carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 25, 2010 4:05:34 GMT -5
Just tossing out some ideas for a line-up for an Imperials-centric title to run alongside The Leaf. By no means should this be taken as a 'we need to do this now', just a plan for the future.
Taking a cue from the old Marvel Presents title, I think running a few multi-part stories in the title would be a good idea, that way when one finishes up, another is always still continuing, hence keeping the reader trapped in a vicious cycle.
Issue #1 -
Beasts of the Blitz - This is a multi-part story in which Johnny Dingo is accused of a series of horrible murders in London during the Blitz, leaving it up to his fellow Imperials to clear his name and unmask the real culprits: a group of German werewolves who inflitrated into London during the Dunkirk evacuation. My propsed Imperials to be involved in this one are Avalon, the Mystic Ghurka, Old Mr. Grim and either Jill Canada or another female heroine. I see this story as playing out in either three or four 5 page instalments.
Hong Kong Horror - The Leaf and Johnny Dingo are on the spot in Hong Kong when the Japanese attack. Overwhelmed by the fury of the Japanese assault, the two heroes must make the awful choice of escaping to fight another day or remaining behind to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. This story would pit the two Imperials against a Japanese supervillain, possibly the robot Tesuboi. A six or seven page storyline for this one.
The Age of Chivalry - Avalon crosses swords with the German hero Hochmeister in the midst of a German attack in Poland. During the battle, the two enemies have a dialog about their nations and why each fights for his country. The contest ends with Hochmeister allowing Avalon to escape before an SS unit can arrive to capture him. This could be a three or four page story.
War Drums - Victoria Cross learns of the German plans to invade Poland and tries to bring this information to the Poles, unaware that she has been betrayed by her superiors and that Eisernteufel is hot on her trail. This would be set for five pages.
Round out the initial issue with perhaps a few pin-up pages, and you could easily have a 24 page comic.
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 25, 2010 4:32:54 GMT -5
Issue #2 -
Beasts of the Blitz - The story continues and in this instalment, the German werewolves are unveiled as the Imperials discover one of the beasts attacking soldiers on leave. - five pages. Imperials involved: Avalon, Old Mr. Grim, the Mystic Ghurka, Johnny Dingo and Jill Canada.
Neutral Ground - This is the second of the multi-part stories. In this one, the Imperials are tasked to protect Winston Churchill as he heads to the still neutral United States to appeal to America to enter the war. Unknown to them, there are German agents in Washington who have plans of their own. Eisernteufel has plotted to abduct Churchill and use a clone of the Prime Minister to deliver an address to the Americans so inflamatory that it will ensure the US does not join Great Britain against Germany. This first instalment would be five pages. Imperials involved: Avalon, the Leaf, the Black Rod, Victoria Cross, Dreadnought, Jill Canada, Shard and Skirmish. German villains involved: Eisernteufel, Ubermann, Panzermann, Sonderkommando, Hex, Tommycooker, and Der Sturmfuehrer.
The Enemy of My Enemy - The Mystic Ghurka finds himself pitted against the Red Death as the Soviet assassin seeks to kill POW Rudolf Hess, a man who can reveal a bit too much about the Nazi-Soviet pact and Stalin's intentions for conquest. Five Pages.
Ratcatcher - A British tank crew in North Africa is trying to make their way back to Egypt in the aftermath of one of Rommel's breakthroughs, however, their attempt at escape is thwarted by their superhuman adversary - Ubermann! Four pages
The last five pages could be either pin-ups or possibly another one-off story.
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Post by John Helmer on Oct 26, 2010 8:24:33 GMT -5
Fantastic! ideas. I like the format and think the continuing stories would be refreshing. It would have to remain at 20 pages, no more.
I think the best format is 5,4,4,3. The five is the main feature, and the 4 pages are the back-ups.
This leaves room for a bio of three pages and an in house ad. I do like your bio concept of the splash page of action scernes and the 2 pages of text.
