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Visionary
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Visionary

Subj: Re: posting again after my first attempt was lost...
Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 05:55:02 pm EST (Viewed 2 times)
Reply Subj: posting again after my first attempt was lost...
Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 01:37:59 pm EST (Viewed 4 times)

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I'm going to retype my answers to the bottom, and then I may deal with the top half of the topic once I find more time.



And just to make it interesting, what other writer who was born before 1920 would you pick to write:

New Avengers: H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau). Obviously, I'm looking to fulfill the promise of the New Avengers as the catch-all for adventure in the Marvel universe. Skrulls invading? Kang conquering? Mutants running amok? Scientists causing strife? Go to the source, I say.

Captain America: Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Planet, Jeckyll & Hyde) I felt like I should name an American author here, but really what I want most out of Cap stories are high adventure, and Stevenson brings that in spades. (Actually, my second choice was probably Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers), so forget the American thing all together.)

Superman: I can't think of a great Superman choice right now. For "Batman", however, I'd go with Mary Shelley (Frankenstein). A dark genius driven by a personal loss to defeat an abstract enemy that preys on humanity (crime/death)? I think she can get into that head... as well as the understanding the obsessive relationship between Batman and the Joker.

Astro City: Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days). Average citizens finding themselves swept up in the adventures of godlike characters and madmen? Society leaping forward with new advances while struggling to understand them and the impact they may have? Verne's the man. (Also my top choice for "Fantastic Four".)

Star Wars: George Orwell (1984, Animal Farm). Who could better make the Empire all that George Lucas dreams it could be?

Buffy: Jonathon Swift (Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal) Buffy needs to be written by someone with a satirical eye and a knack for casting traits of everyday social pressures into fantastic creatures and set-ups. Swift has that down pat. Plus, Spike could really make an excellent case for eating babies.

Pet Avengers: Jack London (Call of the Wild) Probably self-explanatory.


> Imagine that some of the great writers of the past were alive today and wanted to work in the comic-book industry. Which work-for-hire mainstream titles would you put them on? (And no, you can’t put Robert E. Howard on Conan, for example, cool as that would be; it has to be something they’ve not done before)

> Here’s the talent pool to deploy. Say where you’d place them and what their first story arc might be:

> Dashiel Hammett (Sam Spade etc)

I'm going to look past Sam Spade and say that his creation of Nick and Nora Charles makes him the right guy to pen the tales of Iron Man, Tony Stark, playboy with tarnished idealism navigating social circles of both high and low society filled with colorfully dangerous characters, aided by a witty Pepper Potts.


> Howard Phillip Lovecraft (Call of Cthulhhu et al)

A homeless man with no memory constantly hears the siren call of the ocean, but does not understand what it means. Invariably, he finds himself standing at the docks in the relentless rain, the cruel and merciless city looming behind him, while the dark waves below beckon him. Something calls to the anger and resentment that builds inside of him with day after day of misery. When he finally gives in and answers the call, the Submariner will be reborn, and the surface world will never be the same. But what is the dark secret of his underwater kingdom?


> Edgar Allen Poe (Murders in the Rue Morgue et al)

Under the pen of Edgar Allen Poe, the adventures of the Incredible Hulk delve into the dangers of self-enforced isolation while attempting to contain equal parts fear and guilt gnawing at the conscience. Keeping a secret locked inside of him while on the run, Bruce Banner is a ticking... ticking... ticking... time bomb

> Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter etc)

This might be an interesting fit with Superman... a man of action living among a society that is not of his own kind. His take on Superman gives him a more innocent, straightforward approach to problem solving that is at odds with the complex and treacherous dealings of human society, where people compensate for their own impotence to change the world with red-tape, roadblocks to progress, and a tendency to tear down those who can rise above.


> Frank Herbert (Dune etc)

The X-men have long featured themes of epic family dynasties set against a science-fiction backdrop. Seems like a good fit here... but then I haven't really read Dune or even made it through the movie (awake, at least.)


I may tackle the others later...