Red Circle II
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John Packer Proposal 2008
December 8, 2008
Hi, Rik:
Based on our email conversation awhile ago, I'm sending you my proposal for the Mighty Crusaders which you can host on your website.
I want to give you a little background along with it. Please post this along with the proposal.
This proposal is not the original that I sent to Archie, which was returned unread. There are a few changes. This is, though, the proposal I would have re-submitted once they requested it based on my query, which was to go to them before all the current events happened.
Some of the changes:
Firstly, in the original proposal I used D.E.M.O.N. instead of P.E.R.I.L. for the first two stories. I changed that for two main reasons. One, PERIL had more longevity than DEMON, which was introduced and defeated all in one issue of the Mighty Crusaders; and two, considering the civilian identity of the Dark Commander PERIL made much more sense.
Originally I was going to have the Crusaders headquarters changed to an island in the Shrewsbury (N.J.) River. I opted instead to the new location in New York State, just north of New York City, on an estate owned by Walter Blane Whitney (son of the original Wizard). The location would be one that the Archie people would be somewhat familiar with since their offices are not too far away in Mamaroneck. Additionally, the Tarrytown location encompasses the Sleepy Hollow of legend, and I thought some of the Crusaders meeting the Headless Horseman might make a good back-up story in one of the issues.
Also not in the original was the part about A.R.C.H.I.E., the Crusader's computer system.
I also had not sent any story ideas along. Plus, I think the original proposal was all contained on one page; this one being four.
End of changes.
I could not find anywhere in any of the Archie super hero books a definition of the acronym T.R.I.U.M.P.H., so I made one up, as you'll see in the proposal.
Now, Archie might not have gone for the fan-based artist idea, probably opting instead for a well-known to attract readers. I think, though, possibly opening up back-up stories to up-and-comings, or those not so well known would be a good idea.
With this proposal I had also intended to send some story ideas, which I've attached. Now, the stories were main stories only, back up stories would be supplied by others, or I would do them later. This was just to show Archie that I had story ideas that could carry the series; that I was thinking ahead.
I also am sending you (though I was not planning on sending it to Archie), a list of series titles (basically teasers for me) for five years worth of stories. And also, I am sending the query I was sending to Victor Gorelick. It is dated January 2008. I was delaying sending it because I was revising my proposal. I was just about to change the date and send things off, when the news came about Michael Silberkleit's death and the licensing of the characters to DC. Under my signature I had all of my contact information, which I've left off because I don't want it all over the internet. I've also included a page with the villain teams that appear in the series. I've also taken my contact information off of my proposal.
As you can see I put a lot of thought into this. I don't know for how long DC has the characters licensed, but I doubt that any of these characters will ever have their own series with Archie again. I have thought of querying DC, but some unknown, such as I, would probably not even get to square one. Besides these ideas – the concept and handling of the characters – are not compatible with DC's current editorial policies.
I've been going back and forth with one character's name – Sonik. I've been thinking of changing it to Decibel or Pulse or something similar so that there would not be any confusion with the hedgehog. Well, all of that could have been worked out before press time, I'm sure, if Archie ever went with the series.
I also have proposals for some of the individual characters, which, if you'd like, I can send you as well. |
