Recently an action/rpg video game was released called "X Men Destiny" . And according to a lot of reviews (such as this one) it's just shy of awful. That review seemed to sum up best what was wrong with it--a story without consequence and repetive combat.
Back in the previous generations of consoles (The PS2, X Box, Gamecube) a roleplaying game called "X Men Legends" was released to better reviews. That was an isometric style (top down) dungeon crawler action epic with stat mechanics with missions dressed up like school assignments. It wasn't a terrible game but I wanted something a lot better.
To combat my disappointment with that X Men game I came up with my own--and I find myself laughing because in very broad strokes, X Men: Destiny sounds a lot like what I came up with, plot wise. I put the thing together as an exercise to get a feel for trying to wed a story to gameplay mechanics I've been impressed with in other games. No harm, no foul. After all, you have to play with your own toys before you can play with someone else's.
So, to that end, here's a condensed version of what I came up with. With apologies to Bioware and Obsidian for what I've been wanting to steal.
CONCEPT:
You assume the role of a newly manifested mutant whose powers explode in a populated area when you stop to help a bystander from an attack by a gang. When this happens, the X Men come to your aid to get you and the bystander out as you fight not only the gang but The Brotherhood who want you for their own.
Once you and the bystander reach the school you enroll to control your powers and become wrapped in a mystery involving your genetic code, a war between ideologies, your origins, and a romance with the bystander you helped rescue.
Humans and Mutants have been fighting for years. And a tipping point is coming. You are that tipping point. School is in session. Your semester awaits. Try to survive.
MECHANICS:
Before the game starts you chose three things--your gender, your looks and your power set. Your gender determines your romance options and how various NPCs react to you. Your power set determines your faculty advisor.
Combat and exploration is handled from a third person perspective as you explore the world, fight enemies and acquire quests by talking to people. Let's break this down.
Mutant abilities break down into three basic classes.
CLASS 1 is PSIONICS. This is your basic healer/debuffer style of play where your job is to disorient and debilitate your enemies while the others lay down the hurt. For example, mental abilities rip into your mind to plant nightmares and telekinetics use the environment against the enemy.
CLASS 2 is CONDUIT. These are your ranged combatants. Mutant abilities like these take energy from the environment and redirect it another way. Pyrokinetics are a good example.
CLASS 3 is ARMORED/INTANGIBLE. These are the tanks. They take damage and hurl it right back or barely hit at all and enemies get hurt attacking them. Superstrength, armored skin, shapeshifters, and ghost like abilities.
CLASS IS IN SESSION:
The opening mission sets the tone during the run for the school. Your faculty advisor is one of three famous mutants from the comics who takes control of your rescue mission as you and the new student make a run for safety. Conversations play out fully voiced. Those in the crowd you can help are pointed out. Once you interact with them a conversation can't be repeated but the relevant info you need will be on your smartphone. When the school sessions start it's more of the same with the exception of "field trips." Those are the missions that advance that plot.
A STORY WITH CONSEQUENCES:
The curriculum is to survive but you also need to find out about your past. The Brotherhood wants you for your potential but in discovering that potential you find out that you are a threat to not only your fellow humans, but mutants as well. The experiment worked. You are a bioweapon against genetic evolution.
In order to not endanger the others, especially your love interest, you run away from the school and go to the Brotherhood and explain what you are. You take them on in the hope that you'll get killed. The X Men intervene to stop it and tell you they've found a way to rewrite the genetic bomb out of your system. And then it all goes to hell.
The one who financed the successful experiment is revealed. It's a mutant who has the potential to be the most powerful on the planet and is cursed with the inability to be touched. It's Rogue, a former member of both teams. She designed you to cure her of her condition. And your love interest works for her. Everything was going according to plan until they found a way around your condition.
On survival of the battle Rogue and her agent have a moment with you and you have one more decision to make. You can decide if what you experienced with your paramour is worth continuing beyond the game.
WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN:
Full disclosure, I haven't played X Men: Destiny but based on the review above that critic's reaction was the same I had to the previous generation X Men game and I wrote a longer version of the above in response to that.
All this is to say that while a game can just have great gameplay and be a great game in itself, an RPG is a different beast. It's an interactive story, that, when done right makes it about you (or a version of you). So that means the story must be as strong as great gameplay.
There's a lot of wishfulfillment here. I wanted to get an idea of the X Men game I wanted to play. X Men: Destiny sounded like it had what I was after--until that review. But this medium continuously evolves just like the X Men. And my writing better evolve even faster.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Attachment to Fictional Characters
Character, one (some would say the only) reason for great narrative, is what keeps me coming back to superhero comics. And I've been thinking about characters and attachment to them in light of DC's relaunch plans.
