Ben Bequer's Blog, page 2

And so it goes...

NaNoWriMo is over and I failed miserably; 35,000 words. Turns out writing on weekends is kind of tough for me. What it is, in case you haven’t heard, is an annual novel writing event. If you write 1,666 words per day, every day in the month of November, you should have a 50k word novel by the end of the month. I figured I’d throw my hat in to see if I could do it and I was off by 9 days of writing.
Of course, the 50k is only a sliver of the overall novel I’m writing. I started with the idea of doing something smaller and more manageable and now I’m at 320 pages (105k words, including NaNoWriMo’s 35k), and I look to have another 100 pages to go.
The 35k was quite a bit, though. It took me from the banking consortium celebration party at Mont Saint Michel to the chase protagonists in a Bugatti Chiron vs. antagonist in a Koenigsegg One:1. Oh, and Bunny stole a French Tiger HAD chopper and is making life near impossible for our boys in the Chiron. Yeah, it’s that crazy.
Next, I’m writing the prelude – where our antagonist sets the wheels in motion. The location is inspired by an upcoming level from the Rainbow Six: Siege game. It’s going to be set on a Tokyo pagoda-style castle built atop a flat-topped skyscraper and accessible only via helicopter. That’s my afternoon.
I’m reading First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan, by Gary C. Schroen, with another stack of similar books waiting on my nightstand. I’m diving deep into the waters of our U.S. military, and of the recent foray into Afghanistan. In part, as a backstory for my lead, and in part because I’m rather fascinated by how the war machine operates. This story looks at it from a soldier’s level, but I also intent to study the broad spectrum, and tell things how I see them. Honestly, what I’m seeing isn’t all that nice.
It’s December now, and the year is almost up – and boy, what a year for movies if you’re a geek/nerd like me. I’ve missed Arrival, but that’s on the slate for this weekend, and I can’t wait until Rogue One and Assassin’s Creed. Yeah, my excitement level is much, much higher for the Star Wars movie. I’m eager to see how a non-Skywalker storyline does in the theaters. I think it’s a test for things to come and if it does well, we can expect more original stories set in the universe.
So far, I’m torn between Deadpool (one of the first I saw all year), and Moana (saw it twice last weekend), as my personal movie of the year. Civil War and Finding Dory are also in there. I do have a question; Pete’s Dragon. Worth it? Not worth it? The trailers did little for me and as someone who saw the original movie as a kid and didn’t much care for it, I couldn’t muster the excitement to take my girls to go see it. Movie most likely to toss Deadpool/Moana from the 2016 title? Rogue One. Man, I'm looking forward to that one.
TV. Well, I’m still reeling from the summer. Game of Thrones is something I’ve talked about at length, something I had a hard time understanding; but wow, this season just sat on my chest and smacked me around. And that ending! Westworld is knocking it out of the park every week, and I can’t wait for the finale this weekend. No, I don’t want to theorize. I just want to watch and get blown away. My wife and I are also catching up on Stranger Things. I know…we move slowly over here.
Product note, isn’t https://www.sunfrog.com/108869394-270836086.html?35517the coolest thing on the planet? You hear me wife??? Fk it. I’m buying it for myself.
Oh, and I tried this face shaver thing that I have to recommend for bros with heavy facial hair. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D328DH8. It’s not as close as a razor, not by a mile, but if you need to dump the fuzz in five minutes, dry, then this sucker’s amazing. I get nothing in return for this plug, FYI.
And onto Blackjack. Just random thoughts, guys, nothing serious…I don’t want the next book to be “Blackjack Established”, “Blackjack Set and Done.” I know we have to avoid emo-B from book 2 as much as possible, but I also don’t think it works if he’s fully accepted. And besides, there’s plenty of people that will never accept him as a “good guy.” One of the things that I’ve been told about book 3 is that it feels like a transition book. Well, I think Blackjack is a transition character. He’s a flawed guy, who ultimately helps the good cause, right? But he’s not a traditional good guy, and I think it’d be foolish to pretend that he fits in. In fact, I think it’d be awesome for Blackjack and others to make that mistake. Book 4 is going to touch on that at first. Going forward, though, I don’t think we’re ever going to have a Blackjack Hero book.
Soon as we finish Pats, it’s on to B4. 
(PATS word count: 119k. Page count: 334. Percent completed: 3/4s.)

