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Description

It is the 24th Century, and beneath the rays of a burning red sun is an Earth ravaged by The Great Disaster: an apocaylptic event where a mutagenic virus was unleashed. The resulting collapse of global society and the rise of mutated, humanoid animals, spawned by the virus, has led to the decimated, resource-poor world being split into kingdoms. The animaloid kingdoms despise each other, but not as much as they hate and persecute the human kingdoms. In the ruins of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, there is a human kingdom ruled by a cult of madmen and madwomen known as the Condiment Cult. The cult was inspired by a man from the pre-Disaster days named Mitchell Mayo, who was the first Condiment King. The current Condiment King is the leader of this cult and the kingdom they preside over. In the kingdom’s gladiatorial arena, a young woman of 17 is dragged into the sands of it among crowds of cheering cultists dressed in food-themed clothing and trinkets. Saphira Cohen was forced to fight several gladiators, also enslaved from other kingdoms, until she reached the champion of the arena. It was a boy her age that the cultists cheered the name of: Kamandi. Kamandi and Saphira fought to a stand-still until the Condiment King, in the royal VIP section of the stands, ordered them both to stand down and to be returned to their prison cells beneath the arena. Kamandi’s cell, which he shares with his friend Tuftan, a humanoid tiger and prince of the Tiger Kingdom, is right next to Saphira’s, so the two were able to talk. Kamandi explains his background: Kamandi’s real name is Tommy Blank, and he was born about 17 years ago in the Command D Bunker. The Bunker System was created long before before the Great Disaster, in response to various crises that occurred on Earth long ago, for “it was an age of gods and monsters”. In the end, few Command Bunkers survived the raids of the animaloids that arose from the Great Disaster, like the Command D bunker beneath what was called New York City. After the death of his parents and grandfather, killed by a otherwise-successfully-defended raid by animaloids against Command D, Tommy was raised by the MOTHER computer system that governs the Bunker System. About six months ago, the Command D Bunker was raided once more by animaloids, who slaughtered all of the human denizens of the Bunker except for Tommy. MOTHER’s connection to the Command D was also heavily damaged, so Tommy had no choice but to escape to the surface world and find another surviving Command Bunker. Until a month ago, Tommy was roaming the war-torn wastelands of America, until he passed out from dehydration and starvation. Soldiers from the nearby Condiment Kingdom found Tommy and, while the boy was delirious from his condition, heard him say “Command D”, hence his new name “Kamandi”. The soldiers dragged him back to the Condiment Kingdom, where he eventually became a gladiator. It’s also where he met Tuftan and struck up a friendship with him as they planned on a prison break. Kamandi and Tuftan then decided to let Saphira in on their plan. For the past few days, Kamandi and Tuftan had been secretly organizing many of the other gladiators and prisoners into a resistance to fight the cult. When the time came, a few days later, all of the gladiators turned their weapons on the guards in the arena, during the next circus. Kamandi, Tuftan, and Saphira took up arms and aided their fellows in fighting the Condiment King’s forces and leading an escape into the kingdom’s streets, but the three were captured. Brought before the Condiment King himself, they were about to be executed when something amazing happened! A titanic, technologically-advanced battleship flew down from the skies and dropped cyborg soldiers, armed with stun lasers, onto the Condiment Kingdom. The cyborgs fought against the soldiers of the cult and the Condiment King himself, distracted by this, was run through by Kamandi’s sword. The lead cyborg, named Ben Boxer, met with Kamandi and his friends as the other cyborgs, whom Boxer calls ‘Biomechs’, captured as many of the acolytes of the Condiment Cult as they could and loaded them up onto their ship. The three were brought to Sky City, the flying headquarters of the Biomechs, where the cultists were also brought for ‘deprogramming’. Boxer explained that he and the other Biomechs, whom range in the 10,000s, were created by the same creators of the Bunker System, and programmed to retake the Earth for humanity. Boxer then ordered Tuftan to be taken away for experimentation! Kamandi demanded an explanation, and Boxer said that animaloids like Tuftan must either be cured of the virus that mutated them in the first place… or exterminated!
Kamandi: “Tuftan’s compassion and kindness makes him more human than either of us! You can’t kill him!”
Ben Boxer: “Do you really think you can defy us and our technological superiority?”
Kamandi: “Yes. Because you are a robot… and I AM A MAN!”
Kamandi punched out Boxer and stole his laser rifle, and then he and Saphira fought through Sky City to find and free Tuftan. Then the three escaped, by way of drop ship, onto the surface of the Earth, after they destroyed the Biomechs’ tracking and observation technology to make sure they cannot be followed. Now determined to make peace between the animaloids and the humans, Kamandi, Tuftan, and Saphira are now trekking to the Tiger Kingdom, which will offer sanctuary to the two humans for rescuing their prince. Little does Kamandi know that the Tiger Kingdom is very close to a surviving Bunker…
Notes:
* The Great Disaster was caused initially by the Earth’s sun turning red, via a fusion bomb detonated on the sun’s surface by a supervillain from the ‘age of gods and monsters’. Which villain it was has been lost to time. The red sun’s rays mutated a disease that led to it mutating animals into the animaloids we know today.
* I added a cult based on the Condiment King because I wanted to challenge myself…
* This version of Kamandi’s future (the 24th Century) is a mix of the original Jack Kirby version (the 26th Century) and the ‘At Earth’s End’ version (the 22nd Century).
* The scene of Kamandi yelling “I AM A MAN” while punching Ben Boxer is inspired by “Superman At Earth’s End” (and Linkara).

