Hank
Hank, also called the Hangman, is an Outsider who leads a tribe called the Hangman’s Horde.
Hank is a man in his thirties - past his youth but not yet showing the signs of age. He is muscular and fit as one who is well-fed and regularly active. His thick facial hair and long braided mohawk are a solid black. On his left shoulder, he wears a pauldron created from the skull of a felled beast. His nicked and scarred skin tells us that he is as accustomed to combat as he is unaccustomed to defeat. His dark facepaint mimics the hollow features of a skull, serving as a reminder of his dominion over the fates of those who cross his path.
Issue 01
This section is a summarization of the final entry of issue 1.
Hank is a known entity in this world. He expects to have been heard of, and Ricky has indeed heard of him. Subject and Gruff also discuss the Hangman and how he is known and expected to operate. Subject asks whether the Horde “may start trading again,” shedding some light on their past. It is also revealed that the Hangman’s Horde is known to offer a simple choice to those they meet: “convert or die.”
Hank’s first appearance is in Ricky’s slum on the night he is fired. Hank speaks to the slummers who have been corralled before him and describes what he believes their purpose to be. Though the details are somewhat obscured by the grandiose tone of his speech, a few points are clear:
The city will be destroyed
A “buried truth” will be revealed
With this revelation, “forever will dawn” and mankind will be liberated
Ricky unwittingly informs Hank that Abarth enforces Marcus’ rules in this slum, and he tells him that people in the city are beginning to talk about revolution. Hank values this information. When the remaining slummers refuse to carry Hank’s message to the leaders of the city, Hank’s orders them all massacred, but spares Ricky’s life for having “lightened the burden.”
Hank thanks Ricky for giving him the names and departs with his horde, saying to Ricky, “Look for us,” and leaving him alone among the corpses of his neighbors.
Issue 02
Hank and Tim discuss a meeting TIm has apparently arranged between Hank and person named Perry who has access to a tunnel, and says he thinks it was good of Hank to spare his life. Sid questions how Ricky “lightened the burden,” and Hank replies “he is a herald of the ones inside the walls. With his message and now the means to get inside… only one thing remains.” Hank praises Tim for a job well done as Sid scowls.
At the Ruckus, Abarth says some of the members of the Horde were kicked out of the gathering for unspecified aggression. Abarth also insinuates that the Horde has gone hungry at times, and gives an open invitation for them to join his tribe. Hank uses the information he got from Ricky as a power move to insult or intimidate Abarth.
We see at the Ruckus that Hank is a sought-after mate. Multiple women, including one who is pregnant, ask him to sleep with them so that they can bear his children.
When Hank leaves with the women, Sid points out to Tim that Hank’s rhetoric and recent choices have deviated from his usual focus. Where before he made allegiance to the Horde paramount. At the slum massacre, he made it about opposition to Boomtown.
Beyond Gruff and Subject’s discussion, there are several more references to Hank having changed tack of late. Sid complains that Tim is encouraging Hank to pursue “city stuff,” and Tim concedes that Hank is “eyeing the city more lately.” In addition to this, Abarth tells Joan that Hank didn’t make “his usual challenge” - “no fights to the death or King of the Wilderness bullshit,” and Joan replies that they are taking a new direction.
Joan tells Hank that they’ve found his brother. Hank deduces that his brother is not alone, and Joan confirms he is with a desert tribe far to the south.
They immediately travel to the tribe and seek The Demon out. Hank is told that his brother did not want visitors. The Horde dines with the mystic leader instead, who speaks of ghosts and monsters. Some of the Horde affirm they have heard and believe in these things as well. Hank realizes he has been drinking a hallucinogen and has a psychoactive experience while the mystic leader engages in a tradition venerating a supernatural entity named Ata Atsu and asserting power over the life/death cycle.
As the mystic leader speaks of transcending death and finding the courage to be reborn to reach our full potential, Hank hallucinates slitting his own throat and dying, falling, crawling back above ground, and finally Six-Gun climbing out of his throat and leaving his body behind like an empty carcass.