[META] Why I Love Legacy Characters

[Tom Russell]

On Sep 15, 11:35Â am, Andrew Perron <pwer... at gmail.com> wrote:

> There are probably more reasons to cherish and enjoy this storytelling
> tactic. Â What about you? Â Why do you love legacy characters? Â Or, for that
> matter, is there anyone out there who doesn't? Â Who thinks that new
> characters should be new characters, and not have to follow on from someone
> else? Â Whatcha think?

You pretty handily sum up what appeals to me about legacy characters--
interpersonally and historically, it allows a writer to engage with
the past, its value (as in worth) and values (as in ethos).  What
shall we do with the world we've been given, and what world will we
leave behind by our actions?  How much is Who We Are determined by
what we've been given, and how much by what we do with it, and are
those the same thing, or not?

That's one reason why the Eightfold universe doesn't employ a sliding
timescale: it allows for more legacy characters and historical
engagement.  If there was a Spider-Man in Eightfold, he wouldn't have
been Spider-Man from 1963 to present, but likely would have passed it
on two or three times already-- perhaps more, given that a superheroic
career is probably similiar to an athlete's: a small window of glory
followed by years of diminishing returns (which is a theme I look
forward to exploring in the future). The stories I tell are very
seldom "timeless" or always happening "now", but always tied to a
specific time and/or place (an exception, of course, being the Santa
Claus stories, for obvious reasons).  The current Jolt City storyline,
for example, is very specifically set in 2008, and there are reasons
for that-- perhaps more thematic reasons than plot reasons, but
reasons none-the-less.

> Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, not quite HCC13, but related.

==Tom