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I'm happy to report that now that my life is coming back together, I've made it a priority to finish "A Precarious Balance" and catch up on other LWers fan fiction. So keep an eye on this thread.
Has anyone made any guesses yet as to who the new Libra might be?
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Glad to hear you;re back at 'em. So am I. I have three new episodes in three different threads. w00t!
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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It is with great reluctance that I must announce that I'm not likely to ever complete "A Precarious Balance," because I could never quite work out the resolution to my satisfaction. In hindsight, I think "...Than to Curse the Darkness" and "Truly Super" were the only two JLA stories that I absolutely HAD to tell. Never say never, though.
But for the time being, here's who the new Libra would have turned out to be:
Click Here For A SpoilerWonder Woman, enchanted and manipulated by Circe, the true mastermind behind this scheme.
A while ago I was writing and posting a short-lived series on my I Am Milk blog. It was called Outworlders, and it was meant to be my take on the Exiles concept of a team of heroes and/or anti-heroes travelling through space and time on missions to correct anomalies. The teammates are Olivia, Alice, Philip, Magdalene, and Hercules. They report to Utaan, who sends them on their missions. In the third story, which I never posted because I thought it would be too controversial, I had them meet a team of JLI analogues. As requested in another forum by Rocky and IB, here it is.
OUTWORLDERS in: "INTERNATIONAL FEEL"
“I presume,” said Utaan to the assembled Outworlders, “that most of you possess at least some passing familiarity with the malevolent artificial intelligence known as Ultron. For those who do not, Ultron is, quite simply, an evil robot who wants to destroy all organic life. There have been many, many versions of him, both in individual universes and across the multiverse.
“One of these Ultrons was able to breach the timestream and make his way to an alternate timeline where the heroes are a version of the Squadron Supreme...”
“Yes,” replied Utaan patiently, “but these are a...very different sort of Squadron Supreme. If you will pay attention to the monitors, I shall introduce them to you, in order from least powerful to most powerful.
“These are Bug Bite and Golden Boy, both average male humans possessing arsenals of sophisticated technology. I should add that Golden Boy’s technology is plundered.
“Next are Demolitia and her partner in romance and adventure, Escape. Both are extraordinary athletes and superb hand-to-hand combatants; in addition, Demolitia has low-level super-strength.
“Burnout, essentially a female Human Torch...
“...and Chilblain, essentially a female Iceman.
“Followed by this universe’s version of Doctor Spectrum, who refers to himself colloquially as ‘Doc.’
“Shifter, a shape-shifting alien possessing super-strength, super-speed, super-endurance and super-telepathy...
“...and, finally, Major Molecule, whose power is nearly on the same level as the Silver Surfer.”
“I don’t understand!” said Alice “That seems to me like a pretty formidable collection of heavy-hitters! Why do they need our help?”
“Because,” explained Utaan, “they are either too arrogant, too self-involved, or simply too idiotic to work together as a proper team.”
“Typical Squadron Supreme, then.” laughed Olivia.
“This is a serious matter.” reprimanded Utaan. “If Ultron gains control of one universe, he shall eventually gain control of the very fabric of space and time and corrupt it with his soulless evil. Already he has used his Encephalo-Ray to dominate the man named Ian Influence, the Squadron Supreme’s liaison with the world leaders, and the team is none the wiser...and probably will not be any wiser unless you Outworlders intervene.”
“As our challenges grow, so doth my appetite for adventure.” declared Hercules. “Let us go forth so that the Lion of Olympus may be satiated.”
“Before you depart,” said Utaan, “observe this Squadron Supreme at the present moment...and tremble.”
The main monitor in Utaan’s domain panned across the conference room of the Squadron Supreme’s headquarters. The Outworlders first saw Burnout admiring her reflection and talking to herself in Portugese, saying what translated roughly to “Who is the fairest of them all?” Next to her was Chilblain, timidly responding to Doc Spectrum’s advances by declaring, “Oh, no, I cannot go on a dinner date with you. The city is scary after nine o’clock at night.” To which Doc Spectrum laughed sophomorically and boasted, “Like you got anythin’ to fear with a real man like me by yer side!” Next appeared Shifter, sitting at the conference table wolfing down chocolate sandwich cookies with a glazed look in his eyes, followed by a sickly-looking Escape assuring Demolitia that her cooking had nothing to do with his current state. Then Bug Bite and Golden Boy burst into the room. “We’ve just accidentally bankrupted the team!” lamented Golden Boy. “Yeah,” added Bug Bite, “that’ll teach us never to GO FOR BROKE! HA! HA! HA!” And, finally, Major Molecule, who kept barking orders and trying to impose discipline until he shrugged and said, “Oh, what’s the use?”
