like an iron fist cast in spandex

Told you I would go to superhero territory next.

I have written few different books about them, mainly contributing to a somewhat pre-existing small press comic "universe" by scripting and creating new characters. But as I have done my own hardboiled detectives I have written stories of my own in this genre too.

While everyday adventurers, be it common people on vacation, spies, mercenaries or reporters, have tremendous appeal there are things superheroes can do that "average" people can't. Their continuity can stand better effects of say...dimensional and temporal travel, alien invasions, zombie curses, getting cloned and of course death in superhero comics happens more often than changing their trademark uniforms....

Today at work we had to re-new some roofing and found some, literally, bloody drugsyringes with my collague and while this didn't make us too happy it made me think once more the metalworking superhero I have in development mentioned earlier in here.

A welder fighting the Robot mafia, but why is there a robot mafia?

oh yes there is advantage of having pictures like this:

sure that works and stuff like robocop is brilliant but really? the motivation for robot mafia?

There has to be some logical one and today's workday brought it: drugs. People want to screw their heads up so they don't have to think about how and what they actually are so there is always been a supply for that.

The robots sell drugs for humans so they can upgrade themselves and have proper maintenance and spares.

so mashing up cyborgs, crime and commentary on both our technological fears and putting in some serious butt-kicking.
Not a bad deal.

I have sometimes pondered is it because we are basicly just animals the reason behind why we are so afraid of technology. Because we are too lazy to find out why something ticks and therefore it's magic to us.
Or is it mere biology: we cant understand or control speeds over our running speed yet we do our damnest to train ourselves over that and emulate circumstances through repetion daily: in cars, planes, buses, trains. Yet we know, deep down, that we fool ourselves.

But robots, our mechanical slaves, are scary.
Men out of metal, coldly logical and having capabilities far superior than ours.
And visually they are rewarding.

the other factor contributing to robot mafia is documentaries about gangs, I watched recently one about Dead Man Incorporated and as the Ross Kemp one is beginning soon will have more material to work with.
After all, robots are a minority.
I use plenty of cut and paste real-wolrd stuff to create my scripts. You can not make all that crap up that reality spews out in regular basis.

now I need to figure out if my hero is a lone dog or a part of a team.

Ah, worldbuilding. So much fun.

Actually writing these ramblings down has helped with planning out stories somewhat.
soon I will dive in to one of life essentials in this blog.
What exactly?

let these gents tell it to you


oh yes.

Gods wear lycra...occasionally

No, it's not next week, it's this week but I am bit like eldritch creatures of H.P.Lovecraft.

No, not unnameably horrific(usually) or driving people to madness(well.. ok, admitted) but to me time has no significance as such.
Yeah, it complicates life more often than not.

But during the boiling hot workday on friday I had revelation of sorts.
As the saying goes writers should write on what they do know.

I actually have already used this.
Working as a tinsmith and doing roofing I can say most acrobatics in Spiderman, daredevil et al are truly supernatural even with parkour.

But the idea I got came from work sweating in the sun under the arc welds searing heat.
There are almost no working class bluecollar superheroes.
Especially metalworkers.

Only one I know is "superhero" from Crazy 8, totally demented superhero-team of freaks in a supporting role in Garth Ennis's and John McCrea's groovy comicbook The Hitman.

The character?

Dogwelder.

Yes, he welds dogs into people.

Quite logical if you think about it.

But I was thinking something more ..realistic. Something with more gritty feel of a modern myth.
That is how I see most superheroes: epic mythical archetypes.
And I heard you in the backrow there! No, they aren't just silly guys wearing underwear on top of colorful fashionwear by Jean Paul Gautier.
And no, making construction worker into a street-level superhero isn't that far fetched.

After all they are the guys who have know-how of building stuff. Propably not a jetpack or a laserrifle but something practical. Something bit more crude then that, something that is designed to hurt and hurt plenty (most likely the operator too...).

Also they are used to physical work, have strenght and endurance and some of them (I have seen) are fairly acrobatic. Even up to afore mentioned parkour-style gymnastics.

so, that gives capabities up to a point, but what is their reason? Did their parents send them to earth with a rocket as their homeplanet Arcton was about to explode or did they witness their parents murdered in front of their very eyes but because that left the orphan dirt-poor he/she actually had to work hard for livelihood?

No, I mean besides working we talk during workdays through this I know that many of the bluecollar workers actually have wealth of knowledge and education. It's just that that kind of work is more of a real work: it has a reason, a meaning.

It gives a feeling that ones work does actually contribute something tangible. Real world solutions to real problems. And corruption and criminal elements are viewed with extreme hostility. The mindset of the Punisher is closer than that of Lee Falks Phantom's in our ranks.

Now as that is somewhat clear lets think powers or costume. After all welders do look like this:

Um.

Well, not quite like that.... Sometimes we work top off...no I mean..like this:

yeah, so we already have a costume.

And powers, well obviously welding and merging metals. This isn't Savage Dragon, one of finest comics(not just superherocomics, but comics, period) where there were supers applying to SOS the goverments superteam:

"So you are woodman, you can turn into wood and kick ass?"
"No, I can turn any kind of wood to any other kind of wood"
"Right....but you then are metalboy. You can turn into metal and kick ass right?"
"Yes I can turn to metal, but after that I can't move and people just hang clothes to me..."

I am not going on that road. Equipment and metalworking instead. Have to refine that a bit later on.

Now, one of main points in stories, the defining factor: the enemy.

These make or break the hero or as my beloved woman often has mentioned: Batman is boring but his villains and supporting cast are great. No, I don't agree with Batman being boring.

But what could be our welding hero's enemies?
Well, to me it's obvious:

The robot mafia.

Loads of mechanical monsters and digital criminal masterminds and one tough metalworking guy that stands in their way.

Oh jeez, where am I going to find the time to write this too?
Oh well, I just have to break the euclidian frame of time and space....again.
Darn.