I'm currently in the process of preparing HA Vol.1 for print through indyplanet/ka-blam. If you have any suggestions regarding content, I'd be glad to hear them! What's certain is that it'll include web chapters 1-6 (i.e. print issues 1-5), the #0 issue, all illustrations from that era I have on disk in some shape or form, and new front and back covers by Josh Holley (lineart) and myself (colors).

So far, I've approached irrevenant for fore- and afterwords, since he was instrumental in creating the HUniverse wiki (he's also done a massive amount of work restructuring the forums these past few days). Rather than approach more of our contributors individually, I thought the best thing would just be to ask here in the forums whether any of you would like to create anything - articles highlighting the making of HA or individual chapters, pieces on HA characters, additional artwork, timeline & background info, whatever you can think of.

A few Ideas you can look at below.
Fun Facts from other artists and writers about the page could be one Idea.
Promos about Vol. 2
AN Ad about artist invites for future issues.
short interviews with artists, creators and writers
Plans for our future heroes and villains
Crossover possiblities or spinoffs,( which I think I may do for HA. very much like what Ironhand is doing with. but with my own little twists art wise.)
Power Meter for the HA and HU universe. ( I pre wrote one with scales 0 to 8 )

I can not dedicate a lot of time on a lot of stuff but I can add things here and there.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions! These would all be pretty cool, I think. Going through them one by one:

Promos about Vol. 2: I can do these myself.

An Ad about artist invites for future issues: Great idea, will also do this!

Short interviews with artists, creators and writers: I'd love to have these. Should make an ad on the main site to motivate people to do these.

Plans for our future heroes and villains: Hm, not sure how spoiler-free we could do these… and they could be combined with the promos (above) into a “promo section”.

Crossover possiblities or spinoffs (which I think I may do for HA. very much like what Ironhand is doing with. but with my own little twists art wise): Can you give an example?

Power Meter for the HA and HU universe. (I pre wrote one with scales 0 to 8 ): Yep, that would be interesting - care to share? :)

Some great ideas there!


I still think a HUniverse timeline would be awesome too, but every time I start thinking about it, my head hurts. xO (Does the HUniverse run on real time? A sliding ‘the past ten years’ time window like DC? Something else?).


I started a reading prerequisite list over at the wiki too (ie. What order to read the comics in) and that scrambled my brains as well. :/ Should HA6 be read in chronological or series order, for example? Should ‘The New Guard’ be read before most of HA (ie chronologically) even though it isn't actually out yet? etc.


With regard to a power rating system for HUniverse characters, I'm of two minds about it. It'd certainly be a useful reference tool, but it'd also risk straightjacketting us in future, especially since we're dealing with characters from individually-written comic titles.


Unless we're doing a HUniverse role playing game (which would be *awesome*, BTW) I'd suggest keeping any power levels to fairly vague ‘classes’ to allow writers leeway in writing them. Supers' relative power tends to vary a lot depending on whether they're having a good or a bad day anyway. Who would win in a fight between Comet Kid and SHELL? Between Relik and Amalgam? Between Kaine and Bujin? Or Kaine and Peligroso? Depends on the circumstances and who's writing it.

All that said, there are official power stats for both Marvel and DC's characters, and that doesn't seem to stop writers being flexible with it, so…

What about this timeline here? http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/173625 It hasn't been updated in a while, but has some important info. It's safe to say that HUniverse time passes considerably slower than real time, but may make occasional jumps. (This has been creating problems for me on Bombshell, where I reference real events, but I have to keep Bombshell's age more or less the same. Thus, I use a combination of the DC method you mention and a bit of fictionalization of real time.) According to the timeline linked above, Heroes Alliance was already established five months after Heroes Unite had been established. The paradox would then be:
(1) HU#1 happened in 2007
(2) HA#8 happened in 2013
(3) There's considerably less than six years separating HU #1 and HA #8.
Of course, we practically don't have to insist on anything like (1) and (2). I think the most important thing for a timeline is that the events are related to one another plausibly, and that's been established.

