46 & 2 Issue Thirteen

Who is the Slayer of God?

46 & 2 Issue 13:

By

Zachary Smith

PAGE 1.  PANEL 1.

Chino is reading a comic, Animal Man.  Abe, and Frankie are playing video games.  Stephan and Chi are talking.

Stephan:  “I don’t think it’s real.  Magick, gods, demons, telepathy, all that cool shit we read about and watch in anime and movies, its just that, not real.  It only exists in those worlds.”

Chi:  “But what if you tried to make it real.  Live in a way that you think that the impossible is possible and then maybe one day it will happen.”

Stephan:  “I wish Superman would coming flying in, or have Spider-man come swinging by, but they’re not real Chi.  They never were, and they never will be.”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 2.

Chino puts the comic down.

Chino:  “According to this they’re more real than you or I.”

Stephan:  “What are you babbling about?”

Chino:  “Morrison’s babbling, but whatever.  He says that since these characters were around before we were alive, and they’ll be around long after we’re dead, then that makes them more real than us.  People will forget about us.  But they’ll never forget about Superman.”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 3.

Stephan puts his brow into his hand.

Stephan:  “But not really, its only in our head.”

Chi:  “Dumbledore told Harry that just because it’s happening in our head, doesn’t make it not real.”

Stephan:  “Fuck Dumbledore.”

Chino:  “Why are you getting so upset at a fictional character?”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 4.

Stephan is looking at Chino.

Stephan:  “I’m not, its just…Where’s my ticket to Hogwarts then?  I just want the magic to be real too, but my heart can’t take it anymore.”

Chino:  “Magick is real, we’re doing it everyday. “

Stephan:  “Real magick.”

Chino: “I can do magic.”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 5.

Chi looks at Chino, eyes wide.

Chi:  “Um…”

Chino:   “Wanna see what I can do?”

PAGE 2.  SPLASH PAGE

Close up of Chino’s face as he is being hit with a clenched fist, his face grimaces from the impact and pain.  His hair is loose, not spiked up and gelled like it normally is.  Scorpio is the one hitting him, so as a visual hint you can give him some tattoos on the hand, and exposed forearm that is visible inside the panel, which this is the only part of him we see in the panel.

Chino (caption):  “Who am I?”

Scorpio (off panel):  “Had enough?”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 1.

Chino slouches in a chair that he is strapped to, a smile appears on his face, his eyes are covered with hair, but the smile shines through.

Scorpio watches him.  They are in a big bomb shelter, in the corner are boxes and crates, we’ll come to find out that they are boxes of cigarettes and booze.

Chino:  “Not yet.”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 2.

Chino has broken out of the chair, using super strength.  Pieces of the chair fly around as he has broken it by standing up and moving his arms outward.

Scropio is running through an entryway shutting a giant metal door behind him as he does so.  There is an eye slot piece on the door that someone from the outside can use to look in on someone on the inside.

Chino:  “Get over here, I’m going to stomp your insides out this time.”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 3.

Scorpio peers through the eye slot and looks at Chino.

Scorpio:  “Finally.  In the corner, fresh supply.  You know you want it.”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 4.

Chino smashes open the boxes, cartons of cigarettes and bottles of liquor fall out.

PAGE 3.  PANEL 5.

Chino sits smoking a cigarette, carving a shape into the wall with his finger, he is actually denting the metal by firmly pressing against the wall.

Chino (caption):  “It seems like we’ve been trying to find out for years.”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 6.

Many empty bottles of booze and cigarette butts litter the floor around a passed out Chino.  Scorpio looks down at him.

PAGE 4.  PANEL 1.

Scorpio and Chino are sitting in a bar.  Scorpio has a laptop out and is typing as they talk.

Scorpio:  “It seems to be emotional triggers.  When I make you mad that’s when the aggressive aspect comes out.  When he asked for smokes and beer I kind of figured he wasn’t very smart, but I was wrong.  It’s not that he’s dumb, just very pleasure focused.  All he wants is to get off some how.  I learned that the hard way when I peaked in the second time and he was jerking off.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 2.

Chino palms his face out of embarrassment.

