The Apprentice: Bendis Board Season Two- Welcome to the Boardroom!

[OzMan]

Congrats Steve.

Glenn your a great writer, I'll miss reading your work. ;)

[Ray G.]

And now, Jason - you have a choice to make.

Simple - Marvel or DC? That's all you get right now, but it's your call. Steve gets the other one.

[The Doctor]

Here goes then

I'm annoyed at myself

I wanted to go two ways with this and wondered if I should be true to me or play a safer option

I thought 'screw it if I'm losing I'm losing big'

I'm annoyed and gutted cause I really wanted this, a lot. Probably more than I should for a game but its hard to explain. Marc and Andrew play this thin once or twice anjd come steaming right in and win

This is my 7th or 8th go around and still nothing to show

So I am very gutted because I'm not good at the political games of Survivor or Big Brother and I don't think I'm smart enough for the Mole

I thought this is my year, this is my game

The funny thing is I knew early on that it was going to be Matt or Steve or James that took me out. I was amazed when MAtt went and slightly relieved because he was the guy to beat the first few weeks.

Then I saw James and Steve show their best and I was like 'crap' and then James went and I was like 'only one to go'

Steve is a great player and he's been amazing and if I'm being honest he probably deserves this more than me

Thanks to the judges for showing faith in me up to now it's been a blast

I'm not annoyed at you guys or any of the players, just me

Cause that first place is like bleh

So on one hand I want Jason to win because he's done so well for so long and never done it and I want Steve to win cause he's my team mate and he's been amazing

So it should be a great finale

Thanks to everyone that enjoyed the pitch,it is pretty much what I would do and sorry it wasn't good enough

Should have went with the Frakken Justice League with Deadpool on the team

I think I'm coming back for the Mole, not sure

Probably not for Survivior or Big Brother

I don't know anout Apprentice year 3, I think I did my best and hey I beat some pretty damn good people so if I have to settle for a bronze metal I don't want to come back and be out first week:)

It's been a blast as always, I really love playing these and you guys well some of you anyway are great friends and its always fun playing with friends

This has been the Doctor saying goodbye properly for a change

[Marc Lombardi]

Congrats, Steve. You will live to fight another day so I will hold my comments for you next week when you either win or lose. :-)

My comments on your title:
Green Arrow - C+
1) A solid character choice, but I’m disappointed that you kept the same artist. This was your opportunity to bring the wow. While I understand the idea of ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’ you passed on a great chance to make me raise my eyebrows.
2) I also find it interesting that you chose to take over a series that is just getting underway. I can’t penalize you though because the character has had tons of reboots and relaunched series over the years.
3) The pacing on 11-14 feels off. Too little for four issues, but I suppose it could work.
4) The two missing words in the synopsis of #26-30 have me wondering what the heck is going on. I can only assume the missing words are “Larfleeze” and “mind” but I had to read it three times to figure out what was going on.
5) It felt at times that you had more ideas for dialogue and less for the story itself. The ending seemed particularly rushed.
6) Overall this pitch felt way too safe. I was not wowed by anything, but I was not completely turned off by anything either. The textbook definition of playing it safe, which unfortunately isn’t enough in a game like this.

Glenn....what can I say? You are Sasha with restraint. And I mean that in the highest regard as an immense compliment. You take all that is good with Sasha's immense imagination and creativity and you've honed it into something manageable. The problem with finding organization in chaos is that, in instances like this, sometimes the chaos is too hard to reign in. I think you are an amazing writer and look forward to reading comics written by you someday.

My comments for you:
Booster Gold - C-
1) Eisma is a risky choice for artist, but he fits the character well, both in terms of style and matching the level of artist to the character.
2) Some of the time travel ideas seem convoluted
3) Not sure if the pacing works well for the first year. Seems like the first storyline is 8 issues and the second one may be 4 issues? If that’s the case, either the first one drags on WAAAAAY to much or the second storyline is very sparse. There probably should have been another storyline in there somewhere.
4) If Vandal Savage is sending information back to himself, all he has to do is tell himself to kill Booster Gold years before Booster is sent after him. Year 2 storyline is killed right there.
5)Pacing in year two is brutal. This seems like three our four issues. Not a 12-issues storyline. I would be curious to what Doc sees as an issue-by-issue breakdown.
6) The concept for year three draws the focus away from the main character and it almost becomes Roxy’s book. It’s difficult to picture how you will tell Roxy’s story in anything more than an issue without it taking away the focus of the title or being an impossible storytelling concept (or else where does Booster’s story come in?)
7) A few of the ideas either are not explained well enough on how the storylines end. Also, it feels like I’ve just read three years of a title that brought me exactly back to the status quo. Time travel should not mean that storylines constantly reset at the end to a happy ending.

[I AM GROOT!]

And now, Jason - you have a choice to make.

Simple - Marvel or DC? That's all you get right now, but it's your call. Steve gets the other one.

I have a feeling I know where this is going, and I have my Advil ready. :lol:

As much as I like DC, I'm a Marvel guy at heart, so that's what I'm going with.

Don't you screw with my head too much, Ray. ;)

[I AM GROOT!]

Also, just a note to Glenn not to give up on Apprentice Season 3 yet. I came in fifth place last year, and I've made the finals this year. It takes practice and honing what you previously believed were your flaws.

Plus, I haven't won yet, so I may have to come back for Season 3, anyway. ;)

[Master Jack Rabbitt]

Here goes then

I'm annoyed at myself

I wanted to go two ways with this and wondered if I should be true to me or play a safer option

I thought 'screw it if I'm losing I'm losing big'

I'm annoyed and gutted cause I really wanted this, a lot. Probably more than I should for a game but its hard to explain. Marc and Andrew play this thin once or twice anjd come steaming right in and win

This is my 7th or 8th go around and still nothing to show

So I am very gutted because I'm not good at the political games of Survivor or Big Brother and I don't think I'm smart enough for the Mole

I thought this is my year, this is my game

The funny thing is I knew early on that it was going to be Matt or Steve or James that took me out. I was amazed when MAtt went and slightly relieved because he was the guy to beat the first few weeks.

Then I saw James and Steve show their best and I was like 'crap' and then James went and I was like 'only one to go'

Steve is a great player and he's been amazing and if I'm being honest he probably deserves this more than me

Thanks to the judges for showing faith in me up to now it's been a blast

I'm not annoyed at you guys or any of the players, just me

Cause that first place is like bleh

So on one hand I want Jason to win because he's done so well for so long and never done it and I want Steve to win cause he's my team mate and he's been amazing

So it should be a great finale

Thanks to everyone that enjoyed the pitch,it is pretty much what I would do and sorry it wasn't good enough

Should have went with the Frakken Justice League with Deadpool on the team

I think I'm coming back for the Mole, not sure

Probably not for Survivior or Big Brother

I don't know anout Apprentice year 3, I think I did my best and hey I beat some pretty damn good people so if I have to settle for a bronze metal I don't want to come back and be out first week:)

It's been a blast as always, I really love playing these and you guys well some of you anyway are great friends and its always fun playing with friends

This has been the Doctor saying goodbye properly for a change

If it helps, I do think your Booster Gold would be a good title and a lot of fun. Your enthusiasm for the title and subject-material just leaped off the page.

[The Doctor]

Congrats, Steve. You will live to fight another day so I will hold my comments for you next week when you either win or lose. :-)

My comments on your title:
Green Arrow - C+
1) A solid character choice, but I’m disappointed that you kept the same artist. This was your opportunity to bring the wow. While I understand the idea of ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’ you passed on a great chance to make me raise my eyebrows.
2) I also find it interesting that you chose to take over a series that is just getting underway. I can’t penalize you though because the character has had tons of reboots and relaunched series over the years.
3) The pacing on 11-14 feels off. Too little for four issues, but I suppose it could work.
4) The two missing words in the synopsis of #26-30 have me wondering what the heck is going on. I can only assume the missing words are “Larfleeze” and “mind” but I had to read it three times to figure out what was going on.
5) It felt at times that you had more ideas for dialogue and less for the story itself. The ending seemed particularly rushed.
6) Overall this pitch felt way too safe. I was not wowed by anything, but I was not completely turned off by anything either. The textbook definition of playing it safe, which unfortunately isn’t enough in a game like this.

Glenn....what can I say? You are Sasha with restraint. And I mean that in the highest regard as an immense compliment. You take all that is good with Sasha's immense imagination and creativity and you've honed it into something manageable. The problem with finding organization in chaos is that, in instances like this, sometimes the chaos is too hard to reign in. I think you are an amazing writer and look forward to reading comics written by you someday.

My comments for you:
Booster Gold - C-
1) Eisma is a risky choice for artist, but he fits the character well, both in terms of style and matching the level of artist to the character.
2) Some of the time travel ideas seem convoluted
3) Not sure if the pacing works well for the first year. Seems like the first storyline is 8 issues and the second one may be 4 issues? If that’s the case, either the first one drags on WAAAAAY to much or the second storyline is very sparse. There probably should have been another storyline in there somewhere.
4) If Vandal Savage is sending information back to himself, all he has to do is tell himself to kill Booster Gold years before Booster is sent after him. Year 2 storyline is killed right there.
5)Pacing in year two is brutal. This seems like three our four issues. Not a 12-issues storyline. I would be curious to what Doc sees as an issue-by-issue breakdown.
6) The concept for year three draws the focus away from the main character and it almost becomes Roxy’s book. It’s difficult to picture how you will tell Roxy’s story in anything more than an issue without it taking away the focus of the title or being an impossible storytelling concept (or else where does Booster’s story come in?)
7) A few of the ideas either are not explained well enough on how the storylines end. Also, it feels like I’ve just read three years of a title that brought me exactly back to the status quo. Time travel should not mean that storylines constantly reset at the end to a happy ending.

Hope you don't mind me answering these Marc

1) Fine but it was my choice and I think he's at a fine level to do it

2) Time Travel is always colvunted

3) It was 6 and 6 I should hav done an issue by issue breakdown but honestly it never occured to me

4) No it isn't see year 5 :)

5) I can do one for you when I get home if you wish but again it was 6 and 6

6) Roxy's issues takes up one or two issues trust me I had it all worked out:)

7) In fairness that's what Geoff Johns did with the book and Jurgans has done so far and Doctor Who does it every year and is one of the best show's on television (critically and commercially even if you don't watch it) so I don't think this is a fair comment

Thank you for your comments

[Ray G.]

Also, just a note to Glenn not to give up on Apprentice Season 3 yet. I came in fifth place last year, and I've made the finals this year. It takes practice and honing what you previously believed were your flaws.

Plus, I haven't won yet, so I may have to come back for Season 3, anyway. ;)

Agreed. Glenn took his game up an insane level this year. I was really impressed with the way he played, and like I said, my vote was for him to be in the final (although by a razor-thin margin over Steve, so he shouldn't take this as a slap at him at all). I really hope he comes back next year, recharged. I can't imagine him being our first week. :)

[The Doctor]

Also, just a note to Glenn not to give up on Apprentice Season 3 yet. I came in fifth place last year, and I've made the finals this year. It takes practice and honing what you previously believed were your flaws.

Plus, I haven't won yet, so I may have to come back for Season 3, anyway. ;)
Don't know if I can be bothered for 16 weeks just to fail again :lol:

If it helps, I do think your Booster Gold would be a good title and a lot of fun. Your enthusiasm for the title and subject-material just leaped off the page.

Thanks Brandon I threw in Lucy Kord just for you

[Master Jack Rabbitt]

Thanks Brandon I threw in Lucy Kord just for you

:)

[The Doctor]

Agreed. Glenn took his game up an insane level this year. I was really impressed with the way he played, and like I said, my vote was for him to be in the final (although by a razor-thin margin over Steve, so he shouldn't take this as a slap at him at all). I really hope he comes back next year, recharged. I can't imagine him being our first week. :)

Ah I'll see I'd have liked to be a judge but that's not fair on you, Brandon and the winner

'Third place and Apprentice judge for no reason here's Glenn!'

*waves*

'So Glenn you have failed to win and get to judge how other poeple fail how does that feel'

*shurgs*

'That's our Glenn!'

[Marc Lombardi]

Hope you don't mind me answering these Marc

1) Fine but it was my choice and I think he's at a fine level to do it

2) Time Travel is always colvunted

3) It was 6 and 6 I should hav done an issue by issue breakdown but honestly it never occured to me

4) No it isn't see year 5 :)

5) I can do one for you when I get home if you wish but again it was 6 and 6

6) Roxy's issues takes up one or two issues trust me I had it all worked out:)

7) In fairness that's what Geoff Johns did with the book and Jurgans has done so far and Doctor Who does it every year and is one of the best show's on television (critically and commercially even if you don't watch it) so I don't think this is a fair comment

Thank you for your comments
Glenn, if anything...you make me want to go read Booster Gold. In part that's what this whole thing was about this week. I look forward to you writing this real comic in a few years. Just like how Nick is taking over Supergirl.

[The Doctor]

Glenn, if anything...you make me want to go read Booster Gold. In part that's what this whole thing was about this week. I look forward to you writing this real comic in a few years. Just like how Nick is taking over Supergirl.

I almost picked AMazing and was like nah cause

A) the first year would be cleaning up the mess that the title is in

2) I was afraid it would come across a sa huge fan wankfest

Then Booster was anyway!:lol:

Ah well

[The Doctor]

You should read the book though Marc, it could always use more readers

[Matthew Brown]

I've wanted to dabble with coloring digital, but it's tough with just a mouse.

I have a tablet, but I end up using the mouse more with digital stuff.

[OzMan]

I have a tablet, but I end up using the mouse more with digital stuff.

I will be experimenting with it more and more now. I really enjoyed coloring some of the drawings in this challenge so I want to try it digitally.

[Steve Marshall]

Got back from work. Saw the thread moments before the verdict. Crapped my pants.

Thank you, judges. I'm sorry for the grammatical issues and other weaknesses in my pitch and assure you I'll step up my game on the final project.

Glenn, I came at the same spot last year so I know how it feels. Working with you has been a lot of fun, man. You're a great player and a great guy. It's been a pleasure.

Congrats on the win this round, Jason. I look forward to facing you in the finals.

[The Doctor]

If I'm being brought back I'd still like to delay it until Sunday

If not carry on and I'll go party with MAtt at the cayman islands

[Master Jack Rabbitt]

Ah I'll see I'd have liked to be a judge but that's not fair on you, Brandon and the winner

'Third place and Apprentice judge for no reason here's Glenn!'

*waves*

'So Glenn you have failed to win and get to judge how other poeple fail how does that feel'

*shurgs*

'That's our Glenn!'

I do think I'll be bowing out of judging next round. Just sayin'

;)

[Mylazycat]

When Apprentice: Bendis Board Season Two began, I didn't realize how much I was going to dive into comic script writing and how seriously I was going to take it. I want in on season 3 for a chance to practice my skills and have any flaws be exposed and be taken to task on them, all as a way to improve.

[The Doctor]

I do think I'll be bowing out of judging next round. Just sayin'

;)

I'll see the Gathering could have turned me into a superstar by then

Or not:surrend:

I should have picked Bagley for Booster I would have if Joe had said he'd never dream of doing it

*continues to bang head*

Oz: Dude be a man

I DON#T WANNA!!!!!!!

:)

[The Doctor]

Anyway my gf has probably thinks I've died so I better go

I'll check in if we're holding off ill I get home

I hope I'm being brought back

Then probably picked last

*mumbles about sweet, sweet revenge*

[OzMan]

I'll see the Gathering could have turned me into a superstar by then

Or not:surrend:

I should have picked Bagley for Booster I would have if Joe had said he'd never dream of doing it

*continues to bang head*

Oz: Dude be a man

I DON#T WANNA!!!!!!!

:)

:thumb:

[JamesV]

When Apprentice: Bendis Board Season Two began, I didn't realize how much I was going to dive into comic script writing and how seriously I was going to take it. I want in on season 3 for a chance to practice my skills and have any flaws be exposed and be taken to task on them, all as a way to improve.

Ray!

Can I invite him to International Apprentice 3?

[Ray G.]

Ray!

Can I invite him to International Apprentice 3?

I see no reason why not. :)

It's usually a shorter game, but pretty similar.

[The Doctor]

Ray!

Can I invite him to International Apprentice 3?

Oh thanks:razz:

[OzMan]

Ray!

Can I invite him to International Apprentice 3?

what's international apprentice 3 ?

[Ray G.]

what's international apprentice 3 ?

James borrowed the framework of the game and played a version on a smaller board. I actually won season two there. :)

[The Doctor]

James borrowed the framework of the game and played a version on a smaller board. I actually won season two there. :)

Are we holding back until Sunday Trumpers?

[Marc Lombardi]

what's international apprentice 3 ?


James borrowed the framework of the game and played a version on a smaller board. I actually won season two there. :)


An the winner gets a trip to Spain.*



*just a burrito actually.**



**you have to pay for it yourself.

[The Doctor]

The winner also gets a hug from me

*hides knife up sleeve*

What?

[Doug]

A Robot made the final two. :boogie:

I know where my loyalty lies.

Go KEDDS!!!!

:scared:

[Matthew Brown]

I'm rooting for myself as a dark horse candidate, coming back from defeat to win it all in an unprecedented ruling.

[OzMan]

If it's not full I would love to do another shorter version of Apprentice. This was a long 4 months.

[Mylazycat]

I'm guessing that Apprentice Benbo Season 3 won't be until spring 2011.

[OzMan]

I was talking about the International Apprentice, I'm pretty sure Season three of Benbo will start in May like this one did.

[Mylazycat]

I was talking about the International Apprentice, I'm pretty sure Season three of Benbo will start in May like this one did.

I know. I was just saying that the next 4 month commitment won't be awhile. A shorter one off board in the meantime would be fun.

[JamesV]

If it's not full I would love to do another shorter version of Apprentice. This was a long 4 months.

It's not.

I'm gonna do sign up stuff soon so anyone who wants in (and to once again be judged by the Dawg) can take part.

/commercial over.

Now where are the results! I wanna see who wins dammit! :D

[I AM GROOT!]

It's not.

I'm gonna do sign up stuff soon so anyone who wants in (and to once again be judged by the Dawg) can take part.

/commercial over.

Now where are the results! I wanna see who wins dammit! :D

We need to have the challenge first, silly goose!

[Mylazycat]

We need to have the challenge first, silly goose!

He's from the future.

[Superior Kiai]

I was talking about the International Apprentice, I'm pretty sure Season three of Benbo will start in May like this one did.

We started this in MAY?????? :shock:

:crazy:

[Mylazycat]

We started this in MAY?????? :shock:

:crazy:

May 18th, to be exact.

Five months ago.

Wow.

[Ray G.]

Are we holding back until Sunday Trumpers?

Might as well. I'm still refining the challenge a bit, and I need to find out who wants to come back to help.

Take a well-deserved break, final two. We'll resume in a few days. :)

[Ray G.]

If it's not full I would love to do another shorter version of Apprentice. This was a long 4 months.

It should be open, yeah.


I'm guessing that Apprentice Benbo Season 3 won't be until spring 2011.

Yep, May 2011. With a lot of new blood, I bet. Still trying to figure out what to do about judges next time. I know I'll be back, and probably Marc and the winner of season two. The fourth...it depends on who wants to come back, if anyone.

[Ray G.]

May 18th, to be exact.

Five months ago.

Wow.

It's a gauntlet.

Even the 2.5 month one I participated in was one hell of a stressful experience. We also had much meaner judges. :D

[Marc Lombardi]

Yep, May 2011. With a lot of new blood, I bet. Still trying to figure out what to do about judges next time. I know I'll be back, and probably Marc and the winner of season two. The fourth...it depends on who wants to come back, if anyone.

I would definitely like to judge again next season.

And thanks for the break. I'm actually going to be away this coming weekend (for the Benbo's own Akira's wedding). So come Sunday evening/Monday morning I'll get back into judge mode.

[Kirblar]

http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/53214421.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=BC2B213A7DC3B8920C25960823037A1DABB57F4C69EE85FD 64AEEA9F1F61AEFE
What's that I see?

[Matthew Brown]

It should be open, yeah.



Yep, May 2011. With a lot of new blood, I bet. Still trying to figure out what to do about judges next time. I know I'll be back, and probably Marc and the winner of season two. The fourth...it depends on who wants to come back, if anyone.

Ooh, I'll judge! I would love to crush the dreams of all the enemies I made.

[The Doctor]

It should be open, yeah.



Yep, May 2011. With a lot of new blood, I bet. Still trying to figure out what to do about judges next time. I know I'll be back, and probably Marc and the winner of season two. The fourth...it depends on who wants to come back, if anyone.

I'll see I think Funk was eager to return to the panel

[Kirblar]

Damn, my image is broken, isn't it. :(

[Mylazycat]

Damn, my image is broken, isn't it. :(

Yes.

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

I'll see I think Funk was eager to return to the panel

Yeah if there's room I'd rather be a judge next time. Realize I don't have the time to fully dedicate to the game as a player.

[Ray G.]

Yeah if there's room I'd rather be a judge next time. Realize I don't have the time to fully dedicate to the game as a player.

I told you about my idea at the con, right?