As for the reading list, could you give me a link, please?

Regarding a power meter, the result would not be binding, but much like the timeline provide some important info nonetheless.

I can't find the reading list now. :( It's possible I didn't save it - I did it on the wiki so it should be there otherwise.

Pity - I didn't find it either :/

I agree with the promo for the next volume, as well as an invite to other creators/etc.
Expanding on the concept of interviews with creators, what if we sort of worked on a “commentary” of one issue, the writer (and some artists) going through the ideas behind the issue and the processes etc. That'd be awesome. Cetainly for some of the issues that seem to have themes about them.
As awesome as a timeline would be, I'm not entirely sure it'd be too necessary. This is the comic world, so time passes both slowly and quickly whenever it wants and sometimes stories are so apart in their universes that a timeline can't even be considered. Bombshell, for example, would probably have to go through many issues before catching up where we are with her in HA. Just on record, though: The New Guard takes place some time after Energize: Hunted and HA #6 as New Rossco is still in a mess after Energize/Nemesis battle - The Bujin takes place several weeks after the ninja issue we have just had.
As well as the promo for the next volume, what about a promo for other comics within the HUniverse? Not to plug my own comic, but The New Guard and The Bujin, for example, are set within this universe so a cross-promotion would be cool (obviously, when I decide to take these to print - I would do the same) - it's also a good way to bring readers to comics outside the HA who struggle with not getting many readers due to people simply not knowing about it.

A good way to hit all the bases might be to include a list of all HUniverse titles, both completed and ongoing. Titles like SHELL, Retake/Relik and Energize deserve to be on there too…
re: what you said about the timeline, I tend to agree - that's pretty much where I bogged down trying to do it.
I think it would be worth developing some sort of reading order list though - it's kind of confusing where some of the titles fit in, especially since creators are producing them at different rates. I'm just not sure how chronological to get. For example, should HA #6 be read immediately after(/before) Energize Hunted or between HA #5 and #7?

ironhand wrote:
As well as the promo for the next volume, what about a promo for other comics within the HUniverse? Not to plug my own comic, but The New Guard and The Bujin, for example, are set within this universe so a cross-promotion would be cool (obviously, when I decide to take these to print - I would do the same) - it's also a good way to bring readers to comics outside the HA who struggle with not getting many readers due to people simply not knowing about it.

It belatedly occured to me that, oh hey, isn't a list of HUniverse-related comic series something that the wiki should be doing?

So I've been running around tagging things and creating stub pages for series so I can present:

A list of every comic series featuring any character that has ever appeared in the HUniverse
(pleaselet me know if I've missed any).
http://huniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Comic_Series

Note that:
(a) Bleeder, The Flea and Hellfire are no longer available (ie. they've either been pulled off the internet by their authors or died in the great Drunk Duck Disaster).
(b) Not all of these titles take place in the HUniverse. For example, I know that Acrobat, Dasien, The Legends, Hero Force and Putrid Meat all take place in their own settings. However when I started trying to break this down there were far too many ‘maybes’ (Wireless? Comet Kid? Oz Stars? etc. etc.)

Reading order-wise, I'd say HA is read issue-by-issue. I think it reads nicely as a timeline…(from what I remember) HA #6 is the tie-in, correct? I'd probably say alongside Energize: Hunted #4. It seems to fit well enough, imo. Connecting all the other series for a timeline is difficult, though. Some stories contain origins then go to the present day, so it's hard to really define it.
Irrevenent, you are the man. Great job on the wiki. The series area would be great to post short synopsis' of stories too so people can catch up or refresh their memories instead of going back trying to find where they left off. Cool stuff, man! I do think a page of listing those connected to the HUniverse in the trade would be nice, though. Some people may not be aware of the wiki.

irrevenant wrote:
For example, should HA #6 be read immediately after(/before) Energize Hunted or between HA #5 and #7?

Not sure I understand the question - HA #6 does take place after #5, before #7 and during Energize: Hunted #4.

