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Post by Meriades Rai on Mar 19, 2008 5:19:15 GMT -5
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! Obviously I'd love to see a Classics imprint here, and I'd certainly write for it. Marvel Team-Up could move across as well, I guess. It would need writers though, of course, which is a problem I know Steve has come across at AV2K. In my opinion any viable breakaway project would need at least six regular titles otherwise it may as well just stay as a niche of Alternate, same as the Ultimate brand. Although I guess you *could* split the Alternate branch page into three sections (Ultimate, Classics, Elseworlds for example), if that didn't look too fussy. I'd also suggest that any continuity is kept very fluid and laid-back. Like Jeff I'd be tickled by the idea of crossovers and whatnot but having a Classics-specific Dibs List, say, would possibly ruin the fun. After all, it'd be a shame for someone to come along and say "I want to write 80s X-Men!" and then that'd be the classic X characters off-limits for everyone else. Then again, I suppose you wouldn't want three different 80s X-Men series running consecutively... tricky. Maybe it's enough at the moment that potential writers know that the opportunity is there for Classic titles and see how many proposals you get. I, also, would love to see someone do the original New Mutants line-up, and West Coast Avengers come to that...
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Post by Meriades Rai on Mar 19, 2008 5:27:13 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. Bill Mantlo-era Cloak & Dagger! Oh, hell yes! I was talking to Steve just recently about split books (Strange Tales, Tales To Astonish, Marvel Comics Presents), which are another of my pet favourites. Either as anthologies with a constantly rotating cast of characters and authors, or with a key feature star. Maybe a Classic Marvel anthology title would work well like that... I get where you're coming from with the writing commitments, Dale. Maybe if writers knew they weren't signing on for long-haul series they'd be more inclined to throw in with the odd one-shot.
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Chris Munn
Virgin-4-Lyfe
Author of the Book of Sins
Posts: 100
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Post by Chris Munn on Mar 19, 2008 14:29:18 GMT -5
I love the concept of the split book, and in fact tried to get one started here at M2K during my term as EiC (Avengers Spotlight). Unfortunately, I just couldn't drum up any interest outside of my own, lol.
But, yeah, I'd probably be down for writing something in the "Classic" vein; perhaps the original X-Factor, when they were living on the Celestial Ship and so forth?
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Post by Stephen Crosby on Mar 19, 2008 18:50:14 GMT -5
Since everybody loves Gwen Stacy so much, I'll bet a pre-Death Spider-Man series would be really popular. Hmmm, a Gwen who loves Peter but hates Spider-Man because of his implication at her father's death, crazy Norman Osborn who keeps forgetting he's Green Goblin hence a constant worry to Peter, druggy Harry Osborn trapped in a painful addiction because of his father and roommate ignoring him....damn, that was actually a pretty fun time.
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Post by Jeff Melton on Mar 19, 2008 21:50:07 GMT -5
The classics posts have generated some very interesting discussions, and brought out some good points. Like Meri, I also wouldn't want to see a dibs list for it. I think some crossovers might be interesting, but I agree that having an Earth to play with, without having to worry about what someone else might do (different than what you have in mind) is certainly one of the appeals of the alternate concept. There are a lot of interesting ideas for titles thrown around. I personally liked the 70's/early 80s era of Powerman/Iron Fist, with the great Kerry Gammil artwork (before they ruined the book by poor stories and ultimately by killing Danny). Of course, I also like the late 70s/early 80s era of Avengers. That was probably the peak of the title for me. The Grim Reaper/Graviton/Lethal Legion/Ultron/Count Nefaria stuff...that was some absolute classic Avengers material to me. I also agree with Meri that everyone probably has their own idea of what is the ideal era of any title (or company for that matter), and I'm sure that the price of the titles has something to do with it. Comics were 20 cents when I started buying them lo these many years ago, and I don't think they've ever been better. And, the idea of a 70s Spider-Man, before Gwen died...I could certainly go for that in a big way. Thanks for volunteering to do the title, Steve. Jeff
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straussdc
Too Much Time On Your Hands
Oh, sneezes!
Posts: 73
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Post by straussdc on Mar 20, 2008 1:32:23 GMT -5
continuity
Perhaps any shared continuity among classic titles could just be arranged between individual writers? Say if two people are writing titles in the mid-80s, they might privately agree to do a crossover. An imprint wide shared continuity and dibs list sounds like a real pain though, especially if you consider the sort of headache that might result from, for example, a '60s X-Men title and '80s X-Men title trying to coexist in the same timeline.
split books
I've always really wanted to write (or read) a Strange Tales series with alternating Dr. Strange and Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD stories.