You'd be welcome back next season, natch. You were a good judge last year, pretty tough.

[I AM GROOT!]

Thanks for the break, Ray. The bloggers at JSnyLuv.com were panicking because we were planning a server upgrade the same week the challenge would have been!

[Ray G.]

FYI, will all eliminated players PM me if they want to be involved in the final task? That's how we did it last year. Each finalist will either have three or four people on their team.

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

I told you about my idea at the con, right?

You'd be welcome back next season, natch. You were a good judge last year, pretty tough.

About the winning Project Managers? Yeah you told me about that.

Also just for the record probably can't be involved in the project. Have to read a 100 page manuscript for a potential job. Sorry Jason and Steve :(.

[Matthew Brown]

I'm in!

Everyone try not to orgasm at once.

[Ray G.]

About the winning Project Managers? Yeah you told me about that.

Also just for the record probably can't be involved in the project. Have to read a 100 page manuscript for a potential job. Sorry Jason and Steve :(.

Nah, about the fourth judging spot, depending.

No prob, RL takes precedence. We've got a big group of strong players who could come back. :D

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

Nah, about the fourth judging spot, depending.

No prob, RL takes precedence. We've got a big group of strong players who could come back. :D

Ah yeah you did. It makes sense and would help prevent the game from becoming stale.

[Steve Marshall]

Thanks for the break, Ray. The bloggers at JSnyLuv.com were panicking because we were planning a server upgrade the same week the challenge would have been!

My official fanpage was worried that finals merchandise orders would not be shipped by the start of the challenge. For the record, I just want you to know I did not approve those DIE JASON DIE shirts. That'd be a really unsportsmanlike. :shifty:

[Mylazycat]

Nah, about the fourth judging spot, depending.

Steven Tyler?

[Superior Kiai]

I'm in!

Everyone try not to orgasm at once.

Fuck PMs!!!

I'm in too!!!

[Mylazycat]

I'm in!

[Matthew Brown]

Fuck PMs!!!

I'm in too!!!

GASP! Eliminate this dastard for ignoring protocol.

[Superior Kiai]

GASP! Eliminate this dastard for ignoring protocol.

You did it first!!!!!! :-x

[Matthew Brown]

You did it first!!!!!! :-x

I PMed beforehand. Unlike you, I have morals.:no:

[JamesV]

PMs? Nah.

I'm ready and willing to help however I can.

[Superior Kiai]

I PMed beforehand. Unlike you, I have morals.:no:

:rofl:

[Dark Sasha]

*drunk and high on coke*

Hey MY FARTFACES!!!!!

[JasonWGBB007]

I just sent a PM but will post in here.

Ready and willing to assist :)

Even though I still harbour a mean grudge against everyone because I lost ;)

[MayorMitch100]

does anyone remember that I was on this show? Because I kind of forgot! Just kidding.

I cry myself to sleep at night.

[JasonWGBB007]

does anyone remember that I was on this show? Because I kind of forgot! Just kidding.

I cry myself to sleep at night.

But that's because your parents think you are at Karate right? It has nothing to do with show

[Matthew Brown]

Will it be Kedds with Kedds, or might I end up a filthy Robot?

[Ray G.]

Got six volunteers already. :D

[Dark Sasha]

Wait what am I doing?

[Ray G.]

Wait what am I doing?

Do you want to come back for the final task and assist either Jason or Steve in brainstorming?

[Dark Sasha]

Do you want to come back for the final task and assist either Jason or Steve in brainstorming?

..........What? You have to speak up I'm high on coke.


(not really)

[I AM GROOT!]

My official fanpage was worried that finals merchandise orders would not be shipped by the start of the challenge. For the record, I just want you to know I did not approve those DIE JASON DIE shirts. That'd be a really unsportsmanlike. :shifty:

What? You mean those shirts weren't German imports for "The, Jason, The"? :sad:

[I AM GROOT!]

Are we getting to pick our helpers, or is it random draw?

[Matthew Brown]

Are we getting to pick our helpers, or is it random draw?

Pick me!

[Ray G.]

Are we getting to pick our helpers, or is it random draw?

Alternating picks from whoever comes back. You'll go first, since you won the task.

[Matthew Brown]

Everyone should fight over me.

[I AM GROOT!]

Pick me!

You called me a filthy Robot!


Alternating picks from whoever comes back. You'll go first, since you won the task.

Can I pick Bendis for my team?

[Matthew Brown]

You called me a filthy Robot!



Can I pick Bendis for my team?

Cultural misunderstanding.

[Superior Kiai]

Alternating picks from whoever comes back. You'll go first, since you won the task.

Who you gonna call???

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/4975305439_b08c98489c_b.jpg

[I AM GROOT!]

Cultural misunderstanding.

http://ricksblog.biz/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/borat3_wideweb__470x3030.jpg

[Matthew Brown]

http://ricksblog.biz/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/borat3_wideweb__470x3030.jpg

I want to, how you say, genocide all you mechanical monsters out of existence. Yes?

[JamesV]

I not only offer my skills, but Mafioso connections to whoever picks me.

[I AM GROOT!]

I want to, how you say, genocide all you mechanical monsters out of existence. Yes?

Nyet!


I not only offer my skills, but Mafioso connections to whoever picks me.

Can you make Steve sleep with the fishes?

[Matthew Brown]

Nyet!



Can you make Steve sleep with the fishes?

It depends, how attractive are these fishes?

[JamesV]

Nyet!



Can you make Steve sleep with the fishes?

If picked I can get him hooked up with some awesome Finding Nemo sheets and pillow cases!

[I AM GROOT!]

It depends, how attractive are these fishes?

Stop that. You know what the doctors said. There's also a reason why you're not allowed unsupervised visits to the aquarium...

...or Sea World San Antonio.


If picked I can get him hooked up with some awesome Finding Nemo sheets and pillow cases!

Heh..."hooked."

Fish puns. Gotta love'em.

[Superior Kiai]

Stop that. You know what the doctors said. There's also a reason why you're not allowed unsupervised visits to the aquarium...

...or Sea World San Antonio.

That gave a whole new meaning to the term "Sperm Whale".

[I AM GROOT!]

That gave a whole new meaning to the term "Sperm Whale".

It took the trainers four hours to hose Shamu down...

[JamesV]

Wait. Kiai... You were in San Antonio and didn't visit? Just a little over an hour north.

I'm hurt.

You're on the list!

:mad:

[Steve Marshall]

It depends, how attractive are these fishes?

Agreed.

http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/fla/images/mermaids/y2006/ph_mermaids_581x373.jpg

Done!

[Steve Marshall]

Is this a snake draft, Ray?

[Steve Marshall]

Prospective applicants, please answer the following questions:


Is Steve MORE DREAMY than Jason or MUCH MORE DREAMY than Jason?


If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?


We're on a bro date and just get out of a mid-afternoon Dave Matthews Band concert, where do we go next?

[JamesV]

Prospective applicants, please answer the following questions:


Is Steve MORE DREAMY than Jason or MUCH MORE DREAMY than Jason?


If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?


We're on a bro date and just get out of a mid-afternoon Dave Matthews Band concert, where do we go next?


1. More dreamy. The much more answer is clearly a trap meant to lure over-flatters to their doom. Someone with confidents doesn't need the over flattery.

2. A Bonsai. Delicate. Calming, but cross me and I will fuck any and all motherfuckers up.

3. Well I'm assuming this is a post-Appretice victory bro date, so clearly, you continue the victory party at Disney Land (all expenses paid for by the network I believe.)

[Matthew Brown]

Prospective applicants, please answer the following questions:


Is Steve MORE DREAMY than Jason or MUCH MORE DREAMY than Jason?


If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?


We're on a bro date and just get out of a mid-afternoon Dave Matthews Band concert, where do we go next?



Much more dreamy.

Weeping willow.

Back to my house for some Gamecube.

[Superior Kiai]

Prospective applicants, please answer the following questions:


Is Steve MORE DREAMY than Jason or MUCH MORE DREAMY than Jason?


If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?


We're on a bro date and just get out of a mid-afternoon Dave Matthews Band concert, where do we go next?


* Ummm... :scared:

* Whatever tree maple syrup comes from.

* Taco Bell!!!!

[Marc Lombardi]

Prospective applicants, please answer the following questions:


Is Steve MORE DREAMY than Jason or MUCH MORE DREAMY than Jason?


If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?


We're on a bro date and just get out of a mid-afternoon Dave Matthews Band concert, where do we go next?


Eleven dreamy

A sasquatch

Paris

[The Doctor]

I told you about my idea at the con, right?

You'd be welcome back next season, natch. You were a good judge last year, pretty tough.

Ohhh I suspect a secret

I'm coming back too if its possible:)

[Kirblar]

So, I could REALLY use some creative help on something....

http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=198834

[OzMan]

Hey just got back from a conference. Is it too late to volunteer for the final task?

[Ray G.]

Hey just got back from a conference. Is it too late to volunteer for the final task?

Nope. I'll add you to the list, and the final task will be posted this afternoon, as soon as Glenn is back from the wedding.

So the people who have volunteered to come back are:

The Doctor
OzMan
James V
JasonW
The Kiai
Matthew Brown
Mayor Mitch

Have I forgotten anyone? If there's an 8th person not on this list who wants to join one of the final two's teams, please post in the thread today. :)

[I AM GROOT!]

A surprising volunteer just stepped up to help one of the Final Two:

http://snarkfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Bret-Michaels-SF.jpg

[Mylazycat]

Nope. I'll add you to the list, and the final task will be posted this afternoon, as soon as Glenn is back from the wedding.

So the people who have volunteered to come back are:

The Doctor
OzMan
James V
JasonW
The Kiai
Matthew Brown
Mayor Mitch

Have I forgotten anyone? If there's an 8th person not on this list who wants to join one of the final two's teams, please post in the thread today. :)

Pick me! Pick me!

[I AM GROOT!]

Pick me! Pick me!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ag8cy9r2XdE/Sw57KpygV_I/AAAAAAAAGlQ/OSWVEA6Wgsk/s1600/bear+in+cross+hairs.jpg

[The Doctor]

Back home:)

[Ray G.]

Back home:)

:rock:

Challenge coming in a few hours. Steve and Jason have talked and worked out their teams on their own, so we won't need a draft.

[The Doctor]

:rock:

Challenge coming in a few hours. Steve and Jason have talked and worked out their teams on their own, so we won't need a draft.

Groovy

[Matthew Brown]

:rock:

Challenge coming in a few hours. Steve and Jason have talked and worked out their teams on their own, so we won't need a draft.

Uh oh! Seven people!

[I AM GROOT!]

:rock:

Challenge coming in a few hours. Steve and Jason have talked and worked out their teams on their own, so we won't need a draft.

Also, in an Apprentice first, I'm not only a PM for one team, but also a team member on the competition's team!

[I AM GROOT!]

Uh oh! Seven people!

See below. :cool:

[Ray G.]

Steve and Jason have decided to keep it simple. They'll each have three advisors, the three most recent from their team to be fired from their team.

So Matt, Glenn, James - you'll be helping Steve.

Oz, Jason, Kiai - you'll be helping Jason.

The final task will be posted shortly.

[I AM GROOT!]

Steve and Jason have decided to keep it simple. They'll each have three advisors, the three most recent from their team to be fired from their team.

So Matt, Glenn, James - you'll be helping Steve.

Oz, Jason, Kiai - you'll be helping Jason.

The final task will be posted shortly.

Welcome back, Robots!

[Matthew Brown]

Oh no, not Steve!

[Steve Marshall]

Oh no, not Steve!

http://ohellnawlblog.com/newohnblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dawson-crying.jpg

[The Doctor]

Steve and Jason have decided to keep it simple. They'll each have three advisors, the three most recent from their team to be fired from their team.

So Matt, Glenn, James - you'll be helping Steve.

Oz, Jason, Kiai - you'll be helping Jason.

The final task will be posted shortly.

I'll need a link to the google group

[Matthew Brown]

I'll need a link to the google group

Just go to groups in your gmail!

[Steve Marshall]

Oh no, not Steve!

*sniff*

I planned a huge welcome back party and everything! I even made a piñata...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8mkWBrapn8A/TCpSjdf6XXI/AAAAAAAACus/d7kk5FIJAs4/s1600/IMG_3450.JPG

[Ray G.]

Steve. Jason. It's time for your final challenge - The Big Kahuna.

Infinite Crisis. House of M. Civil War. Secret Invasion. Blackest Night. They were all megahits by top tier creative teams that changed the map of their universe forever. And for this challenge...you're going to give us the next one.

For this challenge, you're going to be crafting the next big DC and Marvel event. Jason, you picked Marvel, so Steve, you've got DC. And these two will be pitted directly against each other - as if they were released the same summer, in the vein of BN/Seige or IC/CW. You have the entire universe at your hands - all characters and editorial directions can be impacted by this, if you want.

This should be BIG. We want to see buzzworthy events, tie-ins that matter, and a lasting status quo change that will get people talking. You'll be judged on a lot of things - creativity, marketability - but more than anything, you'll be judged on whether this feels like a true big event.

Deliverable:

Our deliverables this week will be very specific and extensive. It is your final test. :)

- Your event needs a title and an artist. The title should be catchy and give an idea of what the event is, ideally.

- A logline for the event. A paragraph or less explaining the basic concept of the event to casual readers.

- The main mini, 6-8 issues. This will be "written" by you, and we need the most detail here. A full outline of the event, complete with all major events happening in it.

- The lead-in. This is up to you. It can be one issue, a la Civil War, or it can be a big build-up a la Infinite Crisis. We don't need too much detail here, just a basic idea of what goes on in the build-up. We also need creative teams for any new minis or one-shots.

- The tie-ins. This is a big event, and naturally one main mini will not be enough to contain it. Over the course of the 6-8 month main event, we want at least 30 tie-ins. We just need a basic idea of what they'll be, as well as any critical events that happen in them. We also need creative teams for any new minis or one-shots.

- The Aftermath. Your event shouldn't just end and everyone goes back to normal. We want there to be lasting effects of this event. What titles does the aftermath take place in, and what can readers expect from this new status quo? If you're launching new titles, give creative teams.

- Finally, we need a checklist. Month-by-month, from the lead-in to the aftermath, how does this unfold?

Good luck. You guys have your teams, and you will have an extra-long time to work on this assignment. In the end, we'll pit your two events against each other, and decide based on this project and the whole game, who wins Apprentice.

This challenge is due Friday, October 29th at 6 PM EST. Good luck.

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

Can I be a limited helper please?

[Ray G.]

Can I be a limited helper please?

I don't know what that would entail, and it would complicate things, since the other team would need a limited helper too to balance it.

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

I don't know what that would entail, and it would complicate things, since the other team would need a limited helper too to balance it.

Fair enough.

[I AM GROOT!]

Ray,

Do the lead-ins and tie-ins necessarily have to be limited to one-shots or mini series? Can they also occur in monthly series?

Also, since this is ideally a summer event, how tightly do we have to adhere to continuity (potential and future, that is)?

[Ray G.]

Ray,

Do the lead-ins and tie-ins necessarily have to be limited to one-shots or mini series? Can they also occur in monthly series?

Also, since this is ideally a summer event, how tightly do we have to adhere to continuity (potential and future, that is)?

They can take place in ongoings too, if you want, and I'll assume that the creative teams for the ongoing series that they take place in are the current ones, unless you specify otherwise.

You have some freedom. The event pretty much supersedes everything else, as we know, but you should try to stick to the big things. This should feel like it's taking place in the current MU/DC. Definitely don't worry about future continuity, though.

[I AM GROOT!]

They can take place in ongoings too, if you want, and I'll assume that the creative teams for the ongoing series that they take place in are the current ones, unless you specify otherwise.

You have some freedom. The event pretty much supersedes everything else, as we know, but you should try to stick to the big things. This should feel like it's taking place in the current MU/DC. Definitely don't worry about future continuity, though.

Cool, that helps a lot. Thanks!

[JamesV]

Steve's already told me his idea and I think Groot should just surrender now.

:D

[Superior Kiai]

Steve's already told me his idea and I think Groot should just surrender now.

:D

Robots don't know the word surrender!!!! :-x





















No, really. We don't. What does it mean???

[I AM GROOT!]

Steve's already told me his idea and I think Groot should just surrender now.

:D

Never!

[JamesV]

Never!


No dude. Trust me. It's over.

Four words:

Grodd in a Thong.

[I AM GROOT!]

No dude. Trust me. It's over.

Four words:

Grodd in a Thong.

Eh. It lacks the bite of my Aunt May in dominatrix gear. Six issues of Peter Parker's favorite aunt breaking into the underground porn industry.

[Superior Kiai]

No dude. Trust me. It's over.

Four words:

Grodd in a Thong.

It was done in Flash #7.

Go look it up.

[I AM GROOT!]

Hey, Ray,

How much detail do you need for the aftermath? As much detail as for the lead-ins and tie-ins (titles, description of what happens in those titles, etc.), or just a summarized paragraph describing where things will go from here?

[Ray G.]

Hey, Ray,

How much detail do you need for the aftermath? As much detail as for the lead-ins and tie-ins (titles, description of what happens in those titles, etc.), or just a summarized paragraph describing where things will go from here?

A little less than the tie-ins (you can just give us the most important beats), but I'd like them broken down into the individual titles.

[I AM GROOT!]

A little less than the tie-ins (you can just give us the most important beats), but I'd like them broken down into the individual titles.

Okay, cool. Thanks!

[Mylazycat]

*prepares to bake a cake for the winner*

[I AM GROOT!]

*prepares to bake a cake for the winner*

It better be real icing this time! Saying "I personally frosted it" is not going to cut it.

[Mylazycat]

It better be real icing this time! Saying "I personally frosted it" is not going to cut it.

That was Roman at the Survivor after party, not me.

[I AM GROOT!]

That was Roman at the Survivor after party, not me.

Oh, was it? After the mojitos, everyone started to look alike...at one point, I even thought the pay phone was Ray. :surrend:

[Matthew Brown]

*boos Ray*

[I AM GROOT!]

As I'm heading off to work for the remainder of the day, my submission has been sent to Ray! :)

[Ray G.]

Thanks, Jason. And good luck to the final two. Just a little over 8 hours left! :D

[Ray G.]

15 minutes until...the final judgement!

[Ray G.]

Posting the submissions shortly.

[Ray G.]

- Your event needs a title and an artist. The title should be catchy and give an idea of what the event is, ideally.

MIND GAMES
Written by Steven Marshall
Penciled by David Finch

- A logline for the event. A paragraph or less explaining the basic concept of the event to casual readers.

Logline:

Led by Lex Luthor, a group of the DC Universe's most feared super-villains have banded together in a plot to take over the minds of the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans. Each villain has his or her own personal motives for participating in the plot, but Lex's own ultimate goal is to, through a reign of terror, discredit all superheroes in the eye of the public forever. He is well on his way, forcing the DCU's remaining heroes rise up against their family, friends, and mentees.

Possession Cheat Sheet:

Teen Titans:
Superboy <- Lex Luthor
Kid Flash <- Trickster
Wonder Girl <- Cheetah (Barbara Ann Minerva)
Robin (Damien Wayne) <- Ra's al Ghul
Beast Boy <- Toyman (Winslow Schott)
Raven <- Enigma
Aqualad <- Black Manta

Justice League of America
Batman (Dick Grayson) <- Joker
Captain Marvel (Freddy Freeman) <- Dr. Sivana
Cyborg <- Caculator
Donna Troy <- Circe
Jade <- Plastique
Jesse Quick <- Baroness Blitzkrieg
Starman <- Solomon Grundy
Supergirl <- Lucy Lane

- Finally, we need a checklist. Month-by-month, from the lead-in to the aftermath, how does this unfold?

Schedule:


Tie-in List:
Action Comics [3 issues]
Supergirl [3 issues]
Superboy [2 issues]
Teen Titans / Red Robin [5 issues]
The Flash [3 issues]
Power of Shazam! [3 issues]
Justice League of America [4 issues]
Batman [3 issues]
Batman and Robin [3 issues]
Batgirl [2 issues]
JSA [3 issues]
Green Lantern [3 issues]
Wonder Woman [2 issues]

Month 1.
Injustice Society: The Agenda
MIND GAMES 1
Batman 1
Action Comics 1
Teen Titans 1
JSA 1
Supergirl 1

Month 2.
MIND GAMES 2
Batman 2
Action Comics 2
Teen Titans 2
Supergirl 2
JSA 2
Red Robin 1
Batman and Robin 1
Justice League 1
Green Lantern 1
Batgirl 1

Month 3
MIND GAMES 3
Batman 3
Action Comics 3
Teen Titans 3
JSA 3
Supergirl 3
Red Robin 2
Batman and Robin 2
Justice League 2
Green Lantern 2
Batgirl 2
Flash 1
Shazam 1
Superboy 1
Wonder Woman 1

Month 4
MIND GAMES 4
Batman and Robin 3
Justice League 3
Green Lantern 3
Flash 2
Shazam 2
Superboy 2
Wonder Women 2

Month 5
MIND GAMES 5
Justice League 4
Flash 3
Shazam 3
MIND GAMES 6
JLA/Teen Titans: Fallen From Grace
Checkmate #1


- The lead-in. This is up to you. It can be one issue, a la Civil War, or it can be a big build-up a la Infinite Crisis. We don't need too much detail here, just a basic idea of what goes on in the build-up. We also need creative teams for any new minis or one-shots.

