10 Comments

Phenomenal… so who was the assassin?

Expand full comment

Interesting! There's the obvious comparison to Rorschach, but it feels like you also ended up covering, if not the same thematic territory then at least adjacent territory, in Strange Adventures.

I'm curious about the timing, too. This would've been shortly after Loki's long redemption arc at Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing's hands, I believe, but he seems full-blown evil here. Or was this going to be a Black Label-esque out of continuity thing?

Expand full comment

Same thought I had; that it seems like elements of this pitch found their way into Rorschach. I haven't read the Vote Loki series (wasn't a time period where I was particularly interested in a fun satire on presidential politics); but similarly to Y.Lu above; the Marvel Universe Loki to me is in a similar position post Gillen/Ewing to Magneto post-Claremont, he can't just revert to a villain role easily.

Pitch is fascinating; I find the whole absence of Trump in Marvel Comics a pretty fascinating issue - especially after Bush and Obama were both relatively prominent during their times in office. You had the very strange feeling of the issue of Fascist Steve Rogers ascending to leading US military issue directly coinciding with Trump's inauguration - then Secret Empire which felt probably too fitting for the times for comfort for both Marvel and fans alike. Then after that my feeling is that the Kingpin as Mayor of New York became the way that creators at Marvel dealt with the supreme wrongness feeling of the Trump presidency; in a way they likely couldn't address directly due to Disney directives/Ike Perlmutter's direct relationship to Trump.

Expand full comment

Tom, this is phenomenal but every time I see “what could have been” if you’d been a Marvel guy kills me a little more every time. Love your DC work, but I need to see you on more of *my* favorite characters. But, I guess whatever makes you happy. Keep up the great work, love it all!

Expand full comment
founding

I don't know if this is the best place to post this, but I just finished Supergirl #8... at the risk of sounding dramatic, I think that was the first time I wept reading a comic. Thank you.

Expand full comment

😍

Expand full comment
founding

Oh, what could have been! Awesome pitch Tom, I love the use of flashback to see how certain events culminated into the murder of a god.

I was wondering, as someone who has said they get inspiration from old Noir films (e.g. DOA for Human Target, Act of Violence for Strange Adventures), what was your inspiration for this one? Feels like a 70's Political Thriller, in the same vein as Rorschach.

Also who would have been the artists for the series? Were there any future plans to continue in an ongoing series for Marvel?

Expand full comment

Wow, I've been dying to know about this for a while. Thanks for sharing!

Expand full comment

I realize this is probably a dumb question but as an outsider who doesn't necessarily know how the industry works, did you get compensated for this in any sense ... considering at least some significant aspects made their way into the comic books?

Expand full comment