/lit/ - Literature

So here's the pitch of a first theme:

I have been reading this wonderful book the past few weeks or so (I particularly found inspiration in one item) that collected and archived a bunch of novelty items they would advertise in comic books. The Groucho Marx beaglepuss glasses, the "hypno-coin", fan-clubs and decoder rings, that sort of thing. I've become fascinated with the idea that these items could carry meaning in a story and serve as symbols for things. Sure, some of them don't work that well, but I think the contributors could find an item or an advertisement they like and write a story centered around that item. A story about the "insult that made a man out of mac" comic where a weak boy becomes an adonis-like man over the course of a week, a story about a boy mail-ordering kryptonite and killing superman, stuff like that. I don't think it's the most original idea, but for a starting collection of stories for the writers on /lit/ they can write comedies, horror, anything they want yet readers will still have the consistency of American comic book culture to identify with.

Again, just an idea. You don't have to use the book in question for material, I just mentioned it because that's where I thought of it.

Still in planning stages. It's a high concept piece about toys and novelty items actually serving a purpose. The prologue involves a kid using comic books as a form of escapism. He orders these through the mail and becomes severely disappointed when the glasses do not allow him to see bones or through girl's skirts.

The main story starts as we jump decades later to two brothers arguing about a set of Groucho Marx glasses that have an eerie power to them: when worn the possessor gains an entirely different appearance and voice, having a perfect disguise. One brother, the protagonist, has had the glasses for years (they're young adults, about 15-mid twenties I'd imagine) and is just now sharing them with his brother to continue a long-running charade. The protagonist is characterized right now by a desire to protect and has been using the disguise to watch over his family and earn money on the side. The brother I imagine is a more intense version of the protagonist: rather than being protective, he's possessive. More reckless, greedy, you get the idea. The brother goes mad with the power and starts manipulating people with the two identities.

Then, around the start of act 2, the protagonist is cut out completely from the glasses. A police investigator pops up to help the protagonist. The investigator also has a special weapon: x-ray glasses (similar to ones pictured) that see through disguises. The two start investigating what sort of mess the brother is causing. I haven't figured out the details when it gets to here, I definitely want the investigator to be this stoic, unstoppable figure, but I also want him to be sort of delusional. He's of the same breed as the kid in the prologue (not the same kid I'd imagine though): a person heavily influenced by super heroes. I want the protagonist to die in the end, and I want the investigator to hint that he's really FBI, and the empowered groucho glasses were mass-produced, and this situation is one of countless instances.