Pat Shand's Whaddya Gonna Do? - Newsletter #8
We almost had a Marvel Literary Universe going there for a moment
Iron Man: Mutually Assured Destruction
Guardians of the Galaxy: Space Riot
Avengers: The Serpent Society
Thor: Crusade of the Forgotten
Back in 2015, right after I’d finished writing my first of two Charmed novels for Joe Books, they approached me with a long list of licenses to gauge my interest. Some were for comics, some were for prose. Among them were Marvel’s titles, which were novels of all original stories.
Those intrigued me. At the time I was pitching, there was confusion within the company if Marvel wanted these titles to tie into the MCU or the comics line. Eventually, the understanding was that the books would ideal live in the comics universe but fit as comfortably into the MCU as possible. No MCU contradictions, at least.
Iron Man was the first gig I got, as a result of my work on those Charmed novels which have still never been released, as Joe Books has now dissolved. While working on Iron Man, I was invited to do Guardians which actually ended up coming out first. While working on that, my previous pitch for Avengers was greenlit. After all those, I was asked to write a Thor novel in three weeks.
Brutal, but that one was my favorite.
After Thor, the idea was to work on more novels, essentially creating a Marvel Literary Universe that never happened because of what went down with the company. Now that enough time has passed, though, and I still get asked a good amount about those Marvel novels, I figure I’ll share some details about what could’ve been.
But first…
We are in the final days of Amorini: Amateur Cupid #2 on Kickstarter!
I ended 2023, the first year of my Cheeky Comics imprint, with the debut issue of Amorini: Amateur Cupid and now we’re back with #2!
AMORINI: AMATEUR CUPID introduces a hapless cupid who is trying to make a living by creating love connections... but causes chaos along the way.
At their Making Love agency, the cupids and demi-gods work under the Roman goddess Venus to keep love alive in the world.
But Amorini's inability to control her impulses leads to... some internal conflict.
You can get the first two issues with many beautiful cover options now: PLEDGE HERE!
All right, Marvel novels.
When I got the job on Iron Man: Mutually Assured Destruction, I had three things in mind:
Write a satisfying story, because this is a standalone novel
Plant the seeds for more, because it would be cool to build on this if we got the chance
Work in appearances from other iconic heroes when it makes sense, because who knows when the fuck you’ll get this chance again?
It turns out? I got that chance again immediately, but I was still left with an Iron Man novel that planted ideas that could be expanded upon.
I have a Captain America pitch that I won’t be sharing — maybe in the future, though — but here is where I intended it to all come together, in Avengers: Dead Planet.
AVENGERS: Dead Planet
A proposal by Pat Shand
This novel will tell a standalone story, while answering the question posed at the end of Iron Man - Mutually Assured Destruction: Who is the Celestial that wants the Earth destroyed?
We start in the thick of things, with a busy day at a S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker. While the top scientific minds in the country examine the core of the nearly indestructible “Necrosis” robot that Tony defeated a few months prior, MARIA HILL is interrogating various villains about their connection to a recent prison break. THE SERPENT SOCIETY, along with other criminals including THE HOOD, have recently broken out of custody. KINGPIN is being questioned due to the Serpent Society’s recent connections to New York City crime families… and he’s resistant to answer until CAPTAIN AMERICA and THE WINTER SOLDIER are called in to interrogate him as a favor to Hill (who believes he knows something). While they’re doing the whole good cop/bad cop thing, the facility comes under sudden attack by a trio of robots just like NECROSIS from Mutually Assured Destruction, each with a different deadly power. Cap and Bucky fight them off but it’s impossible to beat them in hand-to-hand, so Cap evacuates the facility while Bucky traps them in the depths of the bunker, which is in flames due to the attack. With the bots trapped – for now – the AVENGERS convene to take care of this problem.
Our core roster this time is Cap, Bucky, IRON MAN, THOR, HULK, BLACK WIDOW, DOCTOR STRANGE, SPIDER-MAN, BLACK PANTHER, and HAWKEYE, with help from SIF who has come from Asgard with Thor after hearing the news of this deadly threat. Iron Man, having dealt with one of these before, has crafted a weapon that can send targeted heat missiles powerful enough to take down a fully-powered Necrosis bot. The problem? They only have five of these weapons. Bigger problem? The Necrosis bots speak of serving the Celestials… and if the Celestials want Earth wiped out, it’ll take everything the Avengers have to stop them.
With Stark’s heat-missiles on hand, the Avengers engage and defeat the three bots that initially attacked. However, Tony’s H.U.D. goes off when something suddenly approaches atmosphere, and they prepare for another huge battle… but it’s not an army of Necroses. It’s THE MILANO.
The GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY arrive, but it’s not with good news. They tell the Avengers about an incident they saw while delivering a bounty. They witnessed a seemingly endless army of robots flying off of a seemingly dead planet, charted for Earth. The bots began attacking Milano, so they sped here to escape a certain death and warn the Avengers.
That night, the skies fill with Necrosis bots ready to engage and destroy. The Avengers and Guardians attack them and flee, luring them away from populated areas so they can use the heat missiles without fear of hurting civilians. They get into an open clearing and, after a huge battle, defeat the Necrosis army.
