Secret Origins of Superheroines

So like a million other people out there, I'm entering Shadowline's "Who Wants to Create a Superheroine" because, well, why not, right?

I've been checking into the contest's thread at Newsarama every once in a while, and this drew my interest. It's a post by Kristen Simons, the editor running the contest.

"I have seen a lot of synchronicity with the submissions. Lots of teenagers, single moms, and college students with the same kind of problems...how to handle their superpowers while juggling school, raising a kid, having a social life, etc. Lots of similar ways of gaining their powers, such as alien technology, a lab experiment that explodes, being in the general vicinity of another superhero who dies, and of course, inheriting it from super hero/villain parents. Lots of heaven/hell stories, as well as Greek/Roman mythology and alien invasions. TONS of ditzy socialites who have the alter ego of an intelligent super-heroine, or heroines who are famous."

This is interesting because many of these ideas are the same ones I found myself repeatedly going back to when I was trying to come up with something. That leads me to now wonder just why those ideas kept returning? What's behind the synchronicity?

Lots of teenagers, single moms, and college students - The teenagers and the college students are easy enough to explain. "Write what you know" is probably the most common piece of writing advice out there, after all. All of the contestants know what being a teenager is like, having been one themselves, and plenty of them have gone to college. Plus, if the character's older than usual college age, she's going to have a job. Unless it's one the contestant has held before, s/he won't "know" it.
I can't explain the single moms, though; that particular idea never entered my head.

with the same kind of problems...how to handle their superpowers while juggling school, raising a kid, having a social life, etc. - Well, this is kind of standard issue with superheroes these days, isn't it? To at least some extent? Spider-Man left a huge mark on the superhero sub-genre, and Buffy made it huger.

Lots of similar ways of gaining their powers, such as alien technology - Yeah, I did this one, too. Why? Clarke's Law, I guess. You can have alen technology do whatever you want. With human tech, you have to worry about that pesky "plausibility." (Well, not really; this is superheroes comics, but you get what I mean.) Also, perhaps more importantly, you have a ready explanation for why no one else has the technology.

a lab experiment that explodes - I didn't do this one. It seemed such a cliché. I guess others see it as a trope. It's an easy way to give a human superheroine powers, I guess.

being in the general vicinity of another superhero who dies - Okay, this being on the list really surprised me. I kept going back to it, but I assumed that was because I was such a huge ANIMORPHS fan as a kid. (The five original Animorphs were given their power by a dying alien.) Why's everyone else doing it? If I had to guess, it repeats for the same reason the next origin type does.

of course, inheriting it from super hero/villain parents - Yeah, I hit on this one a couple of times, too. I think a lot of the contestants, like me, aren't just interested in writing a superhero but in also writing a superhero world. They want to set their story in something like the DC or Marvel universes, rich in hidden species, alien races, other superheroes, and villains, worlds where there's a long history of these disparate elements meeting and clashing. However, many of these same contestants also want to start their superheroine's career from the beginning, from when she's still learning the ropes. Once you've set your mind to meeting both these desires, this particular origin is a natural. It gives your newbie a connection to the history of weirdness you've no doubt painstakingly worked out down to the tiny details.

Lots of heaven/hell stories, as well as Greek/Roman mythology - It's easy enough to see why these appeal. Part of the work's done for you! Yes, the contestant still provides his or her own spin. Nonetheless. Characters from myth and religion come with pre-existing histories, personalities, abilities, etc. Tying your character to myth and religion provides a whole ready made world of plot fodder. Why Greco-Roman myth in particular? Probably just because it's the most well-known.

alien invasions - Dunno. I did this, but again, I chalked it up to the Animorphs influence. People understandably find E.T.s easier to swallow than human criminals who dress up funny and give themselves code-names, perhaps?

TONS of ditzy socialites who have the alter ego of an intelligent super-heroine - This one surprises me. The premise occurred to me, but I personally didn't find it appealing. Tons, she says? Really, what's the attraction?

or heroines who are famous. - Isn't this standard issue these days, too? How many superheroes aren't famous?

What's Omni-fi??

