Incredible Comics #17

The riverfront Goebel Building was ready for its grand opening. It’s lower floor, looking out over the street was to be filled with half a dozen commercial businesses. The next several floors were to be a casino, the only part of the building that was open and ready to use at the moment. After that, was office spaces. A few of those were occupied and Alderman Lucius Goebel, who had commissioned and built the skyscraper, had his company’s office and campaign headquarters in it. The next six stories was a hotel, the first in the neighborhood. Nobody spent a night along the harbor unless they absolutely had to. This building was going to change that. Above that were residential units for the wealthy elite. A couple had been purchased by Lucius’ friends but they hadn’t moved in and the residences were still bare.

Everybody who was anybody was at the opening gala for the casino. Numerous news outlets were there along with all the aldermans of Golden City, many business owners and other upper crusts. Even the mayor was there. For the Golden City Herald, Gail Porter was there to take photos and get a write-up for it in the social section. It was going to be her first written assignment for the Herald so even though it was just a simple society piece, it was a big deal that could lead to other thing. She took pictures of attendees milling about and talking. She figured that this might get a full page spread so out of a hundred or so she’d take, maybe six would be used.

The party had been going for almost an hour when Lucius Goebel showed up. He immediately began shaking hands with everyone around him. With women, he would take their hand gently in his and give them a fake peck on the cheek. Gail hated all this fake appreciation. She hated things like this that glorified money. Maybe she’d think differently if she had any money.

A man came out of the kitchen and Lucius quickly made a bee-line to him. Gail followed and got a couple of pictures of Lucius and the man shaking hands. “Who’s that?” Gail leaned in and asked someone near her that looked important.

“I don’t know. He came out of the kitchen. Maybe the caterer,” the person responded.

“The caterer?” Gail exclaimed. “Lucius seemed really anxious to shake his hand,” Gail took another picture.




A couple hours passed. Dinner had been served and Lucius stood up and walked over to a podium. “Ladies and gentlemen. Fellow Golden Citians. I thank you for being here tonight. I am pleased and honored that you are here to witness and be a part of the revitalization of Ward 7. As you all know, I’ve been alderman of this ward for seven years and have been working with the city to take this neighborhood back from crime and poverty. We have demolished half a dozen abandoned or terribly dilapidated buildings. The building this casino and hotel and office space are in once had a derelict warehouse. It housed hundreds of homeless people and was used to traffic children. When it collapsed, it nearly killed hundreds of people. I bought the ruins of that warehouse to create a beacon of hope for the neighborhood.”

Applause.

“It’s only the beginning but an important one. I can only do so much as an alderman. But I want to be able to do to the whole city what I want to do to this neighborhood. With that, I am announcing my intention to run for mayor. Sorry, Mr. Mayor,” Lucius smiled with his teeth at the current mayor, Donald James. The audience laughed. Mayor James blushed slightly, smiled back at Lucius, and waved to the crowd. “Tonight, the casino is open to all of you. All money that the house wins will be donated to two local charities--The Golden City Rescue Mission and the Willow Street Women and Children Service Center--so this is the one and only time you want the house to win.”

Laughter, and then louder applause.

People began getting up and heading to the casino. Gail followed with her camera. For almost two hours, everything was fine. People were having fun and more than willing to let the casino take their money. Gail learned that Lucius filled the remaining empty space in his building. It was a really good night for Lucius Goebel.




The man stood in the robotic suit on a rooftop across from the casino. This was going to be an easy job. The jet boots he wore would fly him over to the casino, he’d break through the window and begin shooting, wounding several people including Lucius Goebel but killing Mayor James. Then he flies back out the window and ditches the suit. The suit would be unidentifiable and not be traced back to the manufacturer, himself, or the boss.

He took a deep breath and stepped off the roof. The jet boots ignited and he flew gracefully toward the casino. He came through the window, shattering the glass. In the confusion, he found Lucius and Mayor James. He began shooting into the crowd but taking care to hit Lucius in the arm and Mayor James in the head. He missed Mayor James, hitting his shoulder.

“I should’ve known you were up to no good and stopped you before this,” Time Man came up behind the man and pulled his arm up, keeping him from aiming into the crowd.

“No,” the man bellowed. He wasn’t sure if this suit could stand up to what he heard Time Man could do and he didn’t want to find out. Get away from him and get out.

“Who are you?” Time Man asked, crushing the arm gun built into the suit.

“I was hired,” he answered and tried to get away from Time Man. His attempt failed and Time Man crushed the chest shield on the suit. It sparked and smoked.

“By who?” Time Man clutched the suit’s helmet. The man felt as though once he gave up a name, Time Man would rip his head off. He remained silent. The helmet was ripped off of the suit an thrown down. Police had started coming up to the casino. The man knew he was done. Few recognized him. Gail recognized him as the strange man who shook Lucius’ hand earlier in the night. “Who are you?”

The man inhaled deeply then exhaled. If he was going down then Lucius was going with him. “Rance Brookings. I was hired by Lucius Goebel to assassinate the mayor.”

“Lies from a criminal,” Lucius said. “I’ve never laid eyes on this man before.”

“You met him earlier tonight,” Gail spoke up. “I have a picture,” she held up her camera.

Everyone looked at Lucius.

“Until we get this sorted out, you should come with us,” one of the policemen said, putting his hand on Lucius’ shoulder.

“Get your hands off me,” Lucius demanded. “I, and several others, require medical attention.”

“We’ll take care of that. Come with us, sir.”

Lucius refused to move.

“I’d go with them,” Time Man said, standing taller than Lucius with his arms crossed.

Lucius then went with the police.




Gail’s story didn’t make the society page. Her pictures and her write-up about the night appeared on the front page along with several of her photos and Lucius Goebel’s mugshot. She had also been promoted with a pay raise. She sat at her new desk in the bullpen of the Herald and smiled. It was a really good night for Gail Porter, reporter and photographer.

COMING IN JANUARY 2018!!

Incredible Comics #16

Henry Johnson was driving to work, as he normally did every morning. He was also taking the same route and passing the same places at the same time. Today, however, there was something different as Henry Johnson approached the 119th Street bridge over the Dearborn Canal. A small animal, he wasn’t sure if it was a cat, a small dog, or some other animal like a squirrel, raccoon, rabbit, or whatever was in his lane. He swerved to avoid it. He thought he jerked the wheel just a little bit but the car turned quickly and veered off of the road and headed into the canal. His car plunged toward the concrete and water. I’m going to die, he quickly thought and closed his eyes.

His car jerked and the falling stopped, replaced with what felt like an upward motion. Henry Johnson slowly opened his eyes and saw himself being carried, in his car, into the sky and then gently lowered onto a side street. “Time Man?” he said, almost in shock.

“I just happened to be flying by and saw what happened. You okay?”

“Yeah,” Henry Johnson exhaled. “Thanks.”

“Any time. Drive safely,” and Time Man was back in the air.

“Oh my...Time Man?” Gail Porter looked up from walking to her job as photographer at the Golden City Herald. “Time Man. He’s back. He’s my ticket into becoming a reporter.” She quickly held out her hand and flagged down a taxi. “Follow Time Man.”

“You crazy?” the driver asked.

“Just do the best you can,” Gail said.

The driver took off in the general direction of where Time Man was flying. For the most part, Time Man flew in a straight line so the driver just had to follow the basic grid setup of the city with numerous turns. But then, Time Man stopped and headed southwest. The driver tried to head that direction but lost sight of Time Man through the buildings.

“Thanks for trying,” Gail tossed some money at the driver and got out. She ran to a nearby policeman in a car. “Officer, have you heard of any crimes or problems to the southwest of here?” she asked.

“What?”

“Time Man just flew that way,” she pointed in the direction Time Man disappeared. “I need to speak with him. Any chance you can figure out where he’s going?”

“What?”

“Get on your radio and ask dispatch if Time Man is helping any police or fire units right now.”

“What?”

“Stop saying that,” she yelled. “Never mind.”

She looked in the direction that Time Man disappeared and began running toward it.




“Thanks for stopping those robbers, Time Man,” the bank security guard said. “They weren’t too smart with this heist but it still would’ve taken days to find them.”

“No problem. Hopefully they’ll learn their lesson and this will be the only time we see them unless they are making a withdrawal or deposit--legally,” Time Man said. “You can take it from here.” Time Man leapt off into the air and over the buildings.

Gail ran up to the security guard and robbers, panting. “Time Man. Where did he go?” she inhaled deeply.

“He flew off that way,” the guard pointed to the northwest.

Gail threw her head back and made a gurgling screaming noise before running off in that direction. She ran, half watching where she was going and half looking into the air. She finally caught a glimpse of Time Man over the buildings. A horn blared and tires screeched. Gail looked and saw a delivery truck racing toward her, trying to swerve out of the way. Gail stopped, held her arms out, and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Gail didn’t feel the ground underneath her feet. She felt her hair blowing around in the wind. She opened her eyes and saw herself in the air, in Time Man’s arms. “Don’t worry, I got you,” he said. He carried her down the street and placed her back on the sidewalk. “Good thing I looked behind you. Remember to look both ways when you cross streets,” Time Man smiled and turned to fly away.

