Mystic's Musings: Untitled Horror Crossover YA Treatment
I've been wanting to make more use of this non-E93 section of my posts ever since my New Warriors treatment. I have a few on hand, but decided in the spirit of the season share something on the spookier side.
The concept first came about way back in 2016, when like a lot of people I was morbidly fascinated by Universal Pictures' pitiful attempt to make a cinematic universe out of their library of classic monster characters. I thought to myself, if I were handling something like this, I'd probably not make it so damn serious.
Something a little more irreverent, more tongue-in-cheek, not unlike what the Percy Jackson series did for Greek mythology. The idea has been floating around in my head ever since, never coalescing into solid plan, but always changing, always being added and updated in-between my other projects.
Around that same time, I was also really into the supplemental work of the Wold Newton Universe. Originally conceived by pulp writer Phillip Jose Farmer in the early 70's, the premise of WNU posits that the great literary figures of serialized and pulp novels were capable of such extraordinary feats because a handful of their ancestors were all riding in a carriage one night in the late 18th century when a meteorite struck down into the English countryside (Based on the real-life meteorite that crashed nearby Wold Newton, England around that some time), the radiation of which affected their genes and the genes of their descendants.
The WNU received a boost of supplemental writings in the early parts of the web, were people would add onto Farmer's original writings and continue both the Wold Newton Family Tree and additional crossovers in the WNU. While a fun connect-the-dots sort of crossover venture at the time, in hindsight I can admit that the supplemental works did a lot of jumping through hoops to incorporate every prominent fictional character into the same handful of family trees, all to endow them with the same abstract genetic lineage (Most egregiously, when they try to incorporate non-white characters into the family tree), but the general idea of taking the many adaptations of literary characters and spinning it into a family tree rather than one uniform person always stuck with me, copyright be damned.
So with all that backstory out of the way, let me finally lay out the thoughts and ideas I've developed over the years with this premise of mine.
In terms of rules and worldbuilding, I've flipped back and forth on this one. At first, I was leaning more towards something like Percy Jackson or Artemis Fowl, where the supernatural is a heavily guarded secret society, or guarded some mystical veil that conveniently obscures it from the masses.
Later, I was more fond of something along the lines of The Southern Vampire Mysteries (Which would be adapted into the series True Blood) or Anno Dracula, where the supernatural is an open fact to the public and has created major social, cultural and even historical deviations from the real world.
At present, I'm aiming for a mix between the latter and Supernatural and The Dresden Files, where such fantastical things are more an open secret. The average person is aware, but the level by which it's acknowledged differs based on region and community. Monster hunting, seances and cryptozoology are less niche than in reality, but still not as reputable to completely block hucksters, opportunists and showmen from flooding the spaces.
The triumph of Abraham Van Helsing over Count Dracula opened the floodgates for monster hunting towards the end of the 19th century. The horrors wrought upon by the Frankenstein and Jekyll families have created generation-spanning stigmas over so-called "mad science." (The more this project develops, I would absolutely love to put more of a spotlight on the fact that these stigmas and literary legacies laid out thus far stem from European, primarily British, sources, and how different such things are perceived and addressed elsewhere in the world).
By modern day, the things that go bump in the night, while relatively normalized, still hold a degree of superstition and misunderstanding, which is where we find our starting protagonist at the beginning of the story.
The starting protagonist (Let's call him "Shaggy," for reasons I'll explain in the next section) has been taught since childhood to stay clear of all things monster, to the degree where it's become a point of crippling anxiety. As a young adult, "Shaggy" is mostly floating through life, unsure on what he wants but evades everything he's been told he doesn't want. "Shaggy's" superstition ends up saving his life when shadowy figures no one but he seems to notice turn out to be real and have been preying on him.
As he flees, "Shaggy" runs into a completely different group looking for him, albeit with the intention of protecting him. They give "Shaggy" the truth: He is the latest descendant of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein, and the other group pursuing him are agents of Dracula, who has been preying on the Frankensteins for generations as part of his many avenues to continue his immortal life.
The bulk of the story involves the group escorting "Shaggy" to a safehouse, all while the question as to why he's so important to the Lord of Vampires floats overhead. Sure, "Shaggy" might be a Frankenstein, but he has none of the mad ambition or brilliant acumen of his forebears, so even if Dracula's agents were to apprehended him he couldn't fashion a new Monster. The twist in the first story would reveal that "Shaggy" is not just a Frankenstein, but technically also a Monster.
