My Marvel Timeline

In setting ground rules for the My52 DC rewrite, I solidified the standard DC premise of the sliding timeline, codifying that everything since Superman's first appearance happened '15 years ago'.

Marvel Comics never had an explicit framework for how their timeline worked, instead just sort of choosing to ignore historical contradictions.  It didn't matter that Mr. Fantastic once served in WWII.  They just never mention it again and it sort of goes away.  I'm afraid I'm a lot more anal than that, though, and just had to put some thought into how I would explain these contradictions in Make My Marvel.

I think I've hit on the idea, something I'm calling 'Compressed Time.'

The basic (and only) idea is that the only way to rationalize 50 years of monthly comics is to instead consider them 10 years of weekly comics.  How's this work?  Well, in very broad brush strokes, we'll assume that each successive issue of a comic takes place the week following the previous issue rather than the next month.  For example, the Fantastic Four debuted November 1, 1961 facing off against the Mole Man in 'Fantastic Four #1.'  Their first encounter with the Skrulls in 'Fantastic Four #2' would then occur about a week later, on or around November 8, 1961.

Sure many comics are continuations of the issue that came before, requiring only minutes or hours to have passed, but enough comics have vague spacings that I'm sure could even things out over time.

The big kicker of this whole concept is that, with Make My Marvel having a soft kick-off at roughly the end of Secret Invasion (January, 2009), that means only 567 weeks of Compressed Time have passed since the debut of the Fantastic Four.  In other words, the adventures we're reading about now are actually taking place in September of 1972.

There are a few anachronisms that come with this concept, such as the number of presidents our heroes have encountered, or the tri-monthly Christmas adventure, but these are no less jarring than the actual number of presidents Captain America has met since thawing out (or the number of Christmases he's celebrated since appearing in the "modern day.")  Technological advances, in comparison, are much easier to accept.  With minds like Tony Stark and Reed Richards pushing the envelope, the development of the iPod in 1971 is pretty easy.

But once you accept the plausibility of Compressed Time, a few interesting alignments start to appear:

After their heroic debut in November of 1961, Reed Richards and Sue Storm would get married less than a year later in September 1962. Exactly nine months later, Franklin would be born (June 1963).  Per this timeline, Franklin is only about 9 years old now, which seems in keeping with his apparent age in the comics.







Peter Parker received his spider-powers during a school field trip January 1962 and graduated high school in September of that year (so, either I adjust the calendar back a couple months, or Peter went to a year-round high school).  Gwen Stacy would be killed in July of 1964 (when they were both 20 years old), and Peter would graduate college in September 1965 (okay, maybe I should back up all these dates by three months).  Peter and Mary Jane would've gotten married in 1967 and have been married for 5 years.  Peter Parker is currently 28 years old.

An interesting Spider-extrapolation is to notice that, even if Pete and MJ had a baby tomorrow, the earliest they could have a 15-year-old daughter is 1987-ish, creating a soft start time for Spider-Girl and the MC2 universe.








The members of Power Pack got their powers in January of 1967.  At the time, Julie Power was 10 years old and would later be shown to have her 11th birthday in issue #45, which, according to Compressed Time, occurs February of 1968.  That's close enough to a year to fudge. When Julie joins the Loners in October, 1971, she's 14. I've never read Loners, though.  Hope that makes sense with the series... If memory serves, the other Powers kids were about 2 years apart from each other, so youngest Katie would now be 11 years old, Jack would be 13, Julie would now be 15, and the oldest brother, Alex, would be 17. -ish.



There are probably a lot more fun timepoints to plant in Compressed Time, but those will do for now.
Admittedly, there are some current second gen characters which might cause some hiccups, though.  Wiccan and Speed of the Young Avengers get a pass for the bizarre nature of their recreation.  Fellow teammate Hulkling was supposedly conceived only 8 years ago, but we can call that an accelerated Skrull development.  Likewise, Reed and Sue's second child, Valeria, was only born a year ago according to Compressed Time, and she's depicted as obviously older than that.  I wasn't reading FF when she was written, but Wikipedia tells me there were some cosmic, Franklin-related shenanigans to her birth that might serve as an explanation to her advanced aging.

Greatest Heroes on Earth...3

Crime Syndicate

There are a few reasons why this title should be written.

1)  Stories where the villain gets to win can be very entertaining, and Earth 3 is based around the idea of villains winning.

2)  Mirror universe stories are equally entertaining, and Earth 3 has hundreds of stories that can be told about the mirror duplicates of popular mainstream DC characters.

