Marvel Flipside

Were I to Write: X-Men

Professor Charles Xavier had a dream-- a dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. And while the mutants in the X-Universe haven't quite got that *exact* dream-fulfillment, there have been some pretty near-successes.

My favorite example was Morrison's tenure as X-writer. In the background of all his stories was the fact that, by and large, being a "mutant" meant that you were a part of a viable, thriving subculture. Oh, and Alred's "X-Statix," who were media darlings.

The recent events in the X-Men are an example of that. The X-Men (meaning pretty much countless mutants of all kinds) were embraced by the people of San Francisco-- and it lasted, oh, say, nearly a year of publishing time until they were forced out by Norman Osborn (well, kinda) onto their own island off the coast of California.

But here's the problem with the X-Men-- these are all exceptions to the rule. While they can be good set-ups for stories, they can never be good "X-Men stories." In other words, you can't ever really have Xavier achieve his dream, because then the X-story will be over.

Which should be good news for writers and fans alike. Our merry mutants will forever live their lives, struggling amid a world that hates and fears them, and that's were good stories will come from.

So... were I to write the X-Men, it wouldn't be in a school or an island or in their own mutant ghetto. Those might be fine for spin-off titles, but the main X-title should be about a truly underground mutant team-- the idea of secret identities amped up to the nth degree. They wouldn't have a mansion or a fancy room with alien technology. They'd have to communicate with their own symbols and secret handshakes.

And the look of the series would be different, too. You'd never have a mutant truly be able to "pass" effortlessly.

• Angel-- He has *giant wings.* These should be able to just fold up and hide under his *tailored suit.* He'd always look ... "off," a little too large with a little too small of a head. He'd have to avoid anyone touching him or brushing up against him and thereby notice the different texture and shape he's hiding.
• Iceman-- His skin would always be cold, and very nearly translucent. His breath would always vaguely visible. He'd have to wear winter clothes all the time-- not because he's cold himself, but otherwise he'd be in danger of leaving condensation behind wherever he sits.
• Beast-- Well, enough said. But there should be consideration given that his hands are misshapen, which should be frustrating for a scientist, or, heck, simply trying to dial his cell phone.
• Cyclops-- He loses an eye. Sounds simple, but what if his body reacts to the ruby quartz, and he's suddenly got this crystal growth instead of eyes.
• Phoenix-- Really? Phoenix? Well, I was going to add Emma Frost as the Marilyn of this Munster-group, but decided to run with the idea of keeping it a variation of the original team. So, yeah, Jean Grey is back, but as an astral "ghost," complete with telekinesis like any good poltergeist.

The group could be rounded out with other non-humanish mutants, such as Nightcrawler, a permanently-transformed Colossus, the scaly movie-Mystique, the Shadowcat who had to concentrate to remain solid, and others. Heck, we could even extend this "brotherhood" to actual former Brotherhood members-- the Toad and Peepers would be my first choice. The X-Men, you see, HAVE to band together, because their powers are just as much a curse as a blessing. And they HAVE to be heroes, because otherwise they'd be the monsters that everyone accuses them of being. The X-Men fight evil mutants because, in a way, they are fighting to save themselves just as much as those innocent bystanders.

Were I to Write: Ms. Marvel

Thinking about Thanos, and my mind ends up with... Ms. Marvel?

But why not? Let's name a couple of ways this actually makes a ton of sense. First, Ms. Marvel is certainly a legacy hero of sorts... to none less than Captain Marvel himself. And the Big-T is so linked to Captain Marvel as his nemesis, it's a no-brainer that these two should end up as bitter archenemies as well.

Second, Thanos has managed to make his way into the top tier of Marvel's villainy. And Ms. Marvel deserves to be the top tier of Marvel's herodom. And thirdly (actually kinda second-and-a-halfly), Ms. Marvel's title has been flagging for direction and sales (hmm, wonder if THOSE facts are linked) and putting Thanos in it might actually help raise the book to more flagship status.

The problem is that Thanos has been given so many power upgrades over the years that he's most likely able to whip Ms. Marvel in a straight fight on the face of it, so we have to give some reason for T-Money to both get Marvel in his sights and allow Marvel to trounce the heck out of him.

That's where the creepiness factor comes in, if you remember my previous post.

I say that, while Thanos hasn't really dedicated his love to Death in some time, he's still intrigued by Her. Namely, he wonders what it is about Earth that keeps Death so fickle (after all, dead doesn't really mean dead around there.) So Thanos, ever the scientist, wants to take someone who 'died-but-didn't-really' recently and... experiment. The fact that it's an experiment in the legacy of Mar-Vell is all the better. Maybe he can find the answer as to why the long-lost Captain Marvel remains among the dead after all . . .

and like Carol Danvers is going to put up with any of this! Sure, she may seem unmatched, but you know who also isn't going to put up with any of this? Death's protective "brother," Eternity, who might allow Ms. Marvel to tap into the power she needs to thoroughly trump the purple-puss in a glorious knock-down battle!

