History[]
Tommy Churchill is a character from the 2000 AD strip Bad Company. He was a soldier fighting the war between the humans and the alien Krool on the planet Ararat. When almost his entire unit was wiped out, Tommy survived for weeks living rough alone in the jungle until he met up again with his former commander Kano.
Kano had been driven mad by experiments performed on him by the Krool, who had removed half of Kano's brain and replaced it with half of one of their own. Tommy realised that as the only living man who knew Kano's secret he was in danger, so he gave Kano a box containing half the brain of a dead human soldier and told Kano that it was Kano's own in order to help preserve his sanity (sound thinking there, Tom; few things are guaranteed to instil mental equilibrium as much as being told you are carrying your own brain around in a box).
Tommy then pretended to go insane himself, developing a false persona based on a World War I British soldier in order to make Kano believe he was no threat to him. Together, Kano and Tommy founded the squad of misfits known as Bad Company.
Tommy was one of only four survivors of the original Bad Company after the planet Ararat exploded, but he later went mad for real and followed Danny Franks in search of the missing Kano. Unfortunately, he was eventually murdered by accident by Kano during one of the latter's violent mental seizures caused by his telepathic connection to the Krool.
Ten years after Ararat had exploded Tommy was alive and well and living in a veterans' compound on Earth with Danny Franks, Thrax and Flytrap. Neither he nor anybody else knew the reason for his unexpected vitality, especially since he could actually remember dying. Danny hypothesised that something had happened to Tommy's body after it had been ejected from the ship where he died into space (see quotes). The undead or reborn Tommy went on the run with his comrades, led once more by Kano, after they uncovered a dangerous truth about the human/Krool war (joined by their new allies Doctor Malarkey and Golgotha Joe). Fortunately, Tommy seemed to have forgiven Kano for killing him. That sort of thing is vital for esprit de corps.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
In addition to his survival skills, he's an amazingly convincing and consistent actor.
Strength level
Peak human male.
Weaknesses
Precarious sanity.
Paraphernalia[]
Transportation
Protoid's 'ship'.
Weapons
Guns 'n' stuff.
Notes[]
Mad Tommy had a cameo in 2000 AD prog 2000 (September 2016) which was drawn by Dave Gibbons. He, Kano, Wallbanger and Shrike were shown shooting Krool.
Links[]
- Appearances of Mad Tommy
- Character Gallery: Mad Tommy
- Images that feature Mad Tommy
- Fan-Art Gallery: Mad Tommy
- Mad Tommy quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Mad Tommy · Tommy Churchill · Mad Tommy