I dont do this too often but I got another idea.
The idea is for a new, ongoing series, called Bloodstone. I decided to stick the idea on here after reading about Warren Elliss plans to use Elsa Bloodstone in his new team book. His description of Elsa infuriated me because I think shes a great character with a hell of a lot of potential and he just dismisses her as an airhead who goes on adventures.
What got me thinking about Elsa Bloodstone and a series for her happened a couple months ago. I was flying out of the Louisville heading towards Baltimore when my plane was delayed. We were told it would be a couple hours. Needing to kill time, I hit the gift store to find a book to buy and read. Unfortunately I had either read or was not interested in almost all of the books they had. But I looked at one of the Silhouette Bombshell romance novels and read the back cover and it sounded interesting. It was about a young female archaeologist who discovers something in an ancient temple and people try to kill her to get it. Very Indiana Jones-ish. I bought it and read it and it wasnt too bad. But what struck me was all of the action and adventure in it. I couldnt help but think that romance novel would have made a great comic book. Then I thought about it more and realized that millions of young women read books just like these all of the time. If they wrote comic books like these novels, with action
and romance (romance, not sex), women would probably read them. I tried to think of a comic character that would fit this mold and immediately thought of Elsa Bloodstone.
Elsa Bloodstone was introduced in a four issue miniseries titled Bloodstone where she learns that her father,
Ulysses Bloodstone, was an adventurer who had lived for thousands of years. Check out the links I gave for the full story (its a good read). She has very little continuity to clutter her at all since shes only appear in those issues. Shes basically the perfect character to create from the ground up which is probably why Ellis has picked her.
Sticking with a action romance theme, I mapped out the basic idea for her series.
The ongoing series picks up about a year after the end of the miniseries. Elsa is 19/20ish and is in college. The relationship she was starting with
Tomas Dluga in the miniseries has turned into a close friendship (best comparison would be Xander and Buffy). Elsa has decided to go into an archaeology/museum studies program after her interest is peaked by her fathers collections and life.
Elise Bloodstone, Elsas mother is still running the museum that they turned Bloodstone Manor into. Elise has given birth to the child she was pregnant with at the end of the miniseries, a boy named Elliot (continuing a little bit with the naming convention of the family). The father of the child was not revealed in the miniseries and will be an ongoing mystery/subplot in this new series.
As the series gets started, Elsas mother and Adam (Frankensteins monster who was Ulysses caretaker for magical items and now works for Elise) discover Ulysses journals. Elsa has started reading them and learning about all of the things her father did throughout his 10,000 year life. At her mothers prompting, Elsa has also started keeping a journal. Almost all of the stories will be told as recollections in Elsas journal which will be shown as captions in the comic. This will allow the comic to provide the internal monologue that is so common in romance novels. It allows us to know Elsas feelings as we see her performing the action.
Using the journals as our basis for the context of the story also allows for one other thing that I think would be interesting; occasional single issue stories that add to her fathers history. Once every 4-5 issues, wed have a stand alone issue where Elsa is reading Ulysses journal. As she is reading it, we the readers are seeing it. This will provide a easy break between story arcs (damn you writing for trade), allow our main character to learn about her father and see the connections between her and him, and provide a more guy-centric story occasionally. Remembering all along of course that Elsa is the main character and not Ulysses. The Ulysses stories are only going to be told if they relate to her somehow.
Ulysses was a monster hunter mostly. He dealt with the supernatural a lot. Elsas miniseries did much the same, so Id stick with that as the basic premise of the action. Id delve into the supernatural and mythological areas of Marvel Universe throughout this series because of the Bloodstone legacy as well as Elsas archaeological studies.
A specific story Id touch on would be a one where Elsa has dealing with the
Priests of
Khonshu , probably as a legacy storyline because her father (in an yet untold story) had dealings with them thousands of years ago. This could possibly be a Moon Knight crossover, but, Id rather he just be alluded to rather than actually be in the story because this would create continuity/history within the Marvel Universe, but not force a guest spot or crossover.
Above all though, the series would on the
romance side of action romance. From the very beginning we will introduce a romantic foil for Elsa. One who has an some mystery around him that over time will come to light. A man her own age, who seems to be a stand-up kind of guy, but obviously has something to hide.
Something else that would happen would be to tone down the T&A that was evident in the miniseries. This ongoing series is meant to be a comic thats more accessible to women, so getting rid of the gratuitous images would be vital. This doesnt mean that Elsa wont still be sexy. Shes still a young, hot woman. Its just that she wont be so over the top.
Thats my idea. I havent put a whole lot of thought into it yet, but I think it sounds a lot better than having Elsa join a team that works for a stupidly-named acronym agency (H.A.T.E) and working for a stupidly named person (Dirk Anger) written by a writer who degrades the character (Ellis).
Great stuff man. Damn good work.
