Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

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Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Ares »

It's likely happened to most of us at some point or another. There was a character we liked or hated, a set piece we loved or loathed, a concept we thought was a lot of fun or completely idiotic. Whether our thoughts were good or bad, we've often thought "This is what I would do to really make it work". I mean, we're creative types who like to build up heroes, do world building, analyze stories, debate the minutia of fiction, etc.

So basically, lets say you were given Jim Shooter like authority at whichever comic company you're interested in, only you've got Morrison/Bendis/Johns style untouchability so that you have no fear of being fired. You can make virtually whatever changes you want, you can have management work on promotional material, Hell, lets even extend it to say you have some kind of pull with the animation or film studios.

Like, for instance, take the Marvel Comics character Arcade. I actually really like the concept of the character, that of an assassin for hire who charges money solely because "If you're good at something, never do it for free", and mostly does it for the fun and challenge. A guy who specializes in custom built death traps, a "Murderworld" that is essentially a Theme Park of Death, his name originally coming from the arcade games of circuses and carnivals, where Arcade himself was dressed as a kind of carnival barker. A villain who was never going to take over the world, but who was a fun challenge for virtually any hero or team, presenting an entertaining adventure as the heroes had to use their brains and abilities to the utmost to survive.

Marvel has basically ruined the character and the fun concept. First there was the Avengers Academy crossover where it was implied that he was basically seen as a someone with no credibility because he'd never killed a superhero. Despite even Dr. Doom and Thanos having very few hero kills to their name. Then Avengers Arena took it the extra mile by having him openly mocked by other villains, go through some insane hoop jumping in order to regain some credibility, kill off some characters (some beloved, others not) and then still fail to regain any credibility. To the point that the last time I believe the character was seen, he was being tortured by other supervillains.

At this point, the character of Arcade is almost unsalvageable, and the only real way to save him is to simply Doombot the situation and say that the Arcade of the last few stories wasn't the actual Arcade.

Basically, Arcade would have hired Miss Coriander (the woman who had empowered and later betrayed Arcade during Avengers Arena) to use her skills to create a facsimile of himself to take his place and keep up appearances while he took an extended vacation to re-sharpen his tech skills, see what was new in the world of amusement parks, and try out some video games. However, Miss Coriander's facsimile was imperfect, grew depressed over his lack of success, letting himself actually become a joke. Miss Coriander, having developed an obsession with her creation, empowered him so he could regain his confidence, but eventually opts for self-preservation and throws her creations under the bus for those supervillains to torture. Arcade would return, be annoyed by what Miss Coriander's done in his absence, murders her, and then sends her corpse to the folks who had wanted justice for what had happened during Avengers Arena, along with a video explanation. Arcade then actually looks at this as a challenge to re-build his reputation.

I'd use his time away for Arcade to have improved his skills even more, and have decided to further adopt video games as part of his theme. Much as amusement parks and their arcades were something of an outdated notion in the 70s, he'd adopt the old style video arcades to his gimmick, as they've become similarly outdated today. Now his "Murderworlds" can basically each be a video game level customized to each opponent, and include references to theme parks, classic games and modern games. This gives the overall concept a little update to keep it fun and relevant while not losing any of its previous charm.

Anyway, that's just one idea. Feel free to share your own.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Jabroniville »

Hm, this requires some thought. Most of these are minor strokes as opposed to giant, bold ones.

X-MEN:

1) There are two X-Men team books. PERIOD. Both set at the same school, so no Schism or Feuding Schools or whatever. Each team has an established team leader, not some random one suddenly shoved into the spot because I'm a fan. Storm will naturally be leading one. Only one can have Wolverine.

Said books will feature some of the classic team, a few New Mutants guys added as "graduates", and maybe introduce a single newbie or two.

2) Additional X-Books can exist- throw some at Peter David again, there'll always be a Wolverine, etc. But none of that "there are three books labeled X-Men" stuff.

3) Cyclops can stay dead for a few years at least- enough to get the whole "X-War/Schism" smell off of him, so he comes off less extreme. Then he can rejoin.

4) Stop with the random Mutant Genocide stuff every couple of years. M-Pox is just the Legacy Virus all over again.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR:

1) The Fantastic Four can sit on the shelf until they get back to Marvel Studios (at which point they will be relaunched, Spider-Man-style, within another film's franchise, avoiding the smell of the past FF movies- the movie will use a PROPER Doctor Doom as the villain). At which point they get a relaunch with a top-tier creative team.

2) Establish once more that Johnny Storm is impetuous, brash and immature, but also exerts great control over his powers. Possibly through the introduction of another Torch-like character who LACKS that control- or a Mirror Image Villain with the same.

3) The Thing retains all of his Grimm-iness, but for once isn't treated like a Jobber To The Stars in combat situations. ie. GIVE HIM A FREAKING WIN ONE OF THESE DAYS. Establish once more why he has respect.

4) Since Reed & Sue are away for an indeterminate amount of time fixing the universe, maybe give 'em another kid when they come back. Sue can be a MILF THREE times over!

OTHER CHARACTERS:
1) Thanos will sit on the shelf for at LEAST a couple of years- relaunching big stories only for movie releases featuring the character. Nothing in-between. DO NOT overuse villains like this.

2) Scale back the near-constant Power Creep in the comics, to the point where the Hulk isn't so much beyond the Thing and other powerhouses again.

3) Disallow writers from simply using established supervillains as nobodies (ie. "The Hood's Army", "Some Guy in the Background of a Fight Scene") unless they're complete Jobbers. Everyone else should be given some kind of credibility, and certainly not defeated casually by a hero who's doing an inner monologue about something else.

4) Every Supermanalogue is either de-powered, killed, or disappears for a while. It's getting embarrassing at this point.

5) Bring the Sentry back to life in a big Avengers arc. Except have a bunch of characters tell him why he sucks, have it revealed that his backstory was a lie YET AGAIN and he never did all that stuff they thought he did, have a non-top-tier hero be responsible for his defeat, and then kill him again. Every time you kill a character, you devalue him a little bit more, even if he's brought back. So my plan is to ruin him forever. Because f*ck that guy.

6) Talk more about the styles of different martial artists- why Shang-Chi fights differently than Iron Fist or Daredevil. Maybe a series about Martial Arts fighters of different types- like Birds of Prey but with all fist-fighters. Basically insert a little bit of that "Shonen Manga" feel into fights, so it isn't just "throwing punches while inner monologue runs"- establish tactics, stylistic differences, advantages & disadvantages, and more. Make it feel like THOUGHT goes into the fights.

7) An Arcade-themed idea- have him "farm out" his system to others- let video game players control "Avatars" that get to fight superheroes and villains, letting them "feel" what it's like to be a superhero. This results in heroes having to fight random Controlled Robots at weird times.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Batgirl III »

Make Supergirl fun again. A girl who is a superhero just like Clark. Not naked. No angst. No "Daddy Issues." Just a girl with superpower in a costume beating up bad-guys in costumes...
I'm sure Kara Zor-El (Post-Crisis version) has some fans out there, but I don't know many. Most of the folks I know are resentful. She's not Linda. She's not Pre-Crisis Kara. She's not any of the characters we like or remember. Which wouldn't necessarily be bad...except the end result is, to put it bluntly, sensationalist tripe.

She's a sullen, angry little lolita in a barely there costume, sexy tattoo on her back, whose only purpose seems to be shower scenes or kissing cousins. But...wait a second, she's *Supergirl*!

There's something, I think, innately wrong with taking Supergirl, traditionally a character that makes Superman's concept accessible to young female readers and remaking her solely for men.

Supergirl should be a series I can recommend to my fourteen year old cousin, so she can see a young girl like herself with powers, an neat concept and fun stories. I certainly can't, in all good conscience, recommend *this* to her. And honestly, I don't know anyone who really likes the character as she is now. Evil version, sent to kill Clark, uber-angst, and barely there costume or not.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Jabroniville »

Yeah, there's a lot of characters out there designed for faps... Supergirl really shouldn't be one of them. That's one of those books that always needed more of a peppy, innocent tone compared to the prevailing comics of the day.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Batgirl III »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2017 8:17 pm Yeah, there's a lot of characters out there designed for faps... Supergirl really shouldn't be one of them. That's one of those books that always needed more of a peppy, innocent tone compared to the prevailing comics of the day.
Supergirl should be a "gateway" comic. It just seems so intrinsic to the very idea of the character: Super + Girl.

