i won't get hurt momma! i'm safe!
i'm not going out anymore. i'm not getting hurt again. this was the last time. i told you.
they call me mr. glass at school. cause i break like glass.
why?
where is it?
someone's gonna take it.
it's a classic depiction of good versus evil. notice the square jaw of slayer - common in most comic book heroes. and the slightly disproportionate size of jaguaro's body to his head. this again is common, but only in villains.  the thing to notice about this piece.  the thing that makes it very, very special.  is its realistic depiction of its figures. when the characters eventually made it into the magazine they were exaggerated.  as always happens. this is vintage.
you've made a considerably wise decision.
once again please?
how old is jeb?
no.
no, no, no, no no.  you need to go now.
do you see any telletubbies around here?.  do you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it?.  do you see a little asian child with a blank expression sitting outside in a mechanical helicopter that shakes when you put a quarter in it?.  no?.  well that's what you see at a toy store? any you must think this is a toy store, cause you're in here shopping for an infant named jeb. one of us has made a gross error and wasted the other person's valuable time.
this is an art gallery my friend. this is piece of art.
this is one of seventeen original drawings by fritz champion remaining in the world. it's value will triple every year.  this piece is to be treasured. to be cherished.  to be coveted by every single one of your banker friends that think they're better than you.
i'm listening.
what about jeb?
will it be near a window?
come back in three days. i'll think about it.
we're by appointment only.
congratulations, you have a mailbox.  the sale isn't for two weeks.
you've never been sick?
well if this ain't a riddle worthy of the riddler?
so let's get some of the usual questions out of the way. why am i using a cane? raise your hand if you were thinking that.
i fractured my leg. it's the fifth time i've done that particular bone. it didn't really heal well this time.
raise your hand is you're wondering who the hell breaks the same bone five times?
i have something called osteogenesis imperfecta. it's a genetic disorder. i don't make this particular type of protein very well and it makes my bones very low in density, very easy to break. i've had fifty-four breaks in my life. i have the tamest version of the disorder.  type one. there are type two, type three, and type four. type four's don't make it very long.  that ends our lecture on the medical anomaly known as elijah price.
how certain are you that you haven't been sick in your life?
seventy-five percent? that's not nearly good enough for me. i'm extremely skeptical.
your answer to my question. it's one thing to have never been injured in your life, but to state that you've never taken ill, well that's a whole new level.
what's he talking about?
was it serious?
i assumed because of the train.
it's over. you can go now.
the life of an idea that has lived too long in my head.
there are probably only four or five individuals in the world who can claim more knowledge of comics than myself. i've spent a third of my life in a hospital bed with nothing else to do but read. i have studied the form intimately. i have seen the patterns in them.  the references to social and cultural events and the atmosphere that surrounded them. i've come to believe that comics are our last link to the ancient way of passing on history.
the egyptians drew pictures on walls about battles, and events. countries all around the world still pass on knowledge through pictorial forms. i believe that comics, just at their core now.  have a truth. they are depicting what someone, somewhere felt or experienced. then of course that core got chewed up in the commercial machine and gets jazzed up, made titillating - cartooned for the sale rack.
this city has had its share of disasters. well publicized ones. it was around the time of that plane crash, when it first entered my head. and there it stayed, as i waited and watched the news over the years.  and then one day i see a news report on a train accident and its sole survivor who was miraculously unharmed. and just like that, an idea blossoms into the flower of possible reality.
technically no. i gambled that you would attend the church service. i just waited for you.
you've misunderstood.
what type of job do you have david?
you mentioned you've met 'guys like me' in your work. what type of job would that be?
they said i couldn't get in with my ticket.
i've come to understand that.  an ill advised purchase in the parking lot.
not money. but i appreciate your healthy cynicism in the manner. it will be wise for both of us to proceed with greatest caution.
we've already begun.
why is it, do you think, that of all the professions in the world.  you chose protection?
you could have poured coffee in starbucks, you could have learned to install track lighting in office buildings, you could have told people their horoscopes on the internet.  you could have been one of ten thousand things.  but in the end, you chose to protect people. you made that decision.  and i find that very, very interesting. now all i need is your credit card number.
that last part was a joke.
is there a problem?
how did you know that man you bumped was carrying a weapon?
you thought he was carrying a knife?
but not a knife?
you have good instincts when it comes to things like that?
telling when people have done something wrong?
have you ever tried to develop it?
you're skill.
characters in comic books are often attributed special powers. x-ray vision, things of that sort.
it's an exaggeration of the truth. maybe it's based on something as simple as instinct. like being able to touch someone and tell whether they've done something wrong.  or the level of what they've done wrong.
or he might have been carrying a silver handled gun tucked in his pants.
one last question.
the car accident you were in.  was there anyone else involved?
they call me mr. glass.
kids.
how long have you been married?
how did you get together?
now you're going to have to tell me more.
how so?
you and my mother would have a special connection.
and everyone lived happily ever after.
what part of david's body was injured?
there have been three major disasters in this city over the last four years. i've followed each one of them.  a seven-three-seven crashes on take off. one hundred and seventy-two die. no survivors.  a hotel fire downtown. two hundred and eleven die. no survivors.  and am amtrak train derails seven and half miles outside of the city. one hundred and thirty one die. one survivor. he is unharmed. i've spoken with your husband about his survival. i suggested a rather unbelievable explanation. since then, i've come to believe, that my explanation, however unbelievable, is in fact, true.
it's a mediocre time mrs. dunne. people are starting to lose hope. it's hard for many to believe that extraordinary things live inside themselves as well as others.  i hope you can keep an open mind?
i own a comic book museum. it's called the limited edition.
i believe comic books are based loosely on reality - i believe there are real life equivalents of the heroes in those books that walk the earth - i believe your husband is one of those individuals.
i'm glad you brought up fate mrs. dunne. i'm becoming a strong believer in it.  see, david refuses to speak with me any longer.  and when i saw your name on my insurance list of approved physical therapists.  it was like fate had intervened.  we were meant to speak to each other.
joined a rugby league. turned out to be a bad idea. come here i want to show you something.
look at this. i just noticed this today.
this is from the sentryman series. a color version of this was actually used in the second issue.
look at this eyes. what do you see?
it's fear. he was scared. they were being honest in the beginning you see. they let him be human. they turned him into a garden variety hero later.  then he was brave all the time.
i followed the guy in the army jacket.
he had a silver handled gun tucked in the back of his pants. were you really injured in that car accident in college?
because i think you faked it. i think you took the opportunity to end your career - no questions asked. and i think you did it, of all things, for a women.  not only do you have the physical traits of a hero, down somewhere in there, you have the moral code of one too. you were ready to sacrifice everything for what's right. where can you find that these days? only thing you didn't realize is that you were giving up a part of yourself when you gave up football. the physical part. and you need that part desperately to feel balance again.  you can have it back now. this was all just make believe before. what if there was someone the opposite of me? what if?.  i now believe you are the genuine article mr. david dunne. the kind of person we knew existed, from our history.
it's time for someone like you. bad is winning. i can feel it.
that's not what i witnessed david.
i never said you couldn't be killed. i never said that.
are you finished?
how much is this one?
the point of all this is, we now know something we didn't.  you have a weakness.  water. it's your krpytonite. you hearing me david? call me back.  i got rugby practice in an hour.
hello.
david?
did you see this?
when i saw it this morning. i felt a part of the world again.
a plane just crashed.
secrets?