Fernande Toule

Fernande Toule is a hero appearing in the 1950s horror comic Web of Mystery, serving as the protagonist of "The Moon Was Red" in issue #18 (which would later be republished as "Creature of Evil" in Terror Tales). He is a French fisherman whose knowledge of local folklore proves helpful when a sea monster begins terrorising the village of Jean des Pres.
==Biography==
Fernande Toule is an elderly fisherman in Jean des Pres. His father was the captain of a whaling ship named the Mystique. Unlike the other locals, Fernande believes in the legends of sea monsters that terrorise sailors in the region, for which his is often mocked. One night, Fernande warns a fisherman named Jacques not to go fishing the next day because the moon is red, a bad omen. Jacques dismisses his warnings and goes out to sea with several others. None of them return.
The locals spend the entire night waiting for Jacques' boat to return, but Fernande knows that it will prove futile: Jacques and the others are dead. Fernande says that a sea monster was responsible for the boat's disappearance and tells another man, Henri, not to go fishing. Henri believes that Fernande is trying to frighten him and says he will go anyway, and Fernande tells him that if he insists on going to fish, he must throw back a portion of his catch.
The next day, Henri's friend Basile swims into the harbor and reveals that a gigantic sea monster killed Henri and sank their boats. Hunting parties are sent out to sea to find the monster. Fernande agrees to take Basile out in an old whaling boat left to him by his father, which is equipped with a large harpoon cannon. As a violent storm begins raging, Fernande suggests they turn back, having found nothing after many hours. Just then, the leviathan emerges from the depths and attacks the boat. Basile is able to kill the leviathan with a shot from the harpoon cannon.
Fernande and Basile celebrate the slaying of the leviathan and begin turning back, but another monster appears from the water and crushes Basile to death. It shifts its attention to the boat and starts trying to drag it beneath the waves. Fernande grabs an axe from the boat and cuts off the leviathan's finger. As it reels in pain Fernande continues his attack and hacks it to death before returning to shore. Although his claims of monster hunting are dismissed as hysteria, Jean des Pres is freed of monsters forever. The story ends with a note that Fernande mounted the leviathan's severed finger on his wall, and regularly tells the story of how he slew it to visitors.
==Gallery==
File:Egsg1avr.png|Fernande as he appeared in Terror Tales
Category:Elderly
Category:Comic Book Heroes
Category:Horror Heroes
Category:Male
Category:Fighters
Category:Monster Slayers
Category:Retired