Ann O'Brien is a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

superheroine A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

created by American comic book artist

Art Adams Arthur Adams (born April 5, 1963) is an American comics artist, comic book artist and writer. He first broke into the American comic book industry with the 1985 Marvel Comics miniseries ''Longshot (Marvel Comics), Longshot''. His subsequent inte ...

. Along with Axwell Tiberius, she is one of the two primary characters in Adams'

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

series ''

Monkeyman and O'Brien ''Monkeyman and O'Brien'' is an American comic book series created by artist Art Adams in 1993. The series was published from 1993 to 1999 by Dark Horse Comics in various types of installments including short features in anthologies, backup storie ...

''.

Publication history

Ann O'Brien was created by writer/artist

, who conceived of ''Monkeyman & O'Brien'' as series that would enable him to draw monsters similar to the classic movie monsters that he enjoyed in his youth, like

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produ ...

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

and the

Universal Monsters Universal Classic Monsters (also known as Universal Monsters and Universal Studios Monsters) is a media franchise based on a series of horror films primarily produced by Universal Pictures from the 1930s to the 1950s. Although not initially concei ...

.George Khoury and Eric Nolen-Weathington. ''Modern Masters Volume Six: Arthur Adams'', 2006, TwoMorrows Publishing.Cooke, Jon B
"The Art of Arthur Adams"
Reprinted from ''Comic Book Artist'' #17, November 15, 2001DeAngelo, Danny (November/December 1997). "Art Adams: King of the Monster Artists". ''G-Fan''. pp. 22 - 25. Adams named O'Brien in tribute to

Fay Wray Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international r ...

's character, Ann Darrow, from ''

'' and that film's special effects creator

Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history ...

, The character debuted in ''

Dark Horse Presents ''Dark Horse Presents'' was a comic book published by American company Dark Horse Comics from 1986. Their first published series, it was their flagship title until its September 2000 cancellation. The second incarnation was published on MySpace, ...

'' #80 (December 1993) in a story titled "A Monkeyman & O'Brien Adventure: Tortorus". She next appeared in a backup story entitled "Who Are Monkeyman and O'Brien?" in

Mike Mignola Mike Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', '' Abe Sapien'', '' Lobster Johnson'', '' Wi ...

's 1994 series '' Hellboy: Seed of Destruction''. The character made further appearances in several short stories in ''Dark Horse Presents'', a three book

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered * Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number ...

titled ''Monkeyman and O'Brien'' (1996), and a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

miniseries ''Gen 13/Monkeyman and O'Brien'' (1998). The character's last published appearance was in 1999 in a comic strip in '' Dark Horse Extra'', newspaper style comics fanzine.

Fictional character biography

Ann Darrow O'Brien is the daughter of scientist and explorer, Professor William S. O'Brien. Missing for two years, Professor O'Brien left his daughter Ann and her assistant Akiko Oki living in his palatial

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

estate. To the surprise of many, the young Ann had been keeping the estate solvent. Ann's amoral half-sister Oniko (who left the family 15 years earlier to join a mysterious criminal enterprise) and her two henchmen invade the estate to take it over. The sisters have a brawl in an unused dimensional transportation chamber, and Ann accidentally hits a button that kicks off a "life form retrieval beam." The chamber explodes as it summons the giant, simian genius Axewell Tiberius, who's combating an unknown, ape-like enemy. The henchmen escape with Oniko and the still-living head of Tiberius' enemy, while Ann and Akiko befriend Tiberius and give him a place in the estate's library. O'Brien discovers that the blast in the chamber had released a mysterious radiation that affects both her and Oniko. Immediately after the explosion, her eyes turn orange—the same color as Tiberius's. The next night, she needs almost no sleep to feel refreshed. The next day she finds that her sneakers no longer fit her feet: "I was growing faster than a teenager!" She performs better and better at physical tasks, lifting tons of free weights and at one point making a 60-mile run in 30 minutes without much effort. She frets a little about the ongoing growth spurts (wasting plenty of money on clothes that become too small in 24 hours), but finally settles in at seven feet tall and 250 pounds. Her new strength, size, and knowledge (from working alongside Tiberius) transform O'Brien from an estate manager to a renowned and fearless adventurer. She joins Tiberius in a series of 1960s-inspired adventures, only a few of which are delineated in the comics. (Author/artist Adams makes references to more adventures, like the "Shrieking Bin-Yak," which are never seen by the readers.) Her eventual goal: Help Tiberius find a way to his home world dimension.

Personality and powers

O'Brien has superhuman strength, superhuman speed, superhuman durability, superhuman agility, superhuman stamina, invulnerability, and the ability to heal quickly from injury. Her strength increases when she get very angry. In a crossover with

Gen 13 Gen may refer to: * ''Gen'' (film), 2006 Turkish horror film directed by Togan Gökbakar * Gen (Street Fighter), a video game character from the ''Street Fighter'' series * Gen Fu, a video game character from the ''Dead or Alive'' series * Ge ...

, she was able to defeat an evil version of

Caitlin Fairchild Caitlin () is a female given name of Irish origin. Historically, the Irish name Caitlín was anglicized as Cathleen or Kathleen. In the 1970s, however, non-Irish speakers began pronouncing the name according to English spelling rules as , which ...

with some ease - she had to hold back some of her strength so as not to kill her. Fairchild has many feats with which she could be listed in a "Class 100" level of strength. This would mean O'brien is above this level as well. In ''Monkeyman and O'Brien'' #3 she is bitten by the Shrewmanoid, bleeds, and then heals within seconds.

References

External links

Cover image of ''Darkhorse Presents'' #80 at darkhorse.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Ann Female characters in comics Fictional characters from San Francisco Fictional female scientists Characters created by Art Adams Comics characters introduced in 1993 Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds Comics characters with superhuman strength