2013-06-11

A comic drawn as a newspaper front page from "NEWSnet." The huge headline reads "MYSTERIOUS VILLAIN STRIKES AGAIN! DEATH TOLL IN BILLIONS." A photo shows a grinning masked figure in a yellow-and-purple superhero costume and cape standing at a podium with a fist raised. A yellow sidebar quotes him: "I WILL STRIKE WHERE YOU MOST SUSPECT!" A purple sidebar reads "OPINION: DOCTORS CALL MEDIA 'IDIOTS'." The caption below explains the joke: "If I ever become a supervillain, my name will be 'natural causes.'" The villain is death by natural causes, the leading killer the media sensationalizes as a mysterious menace. In the votey aftercomic, a banner reads "ALSO..." and a hunched figure with face hidden adds in a speech bubble, "THEY CALL ME AUTOEROTIC ASPHYXIATION" — a second, more embarrassing self-inflicted cause of death.