Showing posts with label Breach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breach. Show all posts

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Breach #8 (October, 2005)



Word reached the Daily Planet about the battle in Washington, D.C., and Clark Kent was gone in a flash.

Senator Helen McClellan demanded passage through the military barricade of her neighborhood, then called to Mac and Tate when she saw them in the distance. Tim Zanetti was tossed aflame in their general direction, so Mac threw himself on top of his family to defend them. Helen got a brief look at the Major before the H.I.V.E. abomination continued its assault. "You were supposed to be so tough. But you're nothing! Except a joke!" Tim was exhausted and seemed likely to be beaten to death. However, the scientists at Project Otherside detected sudden rapid mutation of Zanetti's form and mind.

The Rifters had returned to their waterfall cave. Sebastian was agitated at this first ever rejection of the gift of kinship, and even the Herdsman was concerned that Zanetti had proven so unique. The cigarette smoking woman assured them that Tim's resistance wouldn't last. "It can't. Trust me, I know. Sooner or later, the Major will face his destiny."

The Major caught his opponent's massive hand in mid-punch, then hit him with an energy pulse. Green energy bled from the Major's eyes, and a wicked death's head grin gripped his lips. "You call me a joke? Tell me-- do you feel like laughing now? No? Because you know, don't you? You know you're nothing now. Nothing-- but a weak, weak thing!" The Major boiled and rent the creature's flesh, then tore out his heart. "You were but a small sacrifice." Mac approached the Major, who asked if he was also a weak thing. "I dunno. Some days-- maybe. What did they do to you, pal? You've got to fight this, Tim. They want you on their side... and you can't let that happen... because this is not you." Realizing what he's done, Tim fled through a portal. "--HELP ME! I won't become this! I WON'T BE LIKE THEM!"



The Major eradicated a forested section of the Adirondacks trying to wrestle his urges before realizing he had a tag-along. "Groovy Guy--! You want to help me? That's funny. Last time we met, you said I was a danger. Buddy, you were righter than you know." Superman realized that an innocent family had paid the price for his ignoring Tim's warnings, and wanted to do what he could for Zanetti. Tim felt he had been infected with a virus of the mind urging him to kill lesser beings, and wondered if other "guys in spandex go through stuff like this?"

The green flames of Tim's eyes flared up, and the grin returned. "It's burning through me like fire, G.G. I read up about you. They say you're invulnerable. That means I can't hurt you, right?" Superman admitted that was the theory, which was good enough for the Major, who blasted the Man of Steel miles backward. Sebastian hissed a "yes" as the urge raged in the Major, who pressed his advantage. Tim said aloud, "He's holding back--! He doesn't get it! YOU CAN'T! Or-- I swear--I will kill you!" Superman didn't think so, and Heat Vision backed up his argument. Sebastian's bliss returned to a hiss. Tim's suit was destroyed, and he was bleeding blue, but he had been returned to his senses.

Superman didn't want to hurt the Major. "Y-you had to, G.G. I-- I had to fight... something I couldn't kill. It couldn't deal with that. It's gone--! Whatever Sebastian put in my mind-- is gone. T-They didn't get me-- they won't get me! I-- I owe y-you... more than I can say." The cavalry from Project Otherside arrived as Tim collapsed into Superman's arms. Kal-El recognized that Tim was willing to sacrifice himself rather than hurt another. "I misjudged him," he told Dr. Campbell Chambers. "He's a hero." She agreed. "I'm sorry it took you this long to realize it. Now it may be too late."



Talia al Ghul couldn't believe her genetically altered soldier was destroyed in a matter of minutes. Lex Luthor tried to see the upside of the lost agent, thanks to the information gathered at the cost of his life. "Data we will need for the coming crisis." The embryonic soldiers could also be adjusted to provide a greater challenge.

Tate realized his meeting the metahumasn twice coincidentally on two continents didn't make sense, and with a pregnant glance at Mac, Helen said, "I--I... don't know, Tate. Maybe it does."

"Ally" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. This issue strengthened Tim Zanetti's character, but it was still ultimately another big fight issue in a series whose life grows ever shorter. I think this would have made a fantastic eight issue mini-series. The same creative team could have handled the entire epic, rather than losing Marcos Martin for two issues after having so lovingly illustrated so much filler material.

Brave New World
Posted by Diabolu Frank at 12:00 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Breach #7 (September, 2005)



Talia al Ghul, leader of Kobra, looked over massive tubes containing her few surviving faithful volunteers in a H.I.V.E. experiment. Lex Luthor alerted her that the energy signature of the individual Kobra faced in South Africa had resurfaced in Washington, D.C. The adversaries traded unpleasantries before Lex asked, "Do I need to remind you that we need this man if our plan is to have any chance of success?" Talia agreed to spare one of her subjects, even though she was loathe to place such a committed believer in the hands of a scoundrel. "I serve at the pleasure of the mistress of Kobra. Long may her glory endure."

