A Timeline of the Black Centipede's World (contains spoilers)
Here is my partial timeline, as it stands now, of the history of the Black Centipede's world:
1852: November 27-- Apparent death of Ada Lovelace (Daughter of Lord Byron and reigning White Centipede.)
1860:
Jack the Ripper discovers the mysterious Order of the Centipede, and
sets into motion his plans to subvert and take control of the
organization.
1871: October
18-- Death of Charles Babbage; Jack the Ripper takes possession of
Babbage's advanced designs for his Analytical Engine, and begins
construction on his own machine.
1885: Alice Crook aka Vionna Moriarty born
April 18.
1888: The Ripper performs a powerful blood ritual, murdering five woman in London, including Mary Jane Kelly.
A time-traveling Vionna Valis helps Sherlock Holmes investigate the Ripper murders.
Professor Moriarty makes a deal with Dracula.
1891: Death and vampiric rebirth of Moriarty. Sherlock Holmes presumed dead.
1892: Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper create Bloody Mary Jane; Andrew and Abby Borden murdered.
Bloody
Mary Jane travels to Florida, where she meets Juan Ponce de Leon,
Cotton Mather, the fugitive Ada Lovelace, and the vampire Moriarty.
Later
in the year, Bloody Mary Jane accompanies Moriarty's daughter Vionna to
Russia, where she will live with the family of Tsarevich Nicholas.
1894: Tsarevich Nicholas becomes Tsar Nicholas II.
1897: A mysterious alien craft crashes in Aurora Texas. Jack the Ripper takes possession of the pilot's remains.
1903: Under the direction of Jack the Ripper, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin becomes the new White Centipede.
1905: Rasputin is introduced to Nicholas II and Alexandra.
1908: Professor Moriarty assassinates Count Dracula in Tunguska and becomes Lord of the Undead.
1911: Feb. 5-- Birth of William ---------, the future Black Centipede.
1920s: William befriends writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
1927: "Forty Whacks" William meets Lizzie Borden and Bloody Mary Jane; becomes the Black Centipede.
1927-1932: William
goes to work for his grandfather, then travels the world to pursue his
self-training. William encounters the faceless Russian assassin
Anonymoushka, and has many other adventures. He jousts on several
occasions with Bloody Mary Jane. Meets Doctor Raoul Unknown.
1932: William returns to Zenith.
1932-1933: "Creeping Dawn"
- The Black Centipede begins his career in Zenith, meets Frank Nitti,
Percival Doiley, Baron Samedi, Stanley Bartowski and William Randolph
Hearst. The origins of Doctor Almanac and the Stiff.
"Funeral for a Fiend" - Ties up a loose end from Ceeping Dawn
1933: "Blood of the Centipede"
- The Black Centipede meets Amelia Earhart and travels to Hollywood to
consult on the Hearst-financed motion picture "Blood of the Centipede."
There, he encounters the Black Centipede Eater, the White Centipede, and
Jack the Ripper.
"The Plague's the Thing" - Standalone story featuring Amelia Earhart and the diabolical Rev. Dr. Theobald Schadelhaus.
"The Return of Doctor Reverso" Doctor Almanac makes a brief return. Anonymoushka shows up again.
"Black Centipede Confidential." Moriarty descends on Zenith, intent on possessing the Analytical Engine.
Actor
Lancelot Cromwell, star of the movie "Blood of the Centipede" decides
to fight crime in the guise of the Red Dagger. Things do not go
swimmingly.
1934: The Centipede's first recorded battle with super-criminal Adrian Countenance; the Centipede meets William S. Burroughs.
1937: March 1-- The Centipede is visited by Vionna Valis and Mary Jane Kelly from the year 2012, and Dana Unknown from the year 2112.
March 15-- Death of H.P. Lovecraft
July 2-- Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
1940: Elena Milagro de Hoyos
is resurrected by Carl Von Cosel. Elena is infected with a mutant
strain of bubonic plague; she is stopped by the Centipede and Doctor
Unknown before she can contaminate a large portion of the United States.
