REALMS OF FRANKLIN:
Once Upon A Time
the thirty-third tale
written by Mark Bousquet
Just Inside the Realms of Franklin
Once Upon a Time,
in a land locked, locked away, came visiting five travelers, seeking answers to questions and finding questions to answers. There was:
the Ugly One, whose ugliness hid a heart that ached, and a longing for a loved one to have his heart not break;
the Chosen One, a bright-eyed, blue-faced young man to whom the Everything was one day going to sing songs of remembrance, if only he could ever do anything of importance;
the Hot Babe With a Sword, whose beauty was flaunted in an outfit rather revealing, and the Chosen One's heart she was stealing;
the Innocent (But Potentially Deadly) Girl, whose beauty was innocent in it’s appeal, but whose past held a legacy that hinted at a terror that her friends would one day have to deal; and finally:
the Stodgy Adult, whose presence wasn't exactly wanted by the four Orphans of War, but whose presence was demanded by their King, Baldy the Bore.
And, who, you may ask, am I, you may ask, am I, you may ask, you may ask, am I? I am your humble guide through the Realms of Franklin, your host for the tour, your shoulder to cry on, your face to punch out. I am the only outsider of these worlds, and I gracefully bow before you.
Do you like the purple and yellow costume? I look like a Musketeer put together by a color-blind Puppeteer, though I can assure you time has done me no favors.
Would you like to see a trick? Watch this!
I take my arm and - nnnnnggghhhh - CRACK! I snap it in two! Does it hurt? No! Nothing hurts when you’re the man with no plan, the being with no feeling … I am …
MaDcAp!!!!!
I loooooooooove dramatic entrances, don't you?
But - ahem - I must remain calm and professional, and speak with measured tones for every world inside the Realms is another world entirely. Each planet is a bubble of thought from inside young Franklin's mind, a Realm so disturbing to the Natural Order of the Everything (see, I can speak in big words; I don't know what they mean, but I can speak them!) that the Living Tribunal locked them up and threw away the key!
Ahem.
I mean, the Great Yellow Being with Multiple Heads doth closed away the Maddening Realms to protect the innocent and hide away the vile.
Each world, you see, is a different one with different beings and different differences of differentiation and the trick, the secret, the word that must not be repeated is that whenever you step into a new Realm, you change!
You become part of the world that Franklin created!
Where waseth I?
Oh, yes, the beginning!
And, before I start, let me say that I am truly, truly, punch and judy, honored to finally have guests. Being here alone could drive a man of a lesser mind quite insane!
THE BEGINNING OF OUR TALE
Once upon a time in the fair kingdom of Asgard, a King called for the abandoned sons and daughters of heroes and villains past to come to him. Only four responded, as a fifth was away, lost to them in the Forest of Earth, passing his time with a wicked witch of wanton wiles.
"I say to thee, young Orphans," the King said. "The time has come for thee to make thine mark on this wretched Eternal War. I am charging you with finding a way inside the Realms of Franklin, and investigating their insanity for the location of the missing Mt. Olympus!"
The Orphans - stop!!!
Don’t you hate beginnings? Blah, blah, blah, quest, quest, quest, mission, mission, mission, just get on with it! Where's the action, romance and intrigue? They accept King Baldy's offer, they get stuck with a stiff Earth hero named Empire (yawn!!!), they travel to the Realms of Franklin, they kiss the big yellow butt of the Big Yellow Multiple Face guy and they get in!
Okay, so actually, I don't know how they got in. But they did!
THE BEGINNING OF OUR TALE THAT I ACTUALLY SAW
Toomi said, "Forsooth! What is this place?"
Angelica responded, "I don't know, but … what's that?"
Eshir the Ugly One and Ben-Vell the Chosen One approached the devilishly handsome man in the purple and yellow cape (that would be me), but with hands ready for battle. As they approached, Empire called to them, "Hold still, young warriors! Let us not approach until we know the ways of this- hnnnggg!"
With the seeming snap of a finger, the world spun on its axis for the adventurers, and they felt their world go black with unconsciousness. For many moments, the man in yellow and purple watched their bodies adjust to the Realms of Franklin and when they awoke, they felt the same, yet inextricably different.
