ON THE SURFACE OF YOUNG'S PLANET OF THE CAPES

[MattBrady]

April sees a both a new release and a new genre for AiT/PlanetLar with Planet of the Capes the publisher’s first out-and-out take on superheroes. Written by Larry Young, with art by Brandon McKinney, the 88 page OGN ain’t exactly your usual take on the cape and mask set.

First of all though, the release of the graphic novel is in and of itself a shot to the heart of the myth that Larry Young is the enemy of superheroes. Sure, in his nearly five years of publishing, he hasn’t written any straightforward superhero work with capes, masks and the whole nine yards, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like them.

“Honestly, I don't have anything against superheroes,” Young said. “I don't know how these rumors start! It's just that I didn't think I had anything new to say in the genre. But I was talking on the phone to Joe Casey about the various superheroic tropes, and about the time I said, ‘I dunno, man; I don't have anything to say about superheroes,’ I got the idea for Planet of the Capes. I thought it'd be a fun thing to explore; I'm not going to throw out a great idea just because it's in a genre I'm not known for. After this, I'm sure people will be clamoring for more superhero stories from me, just like I'm asked for more astronaut tales. But next I'll do something with hot rods or something. I like to mix it up.”

The premise of PotC takes a pretty familiar literary device, that is, a stranger in a strange land, applies it to a small group, and then focuses it through Young’s unique lens. “We’ve got an immortal muscleman, a dark avenger of the night, a rampaging monster and his alien daughter that are accidentally transported to our Earth, a place where superheroes are merely comic book characters,” Young said. “Their heroism, morality and ethics are out the window on a planet they can rule! Superhero archetypes are skewered and comic book industry factions satirized, and comics will never be the same! {ahem} Just getting my Stan Lee on, there, I guess.

On the one hand, it’s an 80 page fight scene, and on the other it’s an allegory for how I see the comic book industry. Each character represents some facet of the biz, and it’s not giving too much away to say that nobody learns anything, and everyone dies. How the ‘real’ world reacts to these characters speaks to some of the allegorical stuff we were going for. Suffice to say that if you saw a Superman-esque character floating ten feet above you with no visible means of support, you'd either turn religious or shit your pants. Maybe both.

“In terms of format, we’re playing a little with the physical look of the graphic novel, as well, in that the first act takes place at night, and will be mostly dark tones, the second act is in full color, benefiting what happens in that part of the story, and the last act is a blown-out expanse of upper-register tones. So even the physical look of the book echoes the all-inclusive allegory of the different players and formats available with black and color and white being integral parts of the look.”

Nailing down the characters a little more, Young gave a few quick character descriptions: “The immortal strongman is The Grand. The dark avenger is Justice Hall - the latest in a long line of Justices; he is this world's Captain America. I described him to Brandon as Nick Fury in Batman's suit, playing Captain America, with a little of The Phantom thrown in. My favorite rugged characters all in one cape, so to speak.

“The unstoppable monster is Schaff, a bittersweet, poignant character much like The Hulk. An alien spaceship captain and a former partner of The Grand have melded into a rampaging engine of destruction. His daughter, the alien beauty Kastra, rounds out the team.”

In terms of comparisons, Young feels that mixing PotC in with Marvels, Astro City, Powers or even Watchmen is rather appropriate, from the approach the creators take.

“Just as those other works took a unique view at certain clichés and various familiar tropes and put the creators' unique talents and observations to bear on them, so too does Planet of the Capes. It's basically what Brandon and I would do with JLA/Avengers, but without the pesky corporate interference. The avenue left to explore is the new path that the two of us haven't been down before.”

And, despite Young’s “everyone dies” talk earlier, the door is never closed.

“Well, it's comics, right? Paramount did three more Classic Star Trek movies after they killed Spock, and there were three more Planet of the Apes movies after Charlton Heston blew up the earth at the end of Beneath. So there is always somewhere to go, in fiction.

“There's a superhero "LarryVerse" now, and while I wouldn't want anyone other than Charlie Adlard and me to do Astronauts in Trouble stories, say, I have no problem letting other folks play with these characters if they want. I'd love to see Darick Robertson do a ‘The Grand Answers His Mail’ story, or Kieron Dwyer do a ‘Schaff Goes Shopping’ tale, or Adam Beechen do ‘The Adventures of Justice Hall's Manservant’ or whatever. But when you read the end of the graphic novel, I'm pretty sure you'll see that I've said all I can say about these particular characters.”

[gOgIver]

I like the colors on that page 32 jpeg

[jasinmartin]

Sounds good. I like the idea of playing with the format for effect.
I'll definitely check this out.

Originally posted by MattBrady
Sure, in his nearly five years of publishing, he hasn’t released any original or reprinted superhero work, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like them.

You mean besides DEMO... isn't that Brian Wood's take on the super hero genre? (great book too btw)

[Bill_Nolan]

Yeah, every AIT/PlanetLar product I own is superheroes or at least superhero-ish... both Foot Soldiers and the Electric Girl collection. I think the author of this story got Larry Young the author confused with Larry Young the publisher.

- Bill

[whoME?]

Originally posted by Bill_Nolan
Yeah, every AIT/PlanetLar product I own is superheroes or at least superhero-ish... both Foot Soldiers and the Electric Girl collection. I think the author of this story got Larry Young the author confused with Larry Young the publisher.

- Bill

They are the same person. Larry Young the publisher is also Larry Young the writer of Planet of the Capes.

[Fazhoul]

This looks interesting. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for this when it hits the stands.

[Bill_Nolan]

Originally posted by whoME?
They are the same person. Larry Young the publisher is also Larry Young the writer of Planet of the Capes.

I know. My point was that the writer of this article was confusing Mr. Young's two roles within the company, but I probably could have phrased it better.

- Bill

[Comics&Beer]

This looks to be a great story.

Hey Larry, any chance that you will be at Isotope for a signing???


I hope so.

[Larry Young]

Both Brandon and I will be at the Isotope for a release party, I'm sure!

L.

[chonk34]

I'll definitely be picking this one up. As they say on the family farm, "Yee-haw!"

-Chris

[whoME?]

Originally posted by Bill_Nolan
I know. My point was that the writer of this article was confusing Mr. Young's two roles within the company, but I probably could have phrased it better.

- Bill

heh. oh.

[turk2862]

Where's Brandon McKinney been? I remember he had some sci-fi creator-owned comic previewed a couple years ago at Wizard World Chicago, but I never heard anything more about it. I really enjoyed his character designs (if they were his) on the old Silver Wolf series Legion X-1 and Legion X-2. How many issues of those were actually released?

turk