So where's book three? I'm ahead of where I was before the restart. Thirty days and I've got what had taken me months. My plan is to finish by the Summer, get all the edits done DURING the Summer and then finish by September or something like that. At this pace, it's doable.
I've already commissioned Erik Von Lehman for the art and he's starting to throw together ideas. Here's a little sample:
That's Blackjack on the left there, pounding some guy's face to ash. It's like a reverse cover (Erik's from Colorado - I don't pass judgment), but the idea's pretty cool.
But the book is going, which is more than I could say for what we had before. Blackjack's got me going, folks!
Ben, I was hoping you could clear up a question. With your recent decision to change direction for BJak3, I was wondering whether or not the few excerpts you've shared are still relevant? The one you posted, not too long ago, with Blackjack'sand Apogee's conversation in the hospital, and the other where Blackjack comes up against a female, possible x class, super on his first patrol as a "hero"? If they are still legit, when do they take place, book 3 or 4?
ReplyDeleteHey Joseph!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Blackjack 3 is different animal and those scenes won’t fit with what we’re doing. As far as the Apogee/Moe scene, I’m using part of it, replacing Superdynamic for Apogee and changing the overall tone. Apogee is getting a new intro, right at the capper of the book, that will be confusing as hell, until later on.
Lilith has no place in book 3, so I’m rolling the whole thing into 4, where I’ll be able to dedicate even more time to her. I love the idea of Blackjack playing with fire, trying to keep a really dangerous villain from falling like he did. Especially when her fall will take the rest of us with her. With book four, I intend to tackle how hard it is to be honest and truthful. How hard it is to be just.
Book three is going to be a transition book, covering what happens immediately after the events of DC, yet I’ve got a good enough story that it should be a full 500-600 pages. As I’ve explained it before, I don’t like the idea of Blackjack getting off scott-free for all the stuff he’s wanted for. Whether it’s just or not, in our minds, the world doesn’t work that way. Unless you’re the CEO of a major back, that is. For the rest of us, the legal system is brutally unbiased and in my personal experience, I’ve never seen any benevolence, forgiveness or understanding. If you deserve 6 months in jail, off you go.
As far as Blackjack, it’s a thematic arc that I want to explore more deeply. The rise after a hard fall. Remember The Dark Knight Rises? One of my favorite parts of that magnificent movie is the 2-3 minutes where Bruce is in the pit, after he’s healed, where he has to relearn fear as a motivator in order to escape. They did it in passing, quickly, even though the movie was called “Rises,” but I intend to write a whole book on the subject. Let’s hope I’m up for the task.
So this book will see more Mr. Haha 2000, as he plays prominently in Blackjack’s plans, and perhaps a second coming of the Impossibles. There’s also going to be a new bad guy that’s working on the grand scheme of things, which will explain quite a bit. I can’t give it away.
There’s also a new big bad, ripped from the pages of this blog, taking the center stage in book three. His name is Brutal and his power-set is quite different from what we had talked about in these pages. I started writing him and he went all Akira on me. I couldn’t help it, the guy’s popping off the page.
Yeah, this time around Blackjack has some strong foes to overcome, not the least of them is himself, as he attempts to climb out of the deep hole he dug himself into. Just remember; “long is the road, and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.”
Thanks for clearing that up Ben. Much appreciated. Don't ever doubt your talent, your up to any task you put your mind to.
DeleteNot the capper, dammit. Apogee's new scene opens the book. I need sleep...
ReplyDeleteI know you can't give too much away but will there be regular dialogue with Apogee and Moe in book 3? Just in so far as will they feature throughout the book. One of the things I missed most in book 2 was the absence of the dialogue provided by Cool Hand Luke and Apogee in the first book.
ReplyDeleteRIP Cool Hand Luke. You were nuttier than squirrel crap but you made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteBen I gotta admit I still squeal when I read that your using Brutal. I don't know if you read all my stuff in the previous posts but one I really like was that before a fight Brutal could inject himself with poisons and sedatives and such but would be able to prevent them from affecting him. During the fight through a blood spike or projectile he could move the poisons into his victim.
Huh, I just realized what a bloody mind I have. Should I be worried?
