The drug in question is a super-steroid called A39, a derivative of the extremely dangerous drug Venom which surfaced several years ago. A39 was created with the belief that it can bring relief to sufferers of some genetic disorders, including skin disorders related to severe intolerance for light. However, it has yet to be cleared for use by the F. D. A.

A39 was first spotted on the streets illegally a few months ago in Portsmouth City. A l ocal doctor, Pieter Cross, was helping the F. D. A. track it down, but during the cou rse of his investigations, he was struck blind. When Cross proved unable to continue the investigation, the mysterious new Doctor Mid-Nite solved the problem somewhat by accident.

Mid-Nite says that he was trying to catch the kidnappers of the brilliant scientist Prof essor Atticus Searles. Through traditional super-heroic methods, he discovered that the kidnappers were on the payroll of Praeda industries, a local investment company which had been buying many land holdings on the city's dilapidated east side.

Nothing is known of Doctor Mid-Nite. It remains unknown if he is in any way connected to the original hero of that name. His use of an owl and of smoke grenades (or, more poetically, "blackout bombs") would seem to suggest there is a connection, but as yet none has been firmly established.

The now-former owners of Praeda Industries have been revealed to be the Terrible Trio, a group of villains that had traditionally operated out of Gotham City. Known as the Shark, the Fox and the Vulture, the three generally committed crimes that affected the sea, land and air, a pattern repeated here as well. Their last known where abouts had been Littleville, a town which turned superhuman armed conflict into a tourist attraction until the Green Lantern G'nort discovered that the criminals who worked there were actually wanted.

The Daily Planet was founded in 1826. Since then, Metropolis has weathered earthquakes, floods, and a great fire. It has been leveled by Doomsday and by Lex Luthor. It has been attacked by Dominators and by Brainiac.

But never, for a single day, did the Planet fail to publish.

I remember my own wedding day like it was yesterday. America was standing tall after having just bested the Germans and Japanese in World War II. It was a time when everything seemed possible, when horizons seemed endless, when hope was strong. A good time to be young and in love.

But it was also a time of hard work. The soldiers coming back from the front lines hd homes and families to build, and America had a world to lead, to use its strength to make a safer and more prosperous world for all.

And in the middle of all this was the press. As long as we kept publishing, people would be in formed of the news of the day. In a world before televisions became ubiquitous, newspapers supplied local, national and international news, sports, entertainment and advice to a nation that desperately needed it. If the local politicians were stealing from the till, we were there to uncover it. If a new life-saving medicine was invented, we were there to tell you about it. We didn't take that lightly.

It was in this atmosphere that Alice and I got married. Perhaps taking a day off for a wedding and quick honeymoon would have been an appropriate and romantic thing to do. But I was a journalist, one of the defenders of our democracy. I didn't take a day off.

Sadly, this message somehow did not filter down to today's new generation of journalists. My heart brims with happiness at the announced nuptials of Michael Hutchison, editor in chief of the revered monthly Fanzing. However, he has chosen to put that ahead of continuous publication, and with that I cannot empathize. If one wishes to be a journalist, and especially an editor, he must, in my opinion, treat it as a sacred calling.

I wish Michael and Melinda all the best. But the one month gap between this issue and the one which will follow is not as big as the gap in my heart over a generation of journalists who do not truly appreciate what they do.

Wrapper was a member of The Hero Group, which operated out of Lower Pluxa at the same time that the Global Guardians defended the neighboring nation of Bialyia. When the Guardians left Bialyia, The Hero Group split up as well, and Wrapper, a hip-hop artist whose real name is Saran Saran and who could produce plastic wrap from his fingers, returned to his native America to pursue a career in rap. While originally shunned due to the awful pun of his super-hero name, he eventually carved out a niche for himself and was prepared for a breakthrough when the victim landed a coveted cameo in an upcoming Will Smith video, an issue believed to have brought about this latest spate of rap-related violence.