Jim Shooter's Blog, page 3

Action Comics

This comment got me into full honking mode:

srp has left a new comment on your post "Regarding What Has Gone Before and a Modest Propos...":

With regard to the earlier discussion of writing and decompression (much of which I agree with), I would like to emphasize a particular pet peeve about modern superhero comics: Lousy action sequences.

To me, action sequences in a superhero comic are like musical numbers in a musical or fight scenes in a martial arts movie. They are not disposable interludes that can be kissed off to advance the story. You'd think, in a decompressed environment dominated by fanboy aesthetics, that the action sequences in modern comic books would be awesome. But they aren't, in what I consider a lamentable lack of craftsmanship.

Typical fight scenes now lack clear spatial relations, identifiable figures, logical and continuous flow across panels, and any semblance of consistency in who wins and why. All the characters are superimposed on each other in melee fashion with no sense of perspective. Mutant comics seem to be the worst offenders these days, but it's a pervasive problem. (Something similar has happened in the movies, with many action films using quick-cut close-ups during fight scenes that make it difficult to tell what's going on, but it doesn't always happen.)

Lack of attention to superhero action scenes undermines sales to both the youth/new-user market and the established older market, since what is cool about superheroes, especially of the Silver Age type, is their distinctive visual and kinetic properties. I don't mind the later "realistic" style that stressed winning with the first blow and mostly portrayed mismatches (e.g. Ellis and Moore) because a) there's a certain logic to those choices, since even super people wouldn't tend to pick fights they might not win and b) they usually depicted these swift battles in a clear and compelling visual manner. But if you're decompressing, a long, high-quality set of battle scenes seems like a legitimate mode of storytelling because one thing superheroes are ABOUT is the skillful exercise of their powers under stress.

I suspect that modern creators take a somewhat "adolescent" attitude toward action sequences--they don't want to be seen as "childish" by playing up the fantasy aspect of the characters, preferring to dwell on various extrinsic shock stimuli to seem more "adult." But getting to see Iron Man use his resourcefulness to figure out and defeat the Raiders for an issue (to take a typical mediocre example rather than a classic) was a lot more entertaining and satisfying than much of what gets printed now.

Posted by srp to Jim Shooter at January 11, 2012 7:44 PM 

I absolutely agree. Too many writers leave the action scenes entirely up to the artist. The scene description often is two words: "They fight." The writer takes a few pages off, the artist draws, generally what he or she likes to draw, often the easiest thing to draw, and with relentless consistency, what you end up with is two people punching. No choreography, no innovative use of powers.  No use of powers at all, often, except strength and durability.
I always write the action scenes carefully. I try to think it through. If a character can fly and strike from a distance, is he or she really going to get into a bare knuckle fistfight on the ground? I think about how the characters would use their powers to best advantage, and whether there's some new, logical application of power that I can show. I try to work out each move and make sure the characters' positions make sense, that the in-betweens are easily imaginable, and that the movements flow realistically.
Then the artist ignores what I wrote and draws nonsense. Or butchers it. Or otherwise screws it up. Every once in a while, they actually do what I ask. Once in a long time, an artist will actually add a thought, an insight or two.
Here's a bad example of really bad action storytelling. Sorry, Sanford Greene:

Here's the script:
PAGE FIVE:
(…)
Panel 6:
Scene: Full figure on INVISIBLE KID, though only the top half of his figure can be seen—i.e., he's becoming visible. Make it very clear that he's on the Central Temple Terrace, but no need to show Ikilles, Light Lass, et al. IK's facing them, and our POV is facing IK—i.e., Ikilles, Light Lass et al are behind the camera. FYI, IK's about 40 feet away from Ikilles, here. Some Ikonns may be seen in the background, but none too close to IK, please. It should be clear that no one is in position to clock IK on the back of the head and take him down.
IMPORTANT: Invisible Kid has, in his non-Flight Ring-hand, the PIECE OF BARK that was described in Panel 2 of Page Nine of last issue and picked up by IK in Panel 4 on the same page. The Piece of Bark has a Magsteel Vine looped around it. Too hard to describe. Here's a sketch: The Magsteel Vine extends off panel to either side of IK (and is securely tied to the Fallen Statues—see Panel 3 of Page Sixteen).
CAPTION(near Invisible Kid)
Invisible KidHomeworld: EarthInvisibility and imperceptibility
INVISIBLE KID
Hold it!
INVISIBLE KID
Ikilles! Surrender now…or I'll kick your scut first and your crew's next.
(…)
Panel 3:
Scene: Cut to Velmar V. Long shot of the Terrace of the Central Temple to establish the huge, FALLEN STATUES to either side of the Terrace, as described in Panel 1 of Page Six of #43:

"IMPORTANT: There are two huge, toppled statues on street level very close to the Central Temple's Terrace, one on either side. We'll be using them as props later. Make them especially massive."

It's okay to crop the Statues, as long as it's clear what they are. Also establish the tableau—Invisible Kid is calling out Ikilles.  Remember, IK isn't close to Ikilles (or any other Ikonn) at this juncture.  Remember also all the stuff on the Terrace—bound prisoners, various wreckage, Ikonns, Slaves, party stuff and, of course, the Central Temple. You don't have to draw all of that, but remember that it's there, and include whatever would logically be seen in the shot you choose. In my scribble of this, I shot from just below Terrace level—that is, you can't see the floor of the terrace, but you can see people standing on it sticking up—with one Fallen Statue close, cropped, in the foreground and the other partially visible at the far end of the Terrace. The advantage of that was that, with one Fallen Statue close to the POV, I could clearly show that the Magsteel Vine was securely wrapped around it several times and tied. But whatever. Please do it your way. Be brilliant. As usual.
(NOTE: The ends of the Magsteel Vine Invisible Kid swiped before are securely fastened around the huge Fallen Statues to either side of the Terrace. What we're setting up here is this: IK intends for Ikilles to get close to him, and therefore into position roughly between the Fallen Statues, whereupon IK will fly upwards and let the amazing vector-gravity power of his Flight Ring pull the Statues up into the air with him. Once the Statues are high enough to clear the edge of the Terrace, they'll CLAP TOGETHER and smash Ikilles. The thick, strong, metallic Piece of Bark is to protect IK's hand from the Magsteel Vine. If the Vine was against IK's bare hand, it would simply rip through his flesh and bone rather than raise the huge Statues.)
CAPTION
Velmar V.
INVISIBLE KID
Well, Ikilles…? Are you going to fight me…? Or are you a chickamouse?
Panel 4:
Scene: Focus on Ikilles, talking sotto voce with Sadistic Ikonn, established in Panel 6 of Page Three. Other Ikonns might be seen in the background. This is a somewhat tense situation, even though it's just Invisible Kid confronting them, so any Ikonns seen are tense and poised to act, waiting for orders. Ikilles, however, looks calm, almost amused. Sadistic Ikonn looks eager for blood. 
SADISTIC IKONN(quietly)
Another Legionnaire?
IKILLES(quietly)
Yeah. He's called Invisible Kid. He must have some stupid trick planned. Get your gunners ready.
IKILLES (3rd)(quietly)
I'll play along till they're in position. He'll probably turn invisible, so when I give the signal, pattern-blast the whole area.
Panel 5:
Scene: Ikilles has strolled toward Invisible Kid—but has paused several meters away, being cautious but looking casual. IK is tense, ready. He's not stupid. He can guess that snipers are getting into position—and if you can give a hint of that, terrific.
IMPORTANT: IK has placed the Piece of Bark with the Magsteel Vine wrapped around it on his Flight Ring hand so the ring is pressed firmly against the inside of the Bark.
INVISIBLE KID
That's close enough.
IKILLES
Why? Are you a chickamouse?
INVISIBLE KID (2nd)
Nah, you're just…close enough.
Panel 6:
Scene: Action shot. And a little complicated. What else is new?  : ) Invisible Kid is soaring straight up into the air, his ring hand held out in front of him rather than directly above him, to keep the Magsteel Vine away from his body. The Magsteel Vine is still slack, at this point, draped out toward the Statues, but will soon go taut. Ikilles is yelling "Fire," and a bunch of Ikonn gunners are firing at the general area where IK had been a fraction of a second ago, so that anything in that general vicinity (including above where IK was standing) would have been hit. IK, at this point is just above the highest of the ray blasts; i.e., they just miss him, or possibly just graze his foot—harmlessly, thanks to good ol' Carmine. Make it seem that if he'd waited a split second longer to act, he would be a cinder.
IKILLES
Fire!

PAGE SEVENTEEN:
Panel 1:
Scene: IK reaches the right altitude. The right altitude would be just a few meters more than half the width of the Terrace (and therefore, half the distance between the two Fallen Statues). The immense Fallen Statues have been drawn into the air above the floor-level of the Terrace and just starting to swing, each one toward the center like two pendulums attached to the same pivot. Ikilles is realizing, too late, what's about to happen. Make it clear!
IKILLES
Oh, florg.
Panel 2:
Scene: The massive, ruined, Fallen Statues CLAP TOGETHER on Ikilles with tremendous force. These things are huge. So we probably can't see much of Ikilles here. Maybe just a hand sticking out, to indicate that he's being mashed between them? Whatever. Again, make it clearclearclear what is happening. E-mail me a sketch? 
SFX
KLLNNGG
Panel 3:
Scene: The Fallen Statues would rebound a little, one would assume, so thoroughly-busted-up, unconscious, ain't getting'-around-much-for-a-while Ikilles is visible lying on the Terrace between them, his body a bleeding skin-bag full of mashed flesh and bone shards. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but you get my drift.  : ) Please shoot this from above Invisible Kid, looking down past him to see the aftermath of what just happened, including bunged-up Ikilles. Any Ikonns seen should be momentarily in shock, stupefied by this turn of events. IK has unwrapped the Magsteel Vine from around the Piece of Bark and has dropped the Vine, which is cascading down toward Ikilles. IMPORTANT: IK is keeping the Piece of Bark (because, FYI, it has a message from Karate Kid scrawled on it).
NOTE: Oh, by the way, all mashed-flesh-bone-shard kidding aside, Ikilles will be back someday. Very peeved.
INVISIBLE KID
I love the laws of pendular motion.
Panel 4:
Scene: Cut to where Light Lass is bound. Cropped figures, medium close on LLass's guard, Gunner 1, and seen past him or her, LLass. We should have a good look at their faces. The very thorough flattening …heh…of Ikilles has distracted Gunner 1, who is looking up agape at Invisible Kid, above and off panel, and has stupidly allowed his or her nasty-looking weapon's muzzle to drift slightly away from LLass for a second—that is, it's no longer stuck into LLass's ribs or neck, and isn't quite pointed at her. She's looking at Gunner 1 with an angry, fierce, determined expression one wouldn't expect from a drop-down-dead beautiful girl, which goes with what she's thinking—now that the gun isn't on her, this is her chance! Snarrrllll…. 
GUNNER 1(totally shocked)
He…felled Ikilles…!


And another one. This one is a fistfight. Atom Girl had been established by Mark Waid and others as being bothered by her small stature and compensating by being over-aggressive and feisty:

Panel 2:
Scene: Cut to inside the Flagship. Establish the FLAGSHIP BRIDGE. The Flagship Bridge would be larger and more spacious than the other command decks we've seen. I see it as about the same size as the bridge of the Enterprise on Star Trek. There are five people on the Flagship Bridge: the COMMODORE, the FIRST OFFICER, the HELMSMAN, the NAVIGATOR and the COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER. The Commodore is female and human. She's a 30-something, 5' 11", athletic, strong-looking, handsome woman. She's attractive in her robust-figured way. She's not quite the over-the-top specimen that Cazhmir (Big Barda, She-Hulk) is, but she's imposing. I see her as something like Laila Ali, (who's 5' 10") though the Commodore is Caucasian, of Ukrainian descent, as we'll find out later. We'll be seeing her again, so please make her groovy:


The Navigator is a female, humanoid alien. The rest are human, all male. Only the Commodore is a continuing character.
NOTE: The First Officer, ala Mr. Spock, can be standing. The Navigator and Communications Officer should be seated at stations that look appropriate to their functions. The Helmsman should be sitting at a station, centrally located, that clearly is the "driver's seat." Here are a couple of pictures of submarine helms that may be useful:
The Commodore is railing at the First Officer, who is looking futilely at some instruments, unable to determine where the shots that downed their Sky-Cycle escorts came from (because, FYI, Atom Girl blew them apart from the inside). He's doing one of those helpless, "beats me" kind of shrugs.
The Navigator is chiming in with a suggestion. The Communications Officer is paging through a copy of the holo-book entitled GUIDE TO THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, first established in Panel 4 of Page Eleven of issue #3. Angle this shot so that the Communications Officer is close enough to the camera, and therefore the holo-book is close enough to the camera, so we can see the book's title.
CAPTION
Inside the Science Police Flagship.
COMMODORE(to the First Officer)
…well, something shot down our escort cycles! Find it!
NAVIGATOR
Commodore, isn't there an Invisible Boy in the Legion? Maybe….
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER(studying the holo-book)
That's Invisible Kid. Intel says he's not here. I think our bogey is Atom Girl. She shrinks…
BOOK TITLE
GUIDE TO THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES
Panel 3:
Scene: Focus on the First Officer as Atom Girl grows to full size in front of him, using her growth to help propel a heel-of-the-hand strike to his jaw (use her standard size-changing-blur technique, please). It's like getting clocked by Bruce Lee, clearly a knockout blow. Please remember that at full size, Atom Girl is 5'2"! Everyone on the bridge is six inches or more taller than she is! Also remember that AG is petite, trim, wiry, solid, strong, small-busted and narrow-waisted, with curvy hips and curvy buns of steel. She has a figure skater's build.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER(reading)
…member of the Legion Espionage Squad…can sub-microscopically penetrate any enclosure….
ATOM GIRL
Ki-ai!
SFX
KRRKK
Panel 4:
Scene: Chaos on the Command Deck. The First Officer has fallen (or is falling) in a heap, knocked out. Atom Girl is shrinking down to doll-size (blur technique, please) as she evasively zips (flying) between the Navigator and Communications Officer who, as they futilely try to hit or grab her, are slamming into each other! Yes, it's Three Stooges time. Make sure their collision looks head-to-head/bad/painful enough to put them both out of the fight for a few minutes. At the end of AG's blur-trail she's slamming feet first into the Helmsman's face (she's still doll-sized!), clearly hard enough to knock him out.
NOTE: Position the Helmsman so that he will fall backwards onto the helm controls! 
COMMODORE
Get her!
NAVIGATOR
Ooph!
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
Awwff!
HELMSMAN
Ukk!
Panel 5:
Scene: The Helmsman is slumped unconscious on the controls (and, FYI, is causing the vessel to move and turn!). I'd put him in the foreground, as sort of a "framing" element, but whatever. Give some indication that the Navigator, First Officer and Communications Officer are also down, and if not unconscious, hurting enough to be out of the fight for a while. No need to show full figures—a limp hand or other cropped bits might be indication enough.
The focus of this panel is on the Commodore and Atom Girl squaring off as if to fist fight. Atom Girl is growing (blur technique) to her full 5' 2" as she zips into fighting position facing the Commodore. The Commodore is seething with anger, fists clenched, ready to pound this little batwitch's face into hamburger. Remember, the Commodore is 9" taller than AG, and tough-looking.
COMMODORE
You're nothing without your size trick. Come on, you little batwitch!
ATOM GIRL
Little? I hate that word.
ATOM GIRL (2nd)
And I love it when big foobs like you think they can take me.

