The Taylor Foundation

Ricochet narrowly ducked under a stream of fire launched by the terrorist known as Firebrand. He produced two throwing discs, and hurled them at Firebrand, but another stream of fire melted them to slag. Ricochet leapt aside from another blast and landed by the side of Patriot.

“We have anything in terms of a plan, Mr. Leader?” asked Ricochet. “Y’know, aside from the bright idea of taking on an Avengers-class villain?”

“I’m thinking,” replied Patriot.

“You’re thinking?”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve done this,” said Patriot.

“Lovely,” said Ricochet. “Well, if you decide to form a superhero team in your next life, you might wanna consider bringing in some guys who have water powers.”

Patriot ignored Ricochet’s remarks and instead concentrated on what could be done to at least slow Firebrand down. He watched Spider-Woman soar across the sky, her psi-webbing encasing Firebrand. He turned to the young hero who first engaged Firebrand, who was dressed in a white costume.

“You!”

“The name’s Gravity,” he said.

“What can you do?” asked Patriot.

“…and they say there’s no such thing as a stupid question,” replied Gravity. “I can control gravity, obviously.”

“Ricochet, I think I have a plan,” said Patriot.

With Firebrand distracted by the psionic webbing, Joystick hurled energy batons to try and force him back. Although the heat he generated made direct physical attacks practically useless, energy attacks such as those could at least keep him off-balance. Machine Teen’s arms telescoped and his hands gripped a piece of rubble left behind by the crater Firebrand had previously made when he struck the ground.

“Joystick, Spider-Woman!” he exclaimed.

The two heroines glanced over to him, and immediately moved out of the way so he could throw the rubble at their enemy. The impact sent Firebrand soaring back. He staggered a bit before bringing himself back to his feet. He shook his head, then looked up at the Machine Teen.

“You are so dead,” said Firebrand.

“Oh… crap,” muttered Machine Teen. “This… doesn’t look too good…”

“Hey matchstick!”

Firebrand turned and saw Gravity standing behind him.

“You again?” he asked. “Didn’t I already kick your ass?”

“I’m persistent,” replied Gravity. He slammed his hands down on the ground, sending gravitational vibrations through the ground. Firebrand found it difficult to retain his footing. A venom blast courtesy of Spider-Woman toppled him down. He pulled himself back up and saw Ricochet and Patriot standing before him holding fire extinguishers. They both activated them, covering the terrorist in the chemicals. The flames surrounding his body began to diminish, but they wouldn’t quench.

“Idiots,” said Firebrand, and his body began to reignite.

“That was officially the dumbest plan ever,” said Ricochet. The two heroes quickly leapt away before Firebrand’s flames could catch them.

“Spider-Woman, hold him down!” ordered Patriot. Spider-Woman complied with the command. Psionic webbing launched from her fingertips, and Firebrand quickly found himself entangled within it, barely able to move. He struggled against it, but it was a feeble attempt.

“The harness,” said Patriot.

“What about it?” asked Joystick.

“It’s got to be a method of control,” replied Patriot. “If we can increase the control threshold on it, maybe we can cause him to power-down. Machine Teen, see if you can interface with it.”

“See if I can what?” asked Machine Teen. “I’ve never interfaced with anything in my life.”

“Try it,” replied Patriot.

“Hoookay…” muttered Machine Teen. He moved over to the restrained Firebrand. Spider-Woman’s webbing retracted enough to allow him access to the harness, and he placed his hand up against it.

“You interfacing yet?” asked Spider-Woman.

“I dunno,” replied Machine Teen.

“…okay, maybe my mind’s in the gutter, but am I the only one who’s thinking dirty thoughts in regards to this whole ‘interfacing’ thing?” asked Ricochet.

“…glad someone else mentioned it…” muttered Gravity.

“Is something supposed to hap—” Machine Teen began, but before he could finish his sentence, wires began to slide out of his hand and plugged into the harness. “Hunh… I guess I’ve interfaced with him.”

“Not a word, Ricochet,” said Patriot.

“What? What’d I say?” asked Ricochet.

“Spider-Woman,” said Patriot, ignoring Ricochet’s comment.

“What?” asked Spider-Woman. He shot her a glare and a knowing look came over her face. “Oh right, sorry.”

The psionic webbing retracted, and Rick Dennison sat there, the flames under control thanks to the harness. Gravity walked over to him and delivered a solid punch to the terrorist’s jaw.

“That’s for making me look like a chump,” he said.

“We should get moving,” said Patriot. “I’m not in the mood to answer any questions.”

