So, last week I talked about my plans to pitch one character to DC Comics as part of my Karratha writing journey.

This week, I think it’s only fair I give right of reply to my plans to pitch one of the following five characters to Marvel, don’t you?

Five for Friday: Characters I Intend to Pitch to Marvel Comics.

Morbius the Living Vampire

It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a vampires-done-right lover (You can shove your sparkly ones right up your arse.) Morbius is a wonderful example of them done right.

Doctor Michael Morbius is the victim of a biochemical experiment gone wrong: one that has left him with all the weaknesses and biological symptoms of vampirism but has left his essential humanity untouched. Unable to cure himself, despite a lifetime of research, he has turned his attentions to creating a safe haven for the other shunned ‘monsters’ of the Marvel Universe.

Morbius started life as a second-rate Spiderman antagonist, and a somewhat piss-weak attempt to circumvent the Comics Code Authority and work vampires and a more horror-based narrative into their superhero comics. He’s drifted in and out of mainstream continuity, as much hampered by the requirement to sit into the latex-and-punches narrative as by his problematic backstory (it’s basically a pale copy of the Kirk Langstrom/Lizard origin). He’s a character of rich potential, however, and that’s shown by the number of good writers who have brought him into their storylines and the short-run mini-series he’s helmed. All that has helped build up a serious mound of character mythology to draw upon: he’s ripe for an ongoing series, and I’d love to take him on.

 

Morbius the Living Vampire, by Gabriele Dell’Otto

 

Doctor Druid

I have such a soft spot for Doctor Druid. He’s a joke character: a short, tubby, bald, pompous, incompetent pillock who only ever gets trotted out to show a) how great/manipulative/clever Doctor Strange is, b) how low the Avengers have sunk or c) how badass the character who contemptuously destroys him is. Even when he was rebooted into his ‘best’ incarnation– during a period where the Secret Defenders needed a replacement for Strange– he was portrayed as a ludicrous buffoon who wasn’t half as clever as he thought he was.

And yet: there’s genuine potential. He’s a psychiatrist; an explorer; and a genuine druid. He’s telepathic and has some skills in magic. He’s a monster hunter. He has power over wood and the forces of nature, and a weakness to iron. There’s a rich historical and folkloric theme throughout the backstory that’s been cobbled together by the various writers who have treated him with contempt. Pieced together properly, with some respect and with an eye towards what could actually be achieved with the (pardon the pun) elements available, he could be a genuinely interesting and– something increasingly rare in the Bendis Blandification that is the Marvel Universe right now– different character.

 

Doctor Druid, artist unknown

 

Daimon Hellstrom

Daimon Hellstrom is the son of Satan and a mortal woman. Trained in the use of his powers by his father, orphaned into a Jesuit institution, haunted by his sister Satana who more fully embraced her demonic heritage and turned her back on the humanity he can’t forsake. A single body split between two souls: one human, one demonic. Professor of anthropology. Demon hunter. Occult investigator. Utter bastard.

Face it: he’s great. Yet, somehow, he’s never quite made it into the first rank of Marvel characters. Unlike DC, which has a rich line of occult-style characters that operate largely within that narrative realm, Marvel seem to require even their ‘magical’ characters to fit into a latex-and-punches superhero template. I’d love to take Hellstrom away from that. he could be Marvel’s John Constantine, or Hellboy, or Spectre– strip the superheroics away, throw him full depth into a Universe where the supernatural is the only law in town, and he could be the heart of something truly iconic.

 

Daimon Hellstrom by Thony Silas

 

Abigail Brand

Half-human, half-alien, and frankly, not giving too many shits about either. She’s met X-Men, and Avengers, and Kree, and Shi’ar, and all races in between, and none of them impress her. She’s got a fetish for blue fur, and she absolutely, definitely will shoot first and ask questions later. Abigail Brand is the Director of S.W.O.R.D– Sentient World Observation and Response Department. She’s the surrogate mother for the abandoned prince of an alien race so deadly and ravenous that they’ve been declared a plague in most quadrants of the galaxy. She even attends its graduation ceremonies. She spends her days protecting Earth from extraterrestrial threats. And you’re all pissing her off.

Abigail Brand is the hardest ass in the Marvel Universe. She doesn’t give a shot who anyone is, or what they stand for. Every time she appears in a comic book she gets up in everyone’s grill and stares them down. I love her to bits. She needs her own series, and it needs to be the biggest, most raucous, most insane, funniest thing you’ve ever seen. I volunteer.

 

Abigail Brand by John Cassaday

 

Shiver Man

Caleb Jackson killed the men who killed his wife. He gunned them down while they hid in a church, and in the process, accidentally killed the priest. The priest cursed him with his dying breath: Caleb rose one hundred years after his own death, condemned to forever walk ta world he no longer understands as an undead creature. With nothing else to fill the long years, Caleb turned to what he knew in life: hunting down those who deserved rough justice.

Yeah. A supernatural bounty hunter whose twin guns shoot flaming bullets and who has an overwhelming compulsion to seek out injustice. There’s some properly creepy shit happening here, if done right. I want in. Shiver Man is a relatively new character, only making his first appearance in 2001 and usually being used as a minor support to the likes of Wolverine and Nick Fury. I think he’s worth so much more than that.

 

Shiver Man by Marco Turini

 

So, there you have it. Which character intrigues you the most? Who would you like to see above a Battersby byline, and why? And if you missed it, check out my list of DC characters for comparison.

 

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