from...
AMERIKAN ZER0! #1: “THE GENERATION GASH!
(written by Jason Squamata/ illustrated by Andrew Mc Kenzie)
FRONTISPIECE:
"I pledge obedience to the brand
of the United Syndicates of Amerikorps
and to the conglomerate for which it stands:
One enterprise, under surveillance
omnipotent and invisible
with security and commerce for all."
PAGE ONE (splash page):
A splashy advertizement, like an evocative movie poster or an advert for a video game, advertising the life of Adam Zer0, perhaps patterned on those "Army of One" military ads, pastiched or psychedelicized into an "Army of Zero" ad. The narration is in the second person, inviting the player (or reader) into total immersion. There are images of Adam Zer0 layered over one another, at various scales.
-Adam Zer0 shaved and bald and blank before a circular static-filled fisheye tv screen, in a completely blank room.
-Adam Zer0 in Steve McQueen “Bullitt” mode: a lean, mean piece of work, cleaning his guns.
-Adam Zer0 engaged in a feverish tantric kung-fu battle with Kali-Ma Kaligula, the femme fatale/lunatic supervillain of his mythos. an image that splices absolute elegance and absolute brutality.
CAPTION:
YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU ARE.
CAPTION:
FOCUS YOUR UNWAVERING GAZE ON THE SPIRALLING HYPNO-DISC. LISTEN TO THE HISS OF BLACK STATIC, A DEAD FREQUENCY BETWEEN IDENTITIES. BREATHE THE STINK OF GUNPOWDER AND LEATHER AND CYANIDE. TASTE ALIEN SWEAT AND THE STEAMING MEAT OF YOUR ENEMIES. FEEL THE LATEX FLEX OF A SKIN MADE FOR KILLING.
CAPTION:
YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU ARE.
CAPTION:
YOU ARE THE SECRET POLICEMAN. YOU ARE WHOEVER YOU NEED TO BE TO KEEP THE PEACE. YOU KEEP THE PEACE...WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.
CAPTION:
YOU ARE ADAM ZER0. YOU ARE EVERYONE AND NO-ONE. YOU ARE DEEP UNDER COVER.
CAPTION:
AND EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL.
TITLES:
ADAM ZER0!... THE GENERATION GASH!
PAGE TWO (splash page):
Diorama of ritualized teen angst. centering on Joe Nuthing, an emotionally empty and alienated seventeen year old high school student. Listening to demonic glitchy nightmare muzik. Casually watching gruesome action movies. Playing ultraviolent Adam Zer0 video games. His only friend is another misfit named Damian. They spend their free time popping Ritalin, learning the way of the ninja, and reading “Guns'n'Ammo” magazines like other kids read comics or playboys. The narration is still in the second person, inviting you into the life of Joe Nuthing, a ticking teenage timebomb waiting to go off on every living thing it sees. Like a CGI setup for the Columbine video game. Maybe the scene is suffused with LABRATZ merchandise. LABRATZ is a cartoon screwed-up kids get obsessed with. It’s set in a laboratory. The experimental rat characters are identically blank and miserable, except for one. In every episode, one rat rouses the rabble and brings the lab to the brink of revolution, with a career path modeled on a modern dictator. Hitler or Stalin or Dick Cheney or Idi Amin. Then the fluorescent bulbs come on like a sickly flickering sun and the scientist enters, grabs the rat in question, shoots it full of ome brain-melting chemical, and leaves the rats in a disappointed, dreamless stupor. The LABRATZ Empire is comparable to Disney. Their themepark is called LABRATZ AMERIKA. All of Joe’s fashions and toys should be based on LABRATZ.
CAPTION:
MAYBE YOU'RE AN ALIENATED, RITALIN-FRIED HIGH SCHOOL KID NAMED JOE NUTHING, TRAPPED IN A WORLD YOU NEVER MADE.
CAPTION:
YOU BARELY KNOW YOUR PARENTS. YOU BARELY REMEMBER YOUR EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ALL THEIR OLD PHOTOGRAPHS OF YOU LOOK LIKE THEY WERE FAKED.
CAPTION:
YOUR ONLY JOY LIES IN DREAMS OF APOCALYPSE, FANTASIES OF EPIC CARNAGE, TAKING REVENGE ON A WORLD THAT WON'T LISTEN.