Lead-In:

Injustice Society: The Agenda – 48-Page One Shot
Written by Steven Marshall
Penciled by Ethan Van Sciver

For years, Lex Luthor has set by watching the heroes of the earth, watching Superman and the rest of his ilk strut about like kings while humans have been pushed aside as bottom feeders. He and the Injustice Society have tried to break the heroes in several different ways, but each time he's only been met with failure. It's why Luthor has decided to turn to the axiom -- "if you can't beat them, join them" and why he has brought these villains together.

Set days before the main event, Luthor has weaponised a nanite-delivery system meant to treat brain cancer. The idea -- stolen from STAR Labs -- was to use the small machines to attach to parts of the brain. Luthor, using his vast resources, smarts and fortune has forged an uneasy alliance with Gorilla Grodd on an amplifying machine that will let him target the nanites across long distance and use them as a gateway to take one psychic impression and implant it over another person's.

Time being of the essence, Luthor sets up two traps – the first: hiring a dozen low rent, but powerful villains to attack and sink a cruise ship with several prominent diplomats onboard. The trap works, luring out the Justice League. During the battle, an explosion sends Congorilla over board, knocking him out of the battle.

Meanwhile, the Teen Titans must contend with Luthor's second trap: a second group of low rent villains have been sent to rob a downtown bank with excessive force near the San Francisco Bay, the location of the Titans Tower, the home of Teen Titans.

As the other heroes do their heroic jobs, Luthor's traps springs and the heroes are exposed to the nannies -- embedded in an ordorless, colorless, tasteless gas. The nannies make their way through the heroes bodies, sitting in the brain, waiting for Grodd and his machine to be power on and the begin the fun.

- The main mini, 6-8 issues. This will be "written" by you, and we need the most detail here. A full outline of the event, complete with all major events happening in it.

Mind Games:

Written by Steven Marshall
Penciled by David Finch

Our main story begins with the ominous assemblage of supervillains on Grodd's high security jungle compound. The tension is high as distrustful glances are exchanged between everyone. Even with the magnitude of the opportunity Lex and Grodd have presented them, they are still uncomfortable trusting the two with their lives. But superseding their distrust is their thirst for power and they willingly allow Lex's scientists to strap their bodies into the imposing machine before them. Lex strolls in and and has a brief exchange with Grodd, telling him not to screw this up, before assuming his place amongst the rest of the villains with Grodd hooked up to the machines in the center. As the scientists and gorilla soldiers look on, the machine is activated and all the supervillains enter a brief period of excruciating pain before lulling into a sleep-like-state as their minds are imprinted on the disconnected and now-dormant minds of the previously marked JLA and Teen Titans.

It's evening in Gotham, as we see Bruce sitting in front of the main monitor of the Batcave talking to Dick and Damian, who are out in the Batmobile. The first thing Bruce hears is both of them cry out before dead silence. This silence is short lived, however, as the next thing he hears is his first ward begin an all too familiar laugh, quickly growing in pace and insanity as it rumbles through Bruce's spine. (Continued in Batman 1)

We go to the JLA's Jesse Quick, on a quiet night at home, eating dinner with her husband (the JSA's Hourman), before she undergoes a similar shock to her system, much to Hourman's concern. She comes to [under the control of Baroness Blitzkrieg], and is shocked to find her speed missing. Crazily repeating “Where's my speed?”, she surprises herself by flinging the dining room table, caught unaware by Jesse's super-strength. Hourman tries to calm her down, in doing so mentions speed formula and suggests they go see Dr. Mid-Nite. Feigning coming back to her senses, she gets him to uncomfortably repeat the speed formula again, and her expression turns into a sneer before Hourman is hit by the force of the boom in the wake of her exit. (Continued in JSA 1)

Lex Luthor [Superboy] is hovering outside Luthor's LexCorp office, towering high above the city, apparently having a conversation with himself. In reality, he’s talking to Superboy whose mind he has hijacked. Angrily, he lets him know that he done this for one reason and one reason only, to show how much of a threat these so called “superheroes” are. He's tired of being treated like a criminal while superheroes are being worshiped as gods. Regaining his composure, Luthor tells him that he's going to pull them all off of that pedestal in one fell swoop, before smashing into his office, obviously drawing the attention of LexCorp security. Upon their arrival, his eyes began to glow red as a smile appears upon his face. Test driving the range of his new powers on the helpless security force. He is obviously enjoying himself when the chirp of Superboy's cell phone goes off. Reaching into his jean pocket, he looks at it, and sees the caller: “TT.” Chuckling to himself as he throws the phone aside, he looks through the opposite pocket and inquisitively pulls out wallet. Looking inside, the last name on the driver's license throws him for a loop and the wallet falls out of it's as it all comes together with one word: “Kent.”

The second issue opens with the Joker, in the midst of his terrorization of Gotham in the body of Dick Grayson, eerily standing in a dark room looking in to a mirror, contemplating taking off the mask, before his insane mind comes to the realization that if he removes the mask, Batman will no longer be Batman.

We then go to Cyborg [The Calculator] and Jade [Plastique] meeting outside The Hall, the JLA's Earth base that doubles as museum open to the public. The two are supposed to wait for Grundy, but they realize he's probably busy rampaging in his new non-rotting body [Starman]. Walking past all the all-struck people, the duo jokes about bringing the building down on all their heads once their mission is completed. Making their way past all the security protocols put in place, they head to the transporter room, where they beam up to the JLA's Satellite Watchtower. [Continuing in Green Lantern 1]

Meanwhile, Bruce, in the midst of chasing down with the Joker-possessed Dick Grayson's path of rampage, tries contacting Red Robin, in the hopes that he can track down the now discovered to be missing Damien, but much to his chagrin, Bruce learns that Red Robin is already on the move, assembling a team to join him at Titan’s Tower to help take down his former teammates. Knowing his options are limited, Bruce tells Alfred there's a person he needs to go recruit: Jason Todd. [Continuing in Batman & Robin 1 & Red Robin 1]

Still reeling from discovering the truth of Superman's identity, Lex goes to the place synonymous with Clark Kent: the Daily Planet. Ascending to the peak and grabbing the large globe symbol from it's peak, he tears it from it's foundation and lobs it down. Amidst the screams of the citizens below, Superman appears and catches the globe in an Atlas-type position before it collides with the busy city streets. The relief is short-lived when, like a dive-bomber, Lex descends on top of him, smashing through the globe. A baffled Superman can only get out a confused “Conner...?” before Lex lets him know “Conner is not here, Clark.”

Issue three picks up from there with Superboy [Lex Luthor] pummeling a confused Superman, all the while questioning how could he have had the audacity to walk around under his nose the whole time as the mild-mannered Clark Kent. As Superman struggles back to his feet, Lex flying tackles him through a building before continuing both his lecture and brutal assault.

Interwoven will highlights from the final showdown between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson [Joker], Clearly knowing it’s not exactly Dick that he’s fighting, Bruce attempts to hold but the BatJoker is playing for keeps, going so far as to stab the real deal in the arm with a Batarang. The fight takes them to the streets of Gotham as BatJoker tries to kill his apparent doppelganger while continually laughing. The fight eventually is won as Batman has no choice but to deliver a devastating blow to BatJoker that completely levels him. Batman has little time to rest as the call comes through that he is needed elsewhere.

Picking up from the JSA tie-in, Jesse Quick [Baroness Blitzkrieg] and the Baroness' team, the Fourth Reich, have reunited and are dominating the reluctant Hourman and JSA, when a gloating Baroness, standing over the Star-Spangled Kid, suddenly collapses to the shock of both groups.

Superboy [Lex Luthor], delirious with power and the upper-hand, is daring Superman to fight back, telling him he's weak and laughing at the hypocrisy of wanting to be “Earth's Savior” but not being willing to do whatever it takes to live up to the role when it's at the expense of one of his own. Superman, having had enough, is finally pushed into fighting back at full force and shows Lex the difference in their power. Reluctantly beating Superboy [Lex] near unconsciousness, his emergency communicator goes off. Picking up the the channel, it's from Bruce. Jesse Quick is dead and the Dr. Mid-Nite suspects the same fate will eventually happen to the rest of the possessed heroes and their unwelcome guests.

Through Superboy's super-hearing, a barely conscious Lex also hears the news and instantly knows that they're the victims of a Grodd double-cross.

We pick up issue four with Grodd, laughing with his top-level soldiers, celebrating their coup. His plan to kill both the heroes and villains is going off without a hitch. He has plans for their now-dormant bodies down the line as well: imprint some of his gorilla soldiers on to them in order to use their resources to further his rule.

Batman, injured from his bloody bout with Dick Grayson [Joker] leads the coordination efforts amongst the reorganizing heroes and their captured targets: arranging meetings at the hidden transporter stations around the country and coordinating the rustling up the stragglers (some offering more resistance than the others.)

Via autopsy, the consortium of scientists working among them working together surmise that Jesse Quick's/The Baroness's death was a result of Grodd introducing a time bomb-like mental element into the possession. Whatever Grodd did to them likely hit Jesse Quick [Baroness Blitzkrieg] in a shorter timespan as a restart of starting up her unnatural connection with the Speed Force.

A core group of heroes form and discuss their current options, including having the telepaths push out the villain's minds now, thus saving the heroes whose bodies they inhabit. When presented with the fact that it would most likely kill the villains (because of how far their bodies are away in proximately from their mind's present location without having access to Grodd's technology), tempers flare up briefly, before calming down and everyone coming to a consensus that they've got to give the villains the best shot at surviving this they can.

Realizing that the only way is to get into Grodd's compound fast enough to not alert Grodd and put their held bodies at risk, both factions put agree aside their differences... for now.

In issue five, the assembled heroes and villains mixed amongst the JLA's carriers. Upon descent, the temporarily united mega-faction undergo a serious of orchestrated efforts get them close to site their now-dormant bodies are located. As the unified group gets close to their target, the villains all begin feeling weak and collapse, their time up.

They telepaths state they aren't not close enough in proximately as they'd like, nor did they want to transfer the villain's minds back in a batch, but unfortunately, they do not have any other option. The telepaths commence with the transfer and fortunately, the transfer appears to be a success. As the young heroes are reviving, everyone believes all is well, when it is revealed that these aren't the heroes in control at all: the villains now have sole possession of the heroes' bodies, the transfer backfiring due to circumstance.

Our final issue begins the villain possessed-heroes being jilted up from their machine-induced sleep. Looking at the villains is a shock for Grodd as he expected to see the empty shells that he would use for later purposes.

Meanwhile, anarchy breaks out as the villain-possessed heroes either charge towards revenge towards Grodd or the opposite way towards escape with their new bodies, with the majority of superheroes forced to deal with preventing the latter. As Grodd and his gorilla army corner and prepare to seize the Joker [Dick Grayson]-led group, Superboy [Lex Luthor], leads the charge towards Grodd and the scene erupts into a battle royal.

Superboy [Lex Luthor] gets the upper hand on Grodd and is on the verge of killing him, berating him for his treachery. Fortunately for Grodd, salvation comes from an ironic source as he is saved by Lex Luthor [Superboy] of all people, sporting a chuck of kryptonite that Luthor brought just in case things went south and Superman showed up.

Decking his “father,” Lex [Superboy] tells Grodd he needs to get them all back in their bodies right now, to which a recovering Grodd remains defiant, asking why he should help them. He receives a sufficient enough answer in the form of a question in "Would you rather have the regular Lex come after you or the Superboy Lex?"

Scrambling back into the machines, while the others hold everyone else at bay, Grodd returns everyone in their respective bodies. United and stronger, the villains are defeated.

Epilogue: Lex Luthor is holding a press conference outside of a courthouse, thanking the court for justice regarding his release from the false accusation of his involvement. He turns it to a speech about how justice is a fragile thing and it shouldn't handed out for just anyone to distribute, regardless if they are faster than a speeding bullet.. He goes on about how they are dangerous as proven in their recent escapade, regardless if they want to take responsibility for their actions or not. He wraps it up when he catches the Clark Kent amongst the crowd. He gestures for Clark to join him in his limo, telling the other people in his entourage they can find another ride. Rolling up the privacy window inside, Lex tells him he has a scoop for him: the identity of Superman. Clark asks why hasn't he announced it yet, and Lex tells him the only thing better than announcing his identity to the world, is to have Superman in his back pocket. Clark gets up close to him and stoically responds that if he were Superman, he'd have been preparing for this day for a long time, compiling all sorts of dirt on the atrocities that Lex had his had in, the stuff only Superman could get, just in case the day would ever come if he had to protect his family, friends, and the life he built, he could look him dead in the eye and tell him that coming after them would be an act of suicide many times over. Clark then taps on the privacy window, telling the driver that he'll walk.


- The tie-ins. This is a big event, and naturally one main mini will not be enough to contain it. Over the course of the 6-8 month main event, we want at least 30 tie-ins. We just need a basic idea of what they'll be, as well as any critical events that happen in them. We also need creative teams for any new minis or one-shots.

Tie-ins:

Outside of The Power of Shazam miniseries, which will be the springboard into a new ongoing by the same creative team, the other tie-ins will take place in ongoing titles.

Action Comics
Written by Paul Cornell
Penciled by Pete Wood

"Lex Luthor: Boy of Steel"

What would Lex Luthor do with the power of a Kryptonian? In this tie-in to the hot new event, MIND GAMES, Lex Luthor finds himself in the body of his and Superman's clone, and no longer standing in the shadow of gods. Now with Superman's death on the horizon and a bright new future ahead, Luthor must prove he can do what he's always said: Save and elevate mankind himself. He decided to briefly live the life of a superhero. He saves a cat from a tree, he stops a bank heist, he stops the vile experiments of the invading alien race known as the Psions. After finally saving Japan from giant monsters alongside Big Science Action, Lex realizes something from the whole experience. He's felt absolutely nothing for the lives he's saved, the wrongs he's righted, the justice he's served. He rationalizes that he just doesn't have the ego of these "superheroes," and flies off more determined than ever to take Superman and his ilk down.

Supergirl
Written by Nick Spencer
Penciled by Bernard Chang

Thanks to the events of MIND GAMES, poor Kara is being joy ridden by Lois Lane's obnoxious and power-hungry younger sister. But there's no time to worry about her predicament, as a group of her cousin's foes have begun a crime and murder spree through Metropolis. Kara must reign in the immature brat in control of her faculties and convince her to take on the combined villainy of Parasite, Livewire, Metallo and, in her first non-DCAU appearance, Volcana. The pair tracks them down, at first in one failed battle royale, and then again one by one. In the midst of this, Kara gets to know her invader, oddly bonding on some level. In the end, though, Lucy reveals she won't ever leave Kara's body because her own "Kryptonian-like" powers are killing hers.

Superboy
Written by Jeff Lemire
Penciled by Pier Gallo

When Superboy first discovered his genetic connection to Lex Luthor, it nearly destroyed him. But now, thanks to the events of MIND GAMES, he's in for even more traumatic times as his villainous "father" has taken control of his body and imprisoned him in their shared brain. It's a battle of the mind as Superboy makes his way through the psyche of his and Superman's greatest enemy. Wading through their combined history, and his own origins, Conner eventually comes face to face with a red-haired Superman backed up with LexCorp tech and Luthor's mind. A struggle ensues, and Conner is beaten and chained up in the darkest corners of his unconsciousness. But before passing out, he glimpses something there long forgotten. A sinister, shapeless mass, whispering one word. Cadmus.

This will leads into “The Kryptonian Candidate”, a upcoming post-event arc where Superboy discovers there is a trigger in his head from Cadmus, and must not only find out what it's for, but who has the power to switch it on.

Teen Titans / Red Robin
Written by JT Krul / Fabian Nicieza
Penciled by Nicola Scott / Marcus To

"Clash of the Titans" (Parts 1, 3 and 5) / "Clash of the Titans" (Parts 2 and 4)

One morning, a sick Rose Wilson wakes up to find the Teen Titans are no longer themselves. After a brief battle, she slips into Tim Drake's old "Robin Cave" under the tower, hits the panic button and locks herself in. Tim receives a distress signal from Titans Tower and finds himself looking at an injured and annoyed Ravager in his communicator, telling him the Teen Titans have gone all pod people. Right away, Tim calls former members from all sorts of eras, and assigns squads to different tasks, while personally leading Static and Blue Beetle into the tower. Others attempt to track down and contain, with different amounts of success, the possessed heroes wreaking havok. Aquagirl confronts Aqualad alongside Aquaman and Mera, and the Atlanteans learns that Black Manta's mind is inside his son. Manta's attempt to level Atlantis with marine life fails, and he flees, with the Aqua Family in hot (“wet?”) pursuit. In the end, the replacement Titans return to act as cavalry for Red Robin, Ravager, Blue Beetle and Static in a last stand against Beast Boy and Raven, winning the day, but at the expense of Titans Towers' destruction.

The Flash
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Francis Manupal

"Bouncing off the Walls Again"

The Trickster is in Bart's body and the fun and games are hitting light speed. Barry and Wally team up to try to save Kid Flash. But when the Trickster's practical jokes cross a line -- and put Wally's wife Linda in the emergency room -- he draws the attention of Captain Cold and the other Rogues. The Rogues have always believed in rules and order and now that system is jeopardized. As their number one rule has always been never kill a Flash, they now face the hard task of stopping the Trickster without killing him. Trickster-Bart leads Barry, Wally, Impulse and Max Mercury on a race around the world, that culminates in a three way battle with the Rogues over Bart. At battles end, Barry and Wally have secured Trickster-Bart, but the bigger question is how are they going to get him back to normal?

Power of Shazam!
Written by Grant Morrison
Penciled by Jim Calafiore

"What's the Magic Word?"

The Shazam family returns! Freddie Freeman, the last member of the Marvel family with powers, has been taken over by the villainous Dr. Silvana. The once wretched and decrepit doctor now has the body of the world's mightiest mortal and he's ready and more than willing to flex his muscle all over Fawcett City. But running amuck and causing chaos quickly bores the doctor who gives into his own scientific curiosity and begins exploring the Shazam powers from the inside out (with the hopes of becoming even more powerful). Meanwhile, Billy and Mary -- desperate to try and find a way to save Freddie -- turn to the wizard Shazam for help. Once stripped of their powers by the wizard, the two are now given a chance to redeem themselves: a journey beneath the earth to retrieve a magical relic from thousands of years ago. What they find is not just a rusted centuries old ankh, but a new sense of heroism. Repowered, the two set off after Freddie [Dr. Silvana] in the hopes that it's not too late to save their friend.

This mini sets the stage for a new ongoing Shazam post-event.

Justice League of America
Written by James Robinson
Pencilled by Mark Bagley

With the rest of the Justice League under the control of supervillians, Congorilla finds himself the odd ape out. Determined to do what he can, Congorilla finds the source of all the trouble and goes undercover into Grodd's Simian army. A tense game of Donnie Brasco-style undercover work for Congorilla will come crashing down in a brutal battle between Grodd and Congo. Left bloodied and near death, Congorilla will dig down deep and make a last ditch attempt to occupy Grodd, giving the others the time they need.

Meanwhile, watch as the covert organization Checkmate dispatched their agents to stop the now body swapped superheroes! And in the midst of it all, watch the heroes and villains react to this New World Order. The foundations of the post-event JLA are poured in these issues!

Batman
Written & Penciled by Tony Daniel

Delivering brutal justice from crimes ranging from theft to littering with an Adam West demeanor, the Joker has possessed Batman [Dick Grayson] and is like a kid in a candy store, terrorizing Gotham City in the guise of his archenemy and a leaving a bloody trail behind him. Looking to add the villain Two-Face to his list of victims, to his surprise another Batman appears demanding he surrenders. This appearance at first baffles BatJoker who let’s out an insane laugh that in even by becoming him he still can’t get rid of his enemy. Trying to hold back, recognizing Dick is not in his right mind, Bruce gets stabbed in the arm with a Batarang, and has too pull out all the stops in order to defeat his protege.

Batman and Robin
Written by Peter Tomasi
Penciled by Patrick Gleason

“The Little Birdie That Flew The Coup”

Finding no sign of Damian with the Joker-possessed Dick Grayson , Bruce enlists Alfred to recruit the only man available for the job, the black sheep of the Bat Family: Jason Todd. Through a diligent Oracle, they find that Ra's possessed Damien has hooked up with the League of Assassins and attempting to leave the country. Joining with Damien's estranged mother and Ra's daughter Talia , the three make a desperate attempt to retrieve him before both Damien's and Ra's time is up.

Batgirl
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Penciled by Dustin Nguyen

While Batman is dealing with BatJoker [Dick Grayson], someone needs to keep the peace in Gotham City, and that falls on the shoulders of Batgirl, as she deals with the other chaos surrounding Gotham, including a plot involving a theft masterminded by the Scarecrow and Stephanie will have no choice but to face her fears and rise to the occasion.

