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[voice] / [action for the Shepherds if'n y'all want that]

Could anyone tell me about the comic books in their world? If your world has comic books, I mean. I want to hear about what kinds of stories they have, especially if they're about superheroes.

[Hubert loves the comics he got from the Christmas ship, but he can only re-read them so many times. And all he can find in the shops on Empieza are regular books. Which he's not necessarily upset about, because he likes books in general, but...they don't have superheroes. PLZ TO ENTERTAIN HIM WITH EPIC STORIES OF GOOD GUYS WITH COOL WEAPONS BEATING UP BAD GUYS.]

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What?!

[TAKE IT BACK]

Kafka Man, paragon of justice and slapstick--evil? I don't know what world you're from, but it's gotta have some seriously messed up morals.

[uh-oh he upset someone this is scary]

I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! I really don't know who he is. As far as I know he doesn't exist in my world.

[secretly he still thinks this guy must be a villain tho]

[oh no Codi you've snapped at the bitty, bad ginger]

Oh honey, it's alright! [Cue a complete change of tone.] It's just surprising is all. If I told you who he was, would that make you feel better?

O-okay. Sure!

[He'll give Kafka Man the benefit of the doubt. Really.]

Alright.

[This is what he was asking for in the first place, anyways. Settle in, Hubert, this is going to take a while.]

So this normal kid, Zeke Connors, is an edgy loner type with a cynical outlook on life and a cold heart. One day, his only friend is maliciously bullied; since Zeke knows there's no authority to defend him, he decides to take matters into his own hands and confront the bullies himself. Tragically, his convoluted plan of revenge backfires and kills him!

[Codi pauses for dramatic effect.]

...But as it turns out, Zeke is immortal! The next morning he wakes up in his bed, completely unharmed--except for one thing. He's turned into a big, nasty, human-sized cockroach! For the entire day! And he's so clumsy and tangled in his covers that he can't even get out of bed! So he has to wait there the whole day, until the next morning when he wakes up and is human again.

From then on, Zeke became Kafka Man! For one day he would fight crime as a fearless masked vigilante, throw himself at the problem, die, wait for a day, then return to the scene and continue where he left off, relentlessly fighting crime every other day until it finally submits.

[Hubert nods as he listens to Codi tell the first part of the story. ...then he furrows his eyebrows in disbelief as she tells the next parts. This doesn't sound very heroic or epic at all! Or at least, not as heroic or epic as he was expecting. What's so cool about turning into a bug and dying every couple of days?

Though the question that tumbles out of Hubert's mouth after she finishes is:]

Okay, but...why's he called Kafka Man?

[SHRUG]

I dunno--Kafka was some philosopher or something? There's a lot of really deep symbolism in these comics that I don't really care about. The action's great, though!

[Symbolism? He's learning a little about that in his literature lessons. To think that it would be fused with a superhero comic...]

Well...if I can get the comics here, I'll try to check it out.

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