Difference between revisions of "Ghost Owl"
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− | [[File:Ghost_Owl_SA.jpg||noborder|center|middle]] | + | [[File:Ghost_Owl_SA.jpg||noborder|center|middle|Silver Age Ghost Owl]] |
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<center>''Rare newspaper photograph of Ghost Owl c. 1965.''</center> | <center>''Rare newspaper photograph of Ghost Owl c. 1965.''</center> | ||
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In the mid-eighties, Ghost Owl was seen fighting alongside a teen sidekick, Kid Strigid. He'd rescued him from a terrorist bombing that'd claimed the lives of his parents, left him bitter and destitute. Having no family of his own, Owl took him under his wing; textbook apprenticeship. And the Kid was ''gifted'', no doubt about that - smart, brave, loyal, tough - he had it all. Owl couldn't have asked for a better sidekick. A better heir. If only he'd known the truth; being betrayed, stabbed in the back and left for dead might not have come as such a big surprise. | In the mid-eighties, Ghost Owl was seen fighting alongside a teen sidekick, Kid Strigid. He'd rescued him from a terrorist bombing that'd claimed the lives of his parents, left him bitter and destitute. Having no family of his own, Owl took him under his wing; textbook apprenticeship. And the Kid was ''gifted'', no doubt about that - smart, brave, loyal, tough - he had it all. Owl couldn't have asked for a better sidekick. A better heir. If only he'd known the truth; being betrayed, stabbed in the back and left for dead might not have come as such a big surprise. | ||
− | Besides noisily springing out of clocks, the cuckoo bird is known for laying its eggs in other nests, duping the mother into raising the resulting hatchlings as her own. Could be that Checkmate, underworld strategist-for-hire and long time adversary of Ghost Owl, drew a measure of inspiration from that. Kid Strigid ''was'' an orphan, but he didn't have any bombs or terrorists to thank for that. No, he was just some street urchin, some random nobody that wouldn't be missed when Checkmate picked him up and subjected him to months of gruelling mental conditioning. Drugs, hypnotherapy, memory implantation, the works; he even brought in a telepath. Leaving him amid the aftermath of a seemingly random terrorist attack was | + | Besides noisily springing out of clocks, the cuckoo bird is known for laying its eggs in other nests, duping the mother into raising the resulting hatchlings as her own. Could be that Checkmate, underworld strategist-for-hire and long time adversary of Ghost Owl, drew a measure of inspiration from that. Kid Strigid ''was'' an orphan, but he didn't have any bombs or terrorists to thank for that. No, he was just some street urchin, some random nobody that wouldn't be missed when Checkmate picked him up and subjected him to months of gruelling mental conditioning. Drugs, hypnotherapy, memory implantation, the works; he even brought in a telepath. Leaving him amid the aftermath of a seemingly random terrorist attack for Ghost Owl to find was just another part of the plan. |
STUFF | STUFF | ||
− | He was getting old, worn down, ''slow''. His health was failing thanks to rigors of age coupled with a legacy of broken bones and battered organs. But that didn't matter; there was work - so much work - left unfinished and he was simply too damned stubborn to hang up the cape and belt and retire, not without making Hudson City a place ''worth'' retiring in. And after his experiences with Kid Strigid, relinquishing the burden to a younger, brighter star was simply out of the question. So he grit his teeth against the protests and pleas of his aching joints and pressed on - right up until his ignominious end on that fateful Christmas Eve, gunned down in an empty street by a scared and confused teenager. | + | He was getting old, worn down, ''slow''. His health was failing thanks to rigors of age coupled with a legacy of broken bones and battered organs. But that didn't matter; there was work - so much work - left unfinished and he was simply too damned stubborn to hang up the cape and belt and retire, not without making Hudson City a place ''worth'' retiring in. And after his experiences with Kid Strigid, relinquishing the burden to a younger, brighter star was simply out of the question. So he grit his teeth against the protests and pleas of his aching joints and pressed on - right up until his ignominious end on that fateful Christmas Eve, gunned down in an empty street by a scared and confused teenager. Not even in costume. |
+ | |||
+ | STUFF | ||
+ | |||
+ | everything here is a wip | ||
+ | |||
+ | hoot hoot |
Revision as of 22:07, 10 September 2013
But he wasn't alone. A kid in a hoodie, couldn't have been any older than sixteen, was huddled up against a nearby wall, shivering, not from the cold - he didn't even feel the cold, not now - but from the shock and horror of what he'd just seen. From the anger of allowing it to happen. It was a Christmas he'd never forget. Chances are, you know how it goes: a good man dies, a bad man lives, a newborn vigilante, angry, screaming, is baptised in blood. Old tale, played out a thousand times over. But it has punch. It resonates. And you have to make allowances for the classics.
Nevertheless, this time around it seems somebody got bored with the same old script, demanded a last-minute twist thrown in. So a sharp-eyed observer - not that there any other witnesses that night, sharp-eyed or otherwise - would have noticed the kid was clutching something, staring down at it with the sort of wide eyed disbelief typically reserved for first-time alien encounters. It was a .45 revolver, and it had five bullets chambered. A spent shell casing, still warm, lay in the snow not three feet away. No prizes for guessing where the rest would be found.
History
Ghost Owl made his big debut on the Hudson crimefighting scene in the spring of 1962 - and he knew how to make an entrance. His nocturnal activities ruffled the feathers of almost every major crime boss in Northside. Fortunately, he also knew how to make an exit, leaving behind nothing but broken bones, foiled schemes and heartfelt promises of long, long jail sentences.
STUFF
In the mid-eighties, Ghost Owl was seen fighting alongside a teen sidekick, Kid Strigid. He'd rescued him from a terrorist bombing that'd claimed the lives of his parents, left him bitter and destitute. Having no family of his own, Owl took him under his wing; textbook apprenticeship. And the Kid was gifted, no doubt about that - smart, brave, loyal, tough - he had it all. Owl couldn't have asked for a better sidekick. A better heir. If only he'd known the truth; being betrayed, stabbed in the back and left for dead might not have come as such a big surprise.
Besides noisily springing out of clocks, the cuckoo bird is known for laying its eggs in other nests, duping the mother into raising the resulting hatchlings as her own. Could be that Checkmate, underworld strategist-for-hire and long time adversary of Ghost Owl, drew a measure of inspiration from that. Kid Strigid was an orphan, but he didn't have any bombs or terrorists to thank for that. No, he was just some street urchin, some random nobody that wouldn't be missed when Checkmate picked him up and subjected him to months of gruelling mental conditioning. Drugs, hypnotherapy, memory implantation, the works; he even brought in a telepath. Leaving him amid the aftermath of a seemingly random terrorist attack for Ghost Owl to find was just another part of the plan.
STUFF
He was getting old, worn down, slow. His health was failing thanks to rigors of age coupled with a legacy of broken bones and battered organs. But that didn't matter; there was work - so much work - left unfinished and he was simply too damned stubborn to hang up the cape and belt and retire, not without making Hudson City a place worth retiring in. And after his experiences with Kid Strigid, relinquishing the burden to a younger, brighter star was simply out of the question. So he grit his teeth against the protests and pleas of his aching joints and pressed on - right up until his ignominious end on that fateful Christmas Eve, gunned down in an empty street by a scared and confused teenager. Not even in costume.
STUFF
everything here is a wip
hoot hoot