Return to YouTube!

I've decided to get back into uploading the issues to YouTube and here's a link to the channel if you'd like to check them out...YouTube Channel

When I stared this series, my original plan was to put the issues all up on YouTube, and they were all originally fitted to that size ratio.  

However, as I went along I realized that most of my interaction, and reactions, from fans were coming from Instagram, so I opted to reformat the size of the panels so that they fit Instagram better.  Of course they still work on YouTube, but look a little different than before.

When I took a break from the comic I kind of moved away from YouTube and the videos and I hadn't realized how far behind I was in posting them.  

I saw recently that the last one I posted was the Annual back in 2023 and then nothing until now.  I'm a bit backlogged, but I do plan to get all of the issues uploaded on there within the next two weeks.

Power Surpreme

The August issue focused on Power Supreme, a character that has been in the book since issue 9 and I figured it was time to reveal his origin.  I had several subplots running through the book, but then having to take so much time off of the book due to injury, I wanted to wrap those up and move forward with new stories.

In the books right now, the heroes are fighting the Worioggs, an invasive species.  Before my time away from the books, this is the storyline that I was working towards and had always planned to do Power Supreme's origin during this story.

For the creation of the character, like most all of my characters, I had created him years ago.  I don't know if you've ever read the classic Legion of Super-Hero comics from when they were first coming onto the scene, but in those early issues it wasn't like the comics of today where a character is introduced and onboarded onto the team.  Back then they would do a group shot and there would just be new heroes there and they would explain later how they got there (sometimes much later).  That was kind of how I did my comic originally.  

When I was first creating these characters, for about 11 years starting when I was in fifth grade, I never really did any stories about how they got on the team; I just created them and started drawing them with the team and that was it.  It wasn't until I started to prepare for this series a few years ago that I realized that I need to address this.  Actually, to this day I don't usually put a lot of detail into it, by that I mean I just kind of move things along and get them onto the team, which is why I created the plot device of Diodarius showing Titan who would play a role in the team so they can join quickly.  I'm dealing with such a large cast of characters, I really just can't take the time to show each one building trust with the team, that would get very boring and redundant.

Also back at that time, I wasn't always creating origins either.  I created half of the origins and the other half I hadn't bothered to.  Power Supreme was one of them.  The inspiration for the character came from an old red shirt that was handed down to me from my father and I just wore it around the house, it was well worn and broken in and on me it was much larger and yeah, that's it; that's the entirety of how I created the character. 

I originally called him Power Plus and he had a purple mask, but when I was prepping the series, I changed the name, ditched the mask and created an origin story for him and here we are!  I thought I would share here the first time I ever drew the character:

TikTok

Coming late to the party, but the Ultra-Elite Team is now on TikTok.  Well, actually we joined on July 20 and I don't know what the future of the app hold, but for now we are on there.  Here's a screen capture of what the page looks like today:

At this time it is mostly made up of min-bios of the characters.  Each entry is The AI image, second the hand drawn image and third a mini-bio of each character that so far is exclusive to TikTok.

I have also put up a few exclusive drawings there and have created some content just for TikTok that don't appear anywhere else.  In time it will have more original content and less AI, but I kind of joined on a whim and had to find something to post quickly!  

AI Art

I am aware of the debate of AI for artistic purposes and I debated myself if I wanted to use it.  I can truthfully say that do not, have not, nor will I ever use AI in the creation of my comic, in terms of art, story-telling or world-building.  

I created these characters when I was a child and I’ve spent a lifetime dreaming of what they would look like as real people.  AI gave me the chance to make that dream come true and that has brought me more joy and happiness than I can put into words.  I created one image of each character to see what they would look like and I'm sharing that here.  AI Art

Of course AI art may not be your thing.  Personally, I found it to actually be limiting and lacking in creativity for the most part and since I have completed my renderings on there, I have since cancelled my subscription, but again I am grateful for the chance to just once see what they look like as real people, well as close I will ever get to that anyone. 

Issue 47

The August issue is out and you can find it here: Issue 47

In this issue the war against the Worioggs is still going on as Power Supreme takes center stage.  We learn that t
he Worioggs devasted his planet in the past as he returns home for the first time in years. 

July Issue

 The newest issue is out and in this one war breaks out against the Worioggs on all planets in Cat's solar system.  

You can check it out here: Issue 46

Marksman's Debut

In the June issue we were introduced to several new characters, one of whom was Marksman.  Years ago, when I created him, I intended him to be part of the main Ultra-Elite Team, but when I was reworking the characters for this series, I decided that he really works better as part of the IPG (Interplanetary Protectorate Guild) and opted to leave him on that.  

That's not much of a difference from what his original story was, I had always planned him to be on that with his brother, Golden Guardian, but in the original stories I wrote, he eventually left them and came to Earth full time.  

Of course, he also went through a few costume changes over time as well.  The costume he wears in this issue was actually the third one I designed for him.  I'm attaching my original sketches for the character here from when I drew him for the first time when I was a kid up to landing on his final costume design (well, at least pretty close to the final desgin).

In this issue we met him when he is undercover looking into an illegal smuggling ring in his solar system.  When I first started to draw this issue, I planned to have him in an open-air market and having the guards chase him through that before ending up on the same place where he jumped out onto the platform.

As I was doing the breakdowns, I realized at this time it was more than I wanted to draw, as I'm just getting back into the series being monthly after an injury, so I decided to scrap that part of it.  When doing that I had only inked one panel and thought I would share it here as artwork that will probably never be used in the series.