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seriousficLike, some people would want to write a book where Batman teams up with Wolverine and they totally jack up robot Hitler and his Nazi dominatrices? Or a Teen Titans book where nobody actually fights crime, but they go to high school and Tim and Kon are lovers but then Tim has gay panic and Kon has to win him back and for some reason all their clothes are a size too small?
I'm not judging you, change a few of those names to Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter, I'd read it. Either the robot Hitler one or the one in high school. Or both.
Anyway, this is mine.
The Premise: There came a day when the Fourth World died… and the Fifth World was born.
The New Gods have been reborn, knowing nothing of their old lives. And like all who are ignorant of their history, they've been doomed to repeat it. Scott Free is once more traded to Apokolips to buy peace for New Genesis. He grows up the one dissenting voice in the cult of Darkseid, catching the eye of the elite Big Barda, for whom catching Scott becomes a matter of course. We can assume the First, Second, and Third World died the same way… in endless war.
Then something happens that skews the cycle off its course. Darkseid's forces have been assembling the Anti-Life Equator integer by integer, each of his Generals receiving one part of the whole. Barda has tracked the final piece to a small monastery on a distant world, where a sect has devoted their entire lineage to imprisoning it. Their powerful magic ensures that only the pure of heart can enter their monastery. Barda knows someone like that.
She makes a deal with Scott, still bruised and battered from his last escape attempt. The same skills that let him break out of so many places make him ideal for breaking in. If he gets her the integer, she'll give him his freedom. For some reason, Scott believes her…
Scott is able to get inside and pass all the trials, proving himself worthy of claiming the ultimate power. Barda is ecstatic. When Scott gives her the integer, she'll become a full-fledged General in Darkseid's service—it's all she's ever dreamed of.
But at the last minute, Scott pauses. He can't go through with it. Can't help Darkseid take over the galaxy, can't corrupt Barda. He takes the integer within himself and flees to Earth. There, he searches for a way to destroy the integer, forever saving the universe from Darkseid. But Barda is hot on his heels, determined to drag him back to Apokolips and rip the integer from him. It's something New Genesis refuses to risk, and Orion and his men seek to kill Scott—putting Barda in the position of both captor and protector, assuming she ever catches up with him.
But underneath all the subterfuge, there's a mythology that the Anti-Life Equator lets Scott glimpse. All this, the war between order and chaos, it's happened before. And if Scott can resist the temptation of his newfound power, he might be able to stop it from ever happening again.
The pitch: To create an epic, finite story using the DC universe as a backdrop. Instead of treating Darkseid as a measly part of Superman's rogue's gallery, here he'd be the Big Bad of the entire universe, with Apokolips waging near-constant war against Earth, empowering the bad and corrupting the good. Basically, the story would be set on Earth-0, the one universe in the multiverse where the New Gods exist. The defeat or victory of Darkseid would thus have big consequences elsewhere, it just wouldn't be hampered by continuity (read: Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, together again for the first time). And, since it's an in-canon alternate universe, you can always have characters travel back and forth from New Earth and Earth-0 for guest spots.
To spotlight characters who are usually underexposed. Let's be honest, if there's a major crossover event, it'll usually have Superman or Batman at the core. If not them, than another member of the "old guard" like Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, or Ollie Queen. So, since this is another, out-of-continuity universe, legacy heroes can take center stage. Without fixture characters having to stick around to appease a fanbase (especially the one in the DC Editorial staff, A HO HO), they can die-for-real, be retired, and otherwise serve the story. For instance, in this universe, Superman and Batman are "sidelined", while Wonder Woman is leader of the JLA. Or instead of the current Kara Zor-El Supergirl, Matrix or Cir-El could be in her place.
If anyone asks, Earth-0 is Post-Crisis Earth before the time-punching. Thus, Sue Dibny was never raped, Max Lord is still just a businessman… that, and the lack of any contact with the New Gods up to a few decades ago, has altered the timeline enough to be interesting.
