Blog Archives

Pulling Out Of NaNoWriMo 2013, But Wonder Woman Fic Is Still On The Way

Nov 17

Posted by

So, as I tweeted earlier, I’ve decided to officially and graciously bow out of National Novel Writing Month. Why? For a number of reasons. First and foremost, however, the story I’m writing is reaching its natural conclusion, and I’m not even at the halfway point for the word count. While I’m way behind, I’m sure I COULD reach the 50,000 word minimum by the end of the month, but I’m already pulling filler out of my ass to extend the word count as much as humanly possible, so I don’t think the quality of my work would be any good.

Reason #2 kinda spins from the first one, in that I’m really NOT good at working with a deadline, be it a date and time, word minimum, or in this case, all the above. I’m a very ‘my pace’ kind of writer. It’s obviously something I’ll have to work on in the future, it just isn’t something I can overcome RIGHT NOW.

Reason #3…Well, to be honest, I kind of decided to just jump into it spontaneously this year. I had only just heard of it when I decided to officially enter. Now, that having been said, I can tell you I’ve enjoyed the heck outta this, and it’s definitely something I wanna try again next year, once I’ve thought about what went wrong this time and I’ve had some more time to improve.

And finally, reason #4, I wanna get back to blogging regularly and writing the other stories I was plotting for Infinite DC soon. Birds of Prey: Dark hasn’t been updated in forever, my blog hasn’t been updated very much at all, there’s a really great Batman and Robin story I wanna do, I STILL need to get back to editing me and DorkynProudOfIt’s Thor: The Dark World vlog, and then there’s Justice League that I wanna get to. However, before I do all of that, I still need to finish Wonder Woman.

So, with all that being said, this does not mean you won’t be seeing Infinite DC – Wonder Woman. In fact, because I’m not writing it for NaNoWriMo anymore, I can begin the process of posting chapters of it to Fanfiction.net right away. So, expect the first chapter to be posted before the day is out. I hope you all enjoy it, as I put a lot of work into this.

So, this gives me a year to ponder what I will be doing next year. I will think hard about that over the next 12 months or so. Rest assured, though, one way or another, you can most definitely expect to see me entering NaNoWriMo 2014. Until then, look out for Infinite DC – Wonder Woman on Fanfiction.net, and plenty more blog entries on here. Ja né!

Related articles

Posted in Fanfiction/Literature

3 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

NaNoWriMo Project Revealed: Infinite DC – Wonder Woman + Basic Rundown of Wonder Woman’s Origins

Oct 31

Posted by

So, if you’ve been following my Twitter today, I’ve decided to throw my name in the hat and write a story for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it’s called. This unfortunately means updates to Birds of Prey: Dark will be a little less common, and What I Bought Today will be pushed to every other week instead, covering what I bought within two weeks of each other. But, comic fans that follow me can rejoice, for I’ve learned that among the MANY forms of literature accepted for NaNoWriMo is Fanfiction. So, for the month of November, I will be aiming to write a 50,000 word fanfiction of a DC Superhero I have never written before. My friends, I give you Infinite DC – Wonder Woman!

Dammit, that needs to be on an album cover. lol

So, what will this story be like? Well, like with Infinite DC- The Man of Tomorrow and Infinite DC – Tales of the Caped Crusader, it won’t be her origin story, instead taking for granted that you know her origins…However, because I know that Wonder Woman’s one of those trickier characters with an often changed back-story due to retcons, reboots, and just different interpretations of the character, here’s the basic rundown of her origins, and get ready to hear me reference changes to it in different continuities A LOT. lol

Wonder Woman, AKA Diana, is the daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons inhabiting Themyscira, an island cut off from the world of man. The Amazons are a group of immortal warrior women that had been slaves at one point (to whom changes depending on continuity, but it’s usually Heracles), but managed to free themselves with help from the Greek Gods and escaped to Themyscira, or Paradise Island as it’s alternatively called. At some point, Hippolyta had a daughter named Diana. The usual story given is that she moulded her from clay and the Gods brought her to life, though in recent years with the 2011 reboot, AKA The New 52, it’s been retconned that this was a lie to protect Diana from Hera’s wrath, as she was actually the bastard child of Hippolyta and Zeus. Now, while I don’t necessarily mind what it does to Diana specifically, making her a demi-goddess, I probably won’t be incorporating THAT into my fanfic version of Wonder Woman since it carried with it some seriously bad changes to her mother and the Amazons in general.

