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Post by Meriades Rai on Mar 18, 2008 4:21:03 GMT -5
I'm a great fan of Jeff Melton's 'Classic' tales - 70s Champions here at M2K and 60s Avengers over at AV2K. I think it's a hugely untapped market in fanfic, especially as there seem to be a number of 30+ age group fans who remember the old days with such fondness.
Would you like to read more titles of this kind? If so, what?
I personally love the idea of 70s/80s Avengers or 70s/80s X-Men, set around the turn of the decade. Or there could even be 60s Fantastic Four for the seriously ambitious, at the height of the Lee/Kirby idea explosion, or 60s Spider-Man before Gwen died.
Anyone else?
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Post by joshr on Mar 18, 2008 4:45:39 GMT -5
A 70's Super-Villain Team-Up. Now that would be cool...
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straussdc
Too Much Time On Your Hands
Oh, sneezes!
Posts: 73
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Post by straussdc on Mar 18, 2008 7:54:17 GMT -5
I actually sent an e-mail to Jeff the other day saying something similar. I think his retro-titles are a great idea, and would love to see more of them. '60s Fantastic Four, '70s Power Man & Iron Fist, '80s X-Men, etc, all sound interesting to me. Honestly, I'd probably give a classic anything at least a look.
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sunnyd
Too Much Time On Your Hands
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Post by sunnyd on Mar 18, 2008 8:22:02 GMT -5
Maybe this could be the basis for a new anthology title? "Yesteryear Unlimited" or somesuch. I know I, for one, am at my absolute limit for number of ongoing fanfic titles I'm committed to, but every once in a while I can knock out an offbeat one-shot. And some concepts, like "Early 80's Cloak and Dagger" might not have the staying power for an entire ongoing series, but could provide for a potent self-contained story.
The simple answer to the original question, though, is heck yes, I'll read more "classic retro" stuff. Good times.
DG
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Post by fracture on Mar 18, 2008 11:33:52 GMT -5
I think it's a fantastic idea, Meri. I, too, really appreciate what Jeff is doing, and as one of those 30+ guys you mention (maybe 30++ in my case...), I'd love to see more such books. In fact, we've gone around the maypole several times over at AV2K about what to possibly do with the idle MX imprint, and nothing's ever come of those discussions, mostly because you can't seem to find more than two people who will agree on any given proposed theme...but recently, I was wondering to myself if you could make a go of an imprint whose thrust was that all titles started at a cut-off from real-Marvel located somewhere in the late 70's/early 80's (which I guess is about the end of what's considered the Bronze Age of comics, my favorite era by far). I also agree that X-fic and Avengers fic set in such a time period would be awesome, as would Josh's suggestion of some SVTU stuff set then. A Defenders book in that time period would also rule, as would a Guardians of the Galaxy title (that is, a GotG book picking up from where GotG canon stood when our real world was moving from the 70's into the 80's, not a GotG book set in the late 70's, which, aside from the group's appearance in the Korvac saga, wouldn't make all that much sense). I'm mostly a hard-core 70's head, but a New Warriors book set about a year or two into that group's continuity could be cool also (the 90's was lame in some ways, but kind of fertile in others, with lots of new and/or updated characters appearing). 70's stuff with lower-rung guys like Iron Fist or Nova would also be great, and you could re-present lots of villains in cool ways through such titles...
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Post by Meriades Rai on Mar 18, 2008 14:35:03 GMT -5
Would you believe I have a fully-designed site just sitting on my hard-drive here? It's called Classic Marvel, and the premise was that writers could take a series from any continuity fork pre-Secret Wars (1984) and run with it, be it 60s, 70s or early 80s. I created it about 18 months ago but shied away from going live because I didn't think the community could support another Marvel fanfic site in terms of writers or readers (which is still the case) and because I didn't think I could run a site long-term (which is also still the case).
I can't imagine it'll ever see the light of day now. But sometimes I load it up just so I sigh wistfully and wonder what might have been...
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crutey
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Post by crutey on Mar 18, 2008 15:19:30 GMT -5
Only being 21 I think i miss out on some of the *sigh* at days gone by but having read a whole lot of the older comics I'd love to see some of this stuff you guys are talking about.
70's/80's X-Men Classic Avengers Classic Defenders Heck I think a 60's F4 if someone could pull of the inginuity it'd be awsome.
CLASSIC NEW MUTANTS!!!!