3)  With My52 Justice League shying away from having a Big 3 team of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the Crime Syndicate is a place to showcase stories that are, more or less, about those three.

As you can tell by that last point, I'm not going to make the Crime Syndicate a simple dark carbon copy of my Justice League.  While there are dark opposites at play here, I don't want this series to feel beholden to what's happening in other titles.  Plus, in a survival of the fittest world like Earth 3, I can't imagine anybody less than Ultraman, Owlman and Superwoman leading the pack.  The CSA also typically includes not-Flash Johnny Quick and Green Lantern expy Power Ring.

That they're currently on the third person to wear the power ring makes me smile and sets up a nice running story a la the drummer from Spinal Tap.

Earth 2 had some weird metaphysics about how good always has to win on our Earth
and evil always wins on their world.  Quietly ignored...

In my pitch for the My52 Justice League, I hinted that Earth 3 would be the origin point for the villain Dr. Impossible and possibly hint at a Final Crisis-like event over there where whatever passes for the good version of Darkseid attacked the Earth.  Although I'm not going to mirror Earth 1 history here too closely, that seems as good a starting point as any, as we can pick up our villainous protagonists trying as they try to reclaim their control of the Earth.  For the first time ever, we get to start on the ground floor(-ish) of the Crime Syndicate take over and watch how they go about it.

Sounds like fun.

Mutant School

Academy X

As spelled out in my X-Men pitch, I really like the take on the X-Men as running a school for young mutants, although I was dissatisfied with the sheer volume of students they'd since added.  My preference is more along the lines of the days of the New Mutants, where a small class of mutants was being taught even as the graduated class of X-Men continued to save the world.

So gearing up for My Marvel Academy X requires me to pair down the numbers quite a bit. As the school is now public, I can imply some sort of safety review on behalf of the X-Men following that attack on the academy during the Messiah CompleX storyline and declare that they've determined gathering all those mutants together makes them a target.  Due to the hazardous nature of the X-Men's work, they simply can't be home to the least powerful of their kind.  Many of them are sent back home, while only a few are retained to help train.  It doesn't hold up to close scrutiny, but it gets me to where I want my student body to be.

Illogic aside, that means I get to choose from some of my favorite additions to young mutant-hood to create my student body for Academy X. Despite all of the young mutants at Xavier's to choose from, only a few  were distinctive or original enough to draw my attention.

Anole
Victor initially caught my eye by being so visually striking. His reptilian appearance, including one monstrous arm, stood out to me, especially when combined with his comfort with his appearance. In a world that hates and fears mutants, he stands out as being one who hasn't faced much bigotry despite his appearance. He's seen first hand the possibility of humans and mutants living together, and brings that optimism to the team. He's tried team leadership in the past, but despite having the heart, he doesn't have the drive. He serves as unofficial co-leader with Hellion, keeping the crew on the right path.

Hellion

Although I won't say his telekinetic powers are in any way original, Julian caught my eye with his vain, aggressive yet very successful leadership skills. The perfect counterpoint to Anole, Hellion grew up in wealth, yet was expected to hide his abilities. His human vs. mutant upbringing could easily have made him an evil mutant if one of the X-Men's enemies had gotten a hold of him first, but at Xavier's he's learning to work with humankind, even if he still sees them as different. Power-wise, Hellion's telekinesis took an interesting turn when his powers were "upgraded," making them much stronger while costing him much of his control. Punching holes through floors while trying to pick up paperclips really does make him a hellion. Julian co-leads the X Students with Victor, providing the fire and direction that Anole doesn't, while Anole tempers Hellion's darker elements.





Blindfold
There's not much to say about Blindfold other that she weirds me out in the best ways. From her eyeless face, to the enigmatic way she talks, to the unclear way her powers actually work, she cheerfully makes everyone uncomfortable. The biggest challenge with Blindfold, however, is the lack of a visual dynamic in her powers. Focused almost entirely on telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition, there isn't much to recommend her in "the field." Ultimately, the Academy students aren't intended to be field agents, so that shouldn't be a roadblock to her presence, but comics are a visual medium, and something should be expected. My first thought is to have her serve as a sort of home base support, providing intel to the team when they're out while traveling with them via astral from. I dunno.

Bling!

I'm not sure why the less-imaginatively-named Rockslide got all the attention in Young X-Men, when this hip-hop, be-gemmed bad-ass was waiting in the wings. Like Anole, she "suffers" from a grossly apparent physical mutation and accepts it with equal ease. In fact, she goes one step farther and uses it for celebrity, having appeared in a number of her rap royalty parents' music videos. I like Roxanne because she's confident and has nothing to prove, but without the in-your-face baggage of Hellion. She really is an anchor for the team.









