Soames

SOAMES

Real Name: Soames (first name unrevealed)

Class: Parallel-Earth (Earth-DMZ) human

Occupation: Soldier

Group Affiliation: The Ghosts

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: DMZ, Central Park Zoo, Manhattan, NY, Earth-DMZ

First Appearance: DMZ #4 (April, 2006)

Powers: Soames was a tough soldier and a skilled marksman and outdoorsman.

History: (DMZ #28) - The Free State Army revolted against the U.S. military, and Soames joined them, but soon became disgusted by their ignorance, lust for violence, and hateful motivations. They crossed from their base in NJ to Manhattan across the Hudson, and Soames deserted them by jumping in the river. By the time he swam to Manhattan he'd contracted something nasty, and spent days being sick. Manhattan was a hotbed of violence, and as Soames made his way to the Brooklyn Bridge to defect back into U.S. held territory he was shot and nearly killed several times. He wondered if going back to his old life in the U.S. would be positive, and doubts lingered in his mind about belonging to any side. He approached the Brooklyn Bridge when a herd of deer ran across his path. Deciding he wanted to be free like them he followed the deer.

(DMZ #11, 4) - After the FSA and US came to a temporary truce Manhattan became a DMZ. . Reporter Matty Roth heard rumors of "The Ghosts," a special forces unit operating inside Central Park, and thought it worth investigating, but he soon lost his way, as the city was in the middle of a nor'easter. He was ambushed by men in camo suits and tranquilized. He woke up in the Central Park Zoo in a panda enclosure. The men who brought him there were former zoo employees led by Soames, and they cared for the park and the animals. When Matty brought up the "Ghosts" rumors they laughed at him. They only subdued him because they thought he was foraging for wood on their land, and they'd already lost too much of the park's shade. They showed him around their community, which boasted its own solar power grid and sewage system. They grew bamboo, and had plenty to trade for use as kindling and such, and asked Matty to get the word out. He agreed if they were willing to take him on a patrol of the park. They came across foragers who were armed, and a firefight ensued. Matty was bewildered by the violence, but Soames told him they'd tried every peaceful way to keep the foragers from destroying the park. Soames was hit and one of the patrol was fatally wounded before the foragers fled. The dying man confessed that they'd lied, that they were the Ghosts, and Matty said he knew.

(DMZ #39, 40) - Parco Delgado was elected interim mayor of the DMZ, and he formed connections with the FSA and the Ghosts. He sent Matty Roth, who'd supported his campaign, to deliver a bag of gold bricks to Soames and the Ghosts. Soames told Matty he'd come a long way, and realized Matty had no idea what Parco's plans were for the DMZ. In exchange for the gold the Ghosts handed Matty a nuclear device. Soames said he wasn't comfortable having the device, which he hinted was stolen from the US military, around, and Parco had given the Ghosts a 30 year lease on Central Park and its' surroundings. He told Matty to have a good long think about what he wanted out of his relationship with Parco.

(DMZ #54) - The US located Parco's bomb and neutralized it, and Delgado went into hiding. For the Ghosts role in supplying Delgado with his WMD the military bombed Central Park. Soames survived, and Matty found him in the rubble. Matty told Soames he was turning himself in to the military, and Soames pointed a gun on him, but Matty told him that as far as the US was concerned Soames was a real ghost, and he wasn't going to say otherwise.

(DMZ #69) - The war ended, and Manhattan was redistricted, with the former location of Central Park becoming Parktown, the Third Nation of the so-called Five Nations of New York. Matty interviewed Jamal, who ran reconstruction efforts to make Central Park a nature preserve again. A disheveled Soames staggered up to them, suffering from radiation poisoning and babbling about keeping order and following the rules.

Comments: Created by Brian Wood & Ricardo Burchielli.

Soames had a cameo in DMZ #12, 50.