JSA

Written by Marc Guggenheim
Penciled by Scott Kollins

“The Final Lap”

Long jealous of her speed, the JLA's Jesse Quick has been possessed by Baroness Blitzkrieg. Her husband, Hourman calls in the JSA for assistance and together they find she's joined back up with her old running buddies, The Fourth Reich. As the battle is in progress, Jesse [Baroness] suddenly collapses and dies as the heroes learn that they have bigger problem to deal with regarding the body snatching of their comrades.

Green Lantern
Written by Geoff Johns
Penciled by Ivan Reis

The villain-possessed Cyborg [The Calculator] and Jade [Plastique] have found their trip to the JLA's Satellite Watchtower rather easy. As part of Grodd's payment, the two have agreed to enter and use the JLA's new weaponized Watchtower to destroy Gorilla City, Grodd's home that banished him long ago. But the two discover getting on is one thing and being on is another, with a tougher batch of security protocols on board to prevent times just like this. Checking the situation out once the villains have been declared hostile by Watchtower, Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart must protect the intruders inside their friends' bodies (as well as themselves!) from the JLA's dangerous space base.

Wonder Woman
Written by Gail Simone
Penciled by Jamal Igle

Circe is in the body of Donna Troy and she's just itching for a rematch with Wonder Woman with both Donna's strength and her magic at her disposal! Going on a rampage to draw Dinah out, she gets her wish, as a confused Wonder Woman arrives and finds that the best approach for dealing with her former mentee is “shoot first and ask questions later”. Wonder Woman weathers the storm against Circe's two pronged attack and gets the upper hand, when she finds out that she is not alone with Wonder Girl [possessed by Cheetah] making the situation a lot more complicated. Fortunately, Dinah is maneuver the two against each other long enough for her to defeat the past and present Wonder Girls and set about getting them the help they need.



- The Aftermath. Your event shouldn't just end and everyone goes back to normal. We want there to be lasting effects of this event. What titles does the aftermath take place in, and what can readers expect from this new status quo? If you're launching new titles, give creative teams.

Aftermath:

JLA/Teen Titans: Fallen From Grace (One Shot)
Written by Steven Marshall
Penciled by Ethan Van Sciver

Following the events of MIND GAMES, this book will explore how much the ordeal has taken it's toll on the the possessed members of the JLA and Teen Titans. As they fight to not crumble under the guilt of the actions done in their bodies and band together to become better and more vigilant heroes.

We also take a look at the public in a redefining the DCU, establishing an increased sense of fear, not specifically at these just men and women with extraordinary abilities, but at the idea that these men and women have been corrupted and can be corrupted again. Walking alongside just gods was one thing, walking along corruptible gods with no checks and balances is another. In that sense, even in defeat, Lex has accomplished what he set out to do, and the ramifications will be felt for quite some time.

Checkmate (Ongoing)

Written By Paul Cornell
Penciled by Sean Phillips

"Beings of Mass Destruction"

The United Nations Security Council charted organization Checkmate is thrust into the spotlight in the aftermath of INSERT CROSSOVER NAME HERE. The fallout from the villains' plan has left a deep scar in the psyche of the mortal men of the world and Checkmate is determined to not let it happen again. As a global resolution is debated on the UN floor, Mr. Terrific, the August General in Iron, Thinker, and Sasha Bordeaux work secretly on their own projects: a device to protect the superhuman community mentally, a new state of the art Supermax prison system, and a global secret world wide information structure (a privatized checkmate internet system) (all three projects under the codename: zwischenzug.) But at what point does protecting the world put you on the wrong side of the bureaucratic line? As the pressure mounts, Mr. Terrific and co. will learn what happens when both sides (hero and human) learn of the project (hint: they don't approve) and when the dust settles, the familiar face of Amanda Waller will once again be walking the halls of Checkmate.

The event will ripple through the DCU as a whole, but have a immediate effects on events taking place in the ongoing series of JLA, Teen Titans, the Superman titles, and aforementioned Checkmate.

The Superman Titles -
The books will further explore this new dynamic between Lex and Clark, locked in a Cold War scenario, with Clark dealing that Lex knows and Lex dealing with both his new found knowledge and learning at the end of the event that Clark has been preparing for such a scenario.

Teen Titans -
Riding shotgun while a villain is in the driver's seat is enough to give any hero to experience post-traumatic stress and/or do some soul searching. Readers can expect character exploration and some roster changes (for instance, Red Robin returns to the Titans full time) and re-enforcment that the Teen Titans are a family first and foremost.

JLA -
Likewise will the current JLA deal with these issues in their title, but on a more tangible level, self-burdened by an oversight that they as the preeminent superhero team in the DCU should have been prepared for, seek to prevent this or any similar scenario ever again, looking towards the future and reestablishing their role as a beacon in the DCU.



The Shadow War

When the Darkness Can No Longer Be Contained.

With the recent commercial and critical successes of Marvel’s last few years of events – including, but not limited to, House of M, Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, and Siege – Marvel’s latest event, scheduled for a Summer 2011 release, is titled The Shadow War. Planned as a six-issue monthly series, The Shadow War, as with Marvel’s past events, will be broken down into lead-ins, tie-ins, and the event aftermath. The focus of this event is on the Darkforce, a powerful, extra-dimensional energy that has often been in the background of many past Marvel stories, as well as a source for the powers of many of Marvel’s finest characters. However, while there has been a focus on this supposedly sentient energy, the origin – and what actually lives within this dimension – has been largely unexplored; this event will resolve that, turning all corners of the Marvel Universe upside down and introducing an other-worldly threat – Sadeh, the Shadow Lord – that will test our heroes like they have rarely been tested.

In terms of the acts of this event, the lead-in will introduce pieces of the mystery, all of which will take place in selected monthly titles. While serving as a lead-in, each title will still progress as it would with its regular subplots and can be enjoyed on its own merit. Similarly, the tie-ins that run concurrently with the main event will be divided into eight three or four-issue mini-series with two ancillary one-shots – Photon and Shadow Lord – that will spotlight two of the important players in the main series; none of the regular monthly titles will be affected during this period. Going into the aftermath, there will be an epilogue one-shot that will directly deal with the ramifications of the main series, and from here, several characters or loose ends will be dealt with for the next couple of months in several of Marvel’s ongoing series. Most importantly, however, will be the new ongoing series and mini-series that are spawned from this event, series that ideally will serve to not only enhance readers’ experiences from the event’s beginning to its end, but also to propel characters and their stories into new and exciting directions for the next several years.

The Lead-Ins: The Shadow War Prologues

The goal with the lead-ins is to plant seeds in the readers’ minds, that there is something important developing – a foundation being laid – and that, while enjoying the regular stories in their favorite titles, they can also plan on picking up these seeds and following them into the main series a few months down the line. In picking what titles to spotlight as lead-ins, the most important factor was to place them in titles that made sense, that have dealt with Darkforce-related characters before. The other factor was to take a few of the better-selling titles and mix them with some of the middle-tier titles, and, in the case of Deadpool’s title, have a little fun with the idea, as well.

Amazing Spider-Man #658-659 – Corrupted, Parts 1 and 2. THE SHADOW WAR PROLOGUE. Written by Dan Slott and art by Marcos Martin. During the April 2011 releases, Amazing Spider-Man, on its bi-weekly schedule, will serve as a prologue to our upcoming event. In this two-issue lead-in to this summer’s Marvel event, Spider-Man will encounter the Shadow Clan for the first time. Up to this point, and throughout the other lead-ins, the Shadow Clan’s true agenda remains vague, but we not only know that they have an interest in Darkforce-endowed users, but also seem to utilize certain aspects of the Darkforce dimension. In these issues, they focus on a specific target: Mr. Negative. Like Cloak, Mr. Negative was granted powers utilizing the Darkforce through experimentation, and the Shadow Clan – and the Undercloaks introduced in Secret Avengers #11 – have an interest in Martin Li. With the Shadow Clan seeking to capture Li, Spider-Man (once again caught in the middle) attempts to help Li and his Inner Demons stop the Shadow Clan from abducting Li, but they ultimately fail to hold back the apparently superior group of warriors. However, once they’re able to confront Li, the Clan loses interest because they “sense” that his version of the Darkforce – specifically, the energy – is corrupted due to his split personality and not what they need. Story continued in The Shadow War #1.

Deadpool #34 – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. THE SHADOW WAR PROLOGUE. Written by Daniel Way and art by Carlo Barberi. As with many of Deadpool’s event tie-ins, this issue will serve as more of a tongue-in-cheek lead-in to the event. As a reserve member of the Great Lakes Avengers, Deadpool will be called in to help the team. Initially, he has no interest, but when he finds out that the threat the GLA is confronting is his “old nemesis” Black Talon, who has come out of super-villain retirement, Deadpool accepts. Lunacy ensues, but during the fight, Deadpool accidentally gets sucked into Doorman’s portal and becomes stranded in the Darkforce dimension, where, amid the other voices in his head, he hears another one that calls itself the Shadow Lord, who he mocks and ultimately angers. Before it can go any further, though, Doorman teleports Deadpool out of the Darkforce dimension. Angered, the issue ends with Deadpool punching Doorman and walking away, musing that this new voice was a lot more entertaining than the ones he is used to. Story continued in The Shadow War #1.

Fantastic Three #589-591 – Rumblings in the Distance, Parts 1-3. THE SHADOW WAR PROLOGUE. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Steve Epting. Still reeling from the death of the Human Torch following the epic “Three” storyline, these next three issues not only serve as the aftermath of that story and hint at what follows, but it will also tie directly into our main summer event. The Baxter Building will be infiltrated by a being only known as the Dark Raider, who attempts to use Reed’s portal to the Negative Zone. Reed, Sue, and Ben will catch him in the act, and they fight, with the Dark Raider, who uses some type of Darkforce blasts from a pair of gauntlets. They fail to stop him before he – almost effortlessly – activates the portal; the Fantastic Three chase after him, with Reed wondering if this Dark Raider has any relation to the past versions. Once in the Negative Zone, they end up clashing – and barely escape – with Blastaar’s army, who still has control of the Negative Zone Prison. A shadowy figure watches from a distance. They track the Dark Raider to the Crossroads of Infinity and begin to fight him, with Reed again thinking that there is something familiar about the villain. A stray blast coming from the Crossroads strikes the Dark Raider and mortally injures him. Reed unmasks him, revealing an exact duplicate of himself. This alternate Reed reveals that he is a former member of the Council and that, in his universe, he learned of a coming storm from the “black dimension” that would destroy all of reality. With the Council branding him a traitor for his inquiries into the event, the alternate Reed learned that the 616 Universe was the epicenter of this destruction and that there were weak spots in our reality where the Darkforce was strongest; plugging these spots was the first step to stopping the coming storm. Before his last breath, the alternate Reed hands our Reed a book that he had received from his dear friend, Leonardo da Vinci (a nod to Hickman’s SHIELD series) and that it would help him stop the evil from destroying their world. The Dark Raider dies, and the Fantastic Three escape back to the Baxter Building. Later, Reed looks through the book, noting that it’s in a language he’s never seen. He places the book in a universal translator and leaves the room, with his shadow being the last thing that vanishes. A few seconds later, another shadow, this one apparently originating on the same wall Reed’s shadow had been, slithers out of the room. As the storyline closes, the translator pulls a particular phrase from the book: “…when the darkness is unbalanced, and there are few to control it, the Lord of Shadows cometh.” Story continued in The Shadow War #1.

Secret Avengers #11-13 – Shroud of Darkness, Parts 1-3. THE SHADOW WAR PROLOGUE. Written by Ed Brubaker and art by Mike Deodato. These issues will officially introduce the Shadow Clan, a secret cult that worships an entity named Sadeh, the Shadow Lord; Sadeh is and represents the Darkforce dimension, a dimension that has incidentally gifted many superpowered individuals in the Marvel Universe with the ability to harness this dark energy in various manners. Also introduced are the Undercloaks, six cloaked – and supposedly scarred – priests of the Shadow Clan, who are also able to utilize Darkforce energy, as well as manipulate those who use it. The storyline itself will give clues to who this group is and that they intend to release Sadeh onto our world. When several Darkforce users are suddenly abducted, Steve Rogers gets his team together and, with the help of the Shroud, another Darkforce user, they attempt to seek out the Shadow Clan. As the issues unfold, some of the history of the Shadow Clan will be revealed, as will who and what the Shadow Lord is. The story will end with the Secret Avengers infiltrating a Shadow Clan hideout, but the Undercloaks get the upper hand and severely injure the Shroud, who is left in a coma by the story’s end. Story to be continued in The Shadow War #1.

Thunderbolts #154-156 – Brothers Aligned, Parts 1-3. THE SHADOW WAR PROLOGUE. Written by Jeff Parker and art by Kev Walker. Erik Josten, the former Thunderbolt called Atlas, arrives at the Raft, bloodied and frantic. One hour later, a ferry to Liberty Island disappears in a black mass, a mass that continues to grow. Atlas explains to Luke Cage and his crew that the cause is his brother Conrad, who had previously lost his Smuggler suit a while back and was retired from the superhero business. However, he still exhibited residual powers, possibly, he figured, from the time Conrad was stuck in the Darkforce dimension and that the suit somehow mutated his DNA. These powers, though, have grown out of control, specifically when Conrad was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor a few months back. Luke Cage recruits the Spot, with John Walker’s permission, who has powers that originate from the Darkforce. With the Spot and Atlas in tow, Cage and the Thunderbolts track Conrad down, who is trapped in the center of the Darkforce mass. Using the Spot’s knowledge, they manage to temporarily halt the mass long enough to put Conrad in a containment unit, which neutralizes his powers. With Conrad’s health getting worse and his powers becoming harder to contain, Cage takes the Fixer’s advice and uses Man-Thing to track down the one man who had helped Conrad the last time: Baron Zemo. Unfortunately, Zemo, after being taken back to the Raft, is unable to help Conrad, that there is an unnatural instability in the Darkforce that changes too erratically for him to cure Conrad. Zemo watches as Atlas sits at his brother’s bedside, until Conrad finally dies. As Atlas leaves the room and walks past Zemo, Atlas tells him, “Any deals between us are done.” In the closing pages, Cage sends Zemo away with Man-Thing, with Zemo telling Cage to “not count on me for any future assistance.” Story to be continued in The Shadow War #1.

The Main Event:

The next six months will be a fast-paced, but intriguing, time, as new enemies appear, and the attempted redemption and reorganization put into place during The Heroic Age turns out to be not quite as stable as it seemed. Just because one threat – such as Norman Osborn during Siege – is moved off the board does not necessarily mean that uneventful days await our heroes, and while emphasizing that, it was also the hope that this series would envision a mixture of classic Marvel good versus evil and mix that with modern Marvel storytelling. Each issue sets up a certain dynamic that is expanded upon in the next story, until it has climaxed to the final battle. In addition, while the Darkforce and its related characters will play a large part in this story, it is, for the most part, a Marvel Universe event, with the Avengers, Fantastic Three, and X-Men taking center stage in the developing story and the heated battles. As with any other event that juggles large amounts of characters, and because of the limited page space in the main series, certain specifics will be expanded upon and noted as continuing in related tie-in titles, which is discussed later on.

The Shadow War #1 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Phil Jimenez. The story opens at Ravencroft Institute where we pan onto a cell with the name “Henrique Gallante” engraved on the cell door. Henrique, the hero called Asylum, has recently been readmitted due to the Initiative’s collapse and his ever-slippery grasp on sanity; he’s been fitted with a power inhibitor collar around his neck. Outside the institute, six cloaked figures (the Shadow Clan’s Undercloaks) observe, before floating above the fenced-in building, with dark energy forming a foreboding circle in the evening sky. Back inside, dark light appears in Henrique’s eyes, and he smiles as the inhibitor collar falls away. The lights go out. Cut to several hours later where the Avengers have been called in due to a breakout at Ravencroft and begin to round up several of the nearby escaped patients; some still manage to escape, including, the director of the institute tells them, Henrique Gallante, who had vanished prior to the breakout.

Elsewhere, we cut to a government medical facility where the Shroud, we learn, was gravely injured in a battle with a group called the Shadow Clan and is now comatose in a hospital bed. Minutes after the nurse has checked on him, we see darkness project from him and then around his body, almost like a cocoon. The cloud clears, but the Shroud is no longer there; alarms go off with medical staff running down the hallway. Cut to the Raft where we see the Spot, back in his prison cell from where he was last seen in the Thunderbolts lead-in arc, sitting calmly one minute; the next minute, a scream erupts from his cell, and as guards run to his cell, they see a black hole shrinking into nothing on his cell wall and one of his arms from the elbow down lying on the cell floor.

Over the next twenty-four hours, more superpowered heroes and villains disappear, all, the Avengers determine, are characters who utilize some kind of dark energy. Tony Stark gets in contact with Project Pegasus, who has done research on the Darkforce, to gather whatever information they have. Upon learning of the Shroud’s disappearance, Steve Rogers also contacts the Avengers and fills them in on a cult called the Shadow Clan that his team of Avengers had run into.

As the Avengers plan, Cloak and Dagger are attacked that evening, and for the first time, we see how capable the Shadow Clan truly is. Both Cloak and Dagger are able to hold their own, with Cloak even pulling some of the Shadow Clan’s warriors into his cloak. The Undercloaks show up, however, and are able to inhibit Cloak’s use of the Darkforce, and, at one point, turn it on Dagger. As the Undercloaks are about to grab Cloak, Dagger blasts them, temporarily blinding them. Just as they teleport away, though, one of the Undercloaks fires a blast toward the pair. Cloak screams, and they disappear, leaving behind a smoldering mark on the ground.

The Shadow War #2 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Phil Jimenez. The issue opens at Project Pegasus where Tony Stark is meeting with its director, after having inquired about the Darkforce in The Shadow War #1. The director walks Stark to a holding area, where he is shown the villain Blackout, who, the director says, has been there since the fall of Asgard and has been an incoherent madman. While this isn’t the original Blackout, who they had done studies on in the past, his powers practically work the same way and that it seems that both Blackouts, as well as general Darkforce users, pull this energy from the Darkforce dimension, and when they do, it weakens the dimension itself and, ironically, strengthens the barriers between their world and the dark dimension. Stark takes that information back to Avengers Tower and contacts the X-Men and Fantastic Three, unaware that Chris Powell (Darkhawk) had been listening in to the director and Stark’s conversation. Meanwhile, several splinter groups of Avengers leave to track down the remaining known Darkforce users and get to them before the Shadow Clan can.

At the Baxter Building, Reed and Tony talk, with Reed, while being watched by an incorporeal shadow, finally discussing with Tony about a book he had been given by an alternate version of himself as a tool to use against some entity called the Shadow Lord. Reed tells Tony that he had the book translated from an alien language, that the book tells of the supposed separation between their universe (the “light” universe) and the Darkforce dimension (the “dark” universe), which supposedly goes back to the time of the Big Bang when Sadeh, the Shadow Lord, was the ruling god. The book, which appeared to be written hundreds of years ago, spoke about humans able to channel the dark power to keep the dimensions separate. Tony recounts what he had also found out at Project Pegasus, which seems to confirm Reed’s analysis of the book.

Back at Project Pegasus, Chris Powell approaches the director, admitting to eavesdropping on the conversation between Stark and the director, and that since he had returned to Earth, the amulet he holds as Darkhawk had been acting strangely, and he wondered if these happenings with the Darkforce users could be affecting it. As Chris and the director leave the room, we see Cloak and Dagger briefly teleport in, almost like ghosts, and then vanish just as quickly.

As the issue ends, we cut to the undisclosed hideout of the Shadow Clan and see various abducted Darkforce users in tubes. In a nearby room, the Undercloaks and other robed followers congregate. The mass of figures suddenly parts as one robed man – bald, with one pupil-less eye encircled with a dark black tattoo – strolls up to a table with an unknown female strapped down to it, pulls out an oddly shaped knife, and plunges it – off-panel – down toward her chest. As the issue ends, tendrils of darkness seep from her body and spread toward the six Undercloaks.

The Shadow War #3 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Phil Jimenez. The issue opens as the former Slinger – current Loner – Ricochet darts across rooftops, as if he’s being chased; he is, by members of the Shadow Clan, who eventually corner him. He tosses his throwing discs at the warriors while using his agility to stay out of their way. Suddenly, a shadow similar to the one from last issue pops up behind them and propels a dark, shadowy pillar toward the Shadow Clan members, crushing them into a wall. Ricochet, surprised, acknowledges the shadow as “Cassie” and that he knew she was still around, right before she grabs him and teleports him away.

Back at the Baxter Building, Reed, Sue, and Ben, along with The Beast and Noh-Varr, prepare to head back into the Negative Zone, their first step in sealing the weak spots between our reality and the Darkforce. Having created a program, Reed discovers that there are seven areas accessible to the Darkforce dimension from Earth, the Negative Zone resonating the weakest point between the barriers. After entering the distortion zone, they once again encounter resistance from the Negative Zone’s denizens. Reed, however, has created a device that artificially strengthens the invisible barrier between dimensions by absorbing residual dark energy from the “hole” and stabilizing it in our world.

