Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Thursday, 16 Apr 1992 10:30:33 CDT
From: <U16244@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Re: MARVEL: Ultron's Last Stand response

In article <1992Apr16.040205.14280@spool.cs.wisc.edu>,
lewandow@floss.cs.wisc.edu (Gary Lewandowski [TSoD]) says:
>
>        1.  What is Adamantium (secondary)?  2.  How does he enhance
>the power?  3.  Why does he do this.  Ultron doesn't like the Reaper
>anymore.
Secondary Adamantium is the wimpy version of Adamantium.  Chris came up
with this idea for using the Reaper.  However, I don't even think that
the Reaper needed the SHC75 strength, just a weapon boost for the
scythe and the SecAdm skin.  Besides, Ultron wants someone stupid with
a real vendetta against the Avengers.
>> [death of USAgent deleted]
>        I'll give a first death, since that tells the reader this is a
>serious battle up ahead.  Still, how we can now blast through
>adamatium is certainly not well explained.
USAgent's shield I believe is only SecAdm, so it is pretty easy to
wreck for someone with motivation and made of true admantium.
>1) Hank Pym will *never* (reasonably written) become YellowJacket again.
He's just using the armor to assist in fighting the Reaper.  It is
a form of heavy weaponry, and they need all they can get.
>2) It'll be a looong time before Jan is talking marriage to anyone again.
Again, Chris's idea for the actual marriage.  I was more interested in
merely doing a romance.
>3) The Avengers won't let Gyrich do anything -- they're not connected to
>    the government anymore.
He's not ordering them.  He's blackmailing them.  Plus, he's 100%
ego, so he wants to take charge.  If they try to shove him off to
the side, he calls them by their real name and mentions that they'd
make real easy targets if their names leaked to the papers.
>4) Hercules is far too experienced to let an enemy get an easy drop on
>    him while he's sober.
Hercules is also cocky.  He's gone up against the Reaper before and has
not realized that his weapon has been improved.  As such, with one
solid hit, Herc learns just what the new scythe can do.  Much to
his eventual annoyance.
>5) Anyone who thinks they're Thor is *not* going to back away from a
>    battle.  Even in Galactic Storm, Thor kept at Gladiator, a much
>    tougher foe.
Thor was not bleeding profusely from his torso in his fight with
Gladiator.  And besides, I think it would have been better if She Hulk
and Vision dragged him away from this fight rather than let him bleed
to death.
>
>>
>>Wonder Man: The Final Reckoning.
>        More plot problems.
>
>         Why would Hank go off alone in a quinjet?  There's no reason for
>it but poor storytelling.  All characters that can't fly will be with
>him, waiting to get the drop on the Reaper.
Actually, Hank isn't the only one in the Quinjet.  There were actually
several Quinjets (all armed) and piloted by people who didn't fly or
have distance attacks worthy of taking out an adamantium Reaper.
In other words, it's King Kong Time, and Reaper takes out only one
craft before the others close in.
>
>>The Wasp, thinking that the Reaper killed Hank, rushes up at full speed, just
>>large enough to touch both eyeballs with both arms outstretched, and she
>>fires a contact energy blast that vaporizes one eye and boosts the other
>>out of its socket.
>
>        Now, this is actually about right, though I don't think she'd
>necessarily aim for the eyeballs.
Tactical necessity.  She knows her blasters are useless on even SecAdm,
but the Reaper's eyes weren't shielded.  It was the only vulnerable
point, except for the open mouth, but then, if she tried to blow his
brains out from the inside, he'd probably bite her in half.
>>Through this, the Reaper is still alive, but now, he's just  a jello
>>mold
>        Is there some reason for this?  Sounds like you just hate the
>character.
The Reaper is undead.  You can't kill the undead.  Maybe they would
get Strange to undo the resurrection spell and send him to his final
barbecue in hell.
>
><Hank Pym's death scene:>
>>a speech, merely an attempt to caress her cheek and saying "I'm
>>sorry."
>
>        What's he sorry for?  Though I disagree with you killing him, he
>certainly died an Avenger.
He's sorry for all the shit he gave Jan in the past.  Trouble is, without
full scripts, we really couldn't go into his dispute with her, especially
over her romance with Dale Whitman.
>
>>Fantastic Four: Paibok Time
>        There's absolutely no reason to crossover to non-Avenger books
>except that you want to bloody your hands in every book.  As a reader,
>this is where I would completely give up on your story, since it now
>quits being a story and starts to be a vendetta against Marvel
>characters.
>
Ultron has battled the FF several times, and thus, figures that
there's a need to get rid of as many enemies as possible.
>>Silver Surfer: To Ride the Skies No More.
>        Characterization:  none.
Fine.  This ending did get away from me.  There's a better end for
the Silver Surfer out there.  Meanwhile, Ultron's attacking the X-Men
as they are allies of the Avengers and FF is a matter of survival.
So the Beta Ray Bill intro was cheesy.  I figured I'd make this
a real big effort, but it fell under its own weight with the addition
of the Surfer.
>Johnny incinerates someone?  Not the Johnny Storm I know.
