- Sep 22, 2013
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I think one reason comic books are so appealing to the masses is that they capture a basic human fascination with outlandish behavior (e.g., vigilantism, masquerade, etc.), which you find in only a handful of entertainment mediums (e.g., comedians, circus performers, magicians, etc.).
Here's a pseudo-spiritual vigilantism-tale I cooked up today referencing Batman (DC Comics). My hope is to convey how conversational this modern art form really is!
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Evanista was called the Pied Piper of Old New York. He would walk around the streets on full-moon nights (sometimes on Halloween Eve) with his flute and play to the street-rats who flocked around him hypnotized by his bizarre melodies and offbeat cadence. Evanista was secretly a 'vigilante' whose intention was to promote general human spirit by doing unusual things such as playing tunes for rats. His hope was that people would see him walking by and notice a representative human being who reminded them of the basic goodness of human imagination. Evanista was very strange --- he collected thousands of comic books.
One night, a crooked woman named Harleen broke into his modest apartment and stole a good chunk of his comic books. Realizing how obsessed 'Evanista the Vigilante' was with comic books, she formed a mini-ghoul gang the following Halloween and dressed up with her allies as Batman (DC Comics) nemeses (such as Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, and Mad Hatter) and walked around the city with loud trumpets and horns and creating an outlandish 'noise,' but nevertheless 'blending' into the general hustle-and-bustle of Halloween in the city. Evanista noticed them and it dawned on him that this gang of 'comic book mischief artists' were making fun of him by creating meaningless loitering.
Evanista's pride was severely wounded, and he felt the demoralization in the eyes of the street-rats he so loved to play his flute-melodies for, so he started scheming. Evanista took out his flute and approached Harleen (who was dressed as Harley Quinn) that Halloween and asked her, "What is the name of your 'gang'?" to which the sinister woman replied coldly, "The Loiterers." Evanista pulled out his flute and started playing in front of Harley Quinn's face, so she asked him loudly, "How do you know I like that melody at all?" Evanista lowered his flute and replied coldly, "I wanted to see if you'r loiter or stick around and be an audience to my flute-playing!" Harley Quinn was so angry and retorted, "Hey, I was just standing here, and you started playing, so nothing says I was part of your hypothetical 'audience'!" Evanista replied with cleverness, "Then you claim my tune had no melody at all?"
The Loiterers scattered, realizing Evanista's flute-playing was a clever trick indeed. Who could deny, especially a loiterer, that a random sound of flute-melodies emanating in the streets of the city would not grab anyone's attention? Evanista the Vigilante won the day, and from that Halloween onwards, he would complement his flute-playing by saying things to passerby such as, "I disbanded the sneaky Loiterers gang with this flute, and tonight, I will entreat your 'Djinn-friendly Halloween ears'!" Evanista would be remembered as the urban bard who changed the way people seriously looked at crime-control and pedestrian sanity in the modern world. However, no one ever figured out why Evanista collected so many comic books. What was it about the vigilantism-daydream stories that fascinated Evanista so much? Evanista's secret died with him.
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EVANISTA:
THE LOITERERS:
Here's a pseudo-spiritual vigilantism-tale I cooked up today referencing Batman (DC Comics). My hope is to convey how conversational this modern art form really is!
====
Evanista was called the Pied Piper of Old New York. He would walk around the streets on full-moon nights (sometimes on Halloween Eve) with his flute and play to the street-rats who flocked around him hypnotized by his bizarre melodies and offbeat cadence. Evanista was secretly a 'vigilante' whose intention was to promote general human spirit by doing unusual things such as playing tunes for rats. His hope was that people would see him walking by and notice a representative human being who reminded them of the basic goodness of human imagination. Evanista was very strange --- he collected thousands of comic books.
One night, a crooked woman named Harleen broke into his modest apartment and stole a good chunk of his comic books. Realizing how obsessed 'Evanista the Vigilante' was with comic books, she formed a mini-ghoul gang the following Halloween and dressed up with her allies as Batman (DC Comics) nemeses (such as Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, and Mad Hatter) and walked around the city with loud trumpets and horns and creating an outlandish 'noise,' but nevertheless 'blending' into the general hustle-and-bustle of Halloween in the city. Evanista noticed them and it dawned on him that this gang of 'comic book mischief artists' were making fun of him by creating meaningless loitering.
Evanista's pride was severely wounded, and he felt the demoralization in the eyes of the street-rats he so loved to play his flute-melodies for, so he started scheming. Evanista took out his flute and approached Harleen (who was dressed as Harley Quinn) that Halloween and asked her, "What is the name of your 'gang'?" to which the sinister woman replied coldly, "The Loiterers." Evanista pulled out his flute and started playing in front of Harley Quinn's face, so she asked him loudly, "How do you know I like that melody at all?" Evanista lowered his flute and replied coldly, "I wanted to see if you'r loiter or stick around and be an audience to my flute-playing!" Harley Quinn was so angry and retorted, "Hey, I was just standing here, and you started playing, so nothing says I was part of your hypothetical 'audience'!" Evanista replied with cleverness, "Then you claim my tune had no melody at all?"
The Loiterers scattered, realizing Evanista's flute-playing was a clever trick indeed. Who could deny, especially a loiterer, that a random sound of flute-melodies emanating in the streets of the city would not grab anyone's attention? Evanista the Vigilante won the day, and from that Halloween onwards, he would complement his flute-playing by saying things to passerby such as, "I disbanded the sneaky Loiterers gang with this flute, and tonight, I will entreat your 'Djinn-friendly Halloween ears'!" Evanista would be remembered as the urban bard who changed the way people seriously looked at crime-control and pedestrian sanity in the modern world. However, no one ever figured out why Evanista collected so many comic books. What was it about the vigilantism-daydream stories that fascinated Evanista so much? Evanista's secret died with him.
====
EVANISTA:
THE LOITERERS:
