• • The Wolf Pack
• April 14, 2024

The Wolf Pack (Author’s Note)

This was a dream project. The other books I had written I had come up with a year before they were written at most, but this book is an idea I’ve had for years, even before I started writing. That may be surprising considering it was originally a spin-off, but more than that has changed from the original plot. I’ve changed Tommy’s name in my head so many times it’s not even funny.

Okay, it may still be funny to me.

Five things that stayed the same from my original idea. There were four main heroes, a boy with fire powers, a girl with ice powers, a girl with Superman-like powers, and an even more twisted version of the Red Hood. I’m not gonna lie and say that the Hood isn’t inspired by the Red Hood in his best moments and a rip-off in his worst.

The fifth thing is the Hood’s origin story, and though there’s only a hint of it here, that’ll be a through line to the end of this story.

When I actually started writing this story, it very much became a kind of resume for how I could write a comic book or a TV show. The chapters were envisioned to be episodic in nature, with a few chapters having a different villain of the week, with Ion in the background. That way a different villain allowed me to speak on something else, get a new look at one of the four main characters, five if you include Claire, a book long Easter Egg from the series this was originally a spin-off from.

But that was just window dressing on those stories. This book didn’t have a bunch of characters who agreed with each other, or at least kept quiet when the “alpha” of the group said something they didn’t believe in. All four of the characters came from different backgrounds, with beliefs that came with them. I hope I wasn’t too over the top, on the nose, or just straight up pandering, that wasn’t my intention.

I wanted to show people disagreeing and yet still getting along, and if they weren’t friends, it wasn’t about politics, it was just something they disagreed on. The arguments between the Hood and Espada being the real center point of my attempts.

They’re both extremes, I mean, the Hood is a hypocritical murderer who would love to be in charge of everything, and Emily is the American equivalent of royalty but wants to pretend she’s down to earth, despite never having walked on it. But, they still end up being the closest to each other of any of the four main characters since extremes only understand extremes.

I also wanted it to be clear that every time they did have an argument, one didn’t just end up agreeing with the other unless one character was certainly down in the dumps. Whether it was the gun control argument they, the argument over infant euthanasia with the child, or lethal force, they never truly agreed. It was more like they just stopped fighting, and except for at the end with lethal force. It’s important that the Hood realizes he didn’t want her to be okay with killing, because that’s not her. She’s down in the dumps, and he realizes he doesn’t want her to agree with him.

That was important for their relationship, both as a friendship *wink*wink*, and as co-workers.

As for their relationship, it’s more important to see why Espada likes the Hood than the Hood likes her. He’s a simpler character in that regard, but Espada? It may not come across perfectly why she’s so interested in him, but as the series goes on, she and the readers are going to realize that she can be obsessed with something too.

Also, I really wanted to get that Wonder Woman/Batman relationship that the old Justice League cartoon never actually did and only hinted at. I’m gonna have my own version if it’s the last thing I do.