There have been a raft of "tween" shows on the Disney Channel the last few years that have mixed superhero-style adventure with teenage romance and drama. Mighty Med, Lab Rats, Best Freinds Whenever, and so forth... Maybe those shows are a bit too slapstick heavy, they are sitcoms after all. But something hewing closer to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer high school years in tone would be golden.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Psistrike »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:22 am
OTHER CHARACTERS:
5) Bring the Sentry back to life in a big Avengers arc. Except have a bunch of characters tell him why he sucks, have it revealed that his backstory was a lie YET AGAIN and he never did all that stuff they thought he did, have a non-top-tier hero be responsible for his defeat, and then kill him again. Every time you kill a character, you devalue him a little bit more, even if he's brought back. So my plan is to ruin him forever. Because f*ck that guy.
Why do that when there is a better way? Take all the old mind-controlling/memory-altering villains out there, make them decide to destroy the moral of the superhero community with a combined effort. They replace memories of superheroes doing something with Sentry doing it, placing him in all the superheroes' memories, all with the plan to have him turn evil and then die, all to demoralize the superhero community with the loss of their greatest hero. Yet he never really existed in the first place, it was all memory alteration and mind control. :twisted:
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Ken »

The DC Universe
---------------------
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Barry Allen (the Flash), and Hal Jordan (as Green Lantern) are looking at various images projected by a dying, blue, humanoid alien (who we aren't shown clearly). Nearby, other heroes: a man with small wings on his cowl carrying a shield, an armoured hero, a blond god carrying a war hammer, a giant man, and others are watching other images also projected. The blue giant is the Grandmaster, and the heroes not shown clearly are the Avengers, they aren't shown clearly because ... well ... this is a DC project. The scene is the last scene of the third issue of Avengers/JLA.

The Justice Leaguers are looking at screens showing: a Superman robot killing Lilith, Dr. Light raping Sue Dibny, Captain Marvel wearing a hood, Superboy-Prime in his armour, the Justice League (minus J'onn) and Cyborg all wearing armour and priest collars, an adult Jason Todd, Damien Wayne , and any number of other scenes of the bullshit that DC's been producing for the past dozen years.

And the League says "no". What they're being shown is wrong. Things that cannot happen. Things in the past that did not and could not have happened ("Identity Crisis").

The Phantom Stranger speaks up (as he led the JLA and Avengers to the Grandmaster). He explains that as a consequence of the gambit that joined the two Earths, the Earths, both Earths, have been poisoned. Retroactively poisoned. So, not only do they have to defeat Krona, but when the joined Earths are seperated, they will have to be cleansed. He says that their allies have likewise found their world poisoned. So, steps will have to be taken.

The scene jumps... it's now the scene near the end of the fourth issue of JLA/Avengers where the Hal Jordan Spectre is pushing the two worlds apart. Whole bits of dialogue will be recycled. And then, the focus switches to the Phantom Stranger (who wasn't in the scene as published) calling out "Now my allies! Now is the time for us to cleanse these worlds. And we then see he's been joined by the Wizard Shazam and a Guardian of the Universe, as well as the silouetted figures of the Ancient One, Uatu the Watcher, and the no longer dead Grandmaster, and they're broadcasting energy over the Earths, cleansing them.

And then we see the Justice League aboard the lunar Watchtower, and they begin to take stock of their world.

And, then... it starts to show this version of the DC Universe - one without the Radium Age sh*t that's been in place.

---------------------------------

There's a parallel version of this, where we see the Avengers looking at She-Hulk tearing the Vision apart, Wolverine with an Avengers Identicard, a mess o'Skrulls disguised as everybody (with the JLA in shadow), and the ailing Gransmaster explaining about the Earths being posoned, etc.

This can be done as a way to fix all the crap done during Marvel's Radium Age.

But, if I'm busy saving DC, someone else, someone better suited to the task than me, needs to be saving Marvel.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Ken »

Batgirl III wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2017 12:17 amSupergirl should be a "gateway" comic. It just seems so intrinsic to the very idea of the character: Super + Girl.
I'm reasonably certain that's what Otto Binder thought back when he introduced her. He had done it before, and so I'm sure he recognised that the void that had been in place for previous five years.

