Unearthly Adventure Comics #253: The RetConQuest Part 2

With a cover-date of April 1958 and on newsstands in February of 1958, Unearthly Adventure Comics #253 concluded the tale of the Unwanted's first battle against the evil Tempus Khan. With some hand waving, the Cardiff Giant and Atomizer were not present in this issue. Yuyu, an ancient Egyptian priest of Osiris was and was "retconned" to have always been part of the team, supposedly due to the acts of the heroes in the previous issue. With his addition, the first lineup of the Unwanted was established, though not all of them were featured in every issue.

Though the comic had intended to be more science based, three of the heroes had magical origins and two had scientific.



Based on the adventure of the same name written by Steve Kenson. Some text taken from that adventure.  Images from that adventure as well, illustrated by Dan Houser. Adapted for the Port Henry Campaign.

Cast of Characters

  • Susan Samiel - Widowed reporter for the Port Henry Times-Herald, sorceress. Specializes in binding magic.
  • US-Polaris 1 - Robot space probe invented by Jack Parsons. Altered by aliens and now possessing telekinetic abilities. 
  • Yuyu - High Priest of Osiris in the 19th Dynasty. Granted immortality and superior abilities by a mystical Ankh, as well as the ability to summon minions.


Capsule Summary


Their former selves restored, Master Tulku explained to Samiel, US-Polaris 1, and Yuyu what must happen next as their Gateway Island subway car neared its station...

Through the power of your memories and interventions, I have restored you to your rightful forms. Time is not as it should be, for Tempus Khan—he who imagines himself Master of Time—has altered the course of your history. This conquest should not be, but if it is allowed to continue, Khan’s quantum stabilizer will harden time’s flow into a fixed point, and nothing will be able to undo what he has done. 

You must reach Tempus Khan’s fortress and disable the quantum stabilizer, for they are the dam holding back the natural flow of time. Once that is done, history will reassert itself and sweep away this altered timeline. It will never have occurred. The world as you knew it will be restored, and Tempus Khan will meet him fate... in due time. Act quickly: once this timeline stabilizes, even the respite I have given you will be undone and you will have no memory of your former selves, as they will never have existed. Would that I could do more, but it is up to you. Go with my blessings and the hopes of the future...
Arriving in the station, a group of Scimitar Robots, servants of Tempus Khan, was waiting for them. However our heroes made short work of them - Samiel binding them while US-Polaris 1 hurled them about and Yuyu's mummy smashed them.

 They took possession of a zeppelin (as alternate timelines always have zeppelins) and arrived at the ruins of Sentinel Island, where the giant Sentinel Statue once stood, now replaced by Khan's fortress. Battling their way in they found Tempus Khan waiting for them - he laughed at them, declaring that he had hardened his defenses around US-Polaris 1 and his telekinesis would be of no avail this time. Looking at the controls of the quantum stabilizer, a vast crystalline pillar in the center of the fortress, they struggled with the controls, unable to figure them out. But smashing them always worked. Avoiding the attacks from Khan and his robotic servants they were able to smash it... And then they vanished. As did everything else...
They found themselves back in their timeline. It was early 1958 and all was well. The three were in one of Heiro Silver Water's houses that they had been using as a meeting place while they contemplated a more permanent headquarters. But then air raid sirens pierced the quiet air. They were being invaded - by Tempus Khan - for the first time, from his perspective... A broadcast played over all radios:
Primitive peoples of Earth! I, Tempus Khan, am your conqueror! I have come from your distant future. Your weapons and armies cannot oppose me. Your costumed champions cannot overcome me. Those who resist my inevitable rule will be punished, for this era will be added to my Eternal Empire. So says your new Khan!
Commandeering a harbor ferry they sailed to Sentinel Island where his fortress was preparing to destroy the Sentinel Statue. However Samiel saw he was wearing a portable quantum stabilizer as the clasp for his cloak, allowing him to change his own past by conquering the Earth without vanishing in a paradox. US-Polaris 1 used its telekinesis to tear it off, allowing Yuyu to smash it - causing Khan and his invasion to vanish! 

 Unfortunately they vanished so quickly that many believed the invasion to have been a prank of some sort. However, Master Tulku visited them once more, for Khan's vile reign in another reality was no illusion:
You have done well, heroes, acting directly where I could not and righting a terrible wrong. Time is now restored to its proper course and flows unrestricted and undisrupted. I have done a small part of the work of absolving myself of my misdeeds for, you see, I was once feared throughout history as the dread Tempus Khan, but time changes us all and has showed me the error of my ways. In time, perhaps, the cosmos will be permitted to forget my crimes, even if I may never do so. You have an old man’s thanks. Know that we may meet again... in time.

GM Note - Per Wikipedia, Yuyu was a real priest of Osiris over 1200 years BC.


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