Kurt Busiek, from an interview before his SUPERMAN run began, listing some of the stuff that'd be showing up:
New villains. Returning villains. A new role for Lana Lang. Pericles Hazard. Camelot Falls. Outer space. Paragon. New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal. Friends from the past, menaces buried for decades, catalysts in the present from decades ago. Jimmy Olsen's Blues. Krypto. The problem of Smallville. The Science Police. The Galactic Golem. The strangest object in the universe. When he was a boy. A day that may or may not ever happen. Pete Ross's post-White House career. Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen. The bubble city of Metropolis. The Envoy. Maxima. Amalak. The secrets of Lexcorp. Subjekt-17. A shattered Earth. Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons. Brainiac. Khyber. Omni-fi. Superman's true home. Romance, action, mystery, suspense, science fiction, sorcery, and a pie in the face.

After the recent news, reading this list genuinely saddens me now. For every one of those things that's showed up, there's one that didn't get a chance to. So, so much cool stuff, now indefinitely off the pipeline.

For fun, I'm going to go through that list, item by item, to see how many have shown up:

A new role for Lana Lang- Yes, we've seen that.

Pericles Hazard- He was Perseus Hazard by the time he showed up. Yes.

Camelot Falls- Yes, and it was brill.

Outer space- Yes.

Paragon- No.

New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal- No, unfortunately. Sounds like it'd have been fun.

Friends from the past- Yeah, I guess Callie Llewellyn counts.

menaces buried for decades- Zod's sunstone ship. Yes.

catalysts in the present from decades ago- I'm not too sure what this means. But between all the decades-spanning happenings in "Camelot Falls" and "Up, Up, and Away", probably yes.

Jimmy Olsen's Blues- Wellll, we did see him pretty down in "Up, Up, and Away". Is that what this is? Maybe.

Krypto- Yes.

The problem of Smallville- No. Again, sounds fun.

The Science Police- Yes.

The Galactic Golem- No.

The strangest object in the universe- Maybe there were further plans for the Silver Twist? It had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in "The Third Kryptonian". No.

When he was a boy- No. Maybe this would have been in the scrapped Krypto story.

A day that may or may not ever happen- The future Arion foretold would count. Let's say yes.

Pete Ross's post-White House career- Mentioned, but not seen yet.

Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen- No and no. I wonder if the former ended up being replaced by the Young Gods.

The bubble city of Metropolis- Hmm, in Arion's future I think it was said Metropolis floated above Earth before disaster struck. Is that what this is? Maybe.

The Envoy- Nope.

Maxima- No.

Amalak- Yes.

The secrets of Lexcorp- Yeah, I guess we got some of that.

Subjekt-17- Yes.

A shattered Earth- Yes.

Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons- Aagh, this would have been so cool. Alas, no.

Brainiac- No.

Khyber- Yes.

Omni-fi- No.

Superman's true home- This might have been a reference to the final scene in "Up, Up, and Away", though I'm leaning towards no.

a pie in the face- Yes, in what was a great moment.

So at least the following still haven't appeared: Paragon. New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal. The problem of Smallville. The Galactic Golem. The strangest object in the universe. When he was a boy. Pete Ross's post-White House career. Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen. The Envoy. Maxima. Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons. Braniac. Omni-fi.

I realize Busiek's run still has four issue to go (five counting the lost Krypto tale), but what are the chances they'll cover every single one of those? Like I said, saddening.

So That's Why He Was Crying in the Countdown Teaser

It's an oversized spectacular blowout action anniversary issue, as Kurt Busiek, gearing up for his insanely huge next project, brings his Superman run to a close!
So begins the solicitation for the April issue of SUPERMAN (issue 675).

Well, damn. Damn it. This is sad news for Superman readers of good taste everywhere. "Camelot Falls" was one of the best superhero stories I'd read in a long time. I was hoping that, now that the book has a quality regular artist again (Renato Guedes), it'd be returning to those levels of high entertainment, but apparently it's not to be. From reading Busiek's comments in interviews and on message boards, I get the impression he still had tons of stories idea, too. What a shame. I want to find out who/what Omni-fi and the Envoy are, dammit! Dare I hope it's a temporary leave, to give him time to finish whatever this upcoming Mystery Project is?

