1) That strange occurrence at RATLAND; HAWLEY and his RATKETEERS stage the RATKETON; future ELEMENT KINGS are the only survivors; FREEDMAN, OSCAR and NORMAN witness the secret of the Universe.
As children, FREEDMAN and NORMAN found a workshop used by HAWLEY as a young man. After they played there a few times, they began having nightmares. NORMAN pursued the meaning of them while Freedman tried to avoid this and even tried not to find out if their nightmares were about the same things. Everything he did to NORMAN was in an. effort to avoid confirming his fear that the world was merely a. badly-written comic book.
2) After RATLAND, the nation's Center of Entertainment and Religion, falls, turmoil and anarchy break out. Order is restored by a Ruling Clique, including WILDWOOD, a relatively normal human being, and an insane policeman who underwent self-administered plastic surgery and adopted the name "ALPHADONG".
3) The Ruling Clique decides to renovate a city particularly damaged by rioting and anarchy. They completely pave it over, trapping the residents inside, building a new city on top, and importing the entire decadent but stoical population of an ancient "postage-stamp" country' on the. other side of the world and have them act as residents of this city. They called it "NEW CITY" and the residents of the original city, who had by now, made passageways to the surface, called their subterranean home "OLD CITY".
4) The Ruling Clique decided that it was time for them to be voted out of office, superficially at least. Their successor/puppet was a down-and-out actor who was supported by his daughter and her partner-in-crime, FREEDMAN. FREEDMAN saw in her a criminal ruthlessness which he lacked and she was in love with him. After her father became PRESIDENT, the two broke up and she transferred her passions to replacing the Ruling Clique as her father's "power-behind-the-throne".
5) Somewhere around this time a rhythm was generating. During the RATKETON, the young RATKETEER who was to become the SEA KING was having sex with another RATKETEER, LEODA DUNWOODIE. After the fiasco, the up-and-coming SEA KING went hopelessly insane, and none of the others saw LEODA again. They assumed she was dead with all the others. The ELEMENTS KINGS formed mainly to look after each other because the fall of RATLAND left them outcasts. LEODA DUNWOODIE had conceived a child during the RATKETON, in fact. After the child was born, she attempted to raise her alone, but found that her baby had some strange problems. With great sadness, LEODA sold her daughter to a clinic run very questionably by a certain DR. MELCHIZEDEK, where the child was given the nickname, in fact, her only name, TORNADO GIRL. During his first, and only, full examination of the girl, DR. MELCHIZEDEK died Mysteriously. The nurses and attendants fled the clinic and formed a religious group several hundred miles away. The inmates and patients freed themselves, confiscated nearby farm and, and turned the clinic into the only successful anarcho-syndicalist commune. TORNADO GIRL soon became uncomfortable in these stable surroundings and left, wandering the hills and educating herself by telepathically absorbing ambient radio waves.
Meanwhile. LEODA took a bus to NEW CITY and established herself as a hooker. She soon established one of the most successful practices in NEW CITY, catering to the highest Government officials. After much prodding by the PRESIDENT, Vice-President WILDWOOD engaged her one evening and the next morning ordered a crack-down on prostitution throughout NEW CITY. This particularly infuriated the humiliated LEODA, who'd conceived her second child by him. Early one morning she left the child, a girl, on the steps of a paper mill and left. There it was found by two night janitors on their home from work at the mill. In a flash of inspiration, they took the baby across the country to the ELEMENT KINGS, saying that if the EK's would take the child, they, the two janitors, would give them the Secret of Happiness. Then they built the EKs a model-train set and told them to try World Conquest and left. The EKs raised the child and called her SALOME.
6) The PRESIDENT was upset by WILDWOOD's closing of the brothels, but unable to visit OLD CITY brothels because he actually believed the government propaganda that OLD CITY didn't exist. And so, going against WILDWOOD and his DAUGHTER, he formed the "State-of-the-Union Medicine Show" and travelled the country in a mobile-home caravan, doing satirical skits about the economy.
7) The PRESIDENT's actions and a diminishing in the ranks of the original Ruling Clique left WILDWOOD very worried. The Clique had once been large enough to form a significant voting block in their first legislative body and was now reduced to three people. WILDWOOD knew he had killed one and suspected that ALPHADONG had killed the rest. Most were actually killed by the PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER.
However, convinced that the culprit was ALPHADONG, the other two decided that drastic measures had to be taken. They flipped a coin; WILDWOOD became Vice-President, his associate became the common enemy who could unite the nation against him and keep ALPHADONG pre-occupied. He adopted the name BLACKFIST and established his secret hideout in the Midwest. His first order of business was to kidnap NORMAN, witness to the RATLAND catastrophe and now successful writer. WILDWOOD and he were both concerned with the social effect of NORMAN's writings and they realized that the kidnapping of a popular writer might make a good beginning for an Arch-Villian.
