The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

Sometimes a story works well when given in small doses. You get in, you get out, you enjoy the shit out of it and you fondly remember that time. Short stories can punch you in the gut far greater than some bloated novels will try. Snappy songs in two minutes can be better than some rock opera opus’ in certain situations. Not to say I don’t appreciate the long form, I hope to work in it one day, but sometimes you just want a quick little liaison.

Comics do short form very well, at times. Stan Lee started off with Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Doctor Strange as support titles and they worked in little punches. Recently, Ann Nocenti did a Daredevil short in the #500 anniversary that kicked serious ass. It was short and sweet and made a big impression with many readers.

Sometimes readers want a done-in-one story and shorts are even better for this. Recently, Marvel Comics put out Strange Tales that had indie creators doing little off-the-wall stories that reached a certain amount of critical acclaim. It was cool to get a nice short story and be able to move on. And thus comes my latest Marvel proposal.

Family Anthology Books, what are they? Well, recently, Joe Quesada had spoken of taking a break from major crossover events and instead working on more small-scale family events. Each Marvel character or title is a family of books; X-books, Avengers books, cosmic books. They all sort of work together but can be enjoyed alone. I love the idea of doing smaller family oriented stories, it’s great, but I wonder how they will be done. Hence, I come in with the save.

A Family Anthology book would be a series of short stories based around a family title. It could be priced $3.99 and run 32-40 pages with each character, or family member, getting 8-10 pages. You could get a wider degree of talent to work within it because if they are only being asked to write/draw 8-10 pages which is feasible. They can fit it into their schedule. The characters might not also have enough juice to carry their own on-going, or even mini, but within one book that people will want to read 1, 2, 3, or even 4 of the characters shown then you have a slightly better chance of selling the idea to the reader. I picked up Strange Tales #1 from Marvel because I read good reviews and certain parts looked good. I picked up the second issue purely to get my hands on those Hickman propaganda posters for the Heralds of Galactus. Sometimes it’s worth stepping out even when you don’t want it all. I bought Wednesday Comics from DC even though certain strips didn’t grab me, but some surely did. I also bought the #900 anniversary issue of Deadpool purely because of the writer talent engaged, such as Jason Aaron and Duane Swierczynski. I certainly bought the Immortal Weapons one shots because they’re all cool characters, and the writers attached mostly interested me.

If you have an anthology title with four characters from the one family title, and you attach good writers and artists who can fit the pages into their schedule, then you up the chances for a wide degree of buyers to sample things, especially with variations between a four part story and the odd done-in-one story, and the readers might then bleed into the main family title, or the main family title readers will source these out.

I honestly feel that Marvel should consider this instead of giving out random mini’s to characters that won’t carry their own titles, and we’ve seen plenty of characters get their four issues of fame, but I’d rather see them in something like this where the odds of being pleased are much higher. These guys aren’t heavy hitters, yet, but we’re not completely happy with them just as supporting players. So, we bring them into their own in a safe environment. Lately, we have seen a lot of Dark Reign mini’s, and other mini’s, so what do we now do with Elektra, Sinister Spider-Man, Ares, Beta Ray Bill, Bullseye, Daken, etc? So here’s my proposal, I’ll attach possible stories, just to show you how cool the characters could be, and possible talent to lure in for each.

Daredevil Family: Black Tarantula, Dakota North, Bullseye, Elektra

Black Tarantula - He’s in The Hand with new friend and ally, Matt Murdock. He’s also Murdock’s new right hand man and there are many within The Hand that don’t appreciate Carlos LaMuerto being given the free ride. A ninja with a serious green eye tries to set up Carlos and take him down by pitting him against a new native American ninja named Marlowe. It would follow Black Tarantula across rooftops of New York and the different Hand headquarters as he tries to keep the House of Murdock in order by shedding the blood that Murdock doesn’t particularly want to do himself.
Written by Brian K Vaughan and drawn by Clay Mann
Dakota North - Dakota was a model turned PI who seriously needs to get her noir on. She’s hit the first mark of darkness, she’s been bedded by Matt Murdock, that’s always a troublesome time in any female’s life. Now Dakota has lost her man, her work situation kind of sucks, and she’s the other woman, or at least was. She loves Murdock, who doesn’t?, and now he’s gone into the ninja cult, The Hand. Dakota can visit the comatose Milla Donovan, Murdock’s insane ex-wife, to atone for her sins against her, but then get attcked. Who would want to attack Donovan, and why? It’s most likely a gambit to get to Murdock and so Dakota is going to have to work out exactly what is happening as she gets caught in the middle. Perfect point to bring in Man-Bull as a thug (he still sees himself as the bull when plastic surgery has actually made him slightly suave looking) for someone bigger, maybe Purple Man, maybe not…
Written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Sean Phillips
Bullseye - He chews up the scenery wherever he goes and there’s no doubt he’s a fan favourite. But, he’s the bad guy and so will never get his own title, being a lead of Dark Avengers is about as big as he will ever get, sadly. But here, in a few pages a month, we can see him do his thing as good as he does. We could follow him hounding out underground S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for Osborn and getting involved with some crazy, decommissioned Stark-tech madness, or if Dark Reign in over, then we have Bullseye going back to the old costume and just tearing it up across New York in a bid to be known again as who he is. He’d be a prime suspect to target Milla Donovan, but he could also gain the attention of Winter Soldier, because I think that would be an awesome confrontation.
Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Justin Greenwood
Elektra - She was the leader of The Hand. She’s kidnapped by Skrulls, replaced by them, made to look a fool, and then comes back to find that her old love, the perfect Matt Murdock, is the new leader of The Hand. How confusing must that be for her? So she’ll go undercover in The Hand, not letting anyone know it’s her, so we are looking for a change of costume to stay low-key, and she will rally the troops who want to drop Murdock off the top rung of their ninja ladder. She will then slaughter all of those people because nobody messes with Murdock on her watch.
Written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Chris Bachalo