Major Timothy Zanetti was kneeling on the floor of General Mac McClellan's home office with the reptilian Rifter Sebastian's claws digging into his brain. The Herdsman felt Tim was receiving a "joyous gift." Tim remembered being abandoned at Project Otherside by Professor Ward. "I'm sorry, Major. This is the only way." The flesh tore away from Tim, until it was followed by the twisted wreckage of his body through the breach. Zanetti chose to reject the telepath, grabbing Sebastian by the wrists and freeing his mind. "I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER!"

Sebastian was thrown out the window and crushed some preppie's daddy's Beemer on the street outside. The Herdsman remained impressed by the young kinsman, and thought he was perhaps too much for the old master Sebastian, "still too new to this world." The Herdsman felt the venerable one must always be protected, and asked Father John to loose the offspring.



Mac yelled at the cigarette smoking woman "You've been working for the Rifters all these years? You made some sort of deal with them, didn't you? My God-- we trusted you! I sacrificed my best friend because of you!" She asked to be spared the melodramatics, and backhanded the General across the room. The Herdsman wanted to use the General for his own purposes, but was denied by the woman as an old friend who still had more to contribute as is. The so-called "Tobias Underwood" was afraid and wanted to go home, but the woman told Ward that this experience would serve as research for his book.

Major Zanetti continued to dominate Sebastian, so the Herdsman approached to set the former Meyers children against his young kinsman. Tim couldn't bring himself to fight back against the pair, who battered and slashed him. The older sister found the assault on the elder Sebastian an abomination. "Have we not suffered enough than to see our ways desecrated?" The younger brother wanted to impress the Herdsman, and elbowed his sister violently for his own turn at Zanetti. The sister thought it an easy victory, with Tim deluded that they were still "the weak things," and turned her attention toward innocent bystanders. "Ah! This is a pretty thing." With a touch, one woman's arm melted horrifically. Tim drew both offspring's attention back on himself, taking punishing injury without dealing any, "Because... you're children... And I don't hurt children..."

At Project Otherside in Nevada, Captain Yoshiba found Dr. Campbell Chambers unconscious on the floor of Zanetti's cell. Her husband Paul rushed to check on her, while Yoshiba immediately suspected her complicity. Before interrogation could commence, an alert about the battle in Washington sent the team scrambling.



Tate was at a "Starbud's" near the battle, and ran out to investigate. Tim recognized the young man from Africa, both found a second meeting crazy, and Tim warned Tate to keep back. His bio-seal was torn, and Tim bled a blue acidic plasma. Tate gave Tim a pep talk about believing Tim to be "one of the good guys," and his need to put his concerns about the transformed children aside, since his death would lead to many more at their hands. "I know. God help me."

The cigarette smoking woman continued verbally fencing with Mac, until she realized Kobra had "taken the bait" in joining the fight late. "Rifters believe fervently in tests, General. Those of the body and of the soul. And many, like this one, simply lead to the next." She had Father John summon the offspring with a high pitched call. The Herdsman wanted to see to Sebastian's wish for the young kinsman's death, but she felt the seeds planted today needed time to bear fruit. Everyone entered a wormhole, including Tobias Underwood, who wondered for whom the continued existence of Tim Zanetti meant a "happy ending" to his book.

Mac rushed to see if Tate was okay. "He's your son, Mac? Geez-- a guy goes into stasis for a couple of decades and look what happens. He's a good kid, Mac-- you oughta be proud." Just then, a H.I.V.E. airship landed, and a towering purple reptilian man-beast with fangs and claws emerged.

"Battleground" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. Progress continues by centimeters rather than inches, much less feet. The book looks great and reads well, but the last thing needed was a tenuous "Villains United Tie-In" and another of the increasingly tedious Rifter "test and retreat" maneuvers.

Brave New World
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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Breach #6 (August, 2005)



Tobias Underwood excitedly worked on his book, the culmination of all his years working with the cigarette smoking woman. "And having met your-- your-- friends-- makes finishing the book even more paramount. If only... so many people didn't have to die."

"Operating under the Extra-Dimensional Entity Contact Protocol," Captain Yoshiba had a suited up strike force inspecting a waterfall at the urging of Major Timothy Zanetti. Tim levitated in a fugue state, until his serotonin production spiked and he saw a vision projected by the Herdsman of the entire patrol massacred in a most brutal fashion. Captain Yoshiba was already irritated enough with Tim to ask Dr. Campbell Chambers "Isn't there some pill we can give him to handle these mood swings?" He was outright furious when Zanetti lied about being mistaken with regard to his claim of having sensed breach entities in the area. The troop bugged out back to base, while the Herdsman looked on from his hidey-hole. "Ahh! He heard my thought-call. And saw my thoughts with clarity and precision. Truly, he is a most mighty kinsman. Soon, the next test begins... and if he survives, oh, what a wondrous thing that will be! Do you not agree, brother Sebastion?" A hiss was the only reply.

