The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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csyphrett
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by csyphrett »

NoOneofConsequence wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 12:01 am
csyphrett wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 8:24 pm I was explaining what happened to Stanley and His Monster to my boy. I think I would do something about that.
CES
Was that the thing Kevin Smith did in his run on Green Arrow way back when? Or has something more terrible happened since then?
Where his grandfather had him locked up in a cage. Wiki says Stanley joined the JLA in the future. The whole thing with Green Arrow and Green Lantern was because someone let the writers date them back to the seventies and made them older than their comrades, so they had to be youthened and fixed to fit the timeframe again. I feel this has been applied to the current Black Lightning, and Cyborg for whatever reason.
CES
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

csyphrett wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:15 am
Where his grandfather had him locked up in a cage. Wiki says Stanley joined the JLA in the future. The whole thing with Green Arrow and Green Lantern was because someone let the writers date them back to the seventies and made them older than their comrades, so they had to be youthened and fixed to fit the timeframe again. I feel this has been applied to the current Black Lightning, and Cyborg for whatever reason.
CES
Looking at the Wikipedia page, I find myself kind of wanting to read the Foglio version just because I have generally enjoyed his work over the years. But most of the stuff after that all feels like it misses the point of the characters and is a touch mean spirited in places (especially the Arrow TV appearance).
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by csyphrett »

NoOneofConsequence wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 11:54 am
csyphrett wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:15 am
Where his grandfather had him locked up in a cage. Wiki says Stanley joined the JLA in the future. The whole thing with Green Arrow and Green Lantern was because someone let the writers date them back to the seventies and made them older than their comrades, so they had to be youthened and fixed to fit the timeframe again. I feel this has been applied to the current Black Lightning, and Cyborg for whatever reason.
CES
Looking at the Wikipedia page, I find myself kind of wanting to read the Foglio version just because I have generally enjoyed his work over the years. But most of the stuff after that all feels like it misses the point of the characters and is a touch mean spirited in places (especially the Arrow TV appearance).
It was awesome. The Phantom Stranger and Constantine Expy Ambrose Bierce sent Stanley into Hell. He wrecked it. The guy left in charge was like get out. You're making Hell more miserable.
CES
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

I just find myself liking the idea of a lonely outcast monster who meets a friend who accepts him for himself. It would probably make a really cool Captain Marvel team up.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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NoOneofConsequence wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:56 pm I just find myself liking the idea of a lonely outcast monster who meets a friend who accepts him for himself. It would probably make a really cool Captain Marvel team up.
There was a topic on the old Green Ronin forums that dealt with the idea of a merged Marvel/DC Universe and people could write up various ideas on how the world would be different. To the surprise of absolutely no one, I turned several pages of the thread into a topic about how Captain Marvel would fit into the setting, and how he'd basically be teaming up with everyone. What can I say, I have an addiction.

One team up involved Cap and the Hulk during his early days. The Hulk is apparently rampaging in a small city, but it only looks that way because the Hulk just defeated some other menace and actually saved people. Unfortunately, said menace is now buried under a lot of rubble, so all the army and news crews see is the Hulk standing in the middle of several heavily damaged city blocks. The army shows up, ready for a fight, but Captain Marvel also shows up, possibly to deal with the threat the Hulk already took care of. Cap tries to calm everyone down, but one soldier gets an itchy trigger finger and shoots, causing the Hulk to retaliate. Cap grabs the Hulk and throws him several miles away, telling the army to focus on helping the people currently, adding "I'll take care of the Hulk."

Cap then zooms after the Hulk and manages to catch him before he lands. He tries to talk to the Hulk again, but the Hulk is not in the mood. So he attacks, they fall to the ground, and there's a fight. Sort of. After a few exchanges it's clear Cap isn't fighting back, instead just blocking the hits he can, and just enduring the ones he can't. Eventually the Hulk realizes this, and despite his anger, the Hulk is not someone to beat on an unresisting opponent. The Hulk angrily asks "Why Captain Man not fight back?!" And Cap simply says, "I don't want to fight you. I never did." And Cap just smiles at him.

The Hulk is surprised but still angry. However, rather than continuing the fight, he just leaps over to a nearby hill and sulks. Cap flies over to join him, sitting just far enough away to not provoke the Hulk, and looks out at the landscape with him. The two sit for a while in companionable silence, before the Hulk asks what part of the landscape he likes the best. Cap answers, and asks the Hulk what his favorite is. And the two get to talking, eventually leading to the Hulk apologizing for punching Cap. Cap forgives him, and asks the Hulk what happened in the city. Hulk explains, and then Cap thanks the Hulk for stopping the menace he'd been there to deal with. The look on the Hulk's face tells Cap that the Hulk has rarely been thanked for anything. Cap then offers to do something that, to my knowledge, no one has ever done with the Hulk.

