Abishai1000
Well-Known Member
I needed to return to one of my favorite comic book community groups to offer up a modern-day piracy-oriented comics-stylized story, perhaps reflective of the capitalism-flurry of this consumerism-dizzying Christmas shopping season, and this yarn was inspired by the adventure-poetic film The Thief of Bagdad.
Thanks for reading (Merry Christmas!!),
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"A band of Algerian-Americans were dressing up as American Presidents (Reagan, Carter, Nixon, etc.) and robbing banks all across the coast of California in the summer of 2020. Why were they doing this? My name is Jimmy Olsen. I'm a photojournalist and reporter for the Daily Bugle in San Francisco, and I've been tracking this band of modern-day pirates for some time now. This gang calls themselves the Lucky Eleven (even though there's not 11 members in the gang, we're all pretty sure!). Well, the Lucky Eleven has pulled off incredibly successful bank robberies all over California this summer (since late May!). They sent a notice in July to the LA Times about them being Algerians who became U.S. citizens before being 'inspired' by the bank-robbery film Point Break in which thieves were dressed up as American Presidents. The Lucky Eleven are apparently making some esoteric point about capitalism gluttony by mocking the American Presidents, but I secretly suspect the leader of the gang, who I suspect may be a UCLA linguistics professor (since the notice the gang sent to the LA Times was written in one concise style full of linguistic structural design, as if it was written by one person in the group, and most likely the 'spiritual leader'!), thinks the American Presidents are ideal symbols of modern civilization evangelism. These guys are real comic book characters!"
"I also suspect that this leader of the Lucky Eleven may himself may be some kind of 'gypsy' (since the notice to the LA Times, most likely written by this 'spiritual head' of the gang, referenced all kinds of things regarding 'modern mysticism' and the 'charm' of superstition-symbolic jewels and gems). If the leader of the Lucky Eleven is, in fact, a true gypsy, I wonder if he leads his gang of successful modern-day robbers/pirates to explore the social ramifications of really deifying American norms and standards for the sake of sending some kind of 'evangelical' message about the strange fascination with seeking out mysticism in our otherwise machine-like capitalist system. Hey, this happened during the Great Depression, when Bonnie and Clyde made economic alienation seem somehow thrilling, and now that we're in the full-swing of consumerism glitter and globalized shopping (e.g., eBay, Wall Street, Amazon, Bloomberg-TV, Home Shopping Network, etc., etc.), I wonder if this 'gypsy' leader of the Lucky Eleven somehow wants us to feel like there's 'rays of light' shining in the new age 'giant consumerism shopping mall' and reminding us that there are such things as 'folkloric superheroes'."
"Well, the Lucky Eleven has sent a notice, a new one, to the LA Times, declaring they'll be successfully looting Fort Knox of a new shipment of gold nuggets being shipped from the deserts of Arabia and Africa. These gold nuggets are apparently the property of Arabic and African kings and representative of new commercial contracts between American companies and Middle Eastern and African figures of power! This all sounds rather 'cliched' but I think this 'gypsy leader' of this pirate-gang of the 'Lucky Eleven' now intends to throw some splashing water on this otherwise very 'power-cliched' governance movement involving sophisticated and lucrative contracts between capitalism-symbolic American companies and Arabian/African monarchs! Wow, man, I thought the Gulf War was pretty hairy, but I have to say, if the Lucky Eleven really are some kind of 'prophets' or superheroes, I'll have to wonder if the Daily Bugle, my newspaper, covered all this intrigue with due diligence!"
"My personal theory is that the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven intends to take all his booty from his iconic robberies and use it purchase a haven-like bar in some vacation-idyllic island in the Pacific. Why not? After all, what's the general reward for defying capitalism claustrophobia in the modern world? The Lucky Eleven is truly a gang of eccentrics, so I wonder if they're successful, will history consider them social critics or social psychos! There's a comic book writer working for Image Comics (IC) who's interested in adapting the stories of the Lucky Eleven into a series of comics stories about bank robbers becoming like folkloric mascots. I'd be psyched to see just what kind of 'island bar' the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven manages to open with all his booty! This is all very very American, no? That's why I'm reporting on this story to all you curious San Francisco liberals in 2020."
