Apparently, he goes around lecturing "would-be criminals" about the perils of turning to the dark side:
So...
Just two stories ago, we saw Kid summon Jesse James, who a) was honestly repentant about his life of crime, b) admitted how it contributed to his death, and c) tried to talk some gangsters out of the bad life. So we know there are good examples the Kid could have used here.
Gilles de Rais is not one of those.
Click on the link above only if you have a strong stomach. de Rais was one of the earliest recorded serial killers. He kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered children. He did a good job of disposing of the bodies, but from his own confession and eyewitness accounts of his confederates, he killed anywhere from 80 to several hundred kids. There is no level of hell deep enough for this bastard.
Now, you can certainly argue that Kid Eternity, a child himself, only knew the vaguest outlines of de Rais's villainy. Or that, in a pre-internet era, the unidentified author of this story was also not fully clued in, aware of only the Cliff's Notes version of de Rais' life.
[In fairness, there are those who, despite his confession, argue that de Rais was innocent. But most historians reject that, and the defenses--a Vatican anti-pagan crusade, a plot to steal de Rais's holdings, he was a pawn in a war between secret societies and the Inquisition--smack of unsupportable conspiracy theories.]
So, is there anyone worse to put into a kid's comic book than a child rapist and murderer?!?!?
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, CREATORS OF THIS COMIC BOOK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Kid and Keeper even have a falling out over this...
This can be a big problem, because without Mr. Keeper around, Kid's powers don't work!! And so...
de Rais decides to take up a life of crime (fortunately, without the depraved serial killer parts):
For a guy from 1440's France, he's got some good crook-beating-up repartee going, though:
So don't feel too sorry for Cully when...
Meanwhile, the local crime bosses decide that they want this new hotshot working for them...
There follows several pages of tedious Godfather-wannabe maneuvering: some gang factions won't fall in line, there's an attempt to poison de Rais, etc. It's pretty dull, and there's no Kid Eternity to be seen, so let's skip ahead, where Gilles's idea of proving his bona fides is...
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS STORY, QUALITY?!?!
So how did Kid summon him?!?! Stay tuned!
Anyway, the fight is on!!
This is the second time in as many stories that Kid has summoned a large group. I count them as a single unit, for counting the summonses. But as commenter Erich asked earlier this week, "I do have to wonder how calling upon a collective like "Rogers' Rangers" works...as you said, he couldn't summon the entire force, but were these members chosen randomly, alphabetically, or what?"
A fair question, and I don't have a good answer. I've speculated before that Kid calls upon some "Platonic ideal" of the characters, how the popular imagination remembers them--it's why he could summon the "presidential" George Washington, but had to go back in time to physically fetch the younger beat-em-up version. Maybe the same thing is happening with collective summons??
Anyway, it works, and Cully proudly declare that he won't become a serial killer!
This was the 38th (and most repellent) Kid Eternity story, and our standings are...
| Abu | 1 |
| Achilles | 4 |
| Antony, Marc | 2 |
| Aramis | 1 |
| Arnold, Benedict | 1 |
| Arthur, King | 2 |
| Astor, John Jacob | 1 |
| Athos | 1 |
| Atlas | 3 |
| Attila The Hun | 1 |
| Attucks, Crispin | 1 |
| Baker, Lafayette | 1 |
| Barry's father | 1 |
| Barton, Clara | 1 |
| Bernhardt, Sarah | 1 |
| Bertillon, Alphonse | 1 |
| Blackhawk | 1 |
| Bluebeard | 1 |
| Bolivar, Simon | 1 |
| Boone, Daniel | 1 |