Captain Yoshiba was still seething back at base, calling into question Zanetti's credibility, usefulness, and sanity. Dr. Campbell Chambers had questions of her own, which kept her up in bed past three in the morning. While her husband Paul slept, Campbell dressed and paid Zanetti a visit. "The Herdsman was there. At the falls... wasn't he?" Tim confessed to his vision of the massacre. "I saw that-- in my head-- in glorious living color. He made me see it. It doesn't leave much hope for the Meyers Family... not that there was much to begin with, I guess." Campbell thought the JLA should have listened to Tim.



At the Meyers home, reporter Clark Kent got information out of a loose lipped plainclothes officer watching over the active crime scene. Kent scanned the area with X-Ray Vision, and connected this tragedy with Zanetti's words of warning during their scuffle in South Africa. "Yeah. I think this is a very big story."

Tim continued to discuss his vision with Campbell. "What I saw and felt was-- horrific. He's-- it's got a hatred and joy in killing that was overwhelming... Funny, in a way I'm glad. Now I know clearly what I'm up against. No more vague feelings or intuitions." No one else could stop the Herdsman, and Tim couldn't try to do it without setting off every alarm in the complex. "That's where you come in, Doctor."

At the McClellan home, Helen asked Mac about the metahuman who saved Tate's life. She wanted to thank him personally, and hoped her husband could arrange it. Helen saw the fatigue that had plagued Mac for weeks, but he fobbed it off on congress scrutinizing military expenditures. "I swear, sometimes they make the military feel like the enemy." Mac promised to see what he could do. Once Helen was off, he pulled a revolver out of his desk drawer. The cigarette smoking woman asked, "Now, now, General-- is that any way to greet an old friend?"



Tobias Underwood relaxed at his secluded home, looking over his printed work. The Herdsman snuck up on him. "Come, weak thing. You have been summoned. It is time for you to be reunited with comrades you've not seen... in a very long time."

Dr. Chambers set the sensors on an internal diagnostic cycle to give Tim a thirty second head start, then he knocked her out to make it look like an escape. "I'm trying to hold onto my memories... as long as I can... but I'm a soldier with a job to do. Even if I'm technically disobeying orders." Tim opened a wormhole to the Herdsman...

Mac asked the cigarette smoking woman why she had involved his stepson with Zanetti, and she replied that it was a test of Tim's metamorphic memory loss. She offered Mac a cigarette, and he refused, having quit years earlier. "How current of you! I hold on to my old habits, even the unhealthy ones. I find the consistency somewhat soothing." She explained that humanity was about to be snuffed out like a bad habit. "The bargain is broken, General. The Rifters will have their revenge. The war has begun." Mac threatened her again, with his gun and his world's ability to defend itself. She retorted that Mac never had much faith in the "Zanetti option," which was well considered. Events had progressed rapidly since Tim's awakening. "When your friend was offered up in the name of global survival-- you handed the Rifters their greatest opportunity. His destiny is theirs, General. Their beacon of hope. Their ultimate weapon of vengeance. They want you to know that."



Tim's self-perception was that of a Picasso painting as he fell through a formless white void into the home office of General Mac McClellan. Also present was Professor Ward from Project Otherside, though Tobias Underwood claimed no knowledge of his former identity. The Herdsman had brought Tim to meet more of his kin, including Sebastian, who ripped through Zanetti's head with his claws.

"Threads" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. This issue is probably where the series should have been a couple or three issues back. Sales figures must have come in, and the verdict seemed to be that a mini-series pacing would better reflect the book's longevity. A lot of disparate players and plotlines were suddenly and somewhat arbitrarily coming together, although still welcome after the creeping in the first half of the run.

Brave New World
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Thursday, August 25, 2011

2011 Breach Movie Fan Casting: Dave Franco as Major Tim Zanetti



Keeping up with a theme of casting famous movie stars' younger brothers in POTA-related roles, here's Dave Franco. Breach isn't remotely a major character, and I've only liked reading his series okay so far. I have to admit that I didn't exactly rack my brains for weeks over this one. Still, I had a few actors and qualities in mind when it came to the role. Tim Zanetti is supposed to be this really laid back, good natured guy. Its only after becoming infected Otherside that he becomes an erratic rageaholic. After the breach, Tim spends a lot of time being duped, caged up, bossed around, and treated like a lunatic. This meant he needed an actor who could be sweet, then vulnerable, then go nuts in a believable way. Dave Franco has many of the right qualities, and while I haven't seen a lot of his work, it's Breach. What do you want? Dude's got a good build, amazing eyebrows, and should be fine with even half of brother James' acting range.



Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me go choose between Frank Stallone, Don Swayze, and Ben Savage for the part of Captain Atom...

Diabolic Movie Fan Casting
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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Breach #5 (July, 2005)



Tate turned up in Washington, D.C. to meet his mother, Senator McClellan, who was fielding reporters' questions about illegal high-technology weapons trading. They embraced, and although Tate was still out of it, planned his birthday celebration. Of course, ever since his father died, April 17th had been a weird date for the pair.