To provide a family-friendly comic. Now, that's a loaded phrase, but here's the thing. I think the Big Two comics seem to be split into two categories. You have the ones aimed at kids, let's call them PG comics, and then you have all the rest, where you have nudity (oh, wait, it's not nudity if you don't show the nipples, my mistake), sexual violence, and lots of blood and gore… really, like a soft R, just without the swearing. So this would be sort of a PG-13 comic – mature enough to appeal to adults who want more than cutesy antics and joking, but classy enough for them to give it to their kids when they're done. People in the comic would still have sex, die, and maybe even be victims of sexual assault (although not every female character ever, DC universe), but it would be handled in a tasteful way. Think Doctor Who. Things can get really dark and scary, but no one even threatens Amy Pond with rape, tentacle or otherwise.
And kinda like the Ultimate universe for Marvel, the costuming and characterization would be updated a bit. You wanna keep the Kirbytech charm, of course, but everything should look, you know... boss. Like if this were a movie. Batman's not wearing gray spandex in a movie, he wears cool armor. No underwear-on-the-outside for the men, no nothing-but-underwear for the women. If Black Canary or Zatanna are going to wear fishnets, that kind of sexualization should be the exception, not the rule, telling us something about their character and not their body. If it's ridiculous for Robin to be in short-pants, then isn't it just as ridiculous for Wonder Woman? Armor, please.
Characterization: Obviously, the two big players would be Barda and Scott, since this would be sort of the Year One for their relationship. You know, they start off hating each other, then they African Queen for a bit, then they're in love. And since Barda gets the meaty character work of eventually turning against her entire world for love, you need to give Scott an equal storyline. (If this goes on too long about Scott Free, I apologize, but I don't think anyone would have to work too hard at making Barda awesome.)
Now, that might add up to just Ye Olde Hero's Journey, but it works, and Jack Kirby should be kept pretty simple instead of INCEST RAPE ALCOHOLISM. So Scott starts off a callow youth, comes to Earth with some emotional issues from the upbringing in hell, maybe gets a little full of himself and has to learn humility, eventually becomes a hero. It's right there in the manual, he wants to be an escape artist and run away from Apokolips, but eventually he has to stand up to Darkseid and be a hero.
Fandom wise, think of him as the woobie/Genki girl to Barda's stoic badass. He's constantly impressed and charms by the little wonders of Earth. He doesn't brood or angst—that gives more of a contrast later down the line when the Anti-Life Equation starts taking a toll. Yeah, a little Davis Bloom never hurt anyone. Say he's in his twenties or so… that would explain Apokolips' (relatively) sudden interest in Earth. With the peace treaty with New Genesis, they'd look for the Anti-Life Equation there. Barda, obviously, should be about the same age as Scott… maybe she could have a Captain Kirk "youngest captain in Starfleet!" thing going.
Also, the Equation would give Scott some glimpses into his life in the Fourth World—prompting a connection with Barda (although he obviously doesn't remember their life together, he has a "muscle memory" of her, and sometimes just finds himself making that tea she likes when they're together, or taping that show she loves but hasn't ever watched) and getting hints to defeating Darkseid. He'd start rounding up the JLI, which would be the plot of the series… he'd spend a few issues in AU!Gotham, finding Ted Kord and getting him to be the Blue Beetle, then they'd move on… always staying one step ahead of Barda until she, of course, joins the team.
Sample story arc: Over the past few decades, Earth has been attacked repeatedly by Apokolips, always repelled, always at a price. It's roughly analogous to terror attacks, just with magic, propaganda, fleets of battleships, what have you. The constant war footing has left Earth… not a dystopia, but certainly in dire straits. Lex Luthor has been elected to three terms as President… and he's actually doing an okay job, if you don't ask too many questions about how he's defending the Earth.
