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AfterglowNoMore
05-04-2005, 09:32 PM
“Dude! How can you say that? Mr. Amazing was the best live action hero show ever.”

“Sorry, it was a piece of Shatner. I mean, the dialogue was lame, the special effects were like a four year old crapped out a box of crayons, and the guy who played Mr. Amazing…”

“Bernie Manhiem.”

“Bernie Manhiem ended up on heroin and shot his agent. I mean, if my agent got me on that crap show, I’d’ve probably shot him too.”

“Well, what wonderful piece of small screen brilliance do you consider the best?”

“Everyman, with Stan Jackson.”

“And you said the special effects in Mr. Amazing were bad?”

“Dude, Everyman had new powers every couple of weeks. It was hard for them to keep coming up with new amazing effects.”

“Or one amazing effect.”

“Oh, and Mr. Amazing was better? Five years and every time Amazing would transform it was the same lame shimmer of blue light.”

“Excuse me.”

“Huh? What is it? We’re in the middle of an important conversation here.”

“Do you have any copies of Thrill #1?”

“What universe are you living in? We sold out of that in three hours when it first came out. It’s selling for $50 on Ebay, and the latest Wizard has it slated to only go up over time.”

“So do you have any?”

“Three copies, $100 a piece.”

“But you said they were selling for $50.”

“Dealer markup. You want one or not?”

“Don’t bother, I have six copies at my house, I’ll sell you one for cover price.”

“Right. Like you just happen to have six copies of the highest rated comic since The Bugbite & Ms. Liberty Holiday Special. And for some reason you haven’t cashed in on the market value of them?”

“That’s right.”

“And who the hell are you to interfere with my business?”

“Cap Bourbon, I write Thrill.”

“Sure, and I’m Yankee Daring.”

“Here’s my ID. Read it and weep butt pirate.”

“Um, would you mind autographing a few issues for me?”

“Prick. C’mon kid, wait outside and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Hey, You’re banned from The Lookout. You ever come in here again, I’ll call the cops!”

“Cliff, you do realize that he’ll probably slam this place in his opinion page?”

“Well, if he does, one of two things will happen. I’ll sue his arse for libel, or we’ll get more business. No such thing as bad press.”

“Dude, you are so sounding like J. Jonah…”

“Don’t start, Rob.”

Clifton Jacobs. Comic store owner, entrepreneur, and all good guy. Riiiight. As you can tell, our subject is not what you’d call “nice”. His philosophy is that if there’s money to be made, there’s never a sucker far behind. Not exactly the type of guy that you’d want to leave the safety of your city in the hands of. At least, not knowingly. Let’s resume our vigil.

“I don’t know how you expect to keep customers if you keep pissing people off all the time. I mean, that guy’s slated to be the next big thing in comics. And… It’s him again.”

“Who? That hack? Cause I wasn’t kidding about the cops.”

“No, think fatter, snoopy cape, sock for a mask, oven mitts, and bunny slippers.”

“Gragg? Box number 33?”

“No, by day he is mild mannered John Gragg, convenience store clerk, but by night, he prowls the couch, never ending his constant vigil of all that is heroic on network television. He is, bum bum bum, The Mighty Couch Potato!!!”

“Here to pick up your box?”

“No, I picked that up yesterday. I’m here just to pick up a few odds and ends.”

“Loser.”

Case in point. Two faced, self serving, opportunistic, and devoid of kindness. Not the kind of false sincerity that you receive when you enter or leave a restaurant, I mean real human kindness. The kind that leads ordinary people to go out of their way to lend a hand. Once again, back to our regularly scheduled program.

“John, I don’t know why you keep coming in here. All they ever do is rag on you, and make jokes behind your back.”

“Easy, Duncan, they have the best selection in town. Besides, you should see what I do to their bathroom every time I visit.”

“Huh?”

“Just wait twenty or so minutes till I’m done shopping.”

