Between comics and movies, I’ve probably seen over a dozen versions of the Batman’s origin story. There were retellings of “who he is and how he came to be” prior to The Dark Knight Returns in the mid-’80s, but since then it seems like that’s the only story the writers know how to tell.

Every couple years, somebody’s gotta put a new spin on Superman’s origin, too. And Spiderman. And the Avengers. And the Justice League. And the Hulk, etc., etc., etc. All Hollywood and the Big Two wanna do is constantly reboot their I.P.s. Probably because it’s so easy for a lazy, talentless woketard to “put their stamp” on a popular character by simply tweaking an old story so familiar that fans could recite the plot points in their sleep.

Wait…I’m not being fair. It’s doubtful that the lazy, talentless woketards edit the old threadbare origin stories. They probably have A.I. do it.

Anyway, all the Reboot Mania has caused me to ponder the utility of origin stories.

I became a fan of Batman, Spiderman, the Flash, Iron Man, Hawkman and Captain America long before I read any of the origin stories. Eventually, I would have become curious about how they got started, but not knowing wouldn’t have  diminished my enjoyment.

Why, as writers, are we compelled to provide detailed backgrounds of characters that our readers don’t need and never asked for?

All that to say: Threat Quotient is an ensemble superhero epic introducing two squads worth of brand new characters…but there are only two origins depicted. A third origin is revealed in one of the sequels, but beyond that, I plan to resist the urge to write more.

My rule of thumb is: I’ll worry about origin stories about the time I begin considering  T-shirts and action figures.

I understand that a fan base of 200-300 readers is big enough to find success as an independent creator. However, I don’t consider it big enough to make selling merchandise worth the time and effort.

Whether or not you would like T-shirts and action figures, go read Threat Quotient for free, and subscribe to Tales of the Earthbound. But don’t stop there–like, share, and tell folks about it. I just published Episode 3, and post episodes weekly.

You get more of whatever you support. What are you supporting?

Thanks for reading!