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“I drank the Kool-Aid like Nick Fury. I’m gonna live forever.”–Beau Smith
by beau Smith
When we read comic books, we all suspend belief so that we can enter the story and the fictional world to be entertained; the same with movies, games, novels, and TV. It’s what we do. The writers/creators of these stories give us background and back story on the characters to bring a lot more pleasure to our trip. At least the good ones do.
The Invaders
Recently I was reading through a stack of new comic books as well as old ones pulled from my collection. two of the comics were The Invaders from the 1970s and the other was the current issue of Captain America. After I finished them I got to thinking, “Does present day Steve Roger/Captain America ever think about his days hanging with The Sub-Mariner during WWII? Does Namor ever get nostalgic about he and Cap busting Nazi heads in the 1940s?” If not, they should.
Captain America
Reason being, it would add so much a lot more to the current stories for the readers, even if for just a few panels. I pledge it would be a true reading fulfillment for a lot of and cause newer readers to hunt down back issues and trade paperbacks to see how these two heroes used to roll (As the young kids say, or did five minutes ago).
Nick Fury through The Ages. secret Warriors art by Jim Cheung.
While reading secret Warriors recently, I started thinking the same thing about Nick Fury, former Sgt. Fury and His howling Commandos, and how he has crossed paths with a lot of every superhero in the marvel universe at one time or another. Does ol’ Nick ever think about some of the things that went on at marvel during the decades of the 40’s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and so on?
The Human Torch & Spider-Man BFFs
Does Spider-Man ever get the urge to hang out with his old buddy The Human Torch? Those two used to have some wild times together, battling each other as they fought the bad guys. have those two people grown up enough to not butt heads today when they meet?
Speaking of The fantastic Four, I always thought (my writer brain kicking in) that that cosmic ray bath they took that gave them their powers would be a terrific excuse not to age as fast as a lot of humans. It’d be a terrific running storyline where they are so much older than a lot of of their peers, but yet their bodies remain young. I’d love to hear Ben & Reed still talking about WWII, their college days and such. same with Johnny Storm, The Human Torch. He was a teen in the early 60s, part of his thought process would still be stuck there and his views, I’d think. It would make the characters and the stories even a lot more interesting. Please don’t comment that it couldn’t be done, just stop and look at how much we suspend belief in the current marvel history. smart writers/editors could make this stuff happen.
Namor and Captain America, BFFs
I would really find it fun to read a story arc with Captain America and Namor on a modern day mission where they talk about what has come before and how much things have changed. I’d love to read the character’s views on that as they fought some new villain or danger that represented so much of modern day evil. I’d write it, but I’ll be sincere with you, I don’t have any contacts today at Marvel, so it’s not gonna happen any time soon. The ones that do know me and my work, well, let’s just say I’m not on their radar of hire ideal now.
The argument that readers today wouldn’t care to have this extra layer placed on the character is wrong. Today’s readers are smart and used to a lot more thorough characters and background. They would welcome this. former Captain America writer Ed Brubaker was brave enough to use Cap and Namor with a shared past, and it was great. a lot more writers must step onto the path that Brubaker has blazed for them.
Do yourself a favor, get hold of some current and past issues and think about what you’d like to see from some of the marvel characters that have spanned several decades of stories. My guess is that you’d love to read some of this kinda stuff as well.
Maybe one day I’ll get to write ‘em for you.
Your time traveling amigo,
Beau Smith
The flying Fist Ranch
www.flyingfistranch.com