A Socially-Conscious Comic

[Abishai100]

I've been wondering if you can mix celebrity-media culture with PC ('politically-correct') multiculturalism dialogue with some cute comic book stylized storytelling.

Think Real World meets 21 Jump Street...


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Tom Cruise realized he had become such a movie superstar that he wanted to use his celebrity status for a good purpose. He noticed that countless images of ISIS terrorists were being distributed on the World Wide Web, so he decided to fashion himself a 'Spider-Man' costume (modelled after the web-soaring Marvel Comics superhero) and prowl around NYC on Halloween Eve 2003. Tom (aka, 'Spider-Man') helped an elderly man who was being harassed by street goons by shooting giant cobwebs at them (he fashioned a cobweb-shooter on his wrist-band designed by his friend who worked in a chemistry store).

Tom's famous movie-actress girlfriend (Katie Holmes) read the headlines of a mysterious 'masked vigilante' pretending to be Spider-Man helping out an elderly man in NYC on Halloween Eve. Katie started wondering if her boyfriend was actually this mysterious 'Spider-Man' copycat. She approached him and told him, "I want to help you! Let me fashion a Firestar costume, and I'll be your ally!" Tom agreed, and when he was surfing the Internet (on World Discussion Boards), he found a precocious Internet-blogger named Ajay who was calling himself 'Iceman' (another ally of Spider-Man from Marvel Comics).

Ajay was writing blogs on the Internet about how Halloween had become very important in America since immigration was making multiculturalism very complicated, and students were creating fancy images of what it meant for people from differing ethnic backgrounds to be celebrating Halloween together in costumes and masks. Tom (aka, 'Spider-Man') asked Ajay (aka, 'Iceman') to join him and Katie (aka, 'Firestar') the next Halloween Eve, patrolling NYC as 'idealistic vigilante-wannabes'. Ajay accepted the invitation and met with Tom and Katie and decided to become the trio Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman for Halloween 2004.

As Spider-Man (Tom), Firestar (Katie), and Iceman (Ajay) were prowling NYC on Halloween Eve, they noticed a voluptuous woman in a Black Cat (a nemesis of Spider-Man from Marvel Comics) costume terrorizing trick-or-treaters by spraying tear-gas on the streets where no policemen were found patrolling/monitoring. Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman realized this 'Black Cat wannabe' may be a true psycho. When Firestar approached 'Black Cat,' she realized the 'villain' was actually Cameron Diaz (another American celebrity). Firestar asked Cameron (aka, 'Black Cat') why she was making trouble dressed as a Spidey-villain, and 'Black Cat' responded, "I wanted to make mischief on Halloween, because I'm tired of PC multiculturalism bologna!"

Iceman started laughing at Black Cat's sardonic remark about Halloween and multiculturalism, and his jovial laugh caught Black Cat's eye. "Who are you? You're not a movie star! I like your laugh. You seem amused by my sarcastic remark about Halloween. What say you ditch Spider-Man and Firestar and join me on a little Halloween mischief crusade!?" Iceman confessed he was intrigued, and Spider-Man (Tom Cruise) grabbed his wrist and said, "Be careful, Iceman!" Iceman came to his senses and turned to Black Cat (Cameron Diaz) and retorted, "I'm a hero, not a mischief-artist, Ms. Diaz! Maybe you'll find a more like-minded 'ally'." Black Cat became enraged and sprayed tear-gas at Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman and disappeared.

The next day, Iceman (Ajay) wrote a blog on World Discussion Board, "What if Cameron Diaz was actually a terrorist who dressed up as the Spidey-villain Black Cat to make trouble on Halloween in NYC?" Ajay's blog got lots of responses and interesting comments, and Tom (aka, 'Spider-Man') suggested that he, Ajay, and Katie (aka, 'Firestar') meet with Cameron Diaz (aka, 'Black Cat') to talk about multiculturalism issues more seriously and more peacefully. Ajay (aka, 'Iceman') agreed to the plan, but in the back of his mind, he couldn't remove the nagging feeling that he started developing human feelings for Cameron (Black Cat). More intriguing Halloween Eves in NYC were looming, and the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was about to get involved.

Katie (aka, 'Firestar') received a strange letter in her fanmail box:

"Dear Katie,

I'm going to woo over your 'ally' Iceman (Ajay), since he seems intrigued by my deeds, and before the NAACP gets involved in our little 'Halloween PC multiculturalism' jaunt, you may consider the wisdom of trying to win Ajay's heart before 'Iceman' becomes a 'minion' of Black Cat. You never know, sweetie, this could become more of a charity-media event than you realize!"

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Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (Wikipedia)

 

[Abishai100]

Chapter 2: The Harvard Messenger


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A toy designer named Roderick Kingsley (born to Afghanistani-American parents in San Francisco) decided to go on an anti-consumerism crusade selling a gold case full of wonderful water-pistols to Harvard students and passerby in Massachusetts interested in random populism pedagoguery: "Boycott Toys 'R Us until the giant company agrees to be more accountable to the parents of the kids purchasing violence-themed toys from their stores!" Roderick started calling himself the Hobgoblin (modelled after the Spider-Man villain from Marvel Comics). Roderick (aka, 'Hobgoblin') started getting media attention from local news companies interested in a 'bohemian merchant' peddling items to the Harvard passerby/community.