Chino:  “After two weeks it’s still embarrassing.”

Scorpio:  “Think of it as pay back for knowing my little proclivities.”

Chino:  “Let’s not visit the topic of BDSM porn right now, please.”

Scorpio:  “Your loss.”

Chino:  “What about the others?”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 3.

Chino is fiddling with some grass, in a dead area on Scorpio’s lawn.  There is a picture of Myung in his hand.  Chino is wearing shorts, and a different t-shirt. 

Scorpio watches from the window.

PAGE 4.  PANEL 4.

Chino wipes his eyes as he looks at the picture, the grass beneath him is starting to turn yellow instead of brown.

PAGE 4.  PANEL 5.

Chino smiles at the picture, eyes full of tears.

The grass beneath him is now completely green.

Scorpio (caption): “Same thing.  It’s an emotional response to a situation.”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 1.

Scorpio continues to type.

Scorpio:  “When you’re sad I’ve noticed that you tend to be in that healing mode.  It’s actually quite beautiful to watch.” 

Chino:  “Sadness, is that it?”

Scorpio:  “Or guilt.  From what you’ve told me it can be either one, or both.  But I like to think its more like empathy.  You’re identifying with the pain of the person, that’s why you become so impacted.”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 2.

Chino smiles.

Chino:  “I never thought feeling guilty or sad could be a good thing.”

Scorpio:  “Of course they can, let’s you know that you can feel, and you’re not some psychopath who can’t tell right from wrong.  But the thing is, when it comes on you, you really get into it, and I think you shut down.  The pain over loads your system.”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 3.

Chino looks at Scorpio, Scorpio continues to type.

Chino:  “What does that mean?”

Scorpio:  “Few things scare me.  I’ll let you know that up front, and also you’ve been inside my head, not much there that really shakes me.  But…”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 4.

Chino is back in the shorts and t-shirt.  He is washing dishes in the sink.  The water is steaming, very hot.

Scorpio is wearing the same thing from the earlier panel as well, when he was watching Chino from his apartment window. 

Scorpio:  “Can I wash my hands real quick?”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 5.

Chino moves out of the way, and is drying a plate, Scorpio sticks his hands under the water.

PAGE 5.  PANEL 6.

Scorpio pulls back, hands are red and waiting over his head.  Chino watches him, no visible sign of expression.

Scorpio:  “FUCK!  Why didn’t you tell me it was so hot?”

Chino:  “I didn’t notice.”

PAGE 6.  PANEL 1.

Scorpio looks at Chino’s hands as they dry off the place, his own hands are still raised above his head.  Chino is still expressionless.

Scorpio:  “What?  Drop the towel, let me see something.”

PAGE 6.  PANEL 2.

Scorpio takes Chino’s hand and guides it towards the water.

PAGE 6.  PANEL 3.

Scorpio eyes Chino as he gets his hand closer to the water.  Chino just stares blankly at his hand and the water.

PAGE 6.  PANEL 4.

Scorpio has put Chino’s hand under the hot water. 

PAGE 6.  PANEL 5.

Chino is still expressionless as Scorpio holds his hand under the water and is looking at Chino.  Chino stares back.

Scorpio (caption):  “That face.  That scares me.  There was nothing in it.  Nothing there.”

PAGE 6.  PANEL 6.

Chino looks at his hand, which is perfectly fine.

Scorpio:  “You’re hand didn’t even feel hot afterwards.  You didn’t feel anything, did you?”

Chino:  “…No.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 1.

Scorpio has turned the laptop towards Chino.

Chino:  “What’s this?”

Scorpio: “Its an email from my friend, the one whose place we are using.  He sent me a link to a thread.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 2.

There is a thread in on a website.  The title of the forum is “What’s happening to me?”

Scorpio:  “A boy, almost the same exact age as you, posted this ten years ago.  This has kept alive because so many other people have added to it.  My friend’s the last bit.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 3.

There is a message thread, a Mech unit is the image.

Text:  “Feeling closer to things?  People, how they think, feel, able to influence their decisions, help them heal, shield yourself from unnecessary pain?  We’re all merging together into one unit and we are the pioneers on this road.  A Christ Consciousness is what we are coming towards, we will be elevated higher beings, if we can make it through the birthing pains. 