Post-election Infos

Okay, the election’s over and now we can get back to business. Can we America? Time to talk about more important things, LIKE BLACKJACK.
Villain came out in early 2012, Wayward in early 2013 and DoA in late 2015. So, when’s the fourth book coming out? Blackjack 4’s going to have to wait until late 2017. We have a story ready to go, but like we did back in 2014, we’ve been distracted by another story. Unlike Interstellar Overdrive two years back, we’re actually going to finish this one, tentatively called Patriots and Tyrants. Once we’ve put this one in the can, we’re moving back to B4 with a vengeance.
Patriots and Tyrants (PATS) is a techno-thriller, without superheroes, alien battlecruisers, nor time paradoxes or powered suits. It’s something closer to reality, inspired by recent events and torn from the headlines. Writing a guy that can throw a car a city block is a ton of fun, but so is coming back to earth from time to time. From what I’ve put together so far, I think it’s a series that can go 8-10 books, like Blackjack.
I’m debating something (with myself), which is to make the B books a little bit shorter; to excise the fat and make them leaner and meaner. It would make them faster to write and edit, and mean we could do them sooner than every 2-3 years. I get carried away with stuff and let the big guy explore stuff too much, sometimes to the detriment of the reader. I don’t know. I’d love to get your thoughts.
Then again, Blackjack likes to wander, and I like going where he takes me. I’m feeling the pull again, but I’m fighting the urge, I’m doing my hardest to finish this side project before heading back to Blackjack. I’m also feeling IO, and it crushes me that we weren’t able to finish that book. Truth is, it’s a monster at almost 1,200 pages, and it’s probably best if it sits for another year or so before we come back and dust it off. Re-reading the first few chapters is all I need to feel that fire.
So it’s PATS, then B4, then IO, then B5, then PATS2. That’s the plan. Sound good?
On another note, I’m really shitty at predicting Presidents in my books. In Villain (2012), I predicted Jeb in 2016. For no other reason than I wanted to give the President a name. I don’t like it when authors in books and movies don’t name the guy, and he’s right there (like X-men 2, remember?) Well, I threw Jeb’s name in there for giggles. I don’t care about the guy. I’m from Florida and I’m frankly ambivalent. But I think I cursed the dude. My bad.
Then in Wayward, Blackjack and Battle headed to the White House to save the President. I did what I hate, put her there, without naming or anything – but she was a she and yeah, I may have cursed Hillary and ruined her chances. I take full responsibility.
I might use a President in B4 for some fun stuff I have planned to open the book, and I’m frankly scared to use anyone. I might make it President SMITH, with nothing to distinguish him or to imply any other person that might want to run in the future. Yeah, PRESIDENT SMITH!

Well, fuck...

I started rereading the last post on this blog and it's funny how we make plans that end up going to hell. We published Blackjack 3 in late October and with it came a wave of optimism and raw euphoria that you can feel in that post, but soon after came the crash. And I've been rudderless ever since. I'm working, of course, plotting and doing scenes, but IO is a mountain that I'm not ready to tackle. That bastard's sucking up my time like there's no tomorrow and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The good news is that I've got a good handle on it. The book is finally in my grasp. The bad news is that it involves taking one of the four storylines back to formula. It'll be worth it in the end, I think Galan needed the new track that we've got for him, but it's a disappointment to have to restart 1/4th of the book.

