Issue #1
July 2009

"New Kid on The Block"

Written By Scott Redmond

Wisconsin was just a memory of good times past it seemed. Small town atmosphere and farm life had been traded in for the massive metropolis setting and dorm life. The long gray bus rolled along the busy streets, eyes of its occupants taking in every inch of the city. A pair of blue eyes, framed by blond hair, stared through the glass in wonder. His name was Greg Wallis. Fresh off the bus from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The tall buildings and the amount of life in the city were nothing compared to back home. “You’re really not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.” He muttered lightly to himself.

The bus pulled out of the depot, it’s passengers deposited. Grabbing the heavy bags the young man began moving down the sidewalks. Jostled left and right he held tightly to his stuff. Apparently no one in New York has heard of excuse me or and apology. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Greg waved down a Taxi. A surprised look flashed on his face as the first five he tried to flag down kept moving right past him. “Taxi!” On the sixth try the yellow vehicle slowed to a stop before him.

Reaching out for the handle of the door, a pressure was felt on his arm. Glancing up he stumbled back as a man in a business suit pushed past into the Taxi. “Watch it kid, I got this one first.”

As the Taxi sped off, Greg was left sputtering on the sidewalk. Sighing he grabbed his stuff tighter and began the long trek towards his destination. Sweat poured down his forehead as he finally caught sight of Empire State University. Almost there Greg. Then you can rest and be secure in your new home. At least the campus can’t be as bad as the streets, right? The question to himself was left unanswered as he finally stepped foot onto the campus.

Twenty confusing minutes later, after a run in with campus security and the misunderstanding surrounding theft of a campus map, the young man stood before a door in the dorms. Someone had scrawled his name neatly across the white board upon the door, with the name Frog scribbled almost incoherently underneath. Apparently Frog was his roommate, if one followed deductive reasoning. One hand grasped the handle giving it a turn, as the other held tight to the bags as his body pushed the door open.

The room was modest sized dorm really. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room; each had a small desk set up behind them. There were a couple empty shelves upon the wall along with cabinets on the ends of the room with two small closets flanking the doorway. The left side of the room was already occupied as evidenced by the sheets upon the bed and the various posters that dotted the wall. Most of them seemed to be of super heroes, with a few being bands that Greg had never heard of before. Well at least my roommate seems to be interesting. With that thought his bags dropped onto the bare bed.

“Well you’re here now Greg. There’s no place like home I guess.” With a sigh, he plopped down on the bed and stared at the far wall. First moment in his new school, and so far everything seemed so vast and cold. Falling back onto the bed his mind drifted back to the open fields of home, and the real world faded away.

“…And if we take and distribute the sum from formula number one, into formula number two we see that the sum of these two formulas is then equal too…”

Every word the man spoke seemed to just lead to more boredom on the student’s part. No one had really clued Greg into just how boring and tedious the world of higher education could be. Sure it meant a degree and a higher paying job if one was lucky, especially in the economic times of late, but that was only if one could survive that long. Odds were a coma would be induced before graduation from the monotone lecture that assaulted their ears.

Eyes slid from the front board to gaze around the room, only stopping at quite a sight. Five rows down and to the right sat the object that had caught his wandering eye. Long raven hair flowed onto her golden brown shoulders and down her back. When she turned, sparkling blue eyes gazed out at the world as she nibbled gently upon the pencil eraser in her mouth. Pink lips settled around the writing instrument easily, almost calling for him to come hither. Almost as if sensing his gaze those blue orbs turned his way, causing a gasp and a blush to form as Grey whirled his attention back to the Professor.

Counting the seconds he turned to gaze back and found her still watching him with a smile upon those lips. Nodding carefully in a friendly way, he turned back to the front of the room and mentally slapped himself. Great job Greg. Way to be subtle. Probably thinks I’m some typical pig now. First day of college is going really great.

All thoughts were interrupted as the door burst open and an older man came rushing in towards the Professor. The two were mumbling quietly to each other, so as to keep whatever the problem was secret from prying ears. Clearing his throat the Professor nodded at the other man and then turned to address the class. “Class is canceled for the day, we ask that you please proceed in an orderly fashion for the exits off campus. The school is going into lockdown from powered attack. I repeat the school is under attack by a powered individual, and we ask that you all proceed for the campus exits in an orderly fashion. All students are to avoid the Science wing if at all possible.”

Bags zipped and papers were shoved in bags as voices rose. Everyone grabbed what they brought as fast as possible and headed for the door. A last glance caught sight of the raven-haired beauty as she moved out the door with a few other young women. Pushing thoughts of her aside, Greg’s eyes landed upon the door to back room lab. Sliding through the door after making sure no prying eyes were watching, his shirt was slid off to reveal the top of a white costume. Emblazoned upon the chest was a blue circle with a yellow design within. Soon the rest of his civilian clothes followed revealing the full white costume. The hood mask was pulled up to fit snugly over his head, the yellow goggles covering his eyes fully. The costume was complete, and Gravity was ready for a New York debut.

“This is what you came to New York for Greg. You can do this.” The miniature pep talk to him really wasn’t all that inspiring, but in a way it helped. “Let’s go kick some bad guy butt.” With those last words, the window was opened and the white clad figure leapt out into the open ready for battle

Over the long years of it’s existence Empire State University had hosted many scientific geniuses and breakthroughs that led to many innovations that had changed the world. At the same time many of those same geniuses or breakthroughs had come under attack from the myriad of super villains that seemed to permeate the city. Once again that was the case as one of the newest labs had come under attack by a super villain. Dr. William Douglas was a world-renowned expert on bees and ways to communicate with the insects. A device had been created in order to fully bridge the gap between humans and bees in the communication department. Receiving a grant from ESU, Dr. Douglas had been ecstatic to bring his research to campus. That was until the moment a madman burst through his door.

