46 & 2 Issue Fourteen

The man behind the curtain

46 & 2 Issue 14:

By

Zachary Smith

“I destroy the rebellious tribes with streams of blood and money. Only from this seed something new will emerge, which will remain.”-Lothar Von Trotha

PAGE 1.  PANEL 1.

Blicero is lighting a match in a room.

Blicero (caption writing in notebook):  “Always my mother told me differing accounts of who my father was.  Not who he was, but what he was.”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 2.

Blicero’s mother, a young girl of 11, is lighting a candle in the church of Cologne Cathedral.  This is in a Catholic church so it is the votive candle being lit with the small stick in her hand.  The candle appears before the Virgin Mary.

Blicero (caption writing in notebook):  “One day he is a religious and intellectual man that understands my mother’s pain and loss of her father.”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 3.

She has folded her hands in the act of prayer, head down, and a man is behind her.  Only in shadow, and with billowing black coats.  We do not see him yet. 

PAGE 1.  PANEL 4.

The man has placed his hand upon her shoulder, a white pale hand.  Like a giant baby’s hand or an infant.  The girl is startled and looks up to see who has placed their hand upon her.

Judge:  “Who do you pray for child?”

PAGE 1.  PANEL 5.

When she looks up we see a horribly pale, large, bald man, with no hair, eyelashes or eyebrows, looking down at her with milky red eyes. 

Gretta:  “Muh my father.”

Judge:  “Pray no more child for your answer is here.”

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “Other nights…

PAGE 2.  PANEL 1.

The judge is playing a flute to a group of gathered children in a barroom.  The parents are drinking and talking in the back.  Gretta is among the children watching.

The judge taps out a beat with his foot, while a woman dances.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “…he entertained small children, giving them laughter and mirth which they had not seen before.  My mother watched him many of nights do this.”

PAGE 2.  PANEL 2.

There are some children missing and others coming to join the group of children watching.  Some parents are in the background crying.  The judge continues to play his flute.

Gretta is in a different outfit to indicate that time has passed.

Blicero (caption writing in the journal):  “For nights and nights children would come and go, my mother being one of the few consistent attendees until there was only her to listen.”

PAGE 2.  PANEL 3.

Gretta is the only child on the floor listening to the music.  Some younger men are in the bar drinking, but the place is basically deserted.  The judge and his flute continue to play and Gretta looks on mesmerized.

PAGE 2.  PANEL 4.

The judge extends his hand to Gretta, she is taking the hand gladly.

Blicero (caption writing in journal):  “A magnificent dancer according to her, that even though he was such a rotund man, his feet lively, and never tiring.  Always learning, because my father was a learned man, a Judge to hear my mother tell it.

PAGE 2.  PANEL 5.

The judge and her dance while he plays his flute.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “He told my mother that he never slept, always practicing, writing, dancing, drawing, collecting…”

PAGE 2.  PANEL 6.

Gretta is walking into a small room inside the tavern.  The judge is close behind her.  As she enters she sees a lot of sketches on the wall.  At first they are just blurry to us as the reader, but we can tell they are faces, but we cannot tell yet of whom.

The Judge:  “My bedchamber my sweet.  That manuscript of the Bible I was telling you about is in here.  I am so glad to see the Cologne Cathedral completed, when I was here last it was almost finished.”

Gretta:  “I love your drawings, who…”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 1.

The images come into sharper focus, children that had been in the circle of listeners previous nights with Gretta adorn the drawings that we see. 

PAGE 3.  PANEL 2.

We see a flash of comparison images of the children and them being matched to their drawings in Gretta’s head.  She is realizing why she is the only one left.

PAGE 3.  PANEL 3.

Gretta looks behind her, and the Judge’s massive child like hand is coming towards her.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “But never a man who loved.  Sometimes not a man at all…”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 4.

We only see Gretta’s face, in pain and agony crying, with the Judge’s massive hand holding her head down.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “A demon maybe…”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 5.

We see only the Judge, smiling, red eyes, the room is going dark, and he fills in all the space with his whiteness and his glowing red eyes.  He is laughing.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “Something to fill the sleep of those who have seen him.”

PAGE 3.  PANEL 6.