FIREFIGHT

Part II: Damage Control

By Dino Pollard

After the New Warriors had departed, the Taylor Foundation called in the services of Damage Control. A special organization, its purpose was to serve as a clean-up crew in the wake of battles between superpowered heroes and villains. In addition, the firm also offers internships to high school and college students. Two of them were once superheroes themselves.

“Talk about coincidence,” said Robbie Baldwin. “Think we’ll see Dwayne here at all, Elv?”

“I doubt it,” replied Elvin Haliday. “He’s pretty busy these days.”

“Guess we might as well get started,” said Robbie. He slipped on a hardhat with the “DAMAGE CONTROL” logo on it, as did Elvin. Although neither of them really had to worry about any sort of damage to their bodies, they chose to keep up appearences. The other two who were part of their little group of interns were Sally Blevins and Davis Cameron, who waited for them to approach.

“Hey, where’s Mickey?” asked Sally. She referred to Michiko Muashi, the fifth member of their little circle of friends.

“She called in sick,” replied Robbie. “Personally, I think she’s just slacking off, but that’s me.”

“What happened here anyway?” asked Elvin. “Do we know?”

“Not a whole lot,” replied Davis. “Some bloke calling himself Firebrand came ’round to raise trouble, but he was stopped.”

“Avengers?” asked Robbie. Davis shrugged to convey his lack of knowledge.

“Baldwin! Haliday!”

Robbie and Elvin both looked to see their supervisor walking towards them. A man dressed in a suit walked at his side.

“Hey, sorry we’re late,” said Robbie.

“That’s not it,” replied the supervisor. “There’s someone who wants to speak with you both.”

“Who?” asked Elvin.

“Mr. Taylor,” said the man by his side.

“Hunh, look at that,” said Robbie. “Guess we’ll be able to see him after all, right Elv?”

“He’s waiting up in his office for you two, so go talk to him and get back here as soon as you can. We’ll need some help in cleaning this all up.”

“Follow me, gentlemen,” said the other man. He led Robbie and Elvin into the Taylor Foundation’s lobby. He stepped up to the elevator and pressed the call button.

“You know what this is about?” asked Robbie.

“Not particularly, no,” he replied. The elevator arrived and the three entered. The man pressed the button for the top floor and the elevator began its ascent. “I assume he just wanted to say hi to his ward.”

He referred to Elvin. Dwayne Taylor has served as his legal guardian ever since the death of Elvin’s grandmother. The elevator came to a stop at the floor and the three walked out. They passed through a small reception area where a secretary sat at her desk. The man opened the door leading to a spacious office. Dwayne Taylor stood behind his desk, looking out a shattered window. Two chairs sat before his desk, and attached to the room was a monitor. He turned to face his guests.

“Thank you, that will be all,” he said. The man nodded and left the room, closing the doors behind him. “Robbie. Elvin. How are you both?”

“Can’t complain,” said Robbie. He plopped down in Dwayne’s chair, whereas Elvin just took his seat in one of the chairs before Dwayne’s desk. “So what happened, anyway?”

“Seems the Taylor Foundation somehow angered Firebrand,” said Dwayne. “Apparently, he has a thing against corporations.”

“Sounds like fun,” said Robbie. “Who stopped him anyway?”

“That’s what I wanted to speak with you both about,” replied Dwayne. “Where’s Mickey?”

“She’s sick,” said Elvin. “What happened?”

“A group of young heroes put a stop to Firebrand,” replied Dwayne. “They called themselves the New Warriors.”

Both Robbie and Elvin froze in their seats. Not too long ago, Robbie and Elvin as Speedball and Rage, respectively, were members of the New Warriors. The team Dwayne led for a time under the mantle of Night Thrasher. But the Warriors had disbanded, and they had remained that way ever since. Robbie’s shock shifted into a look of amusement, and he started laughing.

“That’s a good one, man,” he said. “It’s good to see that Thrash has developed a sense of humor. But seriously, what happened?”

“I’m not joking,” said Dwayne.

“He’s right,” said Elvin. “If anything, he’s developed less of a sense of humor since the Warriors.”

“So the old gang is back together?” asked Robbie. “It was Vance and Angel, wasn’t it? I knew those two would get bored after they left the Avengers. Who else was there? Rich? Nita?”

“Robbie…” began Dwayne.

“Maybe Darkhawk was with them, too,” said Robbie.

“Robbie…”

“Hmm… I wonder if Alex joined up again…?”

“Robbie!”

