In 1959, Middleton Police Detective John Jones attended a forensics convention in New York, and stumbled upon a
murder mystery.It ended in a number of additional deaths,
a trip to Cuba, and a final conflict between
the last living Martians. You see, John Jones has a secret-- he himself is an alien shapeshifter, who arrived on Earth by chance and, stranded, decided to work toward the greater good.
The Lizard-Men, meanwhile, pursued the usual plot for conquest of the planet. Having infected much of the Western world with a fungus that would cause resistors to spontaneously combust, it was good having a benevolent Martian around, as well as the patches of humanity that avoided infection. Jones, having seen to the death of the leader of the reptiles, now pursued the remnants of the Lizard-Men on his adoptive world.
Jones was amazed by the sheer gall of one such cell, who had taken up residence in his own town. Having already broken up a number of these groups, even armed as they were with flame guns (his greatest vulnerability,) Jones found the matter easily handled. Beyond the Lizard-Men, what concerned Jones were documents in their possession. Putting the pieces together, Jones determined that the increasingly desperate reptiles planned to attack a Heywood Defense Industries plant in Detroit, MI, in the guise of federal agents. Simultaneously, they would assassinate its owner,
Henry Heywood, and take his place while he was away on business in Africa. Should the Lizard-Men assume control of the company, they would have access to some of the most dangerously advanced technology on the planet. Luckily, among the documents was a variety of contact information. Unfortunately, the plot was unfolding at that very moment.
Even in the 1960s, reaching anyone in power within a corporation via telephone was no mean feat. However, Heywood Defense Industries was particularly alert when it came to the threat of foreign invasion, and a quick check of Jones' credentials
cinched their attention. Optimistic his tip would make a difference, Jones now needed to take more direct action.
9 comments:
This was fun! Thanks!
Okay, so first of all, FUN!
I loved those "which way" books as a kid, so props there. Also, this was awesome retro continuity. I'd prefer J'onn to be a part of the current DCU, but even if he wasn't alive, I think a series set in the past along the lines of that Christmas special could be 18 kinds of awesome.
I don't know if I've been hanging out at your blog too much or what, but we clearly think alike, because I totally chose my way to a "happy" ending on the first go round. (being OCD I of course went back and looked at the others.)
I'm all about bringin' the fun.
M.C., did you find your way to the other two adventures (the Atom & Commander Steel,) or was I too subtle? Also, did you decrypt the Venusian message? Finally, I totally always thumbed my last choice page on "Choose Your Own Adventures," to see where else I might want to end up later.
That was fun--I'm so glad you chose American Secrets as the backdrop.
Plus this gave me some ideas for my activity. Maybe I'll try my hand at a challenge like this. I use to loooove Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid, but somehow I always managed to wind up dead when I read those...in fact, the first ending I choose here The Atom died. I didn't get to decode the message until the third time around because I figured with my luck I'd cut my losses and "leave well enough alone."
"I think a series set in the past along the lines of that Christmas special could be 18 kinds of awesome."
mc, add me down for four more counts of awesome to bring that to a nice round 22 counts.
You know Liss, M.C. and I do seem to have formed a simpatico. While it's nice to have some affirmation that my mind is not completely aberrant from the rest of humanity, I much prefer hearing about the readers who went far astray from the path I'd walk. As for the Lizard-Men, they're performing surprisingly well in this month's poll. Readers seem to want more, but between the Vile Menagerie entry and the lengthy American Secrets synopsis, what else was I to do? Make stuff up!
@Lissbirds - Mmmmmm...22...
@Frank - While I saw hide nor hair of commander steel (wait, that's Henry Heywood isn't it? I was thinking of Sarge Steel) I met Ray Palmer, but aside from a science assist didn't really get any action out of it. I'll try again. And yes, I love code! I really enjoyed the Earth S (or whatever number they're giving it now) Shazam stories of recent years with the monster society code. Awesome!
And for the record, the Lizard Men are just COOL.
Yeah, The atom and Commander Steel were both pretty cool as well. I take it this is pre dwarf matter atom?
Yes indeed, that's just plain old Ray Palmer. I wish I'd thought to title all three after alter egos, instead of two super-names and John Jones.
Sorry if any of the three didn't hold their own, but that'll happen when you write three at once. Oy!
Naw, they could all be mistake for better silver age era stories, with ease. It's clear if you had been born 50-odd years earlier you'd be writing as a work for hire slave at National comics.
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