Following hot on the heels of my Challenger Storm micro-hero, here’s my second character: The Cipher:

I can’t help it… these little buggers are addictive.

While writing the current book, planning goes on for my follow-ups. So far I have the basis for 2 more books for Challenger Storm and the first 3 Cipher novels… but frustratingly, nothing still for The Black Wing.

If you’re interested, here’s where the characters are going in the future (in the planned order of their being written). There will be more info as each one is refined, of course.

(more…)

Well, as I always threatened to do, I have taken steps to put some of my artwork online.

A word of warning: I did these at work, on yellow lined paper. At the end of the day we shred our notes, so these were torn from those notes (hence the rough edges). Also, the pics were taken with our digital camera, in a rush… hence the non-scanner quality. And some wouldn’t re-size too well, so you have to click the link to see them. Excuses, excuses…

And now, for your viewing (dis)pleasure:

First, some illustrations of my pulp character projects-

The Black Wing.

An early attempt to illustrate my characters The Cipher and Challenger Storm (note the pre-hood version of The Cipher).

Another early pic of The Cipher (pre-hood again) and Clifton “Challenger” Storm, in action this time.

A “title card” of sorts, illustrating the opening prologue from “Isle of Blood”

Next up, some horror stuff-

Foul Lich Priest (see it here.)

Robert W. Chambers’ “The King In Yellow”

Lovecraft’s Egg- a tattoo design (I’m proud of this one… see it here.)

HPL’s Mythos Babies. They’ll steal your soul… and warm your heart! (See ‘em here.)

And finally, something wistful-

“Dream”

“Dream” (detail)

The Retropolitan has sent me his comments regarding the cast of The Cipher (read the original transmission here):

Okay, finally getting around to the Cipher, I have to say that I found it incredibly difficult to give feedback on him — because I just kept trying to make him more like the Shadow. And while he certainly seems to be a homage in his own manner, making him more Shadow-like seems to defeat the point of writing your own pulps in the first place.

- You probably saw this coming: I STILL think you should consolidate at least one of the characters. I don’t know how you’ll be plotting the stories yet, but it seems like you have four highly-skilled combatants wearing the cloak — and it’s sort of hard to imagine that the combined efforts of not just the four, but also the lady, would ever possibly be thwarted by any criminals without having needlessly complicated plots or whole platoons of thugs. It seems like these are ALL main characters in the story, and it’s got to be hard to keep that many plausible plot strands going at once, giving them all reasonable obstacles and actions and making each character distinct from each other. Personally, I think you could combine Frank and Ray without much trouble; say he rejected the mafia part of his family, and then his wife and kids were murdered as some offshoot of that decision.

-Every time I read Sydney’s name, I think: Sidney Poitier.

-You need an awesome supervillain.

Otherwise, it all sounds pretty perfect so far. Keep writin’!

He makes some interesting observations about mechanics, how the number of people on The Cipher team would possibly lead to complications.

My reply:

I agree as far as the whole Shadow-similarity thing… I’ve been trying for YEARS to come up with a character who would be my own homage to the character and still be original… I *MIGHT* have finally done it.

-Yes, I saw it coming… and I think it’s a valid point. As it stands now, I see the core operatives as Joseph, Frank, and Ray. Sydney would be more of an undercover agent… she’s not as trained as her husband and the rest of the Hand of God unit, but she would wear the costume on occasion… just not regularly. As far as Paul Ramsey goes, he’s a bit of a tech-guru, more of a gadget-man (like Bond’s Q) than anything else. I’m not planning on him seeing a whole lot of action in the books. (And here’s a secret told only to you at this point: I might kill him off one day, leaving the other members of the team to fend for themselves. That’d certainly pare down the character count.) But, I may just combine those 2 characters you mentioned. It’s not a bad thought… Plenty of time for a decision before I start writing the first Cipher.

-LOL… Not who I pictured as the widow of Steven Pelatier… but he is a great actor, so who knows.

-Supervillain… there IS one in the works… a kinda scary masked arms-dealer known as “The War Merchant”. He will be the focus of the next “transmission”, I think.

