YOU BE THE JUDGE

I’ve got a few things in the pipeline that I could (and will, eventually) write about here, but since the recent Q&A went so well, I figured I’d put it to you -- the countless, loyal readers of this newsletter -- to get involved and place your vote for what kind of things you’d like to read about.

I’ve recently opened up my personal archives again, so there’s a lot of stuff that I could share here. Some of it, I’d forgotten that I even had. That can certainly happen when you’ve been writing consistently for thirty plus years. Looking over it all, I’m not sure what I should present here first. Or whether I should even bother with some of it. As you’ll see from the list I’ve compiled, there are a few things I dug up that are, to put it bluntly, painfully personal.

But, hey, if something piques your interest, I’m willing to roll with it. Granted, it’s gonna take some participation on your part. You’ve got to stand up and be counted.

So… the various topics up for consideration include:

WILDSTORM DEVELOPMENT MATERIALS. In general, I’ve got a lot of notes and random bits that track my years at DC/Wildstorm. More behind-the-scenes material than I knew I had. Plenty of interesting stuff to look at. Some of it really bizarre, I guarantee.

RANDOM X-MEN/SUPERMAN NOTES. Part of the archives I dug out included my personal notebooks where I would scribble in ideas, notes, etc. These notebooks, circa 2000 contain a plethora of material that never made it to the printed page (some of it, for good reason) from my years writing Uncanny X-Men and Adventures of Superman.

WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #25 STORY OUTLINE. This is the issue that was never seen, because the series got cancelled while I was in the middle of writing it. But that means that I’d worked out the entire issue already. And I’ve got the outline to prove it.

THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD DIARY ENTRIES. I kept a journal of sorts, back when I was around 23-24 years old (and didn’t have a f**king clue where I was ultimately going to end up… or how I as going to get there). Not that I know any better now, but back then I was really flying blind through life. The writing itself is very Rollins-influenced, I have to say. Entertaining stuff to read, if not slightly embarrassing.

UNUSED WILDSTORM PITCHES. For reasons that escape me now, there was a moment in time when I made a big balls play to essentially refresh the entire DC/Wildstorm line, and I still have the pitches to prove it (including visuals).

HAWKMAN THE MOVIE. When I was around 12 or 13 years old, I started writing a Hawkman -- DC Comics’ Hawkman, that is -- screenplay for a feature film that I got a decent way into (of course, I never finished it). It’s certainly ambitious move for a little punk kid, and I’m sure it’s also absolutely hilarious.

EARLY COMICBOOK INTERVIEWS. I have a handful of transcripts of some of the first comicbook interviews I did that, by now, have most likely been completely scrubbed from the internet. I just happen to have printed out hard copies. I’m sure these are pretty embarrassing, too.

THE LOST MUSIC MEMOIR. About seven or eight years ago, almost as a writing exercise, I did quite a bit of memoir-style writing that looked back on my first few years out of the nest, mainly tracking my years living in Memphis and my lifestyle playing in bands at that time, but including some valuable perspective that the passage of time can often provide (if you’re lucky).

So, y’know, feel free to sound off in the comments section below and let’s see if we can get some decent consensus on the kind of material that’ll show up in this space over the next couple of months (along with the requisite BEN 10 and TERMINAL-related material that I’m sure I’ll be showing off, too).

And don’t worry, there are still a few surprises in store. I’m talkin’ big ones.

Joe Casey

USA