“Wait,” Gail said softly, stunned by what just happened. Time Man didn’t hear and began flying away. “Wait!” Gail screamed at the top of her lungs. Time Man hovered in midair and looked back at Gail.

“Yes?”

“I’m Gail Porter, a photographer for the Golden City Herald. I was on that airplane you saved back in Iowa. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”

Incredible Comics #15

The experimental airplane was to make its journey from Golden City, where the prototype was built, to Chicago and then Kansas City, Denver, Las Vegas, and, finally, Los Angeles. Aboard the plane were about two dozen people including Senators from Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nevada, and California, reporters from Golden City, Chicago, and Los Angeles and the people that made the plane possible. From the Golden City Herald, reporter Ronald Kent and photographer Gail Porter sat in the fifth row of seats. Gail had taken pictures of just about everything imaginable despite only one or two pictures actually going to be used.

The flight from Golden City to Chicago had gone well and, so far, Chicago to Kansas City had gone just as smooth. Until it didn’t. Over the town of Duquesne, Iowa, one of the props had gone out and the plane began losing altitude. Working in the fields, Harold Banner saw what was happening. He only had seconds to act. Harold ran into the house and to an upstairs bedroom. Inside a desk drawer, Harold took out a small sundial and slipped it on his wrist. His regular clothes were replaced with a bright blue and gold uniform with a gold cowl and cape. He then set the sundial and everything stopped, except for him.

As Time Man, he flew out of the house and toward the failing plane. He positioned himself under the plane, ready to catch it and glide it down for a safe landing. He unfroze time and took hold of the plane. He gently floated the plane down into a field and everyone on board began exiting. Gail began taking picture after picture of their savior.

Overwhelmed by the people from the plane and a gathering crowd from town, Time Man flew away. “We need to get this news and pictures back to the Herald as soon as possible,” Ronald said to Gail. “After more than a year, Time Man is back.”




“I don’t see what the problem is,” Ellie said to Harold at dinner. “Do you want to become Time Man again?”

“Yes and no. I loved being Time Man but I love the life that we have here.”

“You can’t be Time Man in Duquesne?”

“I could but I’d be of better use in Golden City.”

“We could go back. You still have the Fix-It Shop. We could live upstairs until we found a place.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“I’m happy here,” Ellie said, and she took a bite of food. “But I was happy in Golden City, too.”




Resnicek’s Fix-It Shop looked just like Harold left it a year ago. He unlocked the front door and he and Ellie, who was carrying Maggie, went inside. Again, everything was exactly how Harold left it. “We can look for a bed later and redo the upstairs to make it more homey. We’ll need to because there’s nothing like a kitchen up there or a bathroom or anything like that.”

“We’ll figure it out. We always do,” she gave Harold’s cheek a peck. “But first, you should let Golden City that you’re back.”

“Are you sure? I mean, we just got here. We have work to do around here,” Harold said.

“Just go,” Ellie smiled.

Harold took the wrist sundial out of his pocket and slipped it on his wrist. He turned into Time Man and then went upstairs, through the roof access and out over the city. “Hello, Golden City,” he said. “I’m back.”

Incredible Comics #14

Time Man grabbed Adam and pulled him away from Caleb. He lifted him over his head and slammed him into the pavement. “You killed a good man,” Time Man said, hitting Adam, trying to keep him from getting back up.

“I’ve killed many good men,” Adam shouted, trying to block the hits.

“It ends now,” Time Man said. Time Man stood over Adam, breathing heavily.

“And how will you do that? I’ve been around longer than humanity itself,” Adam sneered. “Many have tried and all have failed to put me down.”

“Then I guess I better hope this works,” Time Man pulled Caleb’s watch out and grabbed Adam. Time Man clutched the watch and then pressed a button. Both Time Man and Adam disappeared.




They reappeared in nothingness. Time Man let go of Adam. Both floated in the nothing. “Where did you bring us?”

“If I did it right, the end of time. Soon entropy will engulf us and it may not kill you but it will stop you.”

“It’ll kill you,” Adam said. The darkness began enveloping them.

“I have a way back,” Time Man held up Caleb’s watch. “And if it doesn’t work, I’m comfortable with my decision.”

Adam moved toward Time Man just as he pressed the button again. Time Man disappeared into the darkness, leaving Adam alone at the end of time.




“I should’ve told you,” Harold said as he approached Ellie and Maggie as they sat on the stairs to their apartment building which was now surrounded by police cars and ambulances. “I didn’t know how you would handle it and I thought you would try to talk me out of it. I also thought you not knowing would help protect you. I guess I was wrong.”

“We could’ve died, Harold,” Ellie said, tearing up. “I don’t have a problem with you being a hero, being Time Man, but I need to know so that I can prepare for what could happen. We have a child to think about.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m going to take a break from Time Man for a while,” Harold said and sat down next to Ellie. “In fact, I was thinking of taking some time off from the city as well.”

“Where would we go? What about our life here in Golden City?” Ellie asked.




About four miles south of Duquesne, Iowa, Harold was standing on a ladder hanging a large wooden sign that read “Banner Farm” on a wooden arch that was built at the end of the driveway. Ellie was cleaning the kitchen while Maggie played on the floor in the living room. They had lived at the farm for the last six months and everything was going great. Harold not only did some farming but also took in repair work.

“I got the sign up,” Harold said, coming into the kitchen from outside.

“Are you happy that we did this?” Ellie asked him.

“Yeah, I love this. Are you happy?” Harold returned the question, worried.

“I do like this. We both do,” she motioned to Maggie. “You don’t miss the city? I know how much you liked the city and the fixit shop.”

“I also love small towns and quiet and I don’t need a building just for fixing things,” Harold said. “I’ll be in the reading room for a bit if you need anything,” Harold gave Ellie a kiss on the forehead and went into the reading room, a bedroom that was downstairs. He went over to the desk and slid open a drawer. Inside, was the sundial and Caleb’s watch just in case he ever needed them again.

Incredible Comics #13

Adam had just about always knew that he was different from the other early homo sapiens. He had outlived his entire tribe by the time he was 35. As the oldest member of his tribe, he set his eyes on a very young tribal girl to marry and mate with. When she, along with her family, rejected him, he killed them all with his bare hands and left the tribe to see what else this pathetic planet had to offer.

He had stopped aging around age 40 and had seen all that time had to offer and now he wanted to conquer it. He watched Time Man and the time traveler arrive at an apartment building. He saw them disappear into a roof access door. He ran inside the building and tried to hear which apartment they went into. He heard talking and a door close but wasn’t sure which one was the one he wanted.

“Ellie, I hope you don’t mind,” Harold said as he closed the door. “I brought someone by for dinner.”

“What? You never do that,” Ellie said, coming out of Maggie’s bedroom. “What’s the occasion?”

“This is Caleb. He’s a...scientist. He came into the store today to ask for some parts.”

“Hello, Mrs. Banner. Pleasure to meet you. Your husband and I have a lot in common.”

“A scientist, huh?” Ellie smiled at him. “What kind of scientist?”

“I, uh, mainly work with timepieces. Always trying to perfect the watch. You know how it is,” Caleb tried to explain.

“Okay,” Ellie kept smiling at him. “I haven’t started dinner so it will be awhile.”

“Do you need any help Mrs. Banner?” Caleb offered.

“What? Why? Please, call me Ellie. Of course I don’t need any help. You boys run off and talk about science-y things. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

“Here, we can sit and talk in my study,” Harold laughed and showed Caleb two chairs and a small table next to a window. “I do all my reading--books, newspapers, magazines--right here. It’s not much but it does its job. So, what brings you here?”

Quietly, Caleb went through how he created the gauntlet and how it worked. He explained how he had been trying to figure out a way to move through time and that it seemed he succeeded but he wasn’t sure what he did or if it would work to return him to his time. When dinner was ready, the three of them sat down at the table and they got halfway through when Adam smashed his way through the door.

Along with his halted age, Adam also had superhuman strength and quick reflexes. The wood of the door splintered onto the floor. Harold and Caleb quickly got up. The loud noise woke up Maggie in the other room and she began crying. Ellie wanted to tend to her daughter but couldn’t get past her husband and his guest and the man who just smashed through her front door.

“You,” Adam snarled. “You’re the time traveller. I must know how you do it.”

“I don’t think that’s information you need,” Caleb said and readied himself for a fight.

“We need to get him out of my apartment,” Harold said, pulling his sundial out of his pocket and putting it on. His gold and blue uniform and cape appeared, shocking Ellie.

“Harold…? Time Man?”

“I should’ve told you. We’ll talk about it later. I have to get this guy away from here.”

He reached toward Adam, who was still focused on Caleb. Time Man grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled him toward the window. They both smashed through the window, taking some of the wall with them, and fell to the ground, landing hard on the pavement of the street.
“I need to know how he can go through time,” Adam screamed and punched Time Man. “I need to know,” he emphasized.

