Anubis' "How would you do it?" Thread.

[Zoken]

On page 76 there is Day and Night which you already checked out, "Just Friends" a story about a group of friends, and one boy who is in deep smit with this girl who just isn't romantically into geeks (incidently, this was never mentioned, but the fictional college they attend is "Empire State University" in New York City). There's also a brief thing on an alternate universe where the cold war became more intense, and Heroes were drafted into the military, where they fought an insanely powerful apocalypse. one horrendous battle leaving only Sgt. Peter Parker alive.

 

[Zoken]

and on page 75, which you already viewed, the only thing you didn't comment on was "Illuminati Vs. The Hoodie". It started as an idea that just wouldn't go away about an ordinary person who obtained an object of incredible power. slowly working out how he would have gotten that power lead me to his story. The Illuminati accidently transfer the power of a cosmic cube into an ordinary zip-up hoodie in a store, which is bought by a normal kid and his sister. they discover the powers of the hoodie, and he decides to become a hero with it. He calls himself "The Hoodie" and hijinks ensue.

 

[deemar325]

I'll be sure to read it, wassup Z.

I've been busy as hell man.

 

[Zoken]

I don't doubt it. As you can tell... I haven't. regarding your feelings on the Clones... let it go man. people loved Ben Reilly. and you seemed to enjoy the X-Men portion. THAT was Ben with her. I'm setting them up (Gonna say "Parker Men have a thing for Red-heads"). The idea here is that they were all cloned, much like Clor, and I believe Captain Marvel to be. Also cloned were Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Hawkeye is staying with the Avengers and SHIELD. Mockingbird, feeling supremely violated when she realizes she was cloned, goes to the one place where she felt completely and totally safe, where nothing dangerous would even begin to think to look for her: Milwaukee. She goes back to what is now the GLC, who welcome her with open arms.

 

[deemar325]

Mockingbird with the GLA that brings back memories.

 

[Zoken]

The New New Fantastic Four

"So do you actually understand this stuff?" Luke asked the skinny kid that had been selected as part of this New Fantastic Four with him. They were in Reed's lab, going over some of the information.

"To be honest?" Eddie asked. "Kinda."

"oh that makes me feel better," Luke chuckled. "We are talking about equipment used to punch holes in reality itself... Dawg, we need to know what we are doing before we actually touch the machines."

"Gimme a couple months," Eddie said confidently. "I'll know what I'm doing by then." He leaned on a near by machine, accidently pushing a button and causing something somewhere to explode. "make it a year," Eddie amended embarassedly.

"Um... guys," came Jessica's voice over the loud speakers. "There's an issue in Central Park."

"What is it, Babe?" asked Luke to the intercom.