Part of it is House of Cards. Blame Kevin Spacey. That show's broadened my horizons in such a way that I find it hard to describe. Also Game of Thrones. I don't like GOT nearly as much, but I see something in there that's different than anything I've ever done, and motivates me to try something inspired by it. My partner wants to cut Galan, to drop it in the cutting room floor and leave the fun stuff. In a way, he's right. Galan's story arc is a bit dour, quite morbid, and lacks the sexy fun of Alec and Ev. I get that, trust me. Dropping Galan (and merely playing off him in the other arcs) would make things leaner and faster. But Galan is the key. To me, it's as much his story as it is Mistrals or Canino, or Alec/Ev. To some, I'm talking gibberish, I know. I might link to the last version of IO Episode 1 here, so you have an idea of what we're trying to accomplish. Maybe I'll just paste it at the bottom.

I'm tempted to cut and run, to do the funner parts of the story and publish sooner, but I'm going to fight it. I think it'll be better with Galan's "evil galactic corporation" perspective. Thanks, Kevin.

For the time being, I'm tabling the whole thing. In fact, it's been tabled for over a month. I intend to return to it as soon as we settle on this issue, but right now there's no point in completing it, even though it's almost done.

So what's next?

Two things, first, Blackjack 4 is in plotting stage. We've got a good idea of what the next step should be. Remember that plane that crashed during the conflict with Brutal in the final pages? We'll see what that was about. Blackjack's also kind of bonafide now (with an unreal list of caveats), so it'll be interesting to write about a guy who can show his face on the street and doesn't have to fear having Atmosphero's latest group or even the local authorities. There's also the relationship. We've seen it bloom, then turn to poison, then bloom again and so on and on, a dozen times in Dale's brain. Now it's time to see it in action. A good relationship is hard work, as most of us know, but does Dale know that. Is he ready for a woman like Apogee?

Second, I have a new story. This one's coming first because I'm knee deep in it already. I don't want to talk about it too much, but it'll be something more grounded, but still with the usual Bequer/Hoade sensibility. I intend to have this done in the first part of the year, and B4 in the second half.

Hoade is also toying with the idea of doing a Battle book, based on the character of Ricochet. Don't remember him? Pull out your old *.mobi of Wayward and see for yourself. Fun character with a lot more going on than meets the eye. Imagine being able to control the molecular forces of potential energy...

Anyway, I'm back, and soon, Blackjack will be too.

Again, thanks

So it's out, and the response is great, and I wanted to come on to thank you all for all your support. Again.

Blackjack has been a gift, a surprise and a cathartic journey. You've all seen my ramblings here, so I won't go into it except to say I couldn't have done without all your help and ideas and comments. And now on Amazon I'm getting more and more feedback. Go see the reviews and look at how detailed people are getting with their "pro/con" stuff. I love it. I can't believe the effort some of you guys are putting to these reviews. They give me strength.

And I love the criticism. Of course it's not a perfect book. What is, War and Peace? Nope. Ulysses? Come on, three pages about a bowel movement? But hearing your problems with the story, the character, the pacing, etc., only goes to help me moving forward.

Forward...what's next? Well, I've been rudderless the past few weeks. I drifted off IO to another short project and finally to another. Some of you might be worried that I'm moving on from Blackjack. This book has a sense of finality, doesn't it? There's no major cliffhanger (Haha?) and one could look at it as a completed trilogy. Where we find Blackjack at the end of the book is kind of a nice place to be, right? Well, don't worry. We're already talking, thinking about Blackjack 4, tentatively called Messiah, though were aren't going to get hot and heavy with it until the beginning of next year. The thing about the next book is that we've got part of it ready, the plot well defined - it's ready to go. So I'm not going to let it linger, like I did with B3, and I'm not going to get sidetracked with another monster project.

IO is near completion of the first book. Right now, I'd say it's going to be a two book story, with one book coming out sometime in 2016 and the other in 2017 or 2018-ish. If you guys have had followed the development of the story here, or bought one of the "episodes" in the cancelled series, then you know it's going to be an interesting romp into a new and different world. I'm as excited about that as I've been about anything.