“To be honest,” Caleb flew down and landed on the sidewalk. “I don’t even know how I did it. But I’m certainly not going to help you figure out time travel.”

“I have lived through millennia and will live through millennia more,” Adam said. “I will find out how to time travel sooner or later and right now, you are my best chance.”

Adam leapt toward Caleb. “If you figured out time travel, wouldn’t you know it by now? Realize that your life is different or get a visit from your future self? Something like that?” Adam’s fist grazed Caleb’s cheek as he dodged the attack.

But Adam’s reflexes were able to quickly turn him around and catch Caleb on his cheek, sending him to the ground. “Caleb!” Time Man exclaimed as Adam continued pummeling Caleb into the ground.

Time Man stopped time with his sundial and ran over to Adam and Caleb. He removed the watch from Caleb’s wrist, pocketed it, and restarted time. He shoved Adam away from Caleb and knelt down to him. “I guess going back in time was a bad idea,” Caleb groaned.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll get you help,” Time Man said.

Adam suddenly landed on Caleb’s chest. Loud cracks and crunches echoes through the street. Caleb’s eyes went wide then closed. “Now I just need to get rid of you, and all of time is mine,” Adam looked at Time Man.

Incredible Comics #12

“You’re a terrible sniper,” Caleb Kennedy shouted as he flew through the sky between the buildings of lower Manhattan. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be seen. I guess it’s easier shooting helpless people of color in other countries than being a supervillain.”

“Not much of that happening these days,” the sniper in rocket boots said. “That’s why I became a mercenary. Gotta kill something.”

“No, you don’t.” Caleb made a sharp left turn on his airfoil. The sniper tried to follow but his turn wasn’t as smooth and he nicked the corner of the building with his shoulder. “Well, that bought me some time.” Caleb pulled a small ball bearing out of his belt and tossed it at the sniper. It hit the sniper, causing a small electrocution which caused the rocket boots to shut down.

“What happened?” he shouted and fell hard to the ground below.

Caleb landed gently. “The electricity shorted them out. I just needed to slow you down so I could get the ball sent to you,” several police cars surrounded the alley. “Ah, looks like you are under arrest. See you,” Caleb lept up and slid the airfoil underneath him and flew up into the sky.

Caleb Kennedy was one of the smartest people in the world. He started his own technology company at 18 after graduating from high school. He ran the business while going to college during which he created the airfoil, a safe mode of aerial transport for individuals, the ball bearings that held small electrical charges, and a gauntlet that could manipulate and travel through time. Caleb had used it very rarely to stop or slow down time and never to actually go to another time period. Caleb had used the gauntlet and the ball bearings, along with the airfoil, to become the superhero known as Time Man. Caleb arrived back at the apartment he shared with his friend, Alex.

Alex Wintermantel was Caleb’s best friend. They lived in a relatively small apartment together which was odd considering that Caleb could afford to live just about anywhere that he wanted. Alex was certainly not as smart or brilliant as Caleb, he worked in I.T. and drew webcomics on the side. Caleb said that Alex kept him grounded in reality.

Caleb hopped off the airfoil and landed on the balcony. He slid open the glass door and walked into the apartment. “Hey, Alex. How you doing?”

“I’m good. Just trying to get a backlog of comics posted while I have some downtime. You?”

“I’m good, too. Just stopped a mercenary from killing me.”

“That’s good,” Alex said nonchalantly.

“I’m going to go tinker with my time gauntlet, let me know when you are ready for dinner. There’s several bags of pizza rolls in the freezer we can eat,” Caleb said.

“Okay,” Alex nodded.

Caleb went into his bedroom and sat at his desk. He unstrapped his time gauntlet from his wrist and took a small screwdriver to it, opening it up. This was where he got the name Time Man. The gauntlet was able to pull him out of the time stream while keeping him in our dimension. Since he was essentially ‘out of time’, he didn’t use it too often, using his airfoil and ball bearings as his main powers. Every night he worked to make the gauntlet better, he was currently trying to make it go through time so he could visit whatever time period he wanted but so far he hadn’t been able to come close.

Tonight would be different. A ball bearing placed in an unassuming place would be the lynchpin needed. The gauntlet crackled and engulfed Caleb and soon he was gone. He reappeared in the same place but in the air and above what was now a five-story building instead of his twenty-seven story one. Caleb began falling and didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have his airfoil or any way to soften his landing. Suddenly, he landed in someone's arms. He looked and saw Time Man in his blue and yellow hooded and caped glory.

“I got you. Lucky I was passing nearby,” Time Man said. “What were you doing up in the air like that?”

“Long story. You’re the original Time Man,” Caleb smiled.

“I think I’m the only Time Man,” he smiled back. Time Man landed on another apartment roof and sat Caleb down.

“Well, I’m from the future, if you can believe it, and I’m also a superhero and I go by Time Man,” Caleb revealed.

“Really? The future? How’d you get here?”

“It’s why I was up in the air. My gauntlet sent me back in time. I guess my 27-story apartment building didn’t exist yet.”

“Well, glad you’re okay. When in the future are you from?”

“2020.”

“Almost a hundred years from now,” Time Man was astonished. “What else can your gauntlet do?”

“It can take you out of the time stream, kind of like your sundial,” Caleb pointed. “And I guess now it can travel through time although I’m not really sure how I did it. Sadly, it doesn’t help me fly or make me strong.”

“Then how do you fight?”

“I created this thing called an airfoil that I wasn’t able to bring and these electric ball bearings that can short stuff out or incapacitate someone. I’m well-armed.”

“That’s good. Do you know how you are going to get back?”

“No, I need to work on my gauntlet some more. I barely know what happened when it sent me here.”

“Why don’t you come home with me. You can have some dinner, meet the family, and we can go to the fixit shop and see what we can do.”

“Thanks, that’d be great.”

“Harold Banner,” Time Man slid his hood off, revealing his secret identity.

“Caleb Kennedy.”

The two of them smiled and shook hands. Nearby, a mysterious figure listened to them.

“A time traveler? That will be perfect for taking over the world across all of time,” he sneered and began watching Time Man and Caleb leave.

Incredible Comics #11

Finally back,” Reznicek grumbled when Harold walked into the store.

“I told you that I was going to take some time off when the baby came, Frank,” Harold said. “At least a week maybe more. I was gone eight days. It’s not like you need my help.”

“The principle of the thing,” Reznicek grumbled again. “Welcome back.”

“It’s good to be back,” Harold said. “I liked being home with Ellie and the baby but we need money coming in.”

“You’ll get paid in full,” Reznicek muttered, barely audible. Harold heard him but ignored him, not wanting to somehow start a fight or something. Reznicek pushed himself away from his work table and began shuffling through the store. “I’m closing up shop,” he said as he walked by Harold.

Harold heard this, too, but ignored him, not wanting to somehow start a fight or something. He would say something later.




Martin was out making deliveries. His next stop was the apartment of Leland Decker. He found the complex and began hunting down the apartment. When he found it, he knocked softly. He always did this just in case there were babies or little kids sleeping. He heard a scream come from the apartment and knocked again, loudly.

“Oh, thank God,” a woman’s voice came from inside. “Please come in.”

Martin walked in and saw a very pregnant woman lying on the floor, her head propped up against the couch, legs splayed out and no pants on. Martin immediately gasped and turned his head. “Oh, I’m sorry, ma’am. I thought you said to come in.”

“I did,” she panted. “I’m going into labor. I’m been screaming for nearly thirty minutes. You’re the first one to hear me. I can’t hold this in anymore.”

“Uh, well, where’s your husband?”

“Boyfriend, and he ran off a month or so ago. What do you have there?” she nodded at the package Martin was holding.

“Uh, Mr. Decker brought in his watch to be repaired. I was delivering it to him.”

“Keep it,” she tried to chuckle. “He’s not coming back for it. Just like he’s not coming back for me or our baby. Can you help deliver a baby?”

Martin had helped his mom deliver his baby sister and had seen plenty of babies being born in the poor neighborhood he lived in but he didn’t know if he could do it on his own with no guidance. He shrugged. “I can certainly try. I know a lot of it is automatic. Nature knows what to do. Should I call an ambulance, ma’am?”

“Please, call me Angela. We’re going to get pretty acquainted here in a few minutes,” Angela tried chuckling again but it turned into a moan.

“I’m Martin Hogue. Pleased to meet you.”

“Angela Matney,” she then winced in pain. “You better go wash your hands, I don’t think it’ll wait any longer.”

Martin went into the kitchen area of the apartment and called 911 before washing his hands and preparing himself for delivering a baby. Both Martin and Angela thanked God that it was an easy delivery, there were no problems, nothing went wrong. Paramedics arrived shortly after the baby came out and were able to finish things up and take Angela to the hospital.

“Wait, wait,” Angela called out as she was wheeled out of the apartment. “Martin, thank you. When I get back here, maybe you can stop by and I can repay you with lunch or dinner sometime.”

