BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Comic Books >

All Star! Challenge

  
  

Page: 1(2)34567... 8

 
 
Triplets
17:53 / 04.04.06
Bluntly, feels a bit too incestuous. This family hangs around with each other all the time, goes on adventures together, probably lives together, and the youngest of them is about 21? And they don't get the urge to leave and strike out on their own? Can't see it happening really. Do the kids have any friends and partners outside their bubble?
 
 
Mario
18:13 / 04.04.06
Sounds like Tom Strong. What's the tone like? New Pulp?

Yeah, basically. But not as goofy as Tom Strong (no talking gorillas )

Bluntly, feels a bit too incestuous. This family hangs around with each other all the time, goes on adventures together, probably lives together, and the youngest of them is about 21?

Like I said, it started out as a Fantastic Four riff. And those concepts fit the FF (and Tom Strong, for that matter) to a T. But one of the reasons I didn't pursue this further is that it failed the "And then what?" test.
 
 
Aertho
18:35 / 04.04.06
Maybe we can salvage it, Mario. When I was imagining a Challengers book, I was thinking my about what could possibly be unknown in this day and age? What's unimaginable? What's so absolutely unthinkable that people would have to challenge it with science and vigor? What's the overall struggle, the inherent themes?

I kept thinking about Miracle's escape in 4 and how inverted interpretations of time and sequencing might be explored.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
18:36 / 04.04.06
I have had an idea kicking aorun din my head for a while which at a stretch could be considered All Star Richie Rich.

The idea is a kid, around 10 or 11, is messing around with his dad in a surplus electronics shop and gets his dad to buy him a bunch of seemingly useless junk. Over the next few weeks the kid builds something he is hoping will be a flying skateboard, but when he turns it on it pushes away from the planet fast enough to acheive escape velocity, and the NSA show up. Not willing to beleive that the kid could build the thing they are tracking (now past jupiter) they leave.

Flash forward to the kid, now in his early 20s and insanely rich due to his inventions and patents.

The story would open with the kid being a powerful but selfish ass (think Zenith) who is forced to become a hero when aliens invade. The reason he takes part in the defence of earth? He feels guilty when he realizes his first invention accelerated out of our solar system and destroyed one of the alien planets moons, and they traced it to earth.

So, less Richie Rich and more Adventures of Young Reed Richards maybe...
 
 
Mario
19:04 / 04.04.06
There are a lot of frontiers out there remaining to explore (see my Ray Palmer idea, for one take). If I salvage anything out of the Wilde Pack, it'd probably be the idea behind Cyrus himself. I think the popularity of stuff like Tomb Raider and Clive Cussler books shows there's still a market for that sort of hero.

You could do the same with the Challs, of course, although I'd probably give June a larger role than is perhaps traditional. The "girlfriend who hangs around" is probably the worst element of the Silver Age.

Elijah: Sounds more like All-Star Tom Swift, to me

I do have another idea I've been fiddling with of late. This text snippet gives you the basics:

At 3:30 PM on June 14th, young Jonathan Smith fails to arrive at home, as expected, following a camping trip.

At 5:00, his parents go to the police, who tell them that nothing could be done until he'd been missing 24 hours. A visitor to the station, seeing their distress, quietly steps outside, opens his cell phone and dials a special number.

At 5:03 PM, the following message appeared on pagers, cell-phones, and IM windows all over the city:

"Thunderbirds are go"
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
19:13 / 04.04.06
You could always make June one of the Challs right from the get-go - have her survive with them.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
19:34 / 04.04.06
Guys, I'm not adding anything to this thread but I have to express my admiration for the creativity, wit and invention I see on this and the Villains workshop. At its best, this is like watching a masterclass of unknown talents riffing off each other. Thanks, I am really enjoying each time I dip into these threads.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
20:33 / 04.04.06
Seems about time to throw another challenge or two out there.

Anyone want a crack at the All-Star Teen Titans? Or does somebody just want to point a finger at the cartoon and smirk a lot? Or the other cartoon that nobody talks about, where Kid Flash has black hair and virtually everybody has a weird red/yellow colour scheme going on - only Aqualad deviates with his red/blue. That team was made up of Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy, and Wonder Girl...extreme Sixties action, against giant robots.