Otto Binder has worked for Fawcett Comics, and besides co-creating Supergirl, he had also co-created Mary Marvel.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Batgirl III »

Marvel has had a trio of very well reviewed (and fairly good selling) gateway comics targeted at younger teen girls: Spider-Girl, Runaways, and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

DC Comics has never really done anything so obviously aimed at the teenage girl demographic... Which is odd to me given that the most famous-with-the-non-comic-reading heroines are easily Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and that flying mouse themed girl. I forget her name. ;)

Batgirl (Vol. 3) could have been a good gateway series. The writers depicted Stephanie Brown as just the right blend of competently inexperienced enthusiastically in over her head... Reprint those back issues in "manga" sized format, have Borders stock them next to the rest of the manga, and they'll fly off the shelves.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Spectrum »

I'd throw the Kamalah Khan Ms Marvel in there too. I picked it up semirandomly in the library and hard a hard time putting it back down. They could have so very easily made it preachy but they made it about a young person trying to be a hero as well as her other qualities.

Also, pulling back to the Silver Age, but I recall Dial H having strong male and female leads.
Also on the DC Side, Mary Marvel can be done well.. if the editors aren't busy screwing over the entire franchise as a whole.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by MacynSnow »

Ken wrote: Sun Feb 19, 2017 5:18 am The DC Universe
---------------------
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Barry Allen (the Flash), and Hal Jordan (as Green Lantern) are looking at various images projected by a dying, blue, humanoid alien (who we aren't shown clearly). Nearby, other heroes: a man with small wings on his cowl carrying a shield, an armoured hero, a blond god carrying a war hammer, a giant man, and others are watching other images also projected. The blue giant is the Grandmaster, and the heroes not shown clearly are the Avengers, they aren't shown clearly because ... well ... this is a DC project. The scene is the last scene of the third issue of Avengers/JLA.

The Justice Leaguers are looking at screens showing: a Superman robot killing Lilith, Dr. Light raping Sue Dibny, Captain Marvel wearing a hood, Superboy-Prime in his armour, the Justice League (minus J'onn) and Cyborg all wearing armour and priest collars, an adult Jason Todd, Damien Wayne , and any number of other scenes of the bullshit that DC's been producing for the past dozen years.

And the League says "no". What they're being shown is wrong. Things that cannot happen. Things in the past that did not and could not have happened ("Identity Crisis").

The Phantom Stranger speaks up (as he led the JLA and Avengers to the Grandmaster). He explains that as a consequence of the gambit that joined the two Earths, the Earths, both Earths, have been poisoned. Retroactively poisoned. So, not only do they have to defeat Krona, but when the joined Earths are seperated, they will have to be cleansed. He says that their allies have likewise found their world poisoned. So, steps will have to be taken.

The scene jumps... it's now the scene near the end of the fourth issue of JLA/Avengers where the Hal Jordan Spectre is pushing the two worlds apart. Whole bits of dialogue will be recycled. And then, the focus switches to the Phantom Stranger (who wasn't in the scene as published) calling out "Now my allies! Now is the time for us to cleanse these worlds. And we then see he's been joined by the Wizard Shazam and a Guardian of the Universe, as well as the silouetted figures of the Ancient One, Uatu the Watcher, and the no longer dead Grandmaster, and they're broadcasting energy over the Earths, cleansing them.

And then we see the Justice League aboard the lunar Watchtower, and they begin to take stock of their world.

And, then... it starts to show this version of the DC Universe - one without the Radium Age sh*t that's been in place.

---------------------------------

There's a parallel version of this, where we see the Avengers looking at She-Hulk tearing the Vision apart, Wolverine with an Avengers Identicard, a mess o'Skrulls disguised as everybody (with the JLA in shadow), and the ailing Gransmaster explaining about the Earths being posoned, etc.

This can be done as a way to fix all the crap done during Marvel's Radium Age.

But, if I'm busy saving DC, someone else, someone better suited to the task than me, needs to be saving Marvel.
I'll take up that challenge!

