Writing about superpowers is tough. I came to that conclusion last night as I lay in bed, thinking about TOPAZ when I was supposed to be sleeping. I'm at the point in the novel now when Faith's origins have finally been revealed and she's developed some additional abilities.

I shared one of these abilities early on, but an astute reader on the forums pointed out that by her count, Faith should have four powers now. And so she does! Coming up with that fourth one was tricky, though.

Why? It's spelled M-A-R-V-E-L.

Seriously. If you can think of a superpower, Marvel's probably been writing about a character with it for 30 years. So what's a girl to do?

Let's be honest: the only superpowers Marvel hasn't delved into (much) are the silly ones, like Mystery Men, with The Shoveler ("You shovel better than any man I know"), Mr. Furious (who is just really mad all the time) and the Blue Raja (who throws any silverware accurately but refuses to toss knives about).

(Yes, I loved that movie, but my superheroes are a little more serious.)

I came up with an awesome power for Faith's fourth ability. But, wait—I'd seen something like it before. Not exactly what I was entertaining, but close enough that I had to stop and think more about it.

And that, in turn, got me thinking about ideas again and how the same elements come up over and over. Superman had super-strength...but so did Buffy. Angel (the mutant, not the vampire) and Hawkman/Hawkgirl all have feathered wings. The abilities might be the same, but the interpretation and the character and the stories are not.

In the end, a comment from one of my readers pointed me toward the unique spin I was looking for. Thanks, tmso!


TOPAZ status: Jason and Faith smack-down fight! That's all I'm going to say.