Even though it jumps the gun a bit, I think that The War Merchant will be the next topic here. It’s a bit early, as he won’t show up until the second Cipher story, but he’s mysterious and cool and deadly. It’s gonna be a blast writing him. Stay tuned…

Well, the prologue to “Isle Of Blood” is finished, it’s “in the can” (in Hollywood-speak, not as in “on the toilet”). It only took a week of note-taking and scribbling at lunch and breaks at work, then dictation to my wife who typed it into the computer this weekend (in classic pulp-style double columns, no less). The whole process is a lot of fun, and I find myself not wanting to stop, even for sleep, sometimes. Thankfully, I’m not seeing little balls of sunshine in a bag yet.

In the meantime, I’m still thinking ahead… about The Cipher (the first two stories are shaping up slowly), the next Challenger Storm story, and a long term “what if?”: a team-up of the two characters in a storyline titled “Apocalypse”. (Black Wing, I haven’t forgotten about you! I’m really shooting to make you a comic of some kind.)

In the meantime, keep your coffee strong and your cuban sandwiches pressed right, and your secret decoders set to “B-2″. This is Don, signing off…

On June 27, 2007, I sent the details to my team concerning Cipher characters. This was done with some trepidation: I worry sometimes that I might be “writing over my head” with this idea…

The “transmission” read as follows:

Discussing The Cipher with my wife (who so far has declined MARDL membership, preferring to stay “an independent advisor”), I began to think that maybe the characters had very little realistic motivation for banding together to solve and crush crimes. Vigilantes are a rare breed of person, finding a group of outraged, like minded individuals would be extremely tough. In the classic pulps, the urge to do the right thing was all a hero (or heroes) needed to be heroic and to just do it. While creating characters myself, it just didn’t “pop” for me. I needed them to have a motivation.

And so we hammered out some characters with a purpose behind their vendetta.

Also, I expanded the cast a bit. Sorry, Retro. I just couldn’t pare them down to just three, try as I might.

So, without further ado…
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MIAMI AERODROME: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT LABORATORIES

TRANSMISSION 4

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(anybody tired of the dramatics, yet )

A refresher:

“They were a secret commando squad from the Great War (WWI, of course) who, in the course of one particular mission, came into possession of a large treasure they “liberated” from the Kaiser’s forces. After the war, they reformed in New York, to take on a new war… the war on organized crime. Their appropriated treasure funds their efforts to destroy criminals.

To instill fear in the criminal heart, they devised a single identity they could unite behind, a figurehead that would disguise them and create the illusion of a powerful single foe. And so, all four highly skilled former soldiers can wear the disguise of The Cipher, and he can seem to be in multiple places at once to the unwitting.”

-The Cipher team members

*Joseph Novak- Orphaned at the age of 8 by a violent gangland shootout, Joseph quickly found himself alone in the world. He lived in the orphanage until legal age, then joined the Army to serve in the “Great War”. During the war, he became part of the elite “Hand Of God” commando unit. His role in that unit was that of sniper or “sharpshooter”. Upon returning to his life in the US, he went to law school so that he could defend the innocent. Finding the justice system an imperfect machine, he was the first to suggest the banding together of his comrades under a single identity to wage a war on the underworld.

*Sydney Pelatier- A society girl and model, Sydney was the wife of the recon man in the Hand Of God unit, Steven Pelatier. The happy couple was torn apart when Steven witnessed a hold-up and rushed in to stop it, only to be shot dead in the process. Remaining close to Steven’s comrades, Sydney is inducted into the group as the socialite (along with Joe Novak) can infiltrate wealthy circles. Sydney doesn’t have any military training like the others, but is proficient with a pistol and has the drive to wage her war just like others have theirs.

*Frank Pagonis- Born into one of the most powerful mafia families in the country, Frank Pagonis was the “white sheep” in a family of criminals. He loves his relatives deeply, even looks up to them in some ways… but cannot bring himself to join their ranks. In the unit, Frank was the demolitions expert.

*Raymond Krajacik- A family man, Raymond owned a successful grocery store. During the war, he was the Hand Of God unit’s assassin, a specialist in stealth and close-quarters combat(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Quarters_Combat). After returning from the war, Raymond was looking forward to the good life the appropriated wealth would provide for his family… but was his life was shattered when they were killed in a bombing following his refusal to participate in a mob “protection racket”. Raymond is possibly the most dangerous of all the team members as he feels he has “nothing to lose”, and his combat skills are put to frighteningly effective use as The Cipher.

