The Reptile and Mister Amazing: The Origin PART ONE

The Reptile &

Mister Amazing THE ORIGIN Part 1 A metahuman And a talking Lizard walk into A bar…

The Reptile and Mister Amazing The Origin Part 1 Was originally presented In book format in October 2002 remastered free online edition Published August 2012 All characters and stories are the interlectual property Of Dan Nokes 2002-2012

The Reptile And Mister Amazing A somewhat brief history Part I… 1992-96 I was a bit of a strange loner that kept to himself in high school. Not in a unibomber kind of way, (Although I’m sure more than one of my classmates had that feeling). I had a few friends. But I spent most of my free time drawing and creating stories and characters.

Some of those characters would become what would form the first 8 pages of The Reptile and Mister Amazing you are about to read.

I was inspired by Art Adams characters MONKEYMAN AND OBRIEN, not necessarily the book, but the whole big creature smaller guy motif. So out of that I went the opposite direction of a big humanoid gorilla and did a (wait for it) a big humanoid dinosaur. As for Mister Amazing, he was definitely patterned on the Captain America/Superman motif of the big boy scout, and how he would react if that world no longer wanted him or really needed him to save the day.

So as of 1996 I really only had a few crude drawings and sketches of the duo laying around the house. I at this point began writing three 8 page stories of 3 different sets of characters. One of those was The Reptile and Mister Amazing. I think at this point I wanted to do an anthology with these three stories resembling a DARKER IMAGE, BRAVE AND THE BOLD. Or TALES OF SUSPENSE. I had for about 8 years prior had a somewhat cohesive idea of what the Sandshark Universe was going to look like. I wanted Reptile and Mister Amazing to sort of be an primer and intro into at least the super hero aspect of that universe.

Well after those 8 pages were done along with 8 pages of two other stories: THE SOULBROKER and XENIX THE TECHNOGOTH were done, I for the most part shelved the project, due to just being 19, not having a clue what to do with them, or how to make them into a comic book. This was the days before the internet was everywhere and everyplace, and quite frankly print was still king, and therefore if you didn’t have access to a big name printer, or in my case no access to even a Xerox. You just had a bunch of loose comic pages lying around…

Next issue: Part II: 1998 DUSTING OFF OLD IDEAS

SYDNEY'S BAR AND GRILL, APRIL 17th 1992, 8:12 P.M...

THIS IS SYDNEY’S BAR OFF M STREET AND 32nd

THE GUY NURSING THE BEER IS ME, ROGER TYLER….

I'VE BEEN WORKING IN DC FOR THE PAST FOURTEEN YEARS NOW...

21ST CENTURY SANDSHARK STUDIOS PRESENTS

THE REPTILE & MISTER AMAZING THE ORIGIN

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THAT IS UNTIL THREE HOURS AGO...

IDEAS WORDS &PICTURES BY….

DAN NOKES

WHAT’S WRONG ROGE?

THAT’S SYDNEY CARDWELL, RETIRED VIETNAM VET AND OWNER OF THE ESTABLISHMENT BEEN FRIENDS FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS NOW.

THEY FIRED ME, SYD.

SYD, I’LL BE TURNING SEVENTY-FIVE NEXT WEEK, THE RETIREMENT HOMES AND CRUISE LINERS ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE LINING UP TO HAVE ME!

FIFTY-FIVE YEARS THEN GOOD-BYE!

SINCE 1940, I’VE BEEN “MISTER AMAZING” AMERICA’S HERO, I'VE SPENT FOUR FIFTHS OF MY LIFE BEING NOTHING ELSE. I’M TIRED. AND YOU KNOW THE FUNNIEST THING IS, BESIDES THEY GREY HAIR, I DON'T LOOK A DAY OVER 28!

DON'T WORRY ROGE, YOUR A HERO RIGHT? YOU FOUGHT IN WW II, SAVED THE WORLD, THEY’LL BE LINING UP TO HAVE YOU!

BUT I FEEL A THOUSAND..

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I UNDERSTAND. YOU'RE MISTER AMAZING. AND LETS JUST SAY I LIKE THE COMPANY OF OLDER MEN, BUT I’M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF. HI, IM KIRSTEN GATES!

ARE YOU EXPECTING ANYONE?

THEN YOU WOULDN'T MIND IF I JOINED YOU?

MISS, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, ER…I-

NO?

OLDER YES, BUT I’M OLD ENOUGH TO BE YOUR GRANDFATHER!

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BESIDES, I’VE BEEN HAVING A BAD DAY, IF YOU ALREADY HAVEN'T HEARD ON CHANNEL 13. ONLY DAMN STATION THAT REPORT’S IT AND IT’S IN BALTIMORE FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!

SO LET’S AT LEAST TOAST TO A HALF WAY DECENT EVENINGthen.

AMEN TO THAT!

TWENTY MINUTES LATER...

SO IS IT ALL TRUE ABOUT ABOUT YOU BEING ABLE TO FLY, LIFT TWENTY TONS AND READ PEOPLE’S MINDS! SO YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL

BY MY BASIC EMOTIONAL STATE THAT I’D LIKE TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION AT SAY..

MY PLACE?

ALL EXEPT THE LAST PART, YES. I CAN ONLY READ BASIC EMOTIONAL STATES. WAS PART AND PARCEL IN A MILITARY EXPERIMENT.

SYD, CHECK PLEASE?

USUALLY, I DON'T DO THESE KIND OF THINGS. MY CELEBRITY STATUS, AND THE FACT THAT SHE TOLD ME EARLIER HER JACKASS EX BROKE INTO HER APARTMENT AND STOLE MOST OF HER STUFF. MAKE’S ME FEEL A BIT LIKE I’M TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HER.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME SHE IS GENUINELY ATTRACTED TO ME, AND BESIDES. I REALLY DON'T FEEL LIKE GOING HOME TONIGHT. TOO MANY BAD MEMORIES...

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SO ARE YOU!

KIRSTEN, I DO BELIEVE YOU ARE DRUNK?

MR AMAZING, HUH LET’S SEE HOW AMAZING YOU REALLY ARE!

POINT WELL TAKEN

YOU KNOW IT’S A SHAME HOW THE ONE HIGHLIGHT OF AN OTHERWISE INFURIATED DAY GETS INTERRUPTED….

AT EXACTLY THE WRONG TIME!

JESUS!

WHAT THE *%&@!?+!!

HELP ME…..

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MY GOD ROGER, WHAT IS THAT THING?,!

SHOULD WE CALL THE POLICE?!

WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!?

I’VE GOTTA GET HIM OUT OF HERE!

BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE CAME FROM. HE CAN BE SOME SORT OF MAD INTERDIMENSIONAL CONQUERER, OR HAVE SPACE RABIES OR SOMTHIN’! ARE YOU CRAZY!

I’M NOT CRAZY. I GUESS ITS JUST OLD HABITS DIE HARD. I ALSO KNOW THAT IF THE AUTHORITIES GET THEIR HANDS ON HIM THEY’LL CUT HIM UP LIKE SUSHI.

SIDES’ I’M NOT GETTING ANY BAD MOJO FROM HIM WHAT HARM COULD HE BE!

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ROGER!!

DAMN!..

TYPICAL, JUST TYPICAL...

OH, WELL…

AT LEAST ONE THING’S CERTAIN...

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THINGS CAN’T GET ANY STRANGER….

END PART I

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To Be Continued…