I love Daredevil so obviously his family gets the Family Anthology treatment first from me, but tell me if you’re a DD fan that you wouldn’t buy this thing. It’s got four pretty different characters and could pull those stars in to write/draw. I would absolutely, certainly, shell out for this title.

Iron Fist Family: Iron Fist, Steel Serpent, Misty Knight, Fat Cobra

Iron Fist - I’ll put him here just because so many people seem concerned that he can’t carry his own title unless it’s getting Eisner noms under dream team of Fraction/Brubaker/Aja. I still have faith, but otherwise we’ll place him in here and make the Family Anthology the main Fist book. So, what’s the story? I’d rather focus on Danny Rand a little bit at first, perhaps him putting his House of Rand back in order but coming up against some static from an unknown source who sends a few heavy hitters at him, a great place to develop and expand the Rand Rogue’s Gallery. I also think that Danny Rand himself needs a bit more screen time, not just his glowing fist.
Written by Duane Swierczynski and draw by Michael Lark
Steel Serpent - Have Davos in K’un-L’un looking after the egg of Shou-Lao but then finding that there’s a hidden HYDRA agent there to steal certain elements, maybe the new egg, from the mystical city and who actually gets away with them. Davos then finds out that Nick Fury also has a hidden person in K’un-L’un, and pretty much always has, and that person goes with Davos back into Earth to track down HYDRA and kick some ass. It’s a race for Davos to get to some HYDRA people because they don’t know yet that he’s not still with them. The last time they met all carded HYDRA agents ended up well and truly dusted. It’s the one headed serpent vs the serpent who’ll constantly grow more heads, and limbs. It’s spy fu and who doesn’t want that.
Written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by David Aja
Misty Knight - I like Misty Knight as a character, and it’s always nice to include awesome female characters within comics. Misty could be shown in a story that will show her kick some serious ass and take some names, all while chewing bubble gum, while her supplies are still high. She’s being targeted by crooked cops who don’t like that she busted one of their own years ago. They think she has information about their ’score’ but she doesn’t remember anything. She’ll work to undercover what information she was apparently passed by this dirty cop she booked years before, and who then went on to die gruesomely in jail and not give him intel to this mates. It’s a more straight up crime tales, but with a sexy and angry bird with an afro and a bionic arm.
Written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Roberto De La Torre
Fat Cobra - I almost think he could carry his own title, but to be safe we’ll let his blubber float first in this medium. What could you or couldn’t you do with Fat Cobra. I’d have him looking for one of his children from his many dangerous liaisons and have him drawn into an underground fight fu club. From there let the wenching, fighting, and punning begin.
Written by Dan Slott and drawn by Mitch Breitweiser

Iron Fist may not be a big enough character to support a Family Anthology, but then this might just be the best way to keep Iron Fist afloat.

