Superheroes pt.2: The Fly

The Fly

Biotech scientist and social activist vigilante with a fly mask and a classic noir costume over superhero spandex. A small wiry man with a pet fly that sometimes talks to him and grants him extraordinary abilities.

The Fly can see in three dimensions of time, allowing them to respond to things before they happen. They also have superhuman agility and low-level superstrength.

Occasionally the pet fly grants them greater and more mysterious abilities, although usually they operate subtly, like luck or force of will.

Fly Vision in three dimensions of time is a compound kaleidoscope of scenes that appear spatially low resolution and muddy like old film.

Navy Bullfrog

Archnemesis of The Fly. A navy veteran turned entrepreneur who now runs most of corporate agriculture on the west coast, and a major financial supporter of the GOP.

An attractive brawny man in a navy suit. They produce a low frequency croaking vocalization that manipulates people subliminally. They wear a slimy blue helmet that amplifies their abilities to the point that they seem to influence consensus reality directly.

While Navy Bullfrog served in the armed forces, they were involved in a mission to wipe out an invasive species outbreak accidentally spread by the military overseas. This mission and all pertinent details have been covered up or classified.

Publication History

Unlike most superheroes, The Fly was introduced in medias res with no superhero origin story. In the years since, several creators have filled in some of the gaps, although these origins often contained major continuity errors, which later creative teams attempted to explain away as the effects of Navy Bullfrog's consensus reality-altering abilities or The Fly's Fly Vision.

From the beginning The Fly tackled social issues in the sciences, including critiquing the medical model of disability, tackling misinformation and disinformation around topics such as vaccines and genetically modified organisms, and WEIRD biases in research (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic). However, very early in the first volume, The Fly also subtly explored the intersections of scientific and spiritual thought, which later became a core theme of the character.

The villain Navy Bullfrog originally appeared as a one-off antagonist in Panic Attack! Vol. 1, sans his iconic helmet or any reference to his superpowers or strange past. The character was largely reinvented for The Fly, although later volumes of Panic Attack! would retcon the scope of Navy Bullfrog's influence in those early adventures.

The original creative team had intended for the pet fly to be an incarnation of a demonic entity and have The Fly interact with the Church of Satan, although this plotline was abandoned early in the run for unknown reasons [citation needed]. In Vol. 2 it was implied that the pet fly might be a Saturim agent working on behalf of Bright Mujo, although this was never confirmed.

During the XXX regime of 20XX, Vol. 3 of The Fly was censured mid-run. This led to a Streisand Effect in which the character became a symbol of resistance, and many underground "American Doujinshi" stories of The Fly would influence the official series when it was brought back into publication. This was controversial and led to backlash against the publisher for appropriating these stories while simultaneously attempting to reassert their IP control. Although they ultimately failed, the competition among publishers for this now public domain character led to an overall improved quality in storytelling compared to Volume 3, which had been losing buzz anyway prior to being censured.

I did not sleep well last night, and unfortunately nowadays that seems to be the best way to get my creative juices flowing. I should probably polish this off more but I dunno it feels right and I don't want to add too many details and muddle it, so I'm putting a pin in it and maybe I'll expand on it later.

Weird Pets

Their origins may have been functional (hunting, protection, pest control), but that's mostly not why people have pets anymore. We have pets because they are adorable and floofy and loving, or pretty to look at, or give our lives a sense of purpose through giving. These pets may have some other utility, but that's not what this is about. These pets are about serving other kinds of emotional needs.

#5, #6, and #7 Courtesy of Mike from Sheep and Sorcery.

1. Charred-black tentacular nudibranchs that come in various neon patterns. They evoke a feeling like horror movie catharsis, but are not otherwise capable of causing much harm.
   
   
2. These slow and dimwitted creatures look like a cross between a lizard and a sloth but are most closely related to lemurs. They evoke a sense of social repugnance and schadenfreude. Quietly, they have become a trendy pet.
   
   
3. Their bowling pin shape and blubbery blowup doll bodies make these Killer Klown-looking creatures immune to blunt damage and indifferent to being used as punching bags. In fact, they seem to like it (or at least that's what scientists think the giggling is about). Even most vegans approve of using these weirdos to let out a little steam.
   
   
4. Colloquially referred to as "Ant Bonobos", this unclassified thing that might be a slime mold extrudes itself into units that look like bonobos with ant parts. The colony behaves like a variation of the Game of Life algorithm, appearing remarkably like a simulation of human civilization. Despite whatever violence appears to ensue, it's all one colony and there's no reason to suspect it has self awareness or general intelligence as we think of it. Many find watching the colony slowly develop, sometimes destroy itself, and then start over, to be meditative or provide a feeling of existential contentment.
   
   
5. Pet Men: Prisoners memetically and mentally altered with futuristic technology. All other humans naturally treat them more like dogs than human beings, including being willing to euthanize them rather than giving life-saving medical care. They are fully sentient internally, but unable to act in any way outside of the norms for an obedient hound.
   
   
6. Rock Pet: While observed, this creature is nothing more than an inanimate rock. No amount of observation or scans reveal them as anything more than just rocks. However, the moment they are unobserved, they can move at astonishing speeds. They are totally harmless, eat normal food, and can even have little Rock Pet babies that just kind of magically appear next to them to make sure humans don't mistake them for ordinary pebbles. Basically a weeping angel pet rock but utterly harmless.
   
   
7. Jeff: Jeff is a professional pet. It's not a sex thing. Really it's not. He drives no erotic pleasure from it at all. The guy just doesn't mind being treated like a household pet and enjoys the benefits of free housing and food. He is very low maintenance seeing as he will use your toilet and can feed himself just fine if left to it. Actually his scallop risotto is delightful.