The Hangman’s Horde
The Hangman’s Horde is a gang of Outsiders led by Hank the Hangman. Joan, Sid, Tim, and The Demon are also part of this group. Joan is the general, and The Demon has been absent for an unknown amount of time.
The members of the Hangman’s Horde are mountain people who live in the Wilderness, and it shows in their dress - animal skins, furs, and bones are common materials. Just as common are manufactured items that made it out of the city one way or another - a pair of overalls here, a keeper’s helmet there. The members of the horde carry firearms and are seen traveling via automobile.
Issue 1
During Gruff and Subject’s Underground meeting, it is revealed that the Horde were available to trade with at some point. but are now known to operate as we have seen with all who cross their path: Hank gives a “sermon” of sorts, then offers the choice to convert or die.
True to the stories, when we see the Hangman’s Horde in Savages!, they claim to have received a message from a vision which tells them,
“[T]his world will be destroyed, but that will not be our end. Forever will dawn when [Boomtown] is ash and its buried truth is liberated.”
Hank tells the slummers that they oppose the Black Pyramid and all who support it. The slummers are offered the chance to support the Horde in their eventual assault on the city. When they refuse, Hank orders their massacre. The Horde appears to take pleasure in murdering the defenseless crowd. Ricky is spared for having “lightened the burden” and is left behind
Subject is stunned to learn from Gruff that Hank would leave a survivor without taking them with him.
Issue 2
As they drive to the Ruckus, Hank explains to Sid that with the connection Tim has made to access a tunnel into Boomtown and the pamphlet they got from Ricky indicating a readiness in the people of Boomtown for a figure to unite them against their oppressive government, “only one thing remains.”
At the Ruckus, Abarth says some of the members of the Horde were kicked out of the gathering for unspecified aggression. Abarth also insinuates that the Horde has often gone hungry, and gives them an open invitation to join his tribe.
Sid makes it clear that he believes their focus should be on conquering the Wilderness tribes. This seems to have been Hank’s feeling as well before the story began - Sid complains that Hank has been drifting from the causes Sid believed in.
Joan arrives at the Ruckus and tells Hank they have found his brother staying with a distant tribe. They immediately travel to the tribe and seek The Demon out. Hank is told that his brother did not want visitors. The Horde dines with the mystic leader instead, who speaks of ghosts and monsters. Some of the Horde affirm they have heard and believe in these things as well. Hank realizes he has been drinking a hallucinogen and has a psychoactive experience while the mystic leader engages in a tradition venerating a supernatural entity named Ata Atsu and asserting power over the life/death cycle.
After the ritual, a sobered Hank admonishes the Mystic for claiming a false power and misleading his tribe, and possibly himself. The Mystic refuses Hank’s invitation to join the tribe, and Hank strikes him, sending the old man to the ground gasping for air. Donnie witnesses this interaction, having awoken from his own stupor nearby. Hank follows him to his tent, and they speak.
Joan explains that their resources are dwindling and the Horde is bordering on cannibalism - whether figurative or literal is not clear. We learn that Donnie and Hank disagree about the vision’s message and the relic they are seeking:
Hank refers to “the burden” when Donnie chides him for his “slaving and slaughtering.” Donnie responds, “Well, you have your burden and I have mine.” He further alludes to Hank losing sight of the importance of finding the relic over building an army.
Donnie believes they will find the relic first, and the minds of men will be ‘changed’. Hank believes they must demand that others align with the Horde in their mission to find the relic.
Donnie believes the relic may be found somewhere in the wilderness - somewhere that won’t require confrontation. Hank believes it can only be in the city, and that the urgency of acting now is clear from an alignment of recent events - Tim’s procurement of a way inside the city, Ricky’s pamphlet indicating the Towners are looking for a savior, and the one remaining thing - finding Donnie.