Major Timothy Zanetti was encased in a small levitating cube, and not talking to anyone. That date, April 17th, seemed to set him off again. Dr. Campbell Chambers thought the use of his powers was having "a direct psychological and physiological impact" on his well being. Captain Yoshiba, a smirk dragged along the pock-marked right side of his face, was flippant to the point of rudeness about the Major. It didn't help that the Captain had sent a recon team to where Tim had sensed the Herdsman. "Do you want to get them killed!?" Punching a crack in his tiny prison, Zanetti had to be gassed.

The investigative unit, including Dr. Paul Chambers, arrived at the house of the family from last issue. Damage on the scene was consistent with a breech event. From the ceiling, a fleshy blob of abstract insectoid and humanoid parts nearly fell on top of the troop. Shots were fired into the abomination, which still had a face off to one side. As "she" died, it said "help... me... they took my famileee-- my childr--"



General McClellan called the wife to say that he'd be late for the birthday party, then met with the revived Tim Zanetti.

Tate couldn't stop thinking about the night his father died, and asked his mom if she'd ever imagined their life had he lived. She was just grateful for her son's safety, and for the help her current husband had provided to her investigation of Kobra, which she feared prompted Tate's near murder. Tate was curious about the super-powered prisoner he'd briefly met, and his mom promised to look into it. "Mac should be able to open some doors. It pays to have a Joint Chief of Staff in the family..."

Tim burst his cage with excitement at seeing his old buddy Mac, but proximity alerts warned him not to make physical contact. "Wow. Mac, you got old." McClellan explained how badly Zanetti was needed in the "very dangerous, insidious war" to come. Mac discussed Tim's status as sole survivor of Project: Otherside. "The accident opened the door to a race we call 'Rifters.' They're extremely dangerous, incredibly hostile creatures. Due to your physiological changes, you apparently can sense them-- which makes you a vital tool in this war." To insure that tool remained in his shed, Mac told Tim that Helen and Tate had died in the project's catastrophic wake. Tim blew up, and had to be restrained again.



Tobias Underwood was ecstatic over how gloriously his novel was turning out-- "my best work ever!" The cigarette smoking woman congratulated him, and asked if some friends of hers could stay at his place for a while. They included the Herdsman, and a small family of like creatures...

Mac returned home late, to a saved piece of cake and a note from Helen.

Tim had calmed down again, as he spoke with Campbell about not really remembering his son anymore, "as if that part of my memory was wiped clean." Zanetti never could remember the significance of the date, and seemed less concerned about Helen, as well. Campbell reached out to Tim, but a proximity alarm sounded, as both Tim's and her containment suits were compromised. "Tsk, tsk Doc-- forgot your helmet. It's the little things that get you... isn't it?"

"Lies" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. This would have been a solid first issue in a theoretical second trade paperback collection, or a good jumping on point for new readers after a crossover. No trades ever existed, and a fifth issue would have landed in a first collection, and the tie-ins start next issue, so this story was instead a spinner of wheels wasting precious time. After all, we're about halfway through its truncated run...

Brave New World
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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Breach #4 (June, 2005)



With the Beacon destroyed, the Army was preparing to clear out of South Africa. Major Zanetti sat on the sand, having kept silent since the previous day's events. Doctor Campbell Chambers approached Tim, who finally asked who the two men flying toward the camp were.

Superman and the Martian Manhunter were surprised to find themselves surrounded by troopers pointing guns at them. "Well-- this isn't quite the welcome we expected. We're the JLA." The c.o. replied "Sir, we're the U.S.A... Army, that is. I'm Captain Yoshiba. What are you folks doing here?" While Superman explained the the League was investigating unusual energy patterns, J'Onn J'Onzz reached out telepathically to Major Zanetti.

Tim asked Campbell about the strangers. "Oh, that's right... They appeared while you were in your coma. Major, those are superheroes. Our self-appointed saviors." And here Tim thought his outfit was ridiculous. A soldier took offense to how Tim spoke about Superman. "I'm sure he is... Wait, you're serious? That's the big guy's name? Not too much of an ego, eh?" The Doctor was surprised to see Tim display a sense of humor, and he confided that she and her husband had helped keep him sane. He wanted her to know, "before these rages take over for good."

In the first of several instances, J'Onn J'Onzz's telepathic eavesdropping was represented visually through the Martian pantomiming the Major's motions a panel apart. Superman was clearly stalling as he tried to reason with the intractable Captain Yoshiba. J'Onzz asked about "that being," and Dr. Paul Chambers began to answer "Mr. Manhunter, sir--" but was silenced by the captain. "That is classified information, sir. And JLA or not, it will remain classified."