I wanted to reflect on attachment to two different characters, one from Marvel Comics--Jean Grey of the X Men and another from DC-Wonder Woman. Grey is someone I've grown up with as I was introduced to her when I discovered the X Men in the late 1980s. Wonder Woman is someone I've grown attached to probably only in the last six or seven years. The biggest reason for that was the DC universe always struck me as impenetrable. This is why the relaunch has me excited.
First, to refresh your memory I'm going oversimplify a lot of things. If you want a crash course in the X Men I will point to the 2000 20th Centry Fox Film as a good primer. That film did a great job with the core concept, nailed the characters, and absolutely killed with the casting of Famke Jansen.
Jean Grey, of the comics anyway, has had a convoluted history that stretches the realm of credulity even in the excesses of comics. However, her character is quite strong and that's never really fluctuated. The reason multiple men have pursued her, I think, is a sort of nobility of spirit, I've felt. She's a telepath/telekinetic and with the relationships she's been in it's usually been the case that the men want to make themselves better in order to be worthy of her. The other thing I've admired about her is that in general she's always strived to do the right thing. She's the heart of her team.
I find it interesting that the last time I really followed the X Men comics was an acclaimed run by writer Grant Morrison which ultimately set the tone for where the X Men are right now. Jean died during this arc and, at least as of right now, she isn't coming back. Personally I think something has been lost since then. There's good stuff being produced these days but this isn't the X Men I remember. Thankfully we all have reprints.
I got into Wonder Woman because I wanted a window into DC comics that didn't seem overburnded by multiple titles or intercompany crossovers. I settled on Wonder Woman as I was curious as to why everyone seem to know about her but could only support one book in the marketplace. (As opposed to Batman who competes with Marvel Comics' Wolverine for overexposure). And I quickly grew to love the character. For, like Jean, Diana of Themescryia ultimately is all about heart.
Diana's origin is a mess. You want a short history, see this here. What's worked with this character is her ability to be both a warrior and a diplomat. A quote attributed to Gail Simone, one of many writers of Diana over the years went something like this. "You want to stop a meteor, call Superman. You want to solve a mystery, call Batman. You want to stop a war, you call Wonder Woman."
To wrap this up I want to issue a call for calm. I understand personal attachment to characters especially if you've more or less grown up reading their adventures. Where some overreact is how a character is perceived. Unfortunately unless you are the one crafting the adventure you just have to enjoy what is produced.
Diana has been around since the 1930's. Jean Grey has been around since the 1960's. Both are strong enough to weather whatever reinvention is needed.
Currently Diana is set to debut in a relaunched title of her own at the end of this month. She's also set to appear late in the JLA title that launched last week. This is a good time to get back in if you've lapsed or if you're new.
As I mentioned earlier, Jean died around 2002. She hasn't been seen in the current run of X Men titles except as flashback material and other odds and ends. The current editorial team sheparding the X Men universe doesn't seem to want her back. Marvel comics is very event driven these days and they are setting up the X Men to be more integrated into the greater Marvel Universe. There is a split coming that's dividing the X Men in their ideologies. Basically Wolverine and Cyclops have a difference of opinion on how the Mutant Race is going to interact with the world. Sides are going to be chosen.
I don't know all the details yet, but this "schism" has me interested in the X Men again. If what I've read is even partially true, I think I'm going to side with Cyclops.
Someone on a comicbook forum suggested that Jean could heal the "Schism." I don't think that's going to happen but the suggestion made me smile.
I wanted to reflect on attachment to two different characters, one from Marvel Comics--Jean Grey of the X Men and another from DC-Wonder Woman. Grey is someone I've grown up with as I was introduced to her when I discovered the X Men in the late 1980s. Wonder Woman is someone I've grown attached to probably only in the last six or seven years. The biggest reason for that was the DC universe always struck me as impenetrable. This is why the relaunch has me excited.
First, to refresh your memory I'm going oversimplify a lot of things. If you want a crash course in the X Men I will point to the 2000 20th Centry Fox Film as a good primer. That film did a great job with the core concept, nailed the characters, and absolutely killed with the casting of Famke Jansen.
Jean Grey, of the comics anyway, has had a convoluted history that stretches the realm of credulity even in the excesses of comics. However, her character is quite strong and that's never really fluctuated. The reason multiple men have pursued her, I think, is a sort of nobility of spirit, I've felt. She's a telepath/telekinetic and with the relationships she's been in it's usually been the case that the men want to make themselves better in order to be worthy of her. The other thing I've admired about her is that in general she's always strived to do the right thing. She's the heart of her team.
I find it interesting that the last time I really followed the X Men comics was an acclaimed run by writer Grant Morrison which ultimately set the tone for where the X Men are right now. Jean died during this arc and, at least as of right now, she isn't coming back. Personally I think something has been lost since then. There's good stuff being produced these days but this isn't the X Men I remember. Thankfully we all have reprints.
I got into Wonder Woman because I wanted a window into DC comics that didn't seem overburnded by multiple titles or intercompany crossovers. I settled on Wonder Woman as I was curious as to why everyone seem to know about her but could only support one book in the marketplace. (As opposed to Batman who competes with Marvel Comics' Wolverine for overexposure). And I quickly grew to love the character. For, like Jean, Diana of Themescryia ultimately is all about heart.
Diana's origin is a mess. You want a short history, see this here. What's worked with this character is her ability to be both a warrior and a diplomat. A quote attributed to Gail Simone, one of many writers of Diana over the years went something like this. "You want to stop a meteor, call Superman. You want to solve a mystery, call Batman. You want to stop a war, you call Wonder Woman."
To wrap this up I want to issue a call for calm. I understand personal attachment to characters especially if you've more or less grown up reading their adventures. Where some overreact is how a character is perceived. Unfortunately unless you are the one crafting the adventure you just have to enjoy what is produced.
Diana has been around since the 1930's. Jean Grey has been around since the 1960's. Both are strong enough to weather whatever reinvention is needed.
Currently Diana is set to debut in a relaunched title of her own at the end of this month. She's also set to appear late in the JLA title that launched last week. This is a good time to get back in if you've lapsed or if you're new.
As I mentioned earlier, Jean died around 2002. She hasn't been seen in the current run of X Men titles except as flashback material and other odds and ends. The current editorial team sheparding the X Men universe doesn't seem to want her back. Marvel comics is very event driven these days and they are setting up the X Men to be more integrated into the greater Marvel Universe. There is a split coming that's dividing the X Men in their ideologies. Basically Wolverine and Cyclops have a difference of opinion on how the Mutant Race is going to interact with the world. Sides are going to be chosen.
I don't know all the details yet, but this "schism" has me interested in the X Men again. If what I've read is even partially true, I think I'm going to side with Cyclops.
Someone on a comicbook forum suggested that Jean could heal the "Schism." I don't think that's going to happen but the suggestion made me smile.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
THE MARVEL 52 INITIATIVE
INTRODUCTION:
DC has decided to relaunch it’s lineup with 52 new issues starting in September. It’s meant to be a starting point for new readers they hope to draw in and trimming the fat. I’ve looked over what they want to do and I’m quite excited over the idea. My pull list is going to get longer. Again.
Naturally, others have already done this but I thought I’d throw in my two cents over what I would do if Marvel relaunched its line. This is only a thought experiment. I’m more familiar with this corner of the comic universe and I thought this would be fun. This does not in any way suggest that what Marvel is currently doing is bad.
I would just like to trim some of Marvel’s fat. (Particularly the X Men line). And this is how I would do it.
Two things first. No creative teams will be listed as both Marvel and DC are good at poaching talent from other mediums and each other to create the books they sell each month. Also, these are just bare ideas, most not even fleshed out..
Marvel has an ultimate line which is getting it’s own revamp very soon. That tried to imagine Marvel heroes and villians if they had been launched in the 21st century rather than in the 1960s.
This is how I’d do it if I was launching in THIS decade.
So, yes, folks. Continuity is GONE.
CAVEATS:
Marvel will NEVER do this. But one thing DC is attempting to try with this 52 relaunch is a consistency with the creative teams. So you really will get a year’s worth of issues with the same creative team. I wish both companies would do this consistently. If an artist, in particular, needs a break, maybe have that fill in artists be dedicated to that particular book.
Finally, just for clarity’s sake, Marvel has a dedicated Adults only line labeled MAX. A few of these must be done in this way and I’ve indicated as much down below.
WITH ALL THAT IN MIND, HERE WE GO, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.
1. Fantastic Four: A cosmic accident turned a partial family into a celebrity super group.
2. Iron Man: Billionaire Industrialist Tony Stark uses his suit of armor to keep himself alive and make a difference in the world of armed conflicts.
3. Hulk: Bruce Banner is on the run from the experiment that created the monster inside him.
4. Ms. Marvel: The same accident that created the fantastic four irradiated test pilot Carol Danvers and granted her superpowers. Now she goes where the military can't in a quest to prove herself and get justice.
