When we last left Speed, he was being inexpertly tailed by Joe The Circus Strongman Who Looks Like the Murder Victim, Bushland Bill Mercer...
But now Speed has put on his TIE, thus revealing his true identity as an Ace Investigator. Like Zeus and Hermes visiting Baucis and Philomena, Speed is revealed to be not a lowly wayfarer but rather an all-powerful divinity.
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| Sicut fulmen Jovis ab apice montis Olympi, ictus celeritatis emicuit fortem ferens. |
Like Semele before Zeus's full glory, Joe is struck down.
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| Unbeknownst to Joe, such is Saunders' puissance that he is now pregnant with Speed's child. |
Speed follows his humiliation of the Circus Strongman by revealing his True Nature to Rosita.
But this is Rosita, a road-hardened circus kinker; she ain't no Semele.
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| "Think nothing of it, ma'am; a lot of people try to have me killed. It's flattering, really." |
Although not exactly cowed, Rosita is converted by Speed's revelation into a Useful Female Informant. Rosita needlessly complicates matters by giving Joe The Circus Strongman the surname (or stage name) of "Samson".
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| Who wouldn't be jealous of Bushland Bill, a man who managed to become a Famous Explorer without learning how to drive, fallen so far as to become a circus performer whom no one cares enough about to notice his absence after the jump from the previous town? |
What Speed's reaction is to her information we will never know, because the next panel is already the next day, when he's at the telegraph office doing a basic bit of research you'd imagine the authorities would have done already.
"Hey, museums; anyone missing a hollowed out mammoth tusk....?"
Tomorrow: the exciting telegraphic reply!
3 comments:
In some cultures, it is customary to show great hospitality to travelers in case they’re actually Speed Saunders in disguise.
- Mike Loughlin
Rosita has her name posted on her circus wagon? Clearly a lot of random visitors must seek her out. Normally I'd chalk that up to exposition but the caption makes Speed's destination clear. Also, Speed changed back into overalls to visit the telegraph office -- I assume because he didn't want the operator to realize that an Ace Investigator was behind the flurry of telegrams?
"Speed changed back into overalls to visit the telegraph office " I thought about that, and upon reflection it makes sense (in its truncated Saunders-y way). Speed only got dressed and put on a tie for this "date" to meeting Rosita. The telegram happens the next day between shows, when he is naturally wearing his regular circus-work overalls.
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