

by Beau Smith

I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing mainstream Marvel and DC Comic book heroes and villains. I grew up reading and collecting them and still do many decades later. I’ve been on the business and creative side of comics for over 25 years and know how it all works. I’ve seen the best of times, I’ve known the worst of times. I’ve learned to separate my own personal feelings from the reality of the way the business is sometimes handled; even if in my opinion, it could be done better, same with the handling of characters. Until I am in complete control, this is the way it’s going to be.



As a reader and writer, I’ve always been drawn more to the lesser known or featured heroes and villains. As a kid, I would’ve taken a B’Wana Beast series over a Superman series every month of the year. I’d get more stoked seeing Iron Man fight The Plant Man than The Crimson Dynamo any day of the week. My friends got excited when they heard that Galactus as going to return in the pages of The Fantastic Four. I was more amped to hear that they were going to fight that raving nut, Diablo.



Call me weird, but the way I figured it, it was my money, so let me spend it the way I want.



During my two year run on Guy Gardner: Warrior, I made it a point to bring back every oddball DC character that I could. That’s a large part of why I created Warrior’s Bar, it would be THE place for DC’s main heroes to hob-nob with the lesser seen heroes like The Metal Men, Congo Bill, Animal Man, and other heroes that hadn’t been cursed with the “Vertigo Version.”

The same goes for bad guys. After all, during that run I brought back Earthworm and Gold Face. Give me some credit.

I was thrilled to make Wildcat and Lady Blackhawk regulars in Guy Gardner’s circle of friends. I had plans to bring even more characters back to the DC fold, but time and sales ran out on Guy Gardner. I think my ideas were so far out there that you never see or read any reference to my two year Warrior run in the current Guy Gardner world of a billion Green Lanterns. Granted, at least they haven’t changed him back to the bowl-headed, one-note jerk he used to be, but let’s face it, he’s not quite as interesting as he was before. He’s an armed up version of the true tough guy hero he used to be. Then again, compared to the rest of the Green Lanterns, he’s a regular Tower Of Testosterone. The Green Ring Gang is pretty much the QVC Channel of ring slingers these days.



I mentioned the Marvel bad guy, The Plant Man, earlier. Think about what his life could be like. He knows that he’s not in the First Class league of Doctor Doom, although he has potential if written correctly. He has always been the kinda guy that really doesn’t want to work a 9 to 5 job and answer to others; he’s said it in previous issues. He would be content to rob banks with the help of his roots related plant friends and live quite well. He could stay under The Avengers radar by taking over his own island and living quite nicely. Trust me, if I were writing the character, he would be. And I would entertain you with what happens to a guy like that when they decide to ride just under the grid.



As a kid, I was enamored with the quirky and crazy DC character B’Wana Beast. I was lucky enough to get to write a short story on him for the DC Holiday Special 2009 a few years back, but the REAL story/series I have laid out for him is much more interesting. I would also use the opportunity to not only explain and let the readers “get into” what B’Wana Beast is all about, but I have also devised a way to make sense of his true origins without disrespecting those writers who created him.



Part of the reality that I spoke of at the start of this column is that with different people in charge of the characters and the larger corporate systems of both Marvel and DC, the old saying, “This ain’t your daddy’s comic books” has true meaning in a more realistic way, and not sarcastically. For someone who is 35 years old or younger, the current, semi-constipated, Event driven, hand-cuffed versions of mainstream superheroes is all they have ever known. They haven’t been lucky enough to have read the story driven characters of the 60s or character driven stories of the 80s.

There is great hope and underlying potential for a new age of mainstream superheroes just waiting to be written. There are great writers, young and old out there who can make this happen. I hope that we will all get the chance to see this happen. There’s a growth spurt in comics waiting to happen. Let’s all try and be a part of it.



My ego is always growing,

Beau Smith

The Flying Fist Ranch

www.flyingfistranch.com