Speaking of which, what *is* the Mystery Project? The hot rumor is that it's DC's third weekly series, the one after COUNTDOWN. Supposedly, it will star Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and be drawn by Mark Bagley. Also supposedly, each issue will contain 14-16 pages of that story, filling out the rest of the issue with a Fabian Niceiza-written backup.

I'm trying to figure out how likely that is. I swear that the Mystery Project was described as an ongoing series at one point, early on. That doesn't disprove anything, though. The project could have changed since then, and it could still morph into an ongoing after the weekly is over.

In fact, we know that it's changed in some way since it was first announced; Busiek's said as much. He said it's gotten bigger and more complex, and turning into a weekly, even a finite one, could qualify as that. It was also held back to begin a year after originally planned. If it was tranformed into DC's third weekly series, then we have a perfect explanation for such a delay. (It also tells us it wasn't originally going to be a weekly series because there's no way anyone would have thought it was a good idea to run it alongside COUNTDOWN.)

I keep thinking back to how Busiek said he didn't think DC would go for the book but pitched it anyway just in case. What kind of book could that be? That leads me to believe it's very unconventional in some way. Now, a series about Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman doesn't sound particularly unconventional (it being a weekly doesn't factor in; whether or not it is one now, it wasn't one at that point), but there could be something unusual about the specific plot, like one where the three spend almost all the time in their civilian IDs, only more commercial than that.

Would Busiek have the time to write 14-16 pages a week? That's 56 pages per month minimum, or just over 2 1/2 issues. With him off SUPERMAN, he only has the sporadically-released ASTRO CITY and the Mystery Project on his plate (that we know of, at least). If he is doing the third weekly, he'd have enough time.

We actually know for a fact that Mark Bagley is attached to the Mystery Project as penciler. Would he have enough time? Now, he certainly can't draw two and one half issues a month. I don't know what the highest number of issues of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN he drew in one year was, but I know it was far under 30! Could he have gotten a huge headstart? In that linked interview from earlier this week, he says he's still finishing up Marvel work and has only finished a couple of pages of the Mystery Project, while Dan DiDio has said the third weekly begins in June. Would that be enough of a headstart? Impossible to say without knowledge of how long the third weekly is. It's possible, though.

Whoever's doing the third weekly, I feel sorry for them. Thanks to the negative reaction towards COUNTDOWN, there's already a lot of ill will towards its successor. No matter how good it is, people are going to be carping.

One More Daze

You can probably find a million reactions to One More Day on the Internet by now. If you're only to check one of them out, make it this one:



Make sure your speakers are on so you can hear the music. It's so much less without it.

What's great about this is there's something in it for everyone. If you hated One More Day, you can pump your fist and cheer him on. If you loved it or simply don't care, you can laugh at... well, really.

Other One More Day-related items I feel like talking about:

Very successful (and talented, in my opinion) sci-fi/fantasy writer George R. R. Martin has weighed in on the story.
"Retconning sucks. Leave the goddamned continuity ALONE, for chrissakes. What happened, happened. Take an old character in a new direction, fine, cool, but don't go back and mess around with the character's past. It's a breach of trust with your audience, as I see it. The DC universe has never really recovered from the Crisis on Infinite Earths, despite all the Crises that have followed, and I think the Marvel universe, and Spidey in particular, will be a long time recovering from this decision. So that's my two cents. In a nutshell: boo, hiss, shame on you, Marvel. If I had a rotten tomato, I would throw it."
What I find fascinating about his comments is that this is the first time I've seen a professional writer, in any medium, come down so strongly in support of continuity (not that it's a topic that comes up much, admittedly). Even those who talk about it favorably and consider it important will also stress that you shouldn't let it become a straitjacket or feel compelled to adhere *too* closely. Martin, though, describes it as practically sancrosact, something whose integrity is essential to good storytelling. "What happened, happened." I can't recall any other writer ever expressing this opinion, comic book writers included. Not a single one. Mark Gruenwald might have, but that's a guess based solely on his reputation as continuity's champion.