The Outworlders were rendered temporarily speechless by this inane spectacle, until Magdalene broke the silence. “By the Seventh Ring!” she exclaimed, “What a nauseating collection of utter fools.”
“It’s up to us to save the day.” declared Philip.
“I love it when you talk in cliche.” quipped Olivia, who then found herself on the receiving end of one of Magdalene’s blood-chilling stares. “Uh...sorry.” she apologized hesitantly.
As the Outworlders stepped through Utaan’s portal, he said to them, “Best of luck on this mission...if ever you have needed it, that time is now!”
The Outworlders now found themselves standing outside the Squadron Supreme’s headquarters, a brownstone located on the corner of a large city’s busy street.
“Here goes nothing.” said Olivia, knocking on their door.
Shifter answered, bag of cookies in hand.
“Hi!” said Olivia. “We’re an inter-dimensional police force, and we’ve come to your universe because your boss is being dominated by an evil robot who wants to take over the world.”
Eyes still glazed, Shifter stopped munching on cookies and stared at the Outworlders in silence until he opened his mouth and laughed, spraying bits of cookie everywhere. “HA! HA! HA! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!”
“So much for that approach.” sneered Olivia. “Outta my way, you damned stupid alien.” she shoved Shifter aside, causing him to drop his cookies.
“Insults and rudeness I can take,” barked Shifter, “but wasting cookies, I cannot tolerate! You shall pay dearly for...”
Suddenly, he appeared to be surrounded by a ring of fire, which was actually a construct of Alice’s power prism. “Fire!” he bellowed. “My one weakness! Somebody help me!” Alice intensified the phony flames, and Shifter fainted.
“Oh, brother.” said Olivia, rolling her eyes while Alice smirked.
Suddenly, the rest of the Squadron Supreme came bolting towards the door. “Now you’ve done it!” said Major Molecule. “We’re the Squadron Supreme, and we take care of our own!”
“We do?” asked Chilblain innocently.
“Okay, in theory, we do.” snapped Major Molecule. “That is...what I meant to say...SQUADRON SUPREME, ATTACK!”
Major Molecule let loose with powerful nuclear blasts, causing considerable damage to the neighborhood and panic in the streets. Magdalene responded with a focused blast of the cosmic power she channeled through her staff, hitting Major Molecule square in the chest.
“I will deal with this hussy.” said Burnout in heavily accented English. “She is only bitter because I am prettier than her.” She unleashed her flames, but Alice was quicker than her, constructing a bubble of fireproof material around Burnout.
“Now...freeze!” said Chilblain, trying unsuccessfully to sound tough as she encased Magdalene in solid ice, which Magdalene’s powers easily melted away. Next, Magdalene bopped Chilblain on the head with her staff.
Unexpectedly, Olivia jumped in between him and Magdalene. “I don’t think I like you.” she sneered, and decked him with one punch. As she rubbed her knuckles, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Hercules and Philip were both losing to the respective double-team attacks of Demolitia & Escape and Bug Bite and Golden Boy.
“You’re French, aren’t you?” Golden Boy asked Philip.
“I’m French and English.” replied Philip. “So what?”
“So you don’t bathe OR brush your teeth, then. HA! HA! HA!”
“You ignorant clod!” growled Philip, smacking Golden Boy so hard with the flat of his blade that Golden Boy’s visor shattered.
“Nobody does that to my buddy.” said Bug Bite, pointing his Bug-Blaster at Philip.
“I just did.” said Philip calmly. Then, with one quick stroke, his sword shattered the Bug-Blaster to pieces. Olivia took advantage of this to clobber Bug Bite with one of her truncheons.
“Truly,” said Hercules to Demolitia and Escape, “the two of thee hath proven themselves the only capable fighters of thy motley crew. For that, I commend thee, and I prithee to bring an end to this pointless, unnecessary fight...which is not to say I hath not enjoyed the sport, but...”
“What he’s trying to say,” piped up Alice, “is that time’s a-wasting while the real bad guy gets closer to accomplishing his evil scheme.”
“What do you think, Husband?” asked Demolitia, “Do you believe they speak the truth?”
“Yeah,” replied Escape, “starting this fight was stupid...even for our team.”
LATER, IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM...
“These are the plans of the building where Ian Influence has his main office.” said Major Molecule, pointing to the screen. “The suite is conceivably large enough to house an artificial intelligence like the one you described.”
