You've been Hired to Continue ABC (a scenario)

[Duy]

You've been made head of the America's Best Comics at Wildstorm. You're told by Jim Lee that ABC needs to continue as a moneymaking venture. Since you're new to the job, you don't want to say no to your boss - I mean, come on, this is comics, the adventure of a lifetime. However, because you have respect for Alan Moore and company, you ask whichever gods you pray to to give you the power to entice every comics creator currently alive on the face of the planet. They bestow this power upon you, with the one exception being that you can't pick Alan Moore. At all.

Jim Lee tells you you need to continue or revive at least FOUR properties. (Tom Strong, Top Ten, Promethea, Greyshirt, Cobweb, First American, Jack B. Quick) Spin-offs like Smax or Terra Obscura are also allowed.

For each property you choose to revive, name 1) the writer you've chosen, 2) the artist you've chosen, and 3) the direction you want them to take the series in.

And if you choose to revive Promethea, specify which Promethea you're going to use, because you're also not allowed to use Sophie.

Hope this works. Run wild.

[Christopher Burton]

These are just off the top of my head, but I think they'd be comics I'd like to read. They're probably predictable, fanboy choices.

1. Tom Strong: Joe Casey (w) and Chris Sprouse (a). I think Casey could bring an element of the unpredictable to it (Tom Strong isn't Tom Strong without the unpredictable) and Sprouse is really the only man for the job where art chores are concerned.
2. Terra Obscura: Kurt Busiek (w) and Carlos Pacheco (a). Busiek has the chops to do an entertaining team book and Pacheco could capably render these classic characters in that lush style of his.
3. Jonni Future: Andy Diggle (w) and Art Adams (a). Diggle took a dusty old Silver Age hero in Adam Strange and made him cool again. Jonni Future also seems to be inspired by Silver Age space heroes, so I think Diggle could do the same for her. And as Sprouse is to Tom Strong, Adams is to Jonni Future.
4. Top 10: Mark Waid (w) and Alan Davis. I like Mark Waid's dialogue, which is especially important in this book since there are so many different characters. Alan Davis has a clean style and strong sense of character design.

[Indigo Al]

Jim Lee tells you you need to continue or revive at least FOUR properties. (Tom Strong, Top Ten, Promethea, Greyshirt, Cobweb, First American, Jack B. Quick) Spin-offs like Smax or Terra Obscura are also allowed.

For each property you choose to revive, name 1) the writer you've chosen, 2) the artist you've chosen, and 3) the direction you want them to take the series in.

And if you choose to revive Promethea, specify which Promethea you're going to use, because you're also not allowed to use Sophie.

Hope this works. Run wild.

Indigo City Stories - half greyshirt, half cobweb. Greyshirt: Rick Veitch/Rick Veitch. Cobweb should be written by Ed Brubaker, Gail Simone or Christina Z and drawn by Melinda Gebbie and guest artists. The mandate for the book is "The Night is Alive With Enigma!" Moody, noirish, funny and lots of "is she or isn't she" for the Cobweb.

Top 10 - Garth Ennis and Gene Ha. No direction changes - just continue telling what's essentially a cop story.

Tom Strong: put Neil Gaiman on for 12 issues, pay him more money than God. Keep Chris Sprouse. Pray that whoever succeeds Neil can keep up.

Promethea - do 12 issue "seasons"

Season One: the Bill Woolcott Promethea, written and drawn by Phil Jimenez. Less mysticism, more straightforward Science-heroics and romantic intrigue.

Season Two: Grace Brannagh Promethea. Roy Thomas writes, Andy Kubert draws. Set it in Hy Brasil, but also intercut it with scenes from Grace Brannaghs life.

More ideas later....

[Sirpass]

thats a pretty good idea, I agree

[Duy]

In response to my own thread, I'd like:

Top Ten - as written by Kurt Busiek or Mark Waid and drawn by George Perez... the background jokes are essential to this series, and Kurt and Mark are like encyclopedias. I love Gene Ha's art, but I'd like to see George work on something...

