My Extremis Ending

[chrismarker]

Sorry Adi -- is it crass that I want to offer my own ending? I'm just having fun and we're all lucky as hell you post on this forum, so forgive me -- call it a fan's fantasy like so many artists who post on here hoping to crack into the ranks of Marvel!

And BTW -- I did e-mail Warren -- a long winded and acerbic rant -- but very complimentary too -- about my dissatisfaction with the whole inexplicably unoriginal "I can look at myself in the mirror ending," to which he replied back with one terse sentence that said approximately: "I must remember to thank Adi" for sending you my way...LOL! Well, let it never be said I'm not passionate!

Anyway, here's my ending for anyone who cares -- I'd like to hear anyone's own ending too, even if they really loved Warren's and don't think it can be improved.

But anyway: in my ending, and I might have posted this before, Tony would be injured initially beyond any medical help leaving Maya with only one option: She would have to dose herself with the Extremis virus to fight Mallen. (This would advance her character as a powerful feminist figure instead of what Warren did, which was basically reduce her to a femme fatale, i.e., a stereotype that women have had to deal with for centuries and in the case of Maya one that I'm guessing a lot of women readers of this arc were not too happy with.)

Maya then would fight Mallen in a brutally violent fight, but would ultimately have to retreat because of wounds she suffered. The she would go back to Tony, who would then be healed just enough to be injected with Extremis.

Then BOTH Tony/Iron Man and Maya would have to join forces TOGETHER to develop a way to stop Mallen. They would succed in stopping Mallen, but not before they realize he has given several viles of his own Extremis contaminated blood to unknown hate groups throughout the country.

The End...

Well, what do you think?

[Adi Granov]

To be honest, I am surprised Warren replied at all after the message you sent him. I got to read it too and must say it was very aggressive and quite a bit insulting. But to each their own.

[chrismarker]

To be honest, I am surprised Warren replied at all after the message you sent him. I got to read it too and must say it was very aggressive and quite a bit insulting. But to each their own.

Adi, in the nearly 1 year I've posted here I've expressed unequivocal awe for both yours and Warren's efforts on this title. I've never shown disrespect to anybody that's ever posted and I'm not aware of anytime I've ever shown anything but the most professinal respect for you even in the very few times I've been critical of your work. All that happened in my e-mail to Warren is that I got caught up in trying to be a cool gonzo writer in order to impress a truly great writer. As it turns out, I failed so miserably at affecting a J.D. Salinger/Hunter S. Thompson/Lester Bangs/William Burroghs hipster like fuck-the-world-humor that Warren actually called me "mentally ill," something that actually makes me feels ashamed and embarassed. I wrote a sincere apology to him before you posted this and I want to formally apologize to you for any bad feelings I might have caused to both you and Mr. Ellis. Again, I hope my past posts demonstrate the credibility of my character here. And I want nothing more than to just to move on to the occasional more pleasant distractions that posting on this forum has always provided for me...

[ds9]

Sorry Adi -- is it crass that I want to offer my own ending? I'm just having fun and we're all lucky as hell you post on this forum, so forgive me -- call it a fan's fantasy like so many artists who post on here hoping to crack into the ranks of Marvel!

And BTW -- I did e-mail Warren -- a long winded and acerbic rant -- but very complimentary too -- about my dissatisfaction with the whole inexplicably unoriginal "I can look at myself in the mirror ending," to which he replied back with one terse sentence that said approximately: "I must remember to thank Adi" for sending you my way...LOL! Well, let it never be said I'm not passionate!

Anyway, here's my ending for anyone who cares -- I'd like to hear anyone's own ending too, even if they really loved Warren's and don't think it can be improved.

But anyway: in my ending, and I might have posted this before, Tony would be injured initially beyond any medical help leaving Maya with only one option: She would have to dose herself with the Extremis virus to fight Mallen. (This would advance her character as a powerful feminist figure instead of what Warren did, which was basically reduce her to a femme fatale, i.e., a stereotype that women have had to deal with for centuries and in the case of Maya one that I'm guessing a lot of women readers of this arc were not too happy with.)

Maya then would fight Mallen in a brutally violent fight, but would ultimately have to retreat because of wounds she suffered. The she would go back to Tony, who would then be healed just enough to be injected with Extremis.

Then BOTH Tony/Iron Man and Maya would have to join forces TOGETHER to develop a way to stop Mallen. They would succed in stopping Mallen, but not before they realize he has given several viles of his own Extremis contaminated blood to unknown hate groups throughout the country.

The End...

Well, what do you think?I like that ending and it keep a good new character into the MU that can be her own new hero.