Elsewhere, a splinter group of Avengers, including Bucky Barnes, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Hawkeye, manages to track down Sepulchre in England, where she had accepted a job with Roxxon Oil off American soil following the Civil War. After her reluctance to believe their story, she agrees to come back to America under their protection.

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, Doctor Voodoo just finishes battling some local demons when the astral form of Stephen Strange visits him, telling him that Tony Stark contacted him about a dimensional disturbance, one that he was already aware of, and that he needs Jericho’s help to gather some “friends” and go visit a supernatural Darkforce user that, he suspects, may aid them in defeating this threat.

Concluding the issue, Project Pegasus is attacked by the Shadow Clan, as well as the bald man from the previous issue, who is referred to as Brother Darque. With the Clan primarily after Blackout, Chris Powell turns into Darkhawk and attempts to fight Brother Darque, who swats Darkhawk out of the way, before picking him up and tearing the amulet from his chest and crushing it, which releases the Darkforce energy. This leaves Chris powerless.

The Shadow War #4 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Phil Jimenez. In this issue, Stephen Strange and Doctor Voodoo have recruited Ghost Rider, Hellstorm and Satanna as part of a new Midnight Sons, and they enter hell in search of Blackheart, who was created by Mephisto from Darkforce energy. It is their hope that with his Darkforce essence being more supernatural than anyone on the Earthly plane that they will be able to channel that energy – either voluntarily or by force – into our dimension and strengthen the Earth’s barriers, while the weak spots are simultaneously being closed by Reed and his team. Meanwhile, Reed and his team have left the Negative Zone and traveled to their next destination: the Savage Land, where another weak spot exists. The Avengers team that had acquired Sepulchre last issue encounter an Undercloak on the way back from England, who fires a burst of Darkforce energy at the Avengers Quinjet, which crashes; Sepulchre is taken.

Also during this story, we learn that whatever the Undercloak did to Cloak in the first issue (and with Dagger in close proximity), both Cloak and Dagger have become ghosts who are stuck between the barriers of the two dimensions. What should have killed Cloak instead transformed him due to Dagger’s presence and the bond that they share. As with their cameo in issue #2, they appear on the X-Men’s home of Utopia where the X-Men have just returned from retrieving the Vanisher, another Darkforce user. Unlike before, the two incorporeal heroes are sensed by Emma Frost, who is able to also communicate with them. With the X-Club, the X-Men’s science team, getting to work, their hope is to be able to pull both Cloak and Dagger fully back into our dimension.

As the issue ends, we cut to alternating imagery of the Undercloaks gathering around the Statue of Liberty, while back at the Shadow Clan’s hideout, Brother Darque speaks to his followers. In the middle of the room, Henrique Gallante is bound to the sacrificial altar from issue #2 with the other abducted heroes and villains – still unconscious in the tubes – surrounding the altar. Darque takes the same knife and drives it into Henrique’s chest. Because Henrique’s powers give him the ability to serve as a rift/doorway to the Darkforce, he drains the Darkforce powers from the trapped Darkforce users, absorbing the energy. Serving as a conduit, the dark energy is ejected from his body and tears through the roof and is then transmitted to the Undercloaks at the State of Liberty. Surrounding the landmark, they absorb the energy, but suddenly start to wither, becoming ragdoll-like corpses, as a black portal grows above them and the statue. At the edge of the portal, a thick, dark tentacle emerges from the other side.

The Shadow War #5 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Phil Jimenez. The issue opens twenty-four hours earlier with quick flashes of New York City and people going about their daily lives – pure normalcy. Cut to the present-day New York skyline, which is now dark – thick, even – with foreboding void-like clouds. Along the Hudson River, there is a naked man with skin as dark blue as the skyline is thick blackness. As the scene pans in, stars cover his skin, and along his chest is a tattoo resembling the symbol of the Kree symbol, Captain Marvel – readers recognize Captain Marvel’s son Genis-Vell, the hero known as Photon, last seen scattered to pieces into the Darkforce dimension in the pages of Thunderbolts. It’s obvious that he’s confused where he is, but briefly looks toward the skyline, where it appears most dark, then toward the opposite direction; taking a breath, he shoots up into the air and flies in the latter direction.

Back at the Statue of Liberty, a few hours have passed since the end of the previous issue, and Sadeh, the Shadow Lord, has entered our dimension; the most powerful of New York’s heroes throw all they have at it: the Avengers, including Thor and Steve Rogers, the Hulk, and more. None of what they’re throwing at him seems to do more than annoy the Shadow Lord.

Elsewhere, the New Avengers and other heroes have tracked down the Shadow Clan’s hideout and have found the missing Darkforce users, but are quickly attacked by the Shadow Clan warriors. They find the bodies of the Darkforce users, now apparently dead from the ceremony performed last issue. Iron Man, while fighting with Brother Darque – who appears to not only be strong, but also a fierce warrior – manages to get in contact with Reed’s group, who since the last issue have reached the fifth barrier, which is in Madripoor. Tony informs Reed that the situation has turned catastrophic, to which Reed replies that he already knew since the emergence of the Shadow Lord appears to affect human emotions. Cutting to Madripoor, the city, even as far away as it is from New York, is in chaos, with people rioting.

In Hell, the newly regrouped Midnight Sons arrive in Blackheart’s lair, only to be overwhelmed and captured by his demon horde, while back in New York, Ricochet, Dusk, and the other remaining members of the Loners – along with the Avengers Academy staff – fend off the rioting crowds in Midtown. As things seem to get direr, we cut back to the Shadow Clan hideout where Iron Man seemingly has Brother Darque on the ropes; that quickly turns around as Darque fires a Darkforce beam from his eye at Iron Man, who screams, and his armor temporarily shuts down. Darque pulls the sacrificial knife from his belt and raises it above his head, but we don’t see the conclusion of that fight before the fight shifts to the State of Liberty where many of New York’s heroes have already fallen. Just when things look hopeless, however, a bright figure appears in front of the Shadow Lord: Genis-Vell, who angrily stares at the dark god.

The Shadow War #6 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Phil Jimenez. The issue opens where the Midnight Sons were left last issue: as prisoners of Blackheart. While Blackheart interrogates them, and in which they admit, to his amusement, the truth, Doctor Voodoo is able to provide a spell for them to escape their bonds. They attack Blackheart, with Ghost Rider eventually defeating him by decapitating the demon; they know it won’t kill him, but Strange is able to conjure up some of Blackheart’s essence, bottling it up, but being sure to add that there is more he would need to do to it before it would be suitable.

Back in New York, Genis-Vell, who is still able to manipulate photons, is successfully able to hurt the Shadow Lord since dark matter – the perfect black body – even has photons. The Shadow Lord screams like an injured animal, but swats Genis-Vell away; the other heroes, specifically any with light-based powers, attack the god, and while not having as much effect as Genis-Vell, they’re still able to stall while Genis-Vell recovers. Thor contacts Iron Man, but only receives static.

At the Shadow Clan hideout, we cut back to the scene from last issue with Darque about to stab a defenseless Tony Stark. Instead, Bucky throws his shield and knocks the sword out of Darque’s hand. Darque yells and lunges for the knife, just as Tony’s system reboots; he fires a mild repulsor blast at Darque, which knocks Darque off-balance and into the knife. Darque screams as a thick black cloud erupts from his eyes, and he disintegrates before Bucky and Tony’s eyes. The tide seems to be turning as the Shadow Clan warriors start to fall.

In San Francisco, Reed and his team arrive near the Golden Gate Bridge, which is the sixth of the seven weak spots, to seal it. They run into the X-Men, who have, by this point, returned Cloak and Dagger fully to our dimension, with the side effect that Cloak and Dagger’s powers have become merged, with each character utilizing some of the other’s powers. Reed and his group take Cloak and Dagger, as well as a large group of the X-Men back with them as they teleport into New York City.

At the same time, Strange and his group of Midnight Sons arrive in New York, joining up with the heroes, including a recovered Genis-Vell, fighting the Shadow Lord. Strange fills in Steve Rogers on the plan, that in order to drive the Shadow Lord back into the Darkforce dimension, they’ll have to release this magically adapted Darkforce energy they stole from Blackheart, but that it could have other consequences. Steve asks what those consequences are, but Strange isn’t sure; they don’t have any other choice, though. Reed and his team arrive a few minutes later, with Cloak and Dagger and the X-Men in tow. Strange pulls Reed aside, as all of the other heroes team together to drive back the Shadow Lord. Needing an equally strong Darkforce conduit for Blackheart’s Darkforce to be released, Cloak and Dagger volunteer, with Cloak tossing the bottle inside his cloak. A moment later, he falls back as black energy soars back out, spreading throughout the sky in every direction. We cut back to the Shadow Clan hideout where this energy arrives, where the Avengers have started to rescue the bodies of the deceased Darkforce users. This energy enters the bodies, which has the effect of reviving them. Elsewhere, we see this energy enter random people, those who, until now, have been without superpowers. Back at the Statue of Liberty, the Shadow Lord screams in agony, weakening from the increase of those who wield Darkforce energy. Reed, having noticed that Genis-Vell causes the most damage to the god, yells at him to fly as fast as he can and drive the god back into the portal. He hands Genis-Vell the device he’d been using to close off the other weak spots, telling him to throw it into the portal after the god has been sent back. Genis-Vell nods before flying away in the opposite direction, leaving an almost eerie silence in his wake, and then suddenly charges back through the air, shooting energy from his Nega-Bands at the Shadow Lord, who attempts to swat him again; Genis-Vell avoids him this time, ramming him back toward the portal. He fires again, blasting the Shadow Lord to the other side. The god, weakened, attempts to come back through, but not before Genis-Vell launches the device at the portal – an explosion erupts from the hole, which vanishes, leaving only a thin trail of blackness that quickly dissipates. The heroes quietly stand, looking up at the sky, relieved that the fight is over.

The last few pages focus on the Midnight Sons deciding to stay together; Cloak and Dagger, unsure of their new shared powers, disappearing to parts unknown; several of the newly gifted Darkforce users casually testing their powers, with the now-conscious Shroud musing that there needs to be someone – a group, perhaps – that needs to train these Darkforce bearers and prevent the return of the Shadow Lord; and a series closing shot of Genis-Vell hovering above the Earth, unsure of where his place lies. To be continued in The Shadow War: Epilogue #1.

The Tie-Ins:

While there are different approaches that can be taken when tying in satellite books to a major event, the approach here is to fill in some of those gaps that would otherwise take up too much time in the main book. Glimpses are given in the main series, and if readers are interested in pursuing those plot threads, the eight mini-series and two one-shots are being released within the same period of time as the events happening in the respective main series issues. The continuity is as tight as is possible during such a massive event, but each series or one-shot should also be able to be enjoyed for the story each is telling. Again, as with the lead-ins, variety is the key, using more popular characters, such as the Avengers and X-Men, and lesser known – but, in this event, equally important – characters or entities, such as Dusk and the Midnight Sons.

The Shadow War: Avengers #1-4 – Written by Brian Bendis and art by Michael Gaydos. Tying in to the first four issues of the main series, the Avengers story will mainly focus on the splinter groups of the Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers seen – but only touched upon – in the flagship series attempting to track down the dozens of known Darkforce users before the Shadow Clan is able to. It will also focus on Tony Stark/Iron Man and Steve Rogers as they attempt to gather more information about the Shadow Clan, both from what Steve and his Secret Avengers had found in that title during the lead-in and what Tony had learned from his visit to Project Pegasus. While the splinter groups travel across the globe, Steve and Tony end up finding the location of the Shadow Clan hideout. The end of the series will happen concurrently with the ending of The Shadow War #4, with the portal above the Statue of Liberty opening and the teams reuniting, with one group heading off to the Shadow Clan hideout while the other group goes to confront the Shadow Lord.

The Shadow War: Cloak and Dagger #1-4 - Written by Kathryn Immonen and art by Mark Brooks. The Shadow War: Cloak and Dagger series will run concurrently with the main series, opening with Cloak and Dagger being on the run, having learned that Darkforce users are being targeted. They will run into the Undercloaks, which, as chronicled in the main series, will result in one of the Undercloaks attempting to kill Cloak, but because of his bond with Dagger – and their close proximity at the time as Cloak attempts to teleport them through the Darkforce – they end up being turned into ghosts, caught between our dimension and the Darkforce dimension. While also randomly shifting from one location to another, getting glimpses of happenings on both sides of the event – the heroes and villains – the situation they find themselves in also lends itself to allowing Cloak and Dagger to learn pieces about the origin of the Darkforce and what exactly happens to Cloak’s victims when they’re pulled into his cloak. The series will conclude with them having shifted to Utopia in San Francisco, where Emma Frost will be able to sense them. The X-Club will assist in pulling the pair back into our dimension, but this will have the side effect of merging their powers, with both Cloak and Dagger exhibiting a portion of the other’s powers (in addition to their own).

The Shadow War: Dusk #1-4 – Written by C.B. Cebulski and art by Stefano Caselli. This four-issue series, while being released during The Shadow War #3-6, will mainly flash back to where Cassandra St. Commons, the hero known as Dusk, has been since last appearing during the Loners mini-series. During that time, she had been stuck in the Negative Zone, where she learned her costume’s true origin, that of a martyr that led a band of rebels against Blastaar. However, the costume she – and the Negative Zone’s current Dusk – wore were the only two left in existence, whereas there used to be hundreds, and those that wore these outfits had been part of an order that had defended the Negative Zone and guarded a portal to the Darkforce. As time went on, these protectors were wiped out, and the outfits they wore died with them. Cassandra ends up seeing the Fantastic Three battling the Dark Raider and follows them out of the Negative Zone, back to New York. At this point, she sees what has happened to the world – and her former Slingers group – since she had left. She manages to track down Ricochet and helps him fend off the Shadow Clan, who had become aware of her existence following her return and were attempting to lure her out.

The Shadow War: Front Line #1-4 – Written by Brian Reed and art by Chris Samnee. As with Marvel’s other recent events, The Shadow War will also include a man-on-the-street series, continuing with Ben Urich – with the help of Sally Floyd – chronicling the events starting with the chaos at Project Pegasus during The Shadow War #3 – and the public’s first awareness of the Shadow Clan – and continuing on from there with the events in the last three issues of the main series featuring the coming of the Shadow Lord. Ben and Sally will learn about the hero/villain disappearances, as well as be affected by the rioting that occurs as a result of the Shadow Lord’s presence. They will, of course, witness the god’s defeat and the return of Genis-Vell.

The Shadow War: Midnight Sons #1-4 – Written by Jason Aaron and art by Clayton Crain. Billed as the big horror/supernatural book of the event, this four-issue series will feature Stephen Strange, the former Sorcerer Supreme, recruiting Doctor Voodoo, Ghost Rider, Daimon Hellstrom, and Satanna, after having spoken to Tony Stark regarding the Shadow Clan’s mission to return the Shadow Lord to our dimension. This grouping of supernatural big shots will not only re-introduce the Midnight Sons brand, but also create a new team. The plot will have the team visit Hell in an attempt to seek out Blackheart, the son of Mephisto, who was created by his father using Darkforce. The essence that the demon has, Strange believes, has something different – unique – that none of the Earthly Darkforce users has and that by attaining some of this Darkforce, they can use it to defeat the Shadow Lord by incorporating this Darkforce energy into our dimension, which, he believes, will not allow the Shadow Lord to be able to enter our dimension. Their journey isn’t easy, of course, as the forces of Hell are strong, and Blackheart won’t give them what they want without a fight. The series concludes as they attain Blackheart’s Darkforce essence and return to our dimension; however, when they return to New York – which ties in to The Shadow War #6 – the Shadow Lord has already entered our dimension.

The Shadow War: New Warriors #1-3 – Written by Christos Gage and art by Patrick Zircher. This three-issue series reunites Justice, Speedball, Night Thrasher – Donyell Taylor – and Silhouette, but also ties in with Gage’s Avengers Academy series. The central plot of the mini-series focuses on Silhouette and Night Thrasher – both battered and beaten – interrupting a training exercise that Justice and Speedball – both instructors at the academy – are overseeing. Before Silhoutte – a known Darkforce user – can explain what had happened to her, the Shadow Clan surprises everyone and bursts in trying to capture – or kill - Silhouette. Hank Pym had gone to an “important meeting with Tony Stark” (one that turns out to involve the Shadow Clan), so with Quicksilver and Tigra’s help, Justice and Speedball try to keep the Shadow Clan warriors at bay, and away from Silhouette. However, the battle quickly ends as the Shadow Clan warriors disappear due to the ceremony in The Shadow War #4 running concurrently with these events; Silhouette tries to explain, but is, again, interrupted just as the sky goes dark. Alarms sound, and Hank Pym runs in at that moment, explaining that his meeting involved the Shadow Clan and that the threat they had been trying to avert had occurred. Since these issues tie into The Shadow War #4-6, it coincides with the Shadow Lord entering our dimension. With the four former New Warriors and the Avengers Academy staff assisting, these heroes will head to New York to keep order after the citizens of the city have begun to riot due to the negative emotional influence the Shadow Lord’s presence has. Just as in the main series, things look bleak, and this mini-series concludes prior to the defeat of the Shadow Lord, with the four former New Warriors realizing that they may not make it out of this situation alive, and they head into the final battle with one final New Warriors battle call.

The Shadow War: Photon #1 – Written by Peter David and art by Pablo Raimondi. This one-shot serves as a spotlight issue on the returned Genis-Vell. Set during The Shadow War #5, as readers saw in the pages of that issue, Genis-Vell disappears for a period of time after the opening pages. This issue fills in that gap, with Genis-Vell’s memories, having him originally be an amnesiac because of his time in the Darkforce, coming back to him, with the story flashing back and forth between past and present, including when readers last saw him: when Baron Zemo sent him to the Darkforce dimension, scattering pieces of him to the wind. Genis-Vell, because he’s cosmically aware, can sense the Shadow Lord wherever he tries to escape, even into space, but he realizes that he has a duty, especially once he remembers how he had been temporarily insane and failed to live up to his father’s legacy. In his mind, for better or worse, he’s back, and his first act is to stop this evil god. The story ends as the concluding pages of The Shadow War #5, with Genis-Vell arriving back in New York, confronting the Shadow Lord.

The Shadow War: Project Pegasus #1-3 – Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and art by Brad Walker. This three-issue series, set during the time of The Shadow War #1-3, focuses on Project Pegasus, as well as Chris Powell – Darkhawk – who has been there since the events of the Realm of Kings. As the issues tie into the events of the main series, Iron Man visits with the director of Project Pegasus in hopes of gathering information about the Darkforce, specifically from the villain Blackout, who had been scooped up after the fall of Asgard, raving and as crazy as the original Blackout. Having dealt with the original Blackout, and having a strong knowledge of the Darkforce, Project Pegasus took the villain in instead of sending him to the Raft. During this time, Chris notices that the amulet he possesses that allows him to transform into Darkhawk has been acting erratic, so he asks the director for help. After running tests, the scientists there feel that it has something to do with the Darkforce the amulet uses, that it might have something to do with the instability Tony Stark mentioned to them. Chris contacts Quasar and Nova, who are both still in space, asking about the people of the slain Imperial Guard member Nightside, who all utilize the Darkforce, and if they have gotten any reports of unusual activity; they tell him that, other than the craziness that seems to be the norm lately, they haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary. In the concluding issue, tying in to the events of The Shadow War #3, Project Pegasus is attacked and destroyed by the Shadow Clan, with Darkhawk’s encounter with Brother Darque going badly as Chris’s amulet is torn from his chest and crushed by Darque. In the aftermath, Chris is left powerless, Blackout is taken, and Project Pegasus is left in ruins.

The Shadow War: Shadow Lord #1 – Written by Brian Bendis and art by Jae Lee. This one-shot features the origin of the Shadow Lord, as told by Brother Darque. As the final battle rages in the main series, Darque recounts that when the universe was dark, before the Big Bang, the Shadow Lord ruled. Following the Big Bang, the universe was split into two dimensions, the light and dark dimensions. While the light dimension – our dimension – evolved and was ruled by other gods, the Shadow Lord – Sadeh – was relegated to the dark dimension, unable to cross over to the light dimension because of residual Darkforce energy that remained in the light dimension following the Big Bang. Over time, this Darkforce energy was harnessed by humans and other extraterrestrial races, and it was the fact that this energy was being used that kept Sadeh trapped in the dark dimension. Only by killing or draining those who used this energy and harvesting enough of that – with one who can open a rift between dimensions – can the barrier between dimensions be weakened enough to allow Sadeh to enter our dimension. It is also revealed that Brother Darque came from a long line of religious men who worshipped Sadeh and that this legacy and responsibility to ensure Sadeh’s return fell to him. The issue ends, however, with the heroes crashing their hideout and Darque pulling his knife to engage the heroes in battle.