Dust
Visually, an X-Men committed to wearing a full burqa is pretty stunning, and I won't balk to say that her inclusion in Academy X is a beacon of the racial acceptance the X-Men are fighting for. While I don't think it should be the point of her character, I've personally known enough people with fearful views of modern day Muslims, and I think Dust provides a good gateway to young American readers to understand more about them. As an added bonus, her power is awesome, ranging from the subtle to the devastating. 



I do have an opportunity here to again address minority balance in comic books. Ironically, it was this group's parent team, the X-Men, which first caused me to address the topic with my lineup's total lack of minorities. Like with them, I make no effort of affirmative action in my teams, only choosing the characters which most appeal to me regardless of race or gender. That's how I wound up with five white dudes and a white chick for my mutant team. Here, it's almost the opposite. Of the five students, we have a black woman, a Middle Eastern woman, and two homosexuals. It's an interesting contrast, and one that accidentally echoes the differences between the original X-Men, and their multi-national replacements

Going back to my New Mutants days, I want to keep the students in a team uniform (favoring the black and yellow like what Blindfold is wearing above), but perhaps with making the yellow a more shiny gold texture. The only challenge is what to do with Dust's uniform. I confess I've no idea how much leeway Islamic women have in accessorizing their burqas, and don't want to ignorantly offend anyone by adding a gold belt to her dress. Still, I'd like to find some way of tying her into the team uniform, so maybe some research is in order...

Of course these students will be in residence at the Xavier Academy, including the Danger Room and everything that comes with it, but it's notable to point out that by this time in the team's evolution, the school has gone public. Everyone knows the students (and faculty) here are mutants, which provides its own new dynamic.

Find me some teenagers with attitude

Young Avengers

The first Young Avengers mini-series really roped me in with  the way they set up these characters as junior versions of Avengers, but then left fielded all of them with reveals that they weren't connected to the Avenger you'd thought .

Later tellings of the group slowly pushed me away, though, as they sidelined favorite characters (Iron Lad, AKA Kid Kang) and brought in less-imaginative characters (Speed? Really?)  Since I can claim vague-itude in the Young Avengers' later outings, I'm free to refocus them to the state I loved them in. 

The YAs are at their best when they're dealing with more intimate life issues. Sure they were founded by an old Avenger enemy, and one of them is the son of the hero who went crazy and destroyed the Avengers, and another is heir to a cosmic, galactic empire, but at their heart they're kids trying to live up to the reputation of their forebears while at the same time learning that their idols aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Wiccan
I actually preferred his name when he was Asgardian, but I can live with Wiccan. His abilities as a powerful yet inexperienced magician gives the group a fun, variable power, but self-limits it so it isn't the instant win that characters like Dr. Strange can be. It was revealed that Wiccan was the "reincarnation" of one of Scarlet Witch's vanished twins, and then someone less clever came along and said "let's make the other twin a Quicksilver clone." (Speed?  Really?)  You can't talk about Wiccan without mentioning his gay relationship with teammate Hulkling. As one of the few positive portrayals of a gay relationship in comics, it has to be applauded.

Hulkling

His status and appearance as a hulking bruiser downplays his abilities as a shape-shifter. And if you're trying to be a shape-shifter, not letting everyone know you're a shape-shifter is probably key. Still, he is a super-strong character and serves as the team's muscle. He also has ties to the galactic community through his shared Skrull and Kree ancestry, making him a pretty big mover in the galactic community.





Mockingbird
When Kate Bishop first appeared wielding a number of weapons found in the basement of Avengers Mansion, I was stunned when she focused on just the bow and took the name Hawkeye.  Sure the original archer was dead (at the time), but it seemed pretty apparent that using somebody else's stuff translates to 'Mockingbird' pretty readily.  Even when the original Hawkeye returned to life, she kept the name and they both travel around together using that name jointly. 

In Make My Marvel, she's going to give the name back to Barton and, since I never resurrected Mockingbird at the end of my Secret Invasion, that name's wide open for her to use. She'll remain a talented archer, but the new name will also include a broader focus of using multiple weapons from multiple former Avengers and foes. Bow, sword, bo-staff, whatevs.

Mockingbird is also my top choice for team leader.  From panel one she's always been the most assertive and take charge.