“What we have to do,” said Alice, “is hit them hard and fast from all sides. This is how we’re going to do it: Olivia will pose as a temp secretary reporting for work at Ian’s office. Then, Escape will disable the alarms, allowing Olivia to bust from the waiting room into Ian’s office. When she takes down Ian and gives the rest of us the signal, we smash our way into the office from outside and do a search-and-destroy on Ultron. Any questions?”
Chilblain raised her hand. “The suite is on the top floor. How do those of us who can’t fly get up there?”
“I have a lot of spare anti-gravity discs.” offered Escape.
“There you go.” replied Alice, satisfied.
SOON, AT IAN INFLUENCE’S OFFICE...
“I hope you’re better than the last secretary.” grumbled Ian.
“And the next-to-last, and the next-to-last?” snarked Olivia.
“Please, save the sass for outside the office.” replied Ian wearily as he walked out of the waiting room and into his office.
“I’ll give you more than sass.” sneered Olivia, looking at her digital watch, waiting for the glow which would indicate that Escape had successfully disabled the alarms. When the glow came, she was overjoyed. She experienced great relief as she removed her high-heeled shoes and took her retractable truncheons out of her pocket book.
Olivia smashed her way into Ian office, to find a shocked Ian staring at her. “Jeez,” he said, “that’s the last time I use THAT temp agency.” As he talked, he fumbled for the pistol in the side drawer of his desk, found it, and fired at Olivia, who dodged the bullets with great ease and did a back-flip onto his desk. She swatted the gun out of his hand with her truncheon, grabbed Ian by his white collar and snarled, “Where’s Ultron?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Ian screamed. “Please, don’t kill me.”
Olivia did not kill Ian, but she did bop him on the head with the end of one of her truncheons, knocking him unconscious. She then pressed a button on her watch, signaling the others to attack as Ultron came charging out of the office’s back room.
“Fool!” shrieked Ultron to Olivia as he blasted lasers from his fingertips at her. “This is the end for you!”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” replied Olivia, dodging the blasts. “You’ve got some party crashers.”
Indeed, the Outworlders and the Squadron Supreme came bursting into the office from all sides, leaving massive shards of glass on the floor. Taking point were Magdalene and Major Molecule, the heaviest hitters. Their concentrated cosmic-rays-and-nuclear-blasts attack on Ultron allowed Bug Bite to sneak past the evil robot into the back room where the computers were.
Before Ultron could pursue Bug Bite, Hercules and Demolitia pounced on Ultron, buying Bug Bite enough time to shut the door. Ultron shook off his mighty oppenents, screeching, “Imbeciles! I am invulnerable!”
“Maybe so,” said Alice, “but we can still snare you!” And Alice and Doc proceeded to do just that, binding the robot in their power-prism constructs.
They were able to hold him long enough for Shifter to shape-shift into a flying insect and fly inside of Ultron, where he planted a tiny but very powerful time bomb.
Just as Shifter exited Ultron, the bomb went off, burning up and tearing apart Ultron’s inner workings. Ultron flailed spastically as he made his way past all the heroes and broke down the door to the back room.
“You’re too late!” gloated Bug Bite. “I’ve erased all your computer files. You can’t jump to another timeline. You’re stuck here!”
“NOOOOOO!” screamed Ultron. “You have won this battle, but not the war. I shall return to torment you!” That said, Ultron jumped through one of the broken windows, plummeted to the far away ground, picked himself up and began running away.
“I just realized,” said Bug Bite, “he’s stuck here...but now WE’RE stuck with HIM. Uh-oh.”
“We shall face him united and defeat him as many times as it takes.” said Demolitia.
“Well said, thy most courageous of warrior women.” replied Hercules.
“Despite getting off on the wrong foot,” said Major Molecule to the Outworlders, “I really have to thank you. Without you, we’d never have learned how to work as a team.”
“Indeed,” said Demolitia as she and the rest of the Squadron Supreme watched the Outworlders depart via Utaan’s portal, “we owe you a great deal. Do please visit us again, and we assure you a friendlier welcome. Farewell.”
“Perhaps we did misjudge them.” mused Magdalene as they settled into Utaan’s domain and the portal closed behind them.”
“Most of them, yes,” said Philip, “but not that ignorant swine Golden Boy.”
“Eh,” said Alice, “there’s one in every crowd.”
“Yeah?” asked Olivia. “And I’ll just bet I’M the one in this crowd, right?”
There followed an awkward silence.
“I believe I speaketh for all of us,” said Hercules, “when I doth say that we are all extremely fond of thee as thou art, fair Olivia.”
“You always know how to say the right thing, Herc,” replied Olivia, “and you say it more eloquently than anyone.” They stared into each others eyes.
