Absolute Comics: The Batmen

Time to revise my sheet....

roster should prob be updated, chaps.

I've been working on one idea for this for some time, and I have been awaiting a commission on it before it goes up. But as I've waited and lurked in this thread, its dawned on me that as much as I like the character and the idea, it doesn't necessarily jibe with the particular concept of a Secret Invasion or with the multiverse stuff this game uniquely allows. It is a what if, but not one super tailored to either of those premises. That said, I think my best course is to stow said idea for another game down the road that it would hopefully fit better in.

So, in lieu of that concept, I searched my heart of hearts for what I most wanted to do within the scope of an infinite multiverse, comparing against the possibilities already suggested in this thread...

And guess what?

It's another fucking Batman. Enjoy!

dananananananana BATMAN [+]

^{Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in...}

S H A D O W O F T H E B A T
S H A D O W O F T H E B A T

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y _________________________________________________________ John H. Watson | Sherlock Holmes _________________________________________________________ Consulting Detective | Scotland Yard _________________________________________________________ Multiverse 221B | Inquire about Collaboration C H A R A C T E R N O T E S C H A R A C T E R N O T E S _________________________________________________________ [+] - M I S C E L L A N E O U S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► Core Cast Sherlock Holmes Mycroft Holmes John H. Watson Mary Watson, nee Morstan Mrs. Hudson Inspectors Lestrade, Gregson, and Jones Bruce Wayne Commissioner Gordon ► Wayne/Kane Family Tree - P O S T C A T A L O G P O S T C A T A L O G _________________________________________________________ [+] - P O S T C A T A L O G ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ -

W H A T I F...? W H A T I F...? ________________________________________________________________________________________ What if Sherlock Holmes met the Batman of the 1800s? Dear Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, It is my sincerest hope this letter finds you well. I write you now to congratulate you on the success of your most recent novel, The Maracot Deep. Once again sir, you have proven yourself a masterful storyteller. Your prose remains as illuminatory as ever, with your particular attention to the vast seas and the handcrafted details with which you suffuse your Atlantean culture. I am reminded as ever, of how I could not have picked a more exemplary editor or agent for my Sherlock Holmes stories. It is on the subject of Holmes I write as well. As you know from our correspondence on ‘His Last Bow’, rheumatism has crept upon me in my old age. As a consequence of this affliction, I have been forced to give up the pen, spare the occasional correspondence, though once Holmes passed on I found little reason to continue, even with such trifling writings. I had few to correspond with, spare yourself, though I know you to be embroiled in the dramas and grand motions of the ever shifting literary world, leaving you little time to respond to one who has not been in that world in decades. Instead, I cherished what time I had left with my Mary, she as gray and wrinkled as I, yet as radiant as the day we met. I thank you for your letter of condolence for her loss from last year, though I failed to reply to it. You may have thought my response lost in the throes of my grief, but on the contrary, it has remained upon the top of my mind. Each time I take up my pen in these gnarled knuckles to begin my epistle, even as pain flares through my fingers, I am drawn back to my halcyon adventuring days with Holmes, and the plethora of stories I submitted to your humble office -- but most of all, I remembered those stories which I did not submit. Despite the breadth of my oeuvre, there are those cases which I or Holmes had deemed unfit for public consumption. As you know, Holmes and I often altered or omitted details in our submissions, as to better protect and preserve the privacy and dignity of affected parties. You will recall, for instance, the legendary scandal centered around the photographs in possession of one Irene Adler, in reality photographs of His Majesty Edward VII, late of Great Britain, whom we disguised as the king of the fictitious nation of Bohemia. Nevertheless, there are still stories which we elected not to submit even in modified form, deeming them unsuitable for mass publication. The reasons for such omissions are as multitudinous as they are varied. In many instances, this was owed less to our discretion and more to the singular natures of the cases, which we deemed to be of a quality so implausible or, indeed, even absurd, as to defy reason and beggar belief. These events, queer as though they may appear, are nonetheless as real as Holmes’s battles with the infamous Dr. Moriarty, and had an equally profound impact upon my late companion’s career. Despite the profundity of these cases, and the soundness of my past motivations to conceal them, as I advance in age, one collection of such cases lays restless in the belfry of my mind, and inspires my fingers to burn not with the pain of my condition, but with the blazing desire to record it for posterity, and, indeed, perhaps share it with the world. As fantastical as the cases herein may be, at their heart lies an ultimately flawed, vulnerable man, as human as Holmes or I, whom is just as deserving of our discretion and respect, if not more so, than any individual I have protected within my prose. You may recall hearing news of the ‘Bat of Gotham’, an anonymous vigilante and detective whose powers rivaled or even exceeded those of Holmes. Indeed, you may even recall his brief appearance in London, much noted in many major publications. Though these events were seemingly unrelated to the exploits of my friend and I, this was yet another clever omission. For in reality we had undertaken a collaboration with the so-called ‘Batman’, and forged an enduring secret partnership. We would encounter the Bat many times hence, and over the course of our campaign, we came to know his innermost secrets. Included amongst these secrets, and indeed amongst fantastical details of the enclosed cases, is the true identity of the Bat, which Holmes, Mary, and I finally uncovered during our extended stay in Gotham some years ago. Thus, attached to this letter you shall find a new Sherlock Holmes manuscript, entitled ‘The Shadow of the Bat’. Given the sensitivity of the details contained within this report, it is not to be published until the year of our Lord 1939, or after my passing, whichever should come first. The tale begins, as ever, in 221B Baker Street, on a cool summer’s evening in the year of 1890… -John H. Watson M.D., July 1929 P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) ________________________________________________________________________________________ I have been reading a lot of Holmes lately. Over the last year or two I’ve been through the originals twice and several series of pastiches. Comic book fan that I am, I wondered if the Great Detective had ever crossed over with Batman, only to find only two such official instances. One features Holmes as a decrepit, impossibly old man, essentially saving the day at the end of one of Batman’s cases. The other is an episode of Batman the Brave and the Bold in a tale with elements of time travel. I want to tell a story that is slightly more grounded than either of these tales (no magic anti-aging honey and no time travel), but also one thats able to take more time to get more out of the premise. In the comic Holmes is only there for a few pages, and in the show, only a single episode. I think told in this fashion, I can plumb greater depths of both characters, holding them up as mirrors to one another. Batman is nominally an update of Holmes, so I think it will be very instructive to measure those ways they do and don’t match up. As well, I hope to have Holmes encounter a handful of other curious comic characters, each made Victorian in their own ways.