One feature rom every theater: Western Front, Eastern front, Africa, and Asia.
Lets work on this.
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Post by John Helmer on Oct 26, 2010 12:34:05 GMT -5
Did you want these self contained or continuing several issues? Just tossing out some ideas for a line-up for an Imperials-centric title to run alongside The Leaf. By no means should this be taken as a 'we need to do this now', just a plan for the future. Taking a cue from the old Marvel Presents title, I think running a few multi-part stories in the title would be a good idea, that way when one finishes up, another is always still continuing, hence keeping the reader trapped in a vicious cycle. Issue #1 - Beasts of the Blitz - This is a multi-part story in which Johnny Dingo is accused of a series of horrible murders in London during the Blitz, leaving it up to his fellow Imperials to clear his name and unmask the real culprits: a group of German werewolves who inflitrated into London during the Dunkirk evacuation. My propsed Imperials to be involved in this one are Avalon, the Mystic Ghurka, Old Mr. Grim and either Jill Canada or another female heroine. I see this story as playing out in either three or four 5 page instalments. Hong Kong Horror - The Leaf and Johnny Dingo are on the spot in Hong Kong when the Japanese attack. Overwhelmed by the fury of the Japanese assault, the two heroes must make the awful choice of escaping to fight another day or remaining behind to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. This story would pit the two Imperials against a Japanese supervillain, possibly the robot Tesuboi. A six or seven page storyline for this one. The Age of Chivalry - Avalon crosses swords with the German hero Hochmeister in the midst of a German attack in Poland. During the battle, the two enemies have a dialog about their nations and why each fights for his country. The contest ends with Hochmeister allowing Avalon to escape before an SS unit can arrive to capture him. This could be a three or four page story. War Drums - Victoria Cross learns of the German plans to invade Poland and tries to bring this information to the Poles, unaware that she has been betrayed by her superiors and that Eisernteufel is hot on her trail. This would be set for five pages. Round out the initial issue with perhaps a few pin-up pages, and you could easily have a 24 page comic. |
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 27, 2010 3:17:01 GMT -5
Fantastic! ideas. I like the format and think the continuing stories would be refreshing. It would have to remain at 20 pages, no more. I think the best format is 5,4,4,3. The five is the main feature, and the 4 pages are the back-ups. This leaves room for a bio of three pages and an in house ad. I do like your bio concept of the splash page of action scernes and the 2 pages of text. One feature rom every theater: Western Front, Eastern front, Africa, and Asia. Lets work on this. I think it probably best to do just three stories at 20 pages, perhaps running a 6 page serial and then two five page back-ups. That would, again, leave the room for a 3 page bio and the ad/letter page. Less certain about having one story from each theatre. That could easily backfire if, say, we simply don't have a good four page story for North Africa, but an abundance of Pacific Theatre ideas. I say a more open approach would be the best way to work it. |
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 27, 2010 3:19:07 GMT -5
My idea originally for these was to run 'Beasts of the Blitz' and 'Neutral Ground' as multi-part stories running through several issues. With the reformating, however, I think it best to save 'Neutral Ground' for when 'Beasts of the Blitz' is concluding.
