Now we get back to the real stuff...In an effort to make this blog complete I will include commentary about the two preface stories that proceeded and set-up Wetworks:Worldstorm #1...
I wrote this one so it has all the old military flavors from the first three issues from the original series of WW's. It's in my blood, the only way I can write Wetworks. I see everything from Dane's point of view. the military point of view...
Believe it or not I had not yet met-up with Mike, let alone finalized any plan for how the new WW's book would shake out. So how do we announce reviving Wetworks without being specific as to what form the new team will take? In all the various ideas we came up with as to what the new Wetworks would be like we always came to the conclusion that Mother needed to play a major role. At the very least since all military research seems to be closely connected to something called "cross'communications" where all units will be engulfed in a flood of information, Mother-One was the best candidate to be able to realize that for Dane. So she needed to be the focus for the first preface story...plus we had hinted at a possible romantic link between her and Dane in the original series, so this seemed like the best place emotionally to start...
The only other thing that was certain in my mind was that Dane would be totally in charged this time around. After having the government try to control him, and then IO try to chain him, then Waering try to use him as a patsy, in the new series Dane decides his team is his sole responsibility therefore they will do only what he deems neccesary. So I began there...
How would Dane go about reforming his old team and build an organization around it?
With all of Dane's past involvement (Team 7, the Gen13 powers, IO, Raven, Wildcats, Waering, etc.) he has formed a massive and powerful network of proffessionals and rouges. Any of which would glady do Dane a favor or two. So he pirates anyone that he deems perfectly suited to his needs.
Dane has always been a man of a few words (tho' as we will see in the new series he has in his old age become abit more yakkier than his younger self) always a man of action people exposed to Dane seem to be quickly attracted to his command presence. Well that's how Dane sees it. Reality is he is a psi-power that is yet to be rated and classified. Being the personality type that believes in self determination, doing things for yourself, he doesn't believe in the supernatural, and therefore ignores any sign that he is a "magical" being. Regardless of his belief he is constantly "broadcasting" his psi-awareness around him. It works subtely, he "thinks" he needs a certain person to volunteer for a deadly mission, that person all of a sudden volunteers for said mission. His psi-power subtely suggesting to that person Dane's desires. All of his lifes successes are attribital to this one fact of his powers. Now let's think people...Dane's reputation as a military leader has been made upon taking the most dangerous missions, and soldiers gladly dying for Dane (look back at the first three issues of the original WW's series where Flattop and Crossbones gave their lives for Dane and the team so they could get out of an ambush) now what would happen to our leaders proud mind if he realized that no one ever "volunteered" for these deadly missions but were all "coerced" by his psi-power? Think of the guilt...
Guilt is the word that encapsulates the current Dane, and haunts the mood of this first preface story. His narration of this first story is moody and haunting (thanx for the wonderful script by Arcudi). Centering on his guilt that the team was last betrayed by their benefator Waering and Dane could not protect them. It is also melancholy.
We start out with a large jump jet landing on a desert plateau.
Trivia***This plateau and entranceway was born in the later issues of the first series, as we knew for certain that Dane's psi-powers were being enhanced by the symbiotes, it was getting to a point where if Dane ever got angry he could accidentally blow a man's brain to pieces. So how does Dane let off steam safely. So I thought of this desert plateau totally devoid of life (maintained that way by Waerings group) where he could vent his anger to his hearts desire and never worry about killing anyone. Not even a mouse. Within the adjacent mountain face is a hidden doorway leading back into the old Wetworks complex.
A robed figure leads a group of heavily armored soldiers into the doorway and underground complex. Yes these are human WW's soldiers. All ex-Delta Force. This also is a big difference from the original series. I knew I needed WW's to come back as the "A" team but I wanted them to have backup that weren't superheroes. So, they go into the heart of this underground complex and find a locked doorway and Dane in his dialogue announces he has found Mother-One. A telling point is when a soldier tells Dane that it will take a minute or two to get an explosives team there, Dane is impatient and tells the soldier to clear the door because he is about to blast it with his psi-powers. This eagerness brings back hints at a possible past relationship between Dane and Mother-One. One we always hinted at but never realized.