So: Teen Titans. Would you go back to the plain old sidekicks angle with Speedy, Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash? Maybe throw Kara Zor-El in for no apparent reason? Would you pull something more into the Perez/Wolfman angle, or the cartoons? Maybe pick completely different sidekicks to focus on (a younged up Element Girl, Batgirl, one or two of the Forever People like Serifan, maybe throw in Jimmy Olsen)?
 
 
grant
20:38 / 04.04.06
Teen Titans? I'd just give it to Michal Allred and sit back and watch, man.

------


"Thunderbirds are go"

International Rescue!! Best thing marriage has brought me thus far is an appreciation for the Thunderbirds. Named for the Mercury astronauts, modeled on Bonanza and executed in fantastic Super-Marionation with obvious love. They seem to be popping up a lot online, too.
 
 
Mario
20:48 / 04.04.06
It's a great concept, and I'm still horrified that they messed up the movie.

Of course, my idea borrows quite a bit from Global Frequency, but the focus is very different. I'd likely throw in a reference to the originals somewhere as an Easter Egg.

All-Star Teen Titans. One could argue that the animated series is just that....
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
21:39 / 04.04.06
Tom Swift eh?

I never read any of the books, but I have heard of them. Very interesting.

I wonder who owns the rights...

I like the T-Birds/GF hybrid. As long as none of the cast are part of the group because they are the best parkour person in the world, I'm down.

God that issue was terrible.
I wonder who owns the rights...
 
 
Mario
22:03 / 04.04.06
Simon & Schuster, as of 10 years ago.
 
 
Mr Tricks
22:24 / 04.04.06
While an initial All Star Teen Titans should indeed look like the series, I believe it would have to evolved mythical aspects to reflect more of the Wolfman era. They could start off as teen side-kicks and grow into a sort of Pantheon of modern day "TITANS".

The series would have to span several years, perhaps 6. So that Robin can begin as a 15 year old and end the series at age 21 adopting the title of Nightwing. In that time Wonder Girl would evolve along a similar arc perhaps ascending into demi-goddesshood by the end of the series. A similar thing might happen to Aqualad who would leave the team early on and return in time for their "final battle" after years of tutelage under the Wizards of Atlantis; he would be best qualified to recognize Donna's Divine origins and help her ascend; much to Roy's dismay.

Roy would have to deal with drug addiction early on, issue #3 (sometime around their second year, he'd be 16?). With his departure around issue #4 the team would have a sort of membership drive with Batgirl popping in at that time but declining membership. They would end up with Hawk and Dove and a 9 year old Beast Boy would be rejected for not being a "teen." Deathstroke makes an appearance, perhaps shopping for a sidekick of his own.

Issues #5 - #6 becomes their Sci-Fi epic. The Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Hawk & Dove team would be joined by a freshly minted Cyborg and a newly arrived Starfire. Get them out in space an perhaps throw in StarBoy or even a Kid Lantern as a twist. Keep them out in there for a while. Adam strange could forward their e-mails to earth. Perhaps Dove dies.

In their absence a new team of Titans have formed on earth, with a west coast base. #7 introduces the new team composed of Arsenal, Raven, Supergirl, Beast Boy & Captain Marvel Jr. Their street level helping of youngsters reveals the actions of the Cult of Brother Blood. Supergirl is embarrassed by her inexperience and particular weakness to magic. CM Jr. shines but ultimately leaves the team after glimpsing Raven's darker side.

#8 has the Space Titans returning home in time for some misunderstandings and bruised egos with the new team. After a bit of a shake up the New Titans would be Robin, his new girlfriend Starfire, Wonder Girl (perhaps she's darkstar now), Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, Kid Flash(possibly renaming himself IMPULSE). Roy is annoyed and storms off. Hawk leaves, missing the dead Dove.

#9 - #10 introduces the HIVE and the Titans gain a new member; TERRA. Betrayed and sold to the cult of brother blood only Robin and Beast Boy escape. Arsenal shows up to help track down the captured team and Aqualad returns as TEMPEST. They track down the others in time to witness the cult opening the way for Trigon.

#11 - #12 All Hell literally breaks loose. Tempest unlocks Donna's Divine potential (now she's Troia) and the team, minus Terra, regroups for the big mythical throw down with Hell.

They split into two teams. Troia leads Raven, Starfire, Cyborg & Impulse in a frontal attack upon Trigon. Mary Marvel & Capt Marvel Jr. arrive as a cavalry. Meanwhile Robin, Arsenal, Beast Boy and Tempest must journey into hell to reverse the magics that allows Trigon access to earth. They succeed but Donna Troy sheds her mortality to forever guard the gateway to/from hell.

