Like all comics readers, I’ve griped about the failings of various writers. Couldn’t they think of anything better than that last story? How could they not understand this character’s essence or that concept’s history? Powered up heroes, nasty villains, fight scenes -- how hard could it be?
Then I tried it, and thought again.
I got an idea for a piece of fan fiction. It is a series of interlocking episodes that I expect will form a novella-length piece by the time I finish. To keep it simpler for my first time out, I picked a relatively scarce-used set of characters – The Eternals. (OK, so I also picked them because I think they’re really cool.)
The intro went pretty well, but as soon as I got into the main action, I started to feel the walls of precedent closing in around me. I’d find myself thinking ‘I can’t have Makarri do that, it’s not consistent with his established character. The Reject could do that, but so far he’s not even in the story.’ Then I’d have a really great idea and write it for bit. Soon I’d realize it had been a great idea – back when they had it in the volume two limited series.
As I considered the problem, I realized that most imaginative fiction writers start by creating a new territory to work in. Asimov imagined a world filled with robots governed by three laws, and then spent a series of novels exploring that territory. Other science fictions begin with creating a set of races and their interplanetary political dynamics, and then set various conflicts into that territory to watch what happens. Sword and sorcery writers do it the most explicitly, physically drawing the maps of new continents to set their characters loose in.
For today’s superhero comic writers, this establishment of territory was done by the likes of Kane and Kirby anywhere from 40 to 75 years ago. Teams of creators have been wandering these landscapes for all the decades since then. It seems to me that today’s Marvel and DC creators are given a task analogous to finding the unexplored portion of Europe. That they consistently create engaging and enjoyable stories in this territory is impressive. That they sometimes still find stories that are original or surprising is down right amazing.
So will I stop complaining about the weaker plot points of my favorite comics? I doubt it. But I won’t do it with the feeling that I might do better anymore.
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