CAPTION:
YOU LISTEN TO DEMONIC MISANTHROPIC GLITCH-HOP MUZIK. YOU STUDY GUNS WITH YOUR ONLY FRIEND DAMIAN. YOU PLAY ULTRAVIOLENT ADAM ZER0 VIDEO
GAMES. JUST TO FEEL. JUST TO FEEL...SOMETHING.
CAPTION:
YOU FLIP THROUGH THE YEARBOOK AND IMAGINE THE CORPSE OF EVERY AWKWARD PORTRAIT. YOU RECEIVE REPORTS ON THEIR THOUGHTCRIMES THROUGH ADVERTS, RANDOM CONVERSATIONS, AND SLICES OF STATIC.
CAPTION:
YOU'RE WAITING FOR TODAY TO BE THE DAY. MAYBE YOUR NAME IS JOE NUTHING. MAYBE JOE NUTHING IS READY TO DIE.
PAGE THREE (splash page):
Damian comes over in the morning, like he always does, so they can walk to school together and maybe not get beat up or egged by passing cool kids. Joe is eating a bowl of Labratz Glo-in-the-dark Rit-a-Bitz. There's an gun on the table. His supine mother's legs might be visible through the doorway. She’s bleeding to death on the kitchen floor. There are four big camo dufflebags (full of guns and ammo) by the front door. Damian is confused. Joe says "today's the day". He hands the uzi to Damian. "santa came. everything we talked about. it's all coming true." Damian is confused, but intoxicated by the weight of the gun in his hand. It's like a dream he's having. He's afraid to ask questions. He might wake up. They stare at each other with something like love. "It's on" they say in unison. Joe grabs the lunch his dead mother packed for him. They grab the dufflebags. They're going to school. It’s all a commercial for this suspicious breakfast.
CAPTION:
THIS DAY IS A SCHOOLDAY LIKE ANY OTHER, ALMOST. YOU WAIT FOR DAMIAN AND THEN HE GETS HERE AND THEN YOU WALK TO SCHOOL.
CAPTION:
BUT THERE'S SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT TODAY. FIRST, THAT SPECIAL DELIVERY. THEN, THE WAY MOM JUST WOULDN'T STOP. UNTIL SHE DID.
CAPTION:
NOW, DAMIAN, LIKE ALWAYS. BUT IT'S DIFFERENT. NOT THE NAUSEA OF IMPENDING HELL. INSTEAD THE BUTTERFLIES OF IMPENDING ADVENTURE.
DAMIAN:
JOE. WHAT'S UP?
JOE:
what's UP? TODAY. TODAY'S THE DAY, SOLDIER.
JOE:
EVERYTHING WE TALKED ABOUT. SANTA CAME. IT'S ALL COMING TRUE.
JOE AND DAMIAN:
it's ON.
JOE:
LET'S GO TO SCHOOL.
PAGE FOUR (splash page):
A high school fantasia. Bubbles of hope and longing. High fashion ads. Beautiful young people, making the scene. Blown kisses. Grim confrontations. The grounds and halls of Kakodelphia West High School. So many tomorrows. Repeating shots of the boys advancing on the school, late for class. Bells ringing. Locker doors slamming. Libraries and gymnasiums. Perhaps a bubble of stillness as the boys have entered the school, sulking at the threshold of their great adventure. Putting on their sunglasses. A pause before the slaughter.
CAPTION:
SKYE IS A JUNIOR. SHE WANTS TO BE A PAINTER. SHE'S TAKEN DRUGS TWICE. HER FAVORITE COLOR IS SILVER. SHE LIKES THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS.
CAPTION:
TRAN IS A FRESHMAN. HE LIKES SOFT JAZZ MUSIC AND MATH. HE SPIT AT A POLICEMAN ONCE. HE HATES HIS BIG SISTER. HIS UNCLE LIVES IN VIETNAM.
CAPTION:
CRYSTAL IS A SENIOR. CRYSTAL IS "POPULAR". GENUINELY SWEET AND LOVED BY ALL. MAYBE SHE WANTS TO BE A LAWYER. MAYBE BROADCASTING. SHE'S NOT SURE. SHE HAD AN ABORTION, ONCE, BUT NOBODY KNOWS.