Gretta is running through the streets of Cologne, clothes are ripped apart and tears come running down her face.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “To be the monster that all children dream about and awaken screaming about.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 1.

Gretta is now giving birth in a convent. 

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “According to the nuns that told my mother the date, I was born on March 18^th, 1886.  It was a Tuesday, or Tyr’s day, Norse God, so fearless that only he was brave enough to keep his hand in Fenrir’s mouth as they chained him.  He lost his hand, but never his bravery.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 2.

Gretta is walking on a country road, she has Blicero strapped to her back.  There is a house in front of her, light from a fire burns inside.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “It was the end of Mar’s month, she had come upon an old shack at this point.  She had made it to the Netherland’s by this point, running away.   Never wanting to meet up with my father again had spurned her every decision and move.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 3.

An old woman opens the door to Gretta who had been knocking.

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “It was while we were in this new land that we met with my Grandmother, and my training began here.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 4.

Blicero is now an infant, dressed in girl’s clothers, while his mother is dressed as a young man.  The Grandmother sits knitting while Gretta is shoveling coal into an oven.  Blicero walks around.

Grandmother:  “Work boy, for you only stay as long as I need you and you are useful.  It’s the little one that interests me.  He’s not natural, he comes from something different.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 5.

A boy and a girl are seen eating at a table with Grandmother, Blicero, while Gretta serves them. 

Boy:  “So lucky we found this house.  We ran and ran away from our father’s new wife, she beats us horribly.”

Grandmother:  “So tragic.”

Girl:  “But you seem so kind my lady.  And your serving boy so sweet and handsome.  Where did you get this little one?  Is it a boy or girl?”

Grandmother:  “She came to me, like all my children do.”

Blicero (caption writing in his journal):  “She often had guests, and loved to entertain.  It’s why her house looked so inviting from outside, so people would come and see her.”

PAGE 4.  PANEL 6.

Next to the oven is a cooking station, and above it hangs the limbs and parts of the boy and girl, while Gretta cleans some mess from the floor.  Grandmother is cutting the flesh from the leg of one of the children.

Grandmother:  “Such good meat.  We will eat so well tonight.”

Blicero:  (caption writing in his journal):  “We never went hungry at Grandmother’s house.”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 1.

Gretta is throwing up outside, she has gotten older, and is now about 14/15.  She is dressed like a boy.  Grandmother is seen holding Blicero by the hand, he is a little older now, about 3, he is dressed like a girl.

Grandmother:  “You don’t like my food now?  Is that it?  You with your big cow tits and hairy cunt don’t like the food that I am trying to serve you?  This food is clean, pure, not damaged like you.”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 2.

Gretta is running through the woods, Blicero trailing behind her, he is now 5 maybe 6 years old. 

Gretta:  “We must keep running darling.”

Blicero:  “I don’t want to, I want to stay with Grandmother.”

Gretta:  “She is not your grandmother.”

Blicero:  “You lie!”

PAGE 5.  PANEL 3.

Birds begin to fly around them, ravens cawing at them.

PAGE 5.  PANEL 4.

The birds begin to fly closer to Gretta, but not Blicero. 

PAGE 5.  PANEL 5.

Gretta is swatting away the birds, but there are too many to escape.

PAGE 5.  PANEL 6.

A raven claws at Gretta’s eye.

PAGE 5.  PANEL 7.

Gretta stumbles.

PAGE 5.  PANEL 8.

Gretta is on the ground and the birds are frenzying around her.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Mother lacked faith, and was punished for it.”

PAGE 6.  SPLASH PAGE

Grandmother has appeared behind Blicero, they’re in the background.  Gretta’s body is in the foreground, entrails, sinew, muscle, blood, and eyes leaking out.

Grandmother:  “She should have stayed with us.”

Blicero:  “She deserved it.  She never loved you the way I do.”

Grandmother:  “I know.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 1.

Grandmother sits with entrails around her, a cup full of blood, a plate with meat on it, a sword with blood crossed with a shovel with dirt, and a walking stick that the old woman is putting down.  Blicero watches from a distance.  Outside it is storming.

Blicero:  “Grandmother, what are you doing?”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Magic is a strange thing.  I will never claim to understand it all, even after all of these years.  But one night Grandmother showed me something that was beyond anything I’ve been able to replicate.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 2.

