XPost: alt.comics.lnh

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Issue #1: "Mysterious Rumblings! The Election Begins!?" _______________________________________________________________________________

When the Ultimate Ninja... no, when Nina Yamashiro revealed the truth - that the original Ultimate Ninja, leader of the Legion of Net.Heroes, had died, and had chosen Nina to, secretly, take his place - most of us had no idea how to react.

There were those who were fiercely angry at the lie. There were those who were fiercely loyal, to him and to her. And there were those who just didn't care much either way.

But it felt like most of the Legion had ended up with something along the lines of... well, he was the leader, and it was all under his orders, so it's all kosher, right? And the reason given - that the Ninja had wanted to avoid a repeat of the enormous fiasco that ensued the last time he left for an extended period - certainly made sense. And Nina had kept things running on an even keel... so it was all fine, right?

So why didn't it *feel* fine?

That sort of thing. So we all just kind of ended up floating along, the new Ultimate Ninja continuing her leadership, very few satisfied but even less knowing what they wanted to do about it.

But then, Kid Unknown started making waves. At first, he had been just another of the new LNHers who had signed up after the Catalyzation Wave. He'd gone on some missions and done pretty well, even tho nobody I talked to seemed to know what his actual powers were, and tho he didn't seem big on social events, he was friendly enough, and a lot of Legionnaires had a vaguely positive impression of him.

But the day his three-month "please don't betray us *immediately*, okay?" trial period had ended, a petition had popped up - a petition to call for a general election for leadership of the LNH. And Kid Unknown was the one talking it up and getting signatures.

"It's just fair," he would say. "The last Ninja was confirmed by the mandate of the people, so this one should be too. If nothing should change, then nothing will."

And today, Cheesecake-Eater Lad stood on the stage in the Legion auditorium, the Ultimate Ninja standing behind him. "Ahem. By the bylaws of the Legion of Net.Heroes charter, an election has been called for leader. Nominations are now open, and can be--"

Kid Unknown leapt up on the stage and pointed into the audience. "I nominate-- Only-Does-Good-Deeds-For-Pragmatic-Reasons Lass!"

Everyone gasped and turned to the nominee. She sighed and stood up from where she'd been leaning against the wall. "You can just call me Pragmatic-Reasons Lass."

"...can be dropped off at the reception desk in the lobby," said Cheesecake- Eater Lad, trying to speak loud enough to be heard over the sudden excited babble of his audience.

Seriously!? Why would you even do that?! The reason why this is a bad idea is literally in her name! Oh, this was *much* worse than the Ninja, but if that Kid Unknown kept talking her up...

Someone had to do something about this. *I* had to do something about this. _______________________________________________________________________________

The truck rumbled across Net.ropolis city limits. It looked like an everyday sixteen-wheeler hauling goods cross-country, but hidden within its trailer was the high-tech headquarters of Ame.rec.a's most secretive - and most effective - soldiers of fortune!

There were half a dozen highly trained operatives within, gathering data and preparing for battle. At the front of the trailer, looking over a bank of monitors, stood an incredibly muscular black woman. She wore jeans and a ripped camo vest with nothing under it; over it, there hung a pair of gold bandoliers. She had a patch over one scarred eye, and a curly mohawk between short-cropped sides.

To her right stood a highly professional woman, with red hair, freckles, rectangular glasses, and a perfectly tailored suit whose only concession to anything other than dependability was being bright fucking orange.

She said nothing, and the woman in front of her picked up on it. "Report."

"Lady Zed." The woman in orange spoke in a clipped and precise manner. "I must verify. Is this assignment is worth taking? The original Ultimate Ninja was a triple-S tier combatant, and we have very little intelligence on the new one."

Lady Zed chuckled. "Implication understood, Ms. Executor. But it's too late to change course." She turned, showing her right hand woman the symbol on her eyepatch - a 'no' sign over the silhouette of a ninja! "My father never gave
up on a job that he'd accepted, and neither will I. We've been hired to assassinate that ninja - and the all-new Z-Team always gets its man!" _______________________________________________________________________________

Somewhere down the halls of reality, the universe has an Office.

A demiplane of pure bureaucracy, it threatened the chaotic silliness of the Looniverse multiple times, until the Sword of Sig, the Excalibur of the early Internet, was driven into its terminal, locking its power in place.

The Arthur who committed the deed suffered terribly for it, and in the end fell,
justly, by the hand of his Lancelot. But like trauma, legends repeat down the generations, and some have said that it is time for a new king to draw the sword from its stone of silicon.

There was a boy who fancied himself Lady of the Lake, keeping watch over the Office until a new king came to claim it. But some jealous force banished him from this world. And now, there is none to notice as the fluorescent lights flicker, as the monitors buzz, as an unearthly howl echoes down the empty halls...

