Hey you, that’s right…you! Have you not heard all the Marvel announcements coming out of San Diego? Did you even hear that a female Blade comic was announced? Do you have time to take all of this crazy Marvel information and jam it into your poor unassuming brain? Marvel is continuing to roll out new comics with the reveal of a What if? Infinity limited series. Even if this seems insane, the mini starting in October features writing from the talented Josh Williamson and has an all-star cast of artists including Mike Norton, Riley Rossmo, Mike Henderson, Jason Copland and Goran Sudzuka.
Each issue of the comic reimagines the Marvel Universe after Infinity, the Marvel comics event that saw Thanos try to seize the Earth while author Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers villains The Builders were also putting up a fight for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. One issue takes a look at what the Earth what look like if the Builders had been successful. The comic features several standalone chapters written by Williamson and illustrated by one of the fantastic artists mentioned above. Every installment of the series is shipping in October and follows a different set of characters including Thanos, the Inhumans, Avengers and more. Let us know if you are feeling the Marvel overload or if you are excited for yet another chapter in the expanded cannon of fringe Marvel titles.
Also, here’s the solicitations for each of the five comics included with the Marvel.com tease from Williamson on each comic:
WHAT IF? INFINITY – THANOS #1
Written by JOSH WILLIAMSON
Art by MIKE HENDERSON
Cover by TOM WHALEN
Variant Cover by KRIS ANKA
On Sale October 2015!
It’s really a matter of survival. He joins the team during the attack and the Avengers feel like it’s their last resort to win.
WHAT IF? INFINITY – INHUMANS #1
Written by JOSH WILLIAMSON
Art by RILEY ROSSMO
Cover by CHRISTIAN WARD
On Sale October 2015!
In our story, Black Bolt has taken over after the Avengers lost the war during the Infinity event, so the world is in ruins. He’s trying to rebuild civilization, but it doesn’t feel like Earth anymore.
WHAT IF? INFINITY – AVENGERS #1
Written by JOSH WILLIAMSON
Art by MIKE NORTON
Cover by MATT FERGUSON
On Sale October 2015!
This story actually centers on some remaining X-Men members who were evacuated [from] Earth after the Avengers lost. Earth is gone.
WHAT IF? INFINITY – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1
Written by JOSH WILLIAMSON
Art by JASON COPLAND
Cover by DAVE RAPOZA
On Sale October 2015!
Really, this issue could be called Guardians of the Galaxy vs. the Avengers. It’s one of my favorite scripts I’ve ever written.
WHAT IF? INFINITY – DARK REIGN #1
Written by JOSH WILLIAMSON
Art by GORAN SUDZUKA
Cover by JAMES FLAMES
On Sale October 2015!
When Osborn was the head of HAMMER during Dark Reign, he had a lot of power and tools at his disposal. In this issue, he managed to get his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet—and won.
Wallace is jaded, British, and wandering through life in Toronto when he meets his best friend’s cousin, Chantry. They form an immediate connection through offbeat humor and a general distaste for small talk. They leave the party together, and Chantry gives Wallace her number only to make it quite clear that she has a BOYFRIEND named Ben.
Wallace, still recovering from his cheating ex-girlfriend, tosses Chantry’s number. Of course, a little thing like that can’t keep them apart, and they soon become best of friends. But can men and women really be just friends?
This is the set up for Elan Mastai’s brilliant screenplay, What If. The plotline is vaguely similar to my favorite romantic comedy ever, When Harry Met Sally. That said, What If in no way steals from Harry and Sally. Instead, it wends it own quirky, modern, hilarious path toward what one hopes is a happy ending for Harry Potter … er, I mean, Daniel Radcliffe.
Let’s face it: whenever I see Daniel Radcliffe, I see Harry Potter. That said, he successfully shook the wizard off his back in his brilliant performance as Wallace. In an interview, Radcliffe said Wallace is the character he’s played most similar to himself. If that’s true, Radcliffe’s personality is freaking adorable, and I want to have a beer with him.
Not only is his comic delivery spot on, but Radcliffe isn’t a little boy anymore. Well, I mean, he’s short, but he’s officially a man, as proven by a nude scene in which I kept thinking, “When did Harry Potter grow pecs?”
Romantic interest Chantry is played by Zoe Kazan. I’d never seen her in anything before, but now, I love her because in Chantry, she created a loveable, odd artist person who struggles between her love for long-time boyfriend Ben and her fondness for Wallace. She, too, is comic genius, but this may all be due to screenwriter Elan Mastai.
This is his first full-length romantic comedy. Well, I dub him Rom-Com Genius. The dialogue is painfully funny (and sometimes awkward) but ingenious. For instance: “I just had sex and am about to eat nachos! It’s the greatest moment of my life!” (A line delivered by Wallace’s priceless best pal, Allan, whose every line is worthy of a chortle.) Add an additional smattering of colorful side characters, and you have a full cast to fall in love with.
I think what impressed me the most about the writing was that Mastai never took things too far. The comedy was not gross or over the top. It reminded me of conversations I have with my family and friends and hope no one’s listening to.
It’s no secret I’ve been having a hard time lately with my depression. Yet, by the time What If was over, I was smiling—really smiling. I felt good for almost an entire day, which is saying something for me. This is a film that makes you feel good. It makes you hug the person you love a little tighter. It makes you think funnier thoughts. Oh, and it totally makes you have a crush on Harry Potter … er, Daniel Radcliffe.
If you haven’t seen the trailer, enjoy:
While I am struggling with plot, the main question I am asking is “What if?”, closely followed by “What next?”
What if?
