Route 666 (comics)
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Route 666 was a comic book created by Crossgen Comics, Inc. in July of 2002, and prematurely ending with issue 22 in June of 2004. It was CrossGen's first horror comic venture. It contained a blend of action, menace and humor.
Setting
Route 666 takes place on the fictional planet of Erebus in a country called The United States of Empyrean, which mimics the innocent feel and the actual mindset, lifestyles and technology of the 50's era of our own Earth's United States of America. (Interestingly enough, a feuding nation, the People's Republic of Rodina, presumably is a combination of the countries Russia and China, creating a mood through the book that mirrors The Cold War between capitalism and communism.)Basic Plot
The lead character, Cassie Heloise Starkweather, or Cassie, could see dead people when she was a child, but she repressed the talent. As a college student, she finds herself on the run after a pair of dark spirits catches her talking to the soul of her recently deceased roommate and teammate, Helene Mengert, a young Welkin State University gymnast who had been inadvertantly killed by a chain of reactions created by Cassie's lack of concentration on a balance beam. Ridden with guilt and declared unstable by a Doctor Melchior, Cassie is dispatched to a sanitorium, Melchior Asylum, where she learns that half the staff is tied up in this sinister conspiracy. It seems there's a war going on in the next world, and agents of "The Adversary", disguised as mostly b-movie monsters or creatures of the local legends, prowl this world to kidnap the souls of people who've died violently. As Cassie flees from the monsters, they manage to pin the blame for the murders on her, so she's building quite a reputation as a psychotic serial killer-which means she has a real problem getting help. Most people don't want to admit they're sharing a world with soul-stealing monsters, so they refuse to believe anything Cassie tells them. Alternatively, one character who believes her is a psychotic serial killer known as the Railsplitter.Horror takes a back seat
With Cassie's flight, from local authorities, the National Bureau of Investigation, and her homestate of Welkin, bad luck arrives in a small county in Gossmer. While in a diner, where his teenaged son is an employee, Cisco, a local sheriff, recognizing Cassie as the accused murderer reported on the news, and without vehicle (as Cassie had just stolen his squad car), requests use of his son's truck to give chase. Miguel, Cisco's son, insisting he's the only one who can drive it, quickly takes off after her, with his father reluctantly agreeing to ride in the passenger seat. While in pursuit, they tragically fall victim to Cassie's ever-increasing bad luck, when her car loses control and they crash into it. Miguel dies. With no family, having lost his wife several years ago, to pancreatic cancer, and his son now dead, the result of the actions of a wanted murderer on the run, Cisco, has every reason to blame Cassie and become her greatest enemy. Oddly enough, Sheriff Cisco maintains himself through most of the series, as her most supportive "compadre". They almost become their own family; her a surrogate daughter to his being a father figure.Creative Team
- Tony Bedard - Writer
- Karl Moline - Pencils
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