Journey Into Misery (comic story)
Journey Into Misery was the first comic in the subseries of the same name of the webcomic The Cosmic Beholder, and indeed, the first story to fall under the Cosmic Beholder umbrella altogether. Written and drawn by Paul Hoppe, it was released both in serialised webcomic form and in a limited print run.
Although Jenny Everywhere was a recurring character in The Cosmic Beholder and the comic was advertised as such from the start, she played no part in this first story, which instead introduced the reluctant superheroes Kelly and Jenkins to serve as its protagonists.
Contents
Plot
Depressed New York City banker Jenkins and his tyrannical, joyless boss Kelly are abducted by a passing UFO that destroys Kelly's company's H.Q. (something that upsets her more than the abduction itself). Waking up shackled aboard the ship, they are introduced to their captor, a jelly-like alien called K'orr'h who presents himself as the King of the Vanilla Puddings from Riegel 6. He promptly eats both of them, only to spit them back out when he proves unable to chew them, being made entirely of soft jelly.
Though initially meaning to simply return them to Earth with their memories wiped, K'orr'h is angered at Kelly's attitude, and transfers the two humans to thelaboratory of Professor Xwumb'h, intending for them to be used as guinea pigs in painful experiments. The erratic Riegel 6 mad scientist does indeed fulfill that brief, but the chaotic experiments he subjects them to give both Jenkins and Kelly superpowers: Kelly can fly and generate an aura of flames, and she has gained superstrength and physical invincibility, while Jenkins can now turn invisible at will, as well as possessing some weak damage-proofness of his own.
The two newly-minted superbeings promptly break out of the UFO, with Kelly flying Jenkins back to Earth after a brief and pointless attempt to kill him herself. Back in Manhattan, the pair discover that mankind has already moved on from the shock of a UFO descending on New York, and have resumed their normal activities. They realise, to their horror, that they are still handcuffed to each other, the chains being too strong even for Kelly's superstrength to break.
Worldbuilding
Universes
- This story takes place all in one universe, later named as Reality Z-25 31-H.
Other
- When he makes remarks she considers obvious, Kelly sarcastically calls Jenkins “Sherlock” and “Brainiac”.
Continuity
- COMIC: Life… in the Heart of the City and COMIC: Singularity War hinge on the revelation that in the official pattern of history, Kelly and Jenkins were supposed to die during their trip to space, and their survival is a temporal anomaly.
- COMIC: Blast From The Past was a short prequel comic to this story, revealing how Kelly became head of her investment-broking company.
Behind the scenes
Read online
Journey Into Misery is available online on the Cosmic Beholder blog.
