The Shadowpact that got published was cool. The “unfiltered Bill” version would have been even cooler. But I still wish we could have done the original Shadowpact idea you and I worked on back in the 1980s!
My favorite of the too many things we tried to pitch DC was the Harlequin series, back when she was still officially Joker’s Daughter. I remember Helfer telling us DC wasn’t interested in female-led books.
That history is a little convoluted. She apparently only thought she was the Joker’s Daughter but then later learned she was actually Duella Dent, who of course was Two Face’s daughter.
I always found that revelation to be particularly cruel. I can just picture her looking in the mirror with all of hwr immaculately applied clown make up thinking “Well, this was all a fucking waste of time.” Something about that kind of broke my heart.
I remembered what we planned had been intended as a sort of a do right for her.
The one thing I remember the most about pitching to DC was going in thinking that everyone was going to be like E. Nelson Bridwell or Roy Thomas. I was sooo paranoid that I would make some history continuity error.
If we made a change to some existing character I was poised to quote chapter and verse to justify why any diversion from what had been established made sense.
Maybe it was because we hit the place when the New Guard took over. Maybe the post-Crisis attitude was the order of the day. But rather than defending changes we were suggesting I remember us literally having to explain the history of DC’s characters to them. And none of them seemed particularly interested.
Imagine walking into a zoo and seeing a zookeeper trying to feed an alligator a bunch of bananas. And when you helpfully suggest that, no, it was actually the monkeys who liked to bananas, he gives you a funny look, saying “Are you sure? I don’t think so...”
It... was not the experience I had been expecting.
It was actually something we planned to pitch to DC back in the day. We also had an eye on Wonder Woman but I hear some fellow named George eventually got that gig? Lol
The original Shadowpact was basically The Monster Squad. It was a vampire named Blackmark, a werewolf named Moondog, a witch name Fantasia (before I repurposed the name for an Elementals villain), and her brother a demon-possessed fellow named Brimstone (and about two months after we’d thoroughly shopped the pitch around DC, they created a demon named Brimstone for the Legends mini series). When confronted about this DC execs basically shrugged and said, “It happens.” That’s why I ultimately withdrew the proposal. Also the editor Helfer insisted on making Fantasia just like Elvira, who was hot at the time. It seems there was a fifth team member, but I can’t recall who. Jack? I do recall the first villain in the first arc was going to be a pack leader of werewolves named Lucas.
State and Federal laws dictate that such groups require a mummy, a gill man and a Frankenstein but I think we were in our scofflaw phases when did this. Was there some sort of Golem creature?
I half remember that it was a ghost, but don’t hold me to that. By the way, since no one can use Creature of the Black Lagoon as their “gill man,” my favorite was from Scooby Doo who called theirs The Goon From the Black L’Creature.
On one hand, it's a shame you didn't get to do that series. But we did get to see Shadowpact, which I loved.
I really would've loved seeing your take on Blue Devil. It would have been different from the usual depiction of Heaven and Hell in the comics. I have several friends who don't follow comics at all, but they loved how you handled BD's Catholicism and Ragman's Judaism in Shadowpact. It was very respectful and quite a novelty to see in a modern comic.
The Shadowpact that got published was cool. The “unfiltered Bill” version would have been even cooler. But I still wish we could have done the original Shadowpact idea you and I worked on back in the 1980s!
My favorite of the too many things we tried to pitch DC was the Harlequin series, back when she was still officially Joker’s Daughter. I remember Helfer telling us DC wasn’t interested in female-led books.
That history is a little convoluted. She apparently only thought she was the Joker’s Daughter but then later learned she was actually Duella Dent, who of course was Two Face’s daughter.
I always found that revelation to be particularly cruel. I can just picture her looking in the mirror with all of hwr immaculately applied clown make up thinking “Well, this was all a fucking waste of time.” Something about that kind of broke my heart.
I remembered what we planned had been intended as a sort of a do right for her.
The one thing I remember the most about pitching to DC was going in thinking that everyone was going to be like E. Nelson Bridwell or Roy Thomas. I was sooo paranoid that I would make some history continuity error.
If we made a change to some existing character I was poised to quote chapter and verse to justify why any diversion from what had been established made sense.
Maybe it was because we hit the place when the New Guard took over. Maybe the post-Crisis attitude was the order of the day. But rather than defending changes we were suggesting I remember us literally having to explain the history of DC’s characters to them. And none of them seemed particularly interested.
Imagine walking into a zoo and seeing a zookeeper trying to feed an alligator a bunch of bananas. And when you helpfully suggest that, no, it was actually the monkeys who liked to bananas, he gives you a funny look, saying “Are you sure? I don’t think so...”
It... was not the experience I had been expecting.
Was wondering whether that Shadowpact was intended to be part of the Saker arc in Elementals that you guys did
It was actually something we planned to pitch to DC back in the day. We also had an eye on Wonder Woman but I hear some fellow named George eventually got that gig? Lol
The original Shadowpact was basically The Monster Squad. It was a vampire named Blackmark, a werewolf named Moondog, a witch name Fantasia (before I repurposed the name for an Elementals villain), and her brother a demon-possessed fellow named Brimstone (and about two months after we’d thoroughly shopped the pitch around DC, they created a demon named Brimstone for the Legends mini series). When confronted about this DC execs basically shrugged and said, “It happens.” That’s why I ultimately withdrew the proposal. Also the editor Helfer insisted on making Fantasia just like Elvira, who was hot at the time. It seems there was a fifth team member, but I can’t recall who. Jack? I do recall the first villain in the first arc was going to be a pack leader of werewolves named Lucas.
State and Federal laws dictate that such groups require a mummy, a gill man and a Frankenstein but I think we were in our scofflaw phases when did this. Was there some sort of Golem creature?
I half remember that it was a ghost, but don’t hold me to that. By the way, since no one can use Creature of the Black Lagoon as their “gill man,” my favorite was from Scooby Doo who called theirs The Goon From the Black L’Creature.
On one hand, it's a shame you didn't get to do that series. But we did get to see Shadowpact, which I loved.
I really would've loved seeing your take on Blue Devil. It would have been different from the usual depiction of Heaven and Hell in the comics. I have several friends who don't follow comics at all, but they loved how you handled BD's Catholicism and Ragman's Judaism in Shadowpact. It was very respectful and quite a novelty to see in a modern comic.
footnotes are the best part!