Part 1: Samson, the N'Yark tribe, Sharmaine and Mindor are introduced. Also, we hear of Kull the Killer for the first time.
Samson's world is the aftermath of a nuclear nightmare. Nearly all of
the animals and plants have
become mutants. One of the few living creatures that are nearly pre-holocaust
normal are the
humans. New York, or N'Yark as the local stone age tribesmen call it,
is a ruined, overgrown jungle. It is a savage, dangerous environment
where the cliché "only the strong survive" is a gross reality.
Samson is one of the strongest. He is one of the few "good" human mutants.
As a small child he
saves himself and his mother from a killer plant by breaking one of
its huge tentacles. Later she is
killed in a raid by a neighboring tribe. On her deathbed she asks Samson
to swear an oath to help
others. He does.
This is his oath:
OATH OF SAMSON: "Whatever I can do, I will, to protect the weak from
the powerful, the good from the evil! I promise."
When he is little more than a youth, he fights the strongest mutant
beast in the N'Yark jungle: the
Liobear. Though he kills it, he is wounded badly. He loses his right
eye. Sharmaine finds him and
nurses him back to health. He meets her father, Mindor, who is a man
whose intellectual genius has mastered the lost technology and knowledge
of the 20th century.
Samson dons clothing fashioned from the skin of the Liobear. They are
a symbol that he is the
MIGHTIEST of all men since no other man could have defeated a Liobear
single-handed.
Mindor shows Samson the value of the old 21st century artifacts. These
included canned food and rifles. When the Tribe of Kull the Killer tries
to steal the canned food Samson and Mindor has found, Samson easily routs
them.
Part 2: Ancient Weapon:
After dealing with dangers like the Needle-throwing-cactus, the Lightning
Beast, and the
Six-pawed-gorilla, Samson, Mindor and Sharmaine find an old armory.
There are functional rifles in this place, and Mindor knows how to use
them. Mindor demonstrates by killing the gorilla with a rifle. Kull the
Killer finds out about the rifles and kidnaps Sharmaine to force Mindor
and Samson to hand the rifles and the secret knowledge pertaining to their
operation over to him. When they do so, Kull captures the two men, chains
them to twin pillars of an old building, and forms a firing squad.
Before they are shot, Samson breaks the pillars, and and like the legendary
strong man of ancient times, brings the building down. He defeats Kull
and his men by uprooting a large tree and crashing it down on them. Later
Samson and Mindor bury the rifles so no one can use them.
In this issue is begun the enduring relationship between Samson, Mindor
and Sharmaine. Together they become a force for good in N'Yark; a
force that combines strength, wisdom and intuitive perceptiveness into
a functional unit that is more that equal to the monsters and disasters
that await them in the mutant jungles of post holocaust America.