CAPTION:
BRADLEY IS A SOPHOMORE. HE HAS A NATURAL TALENT FOR FOOTBALL, BUT HE DOESN'T CARE MUCH FOR THE FOOTBALL CROWD. HE'S INTERESTED IN BUDDHISM. HE LIKES INDIAN FOOD. HE LIKES TO DANCE. HIS FATHER COMMITTED SUICIDE.
CAPTION:
KENNY IS A FRESHMAN. YVONNE IS A SENIOR. MANDY IS A SENIOR. THADDEUS IS A JUNIOR. DOROTHY IS A TEACHER. MITCH IS A SECURITY GUARD. MOCHA IS A SOPHOMORE. ETCETERA. ETCETRA. ETCETERA.
CAPTION:
JOE AND DAMIAN ARE ANGELS OF DEATH, SAVORING THE PAUSE BEFORE THEIR APOCALYPSE.
CAPTION:
NOW.
PAGE FIVE (splash page):
Teenage wasteland. Apocalyptic bloodbath. Columbine the fashion shoot. High School Musical splinters into High School Massacre. Screaming homecoming queens. Exposed midriffs and juicy couture splattered with blood. Jocks sobbing and pissing themselves as they're disembowelled by bullets. Joe and Damian getting into it, grinning and laughing, Angels of Death in camo chic. Paying special attention to the teachers. Murdering favorite and nemesis alike. The captions will tell how many points for each kill and any special powers they get from “easter eggs”.
CAPTION:
BANG! HATED GYM TEACHER. 200 POINTS!
CAPTION:
BANG! GIRL WHO LAUGHED WHEN YOU ASKED HER OUT. 500 POINTS!
CAPTION:
BANG! BANG! BANG! ALL THE PRETTY PEOPLE AND ALL THE LONELIES ALIKE, SCREAMING, BLOODY, AND SUDDENLY DEAD IN A BLITZKRIEG OF BLOOD AND JUDGEMENT.
CAPTION:
IT'S LIKE YOU WERE BORN TO DO THIS.
CAPTION:
IT'S LIKE YOU FOUND YOUR FUNCTION.
CAPTION:
AND DAMIAN, SUCH A VICIOUS KILLER. YOU TRAINED HIM WELL.
CAPTION:
THE TWO OF YOU, BORN TO KILL AND KILL AND DIE!
CAPTION:
HIGH SCHOOL BLOODBATH. 10,000 POINTS!
PAGE SIX (six panels):
PANEL ONE:
In the aftermath, Joe and Damian in the library. Bodies squirming and mewling and bleeding on the floor. Maybe fleeing students visible in the hallway. The killers don't care anymore.
The calm after the storm.
MEGAPHONE VOICE FROM OUTSIDE:
WE ARE THE POLICE! WE HAVE THE SCHOOL SURROUNDED! MORE VIOLENCE WOULD BE FUTILE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS!
CAPTION:
YOU’RE SO COLD AND LETHAL, LIKE ADAM ZER0 HIMSELF.
AND THAT’S THE POINT OF IT ALL
UNLESS YOU ARE JOE NUTHING AND YOU’VE JUST GONE CRAZY.
PANEL TWO:
Damian is coming down off the adrenalin rush, starting to feel the creeping tendrils of reality, and he’s looking to Joe for leadership, to keep the dream alive
.
DAMIAN:
NOW WHAT?
PANEL THREE:
Joe shoots him point blank in the face.
JOE:
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
PANEL FOUR:
Men in MK0 combat suits (like SWAT team/Delta Force gear but more fetishy, emblazoned with the ZER0! brand, an iconic Amerikan five-pointed star with a “0” in it) pour into the room, dragging in a gurgling retard clone of Joe, wearing the same clothes he's wearing.
CAPTION:
NOW YOU REMEMBER. THE CLEANERS ALWAYS BRING A BRAIN-DEAD CLONE OF WHOEVER YOU’RE PRETENDING TO BE. THEY MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A SUICIDE.
PANEL FIVE:
They take Damian's gun and shoot the clone.
JOE (to Damian’s corpse):
YOU WERE A GOOD SOLDIER.
PANEL SIX:
Men in black suits with secret service headsets escort joe out the back door of the school, flanked by soldiers, to a 1961 Lincoln presidential limousine, the car JFK was killed in, motor running, the driver dressed in special forces combat gear.
MAN IN BLACK:
FLAWLESS OPERATION, ZER0. DR. GREENBAUM WILL BE SO PROUD OF YOU.