As a nod to my old affinity for WNU, I have it planned that every major depiction of Frankenstein (The novel version, the Universal version, the Hammer version, etc) is a successive member in a greater family tree. "Shaggy's" absent father, the Gen X Frankenstein, was a cross between Weird Science and Frankenhooker. Ergo, he was a creep who had sex with his female Monster, and being a human/Monster hybrid, "Shaggy" potentially constitutes as a sort of post-human, making him especially significant to Dracula's ambitions for full immortality.
By the end of the first story, "Shaggy" reconciles the truth about himself and overcomes his fear of the supernatural through the camaraderie formed among the group. Dracula and his minions will remain the Big Bad for the series, but the team will have all manner of misadventures down the line.
A spotlight arc getting into the sordid Jekyll & Hyde families. Stopping a private military firm from bringing about a zombie apocalypse, because despite repeatedly almost doing so across the last half-decade, various people and groups continue to try and weaponize the undead. A trip to Mexico and a team-up with the Los Campeones Justicieros, who have been fighting against the forces of mad science for generations. A Bigfoot solidarity club, made up of the many, many ape-men cryptids that exist across mythology. And probably more, once I get around to writing it.
As you might have picked up on by now, the principal cast of this series is loosely inspired by a mix of the archetypes of the Universal Monsters and the Mystery Gang of the Scooby-Doo franchise. Let's wrap this post with a brief spotlight on each:
As previously mentioned, "Shaggy" would be the latest Frankenstein. A lanky former layabout who is perpetually in existential trepidation over his circumstances. A hectic familial arrangement led to "Shaggy" as a boy being put exclusively into the care of his stepmother, who out of a misguided sense of protection would terrify "Shaggy" over supernatural forces and inflict brutal punishment whenever she suspected him of engaging with it.
While the truth about himself and his family is partially shocking, to an extent it actually brought about a sense of relief, the idea that his life isn't as aimless as he once thought. Of course, through his misadventures "Shaggy" will realize being a post-human isn't exactly all that it's cracked up to be, but he will still find comfort and communion not just with his new gang of friends, but of the supernatural at large, an aspect of the world he was taught to fear.
"Shaggy" isn't a complete nervous wreck, though. After failed stints of using drugs, both medicinal and recreational, to cope with his anxieties, "Shaggy" turned to spiritualism, something that was still taboo to his stepmom due to it often running parallel to mythology and folklore. Through this, "Shaggy" has not only found a core sense of control he can generally rely on, but he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the supernatural, and can often help the rest to parse out what are genuine threats and what is just smoke and mirrors.
What "Shaggy" lacks in bravery he makes up for in determination. Owing to his enhanced post-human physiology, "Shaggy" can run several miles without fatigue or exhaustion, is virtually immune to all poisons and toxins, and naturally process and digests (Stress-eating was often a point of coping for "Shaggy" though neither he nor anyone around him could fathom why he never seemed to gain a pound). Since most of their enemies are after him anyways, "Shaggy" quickly finds a groove where he becomes the bait, evading the gang's pursuers while they hatch a scheme to defeat them.
"Daphne" would be our Wolfman stand-in. Going off of the Universal homages, one would assume "Daphne" to be part of the infamous Talbot family. However, coming from cajun ancestry myself, I'm going instead to make her a part of the "Rougarou" pack, a clan of lycanthropes native to the Louisiana bayou and whose wolf forms evoke the near extinct red wolves native to the American Southeast.
"Daphne" is the glue that holds the team together, the most emotionally healthy and mature of her friends who can keep morale going even in the most dire of circumstances. She is a "casual naturist," jer lycanthropy making nudity a recurring thing to contend with, but she also is very enthused about her sense of fashion being another aspect of her self-expression.
In addition to her lycanthropy giving her enhanced feats, "Daphne" is also a skilled survivalist and horticulturalist, making her invaluable for prolonged periods living in the woods or off the grid. Her passion and loyalty, however, is as much a flaw as it is a virtue. Though the most emotionally composed out of the gang, "Daphne" can still be impulsive and quick to anger, especially whenever her friends are ever threatened or in perceived danger. Though she has mastered her lycanthropy where she can transform at will and at various stages, "Daphne" is still vulnerable to the various lunar stages, which enemies can capitalize on.