This is a man capable of making even the purest of people do less than desirable things.

“Oh my God, is that Cliff’s head on Jenna Jameson’s body? And Rob’s on Ron Jeremy’s? I always knew that Rob was the butch in the relationship. I guess that makes Cliff the…”

See what I mean?

“See you tomorrow Cliff.”

“Not now, I have to run home and check my auctions online. I’m working on getting the gauntlet from the Everyman TV show.”

“Still say that Mr. Amazing was better.”

“Well if your taste in women is anywhere near your taste in comics and cinema, then I see where you’re coming from.”

“F*** you very much too.”

At least he is willing to do what it takes to get things done. Even if it means ripping off old women and children. He’s passionate about all the wrong things. Not that I’m calling comic books the wrong thing.

“C’mon, you bucket of bolts, boot up, only four minutes till the auction closes. C’mon, c’mon.”

An online auction? Has the world really come to the point where people are really too lazy to bid in person?

“Woo Hoo!!!! Who’s the man? Behold the power of the Everyman.”

AfterglowNoMore
05-04-2005, 09:47 PM
Welcome back. Today we resume our study of our specimen of Homo Sapiens Zerous Herous. The aptly titled Super Zero. We observe Clifton Jacobs once again, this time ten days after our last observation.

“Dude, how much did you pay for that?!”

“Not important.”

“How much?”

“Just $300.”

“I can’t believe that you actually paid $300 for that relic from a show that no one cares about or even recognizes.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Watch. Hey John, you remember that show that came on about ten years ago about the guy called Everyman?”

“Was he a guest star on Mr. Amazing? Cause that show was great.”

“See. I told you.”

“What do I care what Gandalf the Wide has to say. Anyway, it wasn’t my money.”

“What was that? Don’t tell me you…”

“Yeah, I used the store’s account.”

“Dude!”

“What? I didn’t get pissed at you when you ordered all those Nyx wall scrolls. God those flopped.”

“C’mon, she’s hot, and what do geeks like more than pictures of hot super chicks?”

“Scantily clad pictures of hot super chicks. Those d*** things had her fully clothed. Now if you had gotten the wall scrolls of Green Knight in the chain mail thong, that might have been a different story.”

“Wait wasn’t Green Knight the guy with the stupid horn on his head?”

“No that was U-Knight, besides, isn’t he like dead or something?”

“I think he’s on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy now. At least that’s what the rumors are saying.”

“I thought that the rumor was that Humor from Codex Prime was the switch hitter? I mean, what’s the deal with the smiley balls. I mean he’s a grown man that wears smiley faces on his costume and carries a ‘sack’ of ‘balls’.”

“No, I’m sure it was the other way around… Wait! What do you mean that you didn’t get mad? You changed the locks and hung up a sign outside with a picture of Rottweiler doing me doggy style. I still get weird looks from some of the customers.”

“It was only up for a couple of hours.”

“Try days, and I had to have taken the picture down at lest twenty or so times.”

I know, I know, when do we get to the molding of the clay part, right? Be patient. Besides, it never hurts to get to know a bit more acquainted with your subject. Knowledge never hurt anyone, well, not too much anyway. [/color]

“So when does it get here?”

“What do you care?”

“Well, the sooner it gets here, the sooner we can sell it and try to recoup at least a little bit of what you have lost in this venture into nostalgia.”

“It gets here today, hopefully, that is if that jerk doesn’t screw me over by charging me for the overnight delivery, and ship it through the mail instead. You just can’t trust people anymore.”

“Ha! This from the guy that sold pieces of bed sheets as ‘Authentic Statesman Cape Pieces’.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“You mean besides the fact that Statesman’s cape is still on top of city hall in AP?”

Ugh, I can’t take much more of this useless banter. Fast Forward!

“Dude, I can’t believe that you saved that douche bag’s life.”

“It’s part of the job Rob. Doesn’t matter if I like the guy or not, it comes with the costume.”