Upon blasting the door open we find a mummified and dead Mother-One lying next to a massive computer. We are told that this is the old Waering mainframe. The why Mother is found there goes again back to the old series. There was an issue where we find Mother-One may be demented. There is a scene where she is alone in her room talking to someone, that someone turns out to be the mainframe computer. It talks back to her conversationally but reacts to Mother-One as Rachels long dead mother. Waering had reworked Mothers memory long ago before she became WW's to thinking his mainframe AI was in fact Mother-One's own dead mother. An effort to control Mother-One, he knew how powerful she would become and so used this as a safety key to disarm her if need be. So in Mother-Ones last days she seeks refuge with the computer core she thought was her mother. In the last days of the Vampire wars the Waering complex was overrun by the Night Tribes. Mother-One fought a retreating action to the only secure place she knew, the mainframe AI'a main core. It was built to withstand any attack and did. Only problem is it was now a radioactive site and thru the years even tho' Mother was able to contact Dane's mind and lead him back to her, it also slowly killed what was still human in her, and so she died. Being also part computer herself she spent most of that time wondering what Dane would do next. She correctly knew Dane would restart Wetworks again so what would he need from her if he found her? A complete copy of the old Waering mainframe computer database/network. To use to rebuild a new complex. And one other thing...the last conscious download of her consciousness before she physically died. She somehow knew that Dane would try to revive her and would need this if she were to be the same...so Dane gingerly picks up Mother's decaying corpse, half-machine, half-petrified flesh, and within her petrified fingers is the harddrive with all Dane needs to start his Dream.
That ends the first preface story heralding the first news that Wetworks will rise again as a team.
Apologies for not having pictures...still hunting down hi-rez files of the original colored pages of this story. When I get them I will repost this with the pictures.
I do have all of the colored files of the second preface story. In my next post I will comment on that story and fill that post with panels from that story...
Then I will combine all the images in a flash movie for those adversed to reading...til next time people...
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30 comments:
can't wait...
Hey Whilce,
I'm just curious, how much of the first volume of Wetworks do you consider to be relevant?
Because in the first series, Dane and Pilgrim were an item and Mother One was hooked up with Grail.
Also, when Wetworks Vol. 1 ended, Dane had lost his symbiote.
I suppose the WorldStorm "Reset" button could clear away all of that, but I'm wondering, back when this was supposed to be an extension of original continuity, did you feel that you had to stay faithful to Wetworks storylines that you had no involvement with? Or do you feel that as their creator, you're the Decider? (For lack of a better term :p )
And while we're on the subject, what did you think of the Francis Takenaga run, the Steven Grant run, and the Night Tribes one-shot written by Chris Golden and Tom Sniegoski?
Jnadiger
When you say Wetworks you think of the team so I kept thinking if I treid to do the book with what was left of the team which wasn't much the characters would always have to refer back to characters you never see.
(and even if I put together a new team under Dane) than you still have the baggage of the team that went before that first bore the name WW's. And as you see none of the creators of the other books decided to totally redo what went before, deciding to respect much of what was already laid out. That feeling was mutual with WW's.
So where in the continuity do we begin? Good question...I like things neat and clean so I decided to take the team from where they defeated the Blood Queen but with a little tweak. Their powers have yet to become evident, Dane can sense the changes but they haven't yet started to destroy the team.
So everything you know about the politics of the Night Tribes is still relevant. The Royal family, all aspects of it, from the gaurds to the Ancient Ones will make themselves known again. There will also be an event that polarizes the Vampires especially into "The New Prize Awaits You" clan to the "We are Proud to be Who We were Born to Be" clan. This rips the Tibe and forces the Ancient Elders to take a more forceful role than they've ever.
As to the relationships you mentioned I think those happened after the symbiotic changes started taking place so those can still play themselves out.
What I am concentrating on now is a relationship of sorts with Dane and Mother-One. It will not be a conventional one to say the least. In fact you might even miss it if you are not careful. It will be, when it all plays out, a revelation as to how the man, Dane, keeps his sanity in a world where literaly he has the world on his shoulders, by choice.