This was Paibok he incinerated.  I have a feeling he'd go all out
on this punk.
>        So Ultron could augment the Reaper, infuse him with
>adamantium, but he couldn't create another ultron as tough as himself?
>Why not?  He certainly would prefer robots to these other goofs.
The secondary Ultrons were merely grunts.   Ultron, as he is, is already
powerful enough to fight the Avengers et al.  However, he figures that
the more, the merrier.
>This looks like a gratuitous fight scene.  Kind of strange to put that
>in X-Factor these days.
Sorry.  I also apologise for ripping the rug out from under Peter.
>
>>X-Men: Cable Installation
>
>        Cable takes out all the X-Men.  Right.  This is the humor
>issue, right?  Certainly it won't be because of realistic writing of
>the characters.
The X-Men have been taken flat footed before.  And besides, Cable's
is now under orders not to use any of those other losers to make an
attempt.  A combination of nerve gas and supersonics would pretty
much keep them disoriented while robo-slob would take them down.
>
>>Uncanny X-Men: By Collossus Betrayed?
>
>>be disguised as Kitty.  Colossus returns in armored form, and Xavier
>>wonders what's going on.  He starts a mindscan, when Colossus glares at him
>>and blasts him with an encephalo beam.  Off in the distant woods, the
>
>        Uh, he'd detect the lack of a mind pretty quick.  Better blast
>him immediately.
>
>        I take it you guys don't like the X-Men.  One Cable takes out one
>team, one Ultron takes out the rest.  Not very in character, unless
>you read only the Secret Wars issue where Spider-Man does it.
The situation is, Ultron is attacking both teams.  He has data on
the X-Men, and they have no experience against him, nor did they
ever expect a conflict with Ultron.
>
>>
>>X-Force: What a Tangled Cable We Weave.
>>With a cackle, Ultron orders Cable to murder
>
>With a cackle?  With a cackle?!  Ultron doesn't cackle!  Geez.
Again, sorry.
>
>>"Fer a guy wit' adamantium skin, he cuts pretty easy.")  Assorted Cables and
>>Ultrons hop up out of the woodwork, but the X-Men fight them off.
>
>        Wait a second.  ONE Cable takes them all out, and now a whole
>bunch can't stop them.  Ugh.
They were caught flat footed and were disoriented.  I didn't point that
out because I figured you'd realize that Cable would have beat them
through tactics, not sheer power.  Ultron activated the others just
to keep them busy until he dropped a nuke on the rest of the heroes.
>
>>Iron Man
><Tony assembles the heroes.  It's so cheesey I have to give it to
>you.>
>
>>Ultron fights them until only Tony and Ultron are still conscious.  Tony
>>grabs Ultron and "kisses" him, firing a computer probe into Ultron's
>>brain.  Contact!  Tony starts pumping in a self destruct program for
>>the artificial intelligence program that runs Ultron.  No more mister
>
>        No interface problems?  Just what is the OS run by Ultron?
>Another of those handy dandy Mac Window things, I suppose.
>
>>but it's all over except the dying.  Tony requests that Rhodey take charge
>>of Stark International Holdings and the mantle of Iron Man.  The
>>Stark
>
>        ha ha ha.  "Rhodey, you take over SI now.  Even though Mrs.
>Arbogast is a much better executive.  aaaack."  And isn't it SE now?
>
>        Maybe Rhodey can do an ad -- "I took night classes and now
>look, I'm the head of a major company."
He takes ownership.  He doesn't take executive control.  I wrote it
in there.  Mrs. Arbogast (I forgot her name) still runs SI.  Tony's
just given Rhodey a chunk of the inheritance.  Arbogast gets a big
chunk also because she deserves it.
>
>>Captain America: The End of an Era.
>>Cap gets on a major drunk (it's only one bottle, but then, Steve
>
>        This is Captain America?  I doubt it.
You have a bunch of old pals and deal with it without getting
despondant and depressed.  Either way, Chris was the one who came
up with the particular point.  However, I felt that it was a good
piece of drama.  And remember, it was ONLY ONE BOTTLE.
It's not like he'd grabbed a crate of hooch and was buzzing all
week.  It was one night, and one bottle.
>By the way, Wanda knows how Simon feels about her, and she rejected
>him.
Again, sorry.  Hard to keep track of every Marvel relationship over
the years.
>
>
>        For anyone else writing stories about established characters:
>fan fiction is wonderful, but try to write characters.  Leave your
>death fantasies home.  If you don't like characters, don't write about
>them, or write them in a way that explains their actions in a
>reasonable way.  Coherent, workable plots would be nice too.
That point is seconded.  But, this plot was supposed to wrap up a
bunch of plot threads.  My next few stories should be a lot
more interesting, since they're more devoted to
actual characterization and social interaction, especially an idea
I have for X-Factor.
>--
>Gary Lewandowski             gary@cs.wisc.edu              Theory Slug of Doom
Thank you for your criticism, and I hope some of my answers made some
points clearer.  Besides, there's not much characterization you could
do in a summary.  I'd probably should have actually written this out
as actual scripts, but then, I'm ditching enough classes as it is.


Doug.