Hehe, too far, let’s try again.

“Finally! Yeesh, I thought that Christopher Reeve was going to walk before you finally got off your lazy arse and did your job.”

“Yeah, sure buddy. That’s $8.50 for the delivery.”

“I knew it! I told you that guy was gonna screw me. I am soooooo gonna leave negative feedback on his Rob Lefield loving…”

Much better, sort of.

“So how much do you think that we can get for it?”

“A box of Cracker Jacks and a few magic beans would be my guess.”

“Dude, just have faith.”

“I do. I have faith that you are going to make us bankrupt.”

“Yeah, well, I have faith that if those two little peons in the corner near the game cards don’t empty their pockets, I’ll have them lead out of here in handcuffs!”

“Dude, they’re like eight.”

“So, they’re old enough to know that stealing’s wrong, and if their messed up yuppie parents don’t want to bother with teaching them about what happens when you do something wrong, then fine, I’ll go with their crap time out punishments, but this time out will have bars, and burly guys named Bubba.”

“Dude, in a strange kinda way, I think that you just showed that you have a conscience. I guess that hell just hit twenty below zero.”

“Shut up, or I’ll dig out the Rottweiler pics again.”

“You said that you got rid of all the copies.”

“Not the computer files.”

Ok, so he’s not really a good guy, but we have just witnessed his humanity peeking out behind the veil of alpha male behavior. But enough of the pseudo psychological crap, let’s get to something good. Fast Forward to later that night.

“Hmm, I wonder if it would lower it’s value if I tried it on? Oh well, My AIM handle is EverymanFan, so I could still say that Everyman was the last one to wear it. Damn I’m an evil genius.”

ZZITZ!!!

“Ahh, God d*** static electricity… Hey, I look pretty cool in this. I am sooo not going to sell this thing, no matter what Rob thinks.”

Deception, swearing, electric shocks, this story has it all. Well, some of it all. It doesn’t have a monkey that can ride a unicycle. Man that would really tie things together.

“Alright, Everyman’s on. Talk about timing. Now where the hell is the remote? God, I can barely hear the show. Hmm, it’s better now, must have been an error at the station. Gah, Mr. Amazing can suck…”

Ok, that’s enough of that kind of talk, let’s at least try to keep things PG-13. Fast Forward.

“You aren’t wearing what I think that you’re wearing are you?”

“Yup, isn’t it the baddest thing you’ve ever seen?”

“No, I’ve seen the show, nothing could be worse than that. Wait, does this mean that you aren’t going to sell it? Please tell me that it’s not that.”

“C’mon, it’s a piece of…”

“Shatner is what it’s a piece of.”

“Ok, I’ve gotta know, why do you guys say Shatner? I mean I know we’re all geeks here, but that one even throws me.”

“Well, when I was younger, I heard a George Carlin special where he listed the words that you can’t say on television, and had to use them all. Well, what happens when you use them all when you’re younger? You get in trouble. In my case, lots of trouble. So when we finally got tired of the taste of soap, we decided to come up with an alternative for the one word that we couldn’t seem to get enough of. We thought up the worst piece of crap we could think of, and you guessed it, Shatner it was.”

“God, and you guys make fun of me.”

“Hey, f*** you.”

“Cliff, ixnay on the ussincay man, there are kids in here.”

“Like they’ve never seen an Eddie Murphy movie.”

“Oh, dude, did you forget to clean the bathroom?”

“It’s your week.”

“Dude, it is so your week.”

“Fine, but I don’t know what the problem is, it’s not that bad.”

“Are you kidding me? I smells like Rosie O’Donnell shat out the festering corpse of a skunk.”

“Man, you are so full of Shatner.”

“No, the bathroom is and that’s the problem. Oh, God, it’s getting worse. Man, since you can’t seem to smell anything, just go clean it and spare me the horror.”

“Hey, I thought that I warned you two yesterday to put those cards back! I can hear them when you walk.”

“Dude, how can you hear them when they walk, they’re like 20 feet away.”

Ok, that’s enough for now. Like I said, the molding of the clay is a gradual process. It takes effort, skill, and in this case, lots of patience. Next time, we’ll get to see a bit more of the man who would be mediocre himself, and I’ll try to round up a couple of those unicycle riding monkeys. Man that’ll be sweet. End Transmission.

Got
05-05-2005, 12:08 AM
Glad to see them back! Fan as always, AG.

(Wasn't sure I should post this here, don't want to disrupt the flow. I'll get rid of it later if you want.)

the_starcrosser
05-05-2005, 12:43 AM
*cheers, claps, then ducks back out of the thread. keep going!*

AfterglowNoMore
08-17-2005, 12:01 AM
Ok, I’ve got the unicycles but I’m still working on finding the monkeys. But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. If you’re still here, then either you’re as fascinated by our subject as I am, or you have nothing better to do. We resume our subject later on the same night that we left last time.

“Ok, you want to explain what was going on in here today?”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well let’s see, there was the part where your hearing suddenly quadrupled. There was the part where you turned those back issues into ash. Luckily they were nickel comics. And then you started to turn to water…”

“I did not.”

“Yes you did, right after you turned the comics to ash.”

“I wet my pants! I just said that to cover it up.”

“Oh, that’s just sad.”

“Sad?! My hands caught on fire! You’d be scared too.”

“Ok, so are you like a mutant?”

“No. Why is it that that’s the first question that everyone asks when you suddenly get super powers?”

“I don’t know. Just makes he most sense. People don’t just suddenly develop magic powers. They just don’t all of a sudden sprout robotic limbs. And that’s not exactly a normal human action. Are you an alien?”

“No I’m not an alien. Though that would explain a few things.”

“Then what the hell’s happening? Last thing I need is a trip to the emergency room because all of a sudden you sprouted the ability to explode or opened up a black hole in the middle of the store.”

“Oh, c’mon, that’s just crazy.”

“Really, and spontaneously combusting comic books is normal?”

“Point taken.”

“Ok, so when did this start?”

“Today.”

“Ok, so what happened today? Did you get bitten by a radioactive badger? Or get hit by an atomic bomb?”

“No, I woke up, had breakfast, took a shower…”

“A radioactive shower?”

“No, a warm shower.”

“Radioactively warm?”

“No. Enough with the radiation. Ok, I took the shower, got dressed, and came to work.”

“That’s it?”

“Yup. That’s it.”

“Wow, you lead a boring life.”

“That’s not helping.”

“Sorry. Listen, it’s getting late, you mind if we finish this talk over dinner?”

“Sure, but if I blow up or something, you can’t hold it against me.”

“You kidding? If you blew up, it’d take an army to stop the partying.”

“Oh, ha ha.”

Ha! He wet his pants. There is Karma.

“Ok, four blocks and no weird side effects.”

“Wait till after dinner, I’m sure that there will be a side effect or two.”

“And people wonder why you don’t have a woman Cliff.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nevermind. Let’s get back on topic, your strange and sudden display of power.”

“I wouldn’t call it strange.”

“Then what would you call it?”

“Cool.”

“Oye.”

“Dude!”

“What?”

“Don’t look know, but one of those guys from Codex Prime just walked in.”

“Which one?”

“The tiger thingy.”

“B.T. Jones.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna try to get his autograph, we can sell it at the shop.”

“Don’t you think you have bigger issues right now than making a few extra bucks? Besides, those guys give their autographs to anyone that asks, everyone in town probably has the whole team’s autograph by now.”

“There’s always eBay. I’m going over.”

“EBay.”

“Hi, Mr. Jones, I’m a huge fan…”

“Cliff, no!”

“What?”

“Are you making fun of me kid?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Cliff look at your arms real quick.”

