I just went and looked it up.
“ The term as a reference to superheroes began in 1986 by author George R. R. Martin, first in the Superworld role playing system (blah blah blah) “
then
“ The first use of the term ‘metahuman’ in the Marvel Universe occurred in New Mutants Annual#3, written by Chris Claremont, published in 1987, in which a Russian security officer describes the protagonists as “metahuman terrorists” “
then
“ The term was first used by a fictitious race of extraterrestrials known as the Dominators when they appeared in DC Comics’ Invasion! mini-series. “
So GRRM first did it in 86, Marvel used it in 87, and then DC really jumped on the bandwagon with Invasion in 1989. DC may use it more, but they weren’t the first.
remember the “Wild Cards” shared world anthology novel series was created because a group of “professional authors” were spending all their time playing Chaosium’s Super World and not writing books so George R.R. Martin said they should write super hero books using their characters.
As far as i have heard Holy Roller the fat televangelist with momentum powers has not gotten into the books yet. ( G.U.R.P.S. Wild Cards had art though )
To comeback to Sentinels- petition for a “Pops” hero deck
or an actual episode talking more about the old RPG game that gave us Red Star / Proletariat and Sergeant Steel
But his Innate Power and every card in his deck would just read “Incapacitate Pops. Pops deals each target [an absurd amount of] irreducible damage,” though.
I’m not sure how interested Christopher or Adam would be or if they actually read/watched any of these, but one suggestion that might be interesting is Sentinel Comic’s version of the “mature”, super-violent, counterculture superhero comics. Things like Watchmen, The Boys, or Invincible. Some of these could also cross over into the main comics, like Watchmen has with DC.
It could also be that those franchises exist unchanged in the metaverse, only people call Homelander or Omniman Legacy parodies instead of Superman parodies.
That definitely sounds like a meta verse thing of other publishers. Vertex and Prime War aka Sentinel Tactics timeline seems to be the main place where they kind of go more brutal.
I do think there’s a distinction between the original comic company making a dark gritty reboot (Vertex, or in the real world Ultimate Marvel) and an independent company making a dark gritty satire, but I don’t know if that’s in the purview of the podcast.
Then again, we had some episodes on Shear Force, so who knows?
It might also be too many layers, making a satire of an homage.
I’ve long desired an episode about a badly written comics issue, and now I think I can point to Alpha 2000 as a specific example that would make for an excellent – and one-time – writers’ room. :3
We definitely need a Creative Process and/or Writers’ Room for both the Kaijuverse and whatever Shear Force-style-licensed Sentai group exists in the diverse array of Sentinel Comics.
It’s the issue that introduces Krystal Lee as Tachyon’s intern. It’s also the one where Dark Visionary kills a bunch of scientists and mind-wipes Tachyon to hide her tracks. Published April '91.
Oh yeah, I forgot they told us that. Thanks, WalkingTarget. Well, there are still quite a few flavour texts that reference other things in the issue, so I’d still like to hear about it.
A story in which a non-superhero side character is forced to fight a villain/save the main hero. It could use some of the supporting cast from the many creative process episodes, or use some of the side characters that have been around forever, like the heroes’ spouses, Wraith’s dead friends, Amelia Twain, ect.
Running off supporting cast idea, some suggestions
Writer’s room: Freedom Tower Support Staff (aka the “Lower Decks” issue)
Writer’s room: Wraith/ Naturalist team up (because A&C have said it happens, and because they’re the only two who can have proper Secret identity issues with each other)
Writer’s room: Legacy & Jefferson Knight butting heads
I’d like to hear more about Captain Cosmic and space Princess Xileen (?) and the Jidalans (?), who were mentioned as an ongoing plotline in the shipping episode- not sure if this is Captain Cosmic Supporting Cast or a Writer’s Room, though.
