Howard McKenzie

**Howard McKenzie** is Dave McKenzie's younger brother and a major character and hidden antagonist of *Lastman*. Howard grew up in an orphanage with his brother Dave and often had to rely on him to protect him from bullies. Howard had became obsessed with The Valley of the Kings after learning about it from an ancient, mysterious book. 10 years prior to the animated prequel, when Howard became a university student, he gathered his friends to perform a séance to speak with Gobniu, the Wren of fascination, so they could find the magic cup Gobniu made that allows passage to the Valley of the Kings. However, Howard contacted Raghan the Clairvoyant instead. Raghan tricked Howard into performing a spell that released the Wrens into Paxtown. One of them possessed his friend, Charles Vales, who would come to be known as Rizel. After barely surviving their encounter with Rizel and Raghan respectively, Howard and Dave would later take up a crusade, hunting down the Wrens for the next 10 years to protect Paxtown. Dave would eventually find the human host of Chorum the Devourer, the most powerful Wren: a helpless baby girl. Despite the risks and Howard's warnings, Dave decided to adopt the infant as his own and ordered Howard to find a cure. Howard would begin to harvest the hearts of the Wrens he killed to make a serum that temporarily prevents Chorum from fully possessing Siri. After an unknown amount of time before the first episode of the television series, Rizel managed to find Howard and tortured him to find out the location of Chorum's human host. Howard revealed that Dave has Siri, thus setting up the events of the main series.

## Appearance

Just like Dave, Howard has brown hair with black sideburns. However, he has paler skin and a thinner physique compared to his older brother. He lost his arm trying to steal the FFFC Cup and replaced it with a prosthetic.

When Howard first appeared in the comic, his appearance was a drastic departure from the man he used to be 20 years ago. After immersing himself in the study of dark magic and regrowing his right arm, now Howard had unevenly receding hair on his head and was covered in weird growths and deformities congregating on the right half of his body. His clothes were torn and he walked around barefoot. A consequence of casting the dark magic spell to regenerate his arm was that his eyes turned an eerie golden yellow and an ouroboros with a dot inside the ellipse, appeared on his forehead.

## Background

Dave and Howard lost their parents in a car crash. Raised in an orphanage, the bookish Howard was oftentimes defended from bullying by Dave, who tried to dissuade his younger brother from his obsession with the "fictitious" Valley of the Kings.

## Personality

Howard is responsible and serious, however he has also criticized Richard by calling him "stupid". He can best be described as the kind of person who is willing to admit faults but who tries to solve his mistakes with drastic actions and expedience. He has no qualms with endangering Siri if it means banishing the Wren from the world nor did he hesitate to sacrifice her to Chorum so that the latter could assume full control and open the portal to the Valley of the Kings, because Howard rationalizes these decisions for the "greater good".

Howard has been very obsessive with the Valley of the Kings ever since his childhood. Howard never stopped trying to find a way to reach the Valley, however his haste makes him solely responsible for the Wrens arrival into Paxtown. He was so obsessed, his brother Dave even assumed he was mentally ill and tried to put him in a hospital.

This does not stop him from feeling either guilt nor shame as he was haunted by nightmares and visions of Siri throughout the duration of his life in the Valley. When he learned that he could use magic to heal and restore his arm he impulsively rushed to enact the magic ritual, not knowing the scope of the consequences. When the ritual proved disastrous, a deformed Howard wrote a farewell letter to Marianne, leaving her alone with their unborn son, instead of facing the consequences and his domestic responsibilities, choosing to instead study dark magic to undo the negative results of his actions, resulting in a brittle mental disposition.

The final nail in the coffin of his sanity came when he was arrested and taken to the capital of the Valley, there he learned that in his decade long absence Marianne was killed and that Richard was culpable. Howard had a mental breakdown and became more openly erratic and manic in behaviour.

## Abilities

In the Lastman animated series Howard demonstrated the ability to turn into electricity by harnessing the power of Rizel's eyeball (which he keeps placed in a jar full of liquid). To activate this ability, Howard must touch the eyeball with one hand and an electric source with other. The transformation seems to be painful, as he screamed in agony before finally transforming into electricity. While in this state, Howard can activate nearby objects that are powered by electricity, such as lights and cameras. Howard can communicate in the state by using radios and television screens. The only known weakness was shown when Siri dropped the jar and the liquid splashed onto an outlet, forcing Howard out of his electric state. Howard may no longer be able to access this ability, because the Rizel's eyeball melted shortly after he was forced back into his physical form. For most of the series he seldom did magic outside of rituals and relied on his wits and firearms. Howard seems to have knowledge in medicines, since he is able to create a serum from the hearts of Wrens and using Vitamin K to inhibit the effects of strychnine (rat poison). Howard also carries a box that contains a syringe, bottles, and different kinds of scalpels.

In the Lastman comic his first canonical appearance at the climax of volume 8, had him use dark magic to raise the skeleton of an iguana as an undead being. As "The Sorceror" Howard does not use the orthodox elemental magics of the Valley of the Kings, his forte instead lies in the manipulation of life and death, making him a powerful necromancer capable of returning youth to the old, regeneration and restoring the corpses of the dead back to a living state. The ceiling to this nigh-unlimited power is that he cannot return the souls of the dead back to their owners, thus anyone revived is only an empty shell of who they once were.

## Relationships

* **Richard Aldana**  - He hasn't revealed much about himself to Richard however they are still allies. Their relationship is mostly just a professional one.
* **Siri** - For some reason Howard has concerned himself with keeping Siri alive. He cares about Siri's well being but doesn't have much of a relationship with her. It turns out, that Howard accidentally caused Siri to be possessed by Chorum the Devourer, after being tricked into releasing the Wrens into Paxtown. Howard and Dave took it upon themselves to hunt down the Wrens to protect Paxtown. Dave eventually found Chorum's human host: a helpless infant. Dave couldn’t will himself to kill an innocent baby, so he stole her from family. When Howard found them, he tried to convince Dave to kill her because of the threat she presented. Dave refused and ordered Howard to find a way to cure her. Howard began harvesting the hearts of the Wrens he killed to produce a serum that temporarily prevents Chorum from fully controlling Siri. In the penultimate episode of the animated prequel, Howard reveals that he still believes those possessed by Wrens need to die and used Siri because she was the key that unlocks passage to the Valley of the Kings.
* **Chubs** - Chubs is sort of an assistant to Howard. Although Howard seems to think little of Chub's intelligence he still finds him helpful. He later kills Chubs near the end of the show.
* **Dave McKenzie** - Though Howard was not hesitant to get into fights, as the older brother he possessed a lot of common sense, trying to ground his brother in reality and away from what he saw as delusional infatuations. When Howard knocked on his door to request assistance with hunting down the Wren, Dave was initially skeptical of their existence, only being convinced by Raghan assaulting the brothers. After locating Chorum, Dave was horrified to learn that his host was a baby girl, angered and disgusted with Howards willingness to kill a child, Dave refused to kill the girl and adopted her as his own, severing all ties with his brother. Despite this Howard still mourns Dave's passing. In the penultimate episode of the animated prequel, Howard claims Dave and Richard couldn’t face the truth that all people possessed by Wrens need to die because of the threat that they hold (including Siri).

* **Rizel** - Howard and Charles Vales were good friends in university and devised a plan to enter the Valley of the Kings. Their failed attempt lead to Charles being possessed by Rizel and gaining his powers.