I know, you guys want Blackjack, I feel your rage as you see me drifting from him. Don't despair, don't freak. We're on it, and there won't be another 2.5 year gap between Blackjack stories. The great thing about IO is that book one is almost done, then I can hand it off to the other writer/editors and work on Blackjack while they slave away.

One last word about my co-writer on this, Joshua Hoade. This time his name goes on the cover, right next to mine, and that's for a reason; he made B3 so much better. Not only was he involved with the plotting and editing, he did a fair bit of first draft writing and was responsible for all the edits. Josh also kept my head in the game (as he's doing now with IO), and was a constant advocate for the piece. B3 exists in no small part because of his efforts, and I will forever be thankful of his participation. Moving forward, we've enjoyed our new process so much that we've decided to keep it going in the future. He'll be a co- in B4 and in everything else we do from here on out.

To recap our plans: it's IO, or maybe a small project to finish the year, then back to Blackjack, and in the meantime, another humble thanks to everyone for all your support.

Blackjack Dead or Alive is now available on Amazon

Hope you guys enjoy! By the way "Pitty" is what the dude wrote in the excoriating review. Not my problem!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Blackjack-Dead-...

IO on hold...for a good reason

I'm putting IO down for about a week...wanna know why?

Cause of Blackjack. Yeah, big guy's a bully and he throws his weight around here too. He's done with Josh (the editor) and now he wants a piece of me. I got it yesterday morning and I'm through half of it already. Guys, I love this book. I know, I'm biased, but I love what we're doing here

So timing-wise, I should have Blackjack: Dead or Alive done in the next few days and ready for upload. Amazon takes a day to approve everything, then it should be yours. Only a year and six months late. Let's make sure that the next Blackjack book doesn't take so long.

I have to admit, the last book left me a bit gunshy. It left me a bit spent. I went through a strange ordeal in writing it and you can tell in the finished product - in particular the finale. My mind wasn't right. B3 has left me the opposite, uplifted and positive. I can't wait to get back to IO, to finish it, and to start on the next B4 book.

This morning I was driving around, letting scenes play out in my head and I thought, "wait, that's B4 stuff. Stop that. Concentrate on 3." That's a good thing. Finishing 2 I couldn't have said the same thing. It was a harder book to write than this one and the aftermath wasn't as pretty.

Anyway, I have to check it, format it for epub publish, do the new cover...YES, NEW COVER! I love you Erik Lehmann. Then upload the sucker and let you guys have at it. I want to put together the formatted versions for Createspace's print on demand, too. I know, most people read on their Kindles/Nooks/smartphones/computers, but I want to give you guys the option of buying it on print as well. It's tricky since it's such a long book. The more pages you have, the higher the prices go, and at a certain point, I don't want to seem like I'm gouging you guys, or appear like a greedy bastard. The truth is that the print versions will be like 15-18 bucks per book. I know, it sucks. Don't buy it if you can go epub. It's just a couple of bucks for the epub.

Okay, so IO on hold a week or so, Blackjack in between, then back to IO, then...I forget.

So?

So, I've been putzing around with Facebook and let this place sort of linger. My bad. I'll be here more often in the coming days.

B3 is in the final stages. The editor estimates another couple of weeks, then it comes back to me, then it's yours...so yeah, I can say it's coming in October. Finally. I know, there's no reason to celebrate - it's over a year late. But I'm still happy.

Moving forward, we've decided to break up IO (again), but this time into novel-sized chunks and book 1 is almost done. It's not for financial reasons, and you'll end up spending the same for the full story, but breaking it up will make it more manageable in the long run.

Afterwards, I'll take a short break from Blackjack and IO and try for something else in the meantime. Right now it looks like Heart of the Jungle. Then back to Blackjack for what is tentatively called B4: Messiah.

About the book titles, I don't know who talked me into NOT putting the semi-colon, but right now I want to strangle them. It's stupid, I know, but it's kind of implied anyway. I might go back and edit everything.