Batman died several years ago, protecting a couple and their young son from a swarm of Parademons. Without him, the Batfamily has fractured. Jason Todd's psychosis took a new turn with the death of his mentor—he started idolizing Bruce, and now fights to uphold his "legacy," while Dick Grayson has soured on him somewhat. The two both call themselves Batman, leading what amounts to two sides—Dick has Stephanie as a Robin, Cass as Batgirl, some of the Birds of Prey, even Onyx and Orpheus. Jason has Damian as a Robin, Huntress, Tarantula, PlasticSurgery!Harvey Dent, and so on. Azazel and Catwoman are in there too, somewhere. As you might imagine, the division point between them is killing. Jason announced his return to life by leaving the Joker's head on Bruce's grave (Joker's overexposed too, after all) and because of his actions, every vigilante in Gotham is wanted by the police. The Batsignal hasn't been lit since Batman's death.
Barbara Gordon has taken up Batman's mantle of general as best she can, having the shades-of-gray mentality to liaison between Dick and Jason and the backbone to kick both of them into doing what's best for Gotham. But it's broken her relationship with Dick. Starfire has moved in with him, and actually become a symbol of hope for Gotham. She's the one superhero beloved by the populace, like Superman for Metropolis, taking orders directly from Commissioner Montoya. While she publicly dates Dick Grayson, her relationship with Nightwing is a closely-guarded secret… to Kory's distaste.
Tim has left in disgust, running the Teen Titans full-time. Bane runs the crime in Gotham, although his control is fractured. See, in Gotham City, No Man's Land never ended. Parts of the city have been repaired, but some of it is almost a third-world country. Poison Ivy controls the park, providing food and clean water to the populace in exchange for Gotham meeting certain environmental standards. The last factory that broke them was paid a visit by Harley Quinn.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Jason Todd still holds an allegiance to Ra's Al Ghul, who has his own plans for Gotham. After all, a city whose population was dramatically reduced, now living more or less in harmony with nature? It's a useful social experiment for him.
Then, into that whole mess, comes Scott Free, looking for an old friend who's never met him, Big Barda, looking to bring Scott in alive, and Orion, looking to Inspector Javert Scott into the next life.
I'm not judging you, change a few of those names to Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter, I'd read it. Either the robot Hitler one or the one in high school. Or both.
Anyway, this is mine.
The Premise: There came a day when the Fourth World died… and the Fifth World was born.
The New Gods have been reborn, knowing nothing of their old lives. And like all who are ignorant of their history, they've been doomed to repeat it. Scott Free is once more traded to Apokolips to buy peace for New Genesis. He grows up the one dissenting voice in the cult of Darkseid, catching the eye of the elite Big Barda, for whom catching Scott becomes a matter of course. We can assume the First, Second, and Third World died the same way… in endless war.
Then something happens that skews the cycle off its course. Darkseid's forces have been assembling the Anti-Life Equator integer by integer, each of his Generals receiving one part of the whole. Barda has tracked the final piece to a small monastery on a distant world, where a sect has devoted their entire lineage to imprisoning it. Their powerful magic ensures that only the pure of heart can enter their monastery. Barda knows someone like that.
She makes a deal with Scott, still bruised and battered from his last escape attempt. The same skills that let him break out of so many places make him ideal for breaking in. If he gets her the integer, she'll give him his freedom. For some reason, Scott believes her…
Scott is able to get inside and pass all the trials, proving himself worthy of claiming the ultimate power. Barda is ecstatic. When Scott gives her the integer, she'll become a full-fledged General in Darkseid's service—it's all she's ever dreamed of.
But at the last minute, Scott pauses. He can't go through with it. Can't help Darkseid take over the galaxy, can't corrupt Barda. He takes the integer within himself and flees to Earth. There, he searches for a way to destroy the integer, forever saving the universe from Darkseid. But Barda is hot on his heels, determined to drag him back to Apokolips and rip the integer from him. It's something New Genesis refuses to risk, and Orion and his men seek to kill Scott—putting Barda in the position of both captor and protector, assuming she ever catches up with him.
