Origin

Simon Pure was a British redcoat during the American Revolution. He was part of the garrison that, including Hessian mercenaries, waited for the Continental Army on the Trenton side of the Delaware River. He was also a bit of a coward and a fool. He absconded his post and found himself often chased and needing to hide from the colonial Minute Men. While hiding in a church, he wakes to The Founding Fathers, a group of hooded men, preparing a magical ritual. They sought to enchant American politician, Ben Franklin, however, Simon lost his footing while trying to witness it and fell in front of Ben Franklin, absorbing the enchantment instead. He was now immortal.

Creation

Redcoat debuts in Geiger 80-Page Giant in a short story titled "Who is Redcoat?" by Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch.

He is one of The Unnamed, a group of unrelated strange heroes of American history. An advertisement for this new project included a timeline. On the timeline was: 1776 - Redcoat becomes immortal.

Major Story Arcs

1802: The Headless Horseman

For the last five years, Simon had an annual reunion with Johnny Appleseed, the only man Simon would describe as his friend. They would drink Johnny's apple cider and tell stories of their adventures. However, in 1802, Johnny, who could see magic, would ask Simon for help with a town that was being haunted by the Headless Horseman. The monster turned out to be just a sad ghost looking for its head. Simon found it in the hands of an actor performing a rendition of Hamlet. Once the skull was returned, the ghost moved on.

1814: The Burning of the White House

On that fateful day in August in 1814, Simon was invited to the White House by one of the cooks to play poker. At the same time, the White House was ransacked by British troops and set ablaze. Simon was mistaken by American troops for the arsonist due to his redcoat. As he ran through the building looking for an exit, he ran past the first lady, Dolly Madison. She was trying to save the portrait of George Washington. Simon couldn't stop himself from helping. Simon was forced to fight George Cockburn and his troops to get Dolly and the painting out of the White House.

1816: The Arsonist

During Simon's annual reunion with Johnny Appleseed, Johnny convinced Simon yet again to help a town in need. This town was attacked by an arsonist. As a farmer, Johnny only wanted to help them clean up and rebuild. As a soldier and a killer, Simon wanted to get petty revenge. That night, Simon was able to convince Johnny to track the arsonist down after a few drinks and proposing a harmless prank would be enough comeback.

Simon overestimated his tracking abilities while drunk, and they ended up going in circles. Johnny tried to borrow Simon's magic to enchant an apple into rolling toward their target. The spell backfired when the apple grew exponentially, as did the earthworm inside it. They spent the whole night chasing the worm so Simon could reabsorb his magic and return it to its original size. The apple they gave to the town for food as its enormous height.

With the night wasted, Johnny and Simon parted ways. Now alone, Simon eventually caught up with the arsonist. After beating him up, Simon handed him over to a local sheriff, due to Johnny's positive influence.

1864: Meeting The Northerner

Simon was working as a courier in Marietta, GA during the Civil War for a Confederate fixer known as The Cobbler, when he is approached by a man dressed as a Union soldier known only as The Northerner. The Northerner revealed he was a time traveler from a future where the Confederacy won the Civil War, and he had come to the past to ensure that doesn't happen. He needs Simon's help tracking The Cobbler, who was also a time traveler, who had come to the past to ensure the Confederacy's success. He leveraged the connection Simon's immortality enchantment has to the continued well-being of America.

The trio tracked The Cobbler down, but he opened fire on them with his guns from the future. Northerner had similar artillery, but they lost the Cobbler when he threw a few grenades at them. They caught up with him during an arms deal with Confederates. Northerner charged guns-blazing, but Simon was overwhelmed with visions of Northerner's present. When the Cobbler got the drop on Northerner, Simon returned to his sense and tossed a grenade into Cobbler's weapons cache. The resulting explosion killed the Cobbler, but not before he boasted about more time travelers.

Just then, the Northerner was transported through time against his wishes. Simon dropped the girl off at an underground Railroad safehouse per Northerner's instructions and then finally picked a side in the war by joining the Union Army.

1873: Run In With the Benders

In 1873, having his fill of wild west adventures, Simon made his way back to the civility east coast. He knocked on a cabin looking for shelter from a rainstorm. Unfortunately, this cabin belonged to the Bloody Benders, an infamous family of serial killers. They killed Simon like any old victim, but when he was resurrected in their mass grave, he got his vengeance on them. He disposed of their bodies, leading local authorities to believe that they disappeared having never faced justice.