About whether Iam the Decider, yes I am. Whenever I work on a story line I always develope it in my head from top to bottom. Most of it stories and facts you will never see in print in the comic book. Background. So when Brandon and I developed the original Wetworks we had lots planned, and in my head I even had more stuff planned. So when you go away from a project like that where you know what could happen you hate to read what others are now doing with those characters. Its not that you don't respect these other writers its just that you know what will happen in your head and its hard to see it go another way as done by someone else. So I've not read anything else of WW's. I can't judge the other writers who have helmed this book.
Only thing I can say is Francis was there for most of WW's so even while he was doing the book he had me to bounce stuff offa. So alot of his stuff are from conversations we had about the original WW's. Later on in the series I felt he knew WW's better than even Brandon and I...
Wow, this is a really great insight into the book and your creative process, I am really enjoying it, thanks Whilce.
I like that there is a real history to the book and to the characters and when you appreciate what Dane has been through in his life (not forgetting when Team 7 was set etc)I think that experience still rings through in the character and in how he doesnt totally appear comfortable with what he has become. I dont know if that was a conscious writing decision as I guess its easy to 'forget' a characters history either simply because a writer forgets or simply because its convenient for the current story. Either way, I can't wait for part two.
Interesting.
Well, I'm looking forward to seeing the story play out.
Thanks.
Another question on another subject, then:
Do you have any plans to participate on the studio Gelatometti blog?
An Iron Chef art-battle between you and Jim Lee would be fun to see!
Russ,
If you met Dane at a party he would be the guy who didn't know who Rep. Foley is or Micheal Jackson. Absent-minded we would say, but ask about military history and that's a different story. He could have an in-depth conversation with you about who really won the Crusades and then the next day not even know you. He is trully introverted and has a commanding ability to concentrate and keep at a task. In fact I have in recent years been able to build his character around the Asperger Syndrome. That's another very long story.
But yes, all aspects of Dane's character (whenever I've dealt with him) has been planned. I've even gone way back into his youth where if he liked a girl she would come on to him, again his psi-power at work.
I've always been interested in psi-powers especially after reading almost everything Marion Zimmer Bradley in terms of her Darkover Series. In it she creates a world governed by families that inherit and pass on diferent psi-powers. One clan had the ability to kill with a thought.
So with Dane I thought wouldn't it be cool to have a character that is born with that psi-power but doesn't know he has it so that thru his life (with Gen13 powers and then the symbiotes) his powers build and build again unknowingly until he comes around to fight the Blood Queen who is a potent psi-power. Now how do you kill a psi-powered person that can read your mind? Well if Dane was her equal as a psi-power and didn't know he had it, she couldn't read his mind to find out he has it and therefore doesn't put up a defence against it. Hence at the most opportune time in their fight Dane gets angry because he is about to die he lashes out and low and behold his pent up psi-power surges out and kills the Blood Queen.
So I figured he had to be the quiet type, a person that suppressed his emotions. A person who rarely let out his emotions. That's the type I used way back when...a few years ago I came across Asperger Syndrome where in the worst case a person is actually not connected with his emotions and can seem like he has no emotions at all except anger. That fit Dane to a tee...
hey whilce,
finally got to read the first issue. its excellent. your art is just inspiring.
can't wait for the next issues especially when grail comes back :). he's my favorite among the wetworks team.
Will there be an explanation to how dane got a symbiote again?
And thanks for bringing wetworks back, i hvae been a fan of this book since the first series.
We will eventually get to why Dane has a symbiote...like everything else it's all planned out. This revelation will actually fall under the category of a slight rewrite. All I can say now is that the Blood Queen's death will be changed slightly. More in terms of what happened to Dane during the fight. A sign of what happened are the medical steel pins visible in his face, and the long scar they trace...
hey Whilce ang galing ng Wetworks number 1! I just hope you stick around longer this time and really do it from start to finish. What I am really saying is that I am a big fan and I really did not like it when you left the pencilling work of the volume 1 series. hopefully this one will continously be drawn by you and not passed on to other artists unless this artist happens to be either Jim Lee, Stephen Platt or J. Scott Campbell! :-) :-) :-)
I hope this time this series live up to your true visions for Wetworks!
Mabuhay ka!!!
Dan Quesumbing
Queen City, Phils.