The "Fred" of the group is the only non-Monster. Rather, he is the latest generation of the Van Helsing family, trained from infancy to follow in the tradition of monster hunting. I absolutely love the interpretation over the years that Abraham Van Helsing and his cohorts were carrying out unreliable methods and who swindled the wealthy to achieve their goals. Loosely inspired by the anime series Helsing, by modern times the Van Helsing family have largely been coasting off of his slaying of Dracula, even as monster hunting has become more ubiquitous over the past hundred or so years.
That's not to say "Fred" himself is arrogant, or even blood-thirsty towards hunting monsters. The recurring shorthand I've described this character to people is that of "an Ash Williams-type," a sort of idiot savant who's not very good at anything besides monster hunting. Even then, it's largely a matter of sport to "Fred," unlike most of his family who hunt to kill. And I am absolutely going to lean in with the more recent iterations of Scooby-Fred being a trap-making himbo. In essence, "Fred's" ingenuity and capability are often a gambit, but if his skills are indeed applicable, its very high reward. In addition, "Fred's" conventional good looks, strong charisma and prestigious family name often helps the gang get into certain spaces or people. "Fred" is not the leader of the group, though many assume as much.
No, the true leader would be "Velma." Similar to "Shaggy," "Velma" is a hybrid of sorts. Her father was the revenant Imhotep, conceived during his time living incognito on the streets of Cairo under the name Ardath Bey. "Velma" has been endowed with longevity (Among other powers) through Imhotep's revenant heritage, so she is still in the young adult range as the rest of the group despite being nearly a century old.
Like her father, "Velma" is skilled in hypnotism and enthrallment, and has an intrinsic connection with arid climates and biomes (This has put a wedge from time to time with her friendship with "Daphne," as her native swamplands are conditions by which "Velma" is most physically vulnerable). "Velma" has dedicated her life to vanquishing evils such as her father, and her knowledge and analysis of the supernatural is more historical than "Shaggy," who goes about his research from a more spiritual angle.
Aside from her physical and environmental limitations, "Velma's" other main weakness are her poor interpersonal skills, mixed with long-standing issues with self-loathing. "Velma" often carries out her work to atone for the sins of her father, and having lived out so many years of fervent fear of monsters, has consigned herself to live by way of atonement, never finding true peace until she warms a righteous death. This is something "Daphne" and "Fred" have learned to accommodate, as upsetting as it makes them, though "Shaggy's" integration into the group will cause some flare-ups with this, especially as he experiences his own arc of self-affirmation. "Velma" might find love in the form of the gender-fluid descendant of Jekyll & Hyde I've been throwing around, we'll see.
Last but not least, there's "Scooby," who will be going in a different direction than some might expect. "Scooby" starts out as "Shaggy's" (human) childhood best friend, who took him in after his home life became too toxic to stick around. She clashes with the team before they go on the run, putting her foot down that she tag along as the rest of the gang escorts him to safety.
At first, "Scooby" is "Shaggy's" foot in perceived normalcy and familiarity, especially as his life and circumstances become increasingly more chaotic and fantastical. However, after the team has a brush with the Cult of Dagon, "Scooby" begins to exhibit several ailments: Nausea, dehydration, thinning hair, dry skin. After a check-up, the gang will discover that "Scooby" has ancestry tied to the Deep Ones, and is experiencing her metamorphosis into a Gill-Person prematurely. By the end of the story, she will have transformed fully.
Even after the loss of her humanity, "Scooby" will remain kind and affable, though much like the original Shadow Over Innsmouth tale, there will be left ambiguous whether "Scooby" remains fully herself, or if she is also becoming fanatical and subservient to Dagon (Which could be a main plot in and of itself). In addition to being able to navigate submerged and subaquatic terrain through her newfound amphibious nature, "Scooby" will also have the ability to communicate with non-humanoid monsters, the full extent of which the gang will learn along their travels.
And that's pretty much the short run of it. What do y'all think? Do you have any thoughts, suggestions or questions? Would you be interested in a more fleshed out plot with this premise and cast down the line? Feel free to let me know. Until then, have a Happy Halloween!