Patriot

I missed why they wrote him out of the group, but he'll be making a triumphant return in MMM Young Avengers. Since receiving the super-soldier serum in his blood, he's been able to hold his own in any throwdown the team gets into, but he doesn't feel quite up to the legacy of Captain America. So while he's the most driven to keep the team on the right path, he's the one most likely to struggle with keeping to it.





Titania
Another name change for my relaunch, Stature has long been one of the weakest names (to me) in comicdom. I read somewhere that she originally was going to appear under the name 'Titania,' and I'm going to take up that flag. The duality of her power, growth and shrinking, plays very well with the name, which can refer both to a titanic being as well as the queen of faeries. Of all the Young Avengers, she has the most experience with super-heroing, having been around the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Heroes for Hire since she was a toddler. She brings a wealth of hero and villain knowledge to the team, which is of key use for a team which lacks the resources of major league teams like the Avengers and FF.


In the final battle of Secret Invasion, Vision got his head smashed in. I guess it wasn't truly fatal, because he was repaired enough to die later during the Children's Crusade storyline, but for my purposes it's enough for me to say that he didn't survive the invasion. For funsies, I'll say that they were able to do a partial save of his program so they still have access to some of his Avengers files, and because I'm slightly wicked, there's just enough of his personality left over to really screw with his former girlfriend, Cassie 'Titania' Lang.

While the conditions for Make My Marvel don't require me to explain where characters go when I drop them from the team, I'm going to say that Speed gets frustrated that his brother isn't doing more to find their mother, and runs off alone to find the Scarlet Witch.

When I was reading YA, they were hiding out in the basement of the destroyed Avengers Mansion. I believe they then moved into an old warehouse or printing press belonging to Hawkeye/Mockingbird's family, but I don't know anything about that. I do like the idea of the group having a hidden HQ (as opposed to public knowledge like other teams'), and if the warehouse serves that purpose, they can stay.

The C-Team

Creature Commandos

My52's first re-boot!

Okay, not a re-boot per se, but definitely a status quo change inspired by some further thoughts on my Agents of SHADE pitch.  At the time, the concept was wholly inspired by the New52 series 'Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos' which I thought was a brilliant concept and decided to keep in play. I struggled for a bit on how to differentiate SHADE from the other government super-agencies, like the Suicide Squad or the Department of Metahuman Affairs, and honestly don't think I really nailed it on that front.

But inspiration struck last night which leads to the first major shake-up in one of my My52 titles. Somehow, the inspiration came from seeing the 'A Team'. When the opening monologue starts up with "a crack commando unit..." my mind went 'DING,' and I realized what the Creature Commandos were missing. As well as SHADE.

Imagine Face as the vampire, Murdock as the werewolf, and
BA as Frankenstein.  It writes itself.

Here's how the story goes down:

After working for SHADE for X number of issues, the team learns from a mysterious source that the organization's mission isn't just the policing of the paranormal, but the elimination of it. The Commandos themselves are just one more inhuman group to be exterminated, but only after they've been used as much as possible. The team, of course, is furious and breaks ties with SHADE, going on the run from the organization while still traveling the world saving people from the horrors that are still out there.

Now all those SHADE resources I mentioned before, like the War Wheel and G.I. Robots, are being used to track down the Commandos. The identity of their unknown benefactor starts as a mystery, with some  assumptions that it's the Bride, but when it's revealed that she's still loyal to SHADE, and the lead agent in hunting the Commandos, the team discovers they're actually being helped by SHADE's undercover operative, the Unknown Soldier.

And we get both an Invisible Man character for the
Commandos AND a role for George Peppard.

More fantasy options

My last discussion on tabletop gaming focused on many of the D&D campaigns I've been fiddling around with over the years.

It wasn't entirely exhaustive, though, as there are still a few fantasy-themed campaigns I didn't go into there from some of the more popular D&D knock-offs.

I might have hinted at it before, but I suspect I'm pretty terrible at writing adventures from scratch. Although like any reasonable DM, I'm pretty able to adapt to the actions of my players, the actual foundations, maths, and design of an entertaining adventure are beyond what I trust myself to do. When it comes to gaming, I really rely on pre-published adventures, and the volume of those adventures is what can sell me on or off a game system.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
The library of published adventures is probably the only reason I still entertain the idea of playing DCCRPG. As much as I appreciate its gonzo tone and declaration that randomness is key, it doesn't appear to hold up to any kind of long term campaign options. The built-in degrading of spellcasters, fer instance, or the way it caps out at 10th level just gives the feel that it's intended to be enjoyed in brief spurts without much investment.  There are some 3rd party efforts to create a cohesive gaming world, but I haven't seen much from that end yet, and a DCCRPG campaign doesn't go much farther than stringing together the growing number of really bizarre adventures.

