SW10/HCC: Character List (HCC #22: Someone Else's Characters)

[Wil Alambre]

I was giving this some thought and I know what I would like to do for this High Concept Challenge, but it requires a little work on your guys' part...

After the current arc I'm drafting (which hopefully will be done in two or three issues so that I can squeak in under the deadline), I want to do another arc which takes place at a funeral. A big cosmic-y space-funeral in that old Marvel style where any alien race that had any sort of story in the recent past would get at least a cameo. This funeral would be for Sharkasaurus Rex, who apparently was very wise and very well respected for a very long time before he went nutso-bonkers. 

I would love for alien races from all around (in this case, from all around RACC, imprints far and wide) attend the funeral of the dead shark. Maybe they are doing it out of respect, or because its politically beneficial, or just to make sure the bastard is dead...  but by being there, they may get broiled up in something more sinister. Dun dun dun!

What I would like is for authors to email me with a space-going race from their fiction/imprints that I could have appear in my super wizard arc. It doesn't have to be specific named-characters in that race, just the regular sort that would be at this thing is fine. However, since I have a fuzzy memory at best, I would like that email to have a short who's-who character-card-like write-up. Something like this...

ALIEN RACE:
  The Infinite School Of The Infinite Ocean
GENERAL CONCEPT:
  Ghost fish that communicate psychically
KEY ISSUE TO READ FOR FLAVOUR:
  [MV] The Super Wizard From Space #11
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
  Fish that have died but have been taught to "be free", to exist as ghost fish. They are able to "swim" through space, air, and any solid object. They communicate telepathically. They are usually simple, communicating in short sentences bursting with emotion. However, most of the ghosts still act as fish would, grouping together and darting around, as if unable to actually shake the very things they wanted to be free from.
WHO WOULD THEY SEND:
  Having no real rank or hierarchy other than all being "students", two or three representatives would arrive. They would stay together, grouping instinctively in a "school".
HOW WOULD THEY FIGHT IF THEY HAD TO:
  They are ghosts, so little can physically hurt them, but that means they cannot physically harm others either. Instead, when they work together they can impose their will onto another's mind with their telepathy. If they completely overwhelm the mind, they can control it while hiding inside the body (like fish hiding in a rocky outcrop), basically a ghost possessing.
STORY AND ISSUE THEY APPEARED IN WITH REX:
  [MV] The Super Wizard From Space #11
CREDIT TO APPEAR IN NOTES:
  Infinite School created by Wil Alambre

...this sort of write-up is a bit of annoying busy-work for individual authors, I know, but I would *really* appreciate it, as it makes it easier for me to quickly get a feel for the space aliens and fit them into the arc. The STORY/ISSUE bit will obviously not exist, but it would be double-super-keen if the authors could throw in a made-up series and/or issue that this theoretical meeting happened. It only has to be one sentence, as they may mention it in passing, with one of my regular running-gag editor's-caption-box callouts. { LNH vs HNL #3 }

Please remember this is all in good fun and, as per the HHC rules, the author is welcome to *completely* ignore the arc, treating it as an "elsewhirls". I would be very thankful :)

In return, for the High Concept Challenge, I offer this character for anyone to use in an issue or short arc...

NAME:
  Unknown
ALIAS:
  The Super Wizard From Space
FIRST APPEARANCE:
  [MV] The Super Wizard From Space #1
DESCRIPTION: Looks like a taller human with platinum blond hair, clean shaven. A grim face, hard eyes, like a solider who's seen too much. Wears the blue-and-gold uniform of his race, and a white-gold cosmic crown that constantly hovers just over his head.
ABILITIES:
  Mastered the secret science-sorcerous powers of the super wizards from space, allowing him to absorb and manipulate stellar power with fearsome god-like results. Can travel through space unaided, including incredible distances through warp-tunnels, and attacks with fusion-energy that is regularly overly devastating.
WEAKNESSES:
  Knowledge of his name makes any person or thing completely immune to his science-sorcerous powers.
PERSONALITY:
  Think Marvel's Punisher, on a mission to punish cosmic evil. Acts cold, grim, distant from everyone around him, but has a slowly opening crack that is revealing doubt and mortality. Due to the incredible power at his disposal on his own, augmented even further due to the cosmic crown he wears, he acts (rightfully, I suppose?) as a silent god among men.,, or maybe more like death, a grim reaper waiting.

...yep, that's the main character for you guys to use. :) As will be revealed in issue #17 of his own series, the use of the 'Gong Ag'o had some unintended side-effects. I had a different one in mind originally, but I like this one better: the powerful tone pushed the gong into alternate dimensions/universes, pulling the super wizard in it's wake.

You are free to use the wizard and the gong, I imagine the gist of the appearance being the gong (a metal instrument that is a mile long in diameter!) and the wizard appears and his sole motivation is to be able to hit the gong with enough force at the precise angle to return home. Since he will be appearing in your stories in your universes, you can happily play with his power levels how you like to fit him in better (they are already a little flexible due to comic-book plot requirements), toning him down due to "different laws in this dimension" or whatever you like. As long as, in the end, him and the gong disappear, continuing on, I'll even treat whatever happened as in-continuity. Finally, due to the appearance-disappearence plot-mcguffin, multiple authors can use his if they want; we can then just stitch the various appearances in an order that makes the most sense, with the last one then leading into his return to his series. :)

I hope you guys are interested in having your alien space races in appearing, I would *really* appreciate it! Thanks in advance, guys!

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Wil Alambre, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wilalambre