"I feel like I'm going to throw up," Ben-Vell announced, holding his stomach. "And, hey, why are your clothes different?"
The five adventurers looked about them and they could see that Ben-Vell was correct; their clothes were changed without warning, though they still remained in the plush grassy field. Empire was now dressed in a glimmering silver suit of armor. On his left arm was a shield with his kingdom's (a land called the United American States) insignia, and though his right hand was empty, at his side was a shimmering sword of legend, called Amendment.
Ben-Vell and Eshir were dressed now in similar attire, a small buckskin outfit that offered little protection against either the elements or enemy.
Toomi's outfit was even more revealing, if possible, from the one she wore when she entered the Realms of Franklin, it's leather and metal design hugging tight to her body, showing off her athletic frame.
Angelica wore the rags of a farmer's daughter, her red hair tied back into a pony-tail.
"We look like fools!" Eshir shook his head, but Angelica disagreed.
"We look like characters from medieval Europe, like we've just stepped out of Mallory."
"Who's Mallory?" Ben-Vell asked.
"This is not the time for Literature lessons!" Empire thundered, causing the four younger adventurers to give pause. "You!" he turned to the purple-and-yellow cavalier. "What is this place? What has happened to us?"
The purple-and-yellow cavalier took off his hat and gave a ceremonial bow to the adventurers, "I am but a humble traveller, lost in this world, condemned, it seems, to spend the rest of my life trapped away from home."
"How awful," Angelica said gently, then wrinkled her nose. "Why did I say that? I sound like a sappy girl."
"That is what you are!" Toomi said callously. "Soft like a farmer's daughter, not hard like a warrior."
"Enough!" Empire roared again, but the darkening of the sun and the unholy roar of a beast none had ever seen cut off his voice. The five adventurers looked to the sky, disbelieving their eyes. Hurtling towards them from above was the large, muscled frame of a red dragon.
The legendary beast roared again, its large tail whipping behind it menacingly, as it tucked its wings in close to its body to hasten it's descent.
"Scatter!" Empire yelled, as the great beast opened its jaw and inhaled deeply.
The four adventuring Orphans were frozen for just a moment, then split apart, running away from each other. As their feet pounded furiously to the distance, the red dragon unleashed a geyser of flame from its maw, scorching the ground where the adventurers had just stood.
The impact of the flames was matched only by the quick opening of the beast’s wings as it arced upwards, away from the ground. Its damage was done, however, as all adventurers found themselves knocked to the ground.
Empire was first to his feet as he was the furthest away from ground zero. He saw a scorched earth, but told himself, 'At least the Orphans are still alive," for his concern was always with the young. He watched as the Orphans picked themselves off the grass, careful to avoid the small areas of flame that burned the grass around them, and looked to the sky to watch for the return of the dragon. Empire was about to do the same, when he saw a mass of troops coming across a small hill. A quick count gave him twenty men in pitch-black armor, each with a white crest of a spider across the front, heading straight for-
"Angelica!" he cried. "Look out!"
Angelica turned to look at Empire, and saw him pointing to her left. She turned and gasped as the Black Spider Batallion came rushing towards her. She had time for only a yell as they enveloped her with something that looked like a fishing net.
"Get the other one!" one of the knights cried, pointing to Toomi. All but four of the Black Spiders rushed Toomi, who had unleashed her sword, ready for combat. They surrounded her in a circle of five. The remaining Spiders turned away from them and headed towards Ben-Vell, Eshir and Empire, running interference.
Ben-Vell and Eshir made movements to the Black Spiders as if they were wielders of magic, but nothing happened with the waving of their hands (or arms, in the case of Eshir, as he had no hands). Both quickly wore surprised expressions on their faces, as they turned to glance at each other, then back to the approaching Black Spiders.
"Step aside!" Empire roared, unleashing Ammendment and charging forward to meet the Black Spiders. The clanging of metal on metal could soon be heard on the battlefield; all thoughts of the dragon were gone from their minds. "Can't you see what they're doing!?" Empire cried to the Chosen and Eshir. "This is a diversion. They're after Angelica and Attumidunn!"
