Unemployed Man Is the Unofficial Superhero of Occupy Wall Street

[Huey P. Long]

Unemployed Man Is the Unofficial Superhero of Occupy Wall Street
By Nicole Martinelli October 31, 2011 | 5:37 pm


The Slotbot 3000, a 16-foot-tall robotic representation of the New York Stock Exchange, squares off against Unemployed Man in a "Superheroes versus Economic Supervillains" event Monday in New York's Zucotti Park.



Gan Golan, left, author of Unemployed Man, poses as the title character from his graphic novel and Robert Segal poses as Krug Man for a superheroes march to the New York Stock Exchange on Halloween.



Alan Yang dresses up as Captain Generica for Monday's superheroes march to the New York Stock Exchange.


Working-class superheroes stop for a photo opp in front of a Trump building during Monday's march to the New York Stock Exchange.


Betsy Richards dresses up as Wonder Mother for Monday's superheroes march to the New York Stock Exchange. Richards is a working mother of two children.

Unemployed Man and his costumed colleagues stormed Wall Street on Monday morning, bringing some superhero street theater — and a 16-foot evil robot known as the Slot Bot — to the Occupy protests in New York.

The Superheroes versus Economic Supervillains smackdown was staged by Gan Golan, 37, co-author of the 2010 graphic novel The Adventures of Unemployed Man. Occupy Wall Street is a perfect stage for the book’s characters, a team of superheroes battling economic injustice.

“People at Occupy are fighting incredible forces in our society — that’s a perfect description of what you find in a superhero,” Golan told Wired.com.

Golan donned Unemployed Man’s custom orange-and-blue fetish costume for Monday’s event and joined others dressed as economic warriors from the book: undocumented worker Fantasma, student-debt-burdened Master of Degrees, Captain Generica and Wonder Mother. They waged battle against dark forces of the Just Us League, including such scoundrels as The Outsourcerer, Pink Slip and a the giant Slot Bot — part robot, part casino, with a head shaped like the New York Stock Exchange building and a menacing vacuum arm that hoovered up money.

Based in Los Angeles, Golan has been at Occupy New York for about a month now. One of his first actions was to donate a copy of The Adventures of Unemployed Man, which he co-wrote with Erich Origen, to Occupy’s then-nascent library. It’s perfect reading for those gathered in the park to speak out against corporate greed and economic inequality.
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More photos and full article with video-
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/10/unemployed-man-o...

[PA Democrat]

1. K & R

[glowing]

2. The Krug Man costume is awesome.. LOL

[trotsky]

3. Oh man - you can say that again!

LMAO!! Love it!

[Huey P. Long]

5. More-

Here is another photo of him-


more photos-





And the cast of characters...



link/story 2-another photo album...
Photos: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Become Heroes And Villains For Halloween
http://gothamist.com/2011/10/31/occupy_protesters_havin...

[redqueen]

13. Great stuff.

[Huey P. Long]

14. It really is. And well thought out and planned!

The storyboard(Photo by Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)




With golden-age graphics, the graphic novel tells the tale of a 1-percenter who morphs into the other 99. In the book, playboy billionaire The Ultimatum, “a motivational vigilante who sees poverty as a symptom of poor mental hygiene,” gets booted from his own company and becomes a job-seeker beset by debt, bankruptcy, a lack of health care and a bad FICO score.

He becomes Unemployed Man and is joined by a trusty, silver-haired sidekick called Plan B and other “down-but-not-out” superheroes. The book, described by its creators as a “traumedy,” delivers a somewhat promising ending.

“Stories are a powerful way to guide us and keep us strong,” Golan said.

For an out-of-work guy, Unemployed Man definitely has his hustle on. When the graphic novel came out, Origen, a writer/artist, and Golan, a writer/activist, custom-ordered the title character’s orange-and-blue costume from a fetish site for about $200 and sold signed copies of the book on the streets of San Francisco. (Golan says fetish sites are the way for DIY superheroes to go — just remember to ask the manufacturers to cut an opening where the face should be. The resulting full-body suit is “very comfortable,” he says.)

[Kaleko]

25. Hilarious. Memorable. Awesome!

[Fire Walk With Me]

31. Just awesome. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

I hope they can turn this into some sort of animation or live feature, but if live, exactly as we are seeing it

[Huey P. Long]

10. Another full body shot of 'Krug Man'-

Paul Krugman with his macro-mallet, holding the head of a supply-side monster.



http://www.businessinsider.com/the-coolest-costume-youl...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. fantastic! I've always had a thing for Paul Krugman

never realized he was so aptly named.... KRUG Man! fighting economic lies, handsomely!!!!!

