DCU Character's Revamped : What would you do

[Freakzeek]

DC hires you to write an ongoing book starring any character not in publication.

The only directive the higher-ups give you is to "Go nuts, but have it be unique and original." They also tell you that each issue MUST reach, at the very least, 30,000 copies sold every month, "no excuses." That and the quality also has to be "Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman/JMS/Darwyn Cooke/Terry Pratchett/Morrison's JLA/Brubaker's Captain America/Green Lantern Corps/Maus-level good" since Didio wants this book to award-bait more than the original Watchmen run for some reason.

So what would you do? What would the book be about and what and who would you include in it? And how would you tie it into the rest of the DCU?

I'd revamp Milestone's Dwanye mcduffie's Static

Static has an immense power level and control when it comes to electricity, so I would toy with the idea of transhumanism, where Static is becoming one with the electric current itself, and is seeing the world in a much more atomical level. I'd have to research electricity much more, but characters like Swamp Thing, who see and perceive the world so much more differently than regular humans, fascinate me, and I'd like to do that with Static.


edit: forgive the crappy sketch took forever to scan correctly

http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww318/Freakzeek_2009/Static_Commission_colored_by_aixiao.jpg

[joao_miranda]

DC hires you to write an ongoing book starring any character not in publication.

The only directive the higher-ups give you is to "Go nuts, but have it be unique and original." They also tell you that each issue MUST reach, at the very least, 30,000 copies sold every month, "no excuses." That and the quality also has to be "Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman/JMS/Darwyn Cooke/Terry Pratchett/Morrison's JLA/Brubaker's Captain America/Green Lantern Corps/Maus-level good" since Didio wants this book to award-bait more than the original Watchmen run for some reason.

So what would you do? What would the book be about and what and who would you include in it? And how would you tie it into the rest of the DCU?

I'd revamp Milestone's Dwanye mcduffie's Static

Static has an immense power level and control when it comes to electricity, so I would toy with the idea of transhumanism, where Static is becoming one with the electric current itself, and is seeing the world in a much more atomical level. I'd have to research electricity much more, but characters like Swamp Thing, who see and perceive the world so much more differently than regular humans, fascinate me, and I'd like to do that with Static.


edit: forgive the crappy sketch took forever to scan correctly

http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww318/Freakzeek_2009/Static_Commission_colored_by_aixiao.jpg

You drawed that? It's not crappy at all, it's very good.

And I would chose Captain Marvel. Billy Batson, trying to create a fun yet serious book.

[Freakzeek]

You drawed that? It's not crappy at all, it's very good.

And I would chose Captain Marvel. Billy Batson, trying to create a fun yet serious book.
yeah I drew it,fledgling artist, thanks for the compliment , the Captain marvel universe has been quite a mess lately, if there was one hero I would revamp for the modern dcu, Captain marvel would be a great choice

[titanfan]

The only directive the higher-ups give you is to "Go nuts, but have it be unique and original." They also tell you that each issue MUST reach, at the very least, 30,000 copies sold every month, "no excuses." That and the quality also has to be "Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman/JMS/Darwyn Cooke/Terry Pratchett/Morrison's JLA/Brubaker's Captain America/Green Lantern Corps/Maus-level good" since Didio wants this book to award-bait more than the original Watchmen run for some reason.

So what would you do? What would the book be about and what and who would you include in it? And how would you tie it into the rest of the DCU?


Find random character. Connect to Bat-Universe. (Takes care of 30k requirement)

Then I'd hire a good ghost writer, mainly because I'm not that good for it to be award-bait!

[Free-Man]

DC hires you to write an ongoing book starring any character not in publication.

The only directive the higher-ups give you is to "Go nuts, but have it be unique and original." They also tell you that each issue MUST reach, at the very least, 30,000 copies sold every month, "no excuses." That and the quality also has to be "Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman/JMS/Darwyn Cooke/Terry Pratchett/Morrison's JLA/Brubaker's Captain America/Green Lantern Corps/Maus-level good" since Didio wants this book to award-bait more than the original Watchmen run for some reason.

So what would you do? What would the book be about and what and who would you include in it? And how would you tie it into the rest of the DCU?

I'd revamp Milestone's Dwanye mcduffie's Static

Static has an immense power level and control when it comes to electricity, so I would toy with the idea of transhumanism, where Static is becoming one with the electric current itself, and is seeing the world in a much more atomical level. I'd have to research electricity much more, but characters like Swamp Thing, who see and perceive the world so much more differently than regular humans, fascinate me, and I'd like to do that with Static.


edit: forgive the crappy sketch took forever to scan correctly

http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww318/Freakzeek_2009/Static_Commission_colored_by_aixiao.jpg

That sounds like a great idea. It could be cool to see Virgil use his abilities to manipulate brains (electromagnetic organs).

