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Does Marvel have any ghosty characters on the books?

 
 
The Natural Way
09:48 / 23.04.03
And I don't mean the Red Ghost. I want prope ghosts. Ghosts with the most. And you anti-epic guys needn't worry too much about this one: I'm going to make every effort to ensure the script'll be both Marvel and creator-owned friendly... Just looking for a jumping off point is all.
 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
10:42 / 23.04.03
Well, you could start with Ghost Rider: with the movie coming out, they really need a new title.

Then there's Flaming Skull ('40's character)

I remember one western character called Phantom/Night Rider you could revamp him into modern times - he was originally called Ghost Rider, but the name was retconned.

There's one called Terror (another from the '40's - Marvel has lots of guys from the '40's that are weird: Blackstone the magician, Dakor the magician... you could do whatever you want with them)

There's Daimon Hellstrom, who's a sort of John Constantine. There's Man-Thing.

I dunno: they're all so crappy.


Actually, now that i think about it - Marvel mystic/occult/horror guys really suck.

DC has Swamp Thing, John Constantine, Phantom Stranger, Deadman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, Dr. Occult, Dr. Thirteen, The Demon, the golden ahe Sandman, and so on.

But Marvel has what? Dr. Strange? And i think that's it, no other star to shine in a book.
 
 
The Natural Way
10:53 / 23.04.03
I don't really want to write a character who's got a movie in the works (tha's why Werewolf By Night got dropped, and I really wanted to write.....her) - Marvel will already have writers optioned for their 2D movie stars. They're unlikely to trust an Epic guy with them.

Dr. Strange? Well, there's no reason why he HAS to be crap. He's a perfectly respectable magicky/supernatural archetype. And Marvel really need that niche filled. I'm already planning to knock up a 'Sorceror Supreme' script anyway - but it won't be....specifically about our Steve.

Thanks for yr help, Deus, but I'm really looking for an actual ghost. Not a Hellstrom or a Manthing. Give me a GHOST! Waaah!
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
11:24 / 23.04.03
Thread rot I know, but I've always thought Dr Strange should be handled much like Jason King - he has the moustache, the medallion, he always wants to take out his Eye of Aggamotto...
 
 
perceval
11:38 / 23.04.03

Well, DC had the advantage of Alan Moore coming along in the 80s and revitalising their supernatural books with Swamp Thing. Little known fact, but Man Thing predated Swamp Thing. Pre-Moore, DC didn't have a big advantage in the genre.

E
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
11:41 / 23.04.03
runce-unit: thats so strange; I'm not making any headway with my Impossible Man script so I started breaking down a ghost story I toyed with about ten years ago. It's a bloody good tale and could be unique or embeded within the marvelverse. I've started to write panel descriptions and it's beginning to feel good. But last night, I lay in bed and thought, how could I make this work as a continuing series? Should my main character actually be some ghosty type from the m.verse? Or should the city become the character? Ad then I could set a series of horror/ghost stories in this 'city'?

Maybe the entire city is a ghost? Dunno yet, but basically:

I was gonna ask the question on yer thread title!

ta.
 
 
Marian
11:59 / 23.04.03
I think Man Thing and Swamp Thing were conceived in the same week by Messrs O.Neil and Wein, who happened, just happened mind, to share a flat at the time. 'I'll sell this one to them, you sell that one to them' I imagine it went.
 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
12:13 / 23.04.03
Little known fact, but Man Thing predated Swamp Thing.

Even more little known facts: both Man-Thing and Swamp Thing were based on a character called The Heap, who in itself was based on a short story called 'It'.

Oh, and Man Thing was already winning awards back in 1973 - embarassing i even know this.


Well, there's no reason why he HAS to be crap. He's a perfectly respectable magicky/supernatural archetype.