"We have a swarm of Doom," she said in an almost amused voice.
~~~

a few minutes later a Fantasti-Car, holding Luke, Eddie, Karolina, and Xavin (Who had all decided to reject the ludicrous code-names the "voice" had picked out) landed in Central Parker where, sure enough, there were Doom-bots every where. the turned to the newly landed Fantasti-Car and began to advance. The Four approached them slowly at first, but were attacked.

Xavin and Luke began to quickly tear through the robots with little difficulty. Hornet and Karolina, however, were much slower, having to take out one at a time.

soon, the remaining Doom-bots parted to reveal a singled Doom standing, clapping his metal gauntlets. "I'd heard there were imposters posing as the Four... I won't let you befoul their images with your own." Doom launched himself on Karolina first.

she tried to fight back, but after three hits, and a swiftly muttered spell she was batted aside. "Pathetic," he sneered. "I will leave you to my Doom-bots. Doom is many things, but he is not a sadist."

Xavin in a fit of rage attacked.

"Super-Skrull," Doom commented, impressed. "And well trained," Doom added. Doom was able to block and parry, though he was often sent reeling by certain blows. "but you are still a child, and still not fantastic." Doom Kicked Xavin in the back of the head, then followed with three swift punches to his face, gut, and throat.

Doom took a blast to his shoulder that shocked him, just in time for the Hornet to collide with him. Doom didn't have as hard a time with the Hornet as he did with Xavin, but far more difficult than he did with Karolina. "What are you trying to prove boy?" asked Doom, almost playfully. with a knee to the Hornet's gut, then a palm to his chin, the Hornet was popped up. Doom grabbed him by his wrist, squeezed (causing Eddie to yelp in pain) and threw him at Cage.

Luke rolled under Eddie and Struck doom in the chest, causing the dictator to stumble backwards. Doom and Cage fought for long minutes, Cage's strength and durability making up for Doom's weapons and style. Finally a blast to the face knocked Cage backwards. "That was too easy," Doom commented. he saw the smile on Luke's face, and his armor registered something, "laser lock!" he exclaimed, moments too late.

he was blown sideways by a small tactical missile. on a far away building Jessica Jones checked her sight again to make sure Doom was down. she raised her head to check on her daughter. "Mommy blew him away," she baby-talked. "yes she did... yes she did."

Before Doom could try and retaliate, He was slammed in the face by Cage's fist. "Now, As I call it," Luke yelled to his rising commrades. "Hornet, Dean, Xavin, blast him!"

all three let loose blasts at the same time too quickly for Doom to evade. he was able to dodge the Hornet's blast, but took the full brunt of Xavin's fire ball, and Karolina's light beam.

"Xav, Hornet, with me, lay into him," Luke yelled. the three began to beat on Doom, trying to put one of the worlds most brilliant minds, and stubborn dictators, into submission. A blast knocked all three of them backwards, but they were caught by Karolina's solid light constructs.

"Very good, False Four," Doom said, "Very Good... this test has been quite informative..." Doom revealed his plate to reveal circutry. "Had you faced Dr. Doom you would have been destroyed." with that, the Doom-bots all took off.

"Did we win or lose?" asked Karolina.

"I don't know, Kare,"

"Um... help," Eddie called. "He kind of knocked out my servos with that last blast."

 

[The Question]

For Deemar:

A breif history of the Anti-Matter Earth:



This would be a series based mainly upon the world of the Crime Syndicate, and envisioned by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. It would be my way of writing an entire alternate history for the DCU, which I always find fun. I'd better define the inner workings of the CSA, their history, and their relationship with the world at large. I'd also flesh out several characters who were only mentioned in passing or only seen briefly, such as Quizmaster and the Justice Underground. The stories I plan on doing are:


War:

Set during the height of WWIII, the story centers around soldiers and special forces operatives on both sides of the conflict. The war started when Atlantis led a surprise atack against several U.S. Naval bases and Florida. King Orin "The Barracuda" Atlanna made his campaign in response to what h veiwed as the opression of the surface dwellers. He was soon joined in his campaign by Kandhaq, Themyscira, Gorilla City, and Zandia, all of whome felt that they had been routinely abused by the Western world. The arc is told from the POV of Sergent Slade Wilson, a speical forces operative for the United States military and leader of the Suicide Squad, Artemis, head of Themyscira's elite gaurd, Grodd, a freedom fighter in Gorilla City aiding the Western nations in hopes of overthrowing the tyranical King Solivar, and Garth, head of Atlantian special forces. The leaders of the espective countries are either only seen briefly or only mentioned, and the Crime Syndicate are mentioned in passing as selling arms to both sides of the conflict and making a killing in the process.


Overman:

The story of the Ultra-Humanite, a German biologist and inventor who moved to the United States after WWII (in which the then xenophobic, right wing regime of the United States were the agressors) to help the country rebuild. He started in a small, insignicant town in Illinois called Metropolis. Over the next 50 years, he helped to make the United States into a prosperous world super power, and built Metropolis into a shining beacon of hope for the rest of the country. He was responsible for several technological leaps, including the computer, the internet, a majority of medical advances, advanced transportation technology, and a revival of interest in classical, awe inspiring archetecture, starting with the Tower of Humanity in Metropolis (standing in place of Lexcorp headquarters), and his own Floating Fortress, prepetually hovering over the city of Metropolis. He also set himself up as a bit of an adventurer, investigating strange and unusual occourances, sometimes paranormal in nature, and often serving as an advisor to local law enforcement and the government in times of crisis. It was a bit of a golden age in the U.S. in those days. Roughly ten years ago, he was the first to find the missing astronaut Clark Kentm who was believed to be dead after his space shuttle lost contact with NASA. He studies Kent for several days, and it soon became aparant that Kent had gained vast superhuman abilities. Seeing the potential of such a discovery, Ultra-Humanite began making plans to use Kent's powers for the bettering of the world. Realizing a very different potential, Kent murdered the scientist and took his Fortress as his own.


Gotham Knights:

Edward Nashton, the genius, billionare CEO of a company specializing on computer equipment, vidoe games, and other such merchandise, feels that Gotham, the city that raised him, is dying. Using his genius and familiarity with combat, he becomes an urban vigilante/do-gooder known nicknamed The Quizmaster. On his first night out, he gets the crap beat out of him by a group of teenagers, only to be saved by a psychotic homeless man wearing clown make up calling himself The Jester. The two spend the rest of the night walking through the streets of Gotham and talking, sharing their stories. At the end of the night, Edward decides that he needs to perfect his skills and make another atempt.


