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The Lesson 001

Comic generated by Midjourney AI algorithms

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John Tackman
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60 views

The Lesson 001

Comic generated by Midjourney AI algorithms

Uploaded by

John Tackman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 48

THE

LESSON
STEVE COULSON + MIDJOURNEY
SOMEWHERE IN NEBRASKA.

130 YEARS FROM NOW.


DEEP UNDERGOUND.

THE FIRST SUBLEVELS HAVE


LONG BEEN ABANDONED.
TO RUST AND DECAY.

BUT 20 STORIES BELOW, YOU’LL


FIND A BLAST-PROOF DOOR.
THIS IS WHERE THE
LAST HOPE OF
HUMANITY SURVIVES.
GOOD MORNING, CLASS.

“GOOD MORNING, MISS BRAUN!.”


THE LESSON
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ALL ACTIVATE YOUR VISORS AND
SET THEM TO COMMUNAL MODE, SO THAT WE CAN BEGIN

STORY BY
STEVE COULSON

ART CREATED WITH


MIDJOURNEY

THE LESSON #1, November 2022. Published by Camp re Entertainment LLC, Suite C2 561 4th St,
Brooklyn NY 11215. THE LESSON is © 2022 Steve Coulson. All inquiries: scoulson@camp renyc.com.
Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this story are ctitious. Any resemblance to
persons living or dead is coincidental. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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MISS BRAUN YOU PROMISED


THAT TODAY YOU WOULD TELL
US ABOUT THE MONSTERS.
OH JENNIE,
AGAIN?
IS THERE ANYONE ELSE IN
THE CLASS WHO WOULD
LIKE TO HEAR THE HISTORY
OF THE MONSTERS?
WHEN NEW YORK
VERY WELL, LET’S SEE HOW WAS ATTACKED?
MUCH YOU REMEMBER
FROM THE LAST TIME.
WHO CAN TELL ME WHEN THE NO TRACY, IT WAS
MONSTERS FIRST APPEARED? BEFORE THAT.

TWO CENTURIES AGO?

WHEN THEY DETONATED THE


BOMB ON BIKINI ATOLL?
YES, SALLY, THAT WAS THE FIRST
DOCUMENTED SIGHTING, BUT
STORIES OF THE MONSTERS HAVE
BEEN WITH US SINCE ANTIQUITY.
UNTIL THE 20TH CENTURY THEY
WERE DISMISSED AS MYTHS
OR LEGENDS. BUT THE EVENTS
OF 1954 FORCED US TO
REEVALUATE WHAT WAS FACT
AND WHAT WAS FICTION.

FOR INSTANCE, IN WHAT USED TO BE


FRANCE, THERE WAS A CAVE NEAR
THE VILLAGE OF MONTIGNAC THAT
CONTAINED SOME OF THE OLDEST
PAINTINGS CREATED BY MAN.
WE NOW BELIEVE IT TO BE A RECORD
OF AN EARLY INCURSION, OR PERHAPS
THE MANIFESTATION OF A MYTH
PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS.
LET’S MOVE
FORWARD IN TIME.
THE HIEROGLYPHICS AND CARVINGS YOU
SEE IN YOUR DISPLAYS WERE FOUND IN
THE TOMB OF THE BOY-KING TEF-AMEN,
DATING FROM AROUND 1300 B.C.

THEY SUGGEST THE ANCIENT


EGYPTIANS DEVELOPED A
BELIEF SYSTEM AROUND THE
WORSHIP OF LARGE, SENTIENT
LIZARD-CREATURES.
“PINDAR’S PYTHIAN ODES” WRITTEN IN
470 BC, RECOUNT THE LEGENDARY CREW OF
THE ARGO, AND OF THEIR FIGHT AGAINST
GIANT SERPENTS ON THORYSTUS ISLAND.

YES, GO AHEAD
TRACY, YOU CAN
INTERACT WITH IT!

