aspen struggled with the morals of her actions. Cannon appeared in an attempt to free Aspen from the dissidents, which After all the excitement, Aspen took a snowboarding va- led to Kyla revealing herself as Cannon’s agent. After Taras shot cation with her roommate and friend, television reporter Tyler Kyla for her betrayal, Cannon managed to convince Aspen that Kincaid. The duo retreated to New York City after Kincaid injured Killian’s plans were wrong. Together, Aspen and Cannon took her leg on the slopes. Tyler discovered that Cannon’s boat had the mortally wounded Kyla back to the Blue ship that was held in appeared off the New York harbor with its owner nowhere to the DMD, which had been Cannon’s all along, and escaped. be found and she informed Aspen of the development. When Aspen went to investigate, Taras' brother Biranha and his forces Killian used Aspen’s captured brother Finn to activate the attacked, knocking her hundreds of feet away through the win- final part of his weapon while Aspen tended to the dying Kyla. dow of a nightclub. Biranha tranquilized Aspen and wrecked the Cannon finally told Aspen about her parents’ death and her nightclub with an aquatic attack before abducting her. brother, leading her to recognize that Killian’s militancy wasn’t the only way to be Blue. While they traveled, Killian finally man- Aspen woke up in the Arctic Circle, held captive with bind- aged to activate his weapon, the 'Blue Sun,' a glowing blue ings that blocked most of her powers, but she still managed to sphere in the sky over the Pacific. When active, it fired a beam escape. She destroyed a fighter craft and took out two guards downwards at the water and made tidal waves that killed hun- before she met Vana, queen of the Atlantic Blue and mother dreds of thousands of people in costal cities around the world. of Taras and Biranha. Aspen fought Vana, managing to free a The center of the beam fell on Chanarnay, loosely translated as captured Cannon and stab Vana in the chest with one of her “Valley of Stairs,” the historic residence of the Black. Chanarnay own icy protrusions. Vana blasted at Aspen, who deflected the was dry for the first time in history as the Blue Sun beam held beam into the newly grown body for Vana’s deceased son Taras. back the tides. Enraged and saddened as Taras literally melted away in front of her, Vana lashed out with her power, leveling the entire palace as Aspen and Cannon confronted Killian’s forces at Chanar- Aspen narrowly escaped with Cannon on his boat. nay while Chance used Cannon’s ship to whittle down the dissidents’ numbers. When the ground began to buckle under the Cannon’s former protégé, the hotheaded Kiani, appeared Blue Sun’s ray, a battle-weary Aspen stumbled and Samplefell uncon- to Aspenfile shortly after, promising more information about As- scious, and Killian took the opportunity to throw her into the pen’s biological father. Aspen went with her just as the Black Blue Sun beam. Killian was about to murder Cannon, who had launched a multi-city assault, grabbing water from lakes and also thrown Taras into the beam, when Aspen emerged from the rivers and raising them into huge spheres, dominating the land- Blue Sun, alive and more powerful than ever. She used her new- scape. A Blue named Casque had summoned together a group found power to unravel Killian’s body into nothingness, and then of powerful warriors, including Kiani, Brande, and Siphon, to ad- brought the water crashing back down into Chanarnay. After de- dress this, but before they could act, the Black showed up to fusing the beam’s effect and ending the threat, Aspen returned kidnap Aspen. home to San Diego. Awaking amidst the Black, Aspen was now wearing a A month later, a strange aquatic creature chewed through strange suit of armor and able to walk around unguarded. She the gates at Seaworld, and ate a human performer during a ran into Casque, who had pretended to be Blue for decades but show. The same creature devoured a rich man off the coast of was actually one of the Black. He explained how the Blue, the San Diego and rushed by underneath Aspen while she swam Black, and humanity came to share the planet. She was doubtful in the ocean. She dove to follow, but the creature raced away, of Casque’s words but was floored when he introduced her to chased by a grizzled old man who saluted Aspen as he passed Rahger, her biological father. by in an odd looking submersible vehicle. Rahger tried to pressure Aspen into helping him and join- To Aspen’s surprise, the man popped up at her apartment ing his mission as he’d once done with her mother. After reliving door that night in a fugue state before a brief blackout returned memories of her mother’s passing and her experience with Kil- his senses. He led her outside to his ship, the Spelunker, and lian, Aspen resisted Rahger’s overtures and fled. called himself Baha. Baha tried to teach Aspen the complex op- erations of the Spelunker and outfitted her with a ridiculous as- Aspen returned home and tried to call her adopted father semblage of doo dads for “protection.” Together, they pursued Captain Matthews, but found his phone number had been dis- the whale-like beast called, “Big Moe.” It almost destroyed the connected. With Tyler gone on an extended European assign- two of them when Aspen accidentally reset the ship’s power, ment, her father missing, and no one familiar around, Aspen used