The Big One:

Chronicles the events leading up to and during this world's WWII. In this version of things, as I said, the political regime that helped America out of the Great Depression was highly xenophobic and imperialistic, and soon afterwords launched a war against th rest of the world. To aid the war effort, a group of superhumans was brought together to serve as the front line forces of the military. They were simply called The Society. Several American metahumans who refused to join Th Society fled to Europe and joined forces with the European allies, making their base of operations in German. Joining with several German super soldiers, they began refering to themselves simply as "The Gang" as a way of mocking their counterparts. The European allies won the war shortly after President Roosavelt died, and the Canasian and Japanese forces surrendered. The largest loss of life in the war was when Roosavelt's vice president, in one last desperate atempt, detonated a nuclear bomb over Hong Kong.


Origin:

Finally, a story about the Crime Syndicate. Dealing with, as you may have guessed, how they came together. They start out, as their name suggests, simply as a crime syndicate. Owlman, after running into Ultraman and Superwoman on a few occassions, suggests that they form a new gang, soon recruiting Power Ring and Johnny Quick. This story shows how they made a name for themselves in the criminal underworld and set up an orginization that would eventually lead to them becoming the unofficial rulers of most of the planet.


Ancient History:

A mostly silent issue, this story is a tale of an ancient nomadic tribe of caucasoids, traveling to find a new place to live. They are led by a young Vandal Savage, who, using his superhuman intelect, regenerative abilities, and above average strength, helps defend them from major threats. During their travel, they run into and briefly fight a tribe of mongoloids aparantly headed in the opposite direction. They make their way across an icy landscape, and eventually make their way southward to what we see is in fact North America, showing the truely reversed history of the anti-matter Earth by having the European societies popping up in North America, and the Native American societies originating in Europe.


Revolution:

At the height of the Syndicate's influence, a much wiser and more skilled Quizmaster brings together the Justice Underground to do what all branches of law enforcement were either too scarred or too corrupt to do: Bring down the Syndicate. Of course, since no court on the planet would have the balls to try them, the Underground finds that the only course of action is to kill the bastards. For months, they build manpower and resources, occassionally hurting the Syndicates operations to cripple them enough for the final blow. They get very close to their goal, but in the end one of their own, Selina Kyle, betrays them. Most of the members are either killed or kept to occassionally torture for the Syndicate's ammusement. Only Quizmaster escapes either fate, and goes into hiding.


A is A:

This is a character study of the Anti-Matter Lex Luthor, and his atempts to save the world. In short, it illustraits a level of moral ambiguity and ruthlessness that suggests that the difference between the two Luthors is not as big as we think.


Suicidal:

After serving as their puppet for years, President Perry White readies one last atempt to nail the Syndicate. His plan? Send the Suicide Squad to the Floating Fortress and the Panopticon to destroy the two structures, crippling the organization enough for an atempted arrest and/or kill. Like I said, suicidal.

 

[The Question]

A thought I had for a new Marvel villain:

Aga Aiman:

Real Name: Aga Aiman (legally changed in 1984)

Birth Name: Francis Burke

Skills and abilities: Aiman is a highly skilled tactitian, hand to hand combatant, and public speaker. He is a well traind marksman, and is proficient in the use of many conventional firearms. Burke also possesses superhuman strength (capable of benching slightly under 1,000 lbs), superhuman speed (has run five miles in rust over a minute in the past), and superhuman stamina (capable of regular physical exursion for days at a time with little or no sleep). His senses and reflexes are superhumanly acute, and he is capable of healing from injuries that would take days or even weeks to fully heal in a matter of hours. He hasn't suffered from a disease of any kind since 1977.

Character history: Born in the early 50s, Francis Burke was regularly faced with racism and violence growing up. He enlisted with the military in the 60s and served in a unit of primairily black soldiers in Vietnam. It was there that he met and befriended a young Josiah Bradley. One of the few survivors of the unit, Francis left the military after the war and stayed in Asia, becoming a soldier of fortune. He eventually met back up with Josiah, and the two frequently did mecenary work together. When Francis was badly injured in a gun fight, he received a blood transfusion from Josiah, and gained abilities similar to Josiah's. Working with Josiah all the way down to Africa, he converted to Islam with Josiah. However, Francis was obviously a much more disturbed individual than Josiah, having severe trust and anger issues. When Josiah left Africa to tackle urban decay in America, Francis, now having legally changed his name to Aga Aiman, stayed to protect the people of Africa from corruption and violence. After failing to prevent an entire villaige's slaughter by military forces from the north, Aiman started to take a more proactive, violent course of action against those he saw as poisoning the world.

Skip to the present day. Aiman is now the leader of a militant religious and political group known as the Spear of God. After failing to gain Josiah's help in his cause, Aiman is now obsessed with capturing him. Since it has been recently discovered that the effects of the super soldier serum can be transfered through a succesful blood transfusion, Aiman seeks to use Josiah's blood, type O negative, to create an army of superhuman warriors to furthur his causes.

 

[The Question]

How I'd give MAX and Icon a boost in quality:

We all know that MAX and Icon are both, in their own ways, Marvels' response to Vertigo. However, they're not doing too well at that, are they? Here's how I'd fix things:

Icon: This imprint, for those not in the know, is for origional, creator owned titles not in the MU. Really, my only suggestion is this: Start accepting pitches. So far, it's only been used to keep their big names happy. And that slows it down creatively. They should start looking at pitches from anyone working for Marvel, or even people trying to break in. Giving so many people creative control over their works may seem like bad buisness, but they'd get more creators doing things for them if they did. And that equals $$$.


MAX: This is really where their faults are showing. MAX has maybe one or two quality series at the moment. Tops. They need to do two things to make the line really rival Vertigo:

1) Start hiring some real talant. Get in talks with people like Grant Morrison, Mike Carey, or Garth Ennis. Start looking at more pitches, looking for people who can produce something on the level of what Vertigo does. Don't settle for just anyone, like they seem to be doing these days.

2) Start looking into starting up more projects. If you start planning a new series, you're more likely to get more pitches from people who want to work on said project. As such, you're more likely to get more good pitches.