After BLACKFIST set up shop and kidnaped NORMAN, however, a problem arose. An assistant informed BLACKFIST that guards had captured a young girl levitating through the grounds. During his first, and only, full examination of the girl, BLACKFIST died Mysteriously. Only one of his assistants was present, running the movie camera. A frustrated artist from OLD CITY, who was about the same build as BLACKFIST, he decided that he should try on BLACKFIST's costume. Realizing that the girl, TORNADO GIRL, never spoke and therefore wouldn't tattle on him, he left the costume on and assumed the role of BLACKFIST. He gave TORNADO GIRL a nice room and never made his predecessor's mistake.
Soon after he met NORMAN, he gave him a room close to his own and they soon became lovers. BLACKFIST had one problem. Since his predecessor never told anyone that he was working for the government, the new BLACKFIST never knew that he was working for the government. WILDWOOD, who, likewise, never knew of the change, continued to send BLACKFIST messages. Their code was such that BLACKFIST could never correctly interpret them, and he soon came to the conclusion that he was in Spiritual Contact with the Ascended Masters of the East.
8) OSCAR, the one member of the trio who remained virtually dormant during this time, bummed around the country until he convinced himself that he'd learned about human nature, settled down, graduated from school, and bec1 a respectable businessman, selling unsafe athletic gear to high schools. But there were times, usually at night, when he thought he could hear a voice, sometimes speaking to him, a little too quietly to be understood, sometimes laughing, derisively, at him.
9) LEODA DUNWOODIE re-established herself in business, but was more diversified. She supplied the pleasures of OLD CITY to people in NEW CIT~ who knew that OLD CITY existed but didn't know that it was relatively easy to reach and about as safe as NEW CITY.
10) The ELEMENT KINGS developed a messianic religion based on the coming return of RATLAND. They had pieced this together from the more coherent ramblings of the SEA KING and were very pleased with their wit until they began to believe it themselves. They were able to capture several cities with this and eventually "liberate" the whole West Coast. SALOME was reaching puberty and was unimpressed by their religious views. She cheerfully acted as their baby-sitter but occasionally had to fight a nagging desire to stab them all in their sleep.
11) It may be wise to have had WILDWOOD's confrontation with ALPHADONG by now and simply refer to packs of wild DONGS roving the hills. Maybe not.
12) LEODA throws herself a birthday party and invites all her friends and morE than a few strangers. Everyone was there, including WILDWOOD's daughter 1 a previous, unfortunate marriage, ANDREA. She brought her boy-friend, a dwarf of indeterminate heritage named FROGMAN. The party was raided. Was the raid unsuccessful? Did WILDWOOD's officers and the DONGS try to stagE separate raids at the same time and end up shooting at each other? If so; some guests might think that it was part of LEODA's planned entertainment Could the raid have been called off because of some interpersonal confrontation? Either way, we do believe that LEODA and WILDWOOD had somE sort of confrontation.
13) At this party, FREEDMAN, who'd been invited by ANDREA and FROGMAN, found himself organizing for anew Gang without even knowing quite what he want to steal. He met BAXTER and SANDY, two mid-level technicians who'd been c the run ever since they'd killed her first husband. Without knowing this; FREEDMAN sensed in them a great potential for undirected violence. He all picked up two transients, HASH FORD and FILLMORE. They'd been out-of-work ever since they took an un-permitted leave-of-absence from their jobs as night janitors at a paper mill.
14) WILDWOOD was becoming worried about the ELEMENT KINGS. He ordered BLACKFIST to form an alliance with them in order to slow them down. BLACKFIST thou~ the message had something to do with food, but had already resolved to fc an alliance with the ELEMENT KINGS. The PRESIDENT, meanwhile, decided to have a show-down with them. He challenged the EKs to find out who could J on the best Musical Revue.
15) What did FREEDMAN & CO. try to steal? If your guess is as good as mine, then guess away. My guess is that there was a rumor that WILDWOOD was keeping a vast treasure somewhere in NEW CITY or OLD CITY. This treasure ... world. WILDWOOD feared that NORMAN somehow understood the meaning of these relics and could use them against the current government. FREEDMAN learned from ANDREA about certain important RATLAND RELICS and resolved to steal them and try to sell them to either the ELEMENT KINGS or to BLACKFIST.
16) By the way, FREEDMAN must've heard that NORMAN was a "prisoner" of BLACKFIST, but I'd imagine that FREEDMAN also heard, via the underworld grapevine, that NORMAN was hardly being mistreated.
17) By now, BLACKFIST must've realized the potential for using TORNADO GIRL as some sort of secret weapon and was busy conducting various tests that were rapidly depleting his own forces.
18) Anyway, the ELEMENT KINGS noticed irritating behavior on the part of the PRESIDENT all along the borders of their territory. Deciding that assassination would be a waste of good bullets, they decide to kidnap him, hoping that they can convert him to their RATLAND RELIGION, or at least get him to sing some of the "Old Songs" for them. Choosing the subtle approach (since his DAUGHTER has caught up with him and surrounded him with crack suicide commandos), they hire a long-lost nephew, OSCAR, to do the kidnaping, on the mistaken assumption that he is an athlete and not merely a salesman.
