8FOLD/HCC: Journey Into # 24, "The Vampire Sun"

[Tom Russell]

On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 8:13:09 PM UTC-5, Scott Eiler wrote:
> On 2016-02-08 08:12, Tom Russell wrote:
> >               "THE VAMPIRE SUN"
> >         ~~A HIGH CONCEPT ADVENTURE~~
> >              ~BY TOM RUSSELL~
> >
> >
> >           The LAST STORY has been told. EARTH
> >         endures, but is vulnerable and alone in
> >        the universe. All signs indicate that the
> >       PULSE COLLECTIVE is making preparations for
> >      its next attack, and that Earth is unlikely to
> >     survive without allies. KNOCKOUT MOUSE and JULIE
> >    ANN JUSTICE are sent on a top-secret intergalactic
> >   diplomatic mission, one that takes Julie Ann to the
> >   ruins of her own home planet...
> 
> 
> I sense the High Concept Challenge wandered on to the tracks in front of 
> this oncoming plot train.

Well, sort of. Julie Ann and Bethany were always going to go into space to look for allies. But it might not have gone in this particular direction if not for the HCC.

>  But the scrolling summary is a nice challenge 
> touch.

For me, Star Wars is
* Scrolling plot intro
* Super-evil crypto-fascist bad guys
* Weapon that can destroy whole planets/systems
* "I've got a bad feeling about this"
* Long discussions about trade agreements

There's some shades of Kirby's Fourth World in there, too, most obviously on planet Prime. I don't do 1:1 analogues-- at least, not consciously-- but you can certainly look at this as Earth-allies-itself-with-Apokolips, a story I always wanted to write, but since I don't (and won't) write comics professionally, this is really the only chance I have to tell that story. :-)

I didn't think of stealing that idea myself until the challenge, as there are (admittedly facile/surface) similarities between Star Wars and the Fourth World.

==Tom