Mike and I are in the home stretch of Revenger #3. Here’s a final sneak peek before we unleash it on the world in a few weeks. You can check out previous stories about Revenger and his universe at revengercomic.com. And we may have a few more surprises in store. MAYBE.
On the anniversary of his death, the UltraCity Ledger is reprinting an excerpt from one of our most memorable interviews our beloved hero, Sovereign.
UCL: For the longest time, I’ve wondered about something. Do superheroes daydream?
SOVEREIGN: That’s a clever question. I’ve never gotten that one before. “Do superheroes daydream?” Well… hmmm… I guess daydreams are inevitable for any self aware consciousness with the capacity for imagination. Right?
UCL: I don’t think I follow.
SOV: Self awareness means understanding you are a consciousness that is unique, if not separate, from the universe you inhabit. Given imagination, the first thing you’ll do with it is imagine what you’d like to be and what the kind of universe you want to exist within. That is, essentially, a daydream. Some may stop using their imagination early on, some may keep using it as a guiding principle to shape the universe around them but they will all have done some amount of daydreaming.
UCL: Ok, I see where you’re going with that. Would you say superheroes, then, are the kind who stop using their imagination early on or keep daydreaming?
SOV: What you call “superheroes” are just a subset of conscious beings that want to make the universe a better place. The larger set includes doctors, soup kitchen volunteers, firefighters, astronauts, police officers, community planners, teachers, environmental researchers, and loving parents, just to name an infinitesimal fraction. These people–these self aware consciousnesses–use their imaginations more than most. Their imaginations give shape to the idea of what that a better universe could be. That idea becomes the impetus for them to do what they do. And anything that uses its imagination so often, so powerfully and so effectively is bound to daydream often. Sorry, I think I went on a bit of a tangent there! Short answer: if other superheroes are anything like me, they never stop daydreaming.
UCL: So what do you daydream about?
SOV: I… well… Kinda cornered me with this question, haven’t you?…. I daydream about having a regular 9 to 5 job in an office. A job where the only person looking over my shoulder to see what I’m doing is my boss. And if I make a mistake the worst that can happen to anyone is I’m fired and need to find a new job. I daydream about coming home, helping my children with their homework, eating dinner with the family and then vegging out in front of the TV with my wife. Sometimes I have a daydream in which I open the fridge, see I’m out of milk, run to the grocery store to buy some and it’s completely uneventful and no one recognizes me even though I’m not wearing a disguise.
UCL: That’s interesting.
SOV: And by “interesting” you mean I sound like a condescending ass!
UCL: No, not at all, I just meant–
SOV: It’s ok. I know that’s exactly what that sounds like to most people. It’s understandable. Here I am, someone with extraordinary abilities that gets to use them on some pretty intense adventures and I said I daydreams about being completely average. I don’t blame you for thinking I’m being a jerk or trying to look good in an interview. But I assure you, it’s neither. That’s just honestly what I daydream about. A lot.
UCL: Why do you think that is?
SOV: We all want something that’s out of our reach, or at least vastly different from our daily existence. Those things are like rocket fuel for fantasies. What is average to the majority of people is light years away my daily existence. I can fly to the moon on a whim but I can’t catch a matinee at the local multiplex in my sweatpants without crowd control and ignoring the voices I hear around town calling for help. So I find myself daydreaming about a world in which I could do that kind of stuff. But, don’t feel sorry for me! If I was living that other life, I’d probably be daydreaming about this one. That’s part of how the universe works, I guess.
[Sovereign created by my partner in comic book crime, Michael Powell. He also provided the sweet artwork! Remember you can see more of our stuff, including a story with Sovereign II, son of the character in this story, at revengercomic.com - Ro]
I made this photoshop, prompted by idea given birth to on Twitter by Clayton Johnston and me.
I know I’ve been crazy delinquent about posting in the past few months (the “updates Mondays” tag should really go, shouldn’t it?). But at least it’s not from lack of fun, interesting work on my plate. Work like Revenger #3. In fact, Revenger artist Mike Powell and I were interviewed by @DarXideXPress for eXpertComics! Read the full interview here. And, for your comic reading pleasure (plus to prove I haven’t really just been sitting on my ass watching TV for the past few months) , here are the prologue pages from the next Revenger story we’re working on:
To be continued next month!
He plucked the flower with his massive hand. Its roots strained to hold onto the dirt in between the cracks of pavements where it had grown. The guy gave it to his girlfriend, who was standing by the fountain whose overflowing water had fed the little flower. She kissed him and their romance flourished but at what a price. Poor little flower, just another sacrifice for love.
