Mr. Sandman (14 page)

 

 

 

 

Page 13 (8
panels)

 

Page 13 panel 1

 

The blast of hot fire hits the metallic mantis right in the abdomen, and harmlessly pours off the impenetrable hide.

 

Symbol: You can't hurt me, Adams! You're
weak
! You know what you've done is
wrong
!

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 2

 

Symbol: And you know that
we
are
right
!

 

The Symbol/mantis again slashes its sharp forearm at the Dream Lord, and this time makes contact -- slicing right across his body.

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 3

 

The Dream Lord is furious and reeling from the pain as he musters his power to again face Symbol. As the gash across his arms and chest bleeds, he summons a swarm of meteors from thin air.

 

Dream Lord: No more!! This has gone on long enough!!

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 4

 

The meteors bombard Symbol, thudding into his insectoid form with the impact of hand grenades.

 

Symbol: AAAGGGHH!!! Zed, help me!

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 5

 

Dream Lord (turning to look for Lullaby): Stacy? Are you...

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 6

 

Medium shot of Sweet Dream holding Lullaby in her arms, keeping her helpless with pleasure while Catnap holds a gun at the girl's head.

 

Sweet Dream: She's doing fine, Dr. Adams. Don't you give her another thought. She
likes
us.

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 7

 

Dream Lord hurls himself toward the women, enraged.

 

Dream Lord: Let her go!!

 

Night Terror (off-panel): Adams, I think you should worry about yourself right now.

 

Narrator (vet): They shot down my partner! I saw them standing there, holding his dead body like a mannequin, and I went crazy! I charged them, firing my rifle at everything I could see.

 

Narrator (Farley): This is it! Stoltz is moving in! Adams is about to get a real surprise!

 

 

 

Page 13 panel 8

 

Dream Lord looks up, sees Night Terror hovering above him, with Coma, the black man, by his side.

 

Dream Lord: Wha--?

 

 

 

 

Page 14 (6
panels)

 

Page 14 panel 1

 

Suddenly, the Dream Lord convulses and shrieks madly.

 

Narrator (vet): I screamed as loud as I could, trying to just make it all go away...but it wouldn't.

 

Narrator (Farley): There he goes! We've finally got that son of a bitch! That'll turn him to peanut butter!

 

 

 

Page 14 panel 2

 

The Dream Lord hurtles wildly across the dreamscape, holding his skull, completely out of control.

 

Dream Lord: YAAAAAA!!

 

Night Terror: Do you like that, Adams? It's called a "night terror"--a sudden, unreasoning, overpowering
fear
. It's like a nightmare, only hundreds of times stronger, with no known cause. I
thought
it would amuse you.

 

 

 

Page 14 panel 3

 

Dream Lord (again spinning and careening insanely past the Brigade): AAAAGGGHH!!

 

Night Terror: I named myself after it, because I have the power to create and control it. I can turn it up or down...make you a little frightened...or rabidly insane. The night terror is a potent weapon, don't you think?

 

 

 

Page 14 panel 4

 

Night Terror: But don't worry, Doctor...I won't prolong your agony. We have orders to capture you, not torture you. My friend here will end your misery.

 

Coma moves away from Night Terror, toward the Dream Lord.

 

 

 

Page 14 panel 5

 

Night Terror (off-panel): His name is Coma.

 

Coma ominously approaches Dream Lord, like a shark.

 

 

 

Page 14 panel 6

 

Night Terror (off-panel): Guess why?

 

Coma fires a pencil-thin black beam of energy from one fingertip. The beam strikes the Dream Lord in the head, and he collapses.

 

Dream Lord: Unnnhhh...

 

 

 

 

Page 15 (7
panels)

 

Page 15 panel 1

 

Narrator (vet): They finally hit me, right in the head with a bullet. I felt it...oh God, Mike, I felt it go right through the bone...right into my brain... I felt myself falling to the ground...

 

Narrator (Farley): Now, tell Stoltz to bring him in! Kochar, Riblett--enable the transition pod! Get a security team up here immediately!

 

Closeup of the Dream Lord as he slips into a deep coma

 

 

 

Page 15 panel 2

 

Night Terror (waving at Coma as he carries the Dream Lord over): Coma, get him over here. Snap an aural beacon on him.

 

 

 

Page 15 panel 3

 

Closeup of the Dream Lord's arm as Coma fits a metallic bracelet around his wrist. The bracelet has a number of tiny lights and circuits.

 

Coma: Got it. He's ready for transport.

 

Night Terror: Good. Now get out of the way.

 

 

 

Page 15 panel 4

 

Night Terror: Goodbye, Dr. Adams. You are going on a long trip. I can't say it's been nice knowing you, because it hasn't.

 

Coma moves away from the Dream Lord's body, leaving it hanging in mid-air. Night Terror points a flat, rectangular device at the hero, just like the device Lullaby stole from Symbol. There is a click and a hum as the mechanism is activated.

