Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The National Periodicals Table of Story Elements

elements pic

A collaboration between Jon Carey and me.

11 x 17 posters of this chart are for sale at Big Monkey Comics DC!

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scipio. You are as brilliant as DC is sucky. (I'm still mad about Aquaman.) Once again you amaze me. As a long-time fan of the periodic table, I love the way you have preserved the periodicity of the elements: animals in Groups I and II, humanoids in the Noble Gas Group, etc.

"National Periodical Table." Ah, Scipio, you kill me!

Finally, I get Pi, X, and Av (ha ha) but why Cy for "The Fictionopolis"?

Christine Smith said...

Gorillas are element number 3, only behind robots and origins. Sounds like the Silver Age I love.

SallyP said...

Brilliant! (clinks her Guinness)

Sleestak said...

"Cy" the Fictionopolis is for Grimjack's Cynosure?

Scipio said...

"Cy" is for City.

My favorite is the symbol for the Element Pirates.

Luke said...

Any chance this will ever be available by mail order? I'm nowhere near DC and this is awesome :)

EvilLuke

Rob S. said...

Great suns! It's the plotter's version of Wally Wood's "22 Panels That Always Work"!

Really, really nice job.

Scipio said...

Luke,

If you contact Devon at the store, we can try to work something out.

devon@bigmonkeycomics.com

Jeremy Rizza said...

Maybe, when the Didio Regime collapses (as it inevitably must) DC will come to its senses and cede control to you, Scip. Kind of a "bloodless coup" sort of thing. And your title would be "Editor-for-Life."

Anonymous said...

"Ar" I can't believe I missed it.

Here is another comic book Periodic Table:
http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/

Anonymous said...

I hope it's not printed, because Mocker and Criminals both share the Story Element of 89, and there's no Story Element of 103. Your entire Actinides (Action-times?) line needs to be advanced by one.

Scipio said...

That's actually intentional, Jake; I was about to point it out.

The version you see here is done that way so no one STEALS it. The ACTUAL version we have for sale is correct.

Anonymous said...

Not to be a pedant, but (well, who am I kidding, of course to be a pedant...anyhow) it's either Octopuses or Octopodes. The word is either English or Greek; it was never Latin enough to deserve a latinate plural.

Scipio said...

Sigh.

Believe it or not, I am somewhat familiar with Latin and Greek, and etymology therefrom.

"Octopi" is used as an irregular plural of the English word "octopus" by analogy to similar looking words that are Latinate in origin, not because "octopus" is.

Now, that may simply be fancy linguisticky talk for "a mistake we decide to adopt", but there it is nonetheless.

And, really, Jeff; I compose a parody of the table of elements based on DC comics history for everyone to enjoy and the only thing you can focus on is "octopi"? And people wonder why they don't enjoy their comics...!

Steve Flanagan said...

I look forward to your analysis of upcoming comics as chemical formulas.

Oh, come on, it's the obvious extension.

Scipio said...

Steve, I've been trying NOT to do that since I started this project two weeks ago!

"Isotopes" keep coming to me:
Lookalike-2 is the Evil Twin Sister
Lookalike-13 is the miniature Kandorian dupicate.
Etc.

Anonymous said...

Consider that as the only flaw seen in an otherwise perfect chart, then.

Although I wish I understood the rule separating the Group I and Group II animals. And the Italic/'Radiocative'/Futuristic elements distinction breaks down when you look at it too closely.

But all in all an excellent chart.

David said...

Any chance of putting this on a shirt? There is so much awesomeness in this table that it needs to be seen by more than the denizens of my basement...

Scipio said...

I, too, would like such as shirt but I'm fearful that the "National Periodicals" in the title might cause legal repercussions...

Scipio said...

"Although I wish I understood the rule separating the Group I and Group II animals."

Me, too. I think the Group IIs have more protons or something.

" And the Italic/'Radiocative'/Futuristic elements distinction breaks down when you look at it too closely."

Those are the "hypothetical" elements, as cleverly suggested by Jon Carey.

Anonymous said...

Fab. Maybe you could just call it The Periodical (National) Table of Story Elements and then move on to the obvious t-shirt mogul-ing phase.

In other words, sort of bury it in the text while maintaining a certain archness.

Excellent work. Do I smell a hint of Nobel Prize in the air...? Contributions to Applied Comicology...?

Dave said...

Brilliant.

At the risk of gilding the lily, there are a few unstable elements with Z < 92.

Z = 43 (Technetium, Tc), which seems to be in the "props" group, might be better mapped to "Vast Cities" (Vc) than Awnings.

Z = 61 (Promethium, Pr), umm... pity that one can't be left "as is". Well, I think it'd be funny.

Z > 83 should all be "radioactive".

Benari said...

Now THAT ... is ooomphy. Bravo.

Anonymous said...

Chemistry PhD wholeheartedly approves. (I could suggest that Dynastic centerpiece would more appropriately be element 6, as Carbon is the central element to life etc, but the clear visual of the current placement is understandable.) Beautiful work!

Perhaps i should get one for the lab.

Scipio said...

We are setting up a PayPal account so you can order the Chart.

I'll post again about it when all is ready!

Scipio said...

Okay. The PayPal thing seems to be working, so here's how to order.

Send $12 to Big Monkey Comics via PayPal (devon@bigmonkeycomics.com is the 'send to' address); that price includes shipping.

Please remember to specify that you are buying the Table of Story Elements and the name and address to which we should send it.

Thanks for your interest in this project!

Jon said...

I fixed the screwy numbers at the bottom, so now any charts you order will be double-89-less. I swear.

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to do this for Silver Age Marvel.

Devon Sanders said...

To all who order these:

They'll be shipping out next week.

Thanks for your interest!

MaGnUs said...

Gods below, I love this....

Devon Sanders said...

They all went out today!

Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

It has arrived, and is as great as expected!