I've come up with a list of characters and titles that I think would work well as MAX series:


The Lowlifes: Think of it like a blend of Resevoir Dogs and the Legion of Doom. Adrian Toombs, Herman Schultz, Peter Petruski, Aleksie Sytsevich, and Jonathan Ohn. Five washed up super villains who have banded together. Not to take over the world, or get revenge, but simply to steal. Working like an old school gang of theives with a high tech twist, they plan elaborate heights, evade both the cops and the mob, and watch each others backs, all the while trying to make that one big score that will put them on easy street. Or, at least get their hands on enough cash to pay for their next meal.

Loki: The life story of the god of micheif, told from his own point of veiw. Using a blend of black humor, farce, surrealism, religious and mystical philosophy, and psychological themes, the series will delve into not only who Loki is, but who he's going to become.

Ghost Rider: A mix of Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns and gothic horror, Ghost Rider tells the tale of Johnny Blaze, a man who got the short end of a centuries old deal between his family and The Devil himself, Mephisto. Now free from Hell, the old deal has finally caught up with him: He is the current hots of Noble Kale, the Ghost Rider. Living up on his role as Spirit of Vengence, Blaze travels the country, righting wrongs and avenging the innocent, with stories done as westerns with a modern, fantasy twist. As heaven, hell, and humans all conspire to use his power for their own gain, Blaze must forge his own path, or lose the one thing he's spent years trying to regain: His freedom.

Blade: The Daywalker. Scourge to the underworld (literally). Working as a paranormal investigator, Blade hunts down everything that hunts humanity from the shadows. Serving as the fantasy equivalent of a crime noir drama, the series deals with everythung from Werewolf cults to Vampiric organized crime and necromancer/hitmen for hire.

Howard the Duck: The smart mouth duck in a world he never made needs to make a comeback, and MAX is the perfect venue. With the freedom to tackle and parody a wide aray of social issues with as much severity as possible, it would be a comic so good that it would bring about a new era of peace and undertsanding. Yes, just like in Bill and Ted's Excelent Adventure.

Josiah X: The U.S. has Captain America. England has Captain Britain. Places like Rwanda, North Korea, Iraq, Isreal, and Vietnam have Josiah X. Taking the fight to places where civilization is barely holding itself together, Josiah does his best to keep the world from tearing itself apart from the inside out in the parts of the world that most would like to forget.

The Family: A "Sopranos" like look at the infamous Nefaria crime family. The series starts with Luchino Nefaria escaping from prison, and trying to rebuilt his criminal empire from scratch. As he kills his rivals, forges alliances, and makes plans to counter acts of treachery, he must also take care of his deeply emotionally scarred daughter, Whitney, who's relationship with him has been filled by many hardships and mutual betrayal.

Taskmaster: Chronicling the life and day to day activities of the mysterious merc, the series would help solidify Tasky's status as one of Marvel's most unique and best guns for hire. He'd do everything from political assassinations, security jobs, theivery, spying, and serving as a personal trainor to people in very specialized feilds. He'd also try and deal with the fact that, unlike many characters, he's got no real identity to fall back on, and has to invent a new one everywhere he goes.

 

[The Question]

EDIT: Nevermind.

 

[deemar325]

For Deemar:

Originally Posted by The Question
A breif history of the Anti-Matter Earth:



This would be a series based mainly upon the world of the Crime Syndicate, and envisioned by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. It would be my way of writing an entire alternate history for the DCU, which I always find fun. I'd better define the inner workings of the CSA, their history, and their relationship with the world at large. I'd also flesh out several characters who were only mentioned in passing or only seen briefly, such as Quizmaster and the Justice Underground. The stories I plan on doing are:


War:

Set during the height of WWIII, the story centers around soldiers and special forces operatives on both sides of the conflict. The war started when Atlantis led a surprise atack against several U.S. Naval bases and Florida. King Orin "The Barracuda" Atlanna made his campaign in response to what h veiwed as the opression of the surface dwellers. He was soon joined in his campaign by Kandhaq, Themyscira, Gorilla City, and Zandia, all of whome felt that they had been routinely abused by the Western world. The arc is told from the POV of Sergent Slade Wilson, a speical forces operative for the United States military and leader of the Suicide Squad, Artemis, head of Themyscira's elite gaurd, Grodd, a freedom fighter in Gorilla City aiding the Western nations in hopes of overthrowing the tyranical King Solivar, and Garth, head of Atlantian special forces. The leaders of the espective countries are either only seen briefly or only mentioned, and the Crime Syndicate are mentioned in passing as selling arms to both sides of the conflict and making a killing in the process.

So far so good, Like the bit with "Sgt. Slade" Hey how about throwing Slam Bradley in there.


Overman:

The story of the Ultra-Humanite, a German biologist and inventor who moved to the United States after WWII (in which the then xenophobic, right wing regime of the United States were the agressors) to help the country rebuild. He started in a small, insignicant town in Illinois called Metropolis. Over the next 50 years, he helped to make the United States into a prosperous world super power, and built Metropolis into a shining beacon of hope for the rest of the country. He was responsible for several technological leaps, including the computer, the internet, a majority of medical advances, advanced transportation technology, and a revival of interest in classical, awe inspiring archetecture, starting with the Tower of Humanity in Metropolis (standing in place of Lexcorp headquarters), and his own Floating Fortress, prepetually hovering over the city of Metropolis. He also set himself up as a bit of an adventurer, investigating strange and unusual occourances, sometimes paranormal in nature, and often serving as an advisor to local law enforcement and the government in times of crisis. It was a bit of a golden age in the U.S. in those days. Roughly ten years ago, he was the first to find the missing astronaut Clark Kentm who was believed to be dead after his space shuttle lost contact with NASA. He studies Kent for several days, and it soon became aparant that Kent had gained vast superhuman abilities. Seeing the potential of such a discovery, Ultra-Humanite began making plans to use Kent's powers for the bettering of the world. Realizing a very different potential, Kent murdered the scientist and took his Fortress as his own.

Interesting, I think the founding of Metropolis is a nice detail.

Gotham Knights:

Edward Nashton, the genius, billionare CEO of a company specializing on computer equipment, vidoe games, and other such merchandise, feels that Gotham, the city that raised him, is dying. Using his genius and familiarity with combat, he becomes an urban vigilante/do-gooder known nicknamed The Quizmaster. On his first night out, he gets the crap beat out of him by a group of teenagers, only to be saved by a psychotic homeless man wearing clown make up calling himself The Jester. The two spend the rest of the night walking through the streets of Gotham and talking, sharing their stories. At the end of the night, Edward decides that he needs to perfect his skills and make another atempt.


