Scorpio's Sting (comic story)

Scorpio's Sting was a 2018 Devil's End comic story written by James Hudnall and initially released in black and white by Lucky Comics for Free Comic Book Day. It received a coloured reprint in 2022 alongside a follow-up story Pluto's Gate.
This story served as a sequel to The Dæmons with the reappearance of Olive Hawthorne, Bok and the village of Devil's End.
== Summary ==
Olive Hawthorne assembles a team of talented students skilled in the mystical arts and the arcane. Can the protectors of Devil's End stop Scorpio before he unleashes the destructive force of Bok?
== Plot ==
At Devil's End in the 2020s, Olive Hawthorne is interviewed by a BBC newsreader about the events of 1971 and the dark forces that threaten the town. Back at home, Olive watches the interview on television alongside her two students Grace Reynolds and Jin Kazama. Grace accuses the newsreader of being patronising but Jin points out that most people are simply ignorant of the truth. Olive suggests that it is perhaps for the best that people are ignorant as it means less people trying to exploit the village's secret.
Elsewhere, an extraterrestrial going by the name Doctor Scorpio arrives in the village seeking out the church where he hopes to find the Azal being. However, data from the Ministry of Defence shows that the Azal being had previously been discharged from this plane but pieces of the Bok gargoyle - an indestructible artificial worker drone - remain in storage at a nearby MoD facility. Scorpio assesses that Bok will prove useful in his mission to restore a trans-dimensional portal but that he would need an energy source to restore him, fortunately for Scorpio he locates such a source right under the facility where Bok is being stored. Olive's abilities alert her to Scorpio's presence in the village and she performs a tantamount projection to investigate. She finds Scorpio in the MoD facility about to restore Bok and confronts him. Scorpio recognises Olive from his knowledge of the events of 1971 and is surprised to see that she is still alive after 50 years. Olive threatens Scorpio but he manages to resurrect Bok who attacks her and forces her out of her astral projection.
Olive warns Grace and Jin about Scorpio's scheming and her two students set out to confront him themselves. A struggle ensues during which the pair manage to ensnare Bok in a net and steal Scorpio's scanner. Defeated, Scorpio teleports away warning the pair that "this isn't over". Grace calls Olive to inform her about Scorpio's retreat and Bok being reduced back to a statue. Olive congratulates her but speculates that this may only be the beginning.
== Characters ==
* Olive Hawthorne
* Newsreader
* Grace Reynolds
* Jin Kazama
* Doctor Scorpio
* Bok
* Guard
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Businesses ===
* Olive Hawthorne is interviewed by a newsreader from the BBC.
== Notes ==
* Upon its initial release, this story was not given any other title than the overall series designation Devil's End; the title of Scorpio's Sting originated in the 2022 rerelease.
== Continuity ==
* This comic references the events of TV: .
== External links ==
* Devil’s End Free Comic Book Day 2018.
Category:2018 comic stories
Category:Stories set in Devil's End
Category:Stories set in the 2010s
Category:One part comics