The war isn’t over, though. They still have to investigate the Celestial connection. Iron Man, Thor, and Doctor Strange load into the Milano and go with the Guardians to investigate this Dead Planet, while the rest of the Avengers and Sif stay on Earth anticipating more Necrosis attacks. A week-long trek into the depths of space takes the team to this Dead Planet, on which they discover there are no Necroses. However, they do discover a Celestial imprisoned in the core of this planet who is awakened by their arrival. After a chilling exchange, they learn that this Celestial is both insane and an incredibly powerful psychic, and was banished here by other Celestials. The Celestial, XURAMENT, hijacks Doctor Strange’s powers – just for a second before Strange shakes him, but it’s enough for Xurament to escape the mystical chains keeping him in place. Free from his bonds, Xurament teleports away. To where? They don’t know – yet – but Strange uses the traces of Xurament’s psychic fingerprint in his mind to track the mad Celestial. They discover that Xurament has already destroyed a few planets in the single day since his release. And now… the Celestial has set his course for exactly where they feared: Earth.
While the rest of the Avengers are on Earth dealing with their normal problems and foes (Kingpin sending his grunts – including THE HOOD, who has come up on some powerful artifacts that makes him resistant to mystical attacks – after Cap and Bucky for their disrespect to him at S.H.I.E.L.D.), the Guardians and the few Avengers speed back to Earth, hopping through a series of wormholes Strange is opening to cut their travel time down. In the climatic fight, Xurament arrives on Earth and is met by the fractured Avengers team left behind. Fascinated by the team, Xurament begins to torment them as he works toward the ultimate destruction of the planet. Just when it’s looking bad, the Guardians and the rest of the Avengers arrive and join the battle. Together, after an epic and hard-fought war to save the world, the Avengers take Xurament down, banishing him to a demonic realm with the help of Doctor Strange and the artifacts that they have taken from The Hood, which act as mystical shackles preventing Xurament from using his powers to escape again. With the world safe – for now – the Avengers and the Guardians celebrate their victory, but wonder just what other evils lurk in the depths of space.
Shortly after pitching this and the Cap story, the license was put on hold and the company unfortunately came to an end — but it was a ton of fun working on those novels while I was.
During that time, I was still Zenescope-exclusive so every project I took on outside of my Zen work was on a case-by-case basis. The turnaround on these were gruelling but I’m still proud of what I did here. I always wanted to be a novels, and will lean more heavily into prose in the coming years, but these scratched an itch I’d had since I began writing as a child.
SPACE BETWEEN TOUR 2024
June 28 - 30: EXXXOTICA Miami featuring Pat Shand.
July 12 - 14: Florida SuperCon featuring Pat Shand and Twon Ficaro.
July 25 - 28: San Diego Comic-Con: Find Pat Shand at the Zenescope Entertainment, Black Mask Studios, Richard Fairgray, and Devil’s Due Comics booths
August 10 - 12: Wicked Comic-Con Boston, appearing Team Space Between members TBA
August 17 - 18: Long Island Tropic Con featuring Pat Shand and Team Space Between members TBA
August 23 - 25: Anime NYC featuring Pat Shand and Team Space Between members TBA
October 6: Long Island Collectible Show featuring Pat Shand
October 17 - 20: New York Comic-Con featuring Pat Shand and Team Space Between with a guest appearance by Emily Ree
October 25 - 27: Long Island Collectible Show featuring Pat Shand and Team Space Between members TBA
November 3: Long Island Collectible Show featuring Pat Shand
December 1: Long Island Collectible Show featuring Pat Shand
What’s Next?
ON KICKSTARTER JUNE 10th: On Monday, we will launch the Kickstarter to offer our Emerald Fantasies - Space Between Tour 2024 exclusive cover by Leirix to those who can’t make it to see us at cons.
ON KICKSTARTER JUNE 17th: Private Dance #3 launches. Follow the pre-launch here.
IN PREVIEWS: Van Helsing: Hexed continues my Julie Jekyll storyline. It also features my current favorite Zenescope villain. Here’s the solicit: Liesel Van Helsing has made many enemies in her life, but few as deadly as the notorious witch known as Mother Margaret. So, when Van Helsing's search for her friend Julie Jekyll leads the vampire hunter right to Mother Margaret's door, she knows that big trouble can't be far behind. But is it already too late to save Julie? It releases in July.
ON KICKSTARTER NOW: Amorini: Amateur Cupid #3 is entering its final week. Variant covers from #1 will be made available on Tuesday. Back it here.
TAKING LATE PLEDGES NOW: If you missed Wise Guyz #1 on Kickstarter, you can get Cover A or the digital versions via Kickstater: Late Pledges here.
SHIPPING NOW: Private Dance #2 is shipping now. We are expecting to receive Destiny, NY Volume 6; Cheeky Comics Beach Party; OnlyFriends With Penn #2; Wise Guys #1; Wild Wisps #1; I Summoned Cthulhu #3; Vixx the Hunter #2; and Nippy #1 within the next month and a half.
DIGITAL DELIVERY: OnlyFriends With Penn #2 and Cheeky Comics Beach party are both digitally fulfilled. Next up is Wise Guys #1, Wild Wisps #1, and I Summoned Cthulhu #3.