Disclaimer - this is a "Fan Work" and I have ZERO connection to those that wrote, drew or produced/own the property. I cite "Fair use and Parody" as my proposal is a parody of it really but "Loving tribute". It's an experimental idea for a show I'd be lined up to watch and yes I'd subscribe/pay for cable/buy the physical media and pass around the info. IF it's made I'll probably try to get books/toys based on my fictions into one of the stores (even renting space to sell some merch?) to promote it!
==Bring Back American Flagg!==
--as a TV series!--
It was a long running title of the independent comic company "First! Comics" in the 1980s. This is early direct market boom era title in the Copper/Mylar age - not to be confused with the Boom/Collector's age of the early 1990s.
The plot was a Cyberpunk silly/serious setting of an Actor being hired to play security chief in a city size mall but it's a reality show that happens with real people. America has fractured and is dominated by a few mega-corporations.
Looking back on it this "Cyberpunk" future has largely come true and I could waste pages going through all the details.
However the one big change different from reality is that malls are in decline and we X-ers look back on them with vaporwave nostalgia goggles watching videos of "Urban Explorers" going through empty and sometimes derelict sometimes still clean with neon glows. The "Backrooms" modern indie horror phenomena makes us nostalgic - "I'd just clobber or kill that monster and have fun!" especially in the "Mall" levels. We Xers aren't whiny cry-bully weaklings, we LONG for cases where we can commit violence without drastic legal punishment!
An empty mall in a basement universe created by our despair would be a mild form of happy limbo for us to find ourselves in. Y-ers too - and I LOATHE these letter neologisms...!
Thus American Flagg of all the classic 80s would probably have the best adaptation potential:
1 - There are tons of "Liminal Space" empty malls that could probably be bought within the budget of a major TV studio cheaply and/or rented with fixed options to buy.
2 - It would be a setting that would pay for itself shortly; The production studio could put REAL stores in there. How? Well I find it interesting that all these "Halp us! Internet is ruining us!" tended to also CHARGE enough RENT that a 90s Crack Dealer would sweat to pay it along with begging local City/State governments for grotesque tax breaks. The threat of exposing this would make #1 VERY easy to negotiate, especially as they'd do a tax break on the way out. So just let stores come in for low rent and or a % of sales - They sign liability waivers and save special agreements the mutant punk bikers don't smash merchandise and all the employees wear 80s padded cyberpunk outfits!
2a - if they take this idea I'd work my A--- off to try to get in contact with a store there and get something like my character's books printed and on the wall and or toys based on another project of mine... Just the attention I'd get sales to match and tons of calls for possible next steps. I'm just saying this since it's the sort of thing we need to boost real capitalism in the real world vs all the upper corporate acts of today just outputting product without fear of competition and getting our tax $ to bail them out when it flops.
3 - There is a huge nostalgia for shopping malls vs some worrying about them being oppressive and bad for the economy. "Save our downtown!" etc. Big Box stores did the RL damage expected way before any online issue came up. Even with big malls (my experience) most people in town and travelling to towns/cities shopped both for blissful days of consumerism to benefit for WHY they worked and got college.
4 - Like the comic itself it could give a great actor who had a problem/failing a second chance to make it right again. Flagg is a Martian actually so it's a reverse of the John Carter sword and planet thing in a creative way. Also tons of extras, cute models and normal people. Serious, there are tons of former action stars, actors etc. who have ...issues... but we'd LOVE to see them in a role somewhere. Imagine Steven Segall teaching Akido in a dojo and part of the act he comes out, knocks down a punk (stunt man) with a single blow - "Don't forget your classes are at 2PM, Mr Flagg..." and bows and lets Reuben continue the Ultraviolence?
5A - employment for sexy model ladies - again I've seen tons of ladies strut their stuff on "OnlyFans" etc. and thought "Sad, if the girl was of age in the 1980s or 1990s she'd have made a mint dancing, acting in B-movies and/or just doing Adult entertainment." So the show while not X rated has plenty of adult content as the background and lots of ladies strutting their stuff. It'd be a neat education - they'd be taught to turn themselves into "Future 1980s chicks" with shoulder pads, space age suits and lace lingerie but the positive attitude vs fake empowered mixed with victimhood today. I seriously think American Flagg would be a good jumping off point as "Ok... You worked for AF - and they crunched you through Acting classes, 80s aesthetics, mild martial arts, walking in heels, fashion and functional diet tips, dancing to music, modelling...?" -and the ladies quickly do various things - shy innocent to wicked sexy woman instantly... "You're HIRED!" and it's not for porn though perhaps some porn stars could escape or expand from said roles also.
