The Useless

I grew up in the world of comic books, and I’ve loved watching superheroes come to life on screen as I’ve gotten older. With "The Useless", I wanted to push myself to write something bigger than I had ever written before. I wanted to write my version of a big-budget superhero movie.

But if I was going to write a superhero movie, it had to sound like me. And my voice tends to be a ball of ridiculousness wrapped around a center full of heart.

"The Useless" is about a group of nobodies with powers that their world has decided are, well... useless. In this world, a large percentage of the population has some kind of ability, but only a tiny fraction have the spectacular powers that make someone a "real" superhero. Everyone else grows up being told that what they can do doesn't matter. That they don't matter.

Meanwhile, the real superheroes work for giant corporations.

So yes, underneath the superhero fights, ridiculous powers, and general absurdity, there is an anti-corporatist streak running through "The Useless." But more than anything, it's a story about people who have been told their entire lives that they are worthless deciding not to believe it anymore.

We're only as useless as we allow ourselves to be. The things that make us valuable aren't always the things the world tells us to value. And sometimes a bunch of nobodies, working together, can take on just about anything.

But also, sometimes it's just fun to write a character named The Mighty Burrito who wears a giant burrito suit and is invulnerable.