if given the job of EIC, what would YOU do?

comics rock. talk about them here. now. or just go to the "corn" section and wack off. i'll understand. i'll just sit here and read my spider-man comics.

Moderators: Batman, Zero, John Madden, Bob Ross, General Zod, Richard Simmons

Post Reply
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

If you could write for an existing comic character

Post by anarky »

. . . what would it be? And what would you do?

(No original creations!)

My first choice would be my namesake, Anarky. There's just way too much potential with a crazy but brilliant kid who thinks he's an anarchist and goes around whomping on bad guys. I'd do it more Vertigo style; none of that lame retarded superhuman, Green Lantern ring, boom-tube riding bullshit from his series from a few years ago. (It still bugs me how Alan Grant could create such an awesome character and get him so damned wrong. Makes me wanna rochambeau him.)

As much as I love the Bat, I wouldn't be quite comfortable tackling him. Too well-established, even I'd hate whatever I did.

I wouldn't mind doing something with Star Wars, particularly something with Vader set around the time of the classic trilogy, but I'd have to be able to convince myself it could be great. Nothing short of perfection, or I wouldn't bother. Infinities might be fun, but they seem to be fucking up all the possibilities with their lameass stories. "What if Luke froze to death on Hoth?" I can think of at least a dozen better what ifs from ESB.

GIJoe I'd kill to write, period. I'm not sure about Transformers, though. Love 'em, but I have no clue where Dreamwave continuity's going.

And of course, X-Men. Who out there couldn't do better than Liefeld did?
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

Post by anarky »

Yeah, I might sound conceited with the "nothing short of perfection," but wouldn't you hate to write a SW story and then think, "That blows!" Or worse, go online and see everyone agrees with you?
User avatar
jjreason
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:14 am
Location: Out there somewhere.

Post by jjreason »

I'd like to write Marvel Characters that don't get enough exposure, maybe contribute to an anthology series from time to time. I've been dreaming about an encounter between Classic Dr. Doom and Ultimate Dr. Strange, what I guess would be the first crossover of the two universes. I was thinking it would be whack for Doom to get brought back into the Ultimate Universe, where no one's met him yet but he has prior knowledge of all the heroes and their powers...

Doom, terrified and unmasked, looking horrible comes to Strange during a mediation, Strange - startled by the familiarity of Doom (and his inability to place WHERE he knows him from) winds up bringing DOOM to corporeal form in the Ultimate here and now out of pity (again, not knowing Doom's the baddiest baddy around). Doom then wreaks havoc in every book around for a few months, in a major crossover (which I'll leave to Bendis, god knows someone needs to throw him a bone....). Art by Mike Weiringo, fresh off his FF run where he created the new Mage-Doom.

Like you, Anarky, I'd be too scared to handle something on a tight schedule that I care to read... how daunting having a deadline for that next issue of Uncanny or ASM!
User avatar
Eternal Padawan
D.O.A.
Posts: 3000
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2002 7:16 am
Location: Morgue
Contact:

Post by Eternal Padawan »

Does it have to be somebody that already has a series? If not, I'd do Hawkeye. I'd send him out to the City of Angels and have him dealing with inner city stuff. Like he opens a youth center or something and at night he goes around and gets into trouble with his bow and arrow. Except my slant would be he's just one guy, so it all kind of overwhelms him and he's not really making a difference except one person (child) at a time.

I'd also like to bring back Scourge. There are so many useless used once and thrown away villains in the Marvel universe. But it wouldn't be just kill an old bad guy every issue, I'd like to really delve into these characters (the villains) as people. Round them out as characters. And keep Scourge as a total enigma ( he'd be a previosly established Marvel character, who took on the Scourge mantle, but god willing, noone would ever find out who he is.) Sometimes he'd get the bad guy, sometimes he wouldn't. A villain could take up an entire years worth of issues. And I'd also play with the aspect of "villain" in the Marvel Universe. The Punisher. Would Scourge see him as a fellow hero/vigilante? or those mutant outlaws, the X-Men? What about reformed villains like the Thunderbolts? Or retired villains like Melvin "Gladiator" Whatever in Daredevil. Would he still be a target? The possibilities are endless.

SHIELD hasn't been done right since the 60's.

As far as existing titles, I'd stay away from team books. I'd rather get inside a single character and see what makes him tick, then trying to share 22 pages amongst a dozen heroes every month. Whatever hero I'd do, I'd reread every issue they were in and I'd go back and tie up every loose end I could find. Whenever a sideplot got left on the wayside when the book changed writers. Those sideplots start to add up...
User avatar
jjreason
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:14 am
Location: Out there somewhere.