Fantastic Four Family: Dr Doom, Sue Storm, Silver Surfer, Johnny Storm

Dr Doom - He’s another scenery chewer who’ll never get his own on-going, but he certainly knocked it out of the park when written well. Who doesn’t like a smug royal bad guy who wears a mask made of metal. I’d have Doom smack bang in the middle of New York and working on looking into a Latverian political nightmare. Some Latverian embassy schlub has gone on a MGH rampage of wenches, drugs, smack talk and pseudo-violence across the city and Doom doesn’t like how bad he is looking for the press its garnering. Doom will hit every hell hole in the city, including a great conversation with Turk in Josie’s Bar that is sure to be a laugh. Hell, I’d make it a full 8 page story. Give Doom the pomp behind him and he’s always interesting.
Written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Alex Maleev
Sue Storm - She’s hot, she’s smart, she’s invisible, she’s a mother, and she’s interesting, when you give her the time. Her gift is insanely powerful if used correctly. I’m not sure whether you should play this one for laughs, or a bit more serious, but it certainly wouldn’t be gritty. I’d have Sue stumbling through some of Reed’s inventions as she goes through a spring clean. She’ll set one off and an alien will suddenly appear in the Baxter Building, summoned from somewhere. Then Sue has to deal with it and keep her children safe, if indeed the alien is a menace, or just misunderstood. I can just picture Reed walking in and Sue making the alien invisible to hide it from him because she is determined to keep it a secret so that she can solve it herself. Of course once she turns around the alien is gone.
Written by Mike Carey and drawn by Skottie Young
Silver Surfer - He’s a silver guy who can planet hop on a silver surfboard. I’m thinking a surfing version of a road trip. Let him explore the galaxy. Give him space to breathe, maybe have him come across a planet of people intent on making their planet champion, decided via gladiatorial and scientific battle, the next herald of Galactus. What does Silver Surfer do in this situation? How do the planet view him, competition or guide?
Written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Lee Furguson
Johnny Storm - He’s a bit of a playboy, he’s a friend of Spider-Man and Daredevil, or at least has been in the past. I always think of Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil issue where Johnny goes into the bar to act all tough, but he’s not, he’s a lovable goon. So let’s have the life and times of Johnny Storm work for a bit of a laugh, and bit more of the character getting some room to breathe. I want to see Johnny getting stalked by two different girls, but then working out that there’s a third woman, and she’s really not happy, and a little unhinged, in a PG rated way, and she slowly circles in on Johnny to show how much she loves him. She’s watching him via webcams hidden in his room and following him when he leaves the house. Then Johnny needs to meet a girl who takes his breathe away, and he has to save her from this crazy woman tracking him.
Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Stephen Sanders

The Fantastic Four Family Anthology could be more kid-centric and really open up the FF universe. Plus it’ll give readers that Silver Surfer story they always say they want.

There are plenty of other Family Anthology books that could be pitched. The essence of them is that you have a diverse amount of reading material to engage the reader and a wide pool of talent to excite them as well. If a reader is a fan of Daredevil then there’s a very good chance they’ll pick up the DD Family Anthology. And for those that don’t the title is liable to pull in a few other interested readers just through talent names associated alone. So the sale numbers would still be up around what the basic title is, if not helping to draw new readers in, as it won’t cost the main title any readers, in theory.

Family Anthology books can be published once a month for four months and then a hiatus taken while another family gets their anthology, with perhaps two Family Anthology books running concurrently. This is a serious proposal and I think it warrants merit for Marvel Comics to consider. Though it means that each character won’t get their own mini, I think this method would get people back into reading it in monthly format, much like DC did with their weekly Wednesday Comics. You want your hit as soon as it hits the shelves.

Here are some other Family Anthology suggestions, and think about how excited you would be to see these characters come together in the one book.

Thor Family: Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Ares, Loki

These are all fan favourite characters who can’t carry their own story, plus we get the chance for a few Loki stories to be told, and he’s always interesting to watch play.

X-Men Family: Cannonball, Angel, Nightcrawler, Beast

These four characters were chosen by me because I find them interesting and there is plenty to do with them, but you could just as easily sub in any others that people want to see, or even rotate every few months with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, etc. It’s an X-title so it’s bound to start strong, and I’d possibly even lead with this one, though the appeal of starting with a family that is not already saturated with titles is not to be underestimated.

Captain America Family: Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Red Skull, Crossbones

Captain America has a great supporting cast and they could easily carry an anthology title. Hell, they did just carry a Cap book for quite some time without Captain America himself appearing at all. I remember Mark Gruenwald used to do little back up stories when he wrote Cap and one centered around Crossbones and his brainwashing of Diamondback and it was a fascinating little story to get in short doses. Plus, here again we have the opportunity to focus a bit more on the bad guys because it’s not the entire book.

Monster Family: Werewolf By Night, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Tomb of Dracula

The idea of a nice genre anthology coming out is a nice idea. It won’t sell as well as the others, but it will scratch an itch that many fans are looking for. More and more Marvel fans are defecting to other publishers who will give them a more diverse range of genre options.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Family - Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Dum Dum Dugan, HYDRA

I am not sure if I’m the only one who thinks it, but S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA are absolutely fascinating story elements. Both have great costumes, both have great weapons and gadgets, and both have that spy arena that is open to all sorts of little stories. I’d like to see Dum Dum Dugan written so that we see a bit more of his character now, instead of him standing around like some Irish stereotype. Nick Fury would obviously draw many readers in, Maria Hill can be made a good read, as we’ve seen recently, and HYDRA is an untapped resource that I am going to see written about by hook or by crook.

Mystic Family: Doctor Voodoo, Doctor Strange, Dormammu, Wiccan

Another genre outing, but fans keep asking for a Strange on going, but it never seems like it is going to happen, and rightfully so. Don’t provide a book that ultimate won’t sell, but an anthology, with other characters to support, is a safer bet. I’d also love to see a Dormammu story, I think that would be insanely cool.

These are just some ideas that I feel would draw readers in. I haven’t even touched on the Avengers Family, the Spider-Man Family, the Cosmic Family. The possibilities are wide and varied and I think that a lot of readers would support these titles if they were given quality talent and well structured stories. This could be a new line for Marvel and a great way to give fans what they want in smaller characters getting their own stories instead of simply being scenery dressing.

Enjoy.

Posted on December 9th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under: Uncategorized