...as the Office hungers for its Administrator... _______________________________________________________________________________

When I decide I gotta do something, I do it. So an hour later I marched up to the reception desk and slapped down the forms. "I'd like to nominate myself for the leadership election."

Kyoko, today's receptionist, picked up the forms, skimmed over them, and shook my hand. "You're on the ballot. Good luck, Small-Attention-Span-For-Nonsense Lass." _______________________________________________________________________________

Author's Notes: Why don't we start an all-new storyline? :> Feel free to add on to this however you like! And feel free to throw in your own nominations for leader, whoever you think would be interesting! I figure we'll have an actual vote whenever we get to that part of the story.

The name of this series was inspired by the anime Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 (which was a reboot of the original Bubblegum Crisis, much as this follows on from the original Leadership Crisis and the later Infinite Leadership Crisis).

Continuity and Usability Notes: Nina was revealed to be the new Ultimate Ninja in Hungry, Hungry Sabertooths!, and came out to the world at the end of that series. (This series was advertised as "Leadership Crisis Net.ropolis 2022" in that, but uh, that proved to be optimistic.)

The Kid Unknown name was used for two mysterious characters in Mike Escutia's Pliable Lad, and I figured it was kosher to use it here; I have my own idea for what his true identity should be, but that's up for grabs for future authors if they want to do something with it. Only-Does-Good-Deeds-For-Pragmatic-Reasons Lass's first (and before this, only) appearance was in Another LNH Title? Really? #6. The Z-Team first appeared in the Electrocutioner's Song, and their only other appearance was in the Halls Jordan and Cliche Dude issues that followed on from that. All these characters are Free For Use.

The Multiversal Office has appeared a number of times, and the plot of Library Lad as Lady of the Lake comes from Another LNH Title? Really #4 (while Library Lad being locked out of the Classic Looniverse comes from Bite-Size Tales of the LNH v20 #20). And... I think that's everything! :>

Drew "you can use the anime-inspired format of my issue title, but you don't have to" Nilium

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On Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 8:42:22 PM UTC-7, Drew Nilium wrote:

::: __ __ _ __ :::
:+: / / ,'_/ / |/ / :+:
+:+ / /_ / /_ / || / +:+
: /___/eadership |__/risis: /_/|_/et.ropolis :
+ _______ ________ _______ ________ +
/ ___ \|\ __ \ / ___ \|\_____ \
+ /__/|_/ /\ \ \|\ \/__/|_/ /\|____|\ /_ +
# |__|// / /\ \ \\\ \__|// / / \|\ \ #
+#+ / /_/__\ \ \\\ \ / /_/__ __\_\ \ +#+
#+# |\________\ \_______\|\________\|\_______\ #+#
### \|_______|\|_______| \|_______|\|_______| ###

Issue #1: "Mysterious Rumblings! The Election Begins!?"

If given a choice between Nina UN and Old School UN I'd vote for
the Old School one.

I suppose the reason I think Old School UN works is probably
because he's terrible and mentally ill in all the right ways.
He's just a more fun to write. And can characters like Sarcastic
Lad talk smack about Nina UN without it feeling like they're
punching down? I don't know. From my perspective, Ninja UN just
seems like a very hard character to write. Old School UN is just
way, way easier.

And don't think its the whole gender ambiguity thing that I'm
having a problem with. I think Fuzzy would probably be a better
choice for leader probably she seems a bit tougher and at times
more terrible. Nina UN feels a bit too nice, too mentally
stable, too insecure to totally work as the Ultimate Ninja. And
I have to think that maybe people like Cheesecake Eater Lad
should probably be troubled if their ultimate goal is to make
Nina more like the Ultimate Ninja. But I don't think nicer more
mentally stable Ultimate Ninja really works as a character.

That being said the people who are still writing LNH stories
should probably have a bigger say in who the LNH Leader is. My
LNH writing output is near zero and if Old School UN became
leader again it would still be next to zero. I mean I'm sure
there are great stories to be told about Nina UN. They just
don't exist in my head.

Thinking a bit about who would be the best character to lead the
LNH long term, I think it's still Old School UN hands down. I
suppose it might be fun to see other characters for short amount
of time like say a J. Random Kiwi, but for long term I think Old
School UN is still the best.

So, I guess my nominations for this new LNH Leadership Election
are:

Old School Ultimate Ninja
Fuzzy

And I would love to hear some arguments about why other
characters would be better than Old School Ultimate Ninja for the
Leadership position. Maybe you can change my mind. :)

Also Pragmatic-Reasons Lass is not a good choice for Leader (fun
to see her return though. :)) I also don't think she'd want the
job. She seems more like the type to be pulling the strings
behind the curtain.

Arthur "Doesn't want to leader..." Spitzer

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On 2023-04-02 15:38, Arthur Spitzer wrote:

If given a choice between Nina UN and Old School UN I'd vote for
the Old School one.