The Shadow War: X-Men #1-3 – Written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost and art by Mike Choi. The three-issue mini-series covers the events occurring in The Shadow War #1-3, with a team of X-Men, including Colossus, Angel, and some of the new mutants searching for the Vanisher, after Cyclops and Emma Frost had been contacted by Tony Stark, who told them that a secret group is hunting down Darkforce users, and he knew that the Vanisher was last with them. The Vanisher, who was last seen mortally wounded during the events of Second Coming, had been off the grid, but it turns out that he is alive, and in A.I.M.’s clutches, where, while a prisoner, he received medical attention. Under their Scientist Supreme, Monica Rappaccini, she offers to enhance his mutant powers, which when she does, tunes him into the Darkforce more than usual. Monica hopes to use this energy – specifically the Vanisher’s teleportation powers – to unleash a biochemical agent in Japan. The X-Men group manages to break into the A.I.M. base and snag the Vanisher, but then have to fight their way out, destroying this base, but not before Monica and other A.I.M. agents escape. Once the X-Men have returned to Utopia with the Vanisher, the X-Club analyzes his enhanced powers, revealing that whereas before he was only likely to teleport another object such as a jet, he could now teleport the entire island of Utopia if he chose to do so. The Vanisher decides to stick around, under the X-Men’s protection, but as the series concludes, and this leads into The Shadow War #4, blood suddenly drips from the Vanisher’s nose. Momentarily, he is concerned, but just as quickly dismisses it.

The Aftermath: What Comes Later

As important as what happens during the event is, what follows is equally as – if not even more – important, as creating a serial format requires there to be additional fallout so that these events don’t just happen in a box and are, therefore, never mentioned again. Change – or the appearance of change – is important and that these events have a lasting effect on readers’ favorite characters. These changes will happen across the line, but only specific titles with immediate fallout from the event will be labeled as “The Shadow War Epilogue.” To start with, the one-shot epilogue covers many of the loose ends that are left over from the last issue of The Shadow War. From there, other plot threads, such as the destruction/ruination of Project Pegasus or the return of Genis-Vell, will be covered in other titles, where they are able to be given more space to breathe. Many of these immediate loose ends will be covered within the first couple of months after the event has ended, while others – especially involving characters directly affected by the event – will be an ongoing story, developing in either existing monthly series or in new ongoing series spinning off from this summer’s event.

The Shadow War: Epilogue #1 – Written by Jason Snyder and art by Michael Lark. A week after the events of The Shadow War #6, New York City – and the world – is still recovering from the Shadow Lord’s influence. Cloak and Dagger are still missing, while the survivors from the destruction of Project Pegasus – Chris Powell, left powerless after his Darkhawk amulet has been destroyed, included – try to figure out what happens next. Reed Richards will scan for any activity along the now sealed weak points, discovering no activity, but feeling like safeguards need to be put into place. Dusk, having been hanging around the Loners since her return, feels like her place is elsewhere, but before she can disappear, she is confronted by Hank Pym, who is aware of her from the Initiative’s old files; he had also seen her while the Avengers Academy staff was trying to keep New York’s population in order and realized that she, like the other students at the academy, may go down the wrong road without the proper guidance. He invites her to enroll, and she reluctantly accepts. The Shroud and Sepulchre, having been shared captives of the Shadow Clan, have agreed that the Darkforce-powered individuals need to stick together and that they need to train those newly gifted with these powers and make sure the Shadow Lord can never return. Similarly, Stephen Strange and the other supernatural characters that had joined together during the event realize that there needs to be a stronger – and united – magical presence and decide to stay together as the Midnight Sons. Finally, Genis-Vell, who has felt lost, even after the final battle with the Shadow Lord, is confronted by Steve Rogers. Genis-Vell confides in him that he never felt like he lived up to his father’s legacy and that was why he eventually passed the Captain Marvel mantle onto his sister. Steve tells Genis that legacies aren’t something that need to be lived up to; they only should serve as inspiration, and that Mar-Vell, regardless, would have been proud of what his son had accomplished.

Avengers #19-21 – The New Organization of Evil, Parts 1-3. THE SHADOW WAR EPILOGUE. Written by Brian Bendis and art by John Romita Jr. Still reeling from the events of The Shadow War, the Avengers encounter a new – and deadlier – version of the Masters of Evil, this time led by their former ally, Wonder Man, whose motives since the beginning of the Heroic Age have been unknown. The true reason for what has caused Wonder Man to make these surprising decisions will be revealed. Also, with Project Pegasus destroyed, Tony Stark not only offers to help the department rebuild, but also invites them to become part of his expanding science division for his new company.

Avengers Academy #18-19 – First Days, Parts 1 and 2. THE SHADOW WAR EPILOGUE. Written by Christos Gage and art by Mike McKone. The two issues of this story arc following the events of The Shadow War will focus on Dusk’s first day at the academy, where she will face confrontation with Finesse, find a developing crush with Mettle, and have a run-in with her instructor Quicksilver, whose temper is as fast as his feet. Her first day ends up being crashed by the arrival of the Young Masters, whose member Egghead has had his program rerouted with memories of the original Egghead and has come gunning for Hank Pym. Meanwhile, Silhouette will join the staff as a part-time instructor, realizing that she enjoyed her brief reunion with her fellow ex-New Warriors.

Captain Marvel #1-3 – New Beginnings, Part 1-3. THE SHADOW WAR EPILOGUE. Written by Peter David and art by Juan Ferreyra. This new ongoing series spinning out of The Shadow War features Genis-Vell as he retakes the mantle of his father. Still unsure of his place in the universe, Genis leaves Earth and seeks out his sister Phyla-Vell. He eventually arrives on Knowhere, the headquarters of the Guardians of the Galaxy, where he learns that his sister was murdered by Thanos while he was away. Before he can process the information, however, the Guardians receive a distress call from a Kree captain, begging them to come to the Kree homeworld. Being Kree by birth, Genis decides to tag along, in addition to the Guardians being the last people to see his sister alive and who may be able to tell him more about what happened to her. When they arrive on the Kree homeworld, they find the entire population – including the Inhumans – are missing, excluding the Kree captain and his small crew, who had just returned to the homeworld from an exploratory mission. The cause of the Kree disappearance is the Collector, who has been intrigued by the merging of the Inhumans and the Kree and the Kree having been exposed to the Terrigen Mists.

Midnight Sons #1-3 – Demon Birth, Parts 1-3. THE SHADOW WAR EPILOGUE. Written by Jason Aaron and art by Clayton Crain. Spinning off from The Shadow War and The Shadow War: Midnight Sons, this new ongoing series will continue the magic, mysticism, and horror from the Shadow War tie-in mini-series. With Aaron and Crain back as the creative team, the opening arc will feature the return of Lilith. When the women of an entire Russian village suddenly become pregnant, Stephen Strange and his fellow Midnight Sons investigate, only to discover that many of these women are themselves offspring of some of Lilith’s Lilin. With a quickly progressing pregnancy, the magic involved tears this village and the corresponding countryside asunder, allowing the demon queen to re-enter our world, her power increasing as a result of the births. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Dr. Michael Morbius – also known as Morbius the Living Vampire – becomes the hunted when a band of monster hunters invades the League of Monsters’ underworld community.

S.H.A.D.E. #1-4 – Battle for the Future, Parts 1-4. THE SHADOW WAR EPILOGUE. Written by Rick Remender and art by Jerome Opena. Scheduled as a four-part mini-series spin-off from The Shadow War, S.H.A.D.E., which stands for Super-Human Agency for Darkforce Energy, is a government-founded agency put into place by Steve Rogers following the climax of Earth’s battle against the Shadow Lord. With a dual purpose serving to not only teach and train Darkforce users, but also to research and guard against possible invasion from the Darkforce dimension, S.H.A.D.E.’s active field liaisons are the Shroud and Sepulchre, who have previously been background characters, but in the wake of their experience during the last few months of stories, they realize that they need to step into the foreground and take an active – and offensive –role in the superhuman community. In addition, substations will be set up across the planet, as well as in areas such as the Negative Zone, to protect areas previously known to be weak spots. In this introductory series, readers will be introduced to new Darkforce heroes – and villains – who have, as a result of the conclusion to the Shadow War – been bestowed powers attuned to the Darkforce dimension. In addition, with help from Steve Rogers and those under his command, the Negative Zone substation will be built in what is unofficially a neutral zone and putting defenses into place that will guard against native attack. Those in this area will also encounter the Negative Zone Dusk and his band of rebels and form an uneasy alliance against Blastaar and his army. Back on Earth, the Shroud will be reunited with his girlfriend, Julia Carpenter, who had just recently become the latest Madame Web and acquired a new set of powers, while Sepulchre will temporarily return to England to cut off ties to her previous job at Roxxon Oil.

Uncanny X-Men #542 – Two Halves of a Whole. THE SHADOW WAR EPILOGUE. Written by Matt Fraction and art by Whilce Portacio. In this special one-off story, when Cloak and Dagger, who vanished at the end of The Shadow War #6, return to Utopia, they once again ask for the X-Men’s help, as neither of them is whole, now having to share powers. The X-Club is not able to come up with a fast enough solution, and the two continue to suffer. Dagger, specifically, is having a difficult time handling the darkness powers that originated from Cloak, to the point where Cloak’s powers seem to be overwhelming and killing her. Cloak suddenly disappears, leaving Tandy – Dagger – alone with the X-Men to watch over her. The X-Men feel like Cloak has betrayed Dagger, but she never loses faith in him; her faith turns out to be well-placed, as Cloak tracks down D’Spayre, who fused both of their souls with pieces of himself, and brings the demon back to Utopia. D’Spayre manages to remove the Dark Form from Dagger, saving her, but leaves the Light Form that Cloak acquired inside him. As the issue ends, it’s revealed that Cloak, during his absence, had made a deal with D’Spayre, if he promised to help Dagger, and that D’Spayre promises Cloak that he’ll “be back to collect on their deal.”


The Shadow War Monthly Checklist

The Shadow War Prologues

March 2011
- Deadpool #34
- Fantastic Three #589
- Secret Avengers #11
- Thunderbolts #154

April 2011
- Amazing Spider-Man #658
- Amazing Spider-Man #659
- Fantastic Three #590
- Secret Avengers #12
- Thunderbolts #155

May 2011
- Fantastic Three #591
- Secret Avengers #13
- Thunderbolts #156

The Shadow War Event

June 2011
- Shadow War #1
- Shadow War: Avengers #1
- Shadow War: Cloak and Dagger #1
- Shadow War: Project Pegasus #1
- Shadow War: X-Men #1

July 2011
- Shadow War #2
- Shadow War: Avengers #2
- Shadow War: Cloak and Dagger #2
- Shadow War: Project Pegasus #2
- Shadow War: X-Men #2

August 2011
- Shadow War #3
- Shadow War: Avengers #3
- Shadow War: Cloak and Dagger #3
- Shadow War: Dusk #1
- Shadow War: Front Line #1
- Shadow War: Midnight Sons #1
- Shadow War: Project Pegasus #3
- Shadow War: X-Men #3

September 2011
- Shadow War #4
- Shadow War: Avengers #4
- Shadow War: Cloak and Dagger #4
- Shadow War: Dusk #2
- Shadow War: Front Line #2
- Shadow War: Midnight Sons #2
- Shadow War: New Warriors #1

October 2011
- Shadow War #5
- Shadow War: Dusk #3
- Shadow War: Front Line #3
- Shadow War: Midnight Sons #3
- Shadow War: New Warriors #2
- Shadow War: Photon #1

November 2011
- Shadow War #6
- Shadow War: Dusk #4
- Shadow War: Front Line #4
- Shadow War: Midnight Sons #4
- Shadow War: New Warriors #3
- Shadow War: Shadow Lord #1

The Shadow War Aftermath

December 2011
- Shadow War: Epilogue #1
- Avengers #19
- Avengers Academy #18
- Captain Marvel #1
- Midnight Sons #1
- S.H.A.D.E. #1
- Uncanny X-Men #542

January 2012
- Avengers #20
- Avengers Academy #19
- Captain Marvel #2
- Midnight Sons #2
- S.H.A.D.E. #2

February 2012
- Avengers #21
- Captain Marvel #3
- Midnight Sons #3
- S.H.A.D.E. #3

March 2012
- S.H.A.D.E. #4

[Matthew Brown]

So much drama. I'm retiring from this goddamn game forever.

[Ray G.]

I'll be reading both pitches and coming up with my set of questions tonight. I'll likely be out of the house for a good deal of time tomorrow, so that'll give the other judges time to do their part. We hope not to keep you waiting too long.

And congratulations to both of you.

[Ray G.]

Alright, time to start questions. These are mainly directed at the two finalists, but the helpers can answer anything they feel they have a good insight into. I've only read one so far, so I'll keep them separate.

Steve:

1. Why did you choose to do all the tie-ins in the context of ongoing series(except Shazam)? If you look at the model of Blackest Night, the minis sold extremely well, as well as giving fans of a character options to follow the ongoing, which wasn't tied into the event, or the mini which was.

2. Also, it seems a lot of plots introduced in the main mini dovetail directly into the the tie-ins, making it kind of important to follow them. How many comics would you say are needed to follow the full, critical story?

3. Why did you choose Jesse Quick as your sole casualty for the event? The mini is light on big deaths compared to a lot of these, which is kind of refreshing, but she's a character who only became prominent again recently, and I'm not sure many fans are attached enough to her for this death to make much of a splash. What do you see her death accomplishing in the long-run, both in this event and outside of it?

4. I feel like the stakes of this event aren't quite as big as a lot of the other events. There's no world-destroying crisis here, just a nefarious plot by Grodd and Luthor. It actually feels more like that JLU episode blown up to epic size. Was this a deliberate decision to do a different kind of event, with a different scale of crisis?

5. Luthor knowing the secret is one of the biggest status quo changes of the event. Luthor has known Superman's identity before. It was retconned. What will make this time different?

6. You talk about how this event will result in people being more suspicious of their heroes. How intense is this likely to get? Will heroes now have to worry about the public or the government turning against them, a la Marvel? And out of curiosity, can you tell me which heroes are going to be most affected by this?

7. Checkmate is clearly going to be a crowd pleaser among the internet fans (myself included) but here's my problem - you're launching a new Checkmate title out of a big event with a creative team that's not megawatt but is likely to be critically acclaimed. Sound familiar? It's the exact same circumstances of the last Checkmate book. What will allow this one to survive in a rougher market than Rucka's book?

8. This may be a quibble, but why did you give Jim Califiore Grant Morrison's Shazam! book? Califiore is a competent artist who does a good job on Secret Six, but he's not a big name. Why didn't you give at least the mini to someone like Cam Stewart, one of Morrison's "pet" artists?

9. There are a few tie-ins that strike me as sort of "Red skies" tie-ins. For instance, Batgirl. The only tie there seems to be that she's really busy in Gotham because of the Bat!Joker crisis. Is there anything more to this story that ties the book to the main event?

[Ray G.]

Jason:

1. Sadeh is an original villain, isn't he? And I'm not sure, but is Brother Darque as well? If so, this is an insanely big risk you've taken. Why did you decide to center your event on two unknown quantities, as opposed to major Marvel villains who might bring in a known fanbase?

2. Speaking of Sadeh, is he basically the new Nekron? Sure, he's powerful, but I saw little in the plot to indicate that he has any sort of a personality, anything to make him memorable. He seemed more of a "Final boss" villain than anything else. Can you elaborate a little on him, tell me what's going to make him stand out from, say, Galactus, another all-powerful villain who shows up occasionally?

3. Magic events are a notoriously tough sell, and you've chosen to center your event on a relatively obscure Marvel magical power source. What will drive sales for this event, given that it's a far more obscure concept than things like Civil War, Secret Invasion, or Siege, and most of the top Marvel characters seem almost auxiliary to the plot?

4. I feel like this event is a little bit short on "Wow" moments, compared to some of the others. What would you say are the biggest cliffhangers, shockers, and big moments that fans will remember coming out of this?

5. And on that note, why did you decide not to have any real notable casualties in the event? I'm not a big fan of gratuitous death, but it seemed like the stakes felt a bit low in this event.

6. Genis-Vell's return seems to be a huge part of this event, but he's had some trouble carrying a series on his own in the past, and that was a much better market. Why do you think his new series is likely to last, compared to the last ones? And I'll add the same thing in for Midnight Sons, a title which has a great creative team but is by no means a proven seller.

7. What would you say are the three most important status quo changes that come out of this event in terms of the whole Marvel Universe?

[Marc Lombardi]

Ray covered most of my questions but I do have one question:

Steve - you decided early one to work as a team and take ideas from the troops early on and actually assigned tasks to them. You also went back and forth on pitch ideas for a while. Why did you decide to work in this way for the final task?

Jason - you did pretty much the exact opposite and worked almost solo, using your teammates as a group of editors in a sense. Why did you decide to work in this way for the final task?

[I AM GROOT!]

Jason:

1. Sadeh is an original villain, isn't he? And I'm not sure, but is Brother Darque as well? If so, this is an insanely big risk you've taken. Why did you decide to center your event on two unknown quantities, as opposed to major Marvel villains who might bring in a known fanbase?

If you look back at the major events from both companies, you often have one of two focuses: one, it's either the villain, as in the Thanos Imperative, and you know you're getting a huge Thanos-as-villain event - this is obvious from the start; two, you have events where the event itself is the draw, and the villain is just the icing on the cake. With the latter, if you look specifically at DC's mega-event, The Blackest Night, Nekron - a minor villain, mind you - doesn't even shown up until the last two issues of the main series, and it's the lead-up, the Black Lanterns, and the heroes scrambling, that take up most of that event. With The Shadow War - and its villains - I was trying to strategically create a similar feel, where there is this huge conspiracy with the Shadow Clan strategically targeting - even being one step ahead of - the heroes, the Avengers and the Fantastic Three run around trying to prevent something they're learning as the readers are (similar to the Blackest Night's origins), and it all basically goes to hell toward the end, with the real villain making his presence known.

Minor or major villain aside (again, take a look at minor villain Nekron being the bad ass he turned out to be), marketing of the event is the key here, and regardless of the who the "Big Bad" is, Marvel has always excelled at their marketing. Sadeh, throughout the lead-ins and early part of the main event, is a mystery, a conspiracy in certain terms, and like many classic comic and movie villains, when he does enter into the event, it's with this huge "holy crap" moment with this doomsday portal opening up above the city, and a huge tentacle coming out. Darque is similar to Black Hand - another minor villain - being Nekron's herald, but, like Black Hand, he turns out to be just as big of a threat, but in a different manner than his master.

Again, relating to the marketing - and I make sure to point this out in the pitch - while the Darkforce is the element we're focusing on, the Avengers and other big characters are still the characters taking the foreground. Whereas the Darkforce-centric characters are often the targets, the Avengers - Tony, Steve, etc. - are the ones trying to be proactive, take the fight to the villains, and, really, the ones who do the major fighting at the end. It's still a Marvel Universe event, and continuing the tradition of the other main events, the marketing will be huge on this thing.



2. Speaking of Sadeh, is he basically the new Nekron? Sure, he's powerful, but I saw little in the plot to indicate that he has any sort of a personality, anything to make him memorable. He seemed more of a "Final boss" villain than anything else. Can you elaborate a little on him, tell me what's going to make him stand out from, say, Galactus, another all-powerful villain who shows up occasionally?

What I honestly should have mentioned in the pitch, and I regret not being specific enough on this aspect when I was on lots of other things, is that during some of the tie-ins, such as the Cloak and Dagger series and Shadow Lord one-shot, there would be more of a direct interaction with this new villain, and he would come off more than the "monster-of-the-week" flavor. Where I would like to see this go is two-fold: one, he/it can always come back (most bad guys do), and all that it takes is another group like the Shadow Clan getting their act together, or Darkforce users being targeted (hence, the creation of S.H.A.D.E. in the aftermath). Two, as we continue through the aftermath (and I'm talking months to a year or two later), I wanted to show that the Darkforce, being sentient, is ever-changing, and that this was only the first stage of exploring that realm (and its inhabitants, Sadeh included). This event, as major as its supposed to be, isn't something that will go away, and much like Galactus, or other cosmic entities like Chaos and Order, Sadeh should join that pantheon; after all, he was considered "god" before the Big Bang, and that definitely has ramifications for the already-present deities out there, as well as the various races throughout the universe. So, basically, there's more Sadeh planned, but I'm the kind of person who likes to do a concurrent slow build-up and mix it with the regular plotlines going on in the main titles, so I feel like readers, while reading the normal books, will eventually realize that they're also being given further pieces to another puzzle (again, similar to Johns' long-term GL plans and having it be a three-act play, or Bendis developing his nearly seven-year plan from Avengers Disassembled to Siege) for something down the line.



3. Magic events are a notoriously tough sell, and you've chosen to center your event on a relatively obscure Marvel magical power source. What will drive sales for this event, given that it's a far more obscure concept than things like Civil War, Secret Invasion, or Siege, and most of the top Marvel characters seem almost auxiliary to the plot?