Raven is redeemed but leaves the team to find herself. Tempest decides he needs to know more and feels he might have prevented Donna's sacrifice had he begun his teachings earlier. All the Magic has shaken Wally up and he decides to focus more on learning from Barry Alan. Arsenal is devastated by the loss of Donna and leaves again. Of the original team only Robin is left, he adopts the name Nightwing to signify that these New Titans are not just a bunch of sidekicks.

The new lineup -
Nightwing
Cyborg
Starfire
Changeling
Mary Marvel

Perhaps all of this magical activity has attracted the attention of Klarion, a witch-boy.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:36 / 04.04.06
The years-spanning mini reminds me a bit of the John Byrne Generations minis, the first of which worked and the sequels didn't work.

I also like the idea of them starting out as sidekicks and then all ascending to full Titan-hood; especially with regard to Donna and Garth, who have ultimately gotten the short end of the stick as far as convoluted origins and ambiguous powers.

For your Teen Lantern, I'd recommend Arisia, who remains one of my favourite characters. She had a complicated but intriguing character arc and you could explore some ideas about growing up (either too fast or not at all) and the ascension aspects you were talking about.
 
 
Mr Tricks
23:16 / 04.04.06
Arisia would be perfect. Not to familuar with her but I suspect she would make an excellent foil for Starfire. The visual parallels plus the level of power she presumably commands as a Green Lantern contrasted with the Power Starfire possesses. I suspect They would both have conflicting views on how that power should be used. If the Titans are out in space seeking to "save" a captured Starfire She would be of great help guided by Cyborgs technological expertise, they'd spend a good amount of time together.

Never read Generations but I realize this sort of time-span was used in the WORLD's FINEST miniseries where each issue reflected different time period in the 10 years of BATMAN and SUPERMAN's career.

Robin's absence in space would be the ideal time for BATMAN to find a second ROBIN. Wally West would be a missing person while Barry might be somewhere in the future and what not. If the Titans are in space with a Green Lanturn then it wouldn't take much for Hal Jordan to find out and perhaps go out to fetch them. His rescue attempt could be rebuffed with typical teenaged rebellion and hi-light his lack of a kid sidekick on earth.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
23:27 / 04.04.06
Arisia would be interesting and yeah, foil for Starfire - the Green Lantern tendency toward focus and willpower versus the Tamaranian passion-philosophy, and when you bring in Hal Jordan to try and bring them back to Earth, not only can you point out that he has no actual sidekick, but he could make overtures in that direction toward the relatively inexperienced Arisia and she would eat it up. Arisia fell in love with Hal at one point and ended up having her ring age herself to be an adult (which would be wear the growth theme would come in) so he'd actually be with her, despite the problems. She'd come back to Earth with them for "training" at Hal's side...
 
 
Mr Tricks
23:32 / 04.04.06
That is so perfect and seems to beg for an All Star Green Lantern. Also her running off with Hal Jordan would give Cyborg just the right amount of the Blues having thought their time together would lead to something more.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
23:36 / 04.04.06
I think Mario had some All-Star Green Lantern ideas, yeah? Mario, are you about? Care to share?
 
 
Mario
00:14 / 05.04.06
Looking over my ideas, it's less All-Star, more Ultimate. But I do have some thoughts anyway.

First off, you gotta go back to the beginning. Forget Parallax, forget the way John Stewart's girlfriends keep dying. Stop blowing up Oa once a year. And stop treating the Corps like an army. They should be more like galactic marshals, working with local law enforcement.

Hal has a classic origin, that works with very little changing. He's a former fighter pilot who flies prototypes for Ferris Aircraft, and goes out clubbing with Ferris's chief engineer, Tom Kalamaku. The bits with him being summoned by Abin Sur needs no changes at all.

You can start small with some classic Earth-based foes for an issue or two, but eventually he'll have to go to Oa and be trained by Kilowog. Mainly because I refuse to do a GL story without him.

Throw some space-based stories, with some truly _weird_ aliens as foes (and fellow lanterns), and eventually have Hal go home. Just when we think everything is OK... Qward invades. And at their head... the former Lantern of Korugar, Sinestro.

Hal will be outmatched, and (after the Qwardians blockade Earth with a yellow barrier) unable to summon help. But he CAN enlist deputies... and finds three candidates. An architect, a gym teacher/social worker, and an artist.

They lead the resistance. The final battle is Hal vs. Sinestro, for all the marbles. Naturally, Hal wins.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
00:34 / 05.04.06
Well, if you're taking the Silver Age version and running with it ... cut it down to just Hal as Earth GL, and you've got: the Guardians, the Corps, Ferris Aircraft, Sinestro, Carol Ferris's remarkable capacity for spontaneous split-personality, and Hal constantly getting hit on the head, preferrably in every issue. I'd love to see a story with "The Many Faces of Carol Ferris," possibly with Sinestro using his yellow ring to pull Star Sapphire and the Predator out of her mind as part of the overarching plot. I'd almost be inclined to play a lot of the series not necessarily for laughs but with a certain air toward zaniness -- Hal Jordan is such a whitebread character and a lot more could be done with that.

...

Actually.

Hal's whitebread up against a lot of sudden diversity, and that would make it quite interesting.

He's faced with Carol, who is a woman that (a) won't give in to his seductions, unlike most of the other women he's met, and (b) avoids the patriarchy by being left in charge of the company. I would maybe cut out the Lois Lane vibe of her being in love with Green Lantern, and make her simply more interested in running the company than actually pursuing her admitted attraction to Hal.

He's faced by Thom "Pieface" Kalamaku. Thom initially comes across as an Anti-Olsen, stubbornly getting angry at Hal for his mild racism - Hal's the new guy, and he can't be bothered with all of that (I'm mixing in some of the New Frontier stuff), and this is another opportunity for Hal to get used to dealing with stuff outside his very small sphere of experience.

You could essentially use his supporting cast - his Lois and his Jimmy - as preparation and analogy for his burgeoning Green Lantern career and the wonders of space, and the fact that he has to deal with with strange demands of the Guardians of the Universe (Ferris aircraft), and completely alien Green Lanterns who won't have much to do with him because his civilization isn't interstellar yet and his attitudes wholly provincial. I'd throw in Arisia as another Green Lantern he meets early on, who is both female and much younger than he is - he can doubt her abilities even as she proves him wrong, despite needing to be trained. And you introduce the Corps as a way of discussing the cruel punishment of Sinestro, doomed to the anti-matter universe. I'd move Korugar into 2814 and make Sinestro the local GL before Abin Sur, having Abin take over for him when he's declared guilty. Therefore Sin has a reason for going after the relatively inexperienced, backward, not-well-thought-of Hal Jordan -- he's in his space sector, and Sin's got the yellow power ring to fight him with.
 
 
Mario
01:09 / 05.04.06
The only problem with that is that there's already a documented successor to Sinny... Katma Tui. And I was trying to keep as much of the good stuff as possible. Of course, having Sinestro being the reason Abin Sur crashed does have a certain poetic justice to it.

I decided that Tom works better as a friend than a foil, which is why I made him more than a grease jockey. Of course, I know a fair number of engineers, and they are ALL more comfortable in the shop than the office.
 
 
Billuccho!
22:19 / 05.04.06
Sgt. Rock is a WWII thing. I can't see it working in modern-day Iraq. I'll tell you what *would* work, though, and would make an excellent Vertigo series...

Haunted Tank.
 
 
Mario
22:50 / 05.04.06
Or Unknown Soldier. Course, he's already been Vertigized twice.
 
 
Aertho
23:15 / 05.04.06
Hmm. Forgive my unfamiliarity with Green Lantern, but wouldn't it be better if it were played as an intergalactic police drama? Wherein it's not an issue of whether it's Hal, Guy, John or Kyle in tights, but rather the RING that's the hero, victim, felon, and weapon of mass destruction of the series?

Isn't the whole schtick that it's a magic ring that grants wishes to whomever wears it? Goddamn that's scary.

All which leads me to believe that All-Star Green Lantern wouldn't be about wacky space opera hijinks, but about gun control, the dangers of an unbridled imagination, and the strength of the collective will. That's probably too heavy for your average comic, but these are All-Star miniseries we're challenging.

I guess we might be confused as to what All-Star really means, what with only two series just begun, and their vast differences. All-Star doesn't necessarily mean "Silver", as ASB&RTBW is seemingly a Dark Age comic, written by the mind behind Sin City. Instead, it seems to be an author's vehicle for hir quintessential interpretation of the themes of a certain protagonist. Constrained, for the benefit of the narrative, by a true beginning and final issue. There's also the general sense of a moral, or a value set attributed to its hero. In ASS's case, Morrison is using Silver Age tropes and wacky instances to illustrate Superman's plight, which I assume to be at this point: achieving a substantial honesty with Lois before the end. Like Johns has said in Crisis: Superman serves best when he serves as an example. Superman = Truth. Morrison and Millar are telling new myths.