“No payment is necessary but I’ll keep that in mind,” Martin smiled. “You and that baby come home soon.”

Angela was wheeled out of the apartment and down the stairs. Martin picked up the watch he was there to deliver and took it with him as he left.




Harold’s work day was just about over. “What was that about closing up shop?”

“Just that. I’m closing up,” Reznicek said.

“When? What about me? What about Martin? Did you think about us when you made this decision?”

“Of course I did. I was going to ask if you’d want to take over the shop. You could even train Martin on how to fix stuff and get a new delivery boy. It’d be your shop, you can do what you want with it.”

“Really?” Harold was stunned. “Why didn’t you say that? Why didn’t you just say you were thinking of handing the shop over to me?”

“I’m not one to get all emotional,” Reznicek grumbled. “So you want it?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ve loved working here and I’m good at it. I would be honored to continue your tradition.”

“Okay, we’ll talk about it more in the coming days. You still have fifteen minutes before you’re off so get back to work.”




The collapsed warehouse was going to become Lucius’ first major upgrade for his ward. He wasn’t sure if it going to be the new home for beautiful apartments and lofts or a hotel and casino. He’d decide when all the rubble was removed and he could see what deals he could get for each. “How’s the clean-up coming, Conrad?” Lucius asked.

“It’s going fine, sir. There are no salvageable parts of the old warehouse and most of it has wound up in a now-flooded basement that is currently being drained. It’ll be about a month before this lot is cleaned out.”

“That’s fine. So glad that Time Man was able to hasten the owner’s decision to sell this property,” Lucius smiled.

“Mr. Goebel, Mr. Goebel. We found something that you have to see,” a worker ran up to Lucius and Conrad. “We think it’s a body,” he whispered.

Lucius looked at Conrad. “Show me.”

Lucius and Conrad peered over the edge of a part of the basement that wasn’t flooded. A massive pile of rubble had just been removed exposing the still body. Neither of them knew what they were looking at at the moment but the forgotten golem had been found.

Incredible Comics #10

Off the coast of Alaska, a ship floated on the waters. Onboard the ship, with 32 crewmembers, was Captain Cornelius Blake and his daughter, Isobel. She had been begging for months to see his ship and was finally granted permission. It was supposed to be a peaceful visit but a fleet of Kiddonese planes tore through the bay they were in, bombarding and shooting at the ship. The ship sank immediately and as it lowered, sinking front half first, Isobel lost her balance and was sent tumbling into the electronics room where she was electrocuted into a quick death, saved from drowning.

With her death is normally where her story would end but Isobel Blake would be spotted again in her home city, walking down the street. She couldn’t remember her name, sparks and lightning flew out of her, and she was nude.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” a police officer cautiously walked up to Isobel, making sure to keep a distance from her sparks.

“I...I don’t know,” Isobel said, in a flighty, forgetful way. “I was drawn here. This area must be very important to me.”

“Maybe you can come down to the precinct with me. We can help you find what you are looking for and maybe get some clothes on you,” the officer suggested.

“No, I”m good. Thank you, though,” Isobel smiled.

“Ma’am, I’m afraid that I have to insist,” the officer reached out his hand to Isobel.

“I said,” Isobel electrocuted the policeman “‘No!’ I am not some helpless bimbo. I just need to remember.” Isobel began throwing lightning bolts and expelling electricity all over the neighborhood. “Get away from me,” she screeched.

People ran to get off of the streets and away from Isobel. She continued to throw lightning bolts in various directions, clearly upset with this change in her life and her amnesia. As her bolts calmed down, she was suddenly lifted up off of the ground and was soon in the clouds. “I had to get you away from those people. You already took one life, you don’t need to take any more.”

Icarion, carried Isobel as far as he could before she released a couple of bolt of lightning from her back, shocking him off of her. “Unhand me.”

Icarion looked at the two scorch marks on his tunic. The shocks kind of hurt. “I guess I’ll have to get tough,” he launched himself at Isobel who, in an instant, used her lightning to flash herself back down to Earth. “Maybe I won’t be able to use brute force,” Icarion said to himself.

Isobel began electrocuting people in the street with her lightning bolts, a cold smile on her face. Icarion thought for a couple seconds on how to handle this but couldn’t think of a good idea. He knew that he had to stop her senseless killing and began flying down to grab people and move them out of the way--into open windows, onto rooftops, over into the next block. Within minutes, it was just Icarion and Isobel on the block. Police had arrived and blocked off each end of the street and the intersection.

“You can’t stop me,” Isobel grinned.

“Maybe,” Icarion noticed something out of the corner of his eye. “Maybe not.”

Isobel began shooting at him as he flew toward a fire hydrant near her. He narrowly dodged her lightning and kicked the hydrant off of the street. Water began pouring out. Without thinking, Isobel threw a bolt at Icarion who flew into the air just a couple of feet. The bolt hit the water and shorted out her bolt and traveled back to Isobel.

Isobel screamed in pain as she went down onto her knees. She then collapsed onto the street and stopped moving. Paramedics rushed to the scene. “Her heart stopped,” one of them said. They began loading her onto a gurney and into an ambulance.




“Her name is Isobel Blake,” Conrad told Lucius Goebel. “She was lost at sea after the Kiddonese bombed a ship. Everyone on board was killed with, I guess, one exception.”

“Will she be okay?” Lucius asked.

“Yeah. We’re going to take it slow with her. But she’ll be fine.”

Incredible Comics #9

The North Shunga Creek Asylum was a place for children on the low-end of the spectrum. Idiots, retards, mongoloids, all resided here in relative peace and tranquility. One of the children was just about to “graduate”, as the doctors and nurses called it, on to the Hoyt Ohio State Asylum where he would more than likely spend the rest of his life.

The consensus was that Alfred Humphrey’s mother was a whore on drugs and his father, probably one of his mother’s customers, was a drunk resulting in the mentally impaired Alfred eighteen-years ago. He was a friendly boy who was very docile and didn’t know his own strength. While Alfred was a good-natured kid, he did have a temper when he felt an injustice and had thrown tantrums bad enough to break furniture and injure an orderly.

Two days before Alfred was to be sent to the Hoyt Asylum, Lucius Goebel and Conrad came into North Shunga and personally choose Alfred to be part of an experiment. Thrilled that Alfred would no longer be a ward of the state, the Asylum happily signed the paperwork and soon Alfred was off to Genesee Labs.

For years, Alfred went through a series of tests designed to harness his strength and increase it. He also endured numerous intrusions into his brain to look at his synapses and his responses to various stimuli. He would be trained to be a soldier but only a soldier when under control of someone else. Alfred would be the first in a new line of defense. Children and adults abandoned by humanity would have a new purpose. But then the government learned what was happening and quickly nixed the plan. Lucius, however, kept Alfred at Genesee, continuing the tests while keeping him sedated in case he would ever need him. Lucius didn’t know when or why he would ever need Alfred but he liked knowing he would be available.




Time Man was the only thing the city could talk about for days after the warehouse collapse and the discovery of the orphans. While everyone knew Time Man existed, this was the first time clear photos and an interview of the hero were obtained. Harold had forced Time Man to come out of the shadows and into the light and he loved the inspiration that he gave the community. It was difficult for Harold to work and be Time Man at the same time and the balancing act made him tired.

There was one person unhappy with the public show that Time Man was now a part of. Alderman Lucius Goebel kept close tabs on Time Man and wanted to know where he got his powers.

“We have so little information on him,” Lucius sighed to Conrad. “We need to get rid of him.”

“Why, sir? He’s making the city safer.”

“He gives people hope. When people have hope, you have no power over them,” Lucius thought for a moment. “Get Genesee Labs, I have an idea.”




Alfred slammed his way down the street creating small craters with his feet and overturning cars, even throwing a couple into the buildings. He was outfitted in a suit to protect him, a mace to use for attacks along with his fists, and a shock collar around his head that gave his brain little pricks to keep his rage up. After rampaging through almost a block of the city, police cars surrounded the area and Time Man soon arrived.

Time Man landed a few feet in front of Alfred. “Hold on there,” he began. “What’s the meaning of all this?”

Alfred swung his mace and hit Time Man in the jaw sending him yards away down the block and drawing first blood. “Get Time Man!” Alfred screamed.

“I guess he can’t be reasoned with,” Time Man rubbed his jaw and chin. He got back up and cautiously approached Alfred. “I don’t want to hurt you. Who are you? What’s your name? Why do you have to ‘get’ me?”

Time Man was ready for the mace this time and dodged the attack. Alfred stumbled forward, nearly falling. Time Man punched Alfred, but lightly, only sending him stumbling to the ground. Alfred regained his composure and quickly got back up, throwing a fist toward Time Man. “Get Time Man! Bad man! Killer!” he screamed.

“What?” Time Man asked, dodging the punches and mace.

“Bad man!” Alfred screamed again, swinging down his mace and embedding it in the street, getting it stuck.