You see there was another scientist with a fascination with the winged insects. Nazi Fritz von Meyer was that scientist, or Swarm as he had come to be better known. Fleeing to South America after the fall of Hitler, von Meyer used looted European gold to fund experiments to use insects to create chemical weapons. Stumbling across a killer bee colony that displayed unusual collective intelligence and fearlessness, he hoped to revive their killer instincts with a device and use them as a weapon. Instead the bees stung the Nazi to death and his consciousness was dispersed through the collective. Enveloping his skeletal remains, the bees formed new cells of a new body and created the new being known as Swarm.

“Yes, flee. Flee the mighty sting of Swarm!” Purple cloak billowing around his buzzing body, Swarm moved through the room with a purpose. A purpose to create a colony formed from every bee on the very planet. With Dr. Douglas’ device von Meyer would be queen to the giant super colony. “Where is the device!”

A group of white coat wearing lab assistants huddled in the corner, too afraid to even make a break for it. “What…. what device?”

“Dr. Douglas’ device! You will tell me where he is and give me the device! I will rule this world as Queen!”

“Queen? Dude I thought you were a man. You’re on the wrong side of the country for that, you might want to try San Francisco or something.” The white spandex clad figure that was Greg Wallis landed in the impromptu doorway created by Swarm.

“Who dares to stand in my way?”

“The name’s Gravity, try to remember it when I’m kicking your ass.”

Leaping forward, Greg drew all the gravitational power within and focused it into just his fist. The powered fist slammed right into, and then through, the villain’s chest. A surprised look was clear on the part of his face showing. The gaping hole in the villain’s chest filled just as quickly right around his fist. There was a yelp as his hand pulled back, the stirrings of a bee sting beneath the gloves.

“That hurt. Keep your stingers to yourself next time.”

With a roar Swarm shot forward, fists of bees slamming into his foe. With a grunt Greg fell back and rolled to the side to avoid more of the fury. “You killed my children and now you will suffer my wrath!”

“Queen, and you had kids already too. Man you really got some problems don’t you.”

“Quit your inane prattling!” Bee fists struck the ground near where Gravity’s head would have been if he hadn’t moved it a split second before impact. “I will not be denied!”

First super villain fight of his superhero career and it was not going well at all. Apparently pure force wouldn’t win this one, as it had no real affect on Von Meyer’s physiology. “Sorry bee boy or whatever your name is, today just isn’t your day.”

Leaping forward, the gravitational field around Swarm was intensified greatly as Gravity slammed into him. The forces ripped the bees apart leaving nothing but a skeleton standing. Leaping back, the shock grew upon his face once again. “I…I didn’t mean to kill him…”

Behind the hero the buzzing began to intensify as one by one the bees began to revive. Turning slowly Gravity came to see them all approaching the skeleton and swirling around the decayed bones. Within seconds the form of Swarm was complete again. “I live again!”

“Oh crap.” Before he could react bees slammed into him and drove him back against the far wall. Slumping down, Greg ran a hand up to his head. Rubbing it lightly he groaned. “Well that really didn’t go to plan.”

“Gravity, over here.” One of the scientists waved him over. Dodging another onslaught of bees, he dashed over behind the lab table with them. “This might help.”

The man shoved a small box liked device into his hands. Staring at it in confusion, the hero started to speak. “It is the device the villain seeks. If you use it you may be able to take control and disperse the bees that make up his body.”

“You got it science guy.”

Device in hand, Gravity returned in time to see more bees flying his way. With a flip of a switch the device kicked in and a light humming sound began to emanate from within. The bees froze, almost as if waiting for something.

“You need to issue a command to them before they break free from the control!”

“Umm bees fly away?” As the words left his mouth there was a frenzy of bees flying out of the room through every possible opening. Doors, windows, even the hole in the wall. The screams of von Meyer could be heard as the entire colony was separated, leaving just the husk of the Nazi’s body once again. “Wow it actually worked. I actually beat him. I won, woohoo!”

Gathering his wits back about himself, a more professional stance was taken. “I mean, thank you for your assistance good citizen. Inform the authorities to keep the body in complete airtight confinement. I must be away!” Zipping into the air, he left the stunned and confused lab assistants behind with the device.

“Umm who the hell was that anyways?”

“I don’t know man, but I swear he walked out of some cheesy fifties comic book with those lines.”

Landing upon a roof high above, he had the perfect spot to watch as the cops rushed in to clean up after the super battle. The adrenaline still pumped through his body giving him an almost high after the battle. His very first super battle and he had won. Sure he had been a little hurt in the process, but that was all par for the course when one wanted to be a superhero.

“Spider-Man eat your heart out!” Yelling into the sky he fell back on the roof and smiled to the heavens. “Gravity is here, villains beware!”

Next Issue: The Greenwich Guardian! A New Foe For Gravity! Love at first sight?

Author’s Notes

Originally this was to be the first part of an arc that would have detailed Gravity’s origins and include his very first nemesis and many other things. As I slogged through the issue I decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do with Gravity. With this title I want to recapture a lot of the single issue with overarching plot type of feel of the old days. Sure there will be the occasional defined story arc, but for the most part the issues will be solo issue adventures to keep the fun and butt kicking flowing. Therefore this first issue that introduces our hero but also gives him just a down to earth super villain battle where he comes out on top. The origin of Gravity will be detailed in the upcoming annual, and will be a blast to write I hope. So that’s that, and I hope you enjoy the first issue of a title Marvel would never do.

Scott Redmond
6/7/09