He offers to play with him. Burn off some of that energy in a fun way. The Hulk is confused at first, vaguely aware of what games are but never having played them. So Cap explains, and then the do things like play catch with giant boulders, race around the area, play hide and seek, and just have a fun time in a way only people with superpowers can. Eventually the Hulk is happy and exhausted, and turns back to Bruce Banner.

From that point on, Cap would be someone that sympathizes with both Bruce and the Hulk, and do his best to help them both. Cap would be someone the Hulk genuinely likes and trusts, and would actually defend the Hulk at times. In return, Cap is one of the few people the Hulk actually refers to by their proper name, rather than a nickname. Being someone both Bruce and the Hulk trusts allows the Hulk a little better cognition regarding Cap, so that he doesn't need a nickname to identify him.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

Cool.

Curiously, if you look at the original Sentry story, his relationship with the Hulk is a smidge similar. However, this is more due to the fact that the Sentry in that original story is essentially the ultimate Mary Sue self insert character (the first hero of the Marvel Age, the most powerful of all heroes, best friends with Reed Richards, the one person who can calm the Hulk down, solves all of Peter Parker's financial problems by letting him take his picture, Professor X asks for his help teaching his students, etc.), in contrast to yours where it's a pretty spot on take on how Captain Marvel, being both a decent and kind person and having the Wisdom of Solomon, and not being in any actual physical danger from the Hulk, would probably react to the situation of the Hulk.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you liked it. :)
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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Ares wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 11:06 am Part The Second:

In Hell, the heroes realize they've been played. By having Peter and MJ so close to the contract, it basically lights up like beacon, attracting Mephisto to them. At which point, Mephisto reveals his other two acquisitions. The first is Nick Fury, bound and captured. Apparently Mephisto managed to capture Nick during the Feat Itself event, where a Secret Minion of Mephisto replaced Nick for the moment with Thor. The other acquisition is Gorr . . . except not. With a shift of appearance, Gor transforms into Desak, Destroyer of gods.

Mephisto lays it all out. Desak had originally been empowered by a being known as Tarene, the Designate, a cosmic being whose purpose was to help elevate mortals to godlike beings. Desak had been chosen to fight gods who were more threat than benefit to mortals. During a battle with Thor, Desak had been badly injured, but taken away to recover. Meanwhile Tarene had lost most of her power, being reduced to the status of Thor Girl. While Desak recovered, Mephisto approached him, offering him the chance to get revenge on Thor and Tarene. Desak agreed and Mephisto empowered him further.

Using his time travel powers, Desak acquired the black blade he would use and created the false identity of Gorr, which he used to again attack Thor and break his confidence in both himself and his family. Though he did die, the version of Desak/Gorr that was killed was from a future point, while the current Desak/Gorr continued to do Mephisto's will.

During Fear Itself, Tarene regained her power and left Earth, only to immediately be killed by Desak/Gorr. Her essence exploded in a cosmic blast that Desak/Gorr bound up in a hammer made to resemble Mjolnir. Then the aforementioned Secret Minion of Mephisto, disguised as Nick Fury, gave Thor the Gorr comment, which caused Thor to drop his hammer in surprise. The Secret Minion then used illusions to cover up the switch, Mephisto brought Mjolnir to Hell while Thor's connection to it was shakey, and replaced it with the new, fake Mjolnir that replicated most of its abilities. When Thor tried to lift the new Mjolnir, the enhantments Mephisto placed on it prevented him from doing so. Thor thus became "Unworthy" while Jane Foster picked up the new hammer.

The reason was simple. Mjolnir had been forged by dwarves and empowered by Odin for Thor. The worthiness enchantment had been placed to ensure only someone who embodied the best of Asgard could lift it, which Odin was sure Thor would some day be able to do. Mjolnir is, at it's core, a symbol of Odin's love for his son, and his faith that his son would grow up to be a good man.

