Menagerie (comics)

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Menagerie


Sonja shapeshifting, art by Doug Mahnke

Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Action Comics #775, (2001)
Created by Joe Kelly
Doug Mahnke
Characteristics
Alter ego Pam, Sonja
Affiliations Justice League Elite
The Elite
Abilities Symbiotic alien parasites.

Menagerie is a name shared by two anti-heroes in the DC Universe, both members of The Elite. The two are Puerto Rican sisters who are linked with a symbiotic alien weapon crèche, called symbeasts. Both were created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke.

Pam first appears in Action Comics #775, March (2001). Sonja first appears in JLA #100, August (2004).

Contents

[edit] Menagerie I

The first Menagerie was Pam. While the origins of her powers are unclear in Action Comics #775, Manchester Black states that the rogue Men in Black (from the Department of Extranormal Operations) they encounter are picking up the dregs of society, turning them into weapons and selling them off to the highest alien bidder. She was later psionically lobotomised by Manchester Black in Action Comics #795 for revealing that The Elite's actions were being controlled by him. [1]

[edit] Menagerie II

Pam's sister Sonja replaced her in the reformed Elite in JLA #100 and then went on to join Justice League Elite, both under the leadership of Vera Black. She later had a relationship with team member Coldcast, whom she infested with her parasites and framed for murder in an attempt to destroy the team and enact her revenge upon the Black family. Vera and the team track her to Costa Rica in the last issue of the series and she is turned over to the JLA. The JLA imprison her in a temporary holding cell on the moon where she is seen going through withdrawal symptoms after being separated from her symbiotes. [2]

[edit] Powers

The alien symbeasts have shown a variety of effects and uses when used by either Pam or Sonja. The most common use would be to create large bat like wings to fly. Often they will shift over the user to form weapons such as claws, spikes or whips. Sonja also used to spy on a place of residence from afar by implanting a literal "bug" on the window. Also, she created a fascimile of a drug once from the secretion of one of her creatures for a specific "bait and switch" operation. According to Vera Black, there was also a creature among the creche that could create bioelectric bursts. Finally, Menagerie seemed to secrete acidic blood as well.

[edit] Trivia

  • It has been suggested that Menagerie is a DCU equivalent of Witchblade. However, as The Elite parallel The Authority in many respects, she can also be seen to share characteristics with Swift (wings) and the Engineer (being bonded with a powerful and uniquely adaptable alien weapons, although organic not technological).

[edit] References

[edit] External links