Marvel Re-set Rules:
Marvel Rule 1-All the Comics are within the gererically same Continuty(If Spidey guest star's in a Captain America Book,we should hear him mention it at least in his own),especially when it comes to Studio wide Events...
Marvel Rule 2-Cut the number of books down to a managable level(IE:Spider-Man get's three,The Avengers get two,The FF get one,Thor get's one,Dr.Strange gets one,The X-Men get three which includes Wolverines book in it,Hulk get's two,Daredevil gets one,etc.,etc.) and no new books come out untill we get back on our feet,as-it-were...
Marvel Rule 3-any Idea for either a new character or new Event must first be run by a "Playtest" Group First(Basically,you go to one of the Comic-cons and grab about 40 people,sit them in a room,then pitch them the idea.After they tell you what they think do it 2 more times with more random people and you get a consensu on weither it will sell or not.)...

Marvel In-Universe Changes:
After the two universes are "Re-Set" the following changes had been dicovered....
The Avengers=now having been re-formed,the "Original Roster"(Cap,Thor,Tony,The Wasp,Pym now without the merge of Ultron on him) sit's down and creates two teams: One for the East Coast&the other for the West Coast(Keeping to the 6-man Team with specialist Chair floating) as well as setting up a support Staff structure for both teams to use...
Spider-Man=getting back to Basics,peter has discovered that his powers have "re-set" (along with his Life),going back to their original make-up as well as his Rogue's Gallery(who have all lost the Knowledge that he's Peter Parker)...
The Fantastic Four=after watching the Horrendous destruction of all he tried to achieve,Reed decides to call a "temporary Shut-down" of the team so that they,as an entire Family,figure out how to handle what they saw together...

That's all i can think of at the moment.I'll be adding more ounce i have a chance to go over some of my old Marvel Comics...
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

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Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:22 am 6) Talk more about the styles of different martial artists- why Shang-Chi fights differently than Iron Fist or Daredevil. Maybe a series about Martial Arts fighters of different types- like Birds of Prey but with all fist-fighters. Basically insert a little bit of that "Shonen Manga" feel into fights, so it isn't just "throwing punches while inner monologue runs"- establish tactics, stylistic differences, advantages & disadvantages, and more. Make it feel like THOUGHT goes into the fights.
This is something I've wanted to do for a while. Shocking and totally out of character for me, I know, but there it is.

My take would basically be that, over time, most characters who rely largely on martial arts develop what could loosely be called a "Anti-Super Mixed Martial Art", which takes a lot of different aspects of the martial arts and combines them into an amazingly diverse style designed to deal with modern criminals, soldiers and supervillains. It generally requires a lot of evasion, some acrobatics, knowledge of tactics to deal with stronger opponents (nerve clusters, pressure points, joint locks, throws, leg sweeps), gunfire/ranged superpowers (evasive dodging, stealth, use of cover), dealing with multiple opponents and battlefield conditions (general situational awareness), and so on.

So in one sense, everyone who survives to be a Batman / Daredevil / Black Canary / Shang Chi style hero either develops or is taught that style, which is very effective. I'd even suggest that elements of it eventually become the basis for the Super Karate of Karate Kid, which started out as an anti-supervillain martial art form.

However, on TOP of that A-SMMA, each individual hero has their own style and preferences, adjustments that play to their strengths and other forms whose elements they've adopted into it to make it fit them better.

Captain America is probably the pioneer of the style in the Marvel Universe, and uses a very "no frills" version of it that he teaches to other Avengers. It's very effective, but also very straightforward, elegant in its simplicity. What makes Cap stand out when using it is his enhanced physical attributes, his ability to combine the form with his shield, and his tactical knowledge. Watching Cap fight should be like watching a skilled mechanic take an opponent apart, one piece at a time.

Batman would have a style similar to Cap's, but with an emphasis on stealth, theatricality and precision. Batman's style is dichotomous in that it is designed both for stealth and for intimidation, while being precise in both aspects. When being stealthy, Batman makes no noise, knows just how to hit someone to silence them, using short, quick moves and precise grapples to take them down. When fighting in view of everyone, his style is deliberately harsh and intimidating, visibly brutal and efficient, causing a lot of pain but little lasting injury, looking scary without being lethal. If Captain America has the appearance of a military mechanic, Batman looks like a surgeon from the depths of Hell.