“I don’t even know you. What’s going on?” Time Man tried to reason. He noticed the headband that Alfred was wearing and saw it briefly spark causing Alfred to scream and pull the mace violently from the street and swung it around his head, yelling. “It’s the headband,” Time Man said outloud but to himself.

Time Man made a couple motions on his sundial and time stopped. Time Man reached over and grasped the headband, pulling on it. It slowly detached from Alfred’s head, sparking and jolting. It broke into several pieces and the sparks stopped. Time Man crushed the remaining pieces in his hands and unfroze time.

Alfred fell hard to the ground, not moving and barely breathing. “Call an ambulance,” Time Man shouted. Medics and police quickly arrived at the scene and soon Alfred was being whisked away.




“That madman clearly was after Time Man and Time Man alone,” Lucius announced over the radio waves that evening. “If Time Man wasn’t around, that man wouldn’t have had a reason to nearly destroy an entire city block. Time Man needs to be held accountable. He needs to answer to someone in charge, not just to himself. I call on every police officer and citizen out there that if they see Time Man, to arrest him and bring him in so he can answer a few questions.”

Harold, at home, sat in his favorite chair and listened to the radio broadcast. When Lucius stopped talking and began answering questions, he turned off the radio. “What do you think about Time Man?” Ellie asked.

“I have no issue with him,” Harold said. “I think he’s doing a lot of good.”

“I do too. The neighborhood seems brighter with him. I do wish we knew more about him though.”

Harold looked at his wife. “We will someday,” he said, he wanted to tell her but chickened out and picked up his newspaper.

“Oh,” Ellie moaned. “Harold?”

“Yeah?”

“I think the baby is coming…”




“Alfred is back at Genesee?” Lucius asked.

“Yes, sir,” Conrad answered. “He’s been sedated and will be resting up for quite awhile. He’s had quite the day.”

“He has and the experiment worked. I am positive I will be utilizing Alfred in the future. For his reward, make sure he is treated like a king in the lab.”

“Will do, sir.”

Incredible Comics #8

The monster, or whatever it was, was at least eight feet tall and was walking slowly out of the bank carrying bags of money stolen from the bank. Time Man ran toward the creature and struck it with his fist doing nothing to slow it down or stop it. “It feels like it’s made of clay,” he said to Officer Murdock.

“Clay? Like a golem?”

“Do you think that’s what it is?”

“Nothing really surprises me anymore,” Murdock chuckled. “We should just follow it and see where it goes. If it is a golem, it’s being controlled by someone.”

The golem lumbered down the street as Murdock and Time Man followed it, keeping their distance so as not to cause it to attack again. They followed it from the bank to the west toward the docks and warehouses. It lumbered toward a huge, abandoned warehouse. Murdock and Time Man ducked into the shadows and watched the large door open up for the golem and then close. They slowly approached the warehouse and looked it. All of the windows were boarded up. It was at least three stories and it looked like it went under the water as well.

“Can you get the door open?” Murdock asked.

“Let’s see if there’s another way in. There’s got to be a door on the side.”

They got to the warehouse and found a door on the south side, locked and bolted with ‘Keep Out’ signs plastered on it. Time Man gave the door a slight push and it came open. They stepped into the large warehouse and saw numerous platforms all the way to the ceiling, a few figures moved along the catwalks along the walls. A giant cement pit went below the water line in the rear of the warehouse.

“What is going on here?” Murdock whispered as he walked into the warehouse. As he got a better view of the figures, he was shocked at what he saw. “These are children,” he exclaimed.

“Trespassers!” someone shouted.

“Grab them,” shouted another.

A bunch of kids started running toward them but they stopped when they saw who it was. “Time Man?” one of them asked.

“What are you kids doing here?” Time Man asked.

“We live and work here,” one stepped forward. “We don’t have homes or parents. Mooch sends us out on jobs so we can make money and get food.”

“Mooch?” Officer Murdock asked. “Is he, like, your leader?”

“Only because he’s really old. He’s 18.”

“You kids just can’t live here. You need more than just shelter and food. You need doctors and better protection,” Murdock said.

“Where are we supposed to get it?”

“We can take you someplace that will help you find families. They will love you and take care of you.”

“Mooch loves us and takes care of us,” a couple kids said.

“We followed something here that stole money from a bank. What’s Mooch going to do with that money? With what he stole, he could buy a couple houses that you could live in. What’s he going to do with it?” Time Man asked.

The kids were silent but one spoke up. “He’ll buy us food. Maybe medicine.”

“Can we talk to Mooch?” Time Man asked.

“He’s down below. We’ll take you down there.”

A group of kids led Time Man and Officer Murdock down underground. Mooch was sitting on a throne made of barrels with the golem standing still next to him. There were several bigger kids standing alongside Mooch.

“Mooch, this is Time Man and police officer Murdock, they wish to speak to you.”

“Fine. What do I owe the honor of this visit?” Mooch asked.

“We followed your monster,” Time Man said. “These kids need homes. They need someone to take care of them.”

“Can everyone please leave the room?” Mooch said and waited for everyone to leave before he continued talking. “They have someone who takes care of them. Me.”

“You don’t take care of them. There are numerous sick ones out there, you get money through thievery and crime, this barren warehouse is barely a shelter, and you don’t actually do anything to care for them,” Murdock said.

“They still get better than they would by themselves on the street or, in some cases, at the children’s home,” Mooch replied.
“I’m going to call this in,” Murdock said. “We’ll just take the kids away. I thought we could do this civilly. Hello, Dispatch? This is Murdock. I’m at the warehouse along Water Street, across from 129th Street. I need every available unit, a supervisor, ambulances. I have a couple hundred orphans here in some kind of youth-oriented criminal gang.”

Mooch sighed and began writing something down on a piece of paper. “I’m sorry that it has come to this. This is a good thing and no one here wants to see it end,” Mooch folded the piece of paper and slid it into the golem’s mouth. “You started this so you have no one to blame but yourself.”

The golem began moving, approaching Time Man and Officer Murdock. Time Man pushed Murdock toward where they came in. “Try to get the kids out of the warehouse. I’m going to stop the golem.”

Time Man threw himself at the golem and was able to knock him back a little bit. The golem took Time Man by the arm and leg and threw him across the and into the stone wall. As the wall collapsed, water began pouring in. Time Man flew at the golem and drove him into the floor and a load-bearing pillar that immediately caused the floor above to creak and shake.

The floor beginning to buckle helped Murdock get the kids out faster as the police cars and ambulances showed up. As the floor collapsed, a couple kids fell in, and the walls began folding inward. The fight continued underground until the whole building fell into the river. The dust from the stone and wood cleared but nothing else moved.

After a little more than thirty minutes, a hand came up out the rubble. Time Man clawed his way out and tried catching his breath while staying on his knees. “Time Man! What happened? Could you see any other kids down there?” Murdock shouted.

“No. Mooch and the kids that fell in, I couldn’t grab because of…” Time Man hesitated when seeing the crowd, not wanting anyone to get scared or find the golem. “I could barely get out of there so I don’t think anyone else will be able to.”

“Time Man, would you like us to check you out?” a paramedic said.

“Yeah, that’d be great. I have a lot of places that hurt,” Time Man groaned as he stood up.

Incredible Comics #7

The woman came downstairs and into the laundry room of her tenement with her basket of laundry. As she shoved her clothes into the washer, a man came in, locking the door behind him.

“What are you…?” the woman asked but went silent when she saw the knife he was holding. “No,” she began panting.

The man launched himself at her, knocking her down. She began crying but he remained lying on top of her. “Yeah, keep struggling. Makes it better for me.”

As he worked himself out, she began screaming as loud as she could. Within seconds, the door was ripped off its hinges. A large figure came in and grabbed him off of her. Still screaming and crying, she got up and ran out of the laundry room and back into her tenement building. The figure was garbed in yellow with blue tights. He had large wings on his back and smaller wings on his ankles. “You’re a criminal,” he huffed.

“Yeah,” the guy tried to sound tough but was clearly scared. “What about it?”

“You must suffer, like your victims.”

“What? What are you doing? Don’t…” the man began screaming in pain.

A couple hours later, Officer Murdock walked by the alley the laundry room door was located in. From the alley, he heard groaning and trash bags rustling. Placing his hand on his gun, he cautiously went into the alley. “Hello?”

Another groan. Murdock took out his flashlight and pointed it around the alley and found the man lying in the trash. “Ambulance…” he groaned.

“Dispatch, this is Murdock. I need an ambulance in the alley between 11234 and 11236 Wacker Street. Hurry, it looks bad.”

“What happened?” Time Man several mintues later when the ambulance had arrived and the paramedics were carefully loading the criminal into it.

“He says some guy with wings crushed his arms from elbows to fingertips and also his pelvis,” Murdock explained.

“Ouch,” Time Man said. “Why?”

“Our victim was trying to rape a woman who lives in this building,” Murdock pointed behind him at the tenement. “He said the guy had wings so I’m thinking he’s someone like you. A superhero but kind of loose with the word ‘hero,’” Murdock said.