Tate was flown to a German base for questioning by his stepfather, General McClellan, who was relieved to learn his boy had minimal contact with Zanetti. However, he was again disturbed to learn the reason for Tate's side trip to Limpopo was "a brunette with a weird accent and a smoking fetish. Right out of central casting... She was incredibly... compelling..."



Conspiracy novelist Tobias Underwood had begun work without his usual uncredited writing partner in his isolated cabin in the woods. He looked suspiciously like Dr. Ward from Project: Otherside. The cigarette smoking woman appeared after a long absence, assuaging Tobias' fears that "the killers" may have gotten to her. Such fears were unfounded, and she was ready to help Tobias start their new, final book. "We shall call it... Breach."

The army was taking soil samples for analysis of alien traces, but Tim said plainly, "You won't find any. We leave no traces... I meant they probably don't. Slip of the tongue." Batman, sneaking about in the distance, did find traces of Kobra, however.

Superman didn't figure Captain Yoshiba liked him much, and in the absence of a clear threat, the JLA would have to leave. "A hidden threat is often the most lethal. I tell you... something is going on here. And it centers on that individual. From the moment we arrived, I sensed powerful thoughts, thoughts that concern me. At times, unfocused, on the edge of perception. But then moments of frightening clarity... that sears like fire." As the Manhunter flew off without warning back toward the army, Superman shouted "J'ONN!" Yoshiba started freaking out, demanding to contact General McClellan about the situation.

The Herdsman opened a wormhole somewhere, and the Major began tripping out. "Th- there are more of them! Five more. I-- I can sense it." Yoshiba thought he was having another episode, and ordered restraints. Campbell Chambers tried to calm Tim with her hand on his shoulder, which spooked Paul. The Major sent troops flying when they tried to clamp him. Paul pulled Campbell to safety. "I perceive the world differently now. More keenly than these blind idiots. They don't see the growing danger, because they can't. What weak things they are!"



A voice was heard amongst the soldiers surrounding Zanetti, and a translucent blue cape slowly began to appear, until the form of the Manhunter from Mars stood between them and the Major. "So. As I suspected... you were the source of the energy disturbance we detected. Intriguing. Your thoughts burn brightly through you. I feel their heat. They are chaotic, a mass of conflict and pain. They do not... belong. Thus, I ask you... before anyone is injured... stop."

The Major somehow knew the Herdsman wasn't dead, "I know he has brought others with him. And I know this refugee from a bad drive-in movie wants to stop me. Which makes him my enemy. And enemies are to be-- destroyed!" Tim halfway liquified the Alien Atlas with an energy blast. "You said you felt my thoughts? And you still wanted to stop me? What kind of monster are you!?" The kind whose injury would justify the Man of Steel popping Tim in the kisser.

In the suburbs, a nuclear family of two white parents, two mixed gender children, and a house cat fussed in the morning. Something turned up at their door. Tim sensed a horror awaiting them, giving him the strength to knock "Groovy Guy-- or whatever they call you--" on his ass. Heat Vision burned through the Major suit, and Campbell Chambers rushed out to once again defend Zanetti. "Stop! This man is not your enemy. He's an American soldier, one who's undergone tremendous trauma. Something someone like you may not understand. He deserves your respect-- not to be treated like your latest punching bag. Why don't you listen to what he has to say?"

Click To Enlarge


The Major created a wormhole of his own, but before he could walk through it, a Hand of Steel clamped onto his shoulder. Tim tried to warn Superman, who was certainly in for an "interesting" jolt, but nothing fatal. The Kryptonian grappled with Zanetti until the army could restrain him, and the wormhole closed.

Batman draped a cape over a haggard looking Natural form Martian, and Kal-El asked if he was all right. "I am... coalescing." As for Tim, "I could not read him precisely, my friend. I only know beneath the intense chaos of his thoughts... there is a dark core that threatens to grow and overwhelm him." Regardless, the Flash radioed Batman to tell the team the Pentagon had ordered their immediate evacuation. Superman planned to keep an eye on the operation though, as "They're in over their heads..."

Paul was angry at Campbell for endangering herself, but the fairer Dr. Chambers feared Tim Zanetti had a purpose the military was preventing him from fulfilling. "I can't shake the feeling that something... big... is happening. Something frightening. And that if we don't start listening to him... it will be too late.

"Heroes" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. Where Captain Atom was Steve Ditko at his earliest and most commercially mainstream, Martin does an excellent job of gently tapping the vein of divine weirdness Ditko mastered in the late Silver and Bronze Ages. He also works a fine looking on-model Martian Manhunter. Harras does a great job of making everyone on the scene wrong and right, really testing the loyalties of the reader. Tim has some of his dimensions restored in this issue, no pun intended, and the Herdsman's machinations are conveyed with a proper sense of terror. A good issue all around.

Brave New World
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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Breach #3 (May, 2005)



Kaaterskill Falls, New York. Herdsman was near a forest waterfall. Sensing a presence, he attacked, and was easily rebuffed. The cigarette smoking woman wished for his report following recovery from injuries sustained during his first battle with Tim Zanetti. "There is immense power in that one. He is... different."

