Colonel Burke

COLONEL BURKE

Real Name: Burke (first name unrevealed)

Class: Demon

Occupation: Demon, former soldier

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Williams (great-grandaughter)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mumbai, India, 1870s to present

First Appearance: Hellblazer I #261 (January, 2010)

Powers: Burke was a gigantic demon that could tear apart victims with his multiple heads and hands. He was armed with mystical swords.

History: (Hellblazer I #261, 262) - Colonel Burke operated in Colonial India in the 1870s, and taking advantage of his position he savaged a young woman. He felt something akin to guilt and began drinking heavily, but blamed his actions on the British imperative to conquer, and the naïveté of India. The Sadhu would not see his crime go unpunished, and sent him to a dark dimension. While there he transformed into a demon resembling a Hindu god. Bollywood director Vikram Dhawan summoned him by preparing him British tea and presenting him with a portrait of Queen Victoria, and used him to eliminate enemies and ensure the success of his movies. Burke began to stalk the streets of Mumbai, savaging and cutting up women who reminded him of his first victim. Magician John Constantine went to India to find spiritual purity, and threatened to expose the secrets of guru Charles Pankurst-Hawke, who was a friend of Dhawan. Dhawan sicced Burke on John, but the Sadhu appeared to banish him. The Sadhu told John he'd influenced his decision to come to India so he could help him take care of Burke. Burke told Dhawan that John was a powerful opponent, and refused to reengage him unless he gave Burke Meeta, the beautiful starlet he'd discovered. Dhawan claimed to love Meeta, but put a bindi on her that would draw Burke to her.

(Hellblazer I #263, 264) - Burke possessed Meeta, eventually exploding her body from the inside out. Dhawan, not knowing she was dead, summoned Burke and begged for her life. He offered Burke a hundred women, even his own mother if need be. Burke laughed him off, expressed his hatred towards India, and stabbed Dhawan to death, saying he'd find someone else to make his tea. John found Meeta's body, but the police were trailing him, suspecting the foreigner of being their serial killer, and arrested him. His pleas of innocence were ignored, and the inspector worked him over. Epiphany called the police station with vague threats about what a powerful man John was, but that did no good for John's case. Burke's influence spread as a harbinger of Kali Yuga, and Mumbai was beset by violence and women giving birth to Kali statues. The Sadhu visited the scene of a massacre at a movie theatre, and convinced the inspector that he could cleanse his sins by trusting John to save Mumbai from the wave of violence. Epiphany and John confronted Burke, who threatened to destroy them, but John's ally Epiphany learned that Burke deserted his regiment during a battle with the Sepoys, and feared his cowardice being known. John taunted him about being a failure as an Englishman, and taunted him with a white feather like the one he got as a commendation after the battle even though he should have been court marshaled. Burke could not stand the truth about him being exposed, and imploded.

Comments: Created by Peter Milligan & Giuseppe Camuncoli.