Ones Ugly and Chosen looked to see that Empire was correct. Already, four of the Black Spiders were dragging Angelica's kicking body away in the fishing net. Toomi had fared better, her eyes ablaze with the lust of battle, but she was ultimately no match for the Black Spider Batallion, as they closed ranks on the fighting warrioress. A lunge with her sword left her backside vulnerable for only a second, but it was all the Black Spiders needed, as one jumped forward, slamming it's fist into the back of the Toomi's neck, knocking her to the ground. Another ejected a fishing net, seemingly from out of nowhere, onto the fallen body.
Ben and Eshir called out to their fallen Orphans, attempting to rush to their aid, but they were of no use. Several Black Spiders jumped into their path, blocking them. Eshir rushed one of the Spiders, but was stopped dead in his tracks as another fishing net (he was sure the knight had shot the net from his wrist) enveloped him.
Eshir tried to rise, but a foot to the face sent his world spinning to black.
JUMPING AHEAD …
When Eshir awakened, he found Ben-Vell, Empire and the purple-and-yellow cavalier sitting around a fire, roasting rabbits across the open flame.
Ben-Vell was talking, "So the Black Spider Battalion are the knights of the evil king?"
"Aye," the Cavalier answered, taking a bite of cooked rabbit, his voice sounding oddly happy as he spoke in a sing-song manner that the three outsiders were already annoyed with. "They are the deadliest force in this Realm."
"And this realm is called what?" Empire asked.
"It has no name," the Cavalier answered gleefully. "None of the Realms have names."
"There are other lands like this?" the Eshir asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.
"The Realms are infinite, as far as I can tell," the Cavalier smiled beneath his yellow mask.
Eshir continued, "But you told us you were trapped in this world, never to return home."
"Aye!" the Cavalier responded, sucking the juice from his purple gloves with a snap of his lips. "I wuv eating wascally wabbits, don't you?" The Cavalier grinned wildly, but none of the adventurers answered, so he continued, unfazed, "The Realms of Franklin are a vast land made up of vast lands. Some are horrific, some comical."
"And Franklin Richards created all these? From his mind?" Ben-Vell asked, disbelieving.
"He did," the Cavalier beamed.
Ben-Vell frowned, then asked, "How do we get out?"
"Look who you're asking," the Cavalier deadpanned, "and ask yourself if you think I'd know the answer."
Empire asked, his voice somber, "Where have they taken the girls?"
"To the Evil King! Woo-hoo! Gonna be some fun rescuing her, ain't it, boys?"
Ben-Vell was still shaking his head, "None of this makes sense. When the Living Tribunal opened the Realms to us, we passed into a Black Hole and awakened here. Then we all got sick and almost expunge lunch, only to find ourselves dressed like this. Now they're gone, and Esh and me don't have any powers. Why not?"
The Cavalier leaped to his feet, his wabbit finished, "Ah, my dear, dear boy, your fatal flaw is that you think this should all make sense! It does and it doesn't, both to the extremes."
"Explain," Eshir joined in, seeing Ben-Vell's eyes flash with anger.
"It all makes sense to the Creator's frame of mind when the Realm was created, but there is no pattern. These are not natural Realms. There may be some that you enter and become female, or a talking pig. There may be worlds where anvils fall on your head and you walk away, others where a punch to the face can end your life. Who knows the logic of the Creator when Creating? They often work along lines that almost made sense. I have been to a realm that was based, I am certain, on films or books that I remember once not reading in high school."
Seeing that the three adventurers were struggling to understand the implications of his spiel, the Cavalier beckoned them forward. "Come, let us walk to the Evil Kingdom of L, and I shall tell you more as we go."
THE DUNGEON
"Toomi?"
"Yes, girl?"
Angelica sighed – Toomi was even more arrogant than usual today. "I’m afraid." Angelica kicked the wall she was standing in front of, "What the heck do I keep acting like a little girl!?!"