“Yeah?” asked Robbie, looking up at Dwayne. “What’s up?”

“No former Warriors were on the team,” said Dwayne. He walked over to the desk and picked up a remote control. He turned on the monitor with it. “This was security footage from the battle.”

On the monitor, Robbie and Elvin watched as the new team of Warriors went to battle against Firebrand. Neither of them recognized any of the young heroes they were looking at. Dwayne turned off the monitor, then looked back at Robbie and Dwayne.

“Now you can see why I wanted to speak with you both,” said Dwayne.

“So what? Do we get into some fight over the New Warriors name?” asked Robbie.

“Robbie’s got a point,” said Elvin. “I mean, we’re not using the name.”

“No, I understand that, I’m not that vain,” said Dwayne. “This is more… curiosity than anything else. This group is… rough. Their teamwork skills are particularly weak, and it seems they haven’t been doing this very long at all. Their victory against Firebrand was more or less based on luck.”

“My Speedball sense detects a ‘but’ coming,” said Robbie.

“But I think they have potential,” said Dwayne. “I want to help them. And that’s where you two come in.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Robbie. “What’ve you got in mind, Thrash?”

Crash Pad

“Well… that was embarassing…” muttered Gravity. “My first time out, and a group of rookie superheroes trip me up.”

“Rookies?!” exclaimed Spider-Woman. “Hey, I’ve been doing this longer than you have, pal! I was trained by the original Spider-Woman! What’ve you got that’s so special?”

“Ah, shut it, Spider-Girl,” said Gravity. “Isn’t there a law against minors playing hero?”

“Both of you, quiet,” ordered Patriot. The New Warriors, along with Gravity, gathered inside the Crash Pad. It had served as the headquarters for the last incarnation of the Warriors, and Patriot had decided it would be good enough for his team as well. It was abandoned, and possessed equipment which would be beneficial to them. “Gravity, I don’t think I need to remind you who took on Firebrand with no previous knowledge of him or his abilities.”

“The hell’s that got to do with anything?” asked Gravity.

“It means you tried to take on a guy who held his own against the Avengers,” said Ricochet. He sat on the edge of the meeting table, one foot resting on the table with the other dangling over the edge. In one of his hands, he absently twirled a gold throwing disc. “I’ll admit, you got balls. But you pull shit like that, and you’ll end up dead.”

“Look, I came here because I thought you guys could use my help,” said Gravity. “But it seems like you don’t want it, so I think I’ll get moving.”

“That’s not it at all,” said Patriot. “We could use your help.”

“We could?” asked Spider-Woman. “Says who?”

“Me,” replied Patriot. “You’re a powerhouse, Gravity. Something which could come in handy.”

“Something we don’t have, right?” asked Joystick. She sat in a chair with her legs crossed. “Not too condescending, Patriot.”

“You all have special skills which will be very beneficial to the team,” said Patriot. “That’s why I specifically chose all of you.”

“You didn’t choose me, though,” said Gravity.

“No, I didn’t,” said Patriot. “But perhaps I would have, had I known about you in advance.”

“I came to New York to make it on my own as a hero,” said Gravity. “Why would I want you guys slowing me down?”

“We saved your life,” said Spider-Woman. “A little gratitude wouldn’t hurt.”

“Whatever, I could’ve handled it,” said Gravity.

“Perhaps you could have.”

The new voice drew the attention of the six young heroes. They all whirled to face the source of it. Standing before them was a young black man in his mid twenties or so. His head was bald, and a black goatee bordered his lips. He was dressed in a gray suit. Standing by his side was a slender young man, about eighteen or nineteen, with short blonde hair. He was dressed in a blue and orange costume with goggles concealing his eyes. The other man with them was very large. A leather mask with an upside-down red trianble on the forehead concealed his face, but his muscular arms were bare. He looked to be in his late twenties.

“Were we expecting company?” asked Machine Teen.

“No, we weren’t,” replied Patriot.

“Who are these jokers?” asked Gravity.

“My name is Dwayne Taylor, head of the Taylor Foundation,” replied the man in the gray suit. “You saved my company from Firebrand, and I came to thank you. As well as to make you an offer.”

“The Warriors aren’t for sale, Mr. Taylor,” said Patriot.

“Understood,” said Dwayne. “I don’t want to buy you, I want to help you.”

“We accept donations?” asked Ricochet. “No one told me we accepted donations.”

“The two men with me are Speedball and Rage,” said Dwayne, motioning to his companions. “They were members of the last incarnation of the Warriors.”

