Apama The Undiscovered Animal! # 10 (First appearance of The Tap Dance Killer!)

 By Mark Rodriguez

One of the highlights of checking out Steel City Con and Sci Fi Valley Con was running into Ted Sikora and seeing what new comics he's working on. In Sikora's Hero Tomorrow Comics, one of his popular characters is the Tap Dance Killer. She would get her own comic series, but she would first make her appearance in his other series Apama The Undiscovered Animal # 10. Likewise, The Tap Dance Killer would introduce Punchline who would also get his own series. But before we go into any of that, let's take it back to Apama and see the debut of the Tap Dance Killer. 

The issue opens with a recap explaining that an ice cream man named Ilyia Zjarsky found an old cave with the markings of something called Apama the Undiscovered Animal. After copying the required poses, he was able to unlock the powers of Apama. In the previous issue, there was a 'Ten Cent Beer Night' at a baseball stadium. His arch-nemesis Regina crashed the party and killed the mascot, pinning the murder on Apama. With the crowd starting a riot, he was forced to flee.

Three weeks after this event, Ilyia has been laying low. We see a young woman named Nikki St Clair setting up flyers for 'Nothing Like Vaudeville', a horror show musical. She sees the ice cream man and waves him over. She asks for a strawberry cone and asks about his truck. He says the speakers are messed up but he still has to keep the music going to sell ice cream. They introduce themselves to each other and Nikki offers Ilyia a flyer. He asks what he will do with it, and she says he will attend, audition and get cast.

He asks what the show is about, and Nikki says it's like the Wizard of Oz of horror. She asks if he's ever acted before, and he says he's trying to act cool if that counts. She says he doesn't need experience, they stand in a circle and take turns improvising. It's a community thing and they'll ease him into it. She says a lot of people are there to try something new. Ilyia thinks about it and Nikki says she'll be there too. She gets the feeling neither of them want this to be the last time they see each other.

Later on in the company garage, Ilyia overhears that Jenks was put into a coma. Ilyia recalls that he accidentally decked Jenks during the riot and was hoping he'd pull through so he'd be done with being Apama. He laments that now the police are after him. 

Meanwhile a meeting is happening in the police force as they're after both Regina and her cult as well as Apama. However, Apama did save officer Rushford's life, so for now they figure they should have at least 'one of these freaks' on their side and focus their hunt on Regina. 

Ilyia spends days just sitting and drinking at his apartment, pondering mostly on the things that went wrong when he was Apama, mostly Regina. His rat Liza (since Ilyia can talk to animals) tells him to go out and do something so he can make himself feel better.

Two days later, Ilyia takes Liza's advice and goes to the Near West Theatre. He sees a lot more people than he was expecting and decides to leave, thinking he was mostly here to get Nikki's number. Just then Nikki grabs him from behind, excited to see that he made it. Ilyia says he was heading out since he can't act. Nikki says she understands but he cannot leave.

Later on the director, Bob Navis Jr., tells the group that whatever they've done in the past doesn't matter. What matters is what they can show him, right here, right now. After everyone introduces themselves, Bob has everyone sing an a cappella verse and chorus from any vaudeville song of their choosing. The others sing songs from musicals but all Ilyia could sing was 'We Will Rock You'. 

When it comes to dancing, Ilyia impresses everyone since he can use his Spirit Force to easily keep up with everyone. Afterwards, Bob tells everyone the lead role will be a freak. This won't be staged through make up, he wants them to show them their inner freak, to break their barriers and pose their bodies in ways no one has ever seen before. Everyone tries several poses, though they are largely contrived or inauthentic. 

Ilyia does a weird pose, that comes natural to him thanks to the Apama spirit, and he is able to hold it for over three minutes. It was freakish and it left an impression on the crew.

Several days later, Jenks' friends, including Ilyia, gather around him, offering support and hope that he beats his coma. His daughter swears to find Apama and make him pay.

Later on at the Zjarsky homestead, Ilyia tells his parents that he got the lead role in a musical at the Near West Theatre. His mother asks how much it pays, and he says it doesn't. She says he can't afford to be in a play for nothing and he should call Olaf to get a job at the cleaning company. His father tells her to leave Ilyia be, and he can find a better job after he's done with the play. 

The musical's story goes as follows- sometime in the 1920's, a runaway freak happened upon a bizzare carnival. He gets discovered by a diabolical ringmaster. The townsfolk hate and persecute the freak. The freak is homeless but things get even worse as he runs into the violent leader of the criminal underworld named Sir Terror. Sir Terror is played by Vincent Reed, an architect that has already done eight shows for the theatre and he loves playing villainous roles.

The freak then runs into the mob's hired gun, the Tap Dance Killer. She's played by Nikki St. Clair. She's done thirty shows for the theatre and dedicates this show to her sister Toni, who's stationed in Iraq. The freak then runs into the wax museum of Fletcher. He's played by Klaus Mirogold. He's left the theatre for a while but decided to return to it after his wife passed. 

Fletcher catches the freak and plans to kill him and have him join the wax museum display. Just then Sir Terror shows up with new bodies for Fletcher and decides to recruit the freak. The freak is paired up with the Tap Dance Killer. To test him, he has to kick out the chair out from under a person that's tied up so he can hang him. At the last moment the freak escapes, but since he knows too much Sir Terror sends his men after him.

After the show, the director says the next day a rep from the publishing company will be visiting them to make sure they're 'properly staging' the musical. He never heard of this, but he tells everyone to stay true and authentic. Ilyia worries that when they see him act they'll shut down the show. He doesn't want to let Nikki down, especially since he's falling for her. This makes him feel guilty about Trina.

Later that night, Ilyia goes to visit Trina as Apama. He hasn't seen her in a month since he couldn't bare to face her after giving it all up. He doesn't know what's going on with Nikki, but he knows he wants something with her. He also knows he's not a two-timer. Apama says Trina was more into Apama anyway and wouldn't want anything to do with Ilyia. He has to leave that part of his life in the past and will let Trina down easy.

He notices that the house is empty and breaks in, hoping that nothing happened to her. He finds a note on the table from Trina. She says what they had wasn't working. She says she doesn't want to be a victim waiting to be saved. Her fear of the cult will be her own problem and she will face it on her own. She tells Apama that he questions himself but he is a hero with a good soul. She ends the note saying she'll cherish their time together and wishes him nothing but happiness. Apama realizes he was dumped.

The next morning, Ilyia heads for the theatre as a bird flies towards him. Ilyia tells Hawk that he's 'taking the early retirement package'. Hawk says he's had sidekicks quit before but he's never had one join the circus. He asks if he's not concerned about some punks that broke into Mickey's register and got away scott free. Ilyia says that's what the police are for. He says he figured after taking down a few bad guys he doesn't owe the city anything and that the police can handle the punks and Regina and whoever else from now on. 

Later on, the crew puts on their best performance, but the publisher Nadine Pinkering is not amused. After rehearsal, Ilyia and Nikki hang out at the cast party. Nikki tells Ilyia how she thought about going to New York after getting some offers, but she feels she belongs where she's at. Ilyia agrees and Nikki says she likes how he doesn't overthink things and just goes with the flow. She considers it fearless. Ilyia doesn't know about that, but he says she inspires him to be fearless. They share a kiss but suddenly Ms. Pinkering tells Nikki she needs to talk to her privately.

While the rest of the crew is getting drunk, Vincent, Klaus and Nikki are getting yelled at by Pinkering. She tells them they're horrible playing as mobsters and have to make it feel real. She could shut down the show but if they want another chance, they will drink a toast to make it real. Pinkering serves them some sort of smoking drink, and once they all drink it, the mood in the room changes. Pinkering says they are the three most magnificent actors she's ever seen and she knows they're really 'gonna knock 'em dead'.

Ilyia walks Nikki home since she's feeling a little tipsy and starts talking like someone from the 1920's, even mentioning hating to miss the trolley. Ilyia is confused and Nikki figures she just drank too much. They make it to her yard and Ilyia asks if she wants to hang out a little longer. Nikki says she likes him, but she knows from experience that things that start fast, end fast. She suggests they take things slow and he agrees.

Ilyia walks home thinking after his previous relationships, taking things slow might be a good idea. He still can't believe she's into him and he was still blown away from that kiss from earlier. He admits the walk home did feel a bit weird.

Meanwhile Vincent is also walking home and is complaining about the modern car designs he walks past. Just then a guy armed with a steel rod tries to rob him. Vincent suddenly punches the hell out of him. He then grabs the guy and asks him who sent him. He interrogates the thug as if he was a guy who sent out because someone put a hit on him. 

Vincent is back at his apartment, wondering how his shoe got scuffed up. Just then someone knocks on the door. It's Klaus who now calls Vincent 'boss' and says he took care of the mess he left outside. Meanwhile at Nikki's place, she is dressing up in full costume and feels something strange happening to her. She feels that she has become the Tap Dance Killer!

My thoughts-

Pretty cool story so far, though of course I'm thrown in the middle of Apama's story in trying to understand Nikki's story. I also noticed that Regina herself has also sprung out into her own comic series named Bloom, so Apama is kind of a launching pad for future stories.

Ilyia is sort of a down-on-his-luck type and very pessimistic, but it makes sense given all the stuff that happened to him. Being in a room with a guy in a coma, with everyone around you being concerned over him and swearing vengeance on the guy that did it, while being the guy that put him there in the first place has got to be unbearable. 

I like the concept of a guy that gained super powers, beat up some bad guys, and then decided to hang it up and move on with his life when things got too dangerous. Naturally he'll have to return to being Apama, but it's cool seeing a glimpse of what Ilyia's life would have been had he been allowed to quit. Also good on him for making sure he broke things off with Trina before getting further involved with Nikki, even though Trina beat him to the punch.

The comic has good art and character design, a bit of a classic comic look to the characters. This issue seemed to be more of a breather issue after last issue's brawl and set up for this new tale.

Nikki is a pretty energetic and talented woman, and a likable character. It seems whatever Ms. Pinkering served the crew brainwashed or hypnotized them into literally becoming the characters they portray. For what end, is too soon to tell but now Nikki is trapped within her Tap Dance Killer persona and I'm curious what happens next. Especially since she would end up getting her own series. I can't wait for the next issue.

Ted Sikora, when I met him in 2021, at the time Bloom # 2 was his latest comic, He's a cool dude.