Short Story Week 4: Aqualad, Robin, Chronos, & Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E

Welcome back for what is the final installment of Short Story Week here at the Will Gus Solutions Newsletter, this was the first multi-part feature I planned and I am shocked at how quickly it flew by. Getting to revisit all of these short stories has been a gift. It’s allowed me to look at my older work with a critical eye as I develop new projects, and there have been surprises in each story I didn’t expect. I hope the experience has been as rewarding for you to follow.

This week we are going over the remaining five stories I did for DC. It’s an eclectic group of characters: Aqualad, Robin, Chronos, and Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

Let’s get right into it!

Short Story 1: Aqualad in “Worth”

^{Pencils by Jose Luis, Inks by Adriano Di Bendetto, Colors by Rex Lokus, and Letters by Wes Abbott}

Michael McCalister is a beloved editor at DC Comics. He is also one of the world’s premiere Aquaman fans. For that last reason, the majority of your favorite Aquaman comics from the last few years have been lovingly overseen by Michael. This includes the Aquaman Giant title which later became the digital series Aquaman: Deep Dives.

Michael was a fan of my Green Arrow story with Scott Kolins that we did for DC’s Nuclear Winter Special. He admired the affection that I brought to my favorite character and wanted to see what I could do with his favorite corner of the DCU. Initially, I thought he was going to ask me to write a story about Aquaman, which makes sense Aquaman and I are both strange men from New England. Instead, Michael asked me to pitch stories about both versions of Aqualad. Garth, who grows up to be the Titan known as Tempest, and Jackson Hyde who would also take on the mantle of Aquaman later.

I was terrified. Garth was a character I knew faintly from being a Titans fan, but he was not my guy on the team. I knew Jackson’s animated counterpart from the Young Justice series fairly well, but his comic version I knew a little less so, he had just been reintroduced in the DC Rebirth run of Teen Titans a few years before me pitching these stories.

So, I did my homework. I read as many comics starring Garth and Jackson as I could and I committed to writing two pitches for each character. I thought that my Garth stories would win just because I knew him better. To my surprise, Michael came back to me and requested that I do both of my Jackson pitches and treat them like a spiritual two-parter, a task I had never had before. I told Michael I was nervous, I was afraid I was going to not do as well as I had on characters I knew better.

Michael’s a good editor. He smiled and told me that he would be there to support me, and he would make sure to tell me if I was going down the wrong path. Truth be told, I also didn’t want to let Michael down. When someone asks you to contribute to their favorite comic character’s universe? That’s a big honor, and I wanted to do right by Michael. So I set out to do right by the character and my editor.

In “Worth” we open with Jackson Hyde A.K.A Aqualad hanging out with a friend he has romantic feelings for. When Jackson suggests the idea of going on a date, his friend politely turns him down, which wounds Jackson and reminds him of when he revealed his superpowers to his first love Kenny. We see Jackson process his past before he’s ambushed by the electrically powered villain known as the Electrocutioner. Who wants to defeat Aqualad in battle to get the attention of his father…the villain known as Black Manta. Aqualad assures Electrocutioner that Black Manta cares little about either of them, but gives him the fight he came looking for. During the fight we learn Aqualad’s whole backstory of becoming a superhero, becoming a member of the Teen Titan, and not living in his villainous father’s shadow.

This story was a chance for me to introduce Jackson to a wider audience because this comic was going to be in Walmart, so I got to show the parts of his recent history I thought were the most compelling. Narratively we’re often taught that when someone tells the truth they are rewarded for it. When Jackson revealed his powers to his first love interest, he did not get a good reaction, I found that heartbreaking but also deeply relatable. I also related to the fact that he had a mother who adored him and did everything she could to protect him. And that his father was a larger-than-life personality. My dad was not a supervillain but his nickname is the Big Shark. It’s a loose connection, guys, but it helped me. I quickly connected to Jackson, I enjoyed writing him and I REALLY enjoyed writing Black Manta who shows up in this story and the next Aqualad story…

The wonderful Jose Luis handled pencils on this, he is a really strong superhero artist whose work on this story and the next story was very evocative of the great Ivan Reis, who is certainly one of the best Aquaman and DC Comics artists of all time. Lush inks by Adriano Di Bendetto and bright, terrific superhero colors by Rex Lokus. Letterer extraordinaire did the letters. The same creative team did the next story, so I will not duplicate this in the next section.