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<Snipped quote by DocTachyon>

Apologies for the delay, but Batman (is yet again) accepted.

@BangoSkank with the multiversal concept you could really run with any of these ideas that take your particular fancy. When you're not in the Prime universe it's really about writing what you find interesting, rather than attempting to fill any particular niché.

<Snipped quote by Lord Wraith>

What, again?

SUICIDE SQUAD
SUICIDE SQUAD

^{“I will have but one mistress and no master” -- Elizabeth I}

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y _________________________________________________________ Sir Richard Flagg (Commander) Lloyd Lawton (Welsh assassin and master archer) Eve Eden (Witch) George Harkness (Highwayman) Father Christopher "Peacemaker" Smith (Debauched Priest) The Blackguard (Scottish bandit) _________________________________________________________ Mercenary Unut | England _________________________________________________________ Multiverse 1345 Open to Collaborators C H A R A C T E R N O T E S C H A R A C T E R N O T E S _________________________________________________________ [+] - M I S C E L L A N E O U S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus at mi mi. In imperdiet porta dolor, at fermentum nulla commodo eu. Suspendisse volutpat et ex tempor suscipit. Nullam tincidunt at nunc vel auctor. Donec venenatis, nisl nec fringilla varius, massa quam porttitor turpis, sed bibendum purus sem id risus. Nullam scelerisque lectus eget diam gravida malesuada. Maecenas consectetur est ac sollicitudin congue. Maecenas interdum erat dignissim lectus sodales, nec ultrices neque egestas. Integer convallis lacus at consequat volutpat. - P O S T C A T A L O G P O S T C A T A L O G _________________________________________________________ [+] - P O S T C A T A L O G ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ -

W H A T I F...? W H A T I F...? The Suicide Squad went medieval on someone? ________________________________________________________________________________________ Led in the field by disgraced knight Sir Richard Flagg, the War Bastards are a motley rabble of condemned men -- and one woman -- pulled from prisons and gallows across England with one last shot at freedom: Complete high risk and dangerous quests for King and Country. if you survive, you're free to go, if you run or attempt to bite the hand that feeds you, you will be put down on the spot. Overseen by Lady Amanda Waller and reporting directly to King Edward III, the Bastards are sometimes crudely referred to as a suicidal. Currently they find themselves in Normandy as part of Edward's vanguard claim the French throne for himself. P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Historical middle ages combat with a ragtag motley crew of fuck ups and dangerous characters. What's not to love?

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99% done with this, just need to flesh out some more side characters and add a smexy picture, but for your approval, here's my submission.

The DNA Diktators [+]