“Hmm, I’ll have to keep my eyes open. I’ll see you, Officer,” and Time Man flew into the night sky.

“See you.”




Time Man spent most of the night looking out for the winged man but found no trace. Since Time Man had made his debut, crime in the neighborhood had gone down drastically. Only major crimes continued to occur--murder, rape, the occasional robbery attempt--but petty crime still occurred but with rarity.

Out of the corner of his eye, Time Man saw a green car speeding down one of the boulevards. As he turned his head, he saw a winged man flying after the car. Time Man stopped to see what was going to happen and saw the winged man catch up to the car and lift it over his head, the four passengers each opened the doors and jumped or fell to the street. The winged man then smashed the car into the street, totalling the car and destroying the street on impact. The men all scattered as Time Man flew down and struck the
winged man across the jaw with full force. The winged man barely stumbled.

“Who are you?” Time Man asked as he stopped flying and turned to the winged man.

“I am Icarion,” he answered “and who are you and why are you helping these men? They killed someone in cold blood and ran away.”

“I saw what you did to that guy who tried to assault that woman and I assume you were going to do something similar to these fellas.”

“They were breaking the law. They need to be punished,” Icarion took a step toward Time Man.

“Then call the police or grab them and take them to the police. You just can’t kill or maim them.”

“Why keep criminals alive? Criminals just beget more criminals and you keeping me from punishing them makes you no better than they,” Icarion said and leapt toward Time Man.

Time Man was able to dodge the attack but Icarion had quick reflexes and was able to land a punch as he turned around to where Time Man jumped. Time Man fell to the street, cracking the pavement. “Ouch. That hurt,” he said. “First time for that.”

“They are getting away,” Icarion said. “We need to apprehend them. Help and I will do things your way.”

Time Man thought but looked at Icarion and nodded. They each went after two, quickly grabbing them and taking them to the nearest precinct. They stood on the roof of the precinct and looked at each other. “I should’ve had them take you in as well.”

“We are two sides of the same coin. I just don’t want to arrest the same criminal over and over and over again,” Icarion said.
“I don’t either but we can’t just kill them all. That makes us no better than them,” Time Man explained. “If I hear that you are disabling or killing any other criminal, I’m going to hunt you down and stop you myself. Got it?”

Icarion glared at Time Man then flew off. Time Man sighed and flew off back towards home. As he flew he suddenly heard a scream and then Officer Murdock fly out of a bank window. Time Man landed next to where Murdock had landed and helped him up.

“Are you all right?” Time Man asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. There is a big guy in there. A very big guy.”

Time Man and Murdock walked up to the bank window and saw a giant stone-looking monster shuffling around with bags of money. “What in the…?”

Incredible Comics #6

Alderman Lucius Goebel looked at a map of his ward in the city. Ward 29 was mainly a collection of dilapidated tenements populated by people well below the poverty line. There was an area outlined in red and shaded grey. It was an area that he wanted to tear down and rebuild as a shining beacon in the neighborhood.

Lucius’ assistant came into his office. “Planning, sir?” he smiled.

“Do you think we could build a lake? We could dig a waterway from the docks and fill in a couple of blocks with water to make a lake?” Lucius asked.

“I’ll get the engineers to look into it, sir, but you are no closer to beginning work on Sistine Hill than you were two years ago.”

“And why do you think that that is, Conrad?”

“Owners aren’t selling to the developer,” Conrad shrugged and said.

“Exactly and it’s because most of the owners are landlords so these buildings are still making them money and like any good businessman, they want a steady stream of income and not one lump sum. What we need to do is get these buildings to stop making money and the owners will be happy to sell.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“I already have everything set up,” Lucius said as he sat down at his desk.




Professor Raymond Ripley knelt down at the door to the bank, a device plugged into the security lock. It was scanning the five-digit code to shut off the alarm but was taking longer than Ripley had planned.

“What’s taking so long, babe?” Ripley’s wife, Diana, whined. Diana was significantly younger than Ripley. She was originally a student of his at Cascadia University but when her grades began to drop she began to do extra credit in Ripley’s lab and then in Ripley’s bed. When Ripley was fired for the affair and Diana expelled, he moved all his work to his small apartment. Ripley and Diana got married and created a team of criminals to fund their research and projects. Diana’s younger brother, Tony, was enhanced with gauntlets that could start fires, and an old friend of Ripley’s, Brock, was given a rock-solid skin covering making him nigh-impervious to just about anything.

“I made this thing in a week, it’s just taking a bit longer. Five digits is a lot of numbers.”

“I thought you said it would work quick,” Tony grumbled.

“Compared to just entering in random numbers, this is quick,” Ripley argued back. Finally, the machine beeped and Ripley pulled the cords from the alarm keypad. “Okay, Brock. You can do your thing.”

Ripley backed away from the door as Brock shouldered it and it broke open.

“What about the safe?” Tony asked as they ran into the bank.

“With the serum Doc gave me, I can tear any door off the wall,” Brock said.

“It’s Professor, Brock. I’m not a doctor,” Ripley corrected.

“Same thing in my book,” Brock muttered.

They approached the safe and Brock took the handle in his hand. “”Well, you’re a ragtag bunch of criminals,” a voice came from behind them.

“Time Man?” Ripley groaned when he looked over his shoulder.

Tony turned around and fired two shots of flame toward Time Man from his gauntlet. Time Man easily dodged them but got more serious. “I guess this won’t be easy.”

“Diana, Tony, keep him busy. Brock, keep working on the vault,” Ripley ordered.

Tony began charging at Time Man while Diana pulled a gun out from a holster on her hip. “I wish you’d give me something more than a gun, Raymie,” she shouted at him.

“I barely trust you with that,” he screamed back. “Just keep Time Man busy.”

The siblings ran toward Time Man. Tony threw one flame at him that he dodged but the other nearly hit him in the face. The two of them tackled Time Man and they all landed hard on the floor.

Being more experienced, Time Man was able to easily throw them off of him. Diana landed nearby but Tony was thrown harder and farther back outside the bank. Brock had wrenched the vault door off and he and Ripley were inside grabbing sacks of money. Tony had stood back up, his gauntlets raging with fire.

Tony took one step back toward the bank when an apartment tenement nearby suddenly exploded. Time Man ran out of the bank to see the building engulfed in flames. Ignoring the four bank robbers, Time Man flew toward the inferno.

Hands full of sacks of money, Ripley and Brock exited the bank. “Did you do that?” Ripley asked Tony.

“No. But we need to thank whoever did,” he smiled and the four of them ran off in the opposite direction with their rewards.

As Time Man approached the building, he could hear screams and see tenants and homeless people running out the front door. Time Man flew into the top floor of the building and began scouting around. He found several kids and an elderly woman huddled in the bathroom of one of the apartments.

“Climb on,” Time Man ordered. “I’ll get as many of you down as I can.”

“Several kids climbed on, holding onto Time Man’s neck, shoulders, arms and cape. Time Man picked up three in his arms and gently lowered them to the street below. He could hear the siren of a fire truck approaching but quickly flew back up to grab the remaining kids and the woman. He flew back inside and scouted again. Most apartments were engulfed and Time Man feared that most occupants in these apartments were already dead. Floor by floor he grabbed the residents and brought them down to the street where fire, police and medical units were waiting. When he was halfway through the building, after dropping off three people, a loud rumble began to echo. Looking behind him, the building began to buckle and crumble. Two people jumped out of the window landing hard on the pavement beneath them. “No. Not today,” he said and touched his sundial.

Time stopped. Time Man quickly flew back to the building and began finishing what he started. On the fourth floor, he recognized one of the occupants. Martin Hogue, cornered in his bedroom by flame, a look of panic, anguish, and despair pasted on his face, surprised Time Man. Martin, along with two of his neighbors, were placed gently on the street below.

Within and hour, everyone that Time Man could find were out of building. Exhausted, Time Man collapsed on the sidewalk, coughing. Trying to catch his breath, Time Man unfroze time. Everyone was stunned to find themselves out of danger. The building finally began to collapse and police ushered everyone away. Time Man flew up into the sky and watched the building come down.




Time Man landed on the roof of his apartment and took off the sundial, his costume disappearing. He walked down from the roof to his apartment. “Harold!” Ellie exclaimed when he walked in. “Where have you been? What happened?”

“What?” he asked as she ran to him. He realized that his face was dirty with soot and even his hair was slightly singed. “Oh, there was a fire at a building where I was walking home. I was helping people get out and I must have got a little too close to the flames.”

“Oh, my. How dangerous. Let’s get you cleaned up,” Ellie took Harold’s arm and they went into the bedroom. “Was it scary?”

“It was something. Two people jumped out of windows before that new hero, Time Man, could arrive. Five people died. The two that jumped out the windows and three from smoke inhalation in the building. It was almost like a nightmare,” Harold explained.

