http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssen...g/15796423.htm
I can't wait for the Reva/Josh/Daredevil love triangle.*
*During High School I was an avid viewer of "The Guiding Light" and it was at that time that I became familiar with the ups and downs of Josh and Reva. Please don't judge me.
Quote:
| In one of the wildest crossovers in comics history, the top superheroes at Marvel Comics will meet up with characters from CBS' long-running soap "Guiding Light." A backup tale in select Marvel titles starting Oct. 25 will find Marvel's New Avengers visiting the town of Springfield, home to the frothy passions and dastardly deeds of "Guiding Light." Then, on Nov. 1, an episode of the soap titled "She's a Marvel" will pay tribute to Marvel as one of the "Guiding Light" characters gains superpowers. The unusual project spiraled out of an alliance forged between Marvel and Procter & Gamble Productions' "Guiding Light" when the soap's costume designer, Shawn Dudley, designed the wedding dress for Storm's summer wedding to the Black Panther. Talks about how to promote the dress - such as an idea to portray a couple of "Guiding Light" characters attending the wedding in "Black Panther" No. 18 - "just kept getting bigger and bigger," said Jim McCann, assistant manager of sales communication for Marvel. McCann is writer of the eight-page backup tale that will appear in 13 Marvel titles over four weeks, including "Civil War: Choosing Sides," a special one-shot tied to Marvel's bigevent "Civil War" miniseries. In McCann's story, "the Marvel universe and the `Guiding Light' universe are one and the same. "There's not, like, time travel, nobody gets sucked into a TV or anything like that." Spider-Man, Wolverine and other members of the New Avengers travel to Springfield after a strange energy signal is detected, signaling the possibility of a new superpowered hero - or threat. Villains including Venom, Sandman and Doctor Octopus also descend on the town, looking for a recruit for their sinister team. "And, of course, in the mighty Marvel tradition, a giant fight breaks out in the middle of Springfield's main street," McCann says. Marvel characters and "Guiding Light" characters fight side by side, he says, with the ending "very much a soap-opera cliffhanger." McCann left the ending open-ended, he says, "because Marvel and Procter & Gamble, along with `Guiding Light,' are having such a great time that we both hope this can continue." It's a dream project for McCann, with one foot in comics and one in soaps. He was in the ABC Daytime Writer Development Program for years, writing an episode of "One Life to Live" that aired in 2003, and McCann hopes to expand from his job in marketing at Marvel to write more stories for the publisher. "Playing with both worlds' toys is fantastic," he says. The Nov. 1 episode of "Guiding Light," which is peppered with references to Marvel Comics, serves as an origin tale, with its events taking place before the comic-book story. On the show, Harley Davidson Cooper (Beth Ehlers) gains superpowers after being zapped in an accident involving Halloween lights. "As she starts to realize what her powers are, she decides that she can use them to fight crime and fix the problems of the town," says "Guiding Light" head writer David Kreizman, who wrote the episode. Cooper devises a superhero identity, complete with costume. Although her powers last only for the episode, "the superhero that she plays will kind of appear to her every now and then as her alterego." Kreizman says the character of Cooper was a natural choice for a superhero. "She's a cop and she's a mom and she's a good wife, so she's kind of someone who sees herself as a superhero, anyway." He and McCann point out similarities between comics and soaps, including the serial nature of the storytelling and the challenges both face in crafting tales about characters that have existed for decades. There's potential for both Marvel and "Guiding Light" to pick up fans through the crossover, McCann says, with Procter & Gamble and CBS promoting the comic-book tale. "Guiding Light," meanwhile, is slipping in references to Marvel characters. "Soaps are not just watched by housewives and moms," McCann says. "They're watched a lot by college students. So maybe we'll get college kids hooked onto `Civil War' that watch `Guiding Light,' and maybe we'll also get some comics fans watching a really cool show." |
*During High School I was an avid viewer of "The Guiding Light" and it was at that time that I became familiar with the ups and downs of Josh and Reva. Please don't judge me.
