Father Squid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Father Squid is a fictional priest from the Wild Cards anthology series. He was created by John J. Miller.

Father Squid is a Joker, the common term for a person deformed by the alien Wild Card Virus. He has a mass of small tentacles hanging where his nose would be, slick hairless grey skin, extra-long fingers with a pattern of suckers on them, and smells like seawater. His build is twice as broad as a normal man's and he is proportionately stronger, and can hold his breath nearly half an hour.

The man known today as Father Squid has never revealed his real name. Nor is it known if he was born with his current appearance or contracted the Wild Card Virus sometime in his early life. What is known is that during the Viet Nam War, the man then called "Squidface" was a member of the Joker's Brigade, a unit of "selectively conscripted" Jokers sent into the most dangerous situations and missions, while being retained far longer than a normal tour of duty. This was believed to be a deliberate attempt by the U.S. government to "thin out" the Joker population while getting some use out of them, a fact the Brigade members cynically acknowledged. Those who survived more than a short while became very skilled fighters, indeed. It was here that Squid met and befriended Captain Daniel Brennan, who did not share the common prejudice against Jokers.

It has been rumored that after the war, Squidface became a member of the Joker terrorist group called the Twisted Fists, and was responsible for numerous attacks on "Nats" (naturals, a derogatory term for those without Wild Card mutations). He refuses to talk about his past, so the details are unknown. At some point, he experienced a change of heart, choosing to put his violent past behind him.

By the time of his first appearance in the Wild Cards books, he is the only priest of the Church of Jesus Christ, Joker, a religion specifically for Jokers, located in New York's Jokertown (the first and largest Joker community in the world). The Church is a bizarre blend of Catholic traditions, Wild Card history, and ideas taken from medical science, emphasizing the suffering and persecution that Jokers have undergone and are still undergoing. The symbol of the church is of a radically deformed Joker Jesus, crucified on a DNA strand. Dr. Tachyon, the creator of the virus but also a supporter and caregiver of Jokertown, is portrayed in Church art as similar to the Roman deity Janus, having two heads or faces, one angelic and one demonic. It is unclear if Father Squid founded the church or simply joined it, but he is certainly the heart and soul of the Jokertown congregation, and the Church is the center of Jokertown society, even for those who do not follow its faith; almost all Joker funerals are held there, for instance. Quasiman is the part-time caretaker and sometimes protector of the church.

In the novel Card Sharks, the church is burned down by an arsonist. The subsequent investigation is what leads to the eventual uncovering of the Card Sharks conspiracy to create the Black Trump, an anti-Joker virus.