“What’s that have to do with anything?” asked Gravity.

“You did a good job today, but you won by luck,” said Dwayne.

“Says you,” said Gravity.

“You’re a bit rough around the edges, and you have potential as a team,” said Dwayne, ignoring Gravity’s comment. “I’m willing to fund your activities. Perhaps update the equipment in the Crash Pad. Provided that Speedball and Rage are both allowed to join the team.”

“Why?” asked Patriot.

“Because I don’t know any of you enough to trust you,” said Dwayne. “And I want to be sure that your New Warriors live up to that name.”

“We have to be clear about a few things,” said Patriot. He stepped right up to Dwayne, looking him directly in the eyes. Dwayne didn’t flinch at all, stood firm. He had faced down fiercer intimidation in his life. “I’ll agree to this as long as we get autonomy. I run the show here, not you. I lead the team, not Speedball and not Rage.”

“I’ve no interest in taking away your authority,” said Dwayne.

“Then what is your interest?” asked Joystick. “Can’t say I trust corporate bigwigs.”

“Relax, he’s on the level,” said Speedball.

“And why should I trust you?” asked Joystick.

“One could say the same about you, Joystick,” said Dwayne. He didn’t avert his gaze from Patriot’s eyes, however. “My motivations are my own, but as I said, my interest is that you don’t destroy the reputation of the Warriors.”

“Why do you care so much about the Warriors?” asked Patriot.

“I have my reasons,” replied Dwayne.

“Care to share them with the rest of the class?” asked Ricochet.

“Do you all care to unmask in front of me?” asked Dwayne. None of the Warriors made any move, nor responded to his question. “That’s what I thought. When you trust me enough to tell me who you are, I’ll trust you enough with my reasons. I think that’s a fair trade.”

“All we’re saying is we want to help,” said Rage. “It couldn’t hurt you guys to have some extra hands.”

“Do I really have to be here?” asked Gravity. “I’m not one of these guys.”

“You could be,” said Dwayne. “I would like to see you stay around.”

“What do I get out of it?” asked Gravity.

“Give it a try,” said Dwayne. “If it’s not for you, then leave.”

“Hmm…” said Gravity. “Alright, I’m in.”

“I’ll also provide you with a non-combat operative who can assist you from the Crash Pad,” said Dwayne. “Someone who handle the technical aspects of running the Crash Pad.”

“We get our own Q, huh?” asked Ricochet. “Sweet.”

“Who?” asked Patriot.

“You’ll meet him soon,” replied Dwayne. He extended his hand to Patriot. “Do you accept my terms?”

Patriot looked down at Dwayne’s hand, then looked at the rest of his team. He saw no objections in any of their faces. He looked back at Dwayne and wrapped his red-gloved hand around Taylor’s.

“You’ve got a deal, Taylor.”

NEXT: Check out the 2005 Annual for a tie-in with the “Empire” story-arc running in AVENGERS! When Bushwacker comes calling, it’s up to Ricochet to stand up to him!

NAME THIS LETTER COLUMN

You read that right — name this column. If anyone’s got any suggestions for what to name this letter column, please feel free to share them. I don’t think I really have to explain the purpose of a letters column, since you should all know about it anyway. But I’m not always the best when it comes to naming these things, and the name of the column from Marvel’s NEW WARRIORS comic was “New Opinions.” I thought that was kind of lame, so I decided not to go with it.

People who are familiar with me will probably notice that this is the first time I’ve done a letters column in awhile. Normally, I don’t use one. They also notice that I don’t usually have “next issue” blurbs. I decided on something different for NEW WARRIORS, since I’m going for the type of fun atmosphere the book had back in the days of Nicieza and Bagley.

Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying NEW WARRIORS so far. Here are a few responses I’ve got for the book on the Marvel Omega message board. First letter is from Mick Edwards, who writes OUTSIDERS at JLU: 2001 and will soon be writing THE TITANS.

I read the NEW NEW WARRIORS story in AMAZING FANTASY and read the first issue when it came out. Since then I have been a bit busy which is why I haven’t said anything about it. Any way here we go.

First I will go with my two minor squabbles

I like most of the cast except Gravity. I felt Dino jumped the gun adding him to the team 1 month before he debuted. As then he has no grasp on the extent of his powers. Sure they seem to be based on Gravity, but how many times have writers thrown us off. I made the same mistake when I was going to do New Mutants six months to a year before it came out.