“My shadow’s shedding skin.  I’ve been digging through, my old muscles looking for a clue.” TOOL, 46 & 2

PAGE 7.  PANEL 4.

Scorpio gets another beer.

Scorpio:  “You said you’ve read my stuff before, did you read the one about the psychics going missing?”

Chino:  “Yea, I remember they were all around my age.”

Scorpio:  “Basically there has been a significant number of parents reporting missing children who have had odd circumstances go along with their disappearances.  The parents also noted that the kids had displayed odd behavior all their lives: super athletic,

Chino:  “Like ripping off a truck door.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 5.

Chino sits at the bar thinking of Myung trapped in the white room with the dark god. 

Scorpio (caption): precognitive abilities,

PAGE 7.  PANEL 6.

Chino continues to think, but his thoughts drift now to a classroom, he is writing.

Scorpio (caption):  “extreme intelligence,”

PAGE 7. PANEL 7.

Chino looks at an A paper.  Abe is peering over him, looking at the paper.

Abe:  “How did you do that?”

Chino:  “Seriously?  I don’t know.”

Scorpio (caption): “or at least able to leach off the knowledge of those around them.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 1.

Scorpio is putting down an empty glass and is getting another beer in his other hand.

Scorpio:  “And the most interesting one that I have yet to see—“

Chino:  “Stopping bullets.”

Scorpio:  “That’s your example, but yes, stopping, moving, lifting things with your mind.  The real question becomes, how can we get you to do it again.”

Chino:  “No clue.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 2.

Scorpio pounds this beer.

Chino:  “Trying to tie one on?”

Scorpio:  “Building up the courage.”

Chino:  “For what?”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 3.

The barman turns away.  Scorpio head butts Chino.

PAGE 8.  PANEL 4.

Chino slumps onto the bar, passed out.

Scorpio:  “For that.”

Scorpio:  “Time to go.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 5.

Scorpio drags Chino to a booth.

PAGE 8.  PANEL 6. 

Scorpio talks on his cell phone.

Scorpio:  “You back?  Good.  It’s time.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 1.

Chino’s eyes begin to open.  He is back in the room from the beginning of the issue.

PAGE 9.  PANEL 2.

Chino holds his head as he begins to sit up.  There is note on the ground that we don’t see yet.

PAGE 9.  PANEL 3.

Chino picks up the letter.

PAGE 9.  PANEL 4.

Chino’s hand and the letter.

The letter reads:  “Your friend fucked up.  He didn’t know that much about me; he never did.  When you fell into my lap I knew everything I ever wanted would be mine.  I already told them where to find you, and where everyone else is, so they can keep them quiet.  You’ll notice that it’s going to get harder to breathe.  I wasn’t sure of whether or not I could actually kill you and not have you heal up, but keeping you deprived of oxygen ought to keep you docile and out of the way until they come and get you.  Didn’t you wonder why I was finding out everything you could do?  Like seeing if you were strong enough to break out of this cell.  You’re not.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 1.

Chino is pounding on the door and yelling.

Chino:  “OPEN UP!  COME ON!”

Chino:  “QUIT FUCKING AROUND!”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 2.

Chino gives the door another punch.

Chino:  “This can’t be happening.  This is…”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 3.

Chino holds his throat.

Chino:  “Crazy.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 4.

Chino begins to stumble and fall.

Chino:  “Myung.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 5.

As Chino begins to get up he sees the symbol that he carved into the wall.

Chino:  “Weltall.”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 1.

Chino is playing a video game in his room, Chi sits next to him.

Chi:  “Let’s go man, I know your upset about…”

Chi:  “…Stuff.”

Chino:  “Breanna.”

Chi:  “Fine, you said it, not me.  But can we go?  We’ve been here for three hours.”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 2.

Chino takes a drink from a soda.

Chino:  “I’ve been waiting forever to play Xenogears.  The main character and I have the same name.”

Chi:  “Okay, that is rare.”

Chino:  “The combat system is combo and turn based, and the story is awesome as hell.”

Chi:  “What’s the mech’s name?”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 3.

Chino turns to Chi.

Chino:  “Weltall.”

Chi:  “What does that mean?”

Chino:  “Slayer of god.”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 4.

Chino returns to playing.  Chi just looks on.

Chi:  “I’ve never seen you so focused.”

Chino:  “Huh?”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 5.

Chino stares at the sigil, meditative position.

Chino:  “Known as the slayer of god, but…”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 6.

Chino has his palms resting on his knees in the meditation position.  His eyes are open.

Chino:  “Universe.  Weltall…German for universe.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 1.

Chino is sketching out the symbol that appears on the wall, but he’s at Frankie’s apartment, in his normal clothes, hunched over the coffee table.  Frankie looks over his shoulder.

Frankie:  “What is it?”

Chino:  “You know that chaos magick stuff that Morrison talks about in The Invisibles, well I thought I’d try a modification of it.”

Frankie:  “Oh yeah?  So how are you doing it?’

Chino:  “Instead of a series of words that get broken into a symbol, I’m only doing one word.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 2.

Frankie picks up his PS3 controller.

Frankie:  “What word?”

Chino:  “Weltall.”

Frankie:  “Nice.  I’m glad I got you that game for your birthday.”

Chino:  “Best gift ever man.”

Frankie:  “Is that it?”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 3.

Chino is holding it up to Frankie.  We are seeing this from Frankie’s P.O.V., Chino’s eyes appear above the sheet of paper with the sigil on it.

Chino:  “My symbol.  Now all I need is a cape and costume and I have my own superhero emblem for the chest piece.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 4.

Frankie takes the paper in his hand and looks at it.  Chino looks indignant at Frankie’s statement.

Frankie:  “Kind of looks like Prince’s weird ass symbol.”

Chino:  “What do you know?”

Frankie:  “Should get Stephan to tattoo it on you.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 5.

Chino is looking at the sigil, his rubbing the bottom of his chin, thinking about the tattoo option.

Chino:  “…Nah, sigils are supposed to be temporary and tossed away.  I don’t think I’ll toss this one, but a tattoo of it is too permanent.  ‘Sides, I’m getting the Flash lighting bolt.”

Frankie:  “I forgot.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 6.

Chino is back in the chamber, staring at the symbol still, hands are still palm down, resting on his knees.  He has closed his eyes.

Chino:  “WLT”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 1.

Chino passes Abe a joint, they are talking on the stairwell of Abe’s apartment. 

Abe:  “You’re going to jerk-off.”

Chino:  “That’s one way to activate the spell, but no, not for this.  I think this will be something more.”

Abe:  “Activate?”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 2.

Chino leans back to look up at the stars.

Chino:  “Grant Morrison talked about sigils being a means of getting what we desire, but they can also represent new ideas, feelings, ways of being.  One way he said to activate the sigil is to masturbate.  He charged one while bungee jumping right before he wrote The Invisibles.”

Abe:  “And you think this will work?”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 3.

Chino takes the joint back from Abe.

Chino:  “He always said that all the crazy things that characters do in books and movies can be replicated.  He just went out and did them.  He blended his life and fiction, and I want to do the same thing.  I want to give my life a purpose, and I think this will do it.”

Abe:  “What purpose?”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 4.

Chino looks at the joint that he is smoking.

Chino:  “I don’t know.  I just know that I’m meant for something more, you know?  Like this isn’t it.  Life and the universe are infinitely more complex than we even realize and I want to know everything about it.  Maybe it’ll explain why I…”

Abe:  “Why you what?”

Chino:  “Nothing.”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 5.

Chino is in the lotus position.  The symbol is right in front of him.  His eyes are closed.

Chino (caption):  “An intense emotional moment.  To charge the sigil you need to be in a unique state.  Well, oxygen is getting thinner, I’m feeling light headed, along with an odd sense of euphoria.  An empty mind to fill the sigil with.  If almost dying isn’t enough of an intense situation Mr. Morrison, I don’t know what is.”

PAGE 14.  PANEL 1.

Chino is silent now, just sitting in the meditative position, the symbol in front of him.

PAGE 14.  PANEL 2.

