//||  //^^\\  ||   ||   .|.   COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS
   // ||  \\      ||   ||  --X---------------------------------------------
  //======================= '|`          ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES         
 //   ||      \\  ||   ||               ASH Universe Timeline v2.0
//    ||  \\__//  ||   ||          Copyright 2003 by Dave Van Domelen
___________________________________________________________________________
                           SECTION FOUR: 2024
___________________________________________________________________________

     Last Updated: 6/3/08

     As the ASH Universe has grown, especially thanks to the DEEP ARMAGEDDON
crossover and its fallout, the Timeline has become a bit unwieldy.  As a
result, it has now been broken up by year.  This file will cover the stories
that took place in 2024.

JANUARY 

     On January 5, a memorial service was held for Pollux of EUROPA.  Dan
Tracey of STRAFE and Contact of ASH gave eulogies, in addition to Pollux's
teammates and European dignitaries.  [Time Capsules #3]  Later, members of
EUROPA try to cope with the issues raised at the memorial service.  [EUROPA
#1] 
     On January 7, Rex Umbrae established himself as a major player in the
underworld of Manhattan.  [Warden #10]  Meanwhile, on the other side of the
world, the decision was made to ship Rebus and Peryton to different prisons.
On the verge of being removed from active duty, Castor of EUROPA acquires
some Emp, a dangerous drug that enhances paranormal abilities.  [EUROPA #1]
     The prison transfers on January 8 both went horribly wrong, and Rebus
escaped.  Peryton, however, remained in custody, and several Vogue Ghouls who
tried to rescue him were also captured.  Rebus left Arc with some dangerous
information.  [EUROPA #2-3]  Meanwhile, Pollux and Proxy surreptitiously copy
Peryton's mind into a cloned brain, which is later placed in a new body.
[CSV Annual #2]
     While ASH spent the first few weeks of the month cleaning up after the
DEEP ARMAGEDDON events and trying to make sense of things, Lightfoot went to
the Academy to continue acclimating to the 2020s.  [ASH #14]
     The remaining free members of the CSV also took some time to regroup,
creating a semipermanent base in Khadam and working to establish some
alliances with the powers that be in Khadam.  [CSV #6]
     Manhattan was relatively quiet in the middle of the month while Rex
Umbrae consolidated his position.  In that time, Beth Willot and Warden
started a romance.  [Warden #10]
     STRAFE started to set up a base on Ellis Island to begin secret
activities in Manhattan.  [prior to start of STRAFE #6]
     Near the end of the month, Peregryn and Contact traveled to Manhattan to
try and locate Cockatrice, as well as do something about the mystic haze
which settled over the city when Atlas was destroyed.  [ASH #14] When they
arrived, however, they were told that STRAFE had taken responsibility for the
city, and that the mystic haze was created by them to keep ASH from storming
in before the more covert agency could get into position.  [ASH #15]
     Shortly after this, Warden encountered several members of the Conclave
of Super-Villains and was apparently beaten to death.  The celebrations
lasted for two days.  Warden was rescued by one of his friends, who was
revealed to be the granddaughter of a 20th Century vigilante, the Black
Opal. [Warden #11]