Grandmother smiles, she stirs the blood in the cup with her finger.  Wind shakes the windows.

Grandmother:  “Going to talk to him, to the one, the creator.”

Blicero:  “Who?”

Grandmother:  “The architect of all things.  I must walk the lighting road.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 3.

Blicero steps closer, almost into the circle.  Grandmother extends her arm to keep him back.

Grandmother:  “NO!  You must not enter the circle, we do not wish to loose the demiurge upon the world.  Besides I…sense a fraction of him in you, you would not be able to contain it yet and it would only kill you.  But soon.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 4.

Grandmother has taken a bite from the meat from on the plate, while she has the sword in her other hand.

Grandmother:  “If I come back then you will know more, if not, you know much of what I have taught you already and the rest are in my journals; this is the final sacrifice you will learn.  To see the Throne, all things will try to keep me here, but I refuse to stay, I will see the face of god.”

PAGE 7.  PANEL 5.

She holds the swords and the wooden stick into the air.

Grandmother:  “FIRE AND AIR.  DIVINATION AND KNOWLEDGE.  LIGHT—“

PAGE 7.  PANEL 6.

Lighting strikes Grandmother, her eye sockets are burning, here clothing is on fire.  Blicero is blown back.

PAGE 7.  PANEL 7.

Blicero looks at Grandmother as he crawls closer, she is smoking, on fire, hair burnt off, cooked.  Eyes have been burnt out of her socket.

PAGE 8.  PANEL 1.

Red eyes appear inside Grandmothers sockets, animating here into being.  She talks to Blicero.  The body will continue to burn and disintegrate more and more in each panel.

Blicero:  “What…”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “I am the architect of all things.  I have moved through time, from end back to beginning, I am the hole at the center of all things.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 2.

The being looks at Blicero, he keeps getting closer to the center, almost breaking the circle of entrails.

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “Flesh and blood, wine and bread of the mother.  I sense something in you, something familiar…You are an aspect.”

Blicero:  “Of what?”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “Of death.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 3.

The demiurge begins to levitate Grandmother’s body.

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge): “You were brought to this woman for a reason.  She has set you on the path.  We will meet again, I sense it now, why you are familiar, we have already met Blicero.”

Blicero:  “But I’m not…”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge): “There yet, but you will be.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 4.

Blicero has stepped to the edge of the circle.

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge): “Step in further, grandmother will hold you.”

Blicero:  “She said not too.”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “Maybe I was lying, maybe I didn’t want to share this, but now I do.”

Blicero:  “…No.”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 5.

Grandmother spins around, possessed.

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “Hmm…smart boy, no wonder we meet again.”

Blicero:  “Where will I see you again?”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “Many places.  I am everywhere and all things.  Body is losing consistency…I created this place and now I feel that it must be…”

PAGE 8.  PANEL 6.

Blicero looks at his possessed Grandmother face-to-face.

Blicero:  “Destroyed.”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge): “Death, like I said.  Help me complete my work.  Fading now…”

Blicero:  “But how? Hurry”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge): “

Tsiolkovsky rocket equation

PAGE 8.  PANEL 7.

Grandmother explodes, blasting Blicero back.

PAGE 8.  PANEL 8.

Blicero looks at the body’s remains.

Blicero:  “…”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I had to learn about death.  From what I had seen it seemed a messy and laborious task.  I must see if it could be more…

PAGE 9.  PANEL 1.

Blicero is on a horse, walking around an empty dirt lot.

Caption:  “South-West Africa, 1922.”

Blicero (writing in his journal): “…streamlined.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 2.

Blicero has bent down to grab a piece of dirt, shuffling it through his fingers.

Blicero(writing in his journal):  “Wars had been fought, ranks earned.  I had become a lieutenant by the time the war had ended.  To get away from the depression that was Germany I took a trip to one of our victories.  The site of the Herero camp on Shark Island.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 3.

Blicero is walking through the desert, nothing around him.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I had wanted to see our first attempt at ridding ourselves of the unnecessary; it looked as if things had never existed here, except life persisted on in this wasteland.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 4.

He continues to walk, he is coming upon an inhabited village.