And by bizarre I mean f-ing awesome.  No other publisher consistently provides such out there, up to 11, heavy metal, gonzo fantasy adventures. I've loved every one I've read and would run a DCCRPG campaign specifically to enjoy those moments when the players are faced with yet another thing that should not be. 

This is a level 1 adventure for DCC

Perhaps the best use of these modules is to convert them to a system with more gaming longevity built into it...

Adventurer Conqueror King System

The exact opposite side of the coin, ACKS provides a lot of well thought out and well integrated rules to take campaigns in many different directions, from wilderness exploration to dungeon delving to clashes of armies to kingdom building or even trade empires. It's built off the old Basic D&D rules, so it already starts with a heap of built in love from me, and expands those rules brilliantly in almost every way.

If there's a downside (and there is), it's that it provides a lot of play options but very few specific adventures for module-craving DMs like me.  Aside from the recently-released Dwimmermount, there aren't any modules published for these rules, leaving me to search abroad to fill that niche. To this end, I've been digging through all my old TSR Gazetteers of the Known World for truly brilliant campaign settings, with my personal favorite still being the Principalities of Glantri.

Ruled by a council of wizard princes, the lands of Glantri have been pretty much neglected outside of the areas surrounding each prince's tower.  It's a ripe location for adventure, and the political squablings of the nobility sets up some fine diplomacy when the PCs start trying to set up their own lands. It comes complete with a barbarian horde across the border, and is built right on top of an ancient artifact from a more technological civilization. I can't think of any place better to start dropping in those gonzo adventures I mentioned from DCCRPG.

While my previous post on gaming outline campaigns I would play in different editions, ACKS is intended for a more sandbox approach, and that's a trait I look forward to fulfilling. I don't have a lot of experience with sandboxing, but I think ACKS, Glantri, and adventures like Dwimmermount and DCCRPG mods will give me all the tools I need to manage one. Sure hope I get a chance to try it some day.

Warhammer FRPG
Every so often, I get the urge to play in a gritty fantasy campaign, where a single sword blow can spell the end of the bravest knight, and monsters like chimeras and hydras are meant to be feared, not hunted. In those dark moments, I look to Warhammer.

While the 2nd edition is held to be a cleaner version of the game, my first love is for the 1st edition which somehow managed to still find the fun in their crapsack world. Characters had some say in their character, but were as likely to start off as a rat catcher as they were a wizard's apprentice. From such zero-to-hero basics was this game founded. (There's also a 3rd edition, but it looks like it fell very far from the tree and never felt like dropping the insane amount of cash it costs to even try it.)

No attempt at a WHFRPG campaign would even be attempted in my house, though, unless it were the epic Enemy Within campaign. From humble beginnings as wannabe-adventurers, the PCs soon find themselves travelling across the length of the Reikland, encountering things that were probably best left alone, and possibly never really understanding everything that was going on around them. Unlike most campaigns I'm talking about here, I have some play experience with Enemy Within, and can vouch for its awesomeness.

Pathfinder RPG

Last I heard, the single most popular RPG in America (thanks to WotC shutting down a bit in preparation of the release of 5th edition, I suspect), Pathfinder is one of those games which I continue to follow more out of appreciation for the publishers than for the game itself. Even as their 3rd Edition spinoff rules have grown into an unwieldy, rules-bloated juggernaut, the Paizo crew remains some of the most engaging and professional customer service beasts in the industry.

Pathfinder is one of those systems, like DCC, which benefits from a huge library of published adventures, both stand-alone and "adventure path" campaigns, as well as being based on a rules system I'm very familiar with. Can't say I'm a super fan of their default campaign setting, but looked at in narrow view I appreciate a lot of their smaller locations. 

Varisia, fer instance, was the first region presented for their campaign world, even as they were still publishing material for 3.5e, and it's done nothing but grow since then. In fact, it has the advantage of hosting enough adventure paths for multiple campaigns as well as enough material to sandbox there in between. But if I had to pick just one campaign (which I won't) I'd start with their first outing, the Rise of the Runelords. What I won't be doing, though, is finishing that AP, because as much as I really enjoy the first two volumes, it quickly peters off beyond that.

You know what doesn't peter off? The group's second AP, Curse of the Crimson Throne based just up the coast from where Runelords starts. It'd be super-easy to start off with the awesome early adventures of Runelords and then transition over to pick up the back 2/3rds of Crimson Throne. I call it "Rise of the Crimson Throne."

