Quarrel (Jessica Darlene Taggart)

Quarrel (Jessica Darlene Taggart) © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Active Real Name: Jessica Darlene Taggart Earliest Appearance: 1982 Affiliation: Honor Guard (1987 - 2015) Omega Rangers (1982 - and only a few weeks at that) Base of Operations: Astro City Personal Data Relationships: (father) Mack Taggart - The original Quarrel (mother) <name not revealed> (brother) Toby (Little Brisket) (brother) (Little Mack) (brother) Richard (Dickie)(Squirrel-Tail) Date of Birth: 1967 Hair: short black InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.1 #1, 3, 5, 6 Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 #1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 15, 19, 22 Astro City: Local Heroes #1 Astro City: Beautie #1 Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #1, 4 Astro City: The Dark Age Book Four #3, 4 Astro City #2, 3, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25 Event Timeline 1967     Dialog Jessica Taggart Birth. 1982     Current Omega Rangers Join the Battle Against Kerresh the Devaster. 1982     Dialog The Omega Rangers are Formed. 1984     Flashback Jessica Taggart Makes Her First Appearance as Quarrel. 1984     Flashback Quarrel "Collars" Her First Criminal. 1988     Dialog Quarrel Battles the Chronarch. 1991     Flashback The Destructiods Rampage Across Astro City. 1995/12/12     Current Entries in Mr. Bridwell's Computer. 1996/01     Current An Avalance In Montana. 1996/01     Current Samaritan Goes On a Prearranged Blind Date With Winged Victory. 1996/09     Current During Thunderhead's 'Tantrum' in Astro City, Jack-in-the-Box stops a pair of looters.. 1997/07     Current Honor Guard battle an alien scout ship(assumed to be Enelsian) orbiting Earth. 2003     Current Sweet Adelines Rob Sprang Museum. 2004/10     Current Omnius Rex/Danielle Battles Honor Guard. 2013/??/??     Current Honor Guard Stops Lord Volcanus' Plot to Conquer the Surface World. 2015/03     Current Quarrel Inspects New Costume Upgrades at N.R.Gistics, Inc.. Quarrel (Jessica Darlene Taggart) A career that spans approximately three decades, most of it spent with Honor Guard, Jessica Darlene Taggart is the second person to wear the now iconic costume of Quarrel. Her fighting style is finely honed, athletic, and firmly disciplined. In her early years, she was spunky, determined and reliable. Now, seasoned and refined, she seems more reflective, perhaps a bit guarded. She is well respected among her peers, her enemies, and most especially her friends. History Youthful Origins If there is a theme to apply to the young Jessica, it would be of a proud woman who matured early, inheriting a weak image and changing it into something stronger, composed of more distinguished qualities, like fortitude, a positive morality, and a higher sense of duty to humanity. Jessica Darlene Taggart was the daughter of the first Quarrel, Mack Taggart. She grew up in poverty in eastern Kentucky, living in a run-down house with her parents and several siblings (Mack, Toby, and Dickie). Often, the family's meals consisted of whatever the children were able to hunt or catch that day. For a long time, Jessica believed her father was a mailman who spent a lot of time gone for work. He taught them to fight, to move acrobatically, and to shoot. It came as an incredible shock, then, when Jessica and her family discovered that Mack was a super-villain--a revelation that emerged when he was arrested alongside Cutlass and Steeljack when they attempted to rob the riverboat Princess after making away with two million dollars the month before. In shock, Jessica hitchhiked to the prison where her father was held, but their conversation consisted mainly of excuses Mack made about what he had planned to do with the money on the family's behalf. Jessica returned home angry at her father, knowing he was never going to improve their situation--if anything were ever to change, it would have to be her doing it. By the time Mack returned home from prison, Jessica had taken charge of the house and spent her time studying and training, eventually locating her father's equipment while he was in town. She tested it out, finding it easy to work with--but her father advised her against it, warning her that she would not want to be like him. Early Years: Gaining Rep Mack left home again, returning to his life of crime (and getting caught by Hummingbird), but Jessica found a backup set of the Quarrel equipment and learned how to modify it and employ it for new purposes. One evening, listening to the radio, Jessica heard about a standoff at the Martin County regional school spring dance, and she took off on her friend Mike Trapper's motorcycle to take down the armed robbers there. Quarrel arrived in Astro City in 1984 at age 17, determining to make a name and life for herself despite having no money, no job, and no clue how to get either. She was surprised to discover that the city's residents already recognized her (some saying, "Quarrel's back!") but not treating her like the criminal her father was. (Quarrel would later find out this was a result of her later adventures time-traveling.) An Angel of the Streets Quarrel's first fight proper in the city was against the Steel Devil, taking them out and finding herself meeting the Street Angel, who