PLOT:
A true evil has been slowly seeping into the pores of the city otherwise known as Liberty Hell. But it's not Luthor or Despero or even the Joker - it's worse. It's apathy. And
fear and hopelessness. But Liberty Hill looks to be getting their very own cape when recently inducted Justice Leaguer Tattooed Man returns following the Crisis that recently threatened to
destroy the whole world. Finally things seem to be looking up for Mark Richards - he's actually a somebody for once in his life. Richards uses his animated tattoo creatures to deliver a beating to some would be
bank robbers, punks that only months earlier he might have been pulling the same job with. Stepping out of the bank afterward, covered in the blood of the robbers, Mark Richards receives a
hero's welcome. But is he a hero? And what is a hero?
Mark's late brother Devon Richards - he was a hero. The college football star, taken before his time. In the eyes of many (perhaps including Mark himself), he will always pale in
comparison to his brother. Returning home, Mark's wife Michelle reminds him that, "Most heroes come and go, but the ones who stay are the ones who do more than stop bullets and leap tall buildings.
They show us how to be better people." - Can Mark do that? After all, he saved the world. But can he save his city? And more importantly, can he save his family??
His son Leon has been hanging around a bad crowd - the Avenue Reds, a local gang. Like a lot of urban youths, Leon is eager to prove himself to the Reds and be inked into the gang, but
first he'll have to be initiated - and that includes "feeding" a special blade the life blood of a member of the rival gang Ded Boyz. That evening, one of the Ded Boyz is en route to do some business when
he is gutted and left for dead. The only problem? The people who he was going to meet up with are the police themselves - corrupt officers looking for their take.
After running some tests the police discover that the Ded Boyz gang member was cut with a special blade leaving behind wounds that are nearly identical to the markings left behind on the
bank robbers that Tattoo Man stopped earlier. As such the cops pull up and take Mark in. But he's determined to prove that he's got nothing to hide - and he angrily swears to hunt down the gangbanger's killer
to prove that he's turned over a new leaf. But, as Chief of Police Halstead says, this isn't like the other super-hero friendly police forces, if Mark tries to pull and vigilante
business, the cops promise to shut him down.
That evening Mark is lying in bed when he thinks he hears his son Leon up rustling around in the kitchen. Mark gets up to tell Leon to go back to bed but waiting for him isn't his son - but a glowing
manifestation of some sort. As the Reverend Blythe would say, God's trials are put in front of us to test us and to strengthen us to make us better people on the end. But after all this is over,
what will be left of Mark Richards?
|
Home
