History Characters / WildCATSGrifter

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!!'''Grifter'''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grifter_wildstorm_universe_0001.jpg]]
%%[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
!!! '''Alter ego:''' Cole Cash
!!! '''Species''': Human
!!! '''First appearance''': ''[[ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm WildC.A.Ts]]'' #1 (August, 1992)

''Grifter'' is a comic-book character created by Creator/JimLee and Brandon Choi. He first appeared in ''[[ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm WildC.A.Ts]]'', back when it was still being published by Creator/{{Wildstorm}}, then had a succession of solo series, the most recent of which saw him officially join the Creator/DCComics universe during ''ComicBook/New52''.

In the original Wildstorm continuity, Cole Cash was a former soldier in US Special Forces who later joined ComicBook/Team7, a notorious black ops unit, fighting alongside such luminaries as ComicBook/{{Deathblow}} and [[Characters/StormwatchBacklash Backlash]]. Later, he joined the [=WildC.A.T.s=], alongside ex-girlfriend [[Characters/WildCATSZealot Zealot]].

In the ''New 52'' continuity, Cole Cash is a former soldier who deserted and became a con artist before a run-in with the Daemonites makes him aware of their attempts to infiltrate the world. After slaughtering several Daemonites disguised as humans, he becomes [[TheMostWanted a wanted man and has to go on the run]]. For more details on that series specifically, see ''ComicBook/Grifter2011''.

Another version of Grifter appears in ''ComicBook/TheWildStorm'', as a member of Jacob Marlowe's wild Covert Attack Team alongside new versions of Void, Spartan, and Savant. Different from other versions, here Cole Cash appeas as a normal human instead of having a mutation that gave him superpowers as in other versions.

In any continuity, Grifter is a man who is good with guns and hard to kill.

!!The character as well his series contain examples of:

* AdaptationalDyeJob: In ''ComicBook/TheWildStorm'' reboot, Grifter now is redhead instead blonde as most of his appearances.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Of ComicBook/{{Gambit}}, being the LovableRogue of the group and also having a BadassLongcoat.
** Some parallels can also be drawn with ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} - the color scheme of his mask (red with black trimmings around the eyeholes), his fighting style mixing gunplay and martial arts, HealingFactor (albeit significantly weaker one), and the fact he pretty much ''is'' Wildstorm's [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Merc]] [[DeadpanSnarker with a Mouth]].
* BadassLongcoat: His green longcoat is one of the iconic clothes he has during his story, mostly in [=WildStorm=] era.
** InTheHood: His longcoat in ''ComicBook/TheWildStorm'' receives a hood update as seen in that version's pic.
* BadassBoast: Like any good action hero, Grifter's had a few of those.
** When he's fighting the Quiet Men, after they kidnapped his love interest Zealot, stabbed and beat him and were about to deal out the finishing blow.
-->'''Grifter:''' [[SymbolSwearing @#%&]] you. It's not over. I'll come back from hell if I have to.
* BadassNormal: He's one in ''ComicBook/TheWildStorm'', having no powers but his marksman skills untouched (or at least [[TheUnreveal until now]]).
* BoxedCrook: A young Cole Cash was the getaway driver for a heist crew, until he turned on the crew when they turned violent. An FBI agent (either because he saw something in Cole or because of his mobster stepfather's connections, DependingOnTheWriter) gave him a choice: work for I.O. as a covert operative or go to jail.
* BreakoutCharacter: Ended up getting his solo series and is often used for WolverinePublicity.
* CainAndAbel: Grifter and his brother Max A.K.A. Condition Red fall into this from time to time, particularly due to Cole being TheUnfavorite.
-->[Grifter and Condition Red level their guns at each other] '''Grifter:''' Y'know, we could go get a drink and talk. Want to?
-->'''Condition Red:''' No. [Both lower their weapons] But I guess it beats killing each other. Barely.
* ChainedHeat: Grifter finds himself fighting a monster (actually a robot), when two cops try to intervene. The monster kills one of the cops, and Grifter saves the other one. The monster knocks them out, and Grifter and the cop, Molly Ingram, wake up tied up to opposite ends of a cross while some kind of cult ceremony takes place. Grifter manages to break the cross, and the two of them start fighting the cultists... except their arms are still tied together to two broken chunks of wood.
-->'''Molly Ingram:''' We never practiced this at the police academy!
-->'''Grifter:''' It's not a "practice makes perfect" sort of lifestyle.
* ChildSoldier: One of the recurring bad guys from Steven Grant's run, Odyssey, a former colonel in the Army who's an expert on brainwashing, kidnaps a busload of schoolchildren with the intention of training them into perfect soldiers.
* CivvieSpandex: At first, Grifter's costume was mostly made up of regular street clothing, including a green trenchcoat, slacks and either a black t-shirt or a black turtleneck, plus his mask, gloves and hi-tech bandolier. Later on, Grifter takes this even further, and either just wears regular street clothes or a black t-shirt, combat pants, combat boots and a bulletproof vest.
* ColdSniper: During Team 7 and in various missions of the [=WildCATs=], Grifter takes this place in the team.
* ConMan: Having this fame in [=WildStorm=] continuity, but literally being one during ''New 52''.
* CoolMask: His famous red mask with white eyes and black marks over them... made with a piece of fabric.
** Though the mask is apparently bulletproof and can also serve as an air filter in a pinch.
* {{Crossover}}: Being the [[WolverinePublicity famous character he was in WildStorm]], Grifter received various crossovers not just in [=WildStorm=] itself (like his team-up with ComicBook/{{Midnighter}}):
** With the ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm: he made team with the ComicBook/XMen, ComicBook/{{Spawn}} and the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, and fought against the Franchise/{{Alien}}s and... the Justice League again.
** Alone as Grifter: he teamed up with ComicBook/{{Shi}}, [[ComicBook/YoungBloodImageComics Badrock]], ComicBook/TheMask and in Creator/DCComics, he was part of TheResistance in ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' and fought against ComicBook/GreenArrow in his ''ComicBook/New52'' [[ComicBook/Grifter2011 solo series]].
* CurbStompBattle: When Grifter fights former Stormwatch member Cannon, the fight's initially going Cannon's way. Except turns out Grifter's been briefed on Cannon's powers, and knows all he has to go is wait until Cannon energy charge runs out. Grifter then proceeds to pummel him into unconsciousness in seconds.
* CutTheSafetyRope: In a flashback, Cole confronts his former mentor Arp, who had gone rogue, in the alps. Cole has Arp, who's dangling off the lip of a mountain by some safety rope, in his sights. Arp, instead of shooting Cole when he has the chance, shoots his own safety rope, and falls to his apparent death.
* DeadpanSnarker: Oh yeah. Grifter snarks at both his allies and his enemies, and he never seems to run out of quips.
* DrivenToSuicide:
** In the Wildstorm continuity, Grifter was exposed to an experimental drug called Gen Factor, which activated latent psionic abilities, but often drove those exposed to it insane, often to the point of suicide.
** At least one issue (the one-off written by Grant Morrison) states that Grifter's smoking habit is basically one drawn-out suicide attempt. [[BlackComedy He even threatens to sue the Surgeon General for failing to deliver on his warnings]]. [[spoiler: Of course, since he's undercover as essentially a washed-out version of himself at the time it's debatable how genuine that is.]]
* DrowningMySorrows: Grifter is prone to doing this. After he leaves the team (and seemingly loses his chance at getting back together with Zealot) during the Wildstorm Rising event, the first thing Cole does is hole up in a hotel room with a bottle of cheap whiskey.
* ExpansionPackPast: Grifter has suffered a bit from this. Initially he was just supposed to have been a covert operative who hooked up with Zealot and became her partner-in-crime all the way back in '72. But then creators started adding wrinkles to everything, like his time as a member of Team 7 in the 1970s or his time held prisoner by a South American military junta. While Brandon Choi and Michael Ryan's Gen 12 mini-series does a good job of explaining how most of these pieces fit together, some things, like Cole's time working for the C.I.A., or the period of time when he left Zealot and took off on his own, haven't been addressed.
* {{Expy}}: Interestingly enough, it's an Aversion, despite his similar appearance to ComicBook/RedHood, the two couldn't be any more different.
* FightsLikeANormal: Despite having psionic powers, Grifter usually depends on his own marksmanship skills and his training with the Coda to fight against Daemonites and other enemies and menaces, using his powers only in extreme cases.
* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Grifter once had both of his legs shattered. Thankfully for him, his healing factor meant that he eventually regained the use of his legs.
* GunsAkimbo: In pretty much all his post-Team 7 appearances, Grifter dual wields handguns.
* {{Gunslinger}}: Mostly of the GunFu variety, but he can bust out ImprobableAimingSkills if the need arises and/or circumstances permit.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Grifter had it rough in the aftermath of [[CrisisCrossover ''Fire from Heaven'']]. [[spoiler:Not only did his best friend, Michael Cray, sacrifice himself to stop the BigBad, his teammate Spartan regained memories of his life as Wildstorm's first superhero John Colt - who who was a part of Jacob Marlowe[=/=]Emp's Kheran expedition and had a fling with Grifter's flame Zealot. At one point Grifter catches the two kissing passionately.]] [[MenDontCry "That's when the mask comes in useful,"]] indeed.
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Cole has used this technique from time to time, such as when dangled a Department P.S.I. agent from a hospital window by his tie to get information on where Lynch (who was comatose at the time) was moved to, or during a brief scene from James Robinson's [=WildCATs=] run when he interrogates a Daemonite by hanging him upside down from the top of a building, Batman-style.
* IKnowYoureWatchingMe: During Cole's first trip to I.O. headquarters, he makes a hidden camera watching him, and stares right at it. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that he was just a teenager with no training back then. I.O. Director Miles Craven even comments on Cole's amazing "perceptual awareness".
* ImprovisedWeapon: In Point Blank #2, Cole is fighting an IO agent, and resorts to shoving the agent's head into a toilet, which proves quite effective.
* JustFollowingOrders: When Cole and Lynch have an argument over [[ComicBook/{{Backlash}} Slayton's]] role in their fateful mission in Leningrad, Cole makes it clear he doesn't buy this excuse.
-->'''Lynch:''' I paid for Leningrad. We all paid. You can't blame Slayton.
-->'''Cole:''' If you say he was just following orders, I swear I'll--!
* LatexPerfection: Cole uses one of these to pose as Agent Brockmeyer when Commander Thomas Morgan interviews him in Gen 12.
* MeaningfulName: Not at first, granted, but eventually writers evidently cottoned onto the [[ConMan actual meaning of his name]] and Grifter started [[GuileHero outwitting his enemies almost as much as outshooting them]]; it's also pretty much assumed that every time he's shown playing cards (which happens more often that one might think) he's probably cheating.
* MidfightWeaponExchange: Grifter and his brother, Condition Red, end up swapping weapons while fighting Little Johnny Dollars' forces, so that Grifter uses one of his own V.A.D.s and one of Condition Red's guns, and vice versa.
* MrViceGuy: sarcastic, standoffish, foulmouthed, not averse to a bit of petty crime on the side, [[DependingOnTheWriter occasionally a bigot]], chain-smoker and a bit of a drunk. Still unambiguously on the side of the good guys.
* NoodleIncident: The Leningrad incident, first referenced in The Kindred mini-series, although that incident is eventually depicted in the pages of Team 7: Dead Reckoning.
