Disclosure: I’m a rabid fan of the MCU. I love the acting, the writing, the sets, the costumes, the whole shebang. But other than a brief flirtation with the New Mutants in the late ‘80s, I’ve never really collected Marvel’s comics. I know the characters and I followed the grand story arcs, but I’m not feeling the burn the way I did when I was in college.
So when editor Steve Beaulieu asked me to write a story for his superhero anthology, Collateral Damage, I accepted.
[book_cover not_author_book=”collateral-damage-superheroes-and-vile-villains-3″ align=”right” size-keyword=”medium”]Then, I panicked.
I thought: what am I doing here? I don’t know superheroes! I can barely read the print in a comic book any more. How do you write a story about…?
Wait a minute.
As I thought about it, I realized something: Maybe I can’t write about a superhero. But I can write about the people who deal with them. The normal people. The humans. Even the supers who never made the grade.
And that’s what I did.
My story is titled “Fixing Sniper Girl” and it’s a bit of X-Men meets Gunslinger Girl. A dude with language superpowers retires from active duty, to be called back when his old team—a real super-group—is unable to deal with a high tech assassin. It was terrific fun to write and it’s available from the Amazon store right this minute. Pick up a copy of Collateral Damage if you feel so inclined, and a review would not go amiss. And if you’re really looking for a good time, pick up a copy of HaHaHa! the supervillain companion volume. Above all, enjoy!
Rob McClellan says
I loved the New Mutants! They (pre-Liefield) were my favorite X-Team. The Claremont-Sienkiewicz run was, IMO, the absolute best. Glad to see the “Demon Bear” saga getting the movie treatment.
Jon Frater says
Claremont’s stories had a bit too much soap opera for me personally but he was the go-to writer for the X-men and NM lines while I was reading them. Ultimately I drifted into DC’s Vertigo universe and never really left.