See, the goddamn Batman got it wrong. Insert mental fuckyeah fist pump GIF here people. Yes, I just had to use Frank Miller’s line for that.
No disrespect meant, OK? Bats will always be my hero. But I figured Man is not really driven by fear. We’re driven by hunger, hunger of all kinds. Who cares if the skies are having a massive lightning diarrhea on the flat field I call my land? I want that gazelle running across the just-mentioned flat field for dinner later. Who cares if that downright-scary woman-beating drunken brute of a husband will come home soon? His hot and abused wife needs some er, caring support from their friendly neighbor during her time of need. Don’t get me started on that damn blue-balled president of ours.
So yeah, hunger. That may explain why I’m wearing a basic black ghillie suit padded with Kevlar-wrapped, interlocked iron plates on places that may be hit with bullets (chest, back, neck, forehead, groin, etc. and yes, I tested it and so far they can take an Uzi burst at pointblank range) and that may hit other people (elbows, knees, shins, forearms. MMA fan here yo), and only plain Kevlar otherwise. That may also explain why I’m about to rappel Australian style down a twenty-six story building with only a can of mace, two mil-spec Tasers (double-wield oh fuck yeah) and two Asp batons tucked in my utility belt and maybe a month’s worth of rappelling experience in the nearby mall tucked in my other (and figurative) belt. That may not explain, however, this… fan-shield thingy I created that’s now strapped on my forearm. Imagine that shield used by Escaflowne’s Van Fanel against dragon flame in the first episode, only this time it’s bulletproof and has more fancy etching around it. Awesome, I know right? Very functional too.
Hunger. Hunger for approval from dear ol’ military-born-and-raised Special Ops dad who was downright disappointed when his only son decided to study Fine Arts, majoring in Metal Works and Sculpture, instead of joining the Green Berets. Hunger to one-up those motherfucking artsy-fartsy illustration majors with all their big talk of being the next Alex Ross and that condescending attitude towards us sculpture majors.
Your son, even though he’s a nerd who’s into art, is not a pussy, dear sir. All that beatings you gave me, all that surprise self-defense lessons I had to go through just so I can have dinner, all that talk on what’s right and wrong and standing up when you have to, they taught me a lot. Because of those I know that being hit on the groin is not a fun experience and that a Taser shot there will paralyze someone AND make him/her pee. Thank you for those, no sarcasm meant.
Your classmate will own all your collective asses. You are cursed to draw comic book heroes that will never be yours. Heck, after I’m done here you will draw ME.
Back to rappelling down this building and on to that pair of drug dealers. I really should’ve thought of a name first. Tss, too bad “Kickass” was already taken. Feh. At least I have the logo I’ll spraypaint on their asses after I’m done beating the crap out of them.
If I beat them up, of course. Fuck this noise. Let’s get this party on.
fictionthing 
Interesting piece. Sounds like a promising start to a comic book, maybe even a dramatic monologue. As a stand-alone text, and for introspection I feel I need something more from the voice of this piece tho. From the details of the piece, you’ve established that he’s a superhero. What needs to be filled in is his sense of urgency in doing what he does; it can be conveyed with either a nervous tic, or maybe a sudden surprise if he accidentally looks down or think he’s been spotted or something. The stakes are high for this character after all, and above all he won’t be recognized for it, let alone by his “disappointed” dad. There’s more that can be told here.
I envisioned this as his FIRST outing as a masked vigilante, hence his seemingly exuberant attitude (IDK, veteran masked vigilantes seem… jaded, tired and going on just because of duty to me) and relative inexperience in rappelling (I mean come on, who rappels down a building with only a month’s worth of experience right?). So there’s not much risk if he’s seen too early… I think.
However, I do agree with you that more can be told here. What do you think is lacking (other than the sense of urgency)? Maybe a follow-up piece will do nicely. I just decided to cut it short because I have a bad habit of overwriting and sounding real boring at times. And I was worrying it’ll sound way too er, ‘Kick-Ass’-y.
“Hunger” came off quite strongly in this one. I like how it sounds vague in some parts, it only makes me think that to the character, the need to prove himself to other people overrides all other things. Great job, sir.
Oh, and this will make for one kickass comic book intro. 😀
want to draw the art for this? even a one-chapter one-shot thing will be awesome
I have told HPN about my thoughts on this so here are a couple of things I’d like to add: Third paragraph is overflowing with geek references, this reminds me of a friend of mine who loves dropping names and making sure everyone remembers that he knows his geek stuff better than anyone. That may or may not be the intention but because of this, the character came off as being arrogant to me.
Also, for someone who’s so sure of his geek stuff, it’s a little bit strange that he used “fan-shield thingy” to describe one of his contraptions. I expected that he would have created some sort of name for it.
And I agree with Larry about ‘hunger’ coming off really strongly in this piece. 🙂
Re: arrogance – it *is* unintended. But thinking about it, this guy has to have a superiority complex that disguises a lot of insecurities given his circumstances and hunger to prove one’s self. It’s like he’s always going “I’m better than you” or something like that yet in real life he’s scared that he’s nothing more than a bag of hot air. Good call there.
Re: fan shield – he doesn’t even have a name for himself LOL. IDK, maybe we’ll see more of that er, “fan-shield thingy” in the next episode (if any?). As they say, “Abangan ang susunod na kabanata” haha.