Below are the post that Dread made on the other thread. Interesting stuff, and with some minor tweaking, could be very interesting. I'd buy it!!
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Dread's Posts
POST 1
Some great ideas all alright. Since most of mine are burried in pages and pages of stuff since my last one, I figured I'd contribute a very small "something". This is an idea to sort of "redo" a Marvel character who is admittedly not only very lame, but the example of why product placement in Comics, combined with Sports, never works. Yes, I'm thinking of
Superpro (formerly NFL Superpro). Supposedly the connection to the NFL is why he can't be used by Marvel anymore, which is relief for some. But after a few weeks of 52 involving Booster Gold, I sort of had an idea for Superpro to follow in that vein.
Basically,
Superpro is a hero who like BG, sees his superhero career as being a leg-up into product placements and company endorsements for cash more than it does about actual crime-fighting. After losing his NFL connection, however, Superpro is naturally more small-time than BG in that Mighty Marvel Fashion. Never being a terribly popular or successful superhero, Superpro is basically reduced to scraping together a living with local TV ads and minor shop endorsements on his "football armor" costume in-between battling crime across America (being "too small scale" to last in NY or even CA, he sort of "tours" states until the adverts dry up). I'm talking about Superpro appearing in infomercials selling Florida Swampland at 4 a.m. or doing cheesy commercials for local car dealerships on UHF stations. NFL and most sports related companies (like Reebok, Modell's) won't touch him because his status as a "superhuman" looks ill on the sports franchises that want to distance themselves from "endorsing juicers" in the wake of scandals. So he has logos of, erm, much smaller companies or stores on his costume. Like maybe JOE'S PIZZA gives him a few grand and free eats when he needs them to have a little advert on his shoulderpad, and so on.
I figure, if Slott could take a "lame" team like the GLA and run the hell with it, even a loser like Superpro could be moderately interesting with this approach. Despite being "low scale", though, Superpro would retain his "bravado" and perchant for really, REALLY lame one-liners (that are at times worse than the lines he's given by local commercial writers). I doubt he could sell a title, or whether I'd want him to, but as a sort of psuedo-plot point for some other title somewhere like MTU or something, it could work. Plus, it gets another superhero out of New York or California. In fact, it may be worth noting how people in the states between NY and CA feel almost bitter because NY and CA are where the "real" heroes are, and the rest of the states have to make due with either sporatic Avengers visits when cosmic stuff happens, or C-Listers like the GLA, Brother Voodoo, and of course, Superpro the "salesman hero".
"Whether I'm catching a touch-down or a bank-robbing clown, I ALWAYS recharge at JOE'S PIZZA, off Riverton Ave. and 16th avenue. Free colas after six!"
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POST 2
Yeah, I figured a "low rent Booster Gold" -esque level approach to Superpro would be sufficient, although he could actually come off being more "relatable" because of his lower level. I mean, his powers are generic (enhanced strength, durability, armor), so he has that against him. Red, white, and Blue are common superhero colors, sported on many more "popular" heroes like Captain America (in fact, Superpro may even be bitter and think, "Even Cap was more popular than me when HE wore armor"). As his armor and powers and origin rely on football, I could imagine him having some more "low level advert" stuff in "football towns" or so on. And as he's a travelling man, he lives out of a mobile home/Winnebago ish sort of "lair", which is rarely popular once the ladies see it. Basically, Superpro would naturally have some deep seeded esteem/acceptance issues after years at the bottom and his "fall from grace" so quickly in the 90's (a literal "15 minutes of fame"), but he hides it beneath his armor and football helmet to the point where he still appears as a one-liner challenged, overconfident jerkwad whose "morales" are basically the same as preached by Cap or Spider-Man, but come out a whole lot worse because he oversells them.
I mean I see Superpro as a guy who's so desperate to earn a living at the hero trade and so hungry for stuff after losing the NFL endorsements that he'd probably take a $500 weekend offer from a local convention under the tagline, "Meet the Man Who Met Spider-Man" in the basement of a church card show or something. If GLA taught me anything, it is that even "lame" heroes can have appeal and interest if you play them with enough heart or something to connect to, because in the end if any one of us became a superhero, not all of us would get to be the A-Listers on the cover of TIME like Capt. America, Thor or Spider-Man are. We'd probably be lucky to be, well....Superpro.
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POST 3
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anubis
I dig it man. So, does he have any moments of true heroism or anything? Like, he can't just be a *****e in it for the fame. (Or lack there of as it seems.)
Oh, sure. I mean, the benefit for Superpro is that CA and NY get all the A-List villians, too, so he gets to spank around some of the lessor named villians who aren't as powerful. I mean, he would legitmately save people and thrash crooks (and wouldn't EVER "hire" an actor and fake a supervillian plot, like Booster did). Just Marvel is a cynical universe; even if he, say, got in a big save taking down Whirlwind and saved an entire shopping mall, he'd have that stentch of his past/current "loserdom" that is hard to shake off.
"Wow, wasn't that cool? That Whirlwind guy never had a chance!"
"Isn't that the guy NFL dumped in '94?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Man, its the offseason, why can't we ever get the good heroes?"
"Dude, its Utah. We can barely get good COVER BANDS."
Of course, like any one of my "not in New York" plot ideas like NEW CHAMPIONS some pages back and whatnot, there'd be this "supervillian mafia" that has broken up states amungst themselves and stay out of prison by not bothering with NY or CA where 90% of the heroes are (and avoid the Hulk at all costs). The point would be that despite everything, Superpro is a hero who wants to earn an honest living doing what he loves. Just its very hard to break it big in a business where so many have come before you. I mean, GRAVITY showcased how you could break into being a superhero, have legit wins and powers, and go almost ignored.
