Comics Question

[snurri]

Lately I've been thinking about comics. I've always wanted to write a superhero comic, and I hope that someday it will happen. Maybe something with Green Arrow, maybe something team-related. Marvel or DC, it doesn't matter. And I'm curious; how many of you think about the same thing? If you're a writer--assuming you're a comics fan--what characters would you like to play with? Alternatively, if you're not a writer, what writer(s) would you like to see take a crack at which character(s)?

Comments

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

I always bought into the notion that the best way to break into comics was to write a character whose title doesn't sell much, giving you the freedom to do almost anything you want, since nobody will much care. So, Alan Moore got to do cool stuff with Swamp Thing, and Frank Miller got to play with Daredevil. I always imagined myself writing an obscure character like Man-Bat or Dr. Midnight or OMAC or Red Tornado. But I would love to do Green Arrow or Superman. Or, hell, X-Men, why not?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

There is definitely something to what you say. The trick, I think, is picking the right character.

Also, you do know that the new JLA is heavily focused on Red Tornado, OMAC was a huge part of the recent Crisis, and Grant Morrison is bringing back Man-Bat in his Batman run?

I guess that leaves you with Dr. Midnight :-)

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

Well, damn! Even Matter-Eater Lad has a devoted following these days.

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

The trick, I think, is picking the right character.

I wonder about that. I don't imagine Alan Moore had any desire to write Swamp Thing before he got the job (not that I have any way of knowing if this is true or not), but once he got the assingment, he channeled his genius through a pretty lame character. I mean, I read the Marty Pasko/Tom Yeats version of Swamp Thing that preceded Alan Moore's, and it really didn't look like very promising ground.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Well, I think that Swamp Thing was the right character for Moore, you know? He was able to take a sort of chemical horror character and move it in a totally different, earth-elemental sort of direction. It fit with his sensibilities. In the same way that I could see you playing with, say, the Metal Men, or Iron Fist, or something.

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

I take your point, though I think Alan Moore is sufficiently brilliant that he could have done interesting things with pretty much any character he was handed.

Metal Men. Yeah, they would sure be a lot of fun!

[jennreese.livejournal.com]

I wrote a comic book with my friends in high school. It's one of those huuuge groups with like 18 members or something. I still think about the characters I created. In fact, I still have the pencilled, partially inked and lettered pages!

I guess I really only want to write my own characters. Writing for someone else's characters has always paralyzed me -- I've never been able to write fanfiction for the same reason. I really admire people who can do it, like my friend Shelley who writes tv shows (on spec).

If I had to pick, though, I'd say Nightcrawler. A nice, swashbuckling romance with Nightcrawler and either Amanda or... Mary Sue. ;)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Mary Sue sure does a lot of crossovers nowadays :-)

[jennreese.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how many notebooks I have filled with drawings of Nightcrawler. And there's a whole section of pictures where he's kissing Amanda, but you can see her face, so she really could be just about anyone...

[lonfiction.livejournal.com]

Big Nightcrawler fan here, too, Jenn. By far my favorite X-Man. I remember MANY years ago he had his own series where he was buckling swashes in an alternate/fantasy universe, but it was hard to find where I lived so I didn't get to follow it.

[michaeljasper.livejournal.com]

John Constantine, totally.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Interesting choice, given that so much has been done with Johnny thus far; have you got something in mind already?

[michaeljasper.livejournal.com]

Oh, probably something from his punk days in the late, great 70s. Back when he was messing things up, big time, as he learn the dark arts.

[rudi.livejournal.com]

Like Greg, I'd love to do something to reinvent a less-well-known / less-big-selling character (in the footsteps Moore's Swamp Thing, Gaiman's Sandman, the James Robinson Starman...) Maybe Kid Eternity?

(Speaking of which, you know Alex Irvine is doing Satan's Son for Marvel? See http://alexirvine.blogspot.com/ And he's got a (non-comic) Batman novel coming out in a few weeks.)

Given a choice, though, I'd probably rather do something non-superhero, since there's lots of interesting territory in fantasy and sf that hasn't really been done that much in comics. I actually worked on some sample scripts and started sending them around a few years back, but it seemed like getting established in prose writing and then moving over to doing a bit of comics work looked like a better path. (Who knows if I was right.)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I did hear about Irvine's Hellstorm. I'm not sure how I feel about that, since in the '90s Damon got tangled up with Hellcat, one of my fave characters. (I have a weakness for the Defenders. That would probably be my team choice.)

[jonhansen.livejournal.com]

I always wanted to do something with Doug Ramsey. I know they did that Douglock thing, but I was thinking about the original Doug. The X-Men had that two-part annual with the New Mutants where both teams ended up in Asgard, and Doug was a scullery lad, being non-combatty and all. I always thought that Doug should've ended up there for his afterlife, but worked up something about his mutant power of being able to read any language allows him to read the runes that gave Odin his magic, according to the sagas, and he becomes a sorceror of note. Liked the idea of doing it as a four-ish miniseries, with him getting a regular title of his own if it sold sufficiently.

