1 |
 |
Layouts: Barry Blair, pencils: Pat McEown, colours: Barry Blair and
Guang Yap.
On Monkey Island the forces of Cuda take over the sacred grottos while warrior
boys watch from hiding. On the other side of the island Hotachi, Kohl Drake and company
gather for an attack. That night the Monkey Island boys swim into the grotto through
an underwater passage. Once inside they are taken by surprise by the nightmarish
creatures of Cuda. Some of them are sacrificed and others are tortured to reveal
the location of the rest of the tribe. The villain Marduk from Samurai has
sent a detachment of clones led by Quan. In this story Quan becomes sickened at the
sacrifices and helps several of the island boys to escape. About this time Kohl Drake's
group burst in, guns blazing. The demon awakes and reveals the location of the uni-stone,
and takes a lady reporter who was with Kohl's group.
Artwork: Although Barry was only credited with "layouts" he has obviously
done very complete pencils of all the Monkey Island warrior boys, as well as Marduk's
clones and Quan. Barry's style is predominant on at least 18 pages. Therefore this
issue is predominantly by Barry Blair, the only one of the series with a preponderance
of Blair art. Inks follow Barry's style very closely. A great issue!
In a speedboat Holly, Kohl, Maire, Mark, and a worried Carol move
toward the island. Carol wonders where Hotachi is. Drake thinks Hotachi is someone
who sticks to his word. Hotachi shows up in a battle suit. Mark brags about leading
the gang and his basic training, then falls into the water. Maire tells him which
way the beach is. The leader in red and his tribe watch the submarine and Cuda men
take over the grotto further up the coast at the sacred place. The best of the warriors
are there. The rest of the tribe is in the jungle, safe. The leader wears the Monkey
Ring. Night, the tribe's best swim under a grotto of green. Coming out, two are freezing.
The witch with four red eyes attacks from the cave and green tentacles surround the
monkey boys! Factor Alpha tells the witch they now have the sacrifices for the unistone
guardian demon to be called. Holly and Hotachi take out the guards at the entrance
to the stronghold. Marduk has sent a unit of clone warriors to bring in the tribe
of wild boys for the demon to eat. Agent Quan reports for duty to Factor Alpha. The
witch has dulled the minds of four of the tribe and they are dressed in purple Cuda
tunics only. Quan his clones will question the others, two who are tied up almost
back to back on a rock between them. Maire's pervert professor has her pin as the
sacrifices are brought forward and one is tossed off a cliff into a yellowish pit
where roars are coming from. The witch and Quan have two clones (who are dressed
in aqua marine blue tights and head masks) bring one of the half naked tribe boys
to a serum spell and dunk his head in. When he comes out, he has spots all over him
and he tells them where the rest of the tribe isóónorth end of the island by the
point where the mushrooms are. The boy tied to the rock sobs, "Noooo."
The witch tells Quan and the clones to toss the other one into the cauldron and she
will have him for dinner! One clone says, "This is fun, Quan. Come on, get into
it!!" Quan punches one out but the other pulls a gun on him. The tied monkey
boy, now off the rock kicks the clone. Quan punches the clone and the monkey boy
knees him. The monkey boy looks at Quan and Quan back at him. Another tribe boy is
tossed off. The monkey ring boyóthe leader in red is brought to have the Prof cut
his finger off so they can get the ring off. Drake fires a gun and kills the Prof,
shooting him in the head. The Monkey Leader smiles. The boy with red spots on his
now red skin is dressed in a clone outfit as is his pal. Quan tells them to put up
their hoods. They leave the two blond clones in the cauldron, naked and red skinned
themselves. The FBI guy tries to take Maire's recovered pin but the monkey boy hits
him and snaps his neck. Maire shoots, telling the kid to keep down. Another business
suitedvillain is about, too. From the pit a large yellowish demon face with skull
and fangs comes out, carrying one of the sacrifice boys by the tunic and exposing
the rest of his naked body. The demon is more yellow mist. The unistone, it claims,
is at the bottom of his domain. Hotachi distracts the demon giant by firing at it.
Maire combines her power with the rings of the monkey boy and Drake. The demon yells
in pain and blasts out, taking Carol with it in a yellow energy arm. Quan meets up
with Hotachi. The bad guys want to organize a unit to get to the unistone. Drake
says, "For Carol or the unióstone, someone's gotta go into that hole."
The leader meets up with one of the sacrifice boys and puts his arm on him. The boy
puts his arm on the leader. |