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 27, 2010 3:24:58 GMT -5
Second thrust at Issue #1:
Beasts of the Blitz - This is a multi-part story in which Johnny Dingo is accused of a series of horrible murders in London during the Blitz, leaving it up to his fellow Imperials to clear his name and unmask the real culprits: a group of German werewolves who inflitrated into London during the Dunkirk evacuation. My propsed Imperials to be involved in this one are Avalon, the Mystic Ghurka, Old Mr. Grim and either Jill Canada or another female heroine. I see this story as playing out in either three or four 5 page instalments. - 6 Pages
Hong Kong Horror - The Leaf and Johnny Dingo are on the spot in Hong Kong when the Japanese attack. Overwhelmed by the fury of the Japanese assault, the two heroes must make the awful choice of escaping to fight another day or remaining behind to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. This story would pit the two Imperials against a Japanese supervillain, possibly the robot Tesuboi. - 6 Pages
The Age of Chivalry - Avalon crosses swords with the German hero Hochmeister in the midst of a German attack in Poland. During the battle, the two enemies have a dialog about their nations and why each fights for his country. The contest ends with Hochmeister allowing Avalon to escape before an SS unit can arrive to capture him. This could be a three or four page story. - 4 pages
Johnny Dingo Bio - 3 pages
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 27, 2010 3:29:04 GMT -5
Second strike at Issue #2:
Beasts of the Blitz - The story continues and in this instalment, the German werewolves are unveiled as the Imperials discover one of the beasts attacking soldiers on leave. - five pages. Imperials involved: Avalon, Old Mr. Grim, the Mystic Ghurka, Johnny Dingo and Jill Canada. - 5 pages
The Enemy of My Enemy - The Mystic Ghurka finds himself pitted against the Red Death as the Soviet assassin seeks to kill POW Rudolf Hess, a man who can reveal a bit too much about the Nazi-Soviet pact and Stalin's intentions for conquest. - 4 Pages.
Ratcatcher - A British tank crew in North Africa is trying to make their way back to Egypt in the aftermath of one of Rommel's breakthroughs, however, their attempt at escape is thwarted by their superhuman adversary - Ubermann! - 3 pages
War Drums - Victoria Cross learns of the German plans to invade Poland and tries to bring this information to the Poles, unaware that she has been betrayed by her superiors and that Eisernteufel is hot on her trail. This would be set for 4 pages.
Mystic Ghurka Bio - 3 pages
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Post by John Helmer on Oct 27, 2010 11:21:45 GMT -5
OK. So let's settle on 16 pages of story and three pages of bios. One page of "Friendly Company" advertisement and the inside back cover as in house ad/previews.
Most of our bios are long for the developed characters, so that's not a problem. I will commission a pin-up if we do not have a stock pin-up available.
I'd like to write the Hong Kong Horror, OK? Hack out the Main feature and the back up.
The bio we already have. I will commission a new pin-up for Johnny Dingo!
Remember Beasts of the Blitz can ONLY run 20 pages in length for reprint and redistribution purposes. So the six page format will cause this scenerio:
6 pages
6 pages
6 pages
2 pages
I would stick with five if it does not cramp your writing style and story flow.
5 page, 5 pages, 5 pages, 5 pages = 20 page comic issue for "Red Leaf Presents..."
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 29, 2010 22:26:46 GMT -5
I see any of the main story comics running in this format:
First Instalment - 6 pages
Secondary instalments: either 4 or 5 pages each.
That gives the first instalment room for a splash page.
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 29, 2010 22:42:11 GMT -5
Issue #3
Beasts of the Blitz - The third instalment pits the Imperials against Fenrir and the other German werewolves - 4 pages
In the Mist - Victoria Cross crashlands in Scotland with information vital to the war effort - 8 pages
* 4 page Victoria Cross story set in the PTO *
Victoria Cross Bio - 3 pages
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carandini
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Post by carandini on Oct 29, 2010 22:47:56 GMT -5
The following are my concepts for the longer stories:
Neutral Ground - The Imperials vs German supervillains in Washington DC as they try to protect Winston Churchill.
Giants of Guadalcanal - The Imperials and a few American heroes are forced to make an uneasy alliance with the Japanese against an even bigger menace - a race of cannibalistic giants!
Home Fires - The Leaf must protect his family when a spy in the British SIS discloses the secret identites of the Imperials to the Germans.
The Dark Command - Avalon and Victoria Cross race through a devastated Poland as the country collapses around them, pitting them against not only the Germans, but the Soviets as well.
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Post by John Helmer on Sept 19, 2013 0:43:47 GMT -5
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