"Stifle yourself, child," Attumidunn seethed from the corner she was being forced to stand in; the Black Spider Battalion had brought them, blindfolded into this white walled room and forced them to stand in opposite corners. Two Black Spiders stood near her, and every time she attempted to move, they forced her back.
She had no patience for Angelica on a good day, though, after their recent time on Earth,* she was trying to be nice to Angel. But since they’d come here, everything about Angelica that had ever bothered her had come right back to the surface.
* In AGC 31: Genetic Goblins
A large creaking heralded the entrance of another into the room, and both women could feel the Black Spiders come to attention.
A low voice boomed, "Are these the prisoners?"
"They are, Master," a Black Spider replied evenly.
"Then leave me with them."
"As the Master commands!" the Black Spiders said in unison, stomping their feet hard on the ground as they turned to go. With the creaking of the door closing behind them as they left, the Master commanded Angel and Toomi to turn around.
From opposite corners of the room, they did, turning to see whom the Master was.
Toomi was unimpressed, but Angelica whimpered immediately in fear. Toomi ignored her friend, asking the armored figure before them, "And who are you supposed to be?"
The Master let silence fall upon them for several moments, before answering, "I. AM. DOOM."
THE BLUE and WHITE BRICK ROAD
The Cavalier led them through the winding woods, "Yessiree, things will get real interesting now. The Evil King up ahead is always looking for some heroes to squash."
"You say this is an evil King?" Empire asked from atop his silver steed.
"Are there any other kind?" the Cavalier asked seriously. "All of the Kings I have met are evil, evil, evil. You, by the way," he said quickly, spinning to point to Ben-Vell, "will save the day, most likely, and you shall kiss the beautiful princess and live happily ever after."
"Really?" Ben asked, doubtful.
"Really," the Cavalier replied. "Really, really, really. Or, at least, until you leave. But do you want to know a secret?" he asked, looking from Ben to Eshir and back several times.
"Sure," Ben answered, shrugging his shoulders at Eshir.
The Cavalier dropped his voice low, for dramatic effect. "The secret is that the Ugly One here," he crooked his thumb to Eshir, "will really save the day with his plan, only, ha-ha! the beautiful girls will think it's the Chosen One!"
"And how do you know this?" Eshir asked, putting the stump of his left arm into the Cavalier’s chest.
"I know what I know," the Cavalier sang out, "because I’ve read this story before! Hoo-hoo!"
Skipping ahead, the Cavalier left Ben and Eshir shaking their heads in his wake.
"Can we trust him?" Ben asked Empire.
"We don’t have much of a choice," the knight replied, digging his heels into the horse’s side to spur him on.
THE DUNGEON
"I. AM. DOOM. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!" Suddenly, even though Toomi and Angel couldn’t see the outdoors, they heard the cracking of thunder and the pounding of rain.
"Yeah, you said that, already," Attumidunn remarked, more exasperated than angry. "Can you say anything else?"
"Doom will rule the world," the armored monarch said deeply as he clenched and unclenched his right fist. "Doom will rule everything. No one can beat Doom. No one!!! You shall do exactly as Doom says, or you … will … die!!!"
Again, thunder cracked.
"Then explain to me," Toomi challenged, completely ignoring Angel crouched at her feet, trying to hide from Doom, "why this so-called Dungeon is nothing more than four completely white walls?"
Doom laughed, "There is no greater punishment than to have four clean canvasses on which you can not paint!"
"There isn’t?"
"So swears Doom!"
Toomi shook her head, throwing up her hands, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t think there was a point.
"And now," Doom said, pacing the room, hands clasped behind his back, "you shall know true torture. Open the ceiling!!!"
The eyes of the young women looked up to see the ceiling slide away and hundreds and hundreds of kids toys fall down to the floor for several minutes, building a six foot high pile of plastic gizmos in the middle of the room.
"Play with the toys. Doom commands you."
"Um …okay," Toomi shook her head as she approached the pile, wishing for something, anything, in this Realm of Franklin to make sense. Looking at the rubble of electronic games, balls, action figures, she reached her hand out and picked, at random, an electronic radio controlled car. The remote control was nowhere to be found. She looked at the ancient device and shrugged towards Doom, "What does it do?"
