Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Donovan & Delurking

When I concocted the fake solicitations last night, I tried to make it believable, to make the joke kind of subtle, and to make it ultimately clear that it was a joke, but I may have failed at that last part (sorry Loren!). I chose Joe Kelly because he's a moderately popular writer without a whole lot on his plate at the moment, and thus would be far more believable than "Joss Whedon" or "Geoff Johns" or something, which would have tipped the joke too early. Mahnke and Nguyen did the Atlantis-centered "Obsidian Age" storyline, so that's believable enough.

But I thought I'd put in just enough to make it clear..."Following the success of Kurt Busiek's AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS," not to mention how ludicrous it would be for DC to do a 12-issue maxiseries for a character who has trouble carrying a monthly title, when said series wasn't penned by a superstar. Maybe Neil Gaiman or Mike Carey could carry an Aquaman maxiseries, but Joe Kelly? I love Joe Kelly, but I don't think DC has quite that much faith in him.

As far as the "why" of the joke, I heard Donovan's "Atlantis" on my random playlist, and thought 'with all the different mythology and magic craziness that has been assigned to Atlantis over the years, from Peter David's various mythological tropes to the Arthurian legends of the Veitch run, how had the comics avoided pulling mythology from vaguely psychadelic '60s music? I mean, I didn't think it would be good; Donovan only ever names five of the Twelve anyway: "the Poet, the Physician, the Farmer, the Scientist, the Magician, and the other so-called gods of our legends." It's the NewAgey version of the early Gilligan's Island theme song "...and the rest."

I thought it would come out ridiculous, but the more I wrote it, the more tenable it seemed. There's something to be said for the idea of a story about a young Aquaman, rushing around to save his kingdom. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it could work as kind of a "Thor: Blood Oath" type book. And I really enjoyed that particular miniseries. I still think it'd be cheesy to incorporate Donovan's thin mythology into DCU history, but the idea of Arthur chasing after the antediluvian deities who abandoned the doomed continent? The idea of exploring the early history of Aquaman? It actually sounds like a book I'd buy. And that scares me, just a little.

But I guess it goes to show that there are few intrinsically bad ideas. You know, unless they involve self-mutilating New Warriors.

Apparently it's National De-Lurking Week. So, if you're one of the hundred and thirty average visitors (or the sixty-three above average ones) I get a day who doesn't say much, it'd be awesome if you'd comment on a post someplace. I get a kick out of reading new comments, so any and all are appreciated. Thanks!

11 comments:

Ragnell said...

*De-lurks*

LurkerWithout said...

I never delurk. It'd wreck my name...

Doctor Polaris said...

Polaris lives.

Tom Bondurant said...

I'm de-lurking to wonder how close The Atlantis Chronicles and Aquaman: Time & Tide come to your stunningly plausible fake solicitation. (Hey, I bought it; I figured if DC can do a 6-issue Connor Hawke miniseries, why not a 12-issue Aquaman one?)

Both were written by Peter David, I think, and I'm pretty sure PAD used a lot of Atlantis Chronicles mythology in his Aquaman run. However, it's been a loooong time since I've read any of that....

SallyP said...

Heck I'm beginning to think that if someone came up with an idea for Captain America and Iron Man to have a staring contest for six issues, people would buy it.

Anonymous said...

This is me commenting. I hope is made your day.

Anonymous said...

Wow! You totally got me on that one! I did notice the "following the success of..." line and thought that funny, but I'm not one that really follows the sales that much. AND, then, I thought it would be DC who would have wrote the solicitation and, of course, they're going to say that Busiek's run is a success. I've actually been enjoying it myself (although, I do have to say that I want my original Arthur Curry).

Anyway, if anything should be said, you are mighty talented at writing solicitations!

PS - I guess I got a jump on things and de-lurked last entry! :)

Marc Burkhardt said...

Call me gullible.

Since I pay no attention to sales at all - and considered Sword of Atlantis a critical success until Busiek was forced to bow out so prematurely - I thought it might be possible.

I wondered why I couldn't find those solicitations anywhere else, though.

inkdestroyedmybrush said...

likely we lurk because we suck... or we read faster than we type.

Derek said...

Normally, I prefer to lurk, but I'll make an exception since you so kindly commented on my blog so long ago. (which I didn't notice until yesterday when I started posting again)

Biggie said...

Continuing with my "delurking week"...delurkings, I'd just like to say that you just might be my favorite comic blogger. Hell, one of the reasons I haven't started a blog myself is that you already say a lot of things I would write myself.