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Post by peapotmaster on Mar 20, 2008 18:48:40 GMT -5
I like to do a Webspinners series involing teenage Spidey, but let me talk to the EiC first.
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Post by Jeff Melton on Mar 20, 2008 20:38:26 GMT -5
I think probably the best approach for continuity in a situation like that would be to have it pretty vague overall, and have the groups co-exist for the purpose of the crossover. For the context of the crossover, they would functionally be on the same Earth, but this wouldn't be an issue for the regular runs of the respective series.
Whenever you do a series like 70s Champions, Avengers, etc., the natural inclination is to show what others are doing in that specific time period on that specific Earth. For instance, in my 70s Champions series, I certainly intend to showcase a number of other characters and groups. Still, if someone else did a 70s series, I wouldn't be adverse to a crossover with them. Otherwise, their series and mine might exist on totally different Earths, which would allow for us both to do what we want with not only the core characters we are using, but also others who we might want to pick up at some point.
In fact, I plan to use some characters in my run that I've never written before in fan fiction.
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Post by Jeff Melton on Mar 20, 2008 20:41:06 GMT -5
Oh, and I like the idea of a Strange Tales title split between Dr. Strange and Nick Fury. I think that would be interesting. I thought Marvel did a good job with that back in the day, when they had such great titles as Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and the aforementioned Strange Tales. I think the concept could work that way, too, with two shorter stories, combining for one average or slightly above-average sized issue.
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crutey
Bill Gates Recruit
Posts: 168
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Post by crutey on Mar 21, 2008 4:09:27 GMT -5
I'd probably try to limit it to one title for each group...though I know other fic sites with numerous versions of the same title and they're all so different even when they had a similar beginning idea e.g. ultimate X-Men.
For the continuity I'd follow the Image basis. Each character/title exists in it's own universe, in these universes they have the counerparts of all the heroes from others universes but they're not the actual characters just alt reality versions...thus big events can happen and not need to be referenced.
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Post by Meriades Rai on Mar 21, 2008 7:59:19 GMT -5
I'm always in favour of keeping things really simple. As has been said, allowing books to exist in their own worlds but to crossover as and when two writers might want to indulge in such a thing (maybe in Annuals or Specials that are separate from the individual issue runs) would be perfect and stress-free.
Of course, now all we need is for us to write all these amazing classic books... ;D
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Post by Gary Jones on Mar 24, 2008 10:01:06 GMT -5
A classics imprint would be nice to see but I wonder how many people would be able to keep the tone of their books in the era they are set.
I could see many of the books simply becoming modern stories that happen to simply be in a "classics" book. After all what would be the point in '60s Fantastic Four if it were written like the modern day FF.
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crutey
Bill Gates Recruit
Posts: 168
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Post by crutey on Mar 24, 2008 11:22:15 GMT -5
Well for one it would keep the cast of the classic books/characterization in ways they can't be in the modern day.
I for one have always liked the idea (following the idea of Noble Causes) of a drama/hero book focusing on the First Family. Just think of the relationships involved:-
Reed & Sue Franklin His Nanny Agatha Harkness The Thing & Alisha (and her father being who he is) Johnny Wyatt Wingfoot Crystal & Pietro The Inhumans Scarlett Witch & Vision Wonderman Magneto
All of these guys could be wove into one ongoing story focusing on the ups and downs of the family during a certain period they all were involved with the family...plus some supervillains or something.
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Post by bryanlocke on Apr 12, 2008 16:32:08 GMT -5
At the risk of playing devil's advocate (oh hell that's the role I seem to fall into a lot around here)...
I think the novelty and popularity of Jeff's title is rather dependent on the fact that there simply isn't a title like this anywhere else. I guess Mike's Liberty Legion would be a bit along the same lines though. If there were many titles like them, I think it would get old after a while.
HOWEVER...an anthology title? Perhaps a limited one in the vein of the Amalgam title? That's something I could dig.
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Post by crawler0822 on Apr 12, 2008 22:25:11 GMT -5
How would that play out? "Untold Stories Of..." and then fill in the blank each issue?
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