19) I'm not sure how much I have to say about the execution of either the Robbery or the Kidnaping right now. I'm more concerned with basic motivations, but I regret passing by important incidents. Right now, we can say that both were successful.
20) FREEDMAN and his Gang met BLACKFIST and the EKs at BF's lair, and it was a joyous occasion. NORMAN introduces FREEDMAN to TORNADO GIRL. Seeing that FREEDMAN and NORMAN are old friends, the ELEMENT KINGS apologized for leaving OSCAR behind with the unpleasant task of looking after the PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER (who'd bitten through her chains on more than one occasion). The EKs did, however, bring the PRESIDENT, showing off their catch in a huge gold-plated bird-cage. Before the "Auction" began, the PRESIDENT, exhilarated by the absence of his DAUGHTER, gave his captors and assembled scoundrels a truly memorable performance.
Once the Robbers opened their prize however, anti-climax set in. All they could find was $24 in beads. Everyone was angry and the Robbers were thrown into a dungeon and forced to listen to the PRESIDENT give a lecture on dramatic timing. NORMAN helped the PRESIDENT and the Robbers escape on the condition that they would take TORNADO GIRL away from this unhealthy place, but without telling them that BLACKFIST believed he'd perfected a way of detonating TORNADO GIRL like a time-bomb as soon as they all returned to NEW CITY. This was fair, since NORMAN hadn't told BLACKFIST that his idiotic plan couldn't possibly work. Anyway, the PRESIDENT decided that the gang of Robbers would make a good chorus line for his next musical revue, which he wanted to perfect on the road, before returning to NEW CITY.
21) Just what was all the fuss about? WILDWOOD himself was so afraid of the potential of the chest that he had removed from MR. HAWLEY's safe that he never inspected its contents. HAWLEY himself had put the contents of the chest in storage in a warehouse just off of RATLAND property. They were found some years later by a down-and-out actor who later became PRESIDENT. FREEDMAN and his Gang were using the very things they'd hoped to steal as
props in a road-show. These props -- their specific identity I've yet to figure out -- were intended by MR. HAWLEY to be the tools and symbols for the man who would someday rule the world. What MR. HAWLEY told young FREEDMAN, NORMAN and OSCAR, in obscure language, was that it would be one of them.
HASHFORD AND FILLMORE
HASHFORD is tall and skinny with long string hair and a scraggly goatee over pitted flesh. He lives at a wayside mission founded by a priest who had a religious vision of a young GIRL turning into a TORNADO. FILLMORE is short and chubby, gets barber-college haircuts every three months, and lives with his mother who works at a toy factory making model trains for the ELEMENT KINGS. Sometimes the glue gets on her fingers and she sees flashing lights for a few days. When HASHFORD and FILLMORE were in high school they used to sit in the toilet and work on epic tales. They isolated all their stories into two major works--a quest story and a war story. However, characters and plots kept getting confused between the two and they couldn't even work out a time reference between them. This lasted for....
Before the story begins, HASHFORD and FILLMORE were unsuccessful comic book artist/writers. They gave it up and changed their lives, because by working on the story for five years intensively, they had achieved Illumination. They met in high school. HASHFORD was studying Literature. However, he had the habit of talking about character development, motifs, and themes in terminology that sounded like a mixture of linguistic philosophy, electrical engineering and a badly-written contract. FILLMORE was in the Science Department, holding cockroach races in Etymology, and changing labels on jars wherever he went. They both met at a time when they were both realizing that something was not working in their education. Since they both read comic books, they decided to write and draw one themselves. They decided not to divide the labor in the normal manner. HASHFORD would make large graphs, schematics, models, etc., laborious and meticulous, of the story and its characters. FILLMORE would go into long trance-like free-associations at either the drawing board or the typewriter. Then they'd trade results, and rework the others work in their own style. After five years of intensive work they were able to develop some continuity. They were almost ready to work on the final draft when they had a Revelation and gave up work to become those happy-go-lucky but enigmatic bums of NEW CITY. What, then, is this Revelation? First, it's unlikely that a finished product would ever come of the method I've described above. However, the only idea I have about the Revelation might be the realization about who imitates who, Art or Life? This isn't enough to work with.
After HASHFORD and FILLMORE had begun the final draft (3rd day) they were walking down a street from the store and passed a group of people talking. As they passed, they heard two men wearing glasses begin reciting a conversation between the two main characters in the story. Then, someone screamed, "You can I t talk like that I You hardly know each other I" After that, they around with blank expressions on their faces. HASHFORD and FILLMORE that not only does Life imitate Art but that the comic book had been power of an incantation by their unceasing efforts. They decided to balanced relationship between their power and the world. all stood realized given the find a more