Another thing, I was looking over at B1 the other day and I saw my presidential prediction for this coming cycle: Jeb Bush. First of all, I want to apologize to all the Democratic readers for implying that the Reps are going to win it in the first place, but I also want to apologize to Republicans far and wide for putting forward such a feeb. Yeah, that dude totally sucks, and I should know, I lived through his governorship. I think people from all sides of the political spectrum can agree that Jeb is a special kind of jaggof. Blackjack Wayward corrected the error, making the president a make-believe character, but since I made her a woman, some of you might assume I meant her to be Hillary. Nope. I just like the idea of a woman president - not necessarily her in particular. I'm raising a daughter and it'd be nice to tell her, "you can become anything," and actually mean it. The next president (who will factor into B4) is going to be Asian. Don't ask me how these people serve such short presidencies in my book, I don't have a logical answer.

Enough about politics anyway, B3 is coming soon, and I’m going to try for the follow-up around the same time next year, getting Blackjack back on course.

Thanks for everything, and I look forward to your comments and questions.

Greetings from Merrit Island!

Man, you guys should have seen the sunset we had over here. We were eating some salmon en papillote (wrapped in paper, lol) that my sister and I threw together and someone looked out the window - mind blown.

I always use this annual week-long getaway to get some work done. There's beach and sun and pool, but by 11 o'clock, midnight, I'm the only mouse stirring in the house we rent, and I always bring my laptop. Last year was a disaster, 7 days/0 pages, but this year I'm doing pretty good so far. It helps that I have the story fully broken down, where last year I was having a huge crisis of confidence, post-B2, and unsure about what I had for B3.

This year is different; I'm rocking along with the Alec POV and plan on finishing his entire arc by the time we head back to Miami.

I want to take a minute to thank G.R.R. Martin for inspiring me to do a split POV story. Reading the first book in his series blew my mind and sent me on this journey. Another story that had a huge influence was House of Cards, the recent Netflix edition. Watching Spacey chew that script was another paradigm shift for me, making me revisit the entire project. In any case, those are the two main inspirations to IO.

Moving forward, I'm writing the thing in consecutive order, each POV at a time, then I'll go back and interlace the whole thing. I just broke 700 Word pages, and I figure another 300 until I'm done - it'll be a good 2k Kindle pages when all is said and done. I have a full outline to keep me organized, but I'm finding so much more in each character that I didn't have before. This is one of the reasons we pulled it. Sure, it wasn't working as a serialized story, but also, I was discovering a lot about the characters that I wanted to go back and implement from the beginning.

For example, I never realized how important Mistral's father, and his legacy, were going to be to her character arc until I wrote it. Now I'm forced to go back and do some rewriting to backtrack a lot of cool things I've found out about her.

Going through this process makes me respect comic book writers so much more. They're operating on a small piece of the whole, and have to have a level of organization and discipline that I failed to have in my first serialized attempt. If I try it next time, I'll write the whole thing, THEN publish.

As far as when? It's a long term project, let's be realistic. I'm going to retain the previous two editors, and go with the same exact process, so don't expect IO to be done any time soon. I'll keep you up to date with my comings and goings, but I fully expect my next book (B4) to be done before IO ever sees a publication date.

Wait, did he say...WHAT DID HE SAY????

Yes, B4 is going to be next. It's the least I can do for you guys, who have waited so patiently while I fumbled with B3. I have the storyline ready for breakdown, and when Josh finishes editing B3 (and I'm done writing IO) we'll get hard at work making it happen.

So B4 is next, and I really want to get back into my April/May release slot. Damn...I said I wasn't going to talk about dates. It's probably not realistic to expect it so soon. Maybe the June/July thing works better.

Anyways, I have the following ideas for the title of B4:

Blackjack Messiah
Blackjack The Cult
Blackjack Lightbringer

One of the major realizations that I've come to while working on Blackjack is that the Lightbringers will be a major arc, but it won't be the end. So why wait? Let's get that arc started!

Cheers from the Sun and stay safe!