5. Spiderman: An irradiated Spider bit college student Peter Parker and changed his life forever.
6. Black Widow: Spy action from a former Russian agent who defected to our side.
7. Captain America: A soldier out of time. Retired during WWII by being cryogenically frozen. Woken up to combat a new kind of terror.
8. Fury, Director of SHIELD: Fury heads a special ops squad that goes where others can't to intervene in a crisis.
9. Thor: An Asgardian exiled to Earth for a crime he didn't commit has found a new home and a new reason to fight.
10. Journey into Mystery: The Asgardians is Marvel’s wild take on Norse Mythology and considering how much some of those gods like to intervene on Earth this is their book and the Marvel Universe’s reaction to it.
11. She Hulk: Bruce Banner's cousin Jen Walters once saved Bruce's life and her own has never been the same since. Bounty Hunter, Skip Tracer, Lawyer, her natural desire to help gets her into all kinds of trouble.
12. The Pantheon: If Journey into Mystery is about the Norse Gods, this one is about the Greek Gods. The Greek Gods love to play with us. Unless we fight back.
13. The Avengers: Occasionally there are threats too big for one hero to handle. When the city and the world is under threat we need their help.
14. Damage Control: A group of Insurance Agents pursue claims filed by those who have been victimized in some way after heroes and villians have clashed in the city.
15. The Defenders: This is a group of humans, all affected in some manner by the insanity happening in their city, trying to build a bridge between super powered beings, mutants, and humans through whatever action they can to promote peace.
16. Daredevil: A lawyer who works New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood for justice. When that justice fails he dons a mask and gets justice his way as Daredevil.
17. Elektra: (MAX) An assassin with one line she'll never cross--unless her life depends on it. If you become her target nothing short of her death will stop her.
18. Thunderbolts: Former Supervillians attempt to make a fresh start tackling tough cases that only they can. A member of the Avengers oversees them and outside of a core few, they take who they need from a rotating roster depending on the mission.
19. Dr. Strange: A paranormal psychologist taps into mystical powers to save us all from a darkness that very few can perceive.
20. The Punisher: (MAX) One man wages a never ending war on the vilest criminal set.
21. The Daily Bugle: Investigative reporters dig up the stories that no one talks about in a world gone very very strange.
22. Avengers Academy. New heroes are always needed to combat new threats. This is where they receive training, with the hope that they can better the world in the future.
23. Mary Jane: Gossip Girl in the Marvel Universe. Should appeal to all ages.
24. Blade (MAX): A hybrid creature of darkness hunts others of its kind and a lot more. When the sun goes down, the Marvel Universe gets dark very fast.
25. Runaways: Kids with a variety of powers and origins discover that they have supervillian parents. They go on the run to defeat those parents but in the process make enemies of everyone they meet. They’re looking for a place to settle so they can clear their reputations.
26. Black Panther: Political intrigue in a country in the midst of a revolution.
27. The Starjammers: Outerspace action with encounters of the strangest beings in the cosmos.
28. Ghost Rider: A spirit of vengeance posesses a human to make the guilty atone for their crimes. But what if the vessel is the guiltiest one of all?
29. Werewolf By Night: It takes a monster to slay a monsters.
30. NY X: Not every newly manifested mutant has access to Charles Xavier. Those that don't make other options.
31. X Men: (The 2000 film had this right). Scott, Jean, Ororo, Beast and Angel. Xavier and Magneto and their idealogical clash over where the mutant race should go next.
32. Generation X: Academy for the gifted and their struggles at school. A rotating team of instructors for guest shots. Primary students are the following: Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, Pyro, Jubilee and Nightcrawler.
33. Wolverine (MAX): solo adventures of a semi team player trying to understand who and what he is.
34. X Factor: A Mutant organization designed to police it's own in a world that fears them. Wolverine leads this as he's trying to atone for past sins. Domino, Wolfsbane, Bishop, Sage, and Elizabeth Braddock (before she got the Ninja Assassin body) make up the team.
35. Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu. I was thinking more spy action but in a more over the top way like Bond. Perhaps an industrial espionage angle.
36. Black Widow: Pale Spider (MAX): This is Yelena Belova, a graduate of the same school that Natasha came from. (And featured in a mini with the above title). This is hardcore spy action--as realistic as we can be in the Marvel Universe.
37. Exiles: Perhaps to pay homage to all this continuity we lost we can assemble a team that does a sort of wormhole hopping multiverse tour of all creation attempting to right wrongs . This way we get glimpses of what the Marvel Universe used to be like.
38. Marvel Team Up. It always pays to have a friend along to help out.
39. Marvel Comics Presents. This is the place for mini series and other vignettes featuring our favorite heroes and villians.