FEBRUARY 

     On February 1st, Warden finished recovering from his near-death
experience and resolved to stay in Manhattan and clean up the mess.  This
decision caused his relationship with Beth Willot to fall apart.  [Warden
#11]  Then, with the help of Jessa Dumont and the tacit cooperation of
Labyrinthe of the CSV, Warden attempted to rescue Tyra Dumont, only to see
her die in his arms.  [Warden #12]
     Meanwhile, during the celebrations over Warden's death, STRAFE started
the unenviable task of trying to use diplomacy to rein in the city's
paragangs.  [STRAFE #6]
     In the wake of events in Manhattan, the CSV formed an alliance with the
Shadowmongers, one of the four main factions in Khadam.  Using their various
powers, the CSV managed to make things difficult for the Pranir, and the
Shadowmongers manipulated the Pranir into making things difficult for
Mr. Strings.  However, Sultry's romantic manipulation of Triton made for an
uneasy alliance.  [CSV #7]
     Meanwhile, the universe was destroyed.  But it didn't stick.  [ASH #15]
     Colonel Hendrick of STRAFE decided to investigate the murders of most of
the paragangers involved in the Dumont case on his own, and was rewarded with
the fact that one of his own agents had been taken over by Mr. Strings...who
then tried to kill him.  [STRAFE #7]  Alerted to the facts of the case, the
rest of STRAFE tried to save as many people as they could from the deceased
Tyra Dumont's rampage, but paid a heavy price and were forced to abandon
their operations on Ellis Island.  [STRAFE #8]
     After abandoning Ellis, STRAFE secretly set up operations in the East
Village, ostensibly to capture Burnout.  However, they soon found themselves
embroiled in paragang activity.  Due to the clandestine nature of their
mission, their presence could not be officially recognized.  [STRAFE #9]
     Valentine's Day, which is also Ash Wednesday, saw Contact finally
discovering the secret of his dual-minded existence.  Meanwhile, Peregryn
sought out the Eye of Horus and ended up rescuing Devlin Marx, head of the
Conclave, from Rebus's prison.  Elsewhere, a former boyfriend of Arin
Kelsey's, Josh Cole, started planning to "rescue" her.  [ASH #16]  Finally,
the sexual mind-games of Sultry came to a head as Triton killed the
Shadowmonger Al-Khayal out of jealousy.  [CSV #7]
     Contact greeted Peregryn with an attempted mind probe on 2/15, resulting
in his being placed on psychiatric leave again two days later.  Shortly after
that, Josh Cole succeeded in breaking Arin out of the Nakoma psychiatric
institution, defeating Gawain in the process.  And in Germany, General Kasca
started recruiting for his next attempt to get revenge on ASH.  [ASH #17]
     The situation in Manhattan continued to get worse for STRAFE over the
course of several days in the middle of February, with everyone starting to
think STRAFE was a new paragang...including the police.  [STRAFE #10]
     Things in Manhattan heated up both literally and figuratively,
culminating in a massive gang war and an uneasy treaty between Rex Umbrae,
the paragangs, and the Combine.  STRAFE left Manhattan as part of the deal.
[STRAFE #11-12]
     In Germany, a new Rechtigkeit was born.  ["Justice" one-shot, in RACC
Presents #5]
     The latter half of February found ASH searching the Combine for Josh
Cole and Arin Kelsey.  [ASH #18]

MARCH 

     On March 1, the government officially announces that the paragang
troubles in Manhattan have been resolved.  Credit is given, rather
nebulously, to "a coalition of government and private sector interests."
ASH is informed of the truth behind the treaty, and ordered to keep this 
information secret.  [ASH #19]
     The next day, Solar Max encounters Labyrinthe and makes a deal with him
in exchange for information about the CSV's plans, plus help in getting a
mole into the CSV.  [ASH #19]
     March 4, Gawain and Channel find Josh Cole and Arin Kelsey in Mexico,
but are defeated soundly.  General Kasca gives Cole a means to evade ASH's
scanners, but decides not to recruit the unstable young man into his
"Revanche."  [ASH #19]
     In mid-March, the Conclave of Super-Villains recruits new members to be
in the "Understudies of Crime" and begins training them, while helping the
Zugnovian faction in Khadam regain power.  Meanwhile, someone is sabotaging
the CSV's equipment and apparently kills several recruits, including the mole
Labyrinthe helped into the fold.  [CSV #8-9]  The "dead" recruits mostly
survive the experience of being turned into photonic light, and they are
recruited into Doublecross's forces, proving their worth by destroying the
Shadowmongers of Khadam.  [CSV #10]
     Throughout March, the various members of ASH recover from traumas or
search for Joshua Cole.  Peregryn spends the month performing the elaborate
rites needed to destroy the Anchor Plague.  Meanwhile, General Kasca trains
his Revanche.  [ASH #20]
     On March 29, Grind starts his in-depth profiling of Rebus.  With a few
exceptions, he spends the next two and a half months on this task.  [STRAFE
#14] 
     On March 31, Easter Sunday, a number of assassins attempt to kill Pope
Pius XIII.  Most are thwarted, but after the Pope manages to break the Curse
of Tezcatlipoca (which had kept Mexico City smog-bound for a generation), he
dies mysteriously and suddenly.  [ASH #21]