This super-short story was inspired by a roll of story dice. Yes, the image is photoshopped. I didn’t take a picture of the dice, so take my word for it.
I’m keeping pretty busy these days. One of the things keeping me busy is writing more Revenger. I just lettered the first page of #3 and had to share it with the world. I’m still working on the script while Michael Powell does his drawing magic. In the meantime, enjoy this preview…
I’ve been working a bit on a new character. This is something I tried writing in his voice. It needs a lot of work. A LOT of work. But I haven’t posted in a while, so, I figured “what the hell?”
I understand villains because we all want the same thing: to watch the world burn. Actually, I want to personally light the fuse.
Seriously, fuck the world. Fuck it’s existential angst. Fuck it’s hedonistic yearnings. It took 13 billion years for life to evolve on Earth. In 5 billion years the whole planet will burn in our sun’s supernova. Technically speaking, it will be uninhabitable only half a billion years from now. Why wait? That just gives assholes more time to be assholes.
I don’t have rage issues. People with rage want to stand over their enemy and gloat. When people fuck with me, with someone I love, or with something I believe in, I don’t just want to destroy them. I want to destroy everything. And, yes, I’m fully aware that “everything” includes me. That’s the definition of “everything.” Nothing is too small a price to pay to destroy people who suck.
But doing so would mean believing nothing was worth saving. I would have to give up all hope that anything could ever be better. And I want to have that hope. It’s the only thing I want more than to destroy everything. In the context of the whole world and any objective truth, that may not really make me a hero. In my own personal struggles, though, it’s good enough for now.
Oh, and because this Mojo comic strip fit the theme so well, I just had to include it:
Comics are cool ’cause:
epic shit happens often.
Wish fulfillment, duh.
Droppin’ a little poetry on you. If you haven’t been to revengercomic.com lately, you’ve missed some cool shit in our new story, “Giant Future Robot” starring Sovereign (written by me, drawn by Michael Powell). Cool shit, like this:
And this:
And this, too:
Oh, and we’re also working on Revenger #3, featuring epic shit like this:
So, you know, keep an eye out.
Linda lay on the floor, silenced by the intense pain from the bullet wound in her shoulder. Looking up she saw the hotel room and, more disturbing, she saw herself screaming hysterically.
No this isn’t the hotel, this is a movie set and that’s the actress playing her. Linda forced herself to hold onto reality. She tried to focus on what she heard. It was mostly the commotion on the set: “Get the set doctor!” “Security’s got the shooter!” “Who is she?” “What the fuck is going on?” “Is Linda dead?”
Okay, maybe trying to make sense of the commotion wasn’t the best idea.
Linda had recognized the shooter but at that point it was too late. The woman had already drawn the gun and began to fire. It was her old boss’s widow. She’d snuck onto the set as part of the lunch catering crew. How fucking fitting. This all began during lunch, why shouldn’t it end the same way?
No, no, no. Linda wouldn’t let herself think that way. The set doctor was already holding taking care of her. He’d patch up the wound, she’d go to the hospital and be back to normal in no time.
Linda thought about the string of events leading to this painfully unfortunate moment. She thought about the days following what happened in the hotel room. She told the cops and the media that it had been self defense. This was true. She just left out the part about the rendezvous being set up by her part-time prostitution gig and the plan she’d concocted to blackmail her boss. Instead, she made up a story about her boss trying to rape her. The press ate that shit up. They ran stories about it for weeks. And Linda milked it. She moved on from sleep with johns to sleeping with publishers and producers.
The book Linda wrote about her story became a best seller (well, the book the ghost writer wrote in her name). That lead to the movie deal and the really big bucks. She came to the set every day. Not that she had anything to offer; she didn’t know shit about movies. But she did know how to bang the director for producing credit on his next project. And the check that came with being a producer, of course. Hollywood seemed tailor made Linda’s particular skill set.
“…the ambulance is here. The bleeding has stopped. You’re going to be all right. Linda realized the set doctor had been talking to her.
Linda forced a smile. She was already thinking about what a great sequel this was going to make.
The End.
Part 1: Like a Woman Who is Only a Prostitute During Her Lunch Hour
Part 2: Afternoon Delight
My comic book, REVENGER, is now a free app for the iPad! Download Revenger 1: Deluxe Edition today from the App Store.