“Get a room, kids.” said Philip.
“We already did.” blurted Olivia, and everyone laughed as they realized that no team ever operates completely smoothly...but some come a lot closer than others.
posted
Thank you so much for sharing, FL! That was entertaining, and I didn't even find it mildly insulting to the JLI. They do have those silly traits, after all - but you still had them be the heroes they really were.
PS, I love it when you have Olivia bop someone on the head. I just find it hilarious!
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Wow. You're very welcome, IB. And thank you for the kind words.
I've been thinking, I'm going to do a Secret Origin of that team and post it in this thread. And if I still feel inspired, maybe some more stories with them.
I'm very grateful to you, IB, and to Rocky as well, for encouraging me to revisit that story. I was running low on inspiration and frustrated with the way the Legion Alternate Timeline was going (though I will get back to that eventually), and you guys showed me I had something with great potential which I was neglecting.
I did call the JLI era my least favorite Justice League era at the time that I made the first post in this thread a little over two years ago. But that was before I wrote that story, which I guess helped me work out my conflicted feelings about the JLI and realize that, while I have still have some problems with the JLI, it was more to do with the execution than the concept. I do like funny superhero books -- for a couple years, Peter David's X-Factor was my favorite comic out there -- but they have to be done a certain way which JLI was not done.
So I guess the door is now open to how I would interpret the JLI! Let's see where that goes!
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I would love to see your continued work on the JLI-Squadron Supreme The JLI was a nice era which could have worked (though some things, such as Guy Gardner breaking Beetle's ribs, the shadow of Bialya, and the turning of Maxwell Lord into an out-and-out villain pushed things too far) and seeing it continue, in a way, under you would be excellent
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Would anyone be interested in collaborating with me on a re-imagining of the JLI? It would be completely free of any continuity shackles, just us having fun with any of the Justice League characters we want.
I'm picturing a truly international league, with a merger of the Justice League and the Global Guardians.
I also plan to have Bea & Tora front and center, and to give Bea an origin more faithful to her pre-Crisis origin.
If you're interested, please post your thoughts and suggestions in this thread. Thank you in advance.
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Kent Shakespeare has been kind enough to share his wonderful ideas for re-imagining several of the Global Guardians:
quote:- The idea I had mostly fleshed out was that the GG was too unweildy as a global team; it had splintered into local teams like Euroguard. Time had passed, and Dr. Mist (free of that bad Secret Oriigins bit where he had become a hero only because he had a crush on Zaranna) was trying to reassemble as best he could. I liked JLI's use of him in a suit rather than his Super Friends outfit, but liked the air of mystery about him: was he really an immortal, or did he just look like an ancient statue for other reasons? How damn powerful was he, anyway? I like the subtle magic-user vs the Dr Strange/dr fate model of everyone zapping everything in sight all the time. And as an underused magic super-hero, there was plenty of opportunity to really make him into such a man of mystery.
- Olympian, like most of them, I felt should have his own rogues galleries, allies, and adventures just as cosmic as anyoneelse's. I saw him returning from a distant alaxy to a hero's welcome in Greece, along with an alien exiled princess wife, a longtime Minotaur friend/ally, and a few others... Only to be assasinated on live tv by persons unknown; this would become the rallying point to reunite the larger team. The minotaur (i had long ago chosen the name Manotaur but apparently many others have beat me to it. Even Kingdom Come,as i recall) has to avenge him, while still getting used to a Greece/Europe just as legendary/mythological to him as he is to our world.
- Seraph i took out of the Bronze Age outfit and put him in fatigue pants/boots with a bare chest (although still keeping the staff, beard, etc). He went from being both a propaganda tool and a tool of the Israeli military (a la Superman in the original Miller DKR) to coming to a crisis of conscience after seeing/participating in one too many attrocity. He is also the most resistant to rejoining any team, save for helping to find Olympian's killer.
- Bushmaster, as intro'd in SF, was supposed to be on par with Bats. I would definitely play up this angle, without making him a complete clone. I see him post-GG becoming more a master of disguise than a costumed hero, as his main focus, fighting drug cartels etc, might be better served by stealth than costumes. I even toyed with the idea of him recruiting an athlete/body double to be the costumed Bushmaster to further allow him to go undercover. He runs the risk of going too deeply undercover, of allying with too many unsavory types in order to go aftevthe big fish, that even his stand-in Bushmaster may turn against him.