The birth of Diana

Anyway, the point is, they were cut off from the rest of humanity, though they were able to watch from the island, usually through some sort of device or magic or a combination of the two. However, this all changes when a man named Steve Trevor, who works with the US military (be it as an Air Force pilot or an intelligence agent), crash-lands on Themyscira. After it’s determined that Trevor is no threat to them, Hippolyta decides that the greatest among the Amazons will escort him back to America. Thus, a tournament is held, and while Hippolyta forbids Diana from entering, she does so under disguise anyway and is able to emerge victorious. Hippolyta’s reaction changes based on continuity, but the one I like best is probably from the 2009 animated film, where she accepted Diana’s decision and recognizes her as the one best suited for the job.

…Okay, I know Linkara already did this joke, but tell me you don’t hear porno music in the back of your head while reading this. XD

Thus, Diana becomes Wonder Woman, and is granted many gifts to assist in her new role, as Steve Trevor’s escort, as an ambassador for her people, and as a champion against the forces of evil. First, she is given her costume (again, in the movie, it’s supposed to resemble the American flag to honour the land she visits), along with a tiara that doubles as a throwing disc and can grant her some telepathic abilities, a golden lasso that she can use as a whip or noose, and a pair of bracers made from Athena’s indestructible shield that reflect all manner of attacks. In some continuities (specifically the TV show from the 70’s), she could immediately change clothes into her costume by spinning really fast, which I’m SORELY tempted to include here. As for the version of the costume I’ll be going with…Eh, I suppose the classic swimsuit-like costume works best, though probably with the Gladiator-style skirt, a nose-guard on her tiara (which is actually one thing Frank Miller did with Bonkers Betty that I kinda liked), and the ponytail she’s been seen rocking in the upcoming Justice League: War animated movie.

Wonder Woman as seen in Justice League: War

Her other gifts change depending on interpretation, but I’ll be going with the blessings the Greek Gods gave her in the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths interpretation of the character for the most part: Demeter grants her superhuman strength and rapid healing. Athena imparts great wisdom, intelligence, and tactical skill, both in armed and unarmed combat. Artemis blesses her with enhanced senses far beyond normal humans. Hestia grants her control over the “Fires of Truth”, which not only protects her from flames, be they natural or supernatural, but are also channelled through the Lasso of Truth to reveal a person’s true intentions, make them tell her secrets, or free people from mind control. Hermes gives her great speed, enough to deflect bullets with her bracers, and the power of flight. Finally, Aphrodite bestows great beauty (so if you ever wondered how she can be so hot, you can thank the Goddess of Love, lol) and a seemingly endless amount of compassion for the world and the people around her.

Lastly, Wonder Woman possesses an invisible plane. Again, this is something that changes between continuities. Sometimes, it’s a jet that Batman built her. Sometimes, it’s a pegasus that transforms into a jet. In the movie, the Amazons just kinda had it sitting around with no frigging explanation as to where it came from, which is both a little annoying and funny as hell. Me personally, I kinda like the version where it was a mass of magic, malleable goop that took the form of an invisible jet, or other invisible vehicles and objects if the situation called for it, and was actually self-aware and worked freely alongside Diana. I thought that was really neat, and provided for one of the most awesomely surreal moments you’ll ever see in comics, when she looped it with Green Lantern’s constructs around the moon and all the super-powered heroes PUSHED THE FRAKKING MOON.

Look, it’s Dotted Line Girl! (Infinite geek points to the first person that gets it, ROFL)

But yeah, that’s the basic rundown of the character’s origins. So, what’s my story gonna be about? Not telling, partly because I want it to be a surprise, and admittedly because I’m still going over it in my head. Oh, and the reason I’m not giving it a fancy name based off any nicknames or titles of hers, like The Man of Tomorrow or Tales of the Caped Crusader, I just do not want any confusion as to what this is. Also, I’m not really planning on doing any other solo stories for Wonder Woman, but if I do, I can just call it Infinite DC – Wonder Woman II or something like that.