SUBSEQUENT EXCAVATIONS IN THE AREA


REVEALED LARGE FOSSILS SCIENTISTS
HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO IDENTIFY.
THE MIDDLE AGES ARE REPLETE
WITH ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
CHRONICLING ALL MANNER OF
LEGENDARY CREATURES.

THAT INCLUDES THE VOLTEX


VOLARES, WHICH HAS YET TO
BE DECIPHERED.
MANY CULTURES HAVE FOLK
LEGENDS ABOUT LAKE AND RIVER
MONSTERS, THE MOST FAMOUS
BEING THE BEAST THAT ALLEGEDLY
INHABITED LOCH NESS.

THOUGH LIKELY REMNANTS OF TALES


TOLD TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE
FROM OPEN WATER., IT’S
UNDENIABLE THAT - WITHOUT
EXCEPTION - ALL THE LEVIATHANS
EMERGED FROM OUR OCEANS.
THE FIRST RELIABLE RECORD WE
HAVE THAT FORESHADOWS WHAT WAS
TO COME IS FROM INNSMOUTH,
MASSACHUSETTS IN 1695.

JAYNE AND CHASTITY GOODFELLOW


WERE PLAGUED BY NIGHTMARE VISIONS
OF GIANT SERPENTS EMERGING FROM
THE NEW ENGLAND SHORELINE.
THE TOWN ELDERS FOOLISHLY DECLARED IT TO BE
WITCHCRAFT, AND THE FINGER OF SUSPICION WAS
POINTED AT THE WIDOW SARAH OSBOURNE.

OF COURSE SHE DENIED ALL


KNOWLEDGE OF THE
NIGHTMARES, BUT TO NO AVAIL.
AS SHE BURNED AT THE STAKE, SHE
IS SAID TO HAVE CURSED THE
MONSTERS INTO EXISTENCE “ELEVEN
SCORE YEARS FROM THIS DAY.”
1695

1760

1880
NOW, REACH OUT AND
MAKE THE CLOCK-HAND
MOTION I TAUGHT YOU.

WE’RE GOING TO STAY IN


INNSMOUTH BUT MOVE
FORWARD IN TIME.

1925
IN A HOUSE BUILT ON THE SITE
OF THE WIDOW’S BURNING, AN
AUTHOR NAMED LOVECRAFT
BEGAN WRITING “THE BESTIARY
CHRONICLES” AFTER MONSTERS
CAME TO HIM IN DREAMS.
IT’S AS IF HE
COULD SEE THE
FUTURE COMING.
MOVING ON, DOES
ANYONE RECOGNIZE
WHO THIS IS?

IT’S THE SCIENTIST WHO


CREATED THE BOMB?

YES, VERY GOOD, LISA. HIS NAME


WAS ROBERT OPPENHEIMER.
AFTER DEVELOPING THE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS THAT ENDED
THE WAR, OPPENHEIMER
TRANSFERRED HIS ATTENTION
TO HYDROGEN DETONATIONS.

THE ISLANDERS OF A
REMOTE ATOLL IN THE
SOUTH PACIFIC WERE
FORCEFULLY EVACUATED,
AND U.S. MARINES BUILT
A 100FT BOMB TOWER.

CLOSE YOUR EYES.


SCIENTISTS HAD
MISCALCULATED THE YIELD.
THE RESULTING EXPLOSION
WAS 1,000 TIMES
LARGER THAN BOTH
HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI. COMBINED.
IRONICALLY IT WAS THE
MOST POWERFUL
EXPLOSION THAT EARTH HAD
SEEN SINCE THE METEOR
THAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS.
SOON AFTER, THE
MONSTERS APPEARED…
FOR YEARS, HUMANITY DIDN’T
UNDERSTAND HOW TO
RESPOND TO THE INCURSIONS.

IT WAS SUCH AN
ALIEN EXPERIENCE.

SOME FEARED THE


MONSTERS, OTHERS
WORSHIPPED THEM.*

* AS SEEN IN
SUMMER ISLAND
WE FOUGHT BACK, FIRST WITH
CONVENTIONAL WEAPONRY.

THEN WE DEVELOPED
ADVANCED MECHANICAL
TACTICAL UNITS, WHICH -
FOR A SHORT TIME -
PROTECTED OUR CITIES.
BUT NO MATTER WHAT WE
TRIED, ULTIMATELY WE
FAILED TO REPEL THEM.

NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL,
CHEMICAL. NOTHING
SUCCEEDED. WE CAME TO
BELIEVE THEY WERE ALL
BUT INDESTRUCTIBLE.

IN FACT, ALL WE REALLY


ACHIEVED WAS MAKING OUR
OWN PLANET INCREASINGLY
UNINHABITABLE.
SO WE TURNED INSTEAD TO
COSMISM AND THE STARS,
AN AUDACIOUS PLAN TO
ESCAPE TO A NEW EDEN.
THE FIRST LAUNCH ENDED IN
TRAGEDY, WITH THE MONSTER
NAIKA DESTROYING THE
ULYSSES ON ITS LAUNCH PAD AT
CANAVERAL WITH ALL ABOARD.

THE ICARUS MADE IT


INTO SPACE AND
HEADED FOR THE FAR
SIDE OF THE SUN.

WE NEVER HEARD
FROM THEM AGAIN.
AND THEN, THERE
WAS THE TURING.*

AFTER A LONG
HIBERNATION,
THESE BRAVE
WOMEN FINALLY
MADE IT TO THEIR
DESTINATION…

ONLY TO
DISCOVER A
TERRIBLE TRUTH.
* READ THE STORY OF THE
TURING IN EXODUS
SO WE RETREATED HERE, TO OUR
HOME UNDERGROUND WHERE
SCIENTISTS CONTINUED TO WORK.

AND FINALLY, WE
MADE A DISCOVERY.

WE ISOLATED THE ONE


SUBSTANCE FATAL TO
ALL MONSTERS.
MISS BRAUN, THAT SCIENTIST
ON THE HOLO - ISN’T IT YOU?

YES, LISA. WELL NOTICED. IN


FACT, I LED THE TEAM THAT
MADE THE BREAKTHROUGH.
AFTER MANY TESTS, WE FOUND OUT THAT THE
ONLY THING THAT COULD KILL A MONSTER WAS
THE HEMOGLOBIN OF ANOTHER MONSTER.

BUT WE NEVER FOUND A WAY TO


SYNTHESIZE MONSTER BLOOD, SO
WE WERE FORCED TO DEVELOP A
HYBRID DELIVERY METHOD.

IT’S SIMILAR TO HOW THE ANTIPODEANS


SOLVED THEIR VERMIN PROBLEM BACK
IN THE 2OTH CENTURY, BY RELEASING
MYXOMATOSIS INTO THE HABITAT.
AND ONCE THE MONSTERS
STARTED TO INJEST OUR
WEAPON, IT WAS JUST A
MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE
TIDE TURNED.
SLOWLY AND SURELY, THE
MONSTERS BEGAN TO DIE.
MISS BRAUN, ARE ALL THE
MONSTERS GONE NOW?
MOST ARE, YES.

THE ONES THAT REMAIN


CONTINUE TO BREED AND
EVOLVE, AND THE FORMULA
FOR THEIR DEFEAT IS
ALWAYS IN FLUX.

SO WE STAY HERE SAFELY


UNDERGROUND AND
WATCH, AND WAIT.
ALRIGHT CLASS, THAT’S
ENOUGH FOR TODAY.
TAKE OFF YOUR
HEADSETS AND GET
READY FOR YOUR
FEEDING.

BUT MISS BRAUN, IF THE


MONSTERS COME BACK, HOW
WILL WE STOP THEM?

OH NICKY, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE HERE,


WHY I’M TAKING CARE OF YOU.
THAT’S WHY YOU’RE
ALL HERE.

IF THE MONSTERS COME


BACK, YOU WILL SAVE US.

ALL OF YOU.
THAT’S WHY WE BRED YOU.

HERE ENDETH
THE LESSON.
NOW AVAILABLE
FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

COMING SOON
SOFTCOVER COLLECTION

Pre-order now at

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