Thanks for answering my question Whilce, I look forward to seeing this installment of Wetworks and all you have planned for it, i am a big fan since the beginning.
Damon
Reggie,
I use to live in San Diego which is one of the big training centers for Navy SEALS. First thing I noticed is that there didn't seem to be a standard dress code. I asked a friend of mine whose dad was a SEAL trainer and he said he grew up with those guys, they've always been that way. The rationale was alot of times they need to blend into the population so a dress code was never enforced.
Practically it makes sense, our guys in Delta don't want to broadcast that they are american military personel (in other words "targets"), in alot of situations it would get in the way of their missions. Alot of those "advisors" we hear about in other countries are SEALS.
Historically, the short crewcut is recent history. In all times and all countries it has always been what is the prevalent hairstyle at the time. It has never been at anytime conventional wisdom that shorter hair makes a better soldier/fighter/warrior. Most of history's warriors had long hair.
Historically for the team Wetworks, there has never been a dress code.
Personally for Dane. He is at a point of time in his career and life where he is in a way rebelling from the "established" military institutions, for their betrayals.
Whilce, how do you feel re-writing parts of the history of wetworks? do you feel you will be compromising Takenaga's run as the writer in the first series? I actually forgot how you relinquished the writer duties on the first series, what happened on that?
With the re-writing of the stories and your current load with the upcoming Batman as well,...don't you think you will be hard pressed for time in doing two things with your present health problems? I mean you are bar none one of the better artists/pencillers around but one thing you are known for is not being very reliable in terms of finishing on time,..are we going to see that again or is this the new and improved creative team of Wetworks?
Lastly, with the re-writes how far do you give Mike Carey leeway in changing or actually modifying some of the wetworks history or powers? Where do you draw the line that says,..thats as far as you can alter it or something.
I will stick around for the first story arc,..I will see if its really better the second time around.
-Migs
Hey Whilce,
its really commendable how much research you have done and how much background you have on your characters. It is something you purposely do when developing a project, do you have a dossier on the characters prior to developing a project?
Oh and it looks like you have it covered but I spent many years in the british army so if I can help with photo ref, insights or info....you have my email address, it would be a pleasure to help.
Migs,
As to how Francis became the WW's writer. From almost the beginning of WW's Francis was on the creative team. He was a smart college guy with majors in some of the high sciences so was a great source to figure out the how's and why's of the symbiotes. Alot of the details were Francis. So when I left the book Francis was the obvious choice to take over.
Be it Francis or Mike I let my writers "play" in the world I create. They can do anything they want to do as long as they follow the rules of the world I created. As you may have seen various characters were killed off and various characters were added. If planned right it is a living world and almost anything can happen...and it being comics regardless of what happened before, again almost anything can happen. If you follow the rules of that world.
The rules of this relaunch of the Wildstorm Universe is that we start anyway the new creative team deems neccesary. It's already been explained in the post "Where are we?" why the nw WW's needed to be the way it is... the creative process is just that creative. The imagination is the only limit. If your imagination is limited or if your imagination is unlimited.
As to the schedule, if you know of my health problems then you know that we started WW's years ago. With six issues of WW's penciled and the fourth issue of Batman being completed this month, I should be back on WW's by Christmas. Meaning all of the Batman's would be finished and I'll be two and a half issues ahead of WW's. So you are totally garanteed six issues of Batman and ten issues of Wetworks if not more.
Now then there comes up the practical matter that I am under contract with DC and they can pull me off the book anytime they feel like it. Especially if the sales aren't what they want it to be. As in the creative world almost anything can happen. So the point is, you have the issue before you, you are reading and learning about the process of the creation of the new WW's weekly online. Have a little faith and enjoy what is before you in the present...
Hey Russ,
Thanx for the help in advance. I may be dropping you a line every now and then. My original advisor for Wetworks is my cousin's husband who at the time was a trainor and is now currently reactivated so it's been about three Christmas's since we last talked. I think he's a little busy at more important matters.
Anyways, I can't (or shouldn't) say alot about my future plans for the team when you do finally see them but, I am gearing them up to take on solo missions, or at the least two-man teams. The original set-up was two flanking fire teams, one artillery unit (Mother), and a rogue wildcard (Dane)for clean-up in case things went fubar.
