For me, ideas come and go. I can jump out of bed at 3AM with a brilliant idea for the next hit 20% song, and then in the morning, upon reflecting the notes I had written, quickly dismiss it for being terrible. It’s a really hit-and-miss process. Ideas need time to simmer to make sure they’re actually good ideas. If they stick around inside your head, you know you’re on to something.
I’m also very easily inspired. I may hate most popular forms of entertainment these days (Dane Cook, Garden State, most music played by my age group, etc), but when I enjoy something, I really enjoy it. And when something affects me that much, my knee-jerk reaction is to try to create ideas similar to those presented in the original material. I had a knock-off version of Lord of the Rings. I had a knock-off Star Wars. Hell, I even had a knock-off Monkey Island for a while.
Sometimes, though, these inspired knock-offs develop a life of their own. The trick with an inspired idea is to let it simmer just like the other ideas. That way, I know whatever project I was inspired to create has enough originality to stand on its own two feet. A few of my successful knock-offs were Counter Culture (based on Home Movies), Graduated Cylinder (based on Dexter’s Lab), and Slick Slack (based on Life In Hell).
So why am I telling you all of this? So what, who cares. Why is this worth my precious time? Well, I’ll tell you.
I’ve been inspired. And I’ve let it simmer. And I think I love it. A brief back story:
In my sophomore year of high school, I had designed a character named Sir Roswell. He was an alien secret agent that fought all sorts of bad guys on all sorts of strange planets. And whenever I got bored in class, I would pour all of my mental energy into sketching another great Sir Roswell adventure. I have hundreds of them saved away, no exaggeration.
In my senior year, though, I thought I might need a change of pace. Roswell had quickly taken over my creative mind, and I was a bit tired of a future sci-fi universe. So I turned the table around and created a character named Mick Reily, a Victorian-era amateur detective and adventurer. In his first incarnation, Mick was a watchmaker who lived in 221c Baker Street, just one floor above the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. The intention was that confused customers of Holmes would continually call upon Reily, thinking him Sherlock. One day, Reily, tired of correcting people, assumes the role of the detective which would undoubtedly lead to madcap adventures with the occasional help of Holmes himself.
This version of Reily didn’t last long. I found the character too bland and uninteresting. But instead of scrapping the project, I decided to revamp it. I recalled a book of Holmes stories written by famous horror and suspense authors, all of which pitted the detective against forces of the supernatural. Holmes himself, in The Hounds of the Baskervilles, did not dismiss the idea of ghosts, goblins, and other creatures of the night (however, he had yet to prove their existence). This new development interested me very much. So Mick became a Victorian-era contemporary to Holmes. But instead of normal crimes, he would be consulted in cases dealing with lake monsters, mummies, and chupacabras.
I wanted this new character to be fun and adventurous, and I drew from Indiana Jones for ideas. Mick’s design can be credited to Spielberg’s ideas for Indy. I’ve always believed, because of those movies, that a hero needs a really cool hat (Hell, even Dr. Henry Jones has a cool hat in The Last Crusade). I didn’t want to use a fedora (taken), and the next on my list of hats was, of course, the top hat. Once that top hat came into the picture, the rest of the costume designed itself (with some help from that New Yorker guy.)
But like Mick’s first incarnation, this Mick didn’t last long. I found that drawing big werewolves and hairy witches wasn’t as fun and interesting as goofy-looking aliens. Roswell re-emerged, and Mick Reily faded into the halls of my obscure creations, joining Wacky Wizard and Super Clown.
Then came The Amazing Screw-On Head. Then came Venture Brothers. And I was inspired.
I had been working on a pilot for a potential Sir Roswell cartoon for some time and was happy with the script. But when I saw these two shows, I was completely blown away. Immediately I began to question the quality of Roswell, not just as a script, but as a character. I needed something funny and exciting, something new. And that’s when I remembered Mick.
Of course, lots of things had to change. That design was too simple, and not expressive enough. And he needed some supporting characters, too (one of the major flaws I found with Roswell). Mick wouldn’t be doing this on his own.
What you’re about to see is a work in progress. While a lot of these ideas are fully formed, there are still several that need work. But I present to you, the improved version of my high school doodle, the result of a very simmered idea, and a potentially exciting future project for me.
Overview
Set in the mid-1890’s, we follow the adventures of Reily St. James and his loyal biographer George Ives. The two live in an eerie little hollow in upstate New York , populated with equally eerie characters. However, whenever their job calls for it, they are whisked away to all corners of the world. St. James is a supernatural and paranormal detective, and, naturally, his services are needed far and wide.
Reily St. James
I changed the name from Mick Reily to Reily St. James because I felt that with a new design, a new name should follow. I also changed those dopey goggles he had into a more interesting pair of dark sunglasses (St. James has a mild light-sensitivity problem in his eyes and has to wear these glasses whenever there is light). A student of the Holmes’ form of deductive reasoning, a hobby of St. James’ is figuring out magic tricks and replicating them.
He has become infamous as an investigator of otherworldly phenomenon, and is an expert at all subjects weird, be it occult Puritan traditions or Aboriginal folklore. Like Holmes, St. James is very confident in his abilities, to the point where he is obnoxious and overenthusiastic. He is also very eccentric in his habits and somehow has more than enough money to keep up with them.
George Ives
Named after my favorite Beatle (George) and my favorite college professor (Ives), George Ives has been assigned the arduous task of committing St. James’ life to paper. In his younger days, Ives was an embedded reporter with a brigade of Union troops in the Civil War, working for a very popular and respected newspaper. However, when the war ended, subscriptions for the paper steadily decreased. Nearing rock bottom, Ives’ editor decides to take some drastic action. Seeing the popularity of Holmes stories (and the subsequent boost in sales for the Strand magazine), he sends his once reputable reporter to deal with public-pleasing fluff work. George resents him for it, and he resents St. James for it.
If you look at Brock Samson as an exaggerated version of Race Bannon, feel free to look at George Ives as an exaggerated version of Dr. John Watson. The public opinion is that Watson is an older man than Holmes. So, Ives is a much older man than St. James (Ives is in his mid-late 50’s, St. James in his early 20’s). Ives is a war vet, as is Watson, and both chronicle the lives of eccentric detectives. The big difference, though, is that Ives is not impressed by St. James’ deductions, whereas Watson can’t get enough of Holmes’ displays of detective work. I liked the idea of a wiry old man, and I gave him his beard as an homage to the beard of that same favorite professor, one Jamie Ives.
Oh and he has a terrible secret.
Unnamed Ghost Pirate Villain
Now, I love pirates. I always have. And I wanted to do something with pirates. But, in the 1890’s, the pirates we all know and love have been dead for over a hundred years. So why not make him a ghost?
I don’t know much about this character. He may be the central villain. He may be a bit side character. All I know is that he hates Reily St. James and he is based on my character from those e-Wrestling days. I really like the way he came out, though.
So, in a nutshell, this is the new idea that is eating at my brain. There are a few more characters being mulled over right now (I’m putting the finishing touches on the town priest who is also a werewolf!!), but I’m still very far away from even thinking of writing a script. I need to develop an ensemble of colorful locals and put a girl in there somewhere. But I think it’s a promising start, and I can’t wait until the rest of this world is mapped out.