For The World Is Hollow...

One of the few comics I read as a young pup, with thanks to Duke, was called The Warlord and starred Travis Morgan, a ripped, blond Air Force pilot who crashes in the mythical land of Skartaris that exists at the center of our hollow planet. It was populated by the requisite dinosaurs, primitives, and remarkably hygienic white she-warriors, and the frequent depictions of him battling with .45 in one hand, and broadsword in the other were quite fun to read. Of course, no one in their right mind would imagine for a moment that there really is a great hole in the Arctic that allows one to access a lost world within...or would they?

Apparently an American physicist named Brooks Agnew believes, and he has booked passage on a Russian icebreaker next year to prove it. In a move right out of a Jules Verne novel, Agnew is picking up where adventurer and entrepreneur Steve Curry left off. Mr. Curry claimed to have located the opening at roughly 400 kilometres northwest of Ellesmere Island, and was selling spaces on the expedition at $20k a pop. Unfortunately Curry died of brain cancer last year, leaving the search for the inner world unfinished.

Agnew claims to believe that the world is hollow, and that this will be a scientific endeavor, but it is interesting to note that among his crew are several experts on meditation, mythology, UFO's, and the requisite documentary crew. In a statement worthy of Carl Denham himself, Agnew says that even if they don't find the legendary opening, the trip "will still make an outstanding documentary...But if we do find something, this will be the greatest geological discovery in the history of the world." Ah, if only P.T. Barnum had thought of this one.

Now if only someone could touch the sky.

Marius