Greyshirt - The only one from Tomorrow Stories that I'd spin off into his own series, and Veitch gets it, because I loved Indigo Sunset.

An anthology title, not unlike Tomorrow Stories - specifically to showcase whichever writer would be insane enough to tackle Jack B. Quick, ooh, and I'd get Art SPiegelman to do the First American as well a Splash Brannigan. That'd be really funny, not to mention a change of pace. The regular artists would do. I'd get Paul Karasik to help out Melinda Gebbie on the writing end of Cobweb.

Finally, Tom Strong, since it carries the line. Geoff Johns and Chris Sprouse. Period.

[Kirayoshi]

Top Ten: Brian Michael Bendis, art by Gene Ha. Bendis can bring his police procedural sensibility from Powers with him.

Greyshirt: Max Allan Collins and Rick Veitch. Think 'Spirit'. Very noir, but with a sense of humor. Collins worked on Dick Tracy, he's a natural.

Tom Strong: Mark Waid and Chris Sprouse(or Mike Wieringo). Mark would have a field day either fleshing out existing villains or creating his own. And maybe a potential spin-off title for Tesla or Dahlua; I always got the feeling that they could carry a book themselves.

Cobweb: Terry Moore, story and art. Sorry, but Melinda Gebbie never quite did it for me. I'd serious her up a little, instead of doing odd homages to different comic creators and formats. Terry Moore has experience with beautiful but flawed heroines as well as crime drama in Strangers in Paradise.

possible minis or one-shots; past Prometheas(Grace Brannaugh and Bill Wolcott especially) by Neil Gaiman and J. H. Williams III, Jonni Future by Geoff Jones and Art Adams, and First American by Sergio Aragones.

[Christopher Burton]

Top Ten - as written by Kurt Busiek or Mark Waid and drawn by George Perez... the background jokes are essential to this series, and Kurt and Mark are like encyclopedias. I love Gene Ha's art, but I'd like to see George work on something...

Good call. George Perez would be really good. Top 10 has had very detailed art and who better than Perez to continue this stylistic tradition?

[Brother Justin Crowe]

Anyone who suggests new, non-Moore Promethea is dead to me.

Oh, hello various corpse posters.

My picks?
1) Tom Strong by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immomen. If these guys went Nextwave nuts with this book while simultaneously respecting what's come before, who wouldn't buy it?
2) Top Ten by Neil Gaiman and Frank Quitely. Because, well, who else is there?
3) Smax by Jeff Lemire. Come on, you know you want it.
4) Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, in the style of books like Legends of the DC Universe, Legends of the Dark Knight and others. High profile creative teams take on the Tom Strong mythology, like BKV & Pia Guerra, JMS & Gary Frank, Kurt Busiek & George Perez, Mike Allred, Joss Whedon & John Cassaday, Jeff Smith, Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch, Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Fabian Nicieza & Patrick Zircher, Robert Kirkman & Jason Howard,

[Duy]

Anyone who suggests new, non-Moore Promethea is dead to me.

Oh, hello various corpse posters.

My picks?
1) Tom Strong by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immomen. If these guys went Nextwave nuts with this book while simultaneously respecting what's come before, who wouldn't buy it?
2) Top Ten by Neil Gaiman and Frank Quitely. Because, well, who else is there?
3) Smax by Jeff Lemire. Come on, you know you want it.
4) Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, in the style of books like Legends of the DC Universe, Legends of the Dark Knight and others. High profile creative teams take on the Tom Strong mythology, like BKV & Pia Guerra, JMS & Gary Frank, Kurt Busiek & George Perez, Mike Allred, Joss Whedon & John Cassaday, Jeff Smith, Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch, Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Fabian Nicieza & Patrick Zircher, Robert Kirkman & Jason Howard,

I love Gaiman, I do, but I'm not sure I want "Top Ten" turning into a treatise on the power of story, even though the material is clearly there. And Quitely would never make deadline.

[carabas]

My first instincts tell me to go with DEF...
Follow it up with GHI if it sells well.