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In a world of martial artists and mad scientists, gunfighters and sorcerers, he had the best gimmick of them all. At least that's what they told him... Behind the scenes, while the world sleeps, a flamboyant cast of heroes and villains fight a secret war armed with occult powers and fringe superscience. The stakes: the very destiny of the human race. College freshman John Woodrow knows nothing of this, of course. This battle is fought completely out of sight of the average man, and few are more average than he. Middle child, liberal arts major, solid B average, virgin, John is only remarkable for how unremarkable he is. Until destiny decides it has something else in mind for John Woodrow. One day he's struggling through Proust and trying to catch the attention of girls who smoke clove cigarettes. The next, he's dodging robot scorpions and undead assassins. He'’s running with trick-shooting cowboys, deranged inventors, and gorgeous, flying martial artists. He's in way over his head. He'd be scared to death if it weren't for Craig and Marjorie. They're from the future, where he's not plain John Woodrow - he's Johnny Fate, hero of millions, the guy who saved the world. There's even a talking action figure. Maybe Johnny doesn't have psychic powers or a flying suit, but he's got something better. No matter how insane the action, no matter how long the odds, Johnny already knows he makes it and the good guys win in the end. So, with the confidence that can only come from having peeked at the last page of the script, Johnny sloughs off his timid shell and becomes someone noticeable. And then one day - belatedly perhaps, but he's had a lot on his plate - it occurs to Johnny to wonder... what if Craig and Marjorie are wrong? What if they're just plain lying? Pursuing their own agenda? What if that future they're supposed to be protecting isn't all it's cracked up to be? And that's when Johnny decides he has to go off the script they've written for him and make his own future. |