- Mermaid ( not 'Little Mermaid') i saw as an Atlantean exile (parentage of both cities, hence ability to shift back and forth) fully assimilated into Dutch culture, with no desire to go back. I would nix the short and glasses; long, straight patinum hair, matbe with some trendy dyes (at the time i envisioned, it was not uncommon to see Euro women with a single swath of a dark red-viloet hair, usually at the frront/top, but not always. This may have been mostly a 90s thing, but some sort of stylistic, partial dye could be in order). I saw her as seeming more interested in clubbing than heroing, but this was only a ploy to distance herself from the regrouping heroes in rder to let the villain try to recruit her so she can get the inside track. She, since disbanding, had becoe adept at playing young, blonde, and flaky while developing detective skills.
- The original Wagnerian-style Wild Huntman would be replaced by a younger, more cynical German (simply Der Jaeger, or similar if i have messed up the gendered article. my German is rusty), a recovering addict who initially isn't certain if his new super-role isn't just just a delusion. As I saw it, the Huntsman would be a Teutonic-pagan avatar passed down from person to person; the new one would simply be the latest in the line. His story would be the cynic/addict who suspiciously encounters a form of spirituality he would generally despise.
- Godiva would lose the hair thing; she would be an illusionist. She started out with the hair thing while getting used to her powers. She'd have a snarky sense of humour, and have some family tensions between her punk teenhood and her Tory hubby. This of course ties into the 80s era; if you are updating them I suppose her parents could have been the diehard punks. I'd actually give her short hair and a 70s/90s British disco cap.
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FL, I just read through the first page of this thread and I love how you -
a) celebrate different eras of the League
b) have the voices down well - you write like you really know Ollie Queen
I'm really excited to see your coming story on Dr. Light and Cyborg in Japan. Kimiyo is my #1 favorite Leaguer, and having her interact with fellow scientist Cyborg, who has a very different personality, is going to be awesome I just know it.
I don't think I can commit to a full-blown collaboration, but I'd be happy to help with ideas. Having Bea and Tora as stars gets two thumbs up from me.
I think having Rising Sun as the somewhat cavalier Japanese man with a love for battle and a heart for romance is fine. The one element I'd tweak is reviving his pursuit of Dr. Light (Kimiyo), and use it to highlight their contrasting personalities. Kimiyo would be all business, while Rising Sun would enjoy the fun. He's never explored the other applications of his light powers because he just likes throwing blasts. Kimiyo, on the other hand, is much more practiced and truly wants to change the world.
Tasmanian Devil was a hero who just happened to be gay, but I'd like to see him becoming more active in the LGBT community as a spokesperson for LGBT rights. He had a throwaway line where he mentioned liking the JLI more because of it being more accepting of gays. The one thing that mustn't change is his masculinity - he was well-written as is.
Owlwoman was written as a co-conspirator of the Queen Bee/Harvajti before, then they turned it around and said she'd simply been brainwashed. I'd go with her as being angry at injustice (much like what happened to the Native Americans), but she's start enough to be in total control in public. She wouldn't be averse to getting involved in political intrigue though...
Titans Idol - vote for your favorite Titans members!
From: Wouldn't you like to know? | Registered: Oct 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
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My favorite Global Guardians would be Dr. Mist, Icemaiden, Green Fire, Olympian and Tuatara.
For being used as much as they have Ice and Fire have changed so much that they are not much like the original Icemaiden and Green Fire, whom I kind of preferred to the JLI reinterpretations of them.
Registered: Aug 2006
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I'm still thinking of possibly doing the Monster Master story set in Japan, but with the re-imagined JLI/GG instead of the League I used in those old stories.
Glad you enjoyed the old stories, though, Ibby, and I appreciate the compliment on the individual voices.
Set, I, too, prefer the Pre-JLI Fire in many ways myself, especially her origin.
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Before Kent presented his ideas, I was thinking of tweaking Little Mermaid.
I was going to have her be the actual Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbor
I would have had her as being from Tritonis. She dabbled in the Dark Arts and as a result she became cursed. The curse turned her into the statue. For periods of time, she can resume her flesh form. The amount of time she can remain flesh depends upon how much previous time she remained as a statue. The curse can be broken when she performs a truly selfless heroic act. (Of course knowing that a heroic act will break the curse makes all, so far, of her heroic acts not selfless)
Also, I'd have her mother be from Poseidonis and her father from Tritonis. Because of this, when she is out of water, she has legs, but in the water she has a mermaid's tail.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
The JLI was a nice era which could have worked (though some things, such as Guy Gardner breaking Beetle's ribs, the shadow of Bialya, and the turning of Maxwell Lord into an out-and-out villain pushed things too far) and seeing it continue, in a way, under you would be excellent 
