I found the lollipop at the bottom of the a bag of Halloween candy. The translucent spun sugar orb swirled like a rainbow gas giant. It was too beautiful to eat. I knew it would just taste like fruit punch and the magic would be dispelled. I kept the lollipop. When I went away to culinary school, it stayed hidden in a desk drawer. After I graduated, I had it framed. When I opened my own bakery, my husband bought a bag of them for the opening. That lollipop didn’t taste as magical as it looked, but it was sweet.
I stood in the airlock, waiting for the lights to cycle to green. When the great doors opened, I let the pressure push me out into the vacuum. My baby was waiting for me. The fighter didn’t look so bad, she just needed a little love to get back in the fight. I pulled a velcro-covered wrench from my belt and got to work. When I was done, I slapped the hull and pushed away. The pilot lit the engines and headed back into the storm of laser fire. I hoped he wouldn’t do anything else stupid to my baby.
The Locktender’s Daughter lived in a little house alongside the canal with her father and assisted him with his work. She was young and beautiful, and was the object of hopeful affection of many of the wild canallers as they waited for the the lock to fill or empty. The boatmen were large and unsavory, and many in the town took the man to task for not being more protective of the girl. But she could handle herself. When her wit or charm failed, she could rely on the great boathook she used to open and close the canal gates.
For centuries, the other Elemental Schools mocked the Water Mages, saying they were only useful for running their baths and keeping their drinks cool. The Hydromancers bore these insults with a placid demeanor. They wielded a power too subtle and dangerous to be displayed openly. One day, their greatest prodigy lost her temper and set a single drop of water in an offending Earth Mage’s lungs. She demanded an apology while he gasped for air. The student was nearly expelled, but her elders had to admit the other three schools treated them with a good deal more respect after that.
When the pirate ship appeared, the crew prepared to repel boarders. The captain rubbed hands together solicitously and begged my assistance as a traveling mage. He couldn’t afford me, but I made an exception. As the ship drew alongside, a cry went up among the superstitious defenders. The derelict vessel was crawling with skeletal horrors! While the crew panicked, I looked for the necromancer. He was standing on the rotted forecastle, directing his puppets. I called forth a great wave and swamped the ship, knocking the pirates into the water. Undead pirates are terrible to behold, but skeletons can’t swim.
The old lot had stood empty for years. It used to be a surviving patch of woods between the subdivisions, but the land was eventually cleared and leveled. But nothing was ever built on it. Some of the developers had financial or legal troubles, other purchasers just felt so uncomfortable on the land that they sold it off after an on-site inspection. The lot dreamed of haunted houses with shutters that creaked in the wind and porches that sagged like a disapproving frown. It could manage a mournful wail if the wind was just right. For now, the lot waited.
When the famous spy and cryptographer passed away, they found a book of handwritten notes in his kitchen. It was his last gift to the world. Codebreakers spent years poring over the notes online and arguing with each other about cyphers in forums, but couldn’t make heads or tails of the hidden meaning that was surely left in the text somewhere. When the world’s greatest cryptographers couldn’t solve the puzzle, they declared it a hoax. In truth, there was no hidden code in the notebook. The old man had merely wanted to share his award-winning scone recipes with the world.
When we bought the beach house, I regretted it right away. Every year, a little more of the beach eroded away. The debts and taxes just too much for us. I tried to sell it, but the market had dried up. When the house fell into the sea, it was almost a relief. “At least we won’t have to pay property taxes anymore,” I said. There was a knock at the door. A strange little man with overly large eyes stood hunched on the porch. He handed me a damp business card. “I’m the property assessor from Atlantis,” he explained.
The old mystic lived in the swamp for so long that he became a legend to the villages surrounding villages, which avoided the deep swamp for fear of witches and monsters. They were no match for him. He had been a hero once, forced into hiding by the Dark Lord’s ascension. The spirits gave him a prophecy: He would train the hero would save the world, but only if he stayed hidden. The mystic felt the horrors inflicted by the Dark Lord’s armies, but told himself that it was necessary to wait. When the boy arrived, he was a disappointment.
Today is the first Saturday in May, which mean’s it’s Free Comic Book Day! Sponsored by beleaguered Comics publishing monopoly-holder Diamond Distribution, the event offers a variety of free comics to the public to bring them into local shops. Due to no longer being distributed by Diamond, it appears that DC Comics will not be taking part in the event, but there will still be plenty of books for sale, along with other events at your local shops. Here are some of the ones I’m most interested in this year:
Fantastic Four / X-Men – Marvel Comics I was never a big fan of the Fantastic Four. While I liked them alright, the pioneering family of superheroes always felt a little too stuck in the ’60s to me. But writer Ryan North and artist Humberto Ramos have been killing it in their monthly title, one of the few that I’m actually keeping up with these days. So I’m looking forward to their FCBD offering this year, especially paired with a new X-Men story from the writers of NYX, my favorite of the post-Krakoa X-Men titles. It may be marketing for upcoming MCU movies, but it’s top-shelf Big 2 comics, so I’m here for it.
Tower Dungeon & Issak – Kodansha These pair of samples from Kodansha both look really interesting. In Tower Dungeon, Sci-FI Manga creator Tsutomu Nihei turns his hand to a dungeon crawler-inspired Fantasy setting, and it looks like it will have his signature dark twist to the typical ‘Farm boy seeks his fortune’ narrative. Issak is an unusual Historical story from writer Shinji Makari and artist Double-S about a Samurai that finds himself in Europe during the Thirty Years War.
IDW Dark: Find Your New Fear – IDW IDW is launching a new horror imprint, and this FCBD sampler includes four previews of upcoming M-rated horror titles.
The event will also feature a ton of family-friendly content and tie ins for Archie, Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Star Wars, and more! The event helps bring the public to locally owned businesses, but the books aren’t free, so if you visit your local shop, be sure to support them with a purchase, too. Many stores will have special events with prizes, guest artists and writers, and more! You can find participating stores in your area, along with the list of this year’s books, at https://www.freecomicbookday.com/
Hugh J. O'Donnell 