[Freakzeek]

That sounds like a great idea. It could be cool to see Virgil use his abilities to manipulate brains (electromagnetic organs).
woah, i didn't even think about that, puppet-master style, creepy but cool

[Personamanx]

I don't think I'd be able to really "Re-Vamp" any already existing single character. But I could see myself Re-vamping a Team Book ("Teen Titans" Comes to mind) with all new original characters.

[Zembo]

Find random character. Connect to Bat-Universe. (Takes care of 30k requirement)

Then I'd hire a good ghost writer, mainly because I'm not that good for it to be award-bait!

I could connect someone unexpected: Beast Boy. Both orphans who couldn't stop their parent's death. Both feel alone and cover their fear with extreme behavior.

Beast Boy comes to Batman and asks for training to be a better hero. He says he can be Batman's inside man in the Titans. (I know, Tim Drake. But this is BATMAN. He'd want a double dedundancy [misspelled, I know].) After all, who on the Titans can he really trust? Cyborg, who was a menace once before and can be hacked/controlled? Bombshell, the ex-villain? Blue Beetle, also an inexperienced boy with an unknown alien weapon? And so on. Batman very reluctantly agrees on a trial basis. Their first adventure out Beast Boy (I prefer Changeling) gets kidnapped by the Scarecrow, and Batman must save him from Crane's fear torture.

The Good News: He does find Crane.

The Bad News: It's only after Crane has nearly broken Changeling's mind, and now he's loose in Gotham. A slightly insane 500 pound tiger is not funny, even if it's green.

This wouldn't have to be Bruce Wayne Batman, it would work with Grayson as well. (And if you don't like Damien you can see him get pimpslapped by a green chimp).

[Freakzeek]

more input on the Static Revamp:
Static exposes himself to a second dose of the big-bang gas in an effort to defeat Live Wire, who is running amok.

Rather that overtly becoming more powerful, he gains greater awareness of the web of electrical energy coursing through our everyday lives, becoming able to commune with the very electrons around us.


Static's powers are given a greater emphasis on technopathy and he is given a more "tech savvy" attitude. He balances his school life with two forms of vigilantism, both running around as a costumed superhero and operating as an internet vigilante (called "Static"). Virgil increasingly becomes detached from reality and begins shirking his real life duties while he focuses on an increasingly brutal war against "bang babies", here reinvented as completely and utterly nihilistic mutants who view the collapse of human society as progress that would allow them to replace mankind as the next step of the evolutionary chain. Meanwhile, Virgil's "Static" persona has gathered a crowd of initially likeminded vigilantes who end up taking a life of their own, staging real life riots and political demonstrations.

Some of these internet activists begin hacking into government databases and crack the formula for a modified bang gas and distribute it amongst themselves, becoming the "Hardware Collective", a hive mind of similarly technopathic individuals who wage open war on the anarchic, neo-tribalist bang babies. Virgil is caught in the middle of this war, and comes to a stunning realization: Humanity is fated to obsolescence. He must pick a side now, the nihilistic bang babies, or the radical transhumanist Hardware Collective.

[Freakzeek]

The Geoff Johns run of Green Lantern never happened. Kyle took too much... artistic inspiration... one night and hallucinated the whole thing.

[Freakzeek]

Bruce's parents weren't actually killed. They saw into the future and realized they had to fake their own deaths to traumatize their son into becoming Batman so that one day they could return and team up with him to defeat Darkseid.

[Freakzeek]

A lot of things involving Guy never happened. It was all a brain damage induced coma-hallucination-dream in Guy Gardner's mind after getting hit by a bus saving one of his old students.

The series ends with a doctor telling his revealed to be wife Tora Gardner that he will never come out of it and she painfully, with tears in her eyes, decides to "pull the plug".

As he's slowly dying, she hugs him and whispers "You'll always be the greatest.."

As we see Gardner, flying through space, glowing bright Green with a smile on his face.

Guy Gardner. The greatest Green Lantern.

[Freakzeek]

Ted Kord never went back to die in Countdown to Infinite Crisis. He uses the Time Sphere to make a pitstop to pull his I Can't Believe It's not the Justice League counterpart through time and the multiverse to die in his place. He then goes onto become insane and be revealed as the true Black Beetle as he unmasks to both Jaimie, Goldstar, and Booster. He reveals that Jaimie has to die otherwise Barbara will due to a bungle of Jaimie's. During the fight Ted accidently kills Goldstar. In a fit of grief filled rage Booster kills Ted.

[AdamYJ]

I've considered for a while the potential of using the character of Secret from Young Justice to explore the concept of death and the afterlife in the DCU. It wouldn't be the same Secret, mind you. Also, it's quite possible that Neil Gaiman already beat me to the punch on this using his Death character from the Endless.