With that freshly stirred: A challenge!

Another important element to the All-Star line is its accessibility and familiarity between the general audience. Who can say they're not aware of Superman and Batman? Say they don't have a general understanding of each character's history, motivation, and environment? All-Star characterizations distill that familiarity down. What is the theme? What is the "moral"? What can this character do that none other can do? What is the quintessential interpretation of the protagonist's story? The following challenge can be done several ways, but I think we may have to debate where the end should be. Remember, an arc of 12 issues. Now, without further ado...

All-Star Spawn.
 
 
Mario
00:16 / 06.04.06
I see the All-Star line as a distillation of the essential core of the character. ASBats is a bit of a failure, in that sense, but Supes is right down the middle.

All-Star Spawn... hmm...

I'd rather Ultimatize him, honestly. The core idea has a lot of merit, but I always hated the Violator, in any of his forms. Too silly. I'd treat him more like the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider, without the really convoluted backstory, with a touch of a flipside Spectre.

As before, Simmons would be a CIA triggerman, betrayed by his bosses. Damned for his crimes, he appears before Aeshma (demon of rage... one of those silly details stuck in my head) who makes him an offer. Freedom from Hell, and a chance at revenge, in exchange for servitude. If he ever fails in his duty... it's straight to the Pit.

(If this is designed as a limited series, you can keep the "only so much power" bit. But that simply doesn't work for an ongoing).

I'd also clean up his look. The burn scars never seemed to be worth it, so I'm thinking a cross between Morpheus (from the Matrix... trenchcoat & shades instead of mask and cape) and Pinhead (from Hellraiser, for the chains..but not the pins).

So what makes him rebel? Being sent after his wife and child. A test that he fails. Now he's on the run... can he survive the hordes of Hell? Can they survive _him_?
 
 
Spaniel
11:49 / 06.04.06
I'm liking the invention in this thread but I think a few posters are missing the fact that whilst the AS line isn't beholden to continuity it is beholden to the characters' core mythologies (at least so far). Some of the stuff in this thread - Cass's take on GL, for example - reads more like ultimization or reinvention.
 
 
Aertho
12:33 / 06.04.06
Oh I wasn't suggesting dropping the mythologies, but to build an overall arc about what the major driving forces behind the characters. In fact, I'd have all the Green Lanterns I can think of filling up the book and investigating women being stashed in refridgerators on Colu, Tamaran, Rann, Thanagar, Earth, Thrae, etc... And of course the badguy would be corrupt cop Sinestro, but it's how you get there.

I guess with Spawn, it'd be a relentless rejection of "the group". Al Simmons was betrayed by his highest authority in life, so in death, he develops a defiance to communion with others in any form. It becomes a kind of psychosis, he kills demons, kills the Malebolgia, corrupts angels into individuality, confronts God and walks out on hir. Finally it's Wanda who asks him forgiveness for moving on, which settles him down and he vanishes... Not sure about the end there, but Wanda has to be the one to kill him with a cup, you know?
 
 
garyancheta
14:22 / 06.04.06
All Star TEEN Titans:

Given the premise, and how both Morrison/Quietly and Miller/Lee have handled their properties in the past, I would give this team a makeover with a Brian Wood on scripting, Alex Robinson on plot breakdowns and Seth Fisher on art (it is an "All Star" wish, isn't it?).

I would go with the original team for inspiration:

Robin: who would be a cross between Tintin and the Scarlet Pimpernel

Speedy: who would have a laughing Robin Hood and Ad Rock from Beastie Boys

Wonder Girl: who would be a cross between "My So Called Life" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

Aqualad: who would be an aquatic emo boy in the style of the OC

Kid Flash: who would be a combination of an American Idol contestant with the style of Justin Timberlake

The trick of these stories would put, front and center, the difference between youth culture and adult culture. That would be the setting and the viewpoint of these young heroes living in the city. Our focus would be their day-to-day lives without delving too far into the heroics. The heroics should be secondary to their character interactions. I could easily see it in the Brian Wood example of having short viganettes with the teenagers at different points in their lives with the Alex Robinson way of connecting these points in interesting and tragic ways. The framing device is a funeral for a friend, with each member flashing back to a different time period in the lives in which they interacted with others.