1890: Meeting Annie Oakley

While running from a card game he was cheating at, Simon stumbled into Memphis, TN. There, he met famed sharpshooter, Annie Oakley. She was challenging all the gun-hands in town to challenge themselves against her skill. Simon's conspicuous soldier's uniform got him volunteered by the audience. He managed to impress Annie as he kept up with her shooting cans and playing cards and more. Before they could determine a winner, they were interrupted when the Rogers Brothers Gang opened fire. They were trying to break their baby brother out of jail. Annie recruited Simon to help her put the violent men down, but Simon almost wimped out. He had no confidence that his aim would be true when the stakes were this high, however, Annie managed to motivate him. He took out the fifth and final gang member without harming the child he had taken hostage. With the day saved, Annie offered Simon a chance to join her travelling wild west show, but he refused when he learned she was married.

1892: The Great Fire

After being hunted down by the cousin of a man he killed, Redcoat awoke in a shallow grave. He was dug up by a thirteen year old Albert Einstein, who had been watching him. Einstein needed his magics to stop a "Great Evil." Unfortunately, members of The Founding Fathers got the drop on them, for the first time since Simon saw them in 1776. They were able to injure Redcoat with an enchanted weapon, the Axe of Lies, before being run off. Not knowing the effects of the weapon, Simon and Einstein traveled to New York City to talk to the only other immortal that Simon knew of, Benedict Arnold. He informed Simon that the Axe of Lies originally belonged to George Washington and that previous immortal victims died three days after being cut by it.

While waiting for Benedict to return to his mansion, Simon and Einstein are attacked and kidnapped by the Founding Fathers, including the thought dead Washington. The axe wound was the first of three ritual bloodlettings needed to extract magic from Simon to conjure the "Great Fire." The two were rescued by Benedict, who managed to track the cult, but during their escape, Simon was cut once more. In his research, Einstein learned if the Axe cuts a different person before sunrise on the third day, the axe's curse will be broken. Simon decided to chance his third bloodletting to get close to it. Benedict accompanied Simon to a boat party Washington was supposedly attending, but just outside the boat, Simon was betrayed by Benedict. He revealed he was The Grand Architect of The Founding Fathers and cut Simon for the third time.

Simon was tied to a ritual table while Benedict and the other cultists waited for sunrise. The sun would turn Simon into a gateway of hellfire, igniting American soil and giving Benedict a fresh country to rebuild. However, as the sun reflected off the moon, hellfire would pulse from Simon as the door began to crack. This fire killed the cultists and set Benedict ablaze. Luckily, Einstein boarded the boat and stole the axe from Benedict. He used it on himself, ending the prophecy and shutting the door to hellfire. The damage to the boat caused it to sink into the ocean, trapping Benedict on the ocean floor. Simon and Einstein managed to make it back to shore, with the Founding Father's magic book (and the answers to Simon's condition) presumably lost.

1909: Return of Benedict Arnold

By 1909, Simon Pure had settled down in Boston, MA. He took the name Simon Plum, got a job as a tailor, and started a family. He met Maggie his wife and had two kids, Albie and May. He had put his adventuring behind him until Albert Einstein, now 30, tracked him down with news that Benedict Arnold has resurfaced.

2019: Monster Hunt

After three people went missing in the Rocky Mountains in 2019, Simon Pure was hired to hunt and capture The Monster by a special US defense program. They tagged the monster and re-released it.

A few years later, he was called again when The Monster's tracker went dead after a run-in with a prison transport.

Character Profile

• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 205 lbs
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: Blond
• Known Relatives: Maggie Plum (wife, m. early 1900s), May Plum (daughter, b. 1904), Albert Plum (son, b. 1905)

Powers & Abilities

Immortal: Redcoat has lived especially long at the same age. He was born in 1749 and made it to at least 2050. He can still be killed, but his body will regenerate typically (but not always) within 24 hours.

• Healing: Redcoat can heal from most injuries and never ages
• Satiation: No matter how much he eats, he is always famished.
• Limitation: Simon only stays immortal within the borders of the United States for as long as the United States exists.

Magic: Simon has shown that if he learns an incantation, he is able to successfully conjure magic.

Military Training: Redcoat was trained as a colonial era British army soldier. He has continued that training through the years as weapons technology has advanced.

Other Media

Film

• It was announced on November 14, 2025, that Redcoat would be adapted for cinemas by Geoff Johns for Atlas Entertainment.