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Lilith


Lilith haunts the dark side of the Marvel Universe. A supernatural, malevolent entity of uncertain origin, she consorts with demons and at times has imperiled the entire human race. Her ferocious powers and wild, glam-rock appearance make Lilith a perfect choice for a custom Eaglemoss figurine.


No one, even other godlike beings like Thor, knows exactly where Lilith came from. Possibly she pre-dates humanity. One legend says she was the first wife of the very first man Adam, but that she chafed under his authority over her, and God murdered her children as punishment for her rebellion. Exiled and bitter, Lilith resolved thenceforth to bear no more children but only demons, and unleash them upon humanity.

What is known for sure is that Lilith was imprisoned thousands of years ago by Atlantean sorcerers inside the massive biblical Leviathan, only to be freed in modern times when two unsuspecting scientists stumbled upon its ancient corpse in icy Greenland. Immediately upon awakening she gathered around herself the Lilin, her demonic children who had been living in disguise among humans for millennia, waiting for her return.

At full strength, Lilith’s magical powers rival those of any sorcerer alive, and her womb is essentially a portal through which any number of demons can access Earth. Fearing that a direct clash with her would damage the very fabric of reality, Dr. Strange recruited a coalition of supernatural heroes to battle her and her minions, including Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Morbius, Blade and others, collectively known as the Midnight Sons. Their combined might backed by Strange’s magic was only enough to temporarily banish Lilith and her demons to another dimension.


World's Worst Mother: Lilith gives birth to demons only to suck life from them later. 

In 1993’s “Siege of Darkness” arc, a revived Lilith returned again, vowing vengeance upon the Midnight Sons. She restores life to her banished Lilin by giving birth to them anew, and joined forces with the demon Zarathos ("he was a legend when I was but a pup!" she gushes) to mount a new and even deadlier assault on humanity. Summoning hordes of demons through a magical fog that enveloped New York City, she was ultimately defeated by a magical thingamajig called the Medallion of Power, but the villains did manage to wreck Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum in the process.


Lilith doing what Lilith does best.
Fighting Captain Britain.
After unleashing world-threatening evil in her first appearances in the early 1990s, Lilith has suffered from a bit of villain decay in the 2000s. Whereas previously she was so powerful that even Dr. Strange did not dare to face her directly, recent storylines have presented her as little more than a femme-fatale sidekick or consort to male villains like Dracula and Mephisto. Lilith is definitely due for a resurgence, and a full revelation of her origins. 


I anticipated that Lilith would be a challenge to create, and she certainly was. Like many characters from the 1990s (she was created in 1992 by writer Howard Mackie and artist Andy Kubert), her costume is over-designed, with her pale skin, elongated head cones, fishnets, jewelry, silver gloves, thigh-high boots, and a tattered skirt and veil whose dark tendrils seem to curl and claw and creep out in every direction like some sinister living organism. I knew I would have to simplify a few minor elements of the costume here and there.

Two different figurines comprise the base for Lilith—most of her body comes from DC’s Saturn Girl, a swaggering posture with one hip cocked out and her right arm stretched outward in a sweeping, imperious gesture of power. However, Saturn Girl’s grinning head and her other arm were all wrong for Lilith, so for those parts I used Marvel’s Moondragon, whose high cheekbones and icy cold demeanor suited Lilith very well.

Once these parts were stripped of paint and glued together, I began the long process of sculpting Lilith’s distinctive veil and skirt. I tried to create the same effect of flickering, tumultuous movement that they have on the comics page, but there was really no perfect way to translate them into a frozen, 3-dimensional form. If I made another copy of her I would probably try to extend these tendrils even farther out to the sides.



The last part I completed was the fishnet pattern in her upper thighs, which didn’t turn out as great as I’d hoped. Fishnets are always tricky at such a small scale—in the regular CMFC, fishnets (such as on Gamora or Typhoid Mary for instance) are not actually painted on, but rather incised. I didn’t believe I could create that effect, so I painted them on instead. I’m not completely happy with it, but it could have been worse. Finally I glued her onto a Marvel base and called the job finished.

Lilith with the Eaglemoss Ghost Rider figurine. 
For the Eaglemoss-inspired cover design, I used artwork from Witches #2 (August 2004) by Mike Deodato Jr., and the frightfully cool Lilith logotype is from the front cover of Morbius #13 from September 1993.

*ESSENTIAL READING*


1. Ghost Rider #31 (Nov 1992). Lilith's first plan to conquer the world with her demonic offspring is narrowly thwarted by the Midnight Sons in an icy, climactic battle in Greenland.

2. Morbius the Living Vampire #16 (March 1993). Lilith, Zarathos, and her new army of demons launch a successful, full-scale assault on Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.

3. Witches #3 (Sep 2004). Lilith sends her demonic spawn to kill three witches recruited by Dr Strange, then very nearly kills Strange himself in their first one-on-one battle.

I think it's probably time to go now. 

Next up: Blastaar, the Living Bomb-Burst!

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