IO and Blackjack 3 (and B4)

Blackjack 3 update! My editor is slow. GO FASTER, dammit, May is ending and June is almost here.
IO update! I officially broke 600 pages on IO. This is the epic we've been craving for, and Josh, the crazy bastard, is already plotting book two. At present, I'm finishing up the Mistral storyline then I'll get busy with Galan, Alec & Ev and Canino. I'll probably have the book done by the end of Summer.
Then what? Then pivot over to Heart of the Jungle (finish it! - in the Mortal Combat announcer voice), or Tier Zero...or Blackjack 4.
What??? Blackjack 4??? Yeah, if you guys recall, I started a whole different story a year ago, and set it aside for what's turned into Blackjack Dead or Alive. That material I had was real good, though. Definitely a story I want to tell. I would start B4 with 1/3 already in the can, as it were. Imagine, two Blackjack books in one year. The more I think of it, the more it seems possible. 
Tier Zero and Battle can follow B4 without too much trouble. Marvel did 2 Iron Mans before they did the Avengers, right? We can do 4 before hitting the meta. Blackjack 1-3 are kind of the setup to the real stories that are coming. I mean, it took the guy long enough to get his shit in gear.
But first I want to finish IO, at least do my part and drop it in the laps of the editors. I figure I'm 2-3 months away from completion, then the rest of the year I can spend on other stuff.

If it was up to you guys, what would you prefer? I suppose everyone will want Blackjack more than the others, right?
On a side note, and as part of what has me motivated to get right back to Blackjack, I saw Tomorrowland yesterday with my girls. Wow. I'm such a Brad Bird fanboy that I won't even entertain talk of the movies flaws (what movie is flawless anyway?), but the message of the film got me thinking about Blackjack - in a write-the-next-book-fast kind of way. I mean, we've all heard the argument that Bruce Wayne could potentially do much more good if he spent his time, money and efforts on helping Gotham, rather than on batwings, batarangs and batcaves to fight crime. I know, the character has his pre-defined pathos and it's not like you could talk sense to a psychopath/sociopath like Batman. 
But there's an argument there, and I think it applies to Blackjack as well. Something inspired by Hugh Laurie's character in Tomorrowland.
Anyway, I'm going to see Mad Max this week so Blackjack 4 might turn out to be a testosterone-laden romp through the Australian countryside as much as it could be a thoughtful exploration of a troubled hero and his nascent efforts to try to do some good.
Talk to you guys soon!

Done writing, but...

