Ray Bradbury Comics issue 3 (1993)
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The third issue of Ray Bradbury Comics is the third issue of The Topps Company's comic series adapting the works of notable science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. Despite being the third issue, it is the second "dinosaur special." It adapts Bradbury's short stories "The Fog Horn", and "Besides a Dinosaur, Whatta ya Wanna Be When You Grow Up?" It was published in June of 1993.
Description
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Ray Bradbury, the galaxy's master storyteller, presents an all new collection of his fantasy, science fiction, and horror tales, each one adapted by one of today's top graphic story illustrators. This issue features more stories of the gigantic juggernauts of the Jurassic, the thundering nightmare creatures we call Dinosaurs!
"The Fog Horn" An ancient sea monster rises from the depths in response to an ages-old call. But instead of another of its kind it finds a work of man ... and destroys it. "Besides a Dinosaur, Whatta ya Wanna Be When You Grow Up?" A young man's fantasy life threatens to overshadow his reality when he sets his sights on becoming the ultimate dinosaur. |
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Plot
"The Fog Horn"
One night in November McDunn and Johnny, just like every night, light the fog light at the top of the lighthouse they maintain. McDunn remembers an instance many years ago when a large amount of fish came to the bay's surface for a moment before disappearing back into the sea. McDunn imagines that to a fish, the lighthouse must look and sound like some kind of god. He likens the sound of the fog horn to the cry of a lonely animal before revealing that once a year something pays his lighthouse a visit. Assuming his calendar is marked correctly, he tells Johnny that it should come tonight. Soon he spots bubbles on the water as a serpentine head breaks the surface. It's long neck rises higher and higher from the depths until it is forty feet in the air with its body still concealed. Johnny is aghast, and estimates its size as between 90 and 100 feet, and claims that such a sight is impossible. McDunn reminds the boy that the creature is existing just as it always has, and that humanity sprung up around it, so if anything it is they themselves who are impossible. The monster then roars at the lighthouse, and the fog horn sounds in return. The creature cries out again. As this exchange continues, McDunn imagines what it must be like to be the sea creature. He supposes that it is millions of years old and the last of its kind. That it swims the depths surviving on whole schools of fish until it hears the faintly familiar sound of the lighthouse's fog horn. Though desperate to find something else like itself, it begins its slow ascent from the bottom of the sea towards that sound. For months it slowly surfaces and for one night it roars at the lighthouse.
On a whim, McDunn switches off the fog horn to see what would happen. The creature stands in stunned silence for a moment before becoming visibly enraged. Johnny shouts for McDunn to turn the horn back on, but the creature has already begun to attack. With its webbed hands it smashes the beacon, raining glass on Johnny and McDunn. The lighthouse keeper shouts for them to get downstairs as the fog horn begins to sound once more, and the men shelter in the building's cellar. The beast strikes the tower and it tumbles to the ground. The confused beast begins to cry out again, but the light and the horn are no more. For the rest of the night it calls out to its only companion, which lies dead on the ground. It was afternoon the following day when a rescue crew dug Johnny and McDunn out of the wreckage. The creature was gone. He tells the men that the tower had been hit by some bad waves and just fallen apart. Soon a new lighthouse was built on the spot, and McDunn was kept as its keeper. One night Johnny drove to see it, listening to the new fog horn as it sounded. The monster never returned, leaving the lighthouse alone, calling out to a companion that would never reciprocate. The sight only left Johnny at a loss for words.
Appearances
MonstersCharacters
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Gallery
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The title card for "The Fog Horn" -
The monster traveling the seas -
The monster peeking above the water's surface -
The monster circles the lighthouse -
The monster attacks the lighthouse
Trivia
- Although the text from Bradbury's story is present on the page and describes the creature as having webbed fingers, Barlowe's illustrations clearly depict it with flippers.
References
This is a list of references for Ray Bradbury Comics issue 3. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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