The Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak is hosting the gala theatrical premiere of The Amazing Cynicalman feature film on Wednesday, June 13 at 7 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door.

The Amazing Cynicalman is based on the award-winning comic strip created by Hamtramck resident Matt Feazell. The weekly comic strip made its first appearance in Royal Oak's Orbit magazine in 1998.

The movie is written and directed by Feazell and stars Jim Mackey as Cynicalman. It was shot on digital video in Hamtramck between April and August, 2010 with a local cast and crew and the help of a Warren-based production company, No Fun Films.

Its soundtrack features music by local bands Supermassive, The Badways, Fur, The Black List, and Stephanie Loveless.

The comic strip is about the day-to-day doings of Cynicalman, "America's Laid-Off Superhero," who is constantly looking for work, ducking mad scientists and searching for the elusive second cup of coffee at the local hangout, Le Café.

Feazell calls the movie "a not available romance." It follows temp worker John Q. Cynicle at his first day of work at the Board of Superheros™, a dumpy regulatory agency staffed with colorful characters who might be former superheroes, or think they ARE superheroes, or who are just plain wierdos who can't work anywhere else.

The synopsis goes like this:

On his first day at work, Cynicalman shares a cubicle with Lizard Girl and falls in love with the receptionist, Edie Haskell. While he attempts to hook up with Edie, he gets himself in the middle of an epic struggle between Dr Pweent, a mad scientist with an army of zombies, and Antisocialman, a supervillain powered by the collected bad vibes of every cell phone user in Hamtramck. In order to save the day he has to discover his own inner superhero and learn the meaning of true love.

Yeah, right.

Some of Feazell's fellow local cartoonists appear in leading roles, including Suzanne Baumann (who plays Lizard Girl in the movie), Sean Bieri (Lone Shark) and Michael Marcus (Dr. Pweent).

Fans of local indy film productions will see some familiar faces. Natalie Miller plays one half of the team of Spud & Ernie, Cynicalman's fan club. Megan Laesch becomes Psycho Woman, a superheroine who's main power seems to be making men nervous. Terence Cover is Antisocialman, a misunderstood super-villain powered by the collected bad vibes of every cell-phone user in Hamtramck. Jib Namprachan does a walk-on as a tour guide; and brothers Aaron & Pete Trudgeon face off as kindly Professor Quidley and dashing Captain Videotape.

Bad girl Edie Haskel is played by Andrea Toth-Salamon in her screen debut.

The mayor of Hamtramck, Karen Majewski, puts in an appearance as ... the mayor of Hamtramck!

The filmmakers received a lot of help from Hatch, the Hamtramck Art Collective. Most of the interiors were shot in the Hatch building, formerly the Hamtramck police station, which was undergoing renovation at the time.

Much of the exterior action takes place in Pope Park at the corner of Belmont and Joseph Campau where our heroes find themselves surrounded by an army of zombies in the climactic scene.