So, that's our mission.
Down on Earth, the police are investigating Peters' corpse:
That's kind of gruesome, but also kind of cool--meeting someone dead only two hours, and then going too visit their body!!!
The police, however, want little to do with Kid Eternity's help:
Now, you'd think the police would LOVE to have the help of someone who can communicate with the recently dead and tell them who the killer is. But this detective is way too suspicious for that.
In fairness, Kid didn't identify himself, despite his growing fame, so I suppose the cop's reaction isn't too out of line.
You may notice the art looks a little bit different here than usual. We're not 100% sure on the artist--GCD lists the credit as "Alex Kotzky?" Whoever it is, it's their first time drawing the strip, and you can see the difference, both in the fuller background detail, and in the action scenes. There's a fluidity there, an Eisner-like (or Rude-like) quality. Good gravy, speed lines in a Kid Eternity comic?!?
Anyway, without police help, how can Kid track the kidnap victims?
SIMON LEGREE!?! He may be "the only one you could think of with bloodhounds," but he is one of fiction's most hated villains!! Heck, you could have gone with Sherlock Holmes and his borrowed dog Toby, or one of the many other trackers Kid has summoned the past couple of years.
But maybe Legree was just misunderstood?
Fictional characters care about their reputations? And does "clearing" said reputation mean that he wasn't as bad as people think, or that he's trying to actually redeem himself?
Anyway, the smellhounds lead our hero to Gustt's home, where the find Dr. Scott tortured and near death!
Dr. Joseph Lister--this is your 2nd summons!!
Gee, too bad he didn't die--then you could ask him straight up (just kidding).
So how to find the treasure location and rescue Miriam?
Montezuma!!
Now, I'm always going on about how Kid should just summon the dead person who hid the treasure-of-the-week and just ask them where it is. Well, here he does, but it doesn't work:
There are conflicting accounts of Montezuma's death, but some (mainly Spanish sources) do say he was killed by his own people while meeting with (or captured by) the conquistadors.
So now what do we do?
Of course, Kid and Keeper get separated in the time stream, which means--Kid is trapped in 1400s Mexico without powers during a war!! (The storytellers cheated, by having Keeper "give" Kid his invisibility/tangibility powers in case they got separated! Why not the rest of his powers?!?!)
Love that art!
So now we're firmly in Doctor Who territory, as we discuss the Aztecs' history and the possibility of changing it:
Kid finds the location of the treasure...
...but promptly gets his head taken off by an Aztec warrior!
So it's sacrifice time!!
Umm...where the hell is Keeper?!?
Geez, that's the wrong continent, even!! Then again, who amongst us hasn't mixed up the Incas and Aztecs at some point?
Fortunately, it's a quick jaunt north to Mexico...
Tom Thumb!!
That's the second time we get the "only one I can think of" excuse this story...
Well, that's actually a pretty decent attitude, Kid!
So now it's back to the present, where our vile villain has the treasure!
How to save her?!?
Friar Tuck!!
They kick the bad guys' asses. Now to get home!
Wiley Post?!? Maybe summon a pilot who isn't best known for crashing (and killing a celebrity in that crash)?!?! I guess we were a few years earlier to call Buddy Holly's pilot?
But what about the treasure?
Damn, that's a fairly enlightened attitude for 1947! Hell, even Indiana Jones would have taken the Aztec treasure back to the U.S. for his museum!!
And so...
A fun tale--sympathy for the Aztecs, time travel, more dynamic art than usual...a winner!!
This was our 39th Kid Eternity story, and the standing are:
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NEXT--When is a fake diamond not a fake diamond?!?
From Kid Eternity #6 (1947)
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