Now, I've got to rewrite their manual again. So, how do you take on missions in one's or two's in full throttel if you have no physical back-ups? I guess we could still have Pilgrim running in-between dimensions, but that means one Pilgrim to up to four other missions to overwatch.
Then there's the problem of supplies...food. I want them in the field, living in the field...you don't get good inteligence by being a tourist.
So you see there are still alot of details to work out, for me that's the fun part...the creative part...
Thanks Whilce! Everything I wanted to know i got it straight from you. Now I know my monthly dose of your work is already at hand! Can't wait for Batman Confidential and WWs.
Godbless,
Migs Araneta
Philippines
Migs,
Thanx for the support, you won't be disappointed, and hope you and yours was spared the brunt of Milenyo. It wasn't reported that much here. Tho' we have TFC and GMA we still didn't see much. Thanx only to YouTube did I finally get to see how really "grabe" it was...
Hey Whilce,
Well the way Special Forces, Delta The SAS and guys like that work is generally in groups of a minimum of four and they all have specialisations that allow for (generally) each aspect of a mission to be covered, snipers tend to work in pairs (spotter and shooter).
because of the 'extra special' nature of the wetworks team this means they could be taking on more rolls individually that would normally be covered by others?
MIssions in one's and two's are generally limited simply due to the problem of support. If you are working alone its generally because you don't want to be seen or descovered, thus support being close enough to be of any use or that wont completely compromise the operative is unlikely.
Think of Eric Bana's character in Black Hawk Down (or James Bond) when we first meet him, he is operating alone, with no support or backup which is the nature of the job and of the people who do that kind of work, they accept that backup is not readily available and rely on training and what they can work with locally to complete the task.
I dont know if you were talking about Pilgrim working across dimensions 'literally' but with the symbiots and the nature of Mother One there could be some excellent 'out of the box' ideas as to how pilgrim provides overwatch and sniper cover in one location (via mother one maybe) for teams working in physically different areas.
I can picture her in some kind of VR or secluded environment providing overwatch for all the teams and the rounds she fires skipping literally through dimensions and appearing from nowhere as they find their target, thus when the team are on missions, Pilgrim is alone....as is the nature of the sniper.
Equipment wise, teams working behind enemy lines will deploy some distance from their areas of operation and take all the equipment they need for their deployments, cache it and move forward to work on their task (check out the book Bravo Two Zero for example).
The team the resupplies from the cache back and forward from their area of operation until the task is completed and they move to the rear and extract.
In some countries where units tend to operate a lot they establish perminent hidden caches with weapons, ammo, food etc and use these to keep them constantly resupplied.
The idea of two fireteams is excellent as is the artillery (mother one) Command and Control (Dane) where as Pilgrim as a sniper would tend to be mobile around the battlefield either moving forwards to cover the continued advance of troops or as the troops advance past her, she would gradually be 'in the rear' covering their movement before moving forward again.
Of course because of the fantastical nature of Wetworks they dont have to operate within the usual conventions and one of the things I loved about the original series was the struggle that the team had coming to terms with what was happening to them with the symbiots, probably more so than the fact that they were in a world populatred by vampires and werewolves.
Oh, quick question Whilce,
I was really impressed with the Muvee software you used so managed to get myself a copy, which of the styles did you use when you posted that movie as I really liked the format?
Cheers
R
Russ,
Yeah, Eric Bana is a good model. Now he went all out and he could find guys to hook up with for extra eyes and he had the base to resupply. But that full throttle mode he was in is exactly what I want to develope.
I've also thought of "caches" that's why I needed human WW's soldiers. That's their main job to support in country by way of laying caches which Mother can Direct our Lone Wolf's to. I can already imagine a bunch of beast vampires hot on Grails trail and he is firing all out full burst with no worries because Mother is directing his flight to a weapons cache.
I was also thinking out fo the box high tech wise where Mother can find him an RR spot and he can go to full sleep mode because Mother has set-up a virtual motion grid around him that is hooked up to Pilgrim in the virtual mode you described (may I use that?)
