Number of the Beast Vol 1 7

"Verse Seven: The Greatest Generation": In early 1945, a Daemonite spacecraft crash landed in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. The crashed ship is soon discovered by the U.S. Army led by General Zebulon McCandless, who compares the spacecraft to the star Wormwood, w

Number of the Beast #7 is an issue of the series Number of the Beast (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 2008.

Synopsis for "Verse Seven: The Greatest Generation"

In early 1945, a Daemonite spacecraft crash landed in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. The crashed ship is soon discovered by the U.S. Army led by General Zebulon McCandless, who compares the spacecraft to the star Wormwood, which is an omen of the End Times, from the Book of Revelation. After being informed by an officer that there is no way of moving the spacecraft to a more secure location, Zebulon have already made the decision to leave the spacecraft where it is and buried. A facility is soon being built over the spacecraft. Zebulon confronts one of the ship's surviving crewmen and informs him that he is a "guest" of the United States.

In the present, Jackson King uses his telepathic abilities to help Cumberland understand everything that's happened after his attack on Skywatch. He shows him that after his supposed death, his genetic remains were recovered by the American government and were used to create a cloned army of super soldiers based on notes from Dr. Jacob Krigstein. This army would act as a last resort for the government to prevent end of the world scenarios involving superhumans. Though many of the experiments suffered many costly setbacks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers succeeded in the process under the "Reaper Initiative", creating weaponized multiple clones known as the "Reaper Ballistic Missile Arsenal", or Reapers. After having finished with the High's remains, the government had nowhere else to put him but inside the Number of the Beast program where they thought he could be kept safely. Since the Paladins and other prisoners have escaped their prison, General Somerset has launched the Reapers in response and Cumberland has already sensed them.

Somerset and the Daemonite Slyxx observe the battle between the Authority and Paladins. Meanwhile Jenny Quarx and the Doctor explore the NOTB bunker to search for answers in which they find a brain-damaged Lieutenant Welles.

Jackson continues to use his powers to further uncover the mystery behind Number of the Beast through the mind of a retired McCandless. He discovers that McCandless is an overzealous Christian who strongly believed in the end of the world, in which he would do anything to prevent it. He is responsible for orchestrating the disappearance of Earth's generation of heroes (such as the Paladins) and keeping them in suspended animation and virtual reality through Daemonite technology in order to keep them ready for the Apocalypse.

As the Authority and the Paladins continue their battle, some have already realized their error and decide to sit it out. The Doctor easily heals Welles' brain and she returns to consciousness. After she learns the bunker's prisoners are all outside, Welles warns Habib and Jenny that the Reapers are coming.

Back on Skywatch, Cumberland decides that he must stop the Reapers before an unavoidable apocalypse becomes reality. He ignores Jackson's insistence of having only Stormwatch handle the situation before flying off to meet his clones. He engages one of the missiles, but is unsuccessful. Jackson telepathically contacts him and reasons that the only way to stop the Reapers is to find and stop their source: General Somerset.

Back at the bunker, Welles informs Habib and Jenny that the Reapers are unstoppable and that any attempt to trigger the Reapers' fail safe (such as Habib attempting to change them into pixie dust) will cause them to explode in a massive nuclear explosion. Just as the Reaper missiles are about to arrive, Welles flees back into the bunker while Habib recommends to Jenny to have everyone evacuated to the Carrier and let the Reapers detonate harmlessly in the desert. Jenny does so by teleporting everyone through shift-doors.

Outraged by the superpowered beings' absence from the bunker, Somerset sends an order to the Reapers to find the Carrier. The Reapers then change a single Reaper into a gateway to the Bleed.

On the Carrier, the Paladins are being contained in a cell. Mago then remembers about Zebulon McCandless and plans on having a "talk" with him. The Authority then introduced themselves to the Paladins and informs them of the current situation. But their introduction is interrupted by the Reapers, who have opened a portal to the Carrier.

Appearing in "Verse Seven: The Greatest Generation"

Featured Characters:

• The High (Flashback and main story)

Supporting Characters:

• StormWatch
  • Fuji
  • Jackson King (Flashback and main story)
• The Paladins
  • Black Anvil (Flashback and main story)
  • Engine Joe (Flashback and main story)
  • Mago the Magician (Flashback and main story)
  • Midnight Rider
  • Mite
  • Neandra
  • Private Warr
  • Petrified Girl
  • Johnny Ray-Gun (Flashback and main story)
  • Redeemer (Flashback and main story)
  • Urumi
  • Thrush (Flashback and main story)
    • Falconette
  • Tumbleweed
  • Wallflower
• Hotfoot (Flashback and main story)
• The Authority
  • Jenny Quarx
  • The Doctor
  • Jack Hawksmoor
  • The Engineer
  • Swift
  • Midnighter
  • Apollo
• Slyxx
• Lieutenant Welles

Antagonists:

• General William Somerset (Flashback and main story)
• Reapers

Other Characters

• General Zebulon McCandless (First full appearance) (Flashback and main story)
• Jenny Sparks (Flashback only)
• Crime Corps
  • Tinderbox
  • Third Rail

Locations:

• Wildstorm Universe
  • Number of the Beast Bunker #1
  • Washington, D.C.
    • The Pentagon
  • Skywatch III
• The Bleed

Items:

• None

Vehicles:

• The Carrier
  

Notes

• At the end of the issue is a passage from the Book of Isaiah (Isiah 14:12): "How you have fallen from Heaven, a Morning Star, Son of the Dawn!/You have been cast down to the Earth, You who once laid low the nations!"
• Jackson King recalls the White House being previously "trashed" by the Authority, in which they temporarily took over the United States in Coup d'État.
• Fuji recalls his one-sided battle with the High in StormWatch #49.
• Swift's "another friggin' desert bunker?" refers to one of Henry Bendix's secret bunkers that was recently found by the Authority and Stormwatch in The Authority: Prime.
• Swift remarks to Midnighter and Midnight Rider that they "make a cute couple." This is a reference to The Authority: Prime #5 in which it was implied that Bendix was inspired by Midnight Rider to create Midnighter.

Trivia

• McCandless quotes a brief line from Revelation 8:10 from the Book of Revelation: And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.
• Jackson King paraphrase Revelation 13:18 as he first scanned McCandless' mind: Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
• McCandless paraphrase Revelation 12:7 as he meets a Daemonite prisoner: And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

See Also

• Cover gallery for the Number of the Beast series
• Images from Number of the Beast Vol 1 7

Recommended Reading

• StormWatch #48
• StormWatch #49
• StormWatch #50

Links and References

• wildstormresource