Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Crossover Idea

Only got a few minutes to drop this out there. This is only a proposal, mind you! I want to know what you guys think or can build off.

I think the "war" theme is starting to wear on fans. Civil War, World War Hulk, Silent War, etc. It's getting a little heavy, so I want to try a different tact.

What have we NOT seen the Marvel heroes really go up against? Mother nature. Oh, sure, they've disappated the odd storm, or tidal wave or what have you, but not mother nature IN ALL HER FURY. What if they had to deal with a sudden, literally seismic shift of the tectonic plates? You'd have earthquakes all over, water rushing in where there wasn't any before, possible new volcanos cropping up, old "dormant" volcanos suddenly blowing up, mud slides, rain storms... the works. How do the heroes deal with that unilaterally? How much can Storm do to prevent disasters? What does Spider-Man do during an earthquake in NYC? That's what I'm thinking for a one or two issue "event" - unique title with a solid creative team just showcasing the actual BOOM moment(s).

Then, the tie-ins can be (up to you guys whether you want to tie into it or not, or for how long) how your heroes deal with the immediate aftermath, and perhaps what happens in specific locations. Does California just break away from the US or does it sink into the ocean? What happens to Japan? Do looters/super-villains take advantage of disruptions in security systems -- either at the prisons they're held at, or the banks they try to rob? Does Dr. Doom try to step in and get government contracts to rebuild?

Just a proposal, like I said. Allows for lots of individual flexibility per title; doesn't necessarily pit hero against hero, but could; lots of location possibilities; fairly (IMHO) new idea for the Marvel Universe... but this by no means The Sean Show or anything. If you guys don't like it, or don't think it'd work, we can still look at other options.

More later.

5 comments:

Philip Schaeffer said...

This is an interesting idea. It's not arch, but I think that's your point. I could very easily work this into my Defenders stuff; this could be the cataclysm that the Defenders can successfully deal with and the Avengers could fumble, leading to a shift in public opinion etc. Demonstrate that the Defenders can help rebuild several parts of the third world and the Americans flub handling NYC (ala Hurricane Katrina).

This hasn't been done before at Marvel but is somewhat similar to the events that kicked off Batman: No Man's Land. Still, as evidenced by the facts that I'm a crossover junkie and can easily integrate it into my current plans, I'm happy to fully support developing this plan and will volunteer to edit the mini , if you're asking someone to.

Michael Heide said...

Reminds me of the first issue of Mighty Avengers, but on a larger scale. But would this be enough to win readers over? What's behind it all? Who's behind it all?

Philip Schaeffer said...

Maybe I was misinterpreting Sean's pitch, but it sounded to me like this was more of a wrath of god story, that there wasn't anything or anybody behind it.

Mother nature periodically steps in and reminds us that she's boss. The story would be about that humbling and (if I had my druthers) would be about the Defenders becoming the go to team to save the whole world.

Anonymous said...

The crossover idea is pretty cool, but one thing you guys should have in mind: Marvel just end a crossover without a villain (sort of), readers might react badly to another one. Also this is somewhat similar to DC's late 90's let's redeem Hal Jordan's crossover Final Night and that was a huge flop.

Anonymous said...

It was a flop? Most of the DC fans I've talked with over the years think of Final Night as one of DC's best 90's crossovers. Aside from the lame Hal Jordan stuff, it was a great characters story where the heroes faced something that truely seemed unbeatable.