Blicero (writing in his journal): “I decided to move on, further South, that terrifying, mysterious place where the unknown is faced.”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “They took me in, surprisingly enough.  They were used to the white man, but terrified of him too.  He could be creator and destroyer, just like any true god.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 5.

Blicero is sitting next to a fire reading a book, an African boy walks cautiously on the outskirts of the fire.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Some are fascinated by this duality.  They become infatuated with the idea of sublime and the void. Life and death, eros and thanatos.  I know that feeling.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 6.

Blicero is having sex with the boy from behind.  Blicero has an intense look on his face, but if that can be demonstrated by just giving light to his teeth, and glasses that would look interesting.

Boy:  “Yes, Ndjambi Karunga, yes.”

PAGE 9.  PANEL 7.

Tight shot of Blicero’s face.  In his eye glasses the fire is reflected, making it look like he has red eyes.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “God.  He called me god.  How could I not fall in love.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 1.

Blicero is walking around a launch site with the boy behind him, but the boy has now grown into a man who now towers over Blicero, wearing a uniform.  Blicero is slumped a little more, grown slightly paunchier and balder.  They are in the town of Nordhausen.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Eventually I returned to Germany.  I was known to the Fuhrer so he chose me to be one of his S.S. men.  It is there I chose my name: a bastardization of things, because of the oddity I had been in Africa, my skin was sacred and profane at the same time.  We had moved to Nordhausen, close to Bliecherode, which was very close to the old word we gave death: Blicker.” 

PAGE 10.  PANEL 2.

Blicero is being entered from behind by Enzian.  Outside of the cabin they are in there is a celebration going on.

Blicero (writing in his journal): “There was a ruckus outside the last night I saw him.  Von Braun was celebrating his birthday for a few days and I knew it was time that I return to the cabin.  I felt morose, yet excited at the thought of what would take place, so as I parting gift to my dark horse, I let him enter me.”

Blicero (writing in his journal): “Suffering and love must always be together, you must lose what you love to gain that which is sought, even if the pain of the loss is more than you could ever bear.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 3.

Blicero enters the doorway of the cabin.  Just a shadow of him.

Blicero (writing in his journal): “The cabin had haunted me ever since I left it.  Even though I had fought in the war and seen horrible things in the trenches, this place still haunted me more than anything.  I had not learned anything more about death than I had learned here, within these walls.  I’ve seen sleeker death, and messier ends, but this is the place where I learned to appreciate it.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 4.

Blicero is sitting in a rocking chair with a dress and an erection.  Around him the cabin is being cleaned up by a boy in a French Maid’s outfit and a women in a soldier’s uniform. 

Blicero:  “Shamans dressed as women, and I would be nothing less than a shaman of the rocket.  I left my dark boy with the rockets, the way of our salvation.  What I had returned to the cabin for was to charge up for the release.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 5.

The woman walks around with a strap on dildo around her crotch, and she is topless above.  The young man is tied up in his French maid uniform while has position herself behind him.  Blicero stands in front of him with the dress on, but his hand around his erection. 

Blicero:  “The sacrifice must be full of energy: love, sorrow, sex, shame, excitement, spirit.  All of it would not be wasted.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 6.

Blicero is having sex with the girl while the boy watches tied up from a cage.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I knew it would be him and not her, she was not invested.  This was merely survival for her, we were foreign entries into her land, but she could not fight us directly, only go along with what I had planned.  There was no joy in fucking her, yet the boy loved her too.  His double, his mirror.  She would leave eventually, leave us two alone.  He would be sad…”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 7.

There is a rocket ready on the Luneberg Heath, Blicero and other soldiers stand around.  There is a window on the rocket, we can see the tiniest semblance of a face.

Blicero (writing in his journal): “In the final days before we surrendered we pelted the English with our magnificent V-2’s.  Rocket’s exploding over and over again, it was beautiful process, and I had my final rocket ready.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 8.

From the window we see a face and hand waving back from the window.  It was the face of the young man.  On the rocket is written 00000, Imaplex G rocket.

Blicero (writing in his journal): “I would see him again, I would see through him the eyes I had long desired to see again.”

PAGE 10.  PANEL 9.

The rocket is in mid-fire. 

