Blogger Sean Kleefeld has launched a cafepress t-shirt shop called Almost a Superhero, featuring famous comic origin stories with a twist of failure. For instance:

This follows the trend of creating fan product that doesn’t violate any copyrights by relying on what we all know about characters to fill in gaps without using specific names. In this case, all of the shirts so far are based on heroes with movies and/or TV shows. It’s the kind of product where those who get it can be assumed to be one of the “tribe”, even in a casual way. It’s also got a hipster air of “I know that these things couldn’t REALLY happen”, the idea that you know superhero comics but you’re above them. Or maybe I’m reading too much into what’s a clever idea for a new business.

Kleefeld has promised more designs to come — I hope one references a woman superhero. (Although that gets back to the question of whether they’re well-known enough to make the reference recognizable.)