Would Casey Jones work as a stand-alone superhero?

[CyberCubed]

I know there have been some (a handful?) of Casey Jones solo issues, like the one with those alien crabs from Neptune, but I was wondering if the character has enough stamina to star in his own series.

What if Casey Jones was a DC or Marvel created character? A character who fights crime with his hockey mask and his sports equipment?

Would Casey Jones actually work in a separate series all by himself without any TMNT at all?

[DrSpengler]

I dunno, we never really got to see much of Casey in full-on vigilante mode to really gague how effective he was at fighting crime.

Once he met the Turtles, all he did from then on was pretty much just fight aliens, monsters and the Foot Clan to varying degrees of effectiveness (some times he could keep up, some times he was the bumbling comic relief).

I think he'd have solo potential if the writers ramped up his competence and skill level a few degrees. One of the pitfalls of being a supporting character is that you're often relagated to the aforementioned "comic relief" or "the guy who messes up and makes the conflict worse" or "the guy they gotta rescue" and so on.

In the few solos stories we have for Casey (just "North by Downeast" and "Muscle and Faith" come to mind, where he has no support from any Turtle characters), there's a glimmer of a standalone character in there, but without the foil of Raph or another Turtle at his side, he also feels a bit empty or just incomplete.

As for how interesting a Casey solo series would be and if Casey-himself is interesting enough to carry it?

Well, intellectually, Casey's a third grader, so we can't really expect him to think his way out of various dillemmas. Skill-wise, he has no technique and is primarily a "street brawler", which is cool, but he's very frequenly shown to be outmatched by anyone with a smidgen of martial arts training.

I really don't know if he'd make a very good or effective solo hero. He's more of a "team player", or at least one half of an effective duo.

Then, of course, for a solo series to work, you'd have to have a well-rounded cast of supporting characters. Since Casey has always been the "tagalong" to the Turtles, the Turtles wouldn't work in his book as supporting characters, so you'd have to come up with new ones who would be willing to tagalong at Casey's side as opposed to the other way around.


Personally? Casey's my favorite character, so of course I'd like to see him shed the Turtles more often and prove his competence as a solo character. But I dunno if he'd have what it takes to carry more than a mini or limited series. An ongoing would be a tough call.

[oldmanwinters]

Casey Jones as a regular stand-alone protagonist?

Off the top of my head, I'd say... nah.

After all, Casey is a loser (http://tmntentity.blogspot.com/2010/05/casey-jones-badass-or-loser.html). :tlol:

[Powder]

I feel as Dr. Spengler does, but with more faith. Casey is my favorite character & I think if they beefed up his intelligence & skill just a little bit, he'd be a great solo character. Especially if his book was super violent. Bodycount sans raph, maybe.

[discordiatookie]

Skill-wise, he has no technique and is primarily a "street brawler", which is cool, but he's very frequenly shown to be outmatched by anyone with a smidgen of martial arts training.


Well, he did kick the Shredder's ass. Or midriff, if you prefer. :P

I reckon I would definitely pick up such a book. Tristan, and the 2k3 series, beefed up his story with Hun and the Purple Dragons. I'd see more of that, more flashbacks, less dumb, more vigilante with a vengeance type kicking about New York. As an ongoing? Nah, but as a mini series - say a dozen or so issues, maybe finishing up with him meeting Raph for the first time as the last page - now that would be awesome.

[Andrew NDB]

He could be a compelling protagonist with the right angle to an ongoing series. It'd just need to be more than, "Random vigilante fighting crime in the street."

[shuriken]

^^ This. Although he never really kicked Shredder's ass, he is a capable fighter, even though he does routinelel get his ass kicked by a villain or any of the TMNT. He'd be cool to see before he met the TMNT.

[Venom]

^ He still caught ol' Oroku Wormy off-guard and knocked him on his ass.

If Casey were approached in a dark manner ala Marvel Knights Punisher or Moon Knight, it may work. He would definitely have to be "calibrated" for solo adventures, so perhaps he drank some Oot Beer or ingested a sandwich that gave him the smarts.

A goofy-ass, dark comic with Casey bashing skulls. Cool.

[BoggleKng]

It would work. Casey has potential, he has just never reached it. They could push more of a plot with his inner monsters too.

[ToTheNines]

Casey as he is... nah, not really.

But the concept of an unstable loon fighting crime with sports gear is very very cool, if you ask me.