Blicero (writing in his journal): “When it exploded I would be one with him.”

PAGE 11.  PANEL 1.

A theatre is full of people, The Plainsman screen credit is rolling in.

PAGE 11.  PANEL 2.

The rocket begins to break into the ceiling, people are unaware.

PAGE 11.  PANEL 3.

The rockets collides into the ground.

PAGE 11.  PANEL 4.

The rocket explodes.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Love, like so many other things in life, requires massive sacrifice.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 1.

A panel completely filled with fire. 

PAGE 12.  PANEL 2.

What appears to be a child walks through the flames, completely untouched by the fire.  This is the same guide that Chino saw in the white space back in issue 4.  Behind him is Blicero.  There is the appearance of people burning, and on fire.  Some reach out to Blicero.

Blicero: “Where are we?”

Boy:  “In the fire.  Where you’ve always been, and where you’re always meant to be.” 

PAGE 12.  PANEL 3.

The flaming people move around them.  They do not touch the boy, but circle Blicero.

Blicero:  “They come closer to me, but I’m not burned.  It reminds me of Grandmother’s oven, but no warmth, it just feels…”

Boy:  “Cold.  Its their pain, it doesn’t burn you.  You are not bothered by what they go through.  That is why he wants to see you.”

Blicero:  “Who?”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 4.

Blicero and the boy walk through more flame, there is another figure who is not touched by the flame that stands still, waiting for them to walk towards her.  It is the figure of Blicero’s Grandmother, but we can’t see her yet.

Boy:  “God.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 5.

Grandmother stands on her walking stick, looking at them as they approach.  Blicero has turned into the little boy in the dress that he was when she took care of him.

Blicero:  “Grandmother?”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge): “Not quite.”

Blicero:  “YOU!?”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “You’ve finally made it to me.  You’ve learned some of the secrets of death, but not all.  You can’t stay.  You’ll go back, for you are still my instrument.”

PAGE 12.  PANEL 6.

The Grandmother has bent down, on her knees to be at eye level with Blicero.

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “You’re little rocket has done what it can, but there will be more, even bigger.  More powerful than yours, you must…”

Blicero:  “The A9, it can reach across the world like the finger of god and…”

Grandmother (inhabited by the demiurge):  “Almost there, head east.”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 1.

Blicero awakens in a field, in a body that is closer to the young man from the cabin.  He is on the Heath from where the rocket launched.  The field is calm, German’s are surrendering to allied forces.  Blicero is far enough away, that he is not noticed by the allied forces.

PAGE 13.  PANEL 2.

Blicero runs through the forest and falls, he is near a river.

PAGE 13.  PANEL 3.

Blicero looks at his face in the river.  He is smiling.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I had become younger, some amalgamation of myself, and my dear, sweet Gottfried.  No longer was I a feeble old man, but a young one again, with a hard on for the world.”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 4.

Blicero has made a small encampment, it is night, a small fire is aflame and Blicero warmed himself next to it.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I had to head east.  When so many of many compatriots had been pushing the battle west so as not to surrender to the Red Army, I was willingly walking towards them.  It was getting colder.  I worried that I would freeze to death, but eventually I was found.  And were they eager.”

PAGE 13.  PANEL 5.

Schematics of the atom bomb are laid in front of Blicero.

Blicero: (writing in his journal):  “It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  In the months I was out on my own, longing for my cabin, waiting for the Russians to find me, the U.S. had done something we never could have imagined.  It was immaculate in its simplicity, and wonderous in its construction.  I had to have one.  This is what was spoken of.  Why I must journey east.  The hand of God.”

PAGE 14.  PANEL 1.

Blicero looks on with Russian scientists as the Russians are detonating the First Lightning test at the location of Semipalatinsk test site.  Blicero looks relatively the same, though a little bit of his hair has thinned. 

Caption:  August 29, 1949.  Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR.

Blicero:  “Four years.  To match what the U.S. had done to the Japanese with their Fat Man, it took us four years.  But it was a start.  In Russia there was such desire to be the winner of the race that they were willing to do more than the Americans.” 

PAGE 14.  PANEL 2.

