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Volume 2, Issue 3 May 1991 |
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Continuing from Issue 2... Ace recalls... He, Rocky, and Red stand at the graves of Walter "Prof" Haley and June "Beloved" Robbins to say goodbye. Even there they can't be left alone, for Harold Moffet, sleaze reporter for the National Tattler, braces them. "I know you said you were calling it quits, but did'ja have to mean it? One word from you and we've got a reunion tour!.. New costumes? Masks? Capes?" The guys just walk away - in different directions. The Challengers of the Unknown are officially disbanded. |
Moving on, Ace rents a loft in Greenwich Village from "a strange man" (Dr. Stephen Strange. It's his house.) He mentions that "between the cost of the trial and the restitution", he's poor. (At least the damages for the ruin of Challengerville are paid.) Ace studies magic, feeling like "a child on the first day of school." He found an intriguing reference to an extinct tribe in the Amazon: a bird wished to eat a worm inside a poison apple. How to get it? Again and again, Ace practices pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Eventually he gets a rabbit, then a demon(?), then - Doctor Fate!  Doctor Fate is ticked. "Magic isn't something you can play around with! Knock it off!" Ace levitates, floating upside down in the loft. He should quit, but wonders, "How did the bird get the worm?" |
Meanwhile, people are going nuts all over the country. In Pittsburg, during the filming of Brakeman Bob's Funhouse, a fan pulls a Tek-9 and kills 132 people, then himself. "What possessed Ted to do such a thing?" And our mysterious glam-girl arrives in the USA aboard the QE II. She hopes the Challengers aren't completely broke. "After all, she was one of them." |
Rocky recalls... After the trial, the others didn't want to return to Challengerville. "I kinda had to." The shattered mountain is off limits, Federal Property, behind a fence topped with razor wire. Rocky thinks how the guys were like brothers. Ace advised Rocky to get on with his life. "What life? All I ever had was inside that mountain." Locals glare. Rocky feels ashamed that he quit. He takes up residence in Joe's Bar. A man finds him. Lee Wong is an agent with CAA, Creative Artists Agency. Rocky has a high "Q" rating from the trial. Rocky goes along. Wong "gave me somethin' to do with my life..." |
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Rocky makes "a slew of action pictures." Note how they're all the same - cute effect. "The Milkman" is Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milk Man, based on the comic book by David Boswell. Quality aside, the movies are box office hits. Rocky's on magazine covers and Arsenio Hall's late-night talk show. He makes barrels of money. Yet he's only keeping busy, and talks often about the good old days. "I swear, one time June was fifty feet tall!" Alone, he reflects, "If the guys could see me now... I can hear Ryan telling' me, 'You know, Les, you've become a real jerk!'" Comes a knock at the door - and our mystery woman, Corinna Stark!  |
Corinna wears an hourglass pendant, which is perhaps why Rocky recognizes her. When last seen, she was blonde (COTU 74). Rocky had a crush on her then, but she fell for Red. |
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More mayhem makes the news. A Zephyr Airline pilot, a "calm, gentle man", crashes a jet into a Hyatt Hotel at Indianapolis. 934 people killed. "What came over Charlie Beswick?" Red's out for mayhem too. He recalls... "Blowing through Kansas City, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, Baltimore. Nothing fits." Now that he's in Gotham City, "I got an idea." He buys a pistol and ammunition and walks in the park late. And hears a scream. Two muggers attack a couple. Red blows them away. "I'm in love." On the subway, two more muggers approach with straight razors. He blows them away.  In an alley, two crackheads spray graffiti and smoke. Red blows them away too. Yet he picks up the spray can and paints an hourglass on the wall. He thinks, "We're back in business, boys and girls." He doesn't see the Bat-signal light up a cloud... |
More mayhem. A woman eating in the Seattle Needle restaurant blows it up. 613 people die. "What got into Katy Winston?" And Harold Moffet, no one's favorite hack, packs his desk. "No more Challengers, no more job." Jody, another reporter, has a going-away present. "There's weird stuff going on. I think it's somehow connected." The editors won't let her pursue. She gives the files to Moffet to study.  The files are on people going nuts all across the country. Continued in Part Four... |
Comment Our heroes have clearly lost their anchor. It's not clear they're even sane. Ace flounders, dabbling in magic. Rocky drifts and drinks. Red especially suffers some post-traumatic stress syndrome. He deliberately drags himself through the dirt. No other way to explain his cold-blooded killing. It's sad to see your heroes sink. And they haven't even hit rock bottom yet. |