I'm whoever you want me to be. 
Enigma #6 is an issue of the series Enigma (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1993.
Synopsis for "Episode 6: The End of the World"
Michael Smith returns to his childhood home, which is buried beneath some rubble in Pacific City due to an earthquake that took place many years ago. He finds copies of his old Enigma comics lying on a broken coffee table. A wash of repressed memories resurfaces in his mind and as he stares at the ruined walls and carpet, he realizes that these are the patterns that the Interior League adopted as their costumes. He also realizes that someone has been living down here in the dark. Suddenly, the Enigma arrives.
Elsewhere, the mutated asylum patient bursts free from her cell and slaughters one of the guards. She then runs off into the night. She finds a motor vehicle, kills the driver and takes his car.
The Enigma meanwhile takes Michael into the city so that he can view him in action. The Enigma locates Envelope Girl and engages her in combat. Envelope Girl is not a fighter, and the Enigma makes short work of her, first by breaking her jaw with a solid punch, and then by eviscerating her. Bleeding to death, Envelope Girl falls to the ground unconscious. The Enigma leans in to finish her off, but Michael holds him back. He convinces the Enigma to spare her life.
The Enigma and Michael return to his family's sunken home. The Enigma finally reveals his origins and his connection to Michael. He was born twenty-five years ago at the Collins Ranch in Arizona. As an infant, he was gifted with telepathy and the ability to transmutate flesh and accidentally used this power to mutilate his father's face. His mother, Ellen Collins, horrified by the incident, decided to cast the child into a dry well on the property. Her husband Jimmy tried to stop her, but Ellen shot him in the face with a shotgun. The Enigma managed to survive at the bottom of the well and gained nourishment by feeding off of lizards that would scurry about the cistern. It was less than a year ago that he finally came up out of the well, but he had no idea how to function on the surface world. He decided that he needed to create a new world for himself – one with tight boundaries such as those that he had lived in all his life. The Enigma eventually discovered the ruins of the old Smith home. He found Michael's Enigma comic books and decided to pattern himself after the main character. To consolidate his new identity, the Enigma decided to recreate various villains from the comic book as well.
Now it is Michael's turn to talk. The Enigma presses him about the circumstances surrounding his uncomfortable experiences at a bar a few evenings ago. Michael relents and tells him that while he was there, he met a man named Stephen. Although Michael has never displayed a proclivity towards homosexuality in his entire life, he found himself accompanying this man to a room and having sex with him. This was the secret that he refused to tell Titus. Strangely comforted by this confession, he leans in close and the Enigma and he share an embrace.
Appearing in "Episode 6: The End of the World"
Featured Characters:
- Enigma (Flashback and main story)
- Michael Smith (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Ellen Collins (Flashback and main story)
- Envelope Girl
Other Characters:
- Collins cousin (Final appearance; dies)
- Stephen (Flashback only) (Final appearance)
Locations:
- Arizona (Flashback and main story)
- California
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the Enigma trade paperback.
- Issue shipped on July 1st, 1993.
- Michael's experience at the bar took place in Enigma #4.
See Also
Recommended Reading
Links and References
- Enigma at Wikipedia
- Enigma at Gay League
- Enigma series index at Comicbookdb.com
- Enigma series index at the Grand Comics Database Project