WHERE CAN I FIND THIS STORY? This story was published in print as a part of Aquaman Giant #2. It is also available on Amazon/Comixology and the DCU Infinite App as Aquaman: Deep Dives #4. It was collected in the trade paperback Aquaman: Deep Dives.

Short Story 2: Aqualad in “A Father’s Favor”

^{Pencils by Jose Luis, Inks by Adriano Di Bendetto, Colors by Rex Lokus, and Letters by Wes Abbott}

When writing multiple stories for other characters, they did not connect narratively. They were just strong standalone stories. So before I got to write the Man-Bat mini-series these two Aqualad stories were my first time writing a serialized story that continued throughout two parts. Looking back on it, it’s quite a gift that Michael gave me, it was very good for my comic writing development.

I suspect I wrote these back-to-back but not at the same time. Which was definitely for the best. In “Worth” I got comfortable with Jackson, his history, and his voice. In this next story, I got to take something more personal about myself that I think Jackson and I share and explore it in strong detail.

“A Father’s Favor” has a dual narrative. Aqualad’s father Black Manta, comes to ask him for a favor, a favor that he can only ask of his son, even if they are estranged. Jackson accepts his father’s offer incredulously, just to make sure no one gets hurt in the pursuit of this favor. We also hear Aqualad talking on the phone to his mother, who tries to convince him that he doesn’t have to live a life of superhero adventure forever. This kind of high-stakes life is not sustainable…it changes people. Jackson quickly realizes that his mother is saying he’s afraid he’ll turn out his father and they talk about that.

I like both of these stories, but I am especially proud of this one, it is much more confidently written. Also, no offense to the wonderful Electrocutioner, but Black Manta is such a rich character and fun to write. Black Manta, Aqualad, and Aqualad’s Mother all had strong voices and points of view that were fun to follow.

My mom, Rita, loves me very much. She has always been supportive of my me following my dream of writing. However, she’s also many times warned me about the ways that people have been swallowed whole in the pursuit of art and entertainment. After she saw the film Whiplash she called me, said she loved the movie, and strongly encouraged me to not make my life solely about writing. To live a life of joy that is shared with others. A lot of that sentiment found its way into this story.

WHERE CAN I FIND THIS STORY? This story is available on Amazon/Comixology and the DCU Infinite App as Aquaman: Deep Dives #4. It was collected in the trade paperback Aquaman: Deep Dives.

Short Story 3: Robin in “The Devil You Know”

^{Art by Christian Duce, Colors by Romulo Fajardo JR, and Letters by Tom Napolitano}

My first published story I did for DC. As I previously detailed, it was decided that I would have the opportunity to write a short story in the 2018 Halloween special titled Cursed Comics Cavalcade. The part I get to expand on here is how extraordinarily patient people were with me and how much good advice I got along the way of writing this story.

In the first installment of my newsletter, I mentioned that during this first story, writer and editor Dave were two different people. Writer Dave, who was getting his first go to write a DC Comic, did not have any of the little wisdom or institutional knowledge that Editor Dave possessed. Writer Dave thought that he was going to get to write a Batman story for the anthology, which he knew was a story normally reserved for bigger talent, but he thought maybe we could break the rules one time for him. Perhaps this time they could even do TWO Batman stories to accommodate his brilliant idea. Sweet boy.

“No, you are not writing a Batman story.” Editor Alex Antone bluntly but kindly told me. “But…what if this story was about Robin instead of Batman?” Writer Dave was sad. He wanted to do a Batman/Solomon Grundy story that evoked what he loved about their relationship in Batman: The Long Halloween. However, he quickly realized, be grateful for your opportunity, and write the best Robin story you can, you handsome bald idiot!

Alex’s note to focus the story on Robin, particularly the Damian Wayne incarnation of the character, was the right move. In “The Devil You Know” the story opens with Robin locked in battle with the zombie and usually villainous Solomon Grundy. He stops fighting Grundy when he realizes Grundy is afraid of someone and looking for help. Grundy tells Robin that he was living and protecting three young women before they were attacked and kidnapped by “The Devil Man”. Robin realizes “The Devil Man” Grundy is referring to is the sadistic villain Professor Pyg. Robin and Solomon Grundy have to team up to save the three young women before Professor Pyg turns them into his new Dollotrons.