Seconding ironhand: You've been doing an excellent job on the wiki! You might also want to add Shades and Vanguard
to the comic series, since Thrawn has appeared on HA #3, while Vanguard
has a Bombshell cameo and mentions the Blue River Group, which at least
exists in the Bombshell continuity (see Change's origin). The events
portrayed in Shades could be part of the HUniverse, but probably not
vice versa. And Vanguard could be a possible future of the current
HUniverse.

I mean, if you're putting together a comprehensive reading list of everything in the HUniverse, what reading order do you recommend. HA #6 was publishedbetween HA #5 and HA #6 but it was setat the same time as Energize: Hunted (which I think is prior to HA #1?). So where would you list it in the recommended reading order?

Demmit, I forgot Thrawn! xO I've also (completely randomly) just discovered that Psycho originated in a Drunk Duck Civil War crossover comic so I'll need to include that too.
So far I've been drawing the line at characters who've actually appeared inthe HUniverse. I've omitted Crossoverkill, for example, and it'd have to be the same for Vanguard, because they're the other way round. It'd just get unmanageable to include every series that ever had a HUniverse cameo in it.

Abt_Nihil wrote:
Not sure I understand the question - HA #6 does take place after #5, before #7 and during Energize: Hunted #4.

Seconding ironhand: You've been doing an excellent job on the wiki! You might also want to add Shades and Vanguard
to the comic series, since Thrawn has appeared on HA #3, while Vanguard
has a Bombshell cameo and mentions the Blue River Group, which at least
exists in the Bombshell continuity (see Change's origin). The events
portrayed in Shades could be part of the HUniverse, but probably not
vice versa. And Vanguard could be a possible future of the current
HUniverse.

I'd like to see a mention of the Wiki in the trade, actually. It'd be nice to see it get more attention.

There's quite a few bits of the wiki that could use some fleshing out. I've flagged a number of them as stubs. Anyone can feel free to to work on them. :) http://huniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Stub .

P.S. I found that Recommended Reading List I started. I haven't done as much on it as I thought I had. :/ http://huniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Recommended_Reading_Order

ironhand wrote:
Irrevenent, you are the man. Great job on the wiki. The series area would be great to post short synopsis' of stories too so people can catch up or refresh their memories instead of going back trying to find where they left off. Cool stuff, man! I do think a page of listing those connected to the HUniverse in the trade would be nice, though. Some people may not be aware of the wiki.

irrevenant wrote:
I mean, if you're putting together a comprehensive reading list of everything in the HUniverse, what reading order do you recommend. HA #6 was publishedbetween HA #5 and HA #6 but it was setat the same time as Energize: Hunted (which I think is prior to HA #1?). So where would you list it in the recommended reading order?

I think it's really not all that complicated - it's pretty much as this list says: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/173625 - HA #1 takes place after HU: Fury - it's debatable whether it happens after The Darkness Within though (as the list claims), because The HU Commander still has her old look in HA #3, which would mean The Darkness Within and Energize: Hunted #1-3 take place between HA#3 and HA#6. However, the idea behind HA# 1-3 was for Bombshell to encourage the formation of HA because of the Commander's increasing paranoia… so it would make sense to place even HA #1 after The Darkness Within.

Personally,
I still think a list of cameos would be nice to have! But it should be
its own category and not get mixed up with more substantial
appearances. (Do you really think there are that many?)

And
yes, the wiki will definitely be featured prominently in the HA trade
paperback, because (a) it's great! And (b) we can't possibly include all
the info the wiki provides in the TP itself.

I know this is an old thread but I'm going to answer the questions and my suggestions.



SolarCell has her own comic mini on going series featuring many players from the HA/HU universe. It will all be based around my hero SolarCell.



I completed the power level chart for HA on HA wikia online page. It's up to the artist and creators to full out where their characters stand.



On other notes. I'm taking a page from out of DD playing cards page and see if we can make up card versions of our heroes and villains stat cards like Marvel and DC. Just a thought. It can be profile pictures of the past or create new ones for these trading cards. Tell what you think.