Comics offer the unbridled opportunity to team up anyone you might think of (copyrights notwithstanding) for daring adventures. Ahead of their own team up of Witchblade/Dorian Gray Fractal Matter sat down with Leah Moore and John Reppion to challenge them to provide the stories for the strangest buddy comics of all time.
We kick off with a pair that have been destined to meet for many years.
The Question and Enid Blyton
What earth-shattering comicbook misadventures would you dream up for these two?
John: Okay, the Question…and Enid Blyton. Glad I picked an easy one to start with.
It’s 1967 and 72 year old Enid Blyton is visiting Hub City on one final book signing tour. Due to some kind of staff shortage (and much to his annoyance) the obnoxious Vic Sage is given the job of covering the story. No one is prepared when four masked individuals burst in armed with semi automatic weapons yelling something about overdue royalties. In the guise of The Question Sage manages to overpower one of the masked intruders (after overcoming their similarly masked dog) and reveals them to be nothing more than rosy cheeked, 1940’s children. Or at least, that’s what they appear to be but, the children are soon exposed as robots and insist that Blyton was once their creator and master. The aged author blasts off in a rocket powered bath chair leaving the Question to puzzle over her next move. What dastardly plots is such a competent detective writer capable of cooking up? Hub city is about to find out.
For Leah we have more of a classical themed showdown.
Xena: Warrior Princess and Captain Marvel
This appears a more straightforward combination, but what twists and turns will the Big Cheese and the rather violent lady get up to?
Leah:Young Billy Batson is on his way to work at WHIZ radio, when he hears a scream from around a corner. Rushing to help whoever is in trouble he says his magic word Shazam! The lightning bolt sent from Zeus the Thunder God hits him, but instead of turning him into Captain Marvel, it transports Billy to ancient Greece. Billy falls out of a clear blue Bronze Age sky, through an olive tree and directly into a big wooden washing tub. He surfaces, covered in suds and ancient Greek undergarments to find eight brawny washer women all dripping wet and not very happy. He tries to say SHAZAM! Again, but is cut off by a large fist around his windpipe. A lengthy and noisy battle ensues, with the washer women attempting to tie him up in sheets, and the noise floats across the valley. Out of the trees comes Xena, warrior princess on horseback, yelling her disturbing war cry and waving her fearsome Frisbee in one hand. She snatches Billy just in time from his laundry related peril. Billy begins to protest but seeing the determined look in her flinty eyes he thinks better of it. We cut to later on where a bashful Billy is drying off by a roaring fire, and Xena is trying on the pilfered garments with Gabrielle. How will Billy get to work on time now? Will he dare say his magic word again? Why has Xena kidnapped him? Tune in next week to find out kids…..
Next up Snake Eyes (from G.I. Joe) and …wait for it….Ghandhi.
John: I see this as a kind of “Good Cop, Bad Cop” pairing in the classic 48 Hours/Lethal Weapon mould:
As a practicing Ninja and Buddhist, Snake Eyes is a follower of the Vajray path (or Shingon Buddhism as it is known in Japan) and highly experienced in meditation. One day, whilst clearing his mind and cleansing his soul, the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi appears to him in a vision. Gandhi tells Snake Eyes that he is disappointed in him; he has chosen the path of violence and rejected the path of peace. If Snake Eyes continues with his pursuit of Nirvana without first rejecting aggression in all its forms he will unleash a terrible ancient evil upon the Earth. Gandhi invites Snake Eyes to embrace the principles of Ahimsa and warns that he will be watching. When Snake Eyes comes out of his meditative state he is greatly shaken but how can he, a Ninja and member of the G. I. Joe team, possibly reject all violent action and thought? The answer comes when G. I. Joe are out on their next anti Cobra mission, unbeknownst to his team mates, Snake Eyes is joined by the ghost of Mahatma Gandhi who shows him how to devastate the enemy through the power of non violent resistance. But what will this mean for the future of the G. I. Joe team? Will Snake Eyes attain Nirvana and leave the earthly plain? Can he really resist the path of violence? Find out in this new exciting mini series.
Finally for Leah, a very difficult task:
Green Arrow and Owly
This should be entertaining…
Leah: Okay, Owly and Green Arrow.
We join Owly and Wormy as they get ready for a long journey, they pack a flask and sandwiches into a little rucksack and they wave goodbye to their friends. We follow them along a wooded road, which gradually turns into fields. They walk along admiring the sunshine and the flowers and they even break for lunch and eat their sandwiches. Once they get going again they notice the landscape change, the road is covered in asphalt and there are pylons and wires here and there. They stop to read a big sign that says “Welcome to Star city”. Owly and Wormy aren’t used to the hustle and bustle of the city, but they carry on and are amazed by all the cars and people running about everywhere. They stand in front of a big shiny building looking up at the skyscrapers around them when a man walks through the revolving door behind them. The smartly dressed middle aged man doesn’t see Owly and Wormy because they are so small, and he trips over them in his haste. Falling right on his backside he notices Owly and Wormy for the first time.
He is Oliver Queen, mayor of Star City and general big shot. He apologises for tripping over them and not looking where he was going. Owly and Wormy smile and blink at him and try their best to let him know its okay and they understand he didn’t mean anything bad. Oliver Queen explains that he was only in a hurry as he was off to deal with a hostage situation and he had rung Dinah to arrange to meet her there and she wasn’t answering her phone. He was in a fix because he needed the Black Canary as the hostage wouldn’t be returned without her. Owly and Wormy look at each other for a moment and then they rummage about in their rucksack. They pull out a picnic blanket and some scissors and thread and in no time at all they have whipped up a smart Black Canary costume for Owly. It quite suits him although his little feet look funny in the stockings and his round little body doesn’t exactly look right in the form fitting leotard. Wormy shouts at Owly because he feels left out, so they make him a tiny Archer outfit of his own with a tiny bow and quiver and a hat with a feather in. He doesn’t seem to mind that he won’t be able to use the bow as he just likes joining in. The trio hop in a taxi and are soon there to rescue the hostage. The criminals are a little suspicious of Black Canary, but when she blinks her big eyes at them they are convinced it’s her. They rescue the hostage and then Wormy rings the cops and gets the kidnappers arrested. Wormy does not shut up about single headedly catching the criminals all the way back to Queen’s home. Owly decides he quite likes wearing the outfit, and Green Arrow tells him he’s welcome back anytime. Owly and Wormy go home to the wood proudly carrying the key to Star City.
Witchblade: Shades of Gray is the February-debuting first four-issue series under this deal and will pit Top Cow’s flagship franchise against a character inspired by literally creation Dorian Gray, he of Oscar Wilde’s novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
This won’t be the first time this character has surfaced in a comic book. Alan Moore placed him as a member of one of history’s various “League’s of Extraordinary Gentlemen” in his series of League titles. Interest in the character must run in the family, because Witchblade: Shades of Gray will be co-written by Dynamite exclusive creators Leah Moore (Alan’s daughter) and John Repion, with art by newcomer Stephen Segovia, making his comics’ debut. Alternative covers will be provided by Billy Tan and E-Bas.
For more about Witchblade Shades of Gray.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Fraud Prevention Office of a high-street UK Bank, where he has experience in combatting financial crime and working with the police and legal institutions. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.