Everybody else is doing super-hero zombies. Black Lanterns etc. We're getting morbid in a slightly different vein…a more thoughtful, but perhaps even more creepy vein.
Like this whole story, this idea started with Lewis. When the Smiling Man first appeared in LIGHTBRINGER, Smiley talked repeatedly as if he had faced Lightbringer before—but Lightbringer had never met him before. Later, Lewis talked about a scene he had thought up, where Smiley went by a suit of Mindmistress' armor, and other tokens of the heores, talking about, “After all…I've defeated them BEFORE.”
Almost creepy enough. Yet Mindmistress has been searching for peers out there. She's like a normal human on an island of apes and is desperately, incredibly lonely. And if there really are parallel earths—with multiple Shakespeares, multiple Hilters, multiple Rush Limbaughs—why weren't there multiple Mindmistresses? Most superheroes are born in a very unlikely accident, and you wouldn't expect them to be on every earth, but if one's possible, there should be a small minority of worlds that have other versions of the same hero. Alan Moore explored that idea in SUPREME…
Yet multiple versions of heroes to my mind dilutes the uniqueness of the hero. But if they were the last surviving versions of that hero…?
So I combined the two ideas…and then this scene occurred to me…rather like Ebeneezer Scrooge looking down into his own grave…and knew I just had to do this one. The idea of facing an entire cemetery filled with “you” is a very, very creepy one.
This is actually combining two pages as originally scripted, but there were justifiable concerns that we were stretching out this story TOO far, so I combined the two into one extra-long page.
Think about this: if Smiley has killed multiple versions of our heroes, why is he sparing THIS particular grouping of heroes he's killed many, many times before?
I think most of you have now figured out where he got Mindmistress' technology from...from all the alter-MMs Smiley killed. Mind-control tehcnology for a would-be tyrant would be KILLER.
You can see some foreshadowing, where MM mentions searching for her alternative selves, at [url]http://mindmistress.comicgenesis.com/heart42.htm[/url].
[quote=alschroeder]SMILEY: That would be in poor taste. David Hasselhoff is something of a culture hero here...[/quote]
In Smiling Man's world, Hasselhoff's music career has really taken off and gone worldwide. They now just call him[b][i] The Hoff[/i][/b].
I knew it! As soon as Al said there was a reason why there was no alternate MMs and Dasiens etc. I knew it had to be "Smiley killed 'em all."
Regardless, this is still a great plot development, so, well done! :)
Thanks to Neil for pointing out that I mispelled "cemetery", and correcting a minor detail in the Dasien panel.
Yeah, there almost was an exchange between Dasien and Smiley going:
DASIEN: What, no MICHAEL Knight?
SMILEY: That would be in poor taste. David Hasselhoff is something of a culture hero here...
...Or words to that effect.
I know it's not like us to avoid the cheap laugh, but it would have ruined the whole mood of this page, and would have required at least an extra panel for that ALONE...and I was just in under the wire on completing this extra-long page.
And, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "A zombie by any other name would smell just as EEEEEWWWW". Take THAT, Geoff Johns.
I just wanted to hop in here really quick to add a note to Al's mention of the Black Lanterns. If you were to ask Geoff Johns, he would tell you, quite adamantly, that the Black Lanterns are[b] NOT[/b], in fact, zombies. Pointless semantics? Yes! But I don't get many opportunities to trump Al's god-like knowledge of comic book lore.
I imagine that there's a room somewhere in his home that is like the Library of Alexandria, filled with nothing but monthly issues. I have a 2 ft. shelf of trade paperbacks.
Brett Knight is the unseen but often mentioned brother of Dasien. He DOES exist, and he'll debut one of these days.
Mercifully, Al appears to have removed my terrible Michael Knight reference. I don't remember if I actually told him to remove that awful joke or if he just ran out of space, but either way I'm quite grateful.
I'm rather amused with one particular headstone in Debbie's lot.
