I Don't Need You To Tell Me To Do A Meme!

So far as I know, nobody's tagged me for this "swap DC and Marvel creators" deal that I first became aware of over here, but that won't stop me from taking up space on the Internet by voicing my opinions! Though really, I don't think this is so much a switching of Marvel and DC folks (since I have no idea who's exclusive), as it is me just trying to come up with books for writers to write they haven't before, based on my best guess at what they liked to do. So do keep that in mind. Oh, and you DC bloggers need to stop trying to foist Winick on Marvel. He already wrote Exiles for them. Send him to Image or something, sheesh!

And speaking of Exiles. . .

John Ostrander on Exiles. I figure the general formula of the book (pre-Claremont anyway) was largely Suicide Squad + GrimJack, so who better for it? Plus, Ostrander likes to write about identity and how you define who a person is, and a book where it's easy for a character to run into a very different, alternate version of themselves could provide a lot of opportunities for reflection upon that. I'm not sure about the artist. I think we need someone with strong figure work, but also the ability to draw really weird landscapes and machines and stuff, since you could make each universe run by whatever rules you'd like. Ditko could draw some pretty freaky stuff, if his Dr. Strange was any indication. Not sure how easy he is to work with though. If not, I'd take a Grummett or Alan Davis. I like both of them. You can suggest another artist if you'd like.

I want to put J.M Dematteis on something where he can explore the differences between what parts of themselves people show others, and what they keep secret, as well as the differences between how we perceive ourselves and how we actually are, and how our pasts shape us (things I remember being common in his Spectacular Spider-Man run). I think a Nemesis series might be a possible subject, since he was a master of disguise and all, you could look at what parts of him show through when he portrays others, and what parts he can dispose of easily. Another possibility could be Deadman, if you argued that he retains a little piece of the people he possesses, you could show that change him over time. Or perhaps focus on Rogue, with all the people that used to run through her head. Ooh, or Clayface!

Nobuhiro Watsuki has never written any American comics to my knowledge (he reads a lot of them though, or he used to). He did write Rurouni Kenshin, my favorite manga, and I think the wandering fighter who struggles with his past might work well with Shang-Chi, or maybe Richard Dragon. Possibly Iron Fist, but I didn't see the streak of really weird ideas in RuroKen I do in Immortal Iron Fist, but Danny has a goofiness about him that's similar to Kenshin's.

Kurt Busiek/George Perez on Titans. I figure putting Busiek at the helm means we'll get a revival of some of the Haney concepts, which does have the potential to backfire horribly, but should also save us from yet another story about Titans versus evil counterparts. I'm not even reading Titans books anymore and I'm sick of that nonsense.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning on Adam Strange. I'm sure there was someone else I was thinking of for this, but I can't remember, so Plan B. DnA are doing pretty well with Nova as sole cop in the Marvel Universe. Obviously with all the Green Lanterns (Kyle Rayner is the one true Green Lantern! Death to all pretenders! That ought to provoke a reaction.) that won't work at DC, but let's twist things a bit and say that Rannagar drifted into that Vega Sector the Lanterns weren't supposed to enter (though they can now apparently), and so there isn't any intergalactic space police to help. It's just Adam Strange dealing with those spiders, angry Rannies, angry Thanagarians, and all the other assorted weirdness Adam Strange usually runs afoul of. Let's say Ron Lim on the pencils.

Jim Balent on Supergirl. Kidding!

Oh, I just remembered who I had thought of for Adam Strange originally, Bill Mantlo. I figured he made ROM work, and he'd come up with all sorts of strange thing for Adam to defeat. But not really possible, I suppose.

I'd kind of like to see Akria Toriyama (Dragonball) on Young Avengers. Scratch that, make it Runaways. It might be a little too light-hearted, but I think the Marvel Universe has enough angst these days so that's not such a bad thing, and he was pretty good at convincing the reader that the characters you were reading about were actually friends, even if some of them could exasperate the others at times. I'm straying way off the original point of this, aren't I?

Brain K. Vaughn, Faith the Vampire Slayer. Just throwing it out there. If you're going to throw it back, keep it above the belt. In terms of Marvel/DC, Amazing Spider-Man. And I know he's already worked on the character extensively, but I really enjoy Mark Bagley, so I'm putting him back. Sorry Mr. Bagley.

I feel it's desperately important to put Walt Simonson on something, but I can't decide what. Dr. Strange perhaps? I think he could give the Sorcerer Supreme's duties the sense of scale they merit.

Joe Casey's been doing a lot of projects at Marvel that seem designed to stick to the essentials of a character/concept, so there's got a big name at DC that needs a similar treatment. The Martian Manhunter perhaps, something to wash the stink of J'onn's last mini-series out of our minds (I apologize if you enjoyed that mini-series).

This'll be the last one, I think, and it's Frank Miller. I'm not sure whether I believe the folks who say Miller's trying to make a point with All-Star Batman and Robin. You know the point I mean, where he's trying to show them that the Batman in the Dark Knight Returns wasn't one for other writers to emulate, but was meant to be a cautionary tale? Whether that's his goal or not, I'm pretty sure he's having a lot of fun with the title, so let's give him a character he can go even farther with. The Punisher. A MAX title natch. Because if you're going to the trouble of getting Frank Miller, you sure don't want to waste him by having him constrained by any age limits or codes or stuff like that. With John Romita Jr. on the art, so it'll come out monthly, and we can get even more Internet flame war inciting goodness when he makes Frank Castle into a freaky beatnik who actually killed his own family while trying to pawn his wife's jewels or something (and the whole thing about mobsters at the park was just some fantasy Frank concocted and bought into).

I think that's all I have right now.