*Paul Ramsey- A radio-interception specialist during the war (http://www.nsa.gov/museum/museu00012.cfm), Paul is a brilliant chemist and electrical engineer who worked closely with the unit. After returning to civilian life, he began to work for several industrial and engineering firms. The only member not touched by personal tragedy and crime, Paul is nonetheless dedicated to using his skills in the team, not just as the communications and coordination center, but also as the designer and builder of the mask, weapons, and tools used by The Cipher.
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Tom Floyd was the first to send his feedback:

OK, at first I didn’t know what to think of this idea, but the more it is fleshed out it is my favorite. The reasons to tightly band together seem
greater than the typical ‘lets all get together and adventure’ Doc Savage kind of idea. I like that these people, except for the woman, were part of the commando unit before. It gives them a common ground. As a veteran I know what that is like. I also like the main idea of them being able to appear in many places at once, what a great secret identity. Like some of the serials, Masked Marvel comes to mind - where there was a group of guys who put on the mask, but not until the last chapter did the audience or
the bad guys know which of the group was the hero. But, I like this idea much better with many people dressed alike running around. Visually and plot wise I think it would be a gas! With questions like which one did this or that?….cool.

Bravo - I like this one alot.

I also looked up the term ‘commando’. I thought that it was more of a WW2 term, but found mentions of the word as early as the Boer War which was in the late 1800’s so the term was around, just don’t know much about the soldiers who were commandos then. It has always been one of my favorite military terms…….as in the serial the ’secret code’ with the black commando…..or the reissue of Capt. Midnight on tv as Jet Jackson the flying commando!

Bravo!

My reply (besides grinning like an idiot) was:

Thanks again for the kind words of encouragement. I’m glad you like the reason for the team to band together. That was my wife’s idea, and once again, it makes all the difference in the world. I think that the shared combat experience and the tragedy many of the characters have been put through adds a certain “weight” to it all.

As far as the Masked Marvel similarities go, I had no idea. LOL

And yes, I was surprised too that commandos existed before WWII. It was my original idea that these “commandos” weren’t called as such, it was just a special covert group. Research often supplies unexpected surprises, though!

Gabriel rang in with the short and sweet:

So far so good Don! Hermano, I’m consistently amazed and pleased. Once we get our respective projects off the ground, it’s going to be freaking badass to get our 2 heros teamed up

In total agreeance:

Glad you like it, Gabe! Crossovers in the future are definitely going to be a fun possibility!

From Dave Flora:

Oh yes indeed!

Ok Don, this moves to my #1 position of the stories just because it is so incredibly true to the pulps, but has a very interesting twist with several people adopting the same persona. I love the war background and that they are all specialists…with their own strengths and weaknesses to bring. A nemesis mastermind might note interesting discrepancies in how Cypher works in different cases….which might lead to a discovery of who they might be.

I’m interested in knowing more about the “Hand of God” group….particularly their leader. Maybe he could tie into the first story….even as a villain?

Bravo!

Aw, shucks!

Thanks Dave!

This idea is moving up fast in the ranks! I regret that I won’t be writing this one first, though. Have to work my way up to it!

As far as a villain goes, I actually had a short dream about The Cipher the other night. It sounds weird, but I glimpsed a big-time villain in the dream, a criminal mastermind that dresses in a tux, top-hat, white gloves and wears a “Hannya” noh mask (http://www.city.kanazawa.ishikawa.jp/dentou_e/theater/noh/beauty/magnify/jpg/hannya.jpg)

Don’t know who he is yet, but he’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure.

As of yet, The Retropolitan has yet to respond. I’ve heard from him and he’s kind of busy, but his response will, of course, warrant a new posting. Stay tuned!

These are a great visualization of my characters done by Gabriel, using the character builder in the “City Of Heroes” / “City Of Villains” computer games. They come phenomenally close to my vision of the characters. Good on ‘ya, Gabe!

Clifton “Challenger” Storm

The Cipher

The Black Wing

A MARDL Transmission-ette (sent on 06/07/07):

Help! I’m having problems envisioning The Cipher.

