Unpublished Steve Englehart Plots: Shadowman #2

[dino]

John's also scanned Steve Englehart's plots to Shadowman #2:


http://st15.startlogic.com/~dineshsh/va ... plots1.jpg
http://st15.startlogic.com/~dineshsh/va ... plots2.jpg
http://st15.startlogic.com/~dineshsh/va ... plots3.jpg
http://st15.startlogic.com/~dineshsh/va ... plots4.jpg
http://st15.startlogic.com/~dineshsh/va ... plots5.jpg

[Todd Luck]

Actually it's a neat story. It's cliched but it was more interesting than the origin they gave they eventually gave that serial killer. However, I see can why it would've got rejected. The ending would've been too much fantasy for a universe based on real world science. Jack's "mutation" may have gotten cut for similar reasons.

An altered trip to the doctor was kept in the published version (maybe because it was specifically mentioned in the solicitation for the issue) and everything else was changed. Interesting. Especially the idea of pre-Unity (and pre-necromatic energy) Jack having enhanced senses and strength.

[johnpaulbill]

Hey Dino!

Ya beat me to posting this. I'm working on the other two plots (X-O #1 and Shadowman #1, but they're big. I'll keep scanning away. Sorry for the quality. I just scanned what I was sent. jp

[Glitch Please]

WHOA. hey dino, where did you find these plot things? cool.

[johnpaulbill]

WHOA. hey dino, where did you find these plot things? cool.

I sent them to him, actually. Pretty cool, eh?

[dino]

oops, I thought you wanted me to host them for ya.

[Ryan]

hey, did the plot for Shadowman 1 ever get scanned? Would be interested to see this. Thanks

[Ryan]

I thought Englehart's plot for 2 was pretty cool (the girl's head in the soup was a nice touch), but I agree it felt like a twilight zone episode. Not that that's a bad thing, only it didn't really fit with pre-unity Valiant.

I also like the Pezrovich/Shooter version of 2 where they introduce Nettie and tie the serial killer (and SM) to Voodoo for the first time.

Maybe they included the doctor at the beginning because Lapham had already started to draw it? I don't know, just guessing.

[jcdenton]

Thanks for posting this! Look forward to reading the whole thing when I get off work.

Just a comment on the first page (which is all I have read so far): The whole part about doubling the pituitary secretions, heart, cones, reflexes, etc. is completely absurd in the context of the pre-Unity Valiant universe, and it's easy to see why Shooter canned it. Not so much that it HAPPENED to Jack, because it certainly explains his abilities, but it's ridiculous think a doctor could find out all those things in the span of a single doctor's visit.

I mean really--if you go to a doctor's office and say you've been feeling strange and exhibiting "vampiric" characteristics, are they really going to measure the cones in your eyes, do a CT scan of your heart, measure your pituitary secretions, and (somehow) measure your reflexes? Just from reading that part, it's pretty clear that Englehart was on a completely different page in terms of the universe Shooter was trying to create.

[Ryan]

good point. I also didn't like having all of Jack's abilities explained like that. The way Shooter/Pezrovich wrote it was much more mysterious and compelling. It's more like reading a mystery novel than a superhero comic book.

I also thought the parts where Jack was seeing things out of the corner of his eye with the cones were a little much. maybe he was trying to make it more scientific, but it seemed like too much explanation.

[dellamorte]

Interesting but not as good as what was done. It's interesting that Engelhart had plotted further than I thought, he mentions the no name killer (Sosa). Decisions like altering this story are what separated Pre Unity Valiant from the crowd. Taking something good and making it great.