Miss Misery (comics)
| Miss Misery | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Wildstorm Productions |
| First appearance | Sleeper #1 (2002) |
| Created by |
Ed Brubaker Sean Phillips |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Gretchen McDonald |
| Abilities | Thrives on evil, increasing her health and strength when behaving amorally, while becoming weaker and sicker when doing the right thing. |
Miss Misery is a fictional comic book character from DC Comics/Wildstorm. She appeared in the series Sleeper.
Gretchen McDonald was a very normal girl; an excellent student and kind to all. When she got older, Gretchen fell ill and doctors could find no cause for her illness. When she heard a male nurse tell another that her illness was all just in her head, she became furious and kicked him. She was surprised to feel better afterwards and began to seek therapy, but therapy didn't help either. Finally, an odd idea came to her: she had felt better when she had hurt another. To test this theory she stole a bottle of whiskey from a local shop and did feel better. In a short time she let all her morals go and indulged in every sin she could think of, becoming stronger and healthier with each one. She took the name "Miss Misery".
She became a part of Tao's syndicate. Her enthusiasm and personality appealed to Tao and she quickly became a Prodigal, one of Tao's three commanding officers in his organisation. When Holden Carver was promoted to become a Prodigal as well, Miss Misery befriended him. She started a sexual relationship with him, mostly for the thrill that Tao would kill them both should he ever find out, but over time they fell in love. Now the relationship was about love, Miss Misery began to feel ill and increased her aggression and criminal behaviour to compensate. Holden noticed that their relationship was killing her, but didn't want to lose her.
During a mission, Holden and Gretchen were ambushed. Holden saw no way out and Gretchen was about to get herself killed. He knocked out Gretchen and they were captured. Imprisoned, Gretchen told her guards that Holden was a traitor and one of their own, despite feeling more and more sick for saving the man that she loved. She nearly died, but was saved by Tao's troops. Holden fled and was now on the run from both Tao and the government. Tao met with Holden a few weeks later and told him that he had always known about Holden's status as a sleeper-agent. He invited Holden back, partly because Miss Misery was missing him. Holden rejoined the syndicate and he and Gretchen continued their relationship.
Gretchen tried to cheat on him, but Holden didn't blame her, knowing how her powers demanded this from her. Holden became trapped in a game between his former commanding officer John Lynch and Tao and decided to play the two against each other. He asked Miss Misery to help them and the low chances of survival appealed to her. During one of her missions, Gretchen met Veronica St. James, an agent of Internal Operations and Carver's former fiancee and spared her, despite the toll her powers extracted on her for this act of kindness.
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