[starroute]

12. The real Krugman commented, "I Don’t Think Thor Needs To Worry About Competition"

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/i-dont-thin... /

[sarcasmo]

4. Slot exchange, we bet your life, nice!

[Huey P. Long]

15. Another great shot-

[xchrom]

6. love it! nt

[hootinholler]

7. Oh HELL YEAH!

[myrna minx]

8. I love it! K&R n/t

[tk2kewl]

9. This is a great group photo of the heroes from todays NY Daily News

[Huey P. Long]

11. Thanks for the 'action' shot!

[Huey P. Long]

16. These people put a lot of creativity and time behind this great protest, so KICK!

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. Awesome...K&R!

[blogslut]

19. Love

This

[absyntheminded]

20. Simply

Awesome!

[tblue37]

21. I LOVE the idea of Krug Man as superhero! nt

[kestrel91316]

22. This is how I know that WE will win in the end. We have all the heart.

The 1% has merely a lump of coal in its place.

[Number23]

23. I absolutely love this. "Captain Generica?" I don't get it

When I went to the link, all I could see was the one picture of the guy in black holding a bag that says "student loans!" Weird...

Edit: Just saw the "Captain Generica" explanation in post #5. Absolute genius. Now I think he's my favorite one...

[Huey P. Long]

30. I just clicked the first link and yes, you are correct!

Not sure whats going on, but all of those first photos were in that first link. Now it is as you say. Wierd is right. Oh well, I included other stories and photos on this protest, so glad you got what you needed. Still...wierd.

[Rex]

24. The Movement has created superheroes!

Watch out Lex!

[katty]

26. awesome!

[sabrina 1]

27. That is fantastic!

That 'Krug Man' is the best! A Super Hero.

[sarcasmo]

28. Kick back to the top for Unemployed Man.

[noiretextatique]

29. wonderful!

[Starry Messenger]

32. k&r

[cascadiance]

33. I was thinking earlier that we need a "Occupied Silenced Majority" to represent unemployed...

... people who are "occupied" by job hunting and keeping a low profile to help them get work and those who are underemployed that are working their butts off and keeping a low profile to hold onto their lifeline coming from these necessary but thankless jobs too.

Many of us in these categories feel very grateful to those who are out there every day representing them, and if all of these folks were part of the current Occupy folks' voices out there, the movement would be overwhelming in my opinion. I think we need to find some way to have this OSM ("Occupied Silenced Majority") a way of showing their numbers and voices without taking away too much of their time and anonymity so that they can survive in today's society and still be a part of what is needed to throw out he current corrupt broken system we have now.

I'd say perhaps have a web site that allows people to register anonymously and show their numbers in various ways there, but there would be those out there in government and other Breitbart types that would want to try to hack such a site to expose these people, or to try to alledge "fraud" in how the numbers are represented. Anyone have ideas on how we might have such a movement that isn't blocked by such logistics problems?

[TheeHazelnut]

34. Clever, but they are promoting a book...

...a slightly less pure motive for being there than the protesters who aren't there drumming up publicity for a commercial enterprise.

[Huey P. Long]

42. Wow. Is that all you've got? Keep looking for something to fault.

If you cannot see what is going on and what these people are about, you are either intentionally obtuse, or blind.
Its too bad you choose to attempt to denigrate their efforts and impugn their motives.

[TheeHazelnut]

43. Is it wrong to state the obvious?

They are dressed up as the characters from this guy's book. The article talks about the book. When people appear in public as characters from a book they are selling they are promoting the book. The travel expenses are even tax deductible.

[Huey P. Long]

44. Okay, and thanks for the kick.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. CLASSIC.

Great stuff.

[burrowowl]

36. Great Superheroes

I do love the slot exchange

[Kaleko]

37. Unemployed Man rises up to the top

like a comet... whoooosh.

[Enthusiast]

38. This is too cool!

I love these people!

[TheUnspeakable]

39. k&r LOVE this sooo much!

[valerief]

40. Love the Slotbot! nt

[Huey P. Long]

41. Thank you guys for the kicks. I too think this effort is awesome.

I am glad their efforts are appreciated. Thank all of you!

[Fire Walk With Me]

45. Kick for the fun.