NEVER REALIZED 001: WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 ISSUE #25

A comicbook you never saw

After nearly thirty years of writing professionally… in the comicbook space, in the animation space, in the video game space, in the film & TV space… you end up accumulating a lot of material that’s never really seen by anyone. Some of it, you even end up forgetting about. But, occasionally, you’re gifted with a reminder that allows you to revisit certain things. That’s where we’re at in this newsletter. Let’s get into it…

So… a couple of weeks ago, I conducted an informal survey asking what kinds of things you were interested in reading about here, even providing a list of “for instance” possibilities. By what can only be described (by me) as an overwhelming majority, the various materials I still have that relate to my time writing at DC/Wildstorm (circa 1999-2005) won the day, in terms of readers’ enthusiasm. I’m not particularly surprised. That era of Wildstorm seems to be fondly remembered by a readership who still hold it up as pretty hot shit. Hell, I’m in no position to argue the point. After all, you wouldn’t have NuMarvel without those specific years where Wildstorm was publishing the most cutting edge superhero comicbooks in the industry. I mean, for a few short years there… nothing could touch us.

What follows are my notes and outline for the 25^th issue of WILDCATS VERSION 3.0, which I wrote from 2002-2004 and ran for a whopping twenty-four issues. Now, listen, I couldn’t possibly get into the nuts and bolts of this particular series or even provide some kind of concise overview. I just don’t have that kind of time. But if you know… then you know. And if you don’t know… if you feel like educating yourself, that’s what the internet (and ripped/pirated comicbook sites) are for. Otherwise, you’re probably gonna be a little lost here.

Having said all that, I think we should just see what’s what. With no real context provided (unless you were, like I said, a fairly dedicated and attentive reader of the series back in the day), some of these things might read as disjointed and random. But you’ve got to remember, these are just initial, half-formed thoughts that I scribbled in my old work notebooks. Hell, I’m lucky I was able to decipher my own chicken scratch handwriting.

I’ve tried to put things in chronological order, based on where I found them in my notebooks (I kept more than one). It all starts with me basically brainstorming on the page… and I’ve tried to maintain the exact punctuation as I originally wrote them down…

“WC – Marlowe makes huge donation – Dolby speaks at re-election campaign rally – Proposes Halo energy to solve energy crisis, live – if President backs this, he’ll have Jack Marlowe on his team – Jack outstretched hand – stone cold stare – President (obviously rattled) shakes it – his “team” feels betrayed, big oil is pissed – partially why he loses election – their secret support evaporates”

“WC – Babytron destroys Ladytron body – says, “I like this one better anyway!” So, from now on, it’s Babytron – Spartan strikes a deal with her – she acts as a celebrity “spokesicon” and Spartan… allows her to live”

So, yeah… WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 was more than a standard superhero team book. It was really an ensemble drama. Not to mention, it was a “mature readers” title, so it was not for the kids. Hence the lack of super-villain slugfests and more emphasis on character and their circumstances. Anyway, back to my notes…

“#25 – Babytron’s creation causes a massive, quick power outage. Cross-country outage. Sparks energy debate leading to election.”

“While working out, Zealot wears the Bionic Woman track suit/outfit (even the colors match).”

As you can see, some of these notes are just flashes of an idea. Sometimes it’s just a visual. Zealot in the Bionic Woman track suit is just one of those things that strikes me in the moment, it feels right, it gives me a little charge, and I go with it.

At some point, I wrote down these titles: “NEW AND IMPROVED WILDCATS” and “NEW FORMULA WILDCATS”… although, for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you why. Was I contemplating yet another rebranding?

The next bit is more of a general overview of certain plotlines I was thinking of to implement in Year Three of the book…

“After Coda War One – Ramon & Donovan adventure (Lincoln babysitting) – Halo geo-political stuff – oil interests, etc. – Agent Tyro awakens from coma – goes after Ladytron, destroys her – but just at that point, Grifter can walk again – Babytron created – Zealot as Halo 2^nd in command – Spartan convinces her of his goals – Grifter/Zealot romance rekindled – Wax (as Downs) is demoted for his overseas actions – in #25 – a recap of the scene in #1 (he’s sent to the cubicles)”

“Wax (Downs) demotion – they think he went to L.A. for an affair – Wax: ‘But… I love my wife…!”

“Spartan’s ‘mind’ is plugged into HaloNet – he’s constantly experiencing the worldwide connectivity”

Finally, we come to the actual outline for the never-released issue #25, which I worked out in an extremely rough, page-by-page breakdown (my usual method, btw). As you’ll see, a few of the ideas I had sketched out above start to make their way into the actual comicbook…

“PG 1 – Splash – Ladytron, C.C., Zealot Dolby, Cedric (still holding Glenn’s dismembered head) & Agent Orange, all on a shiny Halo floor – the moment after teleportation, all f**ked up.

PG 2 – title, top half of pg. – ‘Three Months Later’ – 4 TV screens – kids on Halo computers, Babytron floating around, extolling the virtues of ‘The New World Connectivity’.

PGS 3-4 – at NPS, Wax (as Downs) in front of superior. Gets demoted to cubical hell… again!

PGS 5-8 – Halo ext. Zealot (in Bionic Woman outfit) working out – pissed – Spartan teleports in – backstory (prison, Coda, etc.). Orange in corner of room, standing guard (she’s annoyed that he’s so protective of her). Spartan mentions meeting – Zealot wants to go, wants to find her place in this ‘new idea of yours…’ Mention Grifter, Zealot is cold on him. ‘Don’t speak his name.”

PG 9 – Cut to: Ladytron kicking ass. Cut to: East L.A. warehouse – Ladytron lands (leg jets)

PGS 10-11 – In warehouse – Grifter emerges from tank – C.C. is there – Donny, Ramon and Lincoln have disappeared – will he help?

PG 12 – Halo computer banks (huge room) – momentary power outage – technicians freak out

PGS 13-16 – Campaign rally – after speech – Spartan, Dolby and Zealot meet with candidate – energy talk

PG 17 – After meeting, Dolby tells Spartan about power fluctuation in automated grid – ‘I’ll investigate.’

PGS 18-19 – Wax comes home – finds Miriam in bed w/ another man – they talk after scene

PGS 20-21 – In car factory – electricity arcing – computers freak out – Babytron formed – pissed.

PG 22 – Hospital – doctors talking about Fagin awake. Not talking yet, tube in mouth. Still groggy. He’s in bed, scribbling something – crude drawing of Grifter mask.”

And on the same page as the outline, I scribbled this bit down…

“When Spartan’s candidate is defeated, he bounces back quickly, realizing he didn’t need that political victory in the first place. This is when his plans kick into high gear.”

Honestly, I couldn’t say what these “plans” actually were in any great detail. Obviously, it involved getting mixed up in an upcoming Presidential election. But beyond that? No idea. I do know I was going to try and wrap everything up by issue #40.

Main artist, Dustin Nguyen, was scheduled to come back to the book after taking several months off (to draw some Batman shit, if I recall). And he was pretty hyped to get back to the series that we’d launched together two years previous. But obviously, he never got a chance to put pencil to paper.

Looking back, I was definitely in the zone when I was writing this series (along with the other Wildstorm book I launched around that time, AUTOMATIC KAFKA), so I have a feeling that Year Three of WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 would’ve been just as progressive as its first two years turned out to be.

More Wildstorm to come…

Joe Casey

USA