(NOT) FAILED-PROJECT FRIDAY: An actually successful comics proposal, part 1! (Patreon)

So!

In an unusual break from the usual format of Failed-Project Friday, this time I'm going to feature a comic pitch that was, in fact, successful. Go figure!

What follows is the first half of my proposal for the 2004 Marvel miniseries Livewires, though the project's initial title was Livewire, singular; you'll also notice a few other minor differences along those lines, such as Social Butterfly's original supranym (mechanym?) originally being Persona Grata, as opposed to persona non grata. (Note that the Livewires were originally supposed to be able to alter their appearances at will, a concept I wound up dropping purely for reasons of narrative clarity.) 

I tacked on some early character sketches in the image gallery above, though I'm not sure if the original proposal had any art attached to it.

And now, without further ado:

“LIVEWIRE”

MINISERIES PROPOSAL by Adam Warren

The concept: Once upon a time, a top-secret, quasi-governmental project developed the superpowered artificial lifeforms dubbed “the Mannites”…and, as so often seems to happen, these creatures “went rogue” and successfully fled the program. Now, years later, another top-secret, quasi-governmental program, “Project LIVEWIRE,” has gained access to the nanotechnological process that spawned the original Mannites, and has created a new cadre of superpowered artificial lifeforms. This time around, though, things are a little bit different… Because this time, our posthuman protagonists aren’t “going rogue” from an ruthless, “deep-black” quasi-governmental project; rather, they are the programmed-for-loyalty products of a “deep black” program that has itself gone rogue, and is now covertly targeting and destroying other top-secret, quasi-governmental programs.

And the Marvel Universe, infested as it is with mad geniuses, advanced alien races and bootleg hypertechnologies galore, is a fertile breeding ground for enough out-of-control, atrocity-laden secret projects to beggar the mind of the wildest conspiracy theorist. Jailed supervillains federally armtwisted into covert research programs, AIM splinter groups stealing, sabotaging and selling each others’ wares to SHIELD’s unscrupulous ExTechOps division, criminally funded “deniable” projects running amuck with reverse-engineered alien technology, lethal Hydra “tech acquisition” operations posing as government-affiliated “black programs”… All sorts of potentially calamitous situations infest the shadowy, ill-supervised underworld of covert ultra-tech R&D, an underworld which the loyalty-programmed creations of Project LIVEWIRE are quixotically struggling to clean up, one secret project at a time.

The characters: The “Livewires,” to clarify, are artificial lifeforms constructed of limited-function nanomechanical “smartware”; in effect, they’re extremely advanced, roughly human-appearing robots. They were created with artificial intelligences modeled closely on the human brain, complete with software analogues to human neurochemistry, emotions and the like (though, we’ll find out, they’ve learned to “tweak” and modify their artificial minds considerably). Unlike the original Mannites, these new constructs can more or less pass for human when necessary, thanks to outer layers of “smartware” that can change their appearance at will. Note, however, that the nanomachine assemblies comprising each member were designed by the team’s human creators with deliberate, built-in limitations (as were their synthetic minds), lest the Livewires evolve out of control; thus, the constructs, while quite powerful and technologically advanced, aren’t capable of full-body “morphing” or T-1000/ Super-Patriot/Plastic-Man-type stunts.

The miniseries opens with the operatives of Project LIVEWIRE on the road in northern California, carrying out the first of three different covert strikes against “deep black” programs on the west coast. Before going into action, the team is hastily activating and “warming up” a new member as a replacement for a recently destroyed teammate. This newly activated Livewire, appearing as a small, adolescent female, is nicknamed “Stem Cell” (as are all new members) because her body’s smartware has not yet evolved and specialized from its default state into a mission-specific configuration (as with human stem cells’ ability to become any other cell in the human body). As her human-mimicking mind and thoroughly inhuman body change over the next few issues, the confused Stem Cell’s learning experience will clue us in as to what the Livewires really are, and what they’re doing… While they don’t possess superpowers per se, each individual’s body of “smartware” has tailored and restructured itself to fit a highly specialized role, as follows:

* The team’s “heavy artillery” is provided by the diminutive “Elegant Gothic Lolita,” so named after the bizarre, doll-like Japanese “cosplay” fashion trend that she occasionally emulates. Though quite small, her body is actually a particularly hyperdense assembly of nanomachines, giving “EGL” far and away the greatest strength, power and durability of the group... as in, Ben Grimm in black babydoll lace and platform heels.

*By contrast, the hulking “Cornfed,” nicknamed after his default human appearance as a blond, beefy Midwestern farmboy, is nowhere near as physically powerful. Despite his size, his role is more that of a healer, given that his massive frame carries plenty of spare, undifferentiated “smartware” that can be used to repair damaged members; moreover, his biggish belly houses a limited “nanofactory” capable of generating weapons, explosives, exotic biochemical compounds and so on. Disturbingly, we’ll find out that much of his mass consists of smartware quite literally cannibalized from deceased or otherwise defunct teammates…

*Human interaction is the specialty of “Persona Grata,” whose default appearance is that of a serious hottie. Not only has she evolved a vast array of wildly varying, multilingual/multicultural “personality templates” that allow her to assume any mindset or character type required, but she can analyze human body language and social signals, scan and electromagnetically affect brain functioning, utilize subliminal “infrasonic vocal cues,” and even produce artificial pheromones with bizarre effects.

*Stealth, infiltration and exotic weapons usage are the specialties of the inhumanly fast, agile and elusive “Hollowpoint Ninja.” Although he’s the second most powerful Livewire in open combat, his built-in preference is for ambush and all-around sneakiness, whether sniping with an AIM-derived railgun from ten miles out or silently running along the ceiling with “adhesion fields” generated from hands and feet.

*Finally, as the miniseries progresses, “Stem Cell” will specialize as the team’s newest “techie,” capable of not only analyzing and deciphering the facilities and techware of the covert research programs the Livewires are targeting, but also capable of modifying and “repurposing” ultra-tech gear scavenged from their targets. Even more useful, as she assimilates files and programs the group recovered from destroyed teammates, she begins to craft ideas for modifying the Livewires themselves (while trying to finesse the limitations built into them by their human creators, of course)…

While Stem Cell starts life with her mind perfectly emulating that of a normal human, she’s disquieted to find that the Livewires are able to “tweak” their AIs into inhuman states, intensifying or damping down their software “emotional analogues” at will, restructuring their “neuroforms” into different modes for combat, deduction, social interaction, mindless tasks and the like. Even stranger, they’re capable of “multiplexing” themselves, splitting their artificial minds into separate “windows” to handle different tasks simultaneously… say, hacking into a facility’s computers, distracting bad guys with faked cell phone calls from their children, fighting opponent mecha, and uploading video feeds and analyses to the other Livewires, all at the same time.

<END OF PART 1>

Next time around on (Non-)Failed Project Friday, we'll move on to the second half of the proposal, which sketches out the miniseries' actual events. Wheeeee!

NEXT TIME ON THIS HERE PATREON: No g-d idea at present as to what's coming up in the next M/W/F open slot, alas. Let's find out together, shall we?