Daredevil and Nightwing's style more reflects their acrobatic and ninja training. Both were trained by men use to operating in shadows and striking stealthily, but both Matt and Dick wear bright costumes and engage in banter, calling attention to themselves. To my mind, it's a combination of personal choice and a tactical decision. The banter and bright outfits draw attention, while the acrobatic skills and weaponry allow them to attack from unexpected angles, create confusion, distract and the like. Watching Matt and Dick fight should be entertaining, almost like some kind of acrobatic magic trick.

Shang Chi and Lady Shiva should be the ultimate "Swiss Army Knife" martial artists. What a lot of people don't realize about Shang being the "Master of Kung Fu" is that Kung Fu is not a single style. There are hundreds of primary styles and thousands of variations and family styles of Kung Fu, often with very little similarity between them. Being a master of Kung Fu, ALL of Kung Fu, is to basically have as complete a body of martial arts skill as you could hope to get. Basically, Shang and Shiva should be the types to really showcase martial arts lore, changing styles and adapting techniques based on the situation. Watching them fight should be like watching a documentary on the history of unarmed combat.

Iron Fist and Bronze Tiger are similar to the "Swiss Army Knife" martial artists, but focus that flexibility through two main forms based on the most iconic and respected animals in martial arts lore: the dragon and the tiger. They would tend to use a combination of evasive footwork and parries to evade attacks while using fast, rapid fire attacks to vital points to wear down opponents, all while building up moment for a strong finishing attack. Basically, their styles is about avoid danger and using smaller attacks to create opportunities for big attacks that will end a fight. Both would have a very Shao Lin look to them, Danny being more of the Dragon and Snake, Ben being more of the Tiger and Eagle.

This would be VERY fun if it could be used with any consistency.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Batgirl III »

As long as you retain Cassandra Caine's "like Bruce Lee on crack" fighting style... ;)
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Ares »

Batgirl III wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:24 am As long as you retain Cassandra Caine's "like Bruce Lee on crack" fighting style... ;)
That's not a bad way to describe her fighting style, frankly. Bruce Lee strove at various points to have "a style that is no style", basically looking to come at any combat situation with the totality of what a human being could bring to a fight. The only problem there is that human beings vary from one another in terms of build, physical abilities and mentality. So what Lee brings to a fight is different than what someone else does. His legacy, rather than Jeet Kun Do, was the concept of cross training, basically building your own style from various other styles, personalizing your fighting style into something that plays to your strengths and minimizes your weaknesses.

Cassie was raised by an assassin, not a martial artist, and her skills are based primarily on a knowledge of human anatomy, body language reading, and moves learned via using her body language reading like Taskmaster's Photographic Reflexes. Her style would basically be the "no style" Bruce Lee tried for at times, just a human being fighting with the tools nature gave her. It's likely fast and precise, but also pretty ugly to watch. In practice it'd likely be an even split between Capt. America and Batman's style of fighting.
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Re: Comics: How would you fix / improve _______ character / concept?

Post by Batgirl III »

David Cain's theory was that martial arts talent was something that you could inherit genetically, which is how he was able to convince Shiva to, um, participate. Cain also brought in experts from numerous martial arts to "educate" his daughter... He would also shoot her at point blank range as a toddler to teach her to dodge bullets.

Father of the year, that guy.

I'd probably describe Batgirl III's fighting style as you did the Batman's style, although she wouldn't emphasize the theatricality as much as he does... at least not until fairly late in her career. The Batman will often try to disable and incapacitate, but leave his opponents conscious enough to question, whereas Batgirl III (despite having the strongest aversion to killing amongst the Batman Family) doesn't bother with keeping you conscious or even avoiding crippling you. She's putting you down. Hard.

Batgirl I (Barbara Gordon) was originally stated in her pre-Crisis origin to be as a brown belt in judo or jujitsu (writers tended to confuse/conflate the two) years before she took up the cowl. I'd say it's fair to assume she would have become a black belt several times over after a few years as a superhero... Given Barbara's frame and intellect, I'd say that the "soft" styles would probably suit her. A strong emphasis on locks, grapples, and controlling her opponent. Maybe mixing in some Krav Maga or Brazilian Jujitsu for a more active offense... Basically, Ronda Rousey in a cape.

Batgirl IV (Stephanie Brown) wasn't in the cowl for long, but she probably operates similarly to Robin III (Tim Drake).
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
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