APRIL

     On April 1st, files sent out into the Net by slain precog Cassandra
Murphy (an early victim of the Template Killer in 2016) reconverge on the
Academy's computer system, laden with extra life energy.  This shuts down the
Academy for a few hours while the Legion of Net.Heroes 2024 goes into the Net
to save the newly reassembled soul of Cassandra Murphy.  The result is a
powerful AI with precognitive abilities, who is only able to look into the
alternate reality created by the actions taken by the LNH 2024.  [LNH 2024
#1-2] 
     After the confusion has died down in Mexico City, members of ASH attend
to personal matters.  On April 5, Cardinal Stagliano becomes Pope Paul VII,
and also assumes control over the Conclave. [ASH #22]
     For the next few days, Contact, Gene Clark and Grind work on the riddle
left in Agent Ridley's mind by Rebus, and find that something may be afoot in
Manhattan.  [ASH #23]
     April 15 sees the defeat of Channel, Scorch and Essay at the hands of
General Kasca's Revanche team in the ruins of central Los Angeles.  [ASH #23]
     Late in the month, after the truce in Manhattan has had some time to
take hold, an ex-Cybernostra reporter goes undercover to try to get the story
on Warden and the current state of the city, but ends up bait in a trap for
Warden.  [Warden #13]  The trap is sprung, with the Otakuza moving in and
Warden being taken away by a being claiming to be Odin.  [Warden #14]
     During this same time, ASH tries to recover from the Revanche's attacks,
and wins a minor victory when Gawain defeats Nomad in single combat,
discovering in the process that he can heal from almost any wound now.
Gawain renames himself the Green Knight.  [ASH #24]
     In late April, Dan "Grind" Tracey begins an obsessive study of Lorenzo
Archangeli.  [STRAFE #14]

MAY

     As the month opens, ripples from Warden's disappearance start to make
themselves felt at the Academy, leading the Legion of Net.Heroes on a strange
trip into themselves.  [LNH 2024 #3]
     On May 6, General Kasca's Revanche launches its final attack on ASH,
only to be defeated.  Kasca is executed on the authority of Delta Rose of the
Galactic Warrior Corps shortly afterwards.  [ASH #25]
     A week after Warden's disappearance, "Odin" is about ready to put his
plan into action, but is revealed to be a hoax by an ex-Cybernostra
reporter.  Meanwhile, a new vigilante appears in Warden's place.  [Warden #15]
     In the South American "company town" of Porto Genetico, Teller of STRAFE
and Arc of EUROPA clash with Labyrinthe, local authorities and a Carnival of
Crime to get the goods on some of CostaGenCo's dirty dealings, and end up
shutting the megacorp down.  [STRAFE #13]
     On May 21, Arin Kelsey's child's Magene becomes active, accelerating her
pregnancy and bringing the child to term in hours.  [ASH #26]
     After several weeks of what could be described as both torture and
training, Warden escapes and finds himself embroiled in the gang politics of
Tokyo, the city he has been removed to.  After getting his bearings, he
tracks down "Odin," aka Rebus, but the battle ends inconclusively.  [Warden
Annual #1]  Afterwards, Warden finds a place in a traveling circus, where for
a time he feels like he belongs.  [Time Capsules Annual #1]