6 - Real people also! There will be crowds even when Reuben Flagg is fighting Punk bikers. They will be SHOPPERS in the Plexx Mall! To get in people need to sign/acknowledge a basic waiver though there are staffers and hospital teams ready and some insurance for real injuries without insane payouts. You get an arm broken if a biker hits too hard and the foam in his stick doesn't shield it - well you get a cast and some $ to compensate your employer for time off (or a few weeks min pay if unemployed) and a "I got my arm broken on American Flagg!" t-shirt! But no you do NOT get millions of dollars for a simple injury and the staff are trained pros who minimize it. Mostly there will be things like 80s "Cyberpunk" style goggles and face shields everyone wears to put off the biggest threat - black eyes from foam balls shot that then by computer editing turns into laser/energy "pew pew pew boom chakka boom!" weapon fire between Flagg and enemies.
Use Airsoft balls of compressed foam painted with neon colors and computers will animate them for comic effects and lines so it's like it's a drawn comic book mixed with live action!
Note that normally I hate "Calarts" stuff in modern animation but hey I'd LOVE it if they brought back Bob Violence toons as shorts between scenes, some art in the background, toys, pics on TV screens... He'd be perfect for the scene and cheap to animate with today's computers which is why "Calarts" is used versus serious $ to make incredible cartoons and indies in their basements do better. But Bob Violence isn't about wowing anyone with animation - he's about the Plexx Mall and associated companies and crude sex and violence animation along with his Android sex doll Mavis!
7a - (First Comics Cameos) I can imagine a visitor in a trench coat with a scar on his face who comes from a very strange VERY vast city going "Aaaaugh! Bob Violence... I HATE that show. Can't they show Whacky Swacky!?" - anyone know who I'm talking about? Well maybe he looks like a lady with a scar on her face or a cyborg...depends on what life he's in... Now THAT comic I'd want made for real into a movie/animation but it'd be a lot more expensive. American Flagg is more feasible if you wanted it to make money legit and help turn American media back to a right direction... Also an Ape-Like alien warrior or a Celt with a cybernetic eye and a pretty raven haired companion... A crazy martial artist in a red suit with a paw that isn't a wolverine paw on his chest. A bar with weird motley inhabitants and a singing lizard and signs "No tourbots", "Absolutely NO Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters!", "Health waiver required for Olde Minke Liquor..." LOTS of neat cameos could be made, issues with rights and copyright abuse a consideration...
Also testing the waters...(other classics) Imagine if some things like a few minutes of a live action Warriors/Adventurers or Ninja Elite by Aircel comics was made? Merlin Realm? Miami Mice by Bode? And they are in the background and media feed - then the feedback given by viewers might help the studio execs, promoters, finaciers and crowdfunding groups to see if other options might work. I came this close to suggesting Adventurers/Warriors be turned into a live action series during today's Games of Rings of Empowerment fantasy glut... Just I think American Flagg would work better for the future and during a change of styles.
7b - remember "Maxx Headroom"? That's what Bob Violence would be - the mascot and shill for stuff. "Hey, Kids? Your parents might tell you not to smoke Zuper Vapes but ain't no machine yet can tell you you ain't old emough..." Mavis slaps him "Just joking, the Vapes are for consenting adults and in the vending machine by the Bar and Pole Dance place!" So he'd put ads in the show and in the mall via wall screens. And yeah he'd joke about it "Well what DO we have here? Someone bought the rights for Screaming Yellow Zonkers? Makes me want to be a couch potato and stuff these in my face in a dark room vs some ultraviolence!" but even the jokes would help far more than hurt as they'd stick in the mind and if anyone had an interest in the product now or later... The "Cyberpunk" world is full of immersive media and ads so slipping ads into the show is just part of it. Today's tech we could even modify the ads so if a soda pop paid this year the next year it could be a pop band Bob Violence is shilling/joking about... I'd hope the DVD would allow ALL versions to be seen... Ideal vs real things.
8 - Another world, the 'future' but echoing the times... Serious - remember the 1980s and read First comics (and other indie titles) as a kid with the same enthusiasm later people, you as an adult and newer teens/kids had during the 90s boom? Remember the issues of the 1980s and how the comics sometimes were complete escape but also somehow reflected the times? I'd not want a slavish 1:1 adaptation - but rather a new one that uses some elements and gives mostly a "Future of the 1980s" appeal though yes its a different world. Re-reading this it's scary how easy it would be to adapt it to today's world...
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So, disclaimer -this is just a mental/typing exercise - I have zero connection to whoever owns the 'rights' to all this stuff. Most of people's comments are stuff they hate in modern media about shows re-re-re-remade to increasing diminishment. I'd first want NEW things, at least things not yet adapted to the medium. But if we HAVE to adapt something say mining the 1980s well tons of other awesome comic books, indie comics, toy franchise pets as super heroes wanna be and TONS of Cyberpunk stuff.
American Flagg is a neat Scifi with strong Cyberpunk and allegorical but not direct political/social commentary. And it's got guns, heroes, sexy women and slapstick to carry it!
--Maxx Feral...
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