“Well, it’s over now. You did what you could,” Ellie said and kissed her husband on the cheek. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”




The next morning, Lucius Goebel read the paper at his desk. The tenement fire was relegated to the eighth page, barely a suitable column. Conrad came into the office and Lucius folded the paper up. “Good morning, Conrad.”
“Good morning, sir,” Conrad answered.
“Conrad, go make an offer on the old tenement building at 123rd Street.”
“But the owner has been adamant that he doesn’t want to sell. There’s a lot of low income people who live there and he doesn’t want to kick them out.”
“He won’t have to. I took care of all that,” Lucius smiled.

Incredible Comics #5

Harold walked home for the first time in a long time. Usually he became Time Man and flew above the neighborhood on patrol. Tonight, he walked because he had been spending too much time as Time Man. He also wanted to get home and see Ellie.

As Harold approached his building, a man came running out of it, barreling through the doors and running down the sidewalk toward Harold. Harold tried to get out of the way but the man ran into him, pushing him and knocking him down. Harold fell hard on the sidewalk and quickly turned to see the man still running. “Hey! Watch where you’re going! Slow down!” he shouted but knew the man wasn’t listening. Harold picked himself up and went into his apartment building, taking one last look toward the way the man was running.




Dwight Summers had been halfway across the country for the last two weeks doing work on Northern Continental Railroad and was anxious to get back home to his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Daisy. Carrying an arrangement of flowers for Sarah and a wooden cat collapsible toy for Daisy, Dwight walked up the stairs to his apartment. He went to unlock the door but found it already unlocked. He walked in and found the apartment quiet, the usual screams and laughs from Daisy were missing as were Sarah doing her hardest to keep the apartment a warm, loving home.

Dwight placed the flowers and cat on the bookshelf next to the door and began walking through the apartment. It looked like Sarah was just about to start cooking with ingredients sitting out on the counter. “Sarah?” he called. He went back to the bedroom and opened the door to his and Sarah’s bedroom. Partially hidden by the bed, were the bodies of Sarah and Daisy. Dwight, overcome, ran out of the apartment and fell against the wall of the hallway and began crying and shivering.

Soon, the apartment building was swarming with police officers, detectives and medical examiners. Everyone in the building was questioned and no one saw or heard anything, even the neighbors, Harold and Eleanor Banner.

“I can’t believe that happened,” Ellie said. “And right across the hall from us.”

“I can’t imagine what Dwight is going through. I don’t know what I would do if something like that happened to you and our child,” Harold kissed Ellie and rubbing her pregnant belly. “I wonder what he is going to do now.”

“They were such nice people,” Ellie moaned. “None of them deserved this. I wonder what happened and who it was.”

“Probably some psycho. I should probably put a new lock or two on the door, just in case,” Harold said. “Especially with the baby close to being here.”




Dwight’s gloved hand connected to the punching bag in Canacari’s Gym. A month had passed since Dwight’s life essentially came to a stop and in that time he barely spent any time at home, opting to stay late at work or train at Canacari’s. He would sleep at a motel, his apartment not lived in since the horrible find. He had an unknown number of days worth of stubble on his face and his hair was disheveled and hung in his eyes and over his ears.

Leon Canacari came up behind Dwight. “What are you doing here, Dwight?”

“Training.”

“I can see that but you’re here every night, for hours on end. You can’t hide out here from whatever you are running from.”

“I’m not running from anything. I’m running toward something,” Dwight hit the punching bag one more time then took the gloves off. “Thanks for letting me use your gym. I’ll see you around.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Dwight,” Canacari warned.

Dwight entered his family’s apartment for the first time since discovering his murdered wife and daughter. He was carrying a bag and slowly walked into his daughter’s room. “She loved cats,” he muttered to himself. “I’m going to find out who did this, sweetie. I’m going to avenge and honor you like a father should.” He pulled a strange costume out of the bag, in was a suit with a mask that looked like a cat’s head complete with whiskers. He took the suit into his bedroom which was completely empty. He undressed and slid on the cat suit. “I will find out who did this and they will answer to me: Catman,” he exclaimed and leapt out of the bedroom window and onto the fire escape. He climbed up to the roof and looked out over the city.




Harold couldn’t sleep so he put the sundial on and went out for a bit as Time Man. He had been torn wondering if he should do patrols more or stay home with Ellie after what happened to the Summers’. He opted to stay with Ellie which meant Time Man hadn’t been seen very often over the last month but it had been relatively quiet anyway.

As Time Man flew over his neighborhood, he spotted a figure dressed in black bounding from rooftop to rooftop. The figure paused on the top of a tenement building and looked out over the edge. Time Man gently landed several feet behind him. “You look like you’re on a mission,” he said.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on someone like that,” the man in black snarled. “I’m looking for someone—anyone—who can help me solve a murder.”

“A murder? I can help in any way I can. What can you give me?” Time Man offered.

“Sarah and Daisy Summers. You ever hear of them?”

“Yeah. Terrible shame. The Summers’ were a nice family. I can’t imagine what Dwight is going through,” Time Man sighed.

“You sound like you knew them.”

“Not really. They…” Time Man hesitated for a brief moment “…were my wife and I’s neighbors. They lived across the hall from us.”

“Harold?”

“Dwight,” Time Man extended his hand. Dwight took Time Man’s hand and they shook. “What are you doing?”

“The police aren’t going to find anything. No one they talked to saw anything. Even you,” Dwight sighed dejectedly. “What did you see? Go over your evening again.”

“Nothing unusual,” Harold began. “I was walking home from work, which is something I rarely do now,” he brought attention to his blue and gold outfit. “As I was approaching the apartment building, this man came running out and knocked me down. I didn’t get a good look at him but I’m sure he has something to do with what happened.”

“Do you remember anything about him?”

“Not really. Just your average-looking guy. He was wearing a denim jacket with some kind of logo on the back,” Harold tried to remember. “It was red…Vince Auto or something like that.”

“Might be Vance Auto in the North Bottoms. Rumor has it that they do very little auto work there. Could be worth checking out,” Dwight prepared to jump off of the building.

“Wait. I’ll come with you. By the way, what do you call yourself?”

“Catman,” Dwight briefly smiled. “Daisy loved cats.”




Vance Auto was a dilapidated building that looked like it had been abandoned for several years but everyone knew it was being used, but no one knew for what purpose. Time Man and Catman approached the building and slowly made their way from the street to the building, slowly opening the door. Inside, it looked like your typical auto maintenance shop but Catman was sure it was also something else.

“There’s nothing…and no one here,” Time Man said. “Maybe he was a former employee. Maybe there’s a file cabinet we can get names from.”

“I hear something,” Catman gruffly said. “Shush.” Both went silent and listened for a couple seconds.

“I don’t hear anything,” Time Man said.

“Shush,” Catman said again and turned his head toward the garage area. “Over here. Under this hydraulic lift. Can you lift it up?”

Time Man pulled the lift up, the steel hydraulic tube breaking and cracking as he pulled. Both dropping into the hole and into a tunnel that went far beyond the foundation of the building. “What is this?” Time Man whispered.

“I don’t know but I hear something down here. Let’s go,” Catman said and began running down the tunnel.

“Hear something? Are you kidding me?”

At the end of the tunnel was another large hole, almost a cave, with two tall torches on either side and in front of the torches, two large bodyguards. “I’ll take care of them. Be right back.”

“By yourself? I can help…” Time Man said as Catman ran to the two guards. They attempted to stop Catman but in three quick moves they were disarmed and disabled, knocked unconscious on the ground. “Well, I could’ve helped.”

They entered the cave which revealed a massive area with a large fire in the center. Milling around were a dozen or so people in red robes and pointed red hoods. “Hmm. They look like they are up to no good.”

“We can handle them. Keep at least one of them conscious so we can ask them questions,” Time Man and the two of them charged in taking down two easily. They split up and while Time Man was knocking the hooded men out, Catman was smashing their heads into the cave wall, bludgeoning them with his fists and even broke the neck of another. “What are you doing? Keep them alive! We keep them alive.”

“We only need one of them,” Catman said. “Maybe this will make it easier to extract the information.” Catman wrapped his arms around another man’s head. Time Man quickly clicked his sundial and time stopped.

Time Man walked over, pulled the man from Catman’s grasp, and sped time up again. Catman gestured with his arm but was surprised when he realized the man wasn’t there anymore. “We don’t kill,” Time Man said again.

Catman glared at Time Man. “Fine. But let’s get what we came for,” Catman walked over to the man Time Man was holding. “What the hell is this?”

“It’s the Order of St. Constantin,” the man replied. “I don’t know much about it.”

“You joined a cult without knowing anything about it?” Catman questioned.

“I don’t know much about it,” the man repeated. “I liked the idea of white supremacy and ethnic cleansing. The man you need to see about the Order is Priest Andreij. He controls this…section of the Order. I don’t know where he is or if that’s even his real name. He visits here about once a month to give some rousing speech and seed our sacrifices.”

“What?”

“Some of the guys offer their daughters to the Priest thinking it will help make them Chosen.”

“Do you have enough?” Time Man asked Catman.

“I think I can go on what he gave me,” Catman nodded.

