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Volume 2, Issue 4 June 1991 |
Continuing from Issue 3... Rocky is being led around the world - and around by the nose - by Corinna Stark, without knowing why. They jet around the world, ski, boat, golf. "Corinna sez that after so many years of bein' good to other people ... I oughta be good to myself... I must be the luckiest guy in the world... God, she takes and takes.... We sleep all day. At night, Corinna likes to play... I wonder if the guys ever wonder about me..?"  Rocky talks about "goin' back", but is unclear where that is. Corinna is too much of a good thing. "I'm getting too old for this." |
Red is "making a name for himself" in Gotham as the 9MM Vigilante. A gloved hand wakes him one night - Batman's. Gotham's other vigilante donates a plane ticket to "Open". Red quips, "What the hell. I can use a vacation. Besides, there's always another party someplace else." "Nice part about El Segundo is they have a revolution every three minutes." Red leads men into combat. "The side you pick really doesn't matter ... These people just like shooting each other." Red is a technical advisor to the army. The squad leader is Sgt. Bambadora. "La Bamba" likes to shoot anyone, including children. (Ironically, El Segundo is where Red first became a hero by saving the people from a dictator. (See Red's bio.))  Red has a hut, a local girl, a steady job. "I've come a long way from purple pajamas." Soldiers from "the people of El Segundo" ask him to change sides - for gold - and "gut the generalisimo like the pig he is, in the name of justice and mercy." Red shrugs, "Why the hell not?" Red leads the charge into the capital. It seems too easy to reach the general, and is. Sgt Bambadora ambushes him. Red picked a bad time to change sides. Red's only thought is, "I'm getting too old for this." |
Ace Morgan reflects, "What is the expression? You can't get there from here?" He hang-glides over the Amazon jungle. He seeks the Tuto, a tribe that may not exist. He pursues the riddle about the bird that wanted the worm that entered a poison apple, the apple representing the universe (maybe). He was once "Ace Morgan. A Challenger of the Unknown. An exceptional pilot." Now his hang-glider crashes into the trees. He cuts himself loose. "I have much to learn." He crosses a rope bridge. It breaks. He dangles over alligators. Recites a spell, "Boomerang - toomerang!" from "Lady Elaine's book of spells." The alligators freeze. Ace walks on. "Perhaps I have learned more than I give myself credit." Ace rides on a riverboat. The captain is terrified of the Agre, a tribe that seeks to kill the mysterious Tuto. The crew and Ace are riddled by a hail of arrows. The boat and Ace go over a waterfall.  Lying, dying, Ace reflects he's been searching a long time. His last thoughts are, "Prof. Rocky. Red. I am getting too old for this." |
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Harold Moffet, meanwhile, bumbles along. But weirdness keeps finding him. In a grocery store, kids want superheroes to kill supervillains. An old woman wants a cleaver to " cut through flesh." The bagger (Duncan Pramble) goes unnoticed as he juggles mad rhymes in his head. At home, Moffet hears a voice, "DO YOUR JOB". A face (Prof's) stares up from the frying pan. Jody's files appear under Moffet's hand. "These stories... It's like the whole world wants to... kill each other?" As he dozes on the couch, the TV turns on and flicks through bleak news. "... Day camp deaths from poisoned Kool-Aid... Mass suicides on Wall Street... Death at a mid-town flesh parlor..." The only positive note is a quote from JFK, "Ask what you can do for your country..." "OK," demands Moffet, "what the hell is happening to me?" Stay tuned... |
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 This issue starts a letters column answered by Jeph Loeb. A couple of fans are outraged. Most letters praise the efforts. Loeb and Sale respect Jack Kirby's work, they assure us. Fans guess Gaylord Clayburne or "Evilo" (Villo) are the mad bomber. No, but good guesses, and "the clues are all there." Harold Moffet's relationship to the Challs will become clearer, we're told. Likely, since he's included in the mail logo. Looking forward(?) to Part Five... |
Comment Maybe the title should be "Challengers of the Mid-Life Crisis?" |