MYSTO | TRACKER | BECKY | FELICIA | FOSA | MANGIA | SYLK | WILT | BOMBA | VAL | PATHOS | REVERSO | CASSIE | ZEB | OLD/NEW CAST
Reverso Wilt Felicia Bomba Mysto Pathos Fosa Cassie Mangia Val Becky Sylk Tracker Back Home Click on the character to go to the profile

Psychic Dyslexia Institute — an organization that studies the phenomenon of Psychic Dyslexia: special powers that don't go quite right. Within the institute is a cadre of special students who are somewhat super-heroic, despite their handicap. The comic is set in a furry futuristic world where psychic powers are about as common as being a super athlete: rare but not unheard-of. In this environment, psychics are routinely snapped up by the government to join the Psychic Overt Offense Platoon (P.O.O.P.) or go rogue to become villains in their own right. Since those recruited by the government are held by the DoD and all its red tape, they are largely ineffectual Agents of Good. On the other hand, the Institute hangs onto the psychics with seemingly ineffectual powers or powers they can't control properly. Their purported intent is to train these people to properly use their powers — but secretly the founder (the mysterious Mysto) has been assembling a team of courageous misfits who, together, can fight evil in their own imperfect and slightly skewed manner. The institute takes people in (often found and recruited by Tracker) and begins to train them to live with their "disability" — and those that Mysto and Tracker find have that "special something" are recruited into the inner sanctum for more specialized training with the (as-yet unnamed) Team.


THE CAST OF PDI:


Name: Mysto, founder of the Institute and Leader of the Team
Form: Cryptomorph ("hidden form")
Power(s): Unknown
Origin(s): Unknown

TOP
Name: Tracker
Form: Canine
Power(s): Can sense and track psychic powers in others
Origin(s): Works directly for Mysto recruiting members for the Institute and the Team. Also head Team trainer. Used to be member of POOP (Psychic Overt Operations Patrol). Often sniffs out super villains. Was born in the Louisiana Bayou — origins of power unknown.

TOP
Name: Becky
Form: Galline Hen
Power(s): Lays eggs that glow like a 50-watt bulb
Origin(s): Hatched in a coop contaminated by an illegal dumping of nuclear waste in Kansas. Was nearly pecked to death and finally ostracized by her family until Tracker rescued her and brought her to the Institute.

TOP
Name: Felicia
Form: Feline
Power(s): Emits a mild static charge — with a constant effort she can maintain a flow, but not enough to be very useful as a weapon.
Origin(s): Felicia lived in the alleys of New York until she was caught in a lightning storm while holed up in a factory where they made wool socks. Shocked Tracker a few times before he made her understand his mission was to bring her to the Institute where she could have food and shelter.

TOP

Name: Fosa
Form: Vulpine
Power(s): Can become the focus of attention at will. With a little more concentration she can throw the focus on someone or something else.
Origin(s): Tracker discovered Fosa at a beauty pageant in Georgia, where accusations of judge-bribing were beginning to focus — you guessed it! — on her. Her powers are the result of an ancient Voodoo curse on her family — but she's just self-centered enough to be able to take it in stride!

TOP
Name: Mangia
Form: Caprine
Power(s): Adamantine mouth and gullet: can eat and digest any matter
Origin(s): Grew up on a farm in New England. One day when he was just a kid a meteorite struck nearby, and he swallowed it. Tracker found him by accident while he was tracking Sylk — Mangia ate his rowboat.

TOP
Name: Sylk
Form: Phocine
Power(s): Can make anything wet at will
Origin(s): Grew up on the New England coast where a toxic spill forced her out of her natural habitat and onto dry land, where she discovered her new power. Tracker sniffed her out, but she had to rescue him, as Mangia had eaten part of his boat, and he was drowning.

TOP
Name Wilt
Form: Lacertine
Power(s): Makes plants wither
Origin(s): Wilt worked in a greenhouse where chemical pesticides and artificial fertilizer changed him — then he fled to the desert where he could do the least harm. By coincidence he wound up just outside of San Diego, where Tracker immediately sniffed him out. With special training he has learned to fine-tune his power to serve as an anti-fungal, keeping mildew out of the bathroom tiles and curing athlete's foot.

TOP
Name: Bomba
Form: Hystricine
Power(s): Can make self (and sometimes other objects/people) heavier
Origin(s): Bomba had apprenticed himself to a magician in hopes of learning levitation — his aptitude tests showed he had a good chance of learning this talent — but his dyslexia reversed it. He read about the Institute in a Sunday color supplement and called them up. Tracker spotted his indomitable spirit and recruited him to the Team soon afterwards.

TOP
Name: Val
Form: Mephitine
Power(s): Can create illusions — but only of clothing
Origin(s): Val worked in a mall in the Valley when one day she was a victim of a bizarre accident. When she recovered from the accident she found her clothes had been ruined, and discovered her new talent of illusory fashion. All of her creations are of impeccable taste and coordinated to match her eyes. Tracker spotted her when he came into her store to buy a new cloak for Mysto.

TOP
Name: Pathos
Form: Lepine
Power(s): Projected Antipathy
Origin(s): One of the newest members of the Team, Pathos always thought everyone was out to get him — and it turns out he was right. He has the power to project hateful emotions into others around him, but only aimed at himself. Consequently, anyone who comes within a few feet of him gets the urge to slap him.  Pathos is beginning to learn to dampen his power (with concentration) and to direct it, so that only people in one direction may be affected. He was an orphan in the care of nuns all his life, so he is unsure how his powers came to be.

TOP
Name: Reverso
Form: Murine
Power(s): On contact, reverses the psychic powers of others
Origin(s): It took Tracker a long time to figure this one out. The near-comatose dormouse (he suffers from narcolepsy) was registering as a strong psychic until Tracker touched him - changing his talent to smelling people without psychic powers. In effect, having Reverso around makes some of the other heroes' powers much more useful, but unfortunately he can only do this trick for one person at a time, only with contact, and only (generally) while awake. Once his power was figured out, experimenting with the others' powers was a lot of fun. Reverso gained his power (and name) in a bizarre accident at a carnival involving funhouse mirrors. He's still not quite sure this isn't all a dream.

TOP
Name: Cassie
Form: Cervine/Gazelline
Power(s): Antipathic precognition
Origin(s): Cassie was hired to be the Institute secretary, a function she fulfills perfectly, as she can see what's needed before it happens. Unfortunately, if she mentions her precognitions to anybody she won't be believed, due to an unusual reverse-empathic projection associated with her precognitive ability. As far as the Team is concerned, she's just a secretary.

TOP
Name: Zebediah Spivey
Form: Canine
Power(s): Strong Illusion and mind control linked with Musical Theater
Origin(s):
Zeb was abandoned by his conservative parents when he first showed signs of his PD. Taken in by an evil colt of assassin nuns, the boy was brainwashed and trained in deadly arts. His attempt to assassinate Mysto was thwarted, and he has been taken into the Institute. He now attends classes and tries to cope with guilt.

TOP

Confused about the "Form" names? Check here for definitions.

Home | Fun Stuff | Archives | Store | Forum | Cast | Links
E-mail the Artist and Writer

PDI webpage designed by Scott Maddix ©2000, 2001 | PDI Comic, writing and images © Maddix and Port 2000, 2001
Contact us at
woofaboomus@ngender.net