PAGE ELEVEN:
(…)
Panel 3:
Scene: Cut to a Sky-Cycle with a Sidecar that's flying well above the Flagship. CYCLIST 5 is looking down at the Flagship, noticing that it's slowly flying in big, aimless circles—obviously, something's wrong. He speaks with his SIDECAR GUNNER, who's hailing the Flagship on his futuristic communicator.
NOTE: Show some of the Tower in this shot. What's going to happen is that the Flagship is ultimately going to slow-crash into the Tower several stories down from the top—each circle it makes takes it closer—so try to set that up here.
CYCLIST 5
What the zork's going on with the Flagship…?!  It's drifting in circles!
SIDECAR GUNNER
Flagship, this is Sky-Cycle Kono-22. Acknowledge, please.
Panel 4:
Scene: Cut to inside the Flagship, to the Flagship Bridge. Atom Girl and the Commodore are in the midst of a brutal fight. Action depth on them, please. Both the Commodore and Atom Girl are on the floor, here, and the Commodore is on top! It isn't over yet—but it should look like the Commodore is well on her way to winning this fight! Both the Commodore and Atom Girl are substantially mussed up. Both have disheveled hair and bleeding knuckles. The Commodore's uniform is disarranged and torn, revealing some skin and military undies—wicked sexy but not over the top, please. Atom Girl's uniform cannot be torn, but should be disarranged. Each of them has sustained some damage—the Commodore has a bloody nose, Atom Girl has a split and bleeding lip, and both have scuff-marks and a small cut or two on their faces. 
Fighting is ugly. Without being too horrific about it, I want to get that point across. 
Atom Girl was holding the Commodore's wrists to stop her rain of blows, and is trying to squirm out from under the Commodore, here—but the Commodore has yanked one fisted hand free of AG's grasp! Uh-oh.
If any of the other Flagship Bridge personnel are seen, they're still down. Angle this to include the Communications Officer's Station. From a futuristic speaker there comes the Sidecar Gunner's voice.
SIDECAR GUNNER("radio" balloon) 
Come on, Flagship! Acknowledge! What's going on there?
COMMODORE
Let go…!
ATOM GIRL
Ungh!
Panel 5:
Scene: Atom Girl makes a vain attempt to block, but the Commodore hits her hardhardhard right in the eye! This is a fight-ending punch, it seems. Close, intense, dramatic, here, I think. AG loses her grip on the Commodore's other fisted hand here.
ATOM GIRL
AAAUH!
SFX
KRKKK

PAGE TWELVE
Panel 1:Scene: Sensing victory, the Commodore rears back to embark on a really cruel face-pounding. Atom Girl is a Legionnaire, though, and she just doesn't have any give-up in her. Though she now has a cut under her eye and her eye's already beginning to swell shut, AG has her left raised in an attempt to block (probably in vain again) and her right cocked and ready to further smash the Commodore's nose—this with one eye closing, tears blinding the other, a dazed, semi-conscious brain and pain aplenty. It should look like there's a one-in-twenty chance that AG will pull out the win—partially because, in her premature flush of victory and her haste to administer a really vicious, vengeful beating, the Commodore is leaving herself open. Both of them have that grimacing look of intense insanity on their faces that people in desperate fights get.
(NOTE TO FRANCIS: I know what you're thinking:
"Why can't this Shooter lunatic just write '…and they fight' instead of all this complicated crap? Why is he calling for all this subtlety? IT'S A FIGHT! Why, oh, why didn't I get myself hooked up with a normal writer?" 
I'm sorry. But, I do think that if we pull off the subtlety—even in a fight scene—it'll pay off. Please bear with me, or at least humor me. I believe in what we're doing with all my heart and soul and wallet. And, by the way, this intense little fight sequence is the beginning of a sea change in Atom Girl's personality. Very important!) 
COMMODORE
Florging midget…!
ATOM GIRL
aaaaaa…!
Panel 2:
Scene: Suddenly, there is a TREMENDOUS JOLT! (FYI, the Flagship has slammed into the Tower!) Everything inside the Flagship goes flying—most notably the Commodore, who is thrown headfirst into something solid—say, a console or a wall. She's damaged enough by this so she's knocked out and not going to be up and around soon. Atom Girl is buffeted, too, but having been UNDER the Commodore isn't flung as far and suffers no more major damage. 
SFX
BBBDDMMM
Panel 3:
Scene: Cut to outside. Clearly show that the Flagship has hit the Tower—lots of angles would work—pick a good one. I figure it's not a total direct hit—the Flagship has sort of sideswiped the Tower, but hard. Both the Tower and Flagship are plenty damaged by this tremendous impact.
(no copy)
Panel 4:
Scene: Cut to inside the Tower. The walls and ceiling around Saturn Girl, the unconscious Colossal Boy and wounded, still Parabolic-Energy-Mirrored Chameleon are collapsing. They're going to be buried. Saturn Girl reacts. Her body language should suggest that she's trying to protect helpless Colossal Boy from the falling debris. Fat chance.
SATURN GIRL
Oh, no…!
Panel 5:
Scene: Cut back to inside the Flagship, which is listing a little. Reset. Atom Girl is unsteadily on her feet, leaning heavily on some item of Bridge equipment, looking at the fallen, unconscious Commodore. AG is hurting bigtime, one hand over her painful, battered eye. She's a mess, dripping blood. The Flagship Bridge is a mess, too, from the fight and from the collision with the Tower. The lights went off when the collision happened—only emergency lights provide illumination—and there's some smoke in the air. This vessel, BTW, is going down, albeit slowly. The other Flagship Bridge personnel, to the extent they're seen, are still out cold. They, too, were flung around by the crash, and even if they had been starting to come to, they would have been battered unconscious again.
ATOM GIRL
Hortch…! Florg…!
ATOM GIRL
Oww ….

__________________________________________________I tried to find an example of good action storytelling. I flipped through a bunch of my recent comics—The Legion of Super-Heroes and the recent Dark Horse/Gold Key books.
I could not find a single example of an artist adding to or improving an action scene. I could find very few examples of an artist even satisfactorily executing what I asked of him and making an action scene as clear as it ought to have been. Mostly, I saw hard-to-understand, poor storytelling. Lots of panels and sequences that you can stare at all day and still have no idea what's going on.
During the course of my career, I've had the privilege of working with many artists who gave me all I asked for and then some. Long ago, Curt Swan, Wally Wood, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko and other greats, more recently, Don Perlin, David Lapham, a few others. I could show you some of the action scenes they did with me, but I don't have the scripts for comparison. You know their work anyway. 
There are good and capable artists around. Not enough. Good storytelling in comics in general is becoming a rarity, and especially in action scenes. As you put it so well, srp, there's a lamentable lack of craftsmanship.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program….

Ugly Death
As briefly described yesterday, in late 1996, Broadway Video sold its Broadway Video Entertainment division to Golden Books Family Entertainment. Broadway Comics, my 50/50 venture with BVE, was included in the deal along with BVE's film library and various properties such as Lassie and the Lone Ranger.
Broadway Video was working on the deal to sell BVE, including us, for a long time before they let me know.
I never signed a contract with BVE. A handshake with Eric Ellenbogen, then BVE boss, is better than a contract, anyway.
We actually negotiated the deal, had a meeting with our lawyers present….
That was funny. Eric and I explained our mutual understanding to the lawyers. BVE's lawyers immediately started trying to add in terms favorable to BVE. My lawyers immediately started trying to wangle advantages for me. Both Eric and I reigned in our respective lawyers and insisted that they stick to what we had agreed upon—which we both remembered exactly the same way. It was weird, Eric fighting with his lawyers to preserve what he'd offered me, me fighting with my lawyers to honor my obligations to Eric and BVE. That's how it ought to be.
Anyway, we never got around to finishing and signing the contract. It didn't really matter.
When Eric's bosses decided to sell BVE, and Eric with it, by the way, they did it the evil way. They kept me in the dark. Eric knew, but couldn't say anything.
When the news was sprung upon me, Eric's bosses perpetrated a "cramdown." Even though there was no signed contract with me, they feared I might trot out the lawyers and delay the deal, possibly even torpedo it, or threaten to do so and try to extract some money from them for cooperating.
Cramdown, as in "cram it down your throat," is a Wall Street term. Party "A" wants party "B" to do something, or not do something, doesn't want any complications or interference, so they use every possible means to force their will upon party "B." They try to eliminate every way forward but their way. Tactics vary. Haranguing and verbal beat-downs are popular. Various legal and financial threats are common.
Using people I care about as hostages has always worked against me. The ol' "do what we f***ing tell you or this very day, all your employees, your pals JayJay, Debbie, Joe—all your little buddies—will be fired, out on the street, no severance, no nothing."
New York is an employment-at-will state….
So Broadway Video honchos, not Eric, mind you, threatened my friends and I signed their damned documents.
Golden Books Family Entertainment bought BVE for $95 million. What portion of that, if any at all, was for our little comic book company (or more likely, our intellectual property assets) I do not know.
MEANWHILE….
When I saw which way things were headed, I called Bill Bevins, CEO of whichever Perelman entity controlled Marvel Comics and asked for a meeting. Marvel was failing spectacularly at that point, on the brink of bankruptcy.
I met with Bill. Told him I thought I could turn things around in the comics publishing area, given control of comic book creative and business operations. He seemed interested. We agreed to talk more.
BACK TO BROADWAY….
Once Broadway Comics was part of GBFE, they soon pulled the plug and closed us down. Early 1997, as I recall. As I said yesterday, Dick Snyder, CEO and Chairman of GBFE apparently had no interest in publishing comics.
Broadway Comics was actually on the verge of making money, I think. I actually considered trying to raise the capital to buy Broadway Comics out of GBFE and try to make a go of it on our own. But, the comic book market was very bad—in fact, it still hasn't recovered from the collapse that began in 1994—and raising significant money in that business environment would have been hard.
I let it go.
GBFE was fairly nice about outplacement services, modest severance and the like. Not that outplacement services were much good for comic book people. In this little industry, there are only so many doors to knock on.
The outplacement counselor wanted to help me write a resume. I told her, first of all, people in this business and pretty much all related businesses know who I am. Second, if an allegedly creative person writes a resume, and it's one of those Microsoft template deals, then they aren't very creative, are they? I asked her, in the patently absurd circumstance of Robin Williams having to write a resume, what kind of resume would he write? If it wasn't funny, people would think it wasn't the real Robin Williams. I'm not comparing myself to Robin Williams, but you know what I mean.
So we were all cut loose. 
GBFE was actually already plummeting toward bankruptcy even when they were buying BVE. Eric Ellenbogen, who was, I believe, named President of GBFE at first, left not too long after we Broadway Comics types were shown the door.
I had friends on the board at Marvel. My former partner, Winston Fowlkes, my former boss at Disney, Michael Lynton. I thought I had good chances there.
Eric set up a meeting with for me with Scott Sassa, Chairman and CEO of Marvel.
In the meeting in which he told me he'd arranged for me to meet Sassa, Eric praised my creative capabilities but criticized me for not being able to make Broadway Comics successful (in a lousy market, under strenuous conditions, with none of the help he had promised—movie, TV and licensing deals—materializing. Hmph).
He thought I was a good Editor in Chief candidate, but not a businessman.
I met with Sassa in the bar at the Carlyle Hotel. I tried to make a good impression.
Sassa left Marvel not too long thereafter.
Then Eric became Marvel Comics' CEO!
Eric was not able to make Marvel Comics successful (in a lousy market, under strenuous conditions, with none of the help they theoretically had pending—financial and otherwise—materializing).
Nyah, nyah.
Marvel went bankrupt.
Not a good time to do a staff shakeup….
Then, Carl Icahn and his bondholder group ousted stockholder Perelman and all his troops.
I still had friends in high places there. Still had a shot, I thought.
Nah. Icahn and his brain trust honchos never returned my calls, never answered my letters.
Oh, well.
Anyway….
My friends at investment banking firm McFarland, Dewey & Co. helped assemble an acquisition team consisting of Chuck Rozanski, two ex-Cap-Cities/ABC top execs and me. We were promised debt financing by my friends at Chase and equity investment by Perry Capital. We made a run at it.
We spent days in the Marvel document room at their lawyers' offices in Newark? Jersey City? I forget. I read all the executive contracts. My God, they were paying lightweights like Bob Harras a lot of money! Plus perks like 24/7 car service, retirement/estate planning services….  Lord, God Jeezus.
I read all of their major contracts.
The problem was that Marvel and Toy Biz were hopelessly intertwined and suing each other like crazy.  The only clean way to buy Marvel was to buy Toy Biz too. The Cap Cities guys looked at me and asked, "Can you run a toy company?" They couldn't. Me neither, though I know a good bit about the industry. I suggested we bring in a toy company partner. Mattel.
I called Jill Barad. She sent her V.P. of business affairs to look into the deal. Seymour something, or something Seymour. His take was "let it collapse and pick up the pieces." I told him no way the bankruptcy trustee would "let it collapse." Nitwit.
I was right. The trustee merged Marvel and Toy Biz, the new company reorganized, and that's where we are today, with Toy Biz boss Ike Perlmutter in charge.
God help us.
Anyway…. 
I've had my ups and downs since all of that. Many of us Broadway Comics folks have struggled along the way, and some of us are still struggling.
GBFE eventually went bankrupt. Up until then, Dick Snyder didn't exactly tighten his belt. Limos, private flights, big money, perks better than Bob Harras's.
No $15,000 umbrella stands that I know of….
As someone still receiving royalties for the books I'd written for Western Publishing /GBFE, I was a creditor and I received mountains of bankruptcy documents. I know the gory details.
GBFE died an ugly death.

NEXT:  Not Sure Yet.  So Many Choices….

The Web of the Snyder – Part 1

First This
Sorry it's been so long between posts. Harsh reality sometimes asserts and fun has to wait.

Now This
In an answer to a comment regarding "What Has Gone Before and a Modest Proposal" I said this:

In any other medium besides comics, the person who has and reasonably develops the original idea is the creator. Usually the writer. Ask 1,000 people who created Star Wars. George Lucas, not the army of designers, artists, even re-writers who participated. Ask 1,000 people who created Jurassic Park. Michael Crichton, not the designers and filmmakers who developed the visuals, or even David Koepp who wrote the shooting script for the film. In comics, however, even a work-for-hire artist following a design made by the writer, a description given by the writer or instructions from the editor is given co-credit as creator. Does anyone else think this is unusual?

That sparked some debate, people weighing in on who deserves creator credit and under what conditions. And that's fine. It's an interesting topic. However, I suspect that some people thought I was asserting that the writer should get credit as creator. Nope. I said:

Note, everyone, that I'm not offering a position, here, I'm just asking questions.

  I'm still not sure I made myself understood. The point I was making is that comic books are different from other visual media when it comes to crediting the original creator of characters and properties. I said nothing about whether what happens in the comic book industry was right or wrong, better or worse than elsewhere. Maybe we've got it right and everybody else has it wrong. Here's me trying to press the assertion that we're different:

Back to my original point: ask 1,000 people who created Star Wars. George Lucas. Does anyone anywhere rise up, rail against that assertion and insist that the designer of the look of Darth Vader should be given co-creator credit?  

(…)

How about the myriad people who have contributed additions to the Star Wars property since its beginnings? Anyone up in arms over their not getting credit as co-creators? 
Only in the comic book biz does that sort of thing happen, whether it's right, wrong or indifferent. In other visual media, the person who comes up with the idea and reasonably develops it -- usually, but not always the writer -- is the creator. The people who come up with the visuals are support troops. Usually. 

Sometimes the writer is also the artist. Will Eisner. True collaborations are true collaborations. Siegel and Shuster. Artists sometimes do create things on their own, of course, and sometimes the writers are the support troops. 

What constitutes enough of an idea and reasonable development of same is debatable, I suppose. Not so much in other media, mind you, where the idea itself is often enough to warrant creator credit, even if others do the development and create visuals. Only in comic books does some filagree added by an artist raise the question.

Defiant1 chipped in something thoughtful and interesting:

(…)
In most scenarios, I'm in 100% agreement with what Jim is saying. I feel that Stan had such a laid back approach to producing his early 60's creations that he did open the door to the artists getting a valid co-creator status. Stan encouraged the artists to fill in the gaps that define the characters. 

I feel that society puts too much emphasis on creator status. No one really creates anything. The elements in a writer's mind were put there by the culture before them. They essentially just line up the building blocks based upon what they've experienced. Daredevil was already a character's name in the Golden Age. The Human Torch was already a flying human-like entity. Some of the building blocks aren't as obvious, but everything is inspired by something that came before in one shape or another.

Before I got into manufacturing and working with engineers, I thought brilliant guys sat down and just invented brilliant inventions. I've now learned that brilliant inventions are more often than not just tweaks and redesigns of previous inventions. The technology powering a mining truck is just tweaked technology that was powering a locomotive. It's scaled down to power the hybrid cars, trucks, and vans coming out in the next decade. Someone will be attributed with creating something, but a large portion of what they invent was already invented by someone else. They just tweaked it and people envision it as something original and new.

All thoughts on the subject…or any subject, really, are welcome.
(ASIDE: As for me, I have always been generous about giving credit and sharing credit, and whatever money or benefits came with the credit. Ask the Blog Elf, she was there. Thus, I have provided ammunition for detractors who say that I can't really create anything on my own. Whatever. People may like what I do or not, but I believe I have demonstrated that I can do what I do. And I still think erring on the side of generosity is good policy.)