40. What If: Alternate tales of new and old tales, taking an Exiles approach to storytelling.
41. The Hellfire Club. When humans, mutants and super powered beings worked together to create chaos, this group leads the charge.
42. The Eternals. These are the beings that keep the universe in order. And they don’t always get along.
43. Marvel Illustrated: This line has been used the in the past to publish adaptations of classics but I would go further and leave things for stuff like their Stephen King adaptations or Orson Scott Card's novels.
44. Marvel Adventures. This is the kid friendly take to stories featuring the characters we know and love.
45. Icon: This line is like Marvel Illustrated only it’s reserved for creator owned properties.
46. Crossgen: To date, Sigil, Ruse and an upcoming Mystic are three titles that used to belong to a separate company that went bankrupt a few years ago. Marvel has acquired these assets and has so far produced these mini series. I would just put this in a single line and rotate them accordingly. Personally, I’d like to see “The Path” come back.
47. Weird Western Tales: Marvel has a number of Western heroes and villians in their stable (sorry). Use this to showcase them.
For titles 48-52 I’d like to borrow an idea from somewhere else and call these titles the open slot positions. Do something completely new either from their original catalog or more breathing room for other creator owned ideas.
Will this ever happen? Who knows? This is only a thought experiment.
DC has decided to relaunch it’s lineup with 52 new issues starting in September. It’s meant to be a starting point for new readers they hope to draw in and trimming the fat. I’ve looked over what they want to do and I’m quite excited over the idea. My pull list is going to get longer. Again.
Naturally, others have already done this but I thought I’d throw in my two cents over what I would do if Marvel relaunched its line. This is only a thought experiment. I’m more familiar with this corner of the comic universe and I thought this would be fun. This does not in any way suggest that what Marvel is currently doing is bad.
I would just like to trim some of Marvel’s fat. (Particularly the X Men line). And this is how I would do it.
Two things first. No creative teams will be listed as both Marvel and DC are good at poaching talent from other mediums and each other to create the books they sell each month. Also, these are just bare ideas, most not even fleshed out..
Marvel has an ultimate line which is getting it’s own revamp very soon. That tried to imagine Marvel heroes and villians if they had been launched in the 21st century rather than in the 1960s.
This is how I’d do it if I was launching in THIS decade.
So, yes, folks. Continuity is GONE.
CAVEATS:
Marvel will NEVER do this. But one thing DC is attempting to try with this 52 relaunch is a consistency with the creative teams. So you really will get a year’s worth of issues with the same creative team. I wish both companies would do this consistently. If an artist, in particular, needs a break, maybe have that fill in artists be dedicated to that particular book.
Finally, just for clarity’s sake, Marvel has a dedicated Adults only line labeled MAX. A few of these must be done in this way and I’ve indicated as much down below.
WITH ALL THAT IN MIND, HERE WE GO, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.
2. Iron Man: Billionaire Industrialist Tony Stark uses his suit of armor to keep himself alive and make a difference in the world of armed conflicts.
3. Hulk: Bruce Banner is on the run from the experiment that created the monster inside him.
4. Ms. Marvel: The same accident that created the fantastic four irradiated test pilot Carol Danvers and granted her superpowers. Now she goes where the military can't in a quest to prove herself and get justice.
5. Spiderman: An irradiated Spider bit college student Peter Parker and changed his life forever.
6. Black Widow: Spy action from a former Russian agent who defected to our side.
7. Captain America: A soldier out of time. Retired during WWII by being cryogenically frozen. Woken up to combat a new kind of terror.
8. Fury, Director of SHIELD: Fury heads a special ops squad that goes where others can't to intervene in a crisis.
9. Thor: An Asgardian exiled to Earth for a crime he didn't commit has found a new home and a new reason to fight.
10. Journey into Mystery: The Asgardians is Marvel’s wild take on Norse Mythology and considering how much some of those gods like to intervene on Earth this is their book and the Marvel Universe’s reaction to it.
11. She Hulk: Bruce Banner's cousin Jen Walters once saved Bruce's life and her own has never been the same since. Bounty Hunter, Skip Tracer, Lawyer, her natural desire to help gets her into all kinds of trouble.
12. The Pantheon: If Journey into Mystery is about the Norse Gods, this one is about the Greek Gods. The Greek Gods love to play with us. Unless we fight back.
13. The Avengers: Occasionally there are threats too big for one hero to handle. When the city and the world is under threat we need their help.
14. Damage Control: A group of Insurance Agents pursue claims filed by those who have been victimized in some way after heroes and villians have clashed in the city.
15. The Defenders: This is a group of humans, all affected in some manner by the insanity happening in their city, trying to build a bridge between super powered beings, mutants, and humans through whatever action they can to promote peace.
