This article is about the character. For the song, see The Camper Velourium III: Al The Killer.
Al the Killer is a pilot, gambler, and psychopathic killer responsible for the murder of a multitude of women, all of whom bear a resemblance to a pilot named Luci. Al has been described as a "Han Solo-type character" who captains a starship called The Camper Velourium and frequently inhabits a bar called "The Faint of Hearts."
History[]
Al is introduced in the first issue of In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. He is shown jumping out of Luci's bedroom closet and scaring her. Luci commands Al to leave, stating she wants nothing to do with him and that she is leaving the planet for a six month tour on the starship Connecticut. She tries to convince him to seek psychological help, but Al becomes angry and threatens her. She easily subdues him, then calls the police to have him escorted out of her house.
After that, Al spends an unspecified amount of time on Shylos-10. During this time period, he murders multiple women who represent Luci, using a paralytic to render them unable to fight back. One day, while luring one of the women back to the Camper Velourium, he encounters Claudio Kilgannon arguing with the the ghost of Coheed. From the perspective of Al, Claudio appears to be yelling at thin air, and Al attributes it to drugs. However, the woman he is with proposes he might be a visionary, saying that if he is things will happen around him without him ever noticing they do. While Al is quick to dismiss this, he is suddenly much more open to the idea when Ambellina crashes through a window after a fight with an Onstantine Priest, and Claudio doesn't notice at all.
He next meets Claudio at The Faint of Hearts, where Claudio is cheating at cards to buy passage off-world. Al offers a ride, but only if Claudio beats him at one last round of cards. Despite his cheating, Claudio loses and storms off. Al then looks through some old wanted posters of the Red Army and finds one that Vielar Crom put out on Claudio, making it a mission to capture him.
A short time later, Wilhelm Ryan is captured by Inferno and the Prise, who bring him to trial before the whole of Heaven's Fence. One of Al's future victims tries to convince him to stay and watch the trial, but he paralyzes her and is then seen mutilating her corpse. He returns shortly thereafter looking for Claudio, whom he finds phasing through the crowd to get a front seat to Ryan's execution. Realizing that no cell will hold him, he begins to devise a way to earn his trust.
The next morning, Ryan is resurrected by Mayo Deftinwolf, and cannibalistic mutants known as the Narrows assault Godder Damm. Al kills one of them before descending into the sewers to avoid more of them, rescuing Ambellina in the process. They are surrounded by the Narrows before Sizer and Claudio rescue them. After that, they are left with no choice but to join Al aboard the Camper Velourium and escape the city.
After a failed rescue attempt at Camp Si-Revody that renders Sizer unconscious, they set a course for Apity Prime and House Atlantic so they can rendezvous with Inferno's forces and end Ryan's reign of terror. On the way, however, Ambellina finds the freezer filled with the bodies of Al's victims. Before he can kill her, Claudio intervenes, using his power as the Crowing to repel Al. They fight across the ship, send it crashing into the surface on the planet. Claudio and Al tumble out of the side of the ship, crashing down to the ground. Claudio withstands the impact, but Al takes a beating. He survives long enough to pursue Claudio and stab him, but Claudio responds by driving Al rabid with his powers. Al then rushes headlong into the Red Army and is killed.