Dick Snyder
Anyone who thinks I was a tough boss never heard tell of Richard E. "Dick" Snyder.
Dick Snyder worked his way up through the executive ranks at Simon & Schuster, becoming President in 1975 and rising from there to CEO and Chairman starting in 1986. He was famously a despot of Ming the Merciless magnitude.
In 1984, Fortune Magazine listed him among "America's Toughest Bosses," and by tough they meant mean. Two high-net-worth friends of mine who know him personally assured me that he loved it, and even campaigned for the "honor."
For instance, legend says that the elevator starters had to have an elevator "reserved," ready and waiting, doors open, when he arrived at the S&S building—or else—and that no one was ever allowed to be on the elevator with him. If he was in an elevator car, no one else could come aboard. If he entered an elevator car, anyone already aboard had to exit immediately. No one was ever permitted to ride in an elevator with the Dick, Snyder. Inconvenience him in any way and you were fired.
He ruled imperiously, tyrannically. His way was the only way, and you'd better not pout, you'd better not cry. S&S employees compared him to the Ayatollah Khomeini—very quietly. A guy I knew who worked at S&S at the time, a honcho at kids' book division Little Simon, confirmed the above.
Dick Snyder turned S&S from a $40 million a year business into a $2 billion-plus a year business, the largest publishing house in the world. Publishing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's The Final Days about the end of Richard "Dick" Nixon's presidency in 1974 was what got the S&S snowball rolling.  Ironically. the fall of one Dick led to the rise of another Dick.
Sumner Redstone, architect of Viacom, eventually gained control of Simon & Schuster In 1994. Redstone and Snyder, shall we say, didn't get along. There is a wonderful story about Redstone firing Snyder for arrogantly perpetrating precisely the kind of "inconvenience" upon Redstone that got employees of Snyder punished with termination. The story was told to me long ago by someone very much in the know, but he got it second hand, so I won't attempt to tell it in detail here. But, if I remember it right, if it's accurate, it's priceless.
So, Snyder was looking for a new publishing industry gig.
He put together a group of investors and, in mid-1996, bought Western Publishing.
Western Publishing had once been the dominant mass-market children's book publisher by dint of its well-known Golden Books line. WP had robust printing and distribution operations; therefore, they were wonderfully vertically integrated. They developed the content, printed the books, distributed the books, controlled the "real estate" (that is, display space), owned the racks, and kicked everybody's butt. Nearest competitor Random House was a distant second. Upstart Marvel Books, publishers of children's books based upon licensed properties Western and Random House didn't want, including those of Fisher-Price, Mattel and Hallmark, was a joke, one of Marvel President Jim Galton's greatest blunders. More on that later.
Western Publishing had been run for a number of years by Richard Bernstein, a billionaire who had made his money in real estate—the normal kind, not display space. His offices were/are at 444 Madison Avenue (a building that he owned and probably still owns), just a few blocks up Mad Ave from where I lived.
A slight digression: Bernstein was (and still is, I suspect—I haven't seen him for a while) a character. He was shockingly candid, straightforward, honest, bold, irreverent and sometimes a little crude. I loved his CEO's statements in Western Publishing's annual reports. What CEO says things like "I screwed up" in the annual report?
Bernstein and Ronald O. Perelman were friends. I guess they belonged to the same billionaires' club.  Whatever. Richard jokingly referred to Perelman as "Ronnie the Retard."
Richard Bernstein flew everywhere in his private, state of the art, luxury jet. He had four pilots accompany him everywhere so that the FAA regulations regarding limitations on flying hours would never ground him. One of his pilots was always legally take-off ready.
Richard jokingly said unrepeatably scandalous things about then-Mattel CEO Jill Barad, known around the toy and kids businesses as "The Babe of Toyland." I know Jill a little. I have no doubt that he did it in her presence, and I have no doubt that she laughed, and I have no doubt that she then kicked his ass and I suspect that he loved it.
Western, under Richard Bernstein was one of the potential buyers of Marvel when the Cadence Management, Inc. (CMI) greedy bastards who had taken Marvel parent Cadence Industries private put Marvel up for sale. Because I was a "key man," Bernstein personally interviewed me a few times during the due diligence process. At the end of the last interview, he said, words to the effect, "The more I look at this (Marvel) the more I think I'm buying you and some used furniture." I am not so vain as to think he meant me, literally. He meant me and the Marvel creative group, our works and the store of creative works under my purview. 
Bernstein walked away from the deal to buy Marvel at the eleventh hour because he found Shelly Feinberg, CMI overlord, and his five CMI dwarves to be reprehensible scum (as did I), who agreed to terms, then at signing time demanding a nickel or a dime more. I've dealt with slime like that (including Shelly and co., obviously). They're infuriating.
Bernstein/Western had invested well over half a million dollars in due diligence expenses—auditors, accountants and lawyers, investigating the proposed acquisition, as a publicly traded company must—and walked away!—pushed past the breaking point by the scumbaggery of Shelly and his dwarves! If you're not an investment banker or M&A financially savvy, you cannot possibly appreciate the immensity of that act. 
How do I know the details of Bernstein's investment? After I was cast out of Marvel, my Marvel Acquisition Partners attempted to buy Marvel. The law firm we chose to represent us, by coincidence, was Baker & McKenzie, the same one that Bernstein had used, and the very lawyers who worked with Bernstein worked with us. They told us! They showed me the documents! And, P.S., Bernstein later told me, too.
So…after being cut loose by Marvel and failing to buy Marvel, I needed a gig. Thanks to Marvel's efforts to blame me for everything bad that ever happened, the journalistically-bereft fanzines' willingness to believe Marvel's spin, or in the case of The Comics Journal, their zeal to capitalize on Shooter-hatred, and the comics community falling for the crap, I was the pariah of comics at that point.  To some extent, I still am.
My phone never rang. No one wanted me. Am I such a bad writer that no one had any use for me?  So it seemed. So I scrambled to survive.
Among my scramble-to-survive maneuvers while I was desperate and unemployed, I wrote two books for Western Publishing: After the Dinosaurs: The Story of Prehistoric Mammals and Man and Baby Animals On the Farm.
The opportunity to write those books, by the way, had nothing to do with my brief association with Bernstein. While at Marvel, I'd met Thea Feldman, an editor who worked at Crown Publishers. She later moved to Golden Books. Apparently, from what she'd seen of my work, she thought I could write. Go figure.
Thea called and told me that GB wanted to do a Big Little Golden Book about ancient mammals, and suggested that I pitch a proposal (probably because I am an ancient mammal). I said, "Shouldn't you get a scientist to write that?" She said, "We get writers to write and scientists to check the facts." (The word "nitwit," left off of the end of her sentence, was understood). Okay. So, I pitched. My proposal, one of eleven offered, was selected by the publisher, Robin Warner. More about her, later.
I wrote the book. A scientist on staff at New York's Museum of Natural History, one Dr. Dingus—Dingus, I kid you not—fact-checked it. It slid by.
The Golden Books art director chose an idiot, I mean artist, to illustrate the book. The art director's husband was an artists' rep and, low and behold, the "artists" he repped got tons of work from his wife, no matter how incompetent or inappropriate they were. The art director woman had kept her maiden name, so no one in upper management knew she was feathering the family nest when she used, almost exclusively, the alleged artists that were her husband's clients. Everyone else knew about it.
The "art" for After the Dinosaurs sucked. Bernie Wrightson would have rocked it and won us a Caldecott Medal, but I didn't have a vote about the art, nor did the editor. Sigh.
(TOTAL ASIDE: Almost all children's book about creatures of any kind, prehistoric or otherwise, are "parade books." One damn critter after another. "Here's the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It lived 65 million years ago. It weighed seven and a half tons. It ate meat…."  Turn the page. "Here's the Stegosaurus. It lived 150 million years ago…." 
A parade. I tried, in After the Dinosaurs to give a sense of how the world and the critters evolved, what the history was. Nobody cared, except the editor, one brilliant woman, by the way, if you discount the fact that she thought I had a clue.)
After After the Dinosaurs, one Friday, Thea called me up, said some other turkey had let her down and asked me if I could write a book over the weekend. What? Write a book over the weekend? No. No way.
She said it was a Little Golden Book. An updated, new version of a classic, Baby Animals on the Farm. If she didn't have a manuscript Monday morning there would be consequences and repercussions.
I am familiar with consequences and repercussions.
I said, "How could anyone possibly write a book over a weekend?!"
She said, "It's a Little Golden Book, nitwit. 200 words, tops."
I, the nitwit in question, agreed to do it. But why me?
She said, words to the effect, that she knew I'd do it right, first try, edit-free copy. No time to fool around.  No time to deal with even more nit-witty nitwits.
That seemed reasonable.
Those books didn't pay much up front—five grand for After the Dinosaurs  (pathetic,considering the research involved) and a grand for the Baby Animals (not too bad for two days work)—but the royalties…! A testament to the power of Western Publishing's sales dominance at that time.  The royalties from those two books, which arrived like clockwork twice a year for a looong time kept me alive.
Anyway….
In the auction for Marvel, MAP came in second to Perelman. Long story. More on that later.
As I said, no one would hire me….
I went to Bernstein and asked him if he would license the Gold Key characters to me so I could start a new comics company. He remembered me from our meetings. He was unaware (!) that Western owned comics properties (Magnus, Solar, et al). At first, he proposed starting a division of Western with me at the helm to publish comics.
His subordinates were not interested in comics. Rather than fight the internal tide, Richard said he would hold the characters for me until I raised money, started my own company and was ready to proceed. He said he was impressed by me, and would "bet on" me.
Bernstein/Western subsequently had offers from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and others for the Gold Key characters. Per Bernstein, they held the characters for me for two years. Ask Mike Richardson.
Finally, with Winston Fowlkes and Steve Massarsky I founded VALIANT.
(P.S. Some months later, I hired, as an inker, Bob Layton, who was unemployed and persona non grata everywhere else at the time. The lie bandied about by Bob and other weasels that he was a "co-founder" of VALIANT is preposterous. Ask the Elf.)
Miracles and horrors ensued….
Cut to the days of Broadway Comics. We were trying to build something….
Meanwhile….
As previously mentioned, in 1996, Dick Snyder got control of what had been Western Publishing and changed the name of the company to Golden Books Family Entertainment. Snyder sold off some pieces of the former Western, mostly non-children's book publishing operations, and made a number of acquisitions en route to focusing the company on children's entertainment.
Among the acquisitions made was Broadway Video Entertainment, owners of Lassie, the Lone Ranger, all those puppet animation Christmas movies on TV every year and, oh, by the way, Broadway Comics.
And so, for Broadway Comics…along came a Snyder.
Suddenly we were part of Golden Books.
I met the Snyder at the company Christmas party. We spoke, briefly. He was very polite. And completely uninterested in Broadway Comics, me, or anything but getting the hell out of that obligatory appearance as quickly as possible.
And, as it turned out, getting the hell out of the comic book business as quickly as possible.

NEXT:  Ugly Death

Merry Christmas!

January 7th is Russian Christmas.  May your days be merry and bright, and let nothing you dismay.
A Gift From Fatale
This is a gift I received way back in 1995 from Fatale actress Traci Adell: Perhaps she noticed my abiding interest in photogenic women. It's a terrific book, by the way. One of the photogenic stars featured is Julie Newmar: Like Traci, Julie Newmar is 5'11". 
On Broadway, in the musical Li'l Abner, Julie Newmar played Stupefyin' Jones:
Stupefyin' Jones, for you young pups unfamiliar with Al Capp's brilliant syndicated strip Li'l Abner, was an unbelievably beautiful woman. Wikipedia describes her perfectly:

"Stupefyin' Jones: A walking aphrodisiac, Stupefyin' was stunning — literally. So drop-dead gorgeous that any male who glimpsed her froze petrified in his tracks and rooted to the spot — in a word, stupefied! While she was generally favored by the males of Dogpatch, she could be deadly for a confirmed bachelor to encounter on Sadie Hawkins Day. Statuesque actress Julie Newmar became famous overnight for playing the small role in the 1956 Li'l Abner Broadway musical (and the 1959 film adaptation) without uttering a single line."   

Live-action Fatale had much in common with Stupefyin' Jones, being an irresistible Siren—though live-Fatale was intended to have, in addition to devastating beauty, a will-sapping, strength-sapping kiss.
Traci was ideal for the role.
Once when I was with Traci somewhere, somebody overheard my name being mentioned, walked up to me and said, "Are you THE Jim Shooter?"
Hence the opening line of this note, which accompanied the copy of Va Va Voom! She gave me. What a sweetie. Those of us who worked with her too briefly at Broadway Comics admire her tremendously. We miss her.
Once more with feeling, Traci Adell is one of the most beautiful people on the planet. She's photogenic, too. 

NEXT:  Finally, I Swear, the Web of the Snyder

Traci Adell, the WWF, Fatale on TV, and the Web of the Snyder – Part 2

First This

When Fatale is brought up, occasionally I am accused of ripping off the concept of Chris Claremont's power-stealing character Rogue, created in 1981. For anyone out there who subscribes to this nonsense, I would like to point out that I created the first (as far as I know) power-stealing character, the Parasite 15 years earlier in 1966. If I ripped off anyone, it was "my own, personal self," as a former boss of mine used to say.

And while I'm in a complaining mood, Wikipedia lists artist Al Plastino as co-creator of the Parasite. Why do they do that? I created the design for the character, did layouts for the issue of Action Comics in which he appeared and Al did not deviate from the sketches I provided at all. Al created plenty of characters, but not the Parasite.

Hrrrumph.



Traci Adell

(A PICTURE OF TRACI ADELL – J, PICK ONE OF THESE:


I am too twitterpated to make a rational decision.) 
Heehee. No decision here. -JayJay the Mischievous Blog Elf
Traci Adell was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy Magazine, July, 1994.
Here's her "Data Sheet":

Traci Adell became the live action Fatale.

Broadway Video Entertainment and the World Wrestling Federation
Lorne Michaels' company, Broadway Video, is the co-producer of Saturday Night Live and producer of other TV shows. It is also owns the premiere video editing/processing company in the world (hence the company's name "Broadway Video"). During the mid 1990's, Broadway Video had a division called Broadway Video Entertainment. BVE owned and managed a library of films, television shows and classic properties like The Lone Ranger and Lassie. In addition, BVE invested in various ventures including Broadway Comics.
BVE was my 50/50 partner in Broadway Comics, though they were the General Partner and had ultimate decision-making power. The media/entertainment/licensing types at BVE got us a meeting with executives from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to discuss opportunities that might have mutual benefit.
I adamantly (but politely) refused to do licensed WWF comics. Been there, done that and it sucked.

So we talked about other things. We described our characters. They were interested in Fatale!

Hmm.

Long story short, after a few meetings they, the WWF and particularly Vince and wife Linda McMahon who ran the WWF, wanted to work with us in a joint venture-type deal with Fatale. Joint venture: Read: Not a lot of money changing hands, but perhaps a mutually beneficial opportunity might emerge.

Given the major motivators of media involvement listed last post—briefly: big exposure, heat, A-list star involvement and/or a major capital investment, none of which we, Broadway Comics or Fatale had going for us—why would the WWF, which already had a substantial television presence, be interested in little us?

I don't know, but I have theories.Possibly they thought that by working with us, they could get for free or cheap some useful creative input. I doubt it, actually. Vince McMahon has no shortage of confidence in his creativity. But, he might have thought that lesser lights like us could supply some straw he could spin into gold.Possibly they imagined that working with us might be a foot in the door to getting exposure on national TV powerhouse Saturday Night Live. Maybe even a guest-host appearance by Vince McMahon and a bunch of WWF based skits.Possibly they liked the idea of having a stake in the success of Fatale, imagining (as I did) that Broadway Video's clout might spawn a movie, TV show and/or major licensing opportunities, the benefits of which they would share in. Getting a piece of a character that might really take off has its appeal.Whatever. They wanted to work with us on Fatale.
So we, BVE and I, set about casting an actress to play Fatale.

When I was shown Traci Adell's headshot and stills I almost applauded. She was, to quote a song from Bells Are Ringing, "…better far than a dream." She even looked like Fatale. Perfect. Except she was a little taller than we'd imagined Fatale to be. Traci is 5'11".

5'11" doesn't seem all that tall to me. I'm 6'7" and change. So…no big deal, I figured. More on that later.

Anyway…the Broadway Video Entertainment execs and the Hollywood based Broadway Video people and I picked Traci from a field of many.

Traci passed muster at some audition in Hollywood. I wasn't there.

P.S. Traci heard tell of being mentioned here and sent me (via JayJay) a nice e-mail. She fondly remembers her Fatale experiences.

Sweet. Of course.
Anyway….

BVE flew her to New York and I got to meet her.

Holy moley!  

Seeing Traci in person is…startling. She's that pretty.

Traci is wonderfully photogenic but no photo does her justice. She's unbelievably graceful. Maybe that's why still pictures don't deliver the full scope of her presence and her charm.

Traci met Broadway Comics' core creative crew—Janet "JayJay" Jackson, Pauline Weiss and Joe James. We had drinks and a nice, long chat in the lobby bar of the Hilton on 6th Avenue where BVE/Broadway Comics put her up.

Traci is very open and completely genuine. And genuinely nice.

We all fell in love with her.