I suppose the reason I think Old School UN works is probably
because he's terrible and mentally ill in all the right ways.
He's just a more fun to write.

I think Nina was just then coming in when I was putting the Ultimate
Ninja in Powernaut Comics 2013 (published 2017). I never thought of
switching.

--
-- (signed) Scott Eiler 8{D> ------ http://www.eilertech.com/ -------

"Your Royal Highness, instead of devoting yourself exclusively
to Minerva, should, instead, rather offer sacrifice at the altars
of Bacchus, Orpheus, Venus, and Morpheus."

- Advice to Prince Duarte of Portugal. From "The golden age of
Prince Henry the Navigator", by Joaquim Pedro Oliveira Martins.
Coming soon to Project Gutenberg.

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On 4/2/23 6:38 PM, Arthur Spitzer wrote:
<snip>

If given a choice between Nina UN and Old School UN I'd vote for
the Old School one.

Ooooooh, I see.

I suppose the reason I think Old School UN works is probably
because he's terrible and mentally ill in all the right ways.
He's just a more fun to write.

Extremely valid. n.n

And can characters like Sarcastic
Lad talk smack about Nina UN without it feeling like they're
punching down? I don't know.

Oh, I definitely think so. Though I can see the characters not being sure...

From my perspective, Ninja UN just
seems like a very hard character to write. Old School UN is just
way, way easier.

Makes sense, and see below...

And don't think its the whole gender ambiguity thing that I'm
having a problem with. I think Fuzzy would probably be a better
choice for leader probably she seems a bit tougher and at times
more terrible.

Very much agreed. :3 She's fun.

Nina UN feels a bit too nice, too mentally
stable, too insecure to totally work as the Ultimate Ninja. And
I have to think that maybe people like Cheesecake Eater Lad
should probably be troubled if their ultimate goal is to make
Nina more like the Ultimate Ninja.

Yeah, like... I think part of the purpose of Nina in this role is to see what happens when you put someone full of complicated feelings into this role that's historically been filled by a very simple, straightforward character. It feels like a lot of useful story stuff falls out. n.n

But also, there's the character of The Leader of the LNH, the supporting character who helps make the story go, and Old School UN excelled in that role. Currently, there's no one firmly in it, and I think this story is about that...

That being said the people who are still writing LNH stories
should probably have a bigger say in who the LNH Leader is. My
LNH writing output is near zero and if Old School UN became
leader again it would still be next to zero.

You know, that's true, but being greater than zero still puts you as one of the more prolific LNH writers currently. X>

And I would love to hear some arguments about why other
characters would be better than Old School Ultimate Ninja for the
Leadership position. Maybe you can change my mind. :)

You know, I would love to see you introduce a character who is similar to Old School UN in the ways that made him a good Leader-character and throw them into the election. :> That would be a really interesting addition.

Also Pragmatic-Reasons Lass is not a good choice for Leader (fun
to see her return though. :))

:3 I very much agree.

I also don't think she'd want the
job. She seems more like the type to be pulling the strings
behind the curtain.

Oooooh, you're right. So maybe there's a reason she's pursuing it now, when she normally wouldn't...

Drew "very interesting comments, thank you" Nilium

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On 4/2/23 7:30 PM, Scott Eiler wrote:

On 2023-04-02 15:38, Arthur Spitzer wrote:

If given a choice between Nina UN and Old School UN I'd vote for
the Old School one.

I suppose the reason I think Old School UN works is probably
because he's terrible and mentally ill in all the right ways.
He's just a more fun to write.

I think Nina was just then coming in when I was putting the Ultimate Ninja in Powernaut Comics 2013 (published 2017).  I never thought of switching.

:D Yeah, I don't think we'd revealed it at that point but she makes sense there,
right?

Drew "not until 2020, I believe" Nilium

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On Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 5:01:34 PM UTC-7, Drew Nilium wrote:

Yeah, like... I think part of the purpose of Nina in this role is to see what
happens when you put someone full of complicated feelings into this role that's
historically been filled by a very simple, straightforward character. It feels
like a lot of useful story stuff falls out. n.n

But also, there's the character of The Leader of the LNH, the supporting character who helps make the story go, and Old School UN excelled in that role.
Currently, there's no one firmly in it, and I think this story is about that...

Yeah, I think that one advantage that the Old School UN had was as wReam used to say -- There is no wrong way to write him -- which does give the writers a lot of ways
to use him from the very serious to the very goofy.

I could see writing Nina in a more serious dramatic type story, but have a hard time seeing her in a more goofy and ridiculous type of one.

And maybe there's part of me that has a very Anti-Authority type streak and do kind
like to write any leader type people in sort of the most unflattering type of way when
I'm doing my stories.

And there's maybe me just liking to write more broken middle-aged characters than
the younger ones probably because I'm a broken middle-aged man.


Arthur "Old..." Spitzer

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