"You place it on the ground and control it with a remote control device, watching with keen interest as it zooms across the room."
"Where’s the remote?"
Doom cackled with laughter. "Somewhere in the pile! Without the control device, the toy is useless, useless! Oh, this is fine torture!"
"Um ..."
"So swears Doom!"
"Right, got it. So swears Doom."
"There is no greater torture than to have all the toys you could want at your disposal to play with, only to discover they are all broken and useless. Here," Doom tossed a small black box to Toomi, "try the remote."
Shrugging, the young Valkyrie placed the car on the ground and flicked the switches on the box, but nothing happened.
Doom spoke in low tones, "Turn the box over. So commands Doom!"
Toomi did, removing a panel to reveal a hidden compartment.
"What do you see, girl?"
"Nothing."
Doom laughed maniacally, the thunder returning violently, "No batteries! So swears Doom! So swears Doom! So swears Doom!"
Toomi sighed, mumbling to herself, "By the gods ..."
But before Doom could respond, a shrill alarm boomed through the Dungeon. "Who dares attack the Kingdom of L?" Doom asked, whipping his green cloak around several times. "Whoever they are," he leveled a finger at the two women, "they shall pay with their life! So swears Doom!"
THE KINGDOM OF L
"Fight on, my squires!" Empire roared from atop his silvery steed as he slashed with the sword Amendment at a legion of Black Spiders.
"Squires?" Ben-Vell asked Eshir as they fought against their own group of Spiders.
"The longer you stay," Cavalier smiled, "the more you become adjusted to this world."
"So the longer we’re here," Ben asked, "the more we’ll assume the roles this world has assigned us, too?"
"Yep!" Cavalier smiled through his mask.
"Wonderful," Eshir groused, kicking a Spider in the stomach and sending him hurtling. "Have you noticed these Black Spiders were a lot tougher before?"
"Maybe we’re just getting better at fighting them," Ben replied.
"Doubtful," Cavalier grinned, sitting down in the middle of the fracas, watching the action move around him. "They’re always tougher out on the plains, or in the forests, than they are inside the Kingdom of L."
"Why?" Ben asked.
"Because, silly, they need to be strong when they’re away so they can kidnap the women and get the knights to come riding here. But once you’re here, they become easier to fight, because people don’t want to see you get your butt kicked again."
"They don’t?" Ben asked, wondering who "they" were.
"No," Cavalier jumped to his feet and ran two Spiders through with his sword, "they want to see you fight the Evil King! So let’s move forward!"
A flurry of punches and kicks later, and Ben and Eshir stood in the midst of fifteen unconscious Black Spiders. "You understand any of this?" Ben asked. Eshir said nothing. "Come on, Esh, level with me, am I alone in my confusion?"
Eshir shook his head, "No time for that now. Let’s go get Toomi and Angel and find a way to get the hell out of here."
INSIDE
"Doom says, ‘Everybody dies!’ Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!"
Thunder cracked and a heavy rain began to pour outside. Empire, Ben-Vell, Eshir and Cavalier stood in the middle of a large, circular stone room. In the room’s middle, two large pits opened in the floor and above them were suspended Angelica and Attumidunn, bound, blindfolded and gagged, suspended over the pits by the thinnest of ropes.
"Doom demands your surrender, hated foes, or the girls shall plummet to their deaths in the shark tank below!"
Cavalier whispered to Ben, "I remember this movie when it came out. It was awful!"
"What movie?"
"The movie this scene is based on."
"This," Ben pointed out to the room around them, "was a scene in a movie?"
"Yes, and not a very good one."
"We’re replaying a scene from a movie."
"Yep."
"Why?"
"It must have been on the Creator’s mind the night this world popped into existence," Cavalier shook his head. "Poor kid. His parents were cruel, cruel people to submit them to this movie."
"Would you be quiet?" Empire turned on Ben-Vell and Cavalier.
