Ten Notes on Page 251

by on November 21, 2018
Posted In: Uncategorized
This is it–everything changes! If you haven’t yet read page 251, READ IT NOW!!!
1. When I was writing that first line of text there, I instinctively lapsed into Stan Lee mode, like I do every time I’m trying to write some kind of hype, and had to force myself to leave out the “True-Believers” and “Face Front” and “Pilgrims.” What I’m saying is, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the many ways that Stan Lee changed all our lives. Here’s an article I enjoyed that grapples with Stan’s complicated legacy.

2. So Jason has become the Ultimage. We’ve been headed to this point for a long time . . . the Ultimage was first mentioned on page 214, when Bart “Daredevil” Hill said that the Professor had helped battle the Ultimage. We saw a flashback to when Bart got recruited to fight the Ultimage on page 231, then saw a bunch of super-heroes fighting the Ultimage (in silhouette) on page 232.

3. In case you don’t remember, Zarko the Great told Bart, “A mad sorcerer known as the Ultimage has taken control of the castle. He plans to use it as a staging ground for his conquest of a hundred worlds.” So, obviously, that’s where we’re headed. The change in color scheme at the bottom of the page signals that we’re moving into the final, darker phase of the story. 4. When I imagine the gathered heroes battling the Ultimage, my imaginings are usually inspired by George Perez’s cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #12:

It’s not just me–have you read that comic Black Hammer? It’s a fresh, modern take on super-hero comics, right, but the writer, Jeff Lemire, is the same age as me so he has the same touchstones. The big battle with “Anti-God” in the heroes’ backstory is absolutely based on this same comic. (Side-note, I always loved the way that Earth-2 Superman (the Superman in the middle of the cover) is hitting the Anti-Monitor, but eventually it occurred to me–it looks like he’s ricocheting off, right? So that does that mean he flew at the Anti-Monitor feet-first? Wouldn’t that look weird? Think it over, and let me know your opinion.)

5. I mentioned at the time that I had a lot of trouble figuring out the details of this section of the story, starting on page 248.  I knew that Jason ended up with the powers of a god, and that a.) the process of getting those powers had to be something I could cover in a few pages, and b.) it couldn’t be so easy that it seems like other people would have done it first. So I needed him to figure out something that allowed him, through a series of steps, to acquire cosmic power. To review, he figured out that Mefford’s Medallion was actually the Amulet of Othyg-Zoag, from another world, and that he could use it to open the Vault of Varlo, which got him Sigismundo’s Cloak, which he could use to defeat Skelman the Sorcerer and take his spellbook, and then with the cloak and the spellbook he could draw on the raw energies of the dimensional junction itself. That works for me, at least, hopefully it does for you as well.

6. When I was plotting this series of steps, I couldn’t help but be inspired by Thanos Quest, the two-issue mini-series by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim that Marvel published back in 1990. This is the story where Thanos acquires all of the Infinity Gems and becomes all-powerful. What’s amazing is that it happens so fast–it takes about an issue and a half–and yet it’s satisfying, because he outsmarts all his opponents in fun and interesting ways. I’ve reread this story recently, and it still works for me.

7. Jim Starlin’s still writing Thanos stories. I just read the new one this last week, in between writing about his Adam Warlock last time and Thanos Quest this time. Starlin on the brain, apparently. I might write a longer blog post about Starlin’s cosmic Marvel work sometime, but for now I just want to mention that, as he keeps writing these stories, it gets increasingly easy for Thanos to become omnipotent. Apparently the universe is just filled with plot devices that, with mild effort, you can use to turn yourself into God. After reading the latest one, I thought, man, I shouldn’t have stressed so much trying to come up with a way for Jason to become the Ultimage.

8. I am aware that this story is called “Brianna’s Story,” and that the last few pages have focused mostly on her boyfriend. I don’t want to sideline Brianna in her own story, but like I said, I felt like Jason becoming a cosmic super-villain warranted a few pages of explanation. Don’t worry, once they take over the castle on the next page, we’re switching our focus back to Brianna where it belongs.