** When Grifter encounters an arms dealer in Grifter volume 2 #12, he mentions the last time they met was in Pamplona and had something to do with the Running of the Bulls.
* OddFriendship: With ComicBook/{{Midnighter}}, who sometimes made a TeethClenchedTeamwork with Grifter to finish an enemy in common, as in their mini-series ''Grifter/Midnighter''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: In ''Sleeper'', Holden Carver (who looks to be about the same age as Grifter) narrates that he'd heard stories about what a badass Cole Cash was since he was a little kid. He also mentions that Cash's been a special operative since the seventies. It varies from artist to artist, but Grifter looks to be in his early to mid-thirties at most. This is confirmed in ''Team 7'', when one of the secondary effects of being affected by the Gen Active is his HealingFactor that makes him grow slower than the rest (probably having more than 50s when he joined [=WildCATs=]).
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Grifter encounters more than a few of these types of mercenary. Whereas Grifter tends to be more principled and follow a code (most of the time, anyway), mercs like Tanager, Charlatan or Cole's old training officer Arp will pretty much work for anyone and do anything for the right price.
* OutfitDecoy: Grifter tosses one of Odyssey's men, wearing his mask, trenchcoat and gloves, in front of his comrades. The soldier gets riddled with bullets, and Grifter proceeds to pop up and gun the others down.
* TheParalyzer: Grifter's V.A.D.s have a non-lethal setting (that is, [[DependingOnTheWriter when they're portrayed as firing lasers and not bullets]]).
* PillowPistol: When [[spoiler:Max comes back as a zombie]] and breaks into Cole's apartment in the middle of the night, Cole reaches under his pillow for a semi-automatic pistol.
* PsychicBlockDefense: As a result of Zealot teaching Cole how to remove (as well as recover when necessary) his PsychicPowers, his mind is almost impossible (according to Tao) to break into. Emphasis on almost, though, seeing as Tao did eventually find a way in. Later on, Lynch gives Cole all-new, even more powerful psychic blocks, to the point where Cole is now immune to Peter Grimm's powers (which can even cut through Holden Carver's defenses, and are basically more powerful than even Tao's).
* PsychicPowers: The experiment he was part of gives him psionic powers, being one of the most powerful characters of [=WildStorm=] universe. However, he can lose control of it and be DrivenToSuicide, so he prefers not to use it (unless in extreme cases) resorting to FightLikeANormal.
** The origin of his powers: in [=WildStorm=] (''ComicBook/Team7'') he was part of a false mission in which all his team became [[UnwittingTestSubject guinea pigs]] for an experiment to create metahumans basing on radiation (called as the "Gen Factor"). This was changed with his [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] in ''ComicBook/New52'' with the Daemonites abduction got them as a side effect, discovered in the last numbers of his solo series.
* RayGun: Grifter's V.A.D.s.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Cole and his friend Michael Cray witness their former Team 7 comrade Stephen Callahan and his family being ambushed by I.O. forces. When Callahan's wife Rachel is shot dead, Cole [[SayMyName shouts out her name]]... even though they didn't have a single scene together, and she hadn't even been with Callahan for long.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:''Everything'' Grifter does in ''Point Blank'' just furthers [[BigBad Tao's]] agenda; and, to add insult to injury, he's left with no memories of the whole thing at the end.]]
* WallOfWeapons: Cole has one of these in {{ComicBook/The Wild Storm}}.
** The OG Grifter once found himself in the armory of the Authority's Carrier. Saying he was [[GunNut giddy with happiness]] would be selling it waaay short:
--> '''Grifter''': ''The choice [[SomethingElseAlsoRises isn't the only thing that's hard.]]''
* WhyAmITicking: Mobster Little Johnny Dollar hatches up a slightly convoluted scheme to kill [[spoiler:Condition Red]] by [[spoiler:having him assigned to protect]] a woman who's set to take the witness stand against Little Johnny Dollar... except it turns out that [[spoiler:the woman was working for Little Johnny Dollar all along; she's got terminal cancer and is in debt to him, and the mobster agreed not to go after her daughter if she let him place an explosive device inside her stomach so she could kill Condition Red for him]].
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Exposure to Gen Factor can give you psionic powers, but it might also make you insane.
* WolverinePublicity: This is seen often in the first incarnation of [=WildStorm=] in which Grifter was one of the most known characters of this brand and was put into every issue they could do.
* WolverineWannabe: Grifter takes after Wolverine minus the claws, but otherwise possesses many traits including: he was a former military in ComicBook/Team7 and part of the unwilling experiment of radiation to becoming a HumanWeapon. Like most of his partners of the Team 7, he rebelled against their bosses and deserted to get a career as a superhero by his own, joining to the [=WildCATs=]. He has an advanced HealingFactor, in one time he was [[BettyAndVeronica the "Betty"]] in the LoveTriangle between the amazon Zealot and TheHero Spartan, and has the WolverinePublicity for the Creator/{{Wildstorm}} publisher.
* WouldHitAGirl: In Grifter's own words, "I don't like decking women-- but what can I say? I get a little politically incorrect when my life is on the line."
* YouFightLikeACow: Grifter loves doing this, even when he's sparring with someone.
-->'''Cole:''' (fighting his old hand-to-hand instructor's new students) I remember when your flunkies showed talent. Things get so slow you have to recruit out of drunk tanks now?
----