The Big One:

Chronicles the events leading up to and during this world's WWII. In this version of things, as I said, the political regime that helped America out of the Great Depression was highly xenophobic and imperialistic, and soon afterwords launched a war against th rest of the world. To aid the war effort, a group of superhumans was brought together to serve as the front line forces of the military. They were simply called The Society. Several American metahumans who refused to join Th Society fled to Europe and joined forces with the European allies, making their base of operations in German. Joining with several German super soldiers, they began refering to themselves simply as "The Gang" as a way of mocking their counterparts. The European allies won the war shortly after President Roosavelt died, and the Canasian and Japanese forces surrendered. The largest loss of life in the war was when Roosavelt's vice president, in one last desperate atempt, detonated a nuclear bomb over Hong Kong.


Origin:

Finally, a story about the Crime Syndicate. Dealing with, as you may have guessed, how they came together. They start out, as their name suggests, simply as a crime syndicate. Owlman, after running into Ultraman and Superwoman on a few occassions, suggests that they form a new gang, soon recruiting Power Ring and Johnny Quick. This story shows how they made a name for themselves in the criminal underworld and set up an orginization that would eventually lead to them becoming the unofficial rulers of most of the planet.


Ancient History:

A mostly silent issue, this story is a tale of an ancient nomadic tribe of caucasoids, traveling to find a new place to live. They are led by a young Vandal Savage, who, using his superhuman intelect, regenerative abilities, and above average strength, helps defend them from major threats. During their travel, they run into and briefly fight a tribe of mongoloids aparantly headed in the opposite direction. They make their way across an icy landscape, and eventually make their way southward to what we see is in fact North America, showing the truely reversed history of the anti-matter Earth by having the European societies popping up in North America, and the Native American societies originating in Europe.

Sounds like a pretty cool One-Shot story.


Revolution:

At the height of the Syndicate's influence, a much wiser and more skilled Quizmaster brings together the Justice Underground to do what all branches of law enforcement were either too scarred or too corrupt to do: Bring down the Syndicate. Of course, since no court on the planet would have the balls to try them, the Underground finds that the only course of action is to kill the bastards. For months, they build manpower and resources, occassionally hurting the Syndicates operations to cripple them enough for the final blow. They get very close to their goal, but in the end one of their own, Selina Kyle, betrays them. Most of the members are either killed or kept to occassionally torture for the Syndicate's ammusement. Only Quizmaster escapes either fate, and goes into hiding.


A is A:

This is a character study of the Anti-Matter Lex Luthor, and his atempts to save the world. In short, it illustraits a level of moral ambiguity and ruthlessness that suggests that the difference between the two Luthors is not as big as we think.


Suicidal:

After serving as their puppet for years, President Perry White readies one last atempt to nail the Syndicate. His plan? Send the Suicide Squad to the Floating Fortress and the Panopticon to destroy the two structures, crippling the organization enough for an atempted arrest and/or kill. Like I said, suicidal.



Really good stuff, you used Morrison's ideas to great effect.

 

[deemar325]

How I'd give MAX and Icon a boost in quality:

We all know that MAX and Icon are both, in their own ways, Marvels' response to Vertigo. However, they're not doing too well at that, are they? Here's how I'd fix things:

Icon: This imprint, for those not in the know, is for origional, creator owned titles not in the MU. Really, my only suggestion is this: Start accepting pitches. So far, it's only been used to keep their big names happy. And that slows it down creatively. They should start looking at pitches from anyone working for Marvel, or even people trying to break in. Giving so many people creative control over their works may seem like bad buisness, but they'd get more creators doing things for them if they did. And that equals $$$.

Ditto to every once of what you said.


MAX: This is really where their faults are showing. MAX has maybe one or two quality series at the moment. Tops. They need to do two things to make the line really rival Vertigo:

1) Start hiring some real talant. Get in talks with people like Grant Morrison, Mike Carey, or Garth Ennis. Start looking at more pitches, looking for people who can produce something on the level of what Vertigo does. Don't settle for just anyone, like they seem to be doing these days.

2) Start looking into starting up more projects. If you start planning a new series, you're more likely to get more pitches from people who want to work on said project. As such, you're more likely to get more good pitches.


I've come up with a list of characters and titles that I think would work well as MAX series:


The Lowlifes: Think of it like a blend of Resevoir Dogs and the Legion of Doom. Adrian Toombs, Herman Schultz, Peter Petruski, Aleksie Sytsevich, and Jonathan Ohn. Five washed up super villains who have banded together. Not to take over the world, or get revenge, but simply to steal. Working like an old school gang of theives with a high tech twist, they plan elaborate heights, evade both the cops and the mob, and watch each others backs, all the while trying to make that one big score that will put them on easy street. Or, at least get their hands on enough cash to pay for their next meal.

You know I love with a capital "L" this concept!

Loki: The life story of the god of micheif, told from his own point of veiw. Using a blend of black humor, farce, surrealism, religious and mystical philosophy, and psychological themes, the series will delve into not only who Loki is, but who he's going to become.

I dig it.

Ghost Rider: A mix of Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns and gothic horror, Ghost Rider tells the tale of Johnny Blaze, a man who got the short end of a centuries old deal between his family and The Devil himself, Mephisto. Now free from Hell, the old deal has finally caught up with him: He is the current hots of Noble Kale, the Ghost Rider. Living up on his role as Spirit of Vengence, Blaze travels the country, righting wrongs and avenging the innocent, with stories done as westerns with a modern, fantasy twist. As heaven, hell, and humans all conspire to use his power for their own gain, Blaze must forge his own path, or lose the one thing he's spent years trying to regain: His freedom.

Ghosty is a no brainer for this type of treatment, I actually think Ghostrider in general would work better out side of Marvel continuity.