Now Mephisto had the hammer, the contract, and Nick Fury. With the hammer and the contract, Mephisto could start breaking the bonds of love between those who felt it strongest. But he couldn't simply just will their love away. He had to find moments of weakness where doubt could be injected, openings that could be exploited, memories that could be twisted. That's where Nick Fury came in. In Nick's head was the knowledge of when some of the best and strongest people in the world had been at their weakest. And with Desak's ability to travel through time, Mephisto was able to send his Secret Minion to points where these people were vulnerable. An illusion here, a suggestion there, and couples began to lose faith in each other.

At the same time, when the fake Mjolnir was destroyed in the battle with Mangog, Thor was able to tap into the essence of Tarene (believing it to be a cosmic storm) to bring Jane Foster back from the brink of death. This weakened that essence enough for Mephisto to drag it to Hell and used it to fully power the spell he was working on. Tarene's essence, after all, was meant to enlighten mortals. She was connected to them, so it appealed to Mephisto to twist her power and her connection to destroy humanity. Mjolnir would act as the anchor to the spell, Tarene's essence would connect to people and empower it, and the misery created by the heroes would reinforce it, so that the spell could literally drain love from the universe, resulting in the upheaval the heroes have been fighting.

The heroes, naturally, are pissed. Mephisto has messed with their heads, tainted their memories, and literally sucked much of the joy from their lives. A fight breaks out, but Mephisto has plenty of powerful souls he can call on. These are the villains who are dead but are promised revival if the heroes are destroyed. Desak leads the charge and proves to be a dangerous match for the heroes, actually beating the crap out of Thor . . . until a loud "GET THY HANDS OFF OF MY SON!" as a pissed off Odin arrives in Hell, accompanied by Loki.

Odin lays into Desak, his memory restored, of how Desak and Mephisto messed with his head during particularly weak Odin Sleep moments, weaving in false memories, driving their family apart, making him think he'd created the false hammer and been a part of some pre-historic Avengers team. Thor, Odin and Loki all take on Desak while the other heroes face Mephisto's other forces. The Asgardians are actually working together incredibly well as a team, until he sends a powerful beam of energy at Loki. Thor dives in front of his brother to take the hit, knocking him to the ground. But instead of trying to help Thor up, Loki plants a foot on Thor's chest and raises Gram over his head to kill Thor.

Loki has been Mephisto's Secret Ally this whole time. The one who did so much meddling in Asgard to turn everything to this point, the one who impersonated Nick Fury, the one who was behind so much . . . only it isn't really Loki. The current Loki is a hybrid of four different Lokis. The original Loki who got into mischief with his brother. The evil Loki who menaced the world, whose jealousy twisted him to become a monster (helped along by Mephisto), the child Loki and the most recent Agent of Asgard Loki. Mephisto can actually bring forth the Evil Loki whenever he wishes without the recent Loki's knowledge, and has used him to further his plans. And now, Evil Loki in control, he's going to put an end to Thor.

Only he can't. Because the three other Loki's are fighting from the inside, and rather than lose their brother, they force Evil Loki to stab himself in the guts, buryingt he sword up to the hilt. Thor sees this, understands it for what it is . . . and that connection to his family is fully restored. His father loves him. His brother loves him. And all of his fears and doubts about himself shrivel in the love he feels for them.

In the lowest depths of Hell, the ritual circle that Mephisto had been using for his spell has a large box, bound in chains forged from a darkness older than the universe, fortified with eons of evil, sin and hate. In this moment, that box explodes, a blur flying out of it. It flies and flies through the entire, endless realm of Hell . . . right into Thor's open hand. Mjolnir is back with its owner.

Thor just lays into Desak, telling Odin to help Loki. Odin does, and sees that Loki is being ripped apart by the sword, by the truth of who he is. Using the sword as a basis, Odin physically splits Loki into two beings. One is the evil version of Loki that menaced Marvel for so long, the other is the more sympathetic trickster Marvel has recently come to love. The evil Loki looks down at himself, over at Odin, and laughs before teleporting away.

Meanwhile, Thor is just laying into Desak with everything he has, beating him backwards, until Odin and Loki join back in, and all three of them kill Desak for good. The other heroes have routed their opponents too, and Mephisto is pissed. Without Mjolnir, the spell he'd forged is crumbling. But before it does, he's going to make the heroes suffer. He knows he cannot keep their love, or can he steal their souls. So he will settle for their lives. And drawing on the power of Tarene, Mephisto is able to blast even Odin backwards and start slapping the heroes around. Thor flies forward, but Mephisto blasts him backwards, even knocking Mjolnir from his hand.