Tom Cruise (aka, 'Spider-Man') read about the exploits of Roderick Kingsley (aka, 'Hobgoblin') and decided to ask 'Firestar' (his ex-girlfriend Katie Holmes) and 'Iceman' (his Internet-buddy Ajay --- now dating 'Firestar') to help him engage with 'Hobgoblin.' Iceman warned Spider-Man that Hobgoblin may be trickier than it may seem. Firestar found Hobgoblin very interesting and wondered why a toy designer would suddenly want to go on a Harvard crusade about the evils of consumerism by peddling water-pistols in a gold case. Roderick would wear a Middle Eastern stylized head-dress and sunglasses and an Arabic vest, always with a distinctive maroon sweater or shirt.

As Hobgoblin's street-popularity grew, 'Black Cat' (Cameron Diaz) wanted in on the action and decided to send anonymous letters to members of the Boston Greens (an Irish-American mafia group) claiming that Hobgoblin's 'water-pistol antics' were undermining the street-rule authority of the Greens. The leader of the Greens, Gerald Stacey, found Black Cat's letters insulting and wanted to destroy Hobgoblin so no one on the streets would say things like, "Look, Hobgoblin's simple water-pistol sales are poking fun at the 'machine-gun preachers' of Stacey's Boston Greens!" Black Cat was driving a fork in the roads of Massachusetts by turning the Greens against the Hobgoblin, and Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman needed to show up to save the day.

Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman decided to hold a public rally on Halloween in Harvard Square saying things on megaphones such as, "Immigrants studying at Harvard University are inundated with pro-consumerism or anti-consumerism flowery/propaganda, and it's up to the general democratic process to make American civics more sane and sensible!" Gerald Stacey thought this 'vigilante display' was hilarious and wondered if 'Spider-Man' and his 'amazing friends' were actually some kind of media personalities dressed up for Halloween to vent some personal 'ethics rage' about moral apathy in America! Stacey sent some of his Greens goons to gun down the trio and Hobgoblin that Halloween with machine-guns, but when the mobsters drove by firing, Spider-Man (Tom Cruise --- masked of course) sprayed freon onto their windshields, blocking all driving-vision and causing their car to crash.

Hobgoblin disappeared, but Ajay (aka, 'Iceman') wrote the following blog about the strange individual on World Discussion Board:

"This peculiar Hobgoblin (as he calls himself) seems to have lured Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends to a heroic deed on Halloween in Harvard Square --- all over water-pistols! Unfortunately, Hobgoblin's questionable ability to draw the attention of Gerald Stacey's Boston Greens goons (who knows who tipped them off --- probably some media personality such as Cameron Diaz!) created enough turbulence to compel the eccentric 'Massachusetts nemesis' to promptly disappear. Will he re-appear someday with a message/methods more dangerous? The ethnic minority students at Harvard have been discussing that question a great deal recently, since there is a new 'thrill' on the campus of the world's finest university!"

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[Abishai100]

The Gender Pornography Controversy


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Tom Cruise was still Spider-Man, but he joined forces with yet another American actress, the beautiful Jennifer Connelly who wanted to be Spidey's vigilante ally modelled after DC Comics' Hawkgirl. Meanwhile, Roderick Kingsley returned to town and became the Hobgoblin in full Marvel costume, and he took as his ally the actress (less well-known) Diane Kruger who became his 'ally' but anti-heroine modelled after Marvel's Spider-Woman. Connelly and Kruger would square off to defend their boyfriends' honor, but Spider-Man would discover tackling Hobgoblin would not be so easy.

Hawkgirl and Spider-Woman became crusaders about women's rights but on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Hawkgirl (Jennifer Connelly) was writing on the Internet about the value of women in cinema, while Spider-Woman (Diane Kruger) was writing on the Internet (with masked Internet avatars/aliases just like Connelly) about the value of women in pornography. Spider-Woman could afford the more racy subject-matter, since her 'beau' Roderick Kingsley (Hobgoblin) was a full-fledged anti-capitalism terrorist who planted pumpkin-bombs in Harvard Square on Halloween Eve.

To stop Hobgoblin's reign of terror at Harvard, Spider-Man (Tom Cruise) decided to set off fireworks to keep crowds calm and sane while disposing the pumpkin-bombs by throwing them into the sewer (down a manhole!). Hobgoblin was furious but flew away on his specially-engineered jet-glider. Meanwhile Black Cat (Cameron Diaz) read all of this in the newspapers and decided to send in an anonymous piece to the Boston Globe which Iceman (Ajay) read and started to become very obsessed with; so Iceman decided to track down Black Cat, while Spider-Man dealt with Hobgoblin. Meanwhile, Hawkgirl and Spider-Woman struck up an unlikely friendship when they decided to go on a pro-gender 'free speech' crusade about women in Hollywood.

Black Cat placed poison inside Iceman's ear by suggesting to the impressionable vigilante that Spider-Woman (Diane Kruger) was playing with fire by promoting pornographic material in mainstream media, something which died as a legitimate art statement since the days of American factory-artist Andy Warhol. Iceman retorted partially by stating, "Images of gorgeous actresses on the Internet help the masses digest the new age pro-populism reality that the intricate new 'cyber-social-network' of free speech voyeurism was just what the world needs to counter anti-democratic sentiments arising in the anti-consumerism Middle East (i.e., ISIS)." Black Cat insisted that 'free speech idealism' on the Internet was not enough to dampen the new global cries of anti-Western terrorism. What Iceman did not know was that Black Cat harboured a secret malice against pro-capitalism billboard/advertisement gluttony (e.g., Playboy) since the Taliban attacked the World Trade Center in NYC in 2001!

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