1942: Moriarty escapes from Area 51.
1952: "Gasp, Choke Good Lord!" The Centipede meets Dr. Frederic Wertham, William M. Gaines and Albert Fish.
1957: "Wisconsin Death Trip." The Centipede encounters Ed Gein and his mother.
1963: John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.
1972: The Black Centipede uncovers the horrible plot being hatched by Richard Nixon, who is really [REDACTED] and J. Edgar Hoover.
May 2-- Death
of J. Edgar Hoover; the Centipede, wanted for his murder, becomes a
fugitive. Hoover's death ruins [REDACTED]'s immediate plans. Thinking it
unwise at this point to assassinate the President of the United States,
the Centipede decides to keep Nixon too busy to regroup.
Late 1972 through 1973--
Working undercover, the Centipede makes the acquaintance of G. Gordon
Liddy and the inner circle of White House henchmen. He suggests, plans
and helps orchestrate the Watergate break-in. He makes sure the burglars
are caught. He continues to gather information, then begins leaking it
to reporters Woodward and Bernstein.
1974: August 8-- Nixon resigns.
1978: The
Centipede is captured by authorities in California and committed to the
Napa State Mental Hospital. The hospital's new administrator turns out
to be Adrian Countenance, who has a sinister agenda. With the help of a
rock band called the Cramps, the Centipede defeats Countenance and
escapes.
Twenty - Fifteen Years Ago: Zenith
experiences a brief but very unpleasant super-heroic age. Commander
Power, Captain Ultra-Superior Man, Captain Triangle, the New Red Dagger,
Doctor Unknown, Captain Mercury and others form a new Legion of Law and
Order, which limps along for a little over three years. The group
self-destructs when their quest to bring the Black Centipede to justice
turns into an unmitigated catastrophe.
Twelve Years Ago:
Captain Ultra-Superior Man disappears, and Commander Power and Captain
Mercury are killed by Professor Ulysses Ubik. Jack Christian, the former
Kid Mercury, goes off the deep end.
Eleven Years Ago: More
than two million people die worldwide during the Little Precious
Crisis. The bizarre cybernetic super-terrorist goes on a four-day
rampage of destruction. Jessie Von Cosel, the eight-year-old human half
of the binary consciousness known as Little Precious is tried and
imprisoned on a refurbished Alcatraz Island. The robot that was the
other half of the Little Precious organism is not found. (Rumors of the
involvement of Professor James Moriarty, Lord of the Vampires, are
addressed in
"The Return of Little Precious.")
Seven Years Ago:
Doctor Unknown Senior accidentally destroys the world. Though he and
his daughter, Dana Unknown, are able to reboot the timestream and erase
the episode
from
history, he is a broken man. He retires and slips into alcoholic
obscurity. Dana takes over his duties, as Doctor Unknown Junior.
2011- Present: "The Optimist"
Jack Christian returns to Zenith, where a shadowy crime lord called
Melmoth has been consolidating his power. The Black Centipede is trying
to track Melmoth down. Mary Jane Kelly and the Ripper's other victims
are resurrected in the Black Centipede's Orgone Superaccumulator.
"Close Encounters of a Kind We'd Rather Not Think About" Vionna Valis and Mary Jane Kelly incorporate the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee Psychic Detective Agency.
"The Abominable Myra Linsky Rises Again"
Jack goes to work with Dana Unknown. This story is both prequel and
sequel to "Blood of the Centipede." The White Centipede is resurrected.
"Vionna and the Vampires" Moriarty makes his last stand.
Or does he?
"The Return of Little Precious." Jack and Dana battle Little Precious and the White Centipede. NOW AVAILABLE:
https://www.amazon.com/Return-Little-Precious-Moriarty-Vampires-ebook/dp/B01BJDVFPA?ie=UTF8&qid=1466394900&ref_=la_B005WX2CKQ_1_13_twi_kin_1&refinements=p_82%3AB005WX2CKQ&s=books&sr=1-13
A young Vionna Valis, ready for action.