All Star Comics Archives #8
A legendary dry riverbed known as Koehaha—“Stream of Ruthlessness”—runs once a century, and when Calvin Stymes invites his old fraternity brothers to a remote ranch, he spins the tale over a campfire. As each man muses on what they’d do with a ruthless nature, the line between imagination and transformation begins to blur. Written by Gardner Fox, Sheldon Mayer, Julius Schwartz, and Robert Kanigher, with art by Irwin Hasen, this story from *All Star Comics Archives #8* (2002) offers a chilling, character-driven exploration of morality and temptation, all rendered in Hasen’s unmistakable style—both interior and on the cover.
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Calvin Stymes invites five lifelong friends and fraternity brothers out to a western ranch, and, as they sit around the campfire, he recounts the legend of the dried-out stream-bed they were camping in. Called Koehaha, or "Stream of Ruthlessness," it runs once every 100 years. Strangely, those who "drown" in it don't really die, but neither do they come back to life, for the water washes away a man's better nature and replaces it with a ruthless nature. Each man explains what he might do with a criminal nature, then they all go to bed. Stymes moves onto the river bank while the others drown.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).