The Lucky Eleven (Capitalism/Demoniac)

Abishai1000

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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!!),




:cool:

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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!"

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"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'."

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"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!"

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"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."

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"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?"

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"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."

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"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?"

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"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."

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"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."

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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."

====


:cool:


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CHAPTER 2: The Journalist


This second chapter is about a pedestrian/civilian Christian journalist commenting on American values. I felt the need to add this addendum so readers didn't get the storytelling impression that I'm suggesting that capitalism angst promotes Americans romanticizing bank robbery or crime (in comic books or movies or newspapers)!

This vignette was inspired by the film Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise)!

Thanks for reading (signing off --- and Happy Holidays!),




;)

====

"An American political cartoonist named Ajay Satan, an Algerian-born liberal writing for the Christian fanzine Warrior and making Internet-blogs with himself posed as a self-proclaimed 'democracy-defending vigilante' (and warrior!), read the story of the Lucky Eleven and 'Green Ace' and decided to make the event in American crime history more symbolic. Ajay wanted to posit the unusual 'deeds' of the Lucky Eleven and Green Ace as reflective of a uniquely American capitalist anxiety towards risk and adventure. Ajay wanted to compare Americans' love of sports with Americans' love of consumerism. Ajay decided to go on a little blogging/journalism/fanzine crusade!"

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"Ajay began to write various pieces in Warrior (the Christian fanzine!) about Americans' focus on sports-culture and sports-marketing and how it had become an 'aesthetic' phenomenon, going so far as to write in-depth Christian editorials about American sports films Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) and Any Given Sunday (Al Pacino). Ajay wanted to use his fanzine and Internet-blog space to construct artistic views on modern spiritual views on consumerism and media as they related to Americans' love of risk, adventure, social fitness, and therefore sports in general."

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"Meanwhile, Ajay's girlfriend, an attractive Hollywood (USA) actress was making films about various modern age social interests such as revisionist storytelling and folklore reinvention! She shared Ajay's passions about inventive American culture and her films reflected this, so Ajay really liked her, but he kept their relationship a secret so there would be no social risk given his somewhat radical posts about American culture and society. After all, his girlfriend was a prominent social media luminary, and Ajay wanted to use his blog-space to remain a radical, albeit a Christian radical."

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"Ajay took his girlfriend's advice however about investing some of his blog/post-space to write about the successes of the US women's national soccer team and what it might mean for the popularity of world soccer in America. After all, despite the fact that soccer had become celebrated in youth-leagues, interstate traveling-teams, and collegiate athletics, it remained unpopular at the professional level and only the US women's national soccer team had received substantial American press, given the lack of investments and success for the US men's soccer team! Therefore, Ajay decided to post some images of world soccer star trading-cards, talking about the relationship between modern international televised sports and the popularity/ratings of televised sports in America!"

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"Ajay addressed the need for more media space and press for women's sports in America, so the US women's national soccer team would get more due respect and increase TV-ratings for the US men's national soccer team in America (for the World Cup soccer tournament!) and perhaps even more media prestige for successful college soccer teams such as Georgetown and Seton Hall. Ajay realized that the interflux or 'matrix' of consumerism-media and sports-culture entertainment created a special 'niche' for the addressing of gender in sports, and how women's sports (e.g., women's soccer!) might enhance Americans' general civil celebration for world soccer (on TV, etc.)."

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"Ajay decided to travel to Seton Hall University, a Catholic-centric American school on the East Coast, when the women's college soccer team (the Pirates) had invited the successful and talented Dutch (Netherlands) women's national soccer team for an exhibition game in the spring-term. Ajay took photos of the Seton Hall Pirates playing against the Dutch soccer team and used the photos to envision his new Christian fanzine post and Internet-blog about the evolving aesthetics of sports-marketing in a traffic-centric modern world connected by media...and customs! Ajay realized his girlfriend had given him invaluable advice."

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"Ajay took photos of a very gifted Dutch women's soccer team player Elka Kuyt and followed her around the next day for an interview and photos for her daily exercise workout regimen. He then compiled all these sports-culture photos for his new Christian fanzine posts and Internet blogs about the development of sports-aesthetics in modern media! Ajay now wanted to compare Americas' developing views on sports-marketing on the world stage as these views related to Americans' perspectives on risk and fitness in this new age of Wall Street and World Bank photojournalism. "

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"Ajay then compared popularity of men's and women's soccer in America with American youngsters' clear cheering of American baseball (the dominant sports/pastime!) and how baseball trading-cards reflected youngsters' almost 'comic-book' like approach to sports imagination. He compared baseball-cards to comic book iconography and how soccer (men's and women's!) was peculiarly 'overshadowed' by 'baseball diarism.' Ajay wondered how the Seton Hall Pirates women's collegiate soccer team would feel like there was sufficient media spotlights afforded to women's soccer in America if Americans, in general, celebrated the daydreams of baseball candy."

