The 1987 WHO Tour is a tour sponsored by the World Health Organization and led by Senator Gregg Hartmann. The events of this worldwide tour are chronicled in Aces Abroad.
The tour was charged with investigating the treatment of wild card victims in many different cultures around the world and visited all continents, but Antarctica, stopping in thirty-nine countries. The contingent contained twenty-one delegates, five of whom were jokers.
Known Participants[]
Delegates[]
- Chrysalis
- Dorian Wilde
- Dr. Tachyon
- Elephant Girl
- Fantasy
- Father Squid
- Golden Boy
- Gregg Hartmann
- Harlem Hammer
- Hiram Worchester
- Mistral
- Peregrine
- Troll
- Xavier Desmond
- Congressman Nathan Rabinowitz
- Senator Lyons
Aides[]
- Amy Sorenson
- John Werthen
Security[]
Journalists[]
- Digger Downs
- Joshua McCoy
- Sara Morgenstern
The Stacked Deck[]
The 747 chartered for the tour was dubbed the Stacked Deck by the press. Its central cabin was converted to suit the needs of the tour; seats replaced by a small medical laboratory, a press room for print journalists included, and a miniature television studio for their televised media counterparts. The aft section provided a temporary home to the journalists, while aides were assigned to the business class section. The delegates themselves were travelling in the first class section. A few additional adjustments were made to round out the modifications, such as a spacious seat installed to accommodate Troll's massive size, and a reinforced seat to bear the Harlem Hammer's weight.
Itinerary[]
The Tour set out from Tomlin International Airport on December 1st, 1986, and returned on April 29, 1987. The following timeline lists the various stops, and additional information (where available) of the events and dates have also been included. The precise order of events is not always clear and the information compiled below may contain inaccuracies.
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Havana | |
| Haiti | The delegation visits a run down hospital in Port-au-Prince. Chrysalis, Digger Downs, and Dorian Wilde are abducted by a corrupt military leader. Hiram Worchester encounters Ti Malice, then smuggles him out of Haiti. |
| Dominican Republic | Dorian Wilde departs the tour. |
| Cuba | |
| Mexico (December 8) |
The tour visits Mexico City. Sara Morgenstern's hatred of Senator Hartmann begins to wane. |
| Panama Canal | |
| Guatemala | The Hero Twins stand at the forefront of a joker revolution. |
| Brazil (December 23) |
The delegates spread out in Rio de Janeiro. Sara Morgenstern's friendship with Gregg Hartmann grows. |
| Argentina (December 29) |
Golden Boy finds an inhospitable welcome in Buenos Aires. |
| South Africa (January 1) |
The tour visits Capetown and Pretoria. The group have a hard time dealing with apartheid regulations. |
| Kenya | |
| Ethiopia (January 16) |
Delegates witness suffering in the extreme in a place stricken with drought and starvation. |
| Egypt | The tour stops in Cairo, and some visit the Living Gods at Luxor. Peregrine and Hiram Worchester survive a terrorist attack by militants of the Nur. Peregrine discovers she is pregnant. |
| Syria (February 3 and 4) |
Tour delegates are lured to the desert encampment of the Nur. Instead of a peaceful meeting they find a violent ambush. |
| Iraq | |
| Afganistan (February 7) |
Hiram departs the tour for a brief return to New York. |
| India (February 8) |
Xavier Desmond and Golden Boy visit the monument to the late Black Eagle. Hiram rejoins the tour before it leaves India. |
| Sri Lanka | The Great Ape escapes from the film production of King Pongo. Members of the tour intervene and and revert the giant back into Jeremiah Strauss. |
| Thailand | |
| Malaysia | |
| Vietnam | |
| Singapore | |
| Indonesia | |
| Australia | Sydney is a welcome relief after the long string of stops in places where jokers are consigned to a life of poverty. |
| New Zealand | The tour visits Auckland and Christchurch. Xavier Desmond is pleasantly surprised by the quality of life that jokers have in New Zealand, but finds the local pejorative, "uglies", distasteful. |
| Hong Kong (March 14) |
|
| China | Canton, Shanghai and Beijing. Xavier Desmond fulfils a life long ambition to visit this land - his own personal Jolson Story. |
| Japan | Hiram Worchester runs afoul of the Yakuza and Fortunato steps in to sort out the mess. |
| South Korea (March 22) |
|
| Soviet Union | |
| Yugoslavia | |
| Poland | |
| Czechoslovakia | |
| Hungary | |
| Sweden (April 10) |
|
| Germany | Senator Hartman is kidnapped in Berlin, and held hostage by elements of the Jokers for a Just Society and the Red Army Fraction. |
| Italy | |
| Paris | Dr. Tachyon discovers that he has a grandson and has to put aside his differences with Golden Boy to thwart a terror plot. |
| London | Delegates get to meet the Queen of England and Winston Churchill. It is revealed that Dr. Tachyon was encountered by Soviets during his low times in Hamburg and the Soviet officer, ace with pyrokinetic abilities, contacts him in London. |
| Ireland | |
| Canada |