"Let them plan all they want, hated foe!" Doom yelled down on them from his perch on a ledge above. "There is no plan that can save your friends from their destiny! Death at the hands of Doom!" Thunder boomed as lightning cracked across the sky. "One false move, and I shall push a button that sends the girls plummeting to their death!"
"We will defeat you, Evil King!" Empire challenged.
Eshir whispered to Ben, "He’s got to be, what, fifty feet away from us? And the girls are only ten feet away from us? Why don’t we just go grab them?"
"It can’t be that easy," Ben whispered back.
"I think it is," Eshir shrugged. "Want to risk it?"
Ben thought aloud, "We need a distraction."
They both turned to Cavalier, who asked, "What?"
Eshir turned back to Empire, "Why don’t you go up there and challenge Doom to fight you one on one?"
"Great idea, squire!" Empire roared, unsheathing Amendment, and ran to the thin steps that went up to Doom’s level. "I am coming for you, Doom!"
"All shall fall beneath the heal of Doom!" Doom roared, the button forgotten.
"Cavalier, I’ve had enough of you!" Eshir yelled, punching Cavalier in the face with his right stump.
"Ouch!" Cavalier yelled, "That didn’t hurt at all!" He looked at Eshir and whispered, "Hit me over towards those fancy machines over in the corner."
"The ones with all the flashing lights?"
"Yep!"
"Why?"
"Because if a machine has lots of flashing lights, it has to be important. Go ahead, try it!"
Eshir kicked Cavalier in the chest, knocking him back into the machine. At impact, the machine exploded in sparks.
Doom roared, "Stay away from Doom’s machines!"
"You’ve got bigger problems, Evil King!" Empire challenged as he finally reached the top of the stairs.
From the floor, Ben watched as Eshir and Cavalier battled in one corner, and Doom and Empire battled above them. Not wasting any time, he moved to the girls, untying both Angelica and Attumidunn and lowering them gently to the ground.
"My hero!" Angel shrieked, planting a big kiss on Ben’s cheek.
"Keep thy hands to thyself!" Attumidunn challenged, knocking Angelica to the ground.
"Hey, you big meany!" Angel screamed up at her. Ben watched as Angel got to her feet and slapped Toomi across the face, "You can’t tell me what to do!"
"Stop it!" Eshir came over quickly, separating the two young women. "Just because it’s Ben’s fantasy for the two of you to fight each other over him is no reason for you to-"
"Oh yeah," Toomi said, sticking her finger in Eshir’s chest, "where were you when Ben was saving us, huh? Off fighting with that guy! Ben saved us!"
Eshir rolled his eyes, "Why do I bother?"
From across the room, a small voice called to them, "Um, help me. I think I did a boo-boo."
Everyone in the room turned to see Cavalier standing by the machine with the big flashing lights, but it was Doom who spoke. "You fool! You shall be the end of us all! You’ve activated the Destroy Castle Doom mechanism."
"The Destroy Castle Doom mechanism?" the Orphans repeated.
"What kind of silly name is that?" Ben asked.
His answer didn’t come from Doom, but from the sudden collapse of the building around them. "What?" Ben shouted through the din as everyone stared at him. Pieces of the walls began falling in chunks.
"What do we do?" Angel cried.
"Go down the hole!" Cavalier yelled as his body was suddenly engulfed by electricity as the Destroy Castle Doom mechanism began to wreak havoc. "Go down the hole, it’s the doorway into the other world!"
"But Doom said the girls would die if they fell down the holes!" Eshir shouted.
Cavalier laughed, "Hey, no one really dies here! Think of who the Creator is! He was a kid with superhero parents! Everyone he knew who died probably came back within a week! Ah!!!! Hurry, there isn’t much time!"
"Should we trust him?" Toomi yelled as the Orphans huddled together.
"I don’t see where we have a choice!" Ben replied. "This whole building is about to collapse! I don’t think we can survive a collapsed castle!"
"But we’ve been standing here for a minute and not a single piece of debris has hit us, yet!" Eshir yelled, just as a large piece of rock crashed right in the middle of their huddle.
