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Volume 2, Issue 6 August 1991 |
Continued from last issue (COTU V2 5)... Ace pursued mysticism in the Amazon. Rocky crashed in rehab. Red, tortured for months, broke prison. And far away, a reporter scratches his head... |
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"My name is Harold Moffet. That's with two "F"s... For years I covered the Challengers of the Unknown. No more Challengers, no more job. That's gratitude for you." "Either I'm crazy, or I've
uncovered the story of a lifetime. And no matter what anybody
tells you... I'm not crazy." He thinks, "I've
never worked this hard on anything. And for the life of me, I
don't know what I've got!" |
The headlines are sensational and jarring, because the photos show smiling people. "Nerd Killer. Stock Market Jumper. Kool-Aid Killers. Tragedy Victim Arson." Killers and suicides with no records of violence, such as the commercial pilot who dove an airliner into downtown (COTU V2 3). Moffet figures, "Everyone has their own nuthouse theory. Including you know who. Maybe I AM crazy." His best line: "I had a good lead. Rocky got this cat... then it died. Challenger Mountain exploded! Prof and June were killed! The Challs went on trial for murder!.. OK, so maybe the cat wasn't involved, but you never know..." |
He's ready to quit. "Been looking at this same pile of crap for weeks!" He throws photos around. "Nothing! Nowhere! Bupkis! Zero! Zilch!" One photo catches his eye. "Hey... I know this guy." Shown lurking in an alley on the day the mountain exploded is - some weird guy. Like a real reporter, Moffet shows the photo around a city. "He works at the supermarket." At the supermarket, gets a name: "Duncan Pramble." Finds his apartment. "Name sounds so familiar..." Finds tools (for bomb making). Finds a calling card for Tiffany's Escort Service. Calls using Pramble's name and orders "the usual". |
The escort arrives. "You're not Duncan." Moffet pays her and fights temptation, thinking, "Maybe I should take advantage of this situation..." The hooker unloads about Pramble. Weird guy who paid "five bills" for a hooker but just watched the trial for "those whatchamacallits - Challenger guys"... blah blah blah... "Mister, are you listening to me? This guy Duncan Pramble says HE blew up Challenger Mountain!" (And we know Pramble used to be Multi-Man until he lost his powers.) |
Ace wanders the Amazon. Helped by a local shaman, Ace achieved a magical epiphany and walked through dimensions. He returned a long time after - and found ashes. "Because of my absence, their village was destroyed. Forgive me. I do not know how long I was gone. I do not know anything..." Ace stops for a drink at a pool and discovers his hair has turned white. "What am I going to do with my life?" |
The answer comes as his reflection turns into Red's. His friend stands amid flames with a gun to his head.  "I... must act. I... must find... my friend..." Tracing a door in the water, Ace dives in. |
Ace pops up behind Red, who's surrounded as the El Segundo fortress burns. He prepares to blow out his brains. "If this is what you get for livin' on borrowed time... what good is living?" Distracted himself, Ace forgets a vital safety rule, and surprises a desperate man with a weapon. "Ryan. Put down the gun!" Red spins and fires the entire magazine. Ace grabs his gun. "He is... insane!" Red throws wild punches. Ace dives and kicks. They brawl. Red jams the gun in Ace's face. "You're a dead man, mister!" "Ryan, I am Kyle Morgan!" "Kyle...?" Soldiers charge from every door as the fortress burns. Red snarls, "You picked a helluva time to pay me a visit!" |
Ace strikes a mystic pose. Red asks, "Is this some kind of kung-fu horse-hockey you're doing? 'Cause we're gonna need artillery with this bunch!" Ace concentrates. He's never transported another person. "Bibbibi, bibbidi, boo!" Red calls him a fruitcake - as they disappear! |
The Tri-Corp Clinic in upstate New York is like the Betty Ford Clinic, "except not all the patients are here of their own free will!" People testify to addictions. "Les, would you like to participate?" Rocky rails. "I don't belong here. This is for losers! Wimps! I'm a hero! I was a hotdamn Challenger of the Unknown! An idol 'o millions!" He's hauled away to his room. |
Dr. Franz tries hypnosis. Rocky keeps having the same dream... He's in the boxing ring. Prof is his corner man. Rocky begs for help, "some kind of power gloves or something." (Those would be the power gloves from COTU 49.) His opponent is shrimpy Multi-Man, who calls him an imbecile, dolt, and oaf. He pounds Rocky, yet the Challenger won't fight back. MM orders, "Give up!"  (Note that Rocky, who's considered a dummy, senses the larger forces at work. Prof helps him from the other side of reality. Multi-Man, not seen in years, is his opponent. Rocky's way more perceptive than he knows.) |
Rocky dream-dances with women. Wonder Woman. Catwoman. Corinna Stark. They ask what he wants from a woman. Rocky grasps at straws. "What do you want me to say?" He sees June. "June loved Prof! She never loved me! I just want... to be loved." Rocky dwells on his childhood in New Jersey. "I was supposed to move my bicycle out of the driveway. My father used to drink a lot. He got mad a lot."  Rocky was beaten and locked in his room. He lay on his bed under a poster of Rocky Marciano, famous for never losing a title bout. "I should'a fought back. Like Rocky. Rocky never got hurt. Rocky could protect me. I became a rock. Never to get hurt." In the next meeting, Rocky stands. "My name is Leslie Davis. I useta be a Challenger of the Unknown. And I'm an alcoholic." |
Rocky visits the clinic library and asks for "a book that'll take a long time to read". He's handed the dictionary. "I figure if I read the whole thing cover-to-cover, I gotta learn somethin'!" Words swirl in his brain. "Contrivance: a plan or scheme. Pusillanimous: lacking courage or resolution. Triad: a group of three closely-related persons or things." Dr. Franz lauds his progress. "I'd like you to think about leaving here... and rejoining the world." Rocky muses in the garden. "As what? Who wants an ex-superhero - washed up movie star - recovering alcoholic?" |
A dimensional portal opens in thin air. Red and Ace stumble out. "Wanna give us a hand here, bub?"  Next issue promises, "The story we had to call: Together Again For the First Time!" |
And in the world the guys left behind, hundreds of people drive down a winding road in darkness. "They are not sure why they came. Something powerful, something evil, something unknown compelled them to come to this place - - Challenger Mountain!" |
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Comments When the chips are down, Ace dives to Red's rescue. And the first place Red and Ace take refuge is with Rocky. Nice to see Harold Moffet redeemed. In tracking down Pramble, he proves a real reporter. The unknown compulsion to come to Challenger Mountain is swiped from the 1977 movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". People from all over the world were compelled to climb the Devil's Tower in Wyoming to meet a spaceship. Tying that back to our heroes, rumors circulated for years that Challenger Mountain was actually the Devil's Tower. |