CHAPTER TWELVE
“Find something to do which you truly love!
Then you will never have to work another day in your life!”
Explosion Man
The power of his name
Explosion Man
He’ll fight his evil brother
Desert Fire
Until the world is safe
Explosion Man
Explosion Man
The world is safe thanks to Explosion Man!
That’s the theme song for my comic book ‘Explosion Man’. I know it’s really hard to imagine it without the music, but it is sung by a choir of deep voiced men with a really dramatic melody. At least that’s how I imagine it in my head.
Explosion man is actually a class assignment. For our major assignment in my cartoon class for the semester, we were required to come up with a completely original cartoon character. We were only actually supposed to draw him or her in a few different poses, but I decided to take it one step further and write and draw the entire first edition.
Unfortunately in this medium I can’t reproduce the entire book for you, and I can’t put in any pictures, so I can’t entertain you with the whole story, but I will give you the gist.
The story of the world’s greatest hero of the twenty first century actually begins during World War Two. With the allies struggling against Germany and Japan on fronts across the globe, the US government decided that they needed a new type of super bomb, a bomb so menacing that the strongest armies in the world would have to surrender to its enormous powers. Most people think that they succeeded in this with the invention of the atom bomb. This is a myth.
The team working on this top secret project consisted of seven men and one woman. Now this woman was your typical nerdy chemist however, as you all know the nerdy scientist in glasses is actually a super model once the glasses are removed and her hair is released from its tightly banded pony tail, plus under her white lab coat she rarely wears anything other than sexy lingerie.
So it was basically inevitable that over time in the high stressed close working environment that sexual tension would build, and eventually it spilled over when one night one of the male scientists found himself working alone with this amazingly attractive chemist, and their passion overcame them. In one swift move they cleared the top of their workbench and made love in a pool of spilt chemicals, and a miracle of science and godliness took place and nine months later their twin boys, Ben and Bill, were delivered to the world.
These were no normal boys. Their development was extraordinary. Their strength was beyond full grown adults within a few weeks, and their intelligence would have made Einstein jealous.
They soon also discovered when the two of them touched, it would create fire. Lots of fire! After many tests were done, it was discovered that Ben and Bill’s atoms were actually splitting in their bodies at an alarmingly fast rate. This was incredible; at this point no body even knew atoms could be split.
As incredible as it was though, it was also shockingly scary. As they grew so too did the energy they could produce. Until one day it was realized, that by their first birthday, they would be creating so much energy and power simply by touching each other, that these two remarkable beings could in fact be the weapon the allies had searched for.
With the army chiefs notified it was eventually decided that this power would be used on ..Japan.. in the city of ....Hiroshima.... on the sixth of August, 1945. The children were then taken away and separated.
From that day on for the next five months the kids were trained in secret for a very important job. Their task was simple. Two soldiers would drop them ten meters apart and they were to locate each other and move together and embrace. The two extraordinary babies completed there mission perfectly, and the explosion was so powerful it changed the world for ever.
With the mission a complete success the decision was made to use the babies one more time on ....Nagasaki.... on the ninth of August. Again the babies completed their tasks with aplomb and another city was leveled, and by the fourteenth of August ....Japan.... surrendered and World War Two was over.
This time however when the babies were found by soldiers, although alive, they were in a coma. Fearing a frightening accident, the babies were taken back to ..America.. separately where Bill was taken to a secret military hospital near ..Los Angeles.. and Ben was taken to a secret military hospital near ....New York.....
Meanwhile the President was proclaiming the explosions were caused by a new weapon they had developed, which they named Atom Bombs. Using data collected from experiments from the babies these weapons were eventually actually developed for real.
Skip forward to the year 1999, when on New Years eve, as the world celebrated entering a new millennium, the two brothers finally an abruptly awoke from their comas.
Despite such along time in a coma, both brothers looked extremely youthful, and were both incredibly athletic and powerful.
This is where their stories take very different directions. In New York Ben was nurtured and fed with knowledge, which he ate up like a fat man eats donuts.
Meanwhile near ....Los Angeles.... Bill had also awoken, officials were frightened of what Bill was capable of. They were so fearsome that they kept him locked in a cell under constant armed guards, and would perform cruel and painful experiments on him. He too however began to notice his physical and mental superiorities.
Overtime he grew bitter of his captors. Eventually he reached his boiling point and made the decision to escape. And in a bloody rampage he broke free of his captors, and demonstrating exactly how powerful he was, he remained unharmed while fighting off an entire army regiment, before racing away to his freedom.
He soon discovered a world of things he didn’t recognize or understand, cars, houses, roads. They frightened him, he didn’t want to be near any of these things which he had no knowledge of, he wanted solitude. So he ran on, until he eventually found himself in the ....Nevada.... desert, with no signs of civilization anywhere in site. There he was able to take shelter in a mountain side cave, and began to make a life, surviving by hunting local wildlife for food.
Meanwhile Ben was having a great time in ....New York..... The army was soon convinced that with his intellect and skills he would be no danger out in the real world. He was set up in an apartment in the city and exposed to as many aspects of life as possible, from the slums to the museums.
One night he was out on an exploratory walk when he walked in on quite a horrific scene. A young girl was being gang raped by four despicable youths.
Without thinking he swept to her defense and with barely a finger raised had the four youths lined up knocked out cold. He then called an ambulance and police car, but fled the scene as they pulled up.