Only for Spider-Man to swing by, flanked by the armored Mary Jane. Spidey actually catches the hammer, and for the first time, he's able to lift it. See, Peter's nobility by this point is beyond reproach, and he was never lacking in that quality to lift the hammer. However, since the hammer is meant to embody the best aspect of Asgard, it also requires a brave warrior's heart. Peter, at his core, is not a warrior, whereas a soldier like Steve is. But when the situation demands it, when Peter gets truly, truly mad, he does have the heart of a true warrior. Such as now.

Peter swings up to Mephisto and just clocks him in the face with Mjolnir, and sends the demon reeling. Mephisto tries to retaliate, but Hawkeye shoots Mephisto in the eyes with arrows that had been enchanted by Dr. Strange and blessed with Holy Water. Mary Jane blasts Mephisto, and when Mephisto tries to counter attack, Mockingbird hits Mephisto with a similarly enchanted and blessed staff. Peter and MJ both grasp the hammer together and just beat the ever loving crap out of Mephisto, with each of the other heroes Mephisto has taken something from preventing the demon from fighting back. Finally, they actually take the contract Mephisto had tricked them into signing, shove it in Mephisto's mouth, and togehter, Peter and Mary Jane just smash Mephisto's entire head open, the contract exploding like a bomb inside of him and a white light exploding everywhere.

The ritual circle shatters and Tarene's power washes over the heroes, and brings them back to Earth. Tarene manages to form herself briefly, telling the heroes that her power is almost spent, and it will be a long time before she is back to the level of power she once had. She thanks them for freeing her, and promises when the time comes, she will gladly help humanity on it's path towards enlightenment. The heroes will note that things feel different, and Tarene says that the explosion of all that positive emotion, combined with her own eneries that can warp time and space, have resulted in a few changes. She smiles and hopes the heroes will not mind most of them.

Danny and Misty return home. There, Luke and Jessica are waiting, having been watching their daughter Danielle . . . and Danny and Misty's daughter, Lucy.

Image

Danny and Misty get a flood of memories and get tears in their eyes.

Hank and Janet return home to find Nadia waiting for them. It turns out that Hank and Janet are married, Nadia living with them, and all three of them have retired from superheroing to focus on science work, including providing technology for other superheroes. Scott and Cassy Lang show up, with Scott as the official Ant/Giant-Man and the 16-17 year old Cassie as the new Wasp.

Wanda and the Vision return home to find Wiccan, Speed and Viv all living with them, the three teenagers casually refering to Vision and Wanda as "mom and dad".

Clint and Bobbi return home. No kids, but both are in their classic costumes, they have their wedding rings and both have their souls. They immediately being to make up for lost time.

She-Hulk returns home and looks like herself again. Deal with it Jab.

Nick Fury takes his seat in the director’s chair of SHIELD and states that it’s good to be back.

Thor returns home to Asgard, which is as it was, the gods restored and Odin on the throne. All of the Unworthy Thor stuff has been erased, with Thor now having wielded Mjolnir all this team. Jane Foster did have some flavor of her adventures, but did so wielding the Thunderstrike mace and using the Thunderstrike name, which she still does to this day. Also, the cancer she had was given to her by Desak, so that’s gone too. Loki shows up and reveals that Jotunheim is under new management. It turns out his evil half has taken over Jotunheim and is calling himself Utgard-Loki, after the Frost Giant who was recently killed. Utgard-Loki will now act as the traditional, evil Loki (going simply by Utgard for short), while current Loki remains a good guy, albeit a mischievous one.

Several villains that had been in Mephisto’s realm managed to escape and return to life. However, they and all of the other villains have their contracts with Mephisto cancelled, and can now lead their own lives.

Mephisto himself slowly begins to reform, badly injured and bitter as all get out. But with Desak’s power destroyed, Tarene gone, the contracts gone, he’ll never be able to pull off a stunt like this again. As it stands, it’ll be centuries before he’s back up to full power. He’ll have to be even more tricky for the time being if he wants to get his revenge.

The final shot of the story is Peter Parker and Mary Jane Parker in their apartment, holding each other and watching the sun set, smiling as they declare their love for each other.

Love Conquers All.

The End.
Yes, send this to Marvel, you never know :D
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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M4C8 wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:51 pm Yes, send this to Marvel, you never know :D
It'll never happen under Marvel's current management. It would require admitting that there needs course correcting, and that would mean someone would have to accept blame for nearly a decades worth of mistakes.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by Darrin Kelley »

Ares wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:28 pm It'll never happen under Marvel's current management. It would require admitting that there needs course correcting, and that would mean someone would have to accept blame for nearly a decades worth of mistakes.
You mean, like hiring Bendis in the first place? The man is a plague on the superhero genre. But there are many more like him that want to tear the superhero genre and its characters down that do not deserve to be working on properties that are supposed to be positive and uplifting.