This was my first story but I certainly packed a lot of things I loved into it. I was a huge fan of Solomon Grundy from Batman: The Long Halloween, Green Arrow: Archer’s Quest, and the Justice League Animated Series. Professor Pyg was a character I was obsessed with ever since Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely introduced him in their opening arc of Batman & Robin. Likewise, Damian Wayne was a character I had followed pretty soon after I got into comics monthly. The first time I read Batman monthly was when Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert started their run, and their first story introduced him. So…a lot of nerdy pieces here, even more so than a usual comic book.

Alex’s note to make this a Robin story was a great one. I had seen Batman and Solomon Grundy cross paths a dozen times. Solomon Grundy and Damian? I don’t think they had ever met before this. Damian Wayne is naturally a very impatient character which gave him a nice arc of needing to breathe in and breathe out to hear and help Solomon Grundy. Also…writing a teenager who used to be an assassin and now is trying to be the next in line to Batman’s legacy is a fun task.

The art on the story was handled by Christian Duce, whom I had worked with a lot as an editor, so I felt a lot of comfort with him drawing my first story. Christian had already worked with many excellent DC writers at this point and I was grateful he made the time to work with me here. Likewise, another person I had worked with a lot, the wonderful Romulo Fajardo JR colored this story and did an extraordinary job. I don’t have the hard numbers in front of me but I think Romulo is the colorist I have worked with the most in my comic career. And this was the first story of mine my friend Tom Napolitano lettered. Tom was a production artist at DC before becoming a full-time letterer. When he was on staff and lived in LA, we hung out a lot, and his friendship does and continues to mean the world to me. I am fortunate I have gotten to work with him so much and hope to do so more in the future.

WHERE CAN I FIND THIS STORY? This story was published in print as a part of Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1. It is also available on Amazon/Comixology and the DCU Infinite App as Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1. It was collected in the trade paperback A Very DC Halloween.

Short Story 4: Chronos in “Father Christmas”

Art by Cian Tormey, Colors by Dave McCaig, and Letters by Andworld Design

In last week’s Newsletter, I talked about the Green Arrow story I wrote “The Birds of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.” I said that Alex Antone had originally wanted me to write another short story and said we would get to it at a later date. This was that original story.

Our winter Holiday anthology the year after DC’s Nuclear Winter Special was titled DC’s New Year’s Evil, an anthology full of winter tales starring DC’s greatest villains. I pitched a new slate of ideas, as did other editors, but despite those other pitches Alex still said “Nope, we’re going with Chronos.”

“Father Christmas” had Chronos A.K.A David Clinton traveling back in time to a particularly traumatic Christmas from his childhood where he was trying to get his father Cliff Clinton to be a better man. The Christmas Chronos kept traveling back to was one that permanently scarred him, made him hate his father forever, and set him on the trajectory to become the time-traveling supervillain he is. However, each attempt to change Cliff not only doesn’t work, but it doesn’t have any impact on the time stream. This leads Chronos to go mad and take even more drastic measures.

In the first short story week, I mentioned that you come up with as many ideas for stories as possible in part to surprise yourself. Did I for the life of me think I had a story for the Atom’s arch-nemesis Chronos in me? No. But when coming up with holiday stories this one just fell out. I think we have all gone home for the holidays hoping that someone has changed, or wish we could have gone back in time and made a holiday better. I channeled both of those memories here. It also isn’t lost on me that Chronos’s name is David and technically so is mine. We’re not going to dig too deeply into that. Also, I honestly thought it would be hilarious to give Chronos’s father the alliterative name “Cliff Clinton”. Very close to “Cliff Clavin” from Cheers. Also…in Steve Orlando’s JLA run, Chronos got a great redesign that no one picked up on but we used it here. I think it’s a killer look.

The art on this story was handled by the wonderful Cian Tormey. Cian was an artist we loved working with on the anthologies. He was recommended to us by Kyle Higgins and it’s one of the best recommendations I have ever received. That year Cian did short stories with Kyle, Mariko Tamaki, and Paul Dini. When Alex suggested him for this story I was worried I couldn’t live up to the talent of those three other writers, Alex told me the story was good enough for Cian. And Cian brought it to life brilliantly. We became friends during this stories production and Cian is one of the artists I most hope I get to collaborate with again. The legendary Dave McCaig brought the perfect mix of Christmas authenticity and sorrow to this story’s color palette. And the tremendous team at Andworld Design handled the letters and did a tremendous job with the credits.