expected her arrival--another result of her time-travel exploits. He was her mentor during those early years, helping her develop her skills and giving her a different direction to forge her identity. Their encounter with The Pale Horseman at the climax of the Dark Age story arc, resulted in the death of Street Angel, which left Jessica alone once more. During this time, Quarrel formally registered as a bounty hunter so that she could make some money--for herself and for her family back home--while keeping her identity protected from the public, thanks to the 1963 Private Identities Act. Earning Honor In 1987, Quarrel managed to spy a set of robots belonging to the Ion Empire capture Samaritan and take him to one of their ships, where they had already imprisoned the other members of Honor Guard as part of a plot to transform humanity into machinic creatures. Quarrel overheard discussion of a "stasis lens" they were using, and she blew up the power supply for it, freeing Honor Guard. After the fight was over, they thanked her for her assistance and invited her to join the team. At first, she refused out of monetary necessity, but the N-Forcer explained how N.R.-Gistics Inc. provided grants to those in need--so she accepted, and has remained a member since. Her Time With The Omega Rangers In 1988, while fighting Chronarch, Quarrel found herself traveling through time to 1982, where she was involved in the founding of the Omega Rangers during a short, several-week period. While Quarrel was in 1982, she was a member of the team when Cleopatra's powers were bestowed to a new human vessel, and again when the Omega Rangers joined forces with Honor Guard and the First Family to deal with a major event known as the Reality Rift. What's Love Got to do With It? Quarrel first met Crackerjack in 1994, when he interrupted her tracking a band of villains called the Techsperts. Together, they took out their foes and found themselves intensely attracted to one another. they soon started training, working, and pursuing personal activities together. Despite personalities that were strong enough to clash regularly, they always migrated back to each other. They both shared the drive to push themselves, and one another, to their limits. Their relationship is long, complicated, and not exactly what it would appear to be on the surface. At one point, Quarrel thought she won $26 million in the Astro Cash lottery. This turned out to be a scam perpetuated by Praetor as part of an effort to attack Honor Guard via the members' secret identities. In the end, she was legally entitled to keep the money. Shortly following this scam, the couple were entangled in a fight against the Unholy Alliance. Quarrel was distracted by thoughts of how she would use her newfound wealth. She mistimed an attack against Glowworm, and Slamburger smacked her into the island component of an aircraft carrier, resulting in significant injuries to her hip and ankle. While Honor Guard and their medical team advised Quarrel to rest and recuperate slowly, Crackerjack surprisingly burst into the team's headquarters to advise her that bed rest was not the best route to a full recovery. Instead, he insisted she resume her training and accelerate her healing process through activity. The pair promptly began Quarrel's rehabilitation. Crackerjack pushed her incessantly and relentlessly, until she snapped and ran out on him. It was an outcry of frustration against not just her lover/partner, but also reflective of her troubled relationship with her father. Need for Speed At one point, Quarrel had broken up with Crackerjack and began dating fellow Honor Guard member MPH, experiencing a radically different, more caring and attentive relationship than her usual fare. However, she soon discovered that her lifestyle and MPH's were incompatible. His superhuman speed was genetically derived, a more reasonable, less intense need for training. She however was under constant pressure train to keep herself at peak performance. Further, he offered advice on Quarrel's personal life, suggesting she reply to a two-year-old email her father had sent her. As a result, while MPH could plan for dates or make breakfast in bed or remember certain holidays (like birthdays) or invest time into their relationship, Quarrel simply could not allow herself the downtime. The two had a brief conversation, later (after defeating the Dark Savior), where Quarrel angrily explained her lack of energy for anything more than her career as a hero. Growing Older More recently, Quarrel and Crackerjack continued their superheroic activities despite their both likely closing in on fifty years of age. Over time, Quarrel's body mass and costume adjusted a bit to accommodate her changed body frame, and she found herself increasingly interested in improving her suit to compensate for her age and slowing performance. After the retirement party for the Black Rapier at the swank restaurant, Butler's, Quarrel and Crackerjack fought the Chessmen and found their efforts a bit wanting. Crackerjack took a shot to the back, and Quarrel's new suit, equipped with extra armor, retarded her respond times just enough to shield Crackerjack from the attack. While the pair were able to eventually overcome their foes, they were exhausted and injured from the exertion. Age was having its effects on their fighting skills. Quarrel and Crackerjack visited the main branch of N.R.