[Forth World]

The only directive the higher-ups give you is to "Go nuts, but have it be unique and original." They also tell you that each issue MUST reach, at the very least, 30,000 copies sold every month, "no excuses." That and the quality also has to be "Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman/JMS/Darwyn Cooke/Terry Pratchett/Morrison's JLA/Brubaker's Captain America/Green Lantern Corps/Maus-level good" since Didio wants this book to award-bait more than the original Watchmen run for some reason.

So what would you do?

Tell him to go f*** himself. He wants an Eisner I do a Vertigo book with no pressure.

He wants predictable ~30K sales I do a spinoff of a main franchise with a "stay positive/teen empowerment" type message.

[bongoes]

I'd do something with Aquaman. He is banned from Atlantis and all of the seas. He travels around on land fighting crime and trying to figure out why Atlantis doesn't want him around. There's a big conspiracy brewing and he has to figure out what's happening before the seas are ruined forever. Mix in as many guest stars as it can fit, (He is on a road trip) yet only ones that add to the story. Maybe give him someone to travel with, not sure right now, any suggestions?

[dougiemccoy]

Okay here my sample of what book I would love do...
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q118/dougiemccoy/hanna-Barbreateamup1.jpg

here the rest of my dream, first they hire Mark Evainer to be editor and head writer for the H-B book line up. and then hire Scott Shaw! as art editor ( who hire's me to H-B superhero/funny-animals)
some of the list of books in my dream...
1) Jonny Quest
2) Space Ghost/Hercurloids
3) Yogi and Friends
4) The Flintstones/Jetsons
5) H-B Action : Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, Young Samson and Goliath

Okay It's not DCU stuff so sue me :)

[TJKernan]

I would do a Blood Syndicate series, with the no holds barred bad-ass team.
Holocaust, Bad Betty, Wise Son, Fade, DMZ, Aquamaria, and Flashback.

That is a lot of sick power there, and no problem killing their enemies.

I'd have Intergang try to come into Dakota only to underestimate BS and have them execute them very publicly. That brings heroes to town, and I wouls show this teams legitimacy by having them kill someone of repute in DCU, like a new hero team featuring Thunder (anissa pierce-is she still alive?), Striker Z (is he still out there?) and whoever is left outta Bloodpack.

These deaths bring them serious repM and bring the Justice League down on them. Finally outgunned, they are forced to run...

Maybe Gotham...

[Tequilamokinbrd]

I'd re-vamp Wonder Woman, and rather than using a bunch of characters that I created to be her supporting cast in order to give readers a "fresh jumping on point" (which hasn't worked in years), I'd lock myself in a room with all things wonder woman, and I'd build her supporting cast from familiar faces & names from throughout her history and stay on the book until DC kicked me off to ensure Diana at the very least could get one consistent direction for a long period of time(I think that's what Gail's doing & I'm giving her chance cuz she's awesome but time still has to tell on her run...).


Steve Trevor would be the Lois to her Clark, I'd spend a tremendous amount of time building him up, building up why Diana would care about him, and why the READERS should care


I'd work on her foes, making them seem more like the world threats they should be if they're giving her a hard time....I'd built around the core of Dr. Psycho, Cheetah, Giganta & Circe being considered the most dangerous. During McDuffie's"Injustice Gang" in JLA, Cheetah was sitting at a table with Lex Luthor & The Joker picking out who should be in the gang. The only reason she was there was because they were going for the Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman comparison, but I want one of her four main foes to be considered to be on that Lex/Joker/Deathstroke-type level. I'm not sure if I'd elevate Cheetah, Psycho, Giganta or Circe the most, but the next time whichever of them it is sits at the big boy table next to Lex Luthor, it won't look silly.




I'm not doing this out of any super strong love for the character, it's merely that I think every character should get a fair shake since "everyone is someone's favorite" and I can only imagine how sick of crappy new launches, different directions/depictions & new "#1's" WW fans must be. I'd just make Diana a certain way & keep her that way for a spell.



Even if my run sucked, at least Wonder Woman fans could for a long period of time know who she is, who her friends are, and what they can expect from her. And if it was really that sucky, the next creators could use my run as a template for what they don't want to do, for what didn't work before.

What happens now is that even if something IS a good idea, even if she DOES have some characters you start to get into, it lasts a couple years, there's some crazy event & all of that stuff you just read about goes out the window and you get a re-launch & a new #1.

[Tequilamokinbrd]

Oh, and I know the topic was for a character not being published, the reason I picked Wonder Woman is because I truly believe if DC wasn't worried about losing their grip on the rights, they would have ceased publishing Wonder Woman long ago(not forever, but I'm certain there would have been at least a couple of years, maybe in the 90's when everything was all edgy & Image-ey, where there was no WW on the racks).



If it had to be a character who really really doesn't have a book, it'd be Cyborg. Give him a solo book and some time to grow & I think you could really do some awesome things given the vague nature of his powerset & his not-too-fleshed-out backstory