Chino is hitting the punching bag, with Joshua behind it, and Mala wathching.

Joshua:  “Focus!  Empty your head until it becomes muscle memory.  Don’t think, just do.”

Chino:  “Thanks Yoda.”

Joshua:  “He’s a smart bastard.”

PAGE 14.  PANEL 3.

Repeat the same panel, sweat now beads down Chino’s brow. 

PAGE 14.  PANEL 4.

Myung stands behind Chino as he is strumming a guitar.

Myung:  “I thought you only sang?”

Chino:  “Stephan wants me to learn guitar too.  ‘Lazy asshole just standing there mumbling while we do all the real work.’”  Or something to that effect.  Plus, it’ll allow us to be more versatile while we play.

Myung:  “Cover more songs.”

Chino:  “We’ll be more than a cover band.  But right now I need to concentrate because my fingerings all off.”

PAGE 14.  PANEL 5.

Chino opens his eyes to see the sigil.

PAGE 14.  PANEL 6.

Chino looks away, hurt.  Joshua walks over.

Joshua:  “Don’t give me the pouty face, son.  Ye know this is the right thing to do, yer just being selfish.  Get over it, and man up.  Yer doing this fer her.” 

Chino (caption): “For her.”

PAGE 15.  PANEL 1. Half page.

Chino opens his eyes, he has a dialogue bubble, but out it comes the Weltall symbol instead of words.

PAGE 15.  PANEL 2. Half page.

The door blows open off its hinges and is crumpling in the middle.

PAGE 16.  PANEL 1.

Scorpio runs into the hallway where the door lays on the ground, as if some great beast smashed it open from the other side. 

PAGE 16.  PANEL 2.

Scorpio’s face is full of shock and amazement, his cigarette has fallen out of his mouth, because it’s wide open like his eyes.

Scorpio:  “Holy…”

PAGE 16.  PANEL 3.

Scorpio looks into to see Chino, still in the meditative position, eyes open, with no expression on his face.  The cigarette floats at the bottom of the panel.

Scorpio:  “You…how?”

PAGE 16.  PANEL 4.

Scorpio looks to his right, the cigarette floats there and is being crumpled and extinguished. 

Chino:  “Out.”

Scorpio:  “Um, Sho?”

Chino:  “Show you what?”

PAGE 16.  PANEL 5.

A young man, Japanese in a Japanese school uniform enters the room, he has a shirt that has a big zero and one on it.

Sho:  “It’s like watching Tetsuo wake up in Akira, frightening and beautiful all at the same time.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 1.

Chino stands up, he puts his hand out, as in a choking motion.  Scorpio holds his throat.

Chino:  “Not smart to confront me right now.”

Scorpio:  “Stop…was only…test…choking.”

Sho:  “That’s enough Vader.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 2.

Sho cast out his hand and it knocks Chino to the ground.  Scorpio holds his neck.

Sho:  “Apparently your lack of faith was disturbing.”

Scorpio:  “Remind me…to never…piss…him off.”

Sho:  “I think you’ll remember.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 3.

Chino starts to stand.

Chino:  “You’re like…”

Sho:  “Me, Sho Ryuken.  Yes, only I’ve been at it a little longer, and am a bit more skilled if I do say so myself, but the damage you caused that door, very impressive.  I don’t know if I could have broken it so thoroughly.  You also could have unlocked it, but with the scenario that Mr. Israeli gave you I’m sure your only concern at that moment was survival.”

Chino:  “Scenario?”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 4.

Chino looks at Scorpio who is still rubbing his throat.

Scorpio:  “Yeah, not real.  All that stuff I wrote in that letter was my hackneyed super villain dribble.  There’s no threat that I know of to your lady and your friends.”

Chino:  “Why?”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 5.

Scorpio looks at Chino.

Scorpio:  “To get you to this point.  You wouldn’t have been able to do this if you hadn’t been meant to think that they were in danger, to get you to…”

Sho:  “Focus.  It wasn’t the danger entirely, it was the fact that you focused your mind so singularly on the goal of escaping that you finally activated that which is hardest for you to use, the ability to control.”

Chino:  “Control?”