Another thought I had which is purely extravagant but very helpful for long hauls is since Mother is in full 24/7 contact with our boys she can supply them with mp3's, eye overlayed TV, e-mail, blogging ability, etc. They can also be in realtime comm with the rest of the team. For special comfort during times of stress Mother can also supply realtime holograms of each other for virtual support. It's limitless...all virtual but much better than real alone time.
Hey, I can also then put up supposedly real blogs that are the teams personal blogs so that fans can realtime post communicate with the team in the field...
Thanx for your thoughts, they help me spin new ideas...
Russ,
About Muvee I used "HP photos in motion"...
It would be a perfect program if after it did its cut of things it would then give you full control to edit any kind of zooms and pans and fades and color corrections. It's a great start tho'...
Hey Whilce
I't would be an honour for you to develop and use any of my thoughts or ideas, please feel free.
well the idea of having a 'regular' wetworks team made up of Delta guys could setup some excellent storytelling scenarios...
Imagine you have been the baddest guy on the block for a long time and suddenly not only do these new guys come along, but you are expected to be subservient to them. Suddenly you are moved from the A Team to the B Team and expected to work in support of them, you would be pretty P***ed off, I'm thinking.
What happens when the Wetworks A-Team have to rely on a bunch of bitter and pissed B-Team guys to direct them to a cache or to provide backup, for example?
I think there could be some ideas that use the 'regular' wetworks guys as more than the architypal cannonfodder or 'crewman in a red shirtt on away mission' to use the Star Trek example ha ha !!!
I think that technology wise, certainly from the communication point of view your ideas are really excellent and in-line with the way things are going. Look at the tech displayed in Advanced Ghost Recon for example. Imagine taking that a step or two further...
I have a story idea of my own that came to a halt as I didnt know how to take it further: it was Bravo Two Zero meets Dungeons and Dragons (the cartoon) with a little Wolfenstein thrown in.
One of the ideas I had for the tech in that idea was High-tech contact lenses that work as a Heads-up display. Where targets, stats, maps and mission info are directed straight onto the eye via these kind of 'Heads Up Display Contact lenses' and because of the eyes ability to focus, movement of the eye could move a cursor around the HUD for example.
You could have some excellent fun developing characters via the blogs.
Imagine in Stargate (the movie) if the guys were trapped in the alien world and they communicated with 'home' via their blog, kinda like a diary or mission log with thoughts and intimate feelings being projected.
The characters never knowing whether their entrys were being recieved and they get no reply, they simply use these blogs (or mission logs) to vent their feelings, thoughts, ideas both professional and personal. Could do some cool soldier-cam footage using Wetworks art and the Muvee software me thinks!!!
hey Whilce I have gotten hold of Muvee, I like it, thanks for pointing it out. Was the HP Photos in Motion one of the pre-packaged formats with the programme, I cant seem to find it?
Ta
Russ
Hey Whilce,
Sent you email! Hope you can respond asap! :-) This is Tobie Abad, creator of DILIMAN.
Waaah.. guess not.
:-( Maybe next time.
xTobie,
Must have got lost in the switch over. Time/Warner bought out my cable company and they switched our service friday.
My new addy is portacio@ca.rr.com
You'll get my other addy from there, can't e-mail you haven't transfered my address book yet to this new computer...e-mail me at this new addy...
Russ,
Great ideas as usual...sorry about the delay been doing Batman.
Yeah, I'm real excited about all of this...I always get so much layed down and planned for a book but you never know if you'll be allowed to do it all...here's to the sales keeping up...
I hope sales work out too Whilce. It's a funny ol' industry these days and having done interviews with a few creators for www.fractalmatter.com it's always a real shame to hear when an original concept that has been worked on with passion and dedication doesn't reach the sales that are hoped for.
I guess thats the industry these days!!! Many creators are finding themselves having to work on 'icon' books to raise their profile for their creator owned projects, as opposed to their own projects right off the bat, or thats the impression I get?
Its guys like yourself, Benitez and Scott Campbell that will keep the industry fuelled with new and exciting concepts, so me and my local comic store are really rooting for Wetworks (I'm a teacher and I am trying to think of a way to get it onto my students reading list ha ha ha).
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