While working on my own comic for publication here on DD, I was thinking that for some people, one of the main motivations for doing webcomics is the physical, economic and legal inability to get our hands on an already established property. So, if someone approached you telling you to take an existing comic (or franchise) and do with it as you wish, which one would it be? And what would you do with it?

Well, with my current artistic abilities, I think I would actually butcher a mainstream comic book. But if I had the chance, I would want to try and do an issue or two of Tales of the TMNT. I'm not sure if they would pair me up with a writer, or just let me try it on my own, since I've always done it that way. Even so, I've loved the good ol' Turtles since I was a child, so it'd be like a dream come true, in a way.

And I would also like to draw an issue or two of Usagi Yojimbo. Which is the story of a wandering samurai, and he's a bunny. The artwork is really unique, and I think I may be able to draw in his 'style'

you have to ask?

I would LOVE to do Battle Angel. I am currently reading it so my mind is occupied by it...

I would find a legendary franchise such as Spider Man and turn it into a mindfuck of major proportions. Peter would become horrible with eyes and skin like a tarantula. He would trap people in webs and eat them alive. He would then go on a quest to eat god. The series would end with him ending the universe this way.

Anything else produced for the series would be Peter having endless false awakenings on every page.

I wouldn't mind trying my hand at Batman or X-Men I suppose...though I couldn't see me being able to come up with a full-fledged series for them, just maybe a couple of short stories.

I'd also make the freakiest Sailor Moon EVER!

Woo! I love Battle Angel! I've been meaning to reread it. Such a wonderfully oppressive story line and art. I guess I'd want to do Battle Angel also, with expanded butt-kicking scenes. XD

Actually Joe Quesada has already beaten you to it.

I'd do Powers. I wouldn't want to draw it but I'd like to work out plotlines and stuff, I guess more of an editorial type of control.

Basically beacuse it started out great and had huge potential, and then Bendis just didn't care anymore after he got a bunch of Marvel jobs or something and the series got all crappy, Oeming started copy/pasting his art like crazy, nothing interesting was explored anymore and all the characters got stupid. Gimme that. I'll fix it for you. And make sure issues get out on time too.

Teen Titans. I'd really write them acting as teenagers albeit alien or Amazonian or what have you. It would be as much slice of life as action. Without second thought, this is the comic I'd tackle given carte blanche.

Tarzan.
Maybe Conan or Red Sonja too.

Let's see... maybe Captain America, Green Arrow or Fables. Batman, I'll wait and see after the "Battle for the Cowl" story arc.

hmm... None, I guess.

I either despise the characters/titles and wouldn't want to have anything to do with them or I love them enough to not want to screw them up by accident.

there were couple of things that I wished that I came up with that particular idea but that's it as close as I'd get.

And I certainly wouldn't take on a property at marvel or dc. I noticed that one of the themes I focus on in my writing is change, whereas superhero comics are an illusion of change. Thus not only would I feel inadequate to follow some greats that worked on them before (even if my art/writing would be on par), but also I'd feel that any contribution that I'd make would be irrelevant, as the next creative team would tear it apart. I like my changes irreversible, leaving permanent scars on the character. you can't do that with a property that was established years ago.

But let's say I am given some Marvel or DC characters. Well, it'd have to be what if/elseworlds type of stories because...

A batman character written by me wouldn't be against killing criminals. A Spider-Man character created by me would stop the burglar (and thus save his uncle), but not out of any feeling of duty but to cash in on newspaper headlines like "Spider-Man celebrity catches crook". Superman created by me would feel alienated from the rest and would only help others to try to win their acceptance. And so on... basically, I'd go against what makes these characters what they are.
Might as well create my own equivalent of Batman etc.

Spawn.

I actually had a couple ideas for an Elseworlds Superman story.

One was where Superman's rocketship landed in Metropolis and Clark was found and raised by a homeless woman.

It went into a whole scenario where Clark ran out in front in front of Thomas and Marth Waynes when he was a child. Causing an accident and killing them.

Which in turn causes Bruce to become Batman, but instead of fighting criminals, he takes his war against superpowered beings.

It sounds convoluted, but I thought it was a neat idea at the time.

Well, I'm not especially keen on the idea of "getting my hands on an already established property". That would just be like writing a slice of fan fiction. I'd much rather work with my own characters.

If, for some reason, I did find myself writing for the mainstream, however, I'd probably pick a female character (there are just so many who have been poorly served by their writers!) After 70 years or so, there's still no definitive version of Wonder Woman, Supergirl's backstory is a complete mess and Huntress must be one of the most poorly developed characters in the whole of the DCU.

What I'd really like to do, however, is take overall editorial control at DC. Then I could abolish the multiverse and wipe out the 946 second- and third-string characters that DC just doesn't have the courage to put to rest.

Me too, but the you said...Yeah. If I was in control of that comic she'd get tied up with her own lasso a lot more

I can't say I'd like to get my hands on any established property. Not even something like Batman or Iron Man.

I would love a shot (no matter how undeserving I might be) at Bone, Elfquest, and Liberty Meadows. Again, I have WAY too much respect for Smith, Pini, and Cho to do them even if the offer came up.

But since we are daydreaming? Give me the chance to do a new strip for Calvin and Hobbes. I could die a happy man then. :D

Betty and Veronica.
It would no longer be sold at a supermarket near you though.

This isn't a ready-made thing, but I do have a knack for writing teenage characters, and a love of superheroes. So what I would do is take some of the leftover teen heroes that DC hasn't shoehorned into the various incarnations of the Titans, maybe toss in a couple of original characters (of which I have a few) to round out the team, and restart Young Justice.

I wonder if I can get the okay to bring back The Mighty Endowed as a villain...

the Mighty Endowed? Now that's a name for a supervillain. It sounds menacing... in a sorta gay and sleazy way...

She's a supervillainess with breasts so large that her subordinates have to carry them around.

Although I haven't read the comic in twenty-five years -- supposing that I had the ability to pull it off, which I don't -- I would take total control over Spiderman and turn it into a noir work wherein he spends much more time working as a detective and fighting normal human thugs than he does dealing with super powered foes.

Why? I think he was at his best back when he DID NOT venture outside of his own comic and interact much with other super heroes or spend all his time fighting to the death with super powered foes. Some of that once in a while is fine. But ALL THE FREAKING TIME?!

Bah! Spider man originally was so awesome because he could beat up big, hulking -- but totally human -- thugs with ease. The challenges to his character came from unraveling dangerous mysteries and discovering the super villain foe responsible for his troubles and then defeating that lone entity after an epic battle during which Spiderman was very nearly destroyed. If he spends all his time fighting super villains, however, then he is just one more super human in a sea of super humans and nothing particularly unique.

On the other hand, since I haven't read the comic for a quarter of a century and have no idea what is happening to Peter Parker or his secret identity, Spiderman, nowadays I am definitely talking out of my hat here.

Still, that's what I would do were I to get my hands on that comic book franchise and some management idiot gave me exclusive control, and then the day after that I would take over the world. Bwahahahahaha!