Blade: The Daywalker. Scourge to the underworld (literally). Working as a paranormal investigator, Blade hunts down everything that hunts humanity from the shadows. Serving as the fantasy equivalent of a crime noir drama, the series deals with everythung from Werewolf cults to Vampiric organized crime and necromancer/hitmen for hire.

Dead on! Like Ghost Rider, I'd rather Blade was in his own universe. Also I think MoonKnight would work as a MAX title; although I like the current series.

Howard the Duck: The smart mouth duck in a world he never made needs to make a comeback, and MAX is the perfect venue. With the freedom to tackle and parody a wide aray of social issues with as much severity as possible, it would be a comic so good that it would bring about a new era of peace and undertsanding. Yes, just like in Bill and Ted's Excelent Adventure.

F--kin right^


Josiah X: The U.S. has Captain America. England has Captain Britain. Places like Rwanda, North Korea, Iraq, Isreal, and Vietnam have Josiah X. Taking the fight to places where civilization is barely holding itself together, Josiah does his best to keep the world from tearing itself apart from the inside out in the parts of the world that most would like to forget.

The Family: A "Sopranos" like look at the infamous Nefaria crime family. The series starts with Luchino Nefaria escaping from prison, and trying to rebuilt his criminal empire from scratch. As he kills his rivals, forges alliances, and makes plans to counter acts of treachery, he must also take care of his deeply emotionally scarred daughter, Whitney, who's relationship with him has been filled by many hardships and mutual betrayal.

I think these two ideas (Josiah X and the Nefaria Family) are my favorites and god I'd love to read these as ongoings. How the f--k Marvel let such great characters fall by the way side is beyond me? Especially Count Neferia, this guy should be as popular as Magneto!


Taskmaster: Chronicling the life and day to day activities of the mysterious merc, the series would help solidify Tasky's status as one of Marvel's most unique and best guns for hire. He'd do everything from political assassinations, security jobs, theivery, spying, and serving as a personal trainor to people in very specialized feilds. He'd also try and deal with the fact that, unlike many characters, he's got no real identity to fall back on, and has to invent a new one everywhere he goes.

Q I'm feeling ya.

 

[The Question]

Danke. I've got another idea right now for a company wide cross over type of thing. A sort of war epic, which bassically has all the nations of the Earth, including all of the god pantheons and The Eternals, uniting against one country who's gotten their hands on a cosmic cube and have in turn become much more ambitious.

 

[Zoken]

an Ultimate Spider-Man idea I've had for a while. Peter's DNA has been found at the scene of several mass murders. Fury has put out warrent for Peter's arrest (this was all pre-clone-saga and pre-traitor)

"Aunt May," Peter breathed into the reciever of the payphone in a dingy old phonebooth. "I swear, no matter what anyone says... I never meant to be anything but someone Uncle Ben would be proud of. Remember that."

"Very touching son," came a deep voice behind him. Peter knew it from the news and DVD's of the Ultimates battles. It was Captain America. "Now let's get going."

"I'm not your son," Peter said slowly as he turned around to face the Symbolic Super Soldier. Peter put his hand on the wall of the booth as Rodgers looked at him coldly. Before Captain America could react, Peter lifted himself by his hand on the wall and drove both feet into Steve's chest, knocking him a good twenty feet away. Peter followed up with a face full of webbing before flipping on top of the phonebooth. His Spider-Sense flared and he lept in time to avoid an exploding arrow. he threw a line of webbing into the archer's face and landed a short distance away.

he quickly got to the top of the building Hawk eye had tried to sniper him from. Peter filled both the archer's hands with webbing, to keep him from continuing the assualt. Peter's spider-sense flared again, and he leapt, narrowly avoiding Quicksilver. Peter landed on a ledge, looking to be teetering, just about to fall over. Quicksilver made to grab him, but Peter quickly slung his weight backwards while grabbing the mutant-speedster and hefting him over the side. Peter webbed his feet together and let out a long line of web so that Pietro was only a foot above the pavement.

He climbed back to the roof only to be hit in the chest by a hex-bolt from the Scarlet Witch. Peter was flung outwrds, but used his webbing to pull himself back toward the roof. he turned himself in midaire and planted both feet in Wanda's chest, knocking the wind out of her, and letting her fall to the ground. he webbed both her hands to the roof, hopefully dissabling her.

He gave a small pant, quickly running out of steam. He turned when he heard a dull roar over head. Iron Man was coming. Peter had to think quickly. he smiled smugly and dissappeared from the roof.

"I don't have sight of him," Iron Man reported back. "Check your radar again."

"No!" Fury yelled through his com-link. "Literally, He's on top of you! activate your rear mounted viewer."

Tony did so, and there, sitting cross-legged on his back was Peter Parker. What worried him was that Parker had a panel on his armor open and something was plugged into it.

"Amazing what blackberry's can do these days," Peter said with a smile before leaping off of Tony before they could electrify his shell.

Tony made to go after him but something went wrong. suddenly his armor forced him up right in the air. his arms began moving in repetitive motions, as well as his hips and knees.

"STARK!" yelled Fury through the com. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"As far as I can tell," Tony reported. "The Macarena. The kid hacked me, I'm going to need to run a full anti-virus program... take at least an hour... once I get back to base. Damnit, I don't know if I wanna kill the kid or hire 'em."

Peter managed to get a few blocks away, duck behind some ventilation equipment and take a breather. That had been more frightening than he wanted to admit. Not to mention he'd just plain gotten lucky that he'd spotted that guy with the blackberry.

"Parker!" Came a loud, almost regal voice. "Stand and fight!"

Peter peeked over the equipment. "Aw damnit," he muttered as he locked eyes with the Norse Thundergod.

Thor sent a bolt of lightening that singed Peter's leg, making it slightly numb. Then Peter got lucky as Thor threw the grand warhammer. 'I hope this works,' Peter thought quickly. he attatched a webline to the hammer's handle after dodging it and then adheered his left heel to the ground. he quickly began spinning the hammer. faster and faster, and then released it. It flew back to it's owner too quick for the god to properly reclaim it and it hit him square in the chest. Peter fled, only to have his web line shot out.

he landed, ungracefully, in front of the Black Widow. "Bad news," Peter panted playfully. "You are no longer the hottest woman I've ever met."

"I will weep later," she remarked. She fired two more shots. Peter dodged the second, but the first took a bite out of his now fairly numb leg. he webbed her guns, then tried to hit her, but she dodged quickly. She dove in close, to finish the job with her knives, But Peter landed a punch in her gut that cracked two ribs and made her vomit over Peter's shoulder. she passed out quickly. Peter Swung away into the main part of manhattan where he could be lost among the buildings.

"Did that punk just BEAT every single one of my Ultimates?" growled Fury dangerously.