In the original Wildstorm continuity, Cole Cash was a former soldier in US Special Forces who later joined ComicBook/Team7, a notorious black ops unit, fighting alongside such luminaries as ComicBook/{{Deathblow}} and ComicBook/{{Backlash}}. Later, he joined the [=WildC.A.T.s=], alongside ex-girlfriend ComicBook/{{Zealot}}.

** Alone as Grifter: he teamed up with ComicBook/{{Shi}}, [[ComicBook/YoungBlood Badrock]], ComicBook/TheMask and in Creator/DCComics, he was part of TheResistance in ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' and fought against ComicBook/GreenArrow in his ''ComicBook/New52'' [[ComicBook/Grifter2011 solo series]].

* CutTheSafetyRope: A flashback shows that, when Cole confronted his former mentor Arp, who had gone rogue, in the alps, Arp, instead of shooting Cole when he had the chance, shot his own safety rope, and fell to his apparent death.

* CainAndAbel: Grifter and his brother, Condition Red fall into this from time to time, particularly due to Cole being TheUnfavorite.

* CainAndAbel: Grifter and his brother, Condition Red fall into this, from time to time, particularly due to Cole being TheUnfavorite.

** When he's fighting the Quiet Men, after the Quiet Men kidnapped his love interest Zealot, stabbed him, threw him onto the ground and crowed around him about to attack:
-->'''Grifter:''' @#%£ you. It's not over. I'll come back from hell if I have to.

* StunGun: Grifter's V.A.D.s have a non-lethal setting (that is, [[DependingOnTheWriter when they're portrayed as firing lasers and not bullets]]).

!!! '''First appearance''': ''[[ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm WildC.A.Ts]]'' #1 (January 1992)

In the original Wildstorm continuity, Cole Cash was a former soldier in US Special Forces who later joined ComicBook/Team7, a notorious black ops unit, fighting alongside such luminaries as ComicBook/{{Deathblow}} and ComicBook/{{Backlash}}. Later, he joined the [=WildC.A.T.s=], alongside ex-girlfriend Zealot.

* PsychicPowers: The experiment he was part of gives him psionic powers, being one of the most powerful characters of [=WildStorm=] universe. However, he can lose control of it and be DrivenToSuicide, so he prefers not to use it (unless in extreme cases) and so resorts to FightLikeANormal.

* PsychicPowers: The experiment he was part of gives him psionic powers, being one of the most powerful characters of [=WildStorm=] universe. However, he can lose control of it and can get to be DrivenToSuicide, so he prefers not to use it (unless in extreme cases) and so resorts to FightLikeANormal.

* PsychicPowers: The experiment he was part of gives him psionic powers, being one of the most powerful characters of [=WildStorm=] universe. However, he can lose control of them and can get to be DrivenToSuicide, so he prefer not to use it (unless in extreme cases) and going to FightLikeANormal.

