Comics writer detained over script about fictional terror plots
A fictional tale of possible doomsday scenarios left a comic-book writer explaining his work to security agents at Los Angeles International airport.
Comics writer Mark Sable was detained by Transportation Security Administration guards at LAX last weekend when they discovered what they thought to be potentially dangerous material in a script for the comic-book series “Unthinkable.”
The miniseries, from Boom! Studios, follows members of a think tank who are tasked to come up with “Unthinkable” terrorist scenarios in order to allow the government to prepare for them.
Sable was detained while traveling from LAX to New York City to attend a signing for the premiere of “Unthinkable” No. 1 at the New York City comic-book store Jim Hanley’s Universe. Sable was flagged at the gate for extra screening, and after being searched, the agents discovered the script for the third issue of “Unthinkable” in his luggage.
“The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble,” Sable said in a release from Boom! Studios. “The first page of the ‘Unthinkable’ script mentioned 9/11, terror plots and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state.”
Sable said he tried to explain the situation to the agents, who weren’t familiar with comic-book scripting. The story of “Unthinkable” follows Alan Ripley, a best-selling author who joins a think tank commissioned after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City. This group aims to protect America from possible nightmare scenarios, but years later, the plots become real.
“I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation,” Sable said. “While ‘Unthinkable’ blurs the line between fiction and reality, the story is based on a real-life government think tank where a writer was tasked to design worst-case terror scenarios. The fictional story of ‘Unthinkable’ unfolds when the writer’s scenarios come true, and he becomes a suspect in the terrorist attacks.”
After being searched and questioned for over half an hour, Sable was released to make his plane to New York City.
“Talk about life imitating art imitating life,” Sable wrote on his twitter account @marksable. “I couldn’t make this up if I tried.”
“Unthinkable” No. 1 is written by Mark Sable and drawn by Julian Totino Tedesco. Covers for the first issue were drawn by Paul Azaceta and Kristian Donaldson.
– By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
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