Sho:  “Think back.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 1.

Chino is stopping the bullet’s from Narcissca’s gun, the glass stalled in the air as well. 

Sho (caption):  “You stopped bullets from hitting you, now either we are living in the Matrix, or you have some high level telekinesis.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 2.

Chino looks lost, back in the room with Sho and Scorpio.

Chino:  “I did, but then it was gone.”

Sho:  “The man, Narcissca, he has something similar to us, yet very limited.  He gets what he wants, and at that moment he wanted your power gone, but only the one he could see.  You also made him do something, which he is not accustomed to.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 3.

Chino is back in the room when Narcissca and the Soldier in the hat attacked.  Narcissca has thrown his gun away.

Narcissca:  “How…”

Sho (caption):  “This power is an ultimate exertion of will.  Think Green Lantern: you have more will power than him, so you force him to drop the gun.  When he struggles to control your cousin, who is preventing him from using the power?” 

Chino (caption):  “Me.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 4.

Sho pats Chino on the shoulder yes.

Sho:  “Fei, you are very powerful.  And we need to train you to use that power for what is coming.”

Chino:  “What is coming?”

Sho:  “What is always coming:  The end of the world.” 

PAGE 19.  PANEL 1.

Chino and Sho sit in a coffee shop/bar, Scorpio is getting a beer from the bar.

Chino:  “How did you know all about that stuff?”

Sho:  “Like you, I can see into people’s minds.  When you are in your altered states your other abilities seem to go away, which is odd.  I didn’t mean to pry, it was all for your benefit, I assure you.”

Chino:  “Hmmm…I shouldn’t complain, I’ve done it to other people with out their permission.  Who built that room I was in?”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 2.

Sho puts down his tea and puts his finger up at his head.

Sho:  “That would be me.”

Chino:  “WHAT?!  How in the hell did you do that?  How can you make that something that technically advanced and strong and…”

Sho:  “It’s all up here.  We all have unique abilities, some are pretty common like the telepathy and the dexterity, but I happen to be very motivated by, and attuned with, technology.  Which I think will make my life long goal possible.”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 3.

Scorpio comes back with his beer.

Scorpio:  “Tell him you mad bastard.  And he’ll do it too, I guarantee it.”

Chino:  “Thanks Men’s Warehouse.  What is it?”

Sho:  “Well, Weltall, I want to build a Mech.”

Chino:  “Wha…”

Sho:  “A veritech, a Gundam, an Eva, whatever it is, I’m going to build it, and pilot it as well.”

Chino:  “I think I love you.”

Scorpio:  “Step in line.”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 4.

Chino leans in closer.

Chino:  “Sho, do you know why we are this way?  Why we can do what we can do?”

Sho:  “Evolution?  Radiation?  God’s boredom?  All are possible, but the most likely thing is 46 & 2.”

Chino:  “Math?”

Sho:  “Hah, or magic.”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 1.

Back to the first page, in Abe and Frankie’s apartment.

Stephan:  “What’s your magician name?”

Chino:  “Magic name sir, and it is Weltall.”

Stephan:  “So what’s your trick?”

Chino:  “Promise me something first?”

Stephan:  “What?”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 2.

Chino puts the comic down.

Chino:  “You’ll read all those Morrison comics I keep telling you about.”

Stephan:  “Fine.  So what’s the magic trick?”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 3.

Chino lifts the coffee table that Frankie and Abe sitting in front of.

Chino:  “I will make this table appear light as a feather.”

Stephan:  “The hell?”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 4.

Chino puts his finger in the center of the table after he has put it down.

Chino:  “Now it will be so heavy no can lift it.”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 5.

Stephan is squatting and his face is full of frustration but he cannot lift the table.

Stephan:  “JESUS!”

Chino:  “Now I will return it to normal weight, and you will fall head over hills.”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 6.

Chino lifts his finger off the table.  Stephan goes flying backwards from the lack of tension on the table. 

PAGE 20.  PANEL 7.

Chino has tossed a copy of Animal Man on top of Stephan.  Everyone is looking at Stephan in the middle of the mess.

Chino:  “Start there.”

THE END