Tween Super-Hero Looses Powers

I've been using Twitter and Plurk to do 10 word plots for a comic or pulp sci-fi story... I think Wired magazine did something similar... the magazine asked several famous writers to come up with a 10 word story.  I'm not up to the point of doing 10 word stories, but I thought I could come up with some plot lines in about 10 words (give or take a few)... I've been using Twitter and Plurk because a micro-blog is a good place for a micro-plot...

Anyway, my latest idea is about a Tween super-hero that looses his powers... 

10 Word Comic Plot: Tween super-hero looses powers, how will life be afterwards? Think early Peter Parker becomes Lindsy Lohan.

I'm thinking an early Peter Parker with all the growing up crap that he dealt and balancing it with being a super-hero finds himself no longer in the spot light, no longer able to scale buildings or lift things 10 times his weight.  Lets say in one of his internal battles about being a normal teenager, he decides to go to a rave with some friends.  Our super-hero decides to do some harmless drugs like all the other normal teenagers, but it has a very negative effect on his super-powers -- lets say the drug was made by a super-villain and using the dancing teenagers as test subjects -- and we don't know if he'll ever get his super-powers back.   Our hero wakes up the next day, tired, hung-over, feeling drained, but happy knowing he did something 'normal'... but not knowing he's lost his super-powers, until he goes out later that night trying to prevent a robbery.

Now, our super hero has made some enemies... and annoyed the hell out of a few other super-heroes.  His ego was stroked by the media, he lived the rock-star life-style for some time, up until this point -- being invited to charity events, fawned over by the public, companies talking to his agent about signing endorsement deals, paid under the table by the mayor to help pay bills, attended super-hero gatherings at the UN, etc.  But slowly, the reality of it all going away is slowly sinking in.  It was tough balancing both worlds -- his super-hero life with his normal high school life -- but knowing that high school would end made the pressures bearable.

Slowly, our super-hero's life goes to hell.  Does he try to get his super-powers back by trying to reproduce the accident that gave him his powers in the first place?  Does he try to keep up his 'brand', not knowing if his powers will return or not?  What will he do if one of the super-villains he's put away in jail, get out on parole... you know, the ones that actually know his secret identity?  Will there be any sympathy/help from the super-hero community?  How will the blog-o-sphere deal with his lack of visibility out fighting crime?  Will he call for help from neighboring super-heroes to help him when one of his arch-villains show up or will he try to fight on his own?  And what happens to the "King Pin"-type of criminal that slipped him the mickey to begin with be dealt with?

This 10 word plot actually has some good story material...

Snakes and Ladders

Read Snakes and Ladders, The Birth Caul, and Miracleman Book Two earlier this month... The Miracleman book is still a solid read, but the other two didn't thrill me as much. I think after reading Alan Moore's treatise on magic (via Promethea) these two are a pale companion read.

When Alan announce we was quiting writing comics and devote himself to learning magic, I didn't know what to make of it (I've always love his books). The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders were written after his decision (or near to it). In both books, I see the germination of ideas that he later expounds upon in Promethea -- the Tarot as a creation story (myth) explanation; heaven is about escaping the trappings of the mundane and reaching (intellectual) enlightenment -- and I also see his pain over his mother's death...

I've also picked up another copy of Watchmen and finished reading it... I think at the time it was mind blowing; I just started getting back into comics from a long dry run and a comic store owner recommended it to me. His condition was, take it home and read it, if you like it, buy it; if you don't bring it back. Well, the next week, when I went back, I paid him for the book.

In the mean time, I think I have either misplaced my copy, or I have lent it out to someone else to read... Even if I do find my other copy, I'll probably end up giving this copy away to someone to read.

Watched the Watchmen movie trailer... it looks good. I think because I've already read the book (maybe this has been my 3rd or 4th time through it now) the story doesn't seem to be as mind blowing as it once was... I think I'm use to Alan's comic "twist endings" that for a new generation of kids, Watchmen will be simply amazing, but to me, I've seen Alan's genius for years now, that popular culture is finally just reaching what I already know about the man. I've seen Alan's genius back when Swamp Thing was coming out... the man could take an old story and twist it into something new and amazing by re-telling Swamp Thing's origin story. In the process, he created a new "comic language" (visually and verbally) in the process; adding a new dimensions to the comic craft... and I see his influence on comic creator since.

When I saw Dark Knight, I was blown away. The visuals, the sounds, Heath Ledger's acting, the story... all the elements were there for a great Batman movie. But in the back of my mind, even though it's not a strictly an Alan Moore story, I see his fingerprints (see The Killing Joke).

My only concern for Watchmen is that it is a little dated... The story came at the height of the iron age of comics; they were being cranked out fast and furiously as retailers were cashing in on fan's blind dreams of collecting comics and one day retiring by selling off their collection. Stories were plentiful, but not meaningful. Alan took some of DC's lesser know intellectual properties, created a alternative world back story, and asked the age-old question, does the means justify the end? And how terrible can the means be, before it doesn't? The story asks a meaningful question and leaves the reader to decide (think about it more).

Now, Coming off the Dark Knight success -- here you have the Joker dishing out enlightenment to the common person, forcing them to make moralistic choices with sever (real, damning) consequences -- to a movie where someone has already made those choices, brings about a type of "world enlightenment" (see LSD in the drinking water), then asks the question "was I right in playing God?" Should be interesting to see how the general audience responds... I just don't think it will have the same impact.