9. I’m also aware that the two inspirational comics I mentioned above are from 1986 and 1990 and I am, in short, a dinosaur. We’re serializing The Electric Team online but it’s not exactly a web comic–I write for the individual print issue more than I do for the weekly episode, and I’m not really in touch with web comics culture. Our goal is to be an all-ages comic, so I think it’s fair to ask, if you want to reach today’s youth, should you really be looking back to comic books by Jim Starlin and Marv Wolfman and Frank Miller and the rest? There are so many dynamic young creators out there who grew up with web comics and anime and modern media, who aren’t influenced by moldy old Marvel and DC super-hero comics, and they’re the future. Sam Albert and Abigail Connor, for instance, the other two thirds of our creative team, bring a more current perspective to the Electric Team, and I’m sure they’re both going to go on to do great solo projects some day. For now, though, I appreciate that they let me indulge my old man’s ways, paying tribute to the comics of my youth.

10. I’ve mentioned before that Brianna and Jason Occult predate the other characters in the Electric Team. Now the truth can be revealed! Before we got the toys that inspired the Electric Team, Abi and I played with another group of toys that we called the Super Team. Jason Occult and Brianna were villains who fought the Super Team. But if that’s true, how did Brianna end up joining the Electric Team? Keep reading, pilgrim!

Ten Notes on Page 250

by on November 13, 2018
Posted In: Uncategorized

Page 250 is here! Read it, if you haven’t already.

 

1. I can’t believe we’ve reached page 250—that sounds like such an impressive number. That’s more than 14 issues of a 24-page comic book. Watchmen was only 12 issues! Okay, page counts don’t actually equate to merit, I know that, but we should get some points for perseverance.

2. Look, it’s Skelman the Sorcerer! He’s a character that Abi and I created at the same time as Jason Occult, both of whom predate the Electric Team. He’s not a major character in our story, but I’m happy he’s finally made it in.

3. Most of our characters were based on toys. Skelman started life as an Adam Warlock toy. Here’s the picture I sent Sam as reference:

As you can see, she put her own spin on it.

4. I would say that Adam Warlock is my favorite non-Kirby Marvel Comics character, except that Jack Kirby kind of did create him. Kirby created Him, the golden artificial being who debuted in Fantastic Four, but it was Roy Thomas who renamed Him Adam Warlock, and gave him a new personality and a new mission, and Gil Kane who redesigned his look. Then it was Jim Starlin who took over and made Adam Warlock into the character we know and love today, to the point where most people think of Warlock as a Starlin character. Is Adam Warlock really the same character as Him? I don’t know, I can see both sides of the argument, but either way it’s the Jim Starlin stuff I love.

5. Most comic book characters were created by one or two people; the really complicated ones are the exception. Probably the big name character with the most ambiguous set of creators is Wolverine. Roy Thomas, who was editor at the time, had the idea for a Canadian super-hero named Wolverine. John Romita, who was the art director, designed the costume. Len Wein wrote the Hulk comic that Wolverine first appeared in, and Herb Trimpe drew it. But that version of the character is only vaguely recognizable; Wolverine didn’t become popular until they put him in the X-Men, where he was written by Len Wein again and drawn by Dave Cockrum, but Wein left and Chris Claremont took over, and it’s Claremont and Cockrum who really defined the character. So it seems like you’d almost have to say that Wolverine was created by Thomas/Romita/Wein/Trimpe/Cockrum/Claremont. Of course, Wolverine didn’t get really popular until John Byrne started drawing him . . .

6. Whoa, were we supposed to be talking about the Electric Team here?  Sorry. Just one more Marvel Comics related tangent, you can get the whole Jim Starlin Warlock series in one book, reasonably priced, and I highly recommend it. According to the blurb, “Starlin evolved Warlock to the next level, imbuing the character with the inner demons of a man-god on the brink of insanity. Forced to confront an evil version of himself and the nihilistic menace Thanos, Warlock’s conflicts weren’t just knuckle-grinding throw-downs; they were epic, existential struggles for his very soul.”

7. Okay, back to page 250. The script called for Jason to turn Skelman to stone. I thought that might be hard to pull off, and I didn’t know how Sam would choose to illustrate it, but I’m very pleased with the way she did.

