ISSUE
FIVE: NORTON OF NEW YORK: 2040 A. D.
Colored
by Glynis Wein
The series inexplicably departs from its
title year to show us the Big Apple of 2040it is a vast, enclosed mall
complex housing the emotionally disenfranchised human race, many of whom seek
escape in Comicsville, where they can live out there superhero fantasies.
One such person is Harvey Norton, who plays in this virtual world as the
mystical White Zero. As this hero, he lives out a fantasy of pure comic book
hokumfighting alien hoards and rescuing a princess from evil Death Master.
During his fantasy, he also comes into contact with a monolith that gives
him a sense of wholeness, of feeling as though he were a part of something for
the first time in his life. But the
event is short-lived as the fantasy game continues until the moment of rescue
comes and the Princess turns out to be a last minute 200 pound substitute
for the model who was to play the part.
Harvey stops the program, dons his anti
pollution street clothes, goes home to his little apartment to eat a prepackaged
meal and inhale a $15 can of rare pure mountain air.
Even a day at the beach is a disappointment as everything, including the
sunset, is fake.
But the monolith reappears to him,
inspiring Harvey to join the Space Corps where he meets true adventure in the
form of an alien princess encased in a drifting pod.
Just as he and his two crew mates are about to examine the pod and its
passenger, their own craft is attacked by a second alien ship, at which point
Harvey feels he is about to meet his destiny.