There's even a handy subplot tie-in between the two paths that make a very timely and convenient crossing over point. Add in some of the extra materials since added to the Varisia setting and it'll be a very rich story.


Now if only there was something to be done about the unwieldy bulk of Pathfinder rules...

Well done, Paizo.  The Pathfinder Beginner Box is a brilliant boiling down of the PFRPG rules to its basic core. From there, it's an easy matter to add in those more advanced elements missing from the Beginner Box (like attacks of opportunity or halflings) from the main rules on a case-by-case basis.




While this doesn't exhaust all the fantasy rpg options out there (I'll give honorable mention to Beyond the Wall for it's beautiful character creation aspect), this is the cap on the systems I'm interested in running as a campaign.

Task Force X

Suicide Squad

I tossed a coin between the titles "Suicide Squad" and "Secret Six", as I really respect both titles' history of showcasing the personalities and lives of some of the DCU's villains.

In the end, I decided on this title due to its opportunities for a more rotating cast as well as fond memories of Ostrander's work in the 80s and 90s.

The premise can be assumed: Amanda Waller heads up a group of expendable villains on black ops missions, foreign and domestic, nobody is expected to survive. While giving some villains a showcase outside of getting beaten up by heroes, I'd also like to see a return of some of the political commentary that Ostrander did so well.  While there's not much of a Cold War anymore, there are new national headlines such as international terrorism as well as a very divided domestic political body that could stand some focus.

The membership of the Suicide Squad is fairly stable, but it would keep an eye on other comic titles to see if any of those comics feature the arrest of a character Waller would be interested in using for her team.  To kick off, though, I've picked some villains I recall being active around the time of Final Crisis/Blackest Night which would obviously lend their skills and abilities to a covert mission team. I don't want anything too superpowered, though, as that could diminish the feel of a government agent team.

As My52 Suicide Squad starts up, here's who's on the field:

Amanda Waller

Not an operative, but someone who needs to be mentioned first as the no-nonsense head of the Task Force.  She's already been shown to be willing to put Batman in his place, and she's just the person this team needs to call the shots. You'll be happy to know that Waller is still the shorter, fatter block of a woman she's always been, rather than the leggy supermodel version who appeared in the New 52.

Deadshot
He's probably long-since earned his pardon, but he loves being on the team so much he stays on as the team's field leader. The appeal of having an expert shot on a black ops team should be obvious.

Plastique

Another former-member of the team, Plastique was recently highlighted in the opening pages of the new Justice League of America series (at the time of My52).  She'd been teamed with the Electrocutioner in a duo called the Bomb Squad, which is so "clever" I very nearly included him in my Squad as well. Plastique has had years of experience as a "suicide bomber," and her use to the team is obvious.





Dwarfstar
Coming off his high-profile murder of the third Atom, Ryan Choi, Dwarfstar is an absolute sociopath murderer with the powers of the Atom.  His infiltration skills are apparent, and his willingness to end any life once inside makes him a valuable tool.  If anything, Waller might have to work hard to ensure he only kills the target and keeps ancillary casualties to a minimum.

Firefly

A perpetual henchman, Firefly follows orders probably better than anyone on the team. He might get a little too ambitious in his arsonist leanings, but burning things his why he's on the team.  Since I'm pretty sure Plastique can't fly (or at least fly well), Firefly also provides aerial support to the team.




Tattooed Man
I first encountered TM during Final Crisis and sort of dig the thug-theme they've remade him into.  I get the impression Tattooed Man could have been a hero if things had gone differently for him, and I see him as the guy most looking for a chance at redemption, even if he doesn't know it. Power-wise, his tats provide a wide-variety of abilities which make him one of the more adaptable members of the Squad, and it's likely he'll be the one to pull the team out of a jam when things go south.

Cyborgirl

Black ops are becoming increasingly dependent on technology and information, and Cyborgirl covers both bases perfectly.  Her ability to hack a network or provide hi-tech surveillance are just as valuable as her ability to lift a truck or blast an enemy with sonic bursts.

Of course they're still based out of Belle Reve prison, so nothing's changed there.  The only hiccup in the works, and obvious nod to my equal appreciation for Secret Six, is the as yet unidentified new Mockingbird secretly in contact with the Squad members from within the group and apparently trying to undermine Waller's control. Could this be a factor of the divided politics in America I mentioned earlier?  Who can say?