Creative plots focus on an unexpected combination of events that somehow manage to mesh together at the end when all is revealed. Plots can be about vengeance, catastrophe, love & hate, chase, grief & loss, rebellion, betrayal, persecution, self-sacrifice, survival, rivalry, a quest or an ambition. They can be complicated or enhanced by criminal action, searching, honor & dishonor, rescue, suspicion, murder, suicide, adventure, mystery, suspense, material well-being, bucking authority, making amends, deception, conspiracy, rivalry, or mistaken identity.
The general categories of plots and their complications are simple to identify. What is hard is applying these to your story. The key attitude here is “What if?” What if I wrote this as a story of rebellion? What if there’s a strong sibling rivalry and also a case of mistaken identity because they are twins?
Don’t like the answer to that “What If?” Try a different one.
What if this is a story of survival, with questions of honor and dishonor central to the main character? Throw in a chase and survival just for good measure.
Do you like this “What If” better? Why? Could you combine parts of each?
It’s brainstorming, but always within a tight boundary of what is possible when we write fiction.
What Next?
The second basic plot question is “What Next?” Plots happen in sequential order and if you can build in a cause-effect relationship, the plot is stronger. Once you start to recognize the conflict and complications for your plot, you can start to build a chronological order. At no point, do you have NO conflict; it’s just a matter of slotting in conflict in the most dramatic way possible.
The “What If?” works here, too. What if the first act has a case of mistaken identity? Would that lead to someone being wrongfully dishonored? And would that lead to a criminal action, maybe stealing money to buy back a reputation?
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As a follow-up to my post a few weeks ago, I thought I’dgive an example of what I mean about objectionable content in the media. I have to admit that I find it hard to go tothe movies these days without being bombarded by stuff I just don’t want to seeand hear, and I don’t think I’m alone.
One series of movies in recent years in which I wasdisappointment because of the content was Transformers. For a series based onchildren’s toys, it was sure full of sexually charged content. Then if youthink of many movies which are considered classics, you will see that they havevery little swearing, sexual content or graphic violence.
My favorite example is Star Wars, in whichall of these things are present very little. (Unless you consider ‘scruffy-lookingnerf herder’ offensive)
It got me thinking: what if Star Wars had been made todayand Michael Bay, the director of Transformers had been at the helm? I’m certainthere would be some changes. Here aresome I came up with:
All the Imperials, especially Darth Vader, woulddevelop a potty mouth, each trying to top each other.
· The ewoks would talk in over-the-topstereotypical racial dialects. (which the director would deny)
· The phrase “Who’s your daddy?” would becomeDarth Vader’s new catch phrase.
· Princess Leia would wear her Jabba’s palaceoutfit all the time, even on Hoth.
3 Comments on Move Over George Lucas..., last added: 9/19/2011
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This is an illustration I’ve been working on and I thought it fit pretty well with the Illustration Friday prompt Satellite.
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Today my sixth graders shared their original "What If" stories, based upon
Otto Grows Down, written by Michael Sussman and illustrated by Scott Magoon.
These stories were, without a doubt, some of the best we've heard all year. I think some of the credit is due to
the organizer I provided for students, but most of it is due to the source book itself. In introducing
Otto Grows Down, I told students, "We're using this as a mentor text." We then discussed what that term meant, and this discussion led to students listening to the read-aloud with a very different, very focused goal in mind.
In short, our lesson proceeded in this manner:
- We read and discussed the book. We also took some time to compare and contrast it with other time travel books and movies we know. We also discussed what the creators chose to include or leave out, and their possible reasons for that.
- We projected the What If... writing form on our interactive whiteboard, and parsed out the story in simpler terms. This "deconstructing" helped students understand the story structure more clearly, in preparation for creating their own.
- Students looked over a brief list of What If... prompts, and then chose either one from that list or one of their own.
- Students completed the prewriting sheet, and then shared with two partners. Partners helped clarify plot points, and also offered other ideas for inclusion.
- Drafting began, and students again paired up and shared and critiqued after about fifteen minutes.
- Following another writing session, volunteers read aloud to the class and heard some comments from their peers.
What's great about writing like this is that students who are extremely creative can really take off! Those who struggle not only have periodic check-ins with peers (and with me, whenever needed), but they can also consult the picture book itself. Many students, in fact, reread the book as they were working in order to get a feel for the voice, sentence length, paragraphing, and so on.
So again, I recommend you
grab this title for yourself! Joni from South Dakota, however, won't need to: she's our
Otto Grows Down giveaway winner! Congrats to Joni! Hope the hand-out helps your students to create some phenomenal stories
Current word count: 13,139
Words written today: 511
Words to goal: 26,861 / 344 words a day til end of September
The beginning of many good story idea starts with what if? What if a boy befriends a bear that loves honey? What if a girl falls down a rabbit hole? What if a 10-year-old boy discovers his parents were magical? (In honor of the release of the new movie.)
What if is a great way to brainstorm ideas for new stories as well as plot points for stories we’re already playing with.
I read a Writing Tips article today that offered another very important question: Why?
Every time one our characters makes a decision or an action, we should ask why? If we don’t have a good answer that’s motivated by the character, it won’t be real in the story and readers won’t buy it.
What other questions do you ask when writing?
Also, tonight I’m going to see the new Harry Potter movie (yep, I’m braving the crowds), but if you’re not, you might want to check out the children’s literature chat on Twitter. It’s starting at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT and you can find it with the hashtag #kidlitchat. Writer Gregory K.’s GottaBook blog has more.
Write On!
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Awww! Harry’s all grown up! I must see this, especially since you compared it to When Harry Met Sally…Since you haven’t seen Zoe Kazan before, that means you haven’t seen Ruby Sparks, which she is glorious in as well. Probably not as light-hearted as What If, but a truly brilliant film…that Zoe wrote. You must see it! I think you’ll love the writing. :)
Radcliffe turned out to be such an intelligent and articulate actor, and this movie is a gem.