Skullface

Origin

David Gorelick
David Gorelick

As a young man David Gorelick was constantly in trouble with the police as a way of rebelling against his bullying father. He ended up coming into conflict with Frank Darling and in their last encounter; David fell into a chemical vat which horribly mutated him. David went onto join the notorious Vicious Circle as the freak known as Skullface.

Story Arcs

Meeting the Dragon

Back when Dragon had just been discovered, Frank Darling attempted to recruit him for the police. He was initially turned down and was so desperate that he made an anonymous tip to the Vicious Circle about his cousin’s warehouse being ripe for stealing. Frank had hoped that seeing the chaos the villains were causing firsthand might cause Dragon to come around.

The results, however, were not exactly what Frank had hoped. SkullFace and Hardware were dispatched to the warehouse where they were defeated by Dragon, just as planned. Unfortunately they had pre-planted some explosives which detonated after their arrest, claiming the life of Fred Darling. Dragon did indeed join the police but at the cost of an innocent life, and a relative to boot. SkullFace was eventually let go through lack of evidence but Hardware was sent to prison for actually threatening revenge on Dragon in the presence of the police.

OverLord

SkullFace went onto serve as OverLord’s right hand man and was entrusted with the task of locating and eliminating Frank Darling when he faked his death and moved to New Orleans. In what is now considered one of the highlights of the whole SAVAGE DRAGON series so far, SkullFace chased down Frank until he was blown up in a gas tanker explosion.

The authorities took possession of the horribly injured SkullFace and eventually transferred him to Chicago for care and to serve time for his crimes. The explosion had fused the bones in SkullFace’s body and he was left paralyzed, gripped by the desire that he would one day recover enough to claim revenge upon Frank Darling.

CyberFace

Some time later, CyberFace had taken control of the entire Earth and SkullFace made up a small faction of the Vicious Circle, a group that had remained loyal to OverLord even after his death. HellRazor had become the leader of this faction, a fact that did not sit at all well with SkullFace.

HellRazor entered into an alliance with Dragon as a rebellion was formed to plot the removal of CyberFace from power. During a raid on the White House, SkullFace saw an opportunity to seize power and stabbed HellRazor through the chest. He then made a grab for the dictatorship of the world but the newly reformed Liberty League arrived on the scene to apprehend all of the villains present.

SkullFace was one of the last villains standing as the Vicious Circle’s two factions clashed in a free-for-all in order to claim control of the world itself, relying on Dragon to eliminate CyberFace. they were all forced to surrender when they shrunk down using a Martian weapon and Mighty Man II cut off their route of escape.

Prison Break

A massive prison breakout from Stronghold Penitentiary left many villains on the loose and the Vicious Circle slowly started to reform. SkullFace emerged as the leader, keeping his old colleagues in line due to having his powers mysteriously augmented by a factor of ten. When his agents kidnapped Angel Dragon, a small army of heroes carried out a rescue mission.

Dragon found himself assaulted by SkullFace who used his enhanced strength to ruthlessly beat his foe to the point of near-unconsciousness. Even when Battle Tank III moved to intercept, she was cast aside by SkullFace. A desperate punch by Dragon was landed on SkullFace as an inhibitor device removed the powers of the Vicious Circle, leaving their leader without his head.