What is "espers"

n. (plural of esper English)

Espers is an American psychedelic folk band from Philadelphia, United States, that is part of the emerging indie folk scene. They formed in 2002 as a trio of singer-songwriter Greg Weeks, Meg Baird and Brooke Sietinsons but later expanded to a sextet including Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall and Chris Smith. Their music is reminiscent of late-sixties British folk as well as many contemporary folk acts such as Six Organs of Admittance. Most of the band's members have also featured on recordings by a number of other folk artists such as Nick Castro and Vashti Bunyan and as a result have become an important part of the psychedelic folk revival.

They released their self-titled debut in 2004 on Locust Music and followed that with an album of cover songs, The Weed Tree, in 2005. This release featured the band's versions of songs by artists as diverse as Nico, The Durutti Column and Blue Öyster Cult. In 2006 the band released their third full-length album, II (presumably so called because it was their second album of original material), on Drag City Records. Their fourth album, III, was released on October 20, 2009.

Espers is the self-titled debut studio album by the band Espers. It was released in 2004 on Locust Music. The album was produced by the group's original trio and establishes their contemporary psychedelic folk sound.

Espers was an independent comic book series created and written by James D. Hudnall. It centered on a disparate group of people with various psychic powers who are brought together under duress and later coalesce as a team. Espers was published intermittently in the 1980s and 1990s by four different companies, including Eclipse, Marvel, and Image, and was re-numbered from issue 1 again each time.

As the series evolved it was revealed that in the Espers' world people imbued with advanced psychic powers (known as 'espers') had been around for hundreds of years, but that their existence had been successfully kept from the general public by a secret conspiracy among a handful of powerful groups, including the Inner Circle, The Triad, and the S.E.A. (among others), all engaged in a generations-long war against one another in the shadows for power, control, and world domination. Events in the series, however, later make the existence of espers publicly known for the first time.

The first five issues in the series were published from 1986-1987 by Eclipse Comics. The first four issues were illustrated by David Lloyd, and the fifth by John Burns. The initial 4-issue story arc, later titled "Espers," introduced the main characters, including team leader Linda Williams, and told the story of their unsuccessful attempt to rescue her father (who had been taken hostage in Beirut by a front group for the Inner Circle). The fifth (and last) issue published by Eclipse was to be the first issue of the second story arc of the series, titled "The Liquidators." But the remaining issues in that story arc were never published by Eclipse, a decision that Hudnall himself attributed in print (in vol. 2, #1 from 1996) to disappointing sales and to an unspecified dispute between Eclipse and himself.

The series languished in limbo for the next couple of years. But it was ultimately moved to Marvel Comics' Epic imprint, where eight issues were published under the title "Interface" from 1989–1991. The first six issues of that series, featuring painted art by Paul Johnson, re-introduced the main characters and re-told the story from the original "Espers" 4-issue story arc in flashback form, before picking up the "Liquidators" story line that had begun in issue #5 from Eclipse. In these issues, the title characters come under simultaneous (but separate) attack from super- assassins hired by the Inner Circle and by the forces of mafia crime lord Benito Giovanetti. Giovanetti's background suggests a link between the Mob, the Inner Circle and the assassination of JFK. The Espers are aided by Alan Black, an assassin for the S.E.A. Issue 7 of this series was an epilogue to that second storyline, with painted art by Bill Koeb. And issue 8 (the last one from Epic) was a sort of dream issue featuring painted art by Dan Brereton. It details an encounter between the Espers and a Mind Dancer ("who tried to kill us with our own subconscious" Simon Ashley later recollects in vol. 3, issue 6), before they're aided by a mysterious 'Master' named Lori who taught them more about their powers before disappearing herself.

The series then suffered its second extended publishing hiatus, this time for over five years before Hudnall himself revived the series in 1996, self-publishing another six issues under his own Halloween Comics imprint from 1996-1997. These issues were numbered as volume 2; 1-6, and comprised the "Undertow" story arc, featuring B&W line art by then-newcomer Greg Horn. Reflecting the real-life publishing schedule of the series, the events in these issues take place several years after those detailed in "Interface." In this story arc, the Espers come to the rescue of a 17-year-old high school girl from California named Skye Lanning, a petulant teenager possessed of powerful psychometric powers, who is being pursued by both the Triad and the Inner Circle. The Espers try to convince a reluctant Skye to join their team instead, for her own protection. The story culminates in a final battle at an Inner Circle headquarters hidden in plain sight at Disney World in Florida.

During that battle it's revealed that all the world's espers originated from a secret human breeding program masterminded by a shadowy group called the "Architects," whose origins date back to the American Revolutionary War. The Architects have sought to alter humanity over hundreds of years through breeding and mysticism. The Inner Circle was formed from this organization in 1880. But then in 1922 a group of espers fled this selective breeding program. The title characters in "Espers" are descended from them, it's revealed at the end of the story, which is why they're referred to as "Renegades" by the Inner Circle and the Traid.

The series was then moved to Image Comics, a decision which Hudnall explained in print at the time as one intended to make the series more broadly available via Image than he could under his own imprint. Image published another seven issues of the series from 1997-1998 (numbered as volume 3; 1-7), the first six of which again featured art by Greg Horn. The first four issues of that run comprised the "Black Magic" story arc. In "Black Magic," the Espers come under attack by the occult branch of the Architects called "The Pentacle," while trying to stop the Architects' master plan to turn the US Navy's High Frequency Active Aural Research Project, or HAARP (described as, "an array of antennae pumping high does of energy into the ionosphere turning it into a transmitter blanketing the Earth")into "the most powerful mind control device on the planet."

In issue 5, the Espers go in search of Alan Black in Chicago, believing that they cannot battle the Architects without the help of the S.E. A. In issue 6, Alan and Simon travel to an S.E.A. cell in Siberia, and Simon finds the 'Master' Lori, too. The last issue (#7) contained art by Gene Gonzales and detailed a trip by Bill, Maria, and Ian to Rio to try to liaise with the Triad, which dominates the city. The series has not seen publication again since issue 7 was published by Image Comics in 1999.