Credit Where Credit Is Due

In talking about my "epic" story tentatively entitled Astonishing Adventures, I realize now that I forgot one of the most important influences on my story; that is, Jackson Publick's The Venture Brothers.


In the first season, I had no idea how deeply thought out this show was. I thought it was just a hilarious parody on Hanna Barbara adventure cartoons, but as the series went on, it became a pastiche for all of the creator's odd interests.

In essence, the series premise comes down to this: What if the Hardy Boys were the sons of Johnny Quest who was the son of Doc Savage? Not only does it illustrate a wonderfully ironic deterioration of a once proud name, but it merges three disparate but similar mediums: pulp novels of the 1930s, cheap televised cartoons of the 1960s, and young adult paperbacks of the '70s and '80s. He has many clear analogues to some of Marvel Comics more... awkward characters including the flamboyantly macabre Dr. Strange, Eastern European dictator Dr. Doom, absent-minded professor and stretching man Mr. Fantastic, blaxploitation vampire hunter Blade, and the ineffectual shrinking Ant-Man.

But my favorite character... well, what do you get when you cross gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson with super-spy Nick Fury and real life FBI director and crossdresser J. Edgar Hoover? A paranoid, transsexual conspirator by the name of Hunter Gathers.

Once I was able to see the way the writers managed to let all of these very different kinds of stories merge into one cohesive world, it became a lot easier to figure out how to do it myself.

Another big influence is Warren Ellis' Planetary. This very serious, realistically rendered comic book is a dark homage to the history of modern fantasy-adventure. The story follows three super-powered detective working for an extremely wealthy, private, worldwide investigation network (called Planetary) which investigates abnormal activity. Aside from references to Marvel and DC Comics, it is filled with references to Tarzan, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, the Shadow, and Monster Island (home of Tojo Studio's giant Tokyo attacking monsters). Rather than becoming one dimensional heroes and villains, the characters in this series range from bitter and contemptuous to monstrously cruel.


Of all the stories I've read or watched, I would say my story most resembles Planetary... and I would be concerned about being unoriginal, but Ellis' book is a nostalgic look back and an attempt to recontextualize old pop culture. They are archeologists uncovering a history with the spirit of a twelve-year-old discovering his dad's old comics in the attic. With Astonishing Adventures, I want more of a sense of immediacy by making the reader live with this history rather than just look back on it. I want to try to recreate not only the types of characters and stories, but the period itself by creating a historical context in which to view these figures, so that the story is not just about "What do these stories mean?" but "What do they mean to this period of our history?"

Furthermore, in reading Alan Moore's (right) introduction to Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Moore brought up an interesting point. You see, Hellboy, if you haven't read the comic, uses old inspiration from old style fairy tales from the Brother's Grimm and earlier. The kind with witches eating the meat off of the bones of children or spirits trading wishes for body parts. What Moore says is that the brilliance of Mike Mignola's approach is that he doesn't try to recreate the stories how they actually were but rather how we remember them to be. This is something I keep in mind when working on this story.

In writing, it is better to feel authentic than to be authentic. Creative writing is not about facts, but about truth. The appeal to the gut is more important than an appeal to the head. You can get the facts straight and put in all the anal "nuances" later.

Because reading Golden Age comics is hard. Honestly. The dialog is flat. The characters are dimensionless. The stories are beyond ludicrous. Oh, and the racism and sexism would be nauseating if it weren't so funny... and then sometimes it is just nauseating. But you read modern comics based on characters created sixty or seventy years ago, you look at the cool interpretations that writers have devised over the years, you become accustomed to more complex storytelling, and you want there to be some great and sophisticated history to these characters.

Well, find an itch and scratch it. It's a rule of business that is just as true for writers as it is for prostitutes. Since I can't find any great, epic, World War II action stories, I'll just have to write my own.

PS - It's worth noting that I'm not the only one thinking about World War II superheroes right now. The upcoming Captain America film is to be set during World War II, and superb comic book writer James Robinson is writing a Justice Society of America story to be set in the same period.



Come to think of it, the Justice Society of America (precursors to the Justice League of America) were actually another form of inspiration for this series. The series featured a collection of B-list mystery men who fought mostly on the homefront, but also at war. It occurred to me that, since it has few individually marketable characters, it could easily be made into a great "superheroes in World War II" movie, particularly with the Golden Age Sandman whose gas mask and trenchcoat always give him more of a hip steampunk look than his garish companions. (Sidenote: Despite being the most well-known and powerful of the group, Wonder Woman served as the JSA's secretary. Ah, sexism.)