|
|
|
Taking a break, the Challs ask Red, "So what happened after you nearly got blown to eternity?" The bomb had ripped off Red's clothes and obliterated his memory. Red started to hunt "for myself! For my identity!" What he found was "Me - The Walking Nightmare!" All Red recalled was the volcanic island prison for Multi-Man, Kra, and the other Challenger-Haters. Arriving, MM tricked him into formulating Liquid Light, but Red drank it instead. "A prize boo-boo." The formula changed his mind, making him see everyone "as a menace - a living threat!" (Seen previously in COTU 61.) |
Red changed himself into a giant man-fish and swam for the mainland. Some local fishermen considered him "the Lord of the Ocean!" and hoped to worship him. But Red saw them as pirates and half-killed them, sinking their boat. "Man, I was a real hero that day!" Red had a good supply of the formula with him. (Where? In his swimsuit?) so felt safe. Yet sleeping on the shore, Red the Man-Fish woke in chains. A "beach bum, a harmless rum-soaked crook" named Herbert Pike planned to get rich. |
Red sees even Pike as a "mammoth menace", so listens. Red doesn't want to get rich, he wants to find himself. Pike says, "Listen. Once you've got enough gold... whatever yer lookin' for - it'll find you!" Red agrees to try it, but adds, "Don't cross me, mister - not ever!" So Red was exhibited as the Lord of the Ocean for one pound, or three American dollars. |
 |
"Still, every face I looked on was a menace! All - but one!" A polynesian girl named Tiana serves him dinner every night. She calls him "Nuano", which means "good guy". She can sense he's good, the only explanation she needs.  Red recalls he could see her as harmless and kind. "She always brought the food at sundown - when the formula was wearing off!" |
One night some turbaned cops ask questions. A man was murdered. "The clues say it was a man as strong as a gorilla!" Paranoid, Red retorts, "Any time some powerful nut does something, they'll accuse me, eh? Okay..." "Sore as a boil," Red transforms into a gorilla. Pike is astounded. "You're not just a man-fish - You're a bloomin' wonder!" Red climbs a building as the cops shoot. Pike convinces Red to flee. "You're no ruddy King Kong!" The Army and the Air Force are coming. Red switches into a golden bird, catches Pike, and flies off. Pike boasts, "I'm gonna make ya' a living god!" |
They land on an island with a stone head. "The islanders call him Seekeenakee! They believe he'll come to life some day!" Red tries to morph, actually faking it. "I had some creepy feeling about Pike's new scheme!" Pike tries a new tact. "The clever rat sent for the only living being I trusted!" Tiana, bringing dinner. But she chides Pike. The real Seekeenakee might come to life. Pike slaps her down. "Shut your stupid mouth, girl! You just do your job on the big boy, or -" Enraged, Red transforms into the stone idol. "So, Snake-Who-Walks-Like-a-Man, you come to use my name! Hurt my people! You are fool - for Seekeenakee lives!" |
 |
Pike runs away terrified, so confused he calls for Red to rescue him from Seekeenakee! All should be well. But Tiana teeters on a cliff edge. She calls to the sky, "I - I betrayed stone god of people! I must pay!" Red, the stone idol, runs for her, calling he's Nuano, and that it was a trick! But his great weight crumbles the cliff. He grabs for the girl - and snags only her flower lei. "She's gone. I could have built a new life with her! Now I'm alone again! A lonely, nameless thing!" |
Natives flock to worship Seekeenakee - and Red accepts the job. "Sure, maybe someone will smash me one day - but before then, man - we'll make a big noise!" And the rest we know. (COTU 59) Ace says, "That was a lot of power for one man, Red! Do you ever miss it? That idol worship - being a living god?" |
Red is sad. "Not a chance! There's only one thing I miss from that nightmare - and I've got this withered orchid to remember HER by!"  |