The following was written by a fairly popular writer back in January of last year, lloonngg before anyone knew what would happen in One More Day:
"I've kind of been wondering if that's their ultimate solution to the
Spider-marriage -- deliberately break so many concepts that when the
Big Reset comes, people welcome it, and if the marriage is dissolved
along the way, it'll be seen as a side effect rather than as the true
purpose.
"I have no insider knowledge on any of this, but I've used a similar
principle from time to time..."
Given where this comment was made, I won't mention who the author is. While the place on the web s/he wrote it is perfectly accessable to everyone, there's no reason to believe s/he expected it to be seen by comics fandom at large. (Not that it will be just because it's quoted here. It's just that you never know who'll accidentally stumbles in through some search word or other.) S/he most likely wouldn't care if comic fandom at large did see it, but just in case...
At first, I wondered if what this comment guesses at came true... in which case Marvel failed miserably. However, on second thought, it's probably not the case. My understanding is Joe Quesada has been pretty public about his preference for a single Spider-Man, which he wouldn't have been if he was going for this sort of misdirection.

Good writers can write stories about a gay Spider-Man

Like I've said before, I'm not a Spider-Man fan. I have no opinion on whether or not he should be married. That said, every time I peak in on the Internet debates, the dishonest arguments the "married Spidey" side repeatedly spout are enough to make me want to start cheering on the single Spider-Man side.

"Good writers can write good stories about a married Spider-Man." Any time this debate rears its head, some variation of that sentence gets trotted out, accompanied by some examples of good married Spider-Man stories. Good writers can do that? No, really? Do these people honestly not see how this line of reasoning proves absolutely nothing? Considering how long Spider-Man's been around, there's probably been some good Spider-Man stories in which he didn't have his powers. There's probably been some good Spider-Man stories where he didn't fight any supervillains. By the Spider-marriage proponents' logic, these stories prove he should be powerless and not fight supervillains in most of his comics, right? *Any* kind of story can be good if the writing's good enough. To prove Spider-Man should be married, it isn't enough to prove good stories can still be told. You have to prove that status quo provides a better springboard for good stories than the other status quo. And yeah, some pro-Spider-marriage people do make arguments for that, but there are plenty who don't bother. It's as if they see the marriage as the default state and the onus is on others to prove it's unworkable. Small wonder so many on the pro side mention that they first became fans when he was already married, then.

Also, people on the single Spider-Man side are just trying to live out their fantasies of being a swingin' bachelo? Oh, c'mon! Right, because there's no way being married to this


could be a fantasy, huh? Or, for the fans who are into men, being married to this?

Really, it doesn't reflect well on your position if you have to resort to attacking the people on the other side rather than their arguments. That's something the single Spider-Man proponents have done a much better job of avoiding, I've noticed. They're much less likely to make personal attacks.

Also: "One More Day". I'm hoping that'll get this site more hits.

Thoughts on January 9's Comics

Superman 672
Insect Queen, Part 2
Gossamer Wings
--Peter Vale's art pales in comparison to Pacheco's, but it's an improvement on Leonardi's. He does a pretty good job with the insectoids and hive architecture, but his people have this very generic quality. I remember Kurt Busiek once saying on Usenet that Tony Stark without facial hair looks very generic, more like the third person from the left in a crowd scene than the main character. Well, most of Vale's character have that problem; they look like that third person from the left. This really stood out to me in the scene where Lana meets the three LexCorp technicians. They've been given different styles and colors of hair, and one's got a beard, but still... there's this genericness. Yeah, they're very minor characters who only have a few line, but surely that's all the more reason they should look distinctive. At least if Lana Lang looks like she belongs in a crowd scene, she's still the Lana Lang, you know?