"The Image Comics (IC) stories about this modernism-symbolic bank robbery consciousness will feature bandits/pirates in iconic or even cliched comic book superhero costumes/outfits or even uniforms specially-designed by some of today's most cutting-edge and cult-favorite comic book writers (e.g., Stan Dee, Mark Khan, Leslie Patel, etc.). I'll be very interested to see if the comic book costumes designed for these adapted bandits/pirate mirrors the worldly flair exhibited by the Presidential-mask wearing Lucky Eleven in California! I wonder what our capitalism-rhetorical American President will say about the Lucky Eleven and what anti-Republicans will say about these new Image Comics (IC) stories! Who says capitalism has to be a dictionary?"
"I think the IC writers should posit a 'villain' to challenge the bandits/robbers prophesying about capitalism frustrations! This villain should be some South Pacific maniac who was once a tough and unforgiving cop but took a heap of steroids to become some wild-haired bounty-hunter like angel of hell. I'd call this villain something wild and unattractive like Blanka or Demoniac. Who else would be willing to stalk and terrify an otherwise romanticized group of pirates who're making modern-day capitalism sarcasm just a tad bit more youthful and lyrical? If Blanka/Demoniac ends up destroying or incarcerating the leader of the bandits/pirates depicted in the upcoming IC stories, I wouldn't be surprised if the White House calls this wild-haired bounty-hunter the modern-day RoboCop."
"Well, apparently, the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven will be flaunting a photo of his 'gold Lamborghini' in his new notice to the LA Times, declaring his intention to rob Fort Knox of those symbolic gold nuggets and shattering new age assumptions about normal political reactions to capitalism. I wonder if this gold Lamborghini will encourage the American President to endorse more foreign car companies or if it will actually infuriate him further and compel him to declare that the Lucky Eleven are dangerously threatening our consumerism optimism towards the automobile industry. I personally think the leader of the Lucky Eleven will be acquiring some kind of Lamborghini and altering it to make it some kind of 'eco-friendly' hybrid-vehicle machine of pure protest. It's all pretty predictable, right?"
"Meanwhile, there was another story of a completely different band of bank robbers who've pulled off a successful robbery of a D.C. bank on the East Coast, but these 'pirates' were wearing suits and normal ski-masks, not Presidential-masks like the Lucky Eleven. Personally, I (Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Bugle) believe this East Coast robber-band is somehow 'linked' to the Lucky Eleven, and if they are, I wonder if there's a new 'craze' in America regarding pedestrian imaginative responses to capitalism 'problems' in the modern world. Hey, one might argue that this is at least more 'polite' than 9/11, when anti-capitalist fanatical terrorists decided to simply destroy the World Trade Center, a global symbol of trade. There's good-and-evil in this saga, folks."
"I remember the day when we used to speak very romantically about the luster and fancy of great ancient kings and queens indulging in the fineries of monarchy by celebrating the lavishness of their palaces, and this wasn't necessarily the stuffy empire of Egypt or even the slothful pride of Rome. This was simply the ornate beauty of Indian palaces and the regal cleanliness and purism of English castles! This was a time when wealth was not considered a suffocating 'business' but rather a rare 'gem' and bandits were considered real psychos --- not prophets! Where did that time go? How did modern globalized consumerism romanticized the notion of defying the standard system of hierarchical governance? In any case, every civilization has its problems, so I suspect that the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven, even if he's eventually caught, will talk about the general 'human romance' of treasure itself. That would be somewhat responsible."
GREEN ACE: "My name is Green Ace. I'm the leader of the Lucky Eleven, and as Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Bugle has suggested eloquently, I am indeed a real gypsy. I tried to rob Fort Knox of those new contract relevant gold nuggets but was caught. To avoid having to give up the names of my other group-members who've thankfully successfully disappeared and left America, I've agreed to issue this press-statement to the LA Times. I'm declaring my intention to stay in prison and read books about capitalism-theory and the great works of patriotic literature such as those by Henry Adams and Adam Smith! I will continue to foster my general appreciation for capitalism and try to make my sarcastic attitude towards consumerism feel more light-hearted and less rebellious. I will do my best to reform myself spiritually in prison, and I'll even peruse the new Image Comics (IC) stories about the adapted/translated fictional band of robbers/pirates (modeled after the Lucky Eleven) and chased by the monster-cop named Demoniac. This will contribute to my sense of patriotism. So, for what it's worth, I might turn out to be a real patriotism-repentance success story...and not a comic book tragedy."