“Holy ****! I’m furry!”

“And orange.”

“Is this some kind of joke? Because it’s kind of insulting.”

“Sorry, Mr. Jones, we’re still trying to figure out what’s wrong with him. Cliff, I think it’s best we leave.”

“I’m furry.”

“You get used to it kid.”

I know, don’t you just love it when bad things happen to bad people.

“I think I know what’s going on.”

“Would you mind clueing me in? I just spent the last forty minutes covered in orange and black fur.”

“Think about it. What are you wearing?”

“Hey, not everyone can have a gay man’s sense of fashion like you.”

“No, you Neanderthal, the necklace.”

“What about it?”

“Let me spell it out to you slowly. The… necklace… is… causing… you… to… go… through…these… changes.”

“Wait, you mean?”

“God! It’s like trying to explain physics to a two year old. Think about it. You get a prop from a TV show about a superhero that can leech people’s powers. You put on the prop. You start showing powers.”

“Go on.”

“There’s nothing left you imbecile! The necklace is for real!”

“Wow, you know what this means?”

“The special effects on that show shouldn’t have sucked that much?”

“No, well, yeah, but, this means… I’m a super hero.”

“No, you’re an idiot. Just have super powers.”

“But wait.”

“What?”

“On the show, Everyman could use the powers for as long as he liked until he replaced them with another power. Why do mine fade?”

“You’re probably just new at it. Or you’re just too stupid to keep them.”

“You know, all these jokes about my intelligence are really detrimental to your employment situation.”

“Right. So what do we do now?”

“Well, we need somewhere to go that has lots of heroes so that I can practice leeching their powers.”

“Um, we’re already in a place that has more heroes per square mile than UPN’s had bad shows.”

“I know that, but I mean some place that isn’t going to get my head blown off.”

“So some place that you won’t speak then.”

“Ha ha.”

“How about a costume shop?”

“Genius! I’d give you a raise, but well, I’m not that type of guy.”

“Tell me about it.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. I’d say that he might not be as dumb as he seems, but well, I’d be lying.

“Hi, I’m Cliff, what’s your name?”

“Steve.”

“What can you do?”

“I’m an accountant.”

“That’s your super power?”

“I don’t have any powers.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I do their taxes. I’m their accountant.”

“Oh, ok. Hey you in the zebra pants! What’s your power?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Curious nature.”

“Animal telepathy.”

“Oh, so you can control animals. Interesting.”

“Well, no, I can’t control them, I can just talk to them.”

“Oh. Well, look at the time. I think I’m needed on the other side of the room.”

“You work here?”

“No, I’m just politely trying to say that your power sucks. Bye now.”

“Douche.”

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Shopping for a new costume?”

“Yeah. I’m torn between flames and snowflakes.”

“Oh, so an elemental power?”

“Yeah, temperature control. So what do you think? Flames or snowflakes?”

“Flames, cause your body is smoking!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought that you were gay.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I just figured that if you worked in a custom clothing store, that you had to be gay.”

“I don’t work here.”

“Then why are you in the dressing room?”

“Guys gotta get his kicks somehow.”

“Security!”

“There’s no need to yell that. I’m one of you.”

“You’re a woman?”

“No.”

“Security!”

“Sir, please come with me.”

“Hey you muscle bound oaf let go of me!”

“Please don’t struggle sir.”

“You got super strength or something?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. What else can you do?”

“Is this really the right time for an interview? While I’m dragging you to the door, to literally throw you out of the building?”

“Is that necessary?”

“Nope. Fun. Bye now.”

“Yoooouuuuuuu Suuuuuuuuuuuuuck! Hey, I can fly! Thanks you grape ape looking bastard. Hahahahahah!”

You don’t know how it pains me to see him happy.

“This flying thing is kinda easy. Hey! Is that a monkey riding a unicycle?”

Told you that it’d make everything better. Heh, monkeys. End Transmission.