J. Michael Straczynski writes the same damn story over and over and has been passing it off to us for years now. This one trick pony has been paid for selling us the same thing twice, and it makes me kind of mad. Instead of paying for this hack to re-tell his tired tale we could have gotten some other writer's view on things instead we get the exact same crap from the exact same guy.
The story goes something like this. A magic power source creates a number of super powerful individuals who need to be organized together to fight some other wielders of this power who would do the unpowered people of earth harm. It's not a terrible premise. It is the basic plot of Highlander which spawned three films and a syndicated TV series. Not a terrible plot to rip off.
The first time I came across J Mike's trick was Rising Stars. It was given to me by a friend when I was reading Supreme Power and was enjoying. Supreme Power tells a new version of the Squadron Supreme, DC hero allegories, origins. A modern world like our own with all it's flaws learns it has a Superman and Wonder Woman and how it deals with it, and how they deal with the world. Pretty good and always interesting to me. The hook of J Mike's version is an asteroid lands on earth and that spawns the appearance of a number of these new heroes.
When I opened my loaner of Rising Stars I was shocked to read that a modern world like our own with all it's flaws becomes the home of a number of super powered individuals when an asteroid crashes into the planet. The similarities were pretty incredible. Here J Mike uses the "There Can Be Only One" trope from Highlander for his supers.
Later J Mike came to Thor post Ragnarok with the Norse mythos members all missing. Thor learns that they are not gone but hidden in mortal form and he goes about re-powering them individually. So we have a modern world with all its flaws learns that gods and monsters are walking around among them and one powered individual who contacts each of these powered beings and by awakening them makes Asgard more powerful. Sound somewhat familiar?
Most recently I watched the Netflix series Sense8, I loved it. It's the story set in a modern world with all it's flaws and faults where a group of individuals gain super powers. As each member interacts with each other they become more powerful. Again basically the same plot as Rising Stars.
JMS is not the first or only writer to re-use plots, and the crime is not a terrible one. The best part of these stories is how the characters react to the plot device, not really the plot device itself. That said however, a great story will offer BOTH great interactions AND an original plot device. I am eagerly awaiting season 2 of Sense8 and the Christmas Special. I do wish that someone would tell J. Michael Straczynski to stop using the same story premise over and over and over again.
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