JayJay found a few pictures of Traci taken at Broadway Comics' offices: Traci and some comic book character Barbara Morcerf: finance, Janet Claire Jackson and Pauline Weiss: writers/creators, Traci Adell: superstar, Erica Rodriguez: creative contributor, Debbie Fix: managing editor/head of production Autographing Powers That Be #1I met with Vince McMahon, his wife Linda and their WWF execs a number of times about the Fatale project.
Vince McMahon is a fast-thinking, creative, spontaneous guy. He can create on the fly. He reminds me a bit of Marv Wolfman—never at a loss for ideas. He'll have ten to your one. Even if eight of them are less than brilliant, two rock, and he wins.
Vince would make adjustments to storylines and events intended to occur right up to the very moment the wrestlers entered the ring.
You do know that all professional wrestling events are scripted, right?
Linda McMahon is a smart, attractive, formidable woman. Once, she gave me a ride home in her limo from the offices of whomever we were meeting with and we got to talk for a little while. She's aware, insightful, sharp and tough as tenpennies.
Once, the McMahons invited a group of us Broadway Comics people to a live event in Pittsburgh, my home town. We had great seats on floor level, just far enough back from the ring to have the best possible view. I'd been to WWF events before (remember, VALIANT was a licensee) but never watched from so close up. As I recall, people sitting in the chairs in that premium section were allowed to take the chairs with them when they left! I think Pauline and Alan Weiss actually did, and had them shipped back to New York.
Pauline and Alan were pro wrestling fans, which was a great help. They were up to date with the current buzz.
Together, at the request of the WWF, our core creative group crafted a couple of potential storylines involving Fatale to be acted out in the WWF live events and in their TV shows. I pitched our ideas to Vince, Linda and a group of WWF execs at their offices in Stamford.
The general gist: Obviously, we couldn't have Fatale/Traci doing feats of superhuman strength like lifting the Undertaker over her head and tossing him out of the ring, but she could have a Siren-like irresistible attraction and a debilitating/enervating kiss. So, we played the super-Siren angle. One of our storyline proposals was a Helen of Troy-type thing, in which first two, then many wrestlers went to war over Fatale's affections.
The second proposal was that there would be a hostile takeover of the WWF, aided, abetted and manipulated by Fatale. There was a wrestler called King something-or-other. He was going to oust Vince McMahon and become the new absolute ruler of the WWF.
In each of the scenarios, Fatale would start out appearing to be a "heel" (villain) but eventually be revealed to be a "face" (short for babyface, a hero).  Each of the scenarios involved male and female combatants in the ring, fighting at the same time—jealous women, jilted girlfriends, rivals. We proposed upping the ante regarding romance/sex/sexiness.
Our proposals were flatly refused. I was told that no way could there be women combatants in the ring with men. Out of the question. Vince didn't like the powers that we proposed for Fatale—even though I offered that they could turn out to be something in her lipstick instead of supernatural abilities. And Vince didn't like the takeover angle.
Sigh.

P.S. The lipstick thing might have been someone else's idea. Pauline's maybe?
But they still wanted to try using Traci and Fatale.
At some point, Traci and I went to the WWF's TV studios in Stamford to tape a promo (I think it was a promo). She's a talented, capable actress. Utterly confident, effortlessly natural on camera.

I believe Traci appeared as Fatale on one or two WWF TV shows. They basically used her as eye candy, as I recall. Her part wasn't nearly as important as it ought to have been, or so it seemed to me.  Fatale should have been the main focus, the star. They weren't doing what we'd suggested and I think Vince, for once, just didn't have an idea of what to do.
Nothing came of it. Vince took whatever story he was playing out in non-Fatale directions. A primary reason I was told: Traci was too tall.
The WWF (and others) routinely lie about/exaggerate the size of their performers. I once had a picture taken (at the Licensing Show in New York—or maybe it was Toy Fair) with Razor Ramon, billed as 6'7", about the same as me. I towered over him. They had to shoot us from the waist up and I had to bend my knees—a lot—to lower myself down to his height.
No way to hide the fact that 5'11" Traci, in the ring in heels (and therefore 6'3"-ish) was obviously taller than wrestlers billed as 6'7" or more.
Awkward. For the WWF, that is.
If it were up to me, I would have run with it, made a big deal of her "goddess-like stature." Or something. But that didn't fly.
I think Vince, Linda and the WWF missed the boat big-time with Traci and Fatale. The live-action portion of the project got sort of back-burnered.
Anyway…that's how I remember it. Corrections and embellishments from those in the know welcome.
Meanwhile, somebody came up with the idea that we could create a Fatale comics story that would run, serialized, in one of the WWF magazines. We started on the project.
Here's the first plot:


FataleSerialized Comic Strip for WWF MagazinePlot Outline

(Our intention is to focus on the "femme fatale" aspects of Desirée's power, similar to her live WWF appearances—which is not to say that she won't be the same as in our own comics—rather, we'll play her abilities to drain people's strength and abilities a bit more subtly and mysteriously—i.e., she probably won't be lifting any tanks.)

The story begins with Desirée (Fatale), a popular Hollywood actress, on location at the site of the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, filming a movie called "Cortez" (which allows us to put her in an exotic, sexy Aztec costume). She's crowded around by cast and crew, admired, fussed over.

During an action scene take, a well-organized, armored squad of terrorist types tries to kidnap Desirée—spectacular action. Desirée manages elude her kidnappers, and escapes into the maze of trailers and props around the movie set.  A woman motions her to duck into a safe haven, only to grab Desirée and menace her with a knife—the woman wants to kill her!

A brief struggle, and Desirée escapes, again by the skin of her teeth. Thus begins the chase of Desirée through exotic locales throughout the world.  She's being pursued by a cult, who've been convinced by their high priest/leader that Desirée was the living embodiment of the death-goddess Kali, and that through a mystical ceremony involving Desirée and the priest, an "age of enlightenment" will commence—a time when the high priest will take possession of the world's wealth and power and lead it to final death and destruction. 

The woman who menaced Desirée, named Bavani, is a high-ranking member of this cult and a true believer, though she's afraid of this "age of enlightenment." She's lovely (though not as stunningly gorgeous as Fatale) and deeply in love with the high priest. The high priest, however, has the hots for Desirée, and has cruelly cast Bavani aside. Bavani's jealous of Desirée, and dependent on the high priest, and has dedicated herself to Desirée's destruction.

Throughout this chase, we demonstrate men's "fatale" attraction to Desirée and her devastating and mysterious power over them, as well as highlighting her charming and girlish personality, which contrasts with the wild physical action and confrontations she becomes involved in. Thanks to the world-spanning locations, she'll also have opportunities to wear beautiful (and occasionally outrageous) clothing.

We build to a one-on-one showdown/catfight between Desirée and Bavani. Desirée manages somehow to convince Bavani that she's right to fear the cult's age of enlightenment. She and Bavani become allies, and they join forces to attack the cult leader.  

In a climactic battle between the cult's thugs and the two women, it is revealed that it is Bavani who is the prophesied vessel of the spirit of Kali—and that the high priest knew it all along, but cynically decided that "it's whoever I decide it is!"—and he just wants Fatale. Together, Bavani and Desirée overthrow the priest. Bavani, who's learned from her new friend Desirée how to be assertive and in control, assumes her rightful place at the head of the cult, and introduces a true age of enlightenment, re-dedicating the cult to world-scale creativity rather than destruction.

Here's the first script:
Title     
Goin' Back to Kali

Credits
Created by Broadway Comics Written by Janet Jackson, Joseph A. James, Jim Shooter, Pauline Weiss

Cast of Characters Fatale Bavani Various crew members, including a director, assistant directors, a matronly makeup woman, grips, best boys, electricians

Location and Reference Watch A movie set near Tenochtitlán, Mexico. Typical movie set stuff (lights, cameras, trailers, etc.). The location includes a pyramid with a small shelter-structure at the top, jungle all around the area. See reference.

Panel 1

Fatale is sitting on set, in a director's chair, wearing an exotic, sexy Aztec costume. A matronly woman is fussing with her hair and headdress while male crew members and extras are hanging around her, admiring her. She's wearing an exotic, sexy Aztec costume. Behind her, we can see a trailer, but we can see the edge of the trailer and behind it, a confused, slightly frantic-looking assistant director.

Caption
On location in Tenochtitlán, Mexico, shooting the feature film Cortez...

AD
Where's the cameraman? And the grips? And the best boy, fer cryin' out loud?

Makeup girl
...so the director saw you on Rodeo Drive and cast you on the spot?

Grip
Wow! Shopping as a career move...!

Best boy
I bet guys make you offers all the time, if you know what I mean.

Fatale
Well, most men are actually very polite...and shy.

Makeup
Isn't it wonderful that you get to work with that yummy Antonio Banderas?

Fatale
Uh-huh...but I'm more excited about working with Anthony Quinn!

Panel 2

Fatale is now standing up, so we get a full figure shot of her in costume.  The grip looks stunned by her beauty.  The 2nd AD, clipboard in hand, is gesturing toward the set.  The AD from the previous shot is in the background, on a megaphone.

Grip
The Queen of the Aztecs never looked that good.

2nd AD
All ready, Miss Hopewell?

Fatale
Yes, except I'd trade my empire for a box of Godiva chocolates right now!

AD
Places, everyone!

Panel 3

Fatale is standing at the top of the pyramid…see reference, this is an Aztec pyramid similar to the one at Santa Cecilia, with a little sheltered structure at the top of it.  This is a bit of an upshot, so that we can see the director and crew looking up at her.  In the background, we can see several approaching helicopters in the distance.
AD
Roll cameras...ready...annnnd, action!

Director
Hold it, cut, cut!  What are those helicopters doing up there?

Panel 4

Downshot now, as a number of masked men, clothed head to toe and armed with clubs, nets and rope, rappel down ropes from the helicopters and attempt to grab Fatale.  She reacts, startled. We can see the film crew at the bottom of the pyramid

Fatale
Yikes!

AD
What's going on?

Director
I don't know...but it looks great!  Roll film!

Panel 5

Fatale fights off her attackers—no huge slugging action, though.  She's ducking under a thug swinging a club who's losing his balance, and at the same time kicking another thug off the pyramid.  In the background, we see another woman, Bavani, (wearing a t-shirt and safari shorts, looking like another crew member; pretty but nowhere as beautiful as Fatale) at the entrance to the structure at the top of the pyramid, motioning to Fatale.

Thug (swinging)
I've got her—aahh!

Thug (falling)
Whoa!

Fatale
Don't worry!  It's not the first time some guy underestimated me!

Bavani
Quick, in here!

Panel 6

Full figure. Shoot at the entrance of the structure from inside, as Fatale enters, unaware of Bavani. We can see the helicopters hovering behind her. Bavani is just at the entrance, behind Fatale, about to attack Fatale with a knife.

Fatale
Those guys were trying to kidnap me!

Bavani
And I...am trying to kill you!

Caption To be continued...

Bottom of the page caption (type)

Fatale also appears in her own comic book, on sale monthly at comics shops everywhere.
Mayan Ruins, Tikal, GuatemalaIn Tikal, Guatemala, many Mayan ruins of the 3rd and 4th centuries have been excavated and studied. The area, one of the largest Mayan ceremonial centers, is believed to have sustained a population of 50,000 until it was abandoned, for unknown reasons, in the 10th century.  Kevin Schafer, ALLSTOCK, INC. Chichen Itza, MexicoArchaeologists believe that the Formative period of Mayan civilization began as early as 1500 BC, but the peak of Mayan cultural achievement came during the Classic period, AD 300 to 900. During this time, the Maya created unique art and architectural styles, made astounding astronomical observations, and developed a system of hieroglyphs for recording significant events. The contributions of this civilization continue to be felt in Mexico, and thousands of tourists visit the country's many Mayan ruins, such as those of the Post Classic city Chichén Itzá, shown here.  Randy Wells, ALLSTOCK, INC. Northwest of Mexico City, the small pyramid in Santa Cecilia Acatitlán is the only completely intact Aztec temple in existence. Although its age is unknown, it predates the 14th-century Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, the site that later became Mexico City.I don't remember if we actually produced this or other episodes, or whether or not any got printed.

Broadway Comics came to the beginning of its end around then. A lot of things were left undone or drifted away. More on that next time.
P.S. A number of WWF stars and execs defected to Turner's WCW around that time. Interestingly, the WCW soon began a major storyline entitle "New World Order," about, more or less, a hostile takeover of the WCW.
And, didn't the WWF eventually do a hostile takeover storyline? I think so.
And didn't they both start having male-female conflicts and combats in the ring? And more romance/sex/sexiness? I think so.
Just sayin'.

NEXT:  The Web of the Snyder

Traci Adell, the WWF, Fatale on TV, and the Web of the Snyder – Part 1

First This

It occurs to me, duh, that I have not yet wished everyone a Happy New Year. Sorry. So, without further ado, Happy New Year!
The last year has been a tough one for most people I know. Many are unemployed, almost everyone has struggled and only a very few have done well. Here's hoping that 2012 will be better. And that planet Nibiru doesn't crash into us on December 21st.
Thoughts for the New Year:
Nike, Inc. "Just do it."
Jimmy V:  "Don't give up, don't ever give up."
Winston Churchill:  "Carry on, and dread nought."
My Grandma Elsie quoting a mummers play:  "Take a drink from my bottle, let it run down thy throttle; rise up and strive again."
B.G. DeSylva and Lew Brown:  "Keep your sunny side up…."
John F. Kennedy:  "All of this will not be finished…even perhaps in our lifetime on the planet. But let us begin."
Me, at DEFIANT:  "Just don't quit."
I hope your holidays were groovy. Press on regardless.

What Broadway Video Entertainment Couldn't Do
Much of anything useful.
Back in late 1994, I needed a gig. Eric Ellenbogen, President of Broadway Video Entertainment offered me one—partnering with BVE to start a comic book company, Broadway Comics.
One inducement Eric offered was that parent company Broadway Video had clout in the film and television arenas. With their muscle behind us, surely our comics properties would be on the big or little screens in no time.
So, how'd that work out?
Not well.
As it turned out, Eric Ellenbogen and BVE didn't seem to have much more clout than I do. I'm sure Broadway Video boss, Saturday Night Live co-creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels does, but we didn't get a lot of his time or attention. 
And, what does clout get you anyway? Meetings. Meetings don't get shows produced.
The following things get shows produced:Exposure—if vast numbers of people know your property, that's equity you can trade upon. Lots of people knew of The Chronicles of Narnia novel series, which made it easier to get the The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and subsequent films made.   Heat—if your property is the all the rage with a bullet, that's a sexy selling point. Heat, or the trumped-up illusion of heat, drives deals. Twilight was hot, so The Twilight Saga films got made. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had limited success in a smallish market, but licensing agent Mark Freedman hyperbolized its mild warmth into a "grassroots comics phenomenon" and sold Playmates on licensing the property for toys and producing five animated half-hours. TMNT took off from there. (I know a good bit about that situation and I'll tell the tale one day.) Not all properties that have exposure are hot—Narnia wasn't—and not all properties that have heat (or the illusion of same) have tremendous exposure—TMNT sure didn't. An A-list talent attached to a property—if Travolta just happens to love your property and is committed to your potential project, it gets done. Which explains Battlefield Earth. A-list stars are considered "bankable," meaning that with their involvement, studio financing is virtually a lock. Some director/producers are A-list, too. Anything Spielberg wants to do gets done. Same with Lucas, Cameron and a few others.Money—if you invest a substantial sum of your own, sometimes, rarely, it will help get a show produced. I'm not talking about development money. Investing development money is pretty standard. I'm talking about committing dollars to production.Of the four factors listed above, money is the weakest. Unless we're talking Bill Gates money. People assume that your money is dumb money. If you have to put your own money in that means that you can't raise any, and that means that the smart money is steering clear. Major red flag. Look up Warriors of Virtue, entirely funded by the Law brothers, four cardiologists from Colorado, to the tune of $55 million.
Yikes.
NOTE THAT THERE IS NO MENTION IN THE LIST ABOVE ABOUT WHETHER THE PROPERTY IS ANY GOOD OR NOT.
Honestly, sincerely, THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
If a property has exposure, heat or an A-list, bankable talent attached, "good" is irrelevant. The screenplay will be re-written anyway. Q-score, heat and especially bankable stars count. Pretty much nothing else matters.
People with the power to cause movies and TV shows to be made are deluged with potential projects. Who cares if yours is "good?" One of the next ten in the pile is probably just as good. Ten in the next 100, 100 in the next 1,000 are probably just as good. Who needs yours?
The fact that most of the production financing decision makers—network and studio execs—do not have a clue about what is good or not so good. Nor do they care. "Good" is obviated by the first three criteria in the what-gets-shows-produced list. It just doesn't matter.
Exposure? Groovy. Heat? Cool. And no one gets fired for green lighting a Travolta picture.
Anyway….
Broadway Video Entertainment got us some meetings. None I couldn't have gotten on my own, on the strength of my own credentials. Except one, maybe, with top cheeses at Paramount. Bigger clout than I have got us that meeting. The meeting got us nothing. They weren't the least bit interested in our Broadway Comics properties. Our properties were not yet well-known, not yet hot and Travolta wasn't attached to any of them. And, no way was BVE investing production dollars.
At one point during the meeting Eric Ellenbogen said to the Paramount execs, "You think we're just Jews with phones!" The point he was driving at was that they were ignoring the fact that we actually had some really good properties to offer. But, as stated above, that doesn't count for anything. That's exactly what we were, Jews and a few gentiles with phones. Nobody cared about the quality of the work.
It's not as if super-smart, UCLA and Harvard-educated, Hollywood-savvy Eric didn't know that. He was pushing the envelope of the clout-thing, squeezing all he could out of the UCLA and Harvard connection he had with the Paramount execs. They had similar backgrounds, and yes, there's an alma mater-loyalty, cosa nostra-like thing that goes on in Hollywood enclaves. But, no luck for us.
We ended up talking about licensing their properties, like Beavis and Butthead, Ren and Stimpy and Aeon Flux.
That never happened. Good.
So, what else did BVE's clout get me?
A meeting with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. Thanks, but no thanks.
And a meeting with the World Wrestling Federation.
Not them again…!
I adamantly resisted any suggestion of doing licensed WWF comics. Been there, done that. Bad, bad, bad….
VALIANT, as you may know, was forced into a license to do WWF comics by my corrupt partner Steve Massarsky, who represented both Leisure Concepts International (the WWF's licensing agency) and VALIANT. Can you say "conflict of interest?" Massarsky made a ton of money personally by making a deal with himself with utter disregard for what made sense for VALIANT, and I was stuck with actually producing WWF comics.
Working with the WWF at VALIANT had been a nightmare. They'd been uncooperative on every front. They honored none of their promises about helping us market our books. They were insane with regard to approvals.
No drawing we made of their wrestlers was ever adequate. The absolute worst incident involved a cover featuring the Ultimate Warrior that they rejected. I went to their offices in Stamford, Connecticut to argue. Their approval nitwits said his nose was too big. The Ultimate Warrior's face, however, had been TRACED FROM A PHOTO. I, myself, had traced it. I showed them the photo. I showed them the tracing. I had a light box with me and proved that the tracing was exact.
No good. They insisted that the drawing was wrong, his nose was too big and the cover had to be redone.
Nitwits. 
I went back to our office and said, "Print it."
The WWF approval nitwits later thanked me for making correx that weren't made. Anyway…back to Broadway Comics. Somehow or other, by dint of boundless enthusiasm and relentless persistence, we got Vince McMahon and his wife/partner Linda McMahon interested in the idea of using a live-action Fatale in their wrestling scenarios. 
Well, all righty then…!