"Of course he is. I have set things in motion, old one. Now we will see how our warrior deals with his next test... when his son comes calling"

Limpopo Province, South Africa. Tate McClellan had dreamt of his father again, and thought about it as he hiked into the night. In a barren recess, Tate found an extremely gnarled tree. In the distance, he saw a light.

Tim Zanetti could sense the evil in this place, where the Herdsman breached our plane. Visions filled his mind, and he erupted with energy. Calming down, Tim had a talk with Dr. Paul Chambers. Tim felt like a freak, worried over the fate of his family, and inadvertently turned a desk into a distorted mess with his touch. "...The Herdsman... I'm afraid I'm... losing myself. I still remember how I felt when I fought him-- and the power that came with it-- I enjoyed-- wanting-- to kill." Paul touched Tim on the shoulder in a gesture of comfort, and I suppose trust, since the containment suit had so far been less than reliable.



Government agents reviewed evidence of the Herdsman's presence in Metropolis and Kansas, specifically grotesque sheathes of human flesh seemingly emptied of any interior structure. The Herdsman's collateral damage signature at Project: Otherside matched archival footage from the 1980s, including the original breach event at Baikal. No "Rifter" activity had been expected so soon, and even though there was some relief from Major Zanetti's performance against the Herdsman, "imagine an entire invasion of these creatures..." General MacClellan warned, "We can't keep this a secret much longer. They're leaving calling cards, like Limpopo. And believe me, if we heard about this event... others will have, as well."

Tim had stripped out of his whites and hovered at rest in a corner of his room. A voice ordered him to come, and though a soldier tried to bar his way, it didn't take much of a threat to get the poor kid to move aside. In the distance, an orb of green swirling energy with purple tentacles underneath ripped itself out of the earth. An piercing squeal had everyone present covering their ears in pain, while the Beacon questioned Zanetti. "You are late, brother. Report... The blood of the past cries out for retribution... You are late. Penalties will be applied."

The Beacon had the same stench as the Herdsman, and Tim nearly drowned in its influence, until the last gasp of his humanity saw him renew his struggle. Energy blasted Tim hundreds of yards to a hard landing, where he was approached by a concerned Tate. Tim blasted the young man to keep him from making deadly contact with his physical form, and was shocked to recognize his little man Tate as an adult.



Shock was met be shock as the camp was assaulted by fighter jets. Agents of the international terrorist cult Kobra parachuted from above, and tried to tow the beacon with grappling hooks. Tim hesitated to use his powers, instead picking up conventional firearms. However, Kobra's advanced technology had disabled the military's equipment, allowing for wholesale slaughter. One Kobra trooper recognized Tate as a civilian, but "Kobra allows for no eyewitnesses." The threat to his son's life saw Tim reduce the Kobra forces to ash. The Beacon intended to end all other human life in the immediate area to insure their unclean hands would never touch its self, but Tim tore into it with his own mitts. Tim saved everyone Kobra hadn't already killed, and destroyed the Beacon, but "I feel so... lost?" Tim denied knowing Tate when asked if they had met before. Instead, he walked away from the damage he'd wrought.

"Something has... changed. Something intangible is... gone. Like a piece of me just died. But what it is-- or was-- I can't say. And for reasons I do not understand... I start to cry."

A Kobra trooper reported back to Talia, daughter of Ra's al Ghul, and current leader of the cult. In typical Bond villain fashion, she killed the man for informing her of the failure to acquire the Beacon. Perhaps she intended to save face with the men with whom she was having a meeting, heavily obscured fellow members of the new Secret Society, most likely Lex Luthor, Black Adam and Deathstroke the Terminator.



From the Watchtower on the moon, the Martian Manhunter observed, "Amazing. This is the third unidentifiable energy signature emerging out of South Africa in two days. The Pentagon told us the initial two were from an operation they were conducting. But this one is far more powerful." Batman had thought that notification was odd. "I agree. There were indications here of time/space distortion that current military technologies could not hope to achieve." Batman thought this warranted further investigation, and Superman agreed.

"The Beacon" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. There was not a single straight-on shot of the JLAers during that final sequence, recalling how the super-heroes were treated in an old Alan Moore issue of Swamp Thing. In fact, Harras and Martin seem to be doing their level best to make this series something more sophisticated and ambitious than the norm. They don't quite pull it off, landing more in the vicinity of overly self-serious, but it's still a good looking book that reads well. Seriously though, you can only get so much mileage out of DC's answer to Hydra, no matter how nice the redesign.