-Gistics to see about improvements to her outfit and potentially to develop something for Crackerjack, although he was far more interested in the Black Rapier's serum and its ability-enhancing secrets than anything technological. Not long after this visit, Honor Guard fought and defeated Imperion and his Khyborg army. Quarrel found herself further questioning her abilities, especially since during the battle, she needed MPH's assistance to avoid serious injury. Part of her pondering drifted to thoughts of contacting her father, whose old email she had never replied to, but somehow never deleted either. While Quarrel contemplated retiring, Crackerjack showed up, injured from a fight with Demonhead. The two discussed their options. Crackerjack refused to "quit" or limit himself to a less demanding physical role like teaching or consultation work. So while Quarrel considered high-tech solutions to compensate for her age, Crackerjack remained focused on options that would improve his physical skills, things like the Black Rapier's serum. That night, Crackerjack hacked Quarrel's laptop, broke into the Black Rapier's home, and stole his remaining serum. He then made a deal with, and was betrayed by, Gormenghast. Honor Guard managed to rescue him from the Black Lab where he had been left to die in a garbage dump. While her partner healed, Quarrel tested out a new suit of armor developed by N.R.-Gistics--complete with dual launcher, gyroscopic compensators, muscle amplifiers, and email access--finding it wanting in many ways as it felt more like a device she was driving rather than a suit she was wearing. She also finally decided to visit her father, who was living in the Allendale Assisted Living Facility for the Elderly and Infirm in West Virginia. The two had a productive conversation, beginning to heal at least some of the wounds that Jessica had carried for so long. Recognizing the long road ahead of Crackerjack, Quarrel decided to focus all of her efforts on helping her partner rehabilitate, demanding from Crackerjack the same relentless training and therapy that he'd expected from her years before. The new suit of enhanced armor developed for her would be stored at N.R.-Gistics, just in case she ever decided to return to action. Equipment She wears a costume similar in design and uses much of the same weaponry as her villainous father, the original Quarrel. There is a Bolt-Blaster on her right wrist for firing projectiles. Two indentations on top for holding quarrels to fire, or as balance points for firing a single, larger projectile from the center of the apparatus. She wears a suit of chain mail with a heavy chest-overlay. Stirrup on her boots, the purpose might be decoration or something more? A grappling device for aerial movement is attached to the right hip of her costume. It can also be fired from a projectile launcher for longer distances. Standard sized quarrels are stored in a compact case on her left hip. She also has a backpack used for larger and/or special mechanisms. The backpack holds a parachute. Her basic set of quarrels and grappling devices were probably the extend of her father's original arsenal. Her association with the technical members of Honor Guard, especially N-Forcer, have no doubt resulted in a wider, more versatile and far more advanced set of projectile weapons and tools. Projectile List Mr. Smartie Notes: Let's lay this out similar to Jack-in-Box's Weapons list Acid quarrels Anesthetic injection/knockout quarrels Blunt tipped quarrels for attacks. It is similar to rubber bullet with the intent to incapacitate or damage targets on impact. Net quarrel Rocket propelled explosive quarrels Upgrades N.R.Gistics, Inc. upgraded Quarrel's uniform with new age armor protection. Complete with a bio-interactive sensory-web to magnify and enhance her speed, strength and provide precision movement skills. It doesn't try to anticipate her movements, or improve her reaction time. Her own reflexes, slowed with age still are in complete control. Crackerjack calls it a "dressed up, tailored tank." Observations Casual peer commentary suggests that she is from a small town, somewhere in Kentucky. A conundrum of sorts surrounds her brief time travel back to 1982. The citizens of Astro City, and perhaps the world are fully aware of her exploits with the Omega Rangers. But the younger and not yet time-traveling Jessica Taggart of 1984, who should also have known about it, is totally in the dark. A mystery to be solved in a later story perhaps. According to Kurt Busiek, Quarrel is his favorite Astro City character. Speculations, Theories The costumed hero, Nightingale, refers to a romantic relationship involving Quarrel and Crackerjack. Hints dropped many years ago in Local Heroes' letters pages by creator Kurt Busiek, indicate that there might be more to consider in their relationship than what the obvious surface aspects suggest. The four issue Quarrel-Crackerjack story arc published in 2015, expanded on that comment, revealing a very complex, passionate, sexual, highly emotional, almost toxic at times interplay between the two. Quarrel's past reflects an attraction to male relationships that will disappoint at best, but mostly hurt. Footnotes Issues Of Interest