Blicero watches a fire in his hearth as a young man and woman phallate him.  His hair has thinned more, and he is now wearing glasses, looking a little more like he did when we’ve seen him in previous issues.  He reads from a file, in Russian it has the writing for BIG IVAN on it.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Though the test was successful, it wasn’t enough.  We needed more.  The enthusiasm of the Communist helped, but it would be many years before we got to where I needed to be.” 

PAGE 14.  PANEL 3.

The fire has the shape of eyes in it. 

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I needed the biggest and brightest of stars.  The ability to evaporate and destroy.  Return everything back to where it came from: Nothing.  Matter can be reduced back to energy and light, and I would have the whole world reduced to photons.”

PAGE 14.  PANEL 4.

Blicero is looking at the schematic of the bomb Big Ivan, or in the west it is known as the Tsar Bomb.  His hand caresses the image.

PAGE 14.  PANEL 5.

His face has contracted as he orgasms, and the page crinkles a little.

The girl begins to cough, as his other hand is holding her down upon his penis as he orgasms.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I would cook the world, make it my oven.”

PAGE 15.  PANEL 1.

Blicero slams his fist onto the table.  All we see is him.

Caption: Translated from Russian.

Blicero:  “WHY?!  We set out to create the strongest thing the world had ever seen and we succeeded.  Now you want to nuetur it?  How dare you.  This is not what I decided to stay in this god forsaken country for.”

PAGE 15.  PANEL 2.

Pan out, on the side of Blicero are scientists and politicians.

Politician:  “Comrade Blicero, this is madness.  If we were to detonate this the way it was, it would bring down the wrath of the Americans, and we are not at a strength to take them on.”

Blicero:  “If we have this bomb there will be no problem at all.  We will win.  Period.”

Scientist:  “But at what cost, Captain?  To unleash the full payload we would increase the world’s fallout level by twenty-five percent.”

PAGE 15.  PANEL 3.

Blicero has sat down.  His fingers are in front of his face, his glasses reflect, very reminiscent to Gendo Ikari from Evangelion again.

Blicero:  “What you mention does not tell me why we are restraining ourselves.  This limp dick bomb is now nothing.”

Scientist:  “I am sorry Captain, but this is still the biggest payload that has ever been deployed.”

Blicero:  “It can be bigger, we built it to be bigger, to give a harder blast.  Isn’t this what you wanted me for?  Isn’t this what the Americans are trying to accomplish?  You waste obvious talent and possibility here by blocking this original bomb.  I will petition Khrushchev himself if need be.”

PAGE 15.  PANEL 4.

A politician laughs while the other speaks.

Politician:  “Comrade Blicero, who do you think gave the final word on reducing the power of the bomb.  Premier Khrushchev does not want to cause an international incident.  The U.S. is aware of the test, and said as long as it was something not too big, it would be tolerated.”

Blicero:  “It disgusts me that we lost to you.”

PAGE 15.  PANEL 5.

The bomb has been dropped from the plane, it has a parachute attached to it as it falls towards the Island and water beneath it.  The plane is fairly far away at this point.

Caption:  “Testing of the Tsar Bomba.  11:32 A.M. October 30, 1961.”

PAGE 16.  SPLASH PAGE.

The bomb detonating.

PAGE 17.  PANEL 1.

Blicero is on a plane.  He looks out the window over, gazing at the ocean.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “That was it.  The most impressive feat we had ever developed had a case of whiskey dick because these scientists were too afraid to be stronger than the Americans.  One thing I learned about America from this experience is that they are very much like the ultimate parent.  Do as I say, not as I do.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 2.

Blicero is shaking hands with Wernher Von Braun in a smoky bar. 

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I contacted my old V-2 co-worker, Von Braun, and had him get me to the States.  There they were doing the most marvelous work, and not afraid of what anybody else was finding out.  Because they knew the truth of it all: if you have the biggest stick, you can crush all those who naysay.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 3.

Blicero is present for the launch of Apollo 11.  There is a famous picture with President Johnson that I will attach.

Caption:  “1969.”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Though I did not care much for space, this showed me that the Americans were well on their way to being the strongest country the world would see for a good while.  I had made the right decision by leaving those Russians behind.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 4.

Blicero is driving through the dessert, he is on his way to Area 51. 

