Issue 8 is Up and Running

Issue 8 went live tonight, here's the link:

Issue 8

In this issue we follow Cat about 7 Billion years into the future in the final chapter of the Time-Tossed story, which ultimately sees the team brought back together.  

We also see a little more about Vapor and get a glimpse of some other characters that will play a roll in the future.

Lastly, there was only one deleted scene - but you should read the issue before continuing on.

In one part Titan calls for the team to take a break, in the deleted scene I sketched out the team walking away from the meeting, but when I was inking the book I felt that it running a little long and decided that the scene really wasn't needed, so I never got around to inking it.

Waves of Creation

As I mentioned before, I started to come up with my characters while I was in fifth grade.  I don't remember exactly when, I think it was in May or June (I know it was near the end of the school year), but I didn't draw them for the first time until our family vacation over the July 4th holiday.  On the first day I created Titan, Cat, Crossbow, Magno, Phantom and Mr. Roboto (M.R).; Master Mind was created a little later.

I'm sorry to say that I never wrote down the dates of creation of any of my characters, as a kid I never really thought that was important, instead I considered the creation of the characters in "waves" and I know which wave each one is from, and that's about as close as I can get to the dates. 

The first wave for me started when I created the characters in 5th grade and that wave went about 4 years (grades 5 through 8), that's when I created a lot of the characters you see here and many more who are yet to debut.  The second wave was basically the next 4 years (grades 9 through 12).  Besides all of the founding members, others from this wave include X-Ray Boy and Spider-Star.  

You might wonder why I broke it into two waves when they ran straight through without interruption?  The reason is the way that I created the stories for the characters.  In the first wave I created a lot of them with their origins and backstories in tact.  However, in the second wave I was more concerned with just creating the characters, their names and powers - but put very little effort into any origins or backstories at all.  Echo is a character created during this time period, as well as most of the IPG.

Then I graduated from high school and worked for two years before going to college and during that time I thought about my characters and created about 5 new ones and redesigned a few costumes, but never put anything down on paper.  I consider this the third wave of creation - and it's shortest one.  As my first semester at college came to an end for the winter holiday break, I decided to draw my characters one more time.  I did a two-part poster and that's when I drew the new ones I had created.  I can't give any examples of them yet, as they haven't debuted in the comic yet.  

After those posters were done (I also can't show them yet or it would reveal too much) I didn't draw the characters again for a long time.  I spent the rest of the 90's drawing posters of the DC Comics universe, some for myself and some for my brother and I drew the last one around 1998 or so.  Then I stopped drawing for a while. 

Then in 2012 I got the idea to do my own comic book business and see I could get a following for my characters and started to practice drawing again, learning to do digital artwork (boy was that a change from pencil and paper) and reworking the stories and origins from years ago.  This is what I consider my fourth wave of creation, and what I consider myself to be in now - I've already created dozens of new characters to mix in with my existing ones and really open it up and see where it takes me.  One of the characters from this wave is Semeulke (pronounced SEMI - ULK).

I don't know how long this wave will last or if it will change into something else, I guess only time will tell....but I know this, when all is said and done all of the characters from all of the waves will have come together to tell a massive storyline. 

PS. I should add that I created the character of Diodarius when I was about 6 years old, but he was more of a stand alone character at that time and he didn't get pulled into my Ultra-Elite Team stories until many years later.

Personalities

While most of the world still doesn't know my comic exists yet, I thought I'd write a little about the founding members personalities:

Titan - he is set up as the leader of the team, but as time goes on he realizes that Crossbow is really the co-leader.  While he sometimes seems to not know what is going on, Titan uses the ploy to misdirect people as to how focused he really is.  Titan seems to actually always know what is going on and while he's not afraid to take chances, he also always has a trick up his sleeve or some secret he's keeping for one reason or another, he is never one to show his full hand at any time. 

Crossbow - she is quickly proving herself as a the co-leader of the team.  She is a take-charge, no-nonsense leader who is not afraid to do what it takes to get the job done.  She also had trust issues, in that she doesn't trust the rest of the team yet.

