Monday, June 22, 2009
The Last Tale of Wonder Lad
Walter Spender was too young to enlist in the war, his only glimpses from the newsreels they showed at the orphanage. Too young for the war, too old to adopt, Walter lived in limbo. Until the day HE came. Captain Patriot plucked him from the orphanage, trained him, and became his best pal. Walter wasn't the first, but he knew how to fight, and he knew what's right. He was the new Wonder Lad!
For the first few years, it was the time of his life. Walter and the Captain fought the good fight, and defended the country from all comers. Criminals and traitors, deviants and spies, they showed them all what for. But once the 1950s started, Wonder Lad noticed a change. Captain Patriot began to focus on the commies, ignoring serious bad guys for a shot at them pinkos. Except sometimes it was just people reading books in some rich guy's house. No drugs, no guns, just people drinking hi-balls and talking. The Captain would put them all in the hospital, sometimes even worse.
Walter quit being Wonder Lad soon after that. He just didn't see what good it was for. A few years after, he read that the Captain got himself shot in the face by a pimp over a disagreement about a fee. A tough end for a tough guy.
It was still the time of his life.
larger one here.
