Comic Dictionary - Snowball Idea
A snowball idea is based on the premise of a snowball, rolling down the hill. It starts off as a tiny little snowball, but as it keeps rolling and rolling, it keeps adding more and more snow, until it is one gigantic snowball, and when it hits, it is a big mess.
It applies to comics (and movies and TV and everyday life) in much the same way.
Someone will suggest something, often not even being serious. The idea then is sent down the hill, and if no one cuts it off, it just keeps adding snow and gaining momentum until it is so big that NO one can stop it.
Grant Morrison's "Batman protocols" (and the Marvel equivalent, the "Xavier protocols") is a perfect example.
Once Morrison brought the idea up in a Wizard JLA special, you KNEW the idea would be used by SOMEone later on, you just did not know where and by who.
It was a snowball idea.
A current snowball idea is the whole "return of Jason Todd" idea. Once Loeb brought it up in Hush, even if he meant it as something to not be taken seriously, it began its snowball trip. When it will hit and make a big mess is the only question now...
It applies to comics (and movies and TV and everyday life) in much the same way.
Someone will suggest something, often not even being serious. The idea then is sent down the hill, and if no one cuts it off, it just keeps adding snow and gaining momentum until it is so big that NO one can stop it.
Grant Morrison's "Batman protocols" (and the Marvel equivalent, the "Xavier protocols") is a perfect example.
Once Morrison brought the idea up in a Wizard JLA special, you KNEW the idea would be used by SOMEone later on, you just did not know where and by who.
It was a snowball idea.
A current snowball idea is the whole "return of Jason Todd" idea. Once Loeb brought it up in Hush, even if he meant it as something to not be taken seriously, it began its snowball trip. When it will hit and make a big mess is the only question now...
posted by Brian Cronin at 2/27/2005 02:08:00 PM
5 Comments:
I kind of get the feeling that they'll just keep teasing the "Jason Todd lives" thing instead of actually ressurecting him. Because they wouldn't ever want to compromise the meaning of a story where the outcome was decided by a phone poll.
As far as other ideas that have snowballed, how about Norman Osborn as the mastermind of everything horrible in Spider-Man's life? How long has that one been gaining steam? Since the Clone Saga?
Isn't there something that we the avearge comic reader can do about these snowball ideas? Can we communicate to writers and editors that we only want to see stories that reflect their good ideas and not rehashings of things they read as children or a book they just read or their favorite TV show or a popular movie. Maybe if we forced writers to carry around at all times actual issues of some of these questionable stories they produce they would begin to weigh the benefit against the burden?
Just brainstorming.
As for me .. should they bring old Jason back in a less than satisfying way .. I will probably do what I usually do in such instances .. pretend it never happened.
I just thought of another one.
Lex Luthor as President.
I think "Earth X" started out as just a buncha sketches of a Marvel version ofKingdom Come.
Good call, MarkAndrew.
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