16. Daredevil: A lawyer who works New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood for justice. When that justice fails he dons a mask and gets justice his way as Daredevil.
17. Elektra: (MAX) An assassin with one line she'll never cross--unless her life depends on it. If you become her target nothing short of her death will stop her.
18. Thunderbolts: Former Supervillians attempt to make a fresh start tackling tough cases that only they can. A member of the Avengers oversees them and outside of a core few, they take who they need from a rotating roster depending on the mission.
19. Dr. Strange: A paranormal psychologist taps into mystical powers to save us all from a darkness that very few can perceive.
20. The Punisher: (MAX) One man wages a never ending war on the vilest criminal set.
21. The Daily Bugle: Investigative reporters dig up the stories that no one talks about in a world gone very very strange.
22. Avengers Academy. New heroes are always needed to combat new threats. This is where they receive training, with the hope that they can better the world in the future.
23. Mary Jane: Gossip Girl in the Marvel Universe. Should appeal to all ages.
24. Blade (MAX): A hybrid creature of darkness hunts others of its kind and a lot more. When the sun goes down, the Marvel Universe gets dark very fast.
25. Runaways: Kids with a variety of powers and origins discover that they have supervillian parents. They go on the run to defeat those parents but in the process make enemies of everyone they meet. They’re looking for a place to settle so they can clear their reputations.
26. Black Panther: Political intrigue in a country in the midst of a revolution.
27. The Starjammers: Outerspace action with encounters of the strangest beings in the cosmos.
28. Ghost Rider: A spirit of vengeance posesses a human to make the guilty atone for their crimes. But what if the vessel is the guiltiest one of all?
29. Werewolf By Night: It takes a monster to slay a monsters.
30. NY X: Not every newly manifested mutant has access to Charles Xavier. Those that don't make other options.
31. X Men: (The 2000 film had this right). Scott, Jean, Ororo, Beast and Angel. Xavier and Magneto and their idealogical clash over where the mutant race should go next.
32. Generation X: Academy for the gifted and their struggles at school. A rotating team of instructors for guest shots. Primary students are the following: Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, Pyro, Jubilee and Nightcrawler.
33. Wolverine (MAX): solo adventures of a semi team player trying to understand who and what he is.
34. X Factor: A Mutant organization designed to police it's own in a world that fears them. Wolverine leads this as he's trying to atone for past sins. Domino, Wolfsbane, Bishop, Sage, and Elizabeth Braddock (before she got the Ninja Assassin body) make up the team.
35. Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu. I was thinking more spy action but in a more over the top way like Bond. Perhaps an industrial espionage angle.
36. Black Widow: Pale Spider (MAX): This is Yelena Belova, a graduate of the same school that Natasha came from. (And featured in a mini with the above title). This is hardcore spy action--as realistic as we can be in the Marvel Universe.
37. Exiles: Perhaps to pay homage to all this continuity we lost we can assemble a team that does a sort of wormhole hopping multiverse tour of all creation attempting to right wrongs . This way we get glimpses of what the Marvel Universe used to be like.
38. Marvel Team Up. It always pays to have a friend along to help out.
39. Marvel Comics Presents. This is the place for mini series and other vignettes featuring our favorite heroes and villians.
40. What If: Alternate tales of new and old tales, taking an Exiles approach to storytelling.
41. The Hellfire Club. When humans, mutants and super powered beings worked together to create chaos, this group leads the charge.
42. The Eternals. These are the beings that keep the universe in order. And they don’t always get along.
43. Marvel Illustrated: This line has been used the in the past to publish adaptations of classics but I would go further and leave things for stuff like their Stephen King adaptations or Orson Scott Card's novels.
44. Marvel Adventures. This is the kid friendly take to stories featuring the characters we know and love.
45. Icon: This line is like Marvel Illustrated only it’s reserved for creator owned properties.
46. Crossgen: To date, Sigil, Ruse and an upcoming Mystic are three titles that used to belong to a separate company that went bankrupt a few years ago. Marvel has acquired these assets and has so far produced these mini series. I would just put this in a single line and rotate them accordingly. Personally, I’d like to see “The Path” come back.
47. Weird Western Tales: Marvel has a number of Western heroes and villians in their stable (sorry). Use this to showcase them.
For titles 48-52 I’d like to borrow an idea from somewhere else and call these titles the open slot positions. Do something completely new either from their original catalog or more breathing room for other creator owned ideas.
Will this ever happen? Who knows? This is only a thought experiment.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Two Films Virtually Misunderstood.
