Rooting through some of my old folders tonight. Interesting to see half-baked ideas or the first steps to a story that never developed into anything. Sometimes you think 'Hey, I might pick up that idea again - I know where I can go with it,' other times, well...
One of the things I came across was from a couple of years ago when a comic company - can't remember who, one of the smaller American ones - asked for pitches for a new superheroine comic. I've never been any good at summing up my thoughts in a sentence or two (you'd never know, would you?) so the ideas I came up with might seem a bit unfocussed. Needless to say, nothing ever came of these. But in lieu of any original thoughts for tonight I'm going to reprint them here. For the record - although I know it's v. unlikely - if anybody did want to do anything with any of these they're welcome to. Knock yourself out.
Square One
Kerry Mathis was one of the big guns - her powers passed on to her as a teenager by a retired sixties supergroup, she was the poster girl for the pre-millenial cape and costume generation. Although a celebrity in her home town, it wasn't long before she moved on up to the Big City, became caught up in galaxy-spanning epic adventures and saved the world on a weekly basis. So it was something of a surprise when she was defeated during a routine slugfest with a c-list villain. Now, ten years after she left to a parade and fireworks, Kerry slinks home with a fraction of the power she once had. She's got to come up with a new costumed identity, play nice with the local hero who took over from her when she went, cope with a town that resents its one claim-to-fame moving away and stay sane despite operating on her folks' doorstep. Oh, and hope the town's small-time villains that she once outclassed don't figure out who she used to be. And pray that the cosmic-powered threats that she used to match don't realise who she is now…
And Bobcat
It had only meant to be a summer job - a little bit of cash after graduation before the life-defining career choices began in earnest. It had sounded like fun - going to the interview in a mask, gaining entrance to a secret base, that kind of thing. It had been five years since Anni gained superhuman speed and agility after a near-fatal allergic reaction to a holiday vaccination (and the trip had been rubbish too) and she hadn't done a thing with her powers. But thanks to the Department of Employment's Sidekick Creation Scheme, Anni got the chance to earn a few quid temping as Bobcat, assistant to the well-regarded heroine known as the Fen Tigress. Anni/Bobcat fell into crime-fighting - it was a doddle, and the Tigress was a right laugh, encouraging her not to take this outrageous lifestyle too seriously. It was more like some weird extreme hobby than a job and Anni enjoyed it so much she abandoned her career plans and signed up for the long term. Money, adventure, impossible stuff on a daily basis, life was perfect. Until the Tigress was arrested for fraud and Anni was assigned a new partner. One that was a strictly by-the-book, self-important pain in the neck. It stopped being fun, and worse, it started to get dangerous. Now, after receiving a secret message from the imprisoned Tigress, Anni has a decision to make. Does she continue the joyless task of playing second fiddle to a hardball? Or does she break out her former boss and go off on a series of not-entirely-legal adventures?
Reality Programming
By the end of the 21st Century everybody's seen everything there is to see. The only entertainment that still holds any interest is Time Tweaking. You know, like when they sent that girl back in time 90 years or so and set her up as if she was superheroine from another world. The people of 2008 thought all that flying about and smashing giant robots and stuff was her trying to save them. So how would it affect future history if anybody ever found out she was fighting not for justice but for ratings?
Yeah, checking the date on the files these are from February 2008. Funny how some ideas just flit in and out and that's it. Riffing on Reality TV seems a bit of a cliché these days, but I could still see some mileage in trying to spoof the current trend for 'scripted reality' like TOWIE and Made in Chelsea. Still, nothing's ever completely worthless. At least that's tonight's blog sorted.
(oh, and since today's title was taken from a TV prog that has a fab theme tune here's a link to it on You Tube)
More soonliest
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