Albion

Where do you go with a character who has staked his individual representation on a solar mythos that everyone now shares – or rather, what happens to Millennium Man when everyone else is also a Millennium Man?

This is the question that has been on my mind for some time now.

At the end of Millennium Man #24, I had a clear idea of where I wanted to go with the story despite feeling that I lacked the mental stamina to continue the book into these realms.

In my mind, it was clear that Michael Manly, the archetypal Superman of the Artifice Comics mythology, should go into space. There were two factors in this decision: firstly, I loved the idea of sending a human superhero into space and secondly, I wanted to pay homage/rip off Alan Moore’s work on Swamp Thing (second edition) #55 – 63.

The idea was that Millennium Man would go out into the cosmos and meet new cultures and races in a series of short stories that would help him grow as a character and rediscover what it is to be human when you’re able to wield the powers of a demigod. I was always a bit sketchy on how he’d return though.

One idea, since put paid to by how TetsuMan now fills the gap, was to focus on Manly’s return in the early 22nd century through the eyes of several pilots enrolled in a ‘Millennium Man Academy’ of sorts. Tension would have been brought to the storyline by the return of Ura God and an invading fleet of his people/followers.

original MM II synopsis from my notebook (page 1)

original MM II synopsis from my notebook (page 2)

The idea never took off, if you’ll excuse the pun.

So, the question remains, what do you do with a character who has built his reputation on a distinct image and style when, slowly but surely, ever other living human being is inheriting that image and style?

The simple answer, I guess, is ‘change it‘.

If Millennium Man was truly supposed to be a reflection of Superman, then the most obvious thing to do with a returning Michael Manly is to invert the comparison and transform him into Batman.

In a world of potential superheroes what kind of personality could possess the strength of character to place himself above others and enforce a moral law upon the world? One of the main themes during the end of Millennium Man was the idea of the ‘saved saviour‘, the man who has been through suffering and emerged with an understanding of what pain is and how he can prevent such things from happening to others. In a world where the rules have been changed completely, it might be that the saved saviour may also need to set himself up as the silent judge charged with ensuring the world continues without falling into chaos.

So, if the analogy sticks, what would Manly need in order to swap his role as ’super man’ for ‘dark knight’? Well, gadgets are a good starting point. Any technological theme is a good selling point for young readers and gadgets are always good for keeping the action varied and excited. You want modified Siege Engine power armour – you’ve got it. You want a jet that can transform into a car – again, you’ve got it. All of these kind of gadgets are often the icing on the cake to an action story, the style to progress the narrative. There are literally a million ways you could go with things like this.

So that’s technology covered. What’s next on the list? How about the Batcave and an ever trusty butler/confessor figure? Easy – how about Lundunaborg and Artifice Albion’s Joseph Dodgson? So far so good.

But what about the villains, you might ask? Well, that one’s the easiest of all.

In my experience, this type of story always benefits from a mix of new characters and old. In the case of the latter, these former characters always have new window-dressing so as to make them slightly more distinct and mysterious, a puzzle to keep the reader wondering how ‘X’ got from A to B in the gap between the new material and the old.

In the case of Millennium Man, the choices are obvious – firstly, an antagonistic new blonde haired Mysteria in her 30s, secondly, a former heroine turned villain, her personality shattered by her own ‘death’ and accordingly divided into male and female personas. I’m sure that there’s no need for me to use names here.

So, in conclusion, if all of this took me an idle five minutes thought whilst making tea, there really is no excuse for why these characters aren’t still amongst us and why someone isn’t pushing forward with new ideas and new angles to showcase the various ways in which they can be portrayed.

It really is as easy as all that.

One of my guilty pleasures in writing is alternative history and the art of reconstructing – some might argue correcting – time by depicted differing portrayals of the equally loved and hated ‘Second’ British Empire of 1783 to its final decline in 1997. Like any expansive regime, there were astounding advances and hideous atrocities. Only through examining the shadows of these events in our own everyday life can we truly understand where we come from and this is where fiction is such a wonderful and insightful tool.

I defy anyone who has ever picked up a pen and scratched a few words of narrative on paper not to take joy in inverting the familiar and exploring the dynamics of the country they grew up in.

During the reign of the Empress, there had been a brief but distinct drive to eliminate regional accents. From within the walls of the Imperial Capital to Mauretania and even as far as the world of the Nimravidae, all dialect terms and accents were considered improper, especially for those in governmental or influential positions.

Far from being tyrannical about the issue and beheading people left, right and centre – a style of government comparative with the satirical Queen of Hearts in Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Abroad, a charge that had been levelled many a time by dissenters – the Empress had allowed the government to commission a campaign intended in engaging the hearts and minds of the people.

The government subsidised Imperial Broadcasting Corporation had been swift to build up a multimedia campaign of stereovision adverts, billboards and periodic announcements featuring popular boy-band UKXD expounding the delights of ‘Empress’ English’.

She still remembered the annoying tune and the irritating holograms projected out from the boards of Leicester Square in Imperial Capital.