Cat - he is solely on Earth, and part of the team, looking for action and adventure.  He has no concept of friendship or human relations and so far has not exhibited much interest in learning, causing him to come off as somewhat distant and cold. 

Magno - prior to being a hero, he was best friends with Titan and followed him onto the team.  Magno has serious doubts about if living the life of a hero is right for him, but for now he's going along with his friend. Magno is generally friendly, but fairly reserved when dealing with the others.

Phantom - he is having the time of his life being on the team.  He has magic powers, not all of which he's mastered yet, and he's having a great time learning as he goes. Phantom is very friendly to others and sometimes seems playful in nature, or it could be he just has a unique way of viewing things.

Master Mind - She has incredible power, and while is not afraid to use it, she insists on only using her powers to help others.  She is friendly toward the rest of the team, but runs a little on the shy side.  

Creation

I have a cousin who is reading the comic and he asked me about my inspiration on creating one of the characters, and that was a tough question to answer.

I created most of the founding members back when I was in 5th grade.  It was around June and the end of the school year and I was in class thinking about comics or super-heroes no doubt, as that was mostly what I thought about and, as near as I can remember, the idea for Titan came to me first.

By the end of the day, I had thought up Crossbow, Cat, Magno, Phantom and Mr. Roboto (M.R.) - of course Master Mind came a little later.  To be honest, I don't really recall what prompted that and I don't know that they were inspired by anything - they just sort of appeared in my mind.

I ended up thinking about them over the next couple of weeks and then when my family went on vacation for the July 4th week, that was when I drew them for the first time.  I thought up Master Mind sometime later that summer, but it was before school started again.

I'm sorry to say that I don't even know the exact day that I created them, back then I only wrote the year on my artwork and not the exact date, so I'm just relying on what I can remember.

Some of the characters that I created later I do remember the inspiration for, more so with the later ones I created.

Then there is Diodarius, who everyone will meet for the first time in issue 3, although he's been mentioned already.  I actually created him back when I was about 6 or 7, but at the time I called him Wonder Boy.  In fact, in my mind I called him that up until around 2013 when I started to write up the stories for the series, but decided to change the name then.

Issue 2 Deleted Scenes

When I was coloring issue 2, I decided to leave some scenes that I had originally inked out and I thought I would share them.

The first deleted scene was when the team was on Cat's world and approaching the citadel where Cat was being held.  This scene shows the back of Titan as he's approaching the entrance, but I wasn't really happy with the way it came out.

The second scene comes from when the team is back on Earth in their meeting room and they are checking out the crystal that is floating there.  I just was never really happy with the artwork in this scene, so I just changed the wording to make the other panels work without this one.

The final cut scene is from the ending when the heroes are zapped with a mysterious energy and are blown back.  Here we find M.R. (Mr. Roboto) flying through the air, but since that was already shown in another panel, which was very similar, I thought that this scene just wasn't needed.

Cat's Language

I originally created the language for Cat's galaxy back when I was in High School.  I might clean this up at some point, but here is a scan of the actual page I created that showed his language.

Cat's Galaxy

When I did issue number 2, I spent about 2 hours doing the scene that showed the worlds of Cat's galaxy, but when it uploaded to YouTube, the image distorted and I learned a lesson, no labeling things with red letters on a black background for YouTube videos!

Here's an image that hopefully is a littler clearer to read.

The Ultra-Elite Team Debuts

The Ultra-Elite Team makes its public debut today - April 24, 2018!

I originally created the team years ago and while I wrote many stories and drew them quite often it wasn't until 2012 that I decided to do something with the characters and that took me on a path to drawing again for the first time in years, and here we are!

Today the world gets to meet Titan, Crossbow, Cat, Magno, Phantom and Master Mind as the founding members of the team as the go up against the mysterious villain, G'Ion Detheon and his main assistants, Savage, Chains, Twister and Twirl when they launch an attack on New York City along with their Shock Troopers.  

This is the beginning of a new online monthly adventure (and I promise the artwork improves as I go)!

Below is a link to the first issue: