Synwulfe: Another Day In Hell by S.C. Ringgenberg Copyright© 2001 George Pratt PROLOGUE: When Earth died, there was no single cataclysm that triggered global ecological apocalypse. The apocalypse arrived slowly, brought on by the cumulative effects of centuries of unrestrained dumping of industrial wastes, numerous nuclear accidents, and the deadly aftermath of a series of brushfire wars that ravaged the underbelly of Eastern Europe, the Pacific Rim, and the Horn of Africa. The widely feared Islamic Bomb was never used against the infidels, but threats of its use caused parts of the Middle East to be so heavily bombarded with nuclear weapons that they remain permanently uninhabitable, buried under a thick layer of radioactive glass. It was these wars, combined with the pollution of the land, air, and seas, which brought about the apocalypse. The chemical and radioactive pollution of Earth eventually caused much of mankind to become sterile, or to bear offspring that were twisted freaks--mutants. The human race was dying, but there had to be some way to save it. In desperation, the separate national governments were organized under a single, all-powerful world government with expansive emergency powers. The new world government immediately declared a state of environmental emergency and began implementing plans for mankind to flee its deadly home. In the interim, mankind needed protection from contact with its tainted cradle. So the combined resources of planet Earth were devoted to creating enormous floating cities, which were tethered high above the uninhabitable metropolitan areas. Nuevo York, Cyber Frisco, New Petrograd and Proto-Tokyo became mankind's temporary refuge. But while these gigantic cities were an engineering triumph, from the first they were overcrowded. There were simply too many survivors of the apocalypse for Earth's shrinking resources to support. Copyright© 2001 George Pratt And so began the great winnowing-out process. The global government declared that anyone with even a drop of mutant blood was a mutant. Under the draconian emergency laws that were enacted, all mutants became non-persons, subject to immediate euthanasia. And while millions of mutants were exterminated, many thousands fled into the barren, storm-scoured landscape, where, constantly harassed by security patrols, they managed to survive and multiply, despite unbreathable air, poison water, and dead soil in which nothing would grow. Eventually, after a century of effort, the first of the giant satellite colonies, the largest ever constructed, was completed. And then another was finished, then another. Ultimately, thirteen satellite colonies were constructed. As each one was completed, mankind moved in en masse, there to begin a cramped, uncomfortable existence. Initially, humanity's grief at losing its home was great, but after a century or so of dwelling in the satcons, people wondered how they ever could have lived any other way. Copyright© 2001 Ryan Huna Smith Earth remained polluted and abandoned for five hundred years, and there seemed no way to save it. Ecologists sent by the Terra Commission continuously monitored the barren planet. The Commission was supposed to eventually reclaim it for human habitation. However, because of the importance of its mission, the Terra Commission gradually appropriated powers far beyond the original scope of its charter. The one hundred individuals who comprised the Terra Commission assumed the mantle of the elite, the most powerful beings in the solar system. Yet, even in the teeth of the Terra Commission's iron-fisted control of the solar government, an Underground sprang up in secret, committed to overthrowing the Commission and restoring democracy. However it was pitifully small, only a few thousand among the more than ten billion souls living in the satcons and scattered throughout the solar system. Yet despite their lack of numbers, the Underground had powerful allies within the Pirate HoloNet, the system's largest illegal broadcasting network. But, their political aims notwithstanding, the Holo Pirates were also capitalists, committed to making a profit even though it sometimes brought them into conflict with the more radical members of the Underground. With the virtually unlimited power at its disposal, the Terra Commission created the Bounty Hunter Corps as its solution to the problem of mutant overpopulation. The Corps was a ragtag army of criminals, social undesirables, mutants and political activists who were given a choice between immediate euthanization or competing in melees, televised arena combats that had become the most popular entertainment of the great mass of Satcon dwellers known as the Middle Reachers. The sole survivor of each melee became a bounty hunter trainee. Each trainee was subjected to two weeks of high tech training in the floating city of Cyber Frisco, and then sent Earthside to wage a savage war of extinction on the mutants. The Bounty Hunter Corps bore a curious fascination for the rest of humanity, and eventually found its way into the legends of both humans and mutants. The most famous hunter of them all was one of the last, a cold-eyed half-mutant killer called Synwulfe. His saga began when he was captured by a Nuevo York Tacteam and sent to fight for his very survival in a televised mass combat called a melee. Unbreathable air, radioactive soil, poisoned water, no food, and savage mutants and back shooting bounty hunters trying to kill you any way they can. For you and me, it would be Hell on Earth. For Synwulfe, Bounty Hunter, it's just another day on the job. Welcome to Earth, 2417, Post Apocalypse. It's the eve of transformation for the Shattered Earth. This article and the comic strip accompanying it is the first in a series highlighting Synwulfe, Bounty Hunter. Synwulfe will be the agent for great change, a total transformation of the status quo. At the outset of his adventures, however, he will be entirely ignorant that he is the instrument of fate. Earth's story will be his story as he goes beyond being a soulless killing machine to discover his own humanity. Copyright© 2001 George Pratt Now, some background on the story "Collect the Tin Soldiers." The story originally appeared in the May, 1984 issue of Heavy Metal, and has never been reprinted. The art is by the superbly talented George Pratt, and is one of the first long stories George drew for publication. Dan Schaefer, my talented and versatile inker on Synwulfe, Episode One, is a comics industry veteran with many, many credits. Dan's contribution was essential to making the art for the first two issues look so sharp! George and me had originally intended to sell this story to Marvel's Epic. Then-editor Archie Goodwin had seen some of the pages in progress and invited George to submit it when it was finished. However, to our joint dismay, upon seeing the completed story, Archie pronounced the art "too dark," and passed on buying it. It was Archie's feeling that a dark, gritty, dystopian science fiction story was not what comics readers wanted. As it turned out, Archie, perceptive and talented editor that he was, was wrong. My feeling has always been that Synwulfe was ahead of its time, so it's a distinct pleasure to reprint his first published adventure, with the promise of more comics and art for the Apocalypse Fiction site in the coming months. Copyright© 2001 John Pierard Copyright© 2001Simon Bisley However, don't feel too badly for George and me. The very same day Archie Goodwin passed on Synwulfe, we went across town, and John Workman bought it for Heavy Metal (Thanks, John!). I always liked Synwulfe, and although George never drew another story for me, he liked the character enough to do a fair amount of conceptual art with the thought of doing more stories or perhaps a miniseries down the road. George and me went our separate ways to pursue other projects, and I was left with the daunting task of finding another artist as good as George Pratt. In the years that followed, talented guys like John Pierard, Tom Fetter, and Simon Bisley have contributed their versions of Synwulfe. You'll get a chance to see their work in the coming series. At this writing, Simon and me are planning to do another Synwulfe story, the first in many years. Stay tuned... Next Issue: A color Synwulfe strip and more Synwulfe art. HOME CONTENTS