It's been a long rain in the East End of late... and the harvest has barely begun. 
- — Inspector Charles Whiteman
Bodies #1 is an issue of the series Bodies (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 2014. It was published on July 30, 2014.
Synopsis for "Bodies"
London's East End has always been a place of gangs. Detective Sergeant Shahara Hasan is part of a gang as well, in 2014 - the riot police. She had learned long ago that violence was wrong - that even reasonable force was the last resort. Tonight, she has her eye on one particular member of the rioting protest group. Andrew Morley was caught recently in the car park of a mosque with a pig's head in a carrier bag, and it was he who gave up the others in their protest against the increased immigrant population in the East End - particularly Muslims like her. Fortunately, Shahara's gang would win again - as usual.
As Morely is carted away and the crowd disperses, Shahara receives word from Barber that a body has turned up - and it doesn't appear to be related to the skirmish. She notes that he happens to be wearing a suit, while she and the others are all trussed up in armour. She knows well enough that he's hoping for a promotion, a raise, and the chance to get into her pants. Despite this, she agrees to a drink later.
First, though, she puts on the sterile crime scene investigation attire to look into the body on Longharvest Lane. She learns that the man who found the body had been frightened by the mob, and ran into an alley, where he discovered the body. As a result, he is quite shaken. Barber warns that the scene is rather gruesome, and upon seeing the corpse for herself, Shahara can only be assured that this was not a case of police brutality. This was the work of a professional.
In 1890, Longharvest Lane is for lovers of a peculiar sort. It is where the prostitutes ply their trade. While breaking up just such an act on that street, Inspector Edmond Hillinghead causes the prostitute and her client to make a run for it, and in the process, they trip over a corpse in the alley. Quickly, Hillinghead disqualifies this from being another victim of Jack the Ripper, given that the corpse is male. Given the seriousness of the situation, the Inspector gives the lewd pair five minutes to get clear before he calls in the investigators and sees them put in gaol for two years.
Hillinghead is sure that this crime was meant as some kind of message of hate or love. It had meaning. Though, of late, he is sure nobody will care what it was about, so long as no sordid details of the victim's life are revealed. Inspector Paxman stops in on Edmond's office to hear about the case. Upon learning that the crime is not likely related to the ripper, he suggests Edmond abandon the case, and consider justice done.
Ignoring him, Edmond must turn to the body for evidence, given that the crime scene itself is useless. Unfortunately, the pathologist refuses to perform an inspection for unnatural congress. What Ladbroke will say, though, is that whoever did this certainly didn't like the victim - or really liked doing this to him. Burns and flagellation, a stab wound, and an eye removed. His job done, Ladbroke asks Edmond to the Lodge later, as Paxman had. Edmond is more interested in the jigsaw he has just begun. Alone with the body, he takes photographs for posterity - a family album of torture and corruption. He is sure it is the work of more than one man, but to what end? In his investigation of the body, he notes a strange series of cuts that appear to be a symbol, and wonders what it might represent and to whom.
At the Order of Mithras Lodge in Whitechapel, Paxman and Ladbroke toast to the Long Harvest beneath the very same symbol.
In the year 2050, on what is now known as Ong Arv Ane, Maplewood discovers a body, but her mind is too addled to be sure what to do with it. Her memory is conflicted and difficult to access. After some thought, she remembers both her own name and that this is a corpse. Responsibly, she drags it to a crane and hoists it up to her loft. Looking over the body, she muses that it's been some time since she saw one that wasn't starved to death or a suicide. She notes that she doesn't recognize his mutilated face, and laughs uproariously before reminding herself that it wasn't funny. All the while, the sound of a bouncing ball echoes through the building.
As she sits next to the body, she hears a girl's voice from behind her claiming she's been looking for her. Turning, Maplewood demands to know who she is, and what she remembers. The girl responds that she is Bounce, and that Detective Maplewood is loved - and it's raining outside. Maplewood sees a pool of blood forming around the girl's feet.
In 1940, Inspector Karl Weissman - or Charles Whiteman, under the circumstances - is interrupted from his torture of an Irishman who overstepped his bounds by an air raid siren. Hurrying into the street, he bumps into one of his officers, lying that he was investigating reports of a break-in as they rush to shelter. Before they get there, though, an explosion knocks them off their feet - and vaporizes the Irishman along with it. Clambering to his feet, Whiteman sees his companion staring with horror down Longharvest Lane, where a mutilated body lies waiting.
Appearing in "Bodies"
Featured Characters:
- D.S. Shahara Hasan
- Inspector Edmond Hillinghead
- Detective Maplewood
- Inspector Charles Whiteman
Supporting Characters:
- Barber
Antagonists:
- Andrew Morley
- Inspector Paxman
- Ladbroke
Other Characters:
- Padraig Lennon
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also