Superhero comics and the industry that produces them need a housecleaning badly.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by NoOneofConsequence »

Darrin Kelley wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:08 pm You mean, like hiring Bendis in the first place? The man is a plague on the superhero genre. But there are many more like him that want to tear the superhero genre and its characters down that do not deserve to be working on properties that are supposed to be positive and uplifting.
I generally liked his early work with Powers, some of the early Ultimate Spider-Man stuff, and the Dark Avengers arc, but for the most part a lot of his stuff has just not interested me enough to really delve into it. But I think he was part of the start of a terrible idea of allowing a single writer to effectively turn entire companies into their personal fan fiction production companies. First Bendis with the way Avengers - and the endless series of miniseries, spin offs and events that came from every single story arc - took over Marvel, and then the way Geoff Johns did the same with DC.

But I think Bendis's biggest sin is getting rid of Superman' and Lois's son. I don't even read any of Marvel or DC's stuff anymore, but from everything I've heard, the character was one of the best things to come out of Rebirth and a breath of fresh air for DC. And, of course, we aren't allowed to have nice things anymore.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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NoOneofConsequence wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:01 am
Darrin Kelley wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:08 pm You mean, like hiring Bendis in the first place? The man is a plague on the superhero genre. But there are many more like him that want to tear the superhero genre and its characters down that do not deserve to be working on properties that are supposed to be positive and uplifting.
I generally liked his early work with Powers, some of the early Ultimate Spider-Man stuff, and the Dark Avengers arc, but for the most part a lot of his stuff has just not interested me enough to really delve into it. But I think he was part of the start of a terrible idea of allowing a single writer to effectively turn entire companies into their personal fan fiction production companies. First Bendis with the way Avengers - and the endless series of miniseries, spin offs and events that came from every single story arc - took over Marvel, and then the way Geoff Johns did the same with DC.

But I think Bendis's biggest sin is getting rid of Superman' and Lois's son. I don't even read any of Marvel or DC's stuff anymore, but from everything I've heard, the character was one of the best things to come out of Rebirth and a breath of fresh air for DC. And, of course, we aren't allowed to have nice things anymore.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

Post by Darrin Kelley »

Grant Morrison is also another writer I despise. All he does is tear heroes down. And write stories about writing stories. Rather than actually doing anything positive with the characters, he is assigned to write for.

Why on earth is his behavior being rewarded? He's not actually doing the job he has been paid to do. His stuff reads like nonsense. Because that is exactly what it is. From a mind that has been put on puree`.
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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I think it depends on what he's writing about. HIs JLA run and All Star Superman are stuff I enjoy quite a bit. (I also liked his run on Doom Patrol and The Invisibles, but I don't consider those superhero stories.) But I think his biggest problem has always been his near-total inability to ever stick a landing. The final arc for JLA (Magadon), for example, fell completely flat and often felt like it was trying to cram too much into too little space. (In perfect hindsight, it really should've been the basis for the later Our World at War crossover event, having the main five or six issue JLA story augmented with specials and/or crossover issues with Superman, Action Comics, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Young Justice, Titans and so on.) The worst one, though, was Animal Man, where what started as an interesting idea just sort of petered out as Morison got his head stuck up his own ass. Of course, that series also started with what I think must be the most blatant and ham handed example of a straw man argument from all of 80s comics.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
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Re: The most petty thing you'd do as a comics creator

