Sunday, July 09, 2006

From the lost files drawer: an X-Men/Wolverine concept

I used to write creatively a long time ago - mostly through high school and college. I got the bright idea that I could make some extra money through college by being a freelance comic book writer. So, I sent a few letters out to Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, etc., asking for submissions information. (Granted, this was well before I had any idea how the "real" world worked.) I had a crapload of concepts written out all over the place, for my own characters and stories, for company owned characters and stories, and for mini-series ideas, to name but a few.

I never throw much away, so while getting things together for moving, I stumbled across a file containing almost every idea I had in those days. I was surprised at how interesting (and in some cases, how naive) some of the ideas were, and I wondered what kind of place they'd have in the comic scene now. I will submit some of these for your review and consideration. Feedback, as always, will be appreciated.

Here's one:

The X-Men are called to Canada, when they receive word that something has laid waste to the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight. Upon further investigation, they find evidence linking this attack to their former teammate Wolverine. (Granted, this would be after an altercation with the Wendigo, the mistaken suspect of the attack.)

Meanwhile, in Madripoor (and well into his own book at the time), Wolverine is being stalked by assailants that have been clearly trained by the Hand, a ninja clan that engages in international criminal affairs. While attempting to take the fight to them, he realizes that by engaging them directly, he plays directly into their hands and risks capture. He contacts his X-Men teammates for assistance in this matter, be it refuge or cooperation. However, when his X-Men teammates arrive, they detain him for the assumed assault against Alpha Flight.

En route to Canada, to make Wolverine answer for his actions, the X-Men are attacked by a paramilitary group called Squad-Chi (pronounced "kye," the Greek letter X ... apparently at this point I hated just slapping an "x" on any damn mutant concept). It's a five-man squad of individuals, using ninjitsu/SAS/Navy SEALS training, with adamantium claws like Wolverine's; they're training puts their fighting skills on par with Wolverine's. They take the X-Men down and liberate Wolverine; the Weapon X program wants Wolverine to lead Squad-Chi.

Beyond that, I don't know what direction I would have wanted the story to go in. Some combination of X-Men attempting to rescue Wolverine by implementing strategies against the Chi that would reveal to Wolverine that Professor X has a failsafe strategy should Wolverine go rogue, and increasing his paranoia against the team, and Alpha Flight seeking justice against the Squad because of their attack. The general idea, I think, was that this would lead to a similar idea to Batman & The Outsiders.

I think there was more to it, 'cause I have a subplot outlined, but I can't make out what direction I was going with that, as it's kinda poorly fleshed out.

1 comment:

Rev. Joshua said...

Not a bad outline, but I don't have any idea on where it should go (not that yo asked). I'd imagine you would need to retcon something in the storyline, like making Wolverine the father of one or more of the members of Squad-Chi. Although I think a better name for them would be Omega Chi, especially with the attack on Alpha Flight.