MY DREAM COMICBOOK PROJECTS

MY DREAM COMICBOOK PROJECTS
By Keith Giles

A recent thread over at a popular comics message board inspired me to write down my own personal comic book projects "Dream List".

These are comics I'd love to work on if I had the chance.
Dream Comic Book Projects:

*"I Am Batman" with Ashley Wood/Paul Pope/Various Artists. - I have already written the script on this one. Can't give anything away but I believe this is easily the most amazing, and original Batman story idea ever conceived. If only I could convince someone like Ashley Wood or Paul Pope to take a shot at my script...

*"The Shadow" with Paul Pope - I really love this character. Almost as much as Batman. But his comicbook history is sparse...and lame. I'd love to take on this character. The first arc story would shift between the 1940's and the year 2012 and the present, accentuating the agelessness of the character. The Shadow is fighting a dark society of assassins, with conspiracy theories coming to light and a shocker twist where he discovers that his own "Shadow Network" has grown into a secretive terrorist organization beyond his control.

*UV:Target - "Made In China" Original Graphic Novel with Adijin/David Mack. - If I can't have Adijin, give me Mack! This is the one project from my Plastic Animal days that I just can't let go of. If you could imagine Phillip K. Dick and David Lynch collaborating on a sci-fi comic, with everything from genetic engineering, and the nature of sanity to dentistry and fine art, then I'd imagine this being the result. It's very reality bending. Surreal sci-fi action.

The earliest art by Malaysian artist "Adijin" was breath-taking. I've since begged him to get back on the project, even offered to pay him actual, real money for a page-rate, but he's on to other projects and doesn't seem interested in returning to this painted style artwork which I fell in love with from the beginning. One day I hope to find an artist with the right style who can tackle this project for me and we will release this via Image Comics or self-publish it via Lulu.com or something. Out of everything on this list, this is the one I really believe will one day see the light of day.

*Un-Named Original Graphic Novel with JP Mavinga

*Near-Future story of an Underground Resistance Group under Totalitarian "Big Brother" Government dealing with internal power struggles and a message of hope that should either be protected at all costs, or given away to save the future. Just remembered this story concept from years ago, pre-PA, and realized it would make a great comicbook. Add it to the pile.

*Durango Silver with Geoff Porter/Andre Syzmanowicz. I still drool over Geoff's pencils on this one. It would be great to finish this story one day. Basically the US Government accidentally releases a biological organism designed to "eat" plastic, petroleum, fuel, and rubber. It was programmed to die after a few hours but mutates into a voracious organism that slowly reduces the planet to an Old West version of itself. Our hero, Del Rio, is a Sioux vigilante on the hunt for six people who deserve to die. There's a lot more on this one at the PA website (http://www.plasticanimalstudios.com) The research I did on the plight of the Native Americans was what pushed me over the edge. I really want to tell this story.

*Battle of the Planets - I'd love to do an updated version of this book, with more violence,more internal conflict, more "feature film" treatment. Characters get hurt, bleed, quit, betray, kill, and play dirty. This is not your Daddy's Cartoon. Mark and Jason kick the living crap out of each other in the opening scenes. They've always had a petty rivalry and they finally get it out of their system. Jason ("The Condor") kicks his butt, of course. Princess is captured and tortured. Tiny betrays the team and kills himself. Center Neptune is destroyed completely. The Chief is murdered. Mark goes on a suicide mission to rescue Princess and destroy Zoltar but Jason has to rescue him by posing as a soldier and takes down the enemy by blowing himself, and everything else, to smithereens, allowing Mark and Princess to escape. The team is reformed with Keyop, Mark, Princess and two new G-Force operatives. I'd love to have a secondary sub-plot in this same story arc involving "Agent Zero" - An early, failed attempt to genetically engineer a G-Force operative is discovered in cryogenic suspension at the heart of Center Neptune. Zoltar's insurgent/spy infiltrates the base, (with Tiny's help), and activates "Agent Zero" and unleashes this mega-powerful, and insane, G-Force agent...which is what ends up destroying Center Neptune after killing the Chief and allowing the rogue agent to escape with Princess as a hostage.

*Anything with Kristian Donaldson - Seriously, seeing his artwork on that horrific "Forsaken" project (aptly named?) made me drool at the prospect of doing something, ANYTHING, with that guy. So far he's turned me down cold and hard. Rejection hurts.

*RED LINE - yeah, that race car epic I was supposed to do with Tony Leonard Tomai. The quick pitch is that it's a race car epic set on the Olympus Mons of Mars (a large, flat mountain that dwarfs anything on Earth) with an ensemble cast. What I loved about it was that we have all these characters, each with a very good reason to win this race, but in the end we know that only one of them actually will. What happens to everyone else? It had promise, but now with the failed "Drive" tv series in everyone's psyche most would think we ripped off the premise, which we didn't.

*THE ROCKETEER- Another pulp action hero like "The Shadow". I think I could do something different with him that would be worth reading.

Anyway, back to work in the real world.
-kg
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