The writing also suffers in comparison to Camelot Falls, one of the best superhero yarns I'd read in a long time. In that arc, there was this sense that there was this whole world out there, filled with unusual and extraordinary things and happenings. At first, we got Intergang, in cahoots with a mysterious not-Darkseid benefactor, as well as the introduction of the Science Police and the subplot of their secret agenda, and then we moved on to Subjekt-17, which segued into Arion and his warning, which brought with it an entire kickin' two-part alternate reality tale, and then the Arion plot moved forward parallel to Subjekt's, and along the way we get the Prankster better than ever and Squad K and, oh god, the New Gods, and more, and all of it weaving in and out of Superman's life and occasionally intersecting... It formed an amazing whole. It was a world every bit as rainbow and energetic as Superman's should be. I realize that, as a ten-parter, it could fit much, much more into it than the current three-part story. Still, the Insect Queen arc, in comparison, is just so... basic. It's A-plot of alien villain wanting to subjugate Earth and B-plot of something going on with a supporting character, and nothing else. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing... there's nothing especially right with it, either. Does that make sense?

I did enjoy this issue's story. The Insect Queen and her minions are interesting, and both cliffhangers have me eager to see what happens next. I guess it's not so much the story that's my problem, as the way it's being carried along such a worn path. I hope the delays the book's been suffering haven't made Busiek gunshy about the kind of intricate plot-juggling he did in Camelot Falls.

Buffy Season Eight 10
Anywhere but Here
-- Maybe I'm finally getting used to seeing the Buffy characters in a different medium, maybe the writing's gotten genuinely better, but for whatever reason this was the first issue that felt as on form as the series at its best. In the previous issues, it felt more like someone was writing a good Buffy imitation than like someone was writing good Buffy, like the writing was imitating Whedon's style and consequently not as effective because this person who wasn't Whedon wasn't writing from his own gut but Joss Whedon's. And I felt this way about all the issues, including Whedon's own.

Well, all of that -- I felt none of it here. Good dialogue, good jokes, neat ideas, and some very interesting revelations about our heroes. Season Eight finally feels like its going somewhere truly worth going, not merely continuing Buffy for the sake of its continuance. Before this issue, the story of these characters was continuing. Now it's progressing as well.

The artist for this issue, Cliff Richardson, was apparently a longtime penciller for Dark Horse's previous Buffy series. In retrospect, that's not too surprising because he just nailed the character likenesses here.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Block Dossier
-- I've finally managed to work through the beat prose section (which actually gets significantly easier to decipher after the first two chapters), so now I can write this.

Make no mistake, this book is "continuity porn." Much more ambitious and expansive than most works under that label but still continuity porn. Only where the point of of a Marvel comic called that would be to reference and draw connections to other Marvel comics, here the purpose is to reference and connect all of fiction, from all media and all genres. And it does a deft job of that, admittedly. Still, I read stories to get *stories*. Volume One of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, that had a story, one that made numerous references and connections along the way. This, in contrast, is a list of references and connections that happens to tell a story along the way, and whatt story there is seems more designed to make the maximum number of references possible than to be good and enjoyable in its own right.

It's an odd book in that I would never recommend purchasing it to anyone (save someone who really loves both the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and sourcebooks, in which case this is made for you) but would recommend reading at least once. Moore and O'Neill take dips into various styles of prose and storytelling throughout the book, and that's interesting to see even if those sections never cohere into much of a plot.

Thoughts on 12-28's Comics

Well, I've finally Made It. This blog got its first pervert hit a few days back; someone found their way here by Googling for "wonder woman the superhero and a normal person having sex comic" (without the quotation marks). An auspicious day to be sure.

This site doesn't turn up until the second page of search results, so this person must have been searching rather dilligently.

***

The Brave and the Bold 9
Changing Times
-- Waid and Perez diverge a bit from the usual format and deliver three short team-up stories instead of the usual one. This book, with its focus on "What happens next?" plot progression and sci-fi/fantasy flash (not a perjorative!), all within the framework of only one issue per team-up, is pretty light on character drama under even normal circumstances. Here, that's even more the case, as we get three even-shorter-than-usual stories.

It's all good, though. This book continues to be an absolute blast, telling the kind of balls-to-the-wall imaginative stories that only superhero fiction can tell. Waid has a talent for taking what would normally be a pretty straightforward, boilerplate story and peppering it with clever dialogue, a few funny jokes, and a few unconventional twists that alter the journey if not the destination; thereby turning it into something more. Perez's art has a similar strength, and what would come off as a generic genre staple (e.g. mummies) is captured so perfectly that it becomes fresh and wondrous all over again. And given the page limitations, it's impressive that Waid manages to pack in as much characterization as he does.

