Den (comics) - Chronology of The Stories

Chronology of The Stories

Den's adventures follow a complex and sometimes contradictory course of events. Some of the chapters of the story have been told in extended flashbacks, dreams, and visions. This is the order of the stories so far. There are three large gaps between the stories with adventures that have yet to be told.

• Possible prequel: "For the Love of a Daemon" (Fantagor No.4, 1972). A sorcerer named Vermian and his demon slave Zomuk live in a castle and kidnap a voluptuous girl named Merya to sacrifice to the dark god Uhluhtc. At the end, Vermian is killed by Zomuk.

• Den 3: Children of Fire (1989). The planet Zomere is inhabited by an eusocial species similar to humans but oviparous. A breeding queen rules them. Females are non-sexual muscular warriors called Kils or workers called Works, and males are called Mals. After an attack by giant spiders the dying queen sends a Kil, a pre-queen simply named "Kil", to found a new colony in Dremurth (Neverwhere) bringing with her Mals, Works, and eggs to seek the "Magic Scepter" (the Locnar). The ship crashes and only Kil and a skeletal Mal (named "Mal", who will become the first Den) survive. Their only remaining egg produces a human baby, the second Den. Once they land they meet Zeg, a Vermian lookalike, Zomuk and his slave cook Pucca who live in Vermian's castle from the prequel. At the end of the story, Zeg kidnaps a pregnant Pucca and the second Den, and Mal kills Zomuk.

• DenSaga No.2-4 (1992–1993). Three or four years later, the second Den is now an infant called David, and the first Den has fully transformed into a hyper-muscular body and now calls himself Daniel, Dan, or Uncle Dan. The second Den lives in a floating island called Heaven, ruled by Zeg, with Pucca, who is raising him. Pucca is also raising a daughter she had with the first Den, named Elinorma. Kil returns also, fully transformed into a leaner body with a very large bosom. According to Corben, the radiation from her spaceship transformed Kil into a hybrid of breeding queen and warrior. By the end of the story, the first Den (Mal) leaves with Kil in pursuit of Zeg, who has kidnapped the second Den, and Pucca flees with Elinorma.

• First untold interlude: According to Children of Fire, "The radiation triggered a genetic change in Kil. She became a powerful ruler in this planet of violence (The Red Queen). Mal and Pucca became mates and eluded Kil for a time. Their offspring (Elinorma) challenged Kil's rule between bouts of (Kil's) madness."

• Neverwhere the Movie (1968). The first Den is now a thin, bespectacled man living on Earth. He builds a machine that opens a portal to Neverwhere. There he meets the Queen (they do not seem to know each other from when they were Kil and Mal). The Queen tells him that she is deposed and sends him on a mission to retrieve the Locnar, a magical scepter, from Gel, a humanoid monster, who declares that Den is the latest of several champions sent by the Queen. After he succeeds, the Queen returns Den to Earth in his thin form.

• Second untold interlude: Both Dens now live on Earth where they are similar looking thin men, older and younger, and they are believed to be uncle and nephew. The first Den disappears (to Neverwhere) and this time he does not return. In the note he leaves behind, he says that his Earth body is dying on Earth of a terminal disease, and that escaping to Neverwhere permanently was his only chance for survival. Once there, "He fought Gel... saved the Queen (Neverwhere the Movie)... made love to her... and was killed... by treachery." According to Denz, he "ultimately died by the hand of the woman he loved (it is hinted it was Kil)." Seven years pass until the beginning of Den 1.

• Den 1: Neverwhere (1978). The second Den appears in Neverwhere without any previous memories of his childhood there. He believes his uncle, the first Den, left him directions on how to recreate the machine that opens the portal to this world. There he meets the Red Queen; Kath (brought to Neverwhere to be sacrificed to Uhluhtc, like Merya in the prequel), whom he rescues and with whom he falls in love; and Gel, whom he eventually kills. He also receives a visit from the first Den, who materializes and then disappears. At the end of the story, the second Den saves Zeg (called Zek in the comic) from certain death at the hands of the Red Queen, although Den is himself captured. Den is ultimately rescued by Kath. During his rescue, Den fatefully chooses to save the Red Queen from falling to her death. Four years will pass until the return of the Red Queen in Den 2.

• Den 2: Muvovum (1983). The second Den and Kath are now living in another floating island, Zegium, ruled by Zeg. Kath and the second Den return to Earth. The Red Queen appears and kills Zeg. The second Den then comes back to Neverwhere. He eventually is rejoined with a woman whom he believes to be Kath.

• Den 4: Dreams (1992). Four or five years later, the woman whom Den believes to be Kath has left him and, depressed, he has become obese and feeble. By the end of the story, he begins to transform back into his former, muscular self.

• Den 5: Elements (1992). Back in top, strapping shape, the second Den is reunited with a woman whom he believes to be Kath, who actually talks like she is Kil. Eventually, she is revealed to indeed be Kil, the Red Queen. She has brought Kath back to Neverwhere and when asked to choose between them, Den chooses the Red Queen. After a great explosion at the end of the story, Den is alone and unconscious and is rescued by his friends Zandor and Wyn.

• "The Price of Memories" (DenSaga No.1, 1992), "Bog's Deal" (Heavy Metal No.141, 1992), "Mola the Mole" (Heavy Metal No.145, 1993), "The Light at the End of the Tunnel" (Heavy Metal No.149, 1994). Amnesic, the second Den runs into Sienna, whom he met before in the opening of Grim Wit No.4. She takes care of him and helps him begin to remember his history, from the moment of birth from the egg brought to Neverwhere by Kil and Mal. Eventually, the second Den escapes Sienna.

• Third untold interlude: The second Den becomes the king of Neverwhere. By the beginning of Denz, "Thanks to his magical Locnar, Den has brought peace and prosperity to his adoptive world."

• Denz (Penthouse Comix No.15-20, 1996–1997). Years later, the second Den is now the ruler of Neverwhere and is visited by his brother Denzel Easton Norman, incarnated into the third "almost" Den, who is called "Denz". This last part varies in tone from the rest of the story; it is a comedy and the characters are drawn more like caricatures than in any of the previous chapters. Den's and Sienna's faces are now grotesquely old.