Everyone around him was smart enough to be intensly busy doing their jobs.

 

[Zoken]

The Secret Diary of the Uncanny and Incredible Amelia

Please call me Amy. For those of you who aren't from Empire City, I am the daughter of James Dodson and Regina Tatopolis-Dodson, better known as The Icon and Wonderous: the last Amazon. They are pretty much the biggest heroes in this city, impressive, powerful, iconic.

My father recieved his powers while he was working on a Cold Fusion generator. the device exploded and bombarded him with Strange Waves. They altered the make up of his body to allow him the abilty to transmute all matter at his whim, and to fire blasts of plasma energy from his hands. He has unlimited strength, and a glowing form.

My Mother was a nurse working on in an emergency room when an elderly woman was brought in with a gun shot wound. My mother did what she could to save her, but lost the woman. Later that night, as she slept in the on-call room, she had a vision of the elderly woman, no longer elderly. It turned out the woman was a test for my mother, to see if she was a true warrior, worthy of her Amazon Heritage. Thus my mother was granted an Amazon's strength, resiliance, and fighting skills.

They met "on the job" so to speak, and their lives were well detailed in the media. I really don't need to go into detail. At one point my mom took 9 months off and I'm the result. I have my mom's killer skin tone, and my father's eyes. I'm almost seventeen, and my parents have groomed me all my life to step up to the plate... How do you break it to parents like them that you just want to be a Doctor? that you don't want to save the world, just a few lives?

Luckily, nature took care of that for me. I have no powers whatsoever. Trust me. I was checked by the finest genetisists in the world, three different priests, and a very pushy voo-doo shaman. Nothing super-human about me whatsoever. Except maybe my tunafish sandwhiches, if you ask my dad. My parents were broken hearted. They offered to have me study with the Shadow-Man, some savant hero in a nasty town known for not having powers and training sidekicks. I refused, pointing out that both Shadow-Man and his "wards" had all been declared obsessive-compulsive at their last Coalition of Champions psyche review. My parents haven't offered since. and so, I live here, In the Hall of Responsibilty with my "Uncle" Burn-Out and "Aunt" Gravita, and their super-powered little terror Tiffany. I swear, nothing sucks worse than a six year old with super-strength, lazer vision, and a sugar ruch.

 

[Zoken]

okay, the title of the above piece needs serious work. I don't have one. In my mind it's an Invincible/Grounded type title, taking a look at what the Super-Hero life style really does to a person.

Amelia Dodson is a normal girl. A little too normal at times. She has some control issues that come from having to be "on top of things" in her home life for years. He'll, she's been kidnapped, held ransom, and abducted by psycho's, war-mongers, alien dictators, and freaks of all types. She's gonna have some issues. She is going to public school for the first time in her life at the start of her Junior year so that she can get into the school of her choice. Her parents identities are known, as is hers. She has some martial arts skill and is seen as a nerd.

Her first day at school, she sees a guy hastling a scrawny kid, she steps in, dislocates the hastler's arm, and winds up with detention (it would have been worse but there were too many witnesses to Hastler's assault) because the boy's who's arm she dislocated is John Hastler, Quarter back and captain of the high school football team.

Through out the series she has no interest in being a super-hero. IF at any point she were to aquire powers, it would take a whole lot of strong arming to get her to act like a super-hero. I don't intend for her to get them (to her parents chagrin).

She discovers that she is a lesbian when she starts flirting with a local level teen-hero, that also happens to attend her school, named Blaster. She ahd suspected it for sometime as she had never felt any interest in boys or men whatsoever, but never "confirmed" it. The two girls date secretly for a while. on the day when Amelia finally plans to tell her parents her secrets (doesn't want to be a hero, and Oh, yeah, I'm a lesbian) she comes home to find her mother making out... wait for it... WITH BLASTER!

 

[deemar325]

an Ultimate Spider-Man idea I've had for a while. Peter's DNA has been found at the scene of several mass murders. Fury has put out warrent for Peter's arrest (this was all pre-clone-saga and pre-traitor)

"Aunt May," Peter breathed into the reciever of the payphone in a dingy old phonebooth. "I swear, no matter what anyone says... I never meant to be anything but someone Uncle Ben would be proud of. Remember that."

"Very touching son," came a deep voice behind him. Peter knew it from the news and DVD's of the Ultimates battles. It was Captain America. "Now let's get going."

"I'm not your son," Peter said slowly as he turned around to face the Symbolic Super Soldier. Peter put his hand on the wall of the booth as Rodgers looked at him coldly. Before Captain America could react, Peter lifted himself by his hand on the wall and drove both feet into Steve's chest, knocking him a good twenty feet away. Peter followed up with a face full of webbing before flipping on top of the phonebooth. His Spider-Sense flared and he lept in time to avoid an exploding arrow. he threw a line of webbing into the archer's face and landed a short distance away.

he quickly got to the top of the building Hawk eye had tried to sniper him from. Peter filled both the archer's hands with webbing, to keep him from continuing the assualt. Peter's spider-sense flared again, and he leapt, narrowly avoiding Quicksilver. Peter landed on a ledge, looking to be teetering, just about to fall over. Quicksilver made to grab him, but Peter quickly slung his weight backwards while grabbing the mutant-speedster and hefting him over the side. Peter webbed his feet together and let out a long line of web so that Pietro was only a foot above the pavement.

He climbed back to the roof only to be hit in the chest by a hex-bolt from the Scarlet Witch. Peter was flung outwrds, but used his webbing to pull himself back toward the roof. he turned himself in midaire and planted both feet in Wanda's chest, knocking the wind out of her, and letting her fall to the ground. he webbed both her hands to the roof, hopefully dissabling her.

He gave a small pant, quickly running out of steam. He turned when he heard a dull roar over head. Iron Man was coming. Peter had to think quickly. he smiled smugly and dissappeared from the roof.

"I don't have sight of him," Iron Man reported back. "Check your radar again."

"No!" Fury yelled through his com-link. "Literally, He's on top of you! activate your rear mounted viewer."

Tony did so, and there, sitting cross-legged on his back was Peter Parker. What worried him was that Parker had a panel on his armor open and something was plugged into it.

"Amazing what blackberry's can do these days," Peter said with a smile before leaping off of Tony before they could electrify his shell.

Tony made to go after him but something went wrong. suddenly his armor forced him up right in the air. his arms began moving in repetitive motions, as well as his hips and knees.