It may be the easy way, but it's not the cowboy way

The Rangers

I don't know why it took me so long to get to this crew.  The Rangers have long been my go-to team for Marvel fan-fiction (even more than the Avengers).  There's a special charm to a team which combines superhero action with the do-good spirit of American westerns.  

With the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men all basing out of New York, the American west is open game to villainy, and the Rangers are ready to step in to fill that gap. The 50 State Initiative would have us believe that this group could be limited to Texas, but their membership ranges through Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and New Mexico.  With my MMM disbanding of the Initiative, the Rangers are now free to range (ha!) all across the Southwest.

The lineup hasn't changed at all from their first appearance, consisting of:

Texas Twister
I hate this picture of him, but it's what I got.  It makes him look a little doofy, when in fact he's a former SHIELD super-agent and more than capable of leading this team.  True there's a measurable bit of showmanship spawning from his rodeo days (something he still pursues in his off time), but he takes his heroing responsibilities very seriously and has no trouble balancing the two traits.

Shooting Star

Longtime companion of Texas Twister, Star's sharpshooting skills, combined with her specially-rigged pistols are an invaluable asset in both his rodeo act and his super heroics. Her ability with the trick-shot comes in handy when shooting guns out of thugs hands (or fuses off of sticks of dynamite, or mind control chips off of victims spins, or...you get the idea), but her specially-designed revolvers are also capable of shooting stun bullets when she just needs to take a man down. On the team, she provides the loyal opposition to Twister's leadership, supporting him 100%, but in the most argumentative way possible. Seriously, they argue like an old married couple.







Phantom Rider
When evil arises, the spirit of Lincoln Slade merges with his descendant Hamilton to become the ghostly law enforcer, Phantom Rider.  I suspect Hamilton will need to learn some tricks to summoning him when evil is NOT present, though, or he's going to be absent during any scene that doesn't involve a villain, and that's pretty limiting.  As the Rider, he can best be described as ominous and single minded, but Hamilton is swaying him to be more of a team player than the loner he used to be.  As an archaeologist, Hamilton's contributions outside the mask shouldn't be downplayed, as I suspect the Rangers will be facing many challenges native to the Southwest and Hamilton's knowledge in that area is often the key to victory. 

Red Wolf

Having returned to his construction job by day, Red Wolf continues to serve as Ranger when called upon.  A peerless combatant, Wolf is also an unmatched tracker and hunter, valuable skills when their opponents can be spread anywhere across the Southwest.  Another not favorite picture here, though, as later appearances have geared him up too much in the stereotypical Indian war dress.  I much preferred his more streamlined initial dress and will scale him back to just the coup stick and tomahawk.  He should probably get another wolf companion too.  I miss Lobo.









Firebird
As a social worker in her day job, Firebird is a guiding force behind getting the team to provide more to the peoples of the Southwest than just catching bank robbers. From making appearances at children's hospitals to simply cleaning up after their battles, she's probably why the Rangers are as popular as they are. I also like the idea of a positive portrayal of a Christian character in the comics. There aren't enough of those, I think.











I'm a bit torn on location for the team to meet up.  I can't decide what's the most Western. My first thought is to have the team encounter a ghost town with a secret underpinning of technology (I'm thinking an early encounter with the villain Arcade) that they could commandeer. At the same time, the widespread nature of its membership says that a Wild, Wild West-style steam train HQ would be more practical.

Maybe I'll do both... 

Think Globally, Act Locally

The Global Guardians

So far all modern day My52 titles are based in the United States (which makes sense given the US-centric audience of DC Comics), but I do want to expand the world a little bit and take a look at heroic happening outside of Uncle Sam's territory.  This worked really well for me as a concept during the original Justice League Europe/International run of the early 90s (where the stories were better in many ways than the ones printed in the papa comic, Justice League America).  

Unlike DC's New52 line-up, though, I don't want to dilute the name "Justice League" by adding a number of spin-off titles.  Heck, I didn't even use the title Justice SOCIETY for my JSA pitch.  Fortunately, there's another international superhero agency with a long history in the DCU.

For a number of decades, the Global Guardians operated under the premise that each nation would provide a single superhero to represent them in this world-wide peacekeeping organization.  More than a few were showcases for the trend of foreign superheroes being based on cultural stereotypes, but the majority were original creations who rarely went on to bigger things than being mind-controlled opponents for the above-mentioned JLE.