NEXT:  Traci Adell

Traci Adelle, the WWF, Fatale on TV, and the Web of the Snyder – Part 1

First This

It occurs to me, duh, that I have not yet wished everyone a Happy New Year. Sorry. So, without further ado, Happy New Year!
The last year has been a tough one for most people I know. Many are unemployed, almost everyone has struggled and only a very few have done well. Here's hoping that 2012 will be better. And that planet Nibiru doesn't crash into us on December 21st.
Thoughts for the New Year:
Nike, Inc. "Just do it."
Jimmy V:  "Don't give up, don't ever give up."
Winston Churchill:  "Carry on, and dread nought."
My Grandma Elsie quoting a mummers play:  "Take a drink from my bottle, let it run down thy throttle; rise up and strive again."
B.G. DeSylva and Lew Brown:  "Keep your sunny side up…."
John F. Kennedy:  "All of this will not be finished…even perhaps in our lifetime on the planet. But let us begin."
Me, at DEFIANT:  "Just don't quit."
I hope your holidays were groovy. Press on regardless.

What Broadway Video Entertainment Couldn't Do
Much of anything useful.
Back in late 1994, I needed a gig. Eric Ellenbogen, President of Broadway Video Entertainment offered me one—partnering with BVE to start a comic book company, Broadway Comics.
One inducement Eric offered was that parent company Broadway Video had clout in the film and television arenas. With their muscle behind us, surely our comics properties would be on the big or little screens in no time.
So, how'd that work out?
Not well.
As it turned out, Eric Ellenbogen and BVE didn't seem to have much more clout than I do. I'm sure Broadway Video boss, Saturday Night Live co-creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels does, but we didn't get a lot of his time or attention. 
And, what does clout get you anyway? Meetings. Meetings don't get shows produced.
The following things get shows produced:Exposure—if vast numbers of people know your property, that's equity you can trade upon. Lots of people knew of The Chronicles of Narnia novel series, which made it easier to get the The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and subsequent films made.   Heat—if your property is the all the rage with a bullet, that's a sexy selling point. Heat, or the trumped-up illusion of heat, drives deals. Twilight was hot, so The Twilight Saga films got made. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had limited success in a smallish market, but licensing agent Mark Freedman hyperbolized its mild warmth into a "grassroots comics phenomenon" and sold Playmates on licensing the property for toys and producing five animated half-hours. TMNT took off from there. (I know a good bit about that situation and I'll tell the tale one day.) Not all properties that have exposure are hot—Narnia wasn't—and not all properties that have heat (or the illusion of same) have tremendous exposure—TMNT sure didn't. An A-list talent attached to a property—if Travolta just happens to love your property and is committed to your potential project, it gets done. Which explains Battlefield Earth. A-list stars are considered "bankable," meaning that with their involvement, studio financing is virtually a lock. Some director/producers are A-list, too. Anything Spielberg wants to do gets done. Same with Lucas, Cameron and a few others.Money—if you invest a substantial sum of your own, sometimes, rarely, it will help get a show produced. I'm not talking about development money. Investing development money is pretty standard. I'm talking about committing dollars to production.Of the four factors listed above, money is the weakest. Unless we're talking Bill Gates money. People assume that your money is dumb money. If you have to put your own money in that means that you can't raise any, and that means that the smart money is steering clear. Major red flag. Look up Warriors of Virtue, entirely funded by the Law brothers, four cardiologists from Colorado, to the tune of $55 million.
Yikes.
NOTE THAT THERE IS NO MENTION IN THE LIST ABOVE ABOUT WHETHER THE PROPERTY IS ANY GOOD OR NOT.
Honestly, sincerely, THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
If a property has exposure, heat or an A-list, bankable talent attached, "good" is irrelevant. The screenplay will be re-written anyway. Q-score, heat and especially bankable stars count. Pretty much nothing else matters.
People with the power to cause movies and TV shows to be made are deluged with potential projects. Who cares if yours is "good?" One of the next ten in the pile is probably just as good. Ten in the next 100, 100 in the next 1,000 are probably just as good. Who needs yours?
The fact that most of the production financing decision makers—network and studio execs—do not have a clue about what is good or not so good. Nor do they care. "Good" is obviated by the first three criteria in the what-gets-shows-produced list. It just doesn't matter.
Exposure? Groovy. Heat? Cool. And no one gets fired for green lighting a Travolta picture.
Anyway….
Broadway Video Entertainment got us some meetings. None I couldn't have gotten on my own, on the strength of my own credentials. Except one, maybe, with top cheeses at Paramount. Bigger clout than I have got us that meeting. The meeting got us nothing. They weren't the least bit interested in our Broadway Comics properties. Our properties were not yet well-known, not yet hot and Travolta wasn't attached to any of them. And, no way was BVE investing production dollars.
At one point during the meeting Eric Ellenbogen said to the Paramount execs, "You think we're just Jews with phones!" The point he was driving at was that they were ignoring the fact that we actually had some really good properties to offer. But, as stated above, that doesn't count for anything. That's exactly what we were, Jews and a few gentiles with phones. Nobody cared about the quality of the work.
It's not as if super-smart, UCLA and Harvard-educated, Hollywood-savvy Eric didn't know that. He was pushing the envelope of the clout-thing, squeezing all he could out of the UCLA and Harvard connection he had with the Paramount execs. They had similar backgrounds, and yes, there's an alma mater-loyalty, cosa nostra-like thing that goes on in Hollywood enclaves. But, no luck for us.
We ended up talking about licensing their properties, like Beavis and Butthead, Ren and Stimpy and Eon Flux.
That never happened. Good.
So, what else did BVE's clout get me?
A meeting with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. Thanks, but no thanks.
And a meeting with the World Wrestling Federation.
Not them again…!
I adamantly resisted any suggestion of doing licensed WWF comics. Been there, done that. Bad, bad, bad….
VALIANT, as you may know, was forced into a license to do WWF comics by my corrupt partner Steve Massarsky, who represented both Leisure Concepts International (the WWF's licensing agency) and VALIANT. Can you say "conflict of interest?" Massarsky made a ton of money personally by making a deal with himself with utter disregard for what made sense for VALIANT, and I was stuck with actually producing WWF comics.
Working with the WWF at VALIANT had been a nightmare. They'd been uncooperative on every front. They honored none of their promises about helping us market our books. They were insane with regard to approvals.
No drawing we made of their wrestlers was ever adequate. The absolute worst incident involved a cover featuring the Ultimate Warrior that they rejected. I went to their offices in Stamford, Connecticut to argue. Their approval nitwits said his nose was too big. The Ultimate Warrior's face, however, had been TRACED FROM A PHOTO. I, myself, had traced it. I showed them the photo. I showed them the tracing. I had a light box with me and proved that the tracing was exact.
No good. They insisted that the drawing was wrong, his nose was too big and the cover had to be redone.
Nitwits. 
I went back to our office and said, "Print it."
The WWF approval nitwits later thanked me for making correx that weren't made. Anyway…back to Broadway Comics. Somehow or other, by dint of boundless enthusiasm and relentless persistence, we got Vince McMahon and his wife/partner Linda McMahon interested in the idea of using a live-action Fatale in their wrestling scenarios. 
Well, all righty then…!

NEXT:  Traci Adelle

More About Broadway and Fatale

First
On this, the eighth day of Christmas I have no use for maids-a-milking. These items, on the other hand….
Murder weapon as Christmas gift: A gift I gave to a psycho-chicken Elf who remains at large. "Slay" bells ring….
The tentacles of power: A gift I gave to myself. Power mad? Yes, I am.

Fatale
Fatale was an experiment in many ways. Fatale was created to be Broadway Comics' answer to the "Bad Girl" trend, popular in the 1990's. Being me, I wanted to do a Bad Girl who was every bit as extreme as those pneumatic vixens who led the charge but less puerile and more real.
Here is my introductory editorial: As explained in the previous post, Broadway comics were written TV-style, by four people working together. Two women among us.
We had so much faith in Fatale that we debuted her in the first Broadway Comics offering, Powers That Be #1 (starring Star Seed) and in the first two issues of Shadow State, our second series launch.
Here is the Contents Page of the first issue of Powers That Be, a title suggested, I believe, by Alan Weiss. David Fruhling, "Genetic Science Consultant," is a guy I played basketball with at the time in the Martin Luther King Jr. High School gym, which a group of us rented on Tuesday nights when I was less old and debilitated. The MLK, Jr. High School was on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. David was/is a genetic science guy, super-smart, and generous with his time and knowledge. He gave me a tour of his company's research facilities and explained the mysteries of life to me. No, not the birds and bees. That I knew. I'm talking genetic engineering, here. P.S. he could handle the rock and could hit perimeter shots.
(SKIP THIS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT ASIDE: Not that anyone cares, but the aforementioned basketball group consisted of, besides David and me, a varied bunch of professional people—Mike, a publishing exec (and world class point guard), Jeff, the head of ad space sales for Playboy (in my estimation, the best all-around player), Rob (our best outside shooter), a notable photographer who once photographed Ronald O. Perelman and found him to be a total douchebag, Jim, a chemist (and great power forward), Danny, a dentist (a hot-shot fast-break artist), Steve, the Editor in Chief of High Times (an undersized but crafty low post/rebounder type), several lawyers, and other interesting, successful people. There was a guy named Andrew, a publishing entrepreneur, who was too good to be playing with us amateurs, but gave us a break. He let me foul him all the time and never yelled "I got it!" That's what you say in no-official games where you call your own fouls. A split second after I swatted a shot down. I'm the big, sweaty guy.Because I am ridiculously tall, I got a lot of rebounds and blocked a lot of shots. Played defense. I couldn't shoot, couldn't dribble and passed only when it was safe. But it was good exercise and fun.
Funny. Only point-guard Mike, who brought me into the group, knew my last name. On the court, he'd yell instructions like "Shooter, low post!" or "Shooter! Board!" After a couple of games the other players took Mike aside and told him to stop calling me "Shooter." They thought he was making fun of me for not being able to shoot the ball….)
(A MORE RELEVANT ASIDE: Much has been made of the unorthodox package design of early Broadway Comics. Here's the scoop: We were funded by Broadway Video Entertainment. BVE was the general partner in my 50/50 partnership with them, and BVE required that we use their favorite design firm, Monk Swing—yes, that was the company's name—to create a distinctive look for our books.
Okay.  Here's what we wound up with: Our splash was a contents page. My column was on page two. Very magazine like. I suppose.
After a while, we finally got a little more control of the look of our books: Better.
Back to Fatale.)
It seemed to us, the Broadway Comics writers, that typical Bad Girl characters walked onstage as fully formed, badass anti-heroes—over-developed "girls" who never developed any further.
Fatale, real name Désirée Hopewell, starts out as what her trainer, Duke, refers to as a "party girl." She's lazy. Flighty. Careless. She has a weight problem. She counts on her remarkable abilities to see her through every danger and difficulty. Yes, that's Matt Senreich, a Broadway intern, on the TV. Matt grew up to become one of the producers of Robot Chicken.
We were pretty bold with the sex, sexiness and sexuality.

Even as a party girl, Fatale is no cupcake.
Ultimately, being a party girl doesn't work out so well.
Fatale gets serious.
Fatale toughens up. When push comes to shove, however, she still "borrows" some skills from her teacher to fight the woman she thinks killed her friends. No fool she. No one becomes a world-class martial arts expert, like her opponent, with only a few days of training. So, during the course of the three introductory short features in which she appeared and the six issues of her own series, she learns, she learns, she grows up, she develops, she gets stronger. She becomes responsible.
She fights those trying to steal her power and destroy her. She wins.
She ends up as the head of a secret, global power elite cabal, the de facto rulers of the world. She is their absolute mistress, Queen of the Planet. Heavy hangs the head…. As an extra feature, we hired Harry Broertjes, a major league journalist, to write newspaper accounts of the events in Fatale and other Broadway Comics series. Here are a few:





Harry, for his own amusement, wrote them in the styles of various publications. He's goooood.
We had a zero issue origin story written. It was never published. Here's the script. Sorry about the formatting glitches.
Download the Fatale 0 Script (99k) 
JayJay created the Fatale logo using lipstick. Yep, lipstick. Broadway Video Entertainment's chief graphic designer, Tony, contributed.
Dave Cockrum contributed mightily to Fatale's design. Here's a feature we ran about the creation of Fatale:
Star Seed was Broadway's Superman, but Fatale was our favorite. Toward the end of Broadway, Fatale was really starting to take off. We published a trade paperback collection and a hardback collection. Two hundred and fifty copies of the hardback were signed by penciler J.G. Jones, inker Frank McLaughlin and me. The collections sold well. The signed and numbered hardbacks are still sought after, and go for some serious money. Chuck Rozanski auctioned one off while I was at his Jason Street, Denver Mega-Store for something near $300, an amazing bargain, I'm told.
We felt we had turned the corner, and that Broadway Comics was going to break out and rise up.
Then…along came a Snyder. I'll explain tomorrow.

NEXT: Traci Adell and the WWF, Fatale on TV, and the Web of the Snyder 
Here is a cropped photo of Traci Adell from Playboy. Click here to see the entire Not-Safe-For-Work-And-Maybe-Not-Wives/Girlfriends-Either photo. - JayJay

Regarding What Has Gone Before and a Modest Proposal

Marvelman has left a new comment on your post "And So This Is Christmas Plus More Sex < http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/12/and-so-this-is-christmas-plus-more-sex.html > ":

It's a small world. I came on this blog to recommend that Jim take a look at Azzarello & Chiang's Wonder Woman. I highly recommend it. However, I'm not sure that each issue contains as much exposition as it should. I think it's possible a new reader would find herself lost. Which brings me to two questions... 

1) Jim, how do you feel about the "what has gone before" pages which are now printed on the first page of many comic books?

2) Do you think it is alright for some books in a line to be directed at a general audience and others to be intended for comics-savvy readers? Or, would that just lead confusion about what a brand (e.g. Marvel, DC...) represents?

ANSWER:

RE:  "...how do you feel about the "what has gone before" pages which are now printed on the first page of many comic books?"

I guess they're better than nothing, but some of the ones I've seen are badly written and do as much harm as good. They usually shouldn't be necessary, in my opinion, though occasions may arise that warrant them. I used introductory text pages in "Alpha and Omega," the serialized Solar: Man of the Atom #0 story published by VALIANT. In most cases, a writer should be able to get across the essential information very briefly, in a caption, perhaps, or a bit of dialogue. Then, as the story progresses, in organic and inobtrusive fashion provide more introduction of characters, situations, etc. I think I did a fair job of it in Turok Son of Stone #2, the script for which we have just made available for download.

Things often go wrong with those introductory texts.  Unless they're written by a skilled writer, they often contain not enough information, too much information (becoming long-winded and tedious) or irrelevant, confusing information. The intro text for Captain America and Bucky #624, for instance, says this:

"1941. ORPHANED AFTER THE LOSS OF HIS FATHER, JAMES "BUCKY" BARNES BECAME THE MASCOT AT FORT LEHIGH AND GAINED A REPUTATION AS A NOTORIOUS TROUBLEMAKER (my italics for emphasis). AS WORLD WAR II LOOMED, BARNES WAS SELECTED FOR A ONE-OF-A-KIND SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT WITH THE ARMY: TO BE THE NEW PARTNER FOR STEVE ROGERS, AKA CAPTAIN AMERICA. AFTER SURVIVING COUNTLESS HIGH-RISK OPERATIONS, BUCKY WAS ULTIMATELY LOST, PLUNGING INTO ARCTIC WATERS AND PRESUMED DEAD…
As I read the story, somewhere in the back of my mind I kept wondering when Bucky's troublemaker past would be a factor. Turns out it wasn't. So why mention it?