JUNE

     On June 3rd, Channel (George Sylvester) is assassinated, and evidence
points towards Khadam.  [ASH #26]  His funeral takes place at Arlington
National Cemetary a week later.  [ASH #27]
     After a few weeks with the circus, Warden discovers it's more than it
seems.  A conflict between EUROPA and the Carnival of Crime ensues, with
Warden picking EUROPA's side.  In the confusion, Rebus escapes with the plans
for a new form of optical information encryption.  [Time Capsules Annual #1]
     In mid-June, Labyrinthe leads the Understudies of Crime in an attack on
the Cavity, to free his sister from prison.  At the same time, Rebus goads
Doublecross into finally taking direct action against the CSV, and the Light
Brigade overwhelms Skyhaven.  [CSV #11]  Everything goes sour, but the
Understudies manage to escape from the Cavity with Caryatid and turn the
tables on the Light Brigade, retaking Skyhaven, but not without serious
losses.  [CSV #12]  ASH investigates the break-in, and finds similarities to
the teleportation used by Channel's assassin.  [ASH #28]
     During the last week of June, Triton leads the remaining CSV and
Understudies in an attack on Khadam, with his goal being nothing short of
total control of that technologically-advanced criminal state.  [CSV #13]

JULY

     In the very early morning of July 6 (local Khadam time), Solar Max drops
a partially-Collapsiron meteor onto the Citadel of Khadam, with Triton
gravitationally bound to its surface.  [ASH #28]
     July 7 sees Dan Tracey snap out of his obsession with Rebus.  [STRAFE
#14]  Additionally, Triton manages to escape his trap and the Conclave of
Super-Villains diverts the Collapsiron meteor into the desert east of
Khadam.  Within days, it is revealed that this action has freed up mystically
bound aquifers trapped for thousands of years.  [CSV #14]  July 7 also saw
the arrival of Polla, the TerraStar, on Earth.  [ASH #29]
     On July 11, Triton, as Chancellor of Khadam, claims that Solar Max's
actions constituted an act of war on the part of the North American Combine.
[CSV #14]  The Combine responds by pointing out that a state of war has
existed between Khadam and most of the world for about twenty years.  [ASH
#29] 
     July 28 - The Battle for Montreal.  The Conclave of Super-Villains
attempts to magically claim Montreal, only to be defeated by ASH...but at
terrible cost on both sides.  Meteor is turned to ice thanks to a use of
Cockatrice's power, and Caprice and Myriad of the CSV are apparently
captured, while Zone is destroyed.  [CSV #15, ASH #30]

AUGUST

     August 1 sees Peregryn enter Manhattan to tear the quasi-elemental power
of Cockatrice from her body, as part of an attempt to reverse Meteor's
condition.  [ASH #30]
     The next day, both STRAFE and EUROPA find chess-based clues left by
Rebus.  These clues lead STRAFE to suspect that the Book of Thoth used in the
Battle of Montreal might be fake, and they investigate the hidden vaults of
the Vatican, coming into conflict with Aegis.  [STRAFE #15]
     Continuing to follow leads from Rebus's enigmatic clues, STRAFE seeks
out Morgan Adams, one of the few surviving heroes of the 20th Century (by
dint of being a normal man), and someone with a long history with the
Archangeli family.  [STRAFE #16]
     Tiara kidnaps Morgan Adams, but after he distracts her with the rest of
the story of Pino Archangeli, STRAFE enters and unmasks Tiara as the Princess
Ursula of Monaco.  [STRAFE #17]
     August 13 - Khadam invades Egypt.  Over the next three weeks, they
solidify their hold on mystically important sites across the nation.
     In late August, Solar Max attempts to travel back in time to kill Rebus
before he can enact this diabolical scheme, but meets with mixed results.
[ASH #31]