8. I have a story in mind that I’ve wanted to write for years, about Skelman the Sorcerer’s childhood, back when he was little Sebastian Skelman. It’s a gothic horror story. I imagine it being black-and-white, in the style of a 70’s magazine like Creepy or Eerie. Maybe someday.

9. There’s some important character stuff going on here on page 250. We’re moving fast, in this story, and there’s lots of summarizing, so I thought it was important to stop for a moment and check in on the characters. As we can see, Brianna was happy with their carefree criminal lifestyle, running around having adventures, and has no interest in accumulating power. Jason, on the other hand, seems to have some sort of hunger for power, and apparently he’s been planning this all along.

10. As you may have noticed, this story has changed its color scheme every few pages, with each color scheme representing a new phase of Brianna’s life. We’re due for another color change on our next page, as we move into our final phase. That will be here in two weeks! Get ready!

Ten Notes on Page 249

by on November 8, 2018
Posted In: Uncategorized
Welcome back, be sure you’ve read page 249, then read on . . .

1. As usual, I didn’t break the script up into individual panels, I just wrote actions, captions, and dialogue. So, when given “Once we had the Amulet, we left Kreos and made our way to the Vault of Varlo” and “It was a long journey,” Sam could have easily fit those lines into one panel. Because she’s a professional, though, she spread it out over four panels. I didn’t give any details; the journeys past the castle, over the sea, and up a mountain were all Sam’s ideas. I think she did a good job selling the idea of “a long journey” in very limited space.

2. That’s the point of this section of the story, pages 247-251, trying to convey a long process in just a few pages without making it seem too quick or easy. On the one hand, I want you to feel like Jason and Brianna worked hard for that magic cloak, but on the other hand, we can’t spend too much time on the process.

3. I like how Sam keeps changing Brianna and Jason’s outfits. I mean, they’ve been together for years now, and it makes sense that they would own different clothes, it’s just not something you always see in comics.

4. Speaking of Jason and Brianna being together for years now . . . I knew going in that this story was a risky move, since it’s entirely a flashback, and we’re releasing a page a week. That means that, by the end, we will have gone at least seven months of The Electric Team (probably more like eight) without actually seeing the Electric Team. I miss the Electric Team too, I really do, but over the course of years we had flashbacks for every member except Brianna, and I knew that when we told her story, we’d tell it in a big way. I think doing Brianna’s Story really freed us all up to try new things and push ourselves and, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad we went down this path.

5. I’ve had the name “anathemites” in my back pocket for a  few years now. I used it once in my comic Laser Brigade, though those kind of looked like generic robots. When Sam asked me what the anathemites should look like, I didn’t show her the generic robots, but I sent her this picture for inspiration:

6. That comic, Doom Patrol #37, will always have a special place in my heart. Grant Morrison took over writing Doom Patrol with issue #19, which I bought when it came out, and which was mind-blowing and weird, but which didn’t turn me into a regular reader. I was a kid and it was hard to keep up with comic book series, especially when our local comic book store went out of business. I wanted to read Doom Patrol, and I gave it another shot with issue #37. This issue was the beginning of a new era, when the series switched over to For Mature Readers, and it was a Great Jumping-On Point for New Readers. The first page was a summary of everything that had gone before, to get you all caught up. That comic hooked me, and soon Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrolbecame my favorite comic book series. It’s still probably my favorite run of any comic book.

7. Some of my other all-time favorite comics include All-Star Superman, The Invisibles, and Flex Mentallo, all written my Grant Morrison. Man, I love that guy.

8. Anyway, Sam designed the anathemites, and she said she was inspired by Halloween to make them extra creepy. Aren’t they cool? I’m a fan, I want to bring them back sometime.

9. KRAKA-BOOOM! Jason Occult has vast magical power now! I’m sure that will go well for everyone. Also, I think it’s to Sam’s credit that she didn’t just draw Dr. Strange’s cape, but went with a slightly different look for the magic cloak. But what does Jason mean, by “second phase”? We’ll find out next week!

10. I don’t really have ten things to say this time, but nobody wants a list of nine, do they? So let’s pretend like I’m saying something interesting here.