Unlike most magic events (like Mystic Arcana, for example), which tend to only feature magic characters, this is a Marvel Universe event, and while the Darkforce and those who utilize that source serve as the driving force to push the story along, you'll notice that every area of the event is being reinforced by the mainstream Marvel characters: Iron Man, Bucky, Steve, Thor, etc. Secret Invasion, which basically took an alien race previously associated with either Fantastic Four or cosmic stories, turned them into a mainstream Marvel event, and what was primarily an Avengers-themed one. The same goes for this event, which takes a select group and realm, which, on the surface, appears fairly self-contained, and turns it into a universe-spanning threat. The Darkforce, as an entity, has been unexplored, yet it has affected - and, in some instances, bestowed - characters in every major title Marvel has published in recent years, and I think that's something that Marvel has previously dropped the ball on. You have this force, this extra-dimensional arena, that has been the origin for so many of your characters; yet, you do nothing with it, or even bother tying those threads together. This event basically tells you what you need to know, that, hey, this has shown up in the Avengers books, the X-Men books, the Spider-Man books, etc., but until this point, nothing has been shown as to why.

Also, I'm not sure why you feel the major characters are considered auxiliary characters when they pretty much show up in every scene of the main series, as well as in several tie-ins. Like I said, they're the ones being proactive throughout the series, trying to beat the clock; the Darkforce users are there to simply be the chess pieces being moved into place by the Shadow Clan. They're a necessary need for the story, but again, the major heroes are the ones out there trying to save the day, just as they did in House of M or Secret Invasion.



4. I feel like this event is a little bit short on "Wow" moments, compared to some of the others. What would you say are the biggest cliffhangers, shockers, and big moments that fans will remember coming out of this?

The Big Two cliffhangers that immediately come to mind is the return of Genis-Vell, a fan-favorite character who had been considered dead (and not someone you would have expected to return here), and his "pissed off" confrontation with the Shadow Lord at the end of #5. Second, the entrance of the Shadow Lord into our world with that massive portal opening above the Statue of Liberty at the end of #4. The latter is meant to appear apocalyptic in those closing pages, and that huge tentacle slithering out of the portal, drawn skillfully by Jimenez, would have readers wanting to pick up #5 right away.

A little lighter of a cliffhanger would be the destruction of Project Pegasus and Brother Darque ripping the amulet out of Darkhawk's chest, crushing it, and leaving its wearer powerless, also revealing the first moment this otherwise mysterious religious figure turns out to be pretty major of a threat.

I also think the conclusion in #6 with the big fight with the Shadow Lord is a "wow" moment, especially when expressed by the art. One formerly mad cosmic superhero powering through the sky and pushing this massive, hulking being back through the portal, and a huge explosion following his attempt to close the portal, is pretty major, as well.



5. And on that note, why did you decide not to have any real notable casualties in the event? I'm not a big fan of gratuitous death, but it seemed like the stakes felt a bit low in this event.

You mean "stakes" other than the end of the world, right? ;)

Honestly, though, I'm not a big fan of deaths just for the sake of them, and really, most readers know that either 1) the major characters don't get killed, or 2), if they do, their return is pretty much guaranteed. The major stakes were meant to be the Shadow Lord destroying our world, and I think that's pretty major. That being said, I also pointed out that many of the heroes would fall while fighting the Shadow Lord (no deaths, just injured), but if you look back at the history of these events, it's only been recently that the Big Two companies have used their events to kill off one or two "major" characters. However, even events like Civil War (with only the rarely-seen Goliath being killed off - Steve's death came in the aftermath) or House of M (only "re-killing" a House of M version of Hawkeye) didn't really play the death card, and these were all top-selling events.




6. Genis-Vell's return seems to be a huge part of this event, but he's had some trouble carrying a series on his own in the past, and that was a much better market. Why do you think his new series is likely to last, compared to the last ones? And I'll add the same thing in for Midnight Sons, a title which has a great creative team but is by no means a proven seller.

Well, if you take into consideration that Genis-Vell had two consecutive series - one with 36 issues and the other with 24 issues - and the only reason these were not one series was because of the much-maligned U-Decide debacle with Bill Jemas, I'd say that a run of at least 60 issues is pretty successful in today's market (and many agree that the U-Decide event pretty much killed the momentum Peter David had going on the title, so it's possible the title would have continued beyond that).

Again, though, the Cosmic Marvel Universe is a much different scene than it used to be, and there have been - and do seem to be - major occurrences that have kept this section of the MU centric to the readers since Annihilation. There also appear to be major rumblings of post-Thanos Imperative plans, and at least based on how I'm interpreting that, I feel like Captain Marvel is the first piece of those new plans, with more cosmic events continuing over the next few years, which should keep sales at a pretty stable level.

Similarly, with the Midnight Sons feature characters - Strange, Doctor Voodoo, and Ghost Rider, among others - who have failed to keep their own monthly series going, it becomes standard practice to group them together in a team book, give them a renewed sense of focus and direction, and tie it into bigger things. This event only serves as the launching pad for the magic users, and as with the cosmic corner of the universe, which got a much-needed kick in the pants with Annihilation, an event would be planned for these characters, as well. Also, with Marvel being more selective - but trying for variety - with its books next year (and from here on out), these characters need to be represented as a major part of Marvel's pantheon, and this has been the one corner that has consistently lacked the attention it deserves. My hope is that this is the first step to correct that.



7. What would you say are the three most important status quo changes that come out of this event in terms of the whole Marvel Universe?

1. The return of Genis-Vell (and someone appropriate to the name of Captain Marvel). Captain Marvel, since the original, has maintained an amazing legacy, one that, in my opinion, seemed to grow more once the character died, and it is truly a great legacy to live up to. Genis-Vell, in particular, is a character who got the shaft and was moved off the board to be replaced by someone who wasn't worthy (his sister Phyla-Vell) and then, later, someone who was an imposter (the Skrull Captain Marvel). Genis' return here represents great things for the future of the character and the furthering of the cosmic Marvel's expansion.

2. S.H.A.D.E. and the expansion of the Darkforce users and its universe. Marvel just got over the Initiative and its law to supervise and register any superpowered being, and now they're presented with hundreds - perhaps thousands - of new superpowers overnight. That's a major deus ex machina and something that will be explored in the S.H.A.D.E. mini-series (and more, if the fans call for it), as well as throughout the Marvel Universe. And not all of these newly-bestowed characters will use their powers for the betterment of mankind...

3. The origin of the Darkforce, as well as the universe pre-Big Bang. The origin here not only tells us how practically dozens of already-existing characters - and their appearances throughout Marvel's series - tie together, but it also puts into question the origin of our universe, and this particular aspect opens up a lot of doors, many that may turn out to be controversial.

[I AM GROOT!]

Jason - you did pretty much the exact opposite and worked almost solo, using your teammates as a group of editors in a sense. Why did you decide to work in this way for the final task?

I decided to go the "Ray approach" on this event (similar to what Ray did with James' International Apprentice) and go solo for one reason alone: this is the last challenge, and win or lose, I wanted my submission to be on my shoulders alone. The judges look at the entire game, as well as the final challenge, when deciding who to crown the winner. They've already seen my performance as PM, and they've seen me work alone in the last challenge, but this is the challenge that names a winner, and in my mind, there should be no doubt in the judges' minds who contributed what. If they like my pitch the best, but Kiai, for example, had come up with the idea, or Oz had broken down the tie-ins, do I necessarily deserve to win? Maybe, but I think that answer would be easier to make if they liked my idea the best, and they knew that it was my brainchild from beginning to end (with my team telling me my ideas were great or terrible).

Was it a smart move? We'll see. ;)

[Matthew Brown]

Jason...

Thanos is not the villain in Thanos Imperative.

[The Doctor]

Hey sorry I wasn't here for the last little bit but there was a major problem with my broadband provider across the UK

I hope someone else with BT broadband will verify my story or I can post some of the many, many angry comments from Facebook (this is where I really should get a phone with net access)

Sorry again

[Ray G.]

Thanks, Jason. Good answers. :thumb:

I'll be out a lot today, letting Steve answer and Johnny and Brandon weigh in, if they want. Hopefully we'll have a winner tonight, but no promises.

[I AM GROOT!]

Jason...

Thanos is not the villain in Thanos Imperative.

It's the Fault characters, right? I kept thinking of the pre-Thanos Imperative lead-in where Thanos killed Phylla-Vell, but you're completely right, and I'm behind on my reading.

[John M. Coker (Johnny C.)]

Thanks, Jason. Good answers. :thumb:

I'll be out a lot today, letting Steve answer and Johnny and Brandon weigh in, if they want. Hopefully we'll have a winner tonight, but no promises.

I was out of town from 2 to 11 yesterday, and then had a young lady friend over until the wee hours. I have a fairly busy day today, I should be able to give these my full attention later this evening, and should have my vote in either very late tonight or early to mid-day tomorrow.

[Ray G.]

Two votes in, waiting on the others.

[I AM GROOT!]

Two votes in, waiting on the others.

But Steve hasn't answered yet. :(

[Ray G.]

But Steve hasn't answered yet. :(

We're waiting on him, and the odds are there'll still be a result, but those two judges felt that the decision was clear enough to cast our votes. For the most part, we prefer to let the project stand on its own, but we can always change our votes if we need to. It's more a private discussion than a formal ballot box. :)

[I AM GROOT!]

We're waiting on him, and the odds are there'll still be a result, but those two judges felt that the decision was clear enough to cast our votes. For the most part, we prefer to let the project stand on its own, but we can always change our votes if we need to. It's more a private discussion than a formal ballot box. :)

Oh, I know. The Donald probably feels the same way on the TV version, even before he asks each team to comment, and really only changes his mind if someone truly screws up, so you're probably doing things the exact same way. ;)

...unless I said something to screw things up, in which case disregard what I said and let the project stand on its own. :scared:

[Steve Marshall]

Just got in. Will tackle the questions in a few minutes (if that's alright).

[I AM GROOT!]

Just got in. Will tackle the questions in a few minutes (if that's alright).

:rock:

[JamesV]

Ray you said I could answer questions, even though they were mainly for Steve.

I would like to lend my support to this question:


1. Why did you choose to do all the tie-ins in the context of ongoing series(except Shazam)? If you look at the model of Blackest Night, the minis sold extremely well, as well as giving fans of a character options to follow the ongoing, which wasn't tied into the event, or the mini which was.

And would like to just say that while it's true Blackest Night provided that option, that was the story that Blackest Night was telling. In all reality, Blackest Night was a story that could not interrupt non-GL books and it wouldn't matter. But when you are crafting a story that deals with changes to fundamental relationships and status quos to the characters, I feel it's bad form to just make them happen outside the books that matter. Civil War, House of M and Infinite Crisis all sold just as well (and even better in some cases than Blackest Night) but operated with in-book tie-ins. I feel that you can approach tie-ins two ways, and that they should always serve the story you are best telling. In this case, in-book tie-ins make the most sense because of the nature of the crossover.

[Steve Marshall]

Alright, time to start questions. These are mainly directed at the two finalists, but the helpers can answer anything they feel they have a good insight into. I've only read one so far, so I'll keep them separate.

Steve:

1. Why did you choose to do all the tie-ins in the context of ongoing series(except Shazam)? If you look at the model of Blackest Night, the minis sold extremely well, as well as giving fans of a character options to follow the ongoing, which wasn't tied into the event, or the mini which was.

2. Also, it seems a lot of plots introduced in the main mini dovetail directly into the the tie-ins, making it kind of important to follow them. How many comics would you say are needed to follow the full, critical story?

3. Why did you choose Jesse Quick as your sole casualty for the event? The mini is light on big deaths compared to a lot of these, which is kind of refreshing, but she's a character who only became prominent again recently, and I'm not sure many fans are attached enough to her for this death to make much of a splash. What do you see her death accomplishing in the long-run, both in this event and outside of it?

4. I feel like the stakes of this event aren't quite as big as a lot of the other events. There's no world-destroying crisis here, just a nefarious plot by Grodd and Luthor. It actually feels more like that JLU episode blown up to epic size. Was this a deliberate decision to do a different kind of event, with a different scale of crisis?

5. Luthor knowing the secret is one of the biggest status quo changes of the event. Luthor has known Superman's identity before. It was retconned. What will make this time different?

6. You talk about how this event will result in people being more suspicious of their heroes. How intense is this likely to get? Will heroes now have to worry about the public or the government turning against them, a la Marvel? And out of curiosity, can you tell me which heroes are going to be most affected by this?

7. Checkmate is clearly going to be a crowd pleaser among the internet fans (myself included) but here's my problem - you're launching a new Checkmate title out of a big event with a creative team that's not megawatt but is likely to be critically acclaimed. Sound familiar? It's the exact same circumstances of the last Checkmate book. What will allow this one to survive in a rougher market than Rucka's book?

8. This may be a quibble, but why did you give Jim Califiore Grant Morrison's Shazam! book? Califiore is a competent artist who does a good job on Secret Six, but he's not a big name. Why didn't you give at least the mini to someone like Cam Stewart, one of Morrison's "pet" artists?

9. There are a few tie-ins that strike me as sort of "Red skies" tie-ins. For instance, Batgirl. The only tie there seems to be that she's really busy in Gotham because of the Bat!Joker crisis. Is there anything more to this story that ties the book to the main event?

1. In addition to James' answer, I feel like, from a business standpoint, during a big event it's a good idea to feed into your ongoings in terms of post-event retention.

2. The main is all that's necessary to get the full, critical story. The goal of our tie-ins is that they enhance the story if you follow them but don't hinder the experience if you don't.

3. First and foremost, I think it made sense within the context of the story. Secondly, I think there is a sense of finality with it that you don't get by killing off Superman or Batman or what have you that sets the tone and provides a sense of urgency for the rest of the event. In the universe, it matters a lot. She's heavily connected within the DCU. She is/was a member or the Titans, the JSA, and now the JLA, not to mention a member of Team Flash. I think it's going to echo heavily in JSA and JLA.

4. It absolutely was. World-destroying crisis have kind of become the norm in terms of the DCU events and the goal was to counter that with a more personal crisis.

5. I believe that lies in way it was executed. It's a cold war situation between the two that I feel can be slow-burning and have the ability to pay story dividends far into the future, instead of a big move for the sake of making a big move. The cold war dynamic itself is a fresh one that I feel isn't intrusive to the Superman line and only strengthens it by adding a new dimension to the Superman/Lex dynamic.

6. I don't think it compares to the Marvel Universe. Our goal was not to turn the DCU into a facsimile of Marvel's where it's a more xenophobic fear, but bring to the forefront a more rational “I trust Superman, but what if Superman is not himself one day...” dilemma amongst some of the the public that would be a legitimate concern.

The JLA (and Bruce Wayne, in terms of the public, since their being two Batmen is not public knowledge) and Teen Titans would be the most affected by this on a personal and professional level being that they were the victims of the possession and forced to betray the public trust.

7. I feel like part of Rucka's Checkmate's downfall in regards to the mainstream audience was that it spun out of a big event but got further and further from mainstream DCU as it progressed. I feel like we're a position where we can keep it in the forefront of the DCU for quite some time instead of entirely off to the side doing it's own loosely related thing.

8. I feel like Califiore's a great pick stylistically for the title. Grant Morrison is a huge draw to the point where it gave the freedom to pick based on who would be a really good fit. I'm a fan of consistency whenever possible, which is why he is the artist assigned to both the mini and the ongoing.

9. Batgirl, with all of Gotham's major heroes otherwise deposed, was seen as an opportunity to spotlight her dealing with an A-List problem, which I think further legitimatizes her within the DCU.

[Ray G.]

Thanks, Steve. We'll take your answers into consideration. :)

I'll be back when we have a final vote.

[Steve Marshall]

Steve - you decided early one to work as a team and take ideas from the troops early on and actually assigned tasks to them. You also went back and forth on pitch ideas for a while. Why did you decide to work in this way for the final task?

When I looked at the challenge, while definitely bigger, it really wasn't that atypical from the norm to the point where the project manager approach would not still be a viable option. At the the end of the day, I feel the most important thing was to bring forth the best project possible whether it's my ideas being implementing or not, and I feel like it was the best method in terms of cultivating that. In the real world, successful big crossovers aren't just the brainchild of one man, but the culmination of the work of many people, and I feel that that was the best approach here.

[I AM GROOT!]

Thanks, Steve. We'll take your answers into consideration. :)

I'll be back when we have a final vote.

http://www.tvgasm.com/wp-content/uploads/1924.jpg

[Ray G.]

All votes are in.

There will be a ruling this evening.

[I AM GROOT!]

All votes are in.

There will be a ruling this evening.

*Puts on his best outfit for the boardroom*

http://www.themefancydress.com/ekmps/shops/online/images/elf-costume-male-top-trouers-hat-delux-2118-p.jpg

[Matthew Brown]

Death to Jason!

[I AM GROOT!]

Death to Jason!

:mistrust:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Bodyguards_erdogan_01.jpg

[Steve Marshall]

*Puts on his best outfit for the boardroom*

http://www.themefancydress.com/ekmps/shops/online/images/elf-costume-male-top-trouers-hat-delux-2118-p.jpg

Nice threads!

http://www.purecostumes.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/00839_full_1.jpg


Death to Jason!

How did he survive the carbomb?!?!?! :sad:

[I AM GROOT!]

Nice threads!

http://www.purecostumes.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/00839_full_1.jpg

Who knew that the Apprentice finale would feature a pimp and Santa's elf?




How did he survive the carbomb?!?!?! :sad:

Body double. He had a wife and two kids. For shame.

[Mylazycat]

All votes are in.

There will be a ruling this evening.

Will it be a trick, or a treat?

[I AM GROOT!]

Will it be a trick, or a treat?

He at least better have a bowl of candy on the boardroom desk.

[Steve Marshall]

Who knew that the Apprentice finale would feature a pimp and Santa's elf?

Pimp?! I'm a legitimate small-business proprietor!

Your attempt to sully my name has greatly offended me, sir. You will be hearing from my lawyers.

[The Doctor]

Host: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Apprentice you're fired! As we wait on the edge of our seats for the epic finale we look back at the eliminated contestant for their memories of the show and what their time on the Apprentice meant to them. First up we have first eliminated Jason California who we found hanging out at the Playboy mansion.

Jason California: I can manipulate 3'000 people to watch stuff, that's it just watch it. I have power over people lots of power.

Host: Wow no wonder we lost so many viewers that first week. Next up is second eliminated Omege Flight aka Slewo.O

Slewo: I'm telling you my elimation was a conspiracy man.

Host: Really?

Slewo: It's all to do with the radio waves man, can't you hear them! Can't you see them?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Host: After leaving Mr. O in his padded cell we met up with the third eliminated contested Mayor Mitch.

Mitch: I'm writing a tell all book about how someone on the show touched me.....and not in a good way.

Host: That sounds horrible.

Mitch: I didn't say I didn't enjoy it....

Host: We then met up with artist Aaron Bir.

Aaron: I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of these awards and how awesome I am.

Host: Awards don't make noise.

Aaron: So's your face!

Host: Next up was rogue eminent Sasha Catclops

Sasha: Well hello there old boy would you care for a spot of tea?

Host: Why....yes I would. You seem.....reasonable......

Sasha: It's these lovely new meds the doctor's have me on, they're most splendid. I now spend 4% less of my day fixated on Walruses.

Host: A happy ending is something we always like to see on the Bendis Board network. Unfortunately we could not reach the next eliminated contestant The Roman for comment as he is currently lost in time battling for his life in a gladiator like environment. We wish you all the best Roman! Next up we spoke to Kurt Russell Crowe

KRC: Wait I got eliminated? When did this happen? I've been waiting months for a new *censored* task and this is what I get?! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!

Host: Erm...moving on to fan favourite Kedd who we found in an usual position following the show.

Kedd: The damn network allowed the other team to name themselves after me. There are kid's everywhere with KKK t-shirts and I'm not seeing any of the profit! What is so wrong with wanting to be part of that??!!?! Why you all looking at me funny.....

Host: After that slightly awkward gag we turn to early favourite Matthew Brown.

Matthew: I'm thinking of doing my own show with Newsarama. The show will involve these doors and behind each door is a cybernetic shark that asks you a riddle. What happens when you get the riddle wrong? Death monkey's

Host: Next up is family man and all around gentleman Doug

Doug: Get off mah lawn *loads shotgun*

Host: Fearing for our lives we turned to Peter Parker.

Peter Parker: So.....did OMD happen....or didn't it?

Host: We left him puzzling over that eternal question to speak with Grandmaster funk.

Funk: I was a judge and this is how they treat me?! I am this network!!!!! Without me they are nothing, do you hear me nothing!!!!!!

Host: For our next segment we had the Kiai. Unfortunately despite only been given 10 seconds the Kiai went on to tell us a 10 hour epic on his feelings about his time on his show. While we appreciate his comments we found this sentence summed him up perfectly.

Kiai: I like balloons.

Host: Next up is JamesV who is also the host of international apprentice on a rival network.

James: The real reason I signed up was to steal all of Ray's ideas and use them to improve my already superior show. It was all a master plan you see, I didn't even care about winning so those rumours about me crying into my pillow are all lies do you hear me?! Lies!

Host: After that intense exchange we spoke to the dark horse of the competition OzMan.

Oz: The network never liked me. They knew I couldn't be controlled but I stuck in there! I got the last laugh!

Host: You didn't win though.

Oz: That's what you think little man.