Challenger Storm is easy- he’s from the same gene pool as Indy Jones, Allain Quartermain, Doc Savage, etc. His identifying feature is the scars on the left side of his face.

The Black Wing is easy, too. I’ve decided that he doesn’t look too much like the Serial Squadron guy, especially after seeing him in 3D (I used a wrestling game’s “Create a Character” mode)- he looks pretty cool.

But The Cipher…

First of all, I envision him in greys- grey fedora (not slouch hat), grey trenchcoat (not greatcoat or cloak), etc. His mask is all black, except for the glowing blue night-vision goggles. My problem with this, though, is he looks uncomfortably close to Gabriel’s character The Red Phantom (http://nycpulpwriter.blogspot.com/index.html). I don’t want to step on any toes here!

While doodling the character today, I put a rose in his lapel for the hell of it. It added a *little* something to his image. Maybe I could work it into the story: maybe the treasure the Cipher team “liberated” was hidden beneath a field of rose bushes. It’d be a little nod to where the character was born, perhaps. Hmm…

What say you, loyal MARDL technicians? Anybody have any suggestions as to how I can make The Cipher less “generic pulp” looking?

Thanks for your consideration and continued help.
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Tom Floyd gave me some ideas in his speedy reply:

It is a tough problem…..I had the same problem designing Patch’s old hero identity from the Captain Spectre strip…altho I didn’t stray far from the common avenger archetype character, one thing I did was to take away all that cloak/long coat/cape image and just give him an old horsehide jacket like a car coat in the 30’s. So I see your problem for
sure.

I do like the flower idea - now that is something that can be used if the image is in black and white or color. It is also something to give him a
bit of flash and style - which I believe are the reasons that the shadow had a red scarf on the covers….but your way a flower is an actual image
to use that works in all forms.

Have you thought about doing away with the fedora and going with a hood? or something like that? A hood and googles work well together, as we only
expect stuff like that on a ‘bad’ guy.

Sometimes I start at the dictionary and try to get ideas…..I found three interesting things about the word cipher….

1-The mathematical symbol (0) denoting absence of quantity; zero.
2-One having no influence or value; a nonentity.
3-To solve by means of arithmetic.

Maybe the zero could become a symbol on his mask or calling card or token… just thinking out loud…..

Every time Tom drops a hint about upcoming “Captain Spectre” developments, I get excited! Please check it out, if you haven’t already.

My reply to his comments:

I’m glad you sympathize with my plight. I’ve always seen the hat/coat silouette for this character, it is such a strong and resonating outline for a character. I’m glad you like the flower: sometimes it’s the smallest touch that can carry the strongest impact, from a design standpoint. I think the flower is here to stay.

The moment you mentioned the hood, wheels started turning in my head. That may be the direction I go in with the character’s appearance. It reminds me of Bruce Willis’ rain poncho “costume” in the movie “Unbreakable”.

As far as the symbology of the word “cipher”, I’ve been playing with this a little bit. I’ve been looking for some kind of “code imagery”. I once doodled a character logo where the “p” in “Cipher” was in the shape of a stylized question mark. But the question mark is overdone a little bit. I may go for the zero as a symbol, now that you bring it up. The zero with the diagonal line through it could also double as the “no” or “not” symbol (ex: the “no smoking” sign”). Hmm…

The more I think about the hooded-Cipher image, the more I like it!

In fact, I’m going with the hood. That’s the way to go for The Cipher. Although he’ll be losing the classic hat-silhouette, he’s gaining a much more mysterious and superstitious image.

I mean, they’re gaining a much more mysterious and superstitious image.

You know what I mean.

Anyone else have a suggestion?

Tom Floyd has reported back with some initial thoughts regarding my ideas. His response is as follows:

My computer at work is toast, and IS is still working on it, but I got the
story ideas and will be able to respond in a few days…..

One thing I noticed before my machine died, was that you had told us all
the little details about what these characters use and do….but not much
about what the real stories are about….something I would like to know,
even if it isn’t revealed to the public at large.
example:
Captain Spectre is really about redemption…..even tho it hasn’t been
revealed in the strip yet….that is the idea it all stems from. It is
what makes the character tick.

Just thinking out loud…..

This took my thoughts in a different direction, and I thought about my creations in a new light. My response:

Thanks so much for your reply and your interest.