The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

In the sweltering summer of 1970s Savannah, Georgia, a group of rebellious teenagers at St. Agatha's Catholic School find solace in their own subversive world. Protagonist Francis Doyle (character name) and his cohorts, Tim Sullivan, Wade Scalisi, and Joey Anderson, spend their days dodging authority figures by indulging in marijuana, whiskey-fueled escapades, and a fascination with the fairer sex. Their pranks on teachers, such as pilfering the school's statue of St. Agatha and hiding it in their makeshift clubhouse, are just a manifestation of their deep-seated discontentment with the monotony of their lives.

As Francis navigates his own identity, he finds himself drawn to Margie Flynn, whose arrival sets off a chain reaction that disrupts the fragile equilibrium of their group dynamic. The love note written by Tim, which Francis mistakes for a genuine expression of affection, serves as the catalyst for Margie's integration into their lives. As Francis and Margie grow closer, he must confront the existential dilemma of choosing between his friends and the object of his affections, leading to a gradual disintegration of their friendships.

The boys' creative outlet, a comic book titled The Atomic Trinity, provides an escape from the troubles that plague them. This fantasy world, replete with characters like Brakken, Captain Asskicker, and Major Screw, serves as a coping mechanism for the harsh realities they face. Nunzilla, a caricature of their overbearing teacher Sister Assumpta, and Sorcerella, inspired by Margie herself, further illustrate the blurring of lines between reality and fantasy.

The seeds of chaos are sown during a school field trip to the local zoo, where Tim and Francis concoct a plan to drug the cougar and transport it to Sister Assumpta's office as a prank. As the scheme begins to unravel, the group fractures, leaving an unlikely trio comprising Margie, Tim, and Francis. It is within this fragile alliance that Francis learns of Margie's traumatic experience at the hands of her own brother, Donny. This revelation comes shortly after Donny's physical abuse of Tim, prompting a chain reaction of events that culminates in the suspension of Tim and Francis from school.

The Atomic Trinity, their cherished creative outlet, becomes the unwitting pawn in this game of consequences when Donny confiscates it and presents it to Sister Assumpta. The graphic content of the comic book, replete with violent, blasphemous, and inappropriate imagery, serves as a catalyst for Tim and Francis's impending expulsion from St. Agatha's.

As the quartet of mischief-makers, comprising Tim, Francis, Wade, and Joey, sought to exact a final act of retribution for their nocturnal exploits, they concocted a harebrained scheme to pilfer a cougar from the local zoo. Their intention was to place the majestic predator inside their school's premises as a ruse to cover up the destruction they had wrought earlier that night. Under the guise of darkness and deception, they successfully tranquilized the beast using an ad-hoc concoction of potent narcotics, carefully crafting a makeshift sedative to render it docile.

Meanwhile, Tim, fueled by a mix of bravado and recklessness, impulsively scaled the perimeter fence to venture into the cougar's den. His curiosity piqued, he verified the animal's vital signs, only to be met with a gruesome and devastating outcome: another cougar, lurking in the shadows, emerged from its lair to exact a fatal revenge upon Tim, leaving him lifeless on the cold, unforgiving terrain.

In the aftermath of this senseless tragedy, Francis delivered an eulogy at Tim's funeral, quoting the poignant verses of "The Tyger" by William Blake, whose works Sister Assumpta had earlier deemed as dangerous and subversive. This somber moment served as a stark reminder of the transience of life and the fragility of human existence.

In a macabre juxtaposition, Francis later placed the book of poems at the site where they had pilfered the statue of St. Agatha, their hideout's sanctum sanctorum. As a tribute to Tim's memory, he embarked on a new comic series, dedicating it entirely to the character inspired by his fallen friend, christening him Skeleton Boy – a moniker that would forever be etched in the annals of their collective history.