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thehefnerWhile I'll almost certainly never write for DC Comics in the long term (I just don't have the stomach to deal with those kinds of inter-company politics and BS), working on this Harvey Dent novel has really whet my appetite for what I would do if they ever offered me a chance to play in their mighty cosmic sandbox.
BAT LASH
Three words: Wild. West. Dandy.
In truth, I haven't read too much about Bat Lash. I'm curious as to how his original stories were, not to mention the recent mini by Sergio Aragones and John Serverin (shit, with that team, why the hell haven't I read it yesterday?) I mainly know about him from guest appearances in JONAH HEX and whatnot, but come on. He's a wild west dandy, and he was voiced by John Crichton from FARSCAPE in that episode of JUSTICE LEAGUE. What's not to love?
RALPH DIBNY, THE ELONGATED MAN
Actually, it's a tie between Ralph and his wife, Sue Dearborn Dibny, since you cannot have one without the other. They're the Nick and Norah Charles of superhero comics, and it kills me that most people never even realized how wonderful they were before they were killed. Even now that they're reunited as ghost detectives, no one has done anything with this wonderful pair!
Ralph and Sue exist as a perfect "fuck you" to Joss Whedon's so-wrong-headed-I-don't-know-where-to-start idea that a happily married couple makes for bad stories. Joss himself outright mentioned in the introduction for IDENTITY CRISIS (the story where Sue was killed and retroactively raped) that he never cared about Elongated Man before that story, which says a lot right there.
That said, I must confess that I didn't really start to love Ralph and Sue until I met Henchgirl. Because oh my god, do we ever have that kind of lovingly-snarky relationship. I liked Ralph and Sue before I met Henchgirl, but ever since, I feel like we have to write a story of them together.
Failing that, if I were rich enough to be lazy, I would pay![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heykidzcomix good money to go ahead and produce her dream Ralph and Sue story.
MARK MARDON, THE WEATHER WIZARD
He's the only major FLASH villain to never really get his due, even after Geoff Johns stepped up and ushered in a new era of Rouge appreciation (after Mark Waid did much to essentially ignore/kill the Rogues or render them irrelevant with characters like the Replicant). Johns actually did much in the way of giving the Weather Wizard a facelift, and even hinted at character development in FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES REVENGE, before he pissed it all away in a manner that still has me with comic-reader blue balls.
Ever since then, something about the Wizard has stuck in my craw. The guy is a bastard, yet his denial and guilt issues regarding his dead brother (whose invention he stole to turn into a weapon) intrigues me, and there's some kind of no-nonsense high-flying theatricality he has that separates him from the other Rogues, while his manner is as blue collar working-class criminal as the rest. He's a punk, a crook, a street-level hood at heart who has the powers of a weather god, and is increasingly figuring out how to use those powers.
The question becomes what he'll want to use them for. And if he doesn't want to do more than just rob banks, why not? Why does he hold himself back? Why purposely restrict himself to penny-ante crime?
I'm itching to see his character journey continue, but if Johns isn't gonna do it, who the hell else will?
And speaking of FLASH Rogues that Johns did little with...
GEORGE "DIGGER" HARKNESS, AKA CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
In some ways, the ending that Brad Meltzer gave Boomerbutt (as he was dubbed not-so-affectionately in SUICIDE SQUAD) was sadly fitting for a sleazebag loser like Digger Harkness. And yet, I couldn't help but still be sad to see him go out that way, however inevitable as something like that was.
While there are many villains of varying degrees of evil, many bastards of varying levels of gloriousness, there are very few who are just outright amoral sleazebag scuzzballs, charming cowardly little crooks who will lie to get out of any situation, and stab you in the back at the first chance, somehow barely managing to survive with their pathetic hides mostly intact. That's Captain Boomerang, "the grossest man I've ever met," according to Barry Allen.
And somewhere between the brilliance of John Ostrander's writing of SUICIDE SQUAD--which found the humanity in hardcore amoral characters like Amanda Waller and Deadshot--and his own stylin' appearance in JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, I've found myself growing incredibly fond of ol' Boomerbutt. In my dream story, a Captain Boomerang comic would be like a villain version of THE IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN set in a SLEEPER mold on the streets of Keystone City, and throughout the DCU.
Funny thing is, Johns set up a (very rushed) loose plot thread at the very end of his run where Digger was sent to the future where he apparently slept with Meloni Thawne, Bart "Impulse/Kid Flash" Allen's mother, and thus fathered his son Owen, the current Captain Boomerang (and a neat character in his own right).
That would be the story I'd write: a time-lost Captain Boomerang's tryst with a future-lady, and what the bastard does from there. Put it this way: he'd make Oliver Queen look like Father of the Year.
PROFESSOR HUGO STRANGE
I've already gone into detail about why Hugo Strange is awesome, but it bears reiteration. I'm not really sure what I'd do with him, save for giving myself this mission statement: "Start with BATMAN R.I.P., do it better," and go from there.
I'm just trying to decide which actor I would have in mind for Hugo as I write. I'm struggling between Sir Ben Kingsley or Terry O'Quinn.
The final five to come sooner or later. Quite possibly later. Or not at all. Life is eventful like that right now, as I pack up for the long drive to Cali-for-ni-aye.
BAT LASH
Three words: Wild. West. Dandy.