The Metal Men and Dial H for Hero: What I said about Waid taking what should be a boilerplate story and turning it into something more? That definitely applies to this one. We have the clichéd "We loved you the way you were; you didn't have to change" plot that's probably appeared in dozens of Saturday morning cartoons, but Waid sprinkles in bits like the cesium line (which even someone as scientifically ignorant as me has been waiting for someone to point out to Mercury), and the final product's just a delight.

Blackhawk and the Boy Commandos: Before reading this story, I didn't care much for the Blackhawks and knew next to nothing about the Boy Commandos, and I can't say my interest in either has increased. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this quite a bit, and both groups were fun here.

Did anyone else think that one page where Brooklyn escapes was likely either a case of miscommunication between writer and penciller or of post-art script alteration? According to the word balloons, Brooklyn jammed the Orb's staff in to create a diversion, but looking only at the art, it certainly looks like he just ran away and it was the mummy who jammed the staff in to catch him! If it was a last minute change, maybe someone realized that in the earlier version the mummies have technically still won because they still have the Orb... and that *was* their goal.

The Atom and Hawkman: Out of all three, this pairing feels most like it could have supported a full issue-length story. Right from page one, with the Atom's jealousy over Carter Hall being both an intellectual and incredibly buff, you get the feeling there's a lot that could be explored in these two's interactions. Throw in Hawkman's former close association with Ray Palmer on top of it all, and there's definitely story potential here.

It's a fun story. Waid excellently utilizes the Atom's narration style from his own book, and we get a decent sense of who both these people are. That said, it makes no sense that the bio-belt and the Nth metal would screw each other up when the same thing never happened when Ray was wearing it (and given Hawkman's total surprise, I think it's safe to say it was indeed a new experience).

Batman 672
Space Medicine
-- I didn't used to understand why Grant Morrison has a reputation for confusing stories. I haven't read what I understand to be his trippier works, but people have called his mainstream superhero work confusing, too, and that I didn't get. No longer.

This issue is, quite frankly, incomprehensible. I dare anyone to make sense out of the last several pages. Everything's perfectly straightforward up until the false Batman shoots Gordon, at which point things turn lopsided.

*However*, I'm pretty sure confusion's the point and we're not supposed to understand those final pages yet. In any case, I want to read the next issue to find out just what the heck is going on, so the issue did it's job.

As for all those pages preceding the gunshot... I really liked the introductory sequence, which is delightfully cryptic. The Bruce Wayne-Jezebel Jet subplot, on the other hand, isn't working for me, and its scene this issue highlighted why. Bruce is explaining to Alfred how deeply smitten he is, listing the reasons why, and you realize almost everything he says is new information to the reader. The relationship is being developed almost entirely off-panel, which makes it hard to care about it or her.

The Flash 235
The Wild Wests, Part 5: Headlong
and
The Fast Life, Part 3 of 4
-- Waid's pilot run had a slow start, but it quickly improved, so that by now I'm in for the long haul... or I would be if he wasn't leaving in one issue. The Flash family setup he's created definitely has running legs, I think (ouch).

The way being a parent has affected Wally is... well, I can't say realistic because I haven't met many new parents, but it's certainly engaging. Waid's never been afraid to make his characters jerks from time to time, when it's logical, and I appreciate that. And given all the emphasis in so many other superhero comics on how death and pain are a superhero's constant companion, I found Wally's agreement to stop protecting his children so much very refreshing.

As for the back-up story, it's a hoot and a half. The jokes in these back-ups deviate a bit from Waid's usual style, which can probably be chalked to co-writer John Rogers. Waid's humor tends to derive from the situations the characters find themselves in or from put-downs by arrogant geniuses. The jokes here are more about word play and odd turns of phrase. Or I'm talking out of my ass; that's a possibility, too. The twist at story's end was neat.

Given that Waid's leaving so soon, I guess it's unlikely we'll see the scene where the Batman costume comes springing out of the Flash's ring. Nuts, because that might have been my favorite part of the entire All-Flash issue. Dare I hope the planned story gets moved to The Brave and the Bold?