JLA Watchtower (Archive)

ZOMBIE MEETS BEAST IN DOWNTOWN STAR CITY BRAWL
Written for the Star City Times by Richard Lewis

Last night saw many strange occurrences across cities in every state, not least of which was in our very own Star City. In the early hours of this morning one of the many incarnations of supervillain Solomon Grundy ran rampage across downtown, causing damage that as yet has not been quantified but is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Unfortunately for our citizens, popular night hotspot 'The Abattoir' took a bad hit from the roving zombie, and will be having massive renovations for the forseeable months. Grundy reportedly walked straight through a number of the walls, causing eleven casualties and one fatality, and was then confronted by a person not heard of often in Star City; the KGBeast Anatoli Knyazev.

For the sake of our younger readers, the KGBeast was in the late 1980s and early 1990s a prolific villain active in Gotham City, whose crimes were brought to an abrupt halt through the loss of one of his arms. This ex-Soviet hitman had made a number of killings across the world estimated in the hundreds (for which the Russian government has never taken responsibility) and had intended to bring his spree to a head with the assassination of then-President Reagan. Due to the diligence of Batman, this murderer was caught and sent to Blackgate prison, although he has since escaped on numerous occasions and obtained a robotic arm to use in the place of his missing one.

Currently we have not got confirmation on whether his current freedom is due to a recent escape, the Pardoning of Prisoners Act ruled by President Luthor, or whether he was released due to psychological rehabilitation tests, but his presence in Star City poses interesting questions.

At the top of this reporter's list is why the KGBeast engaged Solomon Grundy in fierce battle. CCTV footage shows Grundy destroying local property with the Beast proceeding to open fire on him, potentially distracting the zombie from causing further damage. With Grundy's attention drawn, he then unleashed a barrage of attacks on the creature before they slipped out of view from the camera. The KGBeast was however seen to seriously damage Grundy before they disappeared from camera-sight.
An anonymous tip from the SCPD has confirmed that they joined an unidentified 'war veteran' shortly after this incident in bringing Solomon Grundy to the ground, thus freeing our city from a potential reign of terror.

This reporter is intrigued to find out whether we have seen a new side to the KGBeast. Was his defence of downtown Star City an act of heroism? It has been known for our most infamous villains to 'turn pver a new leaf' and the Cold War has long been over, giving Knyazev no further reason to fight America. Alternatively, we may have seen a murderer add another kill to his tally.

My opinion shall be my own, but this may not be the last time we see the Beast from the East appear on our streets. We can only hope it is as defender and not aggressor.