Host: Finally we came to the third place contested The Doctor who looked slightly more attractive in this host's eyes than all the other contestants combined.

Doctor: Silence I have to cement my strategy for next year that involves a highly convoluted plot involving Booster Gold, Spider-man, the Question, a TARDIS and Ray's comic countdown.

Host: With those wacko's safely eliminated we all wait with great anticipation to see who will win. Will it be Steve? The man who has a strange obsession on crime solving dogs and Simon Dark? Or will it be Jason.....that's my question will he actually win one of these things? tune in to find out only on Bendis Board network!

[Mylazycat]

Doctor, I only have this to say:

http://www.plixer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/applause.gif

[I AM GROOT!]

...I don't remember any of these contestants. :mistrust:

[Ray G.]

Fantastic. Doc's hired. :lol:

...As my comedy writer. Someone will win Apprentice II shortly. Stay tuned.

[I AM GROOT!]

Fantastic. Doc's hired. :lol:

...As my comedy writer. Someone will win Apprentice II shortly. Stay tuned.

:scared:

[Ray G.]

Okay. It's been a long, exciting season, and both of you absolutely deserve to be here. You've both been powerhouses throughout this game. Steve, you rode a perfect PM record into the final four, and Jason, you turned in what many of us thought was the best pitch of the game in the individual round. And now, it all comes down to this one last pitch.

You couldn't have taken more different approaches. Jason, using your team more as editors, you created an epic Marvel crossover using elements of magic and cosmic warfare. Steve, you and your team worked jointly to create a story of the DCU's greatest villains pulling off a new kind of strike.

I can tell you that this decision was 4-0. But in reality, it was a lot closer. Two judges felt this was a blowout, while the others said it was a close call between two flawed but intriguing ideas.

Jason, your event was undoubtedly original, even going so far as to center it around a duo of original villains. However, you centered it around a fairly obscure Marvel concept, the Darkforce. In the end, you came up with a very well-put together event - and we all loved the tie-ins, and thought that the flow of the story was extremely smooth - that unfortunately, felt a little more like Annihilation, Chaos War, or Final Crisis than a true tentpole. The big heroes were there, but the story was a bit too insular for us to imagine this selling more than 100K, as big events are supposed to. You seem to be adding a good deal to the MU with it...but it sort of lacks those big moments that will really get people buzzing.

Steve, your concept seems a bit more welcoming to readers. Everyone knows Luthor and Grodd, and the idea of a hero-villain bodyswap is a popular comic trope. Maybe a bit too popular. The concept was done brilliantly in a JLU episode in recent years, and you blew it up to epic size. But we felt like the pitch didn't quite read as smoothly as Jasons. You put it together as a team effort, and it showed. Certain things weren't completely consistent between the main minis and tie-ins, such as Luthor's motivation, and there were a good number of typos all around. The concept as a whole seems like it would get a bit old in six months of stories, and the repercussions just don't seem big enough to make this a game changer for the DCU. In a universe that's withstood Darkseid, the Blackest Night, and three Crises, Luthor and Grodd's bodyswap antics feels almost...quaint.

When the two concepts and executions are this different, it's hard to make a call. In the end, we went with the concept that seems more shelf-ready. Neither of these seemed like they would be the next Civil War or Blackest Night. However, one of these seemed like a professional, fully-realized concept for their universe, pulling from all corners and creating a complete vision of the event. And combined with their last individual pitch, that person created the picture of a creative mind who should be working in comics NOW.

Jason...you're HIRED!

[Steve Marshall]

Okay. It's been a long, exciting season, and both of you absolutely deserve to be here. You've both been powerhouses throughout this game. Steve, you rode a perfect PM record into the final four, and Jason, you turned in what many of us thought was the best pitch of the game in the individual round. And now, it all comes down to this one last pitch.

You couldn't have taken more different approaches. Jason, using your team more as editors, you created an epic Marvel crossover using elements of magic and cosmic warfare. Steve, you and your team worked jointly to create a story of the DCU's greatest villains pulling off a new kind of strike.

I can tell you that this decision was 4-0. But in reality, it was a lot closer. Two judges felt this was a blowout, while the others said it was a close call between two flawed but intriguing ideas.

Jason, your event was undoubtedly original, even going so far as to center it around a duo of original villains. However, you centered it around a fairly obscure Marvel concept, the Darkforce. In the end, you came up with a very well-put together event - and we all loved the tie-ins, and thought that the flow of the story was extremely smooth - that unfortunately, felt a little more like Annihilation, Chaos War, or Final Crisis than a true tentpole. The big heroes were there, but the story was a bit too insular for us to imagine this selling more than 100K, as big events are supposed to. You seem to be adding a good deal to the MU with it...but it sort of lacks those big moments that will really get people buzzing.

Steve, your concept seems a bit more welcoming to readers. Everyone knows Luthor and Grodd, and the idea of a hero-villain bodyswap is a popular comic trope. Maybe a bit too popular. The concept was done brilliantly in a JLU episode in recent years, and you blew it up to epic size. But we felt like the pitch didn't quite read as smoothly as Jasons. You put it together as a team effort, and it showed. Certain things weren't completely consistent between the main minis and tie-ins, such as Luthor's motivation, and there were a good number of typos all around. The concept as a whole seems like it would get a bit old in six months of stories, and the repercussions just don't seem big enough to make this a game changer for the DCU. In a universe that's withstood Darkseid, the Blackest Night, and three Crises, Luthor and Grodd's bodyswap antics feels almost...quaint.

When the two concepts and executions are this different, it's hard to make a call. In the end, we went with the concept that seems more shelf-ready. Neither of these seemed like they would be the next Civil War or Blackest Night. However, one of these seemed like a professional, fully-realized concept for their universe, pulling from all corners and creating a complete vision of the event. And combined with their last individual pitch, that person created the picture of a creative mind who should be working in comics NOW.

Jason...you're HIRED!

Congratulations, Jason!

[The Doctor]

Fantastic. Doc's hired. :lol:

...As my comedy writer. Someone will win Apprentice II shortly. Stay tuned.
I'll take it

Okay. It's been a long, exciting season, and both of you absolutely deserve to be here. You've both been powerhouses throughout this game. Steve, you rode a perfect PM record into the final four, and Jason, you turned in what many of us thought was the best pitch of the game in the individual round. And now, it all comes down to this one last pitch.

You couldn't have taken more different approaches. Jason, using your team more as editors, you created an epic Marvel crossover using elements of magic and cosmic warfare. Steve, you and your team worked jointly to create a story of the DCU's greatest villains pulling off a new kind of strike.

I can tell you that this decision was 4-0. But in reality, it was a lot closer. Two judges felt this was a blowout, while the others said it was a close call between two flawed but intriguing ideas.

Jason, your event was undoubtedly original, even going so far as to center it around a duo of original villains. However, you centered it around a fairly obscure Marvel concept, the Darkforce. In the end, you came up with a very well-put together event - and we all loved the tie-ins, and thought that the flow of the story was extremely smooth - that unfortunately, felt a little more like Annihilation, Chaos War, or Final Crisis than a true tentpole. The big heroes were there, but the story was a bit too insular for us to imagine this selling more than 100K, as big events are supposed to. You seem to be adding a good deal to the MU with it...but it sort of lacks those big moments that will really get people buzzing.

Steve, your concept seems a bit more welcoming to readers. Everyone knows Luthor and Grodd, and the idea of a hero-villain bodyswap is a popular comic trope. Maybe a bit too popular. The concept was done brilliantly in a JLU episode in recent years, and you blew it up to epic size. But we felt like the pitch didn't quite read as smoothly as Jasons. You put it together as a team effort, and it showed. Certain things weren't completely consistent between the main minis and tie-ins, such as Luthor's motivation, and there were a good number of typos all around. The concept as a whole seems like it would get a bit old in six months of stories, and the repercussions just don't seem big enough to make this a game changer for the DCU. In a universe that's withstood Darkseid, the Blackest Night, and three Crises, Luthor and Grodd's bodyswap antics feels almost...quaint.

When the two concepts and executions are this different, it's hard to make a call. In the end, we went with the concept that seems more shelf-ready. Neither of these seemed like they would be the next Civil War or Blackest Night. However, one of these seemed like a professional, fully-realized concept for their universe, pulling from all corners and creating a complete vision of the event. And combined with their last individual pitch, that person created the picture of a creative mind who should be working in comics NOW.

Jason...you're HIRED!

Well done Jason, you finally won!

Now you have to wait like 3 years until your next win!

[Matthew Brown]

Steve shouldn't have listened to me. I hated the idea of doing an event "that changes everything" and rapes people's wallets.

[Steve Marshall]

Steve shouldn't have listened to me. I hated the idea of doing an event "that changes everything" and rapes people's wallets.

There was no gun held up to my head.

Thanks for all your hard work these two weeks, guys.

[I AM GROOT!]

Wow.

It was a long road to get here (and I'm talking about all of the reality games involved :lol:), but I appreciate the judges' feedback throughout this entire game.

It's quite an honor, especially going up against such a talented creative mind as Steve. Anyway, thanks to the judges and to my team for really pouring it on this entire season. :)

[The Doctor]

There was no gun held up to my head.

Thanks for all your hard work these two weeks, guys.

Should have gone for female hero orgy

Damn it!

:)

[JamesV]

I'm sorry, Steve. :(

Congratulations, Jason. You played a great game. :)

[I AM GROOT!]

I'm sorry, Steve. :(

Congratulations, Jason. You played a great game. :)

Thanks, James. It took three versions of the Apprentice to get there, but beggars can't be choosers. ;)

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

Congrats Jason!

[Matthew Brown]

Yes, congrats, Jason.

And you win... a Matthew Brown original digital sketch!

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

Yes, congrats, Jason.

And you win... a Matthew Brown original digital sketch!

You should draw a sketch of Steve crying, so Jason feels guilty for winning.

[Matthew Brown]

You should draw a sketch of Steve crying, so Jason feels guilty for winning.

I don't know what anyone looks like.

[GrandeMaestro Fünke]

I don't know what anyone looks like.

Use your imagination!

[Matthew Brown]

Use your imagination!

I don't have one! And thanks for bringing it up!

[Mylazycat]

Congratulations, jason! I'm happy for you!

I knew you'd win someday! :rock:

[I AM GROOT!]

Thanks for the congrats, Funk, Matt, and Gary!

And I will take a digital sketch of Steve crying like a little girl. ;)

[Doug]

Congrats Jason!

Go Robots!

[Mylazycat]

The nation reacts to Jason's Apprentice: Bendis Board Season Two victory:

http://www.nma.gov.au/shared/libraries/images/exhibitions/royal_romance/queens_progress/children_cheering_1954/files/3442/A1773_RV660%20-%20Children%20Cheering%201954.jpg

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/files/2010/01/grind-cheering.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03_02/celebratingG1503_468x525.jpg

http://abcnews.go.com/images/GMA/ht_Celebrating_Peanuts_091217_main.jpg

http://www.wicrimeprevention.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/vancouver-fireworks.jpg

http://exquisitelimo.ca/limoblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/girls_in_limo.jpg

http://www.ballet.co.uk/images/rosie_kay/bs_the_wild_party_rosie_kay_and_frinds_agresive_50 0.jpg

http://www.hijinxcomics.com/images/stanlee.jpg

[Marc Lombardi]

They're rioting in San Francisco over Jason's win!

And Sookie Stackhouse wants to give you a kiss:


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs978.snc4/77139_448491066650_572676650_5888818_168900_n.jpg

[I AM GROOT!]

Who would have thought that my win would surprise Stan the Man??

[OzMan]

Congrats Jason,

Helluva ride. It was a long season, and you really pulled it together and through.

Next year I'm hoping if your not judging to be on your team once again.

[Black Roman]

Host: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Apprentice you're fired! As we wait on the edge of our seats for the epic finale we look back at the eliminated contestant for their memories of the show and what their time on the Apprentice meant to them. First up we have first eliminated Jason California who we found hanging out at the Playboy mansion.

Jason California: I can manipulate 3'000 people to watch stuff, that's it just watch it. I have power over people lots of power.

Host: Wow no wonder we lost so many viewers that first week. Next up is second eliminated Omege Flight aka Slewo.O

Slewo: I'm telling you my elimation was a conspiracy man.

Host: Really?

Slewo: It's all to do with the radio waves man, can't you hear them! Can't you see them?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Host: After leaving Mr. O in his padded cell we met up with the third eliminated contested Mayor Mitch.

Mitch: I'm writing a tell all book about how someone on the show touched me.....and not in a good way.

Host: That sounds horrible.

Mitch: I didn't say I didn't enjoy it....

Host: We then met up with artist Aaron Bir.

Aaron: I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of these awards and how awesome I am.

Host: Awards don't make noise.

Aaron: So's your face!

Host: Next up was rogue eminent Sasha Catclops

Sasha: Well hello there old boy would you care for a spot of tea?

Host: Why....yes I would. You seem.....reasonable......

Sasha: It's these lovely new meds the doctor's have me on, they're most splendid. I now spend 4% less of my day fixated on Walruses.

Host: A happy ending is something we always like to see on the Bendis Board network. Unfortunately we could not reach the next eliminated contestant The Roman for comment as he is currently lost in time battling for his life in a gladiator like environment. We wish you all the best Roman! Next up we spoke to Kurt Russell Crowe

KRC: Wait I got eliminated? When did this happen? I've been waiting months for a new *censored* task and this is what I get?! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!

Host: Erm...moving on to fan favourite Kedd who we found in an usual position following the show.

Kedd: The damn network allowed the other team to name themselves after me. There are kid's everywhere with KKK t-shirts and I'm not seeing any of the profit! What is so wrong with wanting to be part of that??!!?! Why you all looking at me funny.....

Host: After that slightly awkward gag we turn to early favourite Matthew Brown.

Matthew: I'm thinking of doing my own show with Newsarama. The show will involve these doors and behind each door is a cybernetic shark that asks you a riddle. What happens when you get the riddle wrong? Death monkey's

Host: Next up is family man and all around gentleman Doug

Doug: Get off mah lawn *loads shotgun*

Host: Fearing for our lives we turned to Peter Parker.

Peter Parker: So.....did OMD happen....or didn't it?

Host: We left him puzzling over that eternal question to speak with Grandmaster funk.

Funk: I was a judge and this is how they treat me?! I am this network!!!!! Without me they are nothing, do you hear me nothing!!!!!!

Host: For our next segment we had the Kiai. Unfortunately despite only been given 10 seconds the Kiai went on to tell us a 10 hour epic on his feelings about his time on his show. While we appreciate his comments we found this sentence summed him up perfectly.

Kiai: I like balloons.

Host: Next up is JamesV who is also the host of international apprentice on a rival network.

James: The real reason I signed up was to steal all of Ray's ideas and use them to improve my already superior show. It was all a master plan you see, I didn't even care about winning so those rumours about me crying into my pillow are all lies do you hear me?! Lies!

Host: After that intense exchange we spoke to the dark horse of the competition OzMan.

Oz: The network never liked me. They knew I couldn't be controlled but I stuck in there! I got the last laugh!

Host: You didn't win though.

Oz: That's what you think little man.

Host: Finally we came to the third place contested The Doctor who looked slightly more attractive in this host's eyes than all the other contestants combined.

Doctor: Silence I have to cement my strategy for next year that involves a highly convoluted plot involving Booster Gold, Spider-man, the Question, a TARDIS and Ray's comic countdown.

Host: With those wacko's safely eliminated we all wait with great anticipation to see who will win. Will it be Steve? The man who has a strange obsession on crime solving dogs and Simon Dark? Or will it be Jason.....that's my question will he actually win one of these things? tune in to find out only on Bendis Board network!


:rofl:

[Kedd]

Host: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Apprentice you're fired! As we wait on the edge of our seats for the epic finale we look back at the eliminated contestant for their memories of the show and what their time on the Apprentice meant to them. First up we have first eliminated Jason California who we found hanging out at the Playboy mansion.

Jason California: I can manipulate 3'000 people to watch stuff, that's it just watch it. I have power over people lots of power.

Host: Wow no wonder we lost so many viewers that first week. Next up is second eliminated Omege Flight aka Slewo.O

Slewo: I'm telling you my elimation was a conspiracy man.

Host: Really?

Slewo: It's all to do with the radio waves man, can't you hear them! Can't you see them?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Host: After leaving Mr. O in his padded cell we met up with the third eliminated contested Mayor Mitch.

Mitch: I'm writing a tell all book about how someone on the show touched me.....and not in a good way.

Host: That sounds horrible.

Mitch: I didn't say I didn't enjoy it....

Host: We then met up with artist Aaron Bir.

Aaron: I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of these awards and how awesome I am.

Host: Awards don't make noise.

Aaron: So's your face!

Host: Next up was rogue eminent Sasha Catclops

Sasha: Well hello there old boy would you care for a spot of tea?

Host: Why....yes I would. You seem.....reasonable......

Sasha: It's these lovely new meds the doctor's have me on, they're most splendid. I now spend 4% less of my day fixated on Walruses.

Host: A happy ending is something we always like to see on the Bendis Board network. Unfortunately we could not reach the next eliminated contestant The Roman for comment as he is currently lost in time battling for his life in a gladiator like environment. We wish you all the best Roman! Next up we spoke to Kurt Russell Crowe

KRC: Wait I got eliminated? When did this happen? I've been waiting months for a new *censored* task and this is what I get?! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!

Host: Erm...moving on to fan favourite Kedd who we found in an usual position following the show.

Kedd: The damn network allowed the other team to name themselves after me. There are kid's everywhere with KKK t-shirts and I'm not seeing any of the profit! What is so wrong with wanting to be part of that??!!?! Why you all looking at me funny.....

Host: After that slightly awkward gag we turn to early favourite Matthew Brown.

Matthew: I'm thinking of doing my own show with Newsarama. The show will involve these doors and behind each door is a cybernetic shark that asks you a riddle. What happens when you get the riddle wrong? Death monkey's

Host: Next up is family man and all around gentleman Doug

Doug: Get off mah lawn *loads shotgun*

Host: Fearing for our lives we turned to Peter Parker.

Peter Parker: So.....did OMD happen....or didn't it?

Host: We left him puzzling over that eternal question to speak with Grandmaster funk.

Funk: I was a judge and this is how they treat me?! I am this network!!!!! Without me they are nothing, do you hear me nothing!!!!!!

Host: For our next segment we had the Kiai. Unfortunately despite only been given 10 seconds the Kiai went on to tell us a 10 hour epic on his feelings about his time on his show. While we appreciate his comments we found this sentence summed him up perfectly.

Kiai: I like balloons.

Host: Next up is JamesV who is also the host of international apprentice on a rival network.

James: The real reason I signed up was to steal all of Ray's ideas and use them to improve my already superior show. It was all a master plan you see, I didn't even care about winning so those rumours about me crying into my pillow are all lies do you hear me?! Lies!

Host: After that intense exchange we spoke to the dark horse of the competition OzMan.

Oz: The network never liked me. They knew I couldn't be controlled but I stuck in there! I got the last laugh!

Host: You didn't win though.

Oz: That's what you think little man.

Host: Finally we came to the third place contested The Doctor who looked slightly more attractive in this host's eyes than all the other contestants combined.

Doctor: Silence I have to cement my strategy for next year that involves a highly convoluted plot involving Booster Gold, Spider-man, the Question, a TARDIS and Ray's comic countdown.

Host: With those wacko's safely eliminated we all wait with great anticipation to see who will win. Will it be Steve? The man who has a strange obsession on crime solving dogs and Simon Dark? Or will it be Jason.....that's my question will he actually win one of these things? tune in to find out only on Bendis Board network!

Bravo, sir.

[Matthew Brown]

So how about those Superman books? Yeah? Yeah?

*fish fish fish*

[The Doctor]

Glad you guys liked it:D

[Superior Kiai]

I do like balloons.

[The Doctor]

I do like balloons.

I know!

[Ray G.]

It was a great season. :)

I'm already getting started on early planning for season three, deciding what challenges should make a return and any new ideas I might have.

There'll be a couple of minor rule changes, the main one pertaining to the PM immunities - they will now only be for the first half of the game, and each person can only win it once.

May 2011! :D

[Mylazycat]

Has the winner received any prizes yet? :)

[I AM GROOT!]

Has the winner received any prizes yet? :)

No? :mistrust:

[Ray G.]

Hey, everyone. In case you want a shorter game to get ready for season three this summer, James V is running a version of the game over on his forum. Likely 8-10 contestants instead of the 16-18 we have. I won season two there, so I'll be judging alongside him this time.

Sign up, if you want to play! :)

http://conceptualstorm.com/ohhaiguys/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7584

[I AM GROOT!]

Hey, everyone. In case you want a shorter game to get ready for season three this summer, James V is running a version of the game over on his forum. Likely 8-10 contestants instead of the 16-18 we have. I won season two there, so I'll be judging alongside him this time.

Sign up, if you want to play! :)

http://conceptualstorm.com/ohhaiguys/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7584

I second this. I played James V's game during the second season and made it pretty far. :)

[Black Roman]

I'm in it!!! *watches as all prospective players run the opposite direction*





What? It's not like I'm Sasha!