Gizmo
10 years ago - MIkron O'Jeneus Jr is born, the son of Mikron O'Jeneus.
8 years ago - 2-year-old MIkron Jr's father Mikron O'Jeneus goes to prison after the fall of the Fearsome Five.
4 years ago - 6-year-old MIkron Jr's father Mikron O'Jeneus goes to prison again.
3 years ago - 7-year-old MIkron Jr's father Mikron O'Jeneus is killed by Dr. Sivana.
2 years ago - 8-year-old MIkron Jr builds his first weapon.
If you were going to guess what Titans villain was going to play a big role in their future, Gizmo probably wouldn't be the one you'd think of. He was essentially just a background character serving to flesh out a team that was often used in filler issues. His redesign in the animated series, however, created a very fun, unique character with a cool energy that we plan on using in a way that might not seem that obvious at first, but that we actually think will work very well.
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Gizmo's Comic HistoryThis is interesting, because I've actually already written a comic history for Gizmo. He's a member of the Fearsome Five, a team of Teen TItans enemies that debuted in 1981 in New Teen Titans #3 by George Perez & Marv Wolfman. That version of the character; the bearded dwarf who builds and uses weapons, is already in our continuity.
Gizmo was redesigned for the beloved 2003 animated series Teen Titans, now a younger, snot-nosed punk of a kid who uses mechanized weapons piloted with a game controller. He was a pretty popular character, appearing all over the series and it's tie-in media. From that point forward, when the original grown-man Gizmo showed up in the comics, his design was altered to be closer to this version of the character by making him bald, round, and jetpack-centric. Gizmo was killed in the comics in 2004, but in the 2008 miniseries DC Special: Cyborg, a character that is clearly costumed exactly like the cartoon character appears, and the dialogue suggests that he's trying to live up to his father. This was the only appearance of this character, but it sets a precedent that we're going to exploit. |
Our Gizmo StoryWe've already created the character Mikron O'Jeneus to serve in the role of the traditional Gizmo, as a member of H.I.V.E., and then as a member of the Fearsome Five. The fact that this different take on the character exists gives us an opportunity to create a second character for a very particular purpose.
We've built our timeline so that Damian Wayne, the most current Robin in the comics, is only just joining the Bat Family. It will be a little while before he's going to become the central character in his own Teen TItans but it IS going to happen, and we've been trying to set up specific characters to fit into that team. The central conflict we want to use in that team is to highlight Damian teetering between the influences of his parents; that he's either going to be a great hero or a great villain. The best way to do this is to surround him with characters that can influence him either way, and while the comics have actually done this with a few Damian-led teams, the one choice they've made that we think is a mistake is to make the overall group pretty morally questionable. Overall, the group needs to be likeable. If there IS going to be a more villainous character on the team they need to be fun. Their antics should make you smile if the overall team is going to be something we can all enjoy. Gizmo, the young character from the animated Teen Titans that calls everyone scuzzbucket or booger breath, is absolutely perfect for this. His characterization actually makes perfect sense; a lonely kid with an absentee criminal father who is desperate for friends but is constantly acting out is an energy that would fit amazingly into a new group of Titans., and he'll bring in a good, chaotic energy, but without actually doing anything distasteful that will make the comic hard to read. As we leave our timeline, this Titans team is still a few years away. Gizmo is going to be by far the youngest member, so at this point he's still a small child. This is the sort of innovation that can work really well given the right creative team, and it just feels like the sort of thing that can absolutely make a book great. |
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