====
Thanks for reading (Merry Christmas!!),
====
"A band of Algerian-Americans were dressing up as American Presidents (Reagan, Carter, Nixon, etc.) and robbing banks all across the coast of California in the summer of 2020. Why were they doing this? My name is Jimmy Olsen. I'm a photojournalist and reporter for the Daily Bugle in San Francisco, and I've been tracking this band of modern-day pirates for some time now. This gang calls themselves the Lucky Eleven (even though there's not 11 members in the gang, we're all pretty sure!). Well, the Lucky Eleven has pulled off incredibly successful bank robberies all over California this summer (since late May!). They sent a notice in July to the LA Times about them being Algerians who became U.S. citizens before being 'inspired' by the bank-robbery film Point Break in which thieves were dressed up as American Presidents. The Lucky Eleven are apparently making some esoteric point about capitalism gluttony by mocking the American Presidents, but I secretly suspect the leader of the gang, who I suspect may be a UCLA linguistics professor (since the notice the gang sent to the LA Times was written in one concise style full of linguistic structural design, as if it was written by one person in the group, and most likely the 'spiritual leader'!), thinks the American Presidents are ideal symbols of modern civilization evangelism. These guys are real comic book characters!"
"I also suspect that this leader of the Lucky Eleven may himself may be some kind of 'gypsy' (since the notice to the LA Times, most likely written by this 'spiritual head' of the gang, referenced all kinds of things regarding 'modern mysticism' and the 'charm' of superstition-symbolic jewels and gems). If the leader of the Lucky Eleven is, in fact, a true gypsy, I wonder if he leads his gang of successful modern-day robbers/pirates to explore the social ramifications of really deifying American norms and standards for the sake of sending some kind of 'evangelical' message about the strange fascination with seeking out mysticism in our otherwise machine-like capitalist system. Hey, this happened during the Great Depression, when Bonnie and Clyde made economic alienation seem somehow thrilling, and now that we're in the full-swing of consumerism glitter and globalized shopping (e.g., eBay, Wall Street, Amazon, Bloomberg-TV, Home Shopping Network, etc., etc.), I wonder if this 'gypsy' leader of the Lucky Eleven somehow wants us to feel like there's 'rays of light' shining in the new age 'giant consumerism shopping mall' and reminding us that there are such things as 'folkloric superheroes'."
"Well, the Lucky Eleven has sent a notice, a new one, to the LA Times, declaring they'll be successfully looting Fort Knox of a new shipment of gold nuggets being shipped from the deserts of Arabia and Africa. These gold nuggets are apparently the property of Arabic and African kings and representative of new commercial contracts between American companies and Middle Eastern and African figures of power! This all sounds rather 'cliched' but I think this 'gypsy leader' of this pirate-gang of the 'Lucky Eleven' now intends to throw some splashing water on this otherwise very 'power-cliched' governance movement involving sophisticated and lucrative contracts between capitalism-symbolic American companies and Arabian/African monarchs! Wow, man, I thought the Gulf War was pretty hairy, but I have to say, if the Lucky Eleven really are some kind of 'prophets' or superheroes, I'll have to wonder if the Daily Bugle, my newspaper, covered all this intrigue with due diligence!"
"My personal theory is that the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven intends to take all his booty from his iconic robberies and use it purchase a haven-like bar in some vacation-idyllic island in the Pacific. Why not? After all, what's the general reward for defying capitalism claustrophobia in the modern world? The Lucky Eleven is truly a gang of eccentrics, so I wonder if they're successful, will history consider them social critics or social psychos! There's a comic book writer working for Image Comics (IC) who's interested in adapting the stories of the Lucky Eleven into a series of comics stories about bank robbers becoming like folkloric mascots. I'd be psyched to see just what kind of 'island bar' the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven manages to open with all his booty! This is all very very American, no? That's why I'm reporting on this story to all you curious San Francisco liberals in 2020."