[Shannon Chenoweth]

Sorry Adi -- is it crass that I want to offer my own ending? I'm just having fun and we're all lucky as hell you post on this forum, so forgive me -- call it a fan's fantasy like so many artists who post on here hoping to crack into the ranks of Marvel!


In my opinion it is crass, or at least the way you are going about it. How would you feel if it was your story? A tale that you crafted? I'm not saying you don't have a right to think that it could have gone differently, just that it's a bit disrespectful to be emailing Warren or posting here on Adi's board. Every story is that creator's view or telling of something. That is not right or wrong.

Just felt like saying something. Sorry if I stepped over the line on your board Adi.

[paintstain]

It's crass because you are essentially telling the creators directly that what they have produced is simply wrong, and that you have thought it out more appropriately than they have, especially since you've already voiced your displeasure about it. It is also crass because I believe you think your ideas have been presented as a form of critique, yet is really a narcissistic exercise because it focuses on you. Real criticism can contain cynicism and displeasure, but it is really worthless unless the critic takes account of the author's intentions. That MUST be the starting point. You cannot believe that your "fun" with this can be shared by Adi and Warren, nor that they would appreciate your pretentious "gonzo" ramblings, again, after you've expressed such displeasure over the Extremis ending.

Your enthusiasm for the craft is always apparent, but wrongly expressed this time. (You should channel your narrative desires into maybe actually creating your own pieces.) I suspect it is the novelty of a forum giving you a direct dialogue with creators that fuels your enthusiasm, just don't let your respect wane under a false sense of familiarity.

[Shannon Chenoweth]

Your enthusiasm for the craft is always apparent, but wrongly expressed this time. (You should channel your narrative desires into maybe actually creating your own pieces.) I suspect it is the novelty of a forum giving you a direct dialogue with creators that fuels your enthusiasm, just don't let your respect wane under a false sense of familiarity.

I agree. Why not create your own stories with your own characters? It is a very rewarding experience. And, you have complete control over everything.

Saying you hate or love someone's work is one thing Chris, but to say you hate it, then say "I KNOW I can do better, look at me!" isn't cool at all my friend.

[ds9]

I agree. Why not create your own stories with your own characters? It is a very rewarding experience. And, you have complete control over everything.

Saying you hate or love someone's work is one thing Chris, but to say you hate it, then say "I KNOW I can do better, look at me!" isn't cool at all my friend.I really dont think he meant anything bad by writing a different ending. If you look at the threads you can see hes a fan of Ellis and Granov.

[Shannon Chenoweth]

I really dont think he meant anything bad by writing a different ending. If you look at the threads you can see hes a fan of Ellis and Granov.

I don't think so either. But, he made a bad choice. There are just certain things that you need to keep to yourself because there's never a good way to say or approach the topic.

[chrismarker]

It's crass because you are essentially telling the creators directly that what they have produced is simply wrong, and that you have thought it out more appropriately than they have, especially since you've already voiced your displeasure about it. It is also crass because I believe you think your ideas have been presented as a form of critique, yet is really a narcissistic exercise because it focuses on you. Real criticism can contain cynicism and displeasure, but it is really worthless unless the critic takes account of the author's intentions. That MUST be the starting point. You cannot believe that your "fun" with this can be shared by Adi and Warren, nor that they would appreciate your pretentious "gonzo" ramblings, again, after you've expressed such displeasure over the Extremis ending.

Your enthusiasm for the craft is always apparent, but wrongly expressed this time. (You should channel your narrative desires into maybe actually creating your own pieces.) I suspect it is the novelty of a forum giving you a direct dialogue with creators that fuels your enthusiasm, just don't let your respect wane under a false sense of familiarity.

I think you're confusing art for criticism here, in your otherwise thoughtful response. My critique of Ellis' ending to Extremis, which I'm guessing you probably found quite disappointing too, was that it was trite and unoriginal. What his intentions as an artist are in that ending are irrelevant: all that matters really is how a reader "works" on the text within the grounding theory of social, poltical, and historical experience: An author does not have sole purchase to the definitive "meaning" of his work by the mere fact of his "intentions": his/her work is a dynamic text subject to ever changing interpretations.