[Raph's Girl]

Admitadly the Dreamwave series did make him rather emo with mommy AND daddy issues. A Casey solo series could work in a way but people would compare him too much with characters such as Moon Knight or Punisher.

[Discogod]

Casey as he is... nah, not really.

But the concept of an unstable loon fighting crime with sports gear is very very cool, if you ask me.

It's been done.

[gbhq]

i would agree with everything DrSpengler has said, i couldn't have put it any better myself, except he is not my favorite character.

[NameGoesHere1066]

Then, of course, for a solo series to work, you'd have to have a well-rounded cast of supporting characters

would April count?

[DrSpengler]

If it were to take place after he met the Turtles, then yeah, I'd say that April and Shadow would be intregal parts of his supporting cast. It was moreso that the Turtles wouldn't work so well as a supporting cast in his solo book, as they'd tend to outshine him (Raph team-ups, though, are another story).

If it were to take place before he met the Turtles, covering his vigilante career from the start, then a new cast would have to be assembled for continuity issues, and naturally, an explanation would have to be concocted as to why we never saw them again after he befriended the Turtles...

[Ninjafromanotherseries]

If he was solo hero outside of TMNT universe it could work but it would have to happen in Marvel Universe or at least some shared universe. That way you could get more diversity into his enemies like sometimes he could fight some Spiderman enemies like Shocker or even Dr. Doom :D . And if Hun was in this too it would be cool to see Hun vs Kingpin.

If it was totally realistic I don't think it would be very fun to read. I guess it would make Casey look even more lunatic than he already is.
//Edit: Forgot to say but I guess you could make him better fighter by making similar storyline in 2k3 cartoon where he mindcontrolled by his evil karate teacher but he was better fighter after those episodes. Or at least I assume he was taught while being mindcontrolled.

[Powder]

If he was solo hero outside of TMNT universe it could work but it would have to happen in Marvel Universe or at least some shared universe. That way you could get more diversity into his enemies like sometimes he could fight some Spiderman enemies like Shocker or even Dr. Doom :D . And if Hun was in this too it would be cool to see Hun vs Kingpin.

If it was totally realistic I don't think it would be very fun to read. I guess it would make Casey look even more lunatic than he already is.
//Edit: Forgot to say but I guess you could make him better fighter by making similar storyline in 2k3 cartoon where he mindcontrolled by his evil karate teacher but he was better fighter after those episodes. Or at least I assume he was taught while being mindcontrolled.

This reads like a fan-fiction wet dream. Yikes.

[shuriken]

^^ For real right?
Anyway, It would be cool to see a prequel to Casey meeting the TMNT comic. Maybe a twelve issue mini series. I remember in the movies he said he played Hockey and then got injured and wasn't able to play anymore. I think it's be cool to see Casey playing Hockey and then have his dreams shattered, driving him slightly mad and taking out his frustrations on crooks and lowlives. Incorporate the Foot, Purple Dragons, his mom, dad, cousin and Hun and I think it could work. All culminating to Casey Meeting Raph.

[Sage Ninja]

hmm, if he did get a solo comic. I think it would have to chronical his time before he met the turtles and April.

Some how I think April would somehow steal his thunder/spot light if she was part of supporting cast. Unless they simplified her character to be nothing but the sterotypical love interest of the hero who gets jealous whenever he looks at anything in skirt.

[BentonGrey]

Casey is a favorite of mine, but then I've never read the bulk of the series that the essay Winters posted cites. I've read the early issues, and I really like the guy as he shows up there, in the 'toon, and in the movies, both live action and TMNT. In other words, I like him without the alcholism and serious psychological issues. I would definitely read a series with him as the solo star, provided it was post Turtles, had the right tone, and was in an interesting setting.

[psyrusly]

Agreed,it'll definitely be interesting.Yea,he's got it in him to pull off the actions,just that he sorta needs a reason to trigger it maybe.Like when he needs to save the turtles from shredder and when he was hypnotized by louis braunze into arnold schwarzenegger.A reason to go all out(more rambo and less clumsy sometimes),for shadow and april maybe.He could have more custom gears and features characters like nobody,gabby and more to boost the story.As addition,his inner dark incarnation can be added as villain of some sort.So yea there are a lot of selling point in it.

[davisart]

that would be awesome...why cant some of the artists on here do a spin off comic, i know we would all buy it!!

[masterturk]

Casey is bad ass but he will need a good story to kerep him going! He looked hella cool i hated his voice in the old series it was like a bad man with like MJs voice or something :D