Before another word was spoke, Empire was suddenly beside them, shouting "Down the holes!" as he knocked them into the pits, shoving Toomi and Ben down one hole and Eshir and Angelica down the other.
He watched them fall as the walls tumbled in around him.
IN THE PIT
Eshir could feel Angelica behind him as they hurtled down the hole towards the shark tank below, but as his feet hit the surface of the water, instead of dropping into the tank, Eshir was enveloped in light and his body was shot across a tunnel in space-time.
"Oof!" he yelled, landing pretty hard.
"Oof!" Angelica yelled, "Are we in someone’s yard?
Eshir groaned: "Where’s Ben and Toomi?"
"Did Empire go boom-ie?"
"What the hell did you say?"
"They went a diff’rent way!"
"Why are you doing that?"
"I’m thought we might splat!"
"Is there something wrong with your head?"
"I’m glad I’m not dead!"
"Come on, get up, we need to get going!"
"Oh-oh, Eshir, it soon will be snowing!"
"What’s that, right there, in your left pocket?"
"Why, heavens to be, I think it’s a wocket!"
"A wocket?"
"A wocket?"
"Right there, in your pocket?"
"It is, Eshir, and it’s wearing a locket!"
"A locket?"
"A locket?"
"On a wocket?"
"In my pocket!"
Eshir slapped his head,
With his hand several times,
He’d have rather been dead,
Then hear all these rhymes!
REALMS OF FRANKLIN to be continued …
This is not the time for Literature lessons!
Y G G D R A S I L
comments to northern022@hotmail.com
When I was thinking of ways to make this series different, next issue was one of the first ideas that hit me. So if you want to read some really awful poetry, be here next issue!
Hey Mark,
Just wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying All God's Children. I've just started the series, I've read eight issues so far, and can't tell you the last time I enjoyed a series this much. Was wondering if you still except subscriptions, again thanks, your efforts have not gone in vain,
Nick
Thanks for the email, Nick. Always good to hear from a new reader. Unfortunately, I don’t accept subscriptions anymore. It got to be too much of a hassle, but anyone subscribed to the mv1talk list over at egroups.com will hear an announcement and receive a link when each new issue is posted.
Dear Mark Bousquet,
I really enjoyed this issue. I'm glad to see the Eternal War is about to heat up. The revelation about Balder and Dani was classic. It seemed like a very militaristic move which is what I would expect from the Asgardians. I'm really liking the character of Canticle a lot. I wonder if she is an External like her father. That would be a neat twist. Oh yeah I'm wondering if Cannonball is still around. I would think he is since he is an External after all.
Now on to the questions.
1) You once told me in a previous letter that Satana was going to appear around issue 60. I was wondering what side she was going to be on? I would like to see her on the side of Thanos personally.
2) Are the Externals (Candra, Selene etc.) going to show up anytime soon?
3) What exactly are Santa Claus's and Easter Bunny's abilities? (sorry if this was said in back issues I haven't been on AGC from the very beginning)
4) Are the Dire Wraiths going to show up in AGC?
5) Are the other Elders going to show up? (I would also like to see Astoria explored more)
Thanks for you time Mark! Keep up the great work! I can truly say I wait for every AGC issue with child-like glee.
Brent Lambert
Thanks, Brent. Good to hear from you. Glad you liked the Balder/Dani revelation; we’ll see how it plays out in the coming issues. On to your questions:
1 - It’s hard to pinpoint that far ahead. Plans change and I know one of the stories I was planning on doing with Satana has been scrapped, and I’m trying to see how it can be reworked. As for what side she’s on, only time will tell.
2 – No plans at this time.
3 – Santa Claus delivers gifts to all the good boys and girls and the Easter Bunny hops around.
4 – There’s a good chance.
5 – I like the Elders quite a bit, and I imagine it’s only a matter of time before they do make their way, more prominently, into the book.
Thanks again!
NEXT ISSUE: AGC 34: REALMS OF FRANKLIN: NEWTS, FLUTES, PARACHUTES!
-- Mark Bousquet …
Northern Bear Productions
1 October 2001