SWANBLADE: Triple Amputee Superhero

PERSONS

THE ARCHIVES

KAYLA McALLISTER

Kayla McAllister, born February 1938, was the chosen child of Captain John “Buck” McAllister and Eleanor—conceived through a secret Takeda Dynamics IVF procedure overseen by Yoriko Takeda. The full nature of that miracle was never disclosed, even to her parents. Raised in quiet love beneath immense legacy, Kayla inherited her father’s discipline and her mother’s fire. Her childhood was warm but shadowed by legend, and later by grief when Eleanor died of cancer—binding Kayla and Buck closer still. Everything changed during Event Zero in December 1957, when Soviet enforcer Krosschek left Kayla brutally maimed. Rebuilt under Takeda care, her inherited resilience and advanced prosthetics restored not only her mobility, but her capacity to fight; her dancer’s grace rewritten in steel and circuitry. Kayla stands where loss meets resurrection. In her, New Radion Bay sees itself: wounded, reforged, and searching for what it has become.

JOHN McALLISTER

John “Buck” McAllister, born in 1890 in the American Midwest, was forged between steel mills and church hymns. He enlisted in 1912 during the Japanese Civil War, serving in the motorized cavalry of the Pan-Pacific Conflict alongside Vincenzo Esposito and Elijah Cain. He met army nurse Eleanor Lys during the war, marrying her quietly and without spectacle. When Yoriko Takeda founded Takeda Dynamics, Buck mortgaged his home to invest. By 1932, he was Chief Engineer of Energy Complex One—the heart of New Radion Bay’s power grid. That same year, Buck defied evacuation orders during a catastrophic coolant failure, manually stabilizing the reactor and saving the city at the cost of his own body. Emergency Takeda procedures left him permanently augmented, fusing man and machine. From that crucible emerged Captain Atomic Ace, New Radion Bay’s first modern superhero. After more than a decade, Buck retired into myth, charity appearances, and pulp legend, privately haunted by sacrifice. Buck McAllister remains the city’s moral nucleus: a working-class savior bridging human grit and mechanical progress. His legacy endures through his daughter, Kayla McAllister, who now carries the same weight forward.

Buck McAllister, Illustrated by Paolo Reina

SIMON LANGLEY (ARCHIVIST)

Simon Edward Langley was born in London in 1932 and disappeared into New Radion Bay in 1940. Found alone, malnourished, and abandoned in a hotel closet, his only possession was an Atomic Ace comic. His parents were never seen again. Made a ward of the state, Simon cycled through Takeda Dynamics’ youth programs, exhibiting selective mutism, abandonment anxiety, and obsessive fixation on heroic myth. Psychological evaluations labeled him brilliant but socially maladaptive, with ritualistic behaviors and delusional identification with hero archetypes. His mechanical aptitude proved extraordinary. He had an intuitive grasp of early robotics and digital systems despite no formal education. Integrated into Takeda Dynamics as an adult under supervision, Langley later worked at the Ice Cube Cryogenic Detention Facility, where his fixation on Kayla McAllister metastasized into psychotic devotion. As The Archivist, Simon embodies the collision of order and delusion; a forgotten child who sought meaning in myth and found divinity in obsession.

Simon Langley, Illustrated by Paolo Reina

ABBY (FLASH FRY)

Abby arrived in New Radion Bay at fifteen: alone, broke, and running from violence. A job at the Dash & Eggs Diner kept her alive, but it was a quiet breakfast shared with retired hero John “Buck” McAllister that gave her something more: belonging. He became the father she never had. By 1957, Abby was a diner fixture and an unintentional witness to history. Her grit and humor balanced Kayla McAllister’s restraint, and her warmth (hidden behind sarcasm) made her the voice of the city’s powerless civilians. She isn’t a hero by design, but by staying when others fled. Reckless, loyal, and sharp-tongued, Abby eventually earns her place at Kayla’s side as Flash Fry; the girl who watched an era end and helped ignite the next.

THE STEEL MAW

Vincenzo Esposito, son of Italian prizefighter Mario “The Steel Maw,” watched his father executed by the Cosa Nostra in 1903. After immigrating to the U.S., he enlisted under false papers in the Japanese Civil War of 1912, earning praise for strategy and censure for brutality. Wounded during the Osaka Offensive, Vincenzo lost part of his jaw, survived captivity, and was discharged in 1914 with a Purple Heart. He resurfaced in New Radion Bay with a black-market titanium jaw—likely Yakuza-made—and took the name Steel Maw, fusing inheritance and rebirth. Rising through violence, he became the city’s dominant crime lord before his capture by Captain Atomic Ace in 1940. Steel Maw stands as Kayla McAllister’s dark mirror: shaped by loss, rebuilt by steel, and bound by a grim, reluctant respect. His Purple Heart remains the sole marker of the humanity he allows himself.

Steel Maw, Illustrated by Roberta Sammarco

ELIJAH CAIN

Elijah “Eli” Cain, born in 1895 in Louisiana, enlisted underage in 1912 and served in the Pan-Pacific Conflict alongside John “Buck” McAllister and Vincenzo Esposito. One of the few Black soldiers in active combat, he survived the war with a Purple Heart and an unbroken reputation for endurance and integrity. After 1918, Cain settled in New Radion Bay and joined the police force. Despite systemic corruption and targeted retaliation, he exposed internal rackets and refused to resign. By 1941, persistence and merit made him Commissioner. Cain survived multiple assassination attempts and rejected every bribe. Classified reports describe him as a stabilizing force and a trusted ally to Captain Atomic Ace, instrumental in dismantling organized crime by 1942. Elijah Cain stands as the conscience of New Radion Bay. To Kayla McAllister, he is godfather “Uncle Eli”: a moral anchor and the last bridge to her father’s world.

ALCÁZAR, MARTINA

DIMEBAG, DOMINIC LUCETTI

JEZEBEL

SWANBLADE: YEAR ZERO AVAILABLE NOW