Saturday, March 18, 2006

Here Comes the "Limited Commercial Interruption" - Discussion Topic #2

This will be my last post until next Saturday. I'm enrolled in a Field Ecology class, and the entirety of the class is spending my Spring Break in caves, collecting data. Oh well, it's better than not having enough credit hours to receive an assistantship, and having to pay my own tuition. It is lousy for two reasons though: One, I miss the season finale of The Shield. Two, after consecutive lackluster weeks of comics, I've got at least five titles coming in this week, including X-Factor and Exiles, which are pretty much guaranteed good stuff. So expect my impressions of those on the 25th.

Still, I wanted to leave you with a "project" for the week, so you'll keep visiting until I return. What I'd like is the seven member - or less - roster you would design of any team. It can be a currently operating team, like the Avengers (I know, they're the Not Avengers, just humor me) or JSA. You could be reviving the Defenders or Suicide Squad. You could make an entirely new team (in that case, let us know what kind of a "niche" the team will fill). You can use any member of the team, EVER, from any point in their history, just let us know which version of, for example, Cyclops from the original X-Men, or Grant Morrison "cheats on Jean" Cyclops. Or JLA: Year One Hal Jordan or current Hal Jordan. If you want to designate a creative team as well, go for it. Do this for as many teams as you want, go crazy, organize the entire DC or Marvel Universe.

I'll start, with an X-Men team. This is designed to deal with most problems X-problems. I think they have enough power to deal with the Hellfire Club in battle, or to go espionage-style and gather incriminating evidence on them. After I finished, I realized I had enough people that I wanted on the team, but had no room for, to create two teams of 6 members, each with a more specific purpose. So first, the single team idea:

Wolverine (around Uncanny #220; brown outfit, sometimes leader, protective of teammates)
Rouge (from X-Men in the '90s, before she could use any power she'd ever absorbed)
Nightcrawler (swashbuckling '70s and '80s Kurt Wagner)
Iceman (the Guy Gardner-esque one from Joe Casey and Chuck Austen's stints on Uncanny)
Psylocke (the '90s telepathic ninja one)
Dazzler (I think the '90s version, that was fighting Mojo with Longshot)
Colossus (definitely '70s or '80s Piotr Rasputin. Not "depressed his little snowflake died" Piotr)

Also under consideration: Shadowcat (from Excalibur: smart, self-confident, respected), Longshot (more naive '80s version), Stacy X (hey, it's MY team, I can put her on there if I want), Storm (during her time as sole leader, with or without powers, preferably with), Chamber (from Casey's Uncanny).

As for the "dual teams" rosters, we've got: Storm, Rouge, Iceman, Dazzler, Colossus, Chamber (handles more obvious, public threats, like Sentinels, Brotherhood of Evil), and Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Psylocke, Longshot, Stacy X (for getting at the people that are pulling the strings on the big obvious threats the other team is smashing).

Well, I've exhausted my creativity for the day. I'm off to sit in front of the couch until the Full Metal Alchemist finale comes on. I relinquish the keys to the blog to you kind readers. No wild parties, or at least keep the Hal Jordan-look alike strippers out of my fully stocked bar!

In either scenario, there is one -count it, ONE! - X-book. With two teams especially, you can have enough going on to do at least some six-story arcs, without the need for decompression. Oh yeah, in case you hadn't guessed, House of M never happened, which is how Stacy and Chamber still have their powers (damn Quesada).

5 comments:

Jake said...

My Justice League:
Guy Gardner
Batman (badass but not completely humorless)
Flash (Wally West)
Martian Manhunter
Power Girl
Green Arrow
Black Canary

Marc Burkhardt said...

Justice League Of America -

1. Superman - as portrayed in All-Star Superman
2. Batman - from the '70s Englehart/Rogers run
3. Wonder Woman - Golden age incarnation
4. Flash - Broome and Infantino Barry Allen
5. Green Lantern - Hal Jordan; JLA Year One version
6. Martian Manhunter - Morrison JLA run
7. Aquaman - Peter David's "Captain Hook"
8. Green Arrow - O'Neil/Adams version
9. Black Canary - Gail Simone's Birds of Prey version
10. Hawkman - Tim Truman's Hawkworld mini
11. Hawkwoman - Ditto
12. Red Tornado - Silver age version, before he changed his costume...
13. The Atom - Morrison JLA run, the one who took out Darkseid
14. Elongated Man - happy, Silver or Bronze age versions
15. Zatanna - the JLU version!!!

Randy said...

You sooo know I have to do an Avengers lineup, because well, its the only team book I think I have followed for years. And I thought about this long and hard. I think even smoke began to fill the room. Its not a perfect lineup (as I could just go all classic, but where's the fun in that?), but it would sure as hell be a fun lineup.

1. Beast- science guy. Fun guy. The blue furry version too.
2. Crystal- Inhuman representation. My first nomination for team leader too.
3. Firestar- I thought she worked really well during her albeit brief stint.
4. Iron Man- Founder. Alternate team lead. Pretty much any version.
5. Sersi- My surprise choice. Eternal representation. She adds much intrigue to the team.
6. Thor- Founder. Any version. Just not the nut bag jobber learning his powers.
7. Wonderman- The Actor/Red Jacket days. Oh HELL YEAH!!! That outfit ruled!

I know, I omitted favorites as Cap, Warbird and Black Widow, but, what a damaging team that would be.

Chris said...

Gotta chime in on Avengers.

--Iron Man (yeah, like I was gonna not have Iron Man)
--Sue Richards (it's my lineup, I can do what I want to; they need a levelheaded cosmically aware female)
--Captain America (gotta have gubmint involvement)
--Thor (the not-Donald Blake version)
--Dr. Strange (nice foil for Tony Stark)
--Black Panther (royalty and streetwise and smart as hell)
--ROM:Spaceknight (like I said, it's my lineup :) )
--Hawkeye (gotta have a hothead)

Randy said...

You give me ROM, and you give me grief over Sersi. Sheesh!