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April Fools!
No, I'm not doing a Monstress makeover, this month, or any month!
So, lately, I've been reading a lot of old comics. Some were series that I'd never read all the way through, or ones I'd missed issues at the beginning and only knew of through flashbacks in later stories. Mostly Marvel, because I'm working with a team in my Ad Astra comic that is an homage to the Avengers and I wanted to try to get the feel for that period in the Marvel Universe. It got me to thinking about continuity.
In recent years, continuity has been treated as a burden, by many writers. So much so that DC has jettisoned most of theirs in favor of new versions of their characters, barely recognizable to me. DC has made a habit of this over the last 25 years or so, but even before that, continuity between titles was limited, for most of DC's history. Heroes were menaced by their proprietary villains, as if there was a Villain Union that allowed members to work only in specific regions, against specific heroes.
But, Marvel was built on interaction between titles. Spider-Man crossed over with the Fantastic Four in his first issue. The Hulk showed up in Fantastic Four #12. Again in FF#25. Doctor Strange appeared in FF #27, and the next issue co-starred the X-Men.
And it's not just heroes showing up on each others' turf, villains get around, as well. Sandman, a Spidey villain, joined up with three other lame villains and menaced the Fantastic Four as the Frightful Four. Spidey fought Doctor Doom in Amazing Spider-Man #5, and won. The Kingpin went from beating Spider-Man to becoming the boss of bosses in New York and becoming the major villain for Daredevil.
See where I'm going?
Anyone who's heard me talk about creating knows that world-building is one of my favorite things. I like doing it, I also like reading the work of writers who do it well. My favorite writers all have this, if little else, in common. H. Beam Piper, Lois McMaster Bujold, Edgar Rice Burroughs, David Weber, Jack Williamson, and many others, are excellent world builders. Some start out to build worlds, and then tell stories set there. Others do it piece by piece, in the course of writing their stories. I've found that laying out a loose framework and then building on it as inspiration strikes produces, for me, the most satisfying results. But, here's the thing. When I create a character or a team or a situation in a story, it's all mine from bottom to top and I don't have to answer to anyone else. I have that freedom because I'm not using properties owned by someone else in my work.
However, if the world turned on it's ear and I was to get a job with Marvel doing one of their regular ongoing titles, I would feel obliged to work within the framework of continuity that had been laid out before my advent on the title. Not just obligated, honored to follow in the footsteps of some of the demigods of comics. Among my recent reading material have been the first 200 issues of Avengers, Captain Marvel, the Adam Warlock saga, from his sojourn on Counter-Earth to his cosmic adventures and death, and more recently, the original series of the Defenders. I'm up to issue 30-something, now on Defenders. Finally got to read their side of the "Evil Eye" storyline that put them at odds with the Avengers, I'd read the Avengers' side of those stories earlier. One of the things that leaped out at me, as I was reading through years of old comics was the interconnectedness of the stories. It helps, I think, to make the world a cohesive whole in a way that all the forward planning of something like the Ultimate line does not.
These are my opinions, of course and your mileage may vary.
DC had it's Elseworlds line, where creators could play with the various DC characters in ways not suited to the ongoing books. I think that's a great way to experiment with well-known characters.
For me, continuity is a foundation to build on, but it doesn't have to be set in stone. Look how later writers have all but ignored every depiction of Magneto prior to his re-birth in Uncanny X-Men #103, or was it #104? It's always possible to retell a story in such a way that it brings out the elements you want to keep and down-plays the leering, glassy-eyed, yellow-toothed megalomaniac you don't want people to remember (see those issues of Defenders where Magneto gets his second lease on life from his own creation, the ultimate mutant, Alpha*). It's the seeming wholesale rejection of continuity, or the wholesale injection of retroactive continuity, that has, at times, driven me to distraction.
Lately, when I want new material that still has characters I recognize, I've been pleased to have The Avengers-Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Young Justice and the new Green Lantern animated series to watch. The people who work on those shows "get it". I can't recommend them highly enough. Seeing the Avengers cartoon develop as it has, has been fascinating. The fact that they've drawn on so much of Marvel's complex history and reimagined it in a modern setting has been nothing short of genius. For gods' sakes, they even have MODOK and TV-torso Arnim Zola in this thing! What I wouldn't give to see those guys in one of the live-action movies. That would truly make for a Marvel movie.
But, since this column is not just about me ranting about comics. Here are a couple of pieces inspired by my recent read-a-thon and a recent episode of the Avengers.
First, from the pages of the Defenders, is the Valkyrie. Valkyrie first appeared in the Avengers, as a disguise for the Enchantress. Later, the Enchantress empowered a socialite named Samantha Parrington as the Valkyrie in a revenge plot against the Hulk. In the Defenders, Amora the Enchantress gave the power to Barbara Norriss, who had been driven mad by being trapped in an alien dimension and made the bride of an improbably configured two-headed demon.
I always liked her classic black and silver look, so that's what I worked with. As usual, I upgraded her footgear. Those dance slipper things just don't cut it as fighting footwear. I modified the neckline, on her top, and eliminated the ringed collar. Collars are for slaves and the last thing I'd expect a free spirit like Valkyrie to put up with. I suppose it could be there as armor, but it looks very restricting, so I dumped it. Other than that, I modified her shorts into a sectioned skirt that includes a bit of metal armor to add protection to the leather. I would do something with her hair, but she just wouldn't be Val without the hair hiding half her face.
And from a recent episode of the Avenger cartoon, Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel. Funny thing is, I sketched a costume very much like this a week or two before I caught the first glimpse of her in a promo for the show. The combinations of elements from her original costume and her later, pseudo-Phoenix design (Dave Cockrum came up with both, and had drawn the Legion, in which Saturn Girl wore a more revealing version of the same basic design) works beautifully. And, bravo for getting rid of the belly hole. That was bad design, even for the 70s.
So, there you have it. My little rant and a couple of hot super-babes.
See you next time.
* And how, exactly did the Blob, Mastermind, Unus, and Lorelei get re-aged back to adulthood? I can't remember anyone ever mentioning it.
See more of my stuff at . . .
heroblog.deviantart.com
www.heroblog.com
www.adastracomic.com
Copyright © 2012 Joe Singleton
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