Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "writing-a-sequel"

When I wrote Tales of the Dim Knight with my wife Andrea, it was originally intended as a one-shot novel.

In fact, when I wrote the original ending, it tied everything up nicely in a big bow that precluded the possibility of sequels and that ending was in the book until the last edits to the story in mid-to-late 2010.

However, as my wife and I talked about it, it became clear that the ending really was a problem. It a little too pat and a little too clunky and it really closed the door to any possibility of a sequel. It literally took the Johnson family two years down the road from after the end of the book with final conclusions for Marco, Leona Campbell, and all our other characters. It was almost too neat and too pat. So, we decided to end strong and leave the possibility of a sequel in place at the same time. There were a couple of things that made the Powerhouse sequels seem like a good project late Spring of this year.

From a marketing perspective, the big advice that I'd been reading is that series are the best way to go. In addition, I'd been getting good reaction, if I wasn't getting the volume of reaction that I'd hoped for. I thought if I could get a series together, this character might take off.

Second, I really have been watching more superhero stories and realize there's a lot more we can do. There are more things we can poke fun at. I thought we did a pretty exhaustive work in the first book. We covered superhero team ups, Captain America, Batman, heck even Underdog, but I think there was more to do.

Third, I think there's a lot more we can get out of these characters, so it made sense to write the sequels and I'm enjoying the process immensely.

Every good superhero story has to have an antagonist. When I began to do the new Powerhouse stories I knew I had to create a new line of villains. Most of Powerhouse's opponents from Tales of the Dim Knight had been dispatched one way or another. The one exception to this is the Invisibility Master, who does make an appearance in Powerhouse: Hard Pressed

There are many minor villains in the story from kidnappers to car thieves, those sort of throw away characters.

In the third book, I also begin to really play with some of the ineffectual supervillain wannabes that get attract to taking on Powerhouse such as The Boomerang Bloke and the Silver Medal.

However, these type of guys won't drive a story. For that, I needed someone who could sustain interest. For that I needed Mitch Farrow.

In many ways, Farrow is kind of prototypical outlook on villainy. Occasionally, I'll come up with a villain who is absolutely evil such as Colonel Dread in my "Rise of the Judge" stories, but I usually try to give my prime villain some humanity and some redeeming qualities.

Our main villain is Mitch Farrow and here's the scene where he's revealed from Powerhouse Flies Again:

Mitch Farrow slouched in a green metal office chair held together by duct tape. His Ebay auction filled the screen of his bulky, third-hand computer monitor. A fast food bag and an empty paper cola cup littered the buckled plywood desk that he also used as a kitchenette table. The green linoleum floor had missing patches. On his right the sink had four days worth of dishes piled in it and smelled of putrid water. The electric stove and refrigerator were cracked with paint peeling, as was the cabinets’ frou-frou blue paint.

He refreshed the Ebay auction on his screen. Thirty-five seconds to go. Come on, a few bucks more.

The auction ended at $315. He made a note in his ledger.

Not bad. This sale would put him at ninety bucks for the month once he paid his bills. He smirked and hummed “If I Were a Rich Man.”

He turned the monitor off, grabbed his newspaper off the kitchen counter, and strode to the eight foot square patch of carpet that passed for a living room. The taupe carpet was partially blackened from foot traffic and riddled with teeth marks from rats. He rearranged two red afghans over his gray recliner, covering where the stuffing was coming out while protecting his sensitive skin from the irritants ground hopelessly into it.

He settled into his chair and took a sniff of the newspaper. “Good old newsprint.” The only clean smelling thing in this dump. He smiled. Why sit there and read a bunch of lies and fabrications on the internet when he could read lies and fabrications in a good old American newspaper? He reached into the cigarette pack in his pocket, withdrew one of his blissful cancer sticks, and slipped it in his mouth.

No, Rosie needed him. Even with his life insurance, she and her mom wouldn’t make it without his alimony checks. He put the cigarette back in his pack. On the bright side, he was still worth more alive at the moment, he was down to two packs a week, and he’d be dead before he could get lung cancer from smoking anyway.

“Razzle Dazzle” played on the lace-covered cardboard box serving as an end table. He picked up his cell phone. “Hello, Farrow speaking.”

“Hi, this is Anne Falkenberg. The FDA just voted.”

Mitch held the phone tight. It was his attorney.

“They decided the drug needed more testing.”

Mitch dropped the phone and a stream of curse words left his mouth. He grabbed it. “It’s been used in Europe for five years.”

“I know this is disheartening. Understand, though, they’re just wanting to make sure that the drugs are safe and people are healthy.”

Mitch huffed a shallow breath. “None of them have AIDS. None of them have an ex-wife and daughter who have AIDS. This is what 235 years of democracy has produced in this country, a bureaucracy that fiddles while people waste away and die.”

“I know it’s frustrating.”

Mitch laughed. “Frustrating is when your DSL won’t work. Seeing your daughter suffer and knowing she and her mom are going to die like you are isn’t frustrating.”

Tears welled in his eyes. He clutched the receiver with a death grip.

“Mitch?”

“Anne, I’m hanging up. I know you did all you can, but I’ve got a lot of vinegar to spew.” He punched the red end call button, hurled his cell phone across the room, and let out a primal scream. He stared at the ceiling. “Why, God? If you’re there, why didn’t you let me die in the accident rather than get that accursed transfusion?”

What was he doing? That was silly and pathetic. Time for some meaningful, purposeful venting to the folks who read his website. No question he was going to blog about the FDA Nazis. Still, he should check and see what else was going on. He flipped through the classifieds and spotted:


Help Wanted: Cynic
Change the World
Great pay and benefits.
Send application to Box C, Seattle Guardian


He chuckled. If you need a cynic, I’m the man for the job.

From there, Farrow goes through the hiring process and learns that the job is working as CEO of Dorado Incorporated, a large corporation controlled by an inter dimensional alien named King Bel who wants to take over the Earth. When he does so, he promises to bring about a golden age. However to limit resistance to his invasion, he needs to foster public cynicism so people are less attached to the world as it is and less likely to resist and that's where Dorado Incorporated comes into play.

So Farrow's cured of AIDS and promised the same thing for his ex-wife and daughter when the invasion occurs. Farrow gets the job as CEO and he clashes with Powerhouse and become's Powerhouse's enemy because the Powerhouse's symbol of hope status clashes with Farrow's goals.

I also re-introduce Dr. Fournier in Rise of the Robolawyers. He'd played a minor role in Tales of the Dim Knight but he gets a much bigger part in the Adventures of Powerhouse series.