[Question] Issue Regarding Location for a Webcomic

[filmfanatic]

Hey there, everyone. I've been developing an idea for a webcomic I've had for a while now called Age of Heroes. It is set in a world similar to ours, but different in that there have been phases in history referred to as "Ages of Heroes", periods of time marked by people of great power either using their gifts for great good or great evil. The present-day "Age of Heroes" is that of superheroes and supervillains, very much in full swing (it started in the '30s, but really became what most people think of superheroes in the '60s), and the comic concerns the newest generation of heroes and villains emerging.

Now, a conflict that has started to emerge for me is whether I should focus on one central location or if I can work with multiple locations. For me, I prefer the idea of multiple main locations, considering it helps to show some of the scope of this world and offers diversity for story (with the newest generation keeping in touch with social media). However, part of me is also a little afraid of if it might be a bit too much for readers. I was also thinking of some of the newest generation even forming their own loose team called Next Gen, keeping communications between each other and coming together for certain adventures and was also afraid my "multiple locales" element could affect this.

What do you all think? I would really appreciate the input.

 

[Bowielee]

I would suggest starting it localized to guage if it is something that will grow over time.

 

[strawman]

I think one of the big reasons many stories are set in one location is to make the art easy and manageable, and keep readers from being confused without having to put, "meanwhile, in Sicily..." Every other page. If that's not a problem for you, then go ahead.

 

[PatrThom]

It make more sense that supers would stake out their own individual territories (which might overlap), but if Bruce Wayne has to take a trip to Metropolis in order for Batman to make a guest appearance, then so be it.

--Patrick

 

[filmfanatic]

Thank you all for the input you are giving. I'm sorry for not mentioning it, but part of what I also mean by new generation is that the superheroes the series will be focused around are teenagers and early twenty-somethings. Thus, movement between cities for these characters could be a bit of a challenge. So, I think that I may try to localize it to a certain city. The two main cities I've been considering:

1. Langdon Bay (somewhat inspired by San Francisco, this location could offer some nice visual difference from the usual major city in superhero comics and could interplay well with using culture elements from Japan and other parts of Asia)

or

2. Empire City (somewhat inspired by New York City, this location has been a major place in this world because it's been something of an epicenter for superhero activity, from the Crime Busters of the '30s to the present-day work of Brilliant Industries {headed by Dr. Ben Brilliant, the first modern superhero to emerge in the late '50s and a Doc Savage-type}. It is also home to the Empire Island Asylum for the Empowered Insane, a prison/mental institution devoted to housing the criminally-insane with superpowers.)

I've been thinking of going with one of these two cities as the main location. What do you think?

Another thing that could help deal with some of my location issues is perhaps one of the superheroes that's been active for a while perhaps starts up a training school for this new generation, wanting to give them training and networking opportunities that the first heroes didn't have access to when they started.

 

[PatrThom]

Just try to remember that stories tend to stay pretty much the same, the "super" part just ends up as seasoning or as a reason for the plot to branch in a different direction than where similar hackneyed stories might go. Superhero stories are hardly ever about the powers, after all. They are about how having these powers makes a person different (Rogue, Spider-Man, The Creeper, The Joker). Unless the setting is actually important (like your school idea, and the proximity to it), then the specific location rarely matters except as an overall environment ("urban" as opposed to "New York City").

--Patrick

 

[Bowielee]

Superhero stories are hardly ever about the powers, after all. They are about how having these powers makes a person different (Rogue, Spider-Man, The Creeper, The Joker).

I wish everyone who wrote any form of speculative fiction would follow this advice. It would save us a mountain of shitty fan ficcy sounding tripe that's constantly published.

 

[Bubble181]

I wish everyone who wrote any form of speculative fiction would follow this advice. It would save us a mountain of shitty fan ficcy sounding tripe that's constantly published.

I'm not quite sure who it was - Clarke, Asimov, or GRRM - but they stated that whether you're writing a hero story, a western, science fiction, or here-and-now drama, the stories remain the same. The people are still people, relations are relations. If you're talking more about genre-specific stuff like how the phasers work and why the Indians are angry at the Cowboys, you're doing it wrong.

I don't necessarily agree 100%, but he's got a point.

 

[PatrThom]

I'm not quite sure who it was - Clarke, Asimov, or GRRM

I don't know that particular quote, but I do know that Asimov (along with Robert Silverberg) devotes a couple pages of the foreward of Nightfall to discuss this very subject.

TO THE READER

Kalgash is an alien world and it is not our intention to have you think that it is identical to Earth, even though we depict its people as speaking a language that you can understand, and using terms that are familiar to you. [...] So when the people of Kalgash speak of "miles," or "hands," or "cars," or "computers," they mean their own units of distance, their own grasping-organs, their own ground-transportation devices, their own information-processing machines, etc. [...W]e could have told you that one of our characters paused to strap on his quonglishes before setting out on a walk of seven vorks along the main gleebish of his native znoob, and everything might have seemed ever so much more thoroughly alien. But it would also have been ever so much more difficult to make sense out of what we were saying, and that did not seem useful. The essence of this story doesn't lie in the quantity of bizarre terms we might have invented; it lies, rather, in the reaction of a group of people [...] as they react to a challenging situation that is completely different from anything the people of Earth have ever had to deal with.

--Patrick

 

[filmfanatic]

Thank you all so much for your advice. I've found it definitely helpful with this. I'm also taking the advice very much to heart about the importance of the characters over powers. I have been ever since I really started developing this idea.