Changes to the original concept

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Re WILLPOWA: That concept makes me imagine that Hal is good at squeezing out especially large coprolites.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Too much fun having the constructs. I don't want to live in a world where Green Lanterns don't use them.

Like a Boss:

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

The last straw for me was when Kyle created a green dolphin for Aquaman to ride on when he transported him through space. "Please, no more," I thought.

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

Too much fun having the constructs. I don't want to live in a world where Green Lanterns don't use them.

Like a Boss:

Still my all-time favorite:



Hal's Motorcycle was pretty sweet, too:

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Still my all-time favorite:

Kyle was great at constructs. He did the kind of stuff that made me a fan to begin with (even though character-wise, I'll always be a Hal man).

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Alan could still do the constructs in JSA because he'd have a different kind of ring. People who like them could still see them. They wouldn't go extinct. And a little of that stuff goes a long way, so putting them in JSA would make sufficient use of them.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

A writer who is going to update a concept or to get it back closer to its roots -- or to do a bit of both -- might need to stay on the title for a while to make sure everybody grasps what he's doing. Especially that the other writers get it.

But at some point -- two years at most -- he should be able to hand it off to any competent writer, and the title shouldn't then crash and burn. If it does, then his concept was no good.

A title can't depend on one particular writer. When people on the message boards say that only John Ostrander can write a Martian Manhunter comic, what they're really saying is that the concept of the MM can't support an ongoing.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I think some characters are better off as supporting characters and are tough to do in their own ongoing series. The Silver Surfer, Spectre, and Deadman come to mind. I love the silver age Deadman strip in Strange Adventures that Andy Helfer eventually completed in the 80s. I don't think after that Deadman serves any good purpose other than being a guest star or doing cameos.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I think some characters are better off as supporting characters and are tough to do in their own ongoing series. The Silver Surfer, Spectre, and Deadman come to mind. I love the silver age Deadman strip in Strange Adventures that Andy Helfer eventually completed in the 80s. I don't think after that Deadman serves any good purpose other than being a guest star or doing cameos.

And that's perfectly fine. Maybe Martian Manhunter IS best off limited to appearances as a JLA member. Nothing wrong with that.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

I think some characters are better off as supporting characters and are tough to do in their own ongoing series. The Silver Surfer, Spectre, and Deadman come to mind. I love the silver age Deadman strip in Strange Adventures that Andy Helfer eventually completed in the 80s. I don't think after that Deadman serves any good purpose other than being a guest star or doing cameos.

And that's perfectly fine. Maybe Martian Manhunter IS best off limited to appearances as a JLA member. Nothing wrong with that.

There's nothing wrong with being on a team or in a teamup title. Ben Grimm is a good character but is not a solo star. Or even being tried out in a heel turn would be OK for some characters. I happen to think that the Spectre could sell a title, but he'd have to be powered down enough to fit on JLA or JSA. He'd have to be both on a team and in a Spectre title.

Anyway for people to say that, for example, only Geoff Johns can write Green Lantern is way off base. Maybe only Geoff can write his concept of it, but he's taken it so far from its roots that I'm not sure even he can do that any more.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Besides powering the Spectre down to a reasonable level, you'd have to give him a supporting cast in his role as police detective Jim Corrigan. A Spectre title won't sell if it's cosmic in nature. That's the same reason the Silver Surfer and Dr. Fate can't sell an ongoing. Fanboys on message boards get thrilled by omnipotent characters, but comics like that never sell. What can you do after you get cosmic? Nothing! There's nowhere to go with that!

[Ωmega Man Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Ωmega Man]

All any superhero genre character needs is an interesting life in and out of costume with enough human elements for some fans to latch onto something. Niche characters like supernaturals, cosmics, etc. need the same thing. Take Thor and Aquaman for example. For Thor there has to be equal parts Asgard and Earth, with Aquaman it's Atlantis [or some underwater kingdom] and the surface world. The problem with comics nowadays is its all about just making characters VISUALLY different using the PC approach, when most of the characters are 2 dimensional and very cardboard cutout-ish story wise.

Green Lantern, as it is now, just needs equal parts in space and in 2814 to make everyone happy. But it needs to be the characters with proven fanbases. Green Lanterns starring Hal and Kyle or Hal and John could be incredible. Let the other two four horsemen be Honor Guardsman stationed on Oa or perhaps the nearest sector house...

~//V\\~

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

If comics have these problems, some of you might well be wondering how a television series can even be produced. When a new show goes on the air, probably at least eight episodes will be filmed before the first one is broadcast. So how do the people who write the earliest episodes know what to write about?

The answer is that each show has a series bible. That's where the concept is laid out very clearly. The writers receive a copy of it. They also get a copy of the pilot script.

Comics should adopt this method. The series, or the reboot, or whatever it is, should be laid out clearly beforehand, and not constructed on the fly. This would prevent a lot of what goes wrong in comics now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_(screenwriting)

[Ωmega Man Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Ωmega Man]

A lot of times when comics get rebooted they have bibles. Morrison is known for doing it, and Warren Ellis mentioned it for the Wild Storm. This is common practice in various media. That something you're gonna claim six months from now a few dozen actual pros stole off of you I'm guessing?

LOL *rolls eyes*

~//V\\~

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Come to think of it though, DC would probably get Geoff to write the series bible for every title. Maybe even turn his doing so into an event. That would not be good.

For one thing, no one person could or should do all that. And for another, Geoff would rewrite all the bibles every month.

Sorry Geoff. I'm a fan. It's just that in the 1960s, DC wouldn't have let Julius Schwartz or John Broome write the bible for every title, right? We still friends?