JUSTICE/VENGEANCE is an ongoing, multi-media superhero story that I’m telling. I’ve slowly been publishing fiction that ties into the universe and plan eventually to release a comic book about the adventures of Lady Vengeance, A-Girl, and Orestes. I conceived the characters back in college (over ten years ago now), the story has taken inspiration from seminal works of comic brilliance by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel, Bitch Planet, Pretty Deadly), Brian Michael Bendis (Powers), and Robert Kirkman (Invincible).

I ran a successful Kickstarter in early 2023, and it has led to several novels! See below.

Stories in Chronological Order

Pretty Hate Machine, DefCon One Publishing, January 2024. (Amazon)
The Downward Spiral, DefCon One Publishing, January 2024. (Amazon)
The first canon appearance of Lady–that is Girl Vengeance, as a 17yo gothpunk, exiled from Supergroup to the streets of mid 90’s Chicago. There she becomes a member of the teen superhero team the Agents of Awesome, but is she friend or liability?

Justice in Seattle, DefCon One Publishing, April 2023. (Kickstarter Exclusive!)
In December 1999, Vivienne Cain is a member in (mostly) good standing with Supergroup when the Seattle WTO Riots break out. Will the team’s resident bad girl tow the party line or make a mess of things, per usual?

“Vengeance on the Layover,” Cobalt City Timeslip, Timid Pirate, October 2010.
Lady Vengeance has been up for almost 24 hours on a plane. She needs a drink. And maybe to pound a supervillain.

“Eye for an Eye,” novella in Cobalt City Double Features, Timid Pirate, July 2012. (Kindle, Bundle from Timid Pirate)
A restlessly retired Stardust meets Lady Vengeance, who is on the run from a vengeful former ally. Can he defuse the situation before Cobalt City burns around him?

“The Curse of the Bambino,” This Mutant Life: Bad Company, Kalamity Press, October 2013.
Lady Vengeance has two rules: 1) Never get involved with a stripper. 2) Particularly if she has luck powers.

“Queen of Demons,” Monster Hunter: The Good Fight, Emby Press, June 2015.
A demon wanders into Vivienne Cain’s bar, bent on revenge and mayhem. Must be Tuesday.

“Baggage,” Shadowed Souls, Roc, November 2016. Audible, Kindle, Paperback
Vivienne Cain–once the controversial superhero Lady Vengeance–doesn’t make a lot of friends, not with the demons that pursue her constantly. Here’s why.

Libations for the Dead (Justice/Vengeance 1), DefCon One Publishing, 2023. (Amazon link)
Having faked her death fifteen years ago, Vivienne Cain isn’t a hero anymore and is happy to drink herself into a quiet retirement… until the kid shows up with questions. Her secret is out and she understands that she can’t run forever. (Set in January 2017.)

“Angels of Mercy,” Triumph over Tragedy, Terrene Press, January 2013. (Amazon)
A chance encounter in a bar goes from bad to worse, and thousands of lives are on the line. Can Lady Vengeance and A-Girl rise to the challenge?

We Are the Champions, DefCon One Publishing, 2023. (Amazon link)
At the US National fencing tournament, Yumi Kujikawa has to balance honoring her mother’s legacy, hiding her super powers, her annoyingly hot nemesis, and her adorable team manager. Oh man!

Femmes Fatale, DefCon One Publishing, 2022. (Amazon link)
Vivienne arrives in Cobalt City to face down Ruby Killingsworth, evil billionaire and sorceress, after she broke her friend Jaccob Stevens’s heart. Only to find they have WAY more chemistry with each other than either does with him.

Public Enemy (Justice/Vengeance 2), DefCon One Publishing, Summer 2024.
Our heroes have attracted public attention–a dangerous proposition when you have an image to maintain, you’re not ready for scrutiny, and/or you’ve convinced the world you’re already dead. (Set in the summer of 2018.)

Femmes Fatale 2: Bad Intentions, DefCon One Publishing, November 2023. (Amazon link)
Our bad girls are at it again, facing their greatest threat yet: a love triangle!