Hey, Kyle. Yeah, Apogee’s back in book 3 and how. I agree, I missed her in book 2, and some of my favorite stuff to write was that little bit with her at the end. But rest assured that we’re settling the Apogee situation early in book 3.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if I’ve told this story before, but Apogee was originally a throwaway. I based book 1 on a super-villain game I ran with some friends and Apogee was a non-player-character that they encountered in their fight against the super group put together to stop them. In my game it took place in Singapore, and the group was far different, but the result was the same, the party destroyed the supers, and Dr. Zundergrub took control of Apogee. If you curious about game systems, we were using the old White Wolf Aberrant D10 system, and when it came time for the Zundergrub player to roll, he was about as successful as you could get. So I gave him Apogee as a thrall. She was just hanging around the rest of the campaign, including the trip to Shard World and the grand finale.
When time came to write it, I had to make some modifications in order to make the thing more appealing, including make several changes to Blackjack. But something happened after the NYC fight against the Superb Seven. I wrote a line that left me a little weirded out. Dr. Zundergrub stops Apogee from dismantling (a very exhausted) Blackjack and tells her, “Save him.”
I thought about that for the longest time, and frankly struggled with the entire sequence that followed. It had nothing to do with what we had done before. I remember telling my writing partner/editor Josh Hoade that I was going to run with it and see where it went. Well, the whole book changed. Apogee went from a minor character, to, as I see it, as the most important person in Blackjack’s life, and I had the time of my life writing the rest of the book. In fact, when I was done, I had to come back and change Blackjack to match what I had written. That’s when he became a hero-wannabe-failure. I added the scene where Atmosphero ruins his first attempt at being a hero, and changed the tone to match his growing frustration, to make the move to join the villain team more believable.
But I didn’t want it to be a given, their relationship. I didn’t want her to be a reward for him, even if he might’ve thought of it that way for a time (remember – Blackjack’s not the most reliable narrator!). I wanted it to be something that required work, like most relationships, and I wanted to show the reader how and if he overcomes all the obstacles between them. At the same time, I don’t want to “put it on a pedestal”, if you know what I mean. I didn’t want to over-idealize the relationship based on the BS we’re constantly fed in movies and TV,.
Book 2 had a different purpose, so having her hang around didn’t make sense. I also created a lot of tension between them with her decision at the end of book 1 to let Blackjack face his fate alone. Why did she do that? Well, some of the reasons are obvious (he killed her former fiancé Pulsewave), but others we’ll explore in this book I’m writing now.
As far as Brutal, DiBs, he’s a product of your imagination, as well as some of the ideas of people on this blog. But I’m not using the whole “blood-power” thing that we had been talking about. No, I went all Dragonball Z with him. Brutal is a guy who challenged the Seven and guys like Lord Mighty, Paladin and Capt. Miraculous (who’re big badass heroes from back in the day – read my post about gen 1-3 supers from a few weeks ago) and I needed him to have a power set that could challenge the whole planet.
The truth is, I started writing him going berserk and my common sense went out the window. Before I knew it, I was writing some insane Katsuhiro Otomo shit. Yeah, Brutal is that awesome.
It’s a challenge for Blackjack that fists won’t resolve.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response, I am glad that Apogee will be in book 3. I do remember back when you talked about how the original book was partially based upon a game you used to play. Although back then I don't think you mentioned how good the Zundergrub player was at rolling the dice. Also I really admired Blackjack at the end of book 2, honestly I can't say that I would have acted as he did. With my stubborn pride I probably would have told them all to go away and let me die in peace. I cant wait to read about the other reasons Apogee left him to his fate in book 3! Also Apogee's mother was one of the most interesting characters I have ever read about and reminded me quite a bit about how mothers always just seem to know some things. Even if it takes the rest of us awhile to realize it.
Awwwww. Well what ever you think best Ben, but could a blood-power guy show up at some point? Maybe as another villian or something? The idea come from the anime Dead Mans Wonderland. It is seriously F@!KED UP. Its great.
ReplyDeleteDiBs... seriously F@!kED UP does not even begin to describe what Dead Mans Wonderland is. The writer for that series might want to seek counseling.
ReplyDeleteIts pretty good right! The whole idea its based around is so sick. Its so tragic you have to watch even though you keep wondering what horrible thing will happen next. The powers are super cool though. Ben if you need more freak show material for imagination circus you should check it out.
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ReplyDelete