PAGE SEVEN (four panels):
PANEL ONE:
Joe Nuthing staring out the window of the car with a steely adult intensity. He's a little disoriented, seeing the ruins he always leaves in his wake when it's time to slough another skin.
MAN IN BLACK:
WE’LL HAVE YOU BACK AT THE INSTITUTE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, AGENT ZER0. SAY GOOD-BYE TO ANOTHER EXPIRED LIFE.
JOE:
I GUESS. WHATEVER. GAME OVER.
PANEL TWO:
The car is racing away from the school in its state of siege. A couple of cops make as if to leap into their squad car and give chase, but a Delta Force type trains his gun on them and says
SOLDIER:
NEVER MIND THAT CAR. IT’S OVER. GET YOUR ASSES IN THERE AND HELP US CLEAN UP.
CAPTION:
A MOMENT OF TENSE “WHO’S THE ALPHA DOG?” GAMESHOW MUSIC.
PANEL THREE:
Then they go towards the school with the other cops and the paramedics. Doing as they're told. Screaming, blood-splattered students and teachers.
CAPTION:
THEN ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD.
PANEL FOUR:
Big bubble of the limo driving towards the Tavistok Institute for Applied Societry. Adam Zer0, relieved of his Joe Nuthing cover identity, on his way to a hardcore debriefing session. Another bloody victory for the secret policeman.
CAPTION:
AND IT’S LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED.
CAPTION:
IT’S LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED...AGAIN.
PAGE EIGHT (five panels):
Laid out like the brochure for an exclusive spa, but it's not just the body that's being altered and de-toxified, it's the psyche and the soul.
PANEL ONE:
In the lush modern lobby of the institute, the secret service men are checking him in. A nurse and a doctor might be standing at attention, passing paperwork. Like the scene in “A Clockwork Orange” where Alex is being conducted from the prison to the private hospital where he receives the Ludovico Treatment. The presidential limo might be visible through the glass doors, idling outside. Joe looks spaced-out and sulky at the same time.
CAPTION:
ARE YOU THE KIND OF MAN WHO SEES LIFE AS A SERIES OF ACHIEVABLE OBJECTIVES?
CAPTION:
ARE YOU FEELING FRAZZLED BY THAT AWKWARD TIME BETWEEN MISSIONS?
PANEL TWO:
Then he's flanked by a smiling doctor and a smiling nurse in an elevator descending to sub-basement 33. Joe has the grim insolence of someone about to die, refusing to give his killers the satisfaction of seeing his fear. There's blood on his t-shirt and on his cheek. It could belong to anyone.
CAPTION:
PEEL OFF THAT OBSOLETE COVER IDENTITY AND GET UNBORN...THEN BORN AGAIN.
CAPTION:
...AT THE TRAVISTOK INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SOCIETRY.
PANEL THREE:
Then he's in a decompression where doctors in suits and lab jackets (all wearing surgical masks) run tests and clutch clipboards, like they're giving him a physical. He's been scissored free of his clothing. In their background, perhaps the oval portal to the sloughing room is visible.
CAPTION:
REMEMBER: YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU ARE.
CAPTION:
EXPERIENCE HARDCORE TRANQUILITY!
CAPTION:
IN THE DECOMPRESSION PANTRY.
PANEL FOUR:
Then he's standing, dazed with his arms held aloft, in the sloughing room, bathed in a sickly green light. Technicians in star-spangled hazmat suits are peeling off his skin grafts with special instruments, loosening tissue corsets, peeling a star-shaped, flesh-toned decal from his forehead to reveal a barcode, shaving him and spraying him with strange vapors.
CAPTION:
IN THE SLOUGHING CHAMBER.
PANEL FIVE:
Then he's naked and blank and thinner and taller than he was, walking down a long oval corridor that leads to an absolutely white room. Technicians in hazmat suits are at the threshold, waving, beaming like their child is receiving his diploma.
CAPTION:
IN THE CLEAN ROOM.
CAPTION:
FROM NUTHING TO ZER0 IN THIRTY-THREE MINUTES.
CAPTION:
THE INSTITUTE...BECAUSE SOMETIMES A SOMEBODY NEEDS TO BE NOBODY.
*(colors in these images have been warped in translation. these images do not reflect the palette of the finished art)...
*(colors in these images have been warped in translation. these images do not reflect the palette of the finished art)...
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