Now as far as art and "narcissism": well, I suppose all artists in a sense can be tagged as narcissists in that their work represents an effort at reproducing their own unmediated subjectivity vis a vis an artistic production. But this is far too theoretical an analysis to apply to what my efforts were in writing "my own" Extremis ending. Yes, of course, I like for my ideas to be appreciated, especially by accomplished artists, but my motivation here was not based on such validation -- key to the dynamics of narcissim -- but more simply motivated by a genuine desire to hear what people thought about Warren's ending and/or if they had their own different endings -- all for the purpose of the democratic exchange of ideas in this field of artistic expression. Further, there is absolutely nothing moral about my actions here: I never claim Ellis is "right" or "wrong" -- such ascriptions are superfluous to the very defintions of criticism you yourself articulate -- nor, am I interested in "showing" up Mr. Ellis or Mr. Granov and/or imputing their artistry, which I have given the utmost praise on many occassions. If anything my efforts here are an homage to their work, after all, I didn't "create" any art here. I didn't conceieve of this truly original arc and its several distinct characters: all I did was offer a few paragraphs of undeveloped ideas for an alternate conclusion, which, with all due respect, seems a far cry from narcissism.:surrend:

[Adi Granov]

Look, I don't mind this thread nor the idea of it, but I am also not the writer of the original story which inspired the thread so my forum is really not a good platform for this. Maybe it would be fine at another time, but in light of very vocal criticism of the story and a fairly offensive (in my opinion) email to the actual writer of the book, it seems in poor form.

Warren doesn't post here, nor do I know if he's ever even browsed the threads, so anything said comes across as talking behind his back. I highly respect the man and love his work so I really will not be drawn into any kind of debate over validity of three pages someone did or didn't like. However, I will say, that some of you seem to be assuming that characters from Extremis don't have a future beyond that arc. They do. And everything that happened in extremis carries on into the stories which will follow. And that was the whole point of Extremis, to set up a new world for Iron Man. As I said in another thread, it is not a finite, self-contained arc. It is a complete story, yes, but still only a part of an ongoing franchise. The editors are there to make sure it all flows and makes sense in the long run.

[chrismarker]

You know Adi, had I known Warren would interpret that e-mail as an act of "mental illness," I never would have started this thread. Indeed, I interpreted his one sentence mocking gratis to you as something humorous and it was only when I tried to e-mail him back but was blocked that I sensed that my attempt at serio-comic gonzo humor had been taken as an imbalanced assault. So I e-mailed him an apology before I wrote anything to you or anyone else. I said I was sorry for the rant and that the only reason I wrote him was that I admired his work so much. Then I even told him I sensed he didn't want to really hear from me and I would "shove off." I closed this e-mail by wishing him the "best" and "continued success." And, his response to me, for the record, was, that I was obviously "mentally ill" and to "stay out of his e-mail" and he'll "stay out of Detroit."

[Shannon Chenoweth]

You know Adi, had I known Warren would interpret that e-mail as an act of "mental illness," I never would have started this thread. Indeed, I interpreted his one sentence mocking gratis to you as something humorous and it was only when I tried to e-mail him back but was blocked that I sensed that my attempt at serio-comic gonzo humor had been taken as an imbalanced assault. So I e-mailed him an apology before I wrote anything to you or anyone else. I said I was sorry for the rant and that the only reason I wrote him was that I admired his work so much. Then I even told him I sensed he didn't want to really hear from me and I would "shove off." I closed this e-mail by wishing him the "best" and "continued success." And, his response to me, for the record, was, that I was obviously "mentally ill" and to "stay out of his e-mail" and he'll "stay out of Detroit."

Brother, it's obvious you're a fan of Ellis' and that's awesome. I'm sure he appreciates that. But, like I said, there are just some things you don't say to a creator or do you know? It was just bad judgement on your part. It's not wrong for you to think that there might have been a better ending, what was questionable is you telling the creator this. Get what I'm saying?

[chrismarker]

Brother, it's obvious you're a fan of Ellis' and that's awesome. I'm sure he appreciates that. But, like I said, there are just some things you don't say to a creator or do you know? It was just bad judgement on your part. It's not wrong for you to think that there might have been a better ending, what was questionable is you telling the creator this. Get what I'm saying?

You think Warren appreciates my fandom?? Ummm, somehow, I don't think so...But, yes, I get what you're saying. I fucked up and I apologized for it.

[Shannon Chenoweth]

You think Warren appreciates my fandom?? Ummm, somehow, I don't think so...But, yes, I get what you're saying. I fucked up and I apologized for it.

Sure he does. You're a fan, a reader buying his books and supporting him. And, he's a nice guy. I'm sure he'll forgive your momentary slip.

[ds9]

I think anyone who gets mad at a fan of his/her work because they post a different ending on a messageboard takes themselves a little to serious. We are talking about adults here and not kids in high school. There are writers who would kill to have the love and respect Ellis gets on a regular basis.

[Shannon Chenoweth]

I think anyone who gets mad at a fan of his/her work because they post a different ending on a messageboard takes themselves a little to serious. We are talking about adults here and not kids in high school. There are writers who would kill to have the love and respect Ellis gets on a regular basis.

Well, my understanding is that he emailed Warren first, so that's a little different...but, like I said, I doubt Warren holds any bad feelings for the guy.