Brave New World
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Breach #2 (April, 2005)



Dr. Paul Chambers was overseeing the application of Tim Zanetti's red polymer outer skin to dampen his powers, since his uncovered body emitted a dimensional distortion field that turned people into a puddle of mess on contact. Unfortunately, Zanetti had been in a near psychotic rage since emerging from his coma. Paul was working with Dr. Campbell Chambers, his wife, who suited up to pay Tim a visit. Before they parted company, Campbell chided Paul for his taste in laughable conspiracy books by Tobias Underwood. Campbell tried to explain to Zanetti what he had become, as best as modern science could tell, as well as revealing that he was the sole survivor of Project Otherside. Tim was distracted by a pounding in his head, wondering where his family was, and the sense that "Something... is coming!"

General McClellan discussed Project: Otherside with his superiors, and the importance of Major Zanetti in dealing with further projected breaches. They thought the next wouldn't be until 2020.

The Limpopo Province, Africa. Jacob Kekana herded sheep, and fingered a medallion on his neck while singing a love song. Suddenly, a dimensional portal opened up, rending his flesh and dragging him from off the earthly plane. Hours later, something like Kekana emerged, but it was not human. The figure had purple skin, glowing eyes, and was elongated in a fashion most unnerving. In a native tongue, he said "I am Jakob Kekana-- I am a Herdsman-- and I seek kinship." He continued singing his song as he walked through a wormhole.



In Nairobi, Kenya, the adult Tate McClellan was sitting on a bar patio, talking candidly with a mysterious brown-haired smoking woman. They discussed his dreams about the death of the father he couldn't remember in a freak storm, and how a recent one ended with him telling his dad it was time to come home. Tate's stepfather Mac came up, and the journeys Tate was taking to exotic locales to develop his writing. Tate hoped the girl would forgive his uncommon babbling, and listened when she suggested a trip to Limpopo Province. "I make people comfortable. It's my gift."

The Herdsman arrived in Metropolis, and killed a bum for his jacket. "I seek the young kinsman... You are not who I seek. You are a weak, weak thing. But at times, small sacrifices are more than enough." A redneck couple passed him on a rural road some time later, startled by his over seven foot tall stature. Always with a smile, "Jakob Kekana" murdered them and overturned their car. Finally, the Herdsman found his kin, and passed through comic panel borders and desert floor into a secret military base. A few lives later, he had found Tim Zanetti. "This is-- wonderful, brother! Now comes the testing."

Zanetti leapt at Kekana. "You attack? Good. Good! In the beginning, the bloodheat is all we feel. I remember it well. Your mind is clouded by thoughts not your own-- but that will change, young one. That will change-- if you deserve life. For we cannot-- suffer-- a weak kinsman..." Kekana manhandled Zanetti for a bit, until his rage burned through his polymer shielding. The pair then burned a hole out of the complex and continued the fight in the desert. Kekana was impressed by the birthling's exceptional strength, and turned to ash once he'd decided Zanetti had passed his first test, again singing his song with a perpetual grin. "That was-- so easy!? I-- enjoyed-- killing him. Dear God-- it felt... right. What is happening to me? What was that thing? What the hell is going on?" Tim used to be such a nice, even-tempered guy...

"Herdsman" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. The pace picks up a little tiny bit, but most of the ground not covered by Jakob Kekana was familiar enough to Captain Atom fans to be redundant. The Herdsman is one creepy-cool dude though, and I look forward to seeing more of him.

Brave New World
Posted by Diabolu Frank at 12:00 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Breach #1 (March, 2005)



The Siberian Wilderness, somewhere north of Lake Baikal. The near future. Breach carved a path underground for his former friends to escape the oncoming menace. Chambers was dying from a head injury, his wife shedding tears in his name. The senator reached out to touch Breach, but he warned that if she made physical contact, "The tissue damage to you would be both extensive and irreparable." General McClellan started to reach for her, but held back. The senator's adult son wanted an answer to his question of the powerful being before them. "I... am as you see me. Nothing more. Nothing less."

April 17th, 1983. Major Tim Zanetti sent his little man Tate to bed with thoughts of the boy's birthday the next day. Tim worried about the toll of military life on his wife and son, but Helen knew that moving from place to place was part of what she signed on for. The puppy would help, of course. Toast in hand, Tim kissed his wife goodbye and began the drive out to Camp Liberty.

Mac was "a born worrier. He thinks a missing requisition form is going to lead to a court-martial!" He was good for looking after "Fido" until Tim could get back to his office on base, but chided his buddy for the name. "Blame Dr. Faulk, my classics professor at the Point. Scarred me for life. I'm sure Tate will come up with something with more pizzazz. Mac was part of an evacuation of all nonessential personnel before the big experiment. The scientists were especially tense, although Bertillini was handling it much better than Ward. Major McClellan offered a military salute to the more informal Tim, who returned it with a grin and a handshake before they parted ways.



