Zaffer the Jet Marshal

Zaffer the Jet Marshal is a comic book character created in late 1987, debuting in his own series(of the same name) in spring of 1988. With a stylish look, including an iconic helmet and jet pack, Zaffer gained quite a large fan base, maintaining it right through the mid ‘90s. Created by Ink Bath artist/writer, Steven Dao, as his first major contribution to the company. Zaffer was eventually ushered into the Saber-verse in 1989(during Saber Man’s resurrection following Ink Bath’s acquisition of the franchise) and again in 1991-92 during the epic ‘War To End All Galactic Wars’ saga. In this saga, in the issue titled ‘Death Abides’, Zaffer loses most of his family to Overlord Arcanos(one of his avatars, Avatarcanos) and his minions. He is beaten to near death, and during his healing on board the Federation vessel, Catalyst, he falls in love with the attractive and intelligent Commander Caitlyn Stock. Also, in being with the Federation, he survives the razing of Earth. Acquiring more training and a newer, more futuristic outfit and jetpack, he continued in three issues before Ink Bath cancelled the series in late 1995. Venture Jeff Productions, in 2003, acquired the rights to the franchise, revamping it and bringing it back to shelves in Christmas of that year. A much different series, it was despised by old-school fans, but gained popularity with a much younger generation. It continued for another five years.

Zaffer is the alias of Brent Brannan, a high school student and mascot(The Great Marlow) of the school’s football team (Marlow Heights M.H. Marauders). On his seventeenth birthday, he found in the attic the ‘crime fighting outfit’ of his grandfather -a suit, helmet and jet pack. Upon donning the helmet, he was granted with some sort of powers(the helmet was later revealed as a highly-advanced piece of technology that tapped into the mind of the wearer), and soon began to fight crime. He had to balance this with spending time with his family, his girlfriend Carla, and his schoolwork. To ensure he would successfully graduate high school, he put aside the crime fighting for a few months, during which time a particular crime syndicate came in and anchored itself. During his college years he would spend considerable time fighting this syndicate -learning its depths, finding and defeating its various generals- only to learn that its leader was a clone of his grandfather. This led him into the company of the Lavistar Federation, who informed him that his grandfather was a former Federation Agent-turned-outlaw who murdered a Jet Marshal and stole his outfit. Shortly thereafter, he broke into a Federation Cryogenics Dome, stole thousands of his own frozen genetic clone cells and sold them throughout the underworld, in a bid to throw anyone off his path. The money was used to procure passage out of the Federation Realm. He came to Earth(which was well out of the said realm) to live, creating an alias, marrying a local and starting a family.

With the Lavistar Federation came the appearance of Saber Man into the series. It was a major crossover at the time. Saber Man had come into their company following the introduction of Over Lord Arcanos in the 1978 issue #1183, ''“Earth’s Newest Threat is Saber Man’s Greatest Challenge! Over Lord Arcanos has ARRIVED!(although the Lavistar Federation technically first appeared, in name only, in the 1969 Saber Man limited-issue Tivithius the Gatekeeper ''saga).

Zaffer was named so because when Brent found the suit's helmet, inside there were faded letters that, to him, spelled "Zaffer". In reality, it said 'Zephyr', referring to the model of the suit as it had been developed at the time.