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Post by fracture on Mar 18, 2008 17:06:56 GMT -5
Would you believe I have a fully-designed site just sitting on my hard-drive here? It's called Classic Marvel, and the premise was that writers could take a series from any continuity fork pre-Secret Wars (1984) and run with it, be it 60s, 70s or early 80s. I created it about 18 months ago but shied away from going live because I didn't think the community could support another Marvel fanfic site in terms of writers or readers (which is still the case) and because I didn't think I could run a site long-term (which is also still the case). Man, that sounds amazing...I hear you about not having the time and energy to run a site over the long haul, I really do, but I don't know that I'd necessarily agree about the Heroes community not being able to support another Marvel site -- I think it just depends on the nature of that site, and the people involved. A "classic/retro" site like you're describing would be a pretty unique beast around these parts, I think, and would offer some unbeatable storytelling possibilities (because the cut-off point we're talking about is, in my mind, when most of what real-Marvel was doing shifted on some great axis, and became less like original comic book creation all around, and more like paid-for fanfic in large part...meaning it became less about new explorations of new concepts and new characters, and more about revisiting the established stuff, and coming up with endless ways to recombine and reimagine them, all of which continues today). Anyway, I think it'd be a great venture! If not a whole site, maybe at least a few more projects like the books Jeff is doing can spin out of these discussions...
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Post by D. Golightly on Mar 18, 2008 17:21:29 GMT -5
Would you believe I have a fully-designed site just sitting on my hard-drive here? It's called Classic Marvel, and the premise was that writers could take a series from any continuity fork pre-Secret Wars (1984) and run with it, be it 60s, 70s or early 80s. I created it about 18 months ago but shied away from going live because I didn't think the community could support another Marvel fanfic site in terms of writers or readers (which is still the case) and because I didn't think I could run a site long-term (which is also still the case). I can't imagine it'll ever see the light of day now. But sometimes I load it up just so I sigh wistfully and wonder what might have been... Mayhap it could live as a new imprint at M2K. Hmm... If there was enough interest, we could create the new imprint, move Jeff's series over to it, and grab some new titles!
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crutey
Bill Gates Recruit
Posts: 168
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Post by crutey on Mar 18, 2008 17:37:12 GMT -5
A classic Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD would be cool too complete with too many acronyms I'd also say an Invaders series, which was out in the 60's...but then set in the 40's so I don't know how you'd class that one there.
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Post by Jeff Melton on Mar 18, 2008 20:18:20 GMT -5
That all sounds great to me. It could also lead to some cool crossovers.
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Post by C William Russette on Mar 18, 2008 20:18:48 GMT -5
What would appeal to me would be a Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos. That would rock.
Iron Fist in the 70's all crammed full of Kung Fu and Ninja goodness.
Friggen yum.
Not Powerman though. The way they had him talking and acting was horrid.
We could shanghai Shang Chi in here too for that matter.
Not that I am in any way volunteering to write any of this...
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Post by Jeff Melton on Mar 18, 2008 20:20:11 GMT -5
I actually sent an e-mail to Jeff the other day saying something similar. I think his retro-titles are a great idea, and would love to see more of them. '60s Fantastic Four, '70s Power Man & Iron Fist, '80s X-Men, etc, all sound interesting to me. Honestly, I'd probably give a classic anything at least a look. 60s FF would be an absolute ball to write. I also thought the concept of a 60s Invaders, mentioned in this thread, would be an interesting idea. Kind of an Invaders pick up after a period of time raising their children, etc. That could prove interesting. And they would be largely in their prime in the 60s.
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Post by brawl2099 on Mar 18, 2008 22:40:31 GMT -5
Classic New Mutants seconded.
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Post by Meriades Rai on Mar 19, 2008 5:04:49 GMT -5
Only being 21 I think i miss out on some of the *sigh* at days gone by but having read a whole lot of the older comics I'd love to see some of this stuff you guys are talking about. Heh. It's probably all just rose-tinted nostalgia. Everyone's married to the era they started reading comics and the incarnations of the characters that lodged in their minds and hearts first time around. I feel the same way about the mid-80s that Steve feels about the late 70s, just as I'm sure there are plenty of readers who love the pre-Image-age early 90s and then the current era. My abiding memory of my comics childhood, and the thing I *sigh* at most is how everything seemed so fresh and exciting back then. Even though characters like Spider-Man and Cap and Iron Man and whoever had already been around for 15-20 years they were (amazingly) still relatively unexplored, and a huge emphasis was placed on the importance of villains and conflict, and also on established continuity. For example, if Cap was having problems in his own title it was a dead cert this would be mentioned in Avengers, and when a villain reared his head his previous appearance would invariably be mentioned. Every issue of every title really felt like it was part of the overall tapestry. Needless to say, that doesn't happen any more. Also, back then there was no Internet. The contents of every issue were a surprise, no six-month-in-advance spoilers or intense marketing hype (especially for a UK reader). I still remember very clearly how excited I was by Secret Wars and not knowing how or why Spider-Man had changed his costume, or why She-Hulk had left The Avengers and taken The Thing's place in the Fantastic Four. And when The Masters Of Evil mansion-siege story hit The Avengers I was blown away because I had no idea what was coming. These days I seem to be able to keep abreast of everything that happens in The Avengers without having read a single story in the past two years, and despite not actively seeking out story details. I can't speak for Steve or Jeff or anyone else, but when I think back 20 years it's not just about the stories it's about the wonder of collecting comics at cheap and cheerful prices at that time. Some of the stories *were* great, some not so much. But, whichever, I can't help but feel anything but the deepest affection for them.
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