Not that I've been thinking about this or anything.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I would love to read that. I have the full run of New Mutants, and the Asgard storyline was one of my faves. (Art Adams' art didn't hurt.)

I hope you get to write that!

[jennreese.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I want to read this, too, Jon! I loved Adams's art in the Asgard storyline. And boy, the Douglock thing freaked me out. I was so happy with their choice to include a noncombat character in New Mutants; I think they should have stuck it out and figured out how to make it work. (And I hate that he sacrificed himself of Rain, when the bullet wouldn't have even killed her. BOOO!)

Write it for us!!!

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

[I think I just posted this to the wrong one, so I'm putting it here..]

Perhaps I shouldn't admit this publicly, but -- sometimes, in the cockshut hours -- I wish that destiny would swoop in and let me bring back Ilyana Rasputin (Magik aka Darkchilde.)

I was so utterly obsessed as a kid. When she died, I didn't read a comic for almost three years. (Yes, I was one of those children who cared about comics and D&D characters more than "reality." And, no, I didn't hurt anyone but myself.)

And I'm aware that the Marvels that Be have dabbled with the idea, but I mean back; returning alive and monthly. I guess my perfect little dream would be to do a tie-in novel, but I'd be willing to give up a lot to play with in the sandboxes of those storylines.

(No one other than Magik is as important to me. Someday I might even get a tattoo.)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Magik rocks. See my answer above; much New Mutants love here.

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

I had posters on my wall and wrote poems about her. A lovely friend painted a T-shirt of her for me that I still have. She was my delightful teenage obsession.

[jennreese.livejournal.com]

I love Magik, too! I have much New Mutants love, and she was my favorite. God, I re-read her miniseries more than almost anything.

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

I would like to do despicable and painful things to Frank Miller. Does that count?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Hee. Well, based on the whole Vicki Vale exploitation scene in All-Star Batman & Robin (and probably some other things), I think there's a line of people wanting to hurt him.

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

I'm sure. the reasons for hurting are best summed up by Shortpacked here:
http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20060207.html

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I've seen that one. Hee.

I still have some Miller-love, based on his older works. (And some of his recent stuff, like 300. But, yeah. One note, struck again and again and again and again and again . . .

[jennreese.livejournal.com]

(We should start posting journal entries in INTERLAC.)

(Also, this entry made me happy. Thanks.)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/]

Black Canary.

I think it could be interesting to take Cloak and Dagger and write them from scratch, or even just pick up in the middle, but as a intense and serious story instead of clean-teen style. I'd like to see the artwork be photorealistic or otherwise painted to break the standard Marvel frameset, for example the way Bill Sienkiewicz did in his gorgeous work on Elektra:Assassin.

And it would be tremendous fun to play with the characters Grant Morrison created for Doom Patrol, especially Crazy Jane.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Black Canary is one of my favorites. And despite my love for Ollie/Dinah, I think it's good that they're broken up nowadays, because it's allowed her to be developed a lot more fully. Have you been keeping track of Birds of Prey at all?

Have you seen the Cloak and Dagger storyline that took place during Sienkiewicz's run on New Mutants? I thought he had a very cool take on them.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/]

I did read at least some of his New Mutants, but I don't remember his take on those two. Actually, what got me thinking about them was their appearance in the Runaways graphic novel you loaned me. Which is a really fun book, and I thought they were used well in it, though it drove home for me how much I, as an adult who loves comic books, have somewhat different tastes than I did as a teen.

I haven't been keeping track of Birds of Prey, though I like the idea. This is the sort of thing where I hope some friend will do the collecting and then lend them to me...

(I finally read the Whedon run on X-Men, by the way, and if you haven't read it, I'll lend it to you!)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Next time I'm home I'll dig them out and send them to you. His entire run on NM is amazing.

I haven't been collecting BoP, aside from a couple of issues here and there; but it's a scans_daily mainstay so I'm fairly up on it. Some of it must be out in trade by now, I would think . . .

I have the first two trades of the Whedon X-Men; through issue 12, I think. If you've got anything beyond that, though, I'd love to read it!

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

What are these "comics" you speak of?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Ask Jan.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd be listening all day. NEVER!!!

[lonfiction.livejournal.com]

I would have said Moon Knight, but they're reviving him already (jury still out, alas.) Perhaps ROM? How much more retro '80s kitch could you get than ROM?

Hmmm... who else? I'd have a lot of fun writing Dr. Strange, methinks. Oh, and Jonah Hex. And The Haunted Tank. And Iron Man. And if Dark Horse ever gives Solomon Kane as respectable a treatment as they have Conan, oh yeah! Count me in.

OK, so I'd be happy writing just about any single hero comic. But no groups. I work alone, doncha know? :)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

The Haunted Tank is some crazy cool stuff.

(And welcome back from wherever you've been!)