The first issue of the Post-Crisis Wonder Woman comic

Anyway, wish me luck on this one, and we shall see if I make the 50,000 word minimum by the end of November. Ja né!

Related articles

Posted in Comic Books, Fanfiction/Literature

1 Comment

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tales of Dumbassery – Comic Book Writers Say The Darnedest Things (WARNING – THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WILL PISS YOU OFF)

Tales of Dumbassery – Comic Book Writers Say The Darnedest Things (WARNING – THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WILL PISS YOU OFF)

Aug 14

Posted by

……..Just show the title card. -_-

Tales of Dumbassery

If it seems like I’m not in a very joking mood this time around, it’s only because I’m pissed off/confused. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a feminist. Not out of any disliking of feminism, it’s just that I wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to start. However, as a comic fan, I’m a bit more in the know about the simple fact that, gasp, WOMEN READ COMICS. Be they newspaper comic strips, manga, and yes, superhero comics, there are in fact women that read them. So why is it that THIS shit keeps happening?!

“Mark Millar and Todd McFarlane: Ladies, Comics Aren’t For You”

This paragraph is from the Tumblr page DC Women Kicking Ass: “Over at Think Progress, Alyssa Rosenberg reports on a panel held for the upcoming documentary Superheroes: The Never-Ending Battle. The panel, consisted of Todd McFarlane, Gerry Conway, Len Wein and Michael Kantor. And apparently the never ending battle is trying to handwave why comics is pretty much all white and all male. ‘There hasn’t really been historically a comic book that has worked that is trying to get across a kind of message, if you will,’ McFarlane insisted. ‘So the female characters that work are the ones that are just strong women that actually it’s good storytelling, and the odd character that is a minority that works is the one that is just a good strong character. They’ve tried to do minority characters and bring that label and that surrounding [debate] into it. You’re aware that you’re reading a minority comic book. I think it’s wrong’.” Well thank you, Todd. Thank you so much for clearing that up. Got any more gems of wisdom for us? Perhaps a book detailing your asinine viewpoint?

Oh, it gets better, folks. Here’s what Mark Millar, writer/creator of Kick-Ass, and writer of works such as Civil War, Sonic The Comic, The Authority, and MUCH more, had to say in his interview with The New Republic: “The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know?” he told me. “I don’t really think it matters. It’s the same as, like, a decapitation. It’s just a horrible act to show that somebody’s a bad guy.”…Umm, no. No it’s not the same. At all. In one case, the person is dead, or in the case of certain works of fiction, they regenerate. In the other, the person gets to live with the pain and terror of the act, can have up to many years of horrific nightmares, and in the case of women (yeah, I know, what a shocker, MEN can be raped too), they can find themselves pregnant with the rapist’s child. Also, depending on where they live, rape victims have to pay a bitch of a medical bill afterward, but that’s a VERY angry rant for another day.

So since these two are very clearly implying that comic books aren’t meant for women, does that mean that, by your logic, my girlfriend should stop reading them? Or my former teacher, perhaps? Heck, by this logic, Gail Simone shouldn’t even be writing comics. Also, does this viewpoint extend beyond western superhero comics? Should N. Harmonik stop reading Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comics? Should my friend Nikki stop reading manga? Should cosplayers stop dressing as women from comics? Please, by all means, keep me up to date with how far this belief of yours goes, ‘cuz I’m just fascinated by all of this.

I’m baffled that two people who are supposed to be big names in the comic book industry apparently know nothing about the fan-base of said industry. This actually feels dumber to me than Dan Didio saying that DC does not write books for kids (Really, Danny? Then what the hell do you call Li’l Gotham?), but that could simply be because I’m kinda used to the insane opinions of Dan Didio. It just bothers me so much that this insanity continues to this day.

Anyway, comment below what you think about all this, and be sure to click on the other articles below. Ja né!

Related articles

Posted in Comic Books, Tales of Dumbassery

4 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,