The Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-man Board Game from Milton Bradley greatly expanded my love of Ditko (a name I didn’t know), and the Fantastic Four, and the Spider-man rogues in general. Along with Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and of course Hulk, as mentioned in my previous post, they were my first Marvel Super Heroes. Her cartoon assures Spider-Woman the tenth spot in my quest to discover Marvel Heroes. I saw Matt Murdock and a color-separated image of him thinking about, but not Being, Daredevil. It had to be within a few weeks of that when I saw the macabre cover of Amazing Spider-Man #220, with Moon Knight. I didn't get to read much of it, but I did read the Aunt May back-up story! That cover creeped me out good. I saw it a couple of times and felt like someone had walked across my grave, seeing Spider-Man in a coffin like that. And then, the number of super-heroes I could identify would double in one month. The two issues I schemed to buy for myself each featured a sup...

The story goes, a motorcycling youth fresh from a stint traveling with the carnival came to New York City, all of 20, 21, hoping to join Marvel Comics Group. David Anthony Kraft arrived with counter-cultural rebellion and a head full of imagination. His high school years spent reading science fiction paper backs in the back of the classroom led straight to a professional status: he took the initiative and inquired about becoming estate executor to pulp writer Otis Adelbert Kline! (I discovered Kline's initials presented as OAK and wondered if that wasn't the inspiration for the "DAK" nomenclature.) Science fiction writer Leigh Brackett (who famously drafted The Empire Strikes Back script) and Marvel's Stan Lee were also formative influences. Fictioneer also published hard back editions of Jack London, Frank Baum, the autobiography of A.E. van Vogt, Robert E. Howard, and E. Hoffmann Price, a colorful ex-soldier and pulp writer who became an early ...

Here's a rough synopsis with notes for the Braband/ Disharoon concept of Mystic Order Of Defenders. Yesterday's post introduces Devil-Slayer's powers and mission, depicting the gangs, receiving deadly guns from an ATF U.S. official on a stormy Mexican night. The cold open continues the narrative with Devil-Slayer. He’s teleporting in and senses he is not the only stalker of these hallways (soon identified as a sanitarium). He throws on a white doctor's coat, and makes a phone call to the police concerning a tip he got through his volunteer clinic, and suggests the location where he has just fought the gun-smugglers. Possibly, we also introduce Vera Gemini’s twin, Marie, a recovering patient. Joe has the notion of a sighting causing Eric Simon Payne to doubt who he has under lock and key at his sanitarium, after all, that is, which twin, and we’ll ponder this for the next draft. An attack meant to terrorize the patients of Payne’s medical facility in the night cou...

Action cold opening, first. Here we introduce: Devil Slayer, the gangs, and their terrible secret. With this scenario, we telescope all elements necessary to connect the audience with this brand new, unknown character. So: Tijuana, B.C. two poor boys, dark hair, eyes, skin, one a head taller than the other, play soccer in a muddy lot outside in moonlight beside warehouse. The smaller boy turns his back to kick the ball up on his heel, then tries a bicycle kick pass. The kick sends the ball over the other boy’s head, but the bicycle-kicking boy vanishes, for no reason we can see; his playmate chases the ball, and dribbles it back towards where his friend should be---where is he? A man appears, spreads his cape in the silhouette, and the boy hears “don’t be afraid” in his head. He sees a grim pair of brown eyes, the cloak folds over them both, whipping with a life of its own, and the boy suddenly appears four blocks away, beside his startled friend. They watch in wonder as a man ...

As fun as it is to do a radical story with a bunch of nearly-forgotten Marvel comics characters (the best ideas are for a completely forgotten one, basically), just wait until you see what we make when playtime's over. Here's Joe Devil-Slayer: Considering some of the things that DS has pulled out of thin air, including an "Anti-Matter Mace", yeah, I think that there must be something more than what-meets-the-eye when it comes to the Shadow Cloak. It would be interesting to explore DS powering up to pull something that could prove more of a threat than mere steel. Not too crazy about him pulling tons of firearms out of there, but, as in all comics, some things one writer tosses out there can be ignored by another. Considering Payne's powers were taught to him by an infernal cult and he does spend his time killing earthbound demons, he might view himself as tainted. I think trying to find a good use to them and helping other heroes transcend their own personal dem...

Never heard of Devil Slayer? Well, that's our point!!! When he's not editing award-winning programs for the Pentagon, my college pal Joe Braband, a fine artist by training, loves a creative challenge for its own sake. My recent thoughts to revive the Defenders as a movie-ready renewed franchise---but first and foremost, a fun and intriguing story--- led me to dig into B and C list characters that aren't really busting any blocks, so to speak. I chose Devil Slayer in particular because my friend seemed to have an affinity for this obscure character, much like my enjoyment of, say, Machine Man. His pitch for developing the character is Awesome Sauce. Here's his rejoinder to the return of Vera Gemini (thanks, Patti Smith) and Devil Slayer. Hit it, Joe! I think it is important for a writer to understand the characters that he's going to write before writing, especially in the case of those who have significant backgrounds that can be harvested for some really great...