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Original versus Established…

As the time draws closer for GeekintheCity to move into its glorious new direction (sorry, couldn’t resist) I find myself pondering… What now? I mean, apart from global pop culture domination! Okay, not really… Nevertheless, you get my drift. No, what I really mean is, what does a Geek do once they begin to chart their future? (Assuming, of course, that they aren’t content with flaming other Geeks and Michael Bay in their basement). Not that there is anything wrong with that. Fair warning… This is one of those introspective rants that I find myself doing every few months, so, I won’t hold it against you if you pop on over to YouTube or something… Come back when I review Grindhouse or rant about Warp Drive theory.

For those who wish to continue…

Anyway, the reason for this little slice of Aaron’s psyche came from, where else, the interwebs…Or, to be more specific… It came from a forum discussion on this very site. And like all heated online topics, this one had its foundation in all things dorky… Who would win in a fight…? The Borg or the Cylons from BSG 2.0? If you are curious as to the correct answer, A) I pity you and B) pop on over to the forums and give your 2 credits. (Beware the awesome sci-fi knowledge of Ersogoth whilst dodging the raging fanboyocity of JoelTLB). The Geeky dogfight did yield an interesting comment from a reader. A poster asked why we even care about one franchise or another. Why weren’t the creative Geeks placing their energies into creating their own stories?

There is some truth to that… but…

Every Geek that decides to move beyond the status of fan and into creator needs ask themselves the same question… Stick with original work (work that no one has heard of) or, bust their backs trying break into established works (where you can make little long-term changes, but people know the work). I am at that crossroad myself… and I don’t have the answer.

There is no denying that shows like Star Trek and comics like Batman were a strong influence on me. I can state in no uncertain terms that these franchises are the reason I moved into the realm of storytelling. Well, first they made me want to travel to distant galaxies and become a rooftop harbinger or justice. Alas, neither of those careers was going to happen, no matter how many times I stood, arms cross and face scowling, on the roof of Margie’s Book Nook and looked down upon my gentle hamlet of a hometown. (No, I didn’t really do that…honest…I swear…kinda). Anyway, these worlds did exist in my mind and that was real enough to convince me that I could ad to these stories…

Then Julius Swartz crushed my dreams.

Course, these were the dreams of a rabid 6-year-old, but still… However, Julius did tell me to work on my handwriting, read lots of comics and “real” books, and to never give up… He also told me to call him in 12 years, wish I had. (Not that I was ready, but I learned years later that Julius Swartz had a steel trap memory and I would have loved to had given him that same purple crayon letter again). From that first (of many) rejection letters on, I wrote darn near every single day. I wrote about Batman, I wrote about Star Trek, GI Joe, The Transformers, He-Man, and Indiana Jones. If it had an action figure, I wrote stories about it! (Yes, I even penned a She-Ra story get off my back). What I wasn’t writing about was original characters, unless you counted the whip-smart sidekick that accompanied Indy, Batman, or Captain Kirk as they discovered new worlds and busted on the bad guys…

Years later, I turned to original work.

Original work that I am still working as hard as possible to bring to the masses. (Along with a very talented artist… An artist you fine GeekintheCity readers know as Lady Vader). Whew, this posting really has just devolved into some wanking bit of navel gazing… Oh well, it is what it is… Anyway, like all Geeks I have a grip of original content that is beginning to rear its head… Will it pay off? Hell if I know… One can hope, cause as much as I love creating my original worlds… I want to play in the Final Frontier and I want to swing from the rooftops of Gotham…

Dang… This went nowhere… Oh well… Sometimes a Geek just gotta’ babble…