 

 

 

Page 15 panel 5

 

Night Terror: Have a nice flight. We'll send your luggage along later.

 

Hangover: See ya', you
fairy
!

 

Narrator (vet): Then, I had the strangest feeling, like I was being lifted up, way up. I seemed to be floating, rocking around like I was on a raft. I felt lonely, completely isolated from the world...and I wondered if I was dying.

 

Narrator (Farley): They sent him through! Is he being received?

 

Kochar: Yes, sir. All systems are functional, all life readings are positive. Conversion reservoirs are awaiting deposit.

 

 

 

Page 15 panel 6

 

Wide shot of the Dream Lord drifting through a gray netherworld.

 

Narrator (vet): And I kept thinking...I wondered what it all meant. This stuff never bothered me before. I was miserable in Nam, but I made it out and forgot about it. Maybe
that
was it...maybe I shouldn't have forgotten. Maybe it
should
have bothered me.

 

Narrator (Farley): Status of the transition?

 

Kochar: We've got him, sir! Matter and electrical pulses are filtering through the dimensional envelope! It's collecting in the reservoirs!

 

 

 

Page 15 panel 7

 

Closeup of the Dream Lord's entranced face as he continues to drift.

 

Narrator (vet): Or maybe...maybe I was meant to die there.

 

Narrator (Farley): Here he comes!

 

 

 

 

Page 16 (4
panels)

 

Page 16 panel 1

 

A 3/4-page splash panel, showing the unconscious Dream Lord appearing in a big glass tube in the middle of the command center of the Night Brigade. Technicians are running around the tube waving equipment and scribbling on clipboards; a squad of men dressed in Project Dream Lord uniforms encircles the area, aiming weapons at the Dream Lord; colored lights are flashing and sirens are whooping; and Commander Farley is standing triumphantly in front of his captive, watching him.

 

Farley: Well, I'll be damned. We caught that son of a bitch.

 

Narrator (vet's voice -- in narrative box): Then, I woke up.

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 2

 

Narrator: In a barren, distant stretch of the Dream Zone, someone goes for a scenic drive.

 

Wide shot of a huge, sprawling plain. It rolls like furrowed farmland, but is desolate--only an occasional dead tree scratching from the soil. A Model T is driving through this landscape, along a narrow black road. Along the road, gray cement block walls are visible at intervals. The walls stretch upward into the gloomy, cloud-smothered sky, and their tops are not visible.

 

These are the Fields of Sleep--the areas where people's dreams are physically manifested. Each person has a section of the Fields, walled off on both sides by the impossibly high gray block walls. These fields are now barren and dark, however, because they are inhabited by madmen and evil men. Here, the most gruesome and twisted dreams are played out in three dimensions. It is the heart of the Bogeyman's power.

 

Bogeyman is cruising through these fields in the white Model T, driven by a proper English driver with a white chauffer's uniform, including old-fashioned cap and goggles.

 

Bogeyman: Aha! I made the right decision!

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 3

 

Medium shot of the Bogeyman and his chauffer swooping past in the Model T. Bogeyman's face is buried in a newspaper.

 

Bogeyman: I was about to murder him, to actually
squeeze
the soul out of him like toothpaste and cast it upon the flaming pit--when I had a second thought. Not from mercy, mind you, because I am of course a merciless fellow--but because I realized there was more sport to be had.

 

 

 

Page 16 panel 4

 

Bogeyman: More sport
indeed
! I never guessed I could nurse so much
delight
from a single suffering simpleton! It's a bit like ping pong, Hobbs -- one unguessable bounce after the next and I hold the
paddle
!
What
a fox hunt! I can't recommend it
enough
!

 

 

 

 

Page 17 (10
panels)

 

Page 17 panel 1

 

Bogeyman: Will you look at this in the daily post? They say here that Adams was accosted by ruffians from outside the Dream Zone! "Agents of the U.S. Army's Night Brigade ambushed Dr. Emmett Adams--a.k.a. 'The Dream Lord' -- and beat him to a bloody PULP." Imagine
that
! And I had nothing to do with it!

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 2

 

Bogeyman: What good fortune, wouldn't you say? I lift not a finger, and Adams is again tortured and
crushed
! Some men are simply
prone
to disaster, I suppose...just as those like myself tend toward supremacy. Such a
wise
investment I made in sparing Adams's life--I still can't get over the wonderful returns it's brought me!

 

 

 

Page 17 panel 3

 

Bogeyman (lifting a cup of steaming tea to his lips while he reads): Listen--again from the post: "Dr. Adams, still terribly ill after being shot, beaten, branded, whipped and stabbed through the heart, was no match for those boys from reality! These crazy, lovable American kids laughed at his pitiful attempts at defense, and proceeded to inflict upon him sundry unbearable agonies. Final score, six to nothing against the home team." Ha ha!