| Boyd, Belle | 1 |
| Breitbart, Zishe | 1 |
| Bucephalus | 1 |
| Bunyan, Paul | 2 |
| Byron, George Gordon | 2 |
| Caesar, Octavian | 1 |
| Cagliostro, Alessandro | 1 |
| Canary, Martha “Calamity” | 1 |
| Cannon, John W. | 1 |
| Capulet, Juliet | 1 |
| Carden, Foster | 1 |
| Carpenter, Daniel | 1 |
| Cherry Sisters | 1 |
| Clancy, Patrick | 1 |
| Cleopatra | 1 |
| Cody, “Buffalo” Bill | 2 |
| Colt, Samuel | 1 |
| Columbus | 1 |
| Corbett, Jim | 3 |
| Crockett, Davy | 1 |
| Cronson, Gerald | 1 |
| Crusoe, Robinson | 1 |
| Custer, George Armstrong | 1 |
| D'artagnan | 2 |
| de Bergerac, Cyrano | 1 |
| de Leon, Ponce | 1 |
| de Rais, Gilles | 1 |
| Decatur, Stephen | 1 |
| Discus Thrower | 1 |
| Dockstader, Lew | 1 |
| Dracula | 1 |
| Drake, Sir Francis | 1 |
| Dupin, C. Auguste | 1 |
| Edison, Thomas | 1 |
| Emery | 1 |
| Ericson, Leif | 2 |
| Frankenstein's Monster | 1 |
| Galahad | 1 |
| Gotch, Frank | 1 |
| Gothicus, Claudius | 1 |
| Grant, Ulysses S. | 1 |
| Greb, Harry | 1 |
| Griffiths, Albert | 1 |
| Hamilton, Alexander | 1 |
| Hatfield, John | 1 |
| Hauser, Kaspar | 1 |
| Henry, Patrick | 1 |
| Hercules | 2 |
| Hickathrift, Tom | 1 |
| Hickok, Wild Bill | 1 |
| Hippocrates | 1 |
| Holmes, Sherlock | 2 |
| Hopkins, Matthew | 1 |
| Houdini | 2 |
| Hyde, Edward | 1 |
| Hyer, Tom | 1 |
| Jackson, Andrew | 1 |
| James, Jesse | 1 |
| Javert | 1 |
| Jeffries, Jim | 1 |
| Jones, John Paul | 1 |
| Jove | 1 |
| Khan, Genghis | 1 |
| Kidd, William | 1 |
| Lafayette, General | 1 |
| Lancelot | 1 |
| Laughing Cavalier | 1 |
| Leander | 3 |
| Lee, Robert E. | 1 |
| Leonidas | 1 |
| Lincoln, Abraham | 1 |
| Lister, Joseph | 1 |
| Marable, Fate | 1 |
| Masterson, Bat | 1 |
| Mercury | 4 |
| Milo Of Croton | 2 |
| Minutemen | 1 |
| Mix, Tom | 1 |
| Montague, Romeo | 1 |
| Mulgrew, Jason | 1 |
| Murphy, Charles | 1 |
| Napoleon | 1 |
| Nation, Carrie | 1 |
| Nightingale, Florence | 1 |
| Noah | 1 |
| Nobody | 1 |
| Nostradamus | 1 |
| O'Brien, David | 1 |
| Og | 1 |
| Osceola | 1 |
| Paddock, Charley | 1 |
| Penelope | 1 |
| Pheidippides | 1 |
| Pinkerton, Allan | 1 |
| Plastic Man | 1 |
| Porthos | 2 |
| Prometheus | 1 |
| Quixote, Don | 1 |
| Revere, Paul | 1 |
| Richard the LionHeart | 1 |
| Rin-Tin-Tin | 1 |
| Robespierre, Maximilien | 1 |
| Robin Hood | 2 |
| Rogers' Rangers | 1 |
| Russell, Lillian | 1 |
| Rustum | 1 |
| Ryan, Paddy | 1 |
| Samson | 2 |
| Sandow, Eugen | 1 |
| Schleyer, Johann | 1 |
| Siegfried | 1 |
| Silver, Long John | 1 |
| Skunk, Jimmy | 1 |
| Socrates | 1 |
| Solomon | 1 |
| Sullivan, John L. | 2 |
| Tecumseh | 1 |
| Tell, William | 1 |
| Thalfi | 1 |
| Thor | 1 |
| Thurston, Howard | 1 |
| Tiglath IV | 1 |
| Tut-ankh-amen | 1 |
| Twain, Mark | 1 |
| Ulysses | 1 |
| Uncas | 1 |
| Vercingetorix | 1 |
| Villa, Pancho | 1 |
| Vulcan | 1 |
| Washington, George | 2 |
| Webster, Daniel | 1 |
| Xanthippe | 1 |
| Zbyzko, Stanislaus | 1 |
NEXT--Kid Eternity does Siskoid's favorite Doctor Who story!!
From Kid Eternity #6 (1947)
Hm, now I'm wondering if Kid can summon someone if he doesn't actually know who they are? Specifically, I'm wondering: could Kid summon "Jack the Ripper"? (Obviously, the writers wouldn't do that, since they themselves wouldn't know who should appear in that case, but... Kid could help solve centuries-old mysteries of all sorts, y'know?)
ReplyDeleteThe uses of such a summoning have been inconsistent at best. Once he did summon someone without specifically knowing who they were ("the best firefighter," even though he didn't know whom that was). Other times he's claimed to be unable to summon without having a specific person in mind. Golden Age continuity, you know?
ReplyDeleteAs to Jack The Ripper, probably the best he could do is summon the known suspects and ask them if they did it? Or summon the victims and ask for descriptions? Plus, as Mr. Keeper lived through those eras, he might know?