I honestly can't tell you what the "current" status of the GG is (although I believe they made a sort of appearance in early post-Infinite Crisis Green Lantern comics), but following the Final Crisis and Blackest Night, The Guardians reform with a slightly more limited scope. Despite the grand name, these Global Guardians are super-functionaries of the European Union and are chartered to defend Europe.  They still field one member per country, but only European members are invited.

Alpha Centurion

Probably the most obscure member of the team, Alpha Centurian was a supporting character to Superman back in the 90s, but Lord knows what's happened to him since.  Ol' AC was a centurion from Ancient Rome chosen to journey with an alien visitor to the stars, only to return 2000 years later.  Basing himself in Metropolis upon his return, it's no stretch of the imagination to see him return to Rome and ultimately become Italy's representative to the Global Guardians.

Ice Maiden

Although killed in action during her tenure with the Justice League, Tora Olafsdotter was since clumsily resurrected in Birds of Prey.  Still, can't complain 'cause I love the character and look forward to having her back i the Global Guardians. Politically-aware readers might notice that her home nation of Norway isn't actually a member of the European Union, but that's a pretty soft barrier.

Jack O'Lantern
There's been a lot of people in this costume, but it's still such an iconic look in my mind that he MUST be present regardless of who's in the hood.  The most recent barer of the lantern was an Irish freedom fighter, but I can easily see the government stepping in to separate him from that power and granting it to someone more acceptable to their public image.  It'll be interesting to see how a legacy character develops when he's living in the shadow of all the other people who have died while carrying this seemingly cursed power.

 Crimson Fox

Crimson Fox wasn't on my go-to list for members of the Global Guardians, not the least reason because she's dead (twice!).  Initially a shared identity between two identical sisters, both were killed off over time.  However, I've since grown to appreciate the character's contrast between clawed vixen and cultured businesswoman and can imagine hundreds of ways for her to contribute to the team.  Putting a new woman behind the mask could be as easy as someone wanting to step forward with France's most successful heroine (a member of the Justice League no less) when it came time to represent for the Guardians.









Godiva
I'm a sucker for heroes with seemingly limited powers who still know how to throw down (::cough:: Ant-Man ::cough::) and Godiva's prehensile hair certainly makes that list.  One one level, it's hair.  On the other hand, though, she's like a hot blonde Dr. Octopus, only not limited to just four extra limbs.  And while I'm not normally a fan of cultural stereotypes, I'd totally write Godiva with an exaggerated "stiff upper lip" where nothing phases her.  Contrast a stoic, British can-do attitude with the seemingly lame power of "hair manipulation" and I think we've got a winning character here.

Olympian

Unfortunately he's been depicted as something of a goof in recent outings, but I see Olympian as the heir to some of the greatest heroes of Earth's mythic past and should be shown as such.  The golden fleece he wears was the goal of the Jason and the Argonauts (including Hercules)!  I don't know who's under the horns (although I guess I should figure that out), but he has to be a hero himself.  And the strength and invulnerability the fleece brings him must combine to make him one of the greatest champions of the Mediterranean. 

Jolt
Who?
Jolt was one of the forgettable characters for the short-lived Blasters series following the Invasion mini-.  Originally a Spanish fashion model, she gained the power to create a repellent forcefield around her body due to experimentation by the alien Dominators.  Like with Godiva, I appreciate the limited scope of her powers and look forward to seeing how many different ways they can be applied to crimebusting.  In addition to representing Spain in the GG, she also handily fills the spot of vain thrill-seeker that every team needs. Clearly she's only on the team as a way to promote herself.

Wingman

The Global Guardians grew out of old Batmen of All Nations stories, and I'd be remiss not to include one of those characters in this team.  Of the lot, it was Sweden's Wingman which caught my eye, but imagine my surprise when I learned the character had turned evil in recent Grant Morrison-penned Batman stories.  However, I have just now decided that this Wingman once operated with a Robin-like youthful sidekick named Redbird, and that character, now grown, has decided to reclaim and redeem the name of Wingman.  As you can see from the picture, I've opted for something along the lines of his original, more colorful costume rather than the darker image he'd taken in his later days.  Powerwise, his cape/wings allow him to fly, while his combat training makes him almost the equal of Batman himself.  He's a bit like this universe's Falcon.


The Global Guardians have long been based out of a building called The Dome in Paris, and I see no reason to change that.

I haven't decided if eventually the GG will try to branch out of Europe and attempt to fulfill the nature of their name.  The presence of a representative from Norway shows they're willing to look outside the official EU member nations, and I see them soon attempting to sway a Russian hero into joining, perhaps one of the super-speed characters of Red Trinity...