What do you think?

Were I to Write: Fantastic Four (Part II)

So the Fantastic Four make it safely to the Baxter Building HQ after their battle with Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. Or do they? Dun dun dunnnn!

Sue Storm is the only one who doesn't think so. In fact, she's the only one that realizes they're all flying in the old model of the Pogo Plane. And is *that* the Infant Terrible? Where are her children!? One moment she's wearing a beehive hairdo, the next she's in a revealing jumpsuit *with* a leather jacket. It's like she's stepping in and out of various moments of the FF's history. Unfortunately, the truth is much more bizarre. History is stepping in and out of *her.*

Okay, back up. You have to consider that what makes Zarrko such a terrifying villain is precisely the fact that he is such a joke. This is a man playing with time itself-- a constant of the very universe, a concept embedded in the capital-E Existence of Everything. It's like a willful child wantoning bringing toxic waste to show and tell because it's glowing such a pretty green. But if "time" changed "reality" without you knowing, would reality really have changed? If the world re-shaped around you because history changed, how could you recognize that it was re-shaped-- from your perspective, history is always history. Ouch. Let's let the Thing break it down: "You're tellin' me the timestream has the hiccups?" Or, in "fanboy speak," we ask the question: what if the Marvel Universe's sliding timeline really *did* start sliding?

Of course, this realization only happens once Sue works through the horrors happening around her to convince her teammates that she's not going crazy. The spotlight is on the Invisible Woman, and how much progress she has made since her more naive years as a young ingenue heroine. ("Ah, the Invisible *Girl.* God, were we ever that young?") Plus, there's a neat little explanation of why Marvel heroes experience sudden lapses of characterization, why Franklin often ages and de-ages, and why sudden resurrections happen out of the blue-- someone jiggled the timestream a bit somewhere.

Or you can use Kang. Then we can make it a 12-issue mini series and call it Fantastic Forever.

Were I to Write: Fantastic Four

It's ironic, perhaps, that one of the comics I would really love to write would be Fantastic Four. When I was just starting with comics, the FF seemed like anything BUT what I would want to read about. I loved Avengers and X-Men, and the Fantastic Four seemed... stale and stagnant by comparison. How weird is it that a superhero team whose very conceit is that they are cutting edge be so old-fashioned? So, one of the first things I did with my Marvel Super Heroes roleplaying game was write scenarios that featured my homebrew villains killing off the members of the Fantastic Four. Ah, younggins. Just like Mark Millar.

But that's just it. Everyone always says that what distinguishes the FF from all the other superteams is that they are "family." That theme should be the resonant theme, that concept should be at the forefront. But keeping everything with the "family" has made the same four characters stay pretty much the same for decades.  Other people say that FF is all about "exploration." That's what Mark Waid did in his celebrated run, calling the team "imaginauts." There's definitely a place for family and for exploration in the FF-- you certainly *couldn't* kill them off like a 15-year old storyteller would, and Mr. Fantastic will always be inventing things, but it's not really what the FF is all about. They only gets us halfway there.

Tom Brevoort said that Spider-Man's storytelling engine isn't so much about "responsibility" as it is about "youth." And I say the Fantastic Four isn't so much about "family" or "exploration" as it is about "progress."

It's the relentless pursuit of progress that drove Reed and his family to explore space in the rocket ship that gave them powers. It's that progress that marked the FF as the first comic in a fledgling industry where things happened-- heroes got married and had a baby. It's progress that turned the Thing from a moping monster into a headlining hero. The reason the Four are considered Marvel's First Family is not only because they were first on the scene-- they are so progressive (within the context of the Marvel Universe itself) that they are on the forefront of nearly every human, and heroic, endeavor.

Or are they? For too long, the Fantastic Four have been left without any progress at all. Reed has lost the drive that made him the alpha male, Sue remains as passive and reactionary as her sixties version, Ben seems like he'd be just as content curling up on the sofa with a paper, and most obviously Johnny has been stuck as in 'dumb kid' mode for too long.

We've been there. We want to know where we're going. We need progress.

Were I to Write: Ms. Marvel

Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine-- these guys are the headliners, the Big Guns, the heroes that not only represent their corners of the Marvel story-verse but serve as icons for the company itself. But... where are the women? If one Marvel heroine deserves to be a headliner, it's Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel!

Here's Ms. Marvel's current look, as illustrated by the eminent George Perez. Certainly it's distinctive, memorable, and has a strong brand identity. But every look Ms. Marvel has sported would have to fall on the "basically a swimsuit" side of the costume spectrum, and this is no exception. Ms. Marvel, to really be a headliner, would do well to have a costume that's more of a costume-costume. I mean, if it were up to me, Ms. Marvel would go on to headline not just her own comic, but also movies, animated series, video games, and, of course, Marvel office stationary and correspondence. Do you really want someone in a swimsuit on all of that? (Okay, don't answer that. You might want it, I think, but would it be best?)