With Dino calling them the New Warriors. It seems to me that he is doing the very thing that every one has preached to me about not doing with the Avengers. This group isn’t the New Warriors that fans will recognize its more like the Young Avengers equilvant of the NEW AVENGERS. Patriot = Cap, Spider-Woman (Mattie) = Jessica Drew, Richochet = Spider-Man, Machine Teen = Iron Man, Gravity = Sentry, Joystick = Wolverine. I’m not bringing this up to bash Dino as I have talked with him a few times about concepts and understanding what is the core of the books you write about. I’m just confused why he called it NEW WARRIORS instead of YOUNG AVENGERS? When that is what they reflect?

Other then that I enjoyed these issues and I hope that Dino fleshes these characters out more then their creators did.

I responded to this on the message board, so some of this may be redundant, but oh well.

I can understand the concern people may have regarding Gravity. However, my version of Gravity is more or less loosely based on Marvel’s version. You can start to see that in this issue, and in future issues, you’ll probably see more differences in terms of personality. The character’s appearence, name, and basic premise (a guy who comes to New York with hopes of making it as a big-time superhero) appealed to me, and I thought that was stuff which would be interesting to play off in NEW WARRIORS. Granted, I’m not sure whether or not the powers I’ve given Gravity will be the same as the ones Marvel is giving him, but it wouldn’t be the first time fanfic writers have brought in characters who were created after a site’s cut-off and put their own spins on the characters. You can see that in a few instances at MO — Vargas and Red Lotus in X-FACTOR, Refrax and Buff in volume one of GENERATION X, Angela and Cassandra Nova in UNCANNY X-MEN, Xorn and Warp Savant in X-CORPS, and to a lesser extent, Switchback in MUTANT UNDERGROUND.

I haven’t read YOUNG AVENGERS nor NEW AVENGERS. But I can guarantee you that this book is not intended to be a teenage version of the Avengers. Yes, they are young superheroes, but the motto of the original NEW WARRIORS title was, “all they want to do is change the world.” That’s the view I’m taking with my version. I could’ve brought in the original cast of NEW WARRIORS, of Night Thrasher, Speedball, Rage, Nova, Namorita, Justice, and Firestar, but if I did that, the name New Warriors seems like it would be a bit of a contradiction, as there’s nothing really new about it.

What I’m doing with NEW WARRIORS is similar to what George Cameron and Ryan Krupienski are doing with NEW MUTANTS, what Marvel did with their recent NEW MUTANTStitle, and what DC’s done with their TEEN TITANS relaunch — bring in some new blood, with some old blood around to show the new guys the ropes. That’s why Speedball and Rage are both on the team, because out of everyone from the original Warriors, they’re the ones who seem to have the most reason to be with this team (another contender would be Turbo). Since Patriot is part of the team, YOUNG AVENGERS comparisons will no doubt be made. But trust me — this isn’t the same Patriot. More about him will be revealed in future issues, so just stay tuned.

In regards to the NEW AVENGERS counterparts, it’s nothing more than a pure coincidence (although I’m not quite sure where the Wolverine/Joystick parallel comes in, and there’s also no Luke Cage counterpart). There wouldn’t be much sense in having a YOUNG AVENGERS counterpart to NEW AVENGERS when that book isn’t even in MO’s continuity. I chose the characters in this book because I felt these were the ones I could get the best interactions out of. I had an entire list of possible characters I could use for the book, and I thought hard about each character to put on. Comparisons to NEW AVENGERS were the last thing on my mind. If anything, the comparison that came to mind when I was putting together the cast were comparisons with past Warriors.

As for the characters, I definitely plan to flesh them out. Machine Teen has sort of been in the background in both the AMAZING FANTASY story and the first two issues, but he’ll be taking center-stage in issue #3.
Next letter is from Bren Hunter, who writes CAPTAIN BRITAIN for this very site.

I’m really quite liking the eclectic line-up, Ricochet’s self-deprecation in the first part, Adam’s post-modern reaction to discovering that he’s a robot, the pitch-perfect end to Greg’s seemingly normal laundry scene, and the billboard from Slingers. I’m also really enjoying Patriot’s string-pulling and mystery motivation, but I think that’s got a short shelf-life before it becomes tiresome. The only thing I didn’t particularly like was how quickly and easily the team came together. Spider-Woman’s decision to stay on for the purpose of watching Joystick felt particularly arbitrary, but then I don’t know this Spider-Woman character very well and hope to understand it better in future issues.

A little note for those who may be confused. This response is in regards to the “From The Ground Up” story-arc which introduced the latest incarnation of the Warriors inAMAZING FANTASY #1-2.