Blackjack Dead or Alive is done and in the hands of the editor!
The final edit requires an outside look, and for B3 it's going to be my co-writer Josh Hoade, Blackjack himself. He's had a huge input into both of the previous books, but this time he's involved in an even bigger role, he helped me piece together the first draft, then was the only person that agreed when I thought I should shelve about 200 pages and start all over again. We put this new story together with a ton of new characters, and some old ones. He's been Apogee's greatest advocate, and thanks to him some of the guys that we knew so well have added depth, namely Epic.
Epic in this book? Hell yeah, and Haha, and Super Dee and Moe and A LOT of Apogee, but primarily, this is the final step in Blackjack's journey into finding his place in the world, the last stumble of a flawed guy with a heart of gold. But Dead or Alive is hardly the last word on Blackjack.
I dumped about 1/3 of the previous manuscript, not because it was garbage, but rather because I had other plans for Blackjack. I took my time with his fall in Villain and Wayward, and now that the rise begins, I'm also taking my time. Book three exists for a reason, his first foray into something pure and honest, but also it's the reckoning, a time for transformation. Not into some goodie two-shoes hero. Blackjack isn’t Epic, but neither is he a Villain, regardless of what the world thinks of him. Anyway, book three sets up what I had started writing already, so I’m presented with the opportunity to start book four with 200 pages in my proverbial typewriter. So Blackjack will fight on, and as long as I can, I’ll bring you his tale.
Next, though, is Interstellar Overdrive, re-envisioned as a full-fledged novel. I spent the last week re-reading the 600-ish pages of the manuscript. Yeah, that’s how much was ready to come out the door. As April ends, I’m got my mindset switched over from Blackjack and Apogee to Alec and Ev, Mistral and Canino, and Galan – never forget about Galan. We’re taking this opportunity to revisit the whole thing, and we’ll backtrack any changes that we come up with. Don’t be upset if a name changes here or there, or if it reads a little better when it’s all put together. What I do know is that this book is going to be a monster. From where it leaves off at page 574, until the finale, I think I’ve got another 400 pages to write. So there’s my Summer.
The real delay with IO will be the editors, in particular the final pass, so the soonest it might be done is by the end of the year. Trust me when I tell you it’s worth waiting for these guys to do their magic.
Interstellar Overdrive might take long enough that my next project will probably come out sooner, and I want to take a moment to talk about some of our plans.
Josh is a damned good writer in his own right, and he’s decided to take on a superhero group that we’ve come to know and love, Battle. This will switch the paradigm between us, with him as the main writer and me coming in to do the polish in the end. Battle is a group formed by Superdynamic in the hopes of “training up” a bunch of newcomers with impressive powers. The story will revolve around the hero Ricochet and his struggles to control his abilities. It’s in Josh’s hands, of course, but so far I love everything he’s coming up with. You’ll see more of Ruby, Moe, Templar and the bunch, and for the big villain, none other than Baron Blitzkrieg and his Dogs of War. We’ll have more about this project in the near future. Right now, we’re still breaking down the story. I think you guys will love someone’s fresh take on these dear characters.
Next on my slate after IO is a new project we’re only now starting to put together. It’s another Bequer/Hoade production, set within the Blackjack world, but looking at things from a different perspective. The idea came to me while watching the awesome X-men movies recently. Think it was in Days of Future Past, during the Nixon stuff at the end, the President asks, “Do we have a response to this?”
It seemed to me to be one of the flaws of most superhero movies, and something that only the excellent Agents of Shield TV series seems to want to deal with, the homo sapiens response to homo superior/metas/supers, etc. It looks from the trailers that Batman vs. Superman might deal with the subject, but again from the point of view of the supers.
I want to explore a realistic answer to such a threat, and I have to thank Josh for the brilliance to suggest we weave it into the Blackjack world. In this world, supers are established for over 60 years, leading us to believe that there would be a well-thought out system to handle unruly supers. We use the well-worn trope of power-dampening manacles and rooms, and a whole rolling chair thing in B3, as well as super-only designed prisons like Utopia isolated in the bottom of the ocean. There are laws that govern super behavior, and organizations that are designed to deal with the good and the bad. If you’ve read Villain and Wayward, then you’re familiar with our take on how humanity would respond.
Tier Zero will take things to another level, a response that we might not be all so comfortable with, that is sometimes necessary in the modern day. It’ll be a commentary on modern war, of course, and to how we behave against perceived threats.
As excited as we are about B4, Battle and Tier Zero, we’re thinking of putting it all together in a book that will tie all the threads together, and finally deal with the elephant in the room, The Lightbringers. The idea is in its infancy right now, but we envision it will be a two-parter about their arrival and the aftermath. We’re thinking it should be in third person, with multiple POVs like IO, so you’ll get to see a different side of Blackjack and what people really think about him.
Okay, so that last part is based on some very premature talks, but I couldn’t hold it back. The Lightbringers wouldn’t be published until after B4, Tier Zero, Battle, and even B5 and possibly Battle 2, but it’ll be a nice way to cap off the whole series. Since it would take place over two books, we might interlace it with the other series, crossover-style. They do it comics, right?
Then when everyone’s too old, we’ll just recast everyone and reboot…
Anyway, those are our plans right now, with Heart of the Jungle somewhere in there. Blackjack Dead or Alive first, though, and soon. When? End of May or the beginning of June, as I've been saying (only a year late!). Thanks again for all your patience, for the comments on this blog and for your continued support.
One final note before I go, everyone has to see the amazing Netflix Daredevil series if you haven’t already. It’s that good.