That night he lay awake all night. This was ....New York City...., horrible, selfish and cruel crimes were being committed every day and no one was stopping it. He began to fill with rage.
His frustration eventually intensified until he lashed out and punched the wall. To his immense surprise there was a huge explosion and when the dust settled his wall was missing. Seems his powers were greater than he had even imagined.
He withdrew himself from the world for several weeks experimenting with what else he could achieve, and when he eventually returned to the world he was a changed man.
He walked outside wearing a red lycra suit, with purple boots, mask and cape, and the letter EM on his chest. He would now be known as Explosion Man, with a promise to rid ....New York City.... of violent crime.
It wasn’t long before he was the biggest celebrity in the nation, a hero to all, except the criminals who shook in their boots with the thought of Explosion Man walking up behind them. Crime in ....New York City.... began to drop to nearly zero.
Meanwhile back in ....Nevada...., Bill was still a nomad living in a cave, oblivious to what his brother was achieving on the other side of the country. He too however, began to realize the full potential of his abilities.
Bill discovered his exploding fist early on, but developed even further. He learnt to light up in flames at will, and learnt to master his speed.
He began to grow curious about the big bad world. He wanted to punish it for being so cruel to him. So he began taking captives from highways and bleeding them for information on the world. The thing was once Bill demonstrated his abilities his captives often turned to followers and he began to build an army in the desert, with him as their leader.
His followers would tell him of a man in ....New York.... known as Explosion Man who had similar, although weaker abilities, and used them for good.
Bill had no such intentions. He emerged from his cave one day wearing a replica of Explosion Mans costume, only orange, with yellow boots, mask and cape, and the letters DF on the front. As of this day forward he would be known as Desert Fire and with his army of Fireflies in toe, he began to descend on the nearest big city, Las Vegas, and wreak havoc.
He would murder and rape at will, he would destroy entire casinos in huge explosions and bursts of flames, and his army would return back to the desert with food, money and women. It wasn’t long before he was the most feared man in ....America.....
Desert Fire scared Explosion Man to death. After putting in so much effort to end violent crime in ....America.... suddenly it was the worst it had ever been. Worst thing was he didn’t know if he could stop it, after all Desert Fire was more powerful than him, and had an army to back him up.
Despite his continued efforts to stop crime, people started to call him a coward for not facing Desert Fire. Explosion Man didn’t know what to do, should he risk his life to try and stop Desert Fire, or should he protect himself so he could continue to stop crime on the east coast?
His answer came from a knock on the door one wet windy night. At the door was an old man, in his mid seventies, weak and frail, when Explosion Man opened the door to him, out of costume, the old man said simply - hello brother!
The old man introduced himself as Bernard, then told Explosion man a story his father, their father, had told him many years earlier, the story of his two sons, who were killed in World War Two, just babies, but brave enough to give their lives to put an end to the war.
When Explosion Man and Desert Fire made themselves known to the world Bernard knew right away that these must be his two long lost brothers. He had searched for them ever since, and finally tracked explosion man down to his alter ego, simple Ben.
So Desert Fire was Explosion Mans brother! Explosion Man now knew that it was up to him and no one else to stop his evil brother. He began to devise a plan.
The next time Desert Storm and his army headed into ....Las Vegas.... they were in for a rude surprise. Before they had even entered the city a flash from nowhere screamed in and killed two of his army. Then another flash, two more dead!
Desert Fire knew this day would come eventually. He began to scream out loud “EXPLOSION MAN YOU COWARD, FACE ME MAN TO MAN!” Explosion man had no such intention. Instead he would keep his distance and mock Desert Fire. He would tell him of his life in ....New York.... and of everything that had been done for him to make him happy, and berate Desert Fire over being caged and treated so poorly. Desert Fire became incensed.
Again he screamed for Explosion Man to face him. This time Explosion Man answered the call. However he didn’t come right up to Desert Fire, he kept his distance. Again he berated Desert Fire, this time about how everyone loved Explosion Man and everyone hated Desert Fire.
Desert Fire could take no more. He charged at Explosion Man with a furious pace. Explosion Man turned and ran. Desert Fire was faster but Explosion man had intentionally kept just enough distance between them so that he wouldn’t be caught……. yet!
What Desert Fire did not know though, was that Explosion man had no desire to escape, and to his immense surprise as they reached an absolute deserted area of desert, explosion man stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Desert Fire. Desert Fire stopped too, and came up to within a foot of Explosion Man. Still Explosion man stood still with his hands by his waist and eyes closed.
What he knew, which Desert Fire did not, was what had happened in ....Japan...., and would surely happen here again. And as Desert Fires fist flew towards his face a little smile showed on his mouth, and before the blow rained down upon him he moved forward one step and hugged his long lost brother.
The resulting Explosion was the biggest the world had ever seen. The shockwave could be felt in every corner of North America, the mushroom cloud could be seen for thousands of miles, and the crater it created was twice as deep as the ..Grand Canyon... Remarkably (or was it just good planning by Explosion Man) there was not a single fatality. Only two capped men, a hero and a villain gone - vanished into thin air.
Explosion Man had given himself to save man kind. He was again revered like the hero he always was. Desert Fire was now listed along names like Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini as the greatest villains of all time.
However what the world didn’t know was the two of them were still very much alive. Buried deep beneath the ground again in a coma! Would they wake again? Would they escape their soil coffins? If so would Explosion Man be able to save the world again? Only time would tell!
I got an A for this assignment. My first ever A!
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