* PsychicPowers: The experiment he was part of gives him psionic powers, being one of the most powerful characters of [=WildStorm=] universe. However, he can lost control of it and can going to be DrivenToSuicide, so he prefer not to use it (unless in extreme cases) and going to FightLikeANormal.

** InTheHood: His longcoat in ''ComicBook/TheWildStorm'' receives a hood update as seen in the main pic.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gallerycomics_1920x1080_20170315_tws_issue_02_cover_58cb419ba0574240413038.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Grifter as seen in ''ComicBook/TheWildStorm'']]

!!! '''First appearance''': ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'' #1 (January 1992)

''Grifter'' is a comic-book character created by Creator/JimLee and Brandon Choi. He first appeared in ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'', back when it was still being published by Creator/{{Wildstorm}}, then had a succession of solo series, the most recent of which saw him officially join the Creator/DCComics universe during ''ComicBook/New52''.

!!! '''First appearance''': ''ComicBook/WildCATs'' #1 (January 1992)

''Grifter'' is a comic-book character created by Creator/JimLee and Brandon Choi. He first appeared in ''ComicBook/WildCATs'', back when it was still being published by Creator/{{Wildstorm}}, then had a succession of solo series, the most recent of which saw him officially join the Creator/DCComics universe during ''ComicBook/New52''.

** With the ComicBook/WildCATs: he made team with the ComicBook/XMen, ComicBook/{{Spawn}} and the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, and fought against the Franchise/{{Alien}}s and... the Justice League again.

* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Cole has used this technique from time to time, such as when dangled a Department P.S.I. agent from a hospital window by his tie to get information on where Lynch (who was comatose at the time) was moved to, or during a brief scene from James Robinson's WildCATs run when he interrogates a Daemonite by hanging him upside down from the top of a building, Batman-style.

!!! '''First appearance''': ''ComicBook/WildCATS'' #1 (January 1992)

''Grifter'' is a comic-book character created by Creator/JimLee and Brandon Choi. He first appeared in ''ComicBook/WildCATS'', back when it was still being published by Creator/{{Wildstorm}}, then had a succession of solo series, the most recent of which saw him officially join the Creator/DCComics universe during ''ComicBook/New52''.

* ColdSniper: During Team 7 and in various missions of the [=WildCATS=], Grifter takes this place in the team.

** With the ComicBook/WildCATS: he made team with the ComicBook/XMen, ComicBook/{{Spawn}} and the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, and fought against the Franchise/{{Alien}}s and... the Justice League again.

* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Cole has used this technique from time to time, such as when dangled a Department P.S.I. agent from a hospital window by his tie to get information on where Lynch (who was comatose at the time) was moved to, or during a brief scene from James Robinson's WilDCATS run when he interrogates a Daemonite by hanging him upside down from the top of a building, Batman-style.

* OlderThanTheyLook: In ''Sleeper'', Holden Carver (who looks to be about the same age as Grifter) narrates that he'd heard stories about what a badass Cole Cash was since he was a little kid. He also mentions that Cash's been a special operative since the seventies. It varies from artist to artist, but Grifter looks to be in his early to mid-thirties at most. This is confirmed in ''Team 7'', when one of the secondary effects of being affected by the Gen Active is his HealingFactor that makes him grow slower than the rest (probably having more than 50s when he joined [=WildCATS=]).

* WolverineWannabe: Grifter takes after Wolverine minus the claws, but otherwise possesses many traits including: he was a former military in ComicBook/Team7 and part of the unwilling experiment of radiation to becoming a HumanWeapon. Like most of his partners of the Team 7, he rebelled against their bosses and deserted to get a career as a superhero by his own, joining to the [=WildCATS=]. He has an advanced HealingFactor, in one time he was [[BettyAndVeronica the "Betty"]] in the LoveTriangle between the amazon Zealot and TheHero Spartan, and has the WolverinePublicity for the Creator/{{Wildstorm}} publisher.