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the time when America was a nation of can-do, gung-ho citizens. Generations past the time when every man was a patriot. Generations past moonshots, free love, disco. This is the generation that sees the end of the tunnel, and surprise! no one left a light on for us. While a wise man once wrote, "with great power comes great responsibility," the Casual Heroes might rewrite it as, "with great power comes many lucrative endorsement contracts."

How do you chronicle the adventures of a bunch of super-powered slack ers that probably feel less responsibility for the world than contempt for it?

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The Skinny

Casual Heroes takes place in the seismically-unstable West Coast city of New Jericho. A mecca of culture and cutting-edge industry, New Jericho is far enough north of Hollywood to be removed from the false glamour, but close enough to generate a level of excitement not found in other cities in the country. If you walk the streets of New Jericho, chances are you’d see some celebrity; perhaps a famous news reporter, like Leslie LaForge, or the renowned chef Stephen Roy. It’s more likely, however, if you’re out on the town for any length of time whatsoever, that you’ll run into Saturn Red and the Redeemers. Of course, you know that they are the most popular and well-known of all the super-heroes. They are all over the news, what with their penchant for being in the right place at the right time: floods, cave-ins, bridges collaps ing, purse snatchings, lost pets, club openings, book signings, movie shoots, press conferences, political and product endorsements. Nothing of import happens in New Jericho without Saturn Red and the Redeemers. In fact, the editors of Teen Squeeze magazine contend that nothing of import happens in New Jericho unless Saturn Red and the Redeemers are there. These guys are media darlings. The story of Saturn Red and the Redeemers starts, almost unbelievably, in the dark days before America’s entrance into World War II. While the war winning technology of the Manhattan Project was still years away, govern ment scientists feverishly worked to unlock the secrets of a stolen super soldier formula that could turn the tide for the Allies! Code named Operation: Trumpet, this secret project was thought to be America’s only hope should the Axis powers make a daring attempt to land on American soil. President Roosevelt himself chose the European-born Doctor Oran Vargas to lead the experimental team charged with accessing and exploit- Who are these mystery teens?

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