"The Image Comics (IC) stories about this modernism-symbolic bank robbery consciousness will feature bandits/pirates in iconic or even cliched comic book superhero costumes/outfits or even uniforms specially-designed by some of today's most cutting-edge and cult-favorite comic book writers (e.g., Stan Dee, Mark Khan, Leslie Patel, etc.). I'll be very interested to see if the comic book costumes designed for these adapted bandits/pirate mirrors the worldly flair exhibited by the Presidential-mask wearing Lucky Eleven in California! I wonder what our capitalism-rhetorical American President will say about the Lucky Eleven and what anti-Republicans will say about these new Image Comics (IC) stories! Who says capitalism has to be a dictionary?"
"I think the IC writers should posit a 'villain' to challenge the bandits/robbers prophesying about capitalism frustrations! This villain should be some South Pacific maniac who was once a tough and unforgiving cop but took a heap of steroids to become some wild-haired bounty-hunter like angel of hell. I'd call this villain something wild and unattractive like Blanka or Demoniac. Who else would be willing to stalk and terrify an otherwise romanticized group of pirates who're making modern-day capitalism sarcasm just a tad bit more youthful and lyrical? If Blanka/Demoniac ends up destroying or incarcerating the leader of the bandits/pirates depicted in the upcoming IC stories, I wouldn't be surprised if the White House calls this wild-haired bounty-hunter the modern-day RoboCop."
"Well, apparently, the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven will be flaunting a photo of his 'gold Lamborghini' in his new notice to the LA Times, declaring his intention to rob Fort Knox of those symbolic gold nuggets and shattering new age assumptions about normal political reactions to capitalism. I wonder if this gold Lamborghini will encourage the American President to endorse more foreign car companies or if it will actually infuriate him further and compel him to declare that the Lucky Eleven are dangerously threatening our consumerism optimism towards the automobile industry. I personally think the leader of the Lucky Eleven will be acquiring some kind of Lamborghini and altering it to make it some kind of 'eco-friendly' hybrid-vehicle machine of pure protest. It's all pretty predictable, right?"
"Meanwhile, there was another story of a completely different band of bank robbers who've pulled off a successful robbery of a D.C. bank on the East Coast, but these 'pirates' were wearing suits and normal ski-masks, not Presidential-masks like the Lucky Eleven. Personally, I (Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Bugle) believe this East Coast robber-band is somehow 'linked' to the Lucky Eleven, and if they are, I wonder if there's a new 'craze' in America regarding pedestrian imaginative responses to capitalism 'problems' in the modern world. Hey, one might argue that this is at least more 'polite' than 9/11, when anti-capitalist fanatical terrorists decided to simply destroy the World Trade Center, a global symbol of trade. There's good-and-evil in this saga, folks."
"I remember the day when we used to speak very romantically about the luster and fancy of great ancient kings and queens indulging in the fineries of monarchy by celebrating the lavishness of their palaces, and this wasn't necessarily the stuffy empire of Egypt or even the slothful pride of Rome. This was simply the ornate beauty of Indian palaces and the regal cleanliness and purism of English castles! This was a time when wealth was not considered a suffocating 'business' but rather a rare 'gem' and bandits were considered real psychos --- not prophets! Where did that time go? How did modern globalized consumerism romanticized the notion of defying the standard system of hierarchical governance? In any case, every civilization has its problems, so I suspect that the gypsy leader of the Lucky Eleven, even if he's eventually caught, will talk about the general 'human romance' of treasure itself. That would be somewhat responsible."
GREEN ACE: "My name is Green Ace. I'm the leader of the Lucky Eleven, and as Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Bugle has suggested eloquently, I am indeed a real gypsy. I tried to rob Fort Knox of those new contract relevant gold nuggets but was caught. To avoid having to give up the names of my other group-members who've thankfully successfully disappeared and left America, I've agreed to issue this press-statement to the LA Times. I'm declaring my intention to stay in prison and read books about capitalism-theory and the great works of patriotic literature such as those by Henry Adams and Adam Smith! I will continue to foster my general appreciation for capitalism and try to make my sarcastic attitude towards consumerism feel more light-hearted and less rebellious. I will do my best to reform myself spiritually in prison, and I'll even peruse the new Image Comics (IC) stories about the adapted/translated fictional band of robbers/pirates (modeled after the Lucky Eleven) and chased by the monster-cop named Demoniac. This will contribute to my sense of patriotism. So, for what it's worth, I might turn out to be a real patriotism-repentance success story...and not a comic book tragedy."
====