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In the realm of self-indulgent things I'd do if I had the pull to do it, I'd want to do a new version of Exiles. Probably with the starting idea that these characters are refugees from various (mostly unseen) worlds that were scattered across the multiverse in the aftermath of the last Secret Wars. They've been gathered together by a mysterious fragment of energy which is ultimately revealed to be part of Uatu the Watcher. Specifically, the real one who has been missing since sometime shortly after Onslaught (or possibly Civil War, but certainly before Original Sin), when he was replaced by an impostor. (The Watchers are actually beings sentient energy, who only look humanoid to humans because it's easier for us to wrap our minds around.)
This version of the Exiles have two purposes. One is to help the various members eventually return to their proper worlds. The other is to help worlds that have been thrown out of wack by the aftermath of Secret Wars. Sometimes this is the result of a character from another world being trapped there (some of whom are just lost and need help, possibly being future members in some cases, while others are completely wrecking the new world in some way). Other times it's some sort of bigger issue like important characters acting totally out of character or bizarre genre shift type events effecting the entire world.
And there's a third OOC purpose, to examine certain characters, events, genre tropes, and the like and what they mean, how certain writer or editorial choices over the decades may have not been for the best. At least one would look at why the One Last Day/deal with the devil is just part of a larger problem with various people at Marvel apparently refusing to accept the idea of Peter Parker turning into a fully functional adult. Another would probably be based on examining the more toxic elements that have been driving the X-books over the past decade or two. And at least two would be one of those "thinly veiled stand in" worlds looking at The Authority and a possible aftermath of the original Watchman story. There'd also be a bunch of more light hearted ones, obviously. At least one with monkeys. And probably some shout outs to the old Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and 90s X-Men cartoons. And the M2 setting.

The roster would, naturally, rotate a bit as certain characters find their way home and new lost characters join. But there'd be a few mainstays. One would be Captain America Steve Rodgers. But this is the original Captain America, before the Avengers retcon. He fought all through WW2 and continued to be active during the 40s and up to the 50s. Then in the 50s, a cabal of Soviet agents within the US government - which is a real thing, as revealed when the KGB archives were opened up to Western researchers after the collapse of the Soviet Union - conspire to brand Cap and Bucky as McCarthyite paranoids and forcefully placed in suspended animation. A decade later, they plant a fake Captain America into the newly formed Avengers with the "frozen in ice" story. But this Cap is secretly a hardcore Marxist, and by what would be the time of the 1970s in out Marvel Universe and its Secret Empire/Nomad/Grand Dictator stories, he's pretty much turned into a mix of Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and the like, leading a cult of personality made up of a bunch of hippies and would be revolutionaries out to overthrow America and establish a Marxist utopia. And I freely admit this is entirely just me selfishly indulging myself by venting my annoyance with the whole "being anti-Communist = being a Nazi" BS, but also is trying to turn the whole casual left wing political bias of a lot casual comic creators on its head to try to point out how myopic and ham handed a lot of it is.

Another member, at least for a little while, would probably be a version of Fred Dukes, The Blob, in which he agreed to join Xavier's school during his first appearance and ended up being a dependable but otherwise unremarkable pillar of the X-Men for the next few (years? decades? I no longer really know how to judge Marvel time). He's basically there to be a counterpoint to the overly blatant Mary Sue character that Mimic was in the original book.

Probably also Mary Jane Watson - in something akin to her original sassy version - as Spider Woman, having been bitten by the radio active spider instead of Peter. The character is originally from an idea I had decades ago of an alternate Marvel universe where I tried to mash up as many What Ifs as I could into a single coherent setting. And hopefully make her more interesting that Spider-Gwen, a character I've always felt was a smidge over rated.

And possibly at least a brief stint of Doug Ramsey, Agent of SHIELD, from a world in which he did not get killed during Fall of the Mutants and ended up developing his ability to read body language to become a highly skilled con artist, spy and martial artist, combined with his language and hacking abilities to be one of SHIELD's best agents. Because if anyone was ever killed off right before society and pop culture actually caught up with his powers/concept, it was him.

At least one arc would also include the Red Warlock, a gender flipped Scarlet Witch from a world where all the genders are reversed, probably to look at certain aspects of gender in comics and the recent trend of making female copies of male characters. And probably one "mirror" world, where all the heroes are villains and all the bad guys are the heroes. Mainly this is just because I want to have someone from the Exiles point out to the main hero team (The Defenders or whatever, made up of people like Ultron, Mandarin, Madam Hydra, and the like) that their well trusted and respected member The Hulk is, in most worlds, a hero, and he's then forced to reveal that he's actually one of the world's greatest villains who's been masquerading as a hero all this time.

And finally, it would include Squirrel Girl. The pre-Secret Wars one, who was the bright and optimistic member of the West Coast Avengers and later Luke and Jesica's nanny. She does not have a giant butt, nor does she have permanent derp face. Those black circles around her eyes are not makeup. And she has real squirrel ears, not goofy cosplay ears. She admits that her defeats of Doctor Doom, MODOK, and others is really more the result of dumb luck, but her never say die attitude and willingness to try potentially stupid tactics also plays a part. Because I actually liked that version of Squirrel Girl and hate what has become of her.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the first law of nature.
Voltaire, "Tolerance" (1764)
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