Some news was announced recently that 2006's video game adapation and horror film "Silent Hill" is getting a sequel. This news, coupled with the chilly reception that Zack Snyder received for "Sucker Punch" got me thinking about how a product gets judged, particularly between the general public and fans of original source material if it does exist. The short answer is there is no dichotomy--some are just louder than others. The longer answer needs some background.
"Silent Hill" adapts the first video game in the series pretty much carte blanche. The protagonist's gender is changed (you are a dad in the game) and the nature of the cult controling the town is also changed, and in my experience, makes a little bit more sense than the video game version. (This might be a product of the way the first game was designed--you can play through the entire game and depending on the amount of exploration done you can miss an entire sub plot that helps with what's ultimately going on). Elements of the second game in the series are echoed in the movie in the husband searching for his lost wife. (And if I'd been a successful screenwriter in LA at the time I would have told my agent that I could pitch Silent Hill 2 right now!) The third game in the series will be the basis for the upcoming sequel. (A teenage girl discovering who she really is when she goes to Silent Hill).
For the film, however, Director Christophe Gans succeeded in conveying all the atmosphere and terror of the original game and in my mind, gave us not only a great horror film but probably the best adaptation of a video game yet made. It does this by giving us a complete story within the movie that requires no knowledge of the game. If you do have knowledge of the game I think you'll admire just how close Gans got to putting you inside your own head when you were playing the game. It also replicates the experience of the game through it's atmosphere and pyrotechnics. There are images and sequences in this game that will stick with you for a while. What made the game work was a never ending sense of "I don't know exactly what I'm looking at here but it's freaking me out" and the film does a good job suggesting this too.
I recall two major complaints that video game fans and the general public seem to agree on with this movie and I'll address them without spoiling it. I also have to do this because this film is open to interpretation but no so much that it's inexplicable. The first complaint had to do with character actions as Rose is exploring the town. She encounters things like a trussed up dead body and retrieves part of a key without knowing really why. She explains this--she's being led--it's in the dialogue. The second has to do with how it ends. This won't spoil it. THEY DON'T GET OUT. I'll leave you to interpret why.
"Sucker Punch" is another film with an interesting reaction from gamers and general audience. Both seem to hate it equally for various reasons. Sucker Punch has video game roots in that it's structured like an adventure game. Some games are obstacle courses--find a key to unlock a door or a sledgehammer to create an opening in the wall. (The "Silent Hill" series is all about keys and locked doors). In Sucker Punch our protagonists must find five things that will help them escape and the fantastic sequences with dragons and zombiefied soldiers play out in the mind while the girls acquire the items. I thought it worked and I thought it worked beautifully. There was also a bit of an unnerving subtext in this movie. It's never explicitly stated but what exactly is happening to these girls during these fantasy sequences. Because the director doesn't answer that (and he shouldn't have) we're left to imagine it--and it's not pretty.
It's occurred to me that a lot of my favorite films (like the two above) often get massacred at the critical level. Now, I can be accused of trying to justify why I like something and my friends no I've done this before. I've also been proven wrong enough that I've changed my mind. And I never want to use box office tally as a measure of a film's success. Silent Hill did better than Sucker Punch probably will in the end. But I think both are worth a second look and will stand out over time.
By the way, it's a different writer/director team for the Silent Hill sequel and the cast is returning from the first film. I'm quite curious to see how this all works out sometime next year.
To close this out: Here's a review of someone who understood what Sucker Punch was trying to do.
Here's also a review from someone who understands Silent Hill. He brackets the spoilers away, though which is good.
"Silent Hill" adapts the first video game in the series pretty much carte blanche. The protagonist's gender is changed (you are a dad in the game) and the nature of the cult controling the town is also changed, and in my experience, makes a little bit more sense than the video game version. (This might be a product of the way the first game was designed--you can play through the entire game and depending on the amount of exploration done you can miss an entire sub plot that helps with what's ultimately going on). Elements of the second game in the series are echoed in the movie in the husband searching for his lost wife. (And if I'd been a successful screenwriter in LA at the time I would have told my agent that I could pitch Silent Hill 2 right now!) The third game in the series will be the basis for the upcoming sequel. (A teenage girl discovering who she really is when she goes to Silent Hill).
For the film, however, Director Christophe Gans succeeded in conveying all the atmosphere and terror of the original game and in my mind, gave us not only a great horror film but probably the best adaptation of a video game yet made. It does this by giving us a complete story within the movie that requires no knowledge of the game. If you do have knowledge of the game I think you'll admire just how close Gans got to putting you inside your own head when you were playing the game. It also replicates the experience of the game through it's atmosphere and pyrotechnics. There are images and sequences in this game that will stick with you for a while. What made the game work was a never ending sense of "I don't know exactly what I'm looking at here but it's freaking me out" and the film does a good job suggesting this too.
I recall two major complaints that video game fans and the general public seem to agree on with this movie and I'll address them without spoiling it. I also have to do this because this film is open to interpretation but no so much that it's inexplicable. The first complaint had to do with character actions as Rose is exploring the town. She encounters things like a trussed up dead body and retrieves part of a key without knowing really why. She explains this--she's being led--it's in the dialogue. The second has to do with how it ends. This won't spoil it. THEY DON'T GET OUT. I'll leave you to interpret why.
"Sucker Punch" is another film with an interesting reaction from gamers and general audience. Both seem to hate it equally for various reasons. Sucker Punch has video game roots in that it's structured like an adventure game. Some games are obstacle courses--find a key to unlock a door or a sledgehammer to create an opening in the wall. (The "Silent Hill" series is all about keys and locked doors). In Sucker Punch our protagonists must find five things that will help them escape and the fantastic sequences with dragons and zombiefied soldiers play out in the mind while the girls acquire the items. I thought it worked and I thought it worked beautifully. There was also a bit of an unnerving subtext in this movie. It's never explicitly stated but what exactly is happening to these girls during these fantasy sequences. Because the director doesn't answer that (and he shouldn't have) we're left to imagine it--and it's not pretty.
It's occurred to me that a lot of my favorite films (like the two above) often get massacred at the critical level. Now, I can be accused of trying to justify why I like something and my friends no I've done this before. I've also been proven wrong enough that I've changed my mind. And I never want to use box office tally as a measure of a film's success. Silent Hill did better than Sucker Punch probably will in the end. But I think both are worth a second look and will stand out over time.
By the way, it's a different writer/director team for the Silent Hill sequel and the cast is returning from the first film. I'm quite curious to see how this all works out sometime next year.
To close this out: Here's a review of someone who understood what Sucker Punch was trying to do.
Here's also a review from someone who understands Silent Hill. He brackets the spoilers away, though which is good.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Sucker Punch and a brief mention of another kind of female action hero.
So, I had this dream last night.
No, really, I did.
I swear it feels like director Zack Snyder took images from inside my head and crafted something that either is going to be supremely awesome or collossally stupid but somehow I don't seem to care. Fire breathing dragons, samurai monsters, and women with swords and guns and sometimes both.
If you take a look at the second trailer you'll discover that this is more or less a prison break story. Discovering what is real and inside her head will be part of the fun. We already know that this is, at least, going to look very pretty with all the eye candy. My hope for this film is that it sticks to its own logic and doesn't break its own rules whatever those end up being. My suspension of disbelief can be pretty high but it does have limits.
My blockbuster summer comes early in 2011.
On another sort of related note. For an action heroine that doesn't need to rely on swords or superpowers, check out "True Grit." Haylee Stienfeld has a breakout role this year in a very convincing protrayal of a frontier girl in over her head as she hires a marshall to track down her father's killer. This is a very good adaptation of the original novel and doesn't step on the toes of the John Wayne version from 1969.
If you're looking for another story like this, I'd like to point out "Ride the River" by Louis La'mour. It was the last novel written in his "Sackett" series. It stands alone like the others and chronciles the adventures of "Echo Sackett" who must claim an inheritance but then outwit some outlaws as she tries to make it home.
No, really, I did.
I swear it feels like director Zack Snyder took images from inside my head and crafted something that either is going to be supremely awesome or collossally stupid but somehow I don't seem to care. Fire breathing dragons, samurai monsters, and women with swords and guns and sometimes both.
If you take a look at the second trailer you'll discover that this is more or less a prison break story. Discovering what is real and inside her head will be part of the fun. We already know that this is, at least, going to look very pretty with all the eye candy. My hope for this film is that it sticks to its own logic and doesn't break its own rules whatever those end up being. My suspension of disbelief can be pretty high but it does have limits.
My blockbuster summer comes early in 2011.
On another sort of related note. For an action heroine that doesn't need to rely on swords or superpowers, check out "True Grit." Haylee Stienfeld has a breakout role this year in a very convincing protrayal of a frontier girl in over her head as she hires a marshall to track down her father's killer. This is a very good adaptation of the original novel and doesn't step on the toes of the John Wayne version from 1969.
If you're looking for another story like this, I'd like to point out "Ride the River" by Louis La'mour. It was the last novel written in his "Sackett" series. It stands alone like the others and chronciles the adventures of "Echo Sackett" who must claim an inheritance but then outwit some outlaws as she tries to make it home.
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