I’m glad you liked Ricochet’s self-deprecation. He always struck me as a character who never took himself too seriously, and he could poke fun at himself and realize that he’s not a big-league superhero. He’s never really had these delusions of granduer that some young heroes tend to have. I’m also glad you liked Adam’s reaction to his discovery — I was afraid people wouldn’t get what I was going for with that. I didn’t want to go the typical “woe is me, my life is a lie” teen angst route so many people seem to go with in situations like this.

I can understand the concern you have regarding Patriot’s string-pulling. And I can promise that while it won’t be dealt with immediately, it also won’t be shoved down your throat, either. It’ll pop up occassionally to move the plot forward, but there is an end planned for it, an end that will hopefully satisfy you.

Regarding the quick formation of the team, I can understand that, too. But I think about it this way — the original New Warriors formed in the first issue, so the two-partAMAZING FANTASY story was sort of paying homage to it (even the title of the story-arc, for those who didn’t catch the reference). And as for Spider-Woman — she’s young. She’s about sixteen, and she sees the world in black and white. She’s in this superhero thing because she idolizes Spider-Man, and she was quite an annoying character under John Byrne. I hope to make her enjoyable for everyone, so we’ll see if I can succeed.
Final letter was from “domixt,” a frequent visitor at the message board:

Hello everyone!

My exams are over I now have more free time! So decided to catch up, first on my list are the New Warriors.

I really enjoyed the two issues of Amazing Fantasy and the debut issue! Dino manages to write some really fun superheroics! Even though there hasn’t been many “fight” scenes over these issues, the character building has been great.

Good call on Joystick. I do enjoy the fact she doesn’t want to do the superhero thing and is now stuck doing it! I just wish she’d chnage her name! (Not only here but in new Thunderbolts!)

Spider-Woman is the only choice I see as dubious. I really don’t like her! Always found her a little… dull! Here’s hoping you can make her a little bit more interesting!

I never read Slingers (a huge mistake, as I get the feeling I would have enjoyed that) so I really have no idea about Ricochet! The only issues I’ve read with him is the latest Runaways ones! But he seems cool. Kind of like the older brother of the group!

I was leaving Patriot, Machine Teen and Gravity until last. Mostly because of the ongoing debate. I remember about a year ago I posted something about fan fic being influenced by ongoing comic fic. I remember I concluded that it was quite a fun thing to do. To take an establised visual and give your own interpertation on it. I haven’t read MACHINE TEEN, but I do read YOUNG AVENGERS and GRAVITY.

Your Patriot seems to actually have a different identity to that in proper MU, so am quite looking forward to finding out his MO identity! And you haven’t done much with Gravity, but was having Dwayne in your first issue a coincidence, as that’s the first hero Gravity meets in the MU!

BTW, I did enjoy the fact the Machine Teen didn’t freak out! Makes a change from typical angst!

Anyways, looking forward to new issues!

It’s nice to see that you’ll be getting more free time, now — it’s been awhile since we’ve seen your little reviews. Good to know you’re digging the superheroics in the book and the character building, since those are the two big things I’m going for with this series.

I’ve had a soft spot for Joystick ever since I wrote her years back in New Marvel’s MARVEL KNIGHTS series (which had a similar concept to THUNDERBOLTS). But no way am I changing her name — I love that name! Spider-Woman I can understand, because her character was an annoying little bitch in Marvel. I’ve got some stuff in mind for her, so here’s hoping I’ll be able to make her interesting. If you haven’t read SLINGERS, I highly recommend it. It had about sixteen issues altogether (four alternate first issues with different stories, a 0 issue, and it lasted until issue #12), and you should be able to find them all in quarter bins at conventions, or for relatively prices off of the Internet. It was a really fun superhero book that anyone who enjoyed the original NEW WARRIORS would probably get a kick out of.

I’m glad you’ve come to that conclusion about comics influencing fanfic, since experimenting with these characters without any sort of constrictions can be a lot of fun. I haven’t read YOUNG AVENGERS, MACHINE TEEN, or GRAVITY (although I thumbed through the first issue). Patriot does indeed have a different identity from the one in Marvel Proper. As far as Dwayne in the first issue being a homage to GRAVITY #1 — it’s purely a coincidence, as I didn’t even flip through the first issue until the other day. Also, nice to know people enjoyed the shift from the typical angst.

And new issues? Ask and ye shall receive.
That’s it for now. Until next time, I remain…

Dino Pollard