No, he's not crap: i don't know, i'm so used to grim characters like John Constantine, i find Dr. Strange too colorful for my taste; perhaps he relies too much on magic and not so much on his wits - okay, now i'm talking about Constantine again

When doing a Dr. Strange comic, though, the thing is to fill it with other mystic guys - because i think Strange works better as an anchor for all the other characters like Ghost Rider and Werefol By Night, than having a title all for himself. So i would write him like a tour de force through the Marvel universe, picking up Brother Voodoo here, Dr. Druid there...
 
 
ciarconn
12:42 / 23.04.03
You mean a ghost character like DC's Deadman? Gee, I do not remember anything like that in Marvel
 
 
moriarty
12:47 / 23.04.03
I'd take one Heap over a dozen Swamp or Man Things.

Runce, why don't you take an established Marvel character who has passed on and bring them back as a ghost?
 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
13:55 / 23.04.03
You mean a ghost character like DC's Deadman? Gee, I do not remember anything like that in Marvel

Marvel doesn't have a broad list of characters like that, i'm afraid.
 
 
The Natural Way
14:23 / 23.04.03
I'd thought of that, Mori. But I'd kind of like a straight up ghost.

This is a pisser....
 
 
The Natural Way
14:27 / 23.04.03
Ex: the Marvel Tour idea? Still predicated on the idea that Strange is crap. He doesn't work on his own...blah. I don't quite agree with that. Anyway, as I said, I won't be writing Dr. Strange, but 'Sorceror Supreme'.......

I'm much more interested in colourful characters than I am in grey, grey, grey betrenchcoated scouser magicians. They've had their moment in the, err, gloom and now they can just piss off.
 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
15:08 / 23.04.03
I'm much more interested in colourful characters than I am in grey, grey, grey betrenchcoated scouser magicians. They've had their moment in the, err, gloom and now they can just piss off.

That's good - because that's what Marvel has the most.

What's the 'Sorceror Supreme' thing, Runcey? Isn't that what Strange is called?
 
 
The Natural Way
15:39 / 23.04.03
It's his title, yes......
 
 
bio k9
15:45 / 23.04.03
I'd take one Heap over a dozen Swamp or Man Things.

Does that include the McFarlane version?
 
 
moriarty
15:56 / 23.04.03
I stand corrected.
 
 
bio k9
16:00 / 23.04.03
For what its worth, I wish you had millions of dollars so you could buy and bring back old comic characters instead of that guy.
 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
16:02 / 23.04.03
What characters, for example?
 
 
bio k9
16:08 / 23.04.03
Any really. Look around for McFarlane's version of the Heap, reborn as a bum that came in contact with some of Spawns ectoplasm or some such shit.

 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
16:09 / 23.04.03
What the fuck is that?

The Heap i know could be turned into a freaking teddy bear for kids.

What's that?
 
 
Jack Fear
16:23 / 23.04.03
Runce: Brother Voodoo gains his powers by being possessed (ridden) by the ghost of his murdered brother...
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
16:27 / 23.04.03
Is that an actual retooling of The Heap or just some shitty McFarlane character w/the same name?
 
 
grant
16:59 / 23.04.03
Haunted Tank is DC.

That's the best ghost there is, y'know.

There's Dead Girl from X-Statix....

This frighteningly in-depth Silver Surfer page (has sections on Michelangelo and Gnosticism!) refers early up to "Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish," which just *had* to have ghosts in them.

Oh, and as discussed on that Marvel/John Constantine thread, there's always Gabriel, Devil Hunter. His wife Andrea died and came back in the body of Desadia. I think at one point she possesses him, too.

So she's definitely a ghost.
 
 
bio k9
17:02 / 23.04.03
Is that an actual retooling of The Heap or just some shitty McFarlane character w/the same name?

Both, I suppose.

He bought the rights with the Eclipse stuff.
 
 
The Photographer in Blowup
17:55 / 23.04.03
Those old 'Strange Tales' and 'Tales to Astonish' are anthologies of short horror stories - they didn't have recurrent characters.

Plus, where can one find them? I always wanted to read some harmless horror ripping off EC comics
 
  
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