“Good. Now you can kill him,” Time Man let go of the man and walked away, leaving him and Catman alone.

Incredible Comics #4

The small wooden cargo ship crashed into the pier around 2 o’clock. The pier had been abandoned for a couple of years so no one was around to witness the splintering of the wood into the dock. Two figures left the ship, splitting up as they entered the night. One, a small figure, lanky and quick. The other, animal-like and snarling. The creature left the dock and warehouse area and emerged onto the well-lit Water Street. The hulking dog foamed and drooled as it growled and looked around. A couple blocks down the street, the dog spotted a lone figure, a man in tattered clothes wandering the street, ducking into the alley and coming back out after a minute or so.

The dog slowly headed toward the man, picking up speed with each step. The man saw the dog just a second before it knocked him and tore into his flesh. When done, the dog ran off and disappeared into the shadows.




Harold stayed late at the Fix-It Shop the following night to finish some work he had been lax on after spending more time as Time Man. As he left the Shop, he noticed a beat officer walking down the street. “Good evening, officer. What brings you out here? This neighborhood hasn’t had a beat cop in years.”

“A man was murdered nearby, over by the piers. The department is increasing the number of beat cops until the suspect is found,” the officer explained.

“Well, I hope you catch him and welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Harold Banner.”

“Officer Gareth Murdock,” the officer smiled. The two men shook hands and parted ways.

Harold went around the corner and then ducked into an alley, slipped on his sundial and changed into Time Man. He flew into the air and circled around his neighborhood, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He landed in the alley next to his apartment building, took off the sundial and went upstairs to his apartment.

Officer Murdock continued walking his beat, soon becoming the only person in the neighborhood, save for a few stragglers, night-time workers, homeless people and a couple of prostitutes that Murdock ignored, even when one of them climbed into a car. Around one, Officer Murdock was heading back to the precinct when he heard a blood-curdling scream. He ran to where he thought the scream came from. Down the street, on the next block, Murdock found the mangled corpse of a man. “54, this is Murdock. I need an ambulance and back-up to 112th Street and Belle. Also, send the coroner,” he radioed in.




The next night, Officer Murdock started his beat on only two hours of sleep. He was only thirty minutes into it when Time Man landed beside him. “I want to help,” he said.

Murdock let out a gasp by the sudden voice. “Time Man, right? I would love the help, especially from overhead. We’re dealing with some kind of monster. The victim’s throat was torn out.”

“I think it’s some sort of animal. I don’t know what kind. Has anyone stepped forward, said that they’ve seen it?”

“We had a couple eyewitnesses say they saw two things running from the abandoned docks. One looked human and the other looked like a dog or wolf.”

“We should go look. We may find something.”

The smashed boat was still in pieces at the dock, some of it had washed out with the tide. “Why did no one report this? This had to have been heard from at least a mile away,” Murdock exclaimed.

“No one in this part of the city cares. They tend to ignore what goes on around them,” Time Man said. He went into the ruins of the ship and into the steering compartment. A body lie on the floor. Time Man went over and rolled the body over. “The captain,” he said quietly. He saw a book on a table against the wall. It was the captain’s log. He turned a few pages then turned and left the ship, carrying the book out. “The captain is in there, dead. No one else on board. The ship is from Constanta, Romania. It seems the captain took on a passenger and that passenger killed crewmember after crewmember, dumping the bodies in the ocean during the voyage.”

“What the hell?” Murdock took the log from Time Man. A scream echoed through the streets and alleys.

Murdock and Time Man looked at each other. “The southeast, along Water Street near 109th?”

“Sounds like.”

“I got this,” Time Man said and stopped time. He flew over to Water Street and saw a giant dog standing over a man who was laying in the gutter of the street. Time Man landed next to the two, the man clearly dead. “How do I stop this thing?” he asked himself.

He uneasily kneeled down and wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck and tightened his grip. He squeezed, pulled and twisted the dog’s head and tightly closed his eyes and shuddered when he heard the neck snap.

He stood up and shuddered again, shaking his arms. He unfroze time and the dog collapsed and went limp. A few minutes passed and Officer Murdock arrived at the scene. “That’s it?” he was surprised.

“Yes, this isn’t the passenger the captain was talking about so they are still out there but they don’t seem to causing any problems.”

“Yet,” Murdock said. “I’ll call this in. Thanks for helping. A lot on the force are skeptical of you but you’re okay in my book.”

“Thanks. That’s a ringing endorsement,” Time Man smiled and lifted off.

As Officer Murdock radioed in, a lone figure watched him from the top of a nearby building. She was dirty, with brown hair, wearing a tattered white ie with black designs in front and along the arms and a plain white dress that was also in tatters. When an ambulance and other police cars arrived, the girl lifted her arms, revealing leather-looking bat wings and flew off into the night.

Incredible Comics #3

Martin Hogue came into the Fix-It Shop and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “It’s hot out there this morning,” he said to Harold, who was tinkering with something over at the counter. “What’cha working on?”

“This weird clock thing,” Harold sighed. “I’m afraid that it’s getting the better of me and I’ll have to have Mr. Reznicek show me how to do it. I haven’t seen you all morning, Martin. A lot of deliveries?”

“Nearly a dozen and I still have two more. I just stopped in for a break and to see if there were any more.”

“Not to my knowledge. You can go up and ask Mr. Reznicek,” Harold said.

Martin thought for a second. “Nah, I’ll just take these two things and come back after lunch. Mr. Banner…”

“You can call me Harold, Martin.”

“Harold, do you believe in ghosts?”

“Ghosts? Not really but I’m open to suggestion. Why?”

“I live on the fifth floor of an apartment building and there is an apartment on the third floor that always has voices coming from it. Normally, that’s not an issue because the walls and doors are very thin and everybody can hear everybody’s business. But, no one lives in this apartment, we never see anyone go in or out. Because we hear voices and noises but don’t see anyone, we consider the apartment haunted,” Martin explained.

“I don’t think the apartment is haunted, Martin. Someone probably just moved in and no one has seen anyone yet.”

“I don’t know. Amos the Wino, he sleeps on the stairs between the first and second floor, is there every day, all day, and he’s never seen anybody who looks new.”

“No offense but I don’t think a person called ‘Amos the Wino’ is someone with heightened monitoring skills. If you or your neighbors are so concerned, just let the police know,” Harold said.

“The police? Cops ain’t been in my neighborhood in months. I have to go deliver these last two packages. I’ll see you this afternoon,” Martin chuckled a bit and left the store. He hopped on his bicycle and pedaled away.

Harold put down his tools and rubbed his chin with his finger. That night, after Ellie had been asleep for more than an hour, Harold snuck out onto their fire escape and put on the sundial, the blue and yellow uniform appearing. He flew over to Martin’s apartment building, a run-down looking brick building with numerous broken windows with plywood nailed over them. Numerous vagrants meandered along the street and sidewalk but none detected Time Man hovering above them.

He figured out which window went to the alleged haunted apartment and softly landed on the fire escape and tried to peer in. The apartment was dark and he couldn’t see anything. He hopped off the fire escape and landed softly in the alley. He removed the sundial and returned to his own clothes. He entered the apartment building can began going upstairs. He saw who he assumed was Amos the Wino on the landing between the first and second floors, fast asleep with a bottle of alcohol. He went to the apartment that was empty and attempted to turn the knob but it was locked.

He looked around and slid on the sundial changing into Time Man. He turned the knob until it broke and the door creaked open. He walked in and the apartment was definitely not being lived in but there was a table with papers in the middle of the living room. Under the table were locked crates. Time Man took one of the crates and sat it on top of the table. He squeezed the lock until it shattered in his hand. He opened the crate and saw possibly hundreds of jewels. He let out a small gasp as he saw all of the jewels ranging from diamonds to rubies to emeralds and a lot he didn’t even know.

“This door’s open,” someone said from the hallway. “Someone’s in there.”

Time Man quickly closed the crate and two men came through the door, saw Time Man standing at the table and shot at him. His hand, already near the sundial, pressed the button on the side, and time froze. Time Man casually walked past the bullets in midair, swatting them down onto the ground, and took the guns away from the men. He went back to the table and laid the guns down and went back to the men, he stood behind them and unfroze time. He grabbed the men’s collars and lifted them up. “You’re coming with me,” Time Man said.

“What the…?”

“What happened?” the men said.

Time Man brought the men to a police station and told them about the apartment and jewels and within minutes, the apartment was being raided. People suddenly knew about Time Man. He was mentioned by police to reporters who included his name in their articles and radio broadcasts.

“A superhero,” Alderman Lucius Goebel sneered at the newspaper. “Probably just some idiot who reads too many of those ten cent wastes of time and has too much time on his hands.”

“What will we do about the trafficking?” Harlan Grant, owner of the apartment building, said. “We’ll need a new place.”

“We’ll keep using yours,” Alderman Goebel said. “But we need to make sure there aren’t people meddling about. If something were to happen to that building, you wouldn’t complain, would you?”

“What exactly do you have in mind?”