Caption: “Dreamland, 1976.”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I ingratiated myself into their military, and its secrets.  I wanted to know everything that these upstarts were doing, and how I could get started on building a successful Tsar Bomba that would make the world shudder.”

PAGE 17.  PANEL 5.

Blicero watches as an Alien discusses matters with an official.

Alien:  “…shift is coming.  You will all be aligned, and no more separations will exist.  Cells living in a larger body to combat parasites, you will move and breathe together.  It will be years before this happens, we see the way you cannot, so for us it is happening, has already happened. Some of you will move one step closer to us.  This is why we abducted the one named Travis Walton, to learn what was coming.”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “This was…a little unexpected, but I knew from meeting the demiurge that there was more out there than ourselves, but to see the Americans had a working relationship, baffled me.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 1.

Blicero is drinking with Milo and Wintergreen.

Caption: “New York, 1985”

Blicero:  “I eventually settled with some of their developers, thinking of different avenues of delivery.  What was an inconvenience is that these gentlemen took so long to achieve anyone thing.”

Milo:  “You can have the planes to use, but first we have to build them.  First we need the contract to build them.  To get the contract we need to build them.  We can’t build them until we have a prototype.  We will not have a prototype until I have a garauntee that we have the contract.”

Wintergreen:  “Exactly.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 2.

Blicero is in a sex club.  There is a woman with red hair being taken from behind as Blicero presents himself in front of her.

Caption:  “San Francisco, 1989.”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “In the years between while I waited patiently for them to finish, I found ways to entertain myself.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 3.

Blicero pants are being unzipped by the woman.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “It was in these years that I fell in love again.  I had never met a mouth so eager, an ass so tight, and a cunt so gushing.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 4.

Blicero is waiting in a living room, hat over his lap.  He looks like a polite old man waiting for the bus.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I had to have her, and nothing else would do.  The ICBM’s and the planes were not yet on schedule.  I had the time, she would be mine.”

PAGE 18.  PANEL 5.

Blicero is handed a baby girl with red hair, by the woman with red hair.

Woman with red hair:  “The only thing that matters to me is her.  If you want to take care of me, she comes with the deal.”

Blicero:  “I…okay, but I don’t think I’m that good with children.”

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I fucking hate children.  But it had been quite some time since I had seen my master, and maybe she could provide the proper sacrifice.”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 1.

The woman is walking out of the door, Blicero still holds the child.

Woman with red hair:  “I’ll be back with groceries in just a little bit.”

Blicero:  “Okay.”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 2.

Blicero puts Scarlett down in her crib. 

PAGE 19.  PANEL 3.

He takes the cigarette from his mouth and puts it into her crib. 

PAGE 19.  PANEL 4.

Blicero has stepped back from the crib.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “I would not abide competition.  She would be mine alone, no other suitors or distractions to her attention for me.”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 5.

There is a small fire in the crib.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “She would understand.  My master would welcome us into his fold.  A red woman like Crowley spoke of, the balancing aspect, like the Gnostics Sophia.  She is perfect.”

PAGE 19.  PANEL 6.

The fire has grown larger, and Scarlett is crying.  Blicero looks on.

PAGE 19.  PANEL 7.

Scarlett cries harder, her face become even more grimaced.  The fire is growing larger.  Blicero looks on, fire reflecting in his glasses. 

PAGE 19.  PANEL 8.

The fire goes out, Blicero looks on stunned, mouth opened.

Blicer (writing in his journal):  “It’s amazing how quickly plans change.”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 1.

The woman walks back into the apartment, groceries in hand.  Her face grimaces, smelling the smoke.  Blicero is there holding the baby.

Woman with red hair:  “What’s that smell?”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 2.

Blicero shoots the woman through the head.

PAGE 20.  PANEL 3.

The woman is on the ground, blood coming out of her head, Blicero walks out of the room with the baby in hand.

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Sometimes power is handed to you, but most often it is won, hard fought, with nothing but total sacrifice.  I have sacrificed more than any man that I have every known.  I would become the most powerful man on the planet.”

PAGE 20.  PANEL 4.

Blicero has closed the door as he walks out.  The woman lays there, continuing to bleed out.  Her eyes are now glowing red, and she is smiling. 

Blicero (writing in his journal):  “Before I blew it up.”

THE END