Fallen Angel (Justice/Vengeance 3), DefCon One Publishing, January 2025. (Amazon)
After a snafu where she’s cast to play her own mother in a biopic about Supergroup, A-Girl is trapped, alone and powerless . . . and even the younger generation of heroes has a rogue’s gallery of its own. (Set in August 2019.)

FUTURE BOOKS:

Inferno (Justice/Vengeance 4), DefCon One Publishing, FORTHCOMING!
Orestes’s life hangs in the balance! To save him, Lady Vengeance must face demons both within and without, challenge an implacable foe, and confront her greatest fear: herself. (Set in 2020.)

The Devil Within (Justice/Vengeance 5), DefCon One Publishing, FORTHCOMING!
Our heroes are restored, but at terrible cost. The Many-Fanged Devourer has risen to rule the world anew, and our heroes must put aside their differences to defeat this greatest of foes.

The Kindly Ones (Justice/Vengeance 6), DefCon One Publishing, FORTHCOMING!
Justice has been served and vengeance meted. What remains in the ashes? Two former supervillains travel the world, seeking to make amends for their past misdeeds.

Femmes Fatale 3: Bad Romance
Still in the planning stages!

Femmes Fatale 4: Bad Blood
Ditto!

Who are these characters?

Here’s the brief run-down.

The Jaded Veteran: Lady Vengeance

Vivienne Cain is a retired superhero/former supervillain, the black sheep of the superhero community and former celebrity counter-culture It-girl, whose career ended on a tragic note, when most of her team (Supergroup) was killed in a surprise attack by their united rogue’s gallery. To most of the world, Lady V is missing, presumed dead. That hasn’t stopped her nemesis/former lover, The Raven III (Antonio DeSantes, the third hero to wear that mantle, a high-tech vigilante) from doing all in his power to find her. She currently lives in Seattle, where she runs a bar and tries to live below the radar. Unfortunately, her powers make her a magnet to demons, and she has struggled with possession and being hunted all her life. A high-functioning alcoholic, she drinks to numb her empathic powers.

Her power set is empathic projection: she absorbs emotional energy from those around her (particularly fear) and uses it in one of three ways: 1) creating quasi-real objects (i.e. fearswords, armor, etc), 2) empowering herself (strength, speed, durability, etc), or 3) conjuring an image of what a person fears most (either by turning into that thing or putting the fear in the person’s mind).

The Glamorous Celebrity: A-Girl

Angel is a young, up-and-coming superheroine, just recently graduated from high school and keen to make a name for herself on the world’s stage. She is immature, untrained, clumsy, and extremely powerful, a combination that causes as much collateral damage as it prevents crime. Technically Lady V’s niece, A-Girl is the daughter of the famous Supergroupers The Raven and Athena (Lady V’s former lover and sister respectively). With such a powerful legacy to uphold, the pressure on her is immense, and the modern world of social media is a daunting place to navigate, what with her fledgling music career and struggle to be taken seriously as an actress…

Her power set is similar to her mother Athena’s: enhanced strength, speed, stamina, flight, and nigh-invulnerability. She has limited energy absorption abilities, but they are wild and largely untested.

The Wild Card: Orestes

Marcus Orestes is a pre-law student at the University of Washington who never knew his birth parents. When he meets his biological mother, dying of cancer, and learns that his father was the legendary hero Justice, leader of Supergroup, Orestes finds himself on a wild path of self-discovery leading him to a great destiny. If only all the robots, ninjas, zombies, supervillains, and his own allies don’t accidentally kill him first!

His power set is unknown as yet, but includes enhanced intuition (i.e. he can see the solution to a problem without knowing why), limited flight, and the occasional bit of energy projection (lightning).

Justice/Vengeance Comic?

Someday! I wrote and commissioned art for the first issue of LIBATIONS FOR THE DEAD, the first arc of the Justice/Vengeance comic.

If a Justice/Vengeance comic is something you’d like to see, drop me a line (Twitter is best: #erikscottdebie), and we’ll see what we can do.