Ah, but the main problem with those intros is that too often the writer of the story relies on it to provide all the information necessary, and therefore doesn't even make an attempt to communicate things we need to know to understand the story. Which inspires the intro writers to be even more long-winded and tedious.

RE:  "Do you think it is alright for some books in a line to be directed at a general audience and others to be intended for comics-savvy readers? Or, would that just lead confusion about what a brand (e.g. Marvel, DC...) represents?"
 
Again, that shouldn't be necessary. But, since weeding out the unskilled comic book writers (somebody used the term "professional fanfic writers") isn't something that the major companies are likely to do soon, maybe giving them a playpen of their own and getting real writers to do the heavy lifting on cornerstone titles would be worth a try. It's an idea. I can even imagine DC or Marvel trying it. Good one.  But...how sad that things have come to the point that quarantining the professional fanfic writers and letting them do stories aimed solely at readers steeped in the lore seems reasonable.

And So This Is Christmas Plus More Sex

First, a Few Items

An Apology to Mark Waid
Mark Waid wrote this scene, which I showed as an example of an out-of-character use of Aunt May for the purpose of a shocker: I had no idea that Mark had written that scene, not that it would have mattered. I'm an equal opportunity complainer. Anyone may find him or herself honked at here.
Here's where I went wrong: I judged the scene against Aunt May's character as it was when I was at Marvel. The Aunt May I knew of was a very old-fashioned woman, the epitome of propriety, who no more would have had sex out of wedlock than my Victorian-era Grandma, who was born in 1888. But, I've been told that Aunt May became a little more of a modern Golden Girl subsequently, and that the scene is not out of character for her. Okay.
Sorry, Mark.
In case I haven't made it clear enough previously, I regard Mark Waid as one of the best and brightest writers I know or have heard tell of.  Have you read Irredeemable?

A Disclaimer
Please understand that when I do my analyses of various issues or hold forth on various subjects like sex in the comics, by no means am I trying to tell you what you should or shouldn't like. If a scene I find irrelevant, out of character or unsound for any reason happens to work for you or tickle your fancy, so be it. If a book I disparage is your favorite, so be it. We have no argument.
People like what they like. No one has to justify what they like or defend why they like it.
Most of us here have enough comic book background to understand and appreciate things that might fly right over the heads of the uninitiated. That's cool. Today's comics creators are creating the stuff for us to a great extent. While I think that might be a limiting factor regarding the growth (or survival) of the business, foolish business strategy and evidence of poor craftsmanship or bad judgment, so what? It's not up to me to tell them what to do or tell you what to enjoy.
That's why, in my rants, I take care to separate my comics-savvy reactions from my what-the-hell-is-a-new-reader-going-to-make-out-of-this reactions. What is the writer thinking or not thinking? All I'm trying to do is give anyone interested a peek at the man behind the curtain.
Same with the other perps—I mean participants. The artist, the editor, the publisher and the corporate overlords.  All I mean to do is provide whatever insight I can, given my training and experience.
Nobody has to agree with me. It's okay, I'm used to it.  : )

On That Subject
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Sex and Drugs – Part 2": 

Jim,

I love the blog and read it daily, but I have to disagree on one point: You can't really compare a movie and a comic book title. There is no fat in a movie because of the time constraints;they have to cram a whole lot into an hour and a half or two hours. It's more like a one-shot. Having to deal with a continuing narrative is completely different isn't it? They don't just tell a story and it's done. It goes on and on and on. They really have to flesh the characters out quite a bit more. Maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle.

Again, I really enjoy the Blog! 

Neil  

Posted by Anonymous to Jim Shooter at December 27, 2011 1:21 PM 

ANSWER:
I respect your right to disagree. I think you are wrong. Are there differences between writing for comics and movies? Of course. Movies have time constraints, comics have page and panel restraints. Each medium has advantages and disadvantages. But, the basic obligations of the writer are the same. No matter how many comic book issues have preceeded the one in your hands, no mattter how many will follow, the one in your hands is the unit of entertainment you bought. The movie you are watching is the unit of entertainment you paid to see. They ought to be worth the price. That comic book, that movie, should be well-crafted. Well-crafted, from the writer's perspective, means no irrelevant, confusing or non-sequitur parts. No shock-surprises that require prior knowledge to grasp their significance. Nothing to weaken or muddy the story. Nothing to ruin or compromise that unit.
That said, being usually a serial medium, comics do offer the opportunity to do continued stories and long-term continuity bits, teasers, slow builds and continuing sub-plots. I talk about how to do such things starting here: http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/11/how-to-do-continued-stories-and-next-or.html 
A lot of movies these days have sequels or spawn a series. Bad directors, actors with clout demanding self-serving changes, interference from the producer or studio and film editors often compromise the screenwriter's work, but I assure you that a screenwriter with any chops at all strives to make each movie, each unit of entertainment work as well as if it were the only one.
Some screenwriters use techniques similar to the ones explained starting on the post linked to above. For instance, in one of the Predator movies, we see a skull of a monster from Alien in a predator's trophy case, presaging upcoming Alien vs. Predator movies. (But if you never saw Alien and don't recognize it, it's okay! It's just another weird skull in a collection of skulls.) This has become more prevalent in recent times as sequels are planned, and often contractually obligated.
It's easier for comic book writers to employ such techniques because it's a month or so between our releases, as opposed to a year or so for movies. But the same logic applies. The same basic principles of craft apply.
Mystery is good. Confusion is bad. 
A few of Mark Twain's Rules of Literary Art:That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. They require that the episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale and shall help to develop it. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit sufficient excuse for being there. Substitute "issue" for "tale" to apply these rules to comic books. Rule #3 is really Twain's Rule #4, but it autocorrected to #3 when I cut one rule out (because it was irrelevant to this issue, oops, I mean reply.)
I would expand #3 above to say anything should show sufficient excuse for being there, and I am confident Twain would agree.
An old saw often heard regarding screenplays goes: If you show a gun in Act I you'd better fire it in Act III. Sufficient excuse for being there. 
In comics, if you do it as a proper tease, you could show a gun in one issue and fire it in the next. You'd need to show it again in the issue in which it is actually fired.
Kurt Vonnegut had his set of rules, too, in general agreement with Twain's. For one thing, he said, "If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out." For comics, I'd modify that to "If a sentence or a bit or a scene does not illuminate your subject in this issue in some new and useful way...." Again, the tease principles apply. 
And now, once more with feeling: Despite the "Rules" cited above, THERE ARE NO RULES! THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN'T BE DONE. IF YOU TRY TO ENFORCE EVEN MARK TWAIN'S RULES, SOME WHIPPERSNAPPER LIKE SIENKIEWICZ, MILLER OR LAPHAM WILL COME ALONG AND DO SOMETHING WONDERFUL WHILE TRAMPLING ALL OVER THE RULES.
However, it's the "something wonderful" part that eludes most people. Most people who throw down and dance upon the rules produce garbage. They can proudly say they ignored the rules. But they produced unreadable garbage. It takes someone with rare ability, insight and vision to venture off into new territory and make it work, make it wonderful and find a new way. When someone does, ain't it grand?
I believe that Twain and certainly Vonnegut would heartily agree.
Even "decompressed" stories can be done if done well. I'll talk about how to do that sometime, if anyone's interested. Anything can be done if done with insight and skill. 
So, take the "rules," all rules, for what they're worth: They're tools. Twain's rules comprise a pocket guide that helps writers analyze and judge the efficacy of their work.
The rules are not for readers! Readers shouldn't be trotting out the rules and measuring works against them to see whether they like them. A reader should like something or not without worrying about whether all the screws are tightened. Unless they think it's fun to take a story apart and see how it's built, how it works.
Personally, I think that the notion that comics are so "different" that what would be unacceptably bad writing in any other entertainment medium is somehow okay in our medium is part of what's killing our medium. The presumption that readers are familiar with what went on before and will keep buying more units in the hopes that irrelevant things will eventually become clear or meaningful is suicidal.
The best way to encourage a reader to buy next issue is to make the one in their hands great.
When I was a kid, when I finished reading a story by Stan and Jack or Steve I said "wow." These days, when I finish reading a comic book, too often I say "what?"
A final qualifier: Every day, some poorly crafted, stupid, bad creative works succeed, and every day, some well-crafted, brilliant, excellent creative works fail. The success of a creative work is dependent upon too many uncontrollable factors to be entirely predictable. But I firmly believe that producing excellent works is like a batter having a level swing. At the end of the season, the creators who produce excellent work bat .406 and lead the league. Those who succeed here and there with bad work bat below the Mendoza line.
I suspect t'was ever thus. I suspect it always will be.

Somebody Asked
If there was a Legion of Super-Heroes artist who drew the figures nude and let the inker add the costumes. I think that was Jim Sherman. If so, he wasn't the first comics artist to do things like that.

Stan's Birthday
Today is Stan's birthday. Happy Birthday, Stan.
At Marvel, one year while Stan was still East-Coast based, we threw a party for Stan's birthday.  Some weeks earlier, Stan and I had gone out to lunch together. Striding along toward the restaurant, Stan pointed at a "No Parking" sign and said that he'd owned one of those in younger days. Hung it on his wall. Really liked it. Didn't know what had become of it.
I enlisted my Mission Impossible Commandoes, Elliot Brown and John Morelli to acquire such a sign.  Secretly and evilly, by night. They did. It was lying under a trailer at a construction site, probably never to be used again.   We presented it to Stan and I think he was honestly moved.
The expanded version of that tale will be along when I get around to it.

And So This Is Christmas
It was Christmas day when I wrote this little segment. I would not, did not ask JayJay to post it (or do anything else) then, but here it is now.
I have a lot of Christmas stories. I have resisted telling them because, I don't know, they may be of no interest.  Meaningful to me, maybe, but not sufficiently to others. Also, in a couple of them I'm the good guy, and I've been accused of telling look-at-me-being-the-good-guy stories. And in a couple of them, I'm the Tiny Tim character and I've been accused of telling "poor me" stories. So, screw it.  Here is one that might be amusing, though….
Marvel Comics stopped giving Christmas bonuses to rank and file employees in 1977, I think. Might have been 1978. Up until then, every hourly employee received $25 to $100 or thereabouts, depending on years of service. President Jim Galton handled the situation in characteristically insensitive fashion.  No one was told there would be no bonus. The day before the holiday, no bonus checks came. People started asking—and were told that the corporation as a whole hadn't done so well, so, coal in the stockings.
It might seem like a small amount of money, but the disappointment was palpable. Nice morale crusher. Good work, Galton.
The next year I asked Galton well in advance if there would be a bonus. He said, "We eliminated non-management bonuses as of last year." What?
That was an early lesson in corporate evil for me. Tell the employees any lie that serves management's purposes.
Now what?
To paraphrase Otter in Animal House, this required a really stupid and futile gesture on someone's part.
I recruited a bunch of editorial types who could carry a tune. I had my brilliant secretary Lynn rent choir robes for all of us, get us candles, candle holders Christmas Carol books…and, oh, yes, a pitch pipe.
And on the afternoon before the Christmas holiday started, in robes and full regalia, we Christmas Caroled the executives and staff upstairs.
For the staff and most execs we sang our little hearts out. Know ye this: Jim Owsley/Christopher Priest can SING! What a voice! And Louise Jones/Simonson has the voice of an angel, as one would expect. The halo and wings are invisible, I presume.
For the V.P. of Finance, Barry Kaplan, and President Jim Galton we sang the following:
"On the first day of Christmas, Marvel gave to us….NOTHING!"
Then, we marched on, caroling. And somehow—a Christmas miracle, perhaps—we did not get fired. Also….
Anyone on the "manager" level or higher received a substantial "discretionary performance bonus."  Reasonably serious money. I gathered all the comics floor people who received such bonuses, all editors, art director John Romita and production manager Danny Crespi and me, of course. Maybe one or two more, I forget. I suggested we each kick in some dough and give our own bonus to the people in our department getting nothing. Everybody cheerfully contributed except one Scrooge, an editor. Screw him. Even without him, we put together enough money to more than make up for what the rank and file troops weren't getting from the company.
We continued that tradition. Scrooge continued to be Scrooge. Screw him.

More Sex
The 1990's were the Age of the Bad Girls. Bad girls, starting with Lady Death, who may have been the first (I don't count Vampirella, Elektra and other precursors), were anti-hero-ish super women with outrageously curvy bodies, skimpy clothes and stiletto heels. Wicked in attitude, usually, if not downright wicked.  
Once Lady Death got the trend started, Bad Girls proliferated. You can probably name a lot more than I can:  Barb Wire, Danger Girl, Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose, Avengelyne….  Most people include Shi, but she was more slender and less a caricature than most. 
Broadway Comics offered Fatale.

I formed Broadway Comics in partnership with Broadway Video Entertainment, a division of Broadway Video, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels' company. Our purpose was to make great and successful comics, of course, but with an eye towards properties that had potential for TV and film.
Among the experiments tried at Broadway Comics was writing comics sort of in the same manner that many TV shows are written—a group of writers working together. With me were Janet "JayJay" Jackson, Joe James and Pauline Weiss.
Each member of the group had special strengths. JayJay, besides being generally brilliant and having a gift for dialogue, is a great designer. She was wonderful with clothing and costumes. She also created floor plans of locations. She was always sketching.
JayJay, an excellent photographer, also took photos of me and whomever acting out some bits, as well as shots of settings. We often went out to film "on location."
Joe is a terrific designer and a superb artist. He thumbnailed panels and choreographed action as we went along. He also was good with current slang, real-people talk and such.
Pauline can type faster than you can talk. She was the scribe. She took down every word uttered in our sessions.
I was the head writer/show runner/big cheese. Everyone, including Pauline (who you might think was too busy—but no) made story and copy suggestions. It was a bona fide team, and a good one.
We came up with the idea to do Fatale as an answer of sorts to the Bad Girl trend. She was a "Bad Girl" in appearance, but our intention was to play it more realistically. What if a woman who looked like that and had some fantastic power really existed?
Conveniently, JayJay and Pauline, both actual women, were there to represent feminine realities. Fatale would, said both of them, kick her high heels off before attempting to run or fight. There was a scene in which Fatale jumped down from a roof or some height. Both women pointed out that she'd instinctively cross her arms under her breasts. Etc.
And we stomped on clichés at every opportunity. A handsome high roller approaches Fatale in a casino?  No cliché put down, no dumping the guy on his butt for daring to express interest, as so often happens in comics. She's honestly attracted to a good-looking guy with the confidence to approach her in a charming way. As JayJay and Pauline averred that she might be.
We followed the Bad Girl trend in the sense that we made the series as sexy, sexual and daring as we could. Doing what the Bad Girl books did, but less plastic-y and artificial. Superhuman, but more human. Or so we thought. We purport, you decide. 

NEXT:  More About Broadway and Fatale

Sex and Drugs – Part 2

First This

Commenter Rio Herrera clued me in about the two talented creators I met at the signing at Chuck Rozanski's Mile High Comics Mega-store in Denver.  
They are, far right, Scotlyn Xing Xin Bedford and far left, a young man who introduced himself to me as Phil. Rio also heard him called Phil. The Mile High Newsletter identifies him as Cory Watts, so I'm still not sure.

The guy in the white shirt is Chuck, and the looming ogre is me, of course.

But anyway, the property these two gentlemen were representing is called Ximphonia. You can find out more about Ximphonia and their other creative works on the Dreaming Symphonic-Beauty Empire website. Here's a link:

http://www.dsbworks.com/ 

Scot and Phil had a table near where Chuck stationed me. They drew quite a crowd—in fact, when I had a brief break and went over to see what all the fuss was about, I couldn't get near enough to see.  At the end when things were calmer, I finally did get to talk to them and they were, indeed, as mentioned above, gentlemen. Very smart and talented gentlemen. I wish them well.

Now This

Last Thursday evening, the gifted and irrepressibly creative J.C. Vaughn and his unindicted co-conspirator Rosina the Resplendent hosted a holiday gathering at Rosa Mexicano on East 18th Street in Manhattan.

J.C, as you may know, was my scripting partner on three issues of The Mighty Samson for Dark Horse. He's done lots of stuff. Here's his not-up-to-date CV:

J.C. VAUGHNComics Publications
J.C. Vaughn has written or co-written stories for renowned creator Billy Tucci's highly successful series Shi published by Dark Horse Comics, Avatar, and Crusade Fine Arts.  For IDW Publishing, he developed and wrote 24 , based on the long-running Fox Television series; and also adapted one of acclaimed author Cory Doctorow's short stories, "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth," for Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now #2. Working with Realm Press, he helped reintroduce the original Battlestar Galactica to comics.

