I have a question for everyone:
If you could write for DC, what would you do?
Would you want to have a run in an ongoing, or would you prefer a limited series? Mainline or Elseworld? Which character/s or team would you centre it around? What would the plot be? Would there be a theme or message? Is there any particular artist you’d want to work with? Pitch me!
Dick + Roy + Donna run set during the Outsiders timeframe with time travel shenanigans and a deep exploration of grief.
Preamble
Each of them will have their own storylines with different art styles to represent each of them. For Donna, none other than Bilquis Evely, Dick gets Aaron Campbell, and Roy gets Justin Nguyen.
Each storyline is set in a slightly different time period: Dick lives in the "past", Roy is capable of time travel so he is just constantly shifting but he is mostly anchored to the "present", and Donna lives (hehe) in the "future".
Each of their timeframes is directly happening one after the other (Dick -> Roy -> Donna) but will be presented to the readers simultaneously— as in panels cutting from one character to the other, to make it seem a little disjointed but keep them connected at the same time. This happens until the final issue (set after Donna's storyline) when all the characters are together again, essentially living in the same time. This issue will deal with the aftermath and be the culmination of all individual storylines. I would also like the art styles to somehow blend together.
Past- Dick
The comic begins with a note set on Dick's table with a code word that Dick and Donna came up with when they were kids, which absolutely nobody knows about except for them. But unfortunately, Donna is dead and the mystery begins.
Dick's storyline will mostly involve him investigating how this note reached here. What he will discover is that his friends love him so, so very much that they managed to time travel just to convince him to stay alive.
This will be canon-accurate passively suicidal and raging asshole Dick Grayson as per the Outsiders era. I'd like to section to play out as a morbid, noir-style investigative story with hints of eerie supernatural elements. After all, it does revolve around a note with a secret code word from his childhood memories in his dead friend's handwriting.
Art Note: This is why the artist chosen for Dick is from Hellblazer: Dead in America
Overall emotional arc: learning how to let people love him; this section will be heavily going over Dick's initial attempts to rebuff all of Roy's help and care and seeing how that behaviour changes as dick truly realises how deeply he is loved
Present- Roy
The way the timeline has gone is that Dick died during a mission. Roy isn't sure whether it was an active suicide or a passive one, but it is very, very clear that Dick did let himself die and Roy wasn't able to save him.
This, to Roy, means he failed Dick as the purpose of The Outsiders was to give Dick a reason to keep going. However, in a bid to deal with the grief of losing Dick (immediately after losing Donna yeesh), Roy tries to convince himself that Dick's death was inevitable anyway and Roy should have probably given up on saving him a long time ago. Dick and Donna are an inseparable pair, and Roy convinces himself that no matter what he would have done, ultimately Dick would not be able to survive a world without Donna.
And then, the miracle happens and Donna comes back from the dead.
Roy is now absolutely and utterly devastated about Dick's death because he now knows that Dick only had to hold out for just a little while longer, only stomach the grief for less than a month more. And this information, knowing that Roy was so, so close to being able to save Dick throws him off the deep end.
Roy tries to prevent Dick's death by time travel. He cannot affect very much and cannot directly interfere with what's happening. He is essentially a ghost with incredibly minimal corporality. All he wants to convey is that the grief will end. This message is for Dick and it relies on both the magic being used and Roy having faith that Dick will 1) Investigate the source and discover it was Roy and 2) Somehow, hopefully have enough faith in Roy to trust his words.
The actual mechanics of time travel here will be using magic instead of science fiction. The base concept is very similar to Shadesmar and the Cognitive Realm from the Stormlight Archive fantasy series.
To elaborate, there is essentially a realm where the true Identity of everything (people and objects) exists. Everything in the Physical World, our realm, is simply the shadow of those true Identitities. (Trust it'll connect with Donna's story and be emotionally resonant, promise)
However since the nature of identity is rooted in perception, a strong will powered by strong emotions can be used to manipulate the Identities once you travel to that realm.
