For my Pecha Kucha presentation, I am choosing a panel from the comic book Avengers Vol 1 Issue 213. I was drawn to this artifact because of its stark imagery and profound impact it has on the reader, as well as my interest in comics. I want to study this panel in greater detail due to its infamy in the comic community and its lasting effect in Marvel. Why this panel? It is when the hero Ant-Man hit his heroine wife Wasp.

This comic was produced by Marvel, specifically written by Jim Shooter, in November 1981. This panel in particular, tying into the overall story, was meant to bring more attention to one of Marvel’s more uninteresting characters, Ant-Man, and to bring in more readers in general. Shooter plays off of the morality and ethos of the reader to bring out a strong reaction and want to know what the character will become following the story. Despite the Avengers being more fantasy and sci-fi, this particular comic was more serious, dark, disturbing, making the reader feel like the character was teetering on the borderline of insanity. In the scene, the background is mechanical, dull, and gray, making the reader entirely focused on the actions in the panel rather than absorbing the scenery. The speech bubbles are jagged and contain bolded phrases to signify the shifts in the scene despite it being a still-frame of one part of it. The whole of the panel is jarring, which has drawn me to investigate it more.

In an increasingly technology-dependent world, we find ourselves becoming more and more lonely and isolated, just as Lenny and Eunice feel in Super Sad True Love Story. Though leaders of the technology industry proclaim that the internet and social media creates expanded connectivity between people, Shteyngart’s book provides an opposing narrative that cannot be overlooked. Through the eyes of Lenny, Shteyngart reveals the longing of the waning generations to return to the unplugged era and have more personal connection. Lenny cares more about his thoughts and feelings talking to people than using his aparat to communicate for him. Despite society’s pressure on Lenny to conform, he resists and shows how loneliness appears when one tries to stay against the times.

Lenny may be seen by critics as an anachronism stuck in the novel, but Eunice and her actions are consistent with how technology does the opposite of what its creators intended. In a message to her friend “Grillbitch”, Eunice confesses, “I miss you so much, Pony. I really do. Come to New York please! I need all the love I can get these days” (75). Eunice’s pleas come across the internet even as she can communicate daily with her mom, sister, and friends. In this technologically advanced society, Eunice’s emotions are only natural do to her detachment from physical interaction. Relying on technology for emotion has gotten Eunice flustered, confused, and lonely, showing that healthiness is diminished by technology.

Project Angel Fire, a program from the Iraq War, is being brought to the Homefront in the form of Persistent Surveillance Systems. Through this company, small planes equipped with cameras view an entire city and record everything that occurs in snapshots that can then be used by the police to track down criminals. Though several policemen and military veterans attest to the usefulness of the programs, it is suggested that the technology is not used to monitor our own citizens due to the issues surrounding individual privacy. Though there is no direct right to privacy in the Constitution, the act of recording a person’s entire life sets a steep precedent from which a country cannot recover. American citizens have already condemned the government for its daily intervention in the infamous NSA scandal, so having an official stance of viewing the personal lives of individuals would be as just as invasive strategy as before.

Ross McNutt’s system of surveillance, a small plane outfitted with a camera, used in the Iraq War to catch bombers is now being used in America by police to solve crimes. Though some individuals may voice concern for personal privacy, the benefits of the program not only outweigh the costs, but are focused to the point that privacy is not being invaded upon. First, the police have already been able to use the cameras to solve crimes from robbery to homicide. The sheer presence of this technology is predicted to reduce the crime rate in Dayton, Ohio by 30%. And, as this information is streamlined through the company at the request of the police, the personal lives of individuals are not under observation; the acts of criminals are being investigated by the system. The safety produced by the program already shows promising benefits, ones that can be effective across the nation.