  

And if Ms. Marvel steps up to the big leagues, that means she should headline her own corner of the Marvel Universe-- and that corner pulls out two of her backgrounds and mashes 'em up together. Ms. Marvel is an alien hunter - slash - secret agent.

Ms. Marvel is already a bona fide hero-- soaring through the skies over an adoring public that she both protects and serves. Unfortunately, the alien Kree have Earth in its sights-- no, they aren't interested in an alien invasion. We are a place for experimentation. We are their petrie dish. Thank goodness Ms. Marvel knows all about Kree and their experiments. By taking out one of their latest Sentry robots, she dedicates herself to safeguard Earth from all Kree.

But things get complicated when she rescues a Young Genius from an alien menace. The Genius points out to her the obvious-- Earth has had some pretty significant alien activity over the past few years, particularly the Kree. And all that alien tech isn't just laying around-- it's falling not only into the wrong hands, but hands all over the place! Foreign governments, terrorist groups, corporate thinktanks, even clandestine U.S. black ops! Thank goodness Ms. Marvel came from a spy background. As "Codename: Warbird," she's an independent operative infiltrating and destroying alien tech wherever it may be.

So, in a weird way, her superhero identity is actually her public persona, kept up so that her "real" secret identity-- the costumed secret alien-destroying agent Warbird-- can act with impunity. It also lets her corner the all-things-alien on Earth corner of the Marvel Universe, such as Nova and Quasar used to do. (Just avoid taking too many trips to space-- that's what killed Ms. Marvel's chances of headlining when she became Binary. And what killed Nova and Quasar, too, interestingly enough.) It also gives Ms. Marvel such friends and foes as Project: Pegasus, SWORD, A.I.M., Brood, Kree and the Lunatic Legion, the Inhumans, and the Supreme Intelligence.     

Of course, what does this all mean for her identity as simply Carol Danvers? And what happens when our Young Genius' true self is uncovered?

Were I to Write: Spider-Man

From MARY JANE AND FRIENDS POSTERBOOK, art by Tim Sale, available August 2009

Spider-Man loves Mary Jane. Let's talk about that for a second. After all, it looks like some kind of "red-headed stranger" will be returning to the Spider-books later this year, news that preempts the more villain-y coverage of the Marvel Flipside. Instead, let's think about how we can keep MJ in Spider-Man's story, but also how we can keep it . . .  complicated.

"Say 'Tiger!'"
Pitch #1: Let Mary Jane become the photographer for the Daily Bugle.

It starts innocently enough-- it's a short jump from being a model to being a photographer, especially after being around a semi-pro like Peter for so many years. MJ parlays the few pointers she picked up here and there into a steady gig. But still, MJ's always looking for that big breakthrough, always chasing that moment of big-time recognition. So she convinces Peter to let *her* take photos of Spider-Man, and take 'em she does! Her photos make Peter's look like he just stuck up a camera on the wall and walked away.  Her skills, perceived "luck," and natural charisma enable her to take on the role of investigative photographer in ways that Peter's never been able to!

But it's both a blessing and a curse. It allows her to be near Peter Parker more so than ever, but at the same time, he must maintain his distance-- how could he keep MJ safe if he's constantly inviting her  to where the danger is? How will MJ maintain her "real life" pursuits of life, education, if she just waits around for the next big Spidey battle? Is it really that she's good at this, or is it just "convenient?" How would it jeopardize MJ's big break if it became clear that MJ was using Peter/Spider-Man secret identity for her own purposes?

"Tell it to the Judge!"
Pitch #2: Let Mary Jane become involved in the New York criminal justice system.

When one of MJ's most recent ... entanglements (prompted by pitch #1, perhaps) landed her in the hospital for a brief moment, uncle Judge Spenser Watson took it upon himself (and at the urgent request of Aunt Anna) to help MJ get back on her feet-- not just by giving her a place to live but also to help get her a "serious" career. He pulls some strings and gets her a job as one of his judicial assistants-- and the timing couldn't be better. The State of New York is creating a new circuit expressly for superhuman subject-matter jurisdiction-- a pet project long championed by Spenser Watson, its premier judge.   

Again, like everything in Spider-Man's life, it's a mixed blessing. MJ can get word about  the criminal element from behind-the-scenes, passing it along to help Spider-Man's cases, or even to prompt them! And it also allows MJ to interact with supercriminals in a way Peter Parker never could. It's Law and Order: Superhuman Victims Unit! And yet-- MJ must keep her relationship with Peter/Spider-Man a secret-- not only would it risk upsetting some of the cases the courtroom is dealing with, but any such scandal could upset the entire process of making a super-crime circuit court!  

There you go, two classic "we can, but we cannot!" dilemmas at the core of Spidey-drama. What do you think? Any way to keep MJ around but not keep her around at the same time?