So, Roy travels through this dangerous and introspective realm, which is comprised of a confusing medley of true Identities that unfortunately aren't very reliable to navigate with considering that Identity is transient. His own perceptions of the world and people around him also heavily influence these Identities and he needs to be able to control his perception to navigate.
Roy finally manages to leave the note that Dick finds with his and Donna's code word by harnessing the powers discussed above, and Roy manages to save Dick's life.
Cultural note: This section should be inspired by Navajo beliefs (since Roy does follow them in adulthood, especially when trying to find solace in grief) of all things being interconnected, and I would like to have a Native writer with me to ensure it's done respectfully.
Art note: Justin Nguyen's watercolours in a story about grief and time becoming murky is literally everything I have ever wanted
Overall emotional arc: getting past his inferiority complex to realise just how important he is to the people who love him, and that he truly is capable of saving them
Future- Donna
Donna is back, but she barely knows who Donna even is anymore. Additionally, she is plunged immediately into the same grief of losing her wonder twin, which is made worse by the fact that Donna knows that it was grief over her own death that killed Dick.
There should be parallels between how he grieved her and how she grieves him. This section should explore the twin aspect of wonder twins, in so far, that they are both extreme perfectionists who tend to isolate themselves when they think they're falling short of the pedestal that other people put them on.
This section delves massively into her issues with identity. Specifically, she asks herself how Dick could love her so much that he killed himself over losing her when she doesn't even really feel like an actual person- just a complex trick of smoke and mirrors.
Questions regarding the concept of identity— how much is an identity self-determined and how much is based on other people's outside perceptions, can a person truly be anything more than just a default human being in a vacuum, how is identity so permanent when people are endlessly transient?
The real answer she should come to is that it's simply not a one man job.
Instead of deliberating on her own personhood, Donna will simply trust her friends and outsource it to them. Trusting that the people who love her do mean it. Trusting that she is a person because there are people who will always love her as a person, as someone shifting and impermanent and beautiful.
She stops trying to like herself and starts trying to like being herself. The end result is that Donna prioritises the actions of her everyday rather than the echo they have on other people, fully believing that they will continue loving her anyway.
I deeply want this section to be joyful and celebratory. Not so much a story about finding yourself, but freeing yourself from the shackles of perception and identity, and finding your ideal life with the support of those who love you.
Art note: Of course, I chose the legendary Bilquis Evely, artist of Supergirl- Woman of Tomorrow because it's currently my favourite comic and it's very much about Kara coming into her own.
Overall Emotional Arc: “Mr Capaldi believed there was nothing special inside Josie that couldn’t be continued. He told the Mother he’d searched and searched and found nothing like that. But I believe now he was searching in the wrong place. There was something very special, but it wasn’t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her.” - Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun
Final Issue- All of them
So there’s two deaths that are haunting the narrative here. First, it's Donna's canonical death and then it's the spectre of Dick's suicide.
Roy has to deal with this combined grief and the pressure of being the one who's somehow holding himself together enough that he has to shoulder both of them through this journey as they fall apart due to the grief each wonder twin has for the other.
So it's only fair that the last issue is simply dedicated to Donna and Dick caring for Roy. He has had to be a rock for both of them for so long, and in the last issue he gets to crumble and be utterly, utterly loved.
Fun Bonus Information
The code word is 'blue orange' because it is both a paradox and also not, which makes it a double paradox. Dick and Donna came up with it when everyone was mad at Dick for contingency plans, except for Donna and to cheer him up, she asked about the silly just-in-case plans.
Dick's section will be interspersed with scenes where he is reading fairy tales to Lian that will connect to the current arc
Donna's section will pointedly *not* use greek god iconography— by which I mean cheeky panels where someone will stand in front of the depicted symbol partially blocking it out or a broken greek antiquities vase with a relevant myth that'll be too shattered for the reader to decisively determine what story was being told.
If you have made it to the end of this post, I am legally obligated to offer you my kidney if the need arises. DM me for more organ donation logistics— or if you want to talk to me about this :)
