Sequential Smackdown
Something I read on a message board got me thinking...I've been into pro wrestling for a few years now, and one thing that is central to the establishment of a particular performer is what is called a "push." A push is what happens when the creatie bigwigs decide they want to improve a particular character's standing within the hierarchy of the plot and in the eyes of the audience. This is accomplished by letting the character figure in prominent storylines, giving the character wins over others, and generally just marketing the wrestler more aggressively.
Note that I've been using the term "character" because I believe that the same thing can be done in comics.
What about pushing a character in the sense of establishing that character as a major force in that particular universe? Of course, all pushes come at the expense of another character (i.e. the "jobber.")
One of the best "jobs" ever was the thing Marvel did with Spidey and Firelord. Urban-level character whups the holy snot out of a cosmic baddie. Now, everybody references that when they want to make the point that Spidey's a badass.
Another pair of jobs happened with Doomsday and Bane. With what they did to Superman and Batman respectively, they were immediately established as tough characters, and immediately joined the ranks of great Superman/Batman rogues. ure, both haven't been very visible recently, but they're definitely part of the character maps of Supes and Bats-- and everyone knows how tough it is to churn out a character that'll stick to comics dogma (and appear in movies and cartoons and action figures etc).
An example of a "sustained" push would be what the Extreme guys did with Crypt (was that his
name?). He tore through the Extreme subsection of the Image universe, killing a few characters, I believe. Not sure how they resolved that though, since I didn't read any of the comics.Pushes like that would only work in the framework of a Universe, though. Imagine if Hero A started getting pushed, beating up some major baddies in a few books (say, New Avengers, House of M, and Daredevil)... meanwhile, you've got Villain B running amok in a few other books (say, the X-titles)-- maybe even killing a b-lister or something. Then you can have a culminating "feud" between them (you can have it in one book, even-- no need to go nuts), involving lotsa collateral damage. That'd be a good, long-term storyline, I think.
Of course, something like a push can only be REALLY effective if done within the confines of a "universe." The effectiveness of a push is magnified if that particular character is causing havoc in more than one title, simply because not everyone can do it. There's always at least one hero in each comic, going up against at least one villain. That's the norm (otherwise, there wouldn't be any conflict, right?) But by having someone affect multiple titles, you can show the readers just how big a deal it is.
posted by butch @ 7/30/2005
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