1/16/2005
Lame-Up, part duex
So here's what happened with the Lame Character Revival some of us small press creators challeneged each other to:
My publisher, Lance Boucher, has a definite penchant for what we refer to as the "Golden Age" of comics. That is, back when Marvel Comics was just starting out, DC was the main publisher of super heroe adventures, and you could tell the difference between heroes and villains. Stories were simple and fun, and comics were meant to be read and enjoyed, not collected and shock inducing.
Lance and I both thought it would be a neat idea to get our characters to meet somehow, either in collected stories in an anthology or through a direct team-up. A kind of throw-back to when comics were simpler and our creations matched the feeling.
After throwing ideas back and forth -- and re-reading some of my old comics -- I came across a special comic a bunch of cartoonists from my area did for my first publisher. We called it the "Buffalo Jam", and it was silly little story with tons and tons and tons of parodies, covering everyone from Gumby to Disney to Pogo to comic strips to the Justice League to manga and anime. The funny thing about the whole plot was that we were promoting the modernization of comic books, touting how it was all right to update comics to fit with changing societal norms. The villain -- my character -- was called the ReVamper, and he was actually stealing old comics to wipe them out from fandom's memory, and changing old characters to fit with the new way comics were being written.
The heroes finally convinced him to allow those old books to survive, telling him it was fine to change so long as we remembered our roots. Nice moral, eh?
Well, when it came time to actually hammer out a plot for the new book (which I started calling the "Lame-Up"), I remembered the ReVamper's modus operendi (who says comic can't teach?) and it took only the most minor of tweaking to bring him back. Now, instead of trying to modernize everything, he's trying to recall the days of "olde". He'll be kidnapping modern heroes and leaving only those with pure and simple motivations, fitting right in with our original challange.
the ReVamper
Now, I'm gonna take one helluva risk here.
We're looking to make this a seriously decent project. Lance and I would like to make this something all participants could take and promote at conventions. We haven't figured out all the logistics yet, but right now that's not important.
What's crucial is that we get a few more participants.
So, if you're a cartoonist with a couple of old (or lame) characters laying around that you'd like to shove into our little parody, let me know. You'll retain the rights, of course, and if we can work this right, you'll even be handling the art chores for your chapter.
Reminiscing is good for the soul.
Doc "I Remember It Well" Absurd
2 Comments:
See Tim I read your stuff. I hope we can do something with this project. NINO might join in though he's concerned about certain elements.
We really have to get a plot going and get a writer.
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