"STARK!" yelled Fury through the com. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"As far as I can tell," Tony reported. "The Macarena. The kid hacked me, I'm going to need to run a full anti-virus program... take at least an hour... once I get back to base. Damnit, I don't know if I wanna kill the kid or hire 'em."

Peter managed to get a few blocks away, duck behind some ventilation equipment and take a breather. That had been more frightening than he wanted to admit. Not to mention he'd just plain gotten lucky that he'd spotted that guy with the blackberry.

"Parker!" Came a loud, almost regal voice. "Stand and fight!"

Peter peeked over the equipment. "Aw damnit," he muttered as he locked eyes with the Norse Thundergod.

Thor sent a bolt of lightening that singed Peter's leg, making it slightly numb. Then Peter got lucky as Thor threw the grand warhammer. 'I hope this works,' Peter thought quickly. he attatched a webline to the hammer's handle after dodging it and then adheered his left heel to the ground. he quickly began spinning the hammer. faster and faster, and then released it. It flew back to it's owner too quick for the god to properly reclaim it and it hit him square in the chest. Peter fled, only to have his web line shot out.

he landed, ungracefully, in front of the Black Widow. "Bad news," Peter panted playfully. "You are no longer the hottest woman I've ever met."

"I will weep later," she remarked. She fired two more shots. Peter dodged the second, but the first took a bite out of his now fairly numb leg. he webbed her guns, then tried to hit her, but she dodged quickly. She dove in close, to finish the job with her knives, But Peter landed a punch in her gut that cracked two ribs and made her vomit over Peter's shoulder. she passed out quickly. Peter Swung away into the main part of manhattan where he could be lost among the buildings.

"Did that punk just BEAT every single one of my Ultimates?" growled Fury dangerously.

Everyone around him was smart enough to be intensly busy doing their jobs.

Heh, that was a cool ass fight scene, although remember Ult.Cap has actual super strength so it probaly would have taken Spidey more effort to best Cap.

 

[Zoken]

If you recall I was working on a story web set in tolkien times. One regarding the "Black Army". I had planned for them to be victimes of some horrible slow killing disease, but that just made less and less sense to me. Thusly...

No one knows where, when, or why they were brough to our lands from those far to the south. It is only widely accepted that they are cursed by the gods, their dark skin the sign of their curse. The Moors for so long were a nomadic people, living where they could until the kingdom would exile them. Then, they were given a large fertile plot of land by one of the kingdoms. They were welcomed, so long as they lived only on this lovely plateu. They readily agreed, happy to now have a place to call home.

In this kingdom they had all the rights that the light-skinned had. Eventually their seclusion was no longer enforced, but chosen. They traveled freely to neighboring villages to trade and barter, but kept mostly to their own settlement. Several generations of nomadic traveling had bred their people to be swift of foot and quite strong. Many in the seven kingdoms still considered them to be less intelligent, or somehow inferior. they did not dare travel beyond the borders of the Kingdom they were accepted in.

When their new lands are attacked, they rose to defend it, but their leader, Makoma, has forseen the fall of the kingdom. The military is not as strong as others. Makoma realizes, they must rise. They must defend the kingdom that took them in and made them free peoples.

He rallies his people, his strongest warriors, his most brilliant thinkers, their swiftest messangers, and their most apt fighters. He cobbles them into a fighting force that is powerful and frightening. They dress themselves in the colors of the night, striking in darkness when the forces of the evil Modrik slumber. Makoma forges the Black Army.

 

[deemar325]

The Secret Diary of the Uncanny and Incredible Amelia

Please call me Amy. For those of you who aren't from Empire City, I am the daughter of James Dodson and Regina Tatopolis-Dodson, better known as The Icon and Wonderous: the last Amazon. They are pretty much the biggest heroes in this city, impressive, powerful, iconic.

My father recieved his powers while he was working on a Cold Fusion generator. the device exploded and bombarded him with Strange Waves. They altered the make up of his body to allow him the abilty to transmute all matter at his whim, and to fire blasts of plasma energy from his hands. He has unlimited strength, and a glowing form.

My Mother was a nurse working on in an emergency room when an elderly woman was brought in with a gun shot wound. My mother did what she could to save her, but lost the woman. Later that night, as she slept in the on-call room, she had a vision of the elderly woman, no longer elderly. It turned out the woman was a test for my mother, to see if she was a true warrior, worthy of her Amazon Heritage. Thus my mother was granted an Amazon's strength, resiliance, and fighting skills.

They met "on the job" so to speak, and their lives were well detailed in the media. I really don't need to go into detail. At one point my mom took 9 months off and I'm the result. I have my mom's killer skin tone, and my father's eyes. I'm almost seventeen, and my parents have groomed me all my life to step up to the plate... How do you break it to parents like them that you just want to be a Doctor? that you don't want to save the world, just a few lives?

Luckily, nature took care of that for me. I have no powers whatsoever. Trust me. I was checked by the finest genetisists in the world, three different priests, and a very pushy voo-doo shaman. Nothing super-human about me whatsoever. Except maybe my tunafish sandwhiches, if you ask my dad. My parents were broken hearted. They offered to have me study with the Shadow-Man, some savant hero in a nasty town known for not having powers and training sidekicks. I refused, pointing out that both Shadow-Man and his "wards" had all been declared obsessive-compulsive at their last Coalition of Champions psyche review. My parents haven't offered since. and so, I live here, In the Hall of Responsibilty with my "Uncle" Burn-Out and "Aunt" Gravita, and their super-powered little terror Tiffany. I swear, nothing sucks worse than a six year old with super-strength, lazer vision, and a sugar ruch.

OK dude this is pretty, no this is f--king cool. I really like this! Especially the diary narrative, really fine writing Z.

 

[Zoken]

**Happy Glow**

 

[deemar325]

The Shaman bit and how her parents tried to push her into being a hero is great.


It could be a T.V. Show.

 

[Zoken]

Well with her father having science powers, and her mom having super-natural powers, they would obviously have tried every angle to see if she had been gifted. and did you read the next bit?

It couldn't be a T.V. show without a real title... which I still don't have for it.

 

[deemar325]

How about...



Family Business!?

Powerless?

Sans Spandex?

Un-Amazing Betty (Amelia)?

Super Normal?

Average Amelia?

I'm just throwing stuff out there.

 

[Zoken]

It needs, in my opinion, to be just a single word to say it all. Powerless is already taken, but have been thinking of that one for so long. the duality of that meaning. speaking of "super-powers" yeah, she's powerless, but she's the kind who always makes sure she has some sort of power.

Did you read about what happens when she starts public high school in her sophomore year?

 

[deemar325]

Didn't get to that part, re-post.