Think of this as Stand by Me meets Traffic meets Reunion, with a twist of Alan Moore's Watchmen thrown into the mix.

The Titans live in an interesting city that is very much like magic realism in Marques' or in a Hernandez Brothers' work...with the 60s Warhol-esque giant typewriters and goofy dialogue. Their world is full of mixed cultural references that are both dated and current. Their youth culture is always a remix of young cultures throughout time and the adult culture is the same sort of remix, with authority and structure as the main selling points.

Whereas the Batman All Star is all about fascism and rebellion, and the Superman story is all about middle age, the Teen Titans stories are all about going through the difficult transitions between kids, teens, and finally young adults. The Teen Titans stories are really down to earth stories about surviving in a big city and striking out on your own without adults present. These are all kids who have lost their parental figures and are trying to find them as they mature and grow past their mentor's intentions. We don't even see their mentors in this series, only hints about conversations or snippets of dialogue that feed our perception as to how they interact with older heroes.

- Gary
 
 
Mr Tricks
16:09 / 06.04.06
wow, that sort of concept seems as though it would actually be held back by a connection to the teen titans mythology. One would almost not need the super-hero-sidekick tropes in such a story and would benefit from it's own mythology. Call it The Surreal World and have it published by ONI.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
20:01 / 06.04.06
Wow! If only to see Robin drawn as a derivation of Tintin, with a domino mask.

Okay, next challenge, still following the youth kick: Power Pack. They were recently rebooted with a bunch of manga-type comix, but I can't be bothered and want to see someone else's ideas. They've tried to revive them a couple of times, but nothing seems as well-constructed and "real" as the original. but what would you do an All-Star version? Would it be a retelling of the Kymellian/Snarks war, or something else? For you, what are the essential elements? Would you include Franklin Richards?
 
 
Mario
21:42 / 06.04.06
I don't have a concept for the Pack, but I do have a suggestion.

Find a writer who can write KIDS. Not just small adults. Handled properly, Power Pack could be comics answer to Harry Potter or Narnia. They need to be characters kids can identify with (given appropriate age & gender, of course).
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:08 / 06.04.06
I remember one of the descriptions of Louise Simonson's original run was that it appeared she had, at some point or other, actually talked to some kids, so you're absolutely right. The dialogue and characterization were always extremely believable in the originals, and I think that's got to be the cornerstone.

One thing I'd to include in an All-Star version would be the power-swapping aspect, which always seemed fairly unique to the Pack - possibly with more clearly defined rules (physical contact/proximity?). Also, there has to be that extremely delicate balance between their self-made rules; there was always a struggle with whether or not it was okay to use their powers outside of life-and-death situations (Jack cleaning up using his Mass-Master powers, et cetera) which went a bit further than, say, the X-Men's "no powers" baseball rules.

There's a great potential there to explore the age gaps between the Pack; Alex's growing frustration with being the eldest and not wanting to hang around his siblings all the time...
 
 
Aertho
22:14 / 06.04.06
Isn't Power Pack just The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe but with superheroes?

I've got an idea of something new... based on Digimon, but I want to sit and stew in it for a while.
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
22:16 / 06.04.06
I remember one of the descriptions of Louise Simonson's original run was that it appeared she had, at some point or other, actually talked to some kids, so you're absolutely right. The dialogue and characterization were always extremely believable in the originals, and I think that's got to be the cornerstone.

One thing I'd to include in an All-Star version would be the power-swapping aspect, which always seemed fairly unique to the Pack - possibly with more clearly defined rules (physical contact/proximity?). Also, there has to be that extremely delicate balance between their self-made rules; there was always a struggle with whether or not it was okay to use their powers outside of life-and-death situations (Jack cleaning up using his Mass-Master powers, et cetera) which went a bit further than, say, the X-Men's "no powers" baseball rules.

There's a great potential there to explore the age gaps between the Pack; Alex's growing frustration with being the eldest and not wanting to hang around his siblings all the time...
 
 
Mario
23:22 / 06.04.06
I was never really sold on the "swapping powers" bit. True, it's fairly unique, but it also tends to make the characters interchangeable. Personally, I was always amused by the fact that the eldest had the least interesting power, while the youngest had the most dangerous.

I also never cared for the "we can't tell our parents!" bit. I like the idea that they are essentially a normal family...except the kids happen to have super powers.
 
  

Page: 1(2)34567... 8

 
  
Add Your Reply