WHERE CAN I FIND THIS STORY? This story was published in print as a part of DC’s New Year’s Evil #1. It is also available on Amazon/Comixology and the DCU Infinite App as DC’s New Year’s Evil #1.

 Short Story 5: Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E in “Last Christmas”

Art by P.J. Holden, Colors by Mike Spicer, and Letters by Pat Brosseau

For almost three whole years Alex Antone and I would co-edit the DC holiday anthologies. It was one of the best jobs I ever had. When we stopped editing those holiday anthologies they went to the incredible team of Katie Kubert, Andrew Marino, Michael McCalister, and Ben Meares. They do an incredible job, and they especially do an incredible job with the titles. DC’s Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer is one of their best.

The conceit of the anthology was stories starring the DCU heroes set during the winter holidays, but there should be some reference to a famous holiday-themed song, as the book’s title does. One of my favorite winter holiday songs is Last Christmas by Wham, but I’m more partial to the cover by Jimmy Eat World.

This was my second to last short story before I left DC as an editor, and I knew I was on my way out. For this book I pitched stories starring all the characters I wanted to get to writing that I hadn’t yet and very high up on that list was Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

In the Robin story, I spoke a bit to my Grant Morrison fandom, I am going to go deeper here. Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison, JH Williams III, Simone Bianchi, Doug Mahnke, Pasqual Ferry, Freddie E. Williams II, Yanick Paquette, Ryan Sook, Frazer Irving and others is one of the greatest DC comics, nay, one of the greatest superhero comics ever, and you should read it. Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke’s creation of Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E is one of the best parts of that project and one that has stuck with me for a long time. After Damian Wayne and Quentin Quire, Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E is the mainstream character Grant co-created with the most staying power.

I combined this love for the character and love for the holidays to write “Last Christmas”. Freezy the Snowman, who is a snowman who comes to life every winter and fades at the end of the season, is tired of his cyclical existence and wants to end his eternity. Frankenstein stops Freezy from rampaging in Opal City and then makes Freezy accompany him on a mission to find his heart. Frankenstein and Freezy encounter everyone Frankenstein has come into contact with and helped across the DCU in the past year. Each person Frankenstein helped joins the mission to find his heart. Frankenstein hopes to show Freezy that existence is worth having, even if the specificity of Freezy’s existence has its frustrations.

This story is a blast. It’s one of the more fun stories I have written while still having two incredibly emo characters at the center of it. My editor on this was the great Ben Meares and he made the best decision for the story possible. He hired artist PJ Holden to do it. I had never worked with PJ before, but he took this script, made it his own, and made it extraordinary. The story at times is warm, funny, inspiring, absurd, and gross. He juggles all these tones perfectly while bringing out the most in Frankenstein’s character and expressions. Mike Spicer, another one of the best colorists working today did a great job on the colors. AND I forgot that the brilliant Pat Brosseau, one of my all-time favorite letterers, lettered this story. I could have sworn I had only worked with Pat as an editor, but I am thrilled he lettered something I wrote and I hope that happens again soon!

WHERE CAN I FIND THIS STORY? This story was published in print as a part of DC’s Grifter Got Run Over by a Reindeer #1. It is also available on Amazon/Comixology and the DCU Infinite App as DC’s Grifter Got Run Over by a Reindeer #1.

And that is the end of our Short Story weeks! I wrote about all seventeen of the short stories I wrote for DC. I hope that you sought the stories out, and if you didn’t, I hope you still enjoyed my talking about the writing process! This was a wonderful experience for me, I got to go through my past work, and I was delighted to find out I still was proud of the vast majority of it. It reenergized me to work on new projects.

But…these short stories are not the only thing I wrote while I was at DC. I wrote a five-issue Man-Bat mini-series illustrated by Sumit Kumar, colored by Romulo Fajardo JR, and lettered by Tom Napolitano. And for the next five weeks? We will be going through that project issue by issue.

I am going to tell you now that the trade paperback is largely available wherever comics are sold online titled Man-Bat, you can get a digital version on Comixology/Amazon, and the mini-series is available on the DCU Infinite App. Go get it so you can follow along. Also, it’s an awesome comic!

Looking forward to talking to you all next week.

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz