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""Face of Steel"": David and Gary return the sword to the Museum during a press conference. They tell the press that it was Dumas who stole the sword. Shortly thereafter Dumas attacks them injurying them both and learning the coordinates of the Manhunter temple.

Manhunter #22 is an issue of the series Manhunter (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1990.

Synopsis for "Face of Steel"

David and Gary return the sword to the Museum during a press conference. They tell the press that it was Dumas who stole the sword. Shortly thereafter Dumas attacks them injurying them both and learning the coordinates of the Manhunter temple.

Mark, despondent over the innocents he is responsible for killing, injuring or otherwise placing them in jeopardy, speaks with N'Lasa who tells him that he was meant to be Mark's teacher. He proceeds to try to teach him using his psionic powers to create images/hallucinations for Mark to interact. He uses these to show Mark the true history of the Manhunters.

The Manhunter's original oath was, "No evil escapes the Manhunters." N'Lasa was part of the Manhunters' rebellion and expected to be punished by the Guardians. Instead he was biologically and cybernetically re-engineered to have great longevity and he was sent to Earth. He was to be the new Grandmaster of the Manhunters stationed there but they refused his teachings and threw him out. He went to Japan, impressed by their Samurai code, and started a force for good called "The Jujin." Eventually they attacked the Manhunters but they were defeated. N'Lasa was hooked to a machine, placed in stasis and experimented on. Still, he was able to use his psionic powers to influence the human agents inducted into the Manhunters. Stephen Forrest Lee was one such agent and N'Lasa did get him to revive the Jujin but Stephen twisted it into an assassination cult. Paul Kirk was inducted into a splinter group called the Conclave but rejected their brainwashing and fought against them. Then N'Lasa sensed Mark Shaw.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan arrives and attacks Mark repeatedly ordering his death. Images of many people from Mark's past appear condemning his past actions or failures and Mark begins to give in to their calls for his death. When Jordan asks Mark if there was anything more to him than thief, murderer and traitor, Mark renews his will to prove himself. Jordan disappears and Mark finds N'Lasa bleeding on the ground and Dumas threatening him.

Appearing in "Face of Steel"

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Notes

  • Saints and Sinners Part 5 of 6. Mark hallucinates for a section of this story.
  • Due to a retcon presented in Issue 13 of the third Manhunter series, Mark Shaw was purportedly brainwashed into having a second, hidden personality known as Dumas. It is unclear if there was ever a real Dumas, if Shaw always unknowingly acted as Dumas, and/or if "encounters" with Dumas were all imagined or hallucinated. Thus certain aspects of this story may not be considered canon.



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