But underneath all the subterfuge, there's a mythology that the Anti-Life Equator lets Scott glimpse. All this, the war between order and chaos, it's happened before. And if Scott can resist the temptation of his newfound power, he might be able to stop it from ever happening again.
The pitch: To create an epic, finite story using the DC universe as a backdrop. Instead of treating Darkseid as a measly part of Superman's rogue's gallery, here he'd be the Big Bad of the entire universe, with Apokolips waging near-constant war against Earth, empowering the bad and corrupting the good. Basically, the story would be set on Earth-0, the one universe in the multiverse where the New Gods exist. The defeat or victory of Darkseid would thus have big consequences elsewhere, it just wouldn't be hampered by continuity (read: Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, together again for the first time). And, since it's an in-canon alternate universe, you can always have characters travel back and forth from New Earth and Earth-0 for guest spots.
To spotlight characters who are usually underexposed. Let's be honest, if there's a major crossover event, it'll usually have Superman or Batman at the core. If not them, than another member of the "old guard" like Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, or Ollie Queen. So, since this is another, out-of-continuity universe, legacy heroes can take center stage. Without fixture characters having to stick around to appease a fanbase (especially the one in the DC Editorial staff, A HO HO), they can die-for-real, be retired, and otherwise serve the story. For instance, in this universe, Superman and Batman are "sidelined", while Wonder Woman is leader of the JLA. Or instead of the current Kara Zor-El Supergirl, Matrix or Cir-El could be in her place.
If anyone asks, Earth-0 is Post-Crisis Earth before the time-punching. Thus, Sue Dibny was never raped, Max Lord is still just a businessman… that, and the lack of any contact with the New Gods up to a few decades ago, has altered the timeline enough to be interesting.
To provide a family-friendly comic. Now, that's a loaded phrase, but here's the thing. I think the Big Two comics seem to be split into two categories. You have the ones aimed at kids, let's call them PG comics, and then you have all the rest, where you have nudity (oh, wait, it's not nudity if you don't show the nipples, my mistake), sexual violence, and lots of blood and gore… really, like a soft R, just without the swearing. So this would be sort of a PG-13 comic – mature enough to appeal to adults who want more than cutesy antics and joking, but classy enough for them to give it to their kids when they're done. People in the comic would still have sex, die, and maybe even be victims of sexual assault (although not every female character ever, DC universe), but it would be handled in a tasteful way. Think Doctor Who. Things can get really dark and scary, but no one even threatens Amy Pond with rape, tentacle or otherwise.
And kinda like the Ultimate universe for Marvel, the costuming and characterization would be updated a bit. You wanna keep the Kirbytech charm, of course, but everything should look, you know... boss. Like if this were a movie. Batman's not wearing gray spandex in a movie, he wears cool armor. No underwear-on-the-outside for the men, no nothing-but-underwear for the women. If Black Canary or Zatanna are going to wear fishnets, that kind of sexualization should be the exception, not the rule, telling us something about their character and not their body. If it's ridiculous for Robin to be in short-pants, then isn't it just as ridiculous for Wonder Woman? Armor, please.
Characterization: Obviously, the two big players would be Barda and Scott, since this would be sort of the Year One for their relationship. You know, they start off hating each other, then they African Queen for a bit, then they're in love. And since Barda gets the meaty character work of eventually turning against her entire world for love, you need to give Scott an equal storyline. (If this goes on too long about Scott Free, I apologize, but I don't think anyone would have to work too hard at making Barda awesome.)
Now, that might add up to just Ye Olde Hero's Journey, but it works, and Jack Kirby should be kept pretty simple instead of INCEST RAPE ALCOHOLISM. So Scott starts off a callow youth, comes to Earth with some emotional issues from the upbringing in hell, maybe gets a little full of himself and has to learn humility, eventually becomes a hero. It's right there in the manual, he wants to be an escape artist and run away from Apokolips, but eventually he has to stand up to Darkseid and be a hero.