Post by jjreason »

Agreed, except you've got to have something fresh going on to, for those who don't recall the last mention of your loose end. I read somewhere that the first rule in writing is "Every comic is somebody's first comic." That's why you've got a mention of the origin and the last issue in nearly every book you read.
User avatar
jjreason
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:14 am
Location: Out there somewhere.

Post by jjreason »

I'd also like to release Marvel from "Cloak and Dagger" by writing a Marvel Max one shot about them fighting crime all Tarantoid and shit - but then, and here's the kicker, they fuck at the end and it like cancels out their powers and shit. Im the mack.
User avatar
Eternal Padawan
D.O.A.
Posts: 3000
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2002 7:16 am
Location: Morgue
Contact:

Post by Eternal Padawan »

Finally, someone who puts Cloak & Dagger out of their misery....

Who else should go out in a blaze of glory? Pick a Marvel (or DC) hero (or Villain)who should get a going away permanently limited series (or one shot)...
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

Post by anarky »

Quasar. He should go out in a blaze of glory. But only if he kills a meddened Adam Warlock. I hate Adam Warlock. Makes Serpentor look cool.

Going back to my Anarky idea, I had a thought. Unless he got killed in "Our Worlds at War" or something like that, we have a deranged vigilante who hates criminals and politicians. He lives in a secret lair under the Washington Monument. Just a few blocks from the biggest criminal and politician the DCU has. Imagine Anarky trying to assassinate Luthor, and then Superman has to stop him and reason with him (while dealing with his own hatred for Luthor and the meaning of "Truth, justice, and the American way"), all drawn by Jae Lee or Norm Breyfogle. That would rock.
User avatar
Eternal Padawan
D.O.A.
Posts: 3000
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2002 7:16 am
Location: Morgue
Contact:

Post by Eternal Padawan »

Warlock and his Infinity Squad or whatever the hell they were. Lame. Especially the troll. I have this ole DC Comics Presents issue with the second StarMan and Superman team up against Mongol the Merciless ( it's from 1980 i think) Anyway, StarMan has power bracelets that are DEAD ringers for Quasar's quantum bands. There's a crossover story in there. i think it would be cool for Quasar to get warped to the DC universe. It would be intriguing for Marvel to put out a monthly book set in the DC Universe...(or vice versa)
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

Post by anarky »

You know what brainfart I had earlier? Circuit Breaker, from the old TF comics. Marvel owns her copyright, so there's no way she'll pop up in Dreamwave. But really screw with her mind. Have her suddenly show up, in an updated costume (for God's sake!), crazed with anger at robots. She believes a giant flying robot who turned into a plasma cannon crippled her and doomed her to this life. . . only Shockwave (now) never existed in this universe! So how did she become Circuit Breaker, and why does she hate robots so damn much?
mustard man
sloth
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:39 am
Location: Kyrgyzstan

Post by mustard man »

Well, i might write for red meat.
http://www.redmeat.com [vader][vader][vader]
User avatar
Diabolical
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 7061
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:40 pm
Location: Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc.

Post by Diabolical »

I think it'd be fun to write for The Punisher, especially in the new MAX format.

Star Wars would be pretty cool too, and really easy. They seem to let any hack with an idea, no matter how shitty it is, write one.
User avatar
jjreason
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:14 am
Location: Out there somewhere.

Post by jjreason »

I would pick the Punisher as one mainstay that has run his course. Burn him off. I think they could make a pretty good story about Cap dying too, but I don't know if the Marvel Universe could make do without him.
User avatar
Diabolical
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 7061
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:40 pm
Location: Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc.

Post by Diabolical »

Have you read The Punisher since he went to the MAX imprint? Ennis did an amazing job bringing him back to awesomeness in the Marvel Knights imprint, but since he's been in the MAX, it's even better.
No character is safe (proven in issue #6), there's big time blood and guts, cussin' on every page, and the occasional bit of nudity.
Also, it' pretty realistic. Ennis has aged Frank into real time, so he's in his 50's, like he should be. And the closest thing they've come to using a Marvel character is Nick Fury.
User avatar
jjreason
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:14 am
Location: Out there somewhere.

Post by jjreason »

You know, I'm not sure. I have a few Ennis issues, but can't recall if it's Max or MK.... I know I have the Marvel Max Punisher Origin (or whatever it was called) limited series, which was okay. I'm not a huge Frank Castle fan, as a matter of fact I've kind of thought he was as good as possible back in the Mike Zeck limited series from 80's Marvel.
Post Reply