Dr. Bertillini explained Project Otherside. "If all goes well tonight, we will send 400 batches of positive protons from the arch-emitter, on a four-mile-long speedway... followed by the release of an equal number of anti-protons. When they collide, the protons will duplicate, on a miniature scale, the birth of our universe: the Big Bang. Bits of matter and energy will be hurled from our dimension into others-- breaching the membrane that separates our three known spacial dimensions and that of time-- and giving us access to dimensions undreamt of. As you know, Major, intelligence suggests the Soviets are far ahead of us in this research... which is why Otherside is considered essential to national security." Dr. Ward groused, "Yes, heaven forfend anyone be ahead of us." Ward was concerned with just how dire the consequences of their experiment would be.

McClellan was drinking at a bar while the TV discussed President Reagan's special envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, meeting with Saddam Hussein about the conflict with Iran. A mysterious smoking woman met with Mac as scheduled to pick up a briefcase. As Ward predicted, things were proceeding as planned on their end.

Red hour arrived at Project Otherside, and things immediately went wrong. A large, sucking hole opened between dimensions, drawing Dr. Bertillini in. Major Zanetti hung on for his wife and son until the flesh ripped from his body. The storm was so large and horrifying, Helen and Tate watched it from the window of their house. Hours later, when things calmed down, a search and rescue team came upon what was left of Tim Zanetti. His white "skin" glowed with energy, and at his touch, a rescuer's body erupted into a hellish mass of tumorous sickness. Mac was there, and hoped Tim could forget his former life.

Four years later, the government had finally stabilized Zanetti's condition within an incubation chamber. Mac wished they'd just let him die, but the government still held hope that Zanetti would prove useful when needed. "We didn't start this, Major. Baikal wasn't our mistake."



Today, after years in a vegetative state, Tim Zanetti woke up to demolish his chamber. He was successfully contained by armored troops with special equipment. "My apologies. We've been waiting for this day a long time, sir. My name is Dr. Paul Chambers. And it is a privilege to welcome you-- to the year 2005. McClellan also heard the news. "Tim... God help me... You can't save us, buddy. Dear God, I'm not sure anyone can."

"Otherside" was by Bob Harras, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. The project began life as an update of Captain Atom, merging elements of the Gill/Ditko original from the '60s and the Bates/Broderick update from 1987. For reasons unknown, DC decided to alter their plans after the first issue was already in production, with surface elements altered to treat Breach as a new character, but the brass tacks were unmistakably recycled. Just like the Silver Age Captain Atom, Breach was a military officer involved in a research project given extraordinary powers through a catastrophic accident. As with the Post-Crisis rewrite, the hero lost decades of time. Atom's best friend was "Goz," and Breach's "Mac." Both men's wives remarried to generals they served with in the past, and had their sons adopted by the same, but only Captain Atom had a daughter, as well. I could go on, but you get the drift.

Whereas the 1960 Captain Atom laid all the basics out in a handful of pages, and '87 in the first issue, Breach played by the rules of decompressed storytelling that still plagued the industry of the time. Three pages were devoted to establishing Tim as a family man, one silent page to his morning commute, five pages to touring the facility and explaining the project, two pages to introduce Mac, four pages of insinuating Mac's involvement in the accident, six pages of the accident itself, five pages to Tim finally waking up, plus the four page flash-forward at the beginning. It took an extra forty-five cents and eight pages to cover maybe four pages of the original origin story. It's a story told well enough technically, with solid dialogue and art, but the pace is freakin' glacial.

Brave New World
Posted by Diabolu Frank at 12:00 AM 0 comments
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Thursday, February 10, 2011

2009 Black Lantern Breach design by Joe Prado

Click To Enlarge


I believe at this point I own a complete set of Breach, and I think I managed this feat for less than ten bucks, with change enough for a hamburger (and not just a Jumbo Jack.) I haven't read a single issue yet, but I've heard nothing but good things about the book, and I've tended to enjoy Bob Harras' writing more often than not.

Breach was conceived as a relaunch of Captain Atom, until the company decided to go a different way and have Harras convert his ideas to serve a brand new character. I liked the Post-Crisis Captain Atom, but that version of the hero had been both flagrantly unfaithful to the Ditko original and seriously mangled by Armageddon 2001. If through some quantum field tap dancing Nathanial Adam became Breach, and Allan Adam came back from '60s Charlton as the all-classic Captain Atom, I think DC would be a better place (especially if no one ever mentioned Monarch again.) Instead, Breach was tossed into the pool of post-Zero Hour derivative/revamped trademarks that Geoff Johns assigned to "Earth-8" as duplicates of (often only slightly) more famous Earth-1 heroes. Breach could have been to Captain Atom as Power Girl is to Supergirl, but instead he was killed during Infinite Crisis. I had to wiki that fact, because Captain Atom gets breached all the time, but I guess a Breach breach meant the dude actually died. Good or not, I'm pretty sure Breach would have to have been better than Infinite Crisis, which was no Millennium, right?

UPDATE: I have been informed Breach was actually killed in Countdown: Arena. Holy f'n shnikies that's lame. I read fewer and fewer DC Comics and feel better and better about that fact.

Posted by Diabolu Frank at 12:08 AM 2 comments
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