Description

It is the 24th Century, and beneath the rays of a burning red sun is an Earth ravaged by The Great Disaster: an apocaylptic event where a mutagenic virus was unleashed. The resulting collapse of global society and the rise of mutated, humanoid animals, spawned by the virus, has led to the decimated, resource-poor world being split into kingdoms. The animaloid kingdoms despise each other, but not as much as they hate and persecute the human kingdoms. In the ruins of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, there is a human kingdom ruled by a cult of madmen and madwomen known as the Condiment Cult. The cult was inspired by a man from the pre-Disaster days named Mitchell Mayo, who was the first Condiment King. The current Condiment King is the leader of this cult and the kingdom they preside over. In the kingdom’s gladiatorial arena, a young woman of 17 is dragged into the sands of it among crowds of cheering cultists dressed in food-themed clothing and trinkets. Saphira Cohen was forced to fight several gladiators, also enslaved from other kingdoms, until she reached the champion of the arena. It was a boy her age that the cultists cheered the name of: Kamandi. Kamandi and Saphira fought to a stand-still until the Condiment King, in the royal VIP section of the stands, ordered them both to stand down and to be returned to their prison cells beneath the arena. Kamandi’s cell, which he shares with his friend Tuftan, a humanoid tiger and prince of the Tiger Kingdom, is right next to Saphira’s, so the two were able to talk. Kamandi explains his background: Kamandi’s real name is Tommy Blank, and he was born about 17 years ago in the Command D Bunker. The Bunker System was created long before before the Great Disaster, in response to various crises that occurred on Earth long ago, for “it was an age of gods and monsters”. In the end, few Command Bunkers survived the raids of the animaloids that arose from the Great Disaster, like the Command D bunker beneath what was called New York City. After the death of his parents and grandfather, killed by a otherwise-successfully-defended raid by animaloids against Command D, Tommy was raised by the MOTHER computer system that governs the Bunker System. About six months ago, the Command D Bunker was raided once more by animaloids, who slaughtered all of the human denizens of the Bunker except for Tommy. MOTHER’s connection to the Command D was also heavily damaged, so Tommy had no choice but to escape to the surface world and find another surviving Command Bunker. Until a month ago, Tommy was roaming the war-torn wastelands of America, until he passed out from dehydration and starvation. Soldiers from the nearby Condiment Kingdom found Tommy and, while the boy was delirious from his condition, heard him say “Command D”, hence his new name “Kamandi”. The soldiers dragged him back to the Condiment Kingdom, where he eventually became a gladiator. It’s also where he met Tuftan and struck up a friendship with him as they planned on a prison break. Kamandi and Tuftan then decided to let Saphira in on their plan. For the past few days, Kamandi and Tuftan had been secretly organizing many of the other gladiators and prisoners into a resistance to fight the cult. When the time came, a few days later, all of the gladiators turned their weapons on the guards in the arena, during the next circus. Kamandi, Tuftan, and Saphira took up arms and aided their fellows in fighting the Condiment King’s forces and leading an escape into the kingdom’s streets, but the three were captured. Brought before the Condiment King himself, they were about to be executed when something amazing happened! A titanic, technologically-advanced battleship flew down from the skies and dropped cyborg soldiers, armed with stun lasers, onto the Condiment Kingdom. The cyborgs fought against the soldiers of the cult and the Condiment King himself, distracted by this, was run through by Kamandi’s sword. The lead cyborg, named Ben Boxer, met with Kamandi and his friends as the other cyborgs, whom Boxer calls ‘Biomechs’, captured as many of the acolytes of the Condiment Cult as they could and loaded them up onto their ship. The three were brought to Sky City, the flying headquarters of the Biomechs, where the cultists were also brought for ‘deprogramming’. Boxer explained that he and the other Biomechs, whom range in the 10,000s, were created by the same creators of the Bunker System, and programmed to retake the Earth for humanity. Boxer then ordered Tuftan to be taken away for experimentation! Kamandi demanded an explanation, and Boxer said that animaloids like Tuftan must either be cured of the virus that mutated them in the first place… or exterminated!
Kamandi: “Tuftan’s compassion and kindness makes him more human than either of us! You can’t kill him!”
Ben Boxer: “Do you really think you can defy us and our technological superiority?”
Kamandi: “Yes. Because you are a robot… and I AM A MAN!”
Kamandi punched out Boxer and stole his laser rifle, and then he and Saphira fought through Sky City to find and free Tuftan. Then the three escaped, by way of drop ship, onto the surface of the Earth, after they destroyed the Biomechs’ tracking and observation technology to make sure they cannot be followed. Now determined to make peace between the animaloids and the humans, Kamandi, Tuftan, and Saphira are now trekking to the Tiger Kingdom, which will offer sanctuary to the two humans for rescuing their prince. Little does Kamandi know that the Tiger Kingdom is very close to a surviving Bunker…
Notes:
* The Great Disaster was caused initially by the Earth’s sun turning red, via a fusion bomb detonated on the sun’s surface by a supervillain from the ‘age of gods and monsters’. Which villain it was has been lost to time. The red sun’s rays mutated a disease that led to it mutating animals into the animaloids we know today.
* I added a cult based on the Condiment King because I wanted to challenge myself…
* This version of Kamandi’s future (the 24th Century) is a mix of the original Jack Kirby version (the 26th Century) and the ‘At Earth’s End’ version (the 22nd Century).
* The scene of Kamandi yelling “I AM A MAN” while punching Ben Boxer is inspired by “Superman At Earth’s End” (and Linkara).