Wanted Vol 1 4

Green Lantern: "Fighters Never Quit"

Cover

Green Lantern: "Fighters Never Quit"

Kid Eternity: "Master Man"

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Wanted #4 is an issue of the series Wanted (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1972.

Synopsis for Green Lantern: "Fighters Never Quit"

This story is reprinted from All-American Comics #61.

Two escaped convicts make their way through Slaughter Swamp, with one mentioning its sinister history, how Cyrus Gold was killed there 50 years before. As he relates the story, a giant ghoulish figure climbs out of a quicksand bog and kills the two of them. Soon the strange being finds a hobo camp, and when asked his name, can only answer he was born on a Monday. Reminded of the nursery rhyme that starts the same way, the tramps name him Solomon Grundy. After witnessing his inhuman strength when he knocks out the self-proclaimed leader of the camp with one blow, and seeing his resilience when he he stands unconcerned in their campfire, the tramps convince Grundy to lead them on a career of crime.

The gang robs a sporting goods store to get guns. When the police appear Grundy proves impervious to their bullets, and even to Green Lantern's power beam when the hero intervenes. Grundy easily overwhelms Green Lantern, but is convinced to leave before he can finish the job. The undead villain proceeds to lead the gang on a crime spree. Green Lantern prepares for their next meeting, and when he manages to catch Grundy in the act, super-charges his ring in the hope of destroying Grundy with a massive burst of energy. However, again Grundy overpowers Green Lantern and throws him over a balcony, producing a giant green explosion. Enjoying the sound and light coupled with learning the pleasure of killing, Grundy switches from robbery to murder.

Green Lantern survived his fall, but badly dazed, he wanders out of Doiby Dickles' apartment without his power ring. By chance he finds himself in the railyard where Grundy and his gang are hiding out, and where Dickles has already tracked them. Knowing his friend doesn't stand a chance by himself, Lantern runs to the rescue and enters fisticuffs with Solomon Grundy. He ultimately manages to fling the behemoth into the path of an oncoming train, apparently destroying Grundy.

From a ring found at the site of one of Grundy's robberies engraved with the name Cyrus Gold, Green Lantern deduces that Grundy was created from bits of wood and plants compressing around Gold's skeleton, and by some quirk of fate taking on a monstrous form of life. Dickles is just glad Grundy's menace is behind them, but Green Lantern replies "I wonder...I wonder..." If Gold returned from the dead once, might he not return again?

Appearing in Green Lantern: "Fighters Never Quit"

Featured Characters:

Green Lantern (Alan Scott)

Supporting Characters:

Doiby Dickles

Antagonists:

Solomon Grundy (First appearance) (Origin)

Other Characters:

Locations:

United States of America
- New Jersey
  - Gotham City
    - Gotham County
      - Slaughter Swamp

Items:

Green Lantern Ring

Vehicles:

Synopsis for Kid Eternity: "Master Man"

This story is reprinted from Kid Eternity #15.

On a dismal plain a figure whose shadow is the only thing the reader can see of him tells Master Man to serve his ends and reminds him of the price of failure with a pit of fire. He passes through the mists that divide the world and tries to start gaining Lost Souls from Hartmore Prison. Master Man summons the evil monk Rasputin, who uses a device that amused Czar Nicholas but gave him power over his thoughts, on a guard while pretending to ask for directions. Master Man and Rasputin gain entrance to the Control Tower and Master Man pulls the Master Switch, releasing all the prisoners. Kid Eternity and Mr Keeper happen to be strolling down a nearby street and hear the alarm. The Kid becomes visible, but gets beaten up by some convicts while trying to fight them, so he summons the footballer Knute Rockne, who defeats some convicts, although some others will soon be at the prison gates. Knute then gets the idea of him and the Kid riding horses to help keep the convicts in, which they succeed in. The two main villains escape, Kid sends Knute back to Eternity, and although the Kid sees those behind the prison break, Mr Keeper tells him Rasputin is in Stygia till he plays the penalty for his crimes.

Meanwhile in the dismal plains Rasputin is sinking into a pool of flame for failing, and the shadowy figure tells Master Man not to fail a second time. Master Man decides to get rid of Kid Eternity. Later, while Kid Eternity and Mr Keeper are sitting on a roof, Master Man seizes the Kid from behind and gags him without Mr Keeper noticing. Keeper finally realises Kid has gone and sees he has been kidnapped and is being taken inside a castle. Keeper flies in, thinking Kid will really need his magic word now, but 'it is not Kid Eternity who speaks a magic word.' Master Man has tied to a chair and gagged Kid Eternity and summons the cruelest of torturers, Torquemada, who used his talents during the Spanish Inquisition, and by the power that made him appear Torquemada summons his torturer's equipment. He asks if the torture should kill Kid Eternity, but Master Man tells him not to, as only Mr Keeper can remove his power. He shows knowledge of the Kid's origin, and says his new existence will be made so painful that he will willingly request eternal death. The torturer says many cried for death, he spared none of them, but will make an exception for the Kid. The Kid is untied from the chair and placed on a wooden board, then tortured with a device that screws tightly around his neck. Mr Keeper knows he cannot materialise to defeat the villains, and only the Kid can see him, so he tells Kid to pretend to be unconscious as he cannot say Eternity while wearing the gag. The Kid does so, putting the villains of guard while they prepare more torture that will make him beg for eternal death, and hits his torturer, and after ungagging himself he summons Will Rogers a lasso expert, he lassos Torquemada's legs, and sends him out of a window. The Kid and Charles agree that the torturer deserved what he got.

Master Man summons Batu Khan, leader of a horde of Mongols that once overran Europe. He cuts through Will's lasso, so Kid summons Charles Martel, who stopped an invasion of Europe at the Battle of Tours. Martel makes racist comments and stabs Batu Khan through the chest. Master Man sends his men back to Stygia, but is then attacked by the Kid, and while he tries to escape a strange shadow falls over him, and the ground opens beneath his feet. Kid sees it goes down for miles and ends with a pool of fire. Keeper tells him he has seen enough and should send the men he called back to Eternity, and leave here. Moments later the fissure is gone and the two are flying back to Eternity. When Kid wonders whose shadow it was, Keeper says he thinks he knows, and cannot wait to get back to a nice safe cloud in Eternity.

Appearing in Kid Eternity: "Master Man"