My day at work today was long and tedious, so I came up with a basic plot outline for a comic I'd like to do. I shot the idea at my girlfriend, and she thought it would work better as a novel. So I'll pitch the idea to you guys, tell me what you think. I'm looking for criticism of my ideas as well as what medium you think this would best translate into.
The main character is a superhero , though not the typical overpowering type. He's got heightened strength, speed, agility, etc., but nothing like what we see from Spiderman or Superman, and he can't fly. As the story opens, we see the hero perched on a stone cross atop a church steeple, overlooking a quaint city. A monologue tells us who the superhero is and explains his role in society. He is the Protector of Munich, the latest in a long line of heroes to hold that title. The titles I'm considering are Der Herd von München or Der Baron von München (The Hero or The Baron of Munich, respectively), though he's not popularly known, so that title is seldom used. The monologue continues, and we learn that the year is 1936. The hero tells of his frustrations with the Nazi regime ("I'm supposed to be a super hero, yet I'm utterly powerless against the current onslaught of corruption, malice, and evil."). The next line reads, "They even got to me." The next panel or paragraph or what have you reveals that, though he's a costumed superhero (albeit a simply costumed one), his costume sports a yellow badge, complete with the word, "Juden." So, though the public knows little of the hero, the government apparently knows of him and his alter-ego.
I'm thinking of opening the story with the hero catching wind of a Nazi plot to assassinate Jesse Owens before the 1936 Olympics, traveling to Berlin, and quietly putting a stop to it. This would primarily be to introduce the hero's powers and style; he stays in the shadows, preferring to avoid public attention. I haven't fleshed out the whole story yet, but he'll eventually be captured and thrown in a concentration camp ("When I exited the train, they treated me as if I were a common Jew. There must have been an issue with the paperwork. Imagine, a super hero saved by a simple clerical error."). By that time, his morale has dropped to the point where he feels his super hero identity is useless, and so he has no thoughts of escape. As he toils as little more than slave labor, he recedes into himself. The guards and the other inmates, however, are confounded; here's a man that does the same work as the other prisoners, is fed the same rations, yet he remains in peak physical conditions as the others turn frail and fall ill. Before the Nazis have a chance to act, however, a fellow inmate realizes who he is and convinced him to escape ("I know who you are. You're the Hero of Munich, aren't you? Germany needs a hero now more than ever.")
After a daring escape from the concentration camp, the Hero does everything in his power to fight Hitler and the Nazis while remaining in the shadows, out of the vision of the public. I haven't really fleshed this part out, either, but perhaps he does intelligence-gathering for the Allies or intercepts trains full of Jewish and Allied prisoners. Still, despite his efforts, he eventually becomes frustrated once again, and, by 1944, his alter-ego escapes Europe and flees to America, where he lives with a friend, awaiting the end of the war. Though his time in America will be short in terms of pages, I'll probably bring him to Cincinnati, both because I live here and so can make the setting historically accurate, and because Cincinnati has/had a large German population, so he'd be able to blend in. Immediately following the war, the hero returns to Munich, where he begins to help rebuild the crumbling infrastructure (Friend: "You're going back to Germany, knowing what they did to our people?" Hero: "Yes. I can think of no other time Germany needed a hero more than now.").
The story ends with an aging Hero, perched atop the same steeple as when the story opened. His hair is graying, his costume has changed a bit, and he's visibly worn. It's now the late 1950s or early 1960s, and the hero is looking for his replacement, which will be chosen not by him, but by some unknown force (The closing monologue will include references to increasingly frequent and debilitating injuries, just to drive home the point). In the final few panels (paragraphs?), we see the the hero has been watching teenagers play football. One teen, over all the rest, is utterly dominating the game, by far faster and stronger than the rest of the team ("I think I've found my replacement."). The closing monologue will also include references and to communism, comparing it to Nazism, leaving open the possibility of a sequel, starring the next hero in the line.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
The main character is a superhero , though not the typical overpowering type. He's got heightened strength, speed, agility, etc., but nothing like what we see from Spiderman or Superman, and he can't fly. As the story opens, we see the hero perched on a stone cross atop a church steeple, overlooking a quaint city. A monologue tells us who the superhero is and explains his role in society. He is the Protector of Munich, the latest in a long line of heroes to hold that title. The titles I'm considering are Der Herd von München or Der Baron von München (The Hero or The Baron of Munich, respectively), though he's not popularly known, so that title is seldom used. The monologue continues, and we learn that the year is 1936. The hero tells of his frustrations with the Nazi regime ("I'm supposed to be a super hero, yet I'm utterly powerless against the current onslaught of corruption, malice, and evil."). The next line reads, "They even got to me." The next panel or paragraph or what have you reveals that, though he's a costumed superhero (albeit a simply costumed one), his costume sports a yellow badge, complete with the word, "Juden." So, though the public knows little of the hero, the government apparently knows of him and his alter-ego.
I'm thinking of opening the story with the hero catching wind of a Nazi plot to assassinate Jesse Owens before the 1936 Olympics, traveling to Berlin, and quietly putting a stop to it. This would primarily be to introduce the hero's powers and style; he stays in the shadows, preferring to avoid public attention. I haven't fleshed out the whole story yet, but he'll eventually be captured and thrown in a concentration camp ("When I exited the train, they treated me as if I were a common Jew. There must have been an issue with the paperwork. Imagine, a super hero saved by a simple clerical error."). By that time, his morale has dropped to the point where he feels his super hero identity is useless, and so he has no thoughts of escape. As he toils as little more than slave labor, he recedes into himself. The guards and the other inmates, however, are confounded; here's a man that does the same work as the other prisoners, is fed the same rations, yet he remains in peak physical conditions as the others turn frail and fall ill. Before the Nazis have a chance to act, however, a fellow inmate realizes who he is and convinced him to escape ("I know who you are. You're the Hero of Munich, aren't you? Germany needs a hero now more than ever.")
After a daring escape from the concentration camp, the Hero does everything in his power to fight Hitler and the Nazis while remaining in the shadows, out of the vision of the public. I haven't really fleshed this part out, either, but perhaps he does intelligence-gathering for the Allies or intercepts trains full of Jewish and Allied prisoners. Still, despite his efforts, he eventually becomes frustrated once again, and, by 1944, his alter-ego escapes Europe and flees to America, where he lives with a friend, awaiting the end of the war. Though his time in America will be short in terms of pages, I'll probably bring him to Cincinnati, both because I live here and so can make the setting historically accurate, and because Cincinnati has/had a large German population, so he'd be able to blend in. Immediately following the war, the hero returns to Munich, where he begins to help rebuild the crumbling infrastructure (Friend: "You're going back to Germany, knowing what they did to our people?" Hero: "Yes. I can think of no other time Germany needed a hero more than now.").
The story ends with an aging Hero, perched atop the same steeple as when the story opened. His hair is graying, his costume has changed a bit, and he's visibly worn. It's now the late 1950s or early 1960s, and the hero is looking for his replacement, which will be chosen not by him, but by some unknown force (The closing monologue will include references to increasingly frequent and debilitating injuries, just to drive home the point). In the final few panels (paragraphs?), we see the the hero has been watching teenagers play football. One teen, over all the rest, is utterly dominating the game, by far faster and stronger than the rest of the team ("I think I've found my replacement."). The closing monologue will also include references and to communism, comparing it to Nazism, leaving open the possibility of a sequel, starring the next hero in the line.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Last edited:
