Not So Amazing
| Not So Amazing | |
|---|---|
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| Dates run: | September 16-19, 2014 |
| Run By: | Ben |
| Read the logs: | Not So Amazing |
What would Tobey Maguire do?
Kyle and Laurie take it into their hands to stop a young vigilante from getting in too far over his head.
Cast
PCs: Miles Morales, Kyle Gibney, Laurie Collins, Doug Ramsey
NPCs: Ganke Lee, Jumbo Carnation, Radian
Timing
Plot Summary
Jumbo Carnation, an up-and-coming flamboyant mutant fashion designer, is reported to have been brutally assaulted and murdered in the New York neighborhood of East Brooklyn, far from his home in Bed-Stuy. A group of his fans online voice their fear about what they perceive as a racist, homophobic, and mutantphobic attack and demand that the NYPD root out Brooklyn’s bigots. Some even call for Spider-Man to do so. After some consideration, Spider-Man agrees to track down the culprits himself and posts a video to his Vine account to warn the murderers that their days are numbered.
Spider-Man’s vow to pick up where the cops left off garners some attention from the local media and the police, who simply release a statement condemning vigilantism and affirming their commitment to bringing Jumbo’s murderer to justice. But more importantly, the X-Men - particularly Kyle and Laurie - start paying attention to this (apparently young) mutant who’s pretty much boasting that he’ll single-handedly take down a cell of murderous bigots; they’ve seen similar characters before and it never ended well.
By mining metadata from Spider-Man’s Instagram and Vine posts (with Doug’s help), Kyle and Laurie identify his real identity and Kyle visits Miles at his charter school in Brooklyn to convince him to leave Jumbo well enough alone. Miles denies that he’s Spider-Man, but asserts that if he were then he’d be doing the right thing by taking on this investigation because someone needs to clean up NYC and make it safe for people like Jumbo.
After spending a couple of days poring over police reports and whatever data could be gathered about Jumbo, Spider-Man determines that Jumbo was in massive debt with no clear way to pay it off; it’s looking more likely that his murder was punishment from the debt collector rather than a random hate crime. To confirm this, Spider-Man decides to sneak into Jumbo’s apartment in Bed-Stuy to see if he can figure out to whom Jumbo was indebted.
He's almost instantly attacked when he gets in, and the attacker reveals himself as Radian, an enforcer of a small criminal group led by someone named Scorpion; Jumbo Carnation owed tens of thousands of dollars to him and seemed to have no intent to ever pay him back, so he was made an example. Radian is rummaging through Jumbo’s home to see what he can take to pay back the debt, so running into Spider-Man was a coincidence. And unfortunately for Spider-Man, Radian says, he’d be an example, too, of what happens when interlopers get in the way of his power to manipulate light.
A fight ensues, and it’s quickly obvious that Spider-Man is outmatched. This would be curtains for Spider-Man were it not for the timely intervention of Kyle and Laurie, who’d been following Spider-Man since they first tracked him down, and who make quick work of Radian so he and the evidence against him can be brought to the NYPD.
Spider-Man thanks the Kyle and Laurie for their help and admits his inexperience. He asks that he be allowed to join the team so that they can train him and make him a better Spider-Man. While he’s rejected on account of his age, they do tell him about the Xavier School where he can learn to control and develop his powers. In fact, it’s one of the few places in the world where he can do so, and definitely the best way to eventually become an X-Man. After some consideration and discussion with his parents, Miles accepts the offer and enrolls in the school.
External Links
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
This is Miles Morales's introductory plot.
Meta
Plotrunner: Ben
This plot derives several elements from Grant Morrison's "Riot at Xavier's" storyline from New X-Men; specifically, Jumbo Carnation's murder, the character of Radian, and the decision of a young mutant to solve an apparent hate crime (which turns out not to be one after all).
