Cobb Avery

**Cobb Elex Avery**, also known as **the World Ender**, is a working-class man whose wife, Norene Avery, and daughter, Lee, die in an accident involving the destruction of their home. He is depicted in both the *Strange Trails* comic book and "World Ender" music video returning from the grave to exact revenge on the Winthrop Corporation. He goes after Winthrop employees and eventually Andrew Winthrop himself. While on this path, Avery meets or establishes a greaser gang that come to be known as the World Enders.

## Description and appearances

Avery is typically depicted with slicked back dark hair and a distinctive brown leather jacket. He drives a black late-1940s sedan. An article in the *Daily Trail* suggests he “cannot be harmed by regular methods.” He is sometimes depicted as a skeleton.

### Comic book

    In the *Strange Trails* comic book, Cobb Elex Avery is shown as a family man living with a young daughter. The comic book explains that there are many legends surrounding his origin story - that he is an extraterrestrial, escaped from an insane asylum, was baptized in the fires of hell, or is a fallen angel - and the comic purports to tell his true story. He worked in construction for the Winthrop Corporation in Algona. Avery's wife and child die when their house collapses into a sinkhole due to the irresponsible business practices of the Winthrop Corporation. He kills Winthrop, then haunts bars and roadstops, forming a gang to help him continue his rampage. In a display of the World Enders' destructive power, they derail a train carrying a Winthrop shipment, and Cobb is finally arrested for his crimes. When the town gathers to hang him in the square, he gives these last words, while appearing as a skeleton:

> "I've shown this world the same mercy it's shown me. I've seen the other side of living and returned with this truth: the fair, the brave, the good must die! And sink into the yawning grave beneath!"
>
>

A sinkhole then opens up and swallows the town, and the World Enders ride out, carrying his ethos:

The Fair, The Brave, The Good Must Die
I. Dismantle, Destroy, and Disobey
II. Leave no Challenge unanswered
III. Revile the Powerful, Abhor the Weak
IV. Surrender to No One, not even Death
### Music video

In the music video, details of the story differ slightly. The accident resulting in the deaths of the Avery family appears to be a tragic but potentially deliberate house fire. The Winthrop Corporation are depicted as a development company interested in the land surrounding the house. Avery returns from the grave to hunt down information and associates of Andrew Winthrop, killing them in brutal ways. This includes a stop at a gas station which he burns down with the attendant Gas Station Gus inside, and the Frozen Pines Motel, where he kills Brett “Tug” Bivens with a corkscrew. Avery visits a bar and upon leaving is attacked by a greaser gang, ultimately earning their loyalty when he smirks at being stabbed in the chest. It is unclear whether this bar is meant to represent George’s Place or the Broken Bottle. The gang form the World Enders under his leadership, and follow him to help derail a Winthrop train, which has Winthrop's personal assistant Diane Greentree aboard. The gang then confront Winthrop, who shoots Avery in the chest as Avery walks towards him, seemingly invulnerable. Cobb and the World Enders then drive out of town as a cloud of smoke goes up at the Winthrop facility behind them.

Francine Lu and Duvair Yaughton are credited and seen briefly in the background at the bar, which suggest it is likely George's Place. Later, the World Enders are known to frequent that bar, as seen in the "Fool For Love" music video.

#### Behind the scenes

The video was directed by Ariel Vida and scenes at the motel, gas station and diner were filmed on location at Four Aces Movie Ranch in Palmdale, CA.

## Trivia

The words spoken by Avery in the comic are from Lord Byron's poem "Answer To a Beautiful Poem" and the basis of the World Enders motto: "the fair, the brave, the good must die."

Cobb Avery is credited as best boy electrician in *Products of the Universe*. Chub Avery is credited for lighting in the Vide Noir vinyl and wine infomercial, which is likely some inexplicable Lord Huron in-joke.

In both the comic and music video, Avery's hand is shown bursting out from under his collapsed house or his grave, respectively, which may be a nod to Dead Man's Hand, also on the album. In the music video, when Avery visits the bar, the hand of cards shown is a combination known as the dead man's hand, consisting of black aces and black eights.

Avery appears briefly in *Vide Noir*, in the World Enders' underground clubhouse.

## Questions and fan theories

* The same actor plays Dale Redmayne and Cobb Avery. It’s possible Cobb took on a new identity as the years went by, or perhaps Redmayne plays Avery in a WBUB midnight movie about the World Ender. Or Lord Huron just liked the actor.

## Gallery

Norene, Lee, and Cobb AveryThe Avery family gravesThey put him in the ground but he's back from the deadCobb Avery's black carCobb Avery sometimes appears as a skeletonThe Avery family in the comic bookCobb Avery in *Vide Noir*
## Notes

In the music video, there is inconsistency between the names in on-screen documents and the respective characters in the credits. Brett “Tug” Bivens appears to be named as Roy Rascal and Diane Greentree as Norene Vasquez.

## Links

* Vice article with first four pages of the comic
* Teaser for the music video with bonus clips

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 NPR Interview
2. ↑  http://www.arielvida.com/
3. ↑  https://www.4-aces.com/