In truth, I haven't read too much about Bat Lash. I'm curious as to how his original stories were, not to mention the recent mini by Sergio Aragones and John Serverin (shit, with that team, why the hell haven't I read it yesterday?) I mainly know about him from guest appearances in JONAH HEX and whatnot, but come on. He's a wild west dandy, and he was voiced by John Crichton from FARSCAPE in that episode of JUSTICE LEAGUE. What's not to love?
RALPH DIBNY, THE ELONGATED MAN
Actually, it's a tie between Ralph and his wife, Sue Dearborn Dibny, since you cannot have one without the other. They're the Nick and Norah Charles of superhero comics, and it kills me that most people never even realized how wonderful they were before they were killed. Even now that they're reunited as ghost detectives, no one has done anything with this wonderful pair!
Ralph and Sue exist as a perfect "fuck you" to Joss Whedon's so-wrong-headed-I-don't-know-where-to-start idea that a happily married couple makes for bad stories. Joss himself outright mentioned in the introduction for IDENTITY CRISIS (the story where Sue was killed and retroactively raped) that he never cared about Elongated Man before that story, which says a lot right there.
That said, I must confess that I didn't really start to love Ralph and Sue until I met Henchgirl. Because oh my god, do we ever have that kind of lovingly-snarky relationship. I liked Ralph and Sue before I met Henchgirl, but ever since, I feel like we have to write a story of them together.
Failing that, if I were rich enough to be lazy, I would pay
heykidzcomix good money to go ahead and produce her dream Ralph and Sue story.MARK MARDON, THE WEATHER WIZARD
He's the only major FLASH villain to never really get his due, even after Geoff Johns stepped up and ushered in a new era of Rouge appreciation (after Mark Waid did much to essentially ignore/kill the Rogues or render them irrelevant with characters like the Replicant). Johns actually did much in the way of giving the Weather Wizard a facelift, and even hinted at character development in FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES REVENGE, before he pissed it all away in a manner that still has me with comic-reader blue balls.
Ever since then, something about the Wizard has stuck in my craw. The guy is a bastard, yet his denial and guilt issues regarding his dead brother (whose invention he stole to turn into a weapon) intrigues me, and there's some kind of no-nonsense high-flying theatricality he has that separates him from the other Rogues, while his manner is as blue collar working-class criminal as the rest. He's a punk, a crook, a street-level hood at heart who has the powers of a weather god, and is increasingly figuring out how to use those powers.
The question becomes what he'll want to use them for. And if he doesn't want to do more than just rob banks, why not? Why does he hold himself back? Why purposely restrict himself to penny-ante crime?
I'm itching to see his character journey continue, but if Johns isn't gonna do it, who the hell else will?
And speaking of FLASH Rogues that Johns did little with...
GEORGE "DIGGER" HARKNESS, AKA CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
In some ways, the ending that Brad Meltzer gave Boomerbutt (as he was dubbed not-so-affectionately in SUICIDE SQUAD) was sadly fitting for a sleazebag loser like Digger Harkness. And yet, I couldn't help but still be sad to see him go out that way, however inevitable as something like that was.
While there are many villains of varying degrees of evil, many bastards of varying levels of gloriousness, there are very few who are just outright amoral sleazebag scuzzballs, charming cowardly little crooks who will lie to get out of any situation, and stab you in the back at the first chance, somehow barely managing to survive with their pathetic hides mostly intact. That's Captain Boomerang, "the grossest man I've ever met," according to Barry Allen.
And somewhere between the brilliance of John Ostrander's writing of SUICIDE SQUAD--which found the humanity in hardcore amoral characters like Amanda Waller and Deadshot--and his own stylin' appearance in JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, I've found myself growing incredibly fond of ol' Boomerbutt. In my dream story, a Captain Boomerang comic would be like a villain version of THE IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN set in a SLEEPER mold on the streets of Keystone City, and throughout the DCU.
Funny thing is, Johns set up a (very rushed) loose plot thread at the very end of his run where Digger was sent to the future where he apparently slept with Meloni Thawne, Bart "Impulse/Kid Flash" Allen's mother, and thus fathered his son Owen, the current Captain Boomerang (and a neat character in his own right).
That would be the story I'd write: a time-lost Captain Boomerang's tryst with a future-lady, and what the bastard does from there. Put it this way: he'd make Oliver Queen look like Father of the Year.
PROFESSOR HUGO STRANGE
I've already gone into detail about why Hugo Strange is awesome, but it bears reiteration. I'm not really sure what I'd do with him, save for giving myself this mission statement: "Start with BATMAN R.I.P., do it better," and go from there.
I'm just trying to decide which actor I would have in mind for Hugo as I write. I'm struggling between Sir Ben Kingsley or Terry O'Quinn.
The final five to come sooner or later. Quite possibly later. Or not at all. Life is eventful like that right now, as I pack up for the long drive to Cali-for-ni-aye.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 12:24 pm (UTC)As fgor Hugo Strange - well I always read him as English spoken (and English to be honest but dont think just because I am Scottish that means it is a bad thing)
So possibly Jeremy Isaacs, Ed Norton (I think he could do a decent accent) or if you want a retread of the Bat TV show - Travolta (seriously look at his latest movies poster - I though it was willis for a second and then realised - Travolta doesnt care anymore - he would be perfect, if by perfect you actually mena totally OTT in a bad way)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 08:10 pm (UTC)Do you know if the SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE ELONGATED MAN collection is worth picking up?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 09:02 pm (UTC)