SEPTEMBER

     On September 3, Rebus springs his trap on Triton, taking over the
loyalties of the CSV and Khadam, forcing Triton into exile on September 9.
[CSV #17]
     September 13 sees ASH and STRAFE pool resources and determine the full
extent of Rebus's plan to become a god.  [ASH #32]
     On September 17, Solar Max addresses the United World assembly to plead
his case for being allowed to take action in Egypt.  It votes in favor of
intervention, and Egypt quickly capitulates and requests aid.  However, it's
clear that Rebus was behind both the earlier refusal and the new
acquiescence.  [ASH #32]
     On September 19, the forces of the United World assemble in New Israel
(Cyprus) to plan the invasion...but they do not know if they will be in
time.  [ASH #32]
     On September 22, Rebus is attacked in Giza, but still manages to
complete his plan and become a god.  Most Anchors in the world die as part of
the ceremony, and Peryton is killed to prevent the ceremoney from being
undone.  Rebus is tricked into defeating himself, although a contingency plan
involving a doomsday device does do some damage to the Earth's ozone layer
and Van Allen belts.  Rebus is taken away by Maat, and the Viau twins are
banished from Earth by Peregryn...taking Montreal with them.  [Capstone #1-3]
     Meanwhile, time-displaced Solar Max and Jen Kleinvogel help keep the
Hyperbomb out of the hands of Santari House Mactis.  [ASH #87]
     Solar Max returns from Egypt to discover that his wife's spirit now
animates the ice statue her body was turned into.  She's in a halfway state
between living and dead.  [ASH #33]
     Terrastar, daughter of WarStar, discovers the death of her father's
lieutenant Hector as part of the Anchor Plague.  [ASH #34, in flashback]

OCTOBER

     Arin Kelsey joins ASH as Fury, and chooses assignment to Mexico City.
[ASH #33]
     On the 3rd, Scott "Scorch" Handleman proposes to Julie Sylvester (aka
Juliana Silvestri).  She accepts, but they anticipate a long engagement
thanks to the demands of their careers and the inherent danger of any wedding
ceremony.  [ASH #33]
     Terrastar determines that the best way to attain her goals is to join
the CSV.  [ASH #34]
     For most of the month, the CSV tries to rebuild their presence in Khadam
while Triton and Sultry hide in Monaco with Tiara.  One of the Vivarium
creatures that survived the battle of Giza attempts to get their attention
and join the team.  [CSV #18]  
     Also covering most of the month, a team of ASH members starts to hunt
for Doublecross, who went missing in the wake of the Pyramid Scheme.  [ASH
#34] 
     Kaliban, the Vivarium creature, passes his "audition" for the CSV [CSV
#19].
     Sultry gives birth to fraternal twins on October 31.  [CSV #19]

NOVEMBER

     The "Day of the Dead" is commemorated by Triton's decision to return to
Khadam in person.  [CSV #19]
     The first half of the month sees both Cockatrice and Mr. Strings
spiraling in towards a final confrontation in Iceland.  They end up merged
into one entity, and a number of secrets are revealed.  Scorch of ASH
discovers Irrlicht's role in Channel's death.  [CSV #20-21]
     On November 14, Terrastar and Kaliban officially join the CSV. [ASH #35
and CSV #20]
     Also on the 14th, the ASH team hunting Doublecross finds Suspir, the
telepath who had been merged with Llyr and took over their combined body.
Llyr is rescued, but has no memories of his time with Doublecross or Suspir.
[ASH #35] 
     The remainder of the month is spent in fruitless attempts to further
track Doublecross or any other photonic entity.  [ASH #37]
     At the end of November, reporter Robert Coulter is invited to join the
CSV as Challenger, an ethical replacement for the banished Labyrinthe.  [CSV
#22]

DECEMBER

     The December issue of Para hits the stands [CSV #22's events chronicled
therein] and causes some furor with the implicit revelation of Princess
Ursula's identity as Tiara.  [ASH #37]
     Sarah Grant-Taylor changes her codename to Comet, to better reflect her
new body.  [ASH #37]
     As the Solstice approaches, Doublecross sets his new plan in motion with
a series of orbital devices placed on seemingly random paths.  [ASH #37]  A
minimum of necessary satellites is achieved on the Solstice, and the first
clues to their presence appear a week later, in debris of the mysterious
satellites.  [ASH #38]
     Over the course of the month, the CSV brings Challenger into its ranks
and he chronicles some of the preparations for the upcoming wedding of Triton
and Sultry.  Princess Ursula deals with the public "outing" of her secret
identity.  [CSV #23]
     

NOTES: 

     ASH #36 took place in flashbacks and in 3734, so is not included in this
timeline.
     CSV Annual #1 mirrors the events of CSV #22-23 and takes place in the
last several months of 2024.  Specific events are not mentioned above because
they are too spoiler-ish for the most part.

     Continued in SECTION FIVE: 2025