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"Ajay concluded that the Lucky Eleven bank robbers and their leader, Green Ace, were robbing banks to make poignant statements about how risk-consciousness and media-hypnosis contributed to Americans' perspectives on traffic aesthetics and why fortune and fame were somehow eerily linked to social intellectualism! Ajay wrote about how sports films in America might reflect some of the marketing criticisms offered by the sardonic Lucky Eleven and Green Ace. Ajay wondered about what his girlfriend had said about the ironies of American media biases towards women's sports."

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"Ajay wasn't necessarily saying that media biases and social contradictions and obstacles to modern global entertainment and democratic consumerism should inspire outlandish behaviors such as those espoused by the bank-robbing Lucky Eleven. However, he was suggesting in his Christian fanzine posts and Internet blogs that more serious focus afforded to the 'customs' of American marketing might make Americans (and the world!) feel more 'socially comfortable' towards the congested qualities of modern capitalism. Ajay wanted to unwind by watching some women's World Cup soccer games on YouTube."

====


:cool:
 
Chapter 3: The Brother



I just wanted to add one more chapter in this democracy-vignette, and this final one is about the more conservative estranged brother of 'Green Ace' who itches to distance himself from the complications of modern legalese/capitalism dogma and become a distinguished educator. This section was inspired by the film Kindergarten Cop!

Thanks for reading (signing off),





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"No one knew Green Ace had an estranged brother named Eric who was living in Madrid (Spain). For the past few years, Eric was snowboarding in Switzerland, trying to determine his next life-move after getting over the trauma of his wild brother ('Green Ace') being labeled for the iconic modern-day robbery initiative! Eric decided he'd start a Montessori home-schooling program in Madrid, taking time to take the kids on trips to ski-slopes where he could teach them how to snowboard."

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"Eric had already become a respected man in Madrid (Spain), since he was a successful silk-merchant, exporting high-quality silk fabrics to North America under his uncle's company shipping company. Eric used his amassed money to build his Montessori children's education institute in Madrid. He didn't want to be associated with his bank-robbing brother ('Green Ace') in any way whatsoever. Eric was eager to make his new school a thing of institutional excellence."

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"Eric was pleased after his first year of school operations, which saw numerous youngsters enrolled in his Madrid branch. He had his teacher associate, Professor Thelma Blair, establish another branch in Switzerland! The Montessori schools Eric established were furbished with creative items, educational toys, and building-blocks so kids would apply what they learned about mathematics and art to the construction of symbolic real-world analogical 'Golems' such as climbing-towers."

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"Eric also had Transformers (Hasbro) robot-toys and corresponding art/portraits shipped to his Montessori school in Madrid (Spain). He'd tell his young students about the modern-day appeal of robot-toys and why one particular Transformers robot, a rescue-robot named Defensor (a giant who was comprised of smaller warrior-robots who transformed into medical/rescue armed vehicles), represented a modern-day focus on the qualities of patriotism, civil defense, and institutional ethics! Eric's play-time lessons with his Defensor models became quite popular, so he had models shipped to his friend Dr. Thelma Blair's Montessori branch in Switzerland."

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"Eric also took time to take his young Montessori-school students to drive-in theaters, so they could enjoy the marvels of modern cinema and explore the cultural views of old-era films and new-era films and perhaps (hopefully) compare them to the social appeal of modernism-symbolic robot-toys and robot movies! This was a high-quality educational and imaginative experience for his students. Eric realized he was now far away from the influence of his wild robber-brother ('Green Ace')."

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"Eric also spent time dressing his kids up in wild and funny costumes and masks when he took them on ski-trips. He'd helmet and equip them for safety and warmth of course, but he'd also put fake-bears and funny clothing-apparel on them for imaginative time on the snowy slopes. Eric began to seriously wonder how his own brother had become such an iconic modern figure of anti-capitalism pseudo-terrorism and mischief-dissection. Perhaps he and his brother were polar opposites."

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"When one of Eric's Montessori students wondered if they should get a shipment of water-guns for summertime play, Eric decided to call his Swiss Montessori teacher-associate (Dr. Thelma Blair) and explore if violence-toys were appropriate for educational settings. He and Thelma agreed, however, that with proper supervision, the water-gun playtime would encourage the young students to think about how modern toys could symbolize teamwork rather than rage! Eric purchased 40 water-pistols for his Montessori students the following summer."

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"Eric then decided to read his kids various Catwoman (DC Comics) stories during his lessons. Catwoman was an offbeat fictional costumed urban vigilante who was intent on proving that crime-fighting involved doses of creative-thinking. Eric referenced Catwoman in his Montessori lessons as he told his kids about the value of law and justice and why offbeat tactics for crime-fighting were sometimes 'romanticized' in the press and in comics/movies because of the complexity of the legal system. He never told his students, however, about his robber-brother ('Green Ace') while he was stimulating them with Catwoman art."

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ERIC: I'm psyched about using Catwoman as an instruction-avatar!
THELMA: It's ironic that Catwoman is so popular in America.
ERIC: Yes, American legal system dialogue can get quite controversial.
THELMA: I get the weird feeling you're haunted by legal matters.
ERIC: Why do you say that?
THELMA: Is there someone from your past who was rather wild?
ERIC: Well, if there was, I'd rather not discuss such complications.
THELMA: You just want to focus on Catwoman-Montessori programs!
ERIC: Right-O.

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