Vaughn contributed to two high profile anthologies, More Fund Comics published by Sky-Dog Press in association with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and ACTOR Comics Presents , published by Century Comics in association with ACTOR (A Commitment To Our Roots).  Currently known as the Hero Initiative, ACTOR was founded in late 2000 by a consortium of publishers including Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics and others to assist comics creators in need.  

He has created a number of notable comics properties including the Harvey Award-nominated Antiques: the Comic Strip, published in collected form by Gemstone Publishing; Zombie-Proof and Vampire, PA published by Moonstone Books; McCandless & Company published by Mandalay Books; as well as the upcoming Bedtime Stories For Impressionable Children (October 2010) slated for publication by Moonstone Books.  He also created Secret Agent Vampire Gorilla and co-created Dirty Martini , both planned for release in 2011. 

Vaughn also serves as Associate Publisher and Executive Editor of Gemstone Publishing, publishers of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guid e. Under his guidance, the 2010 hardcover edition soared to a day-of-release sell-out.  He also wrote Gemstone's well-received Free Comic Book Day entry, The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Comics . 

Rosa Mexicano is where the restaurant America used to be. It's a terrific place—MexEclectic, vast and extra snazzy.
Besides, J.C., Rosina and me, Joe James and wife Yamilca, JayJay and partner Freddy, Adam Phillips and wife Julia, Debbie Fix and J.C.'s long-time friend Rob were present.
Yamilca and Joe James JayJay and Freddy with Adam Phillips Adam, Rosina, Julia and Yamilca J.C. and Rob Debbie, Jim and J.C.Debbie, JayJay, Joe and me…! There we were as in olden days, happy golden days of yore—at DEFIANT and Broadway Comics. Debbie and JayJay, of course, were with me at VALIANT, too. It's always great to see them.

Adam Phillips worked with me for a while at Marvel long ago and now works for DC.

We had a wonderful time. Thanks, J.C. and Rosina.

And This

For me, the first Christmas Carol of the season is always The "Pogo Christmas Carol" by the great Walt Kelly. It's sung to the tune of "Deck the Halls." Everyone who works in the comics medium should know it!

The Pogo Christmas CarolBy Walt Kelly

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!Nora's freezin' on the trolley,Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrelLullaby, Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?Trolley Molly don't love Harold, Boola boola Pensacoola Hullabaloo!
There are many more verses. Elaboration upon the carol was a Christmas season tradition in the Pogo strip.

Pogo was nationally syndicated from 1949 through 1975. If you're too young to be familiar with Pogo, it's well worth checking out the collections, some of which can be found on Amazon.

Pogo is an American cultural treasure and Walt Kelly was a genius. I never met him, but I met his widow, Selby Kelly several times at National Cartoonist Society events. Selby was very creative and had a background as an animator. Along with some of Walt's assistants, she continued Pogo for a couple of years after Walt's death in 1973.

For me, it's not Christmas season till all of us are decked with Boston Charlie.

One More Thing

There has been a great deal of discussion here recently regarding religious beliefs. One of the most interesting books I've read about such things is The Physics of Immortality by Frank J. Tipler. It's a daunting read, but worth the struggle, I think. Tipler is a Ph.D. mathematical physicist and cosmologist at Tulane University who hangs with big brains like Stephen W. Hawking and Roger Penrose. He offers a scientific theory of existence of God. The second half of the book is "An Appendix for Scientists," consisting mostly of equations. I'm not necessarily endorsing what is proposed therein, but like I said, it's interesting. 

And now…

Sex

There isn't enough sex in comics. There's too much stuff like this:

http://www.ugo.com/the-goods/the-50-dirtiest-comic-book-sex-scenes 

I came across that site recently. What is shown there paints a pretty sad picture, I think, of what passes for sex in comic books (or in some cases, merely genitalia-related scenes). To me, most of it doesn't really seem to have much to do with sex or sexuality. It's there for shock value: "Bet you thought you'd never see THIS in a comic book!"  
(P.S., the Hulk and his ball-batterer later shack up in a motel and get it on a different way.)

Or, worse, "Bet you never thought you'd see insert-name-of-character doing THIS!"  

I find those sorts of things asexual.  It's so blatantly a gimmick or so out of character that it falls flat for me.  My reaction is less "wow" or "ooh-la-la" or "glorioski!" and more a disappointed "good grief…."

Sometimes it seems to be all about the writer proving how clever he or she is by inventing some way that a super character's power could be an advantage during a sex session. Sometimes it seems to be all about the writer proving how clever he or she is by inventing some way that a super character's power could be a disadvantage during a sex session. As we learn later, Kitty Pryde uncontrollably becomes immaterial when she climaxes. But isn't the art nice on this one?

All of the above, I believe, are examples of what the erudite Mr. Marc Miyake referred to in a comment once as "stimuli." Stimuli as opposed to story. Elements inserted that do not serve the story, solely for the purpose of drawing a gasp. Like this one: I haven't read this story. I'm willing to bet though, that Peter Parker and Mary Jane's bedroom preferences don't have any bearing on the plot or any sub-plot. I'll bet nothing established in this scene about their relationship or anything else has anything to do with the story. Irrelevant is my guess. So why is it there? For a wow? An ooh-la-la? A glorioski? Not from me. And what's up with the Pepé le Pew accent? Good grief!

I'd venture a guess that Peter Parker could probably have sex with Mary Jane while sticking to the ceiling. That would be irrelevant, too. Unless, say, it served to set up some later scene in which, as Spider-Man, Peter's ability to stick to a ceiling while bearing Mary Jane or a burden weighing as much as Mary Jane plays an important role. Or something. A reason.

Some writers go to great lengths to trump up a reason to have characters act out a sex scene on the printed page. "Hey, what if Superman and Big Barda made a porn film?!" It's part of the story, yes, but is the story really about Superman and Big Barda or is it about getting that little personal fantasy into print? Think about good (or at least well-crafted) movies you've seen. Raiders of the Lost Ark, for instance. Every time Spielberg and Lucas show you anything, it is relevant to the story. Think about what they show you. Indy has a fear of snakes, demonstrated in an early scene. Later, trying to retrieve the Ark, he is surrounded by…snakes! Also, think about what they don't show you. Maybe Indy is an expert ballroom dancer, but it's irrelevant so they do not establish it. There is not a drop of fat on that film. Everything shown serves a purpose relevant to the story at hand. Same with Rocky. Or The Wizard of Oz.  Or any story written by a skilled professional.

If it's not necessary, leave it out.

In Body Heat the sex was absolutely germane. So it was there, and done with steamy effectiveness. In Cat People sex is the core of the conceit. 

In comics…? I'm trying to think of good examples. Hmm. Jaime Hernandez did some sweet, elegant, usually brief, intrinsic sex scenes in early issues of Love and Rockets. David Lapham did some well-crafted, germane sex scenes in Stray Bullets. I've been told that Bill Willingham's Fables had some good and necessary ones. In Elfquest, Wendy and Richard Pini did some nice scenes. Others? Help me.

Anyway…the subject of sex in comics gets me right back to my usual rant, bad writing in comics.  I think that too often these days, characters are twisted to serve the whims, puerile fantasies and personal proclivities of the creators. Ignoring or perverting the nature of the characters is bad writing.

As for sex in comics in general, if portrayed skillfully and well, if it is absolutely germane, in character and essential, there is nothing that can't be done. It doesn't have to be sticky-gooey-graphic. Whatever is necessary, I suppose, that is non-actionable.

What about my handling of sex in comics, you may be wondering. Here's a comment and answer pertaining to my Dark Horse and Legion work from a while back:  

Defiant1 has left a new comment on your post "Legion of Super Heroes Overview, Part 3":

Jim,

My understanding is that you want your characters to have real motivations and sex or sexuality is a real motivation you've opted to include. From what I can tell, your latest work has been a tad bit heavier using sex or sexuality as a component when compared to your previous works. It also seems to have extended towards a seedier portrayal of sex. This has prompted some some criticism from a couple of people online. I am not offended, but I felt it's been a little heavy at a time when comics need to appeal to the largest demographic audience possible. With some major titles from Marvel even struggling to sell 50,000 copies, wouldn't it be better to write a story that can appeal to the largest demographic audience? I'd like to see mature comics that didn't require parents to censor their kids from reading them. I'm not an advocate of turning comics into a mindless "Barney the dinosaur" feel-good experience to rot children's brain cells, but I think it is possible to to write great stories that don't have half naked women draped over the heroes shoulder.

I was curious about your thoughts regarding mature themed comics vs. appealing to a wider and inevitably more conservative audience.

Posted by Defiant1 to Jim Shooter at May 27, 2011 2:24 PM 

ANSWER:

I don't know. To me, opting to include sex and sexuality as motivation for human characters is like opting to breathe if one wishes to live. 

I doubt that cutting back on half naked women would have increased sales, and perhaps would have decreased sales. Lots of half naked men in my stories, too, by the way. If there are parents who believe that my stories are unsuitable for their children, I completely respect that. In my opinion, we're going for the meat of the market these days, which is, for better or worse, adults. And still, I have done nothing in any story for DH that can't be shown on prime time TV. In my scripts, I am constantly urging the artists to be careful, to keep it reined in. Have you seen what's on prime time and daytime? The reality shows? No "seedy" subject off limits. Twilight has a great deal of sexuality, and it's a kid favorite. And if you choose to consider HBO, Showtime and the rest...wow. 

If the sexuality seems "seedier" to you, sorry. That's not what I'm going for.
Criticism online and otherwise has been a fact of life for me for nearly 47 years. I listen. Really. I try to glean from it any points that will help me, any enlightenment there is to be had. Then I march on. 

I try to tell the best stories I can, suited to the characters and their milieux. 

Mainstream comics. Nothing seedy here....


I would add that the hand I was dealt at Dark Horse included The Mighty Samson, featuring a barbarian in a post-Apocalyptic primitive world—no modern day PC sensibilities there. Also, Turok Son of Stone, featuring a couple of Native Americans trapped in a Cretaceous-Era parallel dimension along with many other ancient peoples (and a few modern ones)—very few modern day PC sensibilities there.  And Magnus Robot Fighter, which, in the tradition established by Russ Manning, is set in a future time full of beautiful people who dress sexy. It's also inherently a romance. Lastly, Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom, featuring a scientist my age, Doctor Solar, who is transformed into a far younger (and super-powered) man. Like Magnus, it is also inherently a romance.

And, the Legion is about "underagers" full of raging hormones. Anyone writing such characters without addressing sex and sexuality never was a teenager.

Regarding the LSH, here's a comment made a while back by a misinformed Anonymous regarding my analysis of Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 as related to my LSH work, and my answer:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "DC Comics the New 52":

Waaaaaaiiiit a second...

Aren't you the guy that turned Saturn girl from a confident leader into someone with really low self-esteem, who can't understand why leadership is more important than relationships, and sleeps around instead of talking about it? The one who had Night Girl's outfit shred to pieces in her first appearance? Aren't you the one who had Brainiac 5 sleep with an unconscious woman (which is rape, by the way, maybe look that up).

The women you write are sex objects and clusters of soap opera like cliches and offensive stereotypes strung together nonsensically.

I have no issue with a lady being depicted as wanting to have sex without commitment. But I forgot that a lady sleeping with two people is only okay if she does it out of a lack of self-esteem rather than her own desire. I forgot it's only okay if she behaves immaturely and nonsensically (low self esteem + telepathy? Really?).

Like wow. PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF.

For the record, I had absolutely no problem understanding the paneling and what was happening. It was cinematic and very clear to me. The fact that you can't follow along is amazing and sad.

Posted by Anonymous to Jim Shooter at October 8, 2011 3:39 AM 

ANSWER:

RE: Saturn Girl: Affairs of the heart have a way of troubling even the most confident leaders. Saturn Girl did not sleep around. She didn't sleep with anyone except Lightning Lad. Maybe you missed this scene in LSH #49:

Panel 5:

Scene: In the hallway, outside the Infirmary, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl confer. Saturn Girl is shrugging in a "beats me" way. Lightning Lad is confused and distraught, running one hand through his hair—a classic confused-and-distraught gesture. Like he needed another crisis…. 

NOTE: Embarrassing photo or ugly sketch of LLad's gesture available on demand.

CAPTION Outside.
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
I agree. It's…suspicious…but that's what she remembers.
LIGHTNING LAD
Why does everything have to go wrong at once…?!
Panel 6:

Scene: Silent panel. Acting and body language are everything, here, Francis. Lightning Lad looks at Saturn Girl, struggling with the decision to ask her about her "fling" with Ultra Boy. Saturn Girl—perhaps sensing what's coming—stares at the floor, awash in shame and guilt.(no copy)
PAGE TWENTY-TWO:

Panel 1:

Scene: Lightning Lad goes for it. Saturn Girl still looks down, guiltily, ashamed, possibly crying.

LIGHTNING LAD
Imra, Ultra Boy is insisting to everyone who will listen that nothing happened between you two. That's what Element Lad told me. 
LIGHTNING LAD (2nd)
Well…? Did anything…happen?
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
Yes. No. I don't know…it doesn't matter.
Panel 2: Scene: Two-shot of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. He's pressing for answers. She's still crying.
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
I invited him…no, I dragged him into my mind…and what happens there is real…to me.
LIGHTNING LAD
Did he actually touch you…physically?
SATURN GIRL (2nd)(telepathic balloon)
I…don't know. Maybe not. I think.
Panel 3:

Scene: Two-shot. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl face each other, look into each others eyes. To LLad, only physical counts—that Jimmy Carter "…committed adultery in my heart…" stuff is meaningless. SG sees in his eyes/senses forgiveness.

(no copy)
Panel 4:

Scene: Saturn Girl picks up a disturbing vibe from Lightning Lad. He's suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Busted!

SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
Garth, who have you been with?
LIGHTNING LAD
None of your business. And don't look!
SATURN GIRL (2nd)(telepathic balloon)
Then stop thinking about her so loud!
Panel 5:

Scene: In the middle of Saturn Girl's starting to be outraged and jealous; and Lightning Lad starting to be busted, embarrassed and contrite, the SCRAMBLE SIREN established at the end of #47 and the beginning of #48 goes off. Lightning Lad is saved by the bell!

SFX
VREET VREET VREET
LIGHTNING LAD
The scramble siren!
Saturn Girl, after being ignored, taken for granted and worked near to death precisely because of her leadership abilities by Lightning Lad had a moment of weakness (while under the influence of an intoxicant) and the thought of a fling with Ultra Boy crossed her mind. She almost did it, but stopped short. The point was that a) Saturn Girl has to have an incredibly disciplined mind due to the nature of her power, b) what happens on the mental plane, i.e., in thoughts, her own and others, is as real to her as physical things are to normal people, and c) a moment of weakness of no consequence to folks like us is a very big deal to her.

RE: Night Girl: Much set up had been done regarding the Legionnaires' new, super-durable costumes, a key element in the arc. Night Girl's clothes being torn was meant to be a further illustration of that and a realistic touch. To people of Superboy-level strength any ordinary cloth would be gossamer. Yes, it was meant to be a sexy scene. I repeatedly told Francis to be careful. Look at what he drew. Did he go over the top?

RE: Brainiac sleeping with unconscious Dream Girl: I wasn't the one who did that. I think it was Mark Waid. There was no suggestion of sex, as I recall. Was there? Anyway, I didn't write that. Dream Girl was long dead when I started.

I never complained about the writers' treatment of women in the course of the reviews. Afterward, in a subsequent column, I said this:

"The first two of the New 52 I reviewed, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 and Catwoman #1 were suggested by JayJay, because they were generating the most discussion online.

I tried to confine my analysis to Comics 101 basics, how the efforts compared to DC's stated goals and how well each succeeded at what, in particular, they seemed to be trying to do. A lot of the discussion about those books both here and elsewhere online seems to be about the depiction and behavior of the female characters. I didn't weigh in there. To me, that's an evaluation each reader has to make for him or herself, not one I am more qualified than any other individual to pontificate about. One person's Good Girl Art is another person's "demeaning to women." Etc.

The publisher has the right to publish any non-actionable material it wishes. Then we get to pick. The DC brass apparently thought the content of the two books I reviewed served their goals or would appeal to a large enough segment of the market to be worth doing. Whatever.

For many reasons having nothing to do with the controversies over the depiction and behavior of the female characters, I found a lot wrong with Red Hood and Catwoman.

But, let it be known, personally, I didn't like the way the female characters were portrayed. It's not that I think that there is anything, any situation or any type of character, male or female, that cannot be done if it is done with rare excellence and surpassing skill. The problem is that, too often, comic book writers and artists who belong in creator kindergarten think they're already Ph.D's."

So, heal myself of what?

I'm sorry you don't like the way I write women. I'm always trying to do better.

I'm glad you have the acumen to understand "paneling" that you call "cinematic" and I'm sorry that I don't. If I don't, however, I will say so.

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify the above.

