Where are those SMASH idiots? Don't they realize my life may depend on this? 
Terra Obscura #4 is an issue of the series Terra Obscura (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 2003. It was published on September 24, 2003.
Synopsis for "The Man Who Killed the Future"
The Terror and Tim review the potential list of suspects, while The Terror gives a thumbnail assessment of each:
- The Gremlin: "Too lightweight"
- Spectro: "Merely a theatrical conjuror. If he has any power at all, it seems to be a very basic telepathy."
- Dr. X: Tim notes he is a physicist and occultist, researching interdimensional travel. Even the alien threat didn't lure him out of Fort X.
- The Green Ghost: "Chance was a Buddhist, so unless he's changed his value system since dying, I think we can rule him out."
- John Thesson: "A muscle-bound oaf with delusions of grandeur."
- Black Satan: "... the man's a joke."
- Oracle: "Asleep beneath the Pentagon."
- Mystico: "Ah, Mystico! Now he's a possible." Tim noted that nothing much is known of him, and all photographs taken before the end of World War II have vanished.
- The Scarab: "Powerful ... but not this powerful. Plus he's a goody-goody through and through."
- Dr. Voodo: "Powerful and mad."
- The Liberator: "... is a witless clod..."
- Tom Strange: " .. but Strange is another matter. Yes. He could be at the heart of this."
Meanwhile, back in the desert near the Grand Canyon, The Liberator and Scarab continue on, leaving Red Queen and Pyroman to care for American Crusader who was injured when he fell out of the sky, a victim of the power dampening field.
Carol and Diana head to Antarctica in search of Tom Strange. Inside the great machine (the remnants of the alien that tried to convert Earth into a spaceship [1]), they encounter Adam, the Ape.
Liberator and Scarab close in on Fort X, the secret base of Dr. X. After finding the hidden entrance with the Scarab's magic ring, they plunge down into a mass of floating doors. Discovered by Dr. X, they are dropped into his dungeons.
Adam leads the team to Tom Strange, who has been exploring the machine for the past six months. The complex goes on for miles, having learned enough to "push our concepts of engineering ahead by about a century." The girls explain the Grand Canyon anomaly and appeal to Tom for help.
Dr. X believes SMASH to be the cause of the power failures and indicated that he killed Captain Future and "I had to kill those others who came looking for him." The others beings science heroes The American Eagle and Eaglet.
Back in Antarctica at the graveside of Fighting Yank I, The Green Ghost asks Grant Halford to stay with Betty, and reveals to Carol that she isn't imaging seeing her dead father's spirit, and "Well child, if the cap fits ...". Carol puts on her father's cap and can finally speak to her father's ghost - "We needed this physical link to make that possible."
Appearing in "The Man Who Killed the Future"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Tom Strange
- Adam the Ape
- American Eagle (Appears only as a corpse)
- Eaglet (Appears only as a corpse)
- Fighting Yank (Ghost)
- Theseus
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Tom Strong Vol 1 11
- Tom Strong Vol 1 12
- Terra Obscura Volume 1
- Terra Obscura Volume 2
- Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril Vol 1
- Terra Obscura & Splash Brannigan - a Who's Who type issue covering Terra Obscura characters.