Fandom wise, think of him as the woobie/Genki girl to Barda's stoic badass. He's constantly impressed and charms by the little wonders of Earth. He doesn't brood or angst—that gives more of a contrast later down the line when the Anti-Life Equation starts taking a toll. Yeah, a little Davis Bloom never hurt anyone. Say he's in his twenties or so… that would explain Apokolips' (relatively) sudden interest in Earth. With the peace treaty with New Genesis, they'd look for the Anti-Life Equation there. Barda, obviously, should be about the same age as Scott… maybe she could have a Captain Kirk "youngest captain in Starfleet!" thing going.
Also, the Equation would give Scott some glimpses into his life in the Fourth World—prompting a connection with Barda (although he obviously doesn't remember their life together, he has a "muscle memory" of her, and sometimes just finds himself making that tea she likes when they're together, or taping that show she loves but hasn't ever watched) and getting hints to defeating Darkseid. He'd start rounding up the JLI, which would be the plot of the series… he'd spend a few issues in AU!Gotham, finding Ted Kord and getting him to be the Blue Beetle, then they'd move on… always staying one step ahead of Barda until she, of course, joins the team.
Sample story arc: Over the past few decades, Earth has been attacked repeatedly by Apokolips, always repelled, always at a price. It's roughly analogous to terror attacks, just with magic, propaganda, fleets of battleships, what have you. The constant war footing has left Earth… not a dystopia, but certainly in dire straits. Lex Luthor has been elected to three terms as President… and he's actually doing an okay job, if you don't ask too many questions about how he's defending the Earth.
Batman died several years ago, protecting a couple and their young son from a swarm of Parademons. Without him, the Batfamily has fractured. Jason Todd's psychosis took a new turn with the death of his mentor—he started idolizing Bruce, and now fights to uphold his "legacy," while Dick Grayson has soured on him somewhat. The two both call themselves Batman, leading what amounts to two sides—Dick has Stephanie as a Robin, Cass as Batgirl, some of the Birds of Prey, even Onyx and Orpheus. Jason has Damian as a Robin, Huntress, Tarantula, PlasticSurgery!Harvey Dent, and so on. Azazel and Catwoman are in there too, somewhere. As you might imagine, the division point between them is killing. Jason announced his return to life by leaving the Joker's head on Bruce's grave (Joker's overexposed too, after all) and because of his actions, every vigilante in Gotham is wanted by the police. The Batsignal hasn't been lit since Batman's death.
Barbara Gordon has taken up Batman's mantle of general as best she can, having the shades-of-gray mentality to liaison between Dick and Jason and the backbone to kick both of them into doing what's best for Gotham. But it's broken her relationship with Dick. Starfire has moved in with him, and actually become a symbol of hope for Gotham. She's the one superhero beloved by the populace, like Superman for Metropolis, taking orders directly from Commissioner Montoya. While she publicly dates Dick Grayson, her relationship with Nightwing is a closely-guarded secret… to Kory's distaste.
Tim has left in disgust, running the Teen Titans full-time. Bane runs the crime in Gotham, although his control is fractured. See, in Gotham City, No Man's Land never ended. Parts of the city have been repaired, but some of it is almost a third-world country. Poison Ivy controls the park, providing food and clean water to the populace in exchange for Gotham meeting certain environmental standards. The last factory that broke them was paid a visit by Harley Quinn.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Jason Todd still holds an allegiance to Ra's Al Ghul, who has his own plans for Gotham. After all, a city whose population was dramatically reduced, now living more or less in harmony with nature? It's a useful social experiment for him.
Then, into that whole mess, comes Scott Free, looking for an old friend who's never met him, Big Barda, looking to bring Scott in alive, and Orion, looking to Inspector Javert Scott into the next life.