And, by the way, here is the continuation of that Lightning Lad/Saturn Girl relationship drama from my unpublished script for LSH #50:

PAGE SEVEN:

(…)

Panel 2:

Scene: Cut to the WAR ROOM in the UNITED PLANETS DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BUILDING. This is a new location, a big, high-tech command center.  

Present are PRESIDENT KIN'THEA KIESELBACH, henceforth called KIN'THEA, Councilwoman SYDNE ARDEEN, Deputy Chief of Staff ZILYA POPOFF, Science Police Sector chief LON NORG (Invisible Kid's father), the President's Chief of Staff M'LEE SHURIFF, and Supreme Commander of the U.P. Military GENERAL OH, other MILITARY OFFICERS and a few miscellaneous government and military aides. No need to try to cram all these people into this shot. I'm just letting you know who's there. Make the place seem busy, though.  

(NOTE: No NIMRA LaFONG! Remember, she's dead!) 

Everyone present is involved in some bit of business—conferring re: some report, studying a screen or chart, speaking on a comlink, etc. Again, try to give a sense of busy-ness and urgency. There's a war on.

In particular, General Oh, Kin'thea and M'lee Shuriff are looking at a screen that shows the fleet battling in space against the Destroyers. If you like, use a stat of Panel 1 of Page Five. If you prefer to draw a new scene, please make sure that the screen shows one huge space-battleship being destroyed. General Oh is explaining the progress of the battle to Kin'thea and Chief of Staff M'lee Shuriff.

IMPORTANT: Do not show any Legionnaires fighting on the screen! Just U.P. ships versus the Destroyers.

In addition to the screen Kin'thea and company are looking at, dominating the room there should be the futuristic, 31st Century equivalent of one of those table top maps often seen in war movies, on which military officers push model ships/planes and tanks around using croupier sticks:  Remember, a 31st Century version would have to be 3D. Holographic? A few military officers would be pointing, conferring and maneuvering the (holo?) models around, possibly using high-tech "sticks" of some sort—maybe sort of light-sabre-ish? Dunno. Good luck.   

IMPORTANT: Anyone in this room who does not wear a uniform should have on different clothes than when last we saw them, except Kin'thea, who should have on the same outfit she wore in #49. 

CAPTION
The United Planets Department of Defense Building. The War Room.
KIN'THEA
General Oh…!  How are we doing?
GENERAL OH
These monsters adapt to overcome any force used against them, Madame President. Setting our shields to oscillating frequencies and our heavy weapons to variable energy spectra has helped….
Panel 3:

Scene: Close, two-shot of Kin'thea and General Oh. Kin'thea looks a little smug (in a dignified way), rubbing it in to Legion-hater General Oh that input from the Legion has empowered his fleet. General Oh isn't moved. He still hates the Legion.

KIN'THEA
A stratagem based on intelligence provided by the Legion…correct?
GENERAL OH
Hmh! It's not enough. They're wearing us down. We've lost the cruisers Moon E and Geo-Cline…and now, the capital ship Winm'r Tim'r.
Panel 4:

Scene: Angle to include Kin'thea, General Oh and to introduce M'lee Shuriff. M'lee Shuriff is reading from a futuristic Blackberry-type device. General Oh looks grim, resigned to defeat—which angers Kin'thea (in a dignified, understated, Presidential way—nothing too extreme, please). 

M'LEE SHURIFF
The crews transmattered out in time.  Casualties are light…so far….
GENERAL OH
But the fleet is slowly being driven back.  I fear that defeat…is inevitable.
KIN'THEA
Defeat means the annihilation of all life, General.
KIN'THEA (2nd)(closely connected)
Do something!  
Panel 5:

Scene: Saturn Girl is being ushered in by the same ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT seen in Panel 2 of Page Ten of #45. I'd angle this to include Kin'thea, M'lee Shuriff and enough environs to reset the locale. I'd also do it at eye level and hang all the heads on the horizon, but that's just me. Please put Kin'thea and M'lee Shuriff in the foreground. Therefore, Saturn Girl and the Administrative Assistant are in the background, so we can see the door through which they're entering. M'lee Shuriff is turning toward the door, noticing Saturn Girl's arrival. Kin'thea has not yet. She's still facing away (toward us), agonizing over the looming possibility that the U.P. is going to be wiped out. 
IMPORTANT: M'lee Shuriff is pleased to see SG (or any Legionnaire). Kin'thea will be too, when she finally sees SG next panel. If we can see Sydne Ardeen and Lon Norg in this panel—not necessary—they're looking up from whatever they're doing, also pleased to see SG. As in #45, again, if seen—not necessary—Legion-haters Zilya Popoff and General Oh pointedly ignore SG.

IMPORTANT, TOO: Please put Kin'thea and M'lee Shuriff on the left side of the panel, so the reader's left-to-right visual/verbal progression is first Kin'thea's despair and then the arrival of SG representing the "way" she's wishing for, i.e., the Legion!  

KIN'THEA(anguished in a dignified way)
There must be a way!
CAPTION(near Saturn Girl)
Saturn Girl Home moon: Titan Telepath
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Madame President, ladies and gentlemen, may I present Legionnaire Saturn Girl.
Panel 6:

Scene: Close medium on Kin'thea introducing M'lee Shuriff to Saturn Girl, though SG is glancing toward her mother, Sydne Ardeen, approaching from the background. Kin'thea, M'lee Shuriff and Sydne Ardeen are politely smiling, but the situation is too grave for big grins. Saturn Girl looks sort of cold and serious.      
NOTE: Actually, inside, SG is boiling with anger at Kin'thea for making out with her love, Lightning Lad. SG is restraining her rage—so far—but if you can give her a little edginess, a little flicker of jealous wrath, that would be wonderful. I don't ask much….

KIN'THEA
Welcome.  I am Kin'thea Kieselbach.  This is my Chief of Staff M'lee Shuriff.
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
Madame President, Ms. Shuriff.
SATURN GIRL (2nd)(telepathic balloon, closelyconnected)
Hi, mom.  Or should I call you Madame Councilwoman here?
SYDNE ARDEEN(telepathic balloon)
This is no time for needless formality, Imra.  Mom will do.
PAGE EIGHT:

Panel 1:

Scene: Two-shot of Saturn Girl and Sydne Ardeen. SG is grim and serious, but her expression softens somewhat while telepathicomming with her mother.  

SYDNE ARDEEN(telepathic balloon)
I hope you're bringing us good news.  
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
I'm afraid not. Brainiac 5 says more Destroyers have attacked here than in any other system. They know that the U.P. command center and Legion HQ are here.
Panel 2:

Scene: Another angle on Saturn Girl and Sydne Ardeen, possibly including Kin'thea, that also includes and features a screen showing Sun Boy blasting the Destroyers near Ganymede—a stat of Panel 3 of Page Five, if that works. If you want to also show a screen or a bit of one that's a stat of Panel 3 of Page Six, that's cool, too.

SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
Legionnaires are helping out where needed most. But, Destroyers always concentrate their power where resistance is strongest…
SATURN GIRL (2nd)(telepathic balloon)
…so, more and more of them will flow from other U.P. systems to this one. We won't be able to hold them off for long.
Panel 3:

Scene: Close up two-shot of Saturn Girl and Sydne Ardeen. Saturn Girl is sad but resolute. Sydne Ardeen is reacting to her daughter's revelation that she's about to go on a suicide mission. Sydne Ardeen is shocked and anguished, but don't overdo it.

SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
We have one hope. Six Legionnaires, including me, are going to attack the beings behind the destroyers, where they live.
SATURN GIRL (2nd)(telepathic balloon)
Brainy says it's a suicide mission even if we succeed.
Panel 4:

Scene: Another angle to include Saturn Girl, Kin'thea, General Oh, M'lee Shuriff and Sydne Ardeen.  Eye level shot, please, all figures cropped at bust level. M'lee Shuriff and Sydne Ardeen are both still troubled by SG's suicide-mission revelation. M'lee Shuriff is comforting Sydne Ardeen. SG is staring with thinly disguised hostility at Kin'thea. Kin'thea is staring, sternly, at General Oh, who, once again, feels trumped by the Legion.

SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
In order to have any chance at all, we need time.
KIN'THEA
We'll buy you every second we can. Won't we, General Oh?
GENERAL OH(humbled again, and seething about it)
Yes, Madame President.
Panel 5:
Scene: Focus on Saturn Girl hugging her mother, Sydne Ardeen.
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
I came to say good-bye, Mom. I love you.
Panel 6:

Scene: Feature Saturn Girl and Kin'thea, facing each other at arm's-length range.  Saturn Girl looks like she's barely restraining the urge to punch Kin'thea in the nose.  Kin'thea looks a little freaked, as would anyone, if someone right in front of them were talking about punching them in the nose.  Intense, but no overacting, please.

SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
And, I wanted to get one look at you, Madame President, up close, in person before I die…
SATURN GIRL (2nd)(telepathic balloon)
…and punch you in the nose.
KIN'THEA
Wh…what…?!
PAGE NINE:

Panel 1:

Scene: Saturn Girl punches Kin'thea, the President of the United Planets, in the nose. If seen, M'lee Shuriff and Sydne Ardeen react—they're totally shocked.  

SUPER IMPORTANT NOTE TO FRANCIS: Please do not make this a comic-booky punch.  Kin'thea does NOT go flying. No blood, spittle or flying bits of stuff, please. Think of a real 125 lb. girl hitting a real 140 lb. woman spontaneously, without a big wind-up. Think what that would look like, and draw that.

ANOTHER NOTE TO FRANCIS: In #45, you drew Kin'thea approximately as tall as 6'2" Lightning Lad. Assuming that she's wearing 3" heels, hidden by her flowing robe, that would make her 5'11", a fairly tall woman. Of course, you also drew 5'10" Element Lad roughly the same height as LLad, too, so what's it all mean? I don't know. I give up.

Anyway, Saturn Girl should be about three inches shorter than Kin'thea, barefoot. If Kin'thea is wearing 3" heels again, SG is 6" shorter, since, from what I can discern from your drawings, there seem to be no heels on SG's boots, like sneakers. 

KIN'THEA
OHH!
Panel 2:

Scene: Pull back. Saturn Girl flies quickly toward the exit—feature her, here. SG is telepathically commanding everyone in the room to forget what just happened—except Kin'thea. SG wants her to remember. Sydne Ardeen, being a telepath, isn't affected by her daughter's commands. Anyone else seen here, including M'lee Shuriff, should look unaware of what happened and totally unconcerned. Kin'thea holds her bloodied nose, staggered for a few seconds, as you or I would be. Sydne Ardeen looks flabbergasted. She's staring, slackjawed, in disbelief at her daughter.  

A couple of SECRET SERVICE GUYS and a miscellaneous COLONEL speak. They're completely blasé, showing that they are totally influenced by SG!

SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
You didn't see what happened!  There's no problem here!  Stay out of my way!
SECRET SERVICE GUY 1
I didn't see what happened.
SECRET SERVICE GUY 2
There's no problem.
COLONEL
Stay out of her way.
(NOTE: In my scribbles, panels 1-3 form the first tier, i.e., three 1/9 page panels, which provides a lot of room for the establishing shot that follows.)

Panel 3:

Scene: Close on Kin'thea, Sydne Ardeen and M'lee Shuriff. Kin'thea is holding her painful, bleeding nose. Don't overplay it. This isn't a catastrophic injury. It hurts, yes, and it's messy, but no major damage. 

M'lee Shuriff is noticing that Kin'thea's nose is bleeding. She has no idea why. She looks mildly nonplussed and has a sort of "Oh, dear!" motherly expression.  

Sydne Ardeen is pondering a thought-snippet she picked up from Saturn Girl. Possibly, she's looking at Kin'thea quizzically, wondering if the disturbing thing she sensed in her daughter's mind could possibly be true.

KIN'THEA
Grife!  What was that about…!?
SYDNE ARDEEN(telepathic balloon)
I'm not sure, Madame President…but as Imra left, I caught a thought….
Panel 4:

Scene: Two-shot of Sydne Ardeen and Kin'thea. Sydne Ardeen is a little freaked. Kin'thea is a little freaked, too. Who knew Lightning Lad had a girlfriend? Or that she, SG, would find out? And punch her, Kin'thea, in the nose? Owww….  

SYDNE ARDEEN(telepathic balloon)
Did you have a…romantic liaison with her boyfriend, Lightning Lad?!
KIN'THEA
Her…boyfriend?!
KIN'THEA (2nd)
Um…no comment.
KIN'THEA (3rd)(closely connected)
Ow.
(…)

PAGE TWELVE:

Panel 1:

Scene: Pull back to reveal that we're in the Hallway. Lightning Lad is looking up, reacting, as he sees SG hurrying toward the Lab Complex door (and him, since he's standing next to the door).  Colossal Boy is still "on the line," but LLad is now paying no attention to him whatsoever. Our POV is probably too far from LLad to see the Holographic Image of Colossal Boy, but at least indicate a glow around LLad's Flight Ring to indicate activity.

LIGHTNING LAD
Imra!  Where have you been?!
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
Brainy said we had ten minutes while he made final preparations. So I went to say good-bye to my mother…  
Panel 2:

Scene: Saturn Girl is trying to brush past Lightning Lad and enter the Lab Complex, but LLad is (gently!) trying to stop her, maybe grabbing her softly by the upper arm. She's averting her face, trying to hide tears. Here are the mixed, myriad emotions to attempt to get across:Saturn Girl is still hurt, jealous and angry that LLad had a liaison with the President last issue. Saturn Girl also feels very ashamed of what she just did—punching the President in the nose.  How low-class, how Neanderthal, how utterly trashy-stupid!Saturn Girl also still feels lower that a slime-worm's gut about her moment of needy, self-pitying weakness with Ultra Boy—even though the infidelity took place mostly in her mind!Bottom line, she feels miserable, guilty and detestable. He desperately longs for her and what they once had.  Give it your best shot.  Good luck!

Lightning Lad is apprehensive and a little shocked by what SG tells him—as I might be if I found out that my girlfriend had just paid a visit to the "other woman" I was fooling around with last night.

If seen, LLad's Ring is still glowing. If seen close enough, possibly the Holographic Image of Colossal Boy can be seen, small. Not necessary. Might even be too distracting.     SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
…and…to see…President Kieselbach.
LIGHTNING LAD
What? Why?!
Panel 6:

Scene: Cut back to the Hallway Outside the Lab Complex.  Two-shot of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, but show enough environs to reinforce where we are.  SG is contrite, ashamed.  LLad is (gently) holding SG by the upper arms, (gently) making her stay.  We should get the feeling that if he weren't she'd run away and crawl under a rock somewhere.  She's still somewhat averting her face, not wanting to look LLad in the eye.  

LLad is shocked to learn that SG poked Kin'thea in the proboscis.     

LLad's feelings: Lightning Lad feels bad that he made out with the President, but with an excuse—remember, at that point he thought he and Saturn Girl were through.  (P.S., FYI, he and Kin'thea didn't get too far before being interrupted by the Flight Ring panic alarm, anyway.)Lightning Lad just wishes it was all over and that they could pretend it all never happened.  He really loves Saturn Girl. CAPTION
Just outside.
LIGHTNING LAD
You hit her?!
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
I thought it would make me feel better, but…now I feel worse. Like a foob. 
PAGE THIRTEEN:

Panel 1:

Scene: Close up, two-shot of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, now looking into each others' eyes.  Supersaturate this with emotion, please.  It's a prelude to a kiss.    

LIGHTNING LAD
Imra, I screwed up…but I thought we were finished, and….
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
No, it was my fault. I cheated on you first.
LIGHTNING LAD (2nd)
But…it was just in your mind. Not real. Anybody can have a weak moment. Even a telepath.
Panel 2:

Scene: Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl kiss. If seen, LLad's Flight Ring is still glowing.

(no copy)
Panel 3:

Scene: Angle to place Lightning Lad's Flight Ring close enough to our POV so we can see the Holographic Image of Colossal Boy shouting at Lightning Lad. LLad is startled out of his romantic moment with Saturn Girl, jolted back to reality. Saturn Girl, too, is jolted back to the here and now. [One has to wonder what was happening between them in her mind during that kiss….  ; )  ] 

COLOSSAL BOY(Flight Ring communication balloon)
Lightning Lad! We need you NOW!
LIGHTNING LAD
Oh. Yeah. Destroyers. Right. Um….
SATURN GIRL(telepathic balloon)
I'm late. I'd better….
Panel 4:

Scene: Foreground, Lightning Lad quick-flies down the Hallway, presumably on his way to the aid of Colossal Boy. Background, Saturn Girl is entering the Lab Complex, but her head is turned toward LLad and the camera, watching LLad depart. Both of them are subtly smiling. Content. At peace.

(no copy)________________________________________
That's it. I'll stand by that.

I am fully prepared for questions and challenges about my work with regard to sexual content. Remember, please, that some of my stories were written long ago when I was young and foolish. All right, more foolish. Also, remember, I didn't draw the stories and I was often at the mercy of artists who did things differently than I would have liked. I am prepared to defend or apologize for anything I did.

That said, you may fire when ready, Gridley.



NEXT:  And So This Is Christmas Plus More Sex