Part 43 (1/2)

”I like the taste of joker blood.”

-graffiti, NYC subway

”I don't care what they look like, they bleed red just like anybody else . . . most of them, anyway.”

-Lt. Col. John Garrick, Joker Brigade

”If I'm an ace, I'd hate to see a deuce.”

-Timothy Wiggins

”You want to know if I'm an ace or a joker? The answer is yes.”

-The Turtle

I'm a joker, I'm insane, And you cannot say my name Coiled in the streets Waiting only for night

I am the serpent who gnaws the roots of the world -”Serpent Time,”

Thomas Marion Douglas

”I'm delighted to have Baby returned to me, but I have no intention of leaving earth. This planet is my home now, and those touched by the wild card are my children.”

-Dr. Tachyon,on the occasion of the return of his s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p

”They are the demon children of the Great Satan, America.”

-Ayatollah Khomeini

”In hindsight, the decision to use aces to secure the safe return of the hostages was probably a mistake, and I take full responsibility for the failure of the mission.”

-President Jimmy Carter

”Think like an ace, and you can win like an ace. Think like a joker, and the joke's on you.”

-Think Like An Ace!

(Ballantine, 1981)

”The parents of America are deeply concerned about the exces- sive coverage of aces and their exploits in the media. They are bad role models for our children, and thousands are injured or killed each year while attempting to imitate their freak powers.”

-Naomi Weathers, American Parents League

”Even their kids want to be like us. These are the '80s. A new decade, man, and we're the new people. We can fly, and we don't need no bogus airplane like that nat Jetboy. The nats don't know it yet, but they're obsolete. This is a time for aces.”

-anonymous letter in Jokertown Cry, January 1, 1981

COMES A HUNTER.

by John J. Miller

”If you wish to find the unclouded truth, do not concern yourself with right and wrong.”

-Seng-ts'an: Hsin-hsin Ming Hsin-hsin Ming.