| Oddity | |
| |
| Biographical Information | |
| Real Name | Patti Roberts, Evan Crozier, and John Sheak |
| Aliases | The Oddity |
| Class | Joker-ace |
| Wild Card Traits | Enhanced strength and durability, spontaneous gradual metamorphosis |
| Social Information | |
| Place of Creation | United States |
| Citizenship | Citizen of the United States |
| Occupation | Sculptor, activist, vigilante |
| Base of Operations | Jokertown |
| Allies | Gregg Hartmann |
| Origin | |
| First Appearance | Down and Dirty |
| Creator | Stephen Leigh |
The Oddity is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books.
The Oddity is a composite joker-ace, a shared body occupied by the minds of Patti Roberts, Evan Crozier and John Sheak. The three minds alternate control of the body (and the appearance of their face) and keep constant communication that isn't visible to non-telepathic outsiders.
History[]
Before being infected with the wild card, Patti, Evan, and John were a stable romantic triad, who characterized themselves as being 'squares' aside from the fact that their relationship contained three people instead of two. The Oddity was formed when one or more of the three lovers, probably Patti, was infected by the wild card and fused with the others to form a single being. They woke up one morning in 1972 to find that they now shared a single pain-wracked body. Unable to return to their former jobs, they retreated to Jokertown where they found a new purpose in life to protect jokers from the injustices that were a frequent component of life to the victims of the wild card.
In the eighth novel, One-Eyed Jacks, the Oddity became a victim of jumper David Butler; Patti was landed in David's body, and David brought into the three-way meld in her place. This meant that the two remaining minds had to engage in constant conflict with David to keep him from taking control. John and Evan eventually forced him out and brought Patti back into their mind, and subsequently killed David.
In the 21st century, Oddity was given a preliminary diagnosis that John might be suffering from Alzheimer's disease. His deterioration advanced rapidly, eventually forcing Evan and Patti again had to engage in internal conflict, holding John in passive by force in order to prevent him causing harm. They were only successful to point, and John ascended to the dominant position during a sharp spasm of pain, only to run amok and hurt their friend and benefactor Charles Dutton. Following this incident, the Oddity wandered for a time in reflection on their limited options before Evan and Patti eventually agreed to take the Trump virus. Patti was freed from the combined body, but the others were not, and she was left a scant few moments to say her goodbyes as her loved ones died before her eyes.
Wild Card Traits[]
The Oddity is a composite being, comprised of three individuals fused into one. This fusion has granted the Oddity enhanced strength and durability along with several other side effects.
Psychologically, Patti, Evan, and John, take up three positions within the Oddity. One of them is in dominant, and controls the body. Being in control also leaves the dominant personality with the side effect of feeling the Oddity's pain the most intensely of the three. Beneath dominant is sub-dominant, and the person in this role is the most present to the dominant personality in their mental communication, but also feels a high degree of pain. At the bottom is passive, where the personality can communicate from weakly, but also feels the least pain and can gain some degree of rest. When John succumbed to his condition, Evan and Patti worked together to take turns in dominant, while the sub-dominant personality did most of the work to hold John in passive.
The Oddity's constantly shifting form causes features to appear and disappear. While predominantly humanoid, they may have additional appendages or facial features. The constant shifting causes them great pain as their bones slide around inside them, and muscles and tendons warp into inhuman configurations.
The Oddity can be more resistant to certain types of body control, as evidenced when they expelled David Butler from their body. On the other hand, abilities that target all three minds, such as the Puppetman's, only encounter the same resistance as if dealing with a nat.
Appearance[]
The Oddity is the amalgamation of three people and their appearance constantly shifts between all three. The Oddity's appearance is dictated by the mental state of the three personalities. The body will mostly possess the features of the mind that is in the dominant role of the body at a given time, and partially the features of the mind that is in the sub-dominant role. Their body will have little-to-no features of the mind that is in the passive role of the Oddity's shared consciousness. As a result of this fusion, they has something of a piebald look as Evan had dark skin, while Patti and John were white.
The Oddity wears a long, dark cloak to conceal their shifting mass. Their face is kept hidden behind a standard steel fencing mask.
Personality[]
Cover of One-Eyed Jacks
Collectively, the most notable feature is that the trio's love for each other was completely unaffected by their experiences - when jumped, Evan and John resented the absence of their lover Patti almost as much as the constant struggle to keep David in check.
Patti is empathetic, caring and gentle. Evan is shy and therefore seldom dominates. He was an artist before becoming part of the Oddity and has created waxwork sculptures for the Wild Card Museum. His work is exhibited in various galleries, but he resents the fact that his artistic popularity is largely a result of his deformity. He is bitter about what has befallen the trio and experiences mood swings from euphoria to deep depression. John is the most forceful of the three. He admires Patti's gentle approach, but is the one most likely to use their strength in a violent way.
Trivia[]
- The Oddity refer to themselves in the plural, both when discussing the three minds and when referring to their body and physical identity.
- Although Oddity's female personae is named "Patti" in her early appearances, she is referred to as "Patty" in later books.
Selected Reading[]
- Wild Cards Volume VII: Dead Man’s Hand
- Wild Cards Volume VIII: One-Eyed Jacks
- Wild Cards Volume XXI: Fort Freak
- Wild Cards Volume XXXII: Sleeper Straddle