The effect that Al used on the cemetery is actually quite cool. In a weird way, it even kinda reminds me of the cover of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Sabbath_debut_album.jpg]first Black Sabbath album[/url].
Great LP, by the way.
TuuronTour at 9:24AM, Sept. 8, 2009
eew... I'd flip out too if I saw a cemetery filled with my name.
alschroeder at 8:39AM, Sept. 8, 2009
I think most of you have now figured out where he got Mindmistress' technology from...from all the alter-MMs Smiley killed. Mind-control tehcnology for a would-be tyrant would be KILLER. You can see some foreshadowing, where MM mentions searching for her alternative selves, at [url]http://mindmistress.comicgenesis.com/heart42.htm[/url].
Neilsama at 7:31AM, Sept. 8, 2009
[quote=alschroeder]SMILEY: That would be in poor taste. David Hasselhoff is something of a culture hero here...[/quote] In Smiling Man's world, Hasselhoff's music career has really taken off and gone worldwide. They now just call him[b][i] The Hoff[/i][/b].
Neilsama at 7:18AM, Sept. 8, 2009
[quote=Canadian_Ninja]Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Lemmie at Him![/quote] I'll[b] SPLATTER [/b]'im!
Canadian_Ninja at 6:08AM, Sept. 8, 2009
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Lemmie at Him! and Mindmistress looks like she's about to tear Smilely's grinning head off. I frankly don't blame her in the least.
DAJB at 3:53AM, Sept. 8, 2009
Creepy! My favourite plot development so far!
AzuJOD at 3:29AM, Sept. 8, 2009
I knew it! As soon as Al said there was a reason why there was no alternate MMs and Dasiens etc. I knew it had to be "Smiley killed 'em all." Regardless, this is still a great plot development, so, well done! :)
Ryuthehedgewolf at 3:20AM, Sept. 8, 2009
Whoa...creepy.
alschroeder at 1:36AM, Sept. 8, 2009
Thanks to Neil for pointing out that I mispelled "cemetery", and correcting a minor detail in the Dasien panel. Yeah, there almost was an exchange between Dasien and Smiley going: DASIEN: What, no MICHAEL Knight? SMILEY: That would be in poor taste. David Hasselhoff is something of a culture hero here... ...Or words to that effect. I know it's not like us to avoid the cheap laugh, but it would have ruined the whole mood of this page, and would have required at least an extra panel for that ALONE...and I was just in under the wire on completing this extra-long page. And, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "A zombie by any other name would smell just as EEEEEWWWW". Take THAT, Geoff Johns.
ghostrunner at 11:04PM, Sept. 7, 2009
tricky
magicalmisfits at 10:29PM, Sept. 7, 2009
not nice
fukujinzuke at 10:14PM, Sept. 7, 2009
Nice story development!
Neilsama at 10:02PM, Sept. 7, 2009
I just wanted to hop in here really quick to add a note to Al's mention of the Black Lanterns. If you were to ask Geoff Johns, he would tell you, quite adamantly, that the Black Lanterns are[b] NOT[/b], in fact, zombies. Pointless semantics? Yes! But I don't get many opportunities to trump Al's god-like knowledge of comic book lore. I imagine that there's a room somewhere in his home that is like the Library of Alexandria, filled with nothing but monthly issues. I have a 2 ft. shelf of trade paperbacks. Brett Knight is the unseen but often mentioned brother of Dasien. He DOES exist, and he'll debut one of these days. Mercifully, Al appears to have removed my terrible Michael Knight reference. I don't remember if I actually told him to remove that awful joke or if he just ran out of space, but either way I'm quite grateful. I'm rather amused with one particular headstone in Debbie's lot. The effect that Al used on the cemetery is actually quite cool. In a weird way, it even kinda reminds me of the cover of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Sabbath_debut_album.jpg]first Black Sabbath album[/url]. Great LP, by the way.