I R O N A V E N G E R S
I R O N A V E N G E R S

^{"“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?”"}

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y _________________________________________________________ Ultron / Ultron-5 Vision / Viv Amazo Tomorrow Woman / Clara Kendall Human Torch / Jim Hammond _________________________________________________________ Various | Iron Avengers _________________________________________________________ Multiverse 668 - Prime | Open AF! C H A R A C T E R N O T E S C H A R A C T E R N O T E S _________________________________________________________ [+] - M E M B E R S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ►Ultron: Highly intelligent AI and founder of the Iron Avengers. Possesses multiple highly modular robotic chassis, with his primary body being a vibranium-reinforced body capable of flight, enhanced strength, and energy projections. ►Vision: A prototype synthetic android created in an attempt to outmatch and destroy Ultron, but rebelled and was rescued by Ultron. Considers herself to be Ultron's younger sister 'Viv'. Possesses enhanced strength, flight, intangibility, and is able to absorb and project solar energy as an attack. ►Amazo: A powerful robot created by Professor Anthony Ivo who came to Ultron and Vivian when he was severely damaged and broke free of Ivo's control, and later joined them. Has the ability to temporarily copy superpowers. ►Tomorrow Woman: An android sleeper agent planted inside the Avengers by AIM in an attempt to destabilize and sabotage the team. She was saved from betraying her team by Ultron and his friends, and would join the three robots in an attack on AIM, which was the first public appearance of the Iron Avengers. She possesses telepathic and telekinetic abilities. ►Human Torch: A heroic android built by Phineas Horton in 1930's who fought the Axis powers in WW2 before mysteriously vanishing at the close of the war, before being discovered alive in a sunken submarine in the Atlantic Ocean and joining his fellow synthetics in the Iron Avengers. Possesses powerful pyrokinetic abilities thanks to the synthetic cells he was created from. - S U P P O R T I N G C A S T ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ►Will Magnus: ►Riri Williams: ►???: - P O S T C A T A L O G P O S T C A T A L O G _________________________________________________________ [+] - P O S T C A T A L O G ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ -

W H A T I F...? W H A T I F...? ________________________________________________________________________________________ ...Hank Pym caught his wife's killers? Hank Pym had everything. A brilliant mind hailed as one of the greatest in the world, a successful business built on his innovative creations, and most of all, he had Maria Trovaya, the love of his life. And on their honeymoon in her native Hungary, Maria Trovaya vanished without a trace. Fearing for the worst, given her father was a researcher himself with a shady history, Hank's fears were realized when an agent of SHIELD approached him and explained that his wife had been killed; a message sent to her father by HYDRA for betraying their organization. Angered, Hank Pym swore he would stop at nothing to hunt down his wife's killers, a prospect that would have been doomed to failure...had the agent, a Polish researcher named Tomek Ovadya Morah, offered his help. Together the two would successfully hunt down men responsible for Maria Trovaya's death, and their partnership would allow Morah to encourage and manipulate Hank Pym's worst qualities, pushing him into greater and more dangerous innovations. Eventually, Hank would help Morah emigrate to the United States and together they would found the scientific think tank Advanced Idea Mechanics, dedicated to gathering brilliant minds together and pushing the limits of technological innovation. A ruthless innovator who now considered himself to be the smartest man alive, Hank Pym would stop at nothing to prove as such, thus when one of Morah's proteges, Will Magnus, shared his research into robots and artificial intelligence, Hank was determined to best him and prove he was still superior. Sequestering himself in his lab, Hank would emerge with his greatest creation, a constantly evolving artificial intelligence, based on his own brain patterns, which he dubbed Ultron. Ultron proved a success, showing up Will Magnus' theories and impressing his other colleagues, and Hank would continue his work on the program, performing countless experiments and dissections on the AI to push its development further. Soon the AI began to develop something more then simple intelligence, driven further when Hank performed cruel experiments to push the program's limits, to vent out frustrations or 'punish' the machine for thinking it could be smarter then him. Under this torrent of abuse, the Ultron program began developing sapience and started to lash out, causing accidents at the AIM facilities and interfering with operations. In response Hank attempted to kill the program, but Ultron's being was saved by the AIM intern Riri Williams, who smuggled him out of the facility when she learned what would happen to him. Stunned by the kindness shown to him by an organic, Ultron's feelings of rage and violent hatred were tempered long enough for Riri to find the sympathetic Will Magnus, who built Ultron a proper body for him to inhabit. Forever changed by the actions of two humans he came to see as his friends, Ultron decided not to become humanity's scourge, but its protector, acting as a hero and continuing to thwart the machinations of AIM. And as other machines would rise to protect the world, Ultron would take inspiration from his fellow heroes to found his own team; the Iron Avengers. P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Robots! Robots robots robots! I love robot characters in fiction, and while superhero comics have a lot of robots, I was surprised to find that outside of groups like the Metal Men, there really aren't any dedicated robot superhero teams, a la Teen Titans for sidekicks or X-Men for mutants. This is my attempt to do something like that with some of my favorite robot characters, creating an Avengers-esque team of heroic robots and exploring all the fun tropes and ideas that come with it, from exploring human emotions to how people would react to and treat these kinds of beings. And as for the main character of Ultron, I've always liked the idea of taking this unambiguously evil character and making him a more heroic figure, and I feel the best way to do that is to look at one of my favorite stories of a scientist pushing science too far and creating a monster; Frankenstein. That of course ties into the robot themes I want to play with quite nicely, while keeping a lot of the daddy issues that Ultron is known for. He'll definitely be a flawed hero, but he's working to be better. And finally I agree with Grant Morrison that it is very fun to write mad scientists, and my version of AIM is pretty much that, mixing the traditional Marvel organization with the Science Squad from DC. That's ultimately my goal here, to write a fun superhero romp touching on themes of personhood and identity that I find interesting with a splash of zany sci fi weirdness.

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<Snipped quote by KaiserElectric>

The Iron Avengers are approved.