Origins 2

Title	"Chapter 2"
Edition #	2
Published	June 6, 2007
Writer	Peter Johnson
Artists	Matthew Dow Smith Tim Sale (cover)
Editor	Ben Abernathy
Outline	John Winchester’s investigation into his wife’s horrifying murder plunges him deeper into the world of the supernatural. On the trail of the monstrous killer, John heads west with his children in tow, seeking aid in his quest and some answers...
Location(s)	Tempe, Arizona Eureka, California
Timeline	December 1983
[[{{{previssue}}}|« Previous Issue]] | [[{{{nextissue}}}|Next Issue »]]

I'm running out of answers. Probably because I've got too many questions myself. Here's a tough one: What kind of man takes the advice of a psychic and throws his whole life away? Another: What kind of father takes his kids out on the road to pursue a dangerous killer? The answers seem easy. Either he's insane, he's desperate, or he's a fool. Fact is, I have no idea what's out there. Or where I'm going. Or what's next. But one thing's for sure. We ain't in Kansas anymore. – John Winchester, Supernatural: Origins #2

Summary

Date: December 1983
Places: Lawrence, Kansas - Tempe, Arizona - Eureka, California

Missouri insists that it is time for John and the boys to leave. She sends him to Arizona to find a man named Fletcher Gable who identifies the tooth as belonging to a black shuck -- a kind of overgrown hellhound. He gives John a gift before he leaves -- a blank journal for John to record everything he encounters.

After they have left, a mysterious man knocks on Fletchers door, looking for the Winchesters.

Further down the long road, John and the boys arrive in California, where John takes a small detour to purchase a rifle. He's not sure what he's going to have to face, but he wants to be prepared. A knock on their motel door panics them, and as Dean and Sam hide under the bed, John cautiously opens the door. It is the same man who has followed them from Arizona. Dean refers to him as Uncle Jacob, while John reassures the man that although he may have felt like a father figure to Mary, there was no way he was taking the boys from John. He explains that he has an errand to run and asks Jacob to accompany him. The boys are left in the care of the woman who runs the motel and Jacob insists that they take his car -- a black Impala.

They arrive at the Hidden Hills Cemetery and start looking around. Just as they are about to give up, John sees a crypt with markings that match those on the tooth. Jacob barges into the crypt first and is attacked by the black shuck. John is also attacked, but is saved by the timely arrival of another mysterious man who shoots the hound. He says he is a hunter and was sent by Fletcher to help out, but doesn't reveal his name. The hound has been scared off and John wants to get Jacob to a hospital. The hunter says that a hospital won’t be able to help and convinces John that they need to destroy evidence of what happened. Reluctantly, John agrees and the almost-dead Jacob is bundled in John's old car and pushed off a cliff into a lake. He reassures John that they've done the right thing and reveals one last thing to John -- it wasn't the black shuck that killed Mary.

Characters

• John Winchester: Husband to Mary Winchester, who becomes obsessed with finding out what killed his wife.
• Dean Winchester: Five-year-old son of John and Mary Winchester, who hasn't spoken a word since the death of his mother.
• Sam Winchester: Eight-month-old son of John and Mary Winchester.
• Fletcher Gable: A hunter that Missouri Moseley sends John to find out what creature the tooth they found belongs to.
• Hunter: An unnamed hunter that takes John under his wing, and shows him the ins and outs of hunting.
• Jacob: Brother to Mary, who seeks John to bring Sam and Dean back to Lawrence. He dies accompanying John on his black shuck hunt.

Definitions

• Devil's Gate
• John's Journal

Notes

• John buys a 12-gauge shotgun from the store.
• In Arizona, they are in room 12 of the Motel 8 in Eureka.
• Dean calls Jacob "uncle" and John refers to the fact that he acted as a father figure to Mary after her parents died. Jacob also refers to the boys as his nephews